Monday Mood: Relaxed

Returning from a break, I find myself rather relaxed.  I have a couple of little project to work on, but for the most part the "duties that must be done" are done for the year. 

The last couple of weeks of the trip, were very active, walking 2-8 hour most days, exploring the adventure. Being home, in one place, I find myself relaxed, and if anything feeling a little idle. 

All of the walking was good for me, I dropped 10-pounds in the month we were gone.  I should go for another 6 months. 

I visited Steve and Karen, friends of ours in St Paul many years ago. They had a border collie, a sweet little dog. A dog trainer had told them, that border collies need a job, they need a task that sets boundaries that they live by. Thinking about this, we do this in our own lives. Not just in our work life, but in our personal life, we form habits of tasks that "have to be done" that create the boundaries in our life. We create our own "grind" at work or at home. Taking a break, getting away from our day to day life, helps us relax.  A change of scene is good for us. 

And that is what we have returned from. How fast we let the job of living come back into our lives, is up to us. So far, I am still relaxing, taking a break like the guys in Glasgow above.  

The Sunday Five: Adulting Skills

If I were in charge of the Department of Education, I would create a curriculum for basic adulting skills.  Things every student should learn to do, so they can be more effective adults. 

1: Did anyone teach you how to wash, dry and fold a load of laundry?

2: Did anyone teach you how to write a proper business letter?

3: When did you learn to cook a meal from fresh raw ingredients? 

4: Have you ever cut up a whole chicken? 

5: How did you learn to make a hotel reservation? 

My answers: 

1: Did anyone teach you how to wash, dry and fold a load of laundry? My mother did, she wanted the laundry done while she was working outside of the home, there was hell to pay if it was not done. 

2: Did anyone teach you how to write a proper business letter? I remember learning and practicing the basics of letter writing in about the 3rd grade. We even walked up the Post Office as a class to learn how to send and receive mail. 

3: When did you learn to cook a meal from fresh raw ingredients?  When I was about ten, my mother started working in an office, and she wanted dinner ready when she returned home in the evening, my sister and I taught one another to cook. I learned a lot from watching my grandmother cook. 

4: Have you ever cut up a whole chicken? Yes, it is a basic skill that all of us should have. You learn cooking, and anatomy. 

5: How did you learn to make a hotel reservation? I don't recall my parents ever making hotel reservations when we traveled, I taught myself, 1-800-holiday as the toll free number for Holiday Inn hotels. Today it almost all done online. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 States in 52 Weeks - Maryland

If traffic is moving, you can be in Maryland in 10 minutes from where I live.  It is literally right across the Potomac River, as the eagle flies less than 3 miles away. I have walked there and back from here.  

Maryland is the heart of the Mid-Atlantic region of the eastern United States.  It is an amazingly diverse state, with sandy beaches on the Atlantic, fertile farmlands, Baltimore and the DC suburbs as major cities, and out in the western part of the state mountains and even a couple of snow ski resorts. 

As close as I live, I spend little time in Maryland.  Every few years we will fly out of Baltimore Washington International airport (BWI.) BWI is nowhere near Washington DC, and transit connections from there into the city are slow and if you need to ride Amtrak ridiculously expensive.  The best value for travel between DC and Baltimore, including BWI, is the MARC commuter trains operated by the state of Maryland.  For less than $20 round trip, it is a nice ride. But the schedule focusses on workday rush hour, with little or no service outside of the expected commuter hours.  

Baltimore is a neat old port city.  The inner harbor area is fun. 

Just across the River from us, is National Harbor, a collection of newish hotels, restaurants and shops, a convention center, and an MGM Grand Casino.  I visit National Harbor 4-5 times a year.   

Fabulous Friday: Reflections from the Road

Three airline flights, a ship with 6 ports of call, 8 train segments, 6 hotels, 8 countries, in about 4.5 weeks.  A couple of times, I had to consult the oracles to remember what day of the week it was.  Bits and pieces of the adventure flash through my mind, and I struggle to remember what country or city I saw that in.  It will all settle out in time. Most of what we see, we forget, in time our brains sort out the highlights, the deep memories that will flash before my eyes someday.  We write the stories that we tell endlessly in our dotage. 

