In this time of Corona, spending this much time at home is a revelation. I love my home and garden and neighbors and neighborhood. I feel so blessed to have landed here. It is possible that all of my travels informed my choices subconsciously. I am so happy to be at home. I just read this in The Little Bookshop at Big Stone Gap, and it resonated.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by–
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat
Nor hurl the cynic’s ban–
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
and be a friend to man.
-Sam Foss “The House by the Side of the Road,” from Dreams in Homespun.
From my front porch I watch the world go by and interact with my neighbors from a safe physical distance. We can care for one another, check in daily, and I know that I am also seen. The energy that I use to interact with strangers when I travel, I am now spending to get to know my neighbors at a deeper level. It feels good and we enjoy a stronger community as we all expand our circle of caring.
Today is the Rosa Parks birthday and the day we celebrate her tremendous contribution to liberty and freedom in the United States. Her humility and bravery are an example to people struggling for dignity and human rights around the world.
I was reminded of the importance of knowing her whole story by a TED Talk by David Ikard (also a podcast on TED Talks Daily 2/3/20). Professor David Ikard recommends reading Rosa Park’s autobiography, and I purchased it this morning from Powells. She is much more interesting than the abridged version usually told in the 30 seconds we generally give history.
The Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University in Montgomery, Alabama is also a must see.
As the film opened in 1987 on a rural highway in Alabama, I began to sweat as I realized that I wasn’t prepared for the suspense involved in watching Just Mercy. The film tells the start of real-life Bryan Stevenson’s career as he discovers his calling to work on systemic injustice in Alabama. This movie focuses on his first cases and Jamie Foxx stars as Walter McMillan, one of his early clients who was falsely accused of murder and awaiting a death sentence.
How do you make a legal case dramatic? Pick relevant topics: unequal judicial systems largely because of race and poverty, the importance of truth and the rule of law. Then tell the story in a way that we can root for the characters played by an excellent cast. Michael B. Jordan produced the film and plays the founding attorney of Equal Justice Initiative with such stoicism and self-control.
For Stevenson is a man to be admired and his work, not just in working with people wrongly accused, but also in working for systemic change in the judicial system for children tried as adults and given life sentences or death penalties, makes him heroic. Add to this writing a powerful book, Just Mercy, and then creating the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum in Montgomery. This was the draw for my Civil Rights Crawl and inspired me to write my travel guide. Thank you Mr. Stevenson.
There are many tough moments to watch in the film. I squirmed at various points, and dove under my sweater as it became clear that we may see an electrocution on death row. I don’t know what was finally shown because I had my eyes shut tight. It was intended to be horrifying and succeeded.
There were many stories in the book that could have been the focus of the film. It is interesting that the screenwriter chose to focus on Mr. McMillan’s story as it is set in Monroeville, Alabama, the home of Harper Lee (author of To Kill a Mockingbird). At one point a cheerful denizen of Monroeville asks Stevenson if he’s been to the Mockingbird Museum in the old courthouse. “You can see where Atticus Finch stood.” At this point the irony is hip deep.
The Equal Justice Initiative’s work is ongoing. Stay till the end so you can see the “where are they now” facts as the credits role. The corrupt sheriff featured in the McMillan case was re-elected six more times before retiring in 2019.
This is one of a series of occasional reviews of resources you may want to check out before visiting Alabama for your Civil Rights Crawl. Not everyone finds reading pleasurable, so it is good to be able to watch this 2 hour and 16 minute film. It is rated PG-13 and would be suitable to watch with groups of people 13 and over with discussion afterward.
Paperback available on Amazon or wholesale from Ingram Spark
With a great deal of nervous excitement I am pressing the “go” button to launch my first for-sale travel guide. I know I am more anxious than I realized because I woke up in the middle of the night wondering if I should launch given that we may soon be at war with Iran. Just another example of how thoughts in the middle of the night should be re-examined in the morning.
This is a personal milestone on several levels. I’ve been writing this blog (and other blogs since 2011. I wrote a mystery with National Novel Writing Month in 2011, but decided it wasn’t ready for public sharing. I kept writing and searching for my voice. I am continuing this quest, and I’m ready to share my first travel guide. Other than academic writing I did about 30 years ago, this is my first published book!
I am writing under the pen name of J.A. Pieper in part to set my blog and travel writing apart from my work as a consultant. Also, I am using Pieper because it honors the little girl and avid reader who wanted to be a fiction writer or a journalist someday. I had a thin skin so when I received lots more encouragement from my art teachers than my english teachers, I moved toward the visual arts. Today my skin is thicker, although not as tough as an elephant hide, so I am willing to risk more.
