Prisoner of Hopes

Tag: trees

  • Anticipated Arrivals: Travel Goals Italy

    Anticipated Arrivals: Travel Goals Italy

    I love hosting company, especially if the company is family. Today my siblings, minus my youngest brother are coming to join us at our Italian retreat. The house has been cleaned. Groceries are bought and now I wait impatiently for their arrival. I take a walk around our quiet neighborhood waiting for their plane to…

  • Stranded: Travel Goals Italy

    Stranded: Travel Goals Italy

    Sometimes things are not as you want them to be. You just have to take a deep breath and deal with them as they are. We wanted to take the ferry to Intra and then on to Isola Madre, the last Borromean island we haven’t visited. It was market day in Intra…and I love market…

  • Gardens and Galleries in Verbania: Travel Goals Italy

    Gardens and Galleries in Verbania: Travel Goals Italy

    Some days just exceed my expectations. I wake up to a beautiful pink sunrise. The rain has washed the earth clean and the birds are singing their thanks. We have no where to be and take our time, lingering over coffee. We drive around the lake to Verbania and the Villa Taranto. I am not…

  • Alpine Adventure: Travel Goals Italy

    Alpine Adventure: Travel Goals Italy

    It is raining this morning. Light misty rain, but moving into an all day steady drizzle. I search google maps and apple weather for patches of dryness to see if anywhere close is a better (drier) way to spend our day. Rain. Check again. More rain. Eventually, I find dry patches high in the Italian…

  • Stress Free Stresa: Travel Goals Italy

    Stress Free Stresa: Travel Goals Italy

    It is a rare day that we both awaken at about the same time. In sync, we enjoy coffee. My husband decided to try Italian toasted bread. You buy it prepackaged and already toasted. It is hard as a rock. I took a hard pass. He is desperate because there is no toaster in the…

  • Decoration Day

    Decoration Day

    My grandma always called Memorial Day by its old name…decoration day. It was a day set aside to decorate the graves of soldiers with flowers and to honor their memories. Eventually, decoration day became Memorial Day. She was adamant about honoring family with artificial flowers. My decoration day celebration, however, is always the 48 hours…

  • Headed Home

    Headed Home

    I am driving home after a lengthy stay with my son. Leaving his house, I have very mixed emotions. I am feeling that (I am dropping you off for college, I don’t know when I will see you again, you are smart and capable but my life’s mission is to make sure you are okay)…

  • There is not a “right way” to camp

    There is not a “right way” to camp

    There is no right way to enjoy the outdoors. I could walk forever with a pack on my back listening to the sounds of wildlife. It is nice to have our RV parked nearby to provide a dry place to sleep and storage for clothes and food. Backpacking, tent camping, rv life, a cabin or…

  • Serenity

    Serenity

    Up at dawn, I sip my coffee in solitude and say a prayer of gratitude. It is peaceful. The birds are making the small chirping sounds that accompany a new day. My family thinks I’m a little crazy for getting up with the sun each day. But to me, it is serene. A time when…

  • Cinderella in Wonderland: Travel Goals Portugal

    Cinderella in Wonderland: Travel Goals Portugal

    As a little girl, I read countless fairytales. Cinderella going to a ball in a carriage made from a pumpkin requires imagination. The carriages in the Museu dos Coches are beyond imagination. I walk around the fantastical creations in disbelief. Kings and queens used these rolling masterpieces to make a grand entrance. I don’t know…