Was Joan sent from God or an accidental military genius? This is the quest of the Pilgrim and although the reader will want to know, I remain silent. Faith is a private matter Continue reading

See these two images and remember what the REAL relationship is between DOG and people. Just as dolphins have been trained (forced) to be used in naval warfare, so too has DOG been misused and abused to separate him from... Continue reading

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/georgianne-nienaber/dapl-pipeline-interests-t_b_11861618.html Continue reading

This new article by Georgianne Nienaber reminds me of her superb coverage of the cholera outbreak. Evidently, things are no better. Via The World Post: The Deadly Cholera Book of Numbers Swells in Haiti. Excerpt: via crofsblogs.typepad.com Continue reading

It has been four years since I have been in a cholera treatment center in Haiti and five years since the United Nations infected the Mirebalais River by dumping raw sewage from the Nepalese encampment into the waterway. The river... Continue reading

American Airlines flight 201 is boarding at Gate D24; Miami International. Complete and creative chaos ensues as no one pays attention to boarding order or seat assignments. Flight attendants are in a frenzy of activity, shifting people around to their... Continue reading

Greed is on my mind today, and it has nothing at all to do with the stock market. It has to do with a bone. Perhaps this bone is the bleached pelvis of a young deer. I don’t know. What... Continue reading

Science offers many explanations for the existence of Wind Cave, one of the longest and most complex cave systems in the world. Only five to ten percent of the system has been explored and mapped, making it truly an experience... Continue reading

I met a great lady today. The Grandest of Grande Dames. Her name is Dorothy Cramer, “Cramer with a ‘c,’” if you please. Dorothy is the docent at the New Madrid Historical Museum, but to me she is much more than that. I think I found my soul mate. I found her by taking the road I had not planned to take. A detour off the Avenue of the Saints, just inside the Missouri State Line, offered a psychic pull. Continue reading

I was on Dauphin Island today to revisit the Sea Lab Research Center, almost five years to the day since I stopped there during the Macondo Well blowout, known to most of you as the BP “spill.” Dauphin Island, Alabama,... Continue reading

I can’t believe there is an alligator in a tree, but I can believe that there is a line in the dirt that separates family from family, and brother from brother. Continue reading

A while back I wrote about the woman I met along the road in Rwanda who stopped to offer a blessing to me. Both of us strangers to each other. I was puzzled until I learned that elder women traditionally... Continue reading

An Anishinaabe preacher mentioned to me that I was fortunate to be walking on sacred ground. This was shortly before I began a trek to visit the Ntambara Group of Mountain Gorillas here in Rwanda. We would eventually climb to... Continue reading

It is 5 AM at the Paradis Hotel in Gisenyi. I can hear singing coming across Lake Kivu and fruit bats are whizzing past the light on my door. The water is not twenty feet away from my little hut... Continue reading

In this era of genocide denial by some, I was thinking it important that there be no restrictions on witnessing. I am beginning to rethink my attitude. Perhaps words can be more graphic than gruesome relics. We writers just have to work harder at it, and at 10 pm at night with three days of no sleep is no time to try. Continue reading

Thursday. March 19. Kigali to Butare via Nyamata and Ntarama. In so many ways, today was uplifting, so for now I am choosing to avoid the subjects of Nyamata and Ntarama for another time. The best way I can explain... Continue reading

Wednesday March 18. The Flight Aware map says this KLM Airbus passed over the Aswan Dam an hour ago. I was asleep and missed my favorite part of the trip—the moment when a keen eye can spot the outline of... Continue reading

Scorpio draped his long tail across the southern horizon in the three AM Tuesday darkness, and other unfamiliar constellations sparkled in the deep shadows above the Gulf of Mexico. A Chuck Wills Widow chirped from somewhere in the tangle of... Continue reading

Daybreak. I awoke refreshed in the hour before dawn and did not bother to change out of pajamas before investigating what the morning had to offer. The not-quite full Moon was sinking into the still Gulf Waters, Scruffy the dove... Continue reading

As I drifted off to sleep, I remembered the special role of the Owl as messenger. He/she brings awareness of change, intuitive knowledge, and especially, the ability to see beyond the mask of what may seem apparent. Continue reading

"Scruffy" came to visit this morning. He/she is not domesticated, but is a former rehab Common Ground Dove (Columbina Passerina) who has returned unbidden to my doorstep for two years. I can be gone for months, but "Scruffy" will always... Continue reading

It took me five years to get this capture of a Roseate Spoonbill soaring over the wetlands at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island. In that time I have tried everything. Macro lenses doubling as telephoto. 200mm.... Continue reading

How often we take basic humanity for granted! It is something people in the West don't know. For some, like the people in conflict areas, the poor, the dispossessed, all it takes is a kind word. We in the west... Continue reading

There it was. This man had made the decision, and the wheels were in motion for us to meet with the person the international press had described as a ruthless murderer. The old admonition about being careful about what you... Continue reading