Apr 21, 2015
Amazon, Peru. How to describe it? A big muddy river or the most beautiful spot on our planet. Where else can you see pink dolphins (the only place in the world), monkeys, 2 toed sloths, wild orchids, 4 foot iguanas and gorgeous sunsets while navigating a giant, muddy river? The statistics are staggering; 25% of all our oxygen is produced in the Amazon, one third of all species live there, the drainage basin covers 2.7 million square miles, and 25% of all drugs come from rain forest ingredients. Wow. Yet, we have destroyed 20% of the forest already; gone forever to make way for cattle grazing, mining, logging and agriculture. And the deforestation is continuing at a dizzying pace. What can be done before the whole ecosystem collapses? Well, you can visit (ecotourism supports the rainforest), think about your food choices (huge swathes of rainforest are being destroyed to plant soybeans in support of cattle), avoid companies exploiting the forest (selling exotic animals or timber) and learn all you can. But time to get off my soapbox and back to planning a return trip to Peru in search of birds and orchids! Now that is helpful and... read more
Dec 5, 2014
Tryon, NC. Finally getting settled. A newly renovated house in a new place, a new life. So what does the future hold? What have I learned to prepare me for this new adventure in life? Over the last 9 months, I have moved 2 households, broken my right arm, visited 5 new countries, completely gutted a house, started and sadly ended a relationship and spent a lot of time creating one crisis after another. Hard to admit, but I have quickly become the queen of crisis! Yet now, things that seemed so important just months ago have faded into the background as inconsequential in the scheme of life. But damn, they seemed so important while in the heat of the moment! And doesn’t a crisis show everyone how critical my stuff is compared to theirs? Well, enough. After all, a crisis is rarely a positive experience (especially one you manufacture) and they always seem to pass. So back to blogging about falling in love with life, one fascination at a time; back to living with a sense of gratitude, learning new things (dancing is #1) and just looking down my very cool driveway. No crisis ahead, just a new day with unlimited possibilities. And how nice to have relinquished my queen of crisis role. Hopefully... read more
May 26, 2014
North Carolina. My first hike in years. About 3 miles, considered easy to moderate. I was warned about poison ivy, getting dehydrated and even to be careful of my hiking partner since I had recently met him. Not to mention bears, muggers, mountain lions, snakes and whatever else my catastrophic mind could conjure up. Yikes, should I even go? It is amazing what fear can prevent me from doing (I tend to become immobilized). But it is even more amazing what occurs when I conquer my fears. I had an absolute blast hiking. I felt like I was 8 years and on top of the world. And what a magical world. I half expected a forest fairy to run out and dance around us. We found a huge green lunar moth, tiny wildflowers, moss covered tree trunks, cardinals, streams flowing under old wooden bridges, mushrooms, and millions of plants including jack in the pulpits which I haven’t seen since childhood. And we found this beautiful (remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder)centipede tucked into a rotting log. How very cool. It was so much fun discovering new things around every bend. It just reinforces that life is to be lived, every day. There is magic every where you look. And if I hadn’t faced my fears about the hike? I would have missed one of the best experiences in recent... read more
Mar 8, 2014
Sydney, Australia. Pretty cool birds. But what are they? Surely there is an internet app for identifying birds. Well, of course! Actually the one I found and like is the Merlin Bird app produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Covering 285 species, I identified my first birds using it this week, wild turkeys walking across the road in North Carolina. It is easy enough for a child to use (just my speed) and sends info to Cornell who uses it to track bird populations. So I am helping science while birding, my new favorite sport. And move over all you football fans. According to the US Fish and Wildlife services, birding is the #1 sport in the US (maybe a little biased). And it is free! Just look outside and no matter where you are, there are birds. Some 10,000 species worldwide. And the Merlin app is also free. Sweet! Well, the birds pictured are Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, only found in the wild in Australia and New Guinea. We saw them in a local park while visiting Sydney. Now I have 6 birds listed in my new Birder’s Journal. Only 8,393 to go to match Phoebe Snetsinger’s world record of birding, the most of anyone in the world at the time of her death. Well, I better go get... read more
Feb 10, 2014
