Category: Travel
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Long overdue – The Great American Road Trip
For the first time in nearly a year and a half, I have not posted every week. I have good reason – I have been traveling, with kids. Two weeks ago we packed up the house and embarked upon the Great American Road Trip. We have covered 3,000 miles and seven states so far – California, Oregon,…
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Oman – Inspiration for everyday life from a foreign land
Yesterday I returned from a week in Bahrain and Oman. Sometimes travel doesn’t reveal new insights or make a great impact on my worldview. Sometimes a trip simply contributes inspiration for small, everyday decisions. Instead of making my regular cup of coffee some morning, I might mix cardamon in the coffee grounds. Being surrounded by…
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Unexpected bit of Hollywood legend at the San Diego zoo
Meet Winston, a large Galapagos tortoise with a small “2b” painted on his shell. Does his face look familiar? Though you may not have met him in person, the first time you saw his likeness was probably in 1982, or whenever you finally watched the Spielberg film classic E.T. According to the zoo volunteer who was…
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A benefit of being taxed
The IRS is under fire this week, and rightly so. But every time people complain about paying taxes and dealing with the IRS, particularly during tax season, I am reminded of what a blessing it is to live in a country that can collect revenue from its citizens. It does so in a generally effective…
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Calamities and apparel – where clothes go to die
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about death and the apparel industry. Last week over 400 factory workers in Bangladesh were crushed and killed when the factory they worked in collapsed on them. This calamity was manmade and could have been prevented. Those mothers and fathers and children were making clothes headed to the global…
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The luxury of safety
We piled into the minivan (or “mini”, as we affectionately call it, dreaming it’s actually a mini Cooper). I couldn’t tell my Burmese friend no. No, I can’t take you to the hospital because your daughter is too large for that infant carseat and I can’t install it properly. When I showed up at their…
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Looking beyond the “best” cup of coffee
I have more coffee paraphernalia than I need. Six stove top espresso makers (thank you estate sales and thrift stores), French presses, two different types of grinders, a roaster, canisters with various blends and grinds, frothers. . . We like our coffee and we like it good. I guess you can say we’re coffee snobs.…
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Moving to a country in civil war – a letter to my small children
Today I have the very distinct honor of posting a journal entry my mom wrote in 1988 before our family of six moved to Mozambique, a country in the midst of a brutal civil war. Over the course of this last month my mom has shared some personal details from her journals about the challenges…
will travel with kids 