The Weaver

December 11, 2013

SONY DSC

I posted a version of this at BeingUnbound yesterday. Please forgive the first (and likely last) cross-post but the story has as much to do with inspiration and intentional enjoyment as it does with travel bounds. As I am wrestling with some big questions (like where I will live and work next) telling this story helped remind me what it is that I love to do.

Once upon a time…

Over the rim of his coffee cup he gazes again towards my feet and says, “I am completely mesmerized by the fabric of your scarf.”

I smile and look down to the pashmina loosely tied as usual thru the handle of my rucksack.

“It has a story.”

“I’m sure it does.”

With ripples of pleasure that deepen my crows feet, I tell it.

For this is what I do. This is what I love to do. I travel and collect stories. And sometimes I collect a physical thing which is like a beacon that points to the story behind it.

[Read more…]

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Spring Broken

March 3, 2013

On Friday for my Photo a Day project, taken at the Cave of Hercules, I mused, “I wonder what labors I will have to endure to deserve this type of view.” On Saturday I found out.

It is now Sunday evening and it hurts to type this. Just breathing is laborious. Yet somehow I am determined to get this post up.

My “breaking spring” week toured 4 cities in 10 days. I didn’t realize how prescient I was being in my pun nor post. From Edinburgh to Lisbon to Tangier to Madrid, my friends and I had a whirlwind but epicly fun set of adventures. If you’re wondering, it is really by dint of cheap flights and happy accidental finds that we set our itinerary.

Double Rainbow Camel RideOn the way we shared lots of laughter and beautiful vistas, each locale trying to best the last for the ultimate experience. I completely fell in love with Tangier.

The camel ride under a double rainbow might have something to do with my newfound love of Africa.

Yet I also just enjoyed being in such a different, bustling, alive place. We kept looking at each other and saying “is this real life?!” It was with sadness that we left after just 48hours. I am quietly ruminating on how to get back there for an extended visit/stay.

Labor

The week culminated hooking up with friends in Madrid yesterday. [Read more…]

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“Barely” Surviving Tough Guy 2013

February 10, 2013

My eyes are locked on my gloved fingers grasping the 4 inch plank between my feet.

My focus shifts past the mud on the beam to the rope cargo net and then the ground two stories below.

“No, Jo, you have to stand up. We have to go across.”

I look up into his eyes. His jokers cap long gone but the jovial still framing his face.

“I know but…” my voice reverberates in my head with the echoes of fear and frustration which drown out the wind, “Ben, I can’t feel my feet.”

We spend a beat or two looking at each other. Then he says, “ok” with authority and conviction and reaches out his hand to take mine.

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Traveling to Terezin

January 9, 2013

My knowledge of history is lacking in big places. Facts and dates, names of places even, sift through my sieve brain. When it came to World War II and the holocaust – the “final solution” – I was notably deficient in perspective.

With a few days back in Prague, I signed up for a tour of Terezin. The Nazi “gift of a town” it was a neighborhood turned ghetto-concentration-camp-holding-pen of disease, death and misery… and art.

Lasting Testaments [Read more…]

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Finding the Right Trip

November 28, 2012

Last year I quite unexpectedly won a biking trip across Thailand.

Red Bike LightIt pains me that I won’t be taking it.

I donated to Room to Read through Passports with Purpose. The 2012 effort is now underway. I would encourage all to support building wells in Haiti by bidding on one of the great prizes.

You might even win like I did. I was certainly shocked and excited about taking the trip.

Yet now there is something in my gut telling me it isn’t the right choice to make.

Power of Perception

[Read more…]

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