Like a lot of people I could stand to lose a few pounds. Nearly every day I walk with my dog, and I've been unsuccessfully trying to change my diet (turns out I like cookies and ice cream a lot and it's hard to give up). Still, it's not enough. So, I thought, what if I started sharing my fitness and nutritional goals in my blog? I can go public with my progress and maybe encourage some others to join in and do what I'm doing. I'm not going to tell anyone how tall I am or how much I currently weigh - some of you know me and you can just guess. My goal isn't to lose weight anyway, my goal is to be fitter and healthier and weight loss should just be a byproduct of that activity.
I've decided to start turning my morning walk with Alby into a run. He and I are attending a "Leash Skills" class on Wednesday nights so he's less of a puller and hopefully by this time next week he and I, and even the current foster Boulder, will begin running. I'm going to charge up my Fitbit to keep track of my 'steps' if anyone wants to participate. If you're interested, I use the ResQWalk app on my mobile phone to keep track of distance and it works with both walking and running. Feel free to connect with me on that too. Unfortunately Fitbit and ResQWalk don't currently work together.
When I get back from my walk I've started hopping on my Bosu ball for squats. Right now I'm trying to hold a one minute sit squat while standing on the Bosu ball. After I can comfortably do that for a while, and I don't fall off, I may try to do more on that, but I don't know yet. Once I'm done with my squats, I'm cranking out push-ups! I can do 5 regular push-ups, not 'girly' ones. They're not the best but hey, I'm just starting out here and am really glad that my arms are still working after doing this two days in a row! When I can crank out 5 really decent push-ups I'll see if I can add 5 more and so on.
I don't have anything to share today regarding my changing diet (I'll work on that as I update the fitness goals each week). Suffice it to say I ate a few cookies to get enough energy to write this blog and I need to do that less.
There you have it - daily walk of 3-4 miles slowly turning into a run, followed up with squats and push-ups. Let's see how this goes!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Why Do I Care About Brexit?
My 401k, and yours, took a giant hit yesterday after the UK voted to "Brexit' as it's being called. I'm frustrated with the outcome because I want to retire one day, but I think there's a larger lesson for citizens of the United States and our elected representatives. Large swaths of people are being left behind in the global economy and they don't like it. In the UK they expressed their frustration by voting to leave the European Union (EU). They didn't understand the consequences of their votes - although I think they're about to quickly find that out.
On this side of the pond over the past year or so I've seen some disturbing things as we march towards the 2016 Presidential election. I've seen Sanders supporters recycle old and debunked rumors to bash Hilary that were used back in the 90s to bash Bill. I've seen Sanders supporters and Trump supporters laugh at each other as if they were each so much smarter than their foe. "I know something you don't and you're supporting that guy so you must be an idiot." We're incredibly dismissive of the other, but there's a real reason each person thinks the way they do and its in our best interest to figure out why.
We talk about income inequality and a rigged system but the fundamentals of why that exists are mostly boring and hard to understand. The majority of people see a situation, draw their conclusions for better or for worse, and then take that as a working explanation as to why things are the way they are, they don't want to know about the devil in the details. Sometimes it's because they're frankly not interested and sometimes it's because the more they know the more obligated they feel to do something. A close family relative said to me that homeless people begging for money on the corner were pulling in $40k annually. Really? Someone had just told him that and he took it for the truth. Maybe they do, I don't know because I don't think anyone is capturing that information in any way so I don't think we have a clue. In order to pull in that amount though a person would have to take in $109 dollars every single day for a year. A survey I came across that was conducted in Canada back in 2001 found that homeless beggars in Toronto made only about $300 a month. Not quite $40k. However, this person didn't want to give money to a beggar and now he'd provided himself with the explanation for why he didn't have to. He was free to resent them as he went on his way to work and never have to ask another question as to why this situation exists. On the other hand, until I wrote this, I hadn't actively searched for any real data on how much homeless beggars on the street are pulling in. I just assumed that it can't be much and I think we ought to do something about the fact that we have homeless people. Yet we both dismissed each other as not really knowing what the other was talking about even though neither one of us had actual information.
