New Year, New Start, New Ideas....

Why Not?!

First things first.  A new blog will be starting (I think) in the next few days.  Stay tuned....

Earlier this week I wrote about traveling and the things that keep us from traveling.  You know, all those grown-up responsibility things?  Just to recap, I have a sister who wants to go some place warm where she can feel the sand and hear the ocean.  I have a sister-in-law who would love to see more of America.  I have a niece who wants to see the Dominican Republic (NOT Dominica...sorry, Megs!).  And I have longed to see New Zealand.

Today the four of us got together and started planning our trip.  Our route (right now) is Birmingham  to the Dominican Republic by way of the Bahamas.  This is the first leg of our trip.  Our start will be Irondale, Alabama to Tifton, Georgia.  That distance is about 268 miles (give or take).  We have already left!  Yup, that's right, we are on our way.  No hotel reservations or worrying about restaurants.  We will be sleeping and eating at home most nights.  Really.  

For Christmas, I gave my fellow travelers a pedometer, a journal notebook, and a water bottle.  Today we set up our pedometers.  We are going to wear them each day and track our distance.  Some of us are also swimming, which counts toward the total; any biking, canoeing, or other activity that moves us will count.  The distance from Birmingham, Alabama to New Zealand is a little over 8,000 miles.  Of course, the distance with our going to the Bahamas and Dominican Republic first will increase that.  We will be finding photos from Google maps to share and if you have pictures from any of the locations we cross that you would like to share with us we would love to see them.  Who knows, at some point we just might get to visit one or two of these places in person!

That brings me to another point.  I've heard from a couple of folks lately that they wish they could travel.  Why not join us?!  All you need is a decent pedometer.  

I found these on sale at Target, here

No passport, no visas, no plane tickets, no frustrating TSA agents, no hotel reservations or Traveler's Checks to buy food.  Just clip that pedometer on and see how many steps you take in a day.  It is much easier to have a pedometer that measures distance in addition to steps, although I guess you could figure that out yourself.  A computer is nice for tracking progress but a paper map works just as well.  Leave a comment every so often letting the rest of us know where you are.  As we hit milestones we will celebrate each others progress.  If you would prefer to travel to Alaska or Borneo, let us know so we can celebrate that with you too.  

This is a new year, with a new start and a new (or maybe just quirky?!) idea.  We would love to have your company!

 

Sunset

There was an amazing sunset Friday evening at our house.  The light in the west between the clouds that the wind had been shoving though all day was pretty.  But the pink tints in the east were amazing.  Here's what I got.  Hope you can get a little taste from this of how beautiful it was!

New Year, New Start, New Ideas.....

 Traveling?  Part I

Where would you go, if money and time were no object?  What places have you secretly (or not so secretly) longed to see?  Would it be a city whose architecture has intrigued you?  A place with art-work that leaves you breathless?  Somewhere filled with the music that captivates you?  A wild, lonely mountain or an endless forest?  A home to a people-group and culture that have pulled at your heart you since you were a child?  Would it be a warm, sunny place, or knee-deep in snow?  Would it be populated or isolated?  Would there be fabulous buildings or would it be wild nature in all its glory?

Where would you go?

I have wanted to visit New Zealand since I was young.  After seeing Peter Jackson's New Zealand in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, I want to see it even more!  My niece wants to go to Dominica in the Caribbean.  My sister would love to go to a warm beach right now ~ Tahiti? Bali?.  My sister-in-law is more of a Peter Jenkins type than a Peter Jackson ~ she is fascinated by the beauty of our own country and would love to see the places along the way between the East Coast and the West (with a nice lay-over in Texas to visit a dear friend, of course!).

So why not?  Why not just take off and go see these places?  Because we are practical, adult women, that's why!  We have families who need us.  We have homes to take care of, laundry to wash, dinners to cook, and kitchens to clean.  We have responsibilities in our community and (for two of us) to our employers.  Besides that, only two of us have current passports; have you priced passports and visas lately?  Then there is the cost of air or ship travel, places to stay, meals along the way.....are you tired yet, because I sure am!  Flying is very difficult for me because of medical devices (you try explaining medical devices to TSA agents!).  There is the hassle factor of trying to figure out the logistics of such a big trip.  Then there is the challenge of only having a certain amount of time before you have to go back home.  Could you be content with having to rush through something that you could spend a year (or a lifetime) enjoying?  If you were on the beach in Tahiti, hiking through the mountains of Colorado, sailing the Caribbean, or absorbing the mountains of New Zealand, would you really want to feel the pressure of an impending deadline to get back home again?

The old saying tells us, "Home is Where the Heart Is".  Our hearts are with our families.  While we would love to wander and explore these places, our hearts would be tugging us back home.  While we all enjoy breaks from the daily routine, we would all be homesick in a very short period of time!

But there is still a longing to go and travel and explore.

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Days Eight Through Twelve

Because I got really, really lax with blogging for a week (or actually eleven days if you want to be really picky), here is the summary.  Did you ever sing the Twelve Days of Christmas when you were a child and get tired of the song by the time you got to the end and sing the last verse as fast as you possibly could?  Hang on, here we go....

Day Eight, January Second: both men off work, trip to get new glasses, reading I Corinthians (Wow, Paul!)

Day Nine, January Third: both men back to work, still really tired, trying to clean house, doing too much, supper and a visit from my sweet, amazing sister and niece

Day Ten, January Fourth: Cold and windy day, eggs from my chickens, lots of quiet desk work and on to II Corinthians

Day Eleven, January Fifth: Another quiet day with more quiet desk work.  Conserving energy so I can make it to church on Sunday!

Day Twelve, January Sixth: Warm day.  I mean REALLY warm day!  Temperatures got up almost to 70.  I took a "nap" in the hammock on the front porch.  Did you know that sometimes God tells the trees to dance for me?  I love the rhythm of the trees in the breeze!

Confessions: 

1. I have still not completely finished the book of II Corinthians.  I have finished reading it and finding names and descriptions of Jesus but I have not finished writing them down.
2. I did not make it back to church yet.  My own fault for doing stupid stuff Saturday.
3. The tree and the decorations did NOT get taken down until Sunday the 8th of January.  
4. I drove my husband nuts because I wanted the un-decorating process done MY way (I'll be playing Frank Sinatra in that biographical movie one day as soon as I convince the directors that my way of doing it is better than theirs).
5. I am a very selfish and impatient person.  I'm working on that!

Stay tuned for January Travels!