Wordless Wednesday: Fall Dragonflies

Photos taken 21 October 2011

Travel Tuesdays: Pack Your Sense of Humor

Most people put time and care into packing for a vacation. As you pack your clothes, camera, shoes and other items in your suitcase, take a moment to toss in your sense of humor. Because- let's face it- travel can be stressful, and humor can help get you through.

Take, for example, our trip to Morocco. The day before we left, I was stung by a bee-on my foot- which swelled up to an unbearable size. It was so fat, I couldn't fit it in a shoe. So what did I do? I did my best to laugh it off (maybe I should say limp it off?) and took a photo of it for all to see.

Later, all four of us came down with a bad case of what's known as Traveler's D. (Or perhaps you've heard it called Montezuma's revenge if you've traveled to Mexico).  I've had this particular ailment before. While my case wasn't as bad as the time I had to be hospitalized in the Philippines, it was a tough case, my friends. Now imagine four friends on a train from Fez to Marrakesh suffering from Traveler's D and the only facilities on board consist of a hole in the floor with a toilet on top. Yep... your business runs right out onto the tracks. Not fun. What did we do?

Back at our seats, we began singing our imagined soundtrack for our trip.  You guessed the first song, right? It's so obvious...Marrakesh Express. Later, as we rode our camels into an oasis we sang Midnight at the Oasis and laughed. I know it's corny, but when you're hot, tired, and dry... so very, very dry... it's hysterical. Trust me.

The comedy highlight had to be the day we began our camel trek, though. We rose early and started riding at about 7:30. We stopped for siesta at about 11:00am in a make-shift shelter with walls made of reeds. This siesta lasted until 5:00 pm because it was too hot to be out. A 6 hour siesta! We were still rough around the edges from our stomach ailment (we traded a hole in the train floor for a nice private spot behind a sand dune) and were, quite frankly, hot as blazes. We had our journals and books to read, but really what we did was lie around, too lethargic to move. The Sahara is seriously hot in July, let me tell you.

The only writing we did that day was to complete this brief journal entry in my friend Christina's journal (we all contributed):
 We wish for: (edited slightly for brevity and correctness- who can spell when her brain is melting?)

1. cold Sam Adams beer
2. watermelon
3. virgin strawberry daiquiri
4. lemonade
5. COLD water
6. bathtub full of crushed ice
7. swimming
8. rain
9. Cape Cod summer breezes
10. Frozen underwear

And you know what? Despite our overwhelming lethargy, we laughed like crazy while making it. Then we got back on those camels and rode off into a sandstorm... Riders on the Storm.

Related post: Travel Tuesdays: Morocco

Bringing Nature Inside

Yesterday, I noticed this beautiful sign of fall on our front walkway.



My son's first question was, "Can I tape it to the window?"

Kids naturally want to bring nature home with them. Whether it's rocks, dandelion bouquets, or colorful leaves, kids notice small things on the ground more often than most adults.

How might you support your children's interests?

Wordless Wednesday: Morning Dew on Clover

Photos taken 13 October 2011

Travel Tuesdays: Share Everyday Life

When hosting guests from other places, be sure to take time for everyday life. It's so easy to get caught up traveling from place to place, showing off your home town or state. What makes a cultural exchange rich is not the number of places you've visited, rather the meaningful exchanges you've had with people. As I've written before, some of my favorite memories happen in off moments- the everyday moments rather than the big tourist moments. This is equally true of me as a traveler and as a host.

Here are some wonderful moments from our recent visit with our "family" from India:

My kids taught our guest how to "shuck" corn.

While the grown-ups gave each other cooking tips and prepared dinner.

Everyone got up early to send my kids off to school.

The boys practiced taking photos the "Indian way"- with no smiles.

Then everyone gave them a big send-off.

By the time my kids came home, the house was quiet for the first time in 5 days. The big send-off happened on our friends' last day here. It made the goodbyes easier and offered a fun way for our kids to head off to school.

Have you hosted guests from another state or country? What were your favorite moments?

1st Person, 2nd Story

L-R Kimberly Marcus, Dawn Tripp, Joan Leegant

Last night, my husband and I attended "1st Person, 2nd Story: An Author Event on the Second Story of Cork." This event benefited New Bedford's AHA! (Art-History-Architecture). AHA! Night is a FREE arts & culture event which takes place the 2nd Thursday of every month in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts.

During this lovely evening we met local authors Dawn Tripp of Westport, Kimberly Marcus of Dartmouth, and Joan Leegant of Newton. Local public radio personality Naomi Arenberg was the host and my favorite local Indie bookseller, Baker Books, sold books. Cork provided wine and tapas.

This was an event created just for me, it seems. By attending, we supported local authors, a local indie bookstore,  a local restaurant and a local arts and culture event all in one night! I also connected with other locals like Nelson Hockert-Lotz who share my passion for books and local culture. Hearing the authors' stories was icing on the cake for me (really delicious icing, that is!).

Here are a few highlights from the authors.

Dawn focused on how her strong sense of place influences her writing. She summered in Westport, MA as a child. Now she's married to a local man and lives there. Each of her novels is set in Westport. In her novels, Dawn wanted to capture something true to that small town. Even though she compressed geography a bit in one of her novels, long-time locals told her she had accomplished her goal. Many older locals offered to be interviewed as part of her research for her second novel set in Westport during the early 1900s.

Joan also spoke of a strong sense of place in her writing. Joan currently lives half the year in Newton and half the year in Israel, so it makes sense that her novel is set in Israel. She emphasizes sensory details to make a place come alive for readers. I read the first chapter of Wherever You Go when I got home and from the first two sentences I was grounded in that place.

Joan quoted E.L. Doctorow to describe her writing process:

“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

Like Dawn, Kimberly was drawn to a place her family used to summer. For Kimberly, it was Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. Even though she changed the names of places in Exposed, she was thinking of Falmouth, MA and Martha's Vineyard as she wrote.  For Kimberly, a sense of emotional place is also important. Exposed explores the changing emotional landscape of a teenaged girl as she realizes an important person in her life isn't the person she thought.

When asked about their advice to young writers, all three women agreed that the best way to learn to write is to sit and write. It reminded me of Jane Yolen's famous acronym: BIC (Butt in Chair). In other words, if you want to be a writer, write. They also agreed that writers need to be willing to take risks, both as a writer and in life. Joan paraphrased Samuel Beckett: Fail. Fail again. Then fail better.

(Complete quotation: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.")

Thanks to each of these ladies for sharing their thoughts and processes with us. I encourage you to read their books.

If you live in Southeastern Massachusetts or Rhode Island, please visit Baker Books, Cork and AHA! Night. If you don't, find out what's local to you and support those businesses.  When you travel, support events and businesses local to where you're visiting. There are businesses and events like this everywhere.

What local events have you been to lately?

Wordless Wednesday: Pumpkin Visitors