... to Leave Ordinary Life Behind

There is something magical about stepping on board a plane or ship. There is the realisation that a whole wide world is out there, away from your normal life,  just waiting to be explored. 

If you can travel with that attitude you can deal with the queues, the delays,    the cramped airline seats, even (and I hope it doesn't happen) the lost luggage!

For me travel is the excitement of seeing new places, or even seeing familiar ones from a different viewpoint; hearing other languages; observing people; learning about different cultures and customs; interacting with others in ways that enrich my life.

And taking lots of photos and keeping a journal so that when I return to my ordinary life, I can see and read about my travels and relive them over and over.

It can take courage to leave the familiar behind, to cast off from your home, routines, family and friends. 

You need to travel with an open mind and generous heart; to not expect a life that mirrors your everyday existence; to leave behind the props and habits that have anchored you in your ordinary life; to be prepared to embrace the unfamiliar and learn from it. 

Then you can truly say that you 'crossed the ocean and lost sight of the shore.'

Bon voyage!

... to Think About Travel

Travel Inspires the Mind

Several years ago I compiled a book of travel quotations for Reed Publishing called 'Wish You Were Here'. It was a joyful task - reading widely to find comments that famous people had made about travelling. Some of the things they said made me laugh out loud; some made me roll my eyes in disbelief; some made me think, Oh, that's just what happened to me.'
  I've chosen a selection of my favourites to share with you. I hope you like them.

• When you go on a vacation to forget everything, you generally find when you open your bag at the hotel, you have. (Anon)
• Thanks to the big jets you can have your breakfast in London, lunch in New York, dinner in Los Angeles - and all of this while your luggage is on its way to Buenos Aires. (Derek Nimmo)
• Only fools want to travel all the time; sensible men want to arrive. (Prince Metternich)
• 'Sip and buzz on by,' as the flower said to the honeybee, which is not bad advice for the traveller either.' (Ivor Herbert)
• There's nothing wrong with guided tours if you regard them as a good way to get around and don't pay any attention to what the guide is saying. (Robert Allen)
• The summer tourist soon finds that the cheaper rooms in the beach hotel overlook the ocean - completely. (Herbert Prochnow)
• Standing among savage scenery, the hotel offers stupendous revelations. There is a French widow in every bedroom, affording delightful prospects. (Gerard Hoffnung, quoting a Tyrolean landlord)

I'll finish with some good travel advice from a camping ground proprietor in Switzerland: 
   Do not depose your litter. To abuse the showers is punishable. Between 23.00 -06.00 hours everyone should keep calme.
   I guess that means you can go hysterical the rest of the time! 

... to Trust

I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time planning this trip to Europe, to the point that I think I have over-planned. A little voice in my head keeps thinking of situations - What if...? or What if...? so I have imagined scenarios for the good and the bad and how I would deal with them.
  Which means I have probably been worrying about things that may never happen and I have been living in the future rather than the 'now'.
  So today I decided to let all that 'What if?' thinking go and just trust that everything will work out and all the arrangements will go smoothly.
  Maybe I'll sleep better tonight!

... to Learn Something New

At the End of the Day

 'Make every day a school day,' says my friend Sue. 

  And she's right. In this wide, wonderful world there are so many fascinating people, plants, and animals; words, ideas, and plans; structures, inventions and technologies; books, movies, art and music to discover. So much to keep you excited about learning!
 At the end of each day I like to spend a few minutes reflecting on what has happened over the intervening hours and what new things I have learnt. 
 And today, while reading a gardening book, I came across a word, a lovely word, I hadn't heard of before.  Miz-maze.
 A miz-maze is a labyrinth made out of turf. Or a state of confusion! Which led me to look on websites about labyrinths and Iron Age forts and the difference between a maze and a labyrinth (labyrinths have a continuous path and no dead ends) and Druids and centuries old school traditions in Winchester and ... in fact I was in a virtual Google miz-maze.
 You can tell I love research, can't you? What new thing did you learn today?

... for Words of Comfort

It has been a very sad three weeks with the death of a close friend. I have found it difficult to write while I grieve for her, and confront my own mortality. 
   Today I found a quotation, in the poem 'Auguries of Innocence' by William Blake, that, in a strange way, was oddly comforting.

