SAMPLE ARTICLES

 Introduction    

Here is a sampling of recent articles with links.

Olympic Playground
What is it about the Olympics that turns perfectly rational folks into sportcrazed fools? For me, it's the theme music. I hear those opening drums and I'm ready to take on anything. Even the Dave Murray Downhill.

 Snow Jam: Sugarloaf's Reggae Fest
“Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeah, make you wanna move your dancing feet...”

 Understand this: Whether you want to dance or ski, the place you want to be is Reggae Fest, Sugarloaf’s annual spring bash.

To the Boatyard Born
Every pocket along Maine’s ebbing and flowing coastline harbors boats. Sleek sailboats anchor next to grimy fishing trawlers, sturdy lobster boats moor cheek by jowl to natty power yachts. Old salts know not only which ones were built in Maine, but also exactly where along Maine’s 5,500 miles of mapmaker-challenging coastline they were built and by whom.
 

Have Paws, Will Travel
In my next life, I want to come back as a dog. I’ll travel with my human via corporate jet, stay at five-star properties, enjoy a “peticure” and perhaps an aromatherapy bath and massage, lounge poolside and sip bottled water at the bar, chow down on gourmet burgers, and slumber on a therapeutic pillow. Think I’m kidding? Pet travel is a boom industry, and accommodations are extending a welcoming paw.

Arts Focus: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary|
In Nova Scotia, Atlantic Canada's not-quite-an-island province, folk art and its makers are aptly described as quirky, whimsical, spirited and resourceful. Born of farming and seafaring traditions, folk art straddles a line between functional and fanciful. The best works are playful, yet provocative; naive, yet sophisticated; familiar, yet fresh. They share a common heritage, but differ in interpretation, with one underlying similarity. "It's happy art," says Patti Durkee, owner of From the Heart Folk Art gallery. "With Nova Scotia folk art, you smile."

Architect makes earthly delights

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- I didn't understand the concept of urban sprawl until I visited Scottsdale, and I didn't know the antidote for it until I visited Cosanti. I came here seeking Frank Lloyd Wright. I left enamored of Paolo Soleri.

Quebec marketplace a foodie's dream

QUEBEC CITY, Canada – When I come here, I eat. A lot.

I've nibbled my way through chocolateries and maple sugar shacks citywide, but nothing compares with the Marché du Vieux Port, a European-style marketplace hugging the waterfront on the edge of the walled city. The Marché, or market, is a delicious find, a treat for the senses, a tease to the waistline and a wonderful source for taste-full souvenirs.

Little to do but love it all
COOPER ISLAND, British Virgin Islands -- No phone. No TV. No Internet. No air conditioning. No cars. No roads. No crowds. It's surprising how so many nos can add up to one resounding yes.

Playing with lobster can be a chef's Maine course
PORTLAND, Maine -- Around here, getting lobster is easy; getting perfect lobster is not. Lobster joints salt the coast from Kittery to Calais. It seems nearly every village on the ocean side of Route 1 has at least one lobster shack or equivalent, a casual, usually take-out place. ``Everyone wants it, so it's thrown into a pot and not a lot of attention is paid to it," said Rob Evans, chef-owner of Hugo's Restaurant in Portland. That's not the case in the state's nationally acclaimed restaurants, where the tasty crustacean is treated like a celebrity rather than a commodity.

Something's Fishy in Newfoundland:  Skiing on an island in the Atlantic? In Newfoundland, stranger things have happened.
Like every Newfoundland driver I’ve encountered, Ralph MacWhirter zips along the island’s serpentine, snow-packed roads at speeds that mock posted limits. We’re en route to my hotel, and MacWhirter, left hand on the wheel of his Buick Park Avenue Ultra and right hand gesturing, turns to me, grins and asks: “Where ya to?”

Arts Tour: Coastal Maine Midcoast Ramble
The rolling, pine- and spruce-studded landscape of Maine's Blue Hill Peninsula can't be contained by the mapmaker-challenging coastline. It repeatedly furls and unfurls itself, befuddling drivers and confounding direction mavens. Causeways and bridges connect islands, coves cosset sleepy fishing villages, and blueberry bushes and artists' studios and galleries dot the byways.