Archive for the ‘journey’ Category

a rock & a hard place

Posted in day of rest, journey, notice, ponder, secret suffering, time, UncategorizedComments Off on a rock & a hard place

I got stalled out big time over the last few weeks.

“Hey…it happens”, says my friend Jay. I rather enjoyed being given permission to have down time and stare down that big rock in my path for a while. By the end of the second week , we had become friends and here I sit, happy to be back in the saddle.
That big rock represents the ‘time out’ we should allow ourselves to muse, ponder, assimilate, reflect and slow down. We are all compelled to push forward, make stuff happen, engage! Sometimes the bigger the rock, the better the reflective time.
I feel relaxed and centered again, rather pleased that I did not get caught up in negative thoughts about what a slacker I was, or that I had lost my creative mojo.

After all, creativity is not on a time clock – nor should it be.

( photograph by Catherine Massaro)

Maps & Dreamers

Posted in explore, friends, journey, time, travel, UncategorizedComments Off on Maps & Dreamers

Do you have a map somewhere on your wall? A world map? A map of the country you live in?
I have both, and I look at them often, both to see where I’ve been, and where I’m going next. Maps are for dreamers I think. After all, they are nothing but an abstract creation of a concrete world, and when I am looking at my maps, I’m dreaming about where the next visit, adventure or experience might take me. My map is covered with pushpins and strings that connect and crisscross across the country in a crazy nonsensical pattern that somehow illustrate my love of travel and a certain wanderlust. It illustrates my wide and varied friendships and those I never want out of my life for too long, while it also shows all those I miss and want to see in person again and again. There never seems to be enough time or money to get to all those people and places, but that does not stop me from traveling on.

Maps remind us there is a big world out there that’s ours for the taking. Everyone loves a map, but what good is a map if you don’t go somewhere new, and turn that abstract flat world into a 3 dimensional life experience? Maps are flat, but your life does not have to be that way – take a trip, big or small and give your life some dimension.

(featured image canvas collage SEE AMERICA 1ST by Catherine Massaro)

The Fine Art of Living

I wake up every morning eager to be inspired by what life has to offer me. I can do this because I made a conscious decision to live in the question – to embrace uncertainty and change. Uncertainty and change  are the only real constants in our lives anyway. They are the only two things we can always be assured of day in and day out. When I wake up, I know these two things will be my constant companions.

So how do you organize your days around uncertainty? Here’s how – by looking for connections and staying wide-eyed and ever curious about living that day. Decide to spend the day dwelling on the threshold of adventure and see what comes to you rather than chasing down a dream or goal.

It is my contention that your dreams and goals can come to you, simply by changing your intention. 

…and the Buddha said on his deathbed ,

                                                                               BE YE LAMPS UNTO YOURSELVES.

Geography lesson

Posted in explore, journey, time, travelComments Off on Geography lesson

Tomorrow I’m off on a little trip taking my very favorite form of transportation – the train. I have a long standing love affair with the train, having been stricken at one time in my life with a terrible fear of flying incident. It was a situational phobia, brought on by the death of my father. It took me 2 years to get over it and almost cost me my job before I got a handle on it. Fear & phobias are close companions.

Anyway, back to the train, which even more than a road trip, allows you to watch the landscape go by at your leisure without the worry of the guy passing you on the right, or the tailgater moron. You can read, muse, sketch, and in a word, relax without the stress of airplane aggravation and sardine confinement of same. Not to mention, getting up and moving around whenever you want – freedom.

On this particular train, the route provides the added benefit of the ‘tour’ guide conductor who provides a running commentary on your trip from the Sierra Nevadas into the Sonoma Valley – a delightful geography and history lesson as you glide through the western countryside. Be it planes, trains or automobiles…

GEOGRAPHY IS BEST LEARNED WHEN IT IS LIVED

investing

Posted in explore, family, journey, notice, ponder, technology, time, travel, Uncategorized1 Comment

Just returned from a trip back East. Family, friends and business all jumbled into one great experience. It occurred to me that in the past, it was important to ‘shop’ for things to bring back from trips, and while I still love looking at new and different things, now my focus has shifted to sharing what I am seeing and experiencing via my iPhone or camera. I am not alone in this for certain, we are all ‘sharing’ more with this great technology.
Maybe what is happening is a collective movement to invest more in experiences than in things.

What a wonderful world it would be…

Shuffling off to Buffalo

Posted in collecting, family, gifts, journey, love, memory, time, travelComments Off on Shuffling off to Buffalo

I’m taking my annual trip back to Buffalo next week to see my friends and family.