I don’t suffer any delusions about publishing. I am not quitting my day job (besides it is very fulfilling). Just as I love creating visual art, I love the process of exploring a place, blogging about it, then writing a guidebook, asking a colleague to edit (thanks Jane), then figuring out the design with a colleague (thanks Rebekah), then working through the publishing decisions with another colleague (thanks LK). And then collaborating with my daughter Sarah on the launch. It is really lovely to work with such positive people.
I am still on a learning curve. I have more to learn about the promotional side of bookselling. I want people to go on this civil rights adventure, so I want to get the word out. Let me know if you have ideas on this score.
There is a press kit on the On Your Radar Media Co. website.
Books are available on Amazon or if you a wholesaler at Ingram Spark.
This view of Rangitoto from St. Heliers Bay is always happiness-inducing.
The travel writing world is continually creating lists of where you should travel next. Barcelona, Morocco, Cape Town, or Singapore? It is too hard to decide, so you decide to go to Hawaii, again. (Or in my case New Zealand.) Vacations days are few and travel can be expensive, so it can feel like a big risk to try something like a safari in Kenya.
My recent New Zealand vacation is the first overseas trip where I have listened to podcasts everyday along the way. (I figured out how to download them on the podcast app Breaker when I have wifi access.) And on the Hidden Brain podcast from NPR “You 2.0: Decide Already!” Daniel Gilbert Stumbling on Happiness Harvard Professor, I learned why we might hit repeat instead of trying something new.
Imagine a future event, such as where you will live in retirement. Many of my friends have made decisions recently about retirement living with either a decision to stay in their long time home or a decision to move. One couple chose a active senior community with a beautiful apartment and lots of community activities and space; another couple chose a smaller but still gracious water adjacent apartment walking distance to many of their favorite places; another couple chose to stay in their longtime home but hire repairmen instead of the usual DIY. Each seems very happy with their choice. In each case it seems that they selected something not so distant from what their lifestyle was already because they were already happy.
When we think of the future we tend to focus on a few key details; and only one or two of the many, many details that are part of the experience. So they might notice the square footage of the apartment but not how many other apartments are on the floor and the number of daily interactions that it implies, or the pet policies and how that might impact you. I was impressed that the apartments in Meadowbank allowed a 90 day-no risk trial period. The community-oriented lifestyle is not for everyone and if you don’t get on with your neighbors it’s better for everyone if you opt out, rather than remain unhappily. I recently met a very lovely, cheerful 96-year old who exercised the opt out clause because she was being bullied at the senior community she tried.
Fortunately travel isn’t as high stakes as retirement living. Nonetheless, it is a real drag if your limited vacation time and savings involves a dud tour with obnoxious people. All the research might have pointed to an enjoyable experience, but we don’t know who we will be when we experience that event; imagination rarely matches the experience; we underestimate how much we’ll change. This happened to me when I tried to recreate the first Tour de France experience I had on Thomson bike tours . My experience with the group I traveled with in the Alps was so much fun, and a two of the couples were going to go on the Tour d’Italia. Alas the chemistry wasn’t the same within the group and I ended up counting the days till I was traveling on my own again. I enjoyed Venice even more for being free from the oppressive group dynamic.
Don’t rely on imagination; look for data. Gilbert recommends finding measures of the happiness of the people doing what you think you might like doing. I have also found it really helps to know yourself and correctly apply the data to your situation. If you despise crowds then going to one of the “top 10 travel destinations” is probably not a good fit unless you can travel during off-season.
This Global Citizen ranking equated happiness with values I share: “What stands out about the happiest and most well-connected societies is their resilience and ability to deal with bad things,” said report co-editor John Helliwell, referencing New Zealand. “After the 2011 earthquake and now the terrorist attack in Christchurch, with high social capital, where people are connected, people rally and help each other and [after the earthquake] rebuild immediately.”
Gilbert also highly recommends using surrogation, that is relying on other people’s experience as a guide for your own. There are many platforms now that facilitate this: Yelp, Trip Advisor and others. Just remember even crowds can be biased; but you may share those biases. They are not perfect tools; however, Trip Advisor can round out your imagination and give your more detail to consider. Maybe the experience you were thinking of adding to your itinerary based on a friend at Book Club’s recommendation is panned on-line by someone who found it claustrophobic. And you get claustrophobia.
