Portland — Although I am not really a big morning person, the sunrises this winter have been beyond beautiful. Living close to the Atlantic Ocean I should make it a point to get up earlier and possibly capture a...
New york — Lately, I’ve gotten this itch to make music again. For most of my life, I’ve played and owned at least one instrument. But when I moved to New York, I shed them all because I had no idea where I’d be...
Wailuku — Dear Lorien, Today Lloyd took me to work with him. That’s the view from his office window at Iao United Church of Christ—it’s a typical sunny and breezy day on Maui. In the distance, you can see the ...
Sevenoaks — Quite a contrast with the glorious Rosa Zarrosas-Arroz! On a Sunday afternoon stroll my wife and I passed these rose hips enrobed with a glistening wet coat in the moist, cold air. I thought of Wade...
Tokyo — “I don’t fuck around when it comes to soba and pizza.” he said. “Oh? Then I am in your hands.” I replied. He was indeed correct. We ate two pies. With a side of non-stop conversation. Pizza. Coma...
Lisbon — The other day, over drinks a friend of mine related a story. She was with her boyfriend, in a suburb of London when he whispered: “Did you realize we’re the only white people here?” She looked back at...
Al abageyah — Sunday. We spend the entire afternoon shooting birds of prey along the Aqueduct of Pharaoh. Whitish dogs looking like wolves, pointed ears, haunt those stinking areas; they dig holes in the sand, nest...
Mumbai — Or from the google search thrown images: sterile bright blue skyline, quite gleaming high rises and wide avenues. The reality: Flying in low over dozens then hundreds and then thousands of what look ...
Ko siboya — Rented a motorbike yesterday. It took some getting used to: heavy metal between my legs and the quick, eager thrust of the engine. Drove across the one road of the island. My backpack is lighter becau...
Salt lake city — We sit in 21 degree weather, talking about dreams and plans. We don’t know what will happen next year, but we know our immediate future holds mole and tequila and corn chips.
Kula — Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014 Dear Lorien, Here I am at a small park off of Kula Highway, along the slopes of Haleakala Volcano. It’s up at the 3,500-foot elevation of the mountain. It’s so clear you not onl...
Aireys inlet — Ok, it may be a little lame to reference Carmen Sandiego, a thirty year old computer game, as a way into Gertrude Stein, Umberto Eco, Rene Magritte and Alfred Korzybski. I was going to wax philosophi...
Victoria — In last night’s dream, I was on a beach in Maui. It was a beach that I had visited before. A humpback whale was in the surf, almost up on the beach. I was watching it roll around the waves in awe. T...
Holmdel — Saturday night was homemade pizza night and the grandkids were given their own dough balls, turning them into mini pizzas and calzones. They enjoyed the fruits of their labor on their antique school ...
South fremantle — DIY? could every body be a natural born FD? then how do you hear YOU. Yes you can be a small-time undertaker except for yourself, usually, which is quite unfortunate. I’m wondering how to keep cont...
Montpellier — Ça commence comme ça, avec un texte de François Bon qu’on lit au petit matin, assis dans l’obscurité, le jour naissant, le café chaud et noir dans la tasse qui réchauffe les mains. Il fait froid dans ...
Accra metropolis — It’s actually being able to stand apart from it all. This is what allows you to see life as it is and not as you suppose it should be. Through the pain, through the heart breaks, through the clouds; b...
Ko siboya — Random Reflections on Nothing From Nowhere: I haven’t been eating enough. There is only one restaurant here and no grocery stores, so consumption is a highly public affair, over lots of gin and cupfu...
Tokyo — The temple is crowded with people visiting here for the first time in this year. I also came here to avoid the unlucky year(yakudoshi) ! But I can’t enter…
Kihei — …after you colored my clothes on and put me in the envelope, and wished me well, I fell asleep. As intended, since we knew the journey was going to take some days. I woke up now and then, and of cou...
Auckland — When Melissa and I went to the Taylor Swift concert, we had booked a flight back home the day after. However, we woke-up the next day to a text message from the airline, letting us know that our flig...
Ventura — In most places, widow splashes and other forms of sign painting have been replaced by cut vinyl letters and computer-printed banners. A well painted window is now something of a novelty. Except, that ...
Bar harbor — I woke up in a daze after head bobbing in and out of sleep for the past hour. Three friends and I had just driven from Connecticut and arrived in the parking lot at the base of Cadillac Mountain. I ...
Frankfurt — Only 20 minutes out of this center of the Frankfurt-Rhein-Main area and you find yourself in fields or forests, and only some planes in the distance are a reminder that one of the busiest airports of ...
