African Safari

Anticipation, travel and Nairobi

The tension and anxiety that I always feel as a trip approaches escalated before our trip to Africa.  My apprehension about... which safari company and which specific safari... and which other destinations to include after our safari... was likely aggravated by fears about terrorism.  The terrorist attack on the mall in Nairobi had occurred after we bought our plane tickets to Nairobi.  Hamilton and I talked seriously about abandoning this Africa trip that we had wanted for years to undertake.  I struggled with a sense of panic and disaster, such that I had to eliminate coffee from my diet

Japan and South Korea 2010

My sister Mary and I travel to Japan and South Korea

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The IDEA is hatched - October 21 - Bennington VT, United States

When my niece Jennifer and her fiance accepted a posting to South Korea, I was not surprised that my sister Mary made plans to go to visit her daughter. When Mary, thinking of stopping somewhere warm en route to Korea, asked if I was interested in a winter vacation in Hawaii, my answer was "sure, but I'd really like to go all the way to Asia." We discovered that both of us would most like to be away from home in November when the autumn colors are gone and winter darkness, and sometimes blues, close in. Time and finances ruled out a stop in Hawaii, but Lonely Planet guidebooks on Japan and Korea presented adventures enough for dozens of months more than the one we have.Being unable to read straight through a guidebook, I proceed by fits and starts, looking at and combining LP suggested itineraries, surfing the internet for discount flights within Japan, ways of crossing to Korea, ways of evaluating whether the Japan Rail Pass is worthwhile for our itinerary, and accommodation ranging from youth hostels to Japanese inns or ryokan. Making each actual booking, I feel the anxiety of uncertainty whether it's the right decision, even though I know travel is full of uncertainties, and there are many different roads to travel and each might be "right" just in different ways. I reward myself for decisions made by letting myself indulge in the tangible pleasure of throwing clothing candidates for the trip on the guest bed, along with camera, passport and travel paraphernalia. 9 days to departure and I am starting to wake early with pre-trip excitement, revisions to my to-do list, and another day of tasks and mental activity divided between Vermont and northern Asia.

Alberta, Canada June 2013

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Flying to Alberta, Canada in June to visit my parents and sisters, I had a number of people exclaim that they hoped I was not going to Calgary. A state of emergency had been declared in the city following historic flooding due to a record snowfall in the Rocky Mountains combined with an extremely rainy month of June.

Elbow River in flood

I was indeed headed for Calgary, where my sister Mary lives in Lakeview, a district so unaffected by the flooding that TV filming of the disaster in the other Calgary districts of Bowness and Elbow Park looked like images of third world disasters from the opposite side of the world.

First Glimpse of Japan

Fishing boats

look alive

bobbing on the waves

but on islands

half obscured by clouds

fields

roads

towns

are too distant

to show a human face

I think of bombers

during the Pacific War

bringing death

I see mountains

green

alien

beautiful

I begin to encounter

islands of the “Divine Wind”

kamikaze

where my experiences are

yet to be

unpredictable

sacred.

First Snow

Watching the first snow fall
I want to be
like children in Tokyo
running outside
with outstretched arms
and open mouths
to greet the only snowfall
of the year.

The Japanese Bowl

I unwrap
your gift
a Japanese bowl
lacquered
multilayered
intricate

reading that you
"have one just like it"
I see us as two beautiful bowls
on opposite sides
of the ocean

I regret leaving my bowl
too long encased in its wrapping

not knowing it was mine to use
I ate off old china
from other people's cellars.

The Intensity of Newness

When I returned from Asia
my native land
was a new country

that spring
the crocus bloomed for weeks
I made repeated pilgrimages
to see them
mauve
yellow
purple
white
and striped

the next year
April was the shortest month
the crocus bloomed briefly
before I noticed
and were gone.