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What’s one personal image about your town or city  that reminds you of being at home?

“Home is where the heart is.” (Pliny the Elder)

Sometimes when I travel long distances on those road trips for months at a time, I experience sudden feelings of homesickness. Strong memories of being back home in Florida typically accentuate then when I’m driving and playing music along the way. But not just any kind of music! It might for instance be a stirring protest song like Jimi Hendrix’s  “Star Spangled Banned” rendition to remind me how I fought injustice during turbulent times happening while attending University  in Tampa during the Vietnam War era. Or perhaps I’ll feel stronger in hearing a  Michael Jackson tune such as “Beat It”, which invokes reminders of my past struggles to teach inner city kids in downtown Miami. 

So consider how a traveling band might similarly decide to title themselves with a city, state, or country whose past emotional impact on them inspires their creative musical talents. For wherever they play near or far, their performances become filled with “catchy” song lyrics and impressive stage components that provide clues to their passionate attachment to that special place.

In fact, I’ve determined there may be hundreds of bands currently operating in the United  States that operate under such place name titles.So let’s look at little deeper into the reasoning for seven bands being so geographically associated. First study carefully some attached photos below. Following each image, look at the information about the band’s name, musical genre and one particular song of interest here. Finally, click on the link that follows for each of them, to observe some visual clues and song lyric meanings presented. See if you can guess why each location can be conceivably considered each band’s special musical home. 

Rock n’ Roll – Random Cats Memphis (One Night In Memphis)

https://youtu.be/Rr2K8lPLbxk?si=c412k5GTC78HmNkh

Classic Rock – Chicago (Take Me Back To Chicago)

https://youtu.be/7GOXPTkjCwE?si=12kGloSk_2pDwkJj

Progressive Rock – Kansas (Dust In The Wind)

https://youtu.be/-w5WQQ8Yqmw?si=eBV4S72W55iGIH9f

Rap/Hip Hop  – Winnipeg’s Most (All That I Know)

https://youtu.be/5VAF3ypMS84?si=mdH22StkJMJ-RwQr

Jazz- Manhattan Transfer (Boy From New York City)

https://youtu.be/5ZF6m659-z0?si=fkrikwMBMh9lONDJ

Country – Florida/Georgia Line (Round Here)

https://youtu.be/p1oL37ycONQ?si=kIgTcA5iVnx8XDP7

Latin Pop – Miami Sound Machine (Rhythm Is Gonna Get You)

https://youtu.be/6NwVD8RbS6Y?si=Wl9LaKtP2gqct85X

 

 

What do you miss most as you endure the long wrath of wintertime? 

“Just living is not enough…one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” (Hans Christian Anderson)

I’ve been thinking lately how fortunate it’s been for me to enjoy the great outdoors in the heart of winter season this year. For I’m again enjoying temperate weather conditions in South Florida while most  of the country lies dormant in extreme cold conditions. I might have considered Southern California as another place to find balmy weather now, but those ravaging fires recently represent a serious safety threat to those who attempt to venture outside. Even in the desert environs of Arizona, the higher elevations for so many communities would likely produce extreme weather risk.

To exemplify my point, in scanning through a plethora of Broward, Dade, and Palm Beach County happenings last weekend, I felt very confident that I could find something to do spontaneously in the open air with Ruth at a  nominal cost. With weather conditions calm, I could prepare casually as usual by wearing my short pants, perhaps a Hawaiian shirt and sneakers. Parking lots would of course be likely full but that would be no big deal. For in stretching my legs a bit more to and from a vehicle space farther out, I’d be taking the time then to more fully enjoy our interesting subtropical flora and fauna. 

So I call to attention all of you  “snowbirds” to feel what fun it felt like to soak up some “sun rays” as I chose to do in “country bumpkin” fashion at a local Strawberry Festival last weekend. I suspect that you would have then enjoyed exchanging  those slushy piles of snow removal you plow through now with the opportunity to  pick fresh fruit in these gorgeously green fields. Other luscious fruits and flowers in season featured at the venue’s farmers market  might similarly have been entering your mind as well as you stared at those dead leafless trees of yours in frigid January.       

