Across the Pond Sailing from Boston to the English Channel took roughly a month in the 18th century. Sailing in the other direction took longer because of the Gulf Stream and prevailing winds. Today the Queen Elizabeth II sails in both directions in seven days. You can fly to London from Boston in under seven…
In some way my walk on Salisbury Beach today was a bookend moment for 2018. I took a similar walk on this beach earlier in the year (writing about sea glass). This time I was looking at my computer screen and decided I needed to take a walk. Where better to walk than a quiet…
Statues and Semaphores It’s said that there were 17,000 statues in Paris that were removed and melted down by the Nazis. I was reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway where his main character is driving by the statue of Claude Chappe, the inventor of the semaphore. Semaphores were used for rapid communication across…
Axial Tilt I’m told that 4.5 billion years ago Earth had a collision with a massive object that knocked the planet off kilter and broke off a chunk that became the moon. These two things in turn created the seasons and tides, our filtering system that built and sustains life as we know it. The…
I’m looking at an app showing the best locations right now for viewing the Aurora Borealis. One of the best spots at this moment is 1,063 miles away from where I sit in Labrador. Seeing the Northern Lights has grown to be a priority for me. Something I’d like to do today, or at least…
In Buffalo for work, I debated dancing with an elephant or walking in the footsteps of a ghost. With better planning I could have done both. They say we all have one life, and to make the most of the opportunities you’re presented with. I confess to not taking full advantage of that over the…
If time allows when I visit a town I try to dig into the history of the place and learn something about it. I think of it as dancing with the ghosts of history. And there’s no shortage of history in the northeast. Seneca Falls is famous for two things. As I wrote about in…
The movie It’s a Wonderful Life was set in a town called Bedford Falls. Which in the real world is apparently Seneca Falls, New York. According to folklore Frank Capra spent some time in Seneca Falls the year before the film was made. Looking around, he was inspired him to set the movie there. To…
Dancing with Elephants “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” – Paulo Coelho Fresh off a trip to Key West and celebrating family time on Thanksgiving, I’m already thinking about the next trip. Frankly, I was thinking about the…
Key West I’ve been to Key West twice in my lifetime, but feel like I know it as well as any city I haven’t lived in. There’s a mystique that surrounds this old town, founded in legendary characters and salty songs. It was once the richest town in America until the Great Depression made it…