News Trend A Fistful Of Fall Flowers|Actual

Summer is finally over.

Sniff, sniff.

I'll grudgingly concede that truth.

And if another truth must be told, the flowers in my gardens are mostly fading into memory, which makes it all the more important to flood my home with fresh, seasonal blooms. But hold up - mixed bouquets of harvest tones and the ubiquitous pots of chrysanthemums, lovely as they are, are not my jam. Here are three of my favorite alternatives for fall-friendly flowers.

^ These extravagant blossoms were plucked straight from my generous hydrangea bush way back in early September, and here they are in November, still going strong. True, the individual petals have dried out a bit, but the originally pale colors have intensified in a most satisfying fashion, and best of all, I no longer need to bother with keeping water in the vase. Huzzah!

^ Let's be honest. I love keeping the windows open during cold weather. That snappy Pacific Northwest air makes every room feel cleaner and calmer, and I especially appreciate this phenomenon in my bathroom. But given the reality of a husband who does not share my interest in heating the outdoors, I've discovered an alternative. Eucalyptus bouquets offer a bright scent and soothing sight for a mere $4 a pop at the grocery store. Take that, heating bill.

^ What could be sweeter and simpler than a little white pitcher full of pink carnations? Yeah, yeah, I know...I have a well-documented obsession with pink flowers all year round. But this vivid jewel tone packs the same intensity as the scarlet and gold maple leaves and brilliant blue sky in my backyard; the colors all flow together and make seasonal sense.

This precious bundle comes with a tiny price tag - the whole handful cost less than $lima and will last for weeks. I glance over at them dozens of times every day, and love the splash of sass they bring to my darkening days.

* * * * *

So, fine, fall - you win. I'll concede victory to you once again, and do my best to celebrate your season with these fall-friendly flowers. But just the same, I trust you won't mind if I pay one more visit to my rose bushes tomorrow, hoping for a few last, lingering blooms of summer.

News Trend Mighty Mango Juice|Actual

Mmmm.

For my money, there is nothing so nourishing and revitalizing as a glass full of mango juice.

It refreshes my DNA.

I don't even know what that means but I'm sure it is true.

But my mighty mango drink is more than just food for the body. My mind and soul are strengthened too, as I remember one particularly special glass of this fine juice.

* * * * *

The date was Friday, June 27, 2014; the last full day of my second trip to Malaysia.

I'd happily bounced around the country for four weeks, visiting a succession of endlessly generous Malay friends in their homes, and adapting to my ever-changing circumstances. The whole experience was rich and rewarding beyond words, but here's the thing.

If anyone tells you that it's easy to be a white, Christian, married yet brazenly unescorted, American woman traveling in an Islamic nation, well, let me just set the record straight. It's not.

By this fateful last day of my visit,

my emotional reserves stood severely depleted,

my nerves were jangled and raw.

And I felt as vulnerable and exposed as that dream where you show up naked for group in high school.

My primary host's mother-in-law, the venerable Mak, had invited me to lunch. Per her instruction, I sat at the table and listened to her whipping up our meal in the nearby kitchen when all I wanted to do was put my head down and cry hot tears of frustration and shame.

As I struggled to hold myself together, Mak's arm appeared from behind the refrigerator door.

Here.

Drink this.

The fruit is from our tree in Melaka.

In her hand, Mak held out to me a huge tumbler full of fresh-squeezed mango juice. Golden, thick, and chilled to perfection. I took the glass in both hands, raised it to my mouth, and began to drink that sweet nectar in uncontrollable gulps.

The first glass was gone in record time.

I asked for a refill.

Before the meal was over, I think I tossed back three and a half rounds of that goodness. Killed the whole pitcher, as I recall.

Okay, so maybe I went a bit overboard, but the magic of the mango went straight to work on me. Slowly, inexorably, my calm was restored not in waves or even swells but in gentle ripples, and my confidence returned to help me face not only that day but also the emotional round of goodbyes that lay ahead.

* * * * *

Now, every time I take a sip of mango juice, I feel the same surge of goodness and light shoot through me, mind, body and soul. Can't say for sure if this is a medicinal quality of the fruit or perhaps the lingering effect of a friend's kind hospitality, but the power of the mighty mango lives on.

News Trend Yellowstone National Park: The Prequel|Actual

During our summer road trip, we saw more interesting sights that I could squeeze into my real-time posts. Now that I'm back home and have fished all 548 photos off my devices, I have a few more road trip stories to share.

To catch up on the rest of the trip, starthere.

Yellowstone National Park.

The jewel in the crown.

The apple of my eye.

The perfect red cherry on the banana split that is our country's collection of beautiful and breathtaking landscapes.

Though my heart beats fast whenever I visit a national park, Yellowstone must surely be the greatest and grandest of them all. Nestled in the northwest corner of rugged Wyoming and spilling over into bits of Montana and Idaho, Yellowstone captures all the best of the west and rolls it up into one delicious destination.

