Terrapin Station

Friday Five: Packing

Deb at RevGals is sending two daughters packing - one to a first apartment and one to her first dorm room. She says,

It made me realize that there are some elements to packing and moving that are learned, and some that are innate. So let's talk "packing or pack rat?" for this week's Friday Five.

1. Are you a sorter or a pack rat? What I mean by that is, do you select what you are taking with you (on a trip, a new assignment, a vacation), or do you pack with abandon (overweight suitcases be damned!) I select very carefully, because I have been on far too many trips with WAY too much weight to carry.

2. Who first helped you learn how to pack? Or did you just come into it by osmosis or natural gifting  (and need)? Hmm. My mom, I guess. But I don't remember it. It was also partly self-taught.  I used to do a packing demonstration for study abroad students, and I would say, "Everything I need for 5 weeks is in this bag" and then unpack the bag and show them. I figured I had to practice what I preached...! Note that I would put washcloths in a baggie to represent my underthings...no one needed to see my real underthings...!

3. What's your favorite kind of suitcase? Duffle? Soft-side? Wheels? (I am personally a fan of my "expanding zipper" wheelie suitcases. Saved my bacon on many a return trip home!) I love the wheels, and am planning for my next one to have the wheels that go all directions. Luxury.

4. Do you have that "packing gene" -- or do you pack and cram what you need into every available space? I do well on the way out, but on the way home it's always expanded somehow...even if it was only a work trip and I didn't gain anything new by shopping.

5. What's one thing you've learned in traveling, packing or storing your belongings that you think everyone should know? The natural look for hair is highly underrated, especially for travel. Give it a try, and stop hauling around hairdryers, flat irons, etc.!! This advice from someone with naturally curly hair, who straightened it every single day from jr. high through high school. When I went off to college, I said, "the heck with it" and never looked back. 

Friday Five from Deb (on Tuesday)

It's your road, and yours alone.

Others may walk it with you,

but no one can walk it for you.

A road in Bavaria.

Thanks to Deb at RevGals for this great set of questions!!  She says:

I reflected on this poem for a while and thought about some new "roads" that my progeny are beginning. Both are graduating (one from high school, one from college). I am also looking at a possible new "road" in a much hoped-for job. It's been a winding path to get this point!

So in thinking about our life's journey, and the rhythm of our lives, here's five questions on this theme...

1. What "road" is in your immediate future? Immediately in my past were lots of wind-y and wonderful roads in Tennessee and North Carolina, where Ken and Iwent for a motorcycle holiday.

In the future...I will be exploring some new things this summer.  I am excited that I have been accepted for the Dallas Benedictine Experience in mid-June. It's a four-day program in which "participants  form a temporary monastic community in which the day is divided into times of group prayer (called Offices ), study, light work, and rest.  The framework of each day is the corporate worship of God in the chanting of four daily Offices.

After Lauds each morning in the oratory (chapel), a short homily (sermon) will be given.

The two Experience leaders will teach the morning and evening classes in Benedictine spirituality, with discussions following the morning class.  There will be time in the afternoon for resting, reading, private prayer, and private meeting with a leader.  Participants are encouraged, but not required, to volunteer for very  light service projects, such as keeping the oratory (chapel) tidy, sweeping walkways, providing water-pitchers in the classroom, etc.  These services fulfill the Benedictine practice of balancing the day with prayer and work and of contributing to the functioning of the temporary monastic community.  The Benedictine motto is Ora et Labora  (Pray and Work).

 In keeping with Benedictine tradition, all meals are taken in silence while passages from Benedictine writings are read aloud to the community (participants) by a reader. 

Silence is observed at all times throughout the daytime and nighttime, except for class times and spiritual direction.  Silence is important to allow undisturbed prayer, spiritual reading, meditation, and contemplation."

In the farther, but near-term future...we shall see.

2. Where have you been "traveling" a lot lately -- and are you going back there? Interesting. I have been mentally traveling back over the years, especially because this year is my 30th high school graduation anniversary. Therefore, it's also time for the 30th reunion. I will not be physically going back there...I don't need to. But, watching (via FB) the lovely daughter of one of my HS best friends graduate, go to prom, etc., with him not here to see it, is very poignant. 

