I always knew a walk in the woods did something for me. Little did I know I was practicing the Japanese health tradition of Shinrin-yoku, forest bathing. This is an article from Time, that explains it well. It’s the one thing I miss from living in the rain forest, my almost daily forays onto the…

I thought retirement meant a more relaxed pace to accomplish the activities of daily life and extra time for the things you love to do. Problem is, my to-do list hasn’t retired and continues to grow daily, hence the title of this post. So here I am sneaking in a smidgen of blog time.  An…

Perplexing So, why are there gas masks in hotel room closets? Someone in the group guessed their use was  for pollution. It’s smoggy, but not gas mask worthy. I thought maybe for protection in case of attack. You never know with the state of the world and China’s proximity to threatening regimes. The real answer?…

What to do when faced with 27 hours of flying, a six hour train ride and four days on a river boat, all in a two week period? You need to know that I’m not a big travel sleeper nor watcher of TV or movies (especially Air China’s selections this trip), so those don’t appear…

Most meals, other than breakfast, were not included in our tour, but the two most memorable lunches were.  The first was in a family’s courtyard house in a Hutong in Beijing’s old town. A Hutong is a maze of attached one level houses and courtyards, built hundreds of years ago. We squeezed into a living…

There are so many ways to approach the subject of food, it may have to be in two posts. I could do it by the meal: brekkie, snacks, lunch and dinner, by the odd signage translations, or unusual offerings. How about we start with breakfast and snacks. Our accommodation, no matter luxury or basic, included…

That was the name of our China tour sold by UTO Vacations, based in Ontario, Canada. Background: These are super low cost trips, subsidized by government and businesses, requiring visits to factory “museums” to hear a sales pitch, followed by a shopping visit in their showroom. There is no obligation to buy, and travellers are…

65?! Making it to this official marker of old age, in numbers of years  I’ve  successfully  outlived two grandparents and one parent. Beating the family averages, I was lucky to celebrate it twice, thanks to crossing the international dateline. This was taken on Birthday #1 in Chongqing China, at an airport Burger King. Lots more…

Seeking more compact, portable means of ceative expression is an ongoing goal. Gone are the days when I travelled with a suitcase dedicated to one 21 colour fair isle project, AKA Alice Starmore’s Marina. A close runner up is when we walked 500 miles on the Camino de Santiago and I insisted on carrying 13…

I’m dating myself here. That song, Sailing, by Christopher Cross brings back warm happy memories of the early months of C’s and my relationship. Truthfully, the only thing about sailboats that takes me away is painting them. It’s a thing here in British Columbia – boat portraits. Pets, houses, wedding flowers and boats, I’ve had…