A Cottage by the Sea
  • Home
  • On My Mind
  • Quotes
  • Secrets of an Old Woman
  • A Solitary Traveler
  • Compassionate Reading
  • Comfort food
  • Books
  • Suggested reading
  • Poems
  • About me
  • About me and my blog

Solitude memories during the pandemic

11/25/2020

0 Comments

 
PictureTake by my dad during our trip. NOT a picture of me.
I am feeling deeply content with my solitude these days. The pandemic has taken away the need for a calendar, and I love that. Oh, I have things to do and people to keep up with, but most of these lend themselves to solitude. And so, I’ve been thinking about how I loved those cottage days, with weekday after weekday to be filled by my whim.
     But a new memory has appeared, of me, age 19 riding a bike along a country road in Norway. My parents, sister, and I were staying at an inn somewhere in the countryside and my parents had agreed that I could rent a bike and take a ride by myself. Looking back, this may be my first memory as a ‘adult’ of taking off independently. For years my parents had let me bike all over town, both alone and with friends, so that wasn’t new, but biking alone in a foreign country was. I remember talking with my parents about it and then encouraging myself to actually get on the bike and take off. I recall biking on a flat road along a lake and after a half hour or so deciding I’d better turn back so no one would worry about me. I, however, was not worried or afraid, and that freedom has remained with me throughout all my solitary travel.
     What brought this memory forth, this memory which is now so visceral? I’ve been reading The Storm Sister, the second in a series by Lucinda Riley, about a young woman who searches for her roots in Norway. This has led me to start rereading (slowly, one chapter a day) Astrid & Veronika, by my absolute favorite author, Linda Olsson, about two women, one young, one old, each living alone in rural Sweden, who develop a friendship. Why these books? I come back full circle for this love of solitude.

0 Comments

Museum of Russian Icons: a travel alternative

3/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
​My decision to cancel my trip to Italy hasn’t wavered. The best deal I have from the airline is to pay a $175.00 cancellation fee (instead of the usual $300). I’m still pondering whether to take it or wait to see if they cancel the flight entirely. .
    Meanwhile, as I hold onto vacation mode, alternative plans are brewing. As a start, I took a day last week to visit the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA. A jewel of place, with its art work, ambience, and free parking. With very few visitors, I felt like I was walking around alone in a beautiful sanctuary.
      Friday, my flight date, I’m meeting my daughter before she picks up her son for college spring break. I’m considering a three night retreat and/or a few nights in Maine. Stay tuned.

0 Comments

Change of plans

2/26/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
 ​Due to the Coronavirus, I’ve cancelled my 3/6-3/20 trip to Italy.  There is too much uncertainty: the healthy issue, and the possibility that I could get over there and then not get home easily. My idea of solitude does not include being sequestered at the Marriott Hotel at Logan Airport!
    Before I go on, let me acknowledge that I consider this disappointment not worth crying, complaining, or feeling sorry about. After all, it is my good fortune that has created it.
    That being said, how do we deal with disappointment when something we want and feel right about has been taken away? I have no control over the Coronavirus, but I can control what I do NOW in terms of my time and activity. For the past twenty years my solitary trips to Italy have been important stepping stones on my life journey.
   Now, what will I do during the two upcoming weeks? What will replace walking the streets of Rome and Florence, visiting the museums, and enjoying Italian cuisine? I don’t know. It’s been less than twenty-four hours since I started cancelling my reservations. I do know, however, that what is before me is a combination of the choices I can make and the mystery and miracles of the unknown. Stay tuned.

0 Comments

Solitude in Italy--again

8/27/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​My need for an extensive period of solitude is emerging just at the right time. I make my Italy plans at least four months before I think I’ll be ready for the change of pace, and then as the departure date looms, I always say, “Yes, it is time.”
    Don’t get me wrong. My wonderful life is full of solitude. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: one of the reasons I love getting off for two weeks of solitary travel is that I have good things in place in my life--friends and family, health, and church community. For many, the amount of solitude I have at home would be enough. But for some reason, I love the day after day of truly being alone.
     “You must meet interesting people when you travel,”  a friend commented.
      “No, I don’t. Maybe once or twice I chat with someone at the table next to me at a restaurant, and every fall I spend one day either in Rome or Florence with long time friends. That’s about it.
      Off I go on September 11; six nights in Rome,  and eight in Florence. Home on the 26th.  Very grateful.

0 Comments

Rediscovering travel with Seth Kugel

5/23/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​The other evening at the library I heard a delightful talk by Seth Kugel, the New York Times’s “Frugal Traveler” from 2010 to 2016 , and author of the recently published Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious.
    Seth writes as he talks, telling engaging stories, offering useful tips, and blurting out an array of valuable insights that whirl around in his hyperactive mind. Whatever our age, and however and wherever we travel, he suggests that we go off the well-beaten track and try something new.
      Like me, Seth usually travels solo. Although I am a somewhat adventuress traveler, which of course one has to be when traveling alone, I’m inspired anew to wander off the tourist’s physical and psychological trampled-down path and rediscover the new and curious of Edinburgh (June 12-20). I’m ready and very grateful to be going. 

0 Comments

Traveling solo v.v. with others

4/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
     ​IPhoto is back working thanks to the younger generation. I thought the cause of the breakdown was too many pictures, but no, ‘it just happens’. We’ve been on the move with little time for writing. Again, need I say it is very different having traveling companions.
• I go where I want on whim v.v. discussing plans ahead of time.
• I walk fast v.v  adjusting to the pace of others.
• I walk with an intentional destination in mind v.v. stopping to window shop.
• I have no one to talk with v.v. chatting and pointing out sights.
 
