Ramblings
I have always had difficulty writing. Words do not flow easily onto the page. If I overthink things the words and sentences seem forced or stilted. For me emotional fuel works best. Then I can write more from the heart than the head. It feels good and is cathartic. It helps me honor the source of the words. I try to keep sentences short. No excessive punctuation is needed.
I admire good writers whose prose is succinct and clear. There are many on my list. There are the novelists and short story writers. There are the non-fiction masters as well. There are very good writers who write on Substack.
On Travel:
There are our next door neighbors who could travel anywhere in the world but lack the curiosity. Florida and the Jersey Shore is the extent of their travel. One week at the Jersey shore every year with 8 or 9 other people. That’s it. Then there are the next door neighbors who don’t travel anywhere anytime. They did not attend their daughter’s wedding in Colorado recently. They connected via Zoom because it was too expensive to travel. They are both retired and maybe their pensions are meager. I don’t really know.
Travel opens the mind and exposes one to other cultures. You get to talk to other people even though I am not fluent in other languages. If one is interested in culture of other people they sense this. Language is not a opaque barrier. If more people traveled the world would be a better place. Mark Twain wrote: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”
Last summer a woman who has done some gardening for us went to Tuscany with her family and friends. They rented a villa. After a few days they were all looking for a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Italians have coffee, espresso or cappuccino and a maybe a roll or pastry. That’s it. They complained about the traffic on the Amalfi Coast. It was high season. Some Americans should stay within the lower 48.
I worked with many people while a civil servant of the State of New York. If someone traveled to a place that I had never been I usually would ask them about their experiences. Very few people with whom I worked asked me about the places that we had traveled to. Many State workers have a reputation for being dull. Maybe it is life numbing effects of 7.5 hours per day in cubeville.
More to come on some of our travels. I know that you are all sitting on the edge of your seats.