3.  Who are your fellow travelers? My husband Ken. Valerie, Amy, Martha. Laura and Helen. Many of the RevGals and other friends.  Deb and Debra and Diana and Mom and Sarah.  And you, if you are reading this.

4.  Who are the unintentional companions (or hitchhikers) that you find on the road with you? I met a great girl at the motorcycle retreat this weekend who gave me much food for thought.  Cindy is her name. 

5.  As a family, we always recite "the traveler's prayer" -- a tongue-in-cheek petition as we pull out of the driveway ("Lord, whatever we have forgotten, may it not be important!") What have you forgotten lately, and did it matter?  Hum. On this last trip, forgot my ActiveLink, the WeightWatchers version of a FitBit, which I normally wear everywhere (even to bed). So I have no idea how the activity of the trip stacked up. Sitting on the back of a motorcycle is not that active, except you have to be paying attention on the many curves in the road. Ah well, I didn't go to get exercise!  :) So, I guess it didn't mattter. 

BONUS: Share a photo of a road you've traveled. Or of traveling companions who have made the journey special. Or perhaps there's a song or another poem that suits your journey. If so, please share! 

Here is a picture of me with the view from the Blue Ridge Parkway: 

And here is a pic of the Tail of The Dragon, an 11-mile stretch of road containing 318 curves that we rode up and back:

What says security to you?

Since Monday last I've been without a car.  After hitting a large pothole, my oil pan became disengaged from the car itself :  Uh oh!  Jack our Automotive Fixing Guy had it for the week, trying to cobble it back togther.  No dice, apparently.  So now it's gone to Another Auto Place (?) where they will "drop the motor" and put the thing back together for reals. 

So, no car.  We usually have an extra vehicle or so around, but at this point they are all motorcycles (3 of those) and one-ton flatbed trucks (generally in use by Ken's workers). 

My extremely brief walks to and from work were a delight...except for the Thursday afternoon DOWNPOUR which lasted exactly as long as the walk home...sigh.  But at least it was the walk HOME and not TO WORK.  I was able to shed my sopping kit in the laundry room and get some good sympathy and a beer from my spouse right away. 

I missed a meeting Monday night at church; missed Tuesday choir; missed a lunch with friends.  No going nowhere.  Ok, I can deal. 

Also, I didn't get to Jazzercise at all during the week.  Very annoying, just as I was getting into a really good groove, but there was all the walking.  So, all right.

But what DID bother me:

was not being able to go to the library or to the grocery store.  No running by to pick up milk or bread.  No heading over after work to get the book I'd requested and replenish my supply. 

It bothered me a lot.  I count on ready access to those two places to feel secure and nourished.  I'm not sure which one is more important to me, frankly. 

This morning I got into the one-ton flatbed with the generator, water tank, shovel holder etc. on the back and chugged to the library.  Then chugged to Kroger.  I had LOTS of coupons and saved $24; this the result of manic grocery list planning in the week...

You should have seen me, parking in those parking lots in the work truck.  And chugging down the road...goodness. 

But I feel much much better.  I have a large stack of new reading on the shelf; I have meals for the whole week planned. 

Tomorrow I have to drive the flatbed to church.  Chug chug chug down the highway.  Don't get me wrong; I'm grateful and realize how lucky I am to have an alternate means of transportation at all! 

And I've been to the library and the grocery.

Botswana Day!

Did you know that today is Botswana Day? 

This, according to my Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison calendar.  It's an amazing, colorful, beautiful item that I treasure each year.  "Created, produced, and marketed by volunteers, all proceeds from calendar sales are donated to educational and development projects at home and abroad. " Don't you want one yourself?  Some to give as gifts?  Go to their website and order now for 2010! 

Anyway...Botswana Day. 

Here is a link to information about the history of Botswana and its independence from the UK in 1966.  Here's a link to the Botswana national anthem.  Hum along! 

Why (you may ask) am I all excited about Botswana?

