I'm struck by the beauty of Afghanistan I've seen in my mom's slides.Here's the story behind this slide:When my mom was in Kabul, traveling alone in 1965, she met another solo traveler, a woman from the Philippines. Her new friend was about to leave Kabul for Kuwait City, … [Read more...]

I found this image while scanning my mom's  slides from the early to mid-1960s. It's pretty, isn't it?The lush fields, the fascinating rock formations, the blue sky above the mountain range. But the box in which it came was unmarked (only one of several unmarked boxes, thank … [Read more...]

My mom traveled to the ancient Thai capital of Arudhya (or Ayutthaya) in 1965. Her slides were labeled with the former spelling, so that's what I'll use here.Here she is roughing it in Arudhya (which was founded in 1350, destroyed in 1767 by the Burmese army, and declared a … [Read more...]

This slide sends chills down my spine and brings tears to my eyes.My mom took this photo in 1965 at the Royal Palace in Cambodia.  It looks like any other summer day in Phnom Penh. And it probably was. But 10 short years later, that would all change.The local men and … [Read more...]

I'm so excited I can barely sit still. While most of America was out shopping today on Black Friday (the kick-off to winter holiday gift buying), I relaxed at home with two of my three kids and some good friends (my older son is in the city with Lao Lao, the Chinese name for … [Read more...]