Amazing too were the sights to be seen during our overnight stay in nearby Wapiti, Wyoming. Yes, before we even set foot in the park proper, We were treated to the sights, sounds and soul-satisfying tastes of a genuine western experience.

But you don't have to take my word for it. See for yourself.

^ We rolled into the Yellowstone Valley Inn after dark and went straight to the dining room. Bison burgers and hot turkey dinners under the elk horn chandelier? Yes, please. And you know there was a moose head mounted over the fireplace mantel.

^ Who would not dream sweet dreams in a bed of hand-hewn lodgepole pines and white rumpled sheets? I personally slept like an angel. Ranger had no complaints.

^ Our room opened on to a little patio out back, and when I peeped my head outside in the morning, this is what I found. Good morning, Wyoming!

With another amazing meal of down-home cooking under our belts, we pulled up our tent stakes and set off westward for our eagerly anticipated day at Yellowstone.

^ Even Ranger, with his sweet red head popped out the backseat window, was excited to see the sights.

* * * * *

Tomorrow's burning question: Will we find beanies before hypothermia sets in?

Click here to find out.

News Trend November Rain|Actual

It's that time of year again. The crisp, sunny skies of golden autumn have given way to bedraggled trees, overcast skies and unrelenting rain.

Hello, November. We meet again.

As I reluctantly abandon my outdoor afternoons for blankets and the couch, I hold dearly to one happy thought:

Just seven more weeks till the winter solstice and then we head back towards summer.

News Trend Yellowstone In The Afternoon|Actual

During our summer road trip, we saw more interesting sights that I could squeeze into my real-time posts. Now that I'm back home and have fished all 548 photos off my devices, I have a few more road trip stories to share.

To catch up on the rest of the trip, starthere.

After surviving an icy, wind-blown morning and a picnic lunch served inside a tornado, we were ready to take on the afternoon blitz of our one-day whirlwind through Yellowstone National Park.

Here's the most fascinating fact about this fabulous wilderness:

The park sits on top of an active super volcano.

Not even kidding.

Technically called a caldera, a word meaning "cauldron," the low, flat area of the park lies within the crater of the original volcano. Calderas are formed when the magma chamber beneath a volcano empties out during an eruption; the Yellowstone caldera resulted from three super eruptions, the most recent of which occurred 640,000 years ago.

Which simply means that the park is full of hot spots that bubble and boil, blast and steam, with appalling individuality and charm.

^ Active geysers, as the hot spots are generally known, make themselves known at a distance. Though the features may take several different forms - mud pots or steam vents, for example - all involve heat escaping the earth. Thus, these lovely steam clouds pop up here and there, their white presence even more striking as temperatures drop.

Gorgeous at a distance, the thermal features invite visitors to come closer. Though it's wildly unsafe to march across the weak surface of the hot spots on your own, the park offers countless boardwalks for humans to get up close and personal. Bison and elk are on their own, and often wander through the thermal areas while ignoring the huge crowds of people. We also came across several examples of big muddy hoof prints stomping along the walkway.

^All the thermal features are created by the same phenomenon, more or less. Water seeps through cracks in the ground and reaches the super heated magma, and returns to the surface as water, steam or mud, depending on its route. The speed of the return trip also varies, and water that is forced through narrow openings can shoot up under fierce pressure, creating world-class geysers.

This video shows a fairly typical spring, and features an off-camera interaction between an adorable Asian-American, my husband, and Ranger.

^ Personally, I'm a huge fan of the mud pots, with their thick, sloppy bubbles and soul-satisfying burbles. If I knew I wouldn't be scalded and then arrested, I would be tempted to hop right in.

^ Besides entertaining the eyes, the hot spots affect several other senses. Many emit some kind of sound - splashing, burbling, or even high-pitched squeals of gas escaping under pressure. This feature, cleverly named Dragon Geyser, produced a roaring sound that wasn't captured well in the video but you can use your imagination.

Also, keep in mind that a primary chemical component of these features is surphur. Yep, the whole place smells like rotten eggs. Or worse.

^ But the dramatic, other-worldly views are worth it all. Though the afternoon skies continued to churn out dark, threatening storm clouds, the sky did not burst.

In fact, the day slowly grew calmer and more temperate. As the sun slipped low in the sky, we left the geysers behind to head back into civilization and our hotel in West Yellowstone.

^ One last herd of bison stood on guard to witness our departure, but before we left the park, we had one more surprise in store.

Click here for the story of our last great Yellowstone adventure.

News Trend Yellowstone In The Morning|Actual

During our summer road trip, we saw more interesting sights that I could squeeze into my real-time posts. Now that I'm back home and have fished all 548 photos off my devices, I have a few more road trip stories to share.

To catch up on the rest of the trip, starthere.

After a lovely night spent on the east side of the mother of all national parks, we drew a deep breath and set off for Yellowstone proper. Once we crossed the park boundary, one magically majestic splendor after the next materialized before our very eyes.