None of us are immune to this way of thinking and I get it. The amount of problems we have facing us in this world can be overwhelming and sometimes we are powerless to change things or even feel that what we do changes things. We understand what's in our backyard, what we see and experience. It's much more difficult to understand global forces. We also don't get anyone telling us what's going on because we choose not to listen to those that do. Growing up we only had a few television channels and the news came on every single one of them at noon and again in the evening. We had the Fairness Doctrine so that an issue or person had a competing point of view on the same station. Today we don't have the Fairness Doctrine and we have so many television channels to choose from that we can find someone ranting and railing that thinks just like us so that we never once have to question our way of thinking. We validate our own opinions without any real facts to back them up. I'm an avid NPR listener and they mostly do an okay job of reporting the news, but a lot of people tune into a "Morning Drive" show on their way to work and have no interest in news. While at work they talk about work stuff. When they get home they have access to more entertainment and can entirely tune out news if they like, or tune into someone who validates their thoughts rather than exploring why people think a certain way. We all rest comfortably at night telling ourselves that we know the truth and that it's the others who are so lacking.
Which brings me back to Brexit and the US elections. We have large groups of people in the United States who are not happy with how things are going and they've been showing up at Sanders and Trump rallies on masse. They feel lost in the process and now they have a voice. No one has been listening to them for years. They've gotten a lot of lip service and few tangible results. Things might have been good a few years ago, but now we have illegal aliens, and refugees and gay marriage and women demanding equal pay.....All this change must be responsible for the fact that they're out of a job or hear so many people speaking Spanish. I heard several interviews with folks in England who said they felt like strangers in their own country. They said time and again, "England isn't England anymore". The majority of these people are older and less educated than the people who voted to stay in the European Union and so they were dismissed. I think that dismissive attitude will get us into trouble every time. Let's not forget, Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" just before she had her head cut off.
Last night my parents and I were discussing all of this and my Dad said "What the hell is government supposed to do about it?!" I agreed with him at the time, what can government do? However, when I woke up this morning I thought, well for one thing, our elected representatives could listen to the people who voted for them. However they're so hung up with their big donors like banks, the NRA, big Oil and other special interests, that they don't. 90% of the American public wants something done about guns and the Congress can't make it happen. The environment is going downhill fast - there may be no stopping it - and we still have no clear strategy for switching to renewables. The American public wants us to do something about immigration and we can't get that done either. All of this lack of action in Congress is a direct result of our representatives receiving large amounts of cash from big donors who have their own best interests at heart but not necessarily that of the American people.
Let's be clear though, it's up to the American people to make things change. We clearly want change because look at how many people support Trump so that he has now become the Republican nominee for President. Look at how large a following Bernie Sanders still has even though Hilary is now the nominee. Right now the only thing we have control over is our vote. That was the only thing the folks in the UK had as well and in my opinion their elected officials failed to listen to those being left behind. If the American people really want to take their country back then the first thing we ought to do is band together to support public financing of campaigns. No more super pacs, no more millionaire donors, just the American people financing their representatives so that they're answerable to us again. Public financing won't fix everything, but it will help our elected members of Congress to focus on what's best for the American people instead of what's best for the NRA or Goldman Sachs at the expense of the people. That's not going to happen before November though.
So what do we do? We want change and I think we're about to get it, for better or for worse just like they did in the UK. We should be very careful about dismissing those who disagree with us. They have the power of their vote and they're about to exercise it.
Further reading on my theme: Glenn Greenwald on Brexit; Britons Who Voted to Brexit; Impact to the USA; Matt Taibbi on Brexit; Bill Moyers on Brexit; David Brooks OpEd on Revolt of the Masses
On this side of the pond over the past year or so I've seen some disturbing things as we march towards the 2016 Presidential election. I've seen Sanders supporters recycle old and debunked rumors to bash Hilary that were used back in the 90s to bash Bill. I've seen Sanders supporters and Trump supporters laugh at each other as if they were each so much smarter than their foe. "I know something you don't and you're supporting that guy so you must be an idiot." We're incredibly dismissive of the other, but there's a real reason each person thinks the way they do and its in our best interest to figure out why.
