The idea of traveling seems to be a “second nature” habit with me as I think back to the ease of getting away from my Fort Lauderdale home in various ways. I mean how would you react if you lived in close proximity like me to a major International airport and bustling cruise terminal as well as in close access to several high speed expressways tempting me to move in the northerly direction out of Florida each day? Picture as well my residency in South Florida almost always devoid of seasonal extreme where I can get outside most days in the sunshine to just casually dream of the freedom to play anywhere and anytime I want.

So you might say I feel best about myself during those moments of travel anticipation that I’ve frequently experienced preceding each trip. For whether it’s a cruise, flight, or road trip, my positive attitude soars, thinking in those times of an easy escape from the subtropics into pleasure filled fantasy wherever I will next be. To mark these hopefully informal occasions, I often dress down for comfort as much as possible for ease of departure in a loosely worn lumberjack shirt, matching overalls, and sturdy walking shoes. During these pre- vacation times, it’s reassuring to know as well that our trip returns will become easier,  knowing we have steady condo neighbors nearby, willing to stay in touch with us by phone and take in our mail.

I must admit, however, that the hours before we embark on any of our vacations seem typically busy with packing, finance, and health related decisions to make. But foremost in my mind then, I’m “flying high” just living in the ecstatic moment, knowing that I will soon fulfill my lifelong love of travel again. So as we soon go off our next Caribbean cruise vacation on “Princess” in early December, I hope to share some of this latest excitement with you from Jamaica, The Caymans, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia when I can.

If you like to read, what can be better than coming on down to sunny South Florida to hear your favorite authors read from their most recent books? In doing so, you might even excite yourself further amid the multicultural stew that exists in this ever changing region. I’m talking here about the November 2023 Miami Book Fair, one of the largest gatherings of national and international book exhibitors in the United States.

Know then as former Reading and English professor, I regularly attended this annual event at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus to enhance my teaching efforts with the fair’s timely works of literature to inspire my students to embrace reading books as a lifelong endeavor. I sometimes found time as well to converse “one on one” with authors about their writing works along the “Street Fair” grounds located in the heart of downtown Miami. In addition to  book talk activities, I also found spontaneous excitement in sampling new tastes in international food, witnessing creative performances of art, dance, and music as well as exchanging views with other serious book lovers.

So in the photo set below, check out the lineup of author talks that I attended this past weekend with some brief comments about their featured books.

David Brooks – “How To Know A Person”

The talented writer of New York Times and PBS television fame offered fresh hope through storytelling about how to engage in better conversations with kind regard for others. His timely advice included looking someone in the eye, listening more and posing thoughtful questions in order to see something larger in them to thus provide a better version of ourselves.

Maggie Smith – “You Could Make This Place Beautiful”

Writing this latest collection of poems became a powerful tool for Maggie to overcome her emotional trauma of juggling time as a full time Ohio mother and ambitiously driven writer. This strong stand she stated to overcome her serious depression state then provided  strong support for believing in “why can’t we have it all?

James McBride – “The Heaven on Earth Grocery Store”

With relaxing ease, Mr. McBride spoke about his past experiences working with kids in challenging institutional settings. He noted how these children of “special needs” who somehow managed to survive in such crisis filled environments inspired the chosen characters for this latest book.

Carl Hiasson – “Wrecker”

Mr. Hiasson’s past career as a Miami Herald journalist dictated later on that he’d expend great effort to research the settings and characters of his humorously entertaining novels. In talking candidly with this receptive crowd, he thus revealed some startling insights about how issues of racism, environmentalism, and illicit drug trade during a lengthy stay in Key West, Florida inspired him how to write his latest book.

Dave Barry – “Swamp Story”, Adam Mansbach – “The Golem of Brooklyn”, Ben Purkert – The Men Can’t  Be Saved”

The always satirically funny writer highlighted a three person panel with other humorists that proved to be a “wild wacky, and witty” affair. Imagine each of them cracking jokes about their recent literary efforts centered around scary encounters with python monsters, time traveling chiropractors, and a giant Jewish protector called a “Golem.”

Heather Cox Richardson and Tracy K. Smith – “Democracy Awakening – Notes on the State of America”

The assault on America’s Democracy from a historical perspective sparked interesting conversations between the Heather, the syndicated columnist/History professor and Tracy, an accomplished poetess and English professor then. But most interested me seemed to be their differing views about how their writing efforts came about by either conventionally planning the various writing drafts logically step by step or intuitively shifting to unpredictable immediacy of the present moment.

