Scratching An Itch
I’ve come to love the Caribbean, at least what I’ve experienced of it. It’s sunrises and sunsets. Its deserts and donkeys, and feathered...
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Nov 30, 2023
I’m A Bug
Have you ever had an idea that, upon reflection, you realize was years in the making? This past August Jen and I spent a week on Hilton...
Nov 16, 2023
Offbeat
Midway along the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood, for I had wandered off from the straight path. So wrote the exiled...
Aug 25, 2023
Gestures
I’ve been thinking of Robert Henri’s “sketch hunter,” how there are those who move through life as they find it, stopping for things they...
Aug 20, 2023
The Art Spirit
When I left the first of January I didn’t have a bucket list. Only a direction - west to east - and a rough timetable, hoping to return...
Jul 16, 2023
Thoughts On Returning
I returned home on June 9 and over the weekend everyone stopped by at one time or another. It was wonderful and Jen made it special. In...
Jun 7, 2023
Alice and the Rabbit
I often think of rabbits, projecting onto them an intelligence they probably don’t possess. Nevertheless, I imagine that the cute,...
Jun 5, 2023
Hibari
I never intended to spend the last 6 weeks in Japan. After Thailand, my plan was to fly to Ho Chi Minh City then on to Fukuoka mid-May. ...
Jun 4, 2023
Take-no-Michi Trail
The rain ended, leaving in its wake flooding throughout Japan and rail service all but shut down. But in the morning, at least on my...
Jun 3, 2023
Lessons
It rained and rained, and rained some more. At least 6 inches they say. But Hibari held up, and the rest of Kyoto did too, from what I...
Jun 1, 2023
Middle of Nowhere
Some days you just want to ride the train. You want to rest the legs and allow the mind to wander. No maps to suggest a destination. ...
May 31, 2023
The Railway Man
My father was a railroad man. In his day, those who chose that life treated the traveler with utmost care. Even after my father left,...
May 30, 2023
Uji
It’s the start of the rainy season. It, and whatever is left of Typhoon Mawar when it reaches the mainland, likely means wet weather...
May 29, 2023
Kyoto Vignettes
It rained all day, a good “stay at home day” as Liam says. A day to sort through photos and put them in albums. There were several I...
May 28, 2023
The Japanese Soul
I spent the morning at Hōnen-in, a small Temple a short way up the mountain slope on the eastern edge of Kyoto. A friend told me it...
May 27, 2023
Get Thee To An Onsen
Having set it aside for a couple of days, I decided to revisit Deep Kyoto Walks. Rather than consult the Table of Contents, I went...
May 26, 2023
Deer Park
About an hour south of Kyoto Station on the Kintetsu Line is Nara, the last stop. Small in comparison to Japan’s major cities, people...
May 25, 2023
Toji
Kyoto Station, traffic central for all of Kyoto and the surrounding area, is a 30 minute walk from Hibari Hostel by the most direct route...
May 24, 2023
House Cleaning
Last evening, just before shutting things down for the night, Yusuke told me a priest was coming in the morning. “He’s going to exercise....
May 23, 2023
On A Sunny Afternoon
I was thinking of Pa this morning. Wondered how his team is doing and whether his eye is as good as ever. He says he hit over 400 last...
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