Gilbert gave the example of choosing a movie–people prefer relying on the trailer over more detailed reviews by people who’ve seen it. We like to “trust our gut” because we live in the illusion of diversity (we are all so unique), when in reality, the reviews are a more reliable guide.
There is also a role in making a commitment to increasing our happiness. We think we’ll prefer keeping options open, but Gilbert’s research says committing to your choice will result in greater happiness. And we like a little mystery and surprise–not a a lot, just a little.
I choose New Zealand again and again. Similarly my adult children and I choose Monterey get aways every year, because I trust my own experience more than any travel writer’s opinion. I always have a wonderful experience when I go to New Zealand and I can create new adventures there so I still get some variety. I know that what makes me and my children happiest is beach access, trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Gianni’s pizza. We are perfectly right to book another condo in Pacific Grove or Monterey. To put a cherry on top, add some mystery–new restaurants, or new beaches–and the research says you will be even happier.
This is what the research says. What’s your experience?
There is a sign as you enter old town Oamaru that says Steampunk HQ. It could just as easily say Eccentric HQ. This is saying something for New Zealand.
An eccentric is someone who dances to their own tune with very little concern for cultural norms. They often pursue their passions single-mindedly and with an unusual perspective.
There are a lot of eccentric people in America, but per capita, I’d place a bet that New Zealand has more. I’ve met Kiwis pursuing excellence in playing piano at midlife, people making films self-taught, lots of poets, and more. In Akaroa is the Giant’s House garden. In Nelson, someone started the World of Wearable Art.
In David Harbourne’s book, Penguins Under the Porch, he profiles many people in the Oamaru area with an eccentric streak. I’ve just shared Dot’s Castle . Just down the highway is Fleurs Place where Fleur makes the most amazing seafood where her closest neighbor are the Moeraki Boulders. There is the community of steampunk officiandos and people who love dressing up in Victorian dress.
I stayed at a proper Bed and Breakfast. Federation House is over 100 years old and for several decades it has been the restoration project of owner and host, Rodger McCaw. I enjoyed an off season room rate and Rodger showed me round the whole house in the morning. The views from the common room and some bedrooms is incomparable. The decor is quirky and comfortable. It was fun to remember the individuality of the classic B&B.
Saturday morning farmers market setting up at foot of hill. The penguin experience is just beyond at the harbor, and Federation House is halfway up the hill on the right.
If you are driving down Highway 1, Oamaru is great place to stay a night or two.
Paripuma is located in the heart of the Marlborough wine district, on the shores of Queen Charlotte Sound near Blenheim, New Zealand
Do you love gardens? You don’t have to love gardening (the sweaty, getting dirty bit) to appreciate a great garden but it helps. With dirt under your fingernails, you quickly deepen your appreciation, because you realize the role that climate, soil, and cold hard cash play in creating a garden. Time is also required for plants to mature and reveal the vision of the gardener. The garden is ultimately the result of hard work for hours and hours every week in all sorts of weather. You might be able to hire labor, but the only guarantee of success is to do a lot of it yourself. Finally, the creative spirit is revealed. Just as not every painting is a masterpiece, not every garden is world class.
Paripuma is world class.
Rosa started with clay and gravel. She said that as soon as she planted native plants she began to see the soil come alive.A great garden relates graciously to its home and other buildings.
The gardener Rosa Davison is a classic self-effacing Kiwi. She lets her garden speak for itself. Since 1999, she has transformed a landscape that would have said “hopeless” to a normal person. She had a different vision. Over time it expanded to include a second home and transformation of home #1 into accommodation. Exploring the various rooms of the garden and walking through the buildings, I don’t see evidence of any ugly mistakes. I suspect that Rosa’s eye for beauty has resulted in a consistent and enduring quality. She also has painted her landscape with native plants and New Zealand has a lot to offer.
Kitchen garden in winter.
She is currently pursuing a passion for butterflies and pollinator plants. Her intense enthusiasm, that is less articulated in words and expressed in plants, is the mark of an extraordinary gardener, as is her evolving interests.
I forgot to ask Rosa the name of the grey shrubs that provide contrast and structure in the middle frame. She responded: The plant is Muehlenbechia astonii … It became quite rare in the wild (from stock grazing) but is now much planted in gardens and sometimes on median strips. It is interesting as it is ‘divaricating’ – which means its little branchlets turn in on themselves to become never-endingly tangled – something a lot of NZ plants do – especially when juvenile! Apparently this was to protect themselves from browsing moas ! Truly ! Often when they grow higher (out of reach of the moas) their foliage completely transforms ie lancewoods (Pseudopanax ferox).
