Virtual Travel and Happy Hours

Let's begin with another virtual vacation! 
Today, we are going to the Cayman Islands!  I could use a nice day on the beach, especially since it is raining here.  Feel the warm breeze, the sand between your toes, that slightly crispy salty way your skin feels after snorkeling in the salt water for an hour, taste the ice cold cerveza and feel your body relax onto one of these lounge chairs.  Close your eyes, hear the waves lapping onto the shore and the wind rustling the leaves in the nearby trees. 

Choose 4 other people and imagine yourself here with them!
Cayman Islands, circa  2011
The above post is quite ironic!

Couldn't we all use a day like this right about now?  Those chairs are mighty close to each other aren't they?  This social distancing has made me crave human contact!  As an extrovert, I get my energy from being around other people and the way things are going my personal energy level may be depleted by the end of week 2.  I keep finding myself envying people lucky enough to be living together in a house with several others.  I would love nothing more than to have all of my kids and grand kids here together under one roof.  It has been just me and TJ bumping around this house for a week.  Not that I don't love TJ, but I need my other human batteries to charge me up! 

I am sure we all are feeling the same ebb and flow of emotions as we deal with trying our best to distance ourselves from others and still do our jobs, educate our children, reach out (from a safe distance) to those in need and those we love, and live the new life we are faced with for the foreseeable future.  Those last words are the ones that are giving me the most trouble, the foreseeable future. 

How many of us have made plans for some date in the future and are now wondering if those plans will actually happen?  What a complicated new mindset we are facing.  As we are finding out, we have no idea what tomorrow will look like.  Even an optimist like me is having trouble from time to time through this mixture of isolation and social distancing.  It does not help that the sun has also decided to distance itself from Sugar Land.  I really need to stop looking at those Instagram posts of people walking along scenic lakes, majestic mountains, sunny French countrysides or forest paths while socially distancing themselves.  Bah humbug!  I am here to make all of you suburbanites feel better because I walk the same sidewalks every day and there is nothing majestic or scenic here.  I try to see the beauty but it is getting harder and harder. 

The splendor and beauty of my daily sanity walk.

I will say I had one of the best hours of my week the other night when I had a great video chat with two dear friends.  We were supposed to be together this past week, seeing a play, laughing, eating, drinking and catching up but Covid-19 had other plans.  We instead shared an hour and several drinks together while we laughed and caught up on life as we now know it.  It really was one of the best hours of my week, thanks ladies.  I highly recommend a virtual girls night to everyone!

So ponder my first photo and let me know where you are going and with whom you are going when we are free to roam....someday!  We all need to dream!
Hang in there and stay home!

Time to Get Creative!

Looking for something to do while you socially distance yourself from the rest of humanity?  Want something other than what is in the news to think about for the next 5 or 10 minutes?  Let me share a little mental exercise with you to take your mind to a different place than it has been forced to exist lately.  It will only be a brief escape, but this is me, doing what I can to help you channel your inner dreamer.  Consider it a mental vacation, since we can't take an actual vacation for a while!

A virtual vacation to enjoy.

I purchased the book, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, many years ago while taking a memoir writing course, at the encouragement of our instructor. It is a guide to lead you on "a spiritual path to higher creativity".  I've tried to read it several times,  maybe I was never in the right place to do the work needed to find my higher creativity.  The book, frankly, intimidated me.  Who am I to think I am a creative person, much less one with greater potential?  Well, as a New Year's resolution of sorts, I decided to read the book from beginning to end, at a slow and deliberate pace.  If I did not answer all of the questions or do all of the thought provoking prompts at least I would thoughtfully ponder them.  I am happy to report that I am almost halfway through the book and am enjoying the process....most days. 

Today as I read my few pages, one of the exercises seemed like it might be something we can all ponder as we stay home.  Thought I would share a bit of it with you and let everyone leave their comments.  It might help us over the next few weeks to channel our inner creative side as we stay home and healthy.  I, for one, can only clean so many closets, do so much laundry, sweep up the never ending stream of oak leaves and twirly things off my driveway, and take so many walks before I too need something else to do.  Maybe a new hobby or just rediscovering an old one!

