travel

Thankful Thursday: the travel edition

/ Tracy Abell / 5 Comments

Zippy and I are leaving today for Amsterdam. Neither of us has ever been to Holland, despite my maternal grandfather immigrating from there way back when. It’s late in the season for tulips (bad timing, huh, Barb?), but that’s okay. We planned this trip around our schedules and Zebu’s. He’s finishing up his study abroad in Uppsala, Sweden, and we will see him after our stay in Amsterdam. (We’re also spending an afternoon in Copenhagen on our way to Stockholm.)

I hope to post an image each day. Should liven up this mostly-Colorado blog!

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Family vacation flashback

/ Tracy Abell

I asked Zippy if he could locate some old photos from 2003, and he (quickly!) found them on a CD. And even though I wasn’t looking for this particular photo of the young Wildebeest and Zebu strutting their stuff in San Francisco, I couldn’t resist sharing it.

wildebeest-and-zebu-sf-march2003

Because this picture made me smile. And smiles are always, always welcome around here.

 

 

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Gump philosophy

/ Tracy Abell / 2 Comments

Life may, indeed, be like a box of chocolates. The chocolates in this Belgian sampler were certainly full of surprises.

All that remains from Zebu's gift to us from his travels in Belgium.

All that remains from Zebu’s gift to us from his travels in Belgium.

Yum, chocolate curry.

 

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Keep on keeping on

/ Tracy Abell

I think that the thing that we learned,
back in the day of the civil rights movement,
is that you do have to keep on keeping on.
~  Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Beauty blooming in the swamp at Kapok Park.

Beauty blooming in the swamp at Kapok Park.

No matter what the outcome today,
gotta keep moving forward.

 

 

 

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Traveling vicariously

/ Tracy Abell

Just finished a two-hour Skype session with Zebu. Haven’t talked much in the last couple weeks, so he was getting us caught up on his studies and travels. He and two friends just got back this morning from a trip to Oslo. Their favorite experience was at a sculpture park, Vigelandsparken.

Sculpture by Gustav Vigeland

Sculpture by Gustav Vigeland

He shared photos he’d taken, and this is one of the sculptures he’d especially liked. I found this image online, and posting it here helps me feel even more connected to my faraway son.

His travel is broadening all our horizons.

 

 

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I’m leaving on a jet plane

/ Tracy Abell

Heading off to see my mom.

I don’t anticipate an Albert Brooks-Debbie Reynolds kind of visit (if for no other reason than Mom and I aren’t quite as funny as Albert and Debbie), but this movie tag line from MOTHER feels appropriate:

No one misunderstands you better.

mother-poster

I’m eminently qualified to joke about such things. One: I’m a daughter. Two: I’m a mother. Pretty sure my sons gird their emotional loins for visits with me, too.

 

 

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All our exploring

/ Tracy Abell

Just finished a Skype session with Zebu who is in Sweden. He’s been there about ten days now and feeling more settled, especially after getting this issue resolved. I carried the laptop around the house so he could see the dogs and cats in their various poses of slumber and he told us of his many adventures.

The son who demanded I hold him for the first year of his life now eats breakfast paste from a tube and purposely gets lost in an unfamiliar city.

Who knew?

Marcel curled up next to my weight bench that's covered with the T-shirt Zebu designed for his 6th birthday.

Marcel curled up next to my weight bench that’s covered with the T-shirt Zebu designed for his 6th birthday.

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.
~  T. S. Eliot

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How can you keep on moving

/ Tracy Abell

I spent the morning packing and repacking duffel bags for Wildebeest who has moved to a faraway part of Colorado. He couldn’t take everything with him when he left so Zippy and I are heading his way to deliver the rest of his stuff. Wildebeest had it all packed up and ready for us, and our plan was to fit everything inside the truck we borrowed from my brother. HAHAHAHAHA. *wipes away tears of mirth*

We needed a Plan B. So we pondered and debated the position of the roof rack and the dimensionsn of our 20+ year-old XCargo carrier:

Like this, except with more dead insects and blood from where the effing top repeatedly dropped on our heads over the years.

Like this, except with more dead insects and blood from where the effing top has repeatedly dropped on and bloodied our heads over the years.

