Ponderings

One of the nice things about a new relationship are the pockets of community you discover yourself a part of when your partner invites you to one of ‘her’ parties. She’s a dancer and a drummer and a contradancer–a spirit-filled woman. That leads to all sorts of interesting new things, […]

What does it take to get canned just six months after you’ve been hired to run one of America’s most iconic magazine publishers?  I wondered this when I read a story in Friday’s WSJ about Time CEO Jack Griffin, who got the ax after his boss, Time Warner CEO Jeff […]

There are times when I reap the benefits of living in a small New England town, and find enjoyment in the depths of winter. Take last Thursday, when I took the truck to the dump to get rid of two week’s worth of cafe recycling. I thought ahead to an […]

An Alabama man deliberately destroyed two huge oak trees at Auburn University after his team lost in the Iron Bowl. Disgusting! The trees were a gathering place, and a place of celebration. Could this guy be any sicker? It’s a consensus: everyone I’ve talked to feels that a heinous crime […]

For the past few days I’ve been in Melbourne, Australia’s proud and immigrant enriched second city. It’s a city of four million and right on a bay, St. Kilda is the local seashore. The last time I was here in 2008, I saw a gigantic steel wheel on the horizon, […]

Here is the view that awaits anyone smart enough to venture down here to the very bottom of Australia’s Victoria state. Most people visit these striking limestone escarpments by car, driving down the Great Ocean Road. But others like many we met this week, wouldn’t think of driving and instead, […]

Our day of hiking today on the Great Ocean Road took us to an iconic lighthouse near where for years, many ships found themselves beached on reefs. It’s called the Shipwreck coast and today, the once crucial lighthouse is no longer illuminated, replaced by a simple solar-powered light that’s much […]

At dinner last night, here at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, the discussion wove all over the map. Seated with me were a retired couple from the UK, Mark and Jackie, a journalist from Italy named Barbara, and her hostess, a rep from Victoria Tourism named Margaret.  As the Victorian chardonnay […]

My feet are sore, but it’s a good kind of sore, after our 22 kilometer hike on Victoria’s Great Ocean Walk.  I’m happily dry and comfy sipping tea at the Great Ocean Ecolodge, located on a flat plain where in the distance a herd of kangaroos are munching on grass. […]

I’m up and ready here at Chris’s Beacon Point, a lovely spot perched high above Apollo Bay with fantastic views of the Southern Ocean.  This place has a long history, first opening up here in 1979 and is all pinewood, with floor to ceiling glass walls that let diners soak […]