My new favorite travel book

Lonely Planet's Trip Builder by Lonely Planet
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My better half and I enjoy travel, and I enjoy travel books, whether it's travel narratives that take me places without leaving home or travel planning books from Lonely Planet, DK, Fodor's, Frommer's, Rick Steves or others.

With that said, I don't just like this book. I LOVE it. It takes an approach to travel planning and idea generation that's quite interesting and helpful. Each section of this massive book is just two pages. Rather than provide an exhaustive list of places to go in each area, city, etc., with details on how to make reservations, where to eat and other minutiae, it gives very broad strokes and lets you fill in the details if you plan to go. For example, one 2-page section, A Literary Tour of England, suggests London to the Lake District. In the broadest of strokes, it guides you from London to Oxford to Bath to Stratford-upon-Avon to Haworth to The Lake District. There are some details, but not a lot. To give you a better idea, the entirety of the Stratford-upon-Avon part says,

William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer ever, and his medieval hometown sees crowds that attest to his continuing popularity. Seek out his birthplace; pay your respects at his tomb in Holy Trinity Church; and enjoy one of his plays at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

That's it. The rest is left for you to fill in. Nothing on how to get tickets to a play or any number of other things most guide books would throw in.

For me, this is perfect. I want ideas. I can figure out the rest on my own. This massive book gives many such ideas--concise itineraries you can review to find what looks like fun for your next trip--and that's why I love it!

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Catching up on a classic I'd never read

Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a famous book, of course, and I'm just getting to it now, almost 80 years after it was written. This is a book of tragedy and sadness. Some of it literal, in terms of the characters, but some of it clearly metaphorical. It touches on both the good and bad people in South Africa, as well as the potential for life to be different and possibly better. Having lived through the history of the anti-apartheid movement (including major protests in my college days), I know things didn't change easily, and racial discrimination and inequality continue to be issues in South Africa to this day.

The writing itself strikes me as stilted. Part of that may be the age of this book, but I also felt it didn't flow as well as other books of its era. I realize the author was trying to convey the manner in which his characters would have spoken, but I didn't particularly enjoy that and felt it hobbled the pacing of the narrative, at least for me.

Overall, I think this is an important work for its time, and I was split between 3 and 4 stars. I went with 3, because it was a slow read due to the writing style, and I feel that's a very important consideration.

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Some people really worry me

The three of us were wandering around Sedona yesterday, visiting some of the shops. We went into a fudge shop. In addition to fudge, they made a few other types of chocolates. 

One of the items was called Coyote Droppings. While trying to decide what she wanted to buy for her grandson, a woman asked if they contained actual coyote droppings.

My congratulations to the employee helping her who managed to keep a straight face and answer her seriously.

A simple, deep thought

I just finished a sci-fi book, called All These Worlds. In the book, a leading character is lamenting the loss of a friend and how those in his village seemed to move on with their lives soon after his death. "Archimedes had mattered. He’d made a huge difference to the lives of the people there, and I found it offensive somehow that he was so completely and so soon relegated to the past."

On Goodreads, I added a comment to this, saying, "One of the deeper lessons of life is that most of us are here and gone, and the memories that rest with friends and loves ones are all that's left, until they're gone, too. So enjoy the ride, because our presence is fleeting."

That may not be something we all want to absorb. I think what drives many to practice certain religious faiths is the wish that we somehow carry on in perpetuity. While that's a nice idea, I think the truth is simpler. So make life better for those around you and for yourself. Live well, and recognize that the journey through life is what matters. It won't be long after we're gone that our presence fades from memory. Soon, those who remember us fondly are gone as well. Maybe the good lives we led will have some subtle echo in a part of humanity and make life better, but for the most part, we're here and then we're gone. Even great philosophers, leaders and humanitarians aren't remembered by most. C'est la vie.

Enjoy the ride, folks, and don't trouble yourselves too much over the generations ahead.

That was nice

 There are places we usually don't get to go. Fancy country clubs certainly are on that list. This week was an exception. We volunteer with a food bank called Island Harvest, and this week they had their golf outing fundraiser at a place called "The Creek."

The Creek was founded over a hundred years ago. The founders included J.P. Morgan, Vincent Astor, H.L. Pratt (the President of Standard Oil) and other well-heeled folks. For sure, we're not the usual folks there, especially since we don't play golf.

This property used to be another rich man's estate. With all of that said, I thought you might like to see a few photos of the property...

Really, the nicest part was providing photos to Island Harvest that they can use to thank to donors/participants (we took shots of every foursome, as well as some candid shots) and knowing it saves them money (versus having to hire photographers like us) and will keep people coming back, both the folks they gift our photos to as well when they use them to advertise for next year's golf outing.

This organization does great work, helping feed people who (shamefully, in this rich country) don't have enough to eat. We're happy to play a small part in making things work!

A Very Happy Anniversary

Thirteen years ago today, we'd just finished attending a rugby tournament in Manchester, UK. Our plan was to board a train and head to Edinburgh to extend the trip into a longer vacation.

We had reserved seats on the train. When we got to our seats, there was a guy sitting there who the conductor had to shoo out of the seats, since he didn't have a ticket to be there. But then we sat down, and two other guys sat across from us (it was a 2 & 2 setup).

The other two guys were dressed like rugby players, so we quickly struck up a conversation and determined that yes, they had just come from the same tournament we'd been at. Their names were Tom and Andrew. This was Andrew on the train...

We spent the trip chatting with both of them and had a wonderful time.

When we got to Edinburgh, we said our goodbyes, planning to email each other when we got home so we could stay in touch. We then headed to our respective hotels and checked in. After that, Marc and I did what we often do in a new city, heading out to get on a hop on-hop off tour bus to orient ourselves to the new city. It was a double-decker bus, and we always prefer the top level. So up we went! And as I got to the top, what was the first thing I saw?

From that point on, we decided we were meant to hang out together. After the bus, we went out to dinner, walked around the city, visited some sights, including Edinburgh Castle. The four of us were there for the daily ceremonial firing of the cannon...

And our new friend Andrew let his personality shine through...

Eventually, the Edinburgh visit came to an end, but we really had started a friendship by then. Andrew was from Toronto, but we said we'd keep in touch. We already adored him, so that certainly was our plan!

Happily, it all worked out very well. Over the past 13 years, Dru has become one of our best friends. We see him as often as we can, and we're in touch constantly, even if it's just a daily flow of memes and silly posts going back and forth.

Happy Anniversary to Dru and us! I can't imagine a sweeter, better friend!

A great book: In Memoriam by Alice Winn

In Memoriam by Alice Winn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a great piece of literature. I wish I could go beyond 5 stars, because it deserves as much praise as I can heap upon it. Alice Winn has written a compelling novel of love in a time of the worst of humanity's brutality. Can young love endure through a time of mustard gas and machine gunning, through seeing friends cut down in their prime, through horrible injury to the few survivors?

Alice Winn brings top notch character development, and that makes such a difference, as you find yourself truly caring about these people. Also, she doesn't sugar coat what happens. This isn't a rom-com. This is romance in a time of unspeakable brutality, and the story is completely believable, even if that makes for some very sad (to say the least) aspects of the story.

Pick up In Memoriam, and you won't want to put it down until you've read every page. A great novel, and this is an author to watch! Bravo!

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