Bora Bora French Polynesia When Peter and I first met, over a quarter century ago, we decided we wanted to visit Bora Bora together. It’s taken us awhile, but we have arrived! Bora Bora is like a mystery that slowly … Read More
Kondalilla Falls National Park Only 100 km north of Brisbane is a subtropical rainforest filled with eucalyptus trees and waterfalls. Kondalilla Falls rainforest is our first Australian rainforest hike. I’m eager to see how southern, subtropical rainforests compare to the … Read More
Life Down Under: Lady Musgrave Island, Queensland The Great Barrier Reef My family’s adventures at the Great Barrier Reef include a brief visit to Lady Musgrave Island (an uninhabited island in the middle of the Coral Sea). The island is … Read More
Life Down Under: Straddie Island Below: Frenchman’s Beach Life Down Under: Straddie Island, Mix Hart 2017 North Stradbroke “Straddie” Island (Minjerribah) is one of my favourite places on Earth to date. Somehow, it has managed to preserve its wildness and … Read More
Life Down Under: Great Barrier Reef Above: The reef at low tide, with Lady Musgrave Island in the distance: top of coral adapted to withstand air and sun for several hours each day. The Great Barrier Reef (GBR), one of … Read More
Life Down Under: Surf Sisters Cylinder Beach, Mooloomba Minjerribah, Queensland This weekend we took the train from Brisbane to a ferry bound for Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island)—rumoured to have the best surfing in Queensland. *I prefer the aboriginal names for … Read More
Life Down Under: Surfer’s Paradise, Gold Coast We were only in Australia a day and a half before deciding to check out the Gold Coast. I wanted to see what all the hype was about. We took the train and … Read More
Life Down Under: Living in Queensland, Australia We have survived nearly a week in our new home down under. My family is living in Brisbane this fall (spring in North America). Fall in Brisbane is absolutely tropical— temperatures in the … Read More
American Jazz Age Literature American Jazz Age Literature was a favourite of mine when I was in my teens/early twenties. I suppose I was drawn to the Flappers of Nineteen Twenties as they romanticized (and mirrored) the excitement and slight … Read More
Atlanta’s Old Growth Forest Fernbank In the heart of the city of Atlanta is a small section (65 acres) of old growth (up to 300 years old), hard wood forest that has been preserved. Atlanta was officially established in 1839; … Read More
Beachcombing at Pass-A-Grille, Florida Birds The photographs in this post were taken on the beaches near Pass-A-Grille, Shell Key and St. Pete, Florida. The ocean that meet the sands is teaming with wild life, such as dolphins (300 call the … Read More
While exploring Atlanta, Georgia, I was eager to visit the place where Margaret Mitchell penned “Gone With the Wind.” I wanted to see where she sat as she churned out the 1000 page classic American novel. Below: front view of … Read More
Humans Value What They Know If children do not explore nature, they do not know nature. They will not fight to protect what they do not know. It is imperative that parents take their children to the wild spaces near … Read More
-Mix Hart A winter forest walk is like visiting a stunning, pristine foreign country with shy, yet welcoming inhabitants. Cedar trees relax their branches and snow thumps to the ground in greeting. Lynx, moose, rabbit, coyotes and deer walk the … Read More
I adore this passage from Pablo Neruda’s Love Poem XII (translated by W. S. Merwin).* It conjures up a deep understanding of how desperately we cling to our past. The picture of the abandoned, snow-filled nest visually imparts the same … Read More