We talk about income inequality and a rigged system but the fundamentals of why that exists are mostly boring and hard to understand. The majority of people see a situation, draw their conclusions for better or for worse, and then take that as a working explanation as to why things are the way they are, they don't want to know about the devil in the details. Sometimes it's because they're frankly not interested and sometimes it's because the more they know the more obligated they feel to do something. A close family relative said to me that homeless people begging for money on the corner were pulling in $40k annually. Really? Someone had just told him that and he took it for the truth. Maybe they do, I don't know because I don't think anyone is capturing that information in any way so I don't think we have a clue. In order to pull in that amount though a person would have to take in $109 dollars every single day for a year. A survey I came across that was conducted in Canada back in 2001 found that homeless beggars in Toronto made only about $300 a month. Not quite $40k. However, this person didn't want to give money to a beggar and now he'd provided himself with the explanation for why he didn't have to. He was free to resent them as he went on his way to work and never have to ask another question as to why this situation exists. On the other hand, until I wrote this, I hadn't actively searched for any real data on how much homeless beggars on the street are pulling in. I just assumed that it can't be much and I think we ought to do something about the fact that we have homeless people. Yet we both dismissed each other as not really knowing what the other was talking about even though neither one of us had actual information.
None of us are immune to this way of thinking and I get it. The amount of problems we have facing us in this world can be overwhelming and sometimes we are powerless to change things or even feel that what we do changes things. We understand what's in our backyard, what we see and experience. It's much more difficult to understand global forces. We also don't get anyone telling us what's going on because we choose not to listen to those that do. Growing up we only had a few television channels and the news came on every single one of them at noon and again in the evening. We had the Fairness Doctrine so that an issue or person had a competing point of view on the same station. Today we don't have the Fairness Doctrine and we have so many television channels to choose from that we can find someone ranting and railing that thinks just like us so that we never once have to question our way of thinking. We validate our own opinions without any real facts to back them up. I'm an avid NPR listener and they mostly do an okay job of reporting the news, but a lot of people tune into a "Morning Drive" show on their way to work and have no interest in news. While at work they talk about work stuff. When they get home they have access to more entertainment and can entirely tune out news if they like, or tune into someone who validates their thoughts rather than exploring why people think a certain way. We all rest comfortably at night telling ourselves that we know the truth and that it's the others who are so lacking.
Which brings me back to Brexit and the US elections. We have large groups of people in the United States who are not happy with how things are going and they've been showing up at Sanders and Trump rallies on masse. They feel lost in the process and now they have a voice. No one has been listening to them for years. They've gotten a lot of lip service and few tangible results. Things might have been good a few years ago, but now we have illegal aliens, and refugees and gay marriage and women demanding equal pay.....All this change must be responsible for the fact that they're out of a job or hear so many people speaking Spanish. I heard several interviews with folks in England who said they felt like strangers in their own country. They said time and again, "England isn't England anymore". The majority of these people are older and less educated than the people who voted to stay in the European Union and so they were dismissed. I think that dismissive attitude will get us into trouble every time. Let's not forget, Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake" just before she had her head cut off.
Last night my parents and I were discussing all of this and my Dad said "What the hell is government supposed to do about it?!" I agreed with him at the time, what can government do? However, when I woke up this morning I thought, well for one thing, our elected representatives could listen to the people who voted for them. However they're so hung up with their big donors like banks, the NRA, big Oil and other special interests, that they don't. 90% of the American public wants something done about guns and the Congress can't make it happen. The environment is going downhill fast - there may be no stopping it - and we still have no clear strategy for switching to renewables. The American public wants us to do something about immigration and we can't get that done either. All of this lack of action in Congress is a direct result of our representatives receiving large amounts of cash from big donors who have their own best interests at heart but not necessarily that of the American people.
Let's be clear though, it's up to the American people to make things change. We clearly want change because look at how many people support Trump so that he has now become the Republican nominee for President. Look at how large a following Bernie Sanders still has even though Hilary is now the nominee. Right now the only thing we have control over is our vote. That was the only thing the folks in the UK had as well and in my opinion their elected officials failed to listen to those being left behind. If the American people really want to take their country back then the first thing we ought to do is band together to support public financing of campaigns. No more super pacs, no more millionaire donors, just the American people financing their representatives so that they're answerable to us again. Public financing won't fix everything, but it will help our elected members of Congress to focus on what's best for the American people instead of what's best for the NRA or Goldman Sachs at the expense of the people. That's not going to happen before November though.
