Travel Tuesday: Art at Sea on the Rotterdam

One of the reviews I watched on YouTube about the ship Rotterdam before we boarded last year, suggested going out of your way to see the art on the landings in the stairways. There are about 10 levels, and stairs fore and aft, so there is lot of art to see.  Some have asked, how do you stay busy during a week at sea? The better part of one afternoon was filled with walking down the each of the stairways, admiring the art. 

 

Monday Mood: Little Things That Make Me Smile

The little things that make me smile:

The alchemy of cooking, transforming ingredients into something tasty. 

A nice walk, really any walk, on the treadmill, in the swamp, along the city streets, exploring a museum, being able to move about under my own power. Eleven years ago, being able to do so was at serious risk, every walk is a bonus. 

Putting the top down on the little car, and taking the Panda for a ride. 

Shopping at the farmers market, finding fresh local ingredients raised by the people who are selling them, a couple of the bakeries that sell at the market, carrying on a tradition that has continued longer than we have been a country. 

Reading what my blog friends have to say. Writing something that someone might read. 

Smearing paint on canvas, taking photographs, sharing photos, playing with my hobbies. 

Reading, good books, bad books, lots of books. 

Planning travel, and traveling. 

Loading and emptying the dishwasher. 

The joy of life is seldom a major event, a take your breath away moment, Joy and smiles are found in the 100 little things that I enjoy each day. 

The Sunday Five: Trains

1: When was the last time you traveled by train - if ever? 

2: What is the longest trip you have taken by train? 

3: How can we encourage more people to travel by train? 

4: Do you prefer to travel by train, plane, or automobile? 

5: When will you next travel by train? 

My Answers: 

1: When was the last time you traveled by train - if ever?  Last May, Edinburgh to Glasgow. 

2: What is the longest trip you have taken by train? Probably Washington DC to Boston, it is an all day trip. Or maybe Antwerp to London. 

3: How can we encourage more people to travel by train?  The US needs to build new rail beds so trains can travel faster, and to expand cross country rail service. 

4: Do you prefer to travel by train, plane, or automobile? If the trip is under a three hours, train. 

5: When will you next travel by train? Hopefully New York in November, the next trips I am certain of is Rome to Milan next May. 

Please share your answers in the comments, 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 States in 52 Weeks - Rhode Island

 Rhode Island is one the small New England states, squeezed in between the Atlantic Ocean between Connecticut and Massachusetts. 

I have been there twice, the first time was one of the early AARP consulting project, in the state Capital Providence. The workshop was coordinated by the Department of Elderly Affairs, who answered the phone DEA, in most of the country DEA is the drug enforcement administration.  About 1/3 of first time callers hang up fearing they have dialed the wrong number. 

The last trip there was for a board meeting in Newport for a non-profit I volunteered for. Newport is home to fisherman and old money. The marina was filled with boats that cost more than my net worth.  The seafood was amazing. It was an amazing place.  The first speeding ticket issued to an automobile driver in the United States was issued in Newport, as I recall he was tearing through town at something like 17 miles per hour. 

The cliffs along the water's edge are lined with huge homes, summer cottages from the gilded age. Summer retreats for the rich and famous from New York and Boston 100 years ago. We had time to tour one of them. 

We really should spend more time exploring that part of the country.  I have never driven my car, farther north than Baltimore.  We should change that someday. 

Funky Friday: There Will Be Signs

Stay Strong, Be Kind, and VOTE

If you are not offended, you are not paying attention.

Hmm, Myth or Legend?

He was a real jerk.

The Thursday Ramble: Happiness and Getting Older

Spo, the dear, posted last week about happiness and aging. This really needs to be a chapter in his book.  And it got me to thinking about my life and happiness. Let me go through by decades. 

I don't remember much about turning 10. The house was crowded, with six of us in about 900 sq. ft. (about 90 sq. meters.) That may have been the year when the farm barely turned a profit, if not it was within a year or so. School was okay, but I was insecure in many ways. My family was in a long stretch of not traveling. 