Florida. What in the world do humans and red knot shore birds have in common? Horseshoe crabs. Really? I remember horseshoe crabs as a kid washing up on the Long Island shore. These cool looking crabs are one of the few living fossils surviving today, having been around for 450 million years (way, way before dinosaurs). They are close cousins of the spider and look like big scorpions with hard backed shells and a harmless, although scary looking, long tail. So how are we all connected? The red knot bird relies on the consumption of eggs laid by the horseshoe crab to refuel for their unbelievably long migration from South America to the Arctic (almost 20,000 miles round trip). Humans rely on the blood of the crabs to protect us from bad bacteria (to learn more check out this fascinating PBS documentary (video.pbs.org/video/1200406235). All intravenous drugs, including shots and vaccines, in the US are required by the FDA to be tested with horseshoe crab blood to detect any foreign bacteria. (Wow, that I didn’t know).The blood, containing copper (making it blue as opposed to the iron in our blood which is red), coagulates when exposed to bad bacteria. Birds, crabs and humans- all interconnected. What an amazing world! Photo from... read more
Jan 20, 2014
Adelaide, Australia. Within walking distance of our hotel, I discover a magical botanical garden. Free to the public, in the middle of downtown, this 125 acre oasis includes a rainforest under glass. The forest is housed in the largest single span greenhouse in the Southern Hemisphere (for those of us geography challenged, the Southern Hemisphere is all the land below the equator including Anartica, Australia, most of South America and a third of Africa.) Entering the glass 2 story structure, the air is misty and buzzing with activity, from birds, insects, plants growing and 1,000 misting nozzles. I have always heard how important the rainforest (defined as a dense forest receiving 90-180 inches of annual rainfall) is to our global ecosystem, but I had no idea 50% of the world’s plants and animals live in them. And many of our medicines (some anti cancer and leukemia drugs for starters) come from rainforest plants. Yet we are losing 1-2 (and some biologists estimate the number is closer to 100) animal and plant species a day to extinction primarily from deforestation. Wow! So what can we do? I plan on learning more about the issues and possible solutions by joining a conservation club, visiting rain forests whenever I can and taking steps to recycle and be nice to our Earth. Once a species is gone, we can never get it back. And that sounds so... read more
Jan 2, 2014
Bali, Indonesia. I am always amazed at how much I don’t know. While I have traveled the world fairly extensively, I always find new fascinating things. Whether 5 miles from home, in my backyard or thousands of miles away, there is a whole world out there if I just pick my head up, look around and be present. Checking into my amazing room in Bali, I couldn’t help but notice a very weird looking fruit on the plate in my room. It was brown with scales and looked like a baby armadillo. Do you eat this thing, I wondered? Well it turns out to be salak or snake fruit. Sadly, I never took time to eat one which was my loss since they are packed with nutrition and are supposed to taste both sweet and acidic. And why would I not try one? Because I got busy with other things, life got in the way, all the cliches I can think of come to mind. So next time, I will stop and experience a new wonder. I may never have the chance again. Taking a photo is great, but tasting and experiencing life is even better! Life’s moments only come once and then they are gone forever. My New Year’s resolution? Being fully... read more
Dec 10, 2013
Kenya. Hopping into the Range Rover, our guide asked which animal we wanted to see the most. Of course, my answer was elephants. We had seen 2 the day before, but one can never see enough elephants, at least in my book. We drove for a long time observing zebras, wildebeests, warthogs and finally, these three female elephants. And what a treat as the baby was only 3 weeks old! But why didn’t we just go straight to these amazing creatures and just spend all day with them? Surely the guides know where they are all the time? Not really. Elephants are very hard to track and subsequently count, it turns out. You can hardly go door to door conducting a census. And on average, they travel 15 miles a day which is a lot of ground. With conservation efforts largely based on numbers of elephants in a given herd, season to season, it is important to get accurate counts. Even with today’s technology, there are huge swings in estimates (numbers range from 400,000 to 700,000 worldwide). But beginning next year, a team of 46 scientists, led by the organization Elephants Without Borders, will try to count every elephant on the African continent using arial photography. This census information will be critical in helping us protect our elephants, hopefully giving this baby a chance to grow old and wise. Now that is... read more