T.C. Boyle – “Blue Skies”

Just one look at this lanky looking hipster and you can sense he’s all about expressing “anti- establishment” viewpoints about materialistic American society today. So I observed then an emotional talk about his latest “Eco- Thriller” to be a fierce attack on why humans appear unwilling and unable to cope with “climate change” and “global warming”, which he felt would result in the ultimate destruction of our planet.

One of the most exciting aspects of our U.S. roadtrips happens in places that provide vivid memories of happy times of mine in the past. In this case, our recent Colorado bound roadtrip from Fort Lauderdale happened during the seasonal flow of Autumn’s turn throughout October into early November. You see I’ve lived in perpetually torrid South Florida for so long that simply sighting some colorfully falling leaves in the Rockies or bundling up to enjoy a cool morning of cheerful pregame festivities before a Cleveland Browns football game resonated as a hugely “big deal” for me at the time.

Autumn also happened to be an ideal time on this latest roadtrip occasion for my wife and I to enjoy a noticeable “uptick” in leisurely concert offerings in Louisiana ,Texas , Tennessee and Colorado cities visited along the way. Two vital ways to make these experiences more enjoyable meant booking our concert tickets ahead of time as well as arriving at our motel the day before each “gig” date happened. In such case, we could take our time during daytime hours to sightsee along such interesting highway “stretches” such as the famed Route 66 corridor still surviving in small town prairie land, the “Birth of the Blues” Highway Route 61 following the Mississippi River and the eclectic street car route along the Canal Street corridor in downtown New Orleans.

They’ll be more to come in future blogs describing details about each of the destinations we visited over the last month. As for now, enjoy my  latest photo collection in the authentic spirit of Autumn’s blissful turn.

Ruth and I are well into our latest road trip and and look forward in the coming days to enjoy some cool Rocky Mountains weather. I’ve got plenty of site curiosities and beautiful photos to share with you about this vacations. But due to time restrictions, I will such blogging for when we return home to South Florida in early November.

In the meantime, I’ve made a few observations from places visited so far that maybe you could explain better than me.

1. U- turns for returning back to the other side of the highway are rare when you might need them in Louisiana. You might for instance need to drive across the entire length of Lake Ponchartrain or a long bayou bridge for miles and miles before getting an opportunity to turn around.

2. I know Colorado seems animal friendly, but how can it be expected to heed those frequent wild life crossing signs when you are going 80 mph+ with everyone else on crowded Interstate Highways?

3. For the same reasoning, why does West Texas post frequent historic marker signs shrowded by bushes on the side of the fast roads?

4. In Colorado Springs, certain waterfall sites are closed for two days a week.How is that possible? Do they just turn off the water?

5. Why is Bourbon Street New Orleans always so crowded when you can walk a few blocks to the safer confines of music club filled Frenchman Street nearby?

6. Why does  a landmark like Atlanta region’s Stone Mountain and Southern Colorado’s  Royal Gorge Bridge now exist as a paid Amusement Park attraction? I just want to take a few photos of the natural beauty at each site and then leave.

And finally,

7. I’ve read that the state of Florida is currently building bulletproof windows on the State Capitol building in Tallahassee Yet at the same time the Republican dominated legislature there approves “open carry” and other pro gun use laws?

My Possible Answers:

1. Police can give more speeding tickets that way to impatient drivers.

2. Colorado encourages drivers to actually go the speed limit that way.

3. It’s a way to divert one’s attention from all the ugly oil drilling and slag pile buildups throughout this area of the state.

4. This way Colorado can obtain funds from tourists who just want to look at water.

5. The tourist priority seems to be heavy drinking and unrestricted partying there.

7. The state of Florida government prioritizes allocating taxpayer for themselves  but not toward the safety needs to ensure of its citizens.

In the past two years I’ve signed up for an online Kundalini Yoga class on Sunday mornings knowing very little about what Kundalini actually means. But after taking a few classes, it did not take long for me to realize the powerful spiritual effect that Kundalini felt. I attribute this opinion primarily a result of our teacher, Marjorie Bryant, from New York City who expertly worked our body and mind through musical chanting and a set series of repetitive movement poses for one hour each week. Beyond more easily tapping into such energy of our inner soul, I’d also embraced her session introductions where she explained how Zodiac signs from Astrology combined with movement of stars, moons, and planets through time could change the future directions of our daily lives.