New york — Gather a few handfuls of middle inches of clean snow from your fire escape, pour over cream or whole milk, a tiny amount of vanilla extract, and simple syrup (sugar is too grainy) and stir…
Cape town — Small human beings learn by mimicking and so they learn patience by mimicking patience. Perhaps this means that a larger human being somewhere many thousands of generations back took a long and pat...
Tokyo — Not 100% sure, but I think Futakotamagawa Station is the last stop (or at least if you are on an Express) before the Denentoshi Line is going Underground. With a free view away from the station to the...
Yamato — Close to my home, a moment of peace and quiet assured, before diving into the fast paced, crowded Tokyo.
Yamato — After leaving home, passing through a few streets, I always pause here: to look at the sky, depending on the time of the day but always impressive - to appreciate the people working on the field and t...
Tokyo — all Japanese alert 最初に。 初日本語で上げるエントリーは名前に付いて。 私は名前が二つあります。 「もえ」と「Mona」です。 × 萌えぇぇぇ ○ 萠子（本名） × AAキャラ、モナー ○ 英語の名前、Mona 単なる偶然です。 祖父が付けてくれた名前は「萠子」であり、 30何年前彼は「萌え」がオタクと一致する、と 思いもしなかったでしょう。 カナダのとある私立に 私...
New york — As the year ends, so it begins. The day before New Year’s Eve - a point in the season when any day of the week might be a holiday - I had a message from a friend I had not seen in years. He was drivi...
Toronto — This post was originally meant to be about burning off my baggages, sorrows, betrayals, tears, and egos that dragged me down to my lowest in 2013. That train of thought got hijacked when Tokyo showed...
Singapore — Everybody tells me to eat all the food, but I am here for less than twelve hours. Long enough for one shower, a plate of nasi lemak, a deep breath — and then I am back on a plane again.
Greenville — “I think it’s time for you to throw those out.” It hasn’t been that long, really, since he left for California (god. that’s such a cliche, isn’t it?) and yet it’s been months, maybe even a year, sinc...
Strongsville — …coffee in San Fran. Would love to freelance/contract, if opportunity available. Wonderful to chat w/like-minded techies!
Lawrence township — With roughly 9-inches of snow on the ground, Maggie and I kept our exploration closer to home. Today I let her choose her path and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy romping through the snow. Ultimately, ...
Shanghai — The lake Xihu in Hanzhou, I walked around and sometimes did nothing. The Sun shined and the surface of the lake glistened. People looked have their own time, walking, talking, laughing, singing, danci...
Port townsend — A planet that spins and rotates on her axis, regardless of my teeth-shattering protests during the winter months. She doesn’t give a shit about the $340 traffic ticket I received this morning, or the ...
Saskatoon — Though I’d much rather be writing or making music than writing about making music.
Salt lake city — Part of me knows that the fog is a result of cold weather and inversion, of dense pollution hanging in clouds above our city. But another part of me catches sight of glittery particles floating in the...
Hanoi — The cat begins at the top of my field of vision, half-way through crossing the street. My eyes naturally are at my feet to begin with, ensuring they don’t step into the path of the ubiquitous motorbik...
London — In my other recent moment I mentioned that I had received another strange Christmas present. Well here it is. I know that receiving a calendar isn’t strange. But I would imagine that the subject ma...
João pessoa — Thinking about going to the beach
Tokyo — I am home. I lightly vacuumed a week’s worth of dust. There is a load of laundry going. I’m looking through Facebook, Twitter and blog posts from the past week I may have missed. There are a lot of y...
Tokyo — It is warm. There are trains running every few seconds. Everything is open. I have reached my goal. As incredible as this trip was, I am so happy to be… home. Yes. Tokyo, is my home.
London — One of the more unusual Christmas presents that I received last week was a ‘flat pack’ model of a block of flats (although if you think that’s strange, wait until you see what else I got - hopefully i...
Ewing township — This was in Toronto. Couldn’t tell you what the facade was like underneath all of this- but it sure was exuberant on the outside. Reminds me of my job as art director- when a client wants everything ...
Pennington — A blizzard is bearing down and our walk today was crazy-cold, windy and damp, the marshy spots crunchy with ice. I really couldn’t get warm. And so I revisited summer when the grasses are tall and th...
Pennington — Walking with Maggie and I had to stop to re-tie a shoelace. I looked over and saw this- lichens and moss covering a tree trunk. The colors were amazing- everything from deep emerald to weathered copp...
