A bucolic, sylvan lifestyle has always appealed to me. For as long as I can remember, I have secretly harbored a longing to live “in the country.” But my career has kept me tethered to an urban abode. Admittedly, I have managed to abscond from the megalopolises of Paris, Berlin, Cairo and Dhaka to a … Continue reading »
Author Archives: Mary
Stepping into the River with a Friend
It takes some courage at first to ward off the impending sensation of wet and cold. I overcome it by the strong desire is to accompany my friend into the dark waters that will envelope our bodies permitting no view of what lurks below. As we wade further in, the skin begins to warm and … Continue reading »
Lost in Time
If time does not exist, then it cannot be ceaseless. Sitting at the boulders’ edge of the Potomac River at the tail’s end of a craggy, waterlogged path, I sense something more in my connection to the fast and furious current, more than the rapturous beauty of nature’s wild rush. It’s that endless quality of the … Continue reading »
Winter Wonder in Quebec
To inspire my friends who shun the cold and the snow, here are a few choice photos of Quebec City at the most lovely time of year, with Christmas cheer, ice skating under the moonlight, and a German Christmas Market to bring on the season that everybody loves to escape, except me . . . come … Continue reading »
Did You Say “Worms”?
My mind has a tendency to switch to the quest channel – tuning in to the endless search for answers, the meaning of life, the expression of multiple universes, the space that exists within the atom, until the search for my cell phone or my keys jolts me out of cruise control. What truly keeps … Continue reading »
Impressions: Bangladesh
I am reviving my poetic version of Bangladesh below for my readers and sharing photographic memories from my recent trips. The first is set is a boat trip with some girlfriends on the haors under the rain in Sunamganj: And the second set is a tea estate in Sylhet: And here is my dedication to Bangladesh, … Continue reading »
Fear of Change or Fear of Not Changing?
We are creatures of habit. As are our pets. I marvel at the way my housebound grimalkin contentedly repeats the same ol’ routine every day. At the sound of the living room door, she creaks her way to the fridge, those old bones, and still gets there before I do. She does not eat salad … Continue reading »
Future Food
Most people, as they get older, are forced in one way or another to think about what they eat. Fortunately, I have not had medical reasons to do this; I am grateful for my partner whose athleticism has made him a tad health-conscious. I admit the happiest outcome for me in greening my diet has … Continue reading »
Who’s Lying?
Sitting on the shore of Heart Lake in the Adirondacks, the perfect spot for recovering from yesterday’s strenuous hike and for contemplating . . . lies. It has been a few weeks since I returned from a field visit in South Asia for a pilot and training on data collection tools. We were assisting a … Continue reading »
Rocky Mountain High
At Kinney Lake, so placid and perfect it might shatter if you coughed, we were still another 15 kilometres from Berg Lake at the foot of Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies at 3,964 meters. It was the last and most formidable hike of our journey. We would be gaining an elevation … Continue reading »