I have been contemplating the notion of the “new normal” a fair bit lately, reflecting on my own journey during these difficult times.
Creating a “new normal”
Category Archives: Travel
Perpetual motion
I’m at a loss for words when it comes to this blog post. Usually, my posts linger in the back of my mind as my subconscious thinks and ponders on things. When I’ve mulled things over enough my thoughts suddenly pop to the surface. I sit down to write and a blog post comes flooding […]
The Twilight Zone
Glenn and I went on a quick vacation to Hawaii last week and while we were away our world turned upside down. At the time we boarded the plane the coronavirus was definitely dominating the news, but still felt like a far-off hypothetical – a bit like previews for an upcoming paranoid disaster movie if […]
Serengeti by Foot
“Is it safe to do a walking safari?” That is what I Googled…after I had already booked and paid for my trip to do just that. Doh! The answer from the faceless hordes of internet opiners was a resounding “no, it isn’t safe to do a walking safari” because most of the wild animals are […]
Uganda’s Mountain Gorillas
I watched a lot of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom when I was young, and I think as a result I’m quite drawn to the idea of seeing wild animals up close. The bigger and the more dangerous, the better. The mountain gorillas are no exception.
Reunited!
Glenn and I have been apart for 37 days, which included one birthday, one wedding anniversary and one past life regression (as one does.) That is by far the longest time, and the longest distance, we’ve ever been separated since we started dating many, many moons ago. When we made the decision to experiment with […]
Smell ya later!
Glenn has left me. He’s been building up to it for well over a year, and finally the day has come where he said goodbye. About six years ago Glenn and I went to see a documentary called Six Ways to Santiago. Our dear friend Kim (of The Yellow Envelope book, in which Glenn and I […]
On Top of the World
If someone says they’re “on top of the world” it generally means that everything is going great and they are happy. As it turns out, I found myself contemplating “happiness” as I was, quite literally, on top of the world. I had traveled to Scandinavia as part of a work trip which culminated in some […]
Endings and Beginnings.
I’ve been pondering endings and beginnings lately, both of which can be bittersweet. Seneca (the Roman philosopher) said “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” I find myself sifting through things that have happened in this past year and parsing them into exactly that…1) new beginnings, or 2) some other beginning’s end.
Searching for la Bella Vita
Note to self: Visiting touristy locations to see touristy things during the peak of tourist season is not your happy place. I recently had the opportunity to go to Italy for work, with the bulk of the travel costs covered by a third party—pretty much a dream situation. As is the case with most European […]
My trip around the sun.
One year ago my mother died. Anniversaries are often meant to be momentous occasions. A milepost in the march of time when one is supposed to pause and take stock of how far they’ve come over the past year. Progress…decline…stagnation. All best measured against one’s status exactly 365 days prior, or so I’m led to […]
You’ve been warned.
Bison being swept out to sea; 400 hundred people being airlifted to safety; hikers being trapped for days by raging rivers and landslides; homes, roads and bridges washed away. This might sound like the trailer for a new apocalypse movie, but in reality it just means that Michele and Glenn recently went on vacation. We […]
Back in the saddle again.
Somehow, Glenn and I found ourselves in Hawaii recently. A month or so ago we sat slumped in our living room chairs, staring mindlessly at our iPads after a long day at work. It was dark, cold and rainy. Again. “I want to go on a trip,” Glenn suddenly proclaimed. “Me too!!” I replied. We […]
Building small, so we can live large. Eventually.
It took me almost a year to convince Glenn we should build a little house in our backyard. They go by a lot of different names – granny flat, mother-in-law apartment, or accessory dwelling unit, to name a few. Glenn didn’t care what I called it, he just knew it meant strangers living in the […]
Enchanted by The Enchantments
I learned a lot of things on a recent weeklong backpacking trip with a bunch of guys… …including the fact that boys like to talk about poop. A lot. Their poop-banter was delightfully juvenile and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I also loved having the opportunity to spend so much quality time in nature with friends […]
