Travelin' About

Whew. This has been some year. Not only are we all dealing with Covid 19 which has forced us indoors, but we made a cross-country move in May from Austin, Texas to Columbia, Maryland.  As a friend reminded me, we were lucky that we were so all-consumed by the move and didn't obsess on the world's problems.  But as a photographer who loves traveling and documenting the beautiful world around us, I was getting extremely antsy. So, last week I woke up early and took a trip to beautiful downtown historic Ellicott City.  I had actually lived in this same neck of the woods 40 years ago and I knew that Old Ellicott City had a charm that includes history, art and architecture, nature and food.  The streets are hilly but you never know what kind of cool shop you'll stumble upon. I am just dying to explore this cool, old Fireman's museum.  There is also the oldest surviving train station that I'm dying to share with my grandsons.  And oh, I had forgotten...

We've been unpacking boxes since moving to Maryland two weeks ago. A lot of my "stuff" seemed so important to me when I packed it and now that we are in a new place, it seems so excessive. I need to get rid of a lot of things. But yesterday, unpacking my earring trees, I felt like I was welcoming old friends into my new home. There's the earring I got for my sister's wedding, and the one's someone gave me when I was diagnosed with cancer. I wonder if she knows how meaningful they were to me then and how I think about her every time I wear them...24 years later.  There are the natural rock ones my daughter, Kiryn gave me because she much prefers rocks than gems. There are the very first pair my husband, Andrew gave me. There are ones I inherited when an aunt died and many I received as birthday or Christmas presents. Moving is difficult and unraveling all of the stuff that we carried along is confusing and stressful.  But finding my old earrings, even t...