Portland — After the snow and ice storms of the last week the woods behind my husband’s business were turned into a winter wonderland.
Aizuwakamatsu — Above photo is a creeper shot I needed to take at the Aizuwakamatsu station. This father was hiding his phone under his leg, sneaking in Puzzles and Dragons moves while his son and wife were looking t...
Shanghai — 90 min. cruise tour, up and down the Huanpu river. Wind was cold, but the illuminated buildings on the Bund were so beautiful.
Makawao — If you don’t know what (or where) you’re looking at, if you’ve never been to this locus of the planet (Maui), then you might miss it in the relatively low-rez photo above. The ocean, that is. There....
Canton — I hope that if the first day isn’t a good one, then the rest get better. I really need a better one. Although the sun setting over Yankee Division Highway was a good turn in an otherwise dreary Day ...
Montpellier — Soon, I will have to get ready for work. But a few pages of a good book with my morning coffee is how I like to start the day.
Footscray — After a brief departure from environmental sketching, I’m back. And with renewed enthusiasm. This one is for Bernie, wherever in the world he might be right now.
Greenville — Out of all my New Years Eves, this one was pretty mild. No tequila shots laced with hot sauce, no games of pass the champagne bottle, no cigars and throwing up. No tears and fights with mom. No rollic...
Louisville — I ordered the kangaroo meatball for the sole purpose of being able to say that I’ve eaten kangaroo. Sure, it’s a bit vain of a motivation—“Hey, look how cool I am. I ate a marsupial meatball.” But le...
Porto — I don’t have very many clear images of my Portuguese grandfather. I remember white teeth closing around the end of a cigar, a pipe, cigarettes. He was nicotine and silence, a man constructed more from...
Aireys inlet — When I saw the colour of the sea this morning (nothing if not burnt umber), I knew I had to add to the series of sketches that I undertook last year. I confess that I almost entitled this sketch The ...
Toronto — a witness The view is magnificent. Okay, maybe not magnificent, but for the children here, it really is pretty cool. You are looking at the atrium inside the Hospital for Sick Children (affectionate...
Butterworth — We live in a world where just about anyone can take center-stage at any time. You don’t even have to plan for it, sometimes; upload the wrong (right?) photo, and boom, you could become a meme overnig...
Baltimore — Backstage with ‘Cher’ for New Years at Freddie’s in Arlington. Terrific show, wonderful people. 11 costume changes so we climbed this flight of stairs countless times. Tough to have the dressing room ...
Sevenoaks — I reckon nothing beats the smell of freshly-baked bread! My wife received a dough hook for her old Kenwood Chef mixer (inherited from her grandmother) as one of her Christmas presents last week, so s...
Aizuwakamatsu — My breath is white. I got off the bullet train from Sendai to Koriyama, step on the platform and my initial thoughts were: fuck me, it’s cold. I’m one of those who just, well, wings it. In my profes...
Wellington — I’m the cat. Not the dog. You wave a stick at me I run away, not towards. That’s not entirely true. But by nature I do tend to peg my tent in the pessimism camp, as opposed to the optimism one. This i...
Miyagino ward — The photo is from last night at the koban (policy station) in the Sendai station. Sendai, is in the northern region of Japan in the Miyagi prefecture. It is the capitol city, and known for the lush gr...
Shanghai — About an hour, people danced with latin music etc. The studio was full, young instructures teached a lot of students. In China, this looked be very popular.
Montpellier — Watching the last flames of 2013 burn… Getting ready for 2014…
Sevenoaks — I admit that I had to cheat with the photo: I’m 30 miles from London, so this is taken from the TV. Sorry! God already knows 2014 inside out of course, but I’m looking forward to discovering what He ...
New york — The invitation encourages guests to wear “graphic flair.” I have no idea what the hosts had in mind. This is my best guess.
Accra — Again - look at the lights not the man. I was seated - waiting for some friends. My girl friend had just broke some grave news to me. I was in a position where I had to make some critical life changi...
Aireys inlet — Each day as if my first at work; Each year as if my last.
Chuo ward — My travel exploration technique is to walk, walk, walk, and then walk some more. Occasionally with a destination in mind, but usually not. This walk took me to the rather stunning Osaka JR station. L...
Chicago — la certitude que quelqu’un m’accompagne compense l’absence du sourire de l’amour manqué dans Big Sur à nouveau le destin puise dans la nuit comme des armes des retrouvailles comme un sourire qui va, ...
