Des moines — We live in a world where a massive amount of capital — money, time, energy, creativity — is invested in objects that have no other purpose than to inspire. To aesthetically please. To brighten up an a...
San francisco — Commuting is where time takes a vacation. In the mornings (Mondays especially), I ask myself what specifically happened to all the plans I had during the weekend, and where did I go wrong. Truthfully ...
Aireys inlet — “In the offing” refers to things in the foreseeable future, not happening now, not even in five minutes, but sure to happen before too long. It’s an expression, deliciously inexact, yet often uttered ...
Mitaka — In Inokashira Park the world of reality and fiction begin to blend near the jet lag fuzzied edges. The scene is too perfect. Are the falling yellow leaves real or has each one been painstakingly hand ...
Al lawayah — Flat and dead banks of the Mahmoudiah Canal - on the shore a few Arabs run naked - from time to time a voyager on horseback passes, draped in white and trotting on his turkish saddle. Passengers: Mme ...
Beheira — Tuesday, we leave - the Pasha salutes us from his window. It’s cold all day and we keep our overcoats. On the sea shore we meet the camels with the dates again. The man who was beaten, seeing us from ...
London — Sir John Betjeman, seen here looking up and admiring St Pancras Station, was a well-loved poet in Britain and further afield, although to fully appreciate some of his poetry you need to have quite a g...
London — For years Kings Cross was the worst mainline terminus in London. You walked through the barrier into a formless low-ceilinged seventies nowhere like everywhere else – WH Smith, Boots, Upper Crust - t...
Tokyo — Japan, prepares eggs so well. That eggs benedict is from my favorite (secret) brunch place in Roppongi Hills. I find the curly fries a charming addition — especially, since I would never choose curl...
Cross lake — What is it like to grow up on Reserve? This is a question I have often asked myself. Growing up in an urban center, I don’t know what it is like to live on reserve. We learn from history books about w...
Canmore — There’s something about finding a stack of old, musty books in an antique store. Love looking for inscriptions and in this case, the oldest was from 1908. Got lost in mental time travel paging through...
Tokyo — Being born in one country, growing up in another, and now living in a third, people often ask me: where do you feel home is? It’s quite simple. Home is wherever Comrade Bunny feels comfortable enough...
Branson — People be hatin’ on the Midwest — otherwise known as the ‘flyover states’ — but most who do so have either never visited (relying on the TV-version of the region to inform their opinions), or have onl...
Laguna beach — Each color drops from my eyes, the cool ones, the warm ones. I remember us in the airport holding your hand, your sweater a stretched burgundy with bright pink bikini promising fun times at the beach....
London — This is the tree that has appeared during the past week at St Pancras Station. And very grand it is too. But then you would expect that from a tree sponsored by Fortnum & Mason, wouldn’t you?!
Rasheed — We go out with him; we visit a rice factory: large wooden crushers completed by an iron screw. Hand-operated cotton mill: man who turned the reel, bent double, which came again and again like a horse ...
New york — “Who is this?” she asks. “Springsteen.” “Right.” She continues gluing an anchor piece onto the crest of a wave. Unlike the most of the people I know in New York, these friends of mine own their ap...
Makawao — Nearby, long dark planes of sugarcane rustle in the light trade winds. Traffic along the highway hums, adding its inorganic counterpoint to the proceedings. Inside the car, I see my hanai son Snapcha...
Fushimi ward — wa——
Tokyo — It is said the Japanese are attune to ‘umami’, a sixth sense which apparently makes taste buds keener. There are many studies and articles about umami and I don’t know what is true or false. My parent...
London — No, this isn’t a reference to Doctor Who’s arch enemy! In UK universities, the person in charge - equivalent to the CEO I suppose - is usually referred to as the Vice-Chancellor. But where I work - B...
Tokyo — The last time I lived in Japan, the Internet wasn’t really a thing yet. At least not for the general public. I had heard about something called Mosaic and it sounded interesting, but ultimately, I sti...
Tokyo — It’s 3:45am and my body is somewhere else looking forward to lunch. The gate is still closed. They begin to rouse themselves around 5 and as the morning traffic picks up the cricket chirps of a whist...
Toronto — Historical ephemera: postcards with fictional dreams from notable Torontonians. Find out more here.