I remember thinking that turning 20 was traumatic. I was very insecure, struggling with identity, struggling with money. In many ways I was afraid of the world. It was really an unpleasant time for me. 

I ran my first Sprint Triathlon on my 30th birthday, 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike ride, and 3.1 mile run at SeaWorld in Orlando. I had lost a bunch of weight, and was still insecure about my body image. I was working 50 hours a week, going to college half time, going to the gym 5 mornings a week at 6:00 AM.  A screen of arrogance covered my insecurities and unhappiness.* I was making good money, and learning that money couldn't buy happiness.** 

The week I turned 40, I started my third and final year of law school. My mid-life crisis included a divorce, finding love, chucking the business***,  a major geographic move, and taking three years off from the real world and going to graduate school. I realized how lucky I was to be able to go back to school at that age, I enjoyed spending time with the brightest group of people I would ever spend time with, and learning for the pure joy of learning.  The curriculum was intense, and very time consuming, but not difficult.  I was finding happiness, much more so than when I turned 20 or 30. 

I was speaking at the National Adult Protective Services conference in Chicago when I turned 50. I went to dinner at a delightful French restaurant with a table full of professional friends. Though I didn't know it at the time, I was nearing the end of a nearly 10 year stint providing free legal assistance to older adults. I was overworked, and underpaid. I often put in 50-60 hours a week. I loved the work,  but the pace was killing me.  In a little over two months I would interview for the job that filled the balance of my career.   

My happiness increased significantly between 50 and 60. I had settled into work that was both fulfilling and paid decently. I was traveling a nice amount. I liked where I was living (and still do.)  There were some challenges, my parents died, I settled the estate, a task not without its challenges.  I had come to be much more comfortable in my skin, with who I am, and who I am not.  I was reading and learning, and writing lots. I had started back enjoying hobbies such as  painting, and photography. 

Since turning 60 happiness has continued to increase. If you want one piece of advice about happiness in later life it would be pay off your mortgage. The last couple of years of work, I took on additional stress becoming director. It was not unpleasant, but it was stressful. Retirement has allowed me to pursue dreams of long walks, long adventures (30 plus day trips.) I am free to say yes to what I want to do, and no to anything I don't feel like doing. Having time to exploit my local library has led me to reading that continues to expand my universe. As I get nearer and nearer to 70, I find myself content, and happy. Life is good, when most of life is "Not my problem." 

* Looking back at it, I was a real jerk in my late 20's, early 30's.  Arrogance and anger covered insecurities and uncertainties. It was thing to be a Yuppy, it was inexcusable to be an asshole, I was, many of us were.

** And I did know where to shop. I was wearing custom tailored suits, driving new cars every few months,  traveling (Europe twice in one year), and wearing an expensive watch (I still have it, I don't wear it.)   

***My favorite line from the BBC comedy "To the Manor Born" was in the final episode when Richard says to Audrey, "What would you say, if I said I was thinking about chucking the business," maybe because when I first heard the line I wanted to "chuck the business". Her answer was "why don't you move back here and mary me." He did. So did I. 

My World of Wonders - The Wednesday Ws - It's Late September

What was the protest about? I don't know, I think promoting solar power, there were electric and hybrid cars circling the block with signs and noise.  No flags are flying over the House or Senate, so congress was not meeting. (House of Representatives is on the right, Senate is on the left from this view.) 

What Aristotle understood, that HWSNBN and Brainworm don't?  The difference between correlation and causation. Aristotle used a formula. If all A are B, and all B are C, then all A are C = causation. If some A are B, and all B are C, not all A are C - there is a correlation, in that some A may be C, but not all. If they had done well in a statistics, research science, or classical logic class they would have learned this.  Just because  children born to mothers who took Tylenol while pregnant are diagnosed with autism at a higher rate, does not mean that tylenol causes autism. Autism has been around much longer than Tylenol.   

Why were my Monday and Tuesday morning posts late? Monday's because I scheduled it for Tuesday, opps! I fixed it, but not until it had been Monday for half a day in some parts of the world. Tuesday's was scheduled for mid-morning, not midnight in my local timezone. Sorry, I will try to double check this in the future. 

