My husband took these awesome shots on the beach yesterday. My eyes pop WOW! when I view sunsets here.
Book Of The Day – Good Morning Diego Garcia Only$.99
Write On!
To write something you have to risk making a fool of yourself.
Anne Rice
Thank you blooming yellow rose bush!
My view from my office window inspires me. Thank you Doug for planting it for me to see.
Secret: Learn From It All
Dear friends,
2017 has tested me as a human. After losing depth perception in my left eye (due to high altitude shock) while visiting ancient civilizations in Peru and Bolivia in July of 2016, I had no choice but to stop and look at my human limitations and change my way of viewing and living life. Not a bad choice to move out of the fast lane, take eye breaks, and enjoy each breath-taking moment. As a result, I count blessings more often and allow myself to become my BEST possible every day.
My goal for 2018 is to continue to learn from the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, and remember the secret—learn from it all. I first learned this lesson in 1976 when a singing elephant showed up in my dreams at a time when I was ill and depressed. My first book for children was a result of that profound realization. Just reminding myself all these years later.
Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year! XX
Little Dog (looking like a little bear) parks outside our gate.
Big dogs think he’s OK as long as he doesn’t steal their bones. When he steals a bone, he gets as close as possible to a big shoe for protection. We call him Osito which means little bear in Spanish
He loves to chew, play, run, and do cartwheels; all at the same time. Here he is learning to run with our big dog, Benji. Fortunately, Benji is a good and patient babysitter.
Intention + Obstacle + Tactics = Character Development
I’ve just completed an assignment in a Screenwriting Master Class with Aaron Sorkin. Aaron teaches, “A character is born from the INTENTION and OBSTACLE—they want something, and something stands in their way of getting it.” How they overcome those obstacles, or what TACTICS they use, define the character.
The ASSIGNMENT: Write a scene where one character is asking another for money. The other character WON’T give them the money.
When it comes to giving money to others in need, I’m a soft touch. Here’s my take on the assignment. What would your take be? I’d love to read it. Please share.
My take: Money
Travel Highlights (50-100 words) Read and Enjoy!
Author/Editor Robert Fear runs annual travel writing competitions. One is for Travel Stories (500-1000 words) and the other for Travel Highlights (50-100 words). He publishes the best of these in a book each year.
The Travel Highlights competition (50-100 words) has just finished and is open to a public vote until the end of November 2017. I wrote one about riding a tank through the Israeli desert. Not an easy ride and not an easy task to tell the story in 50-100 words. Hope you enjoy it! Please read through the highlights and vote for your favorites. You can vote for five entries daily. Thanks for your support!
Susan Joyce.
Wild Tank Ride! Negev Desert 1971
(Fred’s Blog 2017 Travel Highlights)
It is a great pleasure to welcome back Susan Joyce with this terrific entry for the 2017 Travel Highlights Competition. Here is her intro to a very special highlight:
As a young American female, I never hitchhiked and never dreamed I might one day need to do just that. While living in the Negev Desert of Israel one scorching hot summer day, I watched the last bus to my village disappear into the distance. I had missed my ride home. Uncertain what to do, I stood at the bus stop on the main highway on the outskirts of Beer-Sheva, Israel and hoped a vehicle, any vehicle, would stop and give me a ride.
When I heard traffic approach, I held up my thumb and begged God to hear my plea.
A Wild Tank Ride Across the Negev Desert!
Beersheba to Arad. Israel, Summer 1971
Missed last bus home.
It’s Sabbath!
No taxis or passing cars.
Scorching heat.
29 miles, 47 kilometers.
Tank barrels toward me, rattles to a stop.
“Arad?”
Driver motions. “Climb aboard!
Car stops, offers ride. “Tanks take forever.”
Confused, I wave them on.
An hour later, I hear a raucous scream overhead
“Bomber,” driver yells.
“God!” I gasp.
“Friend!” Driver waves skyward, pats tank. “Soviet from Six Day War.”
Minutes later, second bomber buzzes tank.
Driver again waves.
Friendly fire? Feel faint.
After three hours, we arrive.
Wilted vegetables, melted ice cream.
Shaken, I thank him.
Wild ride! Shabbat Shalom!
Dangling!
In my lifetime, I’ve been lucky to visit off-the-grid places where I’ve experience nature at its finest; far away from the madness and clutter of everyday life. Spaces where I found solitude and experienced a powerful oneness with nature and slept like a baby.
As a child, I often fell asleep on a flat, hot rock in the middle of the Arizona desert waiting for a spaceship to rescue me. I felt certain they had left me in the wrong place with the wrong family.
As a young woman, I made a childhood dream come true when I followed Heidi’s footsteps on a trek through the Swiss Alps. That night I slept in a picturesque chalet, nestled high in the hills above Hergiswil, Switzerland with a stunning view of mountains and lakes. An eiderdown quilt kept me cozy and warm.
I once napped atop the ancient rock fortress of Masada, Israel, after a rugged dawn hike to the top of the plateau. A most delicious rest.
While crossing the Indian Ocean, in monsoon season, much to my surprise sleeps were deep with lots of telling dreams.
I knew I had experienced the most unusual places to sleep in remote locations until July of 2016 when my husband and I toured Peru’s Sacred Valley with a group of other tourists.
Our bus stopped alongside the Urubamba River, near a railroad track, and our guide suggested we get out and look at a structure across the river. He pointed skyward to a strange shape stuck to the pristine mountain side.
“What is it?” I asked.
He said it was a “sky lodge” attached to the sheer rock face—one of three transparent sleep capsules suspended above Peru’s Sacred Valley of Cuzco. Each capsule measured 24 feet long, and 8 feet in height and width, equipped with four beds, a dining area, and a private bathroom with a big window view across the Peruvian landscape. Solar panels powered Interior lighting.
I borrowed a pair of strong binoculars and inspected the strange sight. The pods looked like space ships stuck to the cliffs.
“How do guests get there?” I asked.
He explained. Lodgers must first climb 400 feet up the cliff face—a rough climb, with 400 iron rungs and a steel cable fixed to the rock to help climbers navigate the toughest parts to reach the sleeping pods.
“For the intrepid adventurers,” a fellow tourist remarked.
I could imagine the spectacular views over the cliffs of the mystical valley and the Urubamba River flowing below. To watch stars explode across the night sky would also be awesome.
But I couldn’t imagine the nerve-racking climb, much less a good sleep while dangling from the side of a sheer cliff. What about the roaring winds? I wondered when a strong gust of wind blew past. “And just how does one get down?” I asked.
“Zip-lines, seven hair-raising zip-lines,” a fellow tourist (in the know) chimed in.
For foolish thrill seekers. I shuddered, shook my head no, crossed my heart for the thrill seekers, and crossed the sky lodge adventure off my bucket list. No dangling sleep necessary.
Excerpt from Susan Joyce’s book in progress Journeys—Short Travel Stories from around the world.