Tag Archives: nature

I was staying in Geneva, Switzerland, but spending the day in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (Chamonix) in France. Europe is like that! In the midst of a couple of rainy days in Geneva visiting with old friends before continuing further east, I booked myself an self-guided day trip bus trip to Chamonix. This included a ticket for the […]

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You are still in the city, but not quite! There is a ringing of birdsong – and the roar of sirens. The rustling of skinks in the leaf-litter contrasts with the clanging of distant machinery. Wind whistles in the branches while a helicopter whirrs overhead. There is something magical about city parks: oases of fresh, […]

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Mont Blanc is more than just a mountain. As the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, it lends its name to a range of peaks – the Mont Blanc massif – which straddle France, Italy, and Switzerland. I had taken the train from Paris (see: On and Around the Seine) to Geneva, Switzerland, […]

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When you think of India, what do you think of first? I think of colour and culture and chaos and crowds. Kerala, in the southwest is all that. But, it is also impossibly green hill stations in the foothills, countless rivers and waterways in the valleys, and the rugged mountains of the Western Ghats higher […]

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After the trees arrived in Haida Gwaii, SGaanuwee (Supernatural Beings) showed Haida kuuníisi (ancestors) how to carve gyaa’ang (monumental poles). The Haida word for monumental pole is related to the word gyaa’aa: “stand up”. After Haida carve, dance, and raise them, gyaaGang or gyaa’aang become living community members. Gyaagan.Ngaay – Monumental Poles of Haida Gwaii […]

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