The first weekend in June, I was one of 1,200 travel bloggers who packed my bags along with my tangled emotions, and headed to Toronto, Canada for the 3rd Annual TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange) conference. I had no idea what to expect and it was my first time ever attending a travel blogging conference. I went to BlogHer last summer along with 5,000 other blogging hopefuls and felt misplaced as a travel blogger among so many mommy bloggers. When I heard about a TBEX, an event exclusively for travel bloggers, I was thrilled. It was my tribe and the place for me to be. I instantly signed up with high expectations of what I’d learn, who I’d meet and the connections I’d make. My journey as a travel blogger was awash with opportunities.
Looking down from the CN Tower in Toronto during TBEX.
This week’s photo challenge, Culture, is quite fitting since I literally just got off the plane from Paris which is perhaps the culture capital of the world. Still jet-lagged and behind, I had a chance to upload my photos from my trip to France and have an astounding number to sort through: 1,400 taken in nine days flat! (I broke my record!).
I only went through the first set of photos this morning but feel they portray an excellent look into the immense, fantastic culture of lovely, worldly Paris. Here are a few to whet your appetite and prepare you for the weeks to come on my blog. Bon chance!!!
“Dr. Hawa Abdi is the fiercest, most compassionate frontline humanitarian and doctor on the planet. The story of her extraordinary life, which defies imagination, instills courage in each of us” – Eliza Griswold, journalist and author of Tenth Parallel
Portrait of Dr Hawa by Pieter Hugo.
Last week I received an email from ONE Moms, a nonpartisian group I work with as a Community Partner to advocate against extreme poverty, that an inspiring humanitarian, doctor and human rights lawyer was coming to town. Dr. Hawa Abdi known as “The Mother Teresa of Somalia” and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee was coming to Minneapolis to speak on the release of her recent book co-authored by American writer Sarah Robbins, “Keeping Hope Alive” which is an incredibly moving memoir about how Dr. Hawa along with her two daughters has helped 90,000 of her fellow Somalis remain safe, healthy and educated for over 20 years during a time of intense turmoil, violence and destruction in Somalia.
I had never heard of Dr. Abdi or her work before yet I was immediately fascinated. The thought of one woman saving so many people’s lives by building a hospital and a community of over 90,000 people in her backyard during an extremely dangerous civil war seemed unfathomable. I had to hear her story.
Outside a popular Minneapolis bookstore where I heard Dr. Abdi speak on her moving, unbelievable memoir.
“That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind”. – William Wordsworth
Spring time is still a ways off here in Minnesota where the landscape is still blanketed in snow. Depending on the year Spring can begin anywhere in early to mid April and usually is a confusing time of year when we can see literally four seasons in a week. It can one moment snow and a couple days later be shorts and t-shirt weather.
Minnesotans are hearty people, me included. You have to be in order to live in this kind of climate. You must embrace the bitter cold days of winter and cherish the hot and sticky dog days of summer. Otherwise it would be best to pack up your bags and leave now.
In honor of Jakesprinter’s Sunday Theme: Arrangement, I thought I’d bring you a sneak preview of spring flowers. In all their delicacy, beauty and vivid colors, they are bound to bring a smile on a cold winter day. Also in celebration of this month’s focus on phoneography, all these photos below were taken with my iPhone in Colonial Williamsburg last April. I do of course have many pictures of spring flowers in Minnesota but for some reason these photos are special to me as they were the first flowers of Spring I captured last year. Spring comes quite a bit earlier in Virginia! Enjoy!
“Flowers… are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
What could be more beautiful than spring flowers? Spring….I can hardly wait!
To see more interpretations of the theme “Arrangement” click here.
All 100+ Shot@Life Champions who left their families behind to travel to our nation’s capital in February to advocate for the millions of parents who don’t have access to life-saving vaccines.
My dear friend Jennifer Burden, mother, wife, advocate and founder of World Mom’s Blog, wrote a beautiful piece today as part of the Shot@Life’s 28 Days of Impact Campaign about her advocacy and recent trip to Uganda as part of Shot@Life delegation.
Please on link below to read her heartfelt post and learn more about the work we are doing for Shot@Life.
Jen came into my life over a year ago through my WordPress blog. As a mother of two young girls living in the suburbs of New Jersey, Jen wanted a way to open up others to global motherhood and our shared experiences. She had searched the net over and over and found tons of blogs on motherhood yet there were no blogs at all on what it is like to be a global mother. For all mothers, no matter where you live in the world, have a special bond. We may have different lives, cultures and parenting techniques, but we are all mothers. Hence came the dream of starting World Moms Blog, a volunteer-lead blog using mothers from around the world to tell their stories and share their voices.
