Like most of you, it has been two years since I have traveled far from home. This is one of the last photos I took while traveling in Madagascar in 2019. This is certainly the most dramatic photo, I have ever taken and I was so thankful to have my iphone along with my other camera gear. My cell phone has a panoramic feature allowing me to pan from east to west across horizon. The dawn was breaking through the clouds of a storm that had just passed and still darkening the west with rain and rainbow.
While I may never see anything quite as spectacular as this again in my lifetime, I still find magical moments everyday to photograph at home.
On April 22, 2021, Earth Day, Russ and I awoke to wild turkeys and hummingbirds on our Weimar property before traveling down to Sacramento and meeting up with our photography cluster from Friendship Force of Sacramento. We spent the afternoon walking through the WPA gardens in Landpark, sipping wine, and being in the company of one another.
Sharing with you a short video of atmospheric photography of some places we have traveled and lived, where the mist, smoke, fog and the clouds hug the earth. Enjoy! 3:48 min.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Happy and Healthy 2021!
So ready to Kick 2020 and COVID-19 out the door along with the political chaos and discord of the last four years. Hope 2021 is a better year for everyone!
We are planning on "hitting the road "in 2021in our new travel trailer that we have named the WanderPod. Woot, woot! WanderPod's first adventure and ours too, was navigating up our narrow, steep, and twisty driveway to her new home. Here is a little commemorative video of that adventure.
All is Well with Worrall TravelRs waiting for vaccines, and local shelter in place orders to lift.
Monday, November 23, 2020
Good people need to stand for Good Trouble
Russ and I belong to two international organizations. One is SERVAS and the other is Friendship Force International. Both organizations strive to create understanding and peace through personal relationships and friendships. We love both of
these groups because of their forward thinking. Yesterday, Sunday, November 22, 2020, a small
group of masked, Friendship Force member-photographers of Sacramento, went on a walk
to see and photograph statues and art around Capitol Mall in
Sacramento. I made a short video of the art work and murals
The COVID-19 Pandemic has changed our lives in 2020 and most likely into
mid-end of 2021, and perhaps forever. If there is a silver lining to
quarantine and sheltering in place, it is the time we have had for
self-reflection and critical thought. What do we value? Who do we trust? Does the virus care about our skin color, our political affiliation, our beliefs, our prayers, our gender, our age, how much money we have or our occupation? It doesn't care because we are all human beings, our DNA being over 99.9% similarity with small insignificant differences, like skin color. Race is a figment of our imagination not a reality, and yet so much hatred is based on lies intended to elevate some and push others down.
Ten years ago, I retired from the CDE in Sacramento so I welcomed the opportunity to return to the Capitol. While we enjoyed the company of our
friends (from a socially acceptable distance) and appreciated the
beautiful sculptures and murals that we had come to see, Russ and I, along with our FF friends, were
saddened and disturbed to see the homelessness, remnants of riots and
violence, closed businesses, vacant streets (with the exception of a
fair-sized group of die-hards protesting the 2020 election results
and Pandemic curfews). We saw people who were mentally ill living on the street, and a few freshly-minted homeless that looked
like they had just showered before wrapping themselves in
fresh blankets on the sidewalk under an overhang. We came away haunted and sad. How can we live in one of the greatest nation's in the world, and not take care of our citizens?
Our greatest understanding as world travelers is that we now know how privileged our lives have been as a people of European ancestry who immigrated to America and were given opportunities because of the whiteness of our skin. My ancestors may have been poor when they arrived in America, but they had unparalleled access to opportunities over the years that native Americans, other immigrants, indentured servants, African slaves did not have (and still do not have) like jobs, homes, education, and discretionary income, and respect.
I am not ashamed of who I am, and no one should be ashamed of who they are because of who their parents are, where they were born, the color of their skin or what they look like. We can't change our past, but we can change our future. Those of us who have had privilege are in the best position to help and uplift those who have not had privilege. We cannot continue to live in a hypocrisy of believing that we have equality and justice for all while inequality and injustice prevails.
