Joni Mitchell and homesickness

For those of us living a long way from home, sometimes the smallest thing - a song, a picture, the sound of a familiar voice - can bring in a flood of homesickness.

For me, it was a brilliant CBC article this morning "A Song Map of Canada", where a route across Canada is mapped using songs that pay tribute to a particular place along the way.  The map opens with Joni Mitchell's "A case of you": "On the back of a cartoon coaster, in the blue TV screen light, I drew a map of Canada".  Joni, you make my heart ache for home.

  

New year, new post

I can't believe how long it's been since I've written, visited, or thought about this page.  These past 8 months have been absolute madness, between field work, data analysis, and a PhD thesis deadline quickly approaching.  I spent the end of last year on a series of uninhabited islands mapping seabird colonies then came home and analyzed a whack of data before heading to a conference in Portland (which was amazing!).  Well, instead of apologizing for the next year while I write up manically, I will just post things here that make late nights in the office that much more enjoyable. 

So, here's to online escapism!

This tumblr by National Geographic has been an absolute godsend!  Each day a few photos from their archives are displayed, many of which have never even been published.  Such a treat to troll through glimpses of what life was like over 60 years ago, from fashion to political issues... even to wildlife (see the photo of a young lady holding mountain lion cubs in what is now urban Montana!).

Here are a few of my favorites: