I realized recently that the title of this blog might be misleading. Its explanation is that I regard natural and cultural heritage places as heirlooms of humanity and our home, the planet Earth. I view keepsakes as the perennial values we add and leave for posterity. I explore near and (hopefully soon) far places that embody each of these concepts, preferably both.

I have a few family heirlooms that have been burdening me with the worry of keeping them safe - proper organization has always been a struggle for me. To these I have added quite a few keepsakes, which have not made my dilemma easier. This situation had to stop. The solution was to focus on turning my memories into heirlooms, and my experiences into keepsakes, through multimedia storytelling.

When I was eleven, I went to my first camp since kindergarten. Each night I was in charge of telling bedtime stories to my fellow campers. I don't remember telling any famous fairy tale. Instead, I was improvising a new story each night. In elementary school I loved composition class, and often my short stories on a given theme were going quite a bit off-topic... In camp, I let my imagination run wild, and after I got home I received letters from some of the girls asking me to finish the tales that were left without an end, because everyone invariably fell asleep sooner than I did... I could hardly remember the tales, I was probably half-asleep telling them, speaking perhaps from a mind corridor connecting with my subconscious... I wish I kept those letters. Too often we don't recognize the things that should be our keepsakes...

Lately, some new stories (for children of all ages, as I like to say) are starting to take shape in my mind. Stories inspired from my work with nature and also by my fascination with the archetypes and myths shaped by the various environments which humans have inhabited.

Until they emerge, I will tell here the stories of the auspicious places I encounter in my journey.