About

For just on 20 years, I had the privilege to explore the world courtesy of working for two major airlines. Along the way I completed a journalism degree, which included studies in photography and furthered this with a post-graduate degree in teaching.

After retiring my ‘wings’, I decided to simply see where the proverbial road would take me.

It has taken me to live on a remote island off the coast of Taiwan where I taught English. Worked as a photojournalist for an animal sanctuary in India and time spent in Cambodia helping to build an English school.

I continue to dabble in freelance journalism, and to use my camera to capture the essence of what I see and love in everyday life.

Of course always sharing my road are my amazing sons, who as young adults, are now forging their own journey’s, and walking alongside the 3 of us are our ever- faithful and somewhat crazy 4-legged family, Stanley & Oscar, Simon & Eddie.

Sadly in 2020, we lost Simon & Oscar aka Bear within 3 weeks of each other. My world forever changed. Eight months later, we were introduced to Freida, who helped heal our broken hearts.

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Simon, Oscar (aka Bear), Stanley & Eddie

*All images and words on Stanley & Bear are my own work and subject to copyright

27 thoughts on “About”

  2. Jen, you have a gift of expressing yourself in words and pictures. A lovely combination! Thank you for stopping by my blog and inspiring me to keep on going!

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  5. Hey, you three – and Stanley! – hello there Jen. Thanks for stopping by. Is this weird, or what, both blogging on WordPress? I’m loving your photography, Jen, and will delve further into your blog tonight when I have some time to concentrate. I must say I like the idea of resident kangaroos – I’m going to miss my monkey visitors and ‘roos would be a suitably exotic replacement, don’t you think?
    Ciao
    Meredith

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    1. I know, how funny is that, or should I say how interesting it is how two paths cross.
      Yes, the resident kangaroos. They are here often as my property backs onto natural bushland and none of the neighbors have fences so the roos roam free, it’s nice.
      And thank you for your lovely comments on my photography, I still have a lot to learn technically, but I enjoy it, so that’s a bonus.
      And Stanley, he features in many of my posts so Im sure you will get a good idea of how important he is in our lives. Just as I could see your girls are.

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    1. Ahh Mrs C… frankly, right now I feel like running 1000’s of miles back home to my boys and 4-legged furry ones. When I made this decision 4 weeks ago, friends an fam all said I was brave: not feeling too brave ATM.

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      1. I have a friend( a Kiwi) who did 5 months in the depths of China. Very tough but I know he’s glad he did it.
        chin up and one day at a time I guess.

        Good luck.

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  10. So you decided to join the small clan of Uncle Spike followers, sometimes known as The Spikey’s…. That makes me a happy blogger now – I really appreciate you making that special mouse click.
    Hope you like my upcoming posts and if you get bored one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too.
    If you have any likes, dislikes or suggestions about my blog, just let me know, either through ‘comments’ or via email. Always welcome reader input 🙂
    Have a great old day…
    UNCLE SPIKE

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  11. Hi Jen, nice to meet you. Your blog is wonderful, and your photography superb. I wonder if you’ll return to Penghu, or some place like it, to teach. It seems like it had become a good fit, but of course family must come first.
    Thanks for visiting our blog, and for following. I hope you enjoy the stories of our journey, both inner and outer.
    Cheers
    Alison

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    1. Thank you for your compliments. I came across your blog via another blog link and Im glad I did. Your passion for life is wonderful and in tune with my own, so I shall follow your journey with great interest. Yes, I do hope to return to Penghu, I loved it there and loved teaching. You should try to get there in your travels, the Taiwanese people are some of the friendliest I’ve met.
      Safe travels, I look forward to reading.
      Jen

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  16. Hello Jen,

    Thank you so much for visiting my blog and that really helped me find your beautiful images and stories here.

    I really enjoyed browsing through your galleries and it was a real treat to the eyes.

    Have a great time 🙂

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