You’d probably also grown weary of being cooped up  with your family and pets for extended times in your window shut home. So you might have felt a strong urge to amuse yourself with an animal or two in this fair’s  petting zoo to enjoy some fresh air conditions. For the same reason, those kids of yours would probably be getting restless at home on those long winter days as well.Thus, I’d further reason you’d be thrilled at the chance  to let them go outdoors to play in the sand  or build something harmless there.

So why wait for springtime to arrive? Just shed those winter coats and boots, break a smile, and come on down south where there’s always plenty you can fancy doing at any time  The “Sunshine State” awaits you.! As a side note of Florida interest, coming up in late February will be the much larger Strawberry Festival in Plant City. Check out the link below. Enjoy the photos.

https://flstrawberryfestival.com/

What are your thoughts about the meaning of the Presidential Inauguration event this year?

“Our lives begin to end when we become silent about things that matter.” (Dr. Martin Luther King)

On March 31,1968, Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech, “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” at the National Cathedral In Washington D.C. He made prophetic references then to the legend of Rip Van Winkle, who went into a long sleep of twenty years to grow old and thus missed out on so much of what might have made his life meaningful.

Such thoughts inspired me to write an original poem which explores the perplexing contradiction of celebrating D. Trump’s  Presidential inauguration and “MLK” holiday on the same day this year. 

 

INAUGURATION DAY IMPRESSIONS

 

Like Sleeping Our Life Away 

 

As Winkle Turned Olden Gray

 

His Prophecy Once Foretold Our Fate        
                             

As Dulled Minds Took Stage Show Bait

 

Where Privileged Few Took Power

 

While Masses Lay Idle In Cower

 

MLK Once Sensed An America In Pain 

 

Spread By Such Apathy’s Ugly Stain

 

So Let Us Heed His Wake-up Call

 

To Fight Injustice And Freedom’s Fall 

How do you typically act in encounters with wild animals that appear outside your home?

“I wanted to talk to the animals like Dr. Doolittle.” (Jane Goodall) 

On our third day in St. Petersburg last week, we visited Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, filled with injury protected  birds like pelicans, egrets, owls, and herons. Many of them were confined humanely in cages but a few others surprisingly roamed freely in open spaces around the facility. Know that in spite of their weakened conditions, these unconfined few lacked fear in facing human interaction. I thus found some rare opportunities to study them more closely than expected. 

Thus picking  up on some expressive non verbal behaviors of these lucky outsiders posing between the cages, here’s what I have imagined a few of them had to say to me in the photo set  below.

“ I dare you to stand on one foot like me.”

“Can you pass me a brush? I’ve got an itch on my back I can’t reach.”

“Ok, follow me. Here’s where you need to go first.”

“Please to meet you madam. Could you pass me a fish?”

“Hey Myrtle, wake up! Take a look at that guy’s beautiful shoes!”

Let your attention be guided by the natural colors of the sunset? What do you feel most?

“A sunset will color your dreams.” (Anthony Hincks)

Last week, I absorbed a heavy dose of authentic Spanish culture on our excursion to historic Ybor City near downtown Tampa, Florida.With flashy feathered roosters crowing proudly to greet my presence, my tour first followed a cobblestone pathway  to a semicircular floral courtyard. Along the way, I’d noticed interesting combinations of red, orange, yellow, and brown painted on columns, doors, walls.

I next made a brief visit to the Ybor City Museum State Park, filled with flashy hue displays of posters, flags, and other rare cultural artifacts. I took a particular interest then in Cuba’s  cigar influence from Tampa’s industrial past. Such sensory overload continued for me at lunchtime as I indulged in a crispy Cuban sandwich and table prepared mixed salad in decorative elegance at the historic Columbia Restaurant. Gazing around indoors and outdoors during this unique dining experience, I pictured a glowing radiance of gold, silver, and other riches as manifested in the Spanish conquistador tradition. With good luck on a future visit to Columbia, I look forward to experiencing the multicolored passion of Flamenco dance performances in the dining area at my leisure.

