Before traveling to Oman, I knew little more than the country’s general location on the Arabian Peninsula, and the few travel blogs I found mostly focused on outdoor activities (visiting the famous wadis) and on proper attire. Definitely worth noting: Oman is a Muslim nation and women are expected to cover themselves from neck to…
Tag: Explore
Book Review: We Came, We Saw, We Left
It is quite possible I was first drawn to “We Came, We Saw, We Life—A Family Gap Year” by Charles Wheelan, because of its striking yellow cover and very simple design. It gave “Little Miss Sunshine” vibes with a bright blue van driving off the edge of the book. Then I saw the tag: “Nine…
Away
If I never left I could not understand contentment. For being away is the only way to come home. Then when I stay and wait, the journey feels a gift. Without one, I can’t truly love the other, Travel: ‘tis a most ingenious paradox Cue the music. Book the trip. Go away. 8.12.22 | SDG
Book Review: A Country Doctor
I’m writing this book review on a coach bus en route from Prague to Heidelberg, Germany. It’s scheduled to be a six-hour trip so I have plenty of activities to keep myself entertained—although admittedly my favourite thing to do is probably just staring out the window in silence. However, I just finished reading A Country…
Ireland | 2023
For the second year in a row, my family was able to schedule an international vacation over the Christmas holiday. Fortunately, by December 2022, many of the travel restrictions and adjustments that we dealt with the previous year in traveling to Paris were lifted. Although traveling is always a gift to be treasured, it sure…
Book Review: The Hiding Place
I remember my paternal grandmother recommending that I read The Hiding Place when I was in middle school. At that time, I had a healthy obsession with World War II era stories. I loved reading The Diary of Anne Frank and was fascinated by my grandparents’ French neighbors who had participated in the French Resistance…
Peaks & Valleys
I have been unemployed now for almost six weeks. More accurately, I have been minimally employed for almost six weeks. Last November, after a summer of lots of soul searching, I decided that the time had come for me to quit my full-time day job to have more time for working on books (three very…
A Year in Review
There’s nothing quite so humbling as revisiting the goals/resolutions/lists set for oneself 360-odd days ago. This year, I fairly often referenced the goals I set out to do back in January. I actually did a decent job at producing what I set out to accomplish regarding writing, giving generously, making new recipes (72 to date…
Book Review: The Secret Garden
I grew up in the heyday of the 90s movies. Disney was still animating by hand, cartoons were a normal part of weekend plans and live-action movies had that specific film-processing quality that made everything feel magical and nostalgic. Such was the case for the 1993 film, The Secret Garden, which I watched with consistent…
L.M.Beatty 