Spring in San Francisco brings rain, precious rain. It also presents itself in a riot of blooms, first the Magnolias, Cherry Blossoms soon to follow. How lucky we are to have such beauty in our backyard.
Author Archives: magiecrystal
Planning trips to coincide with the conclusion of various stages of cancer treatment became a strategy to cope with the seemingly interminable process of being treated for cancer. While healing from one surgery and waiting for the next, I would look at maps and plan itineraries for all the places that ever lived in my […]
I was 19 when I first visited New York. Back then, it was a different kind of town. New York, along with San Francisco, was a much needed sanctuary for kids who needed a bit of anonymity to figure out who they were. 31 years later, lots has changed, myself included. I still have little […]
I set out this morning pretending to be a tourist in my own city. I wanted to see how we treat tourists, people with cameras, in our city. I wanted to see if we smiled at visitors. Some cities have mounted police. Camera in hand and sneakers on my feet, I walked from Fort Mason […]
It snows in Paris about once every three years. The city doesn’t really know what to do with snow. Understandably, it would be wasteful to invest in snow plows to clear sidewalks or de-icing machines to defrost airplanes for the three days it snows every three years. It took a second glance to realize this […]
Paris is not my favorite European city, except perhaps in winter. The light becomes cold and metallic under gray skies. The city is at its barren best and most beautiful. Residents reclaim their city and the sidewalks become navigable, even in the most heavily touristed quartiers. Before spring and after fall, the bistros and cafés […]
For Buddhists, the mountains are Gods whose faces we should not be stepping all over. Nor should we be replacing the flowers in their hair with high energy food wrappers and plastic water bottles. I’ve been thinking a lot about extreme adventure sports and adrenaline junkies as I’ve been leaving my own carbon footprints all […]
Henry David Thoreau wrote that In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World. As we witness and contribute to the erosion of our natural world, I think those words are more true and relevant now than ever. I love taking pictures. Not for the end result of a perfect frame, the impossible shot, or simple […]
I flew all the way to the Himalayas but what I found there is also in my own backyard. Yosemite is like the girl next door. You don’t realize how beautiful she is until, well…you realize how beautiful she is. It’s like you wake up one morning and, through your bathroom window, you catch a […]
I hadn’t planned to eat my way through Bangkok. In the end, Bangkok got the last bite, swallowing me whole and spitting me out after chewing me into a cud. I smell like shrimp paste, butt sweat, sunburn, and Tuk Tuk exhaust. I leave day after tomorrow, for home in San Francisco, by way of […]
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