So I’d found plenty to like about the Ybor City on our latest travel jaunt. For in absorbing its full spectrum of sunset colors around town, the exotic blend of Latin American aromas, sights, and sounds came alive for me on this day.  

Related You Tube Links:

https://youtu.be/f3lGO7VbPsw?si=1apIg3IuZYtUKSdy

https://youtu.be/T-QmLa5_4QQ?si=JApEc1pA8q-_dKbJ

Write about something you did opposite than expected today.

“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.” (Leonardo DiCaprio)

I don’t typically like to do much on beaches except plant myself on a shady spot and “chill”. I might even say that because I usually find the heat and humidity uncomfortable most days in South Florida, I’m overall blasé at home about swimming, fishing, and other shoreline leisure activities. So during this week of our mini vacation to the Gulf coast region near St. Petersburg,  I anticipated finding time to just sit on the beach and read. However, I reason the “chilly” weather I experienced this week likely convinced me to change my beach routine.     

I’d thus surprised myself on this morning by taking a brisk walk at Coquina Beach near Bradenton. How different it felt to bend down at various points along the sandy shoreline to pick up interesting seashells! Two days later driving northward to Redington Shores Beach, my turn toward opposite behavior along cool salty waters continued as I allotted over an hour roaming around a private avian sanctuary to interact with colonies of wild birds. Both of these activities in retrospect seemed to loosen up my knee issues at the time. They’d also taught me a life lesson then that by “shaking up” my daily routine with such “Another You” moments of contrast, I could relax more outside in my spare time back home.

Continue reading “Pandora’s Box Aversion” →

What relationships have had a positive impact on you? (Jet Pack Prompt -12/30/24)

“I want the people to understand my character, my weaknesses, the kind of person I am.” (Jimmy Carter)

I  read with sadness that ex. President Jimmy Carter passed away at age one hundred yesterday. During my college years, his plain speaking, friendly manner as Chief Executive seemed to resonate with me as a believable role model to follow for how I should act with my students as a teacher. I respect him as well for being one of our few Presidents in my memory who volunteered vigorously for spread of truthful engagement of peace and  human rights causes around the world after his term ended. To honor his legacy, I’ve also taken time on our road trips to visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta and his home town of Plains. Thus I express my hope in the following photos that we again find leaders who portrays those positive qualities Jimmy Carter meant to me. 

How do the ordinary doings of life most impact your travels?

“Day to day things, the mundane, are what keeps the motor running. How extraordinary the ordinary really is – a tool we all use to keep going, a template for sanity.” (Cecelia Ahern)

After living over forty years of my life in the same home, we finally decided to move. In the process of doing so, I suddenly noticed my attention being redirected to the immense power of the mundane. Such a stunning thought, uncharacteristic  for me as a person, began when most of our material possessions lie boxed in various rooms, ready for conveyance to our new condo a few days later. It’s important to reveal as well that we’d moved our heavy furniture around some, creating spacious open space in this unit.

So with our condo now relatively empty, I noticed unusual hypersensitivity to commonplace sounds and sights that I’d rarely paid much attention to before. In this regard, a twisted array of electrical cords, clicking ceiling fan, unbalanced sway of our vintage rocking chair and an annoying drip of a multifunctional shower head come vividly to mind.

What I’m trying to suggest today, might we learn to better manage those ordinary tasks in life that practically matter if we limit our materialistic wants that’s seemingly over complicated our lives at times over the years? For I’ve been given a fresh chance to re-examine how much stuff we really need in our new home.

Upon further reflection, I might elaborate some practical benefits of a relatively simple lifestyle we’ve strived for in our 2024 travels. So take a look at the following photo collection which reveals some of those  mundane moments we’ve appreciated on the road. 

A hungry farm horse enticed me to pleasurably pet him (her) in exchange for a tasty pellet. (Colorado Springs, Colorado).  

