Championing the makers, artists, and wanderers in all of us.
I found some really neat gifts for the traveler in your life that I wanted to share with you. Spoiler alert, they’re all on Etsy!
While I am an affiliate and may earn commission from purchases, it’s really not about Etsy as much as the individual makers who use it as a platform to sell their creations.
I’ve paired nine shots of Arizona fall color with Etsy finds that match their autumn vibes! Each pair is a place to go along with fall-inspired decor and other fun stuff.
You can see more on Etsy’s Fall Decor Essentials guide or check out my personal picks.
Every fall, this Chinese Pistache Tree at Boyce Thompson Arboretum turns brilliant shades of orange. You can see it from far away, as it stands out from the green leaves of trees surrounding it.
BTA is a great day trip from the Phoenix area! It’s just about 45 minutes from the East Valley via US 60.
In similarly striking oranges and yellows, you could use these fall foliage stems as part of a flower arrangement or on their own, grouped together to make a standout seasonal centerpiece.
I wasn’t planning on taking a photo of a tree stump while I was admiring the view from Mount Lemmon. Then I noticed teeny – almost cute – little mushrooms growing out of it, and those needed to be captured!
Continue reading “Pairings: Arizona Autumn + Fall Decor”
Naturalist, artist, and author Roseann Hanson is an explorer. But her definition of the word doesn’t require you to have traveled extensively on 5 continents the way she has.
To her, being an explorer is more about how carefully you study something – whether it’s the Sahara Desert or a grain of sand – than how far you go. (Incidentally, I agree!)
She gave a talk at the Natural History Institute in Prescott called “The Art of Exploration: How Field Sketching and Journaling Bridge Science, Conservation, and Well-being.”
I watched the livestream and found it riveting!
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In the days before you could just carry a camera with you, it was common practice for scientists and explorers to draw what they were observing out in the world.
Their field notes often included beautiful illustrations, along with handwritten descriptions.
The impulse to make a visual record of what’s around us and what we’ve seen on our journeys goes all the way back to the Stone Age, to cave walls and sandstone boulders. Roseann Hanson sees these drawings as early field notes.
Continue reading “Field Notes: Drawing (on) Your Experience”
Flagstaff is a great place to take a walk. For one thing, the summer weather is gorgeous! Plus, there’s the Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS), a network of over 56 miles of walking and biking paths throughout town.
When we were in Flagstaff recently, I wanted to take Quijote on a short walk before we went to meet up with family. I found a nice little quarter-mile route downtown from Wheeler Park to Heritage Square.
Wheeler Park has a central location with free parking nearby. I recognized the park name from Happenings List events that take place there, like Flagstaff Art in the Park.
I had done a quick search, and it didn’t seem like anything like that was scheduled for that day.
But there was. The sidewalks got more crowded the closer we got. The street we planned to turn on to get to the park was completely closed. As we circled around the block, we realized the entire park was fenced off. And so was the parking lot.
Continue reading “A Short Walk in Flagstaff, Arizona”
“When you grow up in a small town in Newfoundland, you see that people have a sense of humor about hard times. I turned that into a career and hit the road.”
That bit of narration begins, and perfectly encapsulates, the premise of the CBC TV series Still Standing. It’s kind of a mix of travel show, stand-up comedy special, and small town documentary.
Think Corner Gas meets Rick Steves, and you’ll be on the right track.
“Now I’m on a mission to find the funny in the places you least expect it – Canada’s struggling small towns. Towns that are against the ropes, but still hanging in there, still laughing in the face of adversity.”
Continue reading “Watch This: Still Standing in Small Town Canada”
