mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Travel Time

October 2, 2013 — 4 Comments

jet

jet

I have learned to budget time by planning many trips for myself and travel clients. When tour companies take groups out on an excursion the itinerary is published to give all a sense of unity. Planning time for commuting in a city or check in at a strange terminal must be done with precision and plenty of lead time. I think travelers are often too optimistic about the amount of time it really takes to get across town or out of town.  Being on time for appointments or performances is essential to enjoying a visit.  I also think free unstructured time to explore is an important element of happy tourism.

Here are the ways I like to expand my world when I travel.  I use time in new ways:

  • Explore museums of all kinds, usually by myself
  • Enjoy a lot of walking outdoors, cityscape or natural path
  • Try food I will not find at home, both new preparations and new items
  • Rearrange my at home routine by eating breakfast
  • Meet with friends for special performances, events, or meals
  • Use a big part of each day taking taking photos

I learn before I go.  My research into options can take weeks for some destinations.  I study maps and transit systems, look up details and make notes if there is something I want to make sure I see. No matter what I learn from reference materials I always ask for a local’s opinion if I can.  Once I have made the arrangements for the elements of the trip, lodging, transportation, dining, and exploration I believe it is important to give in to serendipity as much as possible.  I find that being open in both mood and schedule allows  the magic of the place to speak to me.  Sometimes I meet cool people who inform me; other times I am called by special architecture or botany.  I find that when I plan and inform myself just enough to know where I am, but not too much to make assumptions, time is my ally.  It expands and allows me to turn a few days into an exciting yet easy to accomplish new adventure of discovery.  I am working on turning next week in San Francisco into just that.  If you know about something special I need to know before I go, please pipe up, gentle reader.  I do enjoy the unusual, and already know about many of the usual highlights of the bay area.  I am open to learn more.

Colors of Autumn

September 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

A visit to the north at the change of seasons can be very beautiful.  I went to New England when the leaves and flowers were bursting out on the trees in May.  Now I said goodbye to the deciduous trees as they begin to change and fall.  I do appreciate the colors and the architectural style of Oakmont, PA, where I grew up and went to school until the end of 8th grade.  While I am not ready to be there in winter, seeing the pretty yards and houses bursting with color is a treat.

Ambiance Boutique, Oakmont, PA

August 31, 2013 — 4 Comments

I do not need to shop again for the rest of my life, but there are times that I am inspired to do so. While visiting my childhood home town of Oakmont, PA I found not only the inspiration, but also very high quality goods at rock bottom prices. Ambiance Boutique is run for the benefit of an organization called Bethlehem Haven.  The upscale consignment retail store carefully selects and curates a collection of very high-end clothing and household goods.  The system in place progressively discounts the item as it stays on the rack or shelf, so if it does not sell it becomes more affordable.  I went in out of curiosity and was hooked.  I scored such fabulous deals the first day, and was given a coupon for 10% off my next purchase.  When I returned with the coupon and found the 75% off rack the next day, they almost paid me to take two stylin’ blouses off their hands.  I thought I was done until I saw that black purse that was just too much of a bargain to leave on the mannequin.

If you live in Pittsburgh, and particularly if you have not been thrift shopping in the past, I urge you to go to Ambiance.  The store is elegant, the staff is much more professional than the other retail stores I visited here.  This is the kind of town where good customer service is reserved for people who live here, and the stranger is treated as an annoyance.    This will NOT happen in Ambiance. You will be greeted and served as if you are the most important shopper on earth.  Alexandra acts like a personal shopper at Nordstrom, but she is working for the betterment of homeless women in the Pittsburgh area.  If I were ever going to use the phrase win-win, it would be to convince you to try Ambiance.  Since I don’t use that phrase let me just encourage you to see if there might be something very special and very well priced in this store for you.  Tell them Pam sent you and you want to see the 75% off rack.

Recipe for Nostalgia

August 29, 2013 — 8 Comments

Take one elementary school class, add 49 years.  Shake; don’t stir.  Meet in the building where you attended elementary school and Jr. high, and sip slowly.

