Archives
My birthday last year was as it is supposed to be: Climbing San Diego’s Black Mountain with my fine sons, drinking champagne at the top. Evening of Russian food with my annual shot of cranberry or cucumber vodka. Nice yes? Accompanying the lovely occasions, activities and events of 2019 however was my evil twin, constantly reminding me I was now…officially…old. (Many might think I earned that label several years ago…you were wrong)…. Read More
How is it I almost forgot to post a photo album from Samarkand, that most exotic of Silk Road cities? It says something to me about where my head has been this entire year…it is hard to pay attention to the world when one is creating a new identity for oneself. I’ve been trying to describe what’s happening to me but lack the verbal skills—perhaps it’s the crossing of a Rubicon that… Read More
Remember , earlier in this ‘year of ageing dangerously,’ I outlined a series of ‘mostly’ small journeys, each with its own peculiar personal meaning. Well, Trip #2 is about to commence. While the first of this 2019 travel series was the California Black Mountain birthday climb fueled by a promise of borscht and cucumber vodka at the end, this trip is all about Home/Real Home/Me and the Real Home. The old nourish-the-inner-child… Read More
And therefore I must have a birthday. This is a hard one…so I’ve stopped writing book or blog. Stopped thinking generally. I’ve just been Marie Kondo-ing my past. This compulsion to ‘tidy up’ closets, bookshelves, desks, drawers, bins, and cupboards; to rid my life of what doesn’t ‘spark joy,’ elicit a tear, of that which no son or grandchild will want, is powerful. It has become very nearly an obsession and I’m… Read More
Saturday morning. The annual pilgrimage up Black Mountain to prove I haven’t yet reached that dreaded old-old category and, furthermore, do not intend to permit myself to be so labeled until I am 95. Black Mountain. My benchmark…totem…20-year-goalpost. Black Mountain, so not-Everest, so just right for me. (4.33 miles/16% incline)
Ah yes, you know the plot. Little old lady hikes up little old mountain to prove … that she can. Cast of characters: Little old lady and son. Highlights of the story: SoCal scenery and wild life (soon the environment won’t even sustain that one snake and three lizards). Time and Place: April 3rd, Black Mountain in San Diego County. Reward: a Nordstrom’s afternoon (surely will miss access to those shiny Ivanka… Read More
Birthdays are for the strong. This morning, 7am, I was climbing Black Mountain in North San Diego County. Four hours up and down. Incline varied from 5-19%. Okay so it’s not Everest. High enough for government work as they say. I’m pretty old today…but not as old as I’ll be on my 80th birthday…or my 90th. I’m thinking about calling myself a crone. Just because I really feel like elderly and old-old… Read More
The age of travel. Age and Travel. Travel while aging. Travel through time and place. Aging in place through time. Time and again. Traveling again. Aging still. Well anyway this blog is about travel and age. It seemed to make sense to put the two topics together because if there are to be two posts a week I can’t fill them all with travel—at least not while employed at a modest salary…. Read More
This blog has a new category that will receive more than its share of posts. It is called Coming of Age. Yeah yeah, I know. That phrase has always been used to describe the transition to adulthood—you know— debutante balls, legal drinking, voting, moving away from home…all that. Coming of AN Age can describe the other end of the life spectrum as well. Line dancing at the senior center; drinking more than one… Read More