Three years ago, half of the long, narrow Croatian island of Hvar burned, including 200-year-old Mediterranean pines and much of the island’s three major crops—lavender, grapes for wine, and olives. Fortunately, most of the larger towns and some of the villages were spared. Three firebombers tried valiantly, but the bora wind was so strong that,...
At a quarter of nine in the morning, we climbed into our four-wheel-drive pickup where the new road ends at Llanada Grande. Until this year, a flight to its unpaved airstrip or a two-day ride by horse from the automobile road was the only way to get there—and that was after a couple of hours...
As I drove into town after supper on Sunday evening, the all-too-familiar boom, boom of some young man’s car stereo assaulted me. Otherwise, it was a lovely fall evening, just dark. I was on my way to church for a bimonthly service of sung Compline, one of the ancient monastic offices that can be traced...
I awoke again this morning to an entirely clear sky. It is cold early in the morning in late summer in the mountains of South Chile, about 45 degrees. We are suffering through a very long dry spell. There has been no significant rain for over two months, and the clear sky is mostly obliterated...