Finding My Home at the Market
Early September and I’m back home in Grand Haven, engaging in the most wholesome of activities: shopping at the Farmers market. Brisk winds and remnant storm clouds cast a decidedly autumnal feel over the place, as sweatshirt clad shoppers fill bags with produce that matches the transition season.
Half a Billion F*@king Eggs! Reaction to a Recall
Once again America’s food supply has experienced a massive health crisis. Salmonella-tainted eggs produced from two Iowa farms caused more than 1,300 people in ten states to become afflicted, resulting in recalls of half a billion eggs. Stop the madness, I say. Its time to rethink America’s system of industrial food production.
Venice Vignettes- Vivid Impressions of a Magical City
With my six week tour through the wine regions of Italy, France, Spain drawing to a close, I had to go out with a bang. I boarded an all night train bound for Venice for three blissful nights. What follows is a series of lucid vignettes from my ephemeral visit, paying tribute to this most etherial of cities.
Thoughts on the Galway Arts Festival
Browsing through the program for the Galway Arts Festival 2010, you can’t help but feel the once-mighty festival has lost some of its luster. Given how vitally important the festival has been to Galway, in defining itself and generating income for the city, any such downward trend should trigger serious concern.
Back on the Farm with Tuggle
A fellow vagabond friend returned home for an experiment in bucolic living. In two years, he’s transformed once fallow fields into a veritable equestrian centre, with a growing stable of horses, and garden full of fresh produce. From the saddle of a horse, I ponder such possibilities for my own life.
Minding the Food Miles
I a great believer in buying fresh produce and supporting local farmers. But accidentally buying broccoli from Peru led me to explore my ethical boundaries of buying local. When is it acceptable to compromise our principles. Bordeaux wine, African Coffee, Mexican Avocados. Surely its also important to enjoy life’s great pleasures.
Colorado Scenics- Images of the American West
For me there’s something very special about the Central Rockies of Colorado. Since first visited as a child of eight, this place has become a permanent fixture in my psyche. So its no surprise that I eventually called it home. It is here, during a seven year period in the mid nineties that I honed my photography skills. The resulting images stand out among my all-time favorites.
Dirty Old Town- Thoughts on Galway’s Littered Streets
On a typical summer night in Galway, celebratory crowds splinter into factions, as roving bands of ne’er-do-wells leave in their wake an unsightly slipstream of rubbish. Seemingly every day through the summer I confronted this depressing specter of litter, strewn across the city. For this post, I wallowed in the trash heap, foraging for causes and possible solutions to Ireland’s litter problems.
Thoughts on Tainted Lettuce
When you think of romaine lettuce, the first words popping into your head aren’t “deadly toxin.” Its green and leafy appearance exudes good health. But that all changed last week when the Caesarian roughage was afflicted by a potentially deadly outbreak of E.Coli bacteria, causing at least 19 people have been sickened and forcing a recall of lettuce across 23 states. What are the causes and what does it say about the food we eat?
Which Way Forward for Ireland’s Food Industry?
Which way forward for Ireland’s food industry? This was the topic addressed at this year’s annual gathering of Bord Bia, the trade organization for Irish foods. Given my interest in Ireland’s food movement, I poured over the report and provided editorial comments. (Hint: it resonates on a few broad themes, but does little to provide meaningful assistance to local food producers.)
Celebrating the Comedic Genius of Mitchell and Webb
My attitude toward British Humor (monty python excepted) was the same as I felt about the piss-warm ale poured in a London pub. Bland, flat, and lifeless at first, but through repeated exposure, both have become an acquired taste. Thanks to the comedic genius of Mitchell and Webb, I’m now singing praises for those clever Brits. Their two creations, Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look, are well worth checking out.
Dreams of a Big, Dumb Cat
Seemed my dreamworld housemate and landlord Gerry, inspired by the film “Hangover, decided to shelter a large and ornery cougar, a bone headed move sure to wreak havoc on his mahogany floors, his fine suite of furniture, and worse. My concerns extended well beyond his precious apartment.
Ireland Unraveling: Notes from the News
Here in Ireland its been an interesting few weeks, months and years. The pace of change has been astounding. To begin to provide a flavour for the particular challenges the country currently faces, I’ve began compiling snippets from the news. In aggregate will hopefully begin to tell the full story.
Discovering Newness in Daily Routine
Predictable is the enemy of an interesting life. If it hasn’t been said before, I’ll take credit for it now. For this ethos drive so many of my life choices, from the big ones right down to the smallest, like where to go for coffee. I step back to examine this daily habit and ponder its broader implications.
Painful Reminder of Our Oil Dependency
Treats of Climate Change seem far too nebulous and distant to inspire social and political change. But exploding oil platforms and coal mines provide poignant reminders, unfolding in real time in HD on flat screen televisions, of the very real consequences of our fossil fuel addiction and the urgent need for action.
Attack of the Cursed Pine Beetle
After a short walk down a favorite old recreational path, surveying a once familiar landscape, I’m confronted by the devastation caused by the Pine Bark beetle and ponder the ramifications of this infestation that has spread across some 40 million acres of forestland in the American Western and British Columbia.
A Message for Earth Day
Nature is more than just an occasional playground. It is place that nourishes and sustains us on so many levels. Breath deep fresh air. Take a long cold drink of clean water. Take nothing for granted.
Forgive me. I’ve Eaten Sushi Tonight
I’ve just experienced a wasabi burn so intense the entire left side of my cranium went numb. Far less extinguishable is my slow burning guilt over having consumed sushi to begin with.
Will the Wolf Survive
The good news is a wolf was found in Eagle County, CO. The bad news: she was dead. Considering that wolves were exterminated from the Colorado wild lands for more than seventy years, such news bodes well for the eventual recovery of wolf popoulations in the American West.
News from Planet Earth
Selected quotes from news stories pertaining to issues of Environmental Conservation
Managing our Forests- A New Approach
David Foster is very much a scientist with a mission: to change perspectives on how we manage our vital forests. His work was recently highlighted in the The Green Issue of the New York Times Magazine (April 19, 2009).
Aidan Rides a Bike
Images from a visit back home, when I was able to witness a very special moment in any family. My nephew Aidan’s first (training-wheels free) bike ride. Certainly one for the memory books!
RSVP to Reunion Triggers Panic
Seems I’m the only person in the world who was on the fence about reunion attendance. Without fail, people fall into one of two groups. Those who look at attending their high school reunion as a fate worse than root canals. And those who, like my dad think reunions are an integral part of a healthy adult life, a dutiful obligation like attending mass or paying taxes.
The Perils and Pitfalls of Facebooking
Little old Facebook, that scrappy startup, has enticed me into the brave new world of social networking. But recent experiences have reminded me the internet is like the Wild West during frontier days: a vast crazy, exotic, menacing world full of snake oil salesmen, bible bashers, and outlaws. Everyone’s carrying a pistol. Some are cocked and loaded.