The Place: Big Spring, Missouri
Though spring is gone and summer now over, for some reason my thoughts turn to springs, those remarkable eruptions of water from subterranean depths. They come in all sizes, from trickles no bigger than water in a drinking fountain to wild…Continue reading→
The Story: Tristan da Cunha
Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks! Diane sat on a wall bordering the family’s small vegetable plot, set on Tristan’s largest plain and wedged between…Continue reading→
The Place: Tristan da Cunha and Bouvet
After I wrote the story about the man on Saba for my last post, I thought more about the urge to search out places that are remote in the extreme. Why do some people have that urge? Where are these places,…Continue reading→
The Story: Saba
Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks! You pull open the shutters to get relief from the humid heat and look out on a view framed…Continue reading→
The Place: The Dutch Caribbean Island of Saba
To the northwest of the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius [see my previous blog], a lone mountain pokes out of the sea. Underwater, the mountain’s flanks drop thousands of feet to the seabed; above, no beaches line the coast and the…Continue reading→
The Story: Sint Eustatius
Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks! Ralph did not like to follow directions. Much less, directions given by someone half his age who had a…Continue reading→
The Place: Sint Eustatius
Along with the Spanish, British, and French, the Dutch sailed into the Caribbean centuries ago, planting their flag and leaving a legacy on six islands – Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten (only half of the island; the other half is French), Bonaire,…Continue reading→
The Story: Victoria
Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks! 1785. Sarah pulled the stiff water-proofed coat tighter around her body. It was her father’s and fit her like…Continue reading→
The Place: Victoria, British Columbia
Three years ago, long before the current pandemic shut the border between the U.S. and Canada, my husband and I traveled to Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada’s westernmost province. Though modest in size—350,000 people in greater Victoria—it was western Canada’s…Continue reading→
The Story: Gibraltar
Author’s note: To get the most out of this story, I recommend you first read the previous blog about the place. Thanks! We had been sitting around a fire in a log cabin near Banff, Canada, celebrating Nammy’s ninetieth birthday. This…Continue reading→