One day, when I was 46, I decided to hike all 46 of The High Peaks of the Adirondacks. I tend to live out my life in headlines, always proclaiming a new interest with passion and bursts of wild enthusiasm. So, 46 at 46! The coincidence had a certain mystical quality to it, and I …
Author: The Autonomous Traveler
My life has been metamorphosis from a shy, scared little girl to an adventurous woman who travels the world by herself. I am a grandmother and a retired teacher who is a lifelong learner with a degree in the social sciences. My trips are opportunities to directly experience the wonders of world in order to understand what unites us all and, as a result, to better understand myself.
A Covid Captive’s Search for Meaning
Writing is a kind of therapy for me. It gives me a chance to sort out thoughts, face my emotions, and define feelings. However, this week I've found it challenging to write. I cried as I watched the events on January 6th. Since then, I have watched the news and the talking heads, trying to …
The Sun in the Midst of Darkness
I know when I go off the deep end. I can tell when my soul has crossed over to something numb or, worse yet, into the darkness. The warning signs show themselves in the condition of my house. The bed is not made. Clothes are tossed on the floor. Dishes, pots, and utensils are scattered …
The Escape of the Covid Captive
I woke up and actually didn't know what to do with myself. It was early September 2020, the ninth month of the worldwide pandemic. I had cleaned out drawers and closets, cut down the understory around my house, sewn masks, painted a picture, lost four pounds on Noom, and relearned how to make yeast bread. …
NonPolitical Rantings from a Covid Captive
Over the past few years, I have received phone calls from my political party, on 7 or 8 occasions, asking for a donation. Each time I've told the the solicitor that I wouldn't give money unless I could talk to someone about my concerns. On seven or eight occasions, no one ever bothered to call …
Worries of a Covid Captive Grandma
Before the pandemic, unless I was traveling, I would see my grandkids every other week. I would arrive at their house at noon, stay overnight, and then leave around noon the next day. Since the new normal, I have only seen them two times for a total of fewer hours than I could count on …
Confessions of a Covid Captive
I haven't written in a while because I couldn't write when I didn't know who I was. How do any of us live when what we thought was normal suddenly disappears, when routine and certainty are gone? How do we understand anything when our reality is so different and our thoughts and feelings have been …
Trilliums for Beth J
Dear Beth, We have a tradition that started when you moved away. Every spring, I post pictures of the trilliums that bloom in my woods for you. I have the white ones and one very large red that you really like. They appear every year at the far corner of my property by the beaver …
Circles
I have felt fractured, broken, the last few days. I was fine getting through almost five weeks of "social distancing". I was doing my part and felt proud of myself. And then things shifted as people without masks nearby were protesting the COVID-19 stay-at-home policy. I felt violated and wondered if all my time alone …
Finding Strength in Our Roots
I'm lazy, a blue ribbon procrastinator. I should be writing every day; I have the time. My writing process is strange. I get an idea, I feel its voice inside me, first hesitant and weak. It's like the old-fashioned coffee stove top coffee percolator my mom gave me years ago. It is a treasured object …
The Autonomous Traveler 