Tag Archives: landscape

After being tipped onto the tarmac at Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek, Namibia, one night last month, the first thing I noticed – after the cold, mind you; it was still mid-winter in the Southern Hemisphere – was the sky. The sky was black, with very little ambient light. And it was full of stars: stars so close […]

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Castles: they are a study in contrasts. There is nothing quite like the glimpse of a medieval castle on a sunny day to evoke thoughts of fairy tales, with damsels and dragons and chivalrous knights… But, once inside, it is easier to imagine the cold drafts, the lack of light, and the drudgery of those who work […]

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Xiamen, an island-city on China’s southeast coast, has been ranked as China’s second “most suitable city for living” … as well as China’s “most romantic leisure city”, making it a popular destination for domestic tourists. It is reasonably accessible to foreign tourists, as well. Some time ago, while my husband was busy with meetings in a nearby free-trade zone, I […]

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“There, to your left, you can see one of British Columbia’s highest waterfalls,” our guide and boat operator Tim said – and laughed, because we couldn’t see the cliffs rising either side of us, or the waters falling from the tops, or indeed, anything more than four feet away. Forest fires are raging across British […]

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It is late spring in Middle Tennessee and the dogwood and magnolia trees are in full bloom. The grass is green and the honeysuckle is hanging from the woods in fragrant bunches. I am always amazed by how much wild, wooded space there is in Tennessee. From the iconic mountains in the Appalachian chain in the east, to the fertile valleys […]

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