What to do? We don't know what we need to do, but good people need to do something beyond donating to charitable causes, praying, casting their ballots, and building global relationships one person at a time. These are all good things to do, but these things alone are not enough to stem the tide of inequity, injustice, and deep divisions on our doorsteps. We need to be brave and stand for good. Yes it takes bravery to speak up when there are those who are pointing their guns at you. How else will peace prevail? Violence is not the solution to peace.
I hope that the next administration can bring sanity, compassion, and dignity back to our federal government. I hope that SERVAS and Friendship Force can help us bridge the divides we have at home and abroad by combining their resources with other humanistic non-profits, educational institutions and work in partnership with our government. We must help the needy, but focus our attention on our children, the next generation. Our world depends on the next generation growing up without prejudice and our survival on our planet will only occur if we are united and work together to solve whatever comes our way.
Yes, we have to be apart for right now! Hold on to a "tomorrow" when we can be together again. In the meantime, try to stay upbeat and be a vector of kindness and joy.
New York Day 4, Rainy Morning, Waitress the Musical - Matinee on Broadway, Saturday, April 20, WTRD 35 of 36
Today is our last full day in New York City. It started to rain last night and is supposed to rain until early afternoon. We take advantage of staying out of the rain and indoors this morning to relax and for me to catch up on blog posting. Late tomorrow morning, we will be catching a train at Penn station, three blocks from our studio. We are headed to Essex Junction, just outside of Burlington Vermont, where we will be staying with our son and family until late May.
Russ and I eat last night's pizza leftovers for lunch and head for TIme Square at 1:00 pm. We are going to see a Matinee at 2:00 pm just a block off Broadway and TIme Square. The rain has ceased, the sky has cleared, and the streets are crazy crowded with pre-Easter-Sunday tourists. We can't even imagine what it must be like here on New Year's eve as we walk single file through the shuffling crowds as we approach Time Square and 47th Street.
We arrive at the theater just as they open the doors to the theater. Russ and I bought our tickets online Thursday morning. We are five rows from the front and almost center to see Waitress the musical starring Shoshana Bean and Jeremy Jordan. We had a great time watching the play and the unfolding of the story.
After the play we worked our way through the crowds back to our studio. We plan to eat at the Chocolate and Wine Bar across the street later this evening.....they have some other food too, but wine and chocolate sound like a perfect meal for our last night in New York. This concludes our blogs for the Africa, Madagascar, New York City Travels. We left New York City by train on Easter Sunday the following day to visit family in Vermont. Met some ladies on their way to the Easter Bonnet Parade before we boarded the train. Goodbye New York!
All is well with the Worrall Travel R's the last night in New York and Worrall Travel R Day WTRD 35 of 36.
New York Day 3, 9/11 Twin Towers Remembered, High Line Walk, Friday, April 19, WTRD 34 of 36
We were up early again this morning and couldn't sleep in beyond 4:00 am. Again we chose to walk south through Greenwich Village and Soho to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.
We had tickets for an outside guided tour of the area where the twin towers once stood. Our guide David was six years old when America's centers of commerce, military, and politics were being attacked by terrorists. At a tender age, he learned about terrorism. He became a historian of the 1970's and now works for the 9/11 Memorial organization.
The memorial is a powerful reminder of both extreme evil
and extreme courage. David walked us through the pre-history of the tragic day, the tragic day, and the personal stories of individuals whose names are engraved on the symbolized ponds where tears of water fall into an abyss of negative space. Most of us were choked up and reliving that horrible day that changed our loss of innocence, the way we perceive the world, the loss of so many lives, and the unsung heroism of civilians and first responders who showed extraordinary courage.
TEARS
Today the memorial and the museum are a shining testimony of human resilience and hope.
The mood in the museum is quiet, reverent, and a flashback of terror for those of us who were old enough to remember the devastating attack.
We walked back to our studio along the Hudson River and the High Line (an abandoned overhead railway that has been converted to a green belt walking trail, providing a high ground perspective of the city. It's a beautiful walk.
A walking sculpture
We log in another 10 miles and our feet feel it. We stop for pizza on the way home.
