earth on foot 12 13 augusto 2025 Busy squirrels overhead somewhere in the dogwood tree, nibbling seeds—can’t tell precisely what, but I hear their sharp cracks. Soon I’ll be in my gardening attire—green slip-on shoes, green gloves to match, the straw traveling hat my mother-in-law got me—on a sultry summer day, but now, after a … Read more
Koblenz to Baltimore. earth on foot 11 On our last day in Germany, I took the IC train an hour from Mainz to Koblenz. I’d been told the night before, at a beer hall notable for its 5-foot-tall beer steins, that it was a lovely city with lots of history and great apple strudel. On … Read more
earth on foot 10 The population of Mainz, Germany, is approximately 223,000 as of 2023. It is the largest city in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.As of 2025, Berlin has an estimated population of approximately 3.58 million people, making it the largest city in Germany and the most populous city in the European Union. The city … Read more
earth on foot 9 23 July 2025 “What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and wilderness? Let them be left, Oh let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.” — Inversnaid, by Gerard Manley Hopkins (This post dedicated to my amazing mom) Some spaces, both mental … Read more
earth on foot 8 16 july 2025 Hiking and running around the verdant land that is Slovenia, I saw reminders of World War I, World War II, and the country’s independence in 1991 (it was part of the former Yugoslavia and became independent in a 10-day war in that year). An example of this is … Read more
earth on foot 7 9 july 2025 Two birds dash by my head and land on the branch of a tree nearby. They are arguing, one chirping pointedly at the other, then the two tweeting back-and-forth aggressively. A strong wind blows across my back; branches from a recent storm scuttle about the sidewalk and the … Read more
earth on foot 6 2 july 2025 Sometimes as a traveler, I feel the way a bird might. I land on a tree branch somewhere (though our accommodations usually have pillows, beds, etc.), quickly absorb data, take a breath, snack, then fly off. Venice From Oxford, we drove to Bristol Airport, returned the car, flew … Read more
earth on foot 5 25 June 2025 Again a spider walks across my notebook, a tiny creature this time, half the size of a sesame seed and pale white like mashed potatoes. My page is aglow under the orange canvas umbrella here at a bistro table in Worton Kitchen Garden, Oxfordshire. We are here to … Read more
earth on foot 4 18 june 2025 A small brown spider crawls across my notebook. Spiders are storytellers, weaving intricate tales everywhere here.After hours of travel from Newark, my mother-in-law and I walked and walked, from Newnham to Cambridge Center and back, enjoying the last light of the season’s long, long day.Cambridge snapshots:—Moving aside for … Read more
earth on foot 3 11 June 2025 We left from Haneda Airport, Tokyo—more convenient from Asakusa than Narita—and flew directly approximately 15 hours to Dulles. Because of the time change and the date line we arrived in DC on the exact day and at the same time we left Tokyo.The next morning (a relative term), … Read more