Active Mind, Creative Spirit
Hawk Release
Recovered from my ancient blog: [First entry: Thursday, July 24, 2008] A really amazing thing happened to me yesterday. While exiting the freeway (520) at 4:00 PM I noticed a large hawk sitting on the side of the exit ramp. I didn’t figure out…
Four Exotic Cats and a Bear
Photos from a recent trip… and a story or two. I know, a zoo seems so un-exotic, doesn’t it? When you’ve been to the tropics of Bali, the vast snowy Himalayas, and spent time spinning around the chaos of Kathmandu, going to see a…
The Allure of Wildlife Photography
Once I committed to a fine art photography degree in college, I took an interest in animal photography. I spent hours in front of the Siberian Tiger exhibit at my local zoo, waiting for the four of them to do something interesting. Everything was…
The Fauna of Bali
There were bats and rats and elephants… but I never did find no unicorn. (Modified lyrics from The Irish Rovers) Creatures are cool. You already know I like bats, and you might recall that I like cats (especially the big ones). But I actually find…
The Villa
I’ve run down how we got to this villa and to Bali altogether, so here is the posh, high society bit. The villa we stayed in for a week (of our 15 days) was pretty fantastic. It’s in a quaint village that hasn’t quite…
Pet a Tiger on the Tummy
For those of you who have never traveled abroad, there are a fair number of things that the good ole US of A doesn’t allow that some of the rest of the world is okay with. I first learned of this disparity when I…
Intro to Balinese Hinduism or, Where I Met the Garuda Bird
Get comfy, this one’s a little thick. (If you must, skip the fat text and see the photo-story at the bottom.) We were in Bali for twenty four hours before we entered our first Hindu temple. That’s a long time! It’s said that there…
Foul Familiar Foreign Fragrances and Monkeys
I lived in Michigan during my twenties and that was the first time I learned what piles of burning leaves smelled like. People would get nostalgic every fall when the leaves fell and everyone raked them into piles and set them ablaze. There were…
Glacier Goats
In a way I am relieved that the national parks are closed. The poor animals are getting a rest from the thousands of people-feet that tread through their homes all year. I wonder if it feels like a vacation to them. When we were…
Time and Nepal Cartography 101
After a week home only a small handful of people have been able to ask me about the trip. The stories are beginning to unfold, but I am still very much in re-entry mode, so even now it mostly comes out all jumbled. I remember that…