“Getting lost is part of getting there.”
The weather doesn’t change. I look out the window and see clouds, more clouds, a sky of clouds. The only saving graces are the warmth, 44˚ and a persistent sun outlined behind the clouds.
I am still in Christmas preparation mode. Today is a baking day and a start wrapping the gifts for Tony and Clare day. It is also, like every day this time of year, a sit in the living room and admire the lighted tree day. It is so very beautiful, and the house is suffuse with its aroma of pine. I smell it as soon as I near the living room. I love that smell. It says Christmas certainly, but it is also says the woods and hiking and eating my lunch under the tall pine trees. I remember following the sandy paths wherever they led. I was never lost.
When I was a kid, I was lost twice. The first time was just after we moved from South Boston. I was around five, and my brother was four. We explored our new neighborhood but went too far afield. We didn’t know our way back, but we didn’t care. We never felt lost. The police found us. The second time was at the drive-in. I was young enough that I was wearing my robe and pajamas. I went to the bathroom and couldn’t find the car afterwards. I went to the office for help. They announced me over the speakers as a lost child. My father came and got me.
On occasion, I have found myself in unfamiliar places, but I am never lost. I am an explorer. I love the unexpected. In Marrakesh, I wandered the souks, not knowing where they led. I found surprises like where they were baking a lamb’s head in a below ground oven. The cook pulled the head up for me to see. I could have done without that, but I smiled and thanked him for the peek. A kid led me to the best restaurant. It was at the rear of a furniture store, and I would never have found it. Part of the restaurant was outside in a garden, and that’s where I sat. It was a lovely lunch, all the better for having been unexpected.
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December 22, 2019 at 12:30 pm
I often find myself in places I had no plan of going, especially when I drive to far away friends 🙂 🙂 but also when I just drive around in this county. I haven’t found any especially interesting places though.
I think I finally will watch the last of the Pirate of the Carribean films today. I have had it for a long time but haven’t looked at it since it got so bad reviews. Today I don’t care because there’s nothing on tv, one would have thought they would like viewers now when christmas is around the corner but apparentkly not 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 22, 2019 at 3:56 pm
The filkm wasn’t that bad at all to be honest.
December 22, 2019 at 4:43 pm
I’m glad you liked it as the review’s were horrible.
December 22, 2019 at 4:28 pm
Hi Christer,
I like wandering. On the cape, though, travel is limited with the ocean on both sides, but there are still some small roads just waiting to be discovered. I love the old captain’s houses.
I watched an old black and white scifi film today. I have seen enough of Christmas for a little bit. I made one cookie and hope to make one more, but I do get tired. My back screams.
We had a lovely sunset today, full of pink and red.
Have a good day!
December 22, 2019 at 4:57 pm
Hi Christer,
On the cape I can pretty much find my way anywhere and from everywhere. Off cape I just go to my destination. I don’t wandered much though on the way home I like to take different roads, smaller than the highway roads.
I have only seen two of the Pirates’ movies. They were good, but I didn’t keep going. I figured two good ones were enough.
Have a wonderful day!
December 22, 2019 at 2:29 pm
Hi Kat,
I’m a person who will turn down a road just because it looks interesting and I’m wondering where it goes. I’ve found a few interesting places that way but nothing so good as a sheep’s head being cooked in a pit oven or even a restaurant at the back of a furniture store. Once, wandering around Rochester, NY, I found a fabulous tiny restaurant tucked in next to a dialysis center in a strip mall. Best French onion soup I’ve had in New England.
The unexpected side effect of getting lost on purpose in my general area of the world is that eventually most of the places connect up to other places that I have been to on other lost occasions. While I might not know where I am or exactly where I’m headed, I know that eventually I will come to some place I have been before. And not because I’m going in a circle, either. 😀
Same weather up here. The sun is bright enough to cast shadows but it’s covered with thin clouds. There is a breeze which makes it feel colder than it is even though it’s warmer than it has been.
Enjoy the day.