First impressions: 

Downtown Ft Lauderdale, looks post apocalyptic, with vacant lots where there should be buildings, and massive new high rise construction clustered along the river. 

The ship Rotterdam. It is newer, and over 1,000 feet. But it felt more confined than other ships.  The entertainment venues are dark. The main dining room is bright, but crowded. The food was consistently good. The bars are plentiful. The main pool area, is bright and comfortable. The cabin was fine, the shower lived up to its reputation as the best at sea. 

Bermuda is a gem, in the Atlantic.  Warm and inviting, while it is British by affiliation, it is tied to the American rebellion in surprising ways.  It is worth going back to. 

Rotterdam, we didn't spend much time in.  The tourist information staff warned us that the taxi drivers would try to over charge us - yep a valid warning.  

Brugge was amazing, a city of canals, and ancient buildings. 

London was amazing, but more crowded than I remember. The side trip to Greenwich was worth the stop. We had a delightful afternoon with Stephen and Duncan who were in perfect form. 

Edinburgh is classic Scotland, very historic, very much sells itself as Scotland.  The hills are painful. The pedestrian ways are worth exploring. 

St Andrews is home to Golf, and a world-class University. It has history and landscape. It is easy to see why people love living there, and golf addicts sometimes drop to their knees and kiss the sacred turf. 

Glasgow is an old port city, a little gritty around the edges.  Lots of nice people. The city is more focussed on being the largest city in Scotland, than it is on being a tourist destination. 

It was a fabulous adventure that will generate many memories. 

Thursday Ramble: Live Well, There Is Still So Much To Be Done

I wrote this on a ship about 600 miles northeast of Bermuda, inspired in part by a comment from one of my readers. 

I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of suffering and dependency. So much of modern medicine is focussed on delaying death, and not enough is focused on making the most of the life we have.  Extraordinary measures are taken to fend off the grim reaper for a few months or weeks, days or even hours, often extending misery.  I am sure there are a few moments of joy, special moments in those moments of cheating our fate, but are they worth the physical cost? 

I have traveled, flown, taken boats, trains, driven, walked, ran and swam in the most interesting place. I have had tea with Archbishop of Canterbury, and floated over the Swiss border in a Zeppelin. I have been lots of exciting places.  I fully expect to die with a list of places I would love to see, experiences I would have loved to have enjoyed.  But when my time to go comes, none of that matters.  My one wish is that the end be sudden. I don't want days or weeks of death delaying medical care.  

Do I expect to die anytime soon. No. But then one never knows. I am sure I will be a little surprised - maybe even disappointed when it happens, but every living thing dies. Why should I expect to be any different?  

Another line from Jimmy Buffett, "I'd sooner die when I am living, then live when I am dead."  

So have that cheeseburger in paradise, dance the last tango in Paris, take the last plane out of Dublin (we did the day Covid closed the world to travel), hug your loved ones, tell your special someone "I Love You" every time you can.  I want my last words to the Sweet Bear to be "I love you!" 

My World of Wonders, aka The Wednesday Ws May 14, 2025

 

When did we arrive home? About 8:30 on Monday night, about 18 hours after waking up in Glasgow. 

Where have I been? In the past week, Glasgow in Scotland, Keflavik Iceland, the phone store, the grocery store. 

What about the phone? The screen on my phone went black, with occasional flashes of gold, about an hour after we boarded the ship a month ago. In 20+ years of smartphones (starting with Blackberry,) it is the first one I have had fail. I was an easy sale in the phone store, I am an Android user, and not terribly demanding.  New phone is a Google Pixel 9 Pro.  It was a good value, and ready to go.  

What have I been eating? Haggis, I know the description of how it was originally made is gruesome, the modern version is kind of like sausage filling, with grain - oats - added for texture.  The spice mix is primarily salt and pepper.  It is not horrible. Would I go out of my way for it, not really. I would gladly eat it to please the locals that I was willing to participate in their quaint local customs. Don't fear the haggis. 

