Queensland Cowboys

April 10 – May 8 Queensland, Australia Through the dense understory of fan palms and fig vines, there, right there in front of us, was the unmistakable blue skin, red wattle and bright black eyes of Australia’s largest flightless bird: the cassowary. In Daintree National Park, Far North Queensland, we were visiting the ancient and… Continue reading Queensland Cowboys

River Town

Everyone smiling in this photo...a rare occurence!

Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China September 20 – 24 Reflecting on the past month spent in China, I am preparing to put pen to paper but am suddenly compelled to give up my seat to a family of water buffalo passing by the river’s edge. Ryan and I jump up in unison, a squealing, lunging Oliver… Continue reading River Town

The Good Earth

Farmers, Zhongdian

Zhongdian, Yunnan Province, China Without hesitating to shake the granite out of our shoes, we had hopped a local bus from Qiatou and the vistas of Tiger Leaping Gorge to press on north to the very brink of the Yunnan and the frontier it shared with the Tibetan plateau. Zhongdian, or “Shangri-La” as the local… Continue reading The Good Earth

The Zen Killer

Within the rectangular garden at Ryoanji Temple, the fifteen rocks and meticulously groomed white gravel represent the “quintessence of Zen art”. Arranged in no particular formation by a nameless monk in the 15th century, the brochure suggests each visitor “find out for himself what the garden signifies”, and millions of miniature rock gardens in psychiatrists’… Continue reading The Zen Killer