Name 5 hobbies that sound like fun.
Go!
But do it from home!

Life is too Short to Learn German

My thoughts exactly!

A few weeks ago, I finally cashed in my Christmas gift from TJ and we made it to Berlin!  I have only been to Germany once before and it was a very long time ago!  1987 to be exact...I was practically a baby, hehehe!   I went on a business trip to Cologne with TJ and spent a few days getting lost on my own while he worked.  I remember being overwhelmed by my inability to understand anything in the German language.  The most lost I have ever been was in Cologne while wandering the streets alone.  I did not even know the name of my hotel, or the address...rookie mistake!  That was the day I learned to always carry a matchbook or business card from my hotel with me!  This was back in the dark ages before cell phones and a paper map was my only GPS.

In 1987, before the Berlin wall came down, it was much harder to find anyone who spoke English in a restaurant or shop.  The language barrier in addition to my novice traveler status on my lost day resulted in an unadventurous lunch of pizza because I could just point and nod to place my order.  I sat alone eating my pizza, calmed myself down and tried to figure out how to find my way back to my hotel.  The next day I went on a half day river cruise just to be in a safe place, see some of the countryside and not get lost!  I even found some other English speaking tourists on the boat which made my day.  With my hotel address in hand and a clear path back to my hotel I patted myself on the back for not getting lost that day!

Back in 1987 when I had 3 children, short hair and no clue!

My safe zone in Cologne for a few hours!

Fast forward 32.5 years and I am a much more experienced traveler who remains intimidated by the German language.  No worries though, we had our own personal German speaking guide in our son-in-law!  My daughter (the 4th child who wasn't even born in 1987) can also communicate in German now thanks to her recent German classes.  All I had to do was follow along!  No escape river cruise needed.  Berlin is a far cry from 1987 Cologne...about as far as I am from 1987 Lisa.

I was awed by the history in Berlin.  To think of everything that city has seen throughout history is daunting.  I only touched the surface during my visit and I was still overwhelmed.  The city has done a great job of acknowledging and preserving its past.  The day we arrived, while trying to stay awake until a proper bedtime, we put one foot in front of another and saw many of the city's highlights.  It may have been the only sunny day of our trip and in hindsight, which is 20/20,  we were so glad we powered through our jet lag!

Crossing the river to Museum island
enjoying the "sunshine"

Berlin Cathedral

Neue Wache
Central Memorial to the Federal Republic of Germany for
the Victims of War and Dictatorship
Sculpture of a mother and her dead son

Brandenberg Gate

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Inside the memorial

The Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe was a fascinating sight.  Each block is a different size and set at a slightly different angle.  They go from the lowest to the highest in the center of the memorial.  A person could definitely get lost among them.  Another interesting aspect of the memorial is that if you look closely the surface seems to be crying which almost moved me to tears.  There seems to be so many interpretations of the memorial, in my mind, and I could not help but wonder exactly what the creator had in mind.

Tears

Berlin is also full of street art!  Walking the streets, which we did a lot of, is never boring!  At first, I was a bit put off by the "graffiti" but after a while I started to appreciate it.  I still am not a fan of the random unfocused spray painted words or lines but there really is some interesting and creative art on the walls of Berlin.  We walked along the East Side Gallery but were unable to fully enjoy it because it was pouring rain at the time.  I would have liked to visit it again in fair weather.  I think seeing the street art on what was the wall between east and west puts it all in perspective.

Berlin, between New York and Tokyo

Not our Airbnb....and not my favorite street art

This one is iconic!  

This takes commitment! 
A bright spot on a gray day.

It is everywhere.  This is Berlin.