Where have I been this week? On Friday I decided I needed to get out of the house, and I needed a long walk, so I walked to the subway, took the train into the city, and spent a couple of hours strolling one of the world's great museums.  The Farmers Market, the pool, the Pharmacy. A little drive around old town north. The community center for a meeting with the arts group, planning for next year. Dyke Marsh for a walk along the Potomac. Across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge (in the convertible with the top down) to Maryland for a walk in National Harbor. Out to lunch with my sweet bear, and then to see the Downton Abbey Movie. 

When is the next adventure? In a couple of weeks the power will be off in the condo for several hours to update the "electrical switchgear" in a mechanical room far below us. We are going to Williamsburg for a couple of days. We will be away the day the work is being done. 

What travel planning have I been doing? I finished booking hotels for the grand adventure taking place next spring, booking hotels in Rome and Vienna.  In Rome we have a great location, a few minutes walk from St. Peters. In Vienna, we are out a little out of the way, but across the street from a subway line. Several hotels we were interested in were sold out and others were $500-$600 a night- strange for that time of the year. A Google search revealed that the Eurovision Semi Finals are taking place in Vienna while we are there, with the grand finale just after we leave town.  

What have I been up to in the kitchen this week? Poultryman's pie - like a shepards pie, but made with chicken. I poached a whole chicken and made chicken soup - and two quarts of rich stock. A simple lasagna, Garfield was right it is one of the pillars of life. 

What is the blog quote of the week? Dora at Having Coffee With Peppy, "10. Kill, Confession time...I thought of killing a few people. But never have. (I) Came to the conclusion that they didn't deserve to rest in peace." 

What is the theme song of the week?  It's late September, and I miss going back to school, even after all these years. I remember this one playing in CKLW the rock station out of Windsor Ontario that provided the soundtrack of my teenage years. 

Travel Tuesday: National Gallery of Art - Washington DC

Last Friday, I went into the city and wandered around the National Gallery of Art for a couple of hours.  

I needed to spend time walking in silence,

I needed to be surrounded by beauty and grace, 

I needed to see things that made me think, and feel, 

I needed sights that took by breath away. 

Oh, I needed that! 

 

Monday Moods: We Are All Human

I large chucnk of my professional life I worked with frail and sick human beings. For about nine-years I did volunteer work with a hospice program, on call for bedside estate planning.  

Some things I learned along the way. 

We are all human and the human condition is not always rose colored or smelling like rose. 

Illness sometimes brings out the best in people. I remember one woman who reconciled with her only child, after years of refusing contact because he had not followed the path in life that she wished. (He rode Harley and worked as bartender in Key West rather than going into the family business.) When she called, he returned home and provided tender hands on care to empower his mother to live out her final days at home.  

Illness and death sometimes bring out the worst in people. I spent a couple of hours waiting for a locksmith to change the locks on a house, so that the widow could go make make funeral arrangements without the kids stripping the house of valuables. She was afraid to leave her own home. 

Angus in St Andrews posted a link to a news story recently, sort of an editorial by a journalist who was interviewing civilians in Ukraine. A family stepped forward, and the youngest child, a child who had lived his entire life in a war zone was wearing a T-shirt that translated in English read, "always be kind."  

If a child in a war zone can, we all can. 

A funky and offbeat post this Monday, maybe that is how I am feeling. 

The Sunday Five: Landscape - Cityscape

 1: Given an absolutely free choice would you chose to live on a farm or in the city? 

2: When traveling, do you prefer to stay in small towns, or large cities? 

3: Do you prefer a city park or a country park? 

4: What is your favorite city in the world? 

5: What is your favorite park in the world? 

My answers:

1: Given an absolutely free choice would you chose to live on a farm or in the city?  A city. 

2: When traveling, do you prefer to stay in small towns, or large cities?  Large cities - there is more around to see and do. 

3: Do you prefer a city park or a country park? City parks, there are fewer bugs.