    Man was made for joy and woe;
    And when this we rightly know
    Through the world we safely go.

I hope these words may be a comfort to you if you need them.

... to Think How You Live Your Life

A Greek Sculpture from Chania, Crete

This week I have been reminded of a passage from the novel 'Zorba the Greek' by Nikos Kazantzakis.
  Zorba visits a little village and comes across an elderly man planting an almond tree. He wonders aloud why the man is bothering to do that when he is so old.
  The man turns to him and says, "My son, I carry on as if I should never die."
  And Zorba replies, "And I carry on as if I was going to die any minute."
   Which one of them was right?
   How do you live your life?

.. Life is Like Baking Cookies

Cookies = Life

I indulged in a spot of whimsical thinking today while I was baking chocolate chip cookies. And I came to the conclusion that daily life is like baking!

• Some days all the ingredients blend perfectly and smoothly to produce an excellent result.
• Some days you may be missing one ingredient so nothing turns out right.
• Some days, no matter how hard you stir, the result will be uneven and full of lumps!
• Some days the mixture may start out fine but crack or crumble at the end.
• And some days, despite all your efforts, the mix will curdle!

So how has your day been today? Smooth, lumpy or turned to custard?!

... to Find Your 'Treasure'

Wherever your treasure is...

... there will your heart be also

I seem to be in an introspective mood at the moment and this quotation really resonated with me. But I don't mean the 'X-marks-the-spot-buried-treasure' of pirates!
 My 'treasure' is the time I lived in Greece and this year I will be returning yet again to that country which captured my heart in so many ways years ago. That's very exciting!
 I made these little collages by tearing and pasting the entrance tickets to some of the Greek museums I have visited - the National Museum and the Acropolis Museum in Athens; Knossos, and the museums in Chania, Heraklion and Aghios Nikolaos in Crete. Each ticket features a picture of an archaeological treasure. 
 When I look at them, I am reminded of so many of the sights and sounds and smells of Greece: the blue of the sky against the white-washed houses; the braying of donkeys; the smell of bread baking in the brick oven. That's a good feeling, to be able to instantly recreate in your mind a place and time of great happiness.
 What is your passion? What do you think of when you read this quotation?

... to Say Goodbye to 2012, Hello to 2013

Italian art on ms Volendam by Gilbert Lebigre

Janus, after whom January is named, was the Roman god of two faces. One face looked back at the past and the other turned towards the future. He was the patron of endings and beginnings, the opener and closer of gates.
    We've come to the end of 2012 and now we wonder what 2013 will bring us. I'm not much of a one for making New Year resolutions. I prefer to take each day as it comes, to not look too far into the future. I've experienced instances, through illness and accident, when my life was changed in a heartbeat and no amount of forward planning or sticking to resolutions or timetables would have altered the outcomes. From those times on, for me, thinking about the future has seemed much less important than being fully involved in the present.
   So what will I do today? I want to take time to sit quietly and reflect on the parts of my life that mean the most to me - family, friends, creativity, travel, the beauty in nature. I want to think about the lessons I learned in 2012. The most powerful of those was the grace I felt when, in one particular situation,  I let go of anger and practised compassion.
   What will you do to start the new year? What does 2013 have in store for you?
 

... Relive a Childhood Memory

Our grand daughter, who is twelve, rang to ask for help with a homework question - what job should she do when she leaves school? She is horse-mad so she'd sorted some occupational choices which featured her equine friends; a horse trainer, a horse dentist, a farrier, among others.
   That question made me laugh as it brought back a vivid memory for me. I was twelve too, about to start high school and our class was given a questionnaire which asked, 'What do you want to be when you leave school?'
   'How dumb,' I remember thinking, 'asking that of kids our age. We don't have to decide for years yet.'
   So I wrote down 'lion tamer'! 

...to Look Beyond the Imperfections

I used pictures of plates by the Italian designer, Fornasetti
to make these collages

It's so easy to overlook the good things when you find yourself concentrating on the bad bits, isn't it? 
   I was reminded of this today when we were trawling second-hand and antique shops. I saw a particularly beautiful china jug that I loved and was on the point of buying - until I noticed it had a small chip on the rim. Even though it was barely noticeable, it spoilt the jug for me.
   And I remembered a day last week when, amongst all the great things that were happening in my life, one person spoke critically - and that was what I focussed on. Not all the positives; just that one negative comment that I replayed over and over in my mind.

