Skyway Luggage

Skyway started making luggage in 1910. The company still exists as a brand, owned by Ricardo Beverly Hills, though it looks like their luggage is made in China now, no surprises there.  The old Skyway building, which was once their headquarters, sold to a music company in 2012 but it’s still wearing a For Sale …


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Guest Post: Fishing for Tourists

The sunrise glared purple and orange over the palm trees, the colors mirrored in the Indian Ocean, but a different spectrum caught my eye, guiding my morning walk. On the far side of Passikudah Bay, the paint on a school of fishing boats gleamed algae green and saltwater blue as groups of men dragged each …


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Guest Post: In the Dust of Kayaköy

“Peace is the tranquility of order.” This quote from St. Augustine opened one of the tiny devotional books I used for meditation when I was in high school. The declaration, as I understood it, made sense to me; indeed it seemed self-evident that observing rules, keeping things in their designated places, approaching tasks methodically, and …


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Guest Post: Come Hell or High Water

In Search of the Torrent Duck I don’t know how our guide José did it, but from his seat in the front of the minibus—as it’s moving at 60 km an hour up the mountain—he hollered, “Torrent Duck!” Manolo, our driver, slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road. How …


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Open House

What the hell, I’m going to try it again. I’m throwing the gates open for guest posts. Why? Honestly, my head’s not in the blogging space right now and I could use some help maintaining the heartbeat of my blog until I’m back at the keyboard. Guidelines? Be afraid, be very afraid. Essays ONLY. No …


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The Names of Things

I should know the names of the trees by now, but I do not. I can’t tell the hemlock from the spruce and the only deciduous trees I can truly recognize are the big leaf maples, because they are easy. Oh, the lodge pole pine, I know the lodge pole pine because of the smell …


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