future tripping and travel

 Sister Jane has visited the Blogmaid and me and my crazy family three times and now we are considering a trip back to Sharpsburg, Maryland, in the early Fall. It was the Blogmaid's idea and I am starting to plan and get excited. I have more biological family back there. Yesterday I took an online tour of Sharpsburg, and it is filled with all sorts of Civil War history that I have conveniently forgotten over the decades. In case you forgot (and how could you?) I was born in Towson, Maryland, and transported as an infant by train to my new family in Pasadena, California where I grew up. All families = complicated. Right?

tea and research

 Yesterday afternoon I visited Jeanine and Patout who have traveled extensively to Budapest, Prague and Vienna. Jeanine is an artist and has always been inspired by these historic cities. Their photo albums are well organized and beautiful ~ it was a lovely time and I took notes in my new journal. Preparing..

a writer must write

 Check out this beautiful journal with my name in that little white space. This is a gift from Emma and now I will be sure to write during my many travels in 2025. Deep gratitude.

prep work

 In a month I will be in Budapest. Yikes. I have my To Do List going and am chugging along nicely and with only a bit of trepidation. My last three days will be spent in Prague and my friend Pat loaned me this lovely book. I know I will love this city with all the Art Nouveau, beautiful architecture and great walking.

cabin 116

 There has been an inordinate amount of computer work and this is how I have spent the last two days, preparing for the Danube river cruise in April. I fly into Budapest and fly home from Prague. Meeting my friend Ginger from Santa Barbara and now looking forward to this adventure. I have never been to this part of the world and I am quite sure that it will be amazing and wonderful. Thanks, as always, to the Blogmaid for her help and encouragement during this process.  The name of the boat (ship?) is AmaBella, how perfect is that?

with some apprehension

 

Yes, the Danube River trip is still scheduled for April of next year. I need to get planning here and friends are pushing me to take an additional few days and visit Prague (pictured above) at the end of the seven day cruise. To that end I am trying to contact Tina, the travel, agent but of course this is not really a work week I have never been to this part of the world, hence the headline today......

well, what next?

 This is a huge travel summer and local citizens are reacting in less than positive ways. The above photo is from Barcelona. I see both sides to this issue and have no real solution. We benefit so much from seeing how other people live, and yet. Here from NextDraft:

An Alaska tourist spot will vote whether to ban cruise ships on Saturdays to give locals a break. In Barcelona, they're way beyond that point. Way beyond. Demonstrators marching through areas popular with tourists on Saturday chanted 'tourists go home' and squirted them with water pistols. (The experience will probably get added to a visitor's guide as a way to stay cool during the Barcelona summer...)

future tripping

 My friend Ginger Two in Santa Barbara is urging me to travel with her in 2025 on the AMA cruise lines ~ the Danube River is her plan. Tempting, no? We shall see...

new suitcase, new city, old clothes

 In a few minutes we are off to SFO and Savannah and my cat is not happy, to say the least. I will send details from the Best Western tomorrow morning. Excited? Oh, yes!

the poetry of travel

 Long ago, it now seems, we used to love to explore the world. Here is a poem I wrote in 2008, and even though it needs work, I like it. No title yet.

Packing for a trip to Europe

with our lists and books 

and Bill repacking for me

and making it all so neat.

Sitting on the long flight

trying to sleep, holding hands

and complaining about how 

uncomfortable it is ~ poor us.

“Pinch me” we say back and 

forth as the plane lands and we

see Paris, London, Rome or

Dublin. Exhausted we deplane.

Jet lagged and tired, no matter

what time of day, we try to sleep 

or walk or drink coffee and get

lost so many times we lose count.

The second day is one big slice

of heaven as we explore and explain

and analyze an entirely new world

for us and “Hey, look over there!”

Foods so rich, people so different

and our maps are tattered by day three.

Even in London the language throws us,

but soon we feel at home, or so it seems.

home again (sort of)

Tallulah Gorge

Bernie's for lunch ~ pretty, no?

Well, my Roswell home. Yesterday we drove down (over?) from Asheville,
stopping along the way. Soon the leaves will change and the highways will
be clogged with tourists, according to Eddie. Tallulah Gorge ~ who knew?
Well, lots of hikers and outdoorsy folk because there are many trails and
a nature center here. Beautiful country, I know I keep saying that, but it is
really something. Then a late lunch in Sautee at Bernie's, a stop at a pottery
museum and finally home about 6:30. Early (for me) bed and a good sleep
and today we go into the big city of Atlanta.

hot here, hot there

I didn't stay past the 5th inning yesterday, yikes ~ so warm. I will call
Lyft in a moment to go to the airport and catch my flight to Atlanta.
I hope Delta can maneuver around the closed SFO runway. Ommmmm.

cats galore

The Black Cat

John Kemp's wife was in Disneyland with some grands so he invited me
to the Black Cat to hear some jazz. I got the best deal, even though I don't
have an ear for music. We had dinner and early music and left at 8pm
and it was fun, something sort of out of the 50's.

