Oh, the Places I Want to Go

I love to travel. Love, love, love to travel. I love going new places, seeing new things, learning new history, and eating new food. New to me, anyway. When I was younger, I read about James A. Michener and how he researched an area before he wrote about it. His books Centennial and Chesapeake are two of my favorite books ever, and I wanted to be just like him when I grew up. 

So when I read that he would move to a location and live there for two or three years, getting to know the area, getting to know the people, the climate, understanding the weather and the culture, I thought how amazing that would be. That's what I wanted to do too! 

I wanted to live for a little while in a small town on the coast of Maine and spend another few years on the west coast in Oregon. I wanted to live in California and Vermont and maybe even travel to places more exotic. Of course, I didn't factor in money or how much I might miss my family. I just knew I wanted the experience. 

I've been lucky in my lifetime so far. I've traveled more than I probably should have been able to, but there are still places on my list that I long to see someday. I was looking up pictures for another project earlier and came across a few shots that stirred up that old longing. So today, in no particular order, I give you five places I want to visit. 

1.  Philadelphia, PA for all the obvious reasons. Or maybe they're just obvious to me. I am a history buff, and my favorite time period is probably the American Revolution. One of my dreams is to someday write the great American novel set around the time of the Revolutionary War. One of my favorite books in the world is John Adams by David McCullough, I've had the good fortune to visit Boston and Braintree and Quincy, MA, and I've paid a few short visits to Washington, D.C. (although I still haven't been able to see anything there.) but Philadelphia has so far eluded me. 

2.  Italy. Rome. Wherever.  I don't care what part of Italy I get to first, I'd just like to go. I have no particular reason for wanting to go, I just do. Okay, there's the obvious historical reason to want to visit, and it seems like the kind of place someone who loves to travel ought to go. It's the site of all the interesting stuff that happened during the Holy Roman Empire, the site of amazing architecture, art, and music. And wasn't Much Ado About Nothing filmed in Italy? Who wouldn't want to go there? 

3.  Hawaii.  I've never been. I think I ought to go, although, admittedly, after living in Florida for the past six years, it seems slightly less exotic than it used to. But it's still on my list and will undoubtedly remain there. I've read a few books set there and those add to the mystique. And, of course, there have been movies, but honestly, I think the appeal of almost anyplace I'd like to visit comes from a book. 

4.  France. Again, no particular reason, but it's France. Paris. The south of France. I read and loved A Year in Provence and ever since then I've wanted to ... you know ... spend a year or two in Provence. Then, of course, there's The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers and there's the food. I mean, I hear it's amazing. I'd like to find out for myself. And because having spent a long time working on my family's genealogy, I've learned that I'm related to various Kings Louis and Charlemagne, so it would be nice to visit the land of my people (as my granddaughter says.) 

5.  The Holy Land. Again, the land of my people -- which is pretty much true of everyone, right? It's the land of the descendants of Abraham (both branches of the family) and claimed by Christians, as well. So much interesting history has happened here -- and continues to happen. I'd love to see it some day. I'd love to visit the temple for which the Psalms of Ascension were written, to see the Mount of Olives, the Tower of David, and the Garden of Gethsemane. 

I'd love to stand on the Temple Mount and walk along the shores of the Red Sea. I'd just like to see it all, breathe it in, and gain a better understanding of the divisions that have existed between people for so many centuries. 

My wish list is much too long to share the whole thing, but these are the top five on my list. Do you have one? Where in the world would you like to go? 

Think Happy Thoughts

It's been a rough few days with emotions running high. Nothing huge. Nothing major. Just a few of those days run together. They haven't been all my days, either. But you know how it is when someone you love is having one of those days. It kind of becomes your day, too.

I had planned to blog today about something I encountered online yesterday that bugged me, but as my youngest daughter was hanging up from an early morning phone call, during which we had been discussing her no good, horrible, very bad day (before the day even really got started) she issued a challenge to me to blog about something happy.

Well, clearly, venting about my new pet peeve didn't qualify, but having had a few of those days in a row, I wasn't sure where to find something happy.

And then a favorite quote from The Tao of Pooh ran through my head, and I set out on a search to find it to make sure I got it right (because clicking around on the Internet is infinitely easier than searching through all of my bookshelves to find my copy of that tiny book.)

Of course, any time I delve into the mind of A.A. Milne, I'm fascinated and charmed and I very quickly find myself smiling. Even though it took forever to find my favorite quote (it doesn't happen to be everyone's favorite, I guess) I found some other charming quotes along the way.

This one, for example. Because if you can get past the personal frustration of being disorganized, which can frequently lead you to think you're not only having a very bad day, but you're destined to always have bad days because you just can't get it together, you might just realize that being disorganized can lead to having surprising discoveries ...

