Recently, WordPress informed me that this blog is three years old. Read More
ByGD
November by the Numbers
photo by Gratisography.com
It’s that time again, folks – time for blog statistics! Read on for links to the most popular posts of the month and a list of intriguing search terms that led readers down this Crooked Road. Read More
ByGD
I Can’t Commit
At the first annual Iceland Writers Retreat, I got to take two workshops from Pulitzer prize-winning writer Geraldine Brooks. For each workshop, she asked us to bring a short piece of writing to introduce ourselves. Because “travel” was the loose theme of the retreat, one of the options was to write 300 words about your favorite place. Here is mine. Read More
ByGD
Kinkaku-ji Gardens
When we went to Japan in 2010, we gave our then 5-year-old daughter a camera. She took this picture of the gardens at the famous Golden Temple, Kinkaku-ji. Although the temple is as stunning as promised, I was most impressed with the gardens, which are possibly the finest gardens I have seen in Japan.
ByGD
Help! I Have a Samaris Question
Among many cute Icelandic things Icelandair does, like naming each plane in their fleet after an Icelandic volcano, is playing Icelandic music in the cabin before take-off and upon landing. The first time I heard the song Goða Tungl was while the airplane named Katla taxied to the gate at Keflavik Airport, delivering me to Airwaves 2012. I thought, “How cool! Björk covered Einstürzende Neubauten.” Of course I was wrong, and that’s why I need your help. Read More