So what do we do? We want change and I think we're about to get it, for better or for worse just like they did in the UK. We should be very careful about dismissing those who disagree with us. They have the power of their vote and they're about to exercise it.
Further reading on my theme: Glenn Greenwald on Brexit; Britons Who Voted to Brexit; Impact to the USA; Matt Taibbi on Brexit; Bill Moyers on Brexit; David Brooks OpEd on Revolt of the Masses
Monday, June 6, 2016
Please Don't Kill Me
Yesterday I was up early because one of my dogs sensed that I was awake and tossed himself on top of me for some attention. Just a normal day, I got up, went downstairs to let the dogs out, brew some coffee, feed the dogs and catch up on the news. When I sat down to open up my laptop and pursue some online reading it was about 6:45 am in the morning.
An email alert from Columbia Patch caught my attention - teen driver killed. A sixteen year old boy who was probably driving way too fast, lost control and wrapped his car and himself around some trees and killed himself. I have a sixteen year old nephew and he'll be driving soon and for some reason this news story just stuck with me.
I looked out my sliding glass door at the quiet scene that is my backyard. Not many of my neighbors are up at that hour. Were this boy's parents awake yet? Did they wake up on their own or to the knock on their door from the Howard County Police Department? Had they had breakfast or coffee yet before their lives were shattered? When you went to bed last night your son was fine, but you woke up and he was dead.
For the past week and a half I've been looking at pictures on my Facebook page of all my friends kids heading off to prom and graduating from high school. I've seen pictures of kids as they got their acceptance letters to college. This kid's parents don't have that to look forward to anymore. I'm guessing they had to go and identify a body, and start calling relatives and close friends, and making funeral arrangements....
I don't know this kid. I didn't recognize his name and I don't think I know his parents or anything other than the story I read that he had been killed. I just feel really badly for the parents and his family.
What is the example we all set though when we're driving? From the time they're first born, kids are in cars watching and learning how it's done. In the morning on the way to work I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to take the middle lane from route 70 (heading towards Towson) when I get on to the Beltway. It's a two lane exit, but then we have to merge into a single line and we're supposed to take turns. Of course there are drivers who hate to let trucks in and some people who don't want to let anyone in, and the other day there was a car that came flying down the lanes and well past the merge area came in hot and slammed on his breaks so he could get the MOST front space possible. Dangerous move to say the least and showing not a care for anyone else. I couldn't see the driver so I don't know how old or what gender this person was.
On the way home from work I drive through the 'chute' as I refer to it. The section of road where 29 south merges with people coming off route 40 and then people try to move around getting to the left to exit on to route 100 or to the right to exit on to St. John's Lane. I stay in the far right hand lane and just hope for the best. People are tailgating, speeding, and frankly just not aware at all of anyone other than themselves. I am amazed that we don't have more accidents there.
The other day a mini van was weaving next to me on the highway and I thought they might have been drunk. This was in the morning, but people drunk drive in the morning too. Turns out the woman driving was on her cell phone. She had the phone up to her right ear as she drove along, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, and weaving into the center lane or the breakdown lane as she went along - not noticing that one car had to jump into another lane to avoid being hit by her.
Tonight a car behind me on the way home on Marriottsville Road used an exit lane to speed up and pass several cars on the right. As I was exiting on to 29 south from 70 east a red Prius came speeding up, hopped in front of me when there was little to no space there and then hit their brakes. I do practice defensive driving and was ready to hit my own brakes and just hope that the person tailgating me didn't rear end me.
These are not one off incidents either. These are daily occurrences and they happen to all of us. People weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, tailgating, and running lights. People taking chances with all of our lives so they can go just a little faster, get a place in a long line closer to the front, and in general driving recklessly. People who would never dream of owning a gun, taking other people's lives in their hands with the way they drive.
I don't know if this teenager was influenced by this or not. Maybe he just liked the power of the car and hitting the gas. It's quite possible his parents are very cautious drivers and set a great example. Still, when kids get behind the wheel and see the rest of us driving the way we do, how else are they supposed to think it's done?
Daily we take chances with each others' lives and we think nothing bad will happen. Every once in a while though that isn't how it works out. A motorcycle rider ends up with a broken leg that almost needs to be amputated. A driver ends up dead. Kids end up without a parent. Parents end up without a kid.
