Happy Birthday Julia Child – August 15th

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“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” – Julia Child

If you have been to the Washington DC area, you may know that the Smithsonian Institute is comprised of eleven museums and galleries on the National Mall plus six other museums and the National Zoo. All of them are free to visiting guests which really is amazing. The newest addition Museum of African American History requires a timed entry ticket due to popularity at peak times, but still no charge.

At the Museum of American History is one of the museums I saw when I was there last year. The museum has more than 1.8 million objects in its collection and more than three shelf-miles of archival collections. Many items of Popular Culture like Archie Bunker’s chair, Fonzie’s leather jacket, Kermit the Frog and Dorothy’s ruby slippers just to name a few.

The first exhibit we visited was the Food – Transforming the American Table 1950 – 2000. This is where you find Julia Child’s Kitchen. It is the starting point of the exhibit which covers almost 50 years of food and food trends. As a person who is interested in food it could have easily become a problem because you could spend hours in this one exhibit and there was so much ground to cover, and it was only our first museum. Good walking shoes are a must for multiple museum visits and a city like Washington.

There are a lot of interesting facts around the display like all of the cupboards and working surfaces were lowered due to her height. The whole room is a ‘view only’ as everything is authentic. All of the tools, equipment and appliances are arranged in exactly the way they were when Julia Child turned them over to the museum in 2001.

To celebrate her birthday I will end with this quote from Julia Child

“A party without cake is just a meeting” 

Live with Eyes Wide Open

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What do you do with all the photos you take of your children, your trips, your pets? If you are like most you probably have at least 1000 photos in your phone’s camera roll and no one sees them unless you post them. I on the other hand, make photo books. Many photo books. Give them as gifts, of my trips and special events and even for others for their special events.

My photo books are an extension of my storytelling through the photos. When I am anywhere now I am always looking for a photo that will be a spark to a story or add to a page in my books.

On a trip to Cleveland a few years ago it was recommended to me to make a stop at the West Side Market, which we did. While not as old as Toronto’s historic St. Lawrence Market (1803), West Side’s history dates back over 100 years to 1912. In 2008, the West Side Market was designated as one of “10 Great Public Places in America,” by the American Planning Association and continues to offer an authentic and culturally diverse shopping experience.

As we walked from the parking lot to the market entrance I noticed this wall that was on the exterior of the store adjacent to the building.

Of course it caught my eye and I had to walk over and start to read all the amazing things that people posted on this wall.

Before I die, I want to:

Lots of travel related dreams: See the world, climb Machu Pichu, Go to Japan, go to space. skydive, swim with a humpback whale, go to Barcelona.

I noticed a lot of personal thoughts as well, which was interesting. When people are anonymous they can be more honest with their thoughts: Marry my best friend, marry three men, have a family, abolish the patriarchy, stop racism, be the best I can be.

Be the best I can be. Sounds like some great advice. Every day we open our eyes, we have a blank page to write in the book of our lives. We are the authors of the book, and the narrative we choose is ours alone.

I might even suggest that rather than being the best you can be, that perhaps the goal is to aim to be better than the best you can be. That way you always have something to strive for.

The stories are there, you never have to look very far.

The Great Outdoors at Sea

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I have been wanting to write much more than I have been the past couple of months. I have so many things I would like to talk about, but not sure how to weave all of the thoughts together. I know that things that bring me joy are related to travelling, food and my photos. I love my photos. I actually bought an IPhone which I think I shared in a previous post a couple of months ago. I am ‘old school’ and never liked cell phone photos, until I CHOSE the phone I purchased because of the camera. I am wondering how this will impact me when I take my next trip.

Recently I noticed that many of my sentences start off with “when I was in….” or, “that time when I was with…and we were….”. I have always known that I am a storyteller. I think people in my life expect me to have a story about anything and everything. I don’t mind having this title and believe it will serve its purpose well in my future.

I wanted to share a story about this photo that I took on my cruise in 2016.

On the Norwegian Ship we were on the back of the ship had an outdoor cafe called The Great Outdoors. It served a lighter version of the buffet food in the main restaurant. It was open from early morning until late in the evening and had bar service as well. The best part of the experience was the image in the photo…just sitting at the back of the ship watched the sea go by.

This was where our group met for breakfast each day. Our cruise was supposed to have three ports of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Los Cabos. The ship has some mechanical issues and we only ended up in Puerto Vallarta.

Due to the fact we had A LOT of time at sea one particular day we ended up having breakfast out on the deck, stayed long enough to have mid morning snack and stayed even longer to have lunch. We were joking last week remembering at one point thinking we should move tables because we were sitting at the same table for so long.

Spending the week on this cruise was a wonderful experience. No, we didn’t get to Los Cabos or Mazatlan, but we spent a lot of time laughing, sharing and creating memories. Memories that will last a lifetime. Expect the unexpected and you never know what can happen.

Do you have a memory that happened when something unexpected happened to you, either in your travels or every day life? I would love to hear about it. Please follow my blog in the top right hand corner and leave your comments here.

There is always a story, you won’t have to look far….