Petaling jaya — For 10 minutes, the sky echoed with the boom of fireworks. As the first din died, the mosque’s PA system went into overdrive with an (overly?) enthused nasyid song, complete with elaborate male vocal ...
Chicago — A few hours before leaving Chicago for France, we walked through a mall on Michigan ave. It was almost night time and all the shops were closed by then, and only a few people were still wandering arou...
Saskatoon — Our son has become an intelligent, thoughtful, resourceful, and responsible young man. Our house is clean and at the moment, bug-free. At the moment there are no mosquitoes. We have drinkable tap wate...
Tulum — Ed pulled our last bottle of water off the shelf and was about to open it when I noticed a huge spider on the side of the bottle. Huge, as in a leg span of 2 inches. Huge for a Canadian to see. Now, ...
Toronto — It had been a long week. The storm blew in for Solstice, turning the longest night of the year into a wet icy one. The forecast said there was a 95% chance that the predicted amount of precipitation ...
Hong kong — Usually, when it is late at night after a long day of work and I am sitting alone in my Tokyo apartment, I am eating from a plastic bento box with disposable chopsticks. The less dishes to wash the be...
Montpellier — J’ai toujours aimé l’hiver. Le froid, d’accord : le froid me vivifie. Il a plu samedi, mais aujourd’hui c’est grand soleil. Les jours sont courts et pour en profiter, il nous faut partir tôt. Ballade ...
Montpellier — La permanence des choses…
Singapore — There’s something distinctive about the Parkview Square building. It’s fairly tall, first of all — weighing in at 24 stories high, it dwarfs many of the other buildings in the vicinity. But the heig...
Richmond — doing a little work to get ready for what is sure to be a very busy 2014. trying to remember that choosing what to NOT do next is the most important part of my creative process.
Hellerup — What’s left of it is enough for to sit and with no hurry reflect on what happened with you in 2013. Good things has happened. Exciting things. What made, make and will continently make me extremely ...
Hakata ward — 4:30 pm on December 31st, 2013. If I was in New York, this would be around the time I roll-out of bed. I’d pull out the sparkly gold Louboutins. Steam the little black dress. My breakfast, bubbly, as ...
Collingwood — I’m always a bit tentative when using the word ironic; especially after that song1. This time last year for my birthday we devoured an Indian feast in Tokyo with Godfather beer and red wine. This ye...
Louisville — The tree is still up. It will be up for a few more days. My wife insists on celebrating the real 12 days of Christmas, which come after the big day. I’m fine with that, since we put the tree up a week...
Chuo ward — What is it with the south and women? In the US, there are Southern Belles and in Japan, Hakata Bijin (博多美人). Hakata is a southern region of Japan. Bijin means beauty. This region is known for the beau...
Nishi ward — Mr. Driver, or 運転手さん (untenshu-san), was what he told me to call him when I inquired his name. Why? I asked. He said with a jolly smile: “I am at your service.” There was an instant rapport and we i...
West malling — I’m led to believe that this is a pretty rare sight these days. In Offham, a village 3 miles away from my own, they have a Quintain on the village green. This one, although heavily restored over the...
London — because I am at Longitude Zero, astride the Meridian Line and, if only for these few seconds, I want to fix exactly how far away you are from me, in space for sure, but most of all, in time.
Salt lake city — I’m from Tennessee. We don’t know what snow is - if the forecasters mention it, there’s city-wide panic and a sudden bread and milk shortage. I’ve read books about snow. I have imagined it and seen p...
Toronto — Getting a haircut has turned into a ritual, a tradition I’ve been practicing for the past couple of years. A reminder to let go, leave the past behind and move forward to the next phrase. To keep thi...
Ad deyorah — Sunday. Visited the Coptic Church in Old Cairo. As Voltaire would have said: “some wicked villains in an ugly church complete, without style, the rituals of a religion whose prayers they do not even u...
Hayama — “What are you doing here!? I remember your way with words. I’d never met anyone with such a command and so interesting. If you have time, I would love for you to be a guest on my blog - write up somet...
Singapore — I know I’m not alone when I confess just so. I talk to cities, as though a casual friend, some perhaps a one-time lover. I lie to myself and them that I’m coming home but they all know there just isn...
Chuo ward — On the southern tip of Japan, there is a land centered around a castle and a bear. The people are kind and directionally challenged (The tourist information woman told me to make a left, while tracin...
Tokyo — Some years ago, I was walking in Meiji Jingu with some friends and a Indian man came to us and ask “where he could find God” in Japan, since in that shrine there was no god. We told him maybe Kamakura...