We weren’t confident we could securely attach the carrier so then I did some research on the intertubes. And just as you’d suspect, people are very clever when it comes to hauling stuff on top of vehicles. Alas, none of those DIY ideas suited our specifications.

Then I remembered our enormous duffel bags.

Last June, Zebu flew back from Bellingham, WA, where he’d attended school. We’d moved him out there via a rented Impala (biggest trunk EVER, yo!), but didn’t want to make that trip again. Which meant he had to fly back with lots of carry-on items. Enter much online research for the largest duffel bags available that did not exceed airline limitations.

So. All that backstory is my long-winded way of explaining how very very glad I am to be getting some use out of those ginormous bags again.
Duffel bags

We’re going to put them alongside Wildebeest’s snowboard on the truck’s roof and secure everything with ratcheting straps. Hopefully, there will be enough room in the interior for the rest of his worldly possessions.

I enjoy organizing stuff and figuring out how to pack things efficiently, so it’s been kind of fun. But all morning, in the back of my mind, was the knowledge that in just a few short weeks Zippy and I will truly be empty nesters. We’ve always had at least one son living in the vicinity, but now Wildebeest is a long ways away. And in a few more weeks, Zebu will be living a really, really long ways away as an exchange student in Sweden.

It’s easy being happy for them because they’re both very excited by the changes they’ve put in motion. I’m thrilled by their happiness and passionate outlooks, because it hasn’t always been this way. So right now I’m embracing the Ry Cooder song playing in my head:

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDDnkQQyzQU

How can you keep on moving unless you migrate too
They tell ya to keep on moving but migrate, you must not do
The only reason for moving and the reason why I roam
To move to a new location and find myself a home
~  (lyrics by Agnes “Sis” Cunningham)

 

 

Friday Five: The Wine-tasting Edition

/ Tracy Abell / 16 Comments

                

I know, I know.
You’re scratching your heads, wondering how this photo translates into a Friday Five
when there are only four people in the picture (Mom, Sister, Me, and the surly Zippy).


                                                                                                                   photo by Bitsy

Well, sillies, it’s quite simple.
We were in Albuquerque’s Casa Rondena Winery tasting room, partaking of five wine samples.

 
Also, the fifth member of our party, Zippy’s sister, took the photo (and was our designated driver).
So, there are lots of fives going on in this scene.  Okay?

We couldn’t move around much because there was a wedding about to start outside on the lovely vineyard grounds,

and one stressed-out employee behind the tasting counter was rude beyond belief,
and the vineyard label is (in my opinion) incredibly unattractive,  
but none of that stopped us from having four tasty (and one not-at-all tasty) wines plus a whole lot of laughs.
Wishing everyone a tasty weekend filled with laughter!
 
                    

Mom in the Spin

/ Tracy Abell / 26 Comments

We went to Westcliffe for my family’s reunion and this time I remembered to bring my beginner’s hoop, the oversized, extra-heavy, foam-covered hoop I learned with last summer.   Last month when visiting her, I’d only brought the lighter hoops and Mom was intimidated when the hoop kept dropping.

Not so this time around.  The (78-year-old) woman is a natural.

Here we are during one of our 45-minute sessions:

(I’m having major difficulties with uploading photos onto my LJ.  I can’t even get into Photobucket anymore and finally got this to work via TinyPic but it didn’t accept my custom cropping so you’re getting a much larger view of the car hood and much smaller view of Mom and me than I’d intended.  Not to mention how my LJ keeps giving me an “undefined” error message when I click on Insert/Edit Image.  Aargh!!!)

Life Update

/ Tracy Abell / 11 Comments

I’m feeling weird and disconnected from LJ these days but in some ways that feels good because I’ve been much more productive without my internet habit.  I don’t turn on my desktop until I’ve done my writing and as a result, I’ve hit my daily word count goal for 16 days in a row!  Methinks I’m forming a habit!  Finally, a good one! 