 I watched with interest some young kids engaging  in innocent water play at a harbor side  fountain. (Norfolk, Virginia)

Entering a local diner, I noticed regular customers feeling “right at home” as they grabbed their personal coffee cup on a side wall. (Las Vegas)

A simple text during morning brunch downtown became a favorite way for me to connect with my cousin. (Durham, North Carolina)

Ruth noticed a rainstorm storm approaching by staring beyond this vast field of corn. (Hamden, New York)

Round and round on the carousel we played like children again. (Burlington,Vermont)

A “hunk of car junk” on the prairie  made a nice place to savor artistic beauty. (Amarillo, Texas)

Cook’ em, smell’ em with smoke’ em and we’d eat ‘em at a local grill. (Sedona , Arizona)

Some doors at a peaceful Asian  park made it easy to enter for all. (Norfolk, Virginia)

We never sat on a dirty bench where a seagull landed at the Pacific Ocean. (Morro Bay, California)

I picked out  a pumpkin at Walmart envisioning a way to carve out my favorite Halloween smile. (Avon, Colorado)

An unobstructed viewpoint of a westward sunset provided current traffic information to and from the Rocky Mountains. (Denver, Colorado)

 

How might you make the study of Geography more useful for your travels?

“Geography is the art of the mappable.” Peter Haggett)

If you have ever studied Basic Geography as a student in school or in college, you’ve probably encountered plenty of practice with map reading skills. Most likely as well, you’ve needed to rely on such spatial information you’ve  learned in more practical ways to navigate between places locally and on vacation. Thankfully, your “GPS” device can usually manage such map reading tasks normally while driving with minimal effort on your part. 

Yet when such devices respond incorrectly in mapping your route, you might end up in the wrong place, face adverse driving conditions or simply miscalculate the required distance and time to and from destinations. Thus, any obsessive dependence on such electronic tracking might not necessarily be the right choice for you. Alternatively, you should realize that a trusted map can be your geography friend if you study it precisely as you once did to pass that subject’s class requirements..          

So take out  those dusty old “AAA”  road maps and figure out where you might drive in recognition of the kinds of landform barriers like mountains and water bodies you might encounter along the way. Tune into “The Weather Channel” and examine any storm projections with greater attention.  Dig out your compass from your glove compartment. Then turn it  around to face  the direction your city map tells you should be currently going. Getting creative, might even playfully spin an earth globe around a few times and see where your poked fingers randomly lands to gain a geographic” feel” for new destinations in your future travels. 

As an added challenge in this entry, give your map reading skills a powerful boost as you examine some puzzling travel situations I’ve previously faced, each with photo accompaniments below.

Ex. 1 – I’m traveling cross country America by car from South Florida. What’s my safest route to combat adverse weather conditions?

Ex. 2 – I need to follow the Mississippi River road corridor going north when winter transitions to spring. But emergency flood warnings are happening along this overflowing watershed and I need to find the safest area to stay for the night. What towns should I avoid because of these rising waters? 

Ex. 3 – I’m stuck in the Northern tundra interior of Canada with no road signs to direct me to the nearest town or city. In what directions should I head to find gas and shelter? 

Ex. 4 – I’m going to Rhode Island today from Massachusetts on my New England road trip tour. At what point of entry to the state would be the most direct way to travel? 

Ex.  5 – I’m moving by car northward in Michigan to the Canadian border. What lake (s) do I cross by to make sure I get there? 

Ex. 6 – Wait a second! I thought I knew where familiar towns and cities on this American road journey were located. Show me why I should have known otherwise. 

Ex. 7 – That stranger at the gas station told me told me that some illogical state name adjustment involving direction must be made to reach West Virginia. What did he mean? 

Ex. 8 –  How can it be possible that I’m told to drive north and then west from my Los Angeles home to vacation at a Reno, Nevada casino? Wouldn’t that route put me in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? 

Ex.9 – My Panama Canal cruise route from Florida seems to be going the wrong way. Why are we heading east to the Pacific Ocean?

Ex. 10 – Relax! I’ve flown long distances across the United States many times. How much harder can doing the same in Africa cross country be?