Well, any of you who have read and loved the wonderful No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith (his website is a delight!) are not the ones asking!  These lovely books are a peaceful and gentle look at a proud country where the citizens' concerns are the same as those of us all...love, relationships, fear, jealousy.  Mma Precious Ramotswe runs the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, using cleverness, common sense, and (largely!) her listening skills to solve mysteries that come her way. 

If you have not read them, you are in for a treat.  I have recently gone on a feast of re-reading this series and have a great desire to travel to Botswana!  Here is information from the Botswana Tourism Board.  Their website home page says: 

Welcome to the very best part of Africa. Botswana, a country better known for peace and tranquillity, diamonds and beef, holds a lot of suprises for you.  Come and explore the diverse cultures of its people and nature at its best. If there’s a place where one wishes time could stand still, it is the beautiful country you will be viewing on this Web site.

Recently, an exchange consortium to which we belong has opened a site in Botswana!  So now my students have the opportunity to do an exchange semester or year at the University of Botswana!  Oh, those lucky students!   

Do a little bit of reading about Botswana, and dream with me about a visit to Mma Ramotswe and her compatriots.  And for heaven's sake...if you haven't read these books...get to your local library! 

Home again; now, with Moxie!

The hour at which I left Maine was really quite insane...what ever possessed me to book a flight AT 6 am? 

Bless Songbird for taking me to the airport so early...hoping she got more rest thereafter, as I did en route from Portland to DC.  I had two uneventful flights and Ken and 2 happy dogs picked me up at the airport afterward.  We drove to Fort Worth for him to do a work errand, stopped at Sonic for lunch-in-the-car-with-the-dogs, and headed home.  It is HOT.  Oh golly, is it hot here!

Just as we got to the place where Bonnie Brae exits 35W and goes under 35E to get to our house, and were waiting at the light, a car came tumbling over the metal barrier, hit a ledge, and fell to the service road below, miraculously landing on its tires.  The building you can see across the road is Fouts Field, UNT's football stadium, and the car came over just to the left of that in this photo. 

 

It very nearly hit a car going below, which managed to swerve.  Ken stopped in the road and ran to the car, and I started trying to call 911 (both dogs scrambling around on my lap).  I looked up and realized the police were already there somehow, helping an older man out of the car.  The police car had been sitting on the right shoulder, apparently. 

I hung up on 911, but apparently the dogs and their dancing feet managed to speed-dial my sister on the phone, and she later got to hear a 3-plus minute recording of my frantic praying as I watched the man being seated on the side of the road, stopped motorists asking if they could help, Ken coming back to our car. 

I don't know what happened to make the car come over like that...have been searching local news, but I may never know.  Such a shock.  Life is so very fragile, and I have had a lifelong horror of doing just what he did (though mine started with a recurring childhood dream of driving on a very elevated part of Houston's I-59 at night, realizing I was a kid and didn't KNOW how to drive, and driving over the side...then waking up). 

Anyway, a restorative nap later I am ready to unpack, catch up on laundry, and figure out what to do for dinner. 

I'm so grateful for the little time away; for Songbird and her family, who welcome me as one of them and allow me to slip into their day to day; for musicals on the IPod, books on the bedside table and open windows with sweet cool breezes; for long dog walks; for Karla, Jean, Holly and Sue, who came to visit; for the Portland Farmer's Market and those I saw there, and for Moxie, which I now have. 

In the City of the Angels

I'm here, 2 days into the 2.5 day workshop I'm teaching in...and then the conference starts.  Very annoyed that my university computer does not work at all...such a first world problem.  An expensve piece of weight training equipment to carry...This one costs $7.95 for 15 mins.  Egads!

LA Marathon was run this a.m. which caused some interesting wrinkles for our folks.  All was sorted out in the end.  I saw from hotel window a group skipping in the Marathon.  LOL!

Weather is gorgeous, between 50 and 75 daily.  Room is shaped like a piece of pie & very small!  Meeting with long time friends and good meals, looking forward to good sessions and meetings.  Having dinner tonight with my nephew Brad who is good enough to come get me...getting away from here is proving to be a problem, with schedule really packed.