What is to come? I downloaded 4,247 new photos from the four week trip. That will keep me posting for a while.  

What am I reading? Nothing for the last 2 weeks. So much going on, and sufficiently escaped from the day to day, that I took a break from reading. 

Scotland 

Someplace over the North Atlantic 

Glasgow 

Travel Tuesday: Ten Years of Keeping Going

Today marks the ten years, since I started my second chance at life. I don't talk much about my health, if you want to gorey details of what happened in May-July of 2015, you can go back and look in the archives. In a nutshell, I had a tumor compressing my spinal cord. It was removed and a section of my spine is held together with 6 titanium plates and 12 screws. I allow myself to think and write about this once a year.  As time goes on the writing is more of a reminder of the fragility of our mobility. I was millimeters away from never walking again.  

I am thankful for the success of ten years ago, making possible the last ten years of grand adventures.  I push myself to make the most of my opportunities to move about as freely as I can. As I recently told my general practitioner when she asked how I am doing after ten years, as I work at it, I continue to feel progress. I feel stronger than I did a year ago, and last year I felt stronger that I did the year before. Things are not perfect, and never will be. But I move forward on making the most of what I have to work with.  

There are things I can't do, things that I will never do, but there is also so much that I can do. And I try to celebrate the things I can do everyday, and with every adventure in travel.  There are days, and ways that things hurt, there are parts of me that don't move like they once did, and never will move again.  Pain is a part of being alive, as long as it is tolerable, I move forward.  I measure myself not by what others can do, but by what I can do, and what I actually do. And that is lots.  I have much to be thankful for. 

Never put off to next year, what you can do this year. There is no guarantee that next year will be an option.  Don't let your limitations define you. Make the most of what you have to work with. Enjoy the adventure everyday, every opportunity. Love yourself for who you are and what you can do. 

Monday Mood: Happy

We are home, safe and reasonably sound. All of the travel worked.  All in All, we really enjoyed the trip. 

It was a long adventure, long enough to truly disconnect from the day to day.  We saw lots and lots of things, and met many many people.  

All of the planning and organizing, worked. I spent months working out the details, booking hotels, buying train tickets, double checking the schedule. I am always happy and relieved when the plan works as planned. 

We are getting better at saying, let's take it easy today. I am getting better at hailing a taxi, when we start to get weary.   

There are a few things on the to do list at home. I need to get a working phone, mine died the first day on the ship.  Buy some groceries, go online and pay a couple of credit cards (and I need a working phone to do this, so the phone comes first.) I look forward to cooking again. Travel often inspires me to be creative in the kitchen.  There is an Arts council meeting in a couple of days, and a new gallery show that opened last weekend that I want to see.  And back to the pool.  I haven't swam since we left the ship over two weeks ago.  I have walked, and walked, and walked.  I will keep walking, if I stop the fatter man will catch up with me. 

I know it will take a few days to adjust to the change in time zone, and the travel day home is a long one - a little rest will is needed. 

I am happy that we are able to do this.  Physically we can still move.  Mentally we are able to find our way. Financially - it is paid for. I always worry that we have spent too much - but I am reminded that we can't take it with us - and we have spent 50 years saving so we can enjoy these post work years. 

 

The Sunday Five: First Class Travel

Saturday was a low impact day, a pleasant walk in Glasgow, a taxi to the airport, a walk through the airport to familiar with where we are going on Sunday.  The hotel is a Holiday Inn, literally across the street from check in at the airport.  Can't beat the location.  Add to that the departure is mid-day on Sunday, and we don't have to scramble to be where we need to be, when we need to be there.  

It has been a great trip.  We have mixed feelings about wrapping it up, there are things to do when we get home. And Sunday evening we should be home. 

1: Have you ever been upgraded on an airline flight to first class? 

2: What is the nicest hotel you have ever stayed in? 

3: Have you traveled first class on a train? 

4: Have you booked and paid for first class airline seats? 