Nov 24, 2013
India. Mark Twain, after visiting the Taj Mahal, said the world is split in two parts-those that have seen the beautiful monument and those that have not. I am now one of the lucky ones. Along with approximately 50,000 other visitors a day. Considered by many (including me) to be the most beautiful building in the world, this World Heritage Site is at risk of being damaged by modern pollution. Built in 1632 with no electricity, power tools, trucks or other modern day conveniences, it took 20,000 workers (building and crafting 24 hours a day) over 20 years to build. It completely boggles my mind! Yet in the last century, air pollution has been eating away at the white marble exterior and water pollution threatens the foundations on which the mausoleum is built. Pollution monitoring devices are everywhere, no gas powered vehicles are allowed within a half mile of the Taj Mahal and nearby coal based factories have been closed or converted to natural gas. But alas, all the pollution monitoring devices don’t work without electricity, which was off routinely for 6-10 hours a day due to power outages during our visit. And when the power is out, diesel generators kick on to supply power which just adds to the pollution. Old meets new. With no easy solutions, it is an interesting juxtaposition (my lexicon for the... read more
Nov 12, 2013
Kenya. I never dreamed I’d be taking a photo of a hot air balloon from above it, in the air, in another balloon. But here I am at 6:30 one morning in Kenya. High above the hippos and gazelles who didn’t give us a second glance. Ballooning. Something in all my years, I had never done. And now that I have experienced, I will do it again. It was the most awesome floating sensation. Eerily quite in spite of the large blast of propane every now and then. I didn’t realize ballooning is the oldest (dating back to 1783) flight technology which carried people. And who could forget Dorothy missing her balloon ride home to Kansas in the Wizard of Oz. Or Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days (published in 1873) which oddly did not involve a single hot air balloon for the trip (and I thought the whole trip was by balloon!) Balloons have soared to 69,000 feet high (oxygen required), travelled 4,800 miles on a single trip (by a duo including Richard Branson), and in our case flown a couple hundred feet over the Maasai Mara Preserve. What an amazing way to spend a morning. I was just sorry our ride was a short hour. Pure... read more
Nov 6, 2013
Kenya. So I have to admit I was somewhat apprehensive about going to Kenya after the Sept mall attack. Ok, more like terrified. Lions, tigers and terrorists, oh my! Adding to my anxiety was the maze of airport parking lots we walked through at the Nairobi airport after landing. Past the charred, empty buildings of the international terminal. Charred buildings! Apparently I was one of the few who hadn’t heard about the massive electrical fire at the airport in Aug. After boarding our turbo prop plane (triple yikes) for the 45 minute flight to the Maasi Mara game preserve, I finally breathed. At this point I am wondering why we just couldn’t fly in on the private jet and then I saw our landing strip below (pictured here). Now I get it. I am doomed! Of course we made a perfect landing. And so began the most memorable experience of my life, the migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest, zebra and gazelle with a few warthogs, hyenas, lions, giraffes and baboons thrown in. Although we were at the end of the season, I have since learned the migration is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World (according to USA Today). So by experiencing sheer terror, came sheer joy. The coolest gift of... read more
Oct 31, 2013
Madeira, Portugal. Little did I know that we were landing on one of the most dangerous runways in the world as our last stop on our around the world trip. Actually I am glad I didn’t know until after we arrived in Madeira. I learned over dinner in Madeira the first night, all 3 of our pilots had to receive special training just to land our plane on the single runway that is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on 3 sides (you can see the ocean at the end of the runway in the photo) and a mountain with thermal winds on the 4th side. Yikes! But our pilots executed a perfect landing. So what are the other most dangerous places to land? Well according to The History Channel, Nepal is the number #1 with San Diego the 10th. Madeira is 9th with St Bart’s and Hong Kong in the top 10. So I have landed at 2 of the most dangerous (San Diego and Madeira). I think I’ll stop with that record! Overall, I was amazed at how smooth all of our flights were on the trip. Not one scary moment except maybe the landing in Australia. It was an amazing experience, but I am glad to be home. And where is our plane going next? Whisking Prince Charles and Camilla off to India for a 9 day trip. I bet they won’t be as fun as our... read more