So long...

Airrrrrrrrrpooooorrrrrrttttttt....

My 2:14 p.m. departure from Portland was cancelled, but I stood by for the 10:26 a.m. flight that eventually left at 7:40.  Now I'm at Newark and hoping to get on the flight in about 15 min. 

I really can't complain (really) because there were people who'd been in that airport all night due to Newark delays. 

And your friendly church geek has just mildly chastised an extremely angry young man who was telling his brother (via cell phone) that he wanted to get on the plane and cut everyone up with a plastic knife he'd just been given in the food court.  Wasn't his frustration or his threat, but the fact that he was dropping the F-bomb every other word that set me on edge so much.  I wish I'd had the presence of mind to steal Ruby's line and tell him I was concerned about his continued opportunity to fly.  Instead I just asked him if I should call 911?

ok.  They are calling folks to board, so looks like I may really get on this plane!  Woot!

1:15 a.m., DFW Airport:

Here I am and waiting for Ken to pick up.  He fell asleep waiting for me and who could blame him?

What a great trip.  More to follow.

in the airport

I'm in the Portland Jetport waiting for my plane.  I was meant to leave here at 2:14 but now the flight is delayed until 5:30 (so far).  Fortunately, my Newark to DFW plane is also delayed by about 3 hours, so I have a chance to actually get home.  Maybe.

But this time!  I have my SUITCASE with me!  Aha!  No more fool me!

The cool thing is that I'm waiting with Songbird and her colleague Stephen, en route to Atlanta and their plane is delayed too.  So here we all are. 

Travelling thoughts

Four p.m.: 

I'm in Newark.  Supposed to board plane for Portland right now, but just got a loudspeaker message that the plane is still in: Toronto.  That'll make it hard to get on it...

So, waiting for more news.  I so hope that it won't make me late for my dinner with Ruby & Songbird at posh restaurant. 

In the meantime:

Can anyone explain to me why people allow their children to make SO MUCH NOISE when travelling?  Okay, I'm a grouchy lady with no littlies.  And, I have NEVER been on an airplane with either of my parents.  But when we travelled, ate out, or were otherwise in public, we were certainly not allowed to behave like hyenas. 

There's a young man sitting next to me with two little boys, appear to be twins about 5 years old.  All three of them have Gameboys (or somethings) and the dad also has a music player which is playing reggae -  into the air -  not into earphones.  I like reggae, but I really don't choose to listen to it right now.  Doesn't he have any earphones?  Oh well. 

(For that matter, why don't I have earphones?!  I'm a slacker, that's why.  And it will tell you my age when I reveal that I actually typed HEADphones at first.)

I would swear one of the little boys just said, "Daddy, why are you so tense?" but that can't be right.  None of them are drinking Maxwell House or whatever it was.  Phew, now they are leaving.

There are some gentlemen wearing yarmulkes who are facing East and praying.  Standing to do it, rocking back and forth, they are reading from little prayer books and reading VERYFAST.  It does not appear that they are very engaged in their prayers, but looking all around at everyone while they do it.  Interesting.

TIME WARP!!

Nine twenty-five pm: 

I'm baaaaaack, but I'm still in the Newark Airport.  Weather farther up the coast plus a big problem with the radar in Boston...no one was going anywhere, much, for a while.

Since I talked to you last, I have sat on a plane for close to four hours, with a very frazzled lady with 3 year old twins and a baby.  And a lot of other people who were remarkably unsympathetic to her.  I guess I'm not the crankiest traveller in the world, after all!  Then we got off the plane, and we had only moved 6 gates down!

I'm going to go ahead and post this...I know you will be relieved to have me stop yapping...and if  I don't make the plane, you will surely hear from me again tonight. 

We All Dance in the Same Language

"Where the Hell is Matt?"

You've probably seen this before...but if you haven't, treat yourself. Several times. Also, if you go to the Youtube site, you can look below the movie box and click "Watch in Higher Quality."  Worth it. 

You can also go to Matt's website for more info and videos.