The creaky, wooden kitchen chairs arranged around the Franklin stove awaited the ‘reading of the will’. My insides harbored sparks of anticipation mixed with twitches of sadness. A December snowfall worsened the foreboding gloom on this mournful Sunday, bringing dreariness inside the room. I hated snow. Every Pennsylvania winter while growing up on the farm, […]
Part II Last month we started our voyage to Greenland, traveling through Prince Christian Sound and a peek at Qaqortag, the largest town in Southern Greenland. Now we find out there are no guarantees when cruising to Greenland and the stark contrasts in the country’s capital city, Nuuk. Paamuit Excitement stirred for our stop at
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Part I Enthusiasm in the captain’s voice sounded over the ship’s PA system. “In five minutes, we will turn into Greenland’s Prince Christian Sound, one of the most breathtaking passages in the world. It’s my first time navigating through these waters, so let’s celebrate this venture together.” Wow, I thought. The captain, excited like the
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Mexico is the land of religious celebrations. For the past 500 years, few months have passed without a festival that honors a Catholic saint or event as loud booms of cohetes explode into the sky to announce the celebration. In December, they Celebrate the Virgin of Guadalupe. Standing on the stone steps at the entrance
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Leaving Your Comfort Zone and Clothes Behind I wrapped my yukata, a cloth kimono, around my naked body, pulling the left side of the fabric over the right, as instructed, and tied the obi sash securely at my waist. The hotel provided these robes to guests to wear throughout their stay, even to dinner. Putting
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As Florence drove out our mile-long dirt lane, I felt happier than on a Christmas morning. My mother’s friend ignored family protocol to treat the four sisters equally and often brought gifts just for me. I never understood why, but perhaps she had also been a ‘stuck in the middle’ child, wearing faded, hand-me-down clothes
Put This on Your Bucket List Our small ship, Azamara Journey, sliced through the rough, open waters, hugging the western coast of Norway on Day 7 of our 3,300 nautical mile voyage, zigzagging in and out of Norwegian fjords from south to north. Passengers had gathered on Pool Deck 9 that day at sea, to
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Soon our journey would be over. That framed picture, displayed atop the bedroom bureau would no longer be “just a photograph.” Soon we’d be able to hug Miriam. As we inched up the steep slope of the extinct volcano, Villejo kept the four-wheel-drive steady. On our vertical ascent, neighborhood housing declined from well-kept adobes in
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Deceased July 4, 2023 Margie Keane, longtime Lakeside resident, noted writer and poet, died peacefully in her San Antonio Tlayacapan home on July 4, 2023, with her husband of 27 years by her side. Margie had just celebrated her 90th birthday, having been born on July 1, 1933, on her grandparents’ farm in rural Glendale,
Part 2 (Part 1 appeared in the January 2023 issue) Afternoon sunlight streamed through the glass wall on the 13th floor observation deck, unveiling the shimmering headwaters of the Oslo fjord. Captivated by the sights 600 meters below, we watched men in scanty Speedos and women in scantier bikinis run from floating saunas moored along
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