Monday Moods: Travel

After 60 some years of traveling, there are a few things I have learned to make travel more pleasant. To improve my mood about travel. 

• Pack less, my father used to say take half as much stuff and twice as much money. 
• If you can't carry it, don't take it. Over the years I have downsized the cameras and lenses I carry, I carry a tiny computer, I leave things home, I leave things behind that I don't want to carry. 
• You don't need to stay connected. I started traveling long before cell phones, let alone international roaming. I would be gone for a week or two and guess what, the world didn't come to an end. Don't obsess over being constantly connected, if anything, plan a week with no connection at all. 
• Check a bag when you fly. It allows more flexibility when packing, it makes boarding and getting off of the plane much easier. I have a couple of airline credit cards that include as a perk, checked bags. When I fly other carriers, I always select a fare that allows me to select a seat and check a bag. 
• Be flexible.  I see people create detailed, almost hour by hour, itineraries of everything they "have to see and do." And when the museum is unexpectedly closed, or the wait to get in is hours long, their world is turned upside down.  Walk around the block, and see what is there.  
• The online maps application has never driven the route that it tells you can drive in 47 minutes. The estimates are based on driving at or near the speed limit. The reality, is this is often impossible, and even more often, not the way you want to drive it. Double the estimated driving time. Have time to pull over and see the view. Have time for the speed-bumps and roundabouts that the software didn't understand that you often won't drive anyplace near the speed limit. And if you do, you arrive a little early and have a little extra time to explore the place you are going to. 
• Always be nice to the desk agents.  By being nice I have gotten some amazing upgrades at hotels and car rental desks over the years. I have also been rude, and received what I deserved.  
• Arrive at the airport early, and once you have checked in, dropped off your checked bags, and cleared security, surrender all control. It is beyond your control, don't fight it. 

Relax and enjoy the adventure. It will make your Mondays all the more pleasant. 

Travel when you can. There are no guarantees that you will be able to take that trip later. 

The Sunday Five: Technology

1: When was the last time, if ever, you used a rotary dial phone? 

2: Do you know anyone's phone number without looking it up? 

3: Is your computer on WiFi or a cable?

4: Do you remember Windows 95? 

5: What was the earliest operating system you worked on? 

My Answers: 

1: When was the last time, if ever, you used a rotary dial phone? In the early 1990's visiting my sister and my parents one summer on the farm. 

2: Do you know anyone's phone number without looking it up? No. Someone asked me Sweet Bear's number, and I had to look it up. 

3: Is your computer on WiFi or a cable? My desktop is plugged directly into the modem, everything else is WiFi. 

4: Do you remember Windows 95? Yes, there was a YouTube the other day that encountered Windows NT, the child (in his 30's) had never hear of it before. 

5: What was the earliest operating system you worked on? Basic, I develop a program for home builders to price a home, add options, and calculate five different financing options. I gave a copy to a friend, who shared with a friend, who built a nice business out of it. I used their version of it the last few years I was in Florida. I started it, someone else made something out of it (I never felt bad about the fact that someone took what I started and made a finished product out of it.)  

Please share your answers in the comments.

The Saturday Morning Post: Screw up to learn to be creative

I had a flashback recently to an art class I took 35 years ago at Rollins College. It was a silver casting and construction class. One of the projects was to construct a hollow silver cylinder box. You start with a flat sheet of silver, roll it around a form, cut it size, solder the seam, solder on a top and bottom that are slightly larger than the cylinder, trim those to size, file the endes, and polish the finish on a buffing wheel. I started out with a large round, the larger size was easier to work with, or at least it seemed to be. I was working fast and feeling really good about it, and disaster struck. The piece caught on the buffing wheel, was pulled out of my grip and smashed into the floor. The professor who had been watching from a distance, and shaking his head from time to time, as I worked fast and cut a few corners watched it happen, and stepped into his office, the room could hear him laughing. I had screw up, I was working on too large of a piece, I was working to fast, he knew it, I knew it, the piece was a mess. 