I'm asking nicely. Please don't kill me. I have a lot to live for and I suspect you do too.
An email alert from Columbia Patch caught my attention - teen driver killed. A sixteen year old boy who was probably driving way too fast, lost control and wrapped his car and himself around some trees and killed himself. I have a sixteen year old nephew and he'll be driving soon and for some reason this news story just stuck with me.
I looked out my sliding glass door at the quiet scene that is my backyard. Not many of my neighbors are up at that hour. Were this boy's parents awake yet? Did they wake up on their own or to the knock on their door from the Howard County Police Department? Had they had breakfast or coffee yet before their lives were shattered? When you went to bed last night your son was fine, but you woke up and he was dead.
For the past week and a half I've been looking at pictures on my Facebook page of all my friends kids heading off to prom and graduating from high school. I've seen pictures of kids as they got their acceptance letters to college. This kid's parents don't have that to look forward to anymore. I'm guessing they had to go and identify a body, and start calling relatives and close friends, and making funeral arrangements....
I don't know this kid. I didn't recognize his name and I don't think I know his parents or anything other than the story I read that he had been killed. I just feel really badly for the parents and his family.
What is the example we all set though when we're driving? From the time they're first born, kids are in cars watching and learning how it's done. In the morning on the way to work I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to take the middle lane from route 70 (heading towards Towson) when I get on to the Beltway. It's a two lane exit, but then we have to merge into a single line and we're supposed to take turns. Of course there are drivers who hate to let trucks in and some people who don't want to let anyone in, and the other day there was a car that came flying down the lanes and well past the merge area came in hot and slammed on his breaks so he could get the MOST front space possible. Dangerous move to say the least and showing not a care for anyone else. I couldn't see the driver so I don't know how old or what gender this person was.
On the way home from work I drive through the 'chute' as I refer to it. The section of road where 29 south merges with people coming off route 40 and then people try to move around getting to the left to exit on to route 100 or to the right to exit on to St. John's Lane. I stay in the far right hand lane and just hope for the best. People are tailgating, speeding, and frankly just not aware at all of anyone other than themselves. I am amazed that we don't have more accidents there.
The other day a mini van was weaving next to me on the highway and I thought they might have been drunk. This was in the morning, but people drunk drive in the morning too. Turns out the woman driving was on her cell phone. She had the phone up to her right ear as she drove along, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, and weaving into the center lane or the breakdown lane as she went along - not noticing that one car had to jump into another lane to avoid being hit by her.
Tonight a car behind me on the way home on Marriottsville Road used an exit lane to speed up and pass several cars on the right. As I was exiting on to 29 south from 70 east a red Prius came speeding up, hopped in front of me when there was little to no space there and then hit their brakes. I do practice defensive driving and was ready to hit my own brakes and just hope that the person tailgating me didn't rear end me.
These are not one off incidents either. These are daily occurrences and they happen to all of us. People weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds, tailgating, and running lights. People taking chances with all of our lives so they can go just a little faster, get a place in a long line closer to the front, and in general driving recklessly. People who would never dream of owning a gun, taking other people's lives in their hands with the way they drive.
I don't know if this teenager was influenced by this or not. Maybe he just liked the power of the car and hitting the gas. It's quite possible his parents are very cautious drivers and set a great example. Still, when kids get behind the wheel and see the rest of us driving the way we do, how else are they supposed to think it's done?
Daily we take chances with each others' lives and we think nothing bad will happen. Every once in a while though that isn't how it works out. A motorcycle rider ends up with a broken leg that almost needs to be amputated. A driver ends up dead. Kids end up without a parent. Parents end up without a kid.
I'm asking nicely. Please don't kill me. I have a lot to live for and I suspect you do too.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Walk Out Your Door and Go Somewhere
In the summer of 1982, after my junior year of high school, I spent three weeks traveling through seven countries in Europe as part of a trip called "American Musicians Abroad". I'm sorry I don't have a link to send you scurrying off to read all about this group, but I couldn't find one. The opportunity presented itself to me via my band teacher at Oakland Mills High School where I was the Bass Clarinet player in our concert band and a former flute player and bass drum player in our marching band.