Thus being more aware now of my “Pisces character” through Kundalini ideals and in particular it’s meditative foundations, I feel it’s important in this blog entry to “dig deep” into my intense emotional nature. So I find it quite appropriate for me to reveal strong feelings of gratitude in remembrance of certain loved ones whose untimely demise impacted my life in the past. Thus I’ve conducted this week a quiet search in my home for some valued tokens of connection that symbolize sincere thankfulness toward each of these revered individuals who’ve produced joy, comfort, and happiness in my life. Perhaps the following video will similarly bring out that uplifting spirit of giving back somehow to those no longer alive that you cared about at some point in your life.

My wife’s brother Steve once bought me the most expensive shirt I’ve ever owned. To this day, strangers approach and compliment me for wearing such a classy garment. Thus I thank Steve for making me aware of choosing good taste in clothes to enhance my social standing and physical appearance.

Chief Wahoo, an imaginary logo figure from the long legacy of Cleveland Indians baseball vanished when the team last year renamed its ball club the Cleveland Guardians. In staring at his dining area statue in the photo below, I reject the idea that so many make that his somewhat amusing look feels offensive to the status of Native Americans in my country. So I realize I must thank Chief Wahoo wholeheartedly for inspiring me to “root” so enthusiastically for this team throughout my lifetime.

My wife’s father Ed accompanied me to Miami Dolphins games during their glory years following their 17-0 perfect season and through the exciting Dan Marino era. When Ed passed away recently, he left me some physical mementos of those enjoyable times spent cheering the Dolphins on together. So I thank him for keeping these pleasant memories of Dolphins football alive and well in this modern era.

My grandfather Eugene once allotted much of his leisure time to teach me to play a competent game of chess. Thus I thank him in remembrance of his life with me in this chess set image I found in my living room. For Eugene served me well with his patient and caring nature whom I choose to emulate in my subsequent teaching career.

My father Arthur worked long hours each week at various soft drink bottling companies when I was growing up to maintain our family’s economic survival. So I thankfully dedicate these vintage Cola bottles found in my souvenir chest to this hard working and responsible man who I similarly modeled in work “like father like son.”

Our Maine Coon cat Maxie lived in pet friendly comfort with us to a ripe old age exceeding over twenty years. Searching for some object reminders of his family friendly presence then, I discovered that these cat needlepoints made by mother on my bookshelf invoke a feeling of thankfulness for those relaxed times when we sat contentedly in the living room together.

Looking back to my inner city teaching days in Miami, I feel honored to mention a pair of running shoes stored away in my closet. For I most likely wore them on those morning occasions when I ran with my FBI agent friend Steve around our neighborhood. For during those relaxing jogs, Steve and I shared plenty of positive conversations that helped each of us escape from reality as we dealt with some very stressful times in our respective occupations.

I’ve never envisioned that staying with friends in their homes during our road trip vacations would be a comfortable experience. For let’s face it. I’d be infringing on the “ups and downs” of their daily lives under such confined housing conditions. Compounding that issue would be the likelihood that I might be obligated to sedentarily “hang out” with them and thus miss out on visiting what sights I might really want to see in the areas they reside in.

But I must remember why these chosen few I’ve visited became friends of my wife and me in the first place. Most likely, common interests played a huge role in our initial attraction to them via live entertainment, healthful living, as well as the joyful spirit of travel. As we also attempted to deal with more limited income in retirement mode, we increasingly felt that allotting more stays with friends would enable us to reduce our lodging expenditure budget on those long vacations.

Looking beyond these practical considerations of distant friendships, I might add that most recently we’d become more cognizant that such sustained friendships in travel seemed to offer strategies for emotionally handling some ongoing life challenges. In particular, I felt an obligation, to reach out to friends more cross country for better dealing with elderly parent issues and times of social isolation at home. Listen to the song in the link below. Consider then how your upcoming travel experiences might rekindle a beautiful friendship in such a passionate way?

So as our busy travel agenda winds down for 2023, I’m actually looking forward to the prospect of sustaining our enduring friendships with guest appearances in distant homes. Check out the following captioned photo section below as I recognize some memorable home stay settings with friends that have taken place in our wandering lives in recent years.