Being a solo traveler isn’t better, it’s just different. I prefer solo unless it’s with people I love. That’s the way it is this week. 

0 Comments

Vicarious and real joy~

4/4/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
​I’m sitting here in the AR (Angel Room), looking at a painting of the Duomo by my niece Amy Jennings, and anticipating that in 24 hours Jim will be driving me to the Logan Airport bus. I fly Dublin-Rome and take a train to Florence to spend ten days in the shadow of this awesome church.
    Yesterday Jim announced how happy he was anticipating my trip, both for me and for him. “I get to travel vicariously when you go, and I know you love it so.”
      How lucky am I? I get to give him joy by giving myself joy, and he gets to give me joy by doing the same for himself. This isn’t only about anticipating; it’s about cherishing the moment, which is all we really have, just moment after moment, Now after Now. 

0 Comments

Travel vent~

9/21/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
     The good thing about traveling alone is that you spend less time and energy venting about things that don’t go right. The bad thing about traveling alone is that you have no one to vent to when things don’t go right.
     Here’s my vent, to the computer, and to any of you readers who care to hear it. Of course by the time I post this I’ll be home, dealing in dollars not euros, and my vent will have lost its energy.
     But here it is. I had to pay 50 euro to check my suitcase from Florence to Paris. I assume that somewhere in the fine print on my ticket was the notification of this added expense but I was shocked, because up until now on overseas flights one bag flies for free. Evidently the rule has changed for inexpensive tickets, at least when the first leg of the flight is in Europe. (I wasn’t charge coming over here). I could have upgraded to business class for a mere $350.00 and then I assume my bag would have traveled free.
    Now that I’ve vented, let me confess that I am most fortunate and very grateful that I can afford a trip to Florence. And, let me admit that I’m glad to be home.

0 Comments

Solitude and community in Vermont

8/15/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
    ​Today I want to talk about solitude (not politics). To do this, however, I also must mention family and friends. You see, I can’t have my solitude unless I have other loving humans in my life. Without them, I would be lonely and loneliness isn’t included in my definition of solitude.  
     We spent last weekend with family at Lake Dunmore in Vermont—a flow of community was solitude. Take a look. 


0 Comments

Life is good--Wheaties,  Vermont and books

8/5/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
      Oh, the lazy days of summer. A slow pace for this blog. Here’s a little catch up.
     Most important is Wheaties. Thank you thank you to the several friends who have bought me a box or two. For now, the shelves have been replenished, although with the old design. I have not idea what to expect when these are consumed. And, how long will that take? Which gets me wondering how long those little wheat flakes sit in a box—months? Years?
     Last week my husband and I spent two night in Vermont, and this weekend we return for a family reunion. Thankfully the three and a half hour drive is primarily along winding roads through idyllic New England towns.
     Some friends just sent me long lists of books they are reading, so tonight, as I listen to the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the fourth time in a row, I will go on line and see what books I can get from inter-library loan.
     Life is good and for that, I am very grateful.

0 Comments
<<Previous
    Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com

    Categories

    All
    3rs
    3S's
    Aging
    Andre Dubus Iii
    Ann Patchett
    Anticipation
    Art
    Assisi
    Barbara Kingsolver
    Being Alone
    Beyond Words
    Books
    Cantice Of The Sun
    Celebrations
    Choices
    Churches
    Community
    Cor
    Cottage By The Sea
    Cottage Day
    Courage
    Curiosity
    Dad
    Dalai Lama
    Death And Dying
    Depression
    Desiderata
    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
    Donald Hall
    Dr Alex Tang
    Edinburgh
    Eleanor Lerman
    Emily Dickinson
    Environment
    Esther De Waal
    Faith
    Field Trip
    Florence
    Follow Your Bliss
    Food
    Friendship
    Frugal
    Gifts
    Giving And Receiving
    Gratitude
    Health
    Heart
    Hermits
    Hope
    Impermanence
    Independent And Close
    Inspire & Affirm & Encourage
    Introvert
    Iona
    Ireland
    Italy
    James Hollis
    Jane Austen
    Jan Sutch Pickard
    Joan Chittister
    John Dear
    John Masefield
    Joseph Campbell
    Katherine Paterson
    Knitting
    Li
    Lonely
    Longing
    Love
    Marsha Sinetar
    Mary Oliver
    Max Ehrmann
    Meaning
    Memories
    Mom
    Moving
    Museums
    My Day
    Nature
    Nina Sankovitch
    Now
    Pamela Dalton
    Paris
    Passion
    Paulo Coelho
    Peace
    Philip Koch
    Place
    Play
    Prayer
    Present Moment
    Quiet
    Rachel Carlson
    Radical Compassion
    Read
    Reading
    Resolutions
    Restlessness
    Retirement
    Rita Golden Gelman
    Robert Kull
    Rome
    Routines
    Sankovitch
    Scotland
    Seen In A Draper's Shop
    Service
    Silence
    Sim
    Simplicity
    Skye
    Soli
    Solitude
    Soul Work
    Space
    St Catherine Of Siena
    St. Francis
    Stress
    Susan Gain
    Tenzin Palmo
    Thanksgiving
    The Uncommon Reader
    Thomas Keating
    Thomas Merton
    Three Sieves
    Time
    Travel
    Tru
    Viktor E. Frankl
    Walking
    Wonder
    Writi
    Writing

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.