Like that purse you completely forgot you owned, or a favorite shirt found at the bottom of a pile of dirty laundry, or change you left in the pocket of a pair of jeans. Really, the discoveries never end.

Okay, some of the discoveries aren't all that great, but some are. That's the important thing.

Or this one, which is my second favorite quote from A.A. Milne because it's one I so desperately need to remember. A life spent as a single mother working all the time and always feeling as if I was sprinting from one forgotten thing to another (or one thing I couldn't quite get myself to on time because of my day job), there were times when I really needed to just take a deep breath and remember that rivers are incredibly wise.

There is no hurry. We shall get there some day.

There's some real wisdom in this quote. Because, seriously, in this day and age, when it seems that everybody is busy talking at each other and very few people are actually talking to each other, it helps to remember that the other guy probably has a small piece of fluff in his ear.

In reality, that piece of fluff is probably a life just as disorganized as yours, and he's probably just as worried about what he's late for or who he's disappointing as you are.

It won't hurt to (again) take a breath and work up a little patience. I think most people would happily remove the fluff from their ears if we stopped getting irritated with them for having fluff in the first place.

I wish I had a nickle for every time in my life I've been caught up in worrying that a tree might fall down when I was underneath. I would be a rich woman, indeed.

It has taken a lot of time and energy and mental focus to occasionally suppose as Pooh does. Supposing it didn't!

It's good to anticipate problems to some degree, but it's not good to get stuck in an endless loop of problem anticipating. Yeah, today's tough, but supposing it gets better? And even if it doesn't supposing tomorrow is a great day? What then?

I think, like Piglet, I'm comforted by this.

And finally, my favorite quote:

Aren't you glad you stuck with me? Is that great, or what? The thing I've realized over the years is that, if I walk out the door feeling pretty sure than an Adventure is going to happen, one usually does.

Maybe it will be a happy Adventure, and maybe it won't, but Adventures almost always happen to those who are Ready for Anything.

So brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can. I hope your Adventure is wonderful and fluff-free!

Adventures in Food

Since I'm still butting up against a deadline and not blogging regularly, I'm going to cheat again and do a meme. This one was created by Andrew at Very Good Taste and looks kind of interesting to a Food Network junkie.

Here’s what you do:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions. 2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten. 3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. 4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison 2. Nettle tea 3. Huevos rancheros 4. Steak tartare 5. Crocodile 6. Black pudding 7. Cheese fondue 8. Carp 9. Borscht 10. Baba ghanoush 11. Calamari 12. Pho 13. PB&J sandwich 14. Aloo gobi 15. Hot dog from a street cart 16. Epoisses 17. Black truffle 18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes 19. Steamed pork buns 20. Pistachio ice cream 21. Heirloom tomatoes 22. Fresh wild berries 23. Foie gras 24. Rice and beans 25. Brawn, or head cheese 26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper 27. Dulce de leche 28. Oysters 29. Baklava 30. Bagna cauda 31. Wasabi peas 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl 33. Salted lassi 34. Sauerkraut 35. Root beer float 36. Cognac with a fat cigar 37. Clotted cream tea 38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O 39. Gumbo 40. Oxtail 41. Curried goat 42. Whole insects 43. Phaal 44. Goat’s milk 45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more 46. Fugu 47. Chicken tikka masala 48. Eel 49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut 50. Sea urchin 51. Prickly pear 52. Umeboshi 53. Abalone 54. Paneer 55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal 56. Spaetzle 57. Dirty gin martini 58. Beer above 8% ABV 59. Poutine 60. Carob chips 61. S’mores 62. Sweetbreads 63. Kaolin 64. Currywurst 65. Durian 66. Frogs’ legs 67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake 68. Haggis 69. Fried plantain 70. Chitterlings, or andouillette 71. Gazpacho 72. Caviar and blini 73. Louche absinthe 74. Gjetost, or brunost 75. Roadkill 76. Baijiu 77. Hostess Fruit Pie 78. Snail 79. Lapsang souchong 80. Bellini 81. Tom yum 82. Eggs Benedict 83. Pocky 84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant. 85. Kobe beef 86. Hare 87. Goulash 88. Flowers 89. Horse 90. Criollo chocolate 91. Spam 92. Soft shell crab 93. Rose harissa 94. Catfish 95. Mole poblano 96. Bagel and lox 97. Lobster Thermidor 98. Polenta 99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee 100. Snake

Okay. Not bad. Slightly more than half, so I still have a way to go. I'm open to trying almost everything on the list that I haven't tried already -- and there are a few things I think I may have had, but I'm not sure so I didn't mark them.

How about you?