4: What is your favorite city in the world? Florence Italy, 

5: What is your favorite park in the world? Grand Canyon National Park

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 states in 52 weeks - Pennsylvania

 

The Pennsylvania State Capital

City Hall in Philadelphia 

Pennsylvania is about halfway between Washington DC and New York City. From east to west Pennsylvania is nearly 300 miles wide, when you are driving across the state, it seems like it goes on forever. Philadelphia is the major city in the east, just across the river from New Jersey. Pittsburgh is near the western end of the state and far north. I have driven around Pittsburgh many times, and never been into the city. I should stop one trip.   

Philadelphia, or Philly as it is known, was where the colonial congress met, where the treasonist Declaration of Independence was written and signed 250 years ago next summer. The founding fathers were a nonconformist lot, a tradition that was carried on by the much missed, dearly departed blogger Ann Marie. We met her and Todd for lunch a couple of years before their untimely deaths. 

There is a lot of Pennsylvania in between, miles and miles and miles of rolling farmland and forests. Kind of smack dab in the middle, is Harrisburg, the state capital, and home to Mistress Maddie a brilliant and somewhat uninhibited young blogger (at my age most of you are young.) 

It is a pretty state, and one that really deserves more attention than I have given it. One big suggestion, get off of the turnpike and expressways, and mosey your way around the back roads of Pennsylvania.  I have done that a couple of times, and it is a really fun place to explore.  

Foodie Friday: Overcoming Fears in the Kitchen

I am overcoming my fear of poaching eggs. I like a nicely poached egg, with the yolk still runny.  For years I struggled with making them, fearing that mine were a mess. My mother feared making them, I guess I learned from her.  On the cruise last spring, in the buffet the cooks would poach eggs for eggs benedict to order, right in front of me and I watched a learned so much. 

It is perfectly okay if part of the white of the egg separates and floats away or becomes a foam on the water.  No amount of adding vinegar to the water, or cracking the egg into a whirlpool of boiling water will really prevent this. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to just below a boil, crack the eggs in. They will sink to the bottom, the whites will do all kinds of strange things, but the part of the white that surrounds the yolk will remain intact unless you stir vigorously. When the egg rises off the bottom, it is cooked, the more it floats, the more the yolk is set. Remove with a slotted spoon, drain off the water, a little salt and pepper, and you have a wonderful poached egg.  

In the hotel dining room at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto, the waiter asked if I wanted the yolks, runny, medium or firm, and checked back to see of they were cooked to my satisfaction. The only time I have ever had a restaurant pay that level of attention to poached eggs. 

I had a fear of making pastry. This was a result of making a mess in the kitchen as a kid making my first apple pie, and my mother shouting at me for the mess.  A few years ago, I vowed to overcome my fear, and I have, and I have also become less messy when I make it. And no one shouts at me.  

I never saw my mother bake with yeast. Later in life, after I started baking bread she explained her irrational fear of working with yeast. When the yeast starts to work, it gives off a sour smell, then an alcohol smell. When that happened, she was sure it had gone bad and would make everyone sick, so she would throw it away. Fortunately I didn't learn that fear. I started baking bread and just went with the flow. 

Have you overcome any irrational fears in the kitchen? 

Thursday Ramble: Modern Medicine and Living Longer

There have always been people who lived into old age, into their 80's and 90's. More of us do so today, thanks to medical science. 

I was working on an article a few years ago that talked about why there are more older adults today, than in the relatively recent past. I did a little research into why more of us live longer than our ancestors did 100-200 years ago. I wrongly assumed that antibiotics and vaccines would be the leading cause of average life expectancy increasing.  While those were in the top ten reasons, the factors what have made the biggest change are sanitation and safe drinking water. Many of the people that died at a young age 100-150-200 years ago, died from waterborne illnesses, frequently contamination of drinking and washing water with sewage. Workplace and environmental safety were another big advance, many fewer of us die trying to earn a living than did 100 years ago. Also in the top ten was reduction of death in childbirth, and by the way a major factor there was washing hands before assisting with a birth. 