I study history, but my own personal past has not been investigated.  I only have so much time to find all the facts about my ancestors, so biographical content has never crossed my mind.  This week I am digging into it.  I am on a quest to remember/discover my childhood, which was pretty idyllic.  I grew up walking a block and a half to my school, playing in giant gangs of kids in my neighborhood.  We went to swimming pools at country clubs in the summer, but we had a neighborhood of full time sports (wiffle ball) , games, dramatic productions, and parties..not unlike Spanky and Our Gang,  I looked at the hill in my old side yard where we went sledding.  It is much smaller that I could have imagined.. the entire yard has shrunk.  It doesn’t look like it would hold big games of red rover, but I know that it did.  I also had an archery target and a basketball backboard in the back yard.  The prop we used most often was the player piano.

Both my next door neighbors and our family had player pianos in the basement.  Our basement playroom was huge with the piano and a big bar.  My parents partied heavily down there.  Most of the time it was used for my piano practice or my play room.  My mom supplied a giant box of dress up clothing of all kinds behind the bar in the laundry room.  The kids would put on shows for each other, and sometimes for the parents, by dressing in the costumes and singing.  The parents sat down at a lower level in the yard, and we would enter from stage right, behind the house.  We had sort of an Ed Sullivan variety approach, with someone announcing the acts.  One of our favorites (and very popular with the adults) was “Heart of My Heart”.  We had a pantomime that was very corny.  We did it all the time, so I can still do it after more than 50 years.  I called my childhood neighbor, Peggy Jo, and sang it to her on the phone.  It made me cry because the song sums up the whole deal.  “Friends were dearer then”

Memory Therapy

August 22, 2013 — 3 Comments

forsythia

forsythia

One week from today I will be visiting the town near Pittsburgh where I grew up and went to school through 8th grade.  I have not been there for almost 50 years, so things will be different…and yet the same.  I tune in to the daily tweets of @thomasmooreSoul because I find them to be just the right amount of therapy for a single day.  A long time ago he tweeted that talking about your childhood openly, telling stories you remember, is a great way to make sense of the past.  I have been exchanging pictures and comments with some of the former classmates for about 4 months now, as we prepare to meet in Oakmont, PA for their (I was already gone) high school reunion.  I can say that Tom’s advice about childhood stories is powerful.  Each one of us remembers different parts of our class  story;  I am sure being physically in our old school will spark some memories we have not discovered.  There is something unaltered about all our personalities that I can’t put into words, but next week maybe I will.

Before we all get hauled off to the memory wing of some care home we have the opportunity to get together to reminisce about our seriously good old days.  A few of us are already gone, naturally.  Such is life.  It ends.  I look forward to stirring up some memory/emotions from my childhood with the classmates with whom I shared them.  I have travelled the world, but this is time travel in a sense.  I am not sure what kind of deeper meaning will be revealed, but I expect it will be more helpful to my psyche than years of analysis might be  (I am too thrifty to find out).  Buckle up, gentle readers, and prepare to time travel with me to the ‘Burgh next week…back to the future.

Farm to Table Dinner at Zona 78

July 15, 2013

Last night we attended our first farm to table dinner in Tucson. Zona 78 prepared a fresh and exotic menu featuring produce from Sleeping Frog Farms in the San Pedro valley.  Four courses featuring produce were presented, along with a delicious berry cocktail or a glass of wine.  All of our expectations were exceeded, from service, presentation, variety, to innovation.  If you have not tired Zona 78 or Sleeping Frog Farms produce, I highly recommend that you do.  We hope the farm to table dinners will become a regular feature because it is an extraordinary way to dine and expand horizons.  We met cool people and discovered new cuisine, which is exactly our style.

We were pleased and happy to taste and enjoy such creative innovative cuisine.

Culinary Weekend in Tucson

July 7, 2013

This was our first time to attend the Iron Chef Tucson competition that is held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort. We took our dog and spent the night to make a little staycation out of the event. It was  fun, surprisingly popular, and full of variety.  The competition was won for the third year in a row by Ryan Clark.  The trade show and competition brought out all kinds of people interested in cooking and dining.  A good time was had by all, especially the dog, who enjoys hanging out in hotels.

