Monday, September 30, 2024

Travel, it's not just about moving around.

Lately I've been hearing a lot about travel, usually meaning coach tour tourism, from people who love it, good for them, and are quite rude about people who don't, not so good for them.

I've had to travel a lot for work and life, and find it tiring and disturbing, not fun and games. It's not related to vacation, really. Some of my best trips have been to familiar local places which don't yield exciting stamps on my passport.

The travel I love is the interior kind, from making, creating, thinking,  reading, paying attention to the lives of other people. It's not about throwing your body around then boring your friends rigid with accounts of holdups in airports, ripoffs conducted in foreign languages, total mileages, you know these well enough to set them to music!

One of my friends who'd traveled in the form of staying long enough to pay rent, receive mail and make friends -- it helps if your job is portable like this -- used to say she didn't count it as travel unless you had a street address, not the American Express office, for mail delivery, an interesting definition. 

So this is where I am this mild rainy Sunday.

In other news, I find that the second spiral sock, several inches of which is done


as you see, turns out to be a different gauge from sock one. I evidently picked up smaller needles when I cast it on, chatting in my group. Oh.  Given how I'll do anything rather than unravel, I now have various decisions. 

Door One. I can continue, making this the first one of a yet another new pair. Door Two.  I can use bigger needles to knit yet another sock,  matching the size to the first sock. Door Three. I can replace two of the current needles on the current sock with bigger ones, to maybe adjust the gauge gradually. At this rate I'll never get away from this @#$% yarn, unless I open Door Three.

Door Three it is. If this doesn't work I may give up everything and buy a ticket to a round the world cruise, just to escape.. Or something.

And the coleus, started in water, is now potted up ready to grow for the winter indoors before moving outside next spring



This is not my garden, it's a shot from a flower show 


Happy day everyone, prayers and vibes and good thoughts to the poor folk in North Carolina who'd give anything right now to just worry about a bit of knitting.

To improve lives in Florida, please, Florida friends, note this when you vote







40 comments:

  1. Travel is a chore. It’s the destination that’s great.

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    1. You're talking about traveling. I'm talking about travel, ie tourism. I'm thinking lightning and the lightning bug!

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  2. My international travel days are over due to increasingly limited mobility, but I'm okay with that. Thank goodness I traveled when I did and saw some special places and things 10-20 years ago.

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    1. I didn't know you had a mobility problem. Sorry to hear that.

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    2. Poor circulation in my lower legs limits how far and how fast I can walk with continuous movement. But I don't use a cane or walker or anything like that, simply because they wouldn't help my issue anyway.

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  3. I have lost the urge to travel. Our day excursions around the island are wonderful. Have a great week, Boud.

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  4. I travelled as a kid and into my twenties. Like you, my current travels are of the interior kind and that is fine by me.

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    1. Yes, you've been around. I wonder if you'll write more about it?

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  5. Good point. When the body can't travel or doesn't want to, the mind can.

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  6. I have friends who travel ALL THE TIME! Almost always by cruise ships although in very different places. They are on a ship to Alaska right now. They just love that lifestyle. It would be a nightmare for me but I do enjoy seeing the pictures they post online.

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    1. I have had cruise mad friends, too. Including an old couple who were quite upset about the big waves and howling winds on one cruise. In the Baltic. In November. They walk among us!

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  7. I was going to choose door #3. I don't understand the allure of cruises. Large city encased in a massive ship. I also travelled as a kid and a young adult. Then I got immersed in horses. There was some travel involved with that, but no ships!

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    1. Horses and ships are a tricky combo! Door #3 seems to be working acceptably.

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  8. My children tend to wear odd socks out of choice so 'sell' it as that?

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    1. These are homeless adults. I send them the best I can do. They've been fobbed off all their lives with seconds. Hence my concern about quality, comfort, all that. I am guessing you forgot it was the knitting ministry. It's all good.

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  9. what David said. if I could just transport myself there are many places I'd like to go and experience.

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  10. Well, I wish I'd read that bit about the Florida Supreme Court justices before I cast my ballot, but oh well. (I skipped the judicial races since I knew nothing about any of the judges in question.) Some people are just not travelers. I like traveling but in moderation -- I can see how it would get old, especially if you do (or did) it a lot for work.

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    1. I was afraid expats might not be up to speed on the judges. But let's hope we catch some people. Traveling for work as I did, out of state three and four times a month, criss crossing the country, ruled it out as fun! Likewise working in public television is why I haven't owned a set in donkeys' years.

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  11. Make socks that sort of match if they are for you.
    My travel is extensive via PBS viewing.

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  12. I like to travel or used to. I've done a little bit and found it fun to be stuck in airports with flights cancelled or not connecting. [Kidding]
    I don't know if I'd do group travel like a cruise or bus thing. Too constrictive. Though I've looked into some hiking travels through REI and they look pretty interesting. One...day!

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    1. Walking tours look interesting, so maybe they'll be in your future.

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  13. I love your concept of interior travel - - it can often be more satisfying than being out and about.

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    1. You're doing quite a bit of it yourself these days.

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  14. If Door Three doesn't work out, I'll lay odds on "Or something".

    No cruises for me, thank you, but I still love a road trip with lots of time to wander and explore off the beaten track. However, the last two ended with totaled cars and dead deer, so not sure when I'll be brave enough to try another one.

    I'm still aghast at Helene's swath of damage.

    Chris from Boise

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    1. It's odd how deer hit you, you don't hit them! Gary has a new dent in his car to show for it.
      The disaster of Black Mountain has really stunned me.

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  15. If you have enough of that yarn I’d just knit two pairs You seem to be able to knit them up rather quickly.
    I do like to travel. But as I have to save up a long time it’s usually ten years between trips. I just don’t know how people can afford to do it every year

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    1. I'm so sick of this yarn, I want to be done with it! I don't have enough to keep starting new pairs. I'll figure it out.
      Your last trip took you all over!

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  16. On travel I'm with your friend who says you need an address, and I would add - 'pay taxes' just to give your self a real taste of what the locals deal with in the forms of bureaucracy that exist out there. (That is when you really find local friends with common interests and complaints.)

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    1. Yes, so true. This is really taking on the local life, not just watching from outside. You've certainly done that.

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  17. Saw your request on Ms Moon’s blog re Barbara Johnson in Black Mountain. Did you mean Barbara Rogers? She was evacuated safely to her cousin In SC. MS Nell

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    1. Yes, I had the name wrong. Thank you so much for the update. Big relief. It was kind of you to come in with this reassurance.

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  18. Wish I could have been of help with the Florida races. My votes, although important, don’t make much difference in California. I’d vote for the around the world cruise, but I’d sooner rip and start all over again. I’m not one for travel for the sake of travel. And a busload... oh, god, no!

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    1. I think you travel to a destination where you plan to live, not trot about sightseeing and getting under the feet of the residents.
      I think even starting over would be preferable to a cruise!

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  19. I hate the physical doing of travel but it's a means to an end (in our case, seeing our family). Last time I completely forgot to take any pictures so no way I could bore my friends with them.

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    1. That's funny about the no pictures! I wonder you didn't have to turn in your grandparent card!

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    2. I rely on our daughter-in-love who takes far better pictures than I ever can and she shares!

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Please read the comments before yours and see if your question is already answered! I've reluctantly deleted the anonymous option, because it was being abused.