summer on the water

All year round the Kings Cross area is a huge tourist attraction, drawing sightseers from around the world.

St. Pancras station

But in spring and summer residents flock to the Regent's Canal near Granary Square.

There are shops, restaurants and bars, fountains and even the prestigious Central St. Martins of University of the Arts, London.

urban living | nature & nurture

As city dwellers wonder | wander | women struggle as we straddle the divide between our concrete jungles and our love of nature and most things natural.

Summer is always a trial. Blue skies beckon. Warm breeze blows gently. Pulling at every cell and memory in our bodies. Raising our longing for the tropical tidal pools of our childhood beaches.

more buildings | NYC

The last few months have had wonder | wander | women out and about in New York City. Adding to our growing collection of interesting buildings.

A constant reminder that urbanites like us live in the deepening shadow of their escalating concrete towers.

Mere minuscule meanderers in the muck and mire of nonstop construction and deconstruction that breaks all bounds and barriers.

storm watch: summer tempests

It's been a very violent summer, weather wise. wonder | wander | women love cloud gazing, and we are fanatic photographers of clouds in every mood, but Mother Nature has been especially photogenic this year. Photogenic and temperamental.

London: under construction

In London, ancient and modern architecture often flow together to make the living city.

blossom time: spring in NYC

In response to Mahala's London Spring blossom time blog last week, wonder | wander | women blogs this week on Spring blossoms here in the US, mainly in New Jersey and New York.

As the days warm up we are out and about enjoying spring's return in a landscape of flowers and bright greens. 

blossom time: spring in the city

It's an unusually sunny spring in London and people are flocking to the...beaches? Not exactly; Londoners prefer to sun themselves by the calm waters of the Thames and its tributary canals instead of going east to the still-freezing waters of the English Channel.

Flowering trees by Limehouse Docks

slow down

Recently it seems as if most of the world is going through massive upheaval. As soon as we catch up in our lives, the world moves forward again and we have another paradigm shift to deal with. Tranquility seems rare and far away.

Sometimes this gives us tunnel vision, focused only on how to deal with the next big change that rocks our world. Sometimes, though, it gives us startling insight on things in our lives that we previously took for granted.

sharing London, part 2

This week the wonder | wander | women read an interview with travel writer Pico Iyer on Pure Life Experiences, a travel magazine. Pico Iyer lives in Nara, one of the most beautiful cities in Japan, and grew up in Santa Barbara, California, where his mother still lives.

He says:

"When I’m at my desk or traipsing off to the health-club or paying my bills, I often sleepwalk through my life, barely aware of the beauties around me.  

"As soon as a friend visits me in either place, I’m newly attentive to what’s wondrous about my hometowns, and newly excited about them. And the minute I’m in a place I think of as foreign, I start watching everything around me, so that even the smallest details become something curious and fascinating."

quiet time, green spaces too

One half of us is back in London and the Wonder Wander Women are missing each other! 

When we are in one place we always manage to find some quiet time to spend together, but once us time is over and we go back to our separate routines it's not as easy to keep doing.