Imagine yourself far away from home, across the ocean far, lost in an unexplored land, surrounded by animals you’ve never seen or could imagine (and they’re big, like bison big), and following a guide your gut tells you not to trust. This is exactly what happened in 1541 to the company on Vasquez de Coronado’s exploration of the… Read more »
St. Thomas, Nevada The little drowned town is showing its bones. Sunbleached stairwells leading to nothing, a school foundation without the school… What happened here? Early Mormon settlers, thinking they were in Utah, farmed the St. Thomas area, a rich land watered by the Muddy River, which flowed into the Virgin River near its confluence… Read more »
Recently I spent a spectacular week in Alaska while learning story skills from the brilliant founders of Catharsis (StoryCatharsis.com). The classes were amazing. The weather was not what I had expected. Isn’t Alaska supposed to be cold? I baked in flannels and sweatshirts because of the 80° heat. But the views were clear, as you can see from the two posted… Read more »
A few months back, I was in Santa Fe for a cooking class. Since the class didn’t begin until the next day, my husband and I dined at a local restaurant, which shall remain nameless for a reason you will soon learn. Santa Fe, if you are unaware, is a food lover’s fantasty. (No, that… Read more »
Do you know the name of this ruin? I have searched everywhere and still cannot find its location. ______________________________________________________________ Here’s what I know: My grandmother is the woman in the photo. Her brother lived in Tucson, Arizona. She had gone there to visit him at least once, so I think this mission church ruin is… Read more »
What do William Faulkner and Don Quixote have in common? Let’s just say it is something “… as secret as the grave” (Book IV, Chapter 62) now come to light. Spain’s master of the modern novel, Miguel de Cervantes was one of Faulkner’s favorite authors; apparently true since he claimed to have read The Ingenious Gentleman Don… Read more »
Yesterday afternoon I received a wonderful gift: in my courtyard came a robin … in February! Although it is still winter, the robin’s song gave me hope for longer days, warmer weather, budding trees, and the sweet smell of spring. As I listened to the lilt, I was reminded of another springtime when I traveled… Read more »
Toledo Trivia This old photograph, an original “Kodacolor Enlargement” dated December 1965, was taken, as indicated on the sign, in Toledo, and, judging from the landscape, it is Toledo, Spain. In the hills high above Toledo, Inigo Montoya lived as a boy (his father made stellar swords apparently, and for want of one such blade,… Read more »
Late last year I had the good fortune of visiting the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Standing on a bridge overlooking the cottonwood and willow lined river, I visualized prehistoric hunters whose discovered stone tools were probably used to hunt bison … and mammoth! Nearby, petroglyphs abound that tell mysterious stories of ancient peoples…. Read more »
Take a walk of about twenty-five hundred miles— and never leave your seat. That’s what I did when I read the eye-witness account of the 1540 expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, written a mere twenty-some years after the event. The Pedro de Castañeda de Nájera Narrative of the Coronado Expedition may have been… Read more »
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