Toronto — I have a fascination with old signs and the stories they tell of the city that used to be. I spend a lot of time looking up as I wander around downtown, while so many others are looking down at their ...
Brandon — This past spring we had a really bad storm move through our area and a pair of Cedar Waxwings sought refuge in our apple tree. We have never seen had these birds in our yard before. They built a nest ...
Brandon — There is no greater joy than taking a stray animal and giving it a forever home. Strays love in way that is incomparable with any other animal, I think they know you gave them a chance at love that no...
Gallatin gateway — I attended a very strange and interesting event recently — the HATCH conference — up in the mountains of Montana. The first few days consisted of what I’d loosely call ‘drinks and networking time’ wit...
London — Although almost everyone agrees that green issues are important, with most Governments at least making noises that would lend support to that view, in reality such issues rarely top the agenda. One t...
Rasheed — Purple clouds - wide path - country houses around the city - palm trees with their clusters of dates. The comparison by Sancho in the wedding of Gamache episode: “Wouldn’t you say she was like a walki...
Santiago — I hate it when I don’t have time to thoroughly explore a city. I’m visiting Marrakech in a few days — to sample foods and take a whirlwind tour of the city with a chef friend who’s seeking inspiratio...
Al azaritah wa ash shatebi — Thursday morning superb weather ; everyone is gay, we are about to land. We hire a pilot for the Alexandria pass ; he has a white turban - (on board on the gangways we had two hadjis from Algeria, who...
Cardiff — It’s easy to become numb - set on autopilot - on common walks along familiar routes. Your mind is ticking over things just passed or yet to do. But you get the odd moment when appreciation of where yo...
Yamanakako — After having run a couple of the 13 sections of the 161km-long UTMF1 race course, I’d say that one can capture a beautiful view of the iconic mount every three kilometres, making it 53 views of Mt. Fu...
Gentofte — Sky colored in washed blue. A seagull with pink wings colored by sun rays. First frost on magnolia’s leaf. A girl with enormous scarf. A little dog in a fur jacket. Crumbled thin ice. Snow looking li...
Tokyo — Aoyama reminds me so much of the West Village, my longtime neighborhood of choice in NYC. I can roam the streets for hours. The area is small, so the craziness of Omotesando is in my face before I k...
New york — It’s that intersection of days; when Sunday meets that day of the month when you can’t put it off any longer.
Nozawaonsen — I bathed under that beautiful roof. The yuruyu (ゆる湯) or, gentle water, into which I had dipped myself was anything but gentle at 44℃. Not to say it wasn’t comforting or warming — it was — but it was ...
Kula — …that life can be perceived afresh—even in conditions of turmoil, chaos, even despair. What else is there to do, anyway? Give in? Give up? Sure, that is all within the realm of possibility; it even ...
The pas — The word “moccasin” comes from the Cree, or Algonquian, word maskisina, meaning shoes or footwear. The word describes the soft leather or fur slipper or boots worn by Indigenous people. Back into the ...
Singapore — It’s all well and good you sitting there reading Nabokov but tell me, where’s the money coming from? You think that pays the bills?
The pas — In Joann Archibald’s paper ‘Coyote Learns to Make a Story-basket.’ She use the modifier of story-basket to describes the steps that she takes to create her own stories. She speaks of the interviews an...
The pas — The weather changed on Saturday. It was warmer at 7:30 that evening then it was when I woke in the morning.
Jackson heights — Elderly men with woolen scarves and newsboy caps, seemingly from the center of Montevideo; young workers with hoodies and ball caps, likely from a construction site around the corner— all of them spe...
Toronto — Remember how you’re supposed to measure twice, cut (or buy) once? Yeah, we did it backwards. We thought it would be bigger on the inside…
New york — A likely scene, voices in a bar on Grand Street in Williamsburg on a Friday night. The ceiling is made of bowling alley and one of the voices is mine, and earlier I was reading Meditations in an Emerg...
Philadelphia — More accurately, I had just moved back to the mountains after a year and a half hiatus from ski bumming. I couldn’t help myself from moving back for another taste of high Rockies air, but this time I ...