Our traveling group consisted of a concert band, a jazz band and a choir and we came from Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. There were multiple practice sessions prior to the trip in various locations culminating in a three day rehearsal at Susquehanna University and a final concert for our parents before we departed. We took a bus to JFK airport, and after a several hour delay, took off for Brussels, Belgium. We traveled to Holland, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. In each country we visited we performed and were well received and we had a ton of time for sightseeing. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, walked up the hill to Montmartre, through the Louvre, climbed up a snowy mountain in Austria, saw the house where "The Sound of Music" was filmed, walked around the canals in Venice and rode in a Gondola. In every country I enjoyed delicious food, especially pastries. I loved every minute of this trip and knew without a doubt that I would one day be coming back to Europe, I just didn't know when.
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Me in the center, and my classmate Ginger who also went, on the
far right, just before driving to Susquehanna University to depart
on our big trip.
|
In 1995 my cousin Jane called to ask if I'd like to travel with her to England. She said she was tired of traveling alone and I said I definitely wanted to go. We did a group 'walk' in central England for a week and since then I've tried to go on a trip every year if possible. Even when I don't have any money, I still have a 'trip' planned.
Thanks to my parents I have been a traveler since I was very little. When I was born we lived in St. Louis, a long drive away from my Dad's home town in Massachusetts and my Mother's on Eastern Long Island. We made the big move to Maryland when I was five months old, but still, a nine and six hour drive respectfully to my parents' home towns. When I was just two we traveled to the World's Fair in Montreal, Canada. My parents invited my cousin Jane along too! Our first trip together.
Before she married my Dad, my Mom was a flight attendant for Ozark Airlines. She used to say she couldn't imagine not ever going somewhere. My Dad had been on the military travel plan, having been stationed in Germany while in the Army.
When I was three years old my Dad got an opportunity to work in England. He and my Mom jumped at the chance to live overseas. My sister was born in February that year and in June we were on our way. We spent three months living in Chester, right on the river Dee followed by another
three months living in Edinburgh, Scotland. While we were there we also managed to take a trip over to Germany for a week.
All of our trips are not big overseas trips either. My Dad was the sole bread winner at our house and my Mom worked in the home. It's expensive trying to take a family of five on a big trip. We took regular day and long weekend trips though and my parents made sure we spent a week at the beach each summer.
My Mom was very good at combining some historical and educational visits with trips to amusement parks. A trip to Jefferson's house or the home of James Madison might be coupled with a day at Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion. Those were some of our most fun trips. We were touring James Madison's house when my then four year old brother loudly broke in with "When is our vacation starting?!" My sister and I shared his sentiments but were old enough to just keep our mouths shut.
When I was twelve my Dad was spending a lot of time traveling to Seattle for work. He and my Mom decided to take advantage of this situation and we all flew to Seattle for three weeks on one of his trips. My Dad worked for two of those weeks and then the last week was our vacation and we drove all over the place. We had been going places on the weekends too and my Mom would take us to downtown Seattle during the week too. My sister and I loved hanging out in the hotel pool as well. I was old enough to babysit my younger brother so on a few evenings my parents took themselves out to dinner. Living with your three kids for three weeks in a one bedroom studio apartment/hotel room can make it so you probably want to get away from your children for dinner a lot.
On our drives around the state of Washington we loved playing the alphabet game because there were signs for places like Sequim and Q's are very hard to find on the East Coast! We drove to the Pacific Ocean, we played in a water fall and tried to swim in a lake that based on the temperature of the water had been ice until just before we arrived.
Growing up my family has spent a lot of time in Washington, DC and Baltimore. We're always signing up to go and do and see something. From tickets to the White House at Christmas time to the National Aquarium, we are very good at taking advantage of what's offered right in our own backyard. I look forward to these day trips as much as the longer trips when I have to get on an airplane.
I'm an Aunt with two nephews I'm very close to. I knew when they were little I wanted to be able to take each of them on a trip with me somewhere when they got old enough. I didn't know what I'd be able to afford, but I knew I wanted to do something with them. They're very lucky, they have parents who love to travel as well. As they were growing up though, rather than buy them a thing for birthdays and Christmas, my presents were always something for us to do. When my oldest nephew was four I took him skiing for a day as his Christmas present. He lived in Jacksonville, Florida at the time so this was kind of a big deal. He spent the night at my house the day after the holiday and then we drove to one of the local resorts in Pennsylvania. We had a great day together.