Five days is not enough time to spend in Berlin.  Especially when you are cramming in all the visiting with your daughter and her husband for the past and next several months, dodging raindrops, trying to see the many historical sights, and eat at as many interesting and delicious restaurants as possible.  Maybe I will just have to go back one day.  I will say that as far as Christmas gifts go, this one is right there at the top!

Here are a few more of my favorite photos to close.

Aren't they adorable?!

One of many...prost!

Pigeon graffiti

Best and most unique lunch spot!
Rogacki

That is TJ outside....was it something we said?

We would have been drenched without it!

Finally.....all the food!
Auf Wiedersehen

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

My husband did something he has never done before.  For Christmas he surprised me with an airline ticket.  He has never made travel plans for me without my input and I was happily surprised!  Since our daughter moved to Berlin, we both knew that we would visit her at some point in the year.  I had no idea it would be so soon!  The trip was scheduled for January 23, 2020, almost one month after Christmas.  It was the perfect thing to look forward to in a month that really needs a silver lining.

The time flew by and as I packed my bag on the 22nd my excitement grew!  I got a text message from my husband and it said he could not check me in for the flight and I would have to check myself in or call the magic hotline.  (personal disclaimer, I usually take care of my own travel details. Control issues...what control issues?)  I sat down at my computer, brought my flight up and clicked "check-in".  It said I would have to check in at the airport. Hmm.  Luckily, due to his many travels, we have access to the "super-special-we-love-you-because-you-are-never-home" line.  I called and even they could not check me in.  She said I would just have to check in at the airport.  Meanwhile, I got an email from the airline with an attachment that said, the country I was visiting required a valid passport (check) and the passport had to be valid for at least 3 months past my travel dates (hmm, let me look).  Travel dates Jan. 23-29, passport expiration date April 21, 2020.  Missed it by that much!  Let the scrambling begin!

All packed and nowhere to go!

Our evening of scrambling determined, between the passport office website, the "super special one gazillion mile" airline help line and our better judgment that the only place I was going on January 23 was to get a new passport photo taken at the drug store.  I made an appointment at the (expedited) passport office, determined that our daughter and her husband were home the next weekend, rescheduled our flights for exactly one week later, cancelled our sweet Airbnb and sent up a wish and a prayer.

Older and slightly frustrated Lisa on the left is saying,
"I was supposed to be on a flight to Berlin right now". 
At least I hope I don't end up with the same greenish-orange hair 
I've had for the last 10 years!

The price of having an almost valid passport:
-My "crack of dawn" passport appointment on Tuesday, Jan. 28 went smoothly and expensively. 
-Add to the expedited fee the $20 I unwittingly donated the the parking lot "attendant" who I credit with a smooth scam technique that caught me way off guard.  I guess he needed it more than I did.
-I was initially told I would only get $28 back from my original Airbnb booking unless he was able to re-book after my last minute cancellation.  Thank you to the person/people who enjoyed Berlin last weekend and got me half of my money refunded! 
-I booked a new place, near my daughter, with a generous cancellation policy!  I am learning!
-Finally getting to visit your daughter and her husband in their new home...priceless.
TJ and I have had more than one laugh that this has been the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.

Today, one week later, I picked up my brand new, shiny passport. I STILL can't check-in for my flight online but am confident they will do it at the airport when they see my valid documentation!  If all goes well, I will be on a flight to Berlin tomorrow, the 29th, only one week later than originally scheduled.

My passport expiration date always seemed so far off.  I mean it was all the way in 2020!  I took a walk down memory lane when I looked back over all of those pages and all of those stamps.  I only had 2 clean pages left...life goals!   Ten years ago I got that passport in April 2010, right after we moved back to Houston from Toronto.  It has been a very active 10 years on the travel front.  I am so thankful for all of it!  My hope is that I run out of pages to stamp before January 2030!  Can someone remind me in September of 2029 I need to get a new passport?  I will be a bit more forgetful by then I imagine!

I also realized that I may not have checked my passport before our annual migration to Canada in May and would have been up sh*t's creek with an expired passport if this had not happened.  So, thank you for the Christmas gift, honey... and the new passport!