A world class garden also inspires, and I was impacted by the garden. I noted ideas I want to include in my much smaller, very different garden, such as including plants that in winter offer contrast and structure. The biggest discovery was the side aisle to the main show that extends from the house toward the sea. I paced it out and the main garden has a 30 “foot” swath of lawn down the middle, whereas the side garden is just 10 feet. I realized I think small. I would feel audacious to create a ten-foot aisle, and yet the impact is when you go big. That takes moxie! Why am I reluctant to express my vision? I need to stop self-editing and create the garden I love.
My adventure started with a book called Gardenlust by Christopher Woods, I saw that there were three gardens in New Zealand and I began researching if I could visit whilst here. Paripuma is the only garden open in winter (recall that the Southern hemisphere is just peeping into Spring in September). I also discovered that I could actually stay in accommodation and enjoy the garden at my leisure. I quickly reorganized my plans to begin my NZ adventure in Blenheim with a two-night stay at Paripuma. You can too. Indeed, if your budget can manage (it is really good value) and you are looking to relax, then this is a unique experience and Mike and Rosa Davison are terrific hosts.
Blenheim is in the heart of the Marlborough wine district. It is a popular destination for wine tasting, weddings, or a romantic get-away. And people live here (about 26,000). Their town is practical. I enjoyed the sewing shop and the ladies at Whitcoulls bookshop and their reading suggestions. Then I was looking for the information centre and I got a little lost and so discovered the most charming part of town.
This beautiful urban space is part of a redevelopment of the rail way into a trail and park. The beautiful government building and creative use of gabion retaining walls in the landscaping inspire.
The lovely ladies at Whitcoulls helped me find a couple of books by New Zealand authors. I read When It All Went to Custard by Danielle Hawkins in the next 24 hours and enjoyed it. Perfect to revel in a farm-town romance n the middle of an all-star agricultural region. Now I’m reading their second recommendation, The Ice Shelf by Anne Kennedy.
My plane landed from Auckland at 9:30 a.m. It took no time to exit the plane and pick up my bag. The only snag in my plan was collecting my rental car from Europcar. There was no one at the office, and multiple attempts to contact didn’t result in a response, so after 1.5 hours I canceled my reservation and rented from Budget (and saved money!)
What worked like a charm was my visit to Blenheim’s top pie baker, The Bureleigh. I enjoyed a steak and blue cheese pie for lunch at the picnic bench outside the shop. I sat in the winter sun questioning whether I needed my winter wool coat, and so thankful I visited Blenheim.
I saw the trailer a few months ago and made a mental note to see the film. Cate Blanchett is completely believable as a genius architect who has become a social menace. I was rooting for her the whole way. All of the actors were excellent. Although you have to wonder, when Billy Crudup plays another self-absorbed man, if in fact he’s playing himself.
I had not read the book, by the same name.
My mom and I like to go to the movies together. We generally like the same kind of films: No violence! This takes out 80 percent or more of the options. We prefer lively plots involving well-developed characters. Good acting is a plus. Even with such liberal requirements we can go months without a movie worthy of our entertainment dollars. We thoroughly enjoyed this film.
I also loved the penguins! The film begins with Bernadette in a kayak in Antarctica, so I don’t need to worry about creating a spoiler. I enjoyed the details about the science focused cruises they book, the reality of seasickness on Drake’s Passage, and the new design for the South Pole research center (shown during the credits).
I got to thinking about my own goal to visit Antarctica with my grandson when he is old enough (must be over 8 for most cruises). How do we visit responsibly? The climate crisis is hitting some parts of the world more than others. And we watched this movie while the news of the Amazon rainforest fires broke. I appreciate how Afar travel magazine tackles these hard issues. Should we travel at all, and especially climate-impacted places, if our travel might hasten the crisis (excerpt of 8-23-2019 article by Michelle Baran above)?
First, you might choose to go because the areas where Amazon eco-tourism is available is not threatened by fire; however, as a Californian with experience dealing with megafire smoke, I have to warn anyone with lung issues that the smoke can be a serious health threat. The photo of Sao Paolo in darkness at 2 p.m. must be taken seriously by anyone with asthma. Smoke also creates a really depressing environment for a vacation.
Second, there is a case that Afar makes to go ahead and visit the more sustainable ecotourism providers to strengthen the case to local governments that the rainforest is worth more as a tourist and environmental resource than it is for its short-lived timber or cattle production. Other ethical suggestions include: 1) Look for carbon neutral travel providers; 2) Eat only locally produced grassfed beef; 3) Do not use tropical hardwoods in building and furniture. My initial reaction is this is insufficient.
