Like him, I am always ready go. I have my passport handy, four or five currencies on hand, luggage ready to pack on a moments notice. The travel electronics bag is on the back right hand corner of my desk, right next to the camera, and the portable GPS unit with maps of North America and Europe.
I am always looking for the next adventure. Someone has the motto stay curious, I have never really adopted that one, but I should have.
There is something new to be learned around every corner. Sharon in Phoenix recently did a post where she zoomed in to capture the abstract beauty in spaces. Travel reminds me to see the world through more than one lens. When people meet Travel they often remark that he is smaller than they expect. He is only a couple of inches tall. His larger than life appearance is a matter of perspective. When I stop to take his photo, I see the world as he does, from a different perspective.
Adventure awaits!
2: More than half of Americans are now choosing cremation over burial. For you, cremation or embalming?
3: How long should cemeteries remain undisturbed?
4: Do you own a cemetery plot?
5: Do you want to leave a headstone, or marker?
My answers:
1: Very likely I have ancestors buried in this cemetery in Boston, do you ever get that feeling that you are surrounded by family? This one felt strangely familiar.
2: More than half of Americans are now choosing cremation over burial. For you, cremation or embalming? Cremation is fine, I really don't care.
3: How long should cemeteries remain undisturbed? Difficult question, they become abandoned after a couple of hundred years.
4: Do you own a cemetery plot? Yes, I have been trying to give it away.
5: Do you want to leave a headstone, or marker? I have thought about this, probably not, 50 years after I am gone no one will remember, or care.
Please share your answers in the comments.
When I was in the first grade, my family lived in Phoenix Arizona for a few months, some of my earliest vivid memories are from Phoenix. When I visit there it feels like home.
When I was in the 8th grade my family started spending winters in Florida, the first winter on the Gulf coast, after that the east coast near the space center. Those winters in Florida changed my life, changed me as a person. I discovered that there is a big world outside of the 80 acres I grew up on. I discovered adventures, and opportunities that are only available outside my comfort zone.
When I finished high school the economy in Michigan was in shambles, there were signs up saying, "would the last person to leave Michigan please remember to turn off the lights." My parents had already bought the house they would retire to and die in, in Florida, and that fall I wrapped up, left Michigan, flicking that light switch on my way out.
Within a couple of years, I realized I had left Michigan for good. I had no desire to return, and actually developed a deep dislike of the place. Having seen the bigger world, I realized how limiting the isolation of the farm was.
After a couple of years, I ran into a friend at McDonalds one morning, who introduced me to a friend, who referred me to a friend, who offered me my first real job outside of my family, and I moved to Orlando for opportunities. I lived there for 15 years.
Then my Sweet Bear was offered an opportunity, and I was ready for change, so we were off to Lexington, Kentucky. Graduate school followed, and a decade of work.
Then opportunity and adventures lured me to the Washington DC area. I wanted to live in the DC area, and looked for the job that made that possible.
I loathe the place I was born and raised, Phoenix where we only lived for a few months feels more like home. Florida was home for nearly 20 years, until it wasn't. Kentucky was a place of opportunities, but not a place either of us ever wanted to live. It served us well, we wouldn't be where we are today without the opportunities, but it was never home, never where we were from.
After 14 years living in northern Virginia and working in Washington DC, I still get lost two miles from home. It is home, but does it feel like where I am from? It feels like where I am.
You see, the answer to where am I from is more complicated than where I am.
Where are you from?
Fortunately for us, someone has recognized the importance of our fine feathered flightless friendly waterfowl. Penguins are native to the southern hemisphere, some are cold water birds, some are temperate water birds. In Brazil they sometimes post signs on the beach reminding people to not put penguins in the refrigerator.
In nature you will never see polar bears and penguins in the same place. Polar Bears live in the wilds of the northern hemisphere, penguins in the south. Bears probably like penguins, as a nice oily snack. Early explorers in Antarctica sometime ate penguins, reports are they found it fatty and fishy. Not terribly good.
We have found that the inanimate variety make perfect house pets. We do have one that regularly demands to go to Paris, Little Bob the Diva.
Travel continues to be our adventure companion, fabulous plans again this year. For this special holiday, he is in Tucson, Arizona, a little dry here for a flightless water fowl.