Changing Things

"Changing a known route throws us into the now."
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron

I read this quote a couple of Saturdays ago and it threw me right into the now!  Once I started thinking about this statement my mind couldn't stop!  It applies to so many aspects of life. There is the very obvious application of this statement where you drive home by a different route and are forced to open your eyes and pay attention a little more than you do driving the same old way.  Then there is the deeper application in the book that suggests you go somewhere new and channel your inner "artist"...probably driving there by a different route, in order to awaken creativity.  Regardless, I was "all in" when I read it!  I'm changing it all!

Saturday was a busy day around here.  Our backyard was being dug up to save our foundation from its known route which was sinking into the earth.  Meanwhile, Grampy decided he needed to show Logan the huge holes under our house, so they were having a play date.  This date also involved Logan methodically bringing down a toy out of the toy closet upstairs, playing with it and then going back for the next...and the next.  It's a great game and a great workout!  Things were a bit loud and chaotic that morning.

Our new sofa was being delivered that afternoon!  The new sofa and the above quote motivated me to move the furniture.  Logan thought it was a great idea!  It had been at least a year since we rearranged the furniture and the old sofa and my point of view were both tired of the status quo.  I must say, I love the new arrangement.  I am sure creative brain cells are being stimulated with the new view.  Even the television looks better (maybe not a great thing) and I like seeing my house from a different perspective. 

It seems harder and harder "these days" to be in the now, at least for me.  Between my phone and computer, I can find countless ways to slide down the Internet rabbit hole and totally check out of reality.  I admit to being distracted by my phone and reading this quote reminded me that I need to do better and make an effort to be present.  A time and place for everything.

The quote also makes me think about travel and why I like it so much.  When I travel, I am definitely changing my route.  Being in a new place invites me to explore, open my eyes, take it all in and be aware of my surroundings.  I am thrown into the now!  It is so easy to plod along in my daily life in a semi-conscious state.  I walk the same sidewalks day after day.  I pass the same houses daily and I admit, there are days that I am just going through the motions.  After all, it is the same old route.  When I am in a new place I want to take it all in and by taking it all in I am in the now and I feel more alive.  I have often wondered why I can't just make my home life as invigorating as my travel life.  I am working on that one!  Unfortunately the answer I keep coming up with is to just travel more!

After the furniture had been properly arranged on Saturday we decided to get out of the cul-de-sac and check out an exhibit at the museum.  It worked right into my plan of taking a new route!  It is always a good idea to be a tourist in your own city!  We enjoyed the museum and on our walk back to our car we explored something new...to me.  The Glassell School of Art has apparently been in their new location since 2018 but it was the first time I saw it because I always park elsewhere...new route!  The school has a set of stairs up the side that leads to the observation roof .  I cannot resist a stairway to heaven and a good view so up we went.  It just so happened to be my favorite time of day too!  Sunset!  New place, new views.  Perfect!

A cool sculpture

Going up!

But first, I decided to check out that glass wall to the right.  It is one of those walls that has names of donors etched in the tiles.  Wanted to see if I knew anyone! 

We ran into my sister and her husband by taking 
a new route and being in the now.

A live/dormant roof with a view!

And a sunset!

Once the sun set it was time to explore one more new route.  In keeping with the theme of the day we tried a new wine bar and were pleasantly surprised... at least by the music and the decor!  The wine was OK... but when consumed listening to the best music of my high school and college years in a converted old house it was perfect.  Is it ironic that being in the now and listening to the music threw me back to the 70's and 80's?  We had fun reminiscing.

Later in the week I was listening to a podcast while driving the very familiar route of I-10 between Houston and Baton Rouge and it was talking about the habits of successful (professionally and health wise) people.  It went on to say that people who are the healthiest and most successful have made good habits a way of life and don't have to think about what they do, they just do it.  Healthy habits become a way of life and therefore result in good health without feeling like work. Sounds like the opposite of changing a known route.