At the same time, I am not traveling just to increase my status as a someone who goes to the hard to reach places, and I am willing to share why these places need to be managed differently on this blog and other places. If I am willing to grapple with the accompanying socio-economic issues, and educate my network of family and friends, then maybe I can justify the impact.
Do you wear a watch when you travel? Or do you rely on your phone as a timepiece?
I am planning the last minute details of my New Zealand trip at the end of the month. I am not going to bring my watch. At first, my reason was primarily the hassle of keeping it charged with its own charger (thanks Apple). Then I began reading a book about different concepts of time and how they affect our relationships with God and others in Becoming Friends of Time by John Swinton. The first chapter is about o’clock, a concept I first explored with my friend UK Sarah. She and Roy are very o’clock and I realize that I have become very much so since I left New Zealand. When I was living there in 2011, I was redesigning my life and intentionally being instead of doing. Now as a consultant my life is defined so much by $ per hour that I’ve lost the stake of my redesign (and it is Sarah and Roy who are being more than doing).
I am so looking forward to my two weeks in New Zealand, and yet my joy is dampened by worrying about the time I won’t have to earn $/hour. I justify my trip by plans to work on my penguin viewing guide. Why is it not enough to be in beautiful places and enjoy friends and make space for meeting new friends?
As Swinton writes:
The desirable state for human beings living within Standard Average European Time is to be able to handle the economics of time efficiently in a world that adores speed, loves intellectual prowess (quickness of mind), and worships comfortably at the altar of competitiveness, productivity, efficiency, and self-sufficiency (using your time well on your own behalf). The implication is that to live humanly is to live one’s life effectively according to a series of culturally constructed time tracks that are laid out according to the fixed and relentless rhythm of the two-handed clock… (p 31)
I want to glean the benefits of living in this moment, and this moment, and this moment. “Living in the present moment” is a catch phrase popular among new agers and Oprah fans. Yet few of us manage it on a regular basis. Vacations are unique opportunities to do this if we allow ourselves to move with an open schedule.
I am going to fly to Auckland and then on to Blenheim. The first two nights are reserved for experiencing an amazing garden and then I’m traveling with only a few set points on the calendar. My day on the Dunedin peninsula is scheduled so I can be sure to try a particular restaurant and see Yellow-eyed Penguins. Again, when I’m in Auckland, I have a few days set apart and the rest is very much open.
I realize that I’ve moved much farther than I ever intended from my redesign. I was right to think more would be possible in New Zealand than if I stayed in the United States. My return trip gives me an opportunity to reexamine my priorities and reset the clock (haha).
It may sound a little crazy but I believe God also gave me the gift of Grand Designs (on Netflix or BBC 4), Season 15, Episode 9. This episode follows a family in Hertfordshire who crafted their house for 10 years and they still were not finished. The first time I watched it I had so much judgement, and then I watched it again and I began to feel envy, and then I watched it again and I felt inspired.
Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how my intention to be present works out on this Kiwi Adventure. And I’m definitely not taking the watch.
Today is the Rosa Parks birthday and the day we celebrate her tremendous contribution to liberty and freedom in the United States. Her humility and bravery are an example to people struggling for dignity and human rights around the world.
How do you make a legal case dramatic? Pick relevant topics: unequal judicial systems largely because of race and poverty, the importance of truth and the rule of law. Then tell the story in a way that we can root for the characters played by an excellent cast. Michael B. Jordan produced the film and plays the founding attorney of 
There is a sign as you enter old town Oamaru that says Steampunk HQ. It could just as easily say Eccentric HQ. This is saying something for New Zealand.
In David Harbourne’s book, 
The lovely ladies at Whitcoulls helped me find a couple of books by New Zealand authors. I read 
What worked like a charm was my visit to Blenheim’s top pie baker, The Bureleigh. I enjoyed a steak and blue cheese pie for lunch at the picnic bench outside the shop. I sat in the winter sun questioning whether I needed my winter wool coat, and so thankful I visited Blenheim.
I got to thinking about my own goal to visit Antarctica with my grandson when he is old enough (must be over 8 for most cruises). How do we visit responsibly? The climate crisis is hitting some parts of the world more than others. And we watched this movie while the news of the Amazon rainforest fires broke. I appreciate how 
As Swinton writes:
americanjulie.com 