The trade show part of the even included samples, sips, and demos of many kinds of equipment, from knives to fancy stoves.  There were vendors selling Nambe, candy, coffee, and even personal training.  The most interesting thing I learned at the event is that our local food bank operates a culinary school that not only recycles food that would be wasted, but trains low income students to work in the food industry.  This program has allowed the food bank to expand the prepared meals program in the community while training new students.  I am so excited to hear about this.  It has been in existence for 2 years, and this is the first time I have heard of it.  I will follow up with a visit to the school, which is enrolling a new class next week.

One of my favorite vendors who installed a wood burning stove in my home is Val Romero.  He owns Arizona Grill and Hearth.  His company is an excellent source for all things grill, stove, and outdoor kitchen.  My stove is the best upgrade I ever made to my living conditions, and the project was done with the utmost professionalism, and at a good price.  He is a positive person with aloha in his attitude and fair dealing in his spirit.  You will have a good time if you do business with Val.

Membership for Dogs

June 18, 2013 — 1 Comment

Artemisia, red bone coon hound, is a new canine member of the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  On Tuesdays dog members and their families are welcome all day.  This was a very special day because professional pet photographer, Vicky Stromee was set up to take pictures against a green backdrop.  She and her assistant made the shoot quick and easy.  We strolled through the shady paths for a few minutes, stopping for a drink at the cafe, which was closed.  She smelled the door and wished it was open.  Her shady and relatively cool experience today will be followed by her card and collar ring which will arrive in the mail.  The dog membership is valid May through September.  We have been family members for years, and now we are officially all part of the garden family.  Artemisia recommends this reasonably priced membership to all Tucson dogs because of the shade. She liked it so much she sent an instagram.

Tapas Fusion in Tucson

June 15, 2013 — 2 Comments

We are happy to have a tapas restaurant in our neighborhood.  Tapas Fusion is our new favorite place to go for food and cocktail adventure.  We had brunch there last Sunday with good results, so we returned yesterday for happy hour.  Firey Friday features flambé drink specials.  I tried one, and then had a pisco sour, both new to me.

It was a blast. The crew, including the friendly owner Mary Bellin, make you feel welcome.  The happy hour pricing and the all you can eat tapas menu has something for everyone.  I am vegetarian, and Bob is not, so we each ordered small dishes until we were full.  The cuisine has many layers of flavor, with creative garnishes and fresh sauces making each dish pop.  The flavorful variety gives your tastebuds a lot of intrigue for the size of the plates and the total of the bill.  We are huge fans, and will return to try more of the menu.  Mary has a generous frequent diner offer, and she doubles the points on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. For summer the restaurant will be closed on Mondays. She offers the all you can eat tapas menu every day, and it includes a lot of choices.  Additional menu items are available a la carte.  So far, we liked everything we ordered…a lot!!

What is a Milagro?

June 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

Milagro means miracle, and it also means a specific symbol used to make an offering.  Offerings have meaning in the context in which they were made.  Churches around the world have tokens left in hope, remembrance, or gratitude.  In Ted DeGrazia’s Virgin of Guadalupe chapel people have left these symbols for many years.  The oldest chapel I have seen like this has many offerings from sailors that include hats.  It is in Cap D’Antibes, France.  The chapel of Notre Dame de Garoupe is enchanting as well as historic. In Tucson we also have shrines known as El Tiradito and the Virgin shrine at San Javier del Bac Mission:

An offering can be made in nature, in a chapel, or in a garden.  Altars exist in every form.  The meaning is in the heart of the person making the offering. Milagros express hope, faith, and dedication. They tell the history of people’s aspirations, tragedies, and triumphs. The spirit of the place is reflected in the objects left on the altar.  The altar assumes a collective consciousness by making space for all the offerings and their symbolic powers.  It becomes an archive of religion.