Category Archives: Travel (real or imaginary)

Death and dying.

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Pat Greene

October has been a bitch of a month and it is only two-thirds done. Usually, October is my second favorite month, but I will be happy to see this one in the rear-view mirror. On September 30, we got word … Continue reading →

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Memories.

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Pat Greene

My most vivid memories from travel, both good and bad. (I have previously written about some of them.) In no particular order: The feel of a baby sea turtle in my hand as I helped him to the ocean (Cumberland … Continue reading →

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That’s one blessing counted.

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Pat Greene

I find myself struggling. The stress of the ongoing pandemic, and the knowledge that until everyone in the household gets completely vaccinated I am not going anywhere (we agreed on this as a family), gets to me. Having a relatively … Continue reading →

Posted in My life and times, Travel (real or imaginary) | 1 Comment

So, I’m back.

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Pat Greene

I have been back for a week now. My blood pressure has gone up several points since my return. It is easy to forget the trauma a country may be going through when you’re a tourist. Especially when you’re in … Continue reading →

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Yesterday

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Pat Greene

I spent yesterday on a boat. I saw the frigate birds and Nazca boobies soar and wheel over Kicker Rock, and a blue-footed booby perch precariously on a nest halfway up its nearly sheer cliff-face. I saw the maelstrom churning … Continue reading →

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If it was good enough for Darwin…

Posted on January 22, 2020 by Pat Greene

Notes from San Cristobal, Galapagos: San Cristobal was the first island Darwin landed on in the archipelago. That almost makes up for not being able to see more penguins, since the penguins live on other islands that are at least … Continue reading →

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Wildness.

Posted on January 16, 2020 by Pat Greene

I can go home now. I saw penguins yesterday. Penguins swimming. Penguins waddling. Penguins doing what penguins do, all where penguins normally do things. And geese! and cormorants! and albatrosses! and petrels and terns! Even skuas, those mobsters of the … Continue reading →

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Poem for today while I cruised through the Beagle Channel

Posted on January 15, 2020 by Pat Greene

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white … Continue reading →

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Money money money money

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Pat Greene

I have mentioned the $30 steak dinner for two. And the eight dollar doctor visit. And I just dropped off what felt like 25 pounds of laundry for 400 pesos, or about $7.50. And last night’s dinner… A king crab … Continue reading →

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Notes from our foreign correspondent*

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Pat Greene

This year: South America. One advantage that having a scientist spouse who goes to conferences in interesting places is that sometimes I get to tag along, which is why I am on Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia, the small town I … Continue reading →

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Art: silly v. interesting.

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Pat Greene

I am not an artist, nor an art historian, but I do have my opinions. Among them: Jeff Koons annoys me. More accurately, the art of Jeff Koons annoys me. It seems to have an arrogance, a brattiness. It isn’t … Continue reading →

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Posted on September 23, 2017 by Pat Greene

“Against one perfect moment, the centuries beat in vain.” Sir Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time. A wood bench on a sidewalk overlooking La Jolla Cove. Seventy-one-degree weather. Warm late afternoon California sun and a cool gentle Pacific breeze. Toddlers and teens … Continue reading →

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Gaudi.

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Pat Greene

Every so often there comes an artist who changes how you think about art, about the world, about life. Artists whose works were beloved when they were alive and artists who were only appreciated after they were dead. Leonardo, Cervantes, … Continue reading →

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Hi there! Miss me?

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Pat Greene

Note to self: never even think, let alone say out loud, anything along the lines of “I have seen the Sagrada Familia, I have walked inside an opal, I can die happy now.” Because Fate will look down her nose … Continue reading →

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Barcelona

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Pat Greene

Traveling in Europe has challenges for someone like me who has an impossibly hard time with languages other than English. And in Barcelona, I not only don’t know one language, I don’t know two. When I was growing up, I … Continue reading →

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