This Month's Features

The setting resembled a stunning picture postcard come to life. Soaring, snow-capped mountains provided a backdrop for green-clad terraces carved out of steep hillsides. In fields below, men and women wearing a rainbow of colorful clothing bent low to pick golden shoots and tie them into huge bundles, which they carried to a rickety wooden wagon pulled by a pair of water buffalo.

The three sets of grandparents who turned out on a January evening while the region prepared for a blizzard were already experts in thawing out chilly conditions.

After her son moved away and a kitchen radiator accident reminded her how easily a lifetime of photos could have been lost, Barbara Despres of Hardwick wanted to ensure her family artifacts were preserved.

Old San Juan echoes with centuries of history, dating back to the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the island in 1493 and the massive 16th-century Spanish forts overlooking the sea.

Steering our canoe around a turn in the river, my wife Fyllis and I suddenly were face-to-face — or, more accurately, face-to-knees — with a massive creature. Lifting its head, shoots of river greens cascading from its mouth, the huge moose stared at us as we stared back, then continued its meal.

Sitting on a beach in Aruba with a coworker as part of a promotional trip, the answer hit him. “Out of nowhere, I just said, ‘I wish I could paint the green water and rocks that surrounded us.’ ” It turned out his cohort was a watercolor painter, but hadn’t brought his paints with him.

Several years ago, when construction began on a housing development overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, an eagle’s nest with eggs was discovered in the forest that was about to be razed. Today, the aptly named Sanctuary community surrounds an island of trees that was preserved so the birds’ habitat would not be destroyed.

As the years passed, he would see it again in other family members, including a horribly forgetful aunt, who put ice trays into the stove instead of the freezer.

A series of products allows family members and caretakers to remotely check up on the well being of their loved ones and charges.

We arrived in Juneau on the second day of the cruise. Standing on deck as we pulled into port, we spotted a large American eagle perched on the ship’s gangplank. We weren’t in the “lower 48” anymore. We had arrived in a part of the country where even the best superlatives are inadequate.