R was moved from the hospital into a nursing home last Friday so that he can receive daily physical therapy.  The transition was extremely difficult and I’m still amazed he agreed to go through with it but I guess even he realized how weak he is right now.   He’s frighteningly thin and not eating much at all but when I was there today, the director spoke with him about strategies to get him eating again.  She was patient and understanding with his anxieties and negativity, and her kindness brought me to tears.  For the first time in weeks I feel hopeful about R’s chances for recovery.

And just so you don’t get the idea this is your one-stop shop for maudlin posts: 

R and his friend, S, have an ongoing “discussion” about bringing the horse and buggy back into practice.  S, who is probably 55 or so and a little off in the head, thinks it’s a great idea because it would help “green” our city and give jobs to kids whom he apparently thinks are dying for the chance to scoop poop from the streets.  R finds the idea absolutely ludicrous and lobs his counter-arguments across the room so that pretty soon they’re talking over each other while I try hard not to fall down laughing.   The other day I really, really wanted to whip out my notebook and jot down bits of dialogue but didn’t because I thought it would upset the balance.  But then I inadvertently pressed a button on my cell phone and found out I’d recorded a portion of the conversation which has planted a seed in my brain.  Now I’m dying to record one of those talks from start to finish.  In fact, today they started in on the horses again and I actually fondled my little voice activated recorder in my backpack.  I didn’t turn it on, though.  That feels a little too Bush/Cheney-ish.

Tomorrow I head to Westcliffe with Zebu and Wildebeest to see my parents.  We shall return Saturday.  I’ve vowed not to nag my boys about the excess of junk food my mom will provide.  Maybe I can form another good habit while I’m there.

                            

Going away

/ Tracy Abell / 8 Comments

We’re loading up the car and heading south to Westcliffe where my parents spend their summers.  One sister and family plus one brother will be there, as well as other friends.  These annual mini-reunions always make for a crazy weekend but I’m good about getting away for some quiet time so I can regroup.

Wishing all of you a lovely weekend.

Be back late Sunday.

      

And the kitchen sink…

/ Tracy Abell / 46 Comments

I’d really like to start posting everyday because when I let too much time go past, I get overwhelmed by all the subject possibilities.

For instance, I’m back from our car trip extravaganza and I could post a Yellowstone photo of the fireweed with the backdrop of tree remains from the ’88 wildfires:

I could share how wonderful it was meeting

[info]idaho_laurie

 and her gorgeous children, Catgirl and Tornado Boy, and the dissertation-slaving Mr. C.  Laurie and I only had a bit of time together but our online interactions made me feel as if we’d already met.  She’s just as smart and funny in person as in cyberspace.

Hmm, what else?  Oh yes, I’m totally enamored of my hoop.  I took it on the trip and hooped all over the place.  Along a path in Yellowstone where I converted several older women to a hooping existence, alongside a swimming pool, in various hotel rooms, on the lawn of a hot springs resort in Montana.  Wherever I could grab a few minutes.  Hooping wakes me up AND calms me down (kind of a non-narcotic, non-stimulant speedball effect).

On our first day of the trip we stopped at some tiny store/gas station in Arlington, WY, where the actor James Woods was buying orange soda and chips (which he started eating before leaving the parking lot).  According to Zebu, the men’s restroom in that place was literally overflowing.  Ugh.

Random thought:  I feel so vindicated in the knowledge that the “moderate” John McCain and his “straight-talk” campaign have imploded!

I’m reading COLD MOUNTAIN right now and am in awe of the writing.  I know I’m way behind the times here, but better late than never.  I read another adult novel on the trip, a Pulitzer winner from the 80s, and was not so impressed.  Charles Frazier, though, is the real deal.  

I’m happy to report that I’m back on track with my WIP.  Zippy thought of some plot point while on the trip and said, “I know you don’t want to talk about your book but  I was thinking…”  Well, let’s just say I was less than graceful in shutting down that conversation.

This morning I got a call from my neighbor letting me know a local radio station was giving away tickets to Bob Dylan at Red Rocks.  Well, I hooped away while hitting redial and while I got through a bunch of times (the first time I nearly choked on the jolt of adrenaline), each time the phone just rang and rang, and then went to the busy signal.  Sigh.  Guess it’ll be a Zebu-only experience tomorrow night.

Okay, I’ll stop here with a vow to post more often so there’s not so much stuff to wade through.