December 22, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Hi Caryn,
I love wandering. My friends I often went on mystery rides with only the driver knowing the destination. It was great fun. We’d pack treats and a lunch. Once we ended up at the last weekend of Nantasket and another time we went to Vermont for the day. The only rule was it had to be completed in one day.
My mother and sister often got lost. I seldom did. The joke was they’d tie me up so I could go crazy when they took wrong turns.
In Europe, I always loved walking all over. There were always treasures to find.
The sun did set in a pink and red sky.
Have a great evening!
December 22, 2019 at 4:15 pm
I am pleased to say that I am skipping the Detroit Lions this afternoon. We are off to an Escape Room thing, so if you don’t hear from me, you will know that it did not go well.
Our son and daughter in law are in from Denver but staying with her parents. Guess we will see them when their schedule allows. Such is the way these days
December 22, 2019 at 4:32 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I watched the Pats last night. It was a good game. I hope you were able to escape. It is sometimes tricky!
My sister has her days and her kids’ in-laws have theirs. Christmas Eve is always at my sister’s and the whole family is there. Christmas Day they go to the in-laws. On the 26th my sister and her husband visit Sarah and her three boys at Greeley. They all have the schedule down pat.
December 22, 2019 at 5:57 pm
Hi Kat,
Getting lost today should never happen if you have a smart phone. In the middle of the Cold War the U.S. Air Force launched a series of 24 Global Positioning Satellites that could tell a soldier where he was located anywhere on earth if he had the proper receiver. Today the constellation of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellites System) includes numerous satellites from countries such as China, India, The European Union and ours which can be used by any receiver on earth and give the user location information down to three meters. Modern map databases contain nearly every address, road and highway in the world corrected making navigation easy. Even the Cold War Russian GLONASS System can be used with the proper receiver. Apple iPhones use GLONASS receivers because their orbits are lower giving better location inside buildings.
Regardless of the technology, some folks are just continually lost even with a GPS receiver. 🙂 I have been blessed with a good sense of direction as long as I had a good map and know my initial position. GPS is the gift we received from the Cold War.
Tonight is the first night of Chanukah, the minor Jewish Festival of Lights. We light the first of eight candles one more each night to commemorate the defeat of the Syrian Greeks in 166 BCE and the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. Traditionally we eat fried food to remember that the small amount of sacred oil burned for eight days. I’m a fan of the Israeli tradition of eating jelly donughts, Sufganiyah in Hebrew.
December 22, 2019 at 6:22 pm
Hi Bob,
I think, if you have the time, getting lost is fun. You get to see places you haven’t seen before, maybe an antique shop or a restaurant or an unexpected place. My phone has GPS, but I haven’t had need of it. Like you, I have been blessed with a good sense of direction. Mostly I know where I’m going.
My mother would never have used GPS. If it came with the car, it would have sat there. She did get lost but usually with my aunt or my sister. They were no help, but at least they were good company. I remember my mother and I traveling up to New Hampshire on back roads. We stopped at what looked like fun stores. We got as far as North Conway. We took th4 highway home. It was getting dark.
Thanks you for telling me about Chanukah. I think I’d also be a fan of eating jelly donuts.
December 22, 2019 at 6:54 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention that sometimes my sense of direction causes me to think I know better than the GPS and ignore the directions. 😉 This leads me to discover new neighborhoods and new routes some of which I’d rather not visit. The best feature is that GPS will take you around traffic jams if possible.
December 22, 2019 at 8:03 pm
Here, I don’t need GPS, but, if I drove a lot off cape, I probably would want one.
My father always knew the way according to him. He was never lost even though he didn’t know where we were. He’d ride around hoping for a sign. He wasn’t an asker.
December 22, 2019 at 9:27 pm
Of course your father wouldn’t ask for directions, he was a man. 🙂 I use the GPS going to and from work not for directions but to check for accidents and alternate routes.
December 22, 2019 at 9:59 pm
I think he would not have listened to GPS either.