Author & Travel Photographer
When planning my trip to New Orleans, several people suggested visiting a plantation. Oak Alley, an hour outside the city, was of particular interest because of its 300-year-old alley of McDonogh oaks. More than that, though, I felt a trip was important because it would provide a glimpse into the antebellum South's history, juxtaposing the …
You first enter New Orleans a little tone deaf and flat-footed, tripping over the broken, heat-stressed sidewalks and the frenetic pace of Bourbon Street. Maybe there’s a Hurricane in your belly. You feel like simmering gumbo, stirred together with so many strange people—your flavors and stenches mixing, mingling with the notes of a distant band. …
I moved away from Minnesota when I was 18 and haven't always been the best at communicating with family members back home. This is especially irksome to my mom's mom, who happens to be a prolific letter-writer. Once, when I returned for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary, Grandma asked me, "Have your hands healed?" "Nothing's wrong with …
My mom turned 40 at Kramer’s Supper Club in Evansville, Minnesota, a no-stoplight town in the West Central farmlands. It was a surprise party. I was 17-years-old at the time and the only one of my 4 siblings to snag an invite because I had a car and agreed to sneak in the cake ahead …
Good-bye 2016. We had some great adventures!
This is my Iceland Writers Retreat writing competition submission. While I didn't win this year, I was one of the finalists. I'm including the photos I took during the 2014 layover that inspired this piece. The rules: Iceland – Regard the Moon! Many authors have drawn parallels between Iceland and the moon. Write a max 500-word …
Okay, I'm not actually in Venice, Italy right now (physically, anyway). But, with falling temperatures and snow in the Pacific Northwest forecast, it's tempting to look back on warmer days. I snapped these pictures last year from the balcony of a cruise ship. My friend Julia and I had just returned from a week on the Mediterranean, …
Rossbeigh Beach Near the village of Glenbeigh on the Ring of Kerry, Ireland I have never counted all the pictures I took while living in Ireland. There are probably thousands. I keep them in folders labeled by County and by month, and whenever I need to visit Ireland, I just open Kerry or Clare or …
