Category Archives: Travel

Nepal dreaming

Posted in Travel, Writing by

We all have these travel fantasies, you know the ones…if I had all the time/money/inclination in the world I would love to (fill in the blank with your list).   One of the items on my never-gonna-happen-but-it-would-be-so-cool is a trek to the base camp at Mt. Everest.  It would be the closest that I could ever get, and even just to make that trek would be an amazing achievement!  Over the years I’ve read about Everest expeditions and high altitude climbing, watched documentaries and even attended lectures at the Museum of Science.  So fun to dream isn’t it?

itinerary-headerphoto from NatGeo website

I even have one picked out, from National Geographic naturally…

http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/nepal-everest-basecamp-trek/detail

Imagine how stunningly beautiful it must be up there!!

Except now it looks like this:

_82611160_hi026946977photo from bbc

17 people died at base camp, climbers were stranded at camp 1 and camp 2 and were airlifted by helicopter.  And of course, base camp is by far not the worst of it.  Thousands and thousands more have died all over the country, villages are unreachable, aftershocks continue to roll across the mountains.   The whole thing breaks my heart, such a beautiful country devastated.

Please consider donating to the United Methodist Committee on Relief Nepal.  100% of the funds go directly to disaster relief, administrative funds are covered by the United Methodist Church.  Click on the link below for more news and a link to donate.

http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/nepal-earthquake-survivors-in-dire-need-of-food-shelter

What are your secret travel dreams??

Squam Love

Posted in Creative Practice, Soul Work, Travel, Writing by

I have been delaying writing this post because, really, I am having a wee bit of difficulty putting my weekend at Squam Art Workshops into words.  To be honest, last year I attended the Ravelry weekend at Squam Art Workshops and I felt a little lost as it seemed like everyone there already knew 100 other people, and their knitting was a.maze.ing.  I knew no one and I was swatching an afghan.  Then I met my cabin mates for the night and got in to the swing of things, and shopped at the ArtFair, and I felt a little better.  Still not super-thrilled …. but, I decided I really wanted to give it another shot.  I had heard about SAW since it’s inception and I wanted to go and have the entire Squam experience.   I’m so glad that I listened to that little voice inside that said … go…give it another go…you will get so much out of it…this was the year.

I packed up the big grey bus and headed north to Squam Lake, to a big cabin called El Dorado and a big gang of fabulous, crazy women and a chance to make art for the weekend.  And it was sublime and relaxing and oh so much fun.

The best parts??  here ya go…

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*magical woodland-where fairie houses appear in the night and wood sprites leave wreaths to mark the trails (sorry so blurry!)

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*magnificent northern lake-complete with haunting calls of an elusive loon

Eldorado family pic

*kindred spirits ready with a smile, a hug, a glass of wine and hours to sit on a dock or in front of the fire and talk about life, art, and the essence of being alive

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*phenomenal teachers to guide you on your artistic explorations with kindness and generosity

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*a glimpse of the universe in the milky way and the northern lights against a background of infinite stars

Photo by cjweinstein

*time to make art, to laugh, to walk, to swim, to chat by the fire, or just to be quiet and listen (photo by cjweinstein)

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The gathering of like minded giving souls is magic.  The setting is sublime. The lake will be calling us back again, I know.  It was lovely and restorative and far far too short.  Thank you Squam…see you next year!  xo.

and sometimes it pays to take the slow lane

Posted in Travel by

Our default mode of operation as a society these days is rush.fast.get-it-done.shortest line.express lane….you get the picture.  Last Saturday I experienced making the case for the slow non-express lane.

I was starting my journey home from visiting my friend Kimberly in Tucson.  I decided to check in at the counter rather than at the self-check kiosk…I’m not exactly sure why… I almost got our of line and did the kiosk because of a large party in front of me but decided to stay put.  Well, am I glad I took the slow lane that day.   The agent took one look at my ticket and told me there was no way I’d make my connection in Dallas because the incoming plane was running late, then she tells me the later flight(s) had been cancelled because of the snow storm…same for NY and Chicago.   She re-routed me through LA, got me the seat that I wanted and didn’t charge me for my checked bag.  And, she was super nice and friendly through the whole thing.   Needless to say, I took her advice, had two extremely uneventful flights and came home to this…and then got safely home from Logan

logan blizzard

Now, maybe someone would have caught it at the gate but chances are, had I self-checked trying to save time, I would have been stuck in Dallas overnight and stressed out about getting home.  The lesson I took away from this …. SLOW DOWN, listen to that little voice in your head.  The fastest way isn’t always the best in the end.

just thought I’d share….and yes, I did just email American Airlines and told them what a great job the reservation agent did for me!  Share the love people!