"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust Every weekday morning before I retired, I drove to school down the same country road. You won't find my route in any guidebooks. It is just an ordinary rural asphalt passage through Northern New York State. But …
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.
When did You First Know You were Brave?
My first recollection of being used to subdue my spirit was at the age of three, waiting for the “monster” to come through my bedroom window. I would not go to sleep, so my mother used a powerful visual to get me to comply, an editorial cartoon of Atlas holding the earth. Fear was a …
Finding Joy in Small Spaces
My epiphany came on a winter day when I was feeling sorry for myself. I call those kinds of days "fat slug days" because during the cold weather, I slowly slither along in my sun-deprived paleness, lugging around extra pounds from eating too much comfort food. On that particular day, I focused on the aging …
Israel-The Kindness of Strangers
"Those who wander are never lost." Our tour bus stopped in the Golan Heights near the borders of Lebanon and Syria. I took a picture of the UN jeep and wished I had the opportunity to take photos of the military equipment being transported along the the highway. I never made it to Jerusalem. I …
Israel-An Art Colony
An air raid shelter among the sculptures. Copyright 2020 @ The Autonomous Traveler All rights reserved.
Israel-The Temple of Pan and the Dancing Goats
How very strange to have old memories that go way back in time to rooms with high windows and desks in rows and the smell of chalk. How peculiar to conjure up visions and facts about myths and Zeus and Roman gods. How startling to suddenly find myself in the very concrete place of their …
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Perspective
My last post was on New Year's Day, a symbolic day of fresh starts and hope. I wrote about fractals and taking one step at a time as I looked forward to marching into the new year with energy and focus. On my first day at PT, I graduated from using my knee bike to …
Israel-A Kibbutz (Not What I Expected)
I'm from Upstate New York, way upstate near the Canadian border. Growing up in a rural area dotted with orchards and dairy farms, I never had the opportunity to meet many Jewish people. Somewhere, somehow, I had heard the word "kibbutz", maybe on TV, maybe in school. I grew up in a kind of diversity …
Israel-Maybe Life is Like Broccoli
Picture Courtesy of wiseGEEK.com I haven't written in days; I have been putting off trying to explain the dilemma of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I have both Jewish and Muslim friends and acquaintances now. I want to learn about the world and its people, but I want to stay neutral. The conflict in Israel is not …
Israel-Quirky Chapters in History
I lived through two quirky times in history. When I was in my teens and early twenties, I experienced the groovy era of minishirts, psychedelic posters, and Twiggie. Later in life, I observed the "Occupy Wall Street" movement. All through history, groups of people have broken away from the norm, wondering if things could be …
The Autonomous Traveler 