I asked my oldest nephew what he wanted for his birthday one year and he said he wanted the two of us to spend the day in Washington DC. We took the metro downtown and visited the spy museum and then had lunch. We walked around afterwards and checked out China Town which was something he'd been hoping to check out too.
My Mom and I also took my oldest nephew on a genealogy trip to Eastern Long Island where he met cousins he'd never met before and was a good sport walking around grave yards for me. We made sure to swim in the bay and the sound and even the ocean on that trip. Staying at a relative's house for a night he even got to use their pool. I think he had a pretty good time.
My sister and her family live in New Jersey and so more than once I've taken my two nephews on the bus to spend the day in New York City. We've spent time at the Lego store and Ripley's and the big Toys R Us as well as Central Park and other hot spots in the city. One year both my sister and I took her boys to New York City to do all of our Christmas shopping but it was mostly a sightseeing trip for all of us. We did manage to buy a gift or two.
For his 13th birthday and his Christmas present as well that year, my older nephew and I went on a road trip in California over his spring break. We had a fantastic time driving from San Francisco down to San Diego and doing something different every day. Two years later it was his younger brother Oliver's turn and he and I went on a Caribbean cruise. 13 was the perfect age to take each of them on a trip. They were old enough to really appreciate where we were and wanted to do all the fun stuff and still young enough to hang out with their Aunt Karin for a week. I feel lucky to have been able to take them on such great trips. I hope when they get older they travel just as much as they have growing up and take their families places.
There have been years when I don't have the money to take a big trip. I can afford to go on the family beach vacation, but I'm not hopping on a plane to far off locales. In those times, I take myself someplace locally or even to my own backyard. I might make plans with friends to meet up in Annapolis for the day, or Baltimore. My Mom and Dad volunteer at the Aquarium and I can always spend an afternoon there and then roaming around Baltimore. There's also stuff within walking distance or even biking distance. Blandair hasn't been developed on my side of the city yet and I look forward to hiking on the trails in there with my dog. It's quiet and when I'm in there I rarely see another soul. It's a lot like hiking in England and every season brings new sights and sounds.
I can also hop in my car and visit my sister and swim in the lakes behind her house. My sister and her family have done me the great favor of living next to an ocean, a ski resort and mountain lake and finally lakes so that every visit with them is not just a family get together but a great vacation spot as well. We walk and ride bikes and in warm weather these days we swim. Southern New Jersey is not the same as Northern Idaho, but I have enjoyed them both.
The point of all this is while staying at home has its merits, no one should miss the opportunity of walking out their door and going some place. How many people took a 'vacation' at Merriweather Post Pavilion this weekend to enjoy Jazz Fest? Facebook is populated with a lot of check-ins from my friends who are there and they're having a lot of fun. I love planning to go somewhere and then going there and then coming home and recalling how much fun I had going wherever I went. While I've been writing this post I've been searching for pictures to share that show some of the places I've been. Here I am telling you to travel while I relive many of the trips I've taken and remember how much fun I had on each one. It's been hard deciding which pictures to use because there are a lot of them.
If you do one thing this year make sure you go someplace even if it's just a walk in a different neighborhood.
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| My cousin Jane, Mom and Me at the 1967 World's Fair |
Before she married my Dad, my Mom was a flight attendant for Ozark Airlines. She used to say she couldn't imagine not ever going somewhere. My Dad had been on the military travel plan, having been stationed in Germany while in the Army.
When I was three years old my Dad got an opportunity to work in England. He and my Mom jumped at the chance to live overseas. My sister was born in February that year and in June we were on our way. We spent three months living in Chester, right on the river Dee followed by another
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| Mom, Me and Diane in the stroller at the castle in Edinburgh, Scotland |
All of our trips are not big overseas trips either. My Dad was the sole bread winner at our house and my Mom worked in the home. It's expensive trying to take a family of five on a big trip. We took regular day and long weekend trips though and my parents made sure we spent a week at the beach each summer.
