Image courtesy of travelfrance.com.au Fifty miles northwest of Paris lies the small town of Giverny, home to Claude Monet. Monet, of course, was a French impressionist artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, famous for his gorgeous landscapes--and, in particular, his paintings of his own water lily pond. Courtesy of Welcome to Claude Monet's Courtesy of Welcome to Claude Monet's Monet purchased the house in Giverny in 1890, after renting it for a couple of years. He painted... Read Full Story
In August 2004, I boarded a London-bound 747 to start the adventure of a lifetime. I was moving to my beloved England to teach for a year. I knew it would be a grand experience in many ways. While in England, I learned to live with less choice in the grocery store (the cereal aisles in American supermarkets can still scare me), no car, great public transportation...and I learned to speak a whole new type of English. I found that most Brits very much like Americans--whatever they think of... Read Full Story
This is one of my favorite pictures that I've taken. There is something about the pink building right on Victoria's Inner Harbour that I find gorgeous, especially in early spring, on a clear sunny day with a blooming tree in front of it. Victoria is a beautiful city--one I would love to visit again. Read Full Story
Warning: Not for the faint of stomach! This is a typical road through Tahoe National Forest--a main highway, actually. You can hear bits of inane conversation between my parents and I, but the full affect I was going for in this video was to show just how dizzying it can be to drive through the Sierra Nevada mountain range. So, have a Dramamine, and enjoy. Read Full Story
As I mentioned in my last post, Saturday found Mom, Dad and I driving through Tahoe National Forest. View Larger Map Above is a map of the route we took, going through Smartsville, Rough and Ready, Downieville, Sierra City, Grass Valley, Truckee, and finally heading back down Interstate 80 to get home. This is Gold Country (with capital letters). It is a wildly beautiful land full of rocky rivers, tall pines, and snow still scattered about in May. Mom--being the wonderful Mama she is... Read Full Story
My parents and I drove through Tahoe National Forest yesterday, stopping briefly in Grass Valley's old town for lunch, and enjoying the tiny communities we drove through along the way. A few minutes after stopping to use the whole-in-the-ground toilets (surprisingly, they didn't smell bad) at Yuba Pass, we came upon a small turnout promising great views of a valley below. The sign wasn't lying. I took several pictures of this gorgeous valley in the middle of the Sierra Nevadas, struck by how... Read Full Story
I can't escape the fact that I'm a California Girl. Yeah, I was born in Nebraska, and when I moved to England in 2004, I swore I would never live in California again. I learned something in my return to the Golden State in 2006--you can take the girl out of California, but you can't take the blonde highlights, great smile, and love of the ocean out of the California Girl. What most non-Californians don't realize is that most of the West Coast is rocky and ferocious. In my travels, I've met a... Read Full Story
In the movie, Roman Holiday, Audrey Hepburn famously got her hair cut in Rome. When I went to Rome, I wanted to get my hair cut--not because Audrey did it, but because in Rome, one is surrounded by stylists who know what they're doing. Let me start by saying that I am not impulsive about my hair. A decision to cut more than a couple of inches off is a major deal, requiring hours of agonizing and asking at least fifty friends and family members what they think. I have, in my life, willingly... Read Full Story
Photographic evidence that Ireland is, indeed, the Emerald Isle. (Taken by Yours Truly with a Vivitar digital camera shortly after taking off from Kerry Airport on a RyanAir flight to London's Stanstead Airport.) Read Full Story