Hong kong — i follow twisting stairs and streets up and up until the sound of violins draws me still further to a string quartet playing to an empty street – construction site backdrop, cigarette scattered st...
Reykjavik — There are statues sprinkled around the city of Reykjavík — a variety of artists are represented, and a variety of themes. Some are what you would expect — the typical range of long-dead politicians o...
Tübingen — Sports - a world of dumb. Pointless exercises, bordering on deliberate self harm more often than not. Obnoxious group narcissism. Macho attitudes and behavior, crowds of spectators behaving like monke...
Canmore — Love spending quality time with my folks, even if it’s just to drive an hour and a half to grab coffee. Happy anniversary to them.
Tübingen — Even though it’s benign there are few things stationary about the station. The hustle & bustle my hometown can muster takes place here. It’s enough to make you wonder: how can all this be stopped ...
Aireys inlet — It’s that time of year again. This pic was taken in November, a year ago, just as summer began to awaken the local reptile population. It’s an Eastern Brown, who was chasing a lizard down our garde...
Singapore — When the little one gets excited and joyful about the many presents he is expecting to receive and how many Xmas mementos he is going to make to give them away, how can I possibly let him know how I f...
Tokyo — I bought the Decal on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/creativedecalskin Recently, many people are putting some stickers of brand, services or company on their laptop. I think that they are very alike...
Wellington — I don’t think I can point to a particular moment in time and say, “that was when I started liking indoor plants”. Plants have always been a part of the background such that I really only notice them ...
New york — I take the express in the mornings. Eleven stops, but only the two last hop neighborhoods, the Financial District to 14th to Herald Square, twenty blocks in a gulp. This was a city center once, when t...
Tokyo — I was born left-handed. Well according to my father I was. In my parent’s and grandparents’ eras, left-handed people were looked down upon. Inferior. Only because they are different. So I was forced...
Singapore — It seems to be clearer in the East. Perhaps the old Buddhist mantra about living in the present as a form of liberation might as well have been created as a byproduct of pure necessity. When we live...
Tübingen — Maybe you’ll dream of a blurred christmas, like I did. Or maybe you’ll dream of me, blurred, your brain chemistry turning me into a watercolor version of myself. I like to float, you know that. One d...
Flagstaff — I only like my body in the morning. When I wake up and prepare for the morning’s training, I’ve started doing a double take at my body— that trusty machine of flesh, blood, bones, and various necess...
Accra metropolis — I have often wondered how a story could change the way someone saw the world till I realised - It could - Till I decided to tell my own story. I have been living on this shore for a while now. The se...
Pamplona — In Pamplona, start your morning in the old cafe on La Plaza del Castillo. It will be raining, because it is November, and the season has just passed. (Except, there is no season in Pamplona. Just hot,...
Singapore — It would have been the most perfect moment to be sitting in punggol park now. I can imagine you cringing at each flash ;-)
Ise — The fence you see is wood hewn from hinoki1. This hinoki fence glowed. It was unnaturally smooth to the touch. The sort of smooth you want to take your face to, to push your cheek against and close yo...
Moscow — “So, what do you think of Moscow?”, asks my mom. I hadn’t been in town for two years, and though the pace of change isn’t as furious as in the dashing 90s, this city isn’t one to stand still. I pond...
Accra — Pain Betrayal Frustration Love.
Singapore — 4:30 already.
Tokyo — This was an unexpected gift. It made my month. I am so happy right now. Over the moon happy. Like omgbestgifteveriamsoluckyilovelife-kind of kid happy. I can’t remember the last time I was this gi...
Boston — I was driving home from my graveyard shift and I got to this bus yard and the lot opened up the sky to to this amazing sunrise painting, lighting a beautiful fire across the sky. I had to pull over a...
Tokyo — Typical view of my morning commute. The aggression during peak commute times, is really something else. A neck, shoulder, head, top of a head or even hair is in my face, the side of my face, my back....
Aireys inlet — Our most colorful butterfly in the Otway Ranges pictured on a Hakea shrub in the nearby National Park. I see it every spring but haven’t had a camera at hand since 2005. It is a member of the ‘White...
Winter park — She walked outside after settling her tab, but then returned to the bar and had her dinner. She was in her late 30s - early 40s and had a stylized (almost Egyptian) sun tattoo on her upper arm. She s...