So....how do I change my known routes AND incorporate habits AND stay in the now?  Maybe I make a habit of occasionally changing a known route and a habit of being in the now. 

20/20 in 2020

Happy New Year!
It is that time again, that time of year we all look back and forward, decide what was good and what needs improvement.  Kind of like an annual performance review, ugh.  Time to sync our calendars, make a few plans, check the budget to see if the plans are realistic. Dare to step on the scale and remember those indulgent holidays and then make a well intended plan to make healthier choices.  Realize it has been 2 months since you wrote anything on the blog and once again, for about the 4th year in a row, decide that "no" you are not ready to close down shop just yet.  The goal of writing more than I wrote last year should be very achievable!  How's that for setting the bar low?  So...today I went to the gym for the second time this year, ate salad for lunch and now I am making a valiant effort at writing a blog post.  Killing it in the first week of 2020!

Earlier this week I decided to read my journal (see.. I do still write, it just isn't for public consumption) from last year to see what consumed my time, energy and thoughts all year.  I did not have to go very far to notice the year was an assortment of emotions.  Most of the first half of the year was spent planning the wedding which was the source of stress, excitement, self-doubt, anticipation, love, anxiety, exhaustion, gratitude, happiness and more love .  Wanting something to be perfect for so many people is basically impossible, yet I spent many a sleepless night trying to figure out how to do the impossible.  As they say, hindsight is 20/20 and in 2020 I can look back and say I should have worried less and slept more before the wedding.

Why was I worried?  It WAS perfect!

There was one journal entry in May that struck me and spoke volumes.  I guess that is why journals are such a good thing.  The emotion was, and I quote, "an overwhelming sense of peace".  It probably comes as no surprise that the week we spent at the farmhouse in May was possibly one of the best ideas we had all year.  It was a great way to release some of the pre-wedding, self imposed stress and be at peace with the world.  Plus, sketchy Internet and being outside digging in the dirt goes a long way to re-center oneself.

An overwhelming sense of peace can be found here.

With the wedding behind us, the middle of the year was easy!  It is easy to escape anything resembling real life when we are at the farmhouse, just ask anyone who needs me to "engage" in any of my responsibilities back home while I am up there.  I am very good at shore life!

Amazement and thankfulness mixed with a bit of stress and concern were the emotions I felt when my parents made their way to and from the shore for what... again...could be their last summer.  We have said that for the last 2 years so it will come as less of a surprise if it happens again this year.  Never underestimate the power of red sand and salty breezes.

Skepticism was one of the emotions I had before our cruise along the Danube River.  Never one to jump on the bandwagon or follow the herd, going on a cruise was something that made the doubting skeptic in me rare it's head.  It seemed like the easy way to travel.  In my mind, I always thought to be a true "traveler" you had to forge your own way and not rely on someone carrying a paddle leading you to the "sights".  How could my travel experience be as true and authentic on a cruise than those done on our own?  Well, turns out it is a bit of both.  In my 20/20 hindsight, the cruise was great fun, the benefits of not having to pack and unpack to see so many different locations and eating and drinking delicious food and wine outweighed having to follow someone to the sights.  We did still go rogue when we could!

My favorite "excursion" on the cruise.  

Finally, December provided a few new emotions this year.  I am still grappling with what they are.  I would say shocked, dismayed, lost, and thankful.  I was shocked when I realized TJ and I would be spending Christmas week alone together.  Never in either of our lives have we spent a Christmas with no other immediate family members.  What would we do?  We played many different scenarios over in our heads but for whatever reason none seemed right.  We were both thankful that we managed to raise 4 independent and adventurous individuals who just so happened to be independently adventuring elsewhere for Christmas this year.  We made our bed and now we had to lie in it!  Things happen for a reason!

