“Everyone can tell you an apple experience,” says Sarah Brown, a touch of nostalgia in her voice. “For me, it was Yellow Transparent. Growing up we had a Yellow Transparent apple tree and I would just sit and eat and eat. Every few hours my mom would come by and say, ‘You’re going to get a tummy ache.

Light to dark and back again, times and news and stories shift. Music for Shifting Times is what we decided to call this series about music. It proved more prescient than we could have known back when we began.

What lights the path, where and how to draw strength when darkness closes in and challenges rise is one of the ideas that is a constant in what I share with you.

A two-night stay at the Belmond Hotel Monasterio in Cusco, in the aftermath of our journey to Machu Picchu, offered an exceptional opportunity to absorb the region’s history. Developers in the 1960s transformed this former 16th-century Spanish seminary, built on top of a grand Inca palace, into a hotel. In 1999, the Orient-Express Hotels (today the Belmond Hotel brand) started restoring the colonial Renaissance architecture. 

One look at the extraordinary photos from our featured photographer, Aaron Cooper, and you'll do as I did: fall into his landscapes, a bit like Alice. He perfectly captures the essence of place and spirit. 

Portage, Michigan. Boat Dock ©ACD&M 2019

Restaurant Weeks, a chance to dine on chef-prepared cuisine at dozens of San Antonio area restaurants, kicks off Aug. 10th and runs through Aug. 24. The biannual salute to the Alamo city’s best culinary talent is the brainchild of Culinaria.

Photo: Kirsten Kaiser, adapted by Wandering Educators

It’s August–the month of balmy summer days, outdoor exploration, firefly chasing and lemonade stands. It’s the time of college planning, hints of back to school shopping, and high school sports practice. It’s the time of road trips and international excursions, hiking trips and beach outings, camping weekends and peaceful getaways by the lake.

We first met our friend Lara Smith at Grand Rapids Comic Con, at Artists Alley. After falling into discussion about her playful, creative art, we KNEW we had to share her work with our wandering educators. 

Cochise County, Arizona sits like a corner puzzle piece in the southeast part of the state. Year-round, visitors come to this region to enjoy a welcoming climate filled with an abundance of attractions that meet the needs of adventure seekers, birders, foodies, wine connoisseurs, as well as history lovers. While in the region, Ira and I took a smorgasbord approach and sampled different aspects of the county…and experienced how history comes alive in Cochise County, Arizona.

Italians serve up silky gelato. In India, expect kulfi for an icy dessert. Mexico’s popsicle-like paletas come in endless fruit flavors. For Japanese, ice cream mochi encase spoonfuls of ice cream in flavors like sweet mango, green tea, strawberry and more in a thick, rice shell. Americans make towering sundaes with multiple scoops of ice cream drenched in hot fudge before being sprinkled with chopped nuts and topped with a sticky-sweet maraschino cherry.

A conversation with a friend, a passing exchange with a stranger, a favorite show, an article in a magazine or a headline in a newspaper, a window display, a note in a journal, a sketch on a napkin, a photograph, a book, a song: these are all stories, all ways in which we organize, create, and remember our days, and our lives.

How we tell these stories, to ourselves and to each other, shapes and shares perspectives on the world. In shifting times, especially, it is important to think about such perspectives and ways we share and shape them.