I am proud of my Hungarian ethnic heritage on my mother’s side. So I am highly motivated to engage in candid conversation with  Hungarian families at our local synagogue whose descendants suffered so severely during those Anti – Semitic times of Nazi occupation in their home country during World War II. Given those many years of  Russian occupation after the crushed Hungarian revolution of 1956, I am also interested in how cultural matters in this  country today help retain the people’s well earned freedom path and further resist Communist rule. Sadly, modern day Hungary again suffers further repressions during the current regime of Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. For his autocratic leadership to date closely aligns with that of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

 I might also clarify that Hungary’s latest fight for freedom of speech, press, and the right of assembly appears to be manifested in the form of a new cultural revolution. Know then I regret that our upcoming travels will not include a Hungary visit whereby I might personally observe such elements of cultural protest. Yet I will pay savvy attention to Hungarian music, art, and theatrical performance  on “You Tube” and other forms of media in the coming months in hope that such systematic change does occur. I invite you to take look for yourself at Hungary’s current cultural crisis with respect to the suppression of artistic freedoms in the video below.            

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Have you taken time lately to observe the pleasing sounds of wild nature? Consider then how mastering the art of stillness outdoors can help us perform this task more effectively? Know that the famed explorer John Muir certainly understood this vital need to listen to remote surroundings during his extensive of the American West. Hear his powerful words on this subject in the following video.

As for me, I’ve also savored those rare times of “Mother Earth’s” comparative quiet in travel as a healthful remedy from  my bustling city life in South Florida. Know however, I’m not the kind of person to stay for very long in one spot and just ponder my surroundings. So it takes some adjustment on my part to slow down my mind and stay in the present observational moment. Thus I might sit cross legged in classic yoga pose a few minutes to better prepare myself to experience the natural world in such enhanced sensory mode. At first, my eyes and ears often focus on one spot at a time for any signs of movement. If can I do this long enough, I then feel more focused and relaxed while oftentimes immersing myself more deeply into random sounds that surround me. A whistling breeze, crackling branch, or a hungry call of a bird; that’s all it might take to to enter that self meditative state. Consider for example some memorable place fixations below from our past travels that I recall feeling inwardly “drawn” in this way.

In my childhood, I vividly recall the strong influence of my grandfather in helping me find future success in my life. Imagine this curious child watching this scrawny looking Hungarian immigrant defeating me slowly and methodically at chess with mere flicks of his wrist, time after time. So it seemed firmly planted in my mind at a young age that “brains over brawn” best provided a competitive edge over one’s opponent in life.

I would then go on to test my acquired mental strengths learned in chess as I faced challenging school and work situations where so many I encountered appeared bigger, stronger, faster, or more naturally talented than I was. In chess terminology, you might say I envisioned the king chess-piece who stood strong yet relatively cautious on defense in the face of most antagonistic situations. In less threatening instances, I often found the will to simulate the more offensive queen player and take bold chances to move actively ahead with extra effort. Somewhere in between both of these most important chess decision extremes, my symbolic understanding of the interplay involving bishop, knight, pawn, and castle moves in chess likely provided more open minded awareness of cooperative team efforts to expedite complex decisions.

To illustrate further, during my teaching career, one of my learning innovations employed with a highly gifted class I taught in Elementary School involved “Human Chess”, where selected students moved around as the various pieces do in a real game set up on on a life size chessboard outdoors. To begin each of these contests, I’d first require each pupil to dress up and imagine acting in accordance with their assigned chess piece character to get a better feel for the strategic thinking of the game. As the game ensued, they began to walk around the board, move by move, in slow competitive battle knowing each step they took accomplished a specific purpose. In some cases, the student bishops and knights, with queens help would team-up then to synchronize their forward movements to surround the opposing king. Conversely, on other occasions, rooks and pawns would stack up in their best defensive position in support of their king. To win the checkmate title, there’d likely be no throwing, yelling, hitting, or fighting by these normally rambunctious kids to win the game, yet plenty of critical thinking.

These vital life lessons about the quietly contemplative game of chess seem to matter in my country’s money driven culture. Consider the popularity of NFL and college football games for example as they relate to the glorification of player violence. Perhaps you’ve seen the explosive collisions of bodies in those recent games which resulted in the tragic loss of star players Aaron Rodgers and Nick Chubb to season ending leg injury as shown on prime time TV. Given the choice then, would you rather win games with strategic mental preparation combined with naturally gifted skill or by beating down one’s opponent with risk of injury? Take a brief look yourselves then at a video sample of brutal “hits” below. How do they make you feel?