We decided to be tourists in our own state.  There are plenty of places in Texas I have never seen before.  We went to San Antonio on Christmas Day for a very different Christmas Day, enjoyable, but different.  Surrounded by families celebrating together along side many other couples, just like us, celebrating alone together.  The rest of the week in Fredricksburg was more than I had hoped for.  What a charming town, full of cute shops, good restaurants and live music every night!  We embraced it!  We also bonded from afar with our two daughters celebrating Christmas in Germany with the many German touches in the area.

We celebrated in solidarity from afar.

Once again, in hindsight, being alone together for Christmas was a blessing.  We saw some beautiful places and were able to have a special time together.  The holidays were relaxing and not stressful at all.  Part of me thinks this will only make me appreciate the next hectic holiday even more.  No worries, once our kids who live here returned we celebrated the 8th day of Christmas, aka New Year's Day, with gifts, family time and dinner together.  It was perfect!

In hindsight, 2019 was a very good year!  As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20 and I hope when I look back at 2020, it looks as good in hindsight as the last one did!

A Short Surprising Stop

We spent less than 24 hours in Nuremberg on our way from Prague to Passau, where our cruise was beginning.  I did not do my usual researching ahead of time, and arrived with no expectations.  It was just a city we were spending the night in on the way to our cruise.  I should have done a better job!  Nuremberg turned out to be a pleasant surprise!

Welcome to Bavaria!

We took a four hour bus ride to Nuremberg and arrived at 3 p.m. wondering if we were at the right station, where our hotel was, and how were we going to get there.  Our trusty smart phones told us we were less than a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  Our phones did not tell us that the walk would be over mostly cobblestones (ugh!).  We clickety clacked our way, dragging our bags behind us, to our lovely hotel.  It really wasn't very far, it just seemed like it with those bags and those cobblestones.  We only had a few hours before dark so we went out to explore the old town.

Turned out, old town was very close to our hotel!

Pedestrian streets and outdoor markets!

We wandered the streets and loved the markets, the Bavarian architecture, the manageable number of people (compared to Prague) and the numerous Christmas shops.  It was just what we needed after four hours on a bus.  The farther into the town we got, the more we liked it.  We found the Nuremberg castle, not hard....just look for the biggest and highest building in the Old Town.  We are such geniuses!  I think we managed to hit all of the high points on our walk....you know...church, castle, pub.

I wanted to bring them all home!  

Since our lunch had consisted of the random snacks TJ bought in the store before we left Prague, an early dinner was in order.  We found a nice place, near the church and sat outside for dinner.  We embraced Bavaria and ordered the "tower of sausage"!  The air was crisp and clear, the leaves were turning fall colors and we were in Bavaria drinking local beer and eating sausages!  Our own private Oktoberfest without the oompah band!  

Cheers St. Lorenz!

Tower of sausage!
Complete with mustard, horseradish,
sauerkraut, potato salad and yummy bread!

Feeling fortified, we walked to the river.  I am a sucker for arched bridges and reflections in the water.  Who needs an ancient castle or a Gothic church when you can just stand on a bridge and watch the river flow?  I looked at the houses along the river and wondered what it would be like to live in such a lovely spot.  I wondered what it would be like to live in a city with such a dark history full of wars, religious turmoil, destruction and human tragedy.  How many different feet have walked on those same cobblestones?  The stories they could tell!

The Beautiful Fountain

The 40 colorful figures that adorn the fountain represent the world view of the Holy Roman Empire. They are philosophy, the seven liberal arts, the four Evangelists, the four Church Fathers, the seven Prince-electors, the Nine Worthies, Moses and seven Prophets (Hosea, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Isaiah and Joel).

Hospice of the Holy Spirit
Truth:  when I took this I thought it was just a lovely scene.
It was only after I got home that I discovered what it was.

Life along the river

Our time with our daughter ended in Nuremberg as she headed "home" to Berlin the next morning and we took the train to meet our cruise.  Who knew a year ago that we would be drinking beer and eating sausages with her in Germany?  What a treat it was to have this time together!  I think we were all pleasantly surprised by our short time in Nuremberg.