Photo: Tzur Moriah
In the cold blur of morning
Atop a bare, frigid slope
Here’s to friendly warmth brewing
And a good view to scope.
Awakening Priorities
travel
Light Insight
Photo: Tobias Keller via Unsplash
As they rode through the smoke, through the night, to the light
Amidst trees, atop hooves, in the saddle upright
Sun kissed heads, offered heart, till homecoming delight.
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Express to Play
Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein
Take the express train
To a fun-filled day
Recall the awe
Of speed and sway
And hold on to
The gift of play.
For The Daily Post
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Time Travel …
Just for fun, now that the weather is working on being presentable and the outdoors will call with sun and blue sky: a little look on how people got going in such times gone by.
Here is the family circa 1910 and out for a ride… (she with ‘side-saddle’ seat, of course, lest propriety be harmed …)–and then there’s the ‘baby carrier’ all snug as bug in a rug in the back … (complete with pergola to keep out the sun but not much in the way of keeping the babe in if the bike goes down …)
Prefer to go ‘natural’? There’s an option for that … Just not sure you will get very far or too fast before you’re in the dust …
Think a bike is too risky and skirts may snag up to reveal an ankle or (gasp) a well stockinged calf? No worries–there’s technology to harness, 1916 a cutting edge craft.
Hail a cab? Not a problem. London upped its own game, and in 1907, taxies happily came.
Want to live on the road? Sure–that’s swell. Mobil home to the rescue, chimney and awning as well.
Fast forward a bit. It’s the 1950 and the family’s grown … There are three now to take along … (okay, it is not the same family, but the concept is shown …). Big improvement from high-wheels, better balance on bikes and no more side-saddle for mom (Victorians would blanch at the thighs on display, but how they paddled one legged puzzles me to this day …).
So … by bike (or an ostrich?), by scooter or bus, by taxi or stroller or RV or a hike–get your gear up and ready and plan some fun routes: there’s a world worth exploring, and many venues to use …
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The Language of a Smile
This may be cliche to some, but not to me. I’ve seen it. Many times.
Just the other week, I saw a group of children–preschoolers–play at the airport, in the space between gates with flights departing to globe spanning destinations.
Some among the handful of kids spoke different languages, and none of them knew each other until a moment prior.
Nonetheless, there was a long wait to be had, a few empty water bottles, a ribbon to pull, and play-ready age-mates to pass the time with. So they found a way. Their giggles filled the space with the ripple of childhood joy that knows no borders, religion, nationality, language, tradition, or race.
The children babbled to each other in their own respective languages, understanding not the words but at the very least enough to go on playing, to take turns, to get a notion for a silly something that sent waves of hilarity through the lot of them …
Adults sat nearby, keeping an eye on their child with a little less wariness of each other, now that their young ones felt so at ease. After all, these were just children playing together: they were not political statements or status symbols or religious flagships. They did not carry burdens of group-mentalities or dogmas or beliefs. It was okay to just be. To share a moment. And a smile.
For the adults, too, smiled. A careful, half-lip smile, weighted by whatever notions and knowings, history and worries adults often have for those they do not know and whose language they don’t understand. A half-smile it began but it grew warmer when eyes met following a child’s antic, a cute gesture, a silly face, a giggly laugh.
Like the children, the adults smiled the same smile in every language. Or rather, they smiled in one language–the one we all recognize and know by heart. The language of humanity. The language of a smile.
