Trees have always held my fascination. As a young child, I can remember not only wanting to climb them, but also wanting to know them. They draw me in in their grandeur and mysterious and enduring life-ness. Being the oldest creatures on the earth, they also contribute to the lifehood of our planet through the air they recycle and who knows all the wonders that they communicate deeply through the vibrations in their root networks.…

The Mosul Dam is located in the region that is known as the cradle of civilization, which grew out of the Middle-Eastern Tigris-Euphrates valley.  This dam, built in the 1980’s, regulates the Tigris River and generates power to the region. …

I remember that after my brother died I had, what I would now call, an interesting outlook on Lent and fasting. It still makes me chuckle to tell the story to others of how as a child my brother, during one Lent, declared that he was giving up of all things – circuses!…

Willpower is a curious thing.  It can serve both positive and sometimes negative ends.  The endurance that we need to maintain persistence and consistency in our endeavors can be critical.  The question of the value in our use of willpower seems to fall within the assessment of what is “achieved.”…

Bourbon Street is an interesting place to be after Midnight in the first hours of Ash Wednesday morning.  As the clock strikes midnight, police on horseback clear the quarter.  As the raucous clamor of carnival celebration ceases, there is an almost eeriness to the atmosphere. …