My Mom was very good at combining some historical and educational visits with trips to amusement parks. A trip to Jefferson's house or the home of James Madison might be coupled with a day at Busch Gardens or Kings Dominion. Those were some of our most fun trips. We were touring James Madison's house when my then four year old brother loudly broke in with "When is our vacation starting?!" My sister and I shared his sentiments but were old enough to just keep our mouths shut.
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| Dad holding my younger brother Pat on a visit to Mt. Rainier |
On our drives around the state of Washington we loved playing the alphabet game because there were signs for places like Sequim and Q's are very hard to find on the East Coast! We drove to the Pacific Ocean, we played in a water fall and tried to swim in a lake that based on the temperature of the water had been ice until just before we arrived.
Growing up my family has spent a lot of time in Washington, DC and Baltimore. We're always signing up to go and do and see something. From tickets to the White House at Christmas time to the National Aquarium, we are very good at taking advantage of what's offered right in our own backyard. I look forward to these day trips as much as the longer trips when I have to get on an airplane.
I'm an Aunt with two nephews I'm very close to. I knew when they were little I wanted to be able to take each of them on a trip with me somewhere when they got old enough. I didn't know what I'd be able to afford, but I knew I wanted to do something with them. They're very lucky, they have parents who love to travel as well. As they were growing up though, rather than buy them a thing for birthdays and Christmas, my presents were always something for us to do. When my oldest nephew was four I took him skiing for a day as his Christmas present. He lived in Jacksonville, Florida at the time so this was kind of a big deal. He spent the night at my house the day after the holiday and then we drove to one of the local resorts in Pennsylvania. We had a great day together.
I asked my oldest nephew what he wanted for his birthday one year and he said he wanted the two of us to spend the day in Washington DC. We took the metro downtown and visited the spy museum and then had lunch. We walked around afterwards and checked out China Town which was something he'd been hoping to check out too.
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| My nephew Austin with our cousin George and Mom at the Good Ground cemetery in Southampton |
My sister and her family live in New Jersey and so more than once I've taken my two nephews on the bus to spend the day in New York City. We've spent time at the Lego store and Ripley's and the big Toys R Us as well as Central Park and other hot spots in the city. One year both my sister and I took her boys to New York City to do all of our Christmas shopping but it was mostly a sightseeing trip for all of us. We did manage to buy a gift or two.
For his 13th birthday and his Christmas present as well that year, my older nephew and I went on a road trip in California over his spring break. We had a fantastic time driving from San Francisco down to San Diego and doing something different every day. Two years later it was his younger brother Oliver's turn and he and I went on a Caribbean cruise. 13 was the perfect age to take each of them on a trip. They were old enough to really appreciate where we were and wanted to do all the fun stuff and still young enough to hang out with their Aunt Karin for a week. I feel lucky to have been able to take them on such great trips. I hope when they get older they travel just as much as they have growing up and take their families places.
There have been years when I don't have the money to take a big trip. I can afford to go on the family beach vacation, but I'm not hopping on a plane to far off locales. In those times, I take myself someplace locally or even to my own backyard. I might make plans with friends to meet up in Annapolis for the day, or Baltimore. My Mom and Dad volunteer at the Aquarium and I can always spend an afternoon there and then roaming around Baltimore. There's also stuff within walking distance or even biking distance. Blandair hasn't been developed on my side of the city yet and I look forward to hiking on the trails in there with my dog. It's quiet and when I'm in there I rarely see another soul. It's a lot like hiking in England and every season brings new sights and sounds.
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| Skiing with my younger nephew Oliver at Schweitzer in Idaho |
The point of all this is while staying at home has its merits, no one should miss the opportunity of walking out their door and going some place. How many people took a 'vacation' at Merriweather Post Pavilion this weekend to enjoy Jazz Fest? Facebook is populated with a lot of check-ins from my friends who are there and they're having a lot of fun. I love planning to go somewhere and then going there and then coming home and recalling how much fun I had going wherever I went. While I've been writing this post I've been searching for pictures to share that show some of the places I've been. Here I am telling you to travel while I relive many of the trips I've taken and remember how much fun I had on each one. It's been hard deciding which pictures to use because there are a lot of them.
If you do one thing this year make sure you go someplace even if it's just a walk in a different neighborhood.
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