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| Last night’s waning moon with clouds. |
Every morning as I prepare for my day, I begin the process of thinking of the post I’ll soon sit down to write. I have no angst around these thoughts. They’re just thoughts.
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| Clouds obscuring a pie slice of last night’s moon. |
I check the camera for the previous day’s photos looking for inspiration often finding an answer on the viewfinder. After downloading the photos, inspiration comes, however small, however simple and I’m at peace that the words will come.
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| Now, the opposite side is blocked by clouds. |
Honestly, it’s particularly challenging as we near the end of a stay in each location after writing many posts, day after day. I never tire of sitting down with my cup of coffee or tea (either will do), placing a pillow under my right elbow to support the bad shoulder, as the words flow from the tips of my fingers as they type, more in a physical than mental manner.
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| Every morning this view takes our breath away. |
Sure, we have stats to indicate how many readers, we have which we’ll share here in the next several days as we reach a milestone. But even so, I often wonder if some of our readers simply check out the photos as opposed to the words.
If they do, it still makes me happy. Knowing that even one person finds a moment of pleasure in our posts, makes it all worthwhile. Besides, with our six grandchildren here over the holidays, it reminded us of the legacy we leave for our grandchildren, their grandchildren, and generations to come when they can look back at years of posts of their kooky ancestors who traveled the world in their old age.
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| After looking through hundreds of photos, I’ve yet to find the name of this tree in our neighborhood. Its leaves appear to be velvet. Any ideas? |
Oh, would that we’d have loved to be able to reference the travels, the thoughts, the photos, and the experiences of our ancestors on such a medium as the worldwide web. My grandmother Ethel, lived an amazing life. What I’d give to read her story, page by page, photo by photo, over a period of years of her life.
As the numbers of our readership grow day by day, year by year, we find great comfort in the driving force writing here provides.
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| The name of this street in our neighborhood makes us chuckle. Many Hawaiian names and words are difficult to pronounce, but this one seems relatedly easy. |
More than anything, it makes us take notice of our surroundings more than either of us had ever done in the past; a sunrise, a sunset, a rising moon, a breaching whale, a blooming flower, or the simplicity of water running gently along a creek. We notice it all. For this, we are grateful.
And…for our readers, we are grateful. Without your readership, comments, questions, and support, it would be hard to continue writing each day.
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| The Tsunami and hurricane warning horns, and various signs at the local park. |
Some time ago we heard from Jody, a reader in Minnesota, explaining how she rides the metro to work in downtown Minneapolis each day. On the way, she reads our story of the day on her tablet, lessening the boring long ride.
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| The local park without signs hindering the view. |
If on a rare occasion, I feel like “taking a day off” for lack of adequate fodder, I think of her and her disappointment to find the same post from the prior day with nary an inkling of any new material. With that thought, my laptop lid flies open and I begin again, determined to nudge my fingers into action once more.
Photo from one year ago today, January 7, 2013:
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| I wasn’t the only person in Marloth Park that was in love with warthogs. Ken (wife, Linda) shared this photo with us to post one year ago today. Thanks, Ken! For details from that day’s post, please click here. |
I definitely also appreciate your daily updates – every day around this time I run over to check! Having STILL not finished up writing our cruise trip report, I can somewhat appreciate the effort it takes to keep this blog update EVERY DAY! As long as you enjoy it though – I always think you have interesting words AND pictures to share, and really enjoy it. Have a great Wednesday!
I totally agree Jess- my grandmother too would have LOVED what you are doing. Mobile phones and the Internet where just coming into the public domain before she died. She would have long conversations with my now husband about how all this information 'got into' the mobile phones and other hardware with apparently no connection to wires. She was fascinated that micro chips- "surely only little pieces of plastic and metal" 'did' all that 'stuff'! How she would have marveled at the common place wifi and smart phones these days.
I often feel the common place, every day activities can get overlooked. We all rush to record special occasions and milestones and yet the daily mundane and repetitive activities can give a deeper insight into our lives, especially future generations. I appreciate all the thought and hard work you put in each day. Dave, the fore mentioned husband who is also in IT, says people will look back on the last 20 years and see it as the technological and digital equivalent of the Industrial Revolution, such has been the impact on our world.
Dear Liz, your comments are very comforting, reminding us of how life has changed for all of us with the rapid evolution of technology. We truly are grateful for being able to document our lives and share them with our family friends and the world. It makes the world not seem so vast when we're only a single message away.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about your grandmother. Hopefully, one day our grandchildren will appreciate the legacy we've left behind.
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom
Hello, Staci
How wonderful to hear from you in the New Year. Do fill us in on the recent cruise. We'd love to hear. And, thanks for your support on our daily efforts. Its comforting to know that our readers find our photos and words worth reading. This truly is a labor of love, as you know so well on the time required to put together documentation on travels and daily life.
Thanks for sharing this journey with us. It means so much.
Warmest regards,
Jess & Tom