Vaccination for smallpox, has been around since the 1700s.  A doctor realized that milkmaids who had cowpox, a related and much less harmful disease, didn't contract smallpox. The original vaccine was exposure to a live virus. It was later understood that the immune system developed a response that allows the body to rapidly fight off infection from viruses that it has been exposed to. 

For much of the past 100+ years, vaccines have been developed with either dead viruses, or weakened viruses. Immune responses tend to weaken over time, and viruses tend to mutate over time, explaining why it is recommended that certain vaccines be repeated. 

While vaccines may not be 100% effective, and a very small percentage of people have adverse reactions to vaccines, the benefits far outweigh the risks for most of us. 

I have an appointment for vaccine updates in a couple of weeks. The Condo provides space for an onsite vaccination clinic each fall. 

The secrets to a longer life. Have access to safe water, wash your hands often, avoid getting kicked in the head by a mule or crushed by a tree, choose doctors with clean hands, and talk to your doctors about what is best for you.   

My World of Wonders aka The Wednesday Ws- Mid September 2025

Where have I been this week? I took my camera and went over to King Street for a walk, and ended up buying a new pair of walking shoes at Pacer's. The Community Center to take down the latest Gallery show, and back to change out the Showcase display. Back to the Community Center to help hang the new gallery show. Crystal City for a long walk. Mt. Vernon for the annual colonial market and fair. The community center to drop off and pick up books for our annual book exchange.  The Farmers Market. Amazon Fresh and Trader Joe's. The pool. The AC was fixed then failed again in the gym. The library for a fresh reading stack. 

What have I been up to in the kitchen? Chicken / vegetable/ noodle soup. Baked chicken with rice with saffron (I opened the last box of saffron from our last visit to Spain - Spain is on the agenda for next spring.) Potatoes au gratin with ham. Roast Salmon and roast veggies. It is soup, stew and casserole season - cooking is fun at this time of the year. 

What am I reading? A book about Gordon Ramsey's international food  travels. Two thoughts, the book needed better editing/typesetting, and he writes like he talks.  And a neat little book, Longitude, I learned a few things.  

What made me stop and think this week? Last weekend was the condo's annual book exchange.  I took over a bag filled with books, and brought back a handful of books.  I was reading Longitude while drying off by the pool, and I noticed a smell.  I had to pause for a moment to identify the smell, then I stuck my nose in the book. It was the wonderful smell of old paper and ink, of a book that had not been opened in 30 years. 

Who have I talked with this week? With all of the arts stuff, Joan, Amy, Prathiba, Jon, Kevin, Linda, Ruth. That was the peak of my socialization for the week. Oh, and my sweet bear in case anyone wonders, we talk every day. 

What is happening in my family? My sister and middle brother were at an over 50 year high school reunion, my brother is getting old and round (my invitation will be coming in a few years.) My sister took part in a neighborhood garage/yard sale. My oldest nephew and his wife are expecting a second child late this year, and selling and buying a larger home.  

What have I been painting? The brilliance within the reading stack. 

Where did the prints go, from the solo show in the Grill last month? The empty wall in the kitchen. 

What is the advertisement / video of the week? I don't recommend or condone stealing a car,  but, this is so well produced. 

Travel Tuesday: Out and About in Alexandria Virginia

A couple of nice days out, in my neighborhood. 

American Bald Eagle and a young Osprey at Huntley Meadows Park 

Turtle doing turtle things. 

Mushrooms 

Bench in front of a medical clinic.

Virginia Tech - innovation campus at Potomac Yard
I keep trying to find the best side of this building, there doesn't seem to be one. 

Over a beer at the Grenadier pub in London, INEOS Chairman and 4X4 enthusiast Sir Jim Ratcliffe had an idea. The vision for a stripped-back, no-nonsense, utilitarian 4X4 was born. It is rare to see one on the street, but Alexandria is the kind of place that you will. 

Lots of place to pause for a moment. 

Falling apart on the subway tracks in the King Street Station.