Monday Mood: Get Out and Go

I enjoy traveling.  I enjoy spending time with people I know. I enjoy seeing different places. And so I make plans and I get out and go. I am Chicago as this posts. 

Doc Spo lamented recently that a friend was in town to close out some business and he feared it might be the last time they meet for lunch as the friend will have little reason to return the Valley of the Sun, once this business is concluded. My comment, was "make reservations, go to the airport, and go." Don't wait for others to come see you, get out and go see them.  This is often a one way street, I go to Florida to see my brothers or my one and only first cousin, but they have never come the other way to visit me.  If I don't go, the next time we "see" one another with be at a funeral with one of us being the guest of honor. 

If you are physically, mentally and fiscally able to travel, get out and go. 

Travel is a great privilege. Most people alive today will never fly on an airliner. Many will never leave the country or state they are born in. Less than 1% of the population will ever travel on a cruise ship.  We learn so much and see so many interesting people when we travel. Don't fear it, just get out and go. 

I will never understand people who sit in a window seat on an airliner, and close the shade. The awe and wonder is outside the window, not on their phone, or in their book. 

I will work on a list of ideas to reduce the stress of travel. 

The Sunday Five: Zoom Zoom

1: Have you ever been to a car race? 

2: How do you respond to heavy traffic? 

3: Are you a fast driver or a slow driver? 

4: What is the fastest car you have ever owned? 

5: What is the fastest you have ever driven? 

My answers: 

1: Have you ever been to a car race? Not the race itself, but qualifying weekend at Indianapolis - a couple of times. 

2: How do you respond to heavy traffic?  I have become much more tolerant,  an extra few minutes and we will all get there. 

3: Are you a fast driver or a slow driver? I am annoyingly slow. 

4: What is the fastest car you have ever owned?  A 1999 Cadillac Eldorado with the Northstar V8, I don't know how fast it would go.  

5: What is the fastest you have ever driven? About 110 miles per hour, on the Autobahn in Germany. That is when the little gray dot in the rearview mirror became a Porsche that passed me. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: Touch the Art

I was in a studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in old town Alexandria Virginia, and there was a sign on the door, and several signs inside that simply said, "Please Touch the Art." The small gallery was filled with sculpture, most of it made from recycled materials, and handmade jewelry. The artist behind the counter, said, Please feel free to touch or pick up everything in the shop. This is art made to be seen and touched. Some pieces made sounds, I sure, if she could she would have them give off scents, or encourage you to taste them. 

Food should not be the only art form that we experience with more than one or two senses.  As I type this I can smell a loaf of bread baking, later I will feel chunks of it in my hands, and taste it, hear the crunch of the crust as I do. 

Find ways to engage as many senses as you can with your art. We see, we hear, we smell, we feel, we taste, creativity and art can touch all of the senses. 

Foodie Friday: Pickle It

 It is pickle season. I started doing this about 5 or 6 years ago. I buy a dozen or so pickling cucumbers at the farmers market, I prefer smaller ones. Give them a rinse, trim the ends, and put them in a brine of 4 cups of water, 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar, 2 tablespoons salt, fresh dill, a couple of crushed garlic cloves, and some kind of peppers, fresh or dried. Weigh them down so the cucumbers stay submerged in the brine, and let them sit at room temperature for 4 to 7 days. You can see and smell as they pickle. You can vary the spicing. These are then refrigerated and eaten fresh. They are not preserved for long term storage. I go through about a dozen of these a week, for three or four months in the summer when fresh fruit is available. 

Try it, is as easy as it sounds. There are a ton of how to pickle books out there. You can probably find one in the library or your neighborhood used book store.   At least to start with, stick with the fresh pickles and not ones that are processed in a boiling water bath or pressure cooker. These are easy, and if made on small quantities you will consume them long before they spoil (most of the time, about once a year I have a batch go moldy and toss them out.) 

The Thursday Ramble: Get Out There and Go!

I am on the email marketing list for four major cruise lines, needless to say I get a couple of messages a day, touting their most recent offerings. I have two pending cruise reservations at the moment. 

One day last week Holland America sent an email announcing that an around the world cruise was opening for reservations. An around the world cruise is very much a fantasy item for me. The one they are promoting is about six months long, and I didn't want to look at the pricing, probably $50,000 per person. If I win the lottery I might do that. 

As part of the promotion they have an essay content with the grand prize being the around the world cruise.  The question was in 250 words or less, “Why do you want to see the world with Holland America, and which ship would you choose to take you there?”

What do I have to lose?

Here is what I wrote:

Inspired by the words of Henry David Thoreau in Walden when explaining why he went to live in the woods, I “wish to see the world on Holland America” to see if I can learn what the world has to teach, so that “ when I came to die,” I don’t  “discover that I had not lived.” Life is a grand adventure, part of this for me was crossing the Atlantic via the northern route on the Rotterdam, a ship I will gladly sail on anytime. Despite being considered very well traveled, I have not seen Asia, Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica. There is so much more to explore and learn from. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than to savor the journey in the warm embrace of  Holland America. 

So yes, there is so much more to see, get out there and GO!  

My World of Wonders: July 29, 2026

Where have I been this week? Home, the treadmill, the pool, the grocery store, the ABC store, the Dentist, Cambridge Maryland. 

What did I do in the kitchen this week? I made multi-grain bread. Macaroni and cheese and baked chicken. Pork schnitzel and a nice mushroom gravy. A cherry clafoutis. Meatballs with a stroganoff sauce, a nice sald. 

Who have I talked with this week? Amy, Giuseppe, Paul, Ruth, Rebecca, my Sweet Bear, Lillian at the Gallery in Maryland, the dental hygienist, and Doctor Z. 

What have I been writing? An article on creating retirement job descriptions and goals, written ethics materials, written materials on health-care decision making, and an article on advocacy and the National Aging and Law Conference. 

What made me angry this week? Hearing the repeated lies by Delusional Donny about an election that everyone knows he LOST. If he truly believes he won it, he is delusional - a strongly held belief that has no rational basis in fact. There is a Constitutional provision for this, Congress needs to do their job.  His delusions are dangerous. And he punishes anyone who speaks out against him.  

What am I doubting this week? That Mitch McConnell is alive. It may be that he is just an animated corpse on life support until it is too late to call a special election.  

What travel planning am I doing? I worked out some details on a road trip in October, booked air and a hotel for my Florida trip in February. When we get back from Chicago I need to work out the details on the May cruise. 

What is on the easel this week? Hmm, nothing. I have some ideas but nothing in process. 

Travel Tuesday: Ft Wayne Children's Zoo