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Fifty by Fifty
Harper’s Ferry, where the Shenandoah and the Potomac meet When I told people that I was traveling to Delaware and West Virginia so that I could see all fifty states by the time I’m fifty, a pact I had...
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Fear
I’ll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. I mean really, no fear! Nina Simone Last Wednesday I woke to a nightmare I wished I had dreamt. Donald Trump had won the election. The day before I was...
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Lisboa Redux
The first time I went to Lisbon I fell in love so hard I stole a paving stone to I would always have a piece of the city with me. I was enamored of every little thing, from the pasteis de nata, little...
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Meli
Meli was a force. I remember on my first trip to Turkey in 2006 when she took us to the Ataturk Memorial in Ankara. We stood, 20 American tourists, next to the massive, neo-classical building...
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Ten Things I learned About Mr. Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson statue at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Thomas Jefferson was an enigmatic and somewhat controversial historical figure. While driving around Virginia last fall I...
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Flattery
Cape Flattery Eagles circle, land on a cedar. Their chirping punctuates the sound of jade-colored water from Japan slurping at mossy rocks below. My step bounces on roots and spongy sphagnum...
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Colombia
When I arrived in Colombia our writing instructor. my friend Martha, asked us to write down three impressions we had of Colombia before arriving. It’s always good to establish a baseline, she said. I...
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Peace
Peace is just a word. Just a word. -Eurythmics When friends ask me how my trip to Colombia was I feel like I should talk about the food, the friendly people, and the amazing scenery. But all I want to...
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Colombia in Pictures
Man prays to Jesus against a pink wall, Cartagena Some 80% of Colombians are Catholic. I am not religious. Adamantly atheist in fact. Yet when I saw this man praying to Jesus in an alcove of the...
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A Guide to Healthy Living at Post
In the late 80s I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger… and it was very important to stay healthy while at Post. Amoebic dysentery: Caused by contaminated drinking water, often because of a broken...
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Eleven Things I Did on Vancouver Island
Finished two books. Saw Pacific waves crashing. Rode a BC ferry. Bought a deck of playing cards that say BC Ferries. I don’t even play cards. Feared for my life on a car ride entailing: crashing...
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Mark’s Abecedarium for 2017
A is or the amigos (that includes family) I hung out with during the year. B is for Bry, my niece, who with freshly minted graduate degree in Urban Planning from UW decided that Seattle is her forever...
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Darjeeling Himalayan Railway
Choo, the steam engine shouts out into the chilly morning fog. The engine master sits behind the burning boiler shoveling coal into it—the entire engine is not much larger than my Subaru at home....
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Hooghly
Day slips to night as we motor up the Hooghly, a distributary of the Ganges, the holiest of Indian rivers. Orange sky turns to pink. Teenagers sit onshore bathing in the crepuscular glow. The golden...
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RIP Tony Bourdain
Tony’s death hit me hard. Bourdain was more than an inspiration to me. He was a mentor. As a cook, a traveler, and as a writer. He had a worldview that required eating and experiencing everything that...
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Garlic Soup
The other night I made garlic soup. It’s a relatively simple recipe: sauté garlic, add breadcrumbs, paprika, cayenne pepper and water. At the end you swirl an egg in it. The first time I made...
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The ABCs of Mexico City
Metropolitan Cathedral, Mexico City A for Art Deco, buildings constructed during a golden period in Mexico City from the 1930s to the 1940s that drew influence from the geometric shapes, clean lines,...
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In Search of Hygge
Hygge in a windowsill at the Karen Blixen House in Rungsted. The Danish word hygge is a defining cultural characteristic, it’s a mood and it’s a state of mind. It doesn’t have an equal in English, but...
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Midsommar
As a kid I was proud of my Swedish heritage. There was always a Swedish Christmas Eve at my Great-Aunt Jane’s house where we’d eat rice pudding and fruit soup and drink glög. There were expressions my...
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Reunion
Thirty years ago, I joined the Peace Corps and went to Niger, a country on the edge of the Sahara Desert that had been suffering from decades of drought. I was an idealistic, naïve and independent...
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