It's hard to choose favourites, but of all the sweet-smelling flowers of spring I think jinchoge (sweet daphne) is the best, with its lovely fragrance that is strong enough to make you stop in your tracks, without being cloying. We have bushes of jinchoge at our apartment's front entrance an...

How could I have forgotten the pictures I took of these lovely flowers last month? February was a busy flower month at the local park, with ume (Japanese apricot), roubai (wintersweet), mansaku (witch hazel) and even sakura (cherry blossoms) all in bloom. These flowers here are roubai, which literal...

James, Will I be able to eat raw to get enough vitamins and minerals for my body if I am allergic to raw apples, peaches, plums, cherries, berries, black grapes, star fruit, kiwi, pomegranet, soy, rye, certain nuts, etc, etc.??? I just don't have many foods that I am able to eat raw.  If p...

When I lived in Yaletown, I would frequently see sweater-clad chihuahuas being walked by their Lululemon-clad owners. If it wasn’t the dog days (sorry) of August, these poor beasts would often be shuddering and shivering with the cold (and, no doubt, the threat posed by larger dogs and humans)...

We’re back in Bocas Town for some internet access and a few days’ change of scene after a week out at Punta Laurel. I just uploaded sixty photos from the trip (here’s a slide show). If I had to pick three favourites, they would be: Julie in Hammock at Dusk A Hard Rain Isla Popa Sun...

On the last day of November a friend and I went to Mitake-san (Mount Mitake) in the Okutama area of western Tokyo for a day of hiking. It was my second visit to the mountain, but as I haven't been in over a decade this time pretty much felt like my first. Mitake is just 929 metres high, but is p...

I’ve seen many Staghorn Ferns growing on trees before now, but never on a block of granite....

Good morning/evening! Rivkah again. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! While you were eating and relaxing, medievalists have not flagged in their bloggery; here is a small selection of material from this past weekend: Over at A Corner of Tenth-Century Europe, there are two seminary reflections; one ...

I promised yesterday that I would tell about the snake today. It isn't the most interesting of stories, but it has its moments. Yesterday, Russell was working out at the property where we are building our new ministry buildings. He was working on the bodega/warehouse, when he happened to see this sn...

Sneeuw: wat heb je eraan? Al die vervelende jongeren die sneeuwballen gooien zijn vet irritant. Dat dacht een 54-jarige man uit Den Bosch vandaag ook. Hij draaide helemaal door toen een 17-jarige buurjongen sneeuwballen tegen zijn raam gooide. Hij rende naar buiten, sloeg de jongen en gaf hem een...