5: What is your least favorite part of traveling? 

My answers: 

1: Have you ever been upgraded on an airline flight to first class? I remember the first time, it was a Northwest flight from Lexington, Kentucky to Chicago just after the turn of the century.  I checked in, cleared security and was walking to the gate and the person who checked me in walked up and asked me if I would mind being moved, he or she needed to move someone to first class for weight and balance. It was an easy yes.  For a couple of years, I traveled enough with American Airlines to get moved up front when they had an open seat. 

2: What is the nicest hotel you have ever stayed in? The Lanham Hotel in Chicago, I have no idea what it cost. I was invited to attend a conference on end of life and the medical society arranged and paid for the travel.  

3: Have you traveled first class on a train? A few times, I find on long distance trains in Europe, first class or business is often not much more.  

4: Have you booked and paid for first class airline seats? A couple of times. If all has gone to plan, we are flying home today in Icelandair Saga class - their version of first class. 

5: What is your least favorite part of traveling? It coming to an end. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post: 50 States in 52 Weeks: Maine

Today it is time to head to the airport, spend the night and fly home.  I like Glasgow. It is a real city with grit, and polish. There are a dozen museums here that we have not made it to. It has one of the most charming train stations I have seen. Assuming all goes well, I have over 4,000 photos to sort through when I get home.  It is busy, but not crowded. The streets are alive with people and ringing with music. It was the perfect landing pad for the last leg of this adventure. 

Back in 2009 I was invited to speak at a conference at Mt Washington in New Hampshire.  Upper new England was (and largely still is) a part of the country I have not spent much time in. I flew up a day early, rented a car and drove to Vermont and spent the night, drove onto Mt Washington the next day.  Rode the train to the top of the mountain, spent the night and spoke early the next day. I left Mt Washington mid morning, with a late afternoon flight home.  

I passed a road sign that said I was only about 60 miles from Maine, and I had never been there.  I looked at the time and figured I had plenty of time to drive to Maine, have a quick lunch, and still make it to the airport in plenty of time for my flight home.  So I turned and away I went. 

As I recall I had an icecream cone for lunch, took just a couple of photos, and then drove back to the airport in New Hampshire. I would love to go back and spend more time exploring the rocky coast and fresh lobster.  

 

Freestyle Friday: Just Do It

We took the tourist bus tour of Glasgow on Thursday, an great overview of the city. Then walked up the hill to the Catholic Cathedral, just as a VE Day service finishing.  

In breaking news, 

The new Pope, was one of Sweet Bears classmates at Villanova. 

The lifeguard at the pool was talking one day about what he wants to do when he is done lifeguarding. The daytime, middle of the week lifeguards are adults, guys in their 30s and 40s.  For most lifeguarding ends in early adulthood.  These guys have stuck with it, or returned to it when other opportunities faded away.  

But I digress. He said his certification runs out next year, and he might let it lapse to force himself into doing something new.  He asked me about some of my writing, I had talked with him about a book chapter I wrote a few months ago (on identity theft and scams.) He would like to try his hand at writing. He is a storyteller, usually about the 101 oddities he encounters as a lifeguard. He said he has enough stories to fill a few books. I asked if he was writing the stories down, and he said no. Hmm? 

If you want to be a writer, the first step is to start writing.  Make a commitment to yourself to write.  As Nike urges us, "Just Do It!" Forming thoughts, getting them into words, getting them on paper-paper, or electronic paper. For some meticulous composition is what works best, for others getting a dirty first draft and then editing works best. You really don't know what will work for you, until you practice it. Writing is an art form, and like all art forms it takes practice. Lots of practice.  

Like many bloggers, I blog, because I want to write, to record "the unimportant things that are too important to be forgotten". Blogging has improved my writing. I suggested to my lifeguard friend that he create a blog, that he make a commitment to post one well written story each week.  He went to University on an athletic scholarship.  While a college degree is no guarantee that he learned to write, practice will hone his skills. 

Like many things in life, the hardest part of is getting started. Pick up the pen, open up the computer, pick up the camera, pick up the paintbrush. If you want to do it, Just Do It.  