Part of the whole ‘growing up in Buffalo ‘ experience is a connection to Niagara Falls, which was virtually in our backyard and a place we went to often on a lark. (that meant skipping school)

It’s a good thing we did not have iPhones or smartphones back then. We would have been caught more than we already did. Photographing ‘the falls’ and being photographed by it, are great moments that must make George Eastman smile down from heaven every day.

My father introduced me to the camera and developing pictures. I have boxes of pictures. Real ones. The ones you hold in your hand and can’t seem to throw away. I don’t want to anyway. Those old pictures, and new ones that you make a print from are a shared legacy.

Hold it in your hand.

Carry it in your wallet.

Let it get all dog eared and funky.

Put it in a photo album, or tuck it in a sketch book… keep it over a lifetime, and then, just before it crumbles, find a way to preserve it and pass it on – all raggedy and loved.

Worthwhile things should endure, because a disposable legacy, is no legacy at all.

coming and GO!ing

Posted in beginnings, explore, family, journey, love, memory, secret suffering, time, travelComments Off on coming and GO!ing

Well, my ex-pat son and his little family are off again. This time to settle in as full time citizens of Ecuador.

I was 16 years old before I ever took my first airplane ride. My little grandaughter, Grace, has been flying since she was 10 months old. Not that I’m happy to see her leave mind you, I hate not being a part of her life where I can scoop her up in my arms and hug her the way a grandmother is supposed to. But that’s just the way it is in our modern world I suppose. I will surely go visit them there in Cuenca, Ecuador, and have a fabulous new adventure myself when I do. I guess they are simply doing what I always loved, traveling and experiencing life with an eye towards adventure.

So, my goodbye to them sounds like this:

GO!

GO! often

GO! without reservations

GO! and don’t look back

GO! to escape

GO! to find something new

GO! when you are not supposed to

GO! to lead an interesting life

GO! again, and again and again

I’ll catch up with you Grace, further on down the road. Love Gramma C.

moving your brain around…

Posted in explore, journey, memory, ponder, time, travel, UncategorizedComments Off on moving your brain around…

Wow… I just read the most disturbing talking point article. It was about cars and the car industry.

Posing the lead – in question,” Has America passed peak driving?” Why has driving and car ownership declined so drastically for 16 – 34 year olds? The article contends that cars no longer have the magic aura of freedom and power, and that they are unnecessary in urban areas as well as too expensive. They apparently associate driving with “brain numbing ” commutes across smoggy, congested highways. Brian Merchant, in Vice.com says this is not a temporary economic downturn, but rather a social revolution. He says drivers 55 and over, rooted in the  American car culture hungered to get away from their families, towns and neighborhoods. It meant getting to go where you wanted, when you wanted and meeting whom-so-ever you wanted. ( To which I said, damn straight!!)

BUT… and it’s a BIG BUT

He goes on to say, “…now you can do all that on the Internet, and for FREE! Hang out with your friends, play games, share music and photos! A new generation has found a faster and more convenient way to…

                                                                     (get ready, here it comes)

move their brains around.”

I’m still reeling from this ridiculous conclusion and observation. Seriously?! They are ‘moving their brains around’? Oh my… I weep for the future. There is nothing that replaces first hand experience. Especially when it comes to travel. The Internet, Facebook, and other social media, while they are fun and immediate, are nothing more than the illusion of moving your brain around. If we were to believe this conclusion, why ever bother getting up to do anything other than bodily functions. ( and don’t even tell me you take your phone in there…eewwww )

This was such a sad and stupid article. I pray young people have not become so lazy, uninspired and out of touch with adventure and travel that the world will extend only as far as the text at the tips of their fingers.

I refuse to accept this viewpoint of a ‘social revolution’ to come. And if it is coming, I hope to influence as many young people as I can to see beyond this limited, brain numbing, illusion of what life has to offer them.

summer means GO!

Posted in beginnings, explore, journey, nature, travel, UncategorizedComments Off on summer means GO!

Getting ready to go exploring another National Forest next week and do some camping. This time, it’s The Lassen National Forest in northern California. It lies at the heart of one of the most fascinating areas of California, called the Crossroads. It’s where the granite of the Sierra Nevada, the lava of the Cascades, the Modoc Plateau and the sagebrush of the Great Basin all blend.

It’s the land of Ishi, the last survivor of the Yahi Yani Native American tribe, but the park is best known for it’s volcanic features.

Lassen Peak and Mount Shasta are part of the Ring of Fire, a series of active, dormant and extinct volcanos that extends around the Pacific Ocean. Lassen is a natural window into the earth’s past – and also into her future,  for fire and ice may come again.

I’ll be doing the Mills Creek Falls hike – rolling terrain, forest , flowers and a waterfall. A moderate hike.

     I’ll be listening for rumblings though …

( photo GO!  , canvas collage by Catherine Massaro)