Singapore — Sat in our old Starbucks choosing the next book to read. This was never a time to read but a time to catch up. I miss her.
Canton — Around two years ago my Father, Michael, was diagnosed with stage four Renal Cell Carcinoma, known commonly as cancer of the kidney. He had shown no symptoms previous to waking up one day and not b...
Hull — I spent the weekend at the mouth of The Humber river in Hull. People talk of the north bank and the south bank. Hull is on the north bank and has arguably the best named literature festival in the wor...
Makawao — You may not be able to spot him, but that’s my hanai son Pono there, walking through the portal. I had just brought him Nutella sandwiches, as breakfast at school this morning was apparently unpalatab...
Kahului — On days like this when the trade winds aren’t blowing, they’re replaced instead by Kona breezes, which blows in the opposite direction, generally. Thus, they bring volcanic fog (or vog) over from the...
Montreal — I usually prefer the freedom of the aisle. But on my flight from New York to Montreal, I had no choice but the window seat. I’m rather glad about that. Recommended Background Music: Song For Zula by...
Toronto — One bun, halved. Avocado spread. Sriracha. Two eggs. This is the perfect breakfast.
Tübingen — I honestly believe some of the less palatable mentality traits observed in Germans are heavily influenced by weather. Stress testing your serenity by German weather might even be considered something ...
Tokyo — I had dinner with the ex-CEO of Microsoft Japan last night. Pardon while I repeat myself: I HAD DINNER WITH THE EX-CEO OF MICROSOFT JAPAN LAST NIGHT. Ok. That’s out of my system and now, a disclaime...
Singapore — This is in the western part of Singapore…I would not have ventured here if not for a company off site event nearby (paintballing by the way so you can imagine the tension). Surprisingly peaceful.
Robbinsdale — Even with swarms of cars moving into and out of the block like locusts, there are slices of time inside which you could imagine you were in a small town, in the middle of nowhere, at midnight.
London — I have often been told that this grand art deco building - the University of London’s Senate House - was to be Hitler’s UK headquarters once he had conquered Britain. (See here, for example.) I have...
Tübingen — I wondered what they were doing in that run down shack. It turned out ceramics were on their mind. Now I can’t help spying on them whenever I pass by. Windows are grimy, the interior is dimly lit, I...
New york — It took me a while to remember how it was like last year when I shared my 30th birthday with you. A little panicked by the blank that my memory drew - a long loading bar of white fog, I was searching ...
London — At least she has no worries about sunburn!
Paris — People say the French are rude. I’m not sure they deserve this reputation—they’re just more honest. If they don’t like you than they simply never talk to you. If they do than they always try to make y...
Addis ababa — Yes, this guy on the right is armed with an automatic rifle! In front of my son’t school! Background is that ever since the attacks in Kenya (Westgate Mall), people have grown fearful. And just a few...
San francisco — The fifth W ought to be “work”, as in the work I’m supposed to be doing instead of drawing letters, but…
Tokyo — “If more of us valued food, cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” – J.R.R. Tolkien Starting posts with quotes is corny, but that quote sums up what food means to me. A lot...
Singapore — from a lonely, rainy Singapore afternoon.
Tokyo — …one of the many peculiar things often requested in Japan. I quickly learned things, don’t always have to make sense.
Singapore — If I didn’t marry again and live the rest of my life exploring the world and life with that special someone as his wife. If I did not live and work overseas for a while. If I did not impart any positi...
Tokyo — In June of 2013 I moved from NYC to Tokyo. It’s pretty hard to leave a city like New York. There’s a vibrance I feel just walking down the street. It’s packed with people from all over the globe, foc...
Tucson — If everyone was standing outside my door, there would be people six deep between my door and the brick wall that separates the apartment complex from the parking lots and roads of this suddenly popula...
Hialeah — Miami has always been home, so maybe that’s why it feels so foreign, to revere the sounds of an urban oasis in the evening. But it’s a sensation that can be hard to experience, and even trickier to d...
Belfast — The reality that I’ve reached a place in life where this statement applies is perhaps the wider issue here.
Berlin — This beautiful font makes me want to continue writing more just so I can see more of it. Unfortunately work beckons…