 

Thursday Ramble: Taking time to look around us

From Edinburgh to Glasgow was a very comfortable train ride, just over an hour across the lower part of Scotland.  Glasgow has a very-very different feel than Edinburgh.  It is an old industrial city, that is obviously trying to claw her way back from hard times.  It is sprinkled with Victorian and Georgian stone buildings with wondrous details, covered in decades - probably centuries - of grime. We have a couple of quiet days here. We will likely take a hop-on-hop-of bus tour to see what we don't know that we should see.  

 

This is a random photo taken on a walk last year. A scene I have passed by many times, and never really stopped to see. It is the location where Roaches Run, drains into the Potomac River just north of Washington National Airport. The outlet of the stream runs through a complex set of buried pipes and baffles that control the water level in a small lake across the George Washington Parkway. On the left is a boat launching ramp into the river.  When the Duck Boats were still offering tours in Washington DC, this was one of the places where the boat entered or exited the river.  Those tours have ended. The amphibious vehicles, trucks that floated and turned into boats, were converted World War II landing craft, and a tragic accident with one in Arkansas or Missouri made them nearly impossible to get insurance for. That boat ramp, and one around on the airport side were used in a couple of air disasters in this section of river. There is a boat ramp on the airport, a left over from seaplane operations before the jet age.  

Across the river is Maryland, and the southern tip of the District of Columbia.  I live just a couple of miles from Maryland and have spent very little time exploring that side of the River. Much of the riverfront along that side is military installations.  There is some very nice officers housing, and a private marina on that shore. There is also a massive sewage treatment plant.  

The point of land sticking out into the inlet, has landing lights and navigational aids, for the airport, the end of the main runway is just to to the right of this image.  

The walkway is several feet higher than the water level, with a precipitous drop off from the walkway to the water level. There is a tragic story to go with the location, but I will skip that.  Don't go down that embankment unless you are strong and agile. 

This photo is looking east. There are some pretty fluffy clouds and a very blue sky.  The haze to the east, is common. 

When I take time to look at what is around me, there is so much to see. So many stories to be told.  What stories are around you today?

 

My World of Wonders aka The Wednesday Ws Kindness Edition

Tuesday we went to St. Andrews.  Sadly, Angus is in Japan. W e did see many of the landmarks that regularly appear in his posts. The Old Course, the Abbey, some of the squares at the University, his favorite bakery, the closed newsagents. The town is charming. We took a train from Edinburgh to get there and back. The closest train station to St Andrews is about 5 miles out of town, there is bus service about every ten minutes to and from the the town. The train ride was amazing. The route goes across the Firth of Forth, The train goes across the big red bridge, a masterpiece of engineering - I have long wanted to see it. 

This photo is from about 25 years ago, Stephen and Sweet Bears hair has changed color, Travel has a few battle scars, all still look stunning. This was the site of the essential pea-ness comment.  That is a story for another day.

Where should we go this week? Explore the world around you, 

What should we do this week? Find joy in the everyday. 

When should we be kind to others? All of the time, every chance you get. Make the world a better place, by being the best person you can be. 

Who should we be kind to? You never know who needs it most, who your kind word might help the most. 

Why should you be kind?  What goes around, comes around, and even if it does not, being kind costs nothing. 

Who benefits most when we are kind? You do.  

When will I return to normal posting and commenting?  Next week. 

Travel Tuesday: Rome 2016

This would be an interesting week to be in Rome, the Conclave begins tomorrow.  Scotland is treating us well.  Good food, I had Haggis and a Fish Pie, two things I had not tried and wanted to. Edinburgh is built on steep hills, lots and lots of steep hills.  I ask for directions and people say "it is only three minutes walk" then I turn the corner and face Mt. Denali. I remember in Rome, ordering local food, drinking my one and only Grappa, and my first of many Limoncellos. Always try the local foods.  

