Things that happen on airplanes

First time out traveling alone after all the weirdness! What fun to be able to deal normally with public bathrooms, staircases, low airplane seats… Only a trip to Iowa, where it’s 30 degrees instead of 80 and covered in gray snow, but still good movement. The sound of car tires crunching snow outside in the […]

More pioneer family

I’ve just read a second fascinating account of my pioneer family history. This one centers around my grandmother’s great-grandfather Peter Franklin Clark (related to William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame, apparently). He managed to hit all the major 1800s pioneer highlights in his life: the California gold rush, the Civil War, and the Oregon Trail. […]

Pioneers and family history

I happen to have in my possession a copy of a family history account written by my great-grandaunt (my father’s mother’s father’s sister), that just kind of blew my mind. First off, it amazes me what a short distance I can go back in my family tree and find someone homesteading in “Indian country” and […]

Three months working in the outback

Just came across this account of three months spent bartending in the outback of Western Australia last year and thought it might make a fun post. A little context: I spent much of 2016-2017 living in Melbourne, Australia, on a working holiday visa. In order to extend this visa for a second year American applicants […]

Cats!

It would be pretty boring being stuck in the house all day without these silly fuzz people to keep me company. This is Ratty (The Rat, Rat) named for Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, and also because she often happens to look exactly like an extremely large rat. She’s a Russian Blue with golden eyes […]