A Traveller’s Eye, A Thinker’s Heart
I like to tell stories. I like to take photos.
And I like to share them. Enjoy.
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TWO STANS AND ALFALFA
The glaciers of the Tien Shan mountain range in Central Asia are receding quickly. And that’s causing a lot of concern amongst the farmers of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The glacial meltwaters which allowed them to irrigate their crops are no longer abundant. And without adequate water, yields plummet. I joined a group of scientists brought
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THE WRITER’S DEN
I had a good job in 1984 at an agricultural research center called CATIE in Costa Rica. I was tasked with writing a complete textbook on agroforestry. It would have taken a year, maybe two. It was a secure job at a very reputable international center. I quit the job after about five months. I
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SIEBENGENBIRGSWEG REUNION
It took Padma and me two and a half years to build our new family home on a beach south of Perth. But it only took two weeks after we received the keys before we welcomed our first overseas visitors. For three years, we lived next door to Markus, Claudia and Carla in a little
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JOSEPH NEWCOMB (1785-1867)
My third great grandfather Joseph Newcomb was born on 11 September 1785, in Fairton, New Jersey. At his birth, Joseph’s father, Joseph Newcomb, was 26 and his mother, Phebe Sheppard, was 23. Joseph had only one sibling. Mary died at 10 years old. Joseph was born four years after the Revolutionary War ended. At the
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A DAY IN THE RICE PADDIES OF CAO PHONG
Timing is so important in photography. And I seem to get it wrong so often. I stayed an extra day in Vietnam so I could see rice being harvested in terraced paddies. But it soon appeared that my timing was wrong. Turns out most of the rice in northern Vietnam had already been harvested. Nothing
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A TWILIGHT STROLL THROUGH HANOI’S OLD QUARTER
I came to Vietnam as part of a Crop Trust-supported genebank review team and after five days here I thought I’d only see a slice of Vietnam between our hotel and the plant resource center. But the team was able to wrap up its work by mid-afternoon on Friday so we all travelled to Hanoi’s
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THE FRIENDLY COUNTRY OF LAOS
VIENTIANE To be honest, I can’t tell you much about Laos. I can tell you the Americans bombed the s**t out of the country 50 years ago. In fact, Laos’s claim to ‘fame’ is that it is probably the most bombed country in history. 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on the country. That’s about
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BRAVING THE WEATHER FOR THE PINNACLES
Anyone looking at today’s weather forecast for Western Australia would have thought the sensible thing to do would be to rug up and stay home. My weather app screamed of severe weather alerts … heavy winds and lots of rain. But Annie, our friend from our time in Cali, Colombia, came all the way from
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TWO DAYS IN MARGARET RIVER
Padma and I are hoping that many of our friends and family will visit us in our new home in Western Australia. We’re still discovering the State and trying to figure out where to take our guests. Our friend, Annie Tomalin, is helping us get some practice as tour guides. Annie and Padma were colleagues
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