Marooned

Poor me... poor lonely, lonely, me...

Hee. Just kidding.

Seriously, where would you like to be marooned? Is there anywhere you'd like to be just dumped and left to find your own way back...or just hang out for awhile? Wouldn't that be sorta cool to be blindly dropped off anywhere in the world, and have nothing at all but your own knowledge to find out where you are and how to get back home? Is this sort of the idea behind The Amazing Race? I don't know why I don't watch that show. Oh yeah I do. It's reality TV. Heh. :)

My obvious answer would probably be Wales (I'm reading Here Be Dragons again) but then I might not want to find my way home. :) Ok I would. After a while. :)

Speaking of, to those who would be interested: I found this site. Don't think I'd stumbled across it before.

George Gray

I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me --
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire --
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

-Edgar Lee Masters

I read this poem in junior high and it has stuck with me ever since. I like the image of a ghost reflecting on his own tombstone and how it represents his life, a life he wishes he'd done more with. And I think of it sometimes when I look at the framed picture I have in my living room: boats at rest in a harbor, with furled sails.

I just don't want to be a George Gray myself. :) This poem provides a little bit of inspiration to me in my own life: to seize chances in life while I have them. It almost makes me freak out a bit... what HAVE I done with myself so far? What should I be doing? Am I just letting chances pass me by? I need to get to work planning my next trip!!!! :)

(I don't get to go on the Berlin/Budapest trip, by the way... will just have to keep a lookout for the next one...)

Mounds of Turquoise

I try to remind myself that it's good be a tourist in my own town more often. There are so many things that I take for granted that I can do whenever, but never do. There's the Anheuser Busch brewery that I haven't toured since I've been of drinking age (but I got a stuffed Clydestale from there when I was 8 or 9). I don't take nearly as many trips to the zoo as most people I know, and don't think I've been there in about 10 years. But another nearby attraction that would be absolutely fascinating to tour again, since I haven't done it since a 4th or 5th grade field trip, is just about a half hour east of here, Cahokia Mounds.

Did you know that Monk's Mound, the four-terraced mound with a stairway to the top, is the largest man-made earthen mound in North America, and has even been referred to as "World's Largest Pyramid" by the Travel Channel? Did you know that the site has its own version of Stonehenge, called "Woodhenge," a circle of posts made to observe the sky, built while the Middle Ages were going on in Europe? (Do you ever wonder what was going on in North America while they were having their Middle Ages?? Well this helps explain that!) And, that Cahokia may have previously been the largest city in the U.S. until the population of Philadelphia exceeded 40,000 in 1800? Crazy, huh? These and many more mysteries surround the site, including why the city was abandoned around 1400.

All I remember about the place when I toured it as a kid, was that their gift shop sure had a lot of turquoise jewelry.


(not actual jewelry from Cahokia; I couldn't find pictures of the jewelry in their gift shop)

I remember I bought a pendant ringed with cubic zirconia. I'm not sure what happened to it. But I'd love to go back to get something new! :) And of course take time to actually appreciate the rich history embedded in this site. Anyone wanna go sometime? Wouldn't that be a cool excursion? If we can get around all the little kiddies there on their field trips... :) But I had to deal with that at Mount Vernon, so I've had the practice. :)