Places

  • Starting a Garden Journal

    Pandemic life has me concentrating on my hobbies right now. With the businesses on hold, I have time to work on my hobbies more. It no longer feels like I have to get them done and out of the way so I can tackle the mountain of emails or the unending task list related to running events & photoshoots. It's not that I don't love those things - I definitely do! - it's just that if there had to be a positive outcome in all this, reconnecting with my hobbies is something I'm grateful for. It makes me think long and hard about work/life balance and what I want to…

  • Za’atar

    Like many of you, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately. Pandemic life has me playing with my hobbies again and that’s not a bad thing. Hobbies are saving lives right now, which is great. My friend Stephanie suggested I start a recipe blog, but I promised that if I did it, I’d make sure my recipes weren’t prefaced with pages upon pages of nonsense before you get the instructions. So, here’s my most-requested recipe: za’atar.

  • Seeing the Wolfdogs

    If you are coming to Calgary and are looking for something a little different to do, consider visiting the wolfdogs at Yamnuska Wolf Dog Sanctuary. This beautiful natural space just past Cochrane, AB is a lovely spot to be quiet and observe some truly content animals. I can’t stress enough how much this place embodies the “sanctuary” portion of its name, not just for the animals who live there, but for the people who visit. The Yamnuska Wolfdog Sanctuary houses many adorable wolf / dog mixes. These are animals who were bred as pets, but their owners quickly realized that they couldn’t handle the innate needs of their wolfdogs and…

  • Homemade Herbal Simple Syrups

    Sometimes you just want to liven up your morning coffee with something different! In Jordan, coffee is often flavoured with cardamom pods, usually ground right along with the beans. There’s a really satisfying balance between the two flavours, with the cardamom adding just a hint of an herbal caramel flavour. Not too long ago, Starbucks offered a drink called the Vanilla Spice Latte. I tried it on a whim and there it was, that beautiful cardamom flavour. They quickly discontinued it, so I figured FINE, I’ll just make my own!

  • Homemade Cherry Liqueur

    Every summer, I keep a close eye on my mother’s Nanking cherry trees. When the bright red berries have finally soaked up enough sun, I pick the trees clean and either eat them all or force my mother confect them into Nanking jelly. This year, there weren’t many cherries on offer. The trees had been struggling to grow and when I had picked what was suitable, there was only about a cup of cherries in a bowl. The local magpies nattered at me the whole time, clearly claiming ownership of the tree’s fruits, but I’m a people and I wanted them, even if there were only a few. After listening…

  • Traditional Bedouin Medicine

    It was early in the morning, the light from the sun was just starting to crest over the hill. I was standing on some burlap bags, which had been carefully placed along the edges of the squares to keep the balks from caving in. Below me, a mix of students and veterans were digging away, hauling guffah1 after guffah out to the sift. Watching others work in the early morning isn’t exactly conducive to staying awake, especially when it comes with a pang of jealousy. I really love to dig and sitting on the sidelines due to a wrist injury doesn’t exactly sit well with me. I’m sure this thought…

  • Looking for Lille

    In my quest to photograph as many ghost towns as I can find, I kept coming across notes about a little gem called Lille, Alberta. Things looked great for Lille when it was first established in 1901. Within a few years, there were about 20 residences on the townsite, along with all the amenities like a hotel, doctor’s office, and a school. The coal mining industry in the area led to the construction of an expansive system of coke ovens, specially made in Belgium. Each brick was stamped with a unique number, shipped, and the ovens were reconstructed brick-by-brick in Lille sometime in 1903-1904.

  • The End of Solo Travel

    As I’m about to leave Bulgaria and head back home, I have something to confess: I’m done with solo travel. It’s not that it hasn’t been fun or that I haven’t learned a lot from it, it’s just that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. If you spend any time reading some of the popular travel blogs, you’ll find articles about how solo travel is great and that really, it’s the only way to travel. Many of these articles will tell you you’re missing out on a new culture by going with a friend, since you don’t get to completely immerse yourself in a culture.