This program (14 mins.) focuses on New York State's colonial background, especially the Finger Lakes and Adirondacks

I expected the Mekong River jungle to be relatively silent. But it is not. In a humid, green undergrowth, I stride to the sound of distant thunder. A gasoline motor, at first just a low drone, eventually chugs by on some hidden tributary of the larger river, probably carrying locals going about their daily chores, or hauling lumber, or indulging tourists. My view is obscured by the ferns, palms, mangroves, and nature generally. Other interruptions on the path include a m

It is finally time to leave Hanoi, the city, for a gambit in the countryside. But it takes time, as the metropolis is far-flung, hanging on like a biting gnat, dousing the air with vague pollutants, funneling vehicles through multiplying passageways and asphalt lures. “Development” is everywhere, much more so than I remember 10 years ago during my first visit to Vietnam. Where there was a rice field years ago, today there are apartments and western-style manufacturing facil

“The swallow has set her six young on the rail, and looks seaward.” James Lee’s Wife (1864, pt 3 st.1), Robert Browning Before Autumn takes over the North American landscape, a quick look-back at one summertime highlight deserves mention. Ghosts abound in Maine, so if you are interested in observing one go to the Captain Lord Mansion in Kennebunkport, Maine, along the Atlantic sea shelf. Captain Nathaniel Lord, a shipbuilder, had the home built in 1812, and his family lived

Vancouver Island is a peaceful place on the Pacific Ocean, with big trees and even bigger secrets.

Cowboy Valley, Heart of BC I had lunch of sorts at the Coldwater Hotel in Merritt, British Columbia, located 50 miles south of Kamloops on the Coquihalla Hwy 5 in the beautiful Nicola Valley-- one of British Columbia's major ranching and cattle areas since the late 1800's. Merritt has been called the "Country Music Capital of Canada." Every year country music is celebrated with Merritt's Walk of Stars along the banks of the Nicola River, east of the larger more populated ba

Off the beaten track in Alberta

"To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher." Pascal, Pensees, Sect.1 Another of Pascal's remarks, written only a few paragraphs after the one quoted above, states, "People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others." To engage in the act of discovery, I say, one must travel -- either literally or in the imagination. Travelling "literally" can be expensive and time-con

A subdued sunset on Clear Lake petered out as clouds moved in over central Canada, bringing rain the next day. It is cool, and the mornings in late September welcome a sprinkling of frost over the brilliantly yellow leaves of the poplar and aspen (some trees already stripped clean by winds). Shrub berries, like red huckleberries, weigh heavy on branches just waiting for their demise in the stomach of a passing black bear. A person named Grey Owl was sitting on a log, tending