A Glimpse of the Minotaur
Fallen in love with the legends of ancient Greece and living Rome, I hopped over to Athens. June 1967 was after the military takeover by a very nasty lot of Greek colonels and the imminent threat of yet another Arab-Israeli war. But I went anyway, determined to actually see the Palace of Knossos with visions of Theseus, Ariadne and the Minotaur. My...
Adventures In Travel
Blood Orange I had boarded the plane at Dulles with a dreadful cold. My ears had become clogged and painful and I spent a lot of time futilely shaking my head like a dog trying to clear them out. My sister and I spent the first few weeks of our travels in northern Europe – London, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Bergen. I was cold all the time and it...
Anticipation
Years ago, I imagined that, unlike the earth traveling around the sun in an ellipse, I’d think of the year as a square; not a rectangle, but square with four equal sides. Starting the beginning of September, the top of this imaginary square ran through the fall to the end of December. The right side went from January first to May 31st, the bottom...
Berlin Wall
On the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall - November 9, 1989 I crossed through the Berlin Wall at Check Point Charlie several times in my late teens and early twenties. My sister and I visited Berlin in 1973 and I went again in 1977. There was no doubt of the seriousness of the Wall. There were serious looking soldiers with machine...
Burma
Travel by Chance: Burma (1987) The news that Burma (Myanmar) is tentatively exploring reopening relations with the outside world makes me wonder not just about their future, but their past. Their future, which has been non-existent for decades, may now look bright - if they are able to bridge the past, present, and future with sound decision making...
Childhood Vacations
My parents never took vacations as they both worked and that time was for tending the garden which was coming to harvest and/or making repairs or painting our home. However, in my pre-teens, I would spend a week with my cousin in New Jersey and we would make houses and play with our paper dolls. As we entered high school our lifestyle changed and...
Donuts
Donuts. Beignets. Sopapilla. Bread dough, deep fried and coated with sugary sweetness. There must be something universal in our tastes that has led to a treat that crosses cultures with its allure, and like everything that good, a downside. Grease, sugar and simple carbs are a path to weight and health issues that everyone with a cup of coffee...
In the land that lies beyond...
In the Land That Lies Beyond Erzerum and Trebizond Lived a robber, Rushan Beg As we crossed the 10,000 foot range from Trebizond, we saw abundant golden rhododendrons such as Xenophon saw when he cried out “Thalassa!” (the sea, the sea!) coming the other way. Our next major stop was at militarized Kars, an ancient Armenian city that looked across a...
Pieta
Pieta February or March 1973 My sister and I, aged 19 and 21, had packed rucksacks (mine a borrowed army green canvas one covered with embroidered patches of faraway cities and countries boasting of my boyfriend's considerable Foreign Service family travels) and taken off on the great Eurailpass and hostel adventure through Europe both coveted and...
Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
FoldUnfold Table of Contents Rehoboth Beach Rehoboth, Art and Politics Cold War Target Practice Rehoboth Beach Dunes at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The Art League in Henlopen Acres in Rehoboth. Every summer my family went to the beach. We started our summer journeys by visiting Ocean City, MD, going back to at least 1961, where my parents...
Summer
The glorious days of summer with long warm days and cool nights, sweet song of birds and the hum of bees, the flower and vegetable gardens, going fishing or to the beach. Other than spending the week with my cousin, one summer I spent a week on a friend’s farm during the haying season (or time) and had fun riding the hay wagon as the men pitched...
Summertime A Sad Story
When I was eleven years old, my mom, dad, sister and I went to the mountains to vacation with friends and relatives. It was such great fun to play and to splash with the other kids in the swimming hole near our cottages. After a very active morning and a hearty lunch the girls sat with the women in a shady spot to work on their crocheting or...
The Holes in the Pool Room Wall
Ca late 1920’s It was a beautiful early summer morning. The sun was already promising a hot day – and there was a gentle breeze. “A perfect laundry day”, Jenny thought as she hung the wash on the clothesline. She was humming her favorite hymn, Rock of Ages, and reaching into the cloth bag for another four clothespins when the sight and sound of the...
Vacation
Being a teacher afforded me many fascinating summer vacations, but the times I really treasure are the ones I spent as a child with my family, many aunts, uncles and cousins in a blissful place called Remsenburg on Long Island, which is a southern part of New York State. Remsenburg is about 80 miles from Manhattan Island, which most people consider...
Vacation Time, Dust Bowl, Kansas, 1930's
When we were children and vacation time was planned – it was a train trip to Kansas to visit family. My father worked for the Milwaukee R.R. and could have a “pass” once a year. Since both of my parents came from Kansas, there was no question – it was a trip to Kansas. We looked forward to seeing all the cousins since it was a yearly trip. Above...
Vacations, 1930's
When I was a kid we were taken to a camp on the upper Ausable Lake in the Adirondacks for a few weeks e very summer. It was not the usual camp but a private one inherited by my Mother and it was her refuge and her joy. It was a mix of being quite luxurious and yet quite rugged at the same time. There was no electricity – no telephone – no showers –...
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