Category Archives: Work

Raise a Glass for St Paddy’s: The Guinness Storehouse, Dublin

It was St Patrick’s Day this week, so it seemed fitting to return to another Irish cultural icon: Guinness. July last year was wet in Ireland, and it rained much of the short time we were in Dublin. So, we visited the Guinness Storehouse: it was a good way to learn something about local history, while staying…

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Portraits in Gold: The King Galon Gold Leaf Workshop, Mandalay, Myanmar

Myanmar truly is “The Golden Land.” From the mines to the temples, gold is everywhere. Shwedagon Pagoda, for example, is covered in 60 tons of gold, pounded into thin leaves. Gold is an integral part of Burmese life. Every day, faithful Burmese apply gold leaf to their favourite Buddha images as offerings. So much gold leaf has been…

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Harnessing Energy: The Powerhouse, Stave Falls, BC, Canada

Energy, the costs of energy, and the real costs of renewable energy are hot topics in our house and our neighbourhood at the moment. In Australia, black coal has traditionally accounted for more than half the country’s energy production. For almost 20 years, I’ve been paying extra on my electricity bills to help promote the development…

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The Craft of Crystal ~ Waterford, Ireland

Our travels can be a little haphazard sometimes. We had work and family business in England, so we decided to go walking in the south-west of Ireland. (More about that soon.) Once I had booked our walking trip, I contacted an old friend and colleague from Thailand who had moved back to Ireland some years…

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Meeting Old Tom ~ the Eden Killer Whale Museum, Eden NSW

Some stories are better than fiction. In Eden, where we now live, people have had a long relationship with the sea and the sea’s creatures – especially whales. The earliest inhabitants of the area, the Thawa people of the Yuin nation, conducted ceremonies and feasts in honour of killer whales - orcas – whom they called Beowas; ”brothers” or “kin”. Because these…

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