“I’m sorry, ma’am,” said the youthful, not-at-all-sorry, voice on the phone. “The plane has already left, and the pilot can’t just come back and get you. We filed our flight plan with the FAA and we have to follow it. Those are the rules.” There I sat, in the school library in Tiny Town, Alaska, […]
Category: Travel Stories and Other Flights of Fancy
For topics that wander off the beaten path and won’t come back.
Keep your corners clean and sharp!
Author’s note: I wrote this in November of 2022, when I was heading to a long-term substitute teaching job in Tanana, Alaska. There comes a time in most travel episodes when all the careful planning and organization go out the window, and the traveler is reduced to shoving items in wherever they will fit and […]
I know you are, but what am I?
I am keenly aware of my own demographic, especially when traveling. As an upper-middle-aged white woman, I ride the razor’s edge, teetering on the verge of Karen-hood, every time I leave the house. However, I have decided that throwing a fit in public is an acceptable activity, provided you are acting on behalf of someone […]
Of credit cards and first-world problems
Recently, while preparing to embark on a trip to another state, I encountered a snag in the form of evident fraud on my credit card. This was some next-level stuff, appearing as charges to a vendor that I sometimes use. There were four of these charges, and for a while I just wracked my brain. […]
Bread and bears
I wonder if bread is funny in the same way that bears are funny. I compare the two because both, while having the potential to provide merriment, also play a serious role. Bread has been a life-giving staple in the lives of humans since the very beginning of agriculture, while bears can provide humans with […]
The food of the gods
Ah, honey, that magical elixir. Put a dollop in your tea, and it will soothe your sore throat or assuage the ache in your heart, or maybe do both at the same time. It’s delicious by the spoonful and is a natural sweetener that adds some food value and calories. Come to think of it, […]
My Martian vacation
Imagine Planet Mars from the surface of Earth: a bright, reddish star that sometimes appears in the early evening. Think next about the various reports that I had heard growing up: no liquid water, an entire surface bare of any plant or animal life, rocky soil composed mostly of iron oxide, also known as rust. […]
Oddball Earth
I am beyond picky when it comes to reading fiction, but recently I realized that one of my pet peeves isn’t founded in fact. I tend to get really irritated when a science fiction author describes a planet as a “desert planet” or a “jungle planet.” I was muttering about this to my husband one […]
Me, my sisters, and the web-crawling spider-bots
These days I am starting to get a few subscribers to this blog that don’t come from my inner circle of oft-exhorted loved ones. Thank you, new friends! I am eternally grateful to my sisters Mary and Laura, though, because for quite a while it seemed like they comprised my entire audience, and they have […]