I'm up early and ready to go to Philadelphia. Carlini writes that it is still
chilly but they are expecting a sunny weekend. My cat Annabelle is
sensing that her world will change and that the young women next door
will be coming in to feed her. She is pesky and loving this morning.

Expect brief iPad-only updates from Philly. Excited.

inspiration from a stranger

Wayne from Maine

Kimono inspired fashion

Yesterday I met Ginger at the Asian Art Museum so we could take in the
Kimono Exhibit which was different than I expected because the emphasis
was on how European and American designers were influenced by the
Japanese kimono fashion. Fabulous, really. While having coffee we were
joined by Wayne who is traveling across the country by train, stopping in
all the cities he hadn't visited before. His wife does not like to travel, so
he is doing this alone (for sixty days!) and having a great time. We are
now Facebook friends because he posts everyday and has 500 plus
followers ~ many of us are people he has met along the way. Wayne
was an HR director before he retired and he is a stained glass artist
and man, he really has a zest for life.

Last night I took pizza up to Neti's and we chatted about life and
death and she got through the nasty one year anniversary of Frank's
passing. She has helped me so much, friends are the BEST.

home with house guest

Nevada City Farmer's Market

Husbando in Nevada City ~ RIP

That was a good overnight trip. Ceci came home (she drove!) with
us and she in sleeping in now as I do my writing and cat snuggling.
Out of nothing, except a cauliflower from her farm, she tossed
together a delicious pasta for dinner last night. Tomorrow I will
tell you about her very satisfying life as a farmer. Ceci lives in a
tiny home with this orchard out back ~ she is scattering some of
her grand father's ashes under the persimmon tree. He loved
sunshine, persimmons and life itself.

this very week

Copenhagen

Three dear friends are traveling in exotic places and I benefit from their
photos and comments although I haven't heard from Joe yet and I worry.

Dancing Jen ~ Copenhagen
Marsha ~ Amman, Jordan
Joe ~ India

Later I will go to Safeway on Mission Street.

leaving my cats and dogs...

over-packed as usual

the cat next door ~ Husbando calls him "the big ass orange cat"

Fernando?

Scutaro?

Brie!

Rocky?

Margo?

I can't keep track of all the dogs' names ~ I do know that a lot have been
adopted, especially the puppies. I had another pleasant few hours at the
SPCA and the walk to/fro was extra nice hot yesterday morning. November
is the new October ~ I made that up. Applaud.

Ginger and I head to Philly tomorrow. Umbrellas all packed. Tonight we
will watch the election, hoping that the Great Plotniks will join us. They
are back from their l-o-n-g and wonderful trip to Spain and Portugal.

wild blue yonder

We actually slept a few hours last night and now we are doing yoga and
having breakfast. Yesterday we packed and commented on how difficult it
is to leave really nice, hot, unusual SF weather. We gave away a lot of
tomatoes from our yard and made notes for our return, when we'll need to
do some fruit shopping and then a big trip to Costco ASAP. After all day
on assorted planes we will arrive in Chicago about 5 or 6pm, depending.
MsBook travels with me, of course, and the usual bunch of cords, knobs, knurls.

The one-eyed black & white dog is still at the SPCA, but she has a roomie
now and doesn't seem as forlorn. There are a lot of new volunteers and all
the dogs are getting good walks, hoooorayy! So I had a soothing Monday
morning, as usual. See you tomorrow from Illinois...

new and old friends

This morning I'm heading to Santa Barbara with a friend from work
named Chris. His family lives in Carpenteria, so after dropping him
off, I will head to Ginger's place where the platypus roam. She will
spoil me all weekend, as usual. Tomorrow is the beach picnic memorial
service for Michael and I look forward to meeting friends that he
spoke of so often. This will be emotionally draining, but we know how
comforting these services can be. That is something I didn't realize
when I was young, did you?

I will be back on Monday, but MsBook travels with me, so I will
check in tomorrow morning. Thanks, I take your warm wishes too!

ever been to Valencia, CA?

The Blogmaid drove beautifully (and quickly) from SF here to
Valencia where they have some sort of mountain filled with
magic. We have a perfect little $119 room at the Hyatt and I
am down in the lobby drinking coffee and watching the
guests roll their luggage out. I spot a hangover or two, but
none on these two women road warriors. Our dinner was
at Johnny Rocket's and Ms. Blogmaid cut me off of coffee
because of sleep issues. Chocolate milk shakes help, always.

Michael is at the City of Hope and his friend Kris sent us
the usual SoCal instructions. "You are nearby, but take these
47 different freeways East, West, etc. OK." The Blogmaid
is sleeping and we will get going in about 2 hours. She
wants to stop by the home where I grew up and that will
be a diversion. Pasadena, I'm back ~ lock up your right
wingers because I'm not in the mood for politics.

We had some nice clear weather on the drive down and
it only rained on the icky Grapevine. Wouldn't you know?
It was special spending time together, very special.