On travels and such.
I recently returned from a short trip to Champaign Illinois where my close friend (and travel buddy) Jeannie lives. We spent the week in her basement studio, celebrating her birthday, perusing the new bookstore there, attending a cooking class, and rooting for the Illini, who held their own through the first half but got creamed eventually. I met many of her friends, we talked politics (yes, we are all pretty blue: take that whatever way you wish), and I fell in love with her cat Lulu. Bob had to have our own cat Poppy put to sleep last week while I was gone so I could not say my goodbye. Probably best. I might have been inconsolable.
LULU. Is that a face or what???
RIP Poppy the Sweetest Cat. July, 2021-March 29, 2024.
And, yes, that’s a good-bye to both of our new kitties we adopted last July. We knew they had the feline virus FEL-V but forged ahead anyway. They were fine; until they weren’t. We’ll wait a month and then find two new ones. The house feels empty without fur.
But this is all to say that even this quick travel to a friend’s house in a different part of the country is so enriching. As annoying as “getting there” is (and don’t we all have THOSE stories), being away from your own habits, rituals, and environment puts new perspectives in your head.
It is fitting that in a recent paper is a column from Rick Steves on the virtues of travel, here.
”As I pack for a three-week adventure down the rivers of Europe, I am reminded how valuable travel is to thoughtful perspective and tolerance. It doesn't have to be a grand and glorious journey. I have always marveled at how even a short weekend in the other part of our state or across a state border widens my knowledge of how the world works. Sometimes it helps me cope with a problem or stress by the mere act of getting away from it. Traveling to the Southern U.S. - a whole other world from the Pacific NW helps me understand - if not agree with - the existence of a wholly different perspective on the issues of the day. A reminder of assumptions incorrect. An opportunity to connect. A dependence on kindness of others (lost, anyone?). Partly because I am on the farther side of my life and partly because I am drawing the everyday details of life around me, I am enjoying travel more and more every trip I take: I watch for new things, for the unusual or quirky, for children at play and grown-ups at coffee. Some things are the same elsewhere; some are quite different.”
Here is a new wallpaper for April.
