Category: a-roving

The birds and the bees

November 29, 2021 a-roving take a picture the birds and the trees
This is the third in a series of posts featuring photographs taken during our trip to Botswana and Uganda in August 2021.  The bee-eaters Bee-eaters simply beg to be photographed! Not only are they exceptionally colorful and beautiful, but one of this bird’s strategies for attracting the bees and other insects…

October travels: Boston

November 22, 2021 a-roving
The Gentle Author was holding their last-ever Advanced Blogging workshop in April 2020. I had signed up, booked my flights and lodging, and was looking forward to the trip, and then… well, you know what happened. But a year and a half later, the workshop was finally back on, and…

Reigning cats and dogs

November 19, 2021 a-roving take a picture the birds and the trees
This is the second in a series of posts featuring photographs taken during our trip to Botswana and Uganda in August 2021.  When people think of safaris, they tend to think first of the big cats: lions and leopards and cheetahs, oh my! Alas, no cheetahs did we spot in the…

The fisher kings

November 15, 2021 a-roving take a picture the birds and the trees
This is the first in a planned series of posts featuring photographs taken during our trip to Botswana and Uganda in August 2021.  Pied kingfishers The first stop on our Africa trip was Maun, Botswana, where we spent a day and a half recovering from a more-grueling-than-necessary journey, before heading out…

Birding in Africa

November 12, 2021 a-roving take a picture the birds and the trees
As you will know if you’ve read my posts from the past year, Craig and I have gotten interested in birds in recent months — okay, very interested. So although we didn’t go to Africa specifically for the birds, it was natural that birdwatching should end up being a significant…

Traveling in a pandemic

November 8, 2021 a-roving life lessons
It was teatime in London, where I was attending an advanced blogging workshop. A pot of darjeeling and a slice of raspberry-almond cake were awaiting my attention, when my phone pinged with an unexpected and unwelcome message. It was from Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), alerting me that I’d been…

Making bricks by hand

September 20, 2021 a-roving material life
I must first admit that I’ve never given much thought to bricks. We don’t use them for building in California (because, you know, earthquakes), and elsewhere in the country they’re just part of the built environment — in the background. But in Uganda, with a young and growing population and…

Seeking the solitary shoebill

August 30, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
Once you see a shoebill — or even a picture of a shoebill — you never forget it. This unusual bird looks like a cross between a stork, a pelican, and a dinosaur, both fearsome and comical. I had seen the pictures. Now I wanted to see one in the…

The best pineapples in the world

August 27, 2021 a-roving eating well
Craig’s last trip to Uganda was nearly twenty-five years ago, when he bicycled with a few other travelers through rural villages, staying at local hotels, eating in local restaurants, and visiting schools and similar institutions. He remembers the country from those days with great fondness: the kindness and hospitality of…

Gorilla tracking, day 2

August 23, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
The chance to see mountain gorillas in the wild draws many tourists to Uganda every year. For Craig and me, gorillas were only one of many attractions in this beautiful country (chimpanzees! tree-climbing lions! and don’t forget all the amazing birds!) — but they were definitely high on our list.…