   

So it's time, I've decided, to go back to the shop and buy the jug, to look beyond the imperfections, to accept that everything isn't always how we'd like it to be, and get on with enjoying the good things that are happening every day. Agreed?

... for Your Heart's Home

I am reading the journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's sister, and one sentence she wrote in May, 1800, has stayed in my mind. She is describing the area where they lived in England's Lake District, just as evening is falling.

Grassmere was very solemn in the last glimpse of twilight; it calls home the heart to quietness.

The beautiful rhythm of the words and the scene they evoke made me think - which place in the world calls to my heart to come home?

Kritsa in Crete, Greece

   And it is here, amid this un-prepossessing jumble of little cube houses tumbling down a mountainside, in the Greek village of Kritsa on Crete.
   I lived there for several months and most evenings, just on twilight, I would walk through the little alleyways of the village to the big church. It is sited on the edge of the hill, with a wonderful view looking down over the plains below and across to the mountains of eastern Crete and the Gulf of Mirabello.
   I would sit on a log beside the church and look and listen. Old men and women would be coming back to the village after the day working down in the gardens or olive groves. They'd be riding donkeys and leading a goat perhaps or a couple of sheep. In the distance I could hear the putt-putt of motor scooters and the laughs and shrieks of children playing in the alleys before bedtime.
   But if I listened more closely I would hear the little sounds - the tapping of the donkeys' hooves on cobblestones and the creak of their wooden saddles as they came up the track beside the church; the cooing of the white doves as they circled around the hillside before settling in the trees; the tap-tapping of the walking stick of the old lady who would sometimes come and sit with me.
   "Mazi, together," she would say, rubbing her forefingers against each other to denote companionship, before lapsing into silence.
   I know exactly what Dorothy Wordsworth meant - that place beside the big church on that hillside, in that village, on that island, called home my heart to quietness. And even though I now live on the other side of the world, it still does.
  Where does your heart call home?
 
 

... to Laugh Out Loud

A Macaque Monkey Laughing Out Loud!

How long is it since you've had a really good, hearty laugh? I don't mean a little giggle or a soft chuckle. I mean a long, loud, 'bringing tears to your eyes' laugh!
  According to research at the University of Oxford, laughing increases your threshold to pain. And not by just a little, by a significant amount. In their experiments, the researchers found that even 15 minutes of laughter triggers endorphins in the body to naturally relieve pain. So the more you laugh, the less you'll hurt. Sounds good to me!
 You may not be able to get to a live comedy performance but you could watch a funny TV show, or read some jokes, or share a humorous experience with a friend. Or tickle your own feet, like this monkey is doing! Or you could do what I've done. 
  I've set up a board on Pinterest called 'Can't Help Smiling' where I file funny pictures I've found. Every time I need a bit of a lift I look at it. It's guaranteed to make me laugh, give me a huge dose of that 'feel good' factor, and chase a bit of the pain away.

... to Grieve

Remember the Good Times

I know loss is part of life. I know that coming to terms with a loss can make us stronger, whether it is the loss of a family member or friend; the end of a marriage, a job or a love affair; the acceptance that physical restraints may change the way we imagined our life would be. I know we need time to grieve, to work through the stages of grief. I know all that.
   But some days it all seems to be so darn hard.
   Our dog died today. He'd been part of the family for 15 years. The house is going to seem very empty tonight.

... to Find Your Place of Peace

Peace at the Beach

I have a lot on my mind at the moment and needed some time out. So I went to the beach. I always feel peaceful when I am by the sea. The gentle lapping of the waves, the salt air, the sand between my toes and the beauty of nature combine to soothe my soul.
   It was high tide, bright sunshine and no wind, such a change from the gusty, blustery, wet weather we have had for weeks. The beach was deserted apart from an old lady walking her dog and me.
  I sat right on the edge of the water, closed my eyes and took the time to reflect on the things I needed to do. Then I let those thoughts go and relaxed into a deeper place of peace.
 The feeling stayed with me all day and I returned home refreshed and clearer in my thinking.
 Where do you go to find your place of peace?
  

