ByGD
I saw this bird of paradise plant in the Azores, a place which seems like paradise to me. It’s too cool where I live for tropical plants like these to have much success. But they thrive in the Azores, which are not much warmer than the Pacific Northwest. But the temperate plants I’m used to also thrive in the paradisiacal Azores.
ByGD
I had heard Icelanders complain about traffic, and just rolled my eyes. More than once I’ve taken longer than an hour to get to McCaw Hall from my house in Seattle (it’s 11 minutes from parking spot to parking lot when there’s no traffic). But on the drive from Reykjavik to Neskaupstadur for the Eistnaflug festival, I found myself idling on the road. Just as if I was stuck in traffic at home, I sat unmoving for nearly fifteen minutes waiting for the road to clear.
ByGD
The first time I visited Iceland in July, the entire landscape was covered with these cottony little blooms. Once I got home, I spent hours researching to find out what they were called. But I’ve since forgotten, and I can’t find the answer again. I’d be so grateful to anyone who could tell me about these Icelandic wildflowers. (The purple one is cool, too.)
ByGD
Despite my personal history of book club and book challenge failures, I am slowly plugging away at the Reading Around the World challenge. I started early in 2020 with Afghanistan and Albania. When the libraries reopened, I got started again with books from Algeria and Andorra. Finding an Andorran book was a challenge. Choosing a book for the next country, Angola, wasn’t easy either, but the book I chose, Transparent City by Ondjaki, presented some challenges of its own.