I cleaned up, went home and thought about it, and I started over. I made a smaller piece. I followed the instructions. I put a lot of hours into it. In fact I will say that the most important thing I learned in that class, is to put the hours into do the job right. And many jobs will take much longer than you expect or hope. 

If I hadn't screwed up, I might never have learned that. 

There have been books written about making a mess and breaking things, the real message is to learn from the mess you make or the things you break, learn how to do them better. Learn to create, by screwing things up. 

Foodie Friday: Harvest Season

Here in the Northern Hemisphere it is harvest season. The bounty of the autumn is ready to be explored and enjoyed. Find your local farmers market. If you don't know where it is at, Google it (more than once I have found farmers markets for bloggers and left the answer in the comments), ask around, find who has what that is fresh, preferably local, though the best of the season is shipped into places where nothing is local. Here I pay a premium for farmers who come to us, or I can drive an hour or two into the country and buy directly at the farms. 

Buy what you normally wouldn't, buy what you love. 

As the weather turns cooler, it is a great season for soups and stews. A nice mix of chopped veggies, a little wine and stock, and let it simmer. 

I made chicken stock a couple of weeks ago. One whole chicken, an onion, a couple of carrots, a couple of stalks of celery, and several cloves of crushed garlic, water, a slow simmer and time. I had 6 cups of wonderful stock to cook with, and poached chicken for a couple of meals. Stock making is simple, toss it all in the big pot, add water and simmer. All it takes is time. 

I know there a beet haters out there. Peel and chop just one, and add it to a soup or stew as a background flavor.  You will be surprised. If you buy golden beets, you don't get the deep red color. 

The Thursday Ramble: The Good Old Days

If I am lucky, I will live to a nice old age. At 20, that meant 50, at 30 it meant 60, at 60 it might have been 75, at my age it is 85. That end date, is harder to move as I get older. As one blogger has put it, I have more yesterdays and than tomorrows. I am a realist, I am unlikely to live much past my mid 80's, if I live that long. I think of this often, I calculate how many more years do I have to do whatever I want to do. And the number keeps getting smaller. 

And I know, that at 80 or 85 I will look back on the "Good Old Days" and today will be one of those. 

Yes I did some fun things in my 30's, brave things in my 40's and 50's. But honestly, my 60's have been pretty amazing. We have gone and done, and seen.  I have a world of experiences and memories to look back on as the Good Old Days. 

Don't put off having your "Good Old Days." Make that call, read that book, see that show, hear that concert, paint that picture, take that trip. Someday, the ability to do those things will end, and you will look back on today, this week, this month, this year, as the "Good Old Days." Fill those days with memories. Be the old person who starts every story with, "well there was this time when I . . . ". Have memories, not regrets. We regret more the things we didn't do, than the things we did. 

My World of Wonders: October 14, 2026

 Where have I been this week? Painted Post, New York, back to Alexandria, VA, Inova Mt Vernon Hospital, the farmers market, the grocery store, the library, the treadmill, the pool, the grocery store, J's doctors. 

What am I reading? "How to Art", with a stack of books urging me to read soon. 

What have I been watching on YouTube? Cooking with Benjamin, he is in Arizona, with a southwest flair, and a focus on lower cost. He is fun to listen to, and very unfussy in the kitchen. 

What have I been thinking about this week? Refer back to Monday for how the week went, it was a challenging week. One of those that makes you think about life, health, the inevitability of loss. Enjoy every healthy day while you can. 

Who deserves a slap this week? I wake up every morning and check the news, and he is not dead yet. There are not enough slaps in the world. 

Who deserves an "atta boy"? President Z for taking out some data centers. 

What artsy stuff have I been working on? The next Gallery show is Still Life and Real Life, submissions are slowly trickling in. We are working on the schedule for 2027, we want to do a couple of shows that feature one or two artists. I have been pulling images for a show of photos. This prompted me to stroll through about 100,000 photos, trying to select 20, I narrowed it down to about 50.  I have found someone to split a show with me.  

Travel Tuesday: Flashback to Milan