Symphony

One of my goals this year is to attend more cultural activities in my community. So a jaunt to the symphony is planned. I created an animation to mark a new adventure for us.  I also chose my all time favorite music, Music Box Dancer. Just click on the link below and be sure your sound is turned on.

http://www.thosedesigners.com/Jan_14.html

 or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDU1rcIV6B8

HAPPY HOLIDAYS1

Thanksgiving

One Thanksgiving was made unforgetable by a cruise we to the Mexican Riviera.

It was a wonderful week of sunshine, and gentle breezes. Of course there was an occasional rough sea.

The ship was full to capacity with families and couples celebrating the holiday week in an untraditional way. The evenings were full of activities for singles, couples and families.

We had a choice of a traditional sit down Thanksgiving dinner or a full buffet. We chose the buffet. However, seating arrangements were with other people:  large families were with large families and small families were with small families.  Singles and couples chose where they sat. We chose young families.

Not only did we experience foods we never would have thought of for Thanksgiving, deliciously prepared, we also had a wonderful time with young couples with the most adorable children! And couples from all over the US and the world. Lasting memories and friendships were forged that day.

Though over the years we have had many, many wonderful thanksgiving experiences, this was added to the top.

Autumn

One of our most memorable trips was a 10 day drive through New English during peak fall season in late October. The colors of autumn extended any palate of colors you could imagine. It was impossible to take a bad photograph no matter where you pointed your camera.

We happened to be in Salem, Mass. on Halloween weekend. Believe me it was not planned, it just happened.  A lovely city with beautiful autumn colors, they take great pride in their sordid history of witches and warlocks.

A most fascinating part of the city is the House of Seven Gables. We took a tour of the house with a wonderful docent that took us on a journey of the house’s history.

Should you be in the New England area in October, be sure you stop in Salem and visit the house. You will be captivated.

South of the Pier

 

I got the idea for South of the Pier after a visit to Guatemala. The history of this beautiful country of warm, loving people is riddled with illegal activities that preyed on their own indigenous people.  What fueled the story was a chance encounter with an Interpol agent, and a charming man from Brussels who accompanied me on my trip home from an earlier trip to Russia.

         Without these trips and the wonderful people I have met on my many travels, none of my stories could be told. Below is quote I hold dear and have thought about often.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

Hawaii

One of our many trips to Hawaii was several years ago in August one year. We spent 10 days on Maui and stayed at a small local hotel. The lobby was full of people all hours of the day and night from local writers to foreign visitors. We ate, played and shopped with the locals, even ended up at an urgent care center waiting room. I have to say we spent much of our free time just hanging around the lobby learning much of the Hawaiian culture and native language.

On a suggestion from a young local boy, we tried the beach at Big Beach, just south of Makena State Park. He warned us it would have big waves. That was an understatement! Since we are good swimmer we went anyway. My husband and I got caught in deep swells and undertows. We made it back but collapsed at the shore, exhausted. After catching our breath, we high fived each other, flat on our backs, “We did it.”

Here is a picture of us just after the wipe out.

Birth of a nation

On a trip to the east coast, I took a side trip to Philadelphia to view the old town. As usual, side trips are never long enough! But I stopped by Valley Forge, 25 miles northwest of Philly, to see the place depicted in my favorite painting, Prayer at Valley Forge by Arnold Fribere.

It’s a historical site, with beautifully grassy knolls dotted with cannons and plaques. But in December 1777 it was a military camp for the American Continental Army a poorly fed, ill-equipped army in the middle of a difficulty winter. Things looked bleak by all accounts of the war. Though no documents prove Washington got on his knees to pray, one can imagine him seeking guidance with a heavy heart.

At this time of celebration and picnics, we need to remember the struggle this young country went through so we can celebrate July 4^th today.