Like so many, Paris has been on my mind.  Sadly, for all the wrong reasons.  And, it’s not just Paris.  The day before the Paris attacks, 43 were killed and 239 wounded in Beirut, all due to suicide bombers.  Let’s not forget the loss of life on the downed Russian airliner in Egypt, the refugees fleeing Syria and sadly, the continual loss of life here in the United States due to gun violence.

“To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.”  – Helen Keller

Life’s Bread

Standing in the kitchen preparing stir fry veggies and fried noodles for dinner, I giggled to myself as I watched Abi slice a piece of sourdough bread for himself.  Homemade Chinese food with a slice of bread.  Makes me smile every time.  Life’s bread.  I swear it’s in the Persian gene pool.

Put me on a train and you can pretty much color me happy.  I’m still waiting for someone to build railroad tracks across the Atlantic Ocean and I’d never fly again.  Love trains.  Hate planes.  It’s that simple.

I’m beginning to understand why people return to Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago more than once.  When we reached Santiago, the end of our journey, I was beyond exhausted and thought to myself, okay, that was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Jump to the PDF:  Camino de Santiago FAQ

Ask anyone who has walked the Camino de Santiago if they know what a Spanish Tortilla is and I’m betting they’ll say, “Yes!”

Abyaneh, with soil the color of rich terracotta and residents dressed in cultural garb dating back centuries, a walk in Abyaneh is a walk through time.

In 2009 Jimmy Carter wrote an article titled, Losing My Religion for Equality.  I’ve read it before but today it showed up in my Facebook newsfeed. I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook – don’t we all – but today I was thankful to have a second opportunity to read this heartfelt piece. In essence, President Carter broke ties with his church over equal rights for women.  If you haven’t yet read his words, I encourage you to do so.  There is one particular passage I find especially relevant.

To tour or not to tour?  It’s the question we find ourselves asking more and more often as we travel.  Maybe it’s because we have officially retired and are a bit more selective as to how we spend our money, or maybe it’s because we’ve seen a few too many museums and castles.  Whatever the reason, we are more discriminating these days.

When I think of Tehran, I think of traffic; insanely chaotic overflowing the roadways traffic where designated lanes are just a suggestion. When I think of Tehran I think of a hugely populous city where stepping off of the sidewalk to cross the street can be likened to a game of Atari Frogger.