Peonies, with their extravagant blooms, are in their prime right now. Today, my friend Melissa and I, along with my niece Hannah, and her friend Kendra visited Styer's Peonies in Chadds Ford— twenty-five acres of the queenly flowers. Styer's calls the event "Festival of the Peony" but really it's just an opportune time to visit. The only festivities not happening on the stems are in a small tent with flowers and gifts for sale. But we had come for peonies, not merch and music. The peony … [Read more...] about Visiting Styer’s Peony Farm In Chadds Ford
Travel
Totality at Lake Ozonia
My road to the Great American Eclipse began in Atlanta in 2023, when I met a salesman from American Paper Optics at a trade show. He gave me a stack of free eclipse glasses. "There's a big eclipse coming in 2024," he explained. "You should order eclipse glasses now." I ordered 2,000 pairs. About six months later, I ordered again... and again. Late last week we finally sold out. The final count: 19,000 pairs sold between all four stores. Knowing how much to order had been threading the … [Read more...] about Totality at Lake Ozonia
From Glaciers to the Sea: An Alaskan Road Trip
Jackets zipped, hoods up, cameras clenched in cold fingers, we stared at the waters as our boat chugged into the cold July wind blowing over Resurrection Bay. The boat captain had announced a pod of humpback whales ahead, and we weren't going to miss this. Whale watching wasn't high on the list when my family members and I started talking in January about visiting my nephew in Alaska. Sean, age 22, has been spending every summer for the past five years in Healy, Alaska, volunteering his … [Read more...] about From Glaciers to the Sea: An Alaskan Road Trip
Shopping AmericasMart in Atlanta
"You should go to the Atlanta gift show in January," a sales rep told me. "You'll find brands there you've never heard of". "I'm too busy with other things in January," I said. "I can't go." "You have to go the Atlanta market," a friend from church told me. "When I had a store, I did all my Christmas buying there." "It sounds good. But I don't think I can go this year." "Let's go the Atlanta market," my co-worker Jen said late last year. "I want to go." "Umm... ask Harlan." Jen … [Read more...] about Shopping AmericasMart in Atlanta
Angkor Wat: Cambodia Part II
Meeting a monkey for the first time was not a peaceful encounter. He was on his own turf; I was many latitude and longitude away from home, in a place called Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is an ancient temple complex located in the northern half of Cambodia. It was built nearly nine hundred years ago and is the kingdom's shining star and biggest tourist attraction. (Officially, Cambodia is a kingdom.) After my friend Ada and I had been in Phnom Penh with our friend Emily for four days, we purchased … [Read more...] about Angkor Wat: Cambodia Part II