 

Moody Monday: How Travel Changes A Person

Travel brings unique problem solving, figuring out which train to take, getting to the station on time, and taxis. We have arrived in Edinburgh, our first time in Scotland. A pretty, if somewhat cramped train ride from London. We saw lots of sheep and flowing fields. We had a first for me, a proper British Roast Sunday Dinner, in a Pub on the Royal Mile. It was special, because it was the first, not because it was the best.  It was an experience that has evaded me for a couple of decades of trying.  

We live in a bubble of normality, what is around us becomes what is right. We expect things to work the way they do at home, to smell the same, to taste the same, for words to have familiar meanings.  It is what is normal for us, it is our world. 

I have lived in five US states, and there are differences from region to region, most of them subtle, some surprising. I rapidly adjust, and the new surroundings, become the new normal. 

Travel - especially travel outside of our home country or continent, really exposes us to differences.  Over the past 40 years I have spent enough time in the United Kingdom, that the differences in British English and American English no longer bother me. Exploring unfamiliar foods, has become an important part of the adventure, and not a disappointment of finding what I think will be familiar is actually different.  I like to see how people live, the pace of life. Shops that close for two hours for lunch, and stay open a little later in the evening, give a different balance to work and life. Offices that serve a high quality lunch to all who work there, not for a fee, but as part of what the business does. Maybe these are ideas that would improve the quality of life at home. 

Even the experience of being the person who does not speak the language changes us.  The feeling of relief when we find someone who genuinely tries to help when the language or even the money does not make sense.  That kindness changes us as a person. 

So where am I at this Moody Monday. If all has gone to plan, Scotland, expanding my cultural understanding. I hope I return home with an idea that makes my life just a little bit better. 

The Sunday Five: Laundry

Laundry becomes an interesting challenge when you are on the road for a month.  We had laundry done on the ship, now we are down to counting the days and figuring out how close we are to making it home, without running out of clean clothes.  I think I am a couple of days short. We will figure it out. I remember doing laundry in Germany 10 years ago, an interesting adventure in a small German City.  

We had a great time with Duncan and Stephen Saturday afternoon, we had a leisurely lunch in the oldest licensed pub in London (1216), spent an hour in a great small museum, and then coffee and conversation until we all had to leave. Stephen works in the theater and had a 9:00 show last night. 

Onward to Edinburgh today.

1: Do you do your laundry, or does someone else do it? 

2: Do you do anyone else's laundry? 

3: Where is the washing machine in your home? 

4: Do you use a dryer? 

5: How long does it take you to fold a load of laundry? 

My answers: 

1: Do you do your laundry, or does someone else do it?  I do mine. 

2: Do you do anyone else's laundry? Almost never, kitchen towels are the only thing that the two of share washing. 

3: Where is the washing machine in your home? In the kitchen (unusal for a home in the USA.) 

4: Do you use a dryer? All of the time. 

5: How long does it take you to fold a load of laundry? About 5 minutes. 

Please share your answers in the comments. 

The Saturday Morning Post - 50 States in 52 Weeks - Louisiana

 Monday, London celebrates the 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe or VE Day. It is easy to forget, how badly the England suffered in World War II, vast parts of the city were leveled by bombs, people lived in fear, many people, including some of my family evacuated never to return home. VE Day is a big landmark in history. 

Westminster is a maze of closed streets and walkways, security barriers, and people. Thousands and thousands of people. If you love crowds it is pure joy, if not, it is not the best time to visit London. But this is when we are here.  The unseasonably hot weather has passed, cooler but not cold here today.  

My first visit to Louisiana was in 1984 to attend the Worlds Fair in New Orleans.  To a great extent, New Orleans was love at first sight.  The highlight of the first visit was breakfast at Brennan's. Amazing.  

A good number of years later J and I went there for one of his conferences, and spent most of the time eating our way through the French Quarter. Lunch at Galatoire's on Bourbon Street was an experience I will always remember.  I have been back to New Orleans several times for various meetings and conferences.  I look forward to going again. 

Louisiana is on the Gulf of Mexico, at the southern end of the Mississippi River. It is a great place to visit, I will gladly go back, but I wouldn't want to live there.