The second time I went to England with Sweetie Bear, when he was attending the Oxford Patristics Conference (google it is you want,) we spent a week together with friends in Yorkshire. That is a story in it self, we rented a house, they rented a car and Bert had just started driving, we had many adventures on the back roads and across the moors in Yorkshire. When it came time for Sweetie Bear to go to Oxford, I took a train to London, and Eurostar to Brussels, spent a couple of nights, then a local train to Amsterdam and spent a couple of nights, then flew from Amsterdam to Paris, and took the TGV to Normandy (I was suppose to fly to Normandy, that is another story.) I rented a car and explored Mt. St. Michel, and the Normandy D-Day historic sights.
In many ways it was a major life experience. I was traveling alone, in foreign countries, and seeing things with great historical significance. I visited places I had said, "someday I will see that in person."
If you are going to Normandy, I recommend watching the movie, "The Longest Day" before you go. It offers a lot of insight into the allied invasion into Normandy. One of the units portrayed in the movie was charged with taking and holding the village of St. Mere Eglise. Much to my surprise it is a real place, and the battle portrayed in the movie is relatively accurate. I knew I had to visit there and I did.
It had been a long day, I had driven along the beaches, stopping to see the various monuments and markers, and I had spend an hour in the American Military Cemetery. It was late afternoon and I hadn't eaten since breakfast at the hotel. I had gotten on the motorway headed back towards my hotel, and I spotted an exit that appeared to have services. I turned off and the first place I spotted was McDonalds. I had been exploring for the better part of a week, some home comfort food was in order. The coke-light that I ordered came in a green souvenir glass. I don't usually keep such things, but that one struck me as special and I stuffed it in between the T-shirts in my bag, and I still have it. When I see it, it reminds me of that week exploring and especially of Normandy.
How does the cheese tie in? The exit that I found the McDonalds at was Isigny Sur Mer, as I sat there eating lunch the view was of the massive creamery across the street.
After that late lunch, I took the roads less traveled across the countryside of Normandy, stopping at a local village festival in a hayfield, a pottery, and arriving back at the hotel with memories of the adventure that I relive every year. Memories that are associated with that glass, and that cheese.
What is new? The first snow flurries of winter on Saturday morning when I was at the Farmers Market in old Town Alexandria. They didn't stay, or stick, just a little to warm for that.
Who have I seen? My Sweet Bear, my work colleagues. I met a neighbor on my way to the subway one day last week, a safety engineer for the FAA, we had a wonderful time talking about airports and airplanes.
What have I been eating? Mostly home cooking, I made a fun chicken soup the other day, what was in it? Whatever I found in the refrigerator that looked like it would be good. I used the last turnip, I should buy more the next time I am at the farmers market. Turnip and parsnip add a back note flavor to soups, reminds me of Campbell's chicken or beef with vegetables.
Where am I going? Arizona for work, and pleasure. I have a speaking engagement in Tucson on Friday, and I am visiting friends and fellow bloggers in Phoenix on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Then flying back home, back to work. In early February I have a conference in New Orleans - all work.
What is happening with vacation plans? Airline tickets have been booked for an adventure in Iceland in late spring. I have started booking hotels. I promise to plan better this year, and see more detail. We will stay across the street from geysers, on a volcano, and near the black sand beaches at Vik.
Who have a talked to? Mostly work. I will make up for that next weekend.
What quit working? My large format photo printer was a victim of Big Mac's nervous breakdown. The manufacturer no longer provides the driver software, the printer is more than 10 years since being introduced. I have tried several options, and it appears to not have worn out, or broken, but simply to have been abandoned by technology. I'd sooner go to Iceland and send out large photos to be printed, than replace it.
What has started working again? Spell Check in Blogger, it was a settings issue in the operating system. You need a secondary click on your mouse for blogger to recognize the spell check in your browser, and Mac defaults to a one button mouse.
Who deserves an atta-boy! The new person in the office of the lawyers lawyers, who approved a contract for me this week, in one day, with no nitpicking questions or edits. She made my life so much easier.
Who deserves a slap? A growing list, but I am committed to being a better person - - - well unless I run into a couple of congress people.
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| The Radisson Blue we stayed in in Madrid is just to the left of this image, |
