My first pickup was at a big multiplex off Riverside. Hana, who was working the phones, assured me that in one of the five story cubes nestled into a vast parking lot was a man in an apartment that needed a ride to the warming center. Turning into the lot…

Let’s say someone comes up with a replacement for plastics, like this mycelium idea: There are obstacles: plastics already have a large manufacturing base and distribution infrastructure. Soda, for example, co-evolved with plastics. It’s not just a question of is this the best material for various purposes, but does…

Its Sunday morning in Senj, but in the alleys and streets of this medieval town it feels like a weekday. People, locals, are up and buying and selling, yelling at each other. …

Last night we landed in a place that felt more like us. At the end of a small road on a long island covered with camping sites on one side, there is a restaurant bar on the beach. It’s not fantastic, but it’s good, they serve a good local beer…

What is a person, and how does one communicate with one? Dropping into a seat at a kitchen table in a Slovenian farmhouse, nothing is taken for granted but the human connection and the direct information it carries. The look of warmth or lack thereof in our host’s eyes. The…

8–4–16, Mayrhofen It was hard to get to sleep last night because I kept reliving the moment we crested the summit and saw that our cable car back to town was closed. It was a minor trek, on well worn paths with sofa-worn people from every nation skittering trekking poles…

Roxy Music is on in this seedy little cafe on the main city street. The city seems so rich but still there is this working class presence. It’s like the buildings are rich and the people are regular people. We could feel there was less stress here than Milan before…

7–5–16 Portovenere The Mediterranean is ideal for swimming. Its cool, but not so much I want to wear the insulated swim cap, and once you get away from surf churned sand its clear down to the bottom. There are no surfable waves, but outside secluded bays, the chop can be…

6–30–16, Castellan Eliza woke up yesterday with a sore knee. We thought it was just the scab from her fall the previous day pulling apart when she moved, but it persisted the entire day, though we forced her to hike and she did her best. We sat down in a…