I am not exaggerating. Check out these highlights of our morning's adventures to see for yourself.

^ Welcome to Lake Yellowstone. Family lore has it that as a little boy, my husband and his family were out fishing on the lake one summer's day when a huge thunderstorm blew in. Lightning began to strike in terrifying proximity and they rushed to the relative safety of the shore.

Also in the family archives is the story of the time we came here when Ranger was a tiny pup, and a raging snowstorm met us on the eastern shore of the lake.

This visit, the weather conditions threatened to storm yet again, and when we hopped out of the car at this windblown viewpoint for photos, my third-born and I found ourselves horrifyingly under-dressed. On the spot, we declared that the next stop would be the Fishing Village gift shop, where most certainly warm woolen beanies would be available for sale. They were. We each bought one and wore them all day long.

^ The Hayden Valley flanks the Yellowstone River, winding through the center of the huge park. This, according to my safari-minded father-in-law, is the prime vantage point for viewing wildlife, and sure enough, we saw the obligatory bison herd across the golden plains.

As much as I lvoe Yellowstone in the bright days of summer, I must admit that these September visits offer a special atmospheric beauty. Those dramatic clouds scuttled across the sky on a wild wind, and other than the shocking cold, the effect was thrilling.

^ For my money, this is the most iconic view in the park. The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River cut through the colorful rock that gave the park its name. I can only imagine the dropping of jaws that most certainly occurred when the first white explorers stumbled onto this sight.

And the explorers who come to this place today continue to drop their jaws. As usual, the viewing areas here were jammed with an amazing variety of humans. Babies, grandmas, folks in wheelchairs, mobs of Asian tourists, and untold numbers of urban adventurers clogged the guardrails to gaze in admiration. Literally everyone over the age of three held a camera and engaged in the great art of selfie-ing with the scenery. Honestly, I felt like I was at an art gallery or a club, and while perhaps not as poetic as a lone visit, the experience definitely got my blood pumping.

* * * * *

Time for lunch. Have you ever picnicked while wrapped in two sweatshirts and a blanket, while the howling wind attempted to blow every morsel of your meal to kingdom come?

Click here to see if we survived.

News Trend Yellowstone In The Evening|Actual

During our summer road trip, we saw more interesting sights that I could squeeze into my real-time posts. Now that I'm back home and have fished all 548 photos off my devices, I have a few more road trip stories to share.

To catch up on the rest of the trip, starthere.

Our day at Yellowstone National Park was quickly drawing to a close.

^ Contentedly, we made our way west along the Madison River, recounting all our favorite moments of the day.

We saw windswept Yellowstone Lake, icy blue beneath her windcapped waves.

We hiked to the upper and lower falls on the Yellowstone River, taking in their beauty with a billion other tourists of the day.

We spied several herds of big, bad bison who blithely ignored us and went about their bison business.

We picnicked in a windy grove.

We explored less-frequented trails and off-the-main-road drives, finding scenic treasures far from the madding crowds.

And we walked among the geysers and hot springs and mud pots and steam vents to our very hearts' content.

Granted, we had hoped to see a moose but that's always a long shot.

So it was with our cups already overflowing that we noticed a sudden back-up of traffic along the park road.

Well. That's always a sure sign of a wildlife sighting.

Far be it from me to pass up a close encounter of the nature kind, so we pulled over and I hopped out to do some scouting.

^ There they were. On the far side of the river, safe and secure in their little threesome, stood a trio of female elk. Grazing in the lush grasses, their golden fur and white tails ablaze in the evening light, their beauty was breathtaking. My daughters soon joined me, and we stood transfixed, watching and expectantly waiting for whatever might happen next.

But never could we have predicted the unearthly sounds that soon rang out from the line of trees behind the cows. Bellowing trumpet calls like nothing I had ever heard before.

Now a massive male elk stepped boldly out from the forest, maybe twenty yards from the females. He paused, emitted another majestic cry, then nobly strode out toward the river, pausing now and then to stop, draw a scent, and evaluate his circumstances. Again, and again, the bugling cries rang out.

And just when the situation seemed almost unbearably fantastic, a second male broke from the forest, between the group of females and the first male. Suddenly I realized that both males were trumpeting, calling back and forth to one another, clearly competing for the attention of the females. Closer and closer they came toward us, still safely separated by the breadth of the river, but now we could see through our binoculars their massive antlers turning this way and that, black noses quivering on the wind.

It might have been ten minutes that we stood and stared; it might have been forever. Eventually, first one male and then the second regally climbed back up the ridge and disappeared into the trees. The females, for their part, continued with their meal, seemingly unimpressed by their menfolks' commotion.

As for us, we made our way back to the car, and rode in stunned silence to our hotel, remembering a morning, an afternoon, and a most eventful evening in Yellowstone National Park that we will not soon forget.