Clik here to view.
The Beverly Hillbillies Head for Binga
by Nancy McDaniel The reason I first went to Zimbabwe had nothing to do with one of those infomercials, the ones that show crying, hungry children and ask you to send money to feed them. Instead, it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Soul Clouds
by Nancy McDaniel Clouds have always fascinated me. It doesn’t matter what I learned about them as a child in school. I believe they are magical. I believe they are somehow spiritual. I believe I can...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Safari for My Senses
by Nancy McDaniel So many times I’ve been on safari in Africa and I’ve always seen many wondrous things. People ask me if I go to see the animals. Of course I do. But there’s so much more to see than...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Solar Powered Bush Baby
by Nancy McDaniel Not very long ago, in the Botswana bush far far away, Russell, The Guide, and Trudi, The Hostess, asked where I got all my energy. This is not a question that people in Chicago often...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Upside Down & Inside Out
by Nancy McDaniel I’m at that age, “A Woman of a Certain Age” (Isn’t that what The French call middle age? Or is it semi-old age? I think we need a new term for us Boomers. Fifty-two can’t be middle...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hiker Chick & The Mount of the Holy Cross
by Nancy McDaniel There I was, a city girl disguised as a hiker in the mountains of Colorado. I pretty much looked the part, even if my backpack was spanking clean and newly purchased from Target (but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Angels in Fur
by Nancy McDaniel An important thing to know about me is that, as a child growing up in the suburbs, I was a “dog person.” And nearly everyone I knew was also a dog person. “Cat people” were different;...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Meeting Dr. Ian Player
by Nancy McDaniel How many of us are fortunate enough in our lives to meet someone who has been a true hero of ours? Not a known hero such as a parent who selflessly raised us safely and successfully....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Alone but Not Lonely
by Nancy McDaniel Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote of “the restorative idleness of solitude” in his excruciatingly beautiful novel, Love in the Time of Cholera. I was profoundly struck by the poignancy of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Beach Musings
by Nancy McDaniel Back on the beautiful beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast, I walked. And thought. And thought. And walked some more. It’s quite lovely here and I am bored out of my mind. The city girl in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
But It’s Just a House…
by Nancy McDaniel It wasn’t something I planned to do. I just happened to go to a board meeting in a new (to me) and magical neighborhood. I saw the house with a For Sale sign and that’s how it all...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Trio of Peaceful Pachyderms
by Nancy McDaniel The first thing you notice about him is, of course, his immense size. But then you see his eyes: lovely, kind and liquid. His name is Jabulani, which is Zulu for “Happiness.” He is an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Even the Address is Gone
by Nancy McDaniel I don’t get out to the suburbs very much. Physically, and attitudinally, they are far removed from my current life. I really just go out when it’s time to visit my step-mom every now...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Death of Innocence
by Nancy McDaniel September 11, 2001 started out for me, as it did for most, as just an ordinary September day. Just an ordinary Tuesday. Oddly enough, it was the 15th anniversary of my father’s death....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Spirit of Christmas Passed
by Nancy McDaniel What a curious Christmas this last one was. I didn’t think it all mattered so much to me, but I guess it did. It’s All About Traditions for Me I’m not religious. I don’t go to church...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Camp Chapungu: Listen to the Stone
by Nancy McDaniel OK, OK, how many times has someone told you that an event “really changed my life?” I recently participated in a stone carving workshop taught by a Master Sculptor from Zimbabwe. It...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Death in a High Rise: A Tribute to Maureen McDonald
by Nancy McDaniel October 25, 2003 When I think of dangerous occupations, I think of firefighter and police officer and window washer and miner and construction. I never thought paralegal. When I think...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When the Golden Years Turn to Gold Dust
by Nancy McDaniel The saddest part to me is that she seems to be disappearing in front of my eyes. The woman whom I have loved for over 40 years, the woman who married my beloved Daddy and who became...
View ArticleClik here to view.
And then I Heard the Weaver
Sitting in a big hotel in Lusaka Very Western Pleasant but sterile Sitting by a lovely “water feature” With koi and papyrus and purple flowers And water lilies Relaxing with a bottle of Boschendal wine...
View ArticleClik here to view.
I Just Wanted to Be Sure of You
My grandparents are long gone, my mother died in 1963, daddy died in 1986, and my stepmother died in 2010. I guess that, technically, I am a 66 year old orphan – but I am lucky enough to have a big...
View Article
