At night I have been taking melatonin. First it was for the insomnia. Now it’s for the dreams. They weren’t kidding about melatonin dreams. They’re so vivid I can’t always tell what’s real. Though the dream is always real. That I know. But the other day it was the other way around. Reality was the … More Lucid
We almost went to Milan yesterday, but changed our mind after the train was late. Without anywhere in mind, we walked around Como, consuming pasta and chocolate and pizza and salad. I paired olive oil with fat Sicilian olives and promptly entered the gates of Italian cuisine heaven. After some frantic Googling, though, I was devastated to find that you cannot bring fresh olives through customs. Today we successfully visited Milan, taking the ferry and then the train. … More Daytrip to Milan
Lake Como, Italy, is quite possibly the most beautiful and magical place I’ve ever seen in my life. I have almost no words to describe it. The beauty. The food. The nature. The mountains, the lakes. The way the air smells. It smells familiar – it reminds me of China somehow. At night, the smell of firewood … More Amore, Italia!
With the two day Swiss Travel Pass, we decided to visit Mount Rigi. Located in the Alps, Mount Rigi “towers majestically between Lakes Lucerne, Zug and Lauerz.” It was a peaceful journey there and back. We took the boat from Lucerne to Vitznau, and then rode the cogwheel railway – Europe’s first mountain train – … More Queen of the Mountains
It was drizzling when we walked to the Lion Monument, a lion statue “nestled in a rocky grotto in a charming park setting in Lucerne. The ten-by-six-metre work was created in honour of the Swiss Guards who died in the Storming of the Tuileries in Paris in 1792.” Next door was the Glacier Garden, a … More Rainfall at Glacier Garden
As we sat in the pews of Church of St. Leodegar, a Roman Catholic church in Switzerland, the priests began to sing. Their voices were resonant, accompanied by the pipe organ. My eyes widened. We had just rolled into the pews when they set up the program. We were accidentally attending my first Mass – … More Christmas in Lucerne
On the train from France to Switzerland, we watched the sights pass by us – lakes, marshes, mountains, towns. The French countryside was lovely, living up to its dreamy depictions of old bucolic towns and vast green spaces. We had the entire carriage to ourselves. There were no lines or security or crowds, a stark … More Train to Switzerland
We arrived in Lyon, a beautiful city in southeast France. Straddled between the Rhône and Saône rivers, Lyon was a refreshing mix of new and old, industrial and nature. Looking across the river, I immediately felt lighter. Compared to Paris, there were fewer crowds and less smoke. Overall, it was slower and easier to … More Hills of Lyon are Alive
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We hopped on the RATP metro towards the Eiffel Tower. This was when a loud Frenchman made sweet love to le beau’s left ear, yelling rapid-fire French, so indignant it sounded holy. After 5 solid minutes of this, we got up and moved. 10 stops later, we were at le Eiffel Tower. My first … More The Eiffel A
I stood on my tiptoes, observing tiny black floofs bobbing towards the gate. The Changing of the Guards was just now starting at Buckingham Palace. … More Touristy London Classics
“Do you think this is what being born feels like?” I peered around the pulsating globelike structure, which the escalator gently pushed us through. Seconds later, we were ushered into the Natural History Museum of South Kensington, London. It was filled with exhibits of rocks, fossils, gems, taxidermies, and dinosaurs. And tons of large schoolchildren. … More Natural History Museum
We spent a cozy, drizzly day at Albert Cuypmarkt, The Netherlands’s largest outdoor market. As we walked towards the market, we lollygagged at Museumplein, eating banana-stuffed oliebollen and drinking macchiatos. We watched the local children shriek and dance in the square. I squinted: there was a rainbow beside Rijksmuesum! As it faded, it began … More Street Finds at Albert Cuypmarkt
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On our last day, we visited a touristy ski town, then a local mountain town. It turned out to be the perfect way to cap off our trip. We walked along the streets – drifting in and out of stores, grocers, and museums. We ate rocky road ice cream and drank ginger ale and people-watched. … More Like Déjà Vu
“Can we get some signage around here?” I flipped through the newspaper-style map, crinkling through pages and circling destinations. Today I was on a mission. According to the guide, we had arrived during elk mating season. Therefore, we were seeing elk. The trip was special for another big reason: it was my first visit … More My First Visit to a National Park
This is how we live. Day to day. In the present. Carpe diem and all that. I used to live in the future, I used to plan my life, and then I got there, and I was like, you know what? This is underwhelming. I spent so much time fixated on the destination that I entirely forgot about the journey. I listened to a song waiting for it to end, and when it ended, it was quiet, and I was like, goddamn. In a similar vein, I can’t look to what other people are doing, feeling, or saying, and I can’t treat life like a song that I’m waiting to end. … More Carpe Diem and All That
In June, le beau gifted me the Fujifilm X-E3. Long story short, I discovered a Fujifilm-dedicated blog, scampered down the rabbit hole, and decided the camera was everything I’d ever dreamed of. Next thing you know, le beau’s ordered it! 🥺 I ended up getting the pancake lens shortly afterwards. Like bad CPR, Fujifilm has … More Hot Summer Nights, Mid-July
Over the years, on Wordpress, people have come and gone, shared lives and left, left old blogs to pursue new ones. They continue on with their lives, maybe updating with the occasional life update, but most often not. … More You’ve Got a Blogger in Me
Dreams are interesting. And strange. A few nights ago, I dreamt of someone whom I haven’t spoken to in nearly 10 years. The dream was vivid. We were on the phone. I haven’t thought of this person in a while. We were mostly Internet friends who Facebook chatted aggressively in 2012 while ignoring each other … More Dreaming Reality
I photographed strangers, artwork, puppies, toys, store fronts, adults on small trains, humans wearing felt panda heads. It was then that I realized: there is so much whimsicalness in the world. So much strangeness and beauty. I began to shift my perception, seeing my surroundings in blacks and whites, hues and gradients, shadows and bright spots. … More B&W Film
are like venn diagrams sometimes you overlap a lot other times you overlap a little but you’re always your own circle
Happy 2/22/22! Thought I’d repost this from last Fall. I shared something similar on my Tumblr blog in 2011, too, on 1/11/11, although I’d never been bombarded by numbers until recently. (Also, this stopped around December.) Right before we went on our road trip for the 4th, I started noticing something weird: repeating and consecutive … More Repeating Numbers
coolpeppermint 