Category: Travel
Singing for our lives in Eugene, Oregon
THE CROWD IS GROWING. A small band of three musicians is setting up a microphone and speakers. Behind them looms the newly installed black iron fence that surrounds the Eugene Federal Building, where arrested immigrants are questioned in the offices of ICE. Two rows of color photos are tied to the black grating of the…
Foodies in Japan: A Cooking Class Diary (2nd of 2)
Part 2: Japanese “food for socializing” and savory pancakes LAST WEEK, I POSTED THE FIRST PART of this “diary” about cooking classes in Japan. In those first two classes, sushi making in Tokyo and ramen soup in Kyoto, Erin and I try our hand at familiar Japanese dishes. In the cooking classes described below, we…
Foodies in Japan: A Cooking Class Diary (1st of 2)
Part 1: We make sushi and learn the secrets of ramen WHAT IS THE FIRST THING that pops into your mind when someone mentions Japanese food? Is it sushi? Or Ramen? Tempura? Or something else? I love food, and cooking is a creative outlet as essential to my identity as writing. Those who have read…
Japanese Shrine Stamps and our guide, Yuki
MY DAUGHTER ERIN AND I ARRIVED at Tokyo airport at 6:00 am on an overcast December morning. Two hours later, we met Yuki, our guide and driver for the next six days. He would become a friend who opened new windows into Japanese culture. Tired but eager to immerse ourselves in Japan, we waited for…
To the Man who Taught Bamboo Weaving
2023, Luang Prabang, Laos I WAS ONE OF A SMALL GROUP gathered around, eager to learn the craft of bamboo weaving. We sat at a row of worktables. You sat in front of us on a low stool not more than eight inches high, stripping the tough outer skin from lengths of bamboo with a…
A Traveler’s View of Japan’s Public Lavatories
ON OUR FIRST MORNING IN JAPAN, my daughter and I went to a small cooking class held on the second floor of a business building near our hotel. For several hours we learned to form rice balls, pat raw salmon into the correct shape, and roll chopped ingredients between layers of rice and dried seaweed.…
The Vanishing Kimono
THE IKEBANA INSTRUCTOR, a tiny woman with hands no bigger than those of a ten-year-old girl, expertly flipped the dangling sleeves of her teal-blue kimono out of the way as she placed one branch studded with plum buds and three saucer-sized, gold chrysanthemums into a low bowl. Later, at a tea ceremony, we watched as…
Words in Malaga
SOME MARRIAGES LAST TOO LONG, and so do some honeymoons. Mine had already lasted seven months, and we were again in the middle of an argument that left me sitting alone watching the road go by. Tom drove, the back of his head all I could see from the rear seat of the van. Outside…
India Times Three: 4
2024 continues The next morning, Erin and I flew south to Madurai. Our new driver, Mooney, was an incredibly handsome young man clad in an immaculate white shirt and clean, pressed slacks. The seats in his SUV were encased in spotless white covers, and between the passenger seats he had placed a basket of snack-size…
India Times Three: 3
2001 Continues Una and I had a decision to make. A longer, more comfortable trip versus a faster trip in an Indian second-class train car. I was inclined to experience traveling like a local. Van travel and Girl Scout backpacking taught me I didn’t always need luxury to enjoy a journey. Una was older, but…