An honor from Smithsonian Journeys

I was contacted by Smithsonian Journeys for permission to put my TravelQuest Around the World articles on their travel blog. Such an honor!

Please check it out. The first one is up and I'm not sure when the others will be. I'll also include the links to the three TravelQuest articles on the North Texas e-News.

TravelQuest from the e-News, Part I
TravelQuest from the e-News, Part II
TravelQuest from the e-News, Part III

Smithsonian Journeys, Part I

Dropping off the radar

That would seem to be what I've done for two weeks: dropped off the radar. Instead, we've been on a two-week adventure to the Mediterranean aboard a cruise ship of the Oceania Line, the Marina.

First, we stopped in London to visit our in-laws, then on to Athens, skimming the upper rim of the Mediterranean, then landing in Barcelona on Thursday.

This was a trip sponsored by a favorite winery, Robert Biale of Napa, and included wine tastings, three outings to vineyards, three sumptuous meals at said wineries, and more to do on ship. I'll be posting a TravelQuest on the North Texas e-News and will put the links here as they appear.

In the meantime, there's laundry and bills and groceries to gather, photos to download...

I need a vacation.

The Power of a Quarter

Three years ago my mah-jongg group started accessing ourselves a quarter every time we lost a game with the intent to donate the proceeds to charity. We had no idea how much we could raise or what good we could do with it. Read what we did do here in yesterday's North Texas e-News.

The Veteran's Wall at Walmart

On June 20 of this year was published in the North Texas e-News, an article I wrote about my Alzheimer's dad. It was called "Remembering the fathers who can no longer remember." I received many wonderful in-person comments about this. And I think Daddy and I've received another tribute, too.

Since that article appeared, people would say to me that they needed to get a photo of their veteran/active duty loved one out to Walmart. No sooner did the article run than Walmart started adding a row at the bottom of their 53 rows. This made Daddy's photo 7th from the bottom of row 52, not 6th. Then 53 rows became 54 and then 55 and then... Six weeks after that article ran there were over 120 more photos on that wall!

What a tribute to Daddy! We are remembering.

ETA: Visited with a friend who works at Walmart and found out that one woman brought in 78 (seventy-eight, that's right) photos of family members who had served--perhaps are serving--in the military. That's what swelled the ranks so rapidly, so to speak.

Father's Day

My dad has Alzheimer's and for the last 4 years has been in a facility devoted to the care of those so afflicted. It's an awful, insidious disease which robs both the victim and the family. This is not how I pictured Daddy's retirement years with me. We were going to garden and talk and walk. Needless to say, we do none of that.

In honor of Father's Day and Daddy, I wrote an article for our local internet newspaper. The editor made it the lead-off.

Read and meet my daddy.

Do you know you're early?

I must have doofus written on my forehead.

Last summer, I wrote the article Knowing When to Quit for the North Texas e-News. It involved my husband, myself, and a rather selfish young woman who insulted us into silence while in line at a grocery. Today, I was twenty minutes early to a hair appointment in Dallas and the receptionist (young, blonde) asked me the above question. Did I know I was early? My stylist was 1) not there and 2) never on time.

And this was my problem?

Leaving home this morning, fog made visibility about 1/4 mile. I made a stop en route and gave myself plenty of time to arrive. Fortunately, the fog was lifting and I arrived early. I was quite content to sit and read, have the cup of coffee she finally offered me.

So, early doofus that I am, I explained to her that I "came with the traffic." I couldn't think of anything pithy to say. It probably would have been wasted anyway.

And here, all along, I'd thought it was the spouse!