As a mother, blogger and avid world traveler who annually travels alone, I’ve been following the story on Sarai Sierra, the missing New York mother of two, with interest and fear. I first heard the story from my parents who sent me an email with the link and told me that it concerned them. You see, in some ways I’m like this woman. I’m a mother, a solo traveler to what some would call dangerous places and share my life with thousands of strangers through my blog and other social media outlets like Twitter, Pinterest, Google + and Instagram.
Yet, in other ways I’m different. I have been out of the country many times and whenever I do travel solo, I’m not truly alone. I am always going through a volunteer organization based in the US that organizes the entire trip for me including contacts to meet and greet me at the airport, deliver me safely to a trusted and approved host family where I stay and keep in regular contact with me throughout my stay.
Sarai Sierra. Photo Credit: AP
Sarai had never been out of the country before and went to Turkey alone (after her friend canceled) to practice her photography skills. She had over 3,000 followers on Instagram, many whom she communicated with on the site.
The Snowy Day is a 1962 children’s picture book by American author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats. Keats received the 1963 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations in the book. It features a boy named Peter exploring his neighborhood after the first snowfall of the season. The inspiration for Peter came from a Life magazine photo article from 1940, and Keats’ desire to have minority children of New York as central characters in his stories. Source: Wikipedia.
One of the oldest traditions in the region of Savoie is making cheese. Three alpine cheeses are made in this region of the French Alps: Abondance, Beaufort, and Comte. These cheeses evolved over time due to the unique, isolated community of alpine herders who collectively used their dairy supplies during the summer months to make large cheeses that were easy to transport down the valley into the markets.
A fellow WordPress Blogger, Ailsa over at “Where’s my backpack” did it again with this week’s travel theme of Street Markets. What a fantastic topic for who doesn’t love the vibrant colors and fragrances of a world market? Markets are amazing as they give you such a slice of culture. Whether it be the divine floral markets of Paris to the brilliant indigenous markets of Peru, a market always has a treasure to find.
One of my favorite markets of all is the souq. In the spring of 2011, I spent a week volunteering in Rabat, Morocco and had a wonderful time exploring the ins and outs of a Moroccan souq. You could truly find literally every thing for sale; pretty much whatever your heart desired. The colors, the sounds, the people, the smells and the diverse offerings of goods made the souq one of my favorite places to wander and buy gifts for my family and friends.
Follow me through the winding paths of Rabat’s central souq….
There is always a mosque shooting up towards the sky and summoning the daily call to prayer. The sound of the call echoes throughout the souq, bouncing off the curvy walls of the serpentine streets.
“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” – Washington Irving
For this year’s Mother’s Day, I decided to forego the flowers and use my voice as a gift for my mom. I wanted to write her a letter to tell her what she means to me. How much she has impacted my life and how much I love her.
Where do I even begin? The task is arduous and complex. There is no simple place to start. It’s been 40.5 long years since she has been my mom. How could I possibly due her justice in one simple post? It isn’t possible. But I’ll try my best.
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac
I woke up early Sunday morning, my last day in Antigua and in Guatemala itself, to a wonderful gift. It was sunny. I laid in bed rubbing my eyes as they slowly adjusted to a beam of light shining through the small, stained glass window above my door. Other than that beam of light, the room was pitch black.
I slowly rose my tired body out of bed, gently pulled back the heavy, dark drapes and lone behold, there it was….the sun, at last! I was overjoyed. It was only half past six in the morning. I could have slept another hour or so. I certainly was tired. My entire week in Guatemala was so intense that I was in desperate need of sleep. Yet that beam of sun was calling my name. It was like a beam of hope. A sign that I would finally get to see the peaks of the three dominant volcanoes that dominate Antigua.
Finally, the clouds had lifted and gave me a gift: An entire, unobstructed view of Volcan de Agua or “Volcano of Water” the most commanding volcano, to the south of Antigua at 3766 meters/12,356 feet which dominants the colorful city of Antigua like an omnipresent God.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ― Lao Tzu
Lucy and I hit the pavement hard in the morning, walking and taking pictures as if we were on some kind of crazy photography marathon. Lucy lives in Antigua. However, I only had one full day to see as much of this amazing city as possible. And, amazing Antigua was.
I was completely captivated by everything I saw. Every step was a photographic moment. Every building had a story to tell. The rooftops were often in a spray of blossoming flowers in hues of purples, pinks and white. The peeling paints telling the tales of centuries ago. The missing cobblestones making each street a unique albeit tiring journey. The mysterious volcanoes. Threatening and looming off in the distance. The colorfully dressed indigenous people. Everything was a Kodak moment. The problem was there simply wasn’t enough time.
Beautiful typical buildings and homes. There are many streets like this in Antigua.