... to Remember Someone Special

Sweet Violets

A dear friend visited today and brought me a posy of violets from her garden. As soon as I saw them and smelt their perfume I was reminded of my grandmother. For her birthday in August we would always give her a bunch of violets. She died over 30 years ago but seeing those delicate purple flowers brought back wonderful memories for me.
   Napoleon Bonaparte and his Empress loved violets too. When they married, Josephine's wedding dress was embroidered with the flower and on their wedding anniversaries he would present her with a bouquet of violets.
  Napoleon divorced Josephine but when he returned to France from exile, he went to Malmaison, Josephine's estate near Paris. She had died over a year before. Napoleon picked a violet flower from her garden and put it in a locket. He wore this on a chain around his neck until he died.
  Sweet sentiments such as this touch my heart.
   

...to be Open to Serendipity

Aah, serendipity - the act of finding something delightful by chance.

Looking for 'things' in clouds

Remember when you were a child and lay on your back on the grass, looking up at the clouds and trying to see shapes in them that reminded you of familiar things? Well, I was flicking through a Lonely Planet magazine this morning and found a page of photographs of clouds that looked like things - a shark, a rabbit, and a giant's face were some examples. 
 The photos were from a book put out by the Cloud Appreciation Society. Yes, there really is such a delightfully named organisation! They state that, "We believe clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul." I'd agree with that.
 The next magazine I looked at was Life and Leisure and there to my surprise, was an article about the Cloud Appreciation Society. Reading about it twice in an hour when I hadn't ever heard of it before! 
 I looked out the window at that moment and saw this fantastic cloud. Can you see the 'thing' in it? The dark horse galloping, tossing its head to the side.
  Aah, sweet serendipity!

... to Look at Old Photographs

Old Photographs Bring Back Memories

I am fascinated by the link between photographs and memory. If we didn't have photos to remind us of people or places or events, would we remember them?
  I've been sitting in front of the fire and looking through a shoe box of old photographs from my early childhood.  Pulling out a handful of the small, deckle-edged, black and white pictures, spreading them out on the floor around me, and remembering funny stories I haven't thought of for many years.
  I was about four years old when this photo was taken. I remember I was at my grandmother's house. She dressed me up in her petticoat and pearls, and pinned a piece of gauzy material over my head as a veil. Voila - a beaming child bride!  
  The hour I've spent with this pile of old photos has been a great way to remember the lovely times of my childhood. It has been a true joy.

... to Really Relax

I have been reading about 'moon gates', those circular doorways often found in Chinese gardens. As a garden art feature they are stunning. But they have a deeper meaning also. They symbolise passing from the hectic, everyday world into the peaceful surroundings of the garden.
  From busy-ness to tranquillity.

The Moon Gate at Sydney's Chinese Gardens

  So often we feel stretched like an elastic band because of all the demands on us - work, deadlines, family, pressures we put on ourselves. So often we are too busy to take the time to relax, even for five minutes.
  And I thought how it would be easy to 'build' a moon gate in your mind. When life was getting too frantic, you could visualise leaving behind the stresses and strains, stepping through the moon gate, and moving into a place of quiet and beauty.
  Somewhere you could really relax. Even if only for five minutes. Even if only long enough to take ten deep breaths, to feel refreshed, before you stepped back through the moon gate and into the real world.

...to Change a Routine

Today I decided to do something different. I would change my morning routine.
  My husband leaps out of bed in the early mornings, whistling and happy, ready to get stuck into a new day. I, on the other hand, am more inclined to snuggle down under the duvet and doze off again. Eventually I'll haul myself out of bed to make a cup of coffee but I don't want to speak to anyone until I'm fully awake.
  "You miss the best part of the day," he, the ex-farmer who has had years of early wake-up calls, is always telling me.

Winter's Early Morning Mist

  Today I got up soon after sunrise and went out onto the deck. This beautiful scene was my reward.
  
                  Don't let your habits become handcuffs  (E. Berg)


Perhaps I'll change other routines and see what surprises that will bring into my life.