Can it be? Another First Friday is upon us. Where has the time gone?
When I was young my grandmother often said, “Time goes faster when you get older.”
I thought she was making it up — just as she did whenever I choked on a piece of food: “That must have gone down the Tuesday pipe,” she’d say, calmly. “When, today is Thursday.”
I’d giggle at the joke — once I stopped gagging. I didn’t have seven pipes in my throat, and I knew time didn’t change just because she got older.
Now I know she was right. Time DOES go more quickly as we get older. As I wrote to one blogging buddy just last Thursday, “My life seems to flow from one Thursday to the next.” Each time I sit and think about what I MUST do, what is long overdue, or what lies ahead, I realize it’s Thursday again.
What’s that about? All I know is it’s the same phenomenon that makes the return trip seem so much shorter than the initial trip.
Anyway, I’ve missed three blogs this month because the time got away from me. It flew, in fact. Life will go on, though my Google Analytics is unhappy and my SEO suffers. I won’t let that get me down. First Friday Friend is important.
There are so many people and places from whom I’ve gotten support, guidance, encouragment, and acceptance (just as I am; always an important one) that these Friend posts will be easy. The hard part is limiting each post to just one. So, today you get two.
First, I want to introduce you to A Traveler’s Library.
Vera Marie Badertscher has been posting all things travel related for a very long time, and in a most professional and creative way. Her site is easy to negotiate, whether it’s a specific country or state you want to read about (a pull down menu on the right shows a list over one meter long of different destinations), movies about travel you want to check out, books about travel, recipes from around the world, even contests!
All can be found at A Traveler’s Library. There’s even a book about Kazakhstan — just one, the British travel tome, Apples Are From Kazakhstan — leaving lots of room for my At Home On the Kazakh Steppe (I hope) once it comes out.
Vera’s site is one of the first blogs I subscribed to. So, since I have my settings so that all my subscription Blogs show up in my email on Monday morning, each Monday morning I get to travel a bit.
Now, I didn’t stumble upon A Traveler’s Library all on my own. No.
Bonnie Lee Black, a former PC Volunteer as I am, diligent editor, enthusiastic cook, prolific author, and teacher of creative writing in Taos, New Mexico introduced me to A Traveler’s Library many moons ago. Bonnie has that gift of finding just the right combinations of things and putting them together to make a new whole, whether it’s cooking, editing a 375-page manuscript, or introducing people like me to people like Vera Marie Badertscher at A Traveler’s Library. I hope you will visit Bonnie. Her site is as welcoming as a warm cup of tea on a cold afternoon. And while there, learn about her latest book, How To Make an African Quilt.
And remember, if traveling is in your blood or if you prefer your travel thrills vicariously, a visit to A Traveler’s Library is in order.
Happy Trails
What are your favorite travel destinations? When you travel, how much of your trip is planned before you leave? Might you be an armchair traveler, visiting far-off lands vicariously, with the help of movies, books or stories? If so, do you choose your destination beforehand (say, in looking for a book about a particular place) or do you just open the book and see where it will take you?
Frank
Whether or not we understand Einstein’s theories, we know he posited time was relative, not absolute. One of the best explanations I’ve run across about why time seems to pass faster as we age is the following.
When you’re 10 years old, one year is 1/10th of your life — more actually, considering we’re likely not fully aware of or fully experiencing the passage of time as infants and toddlers. So, the time between birthdays, Christmases, etc. SEEMS like an eternity. But when you’re 50 years old, one year is only 1/50th of the time you’ve experienced. So it seems like a much shorter period of time than that same year when you were 10.
Janet
Hmmmm. That’s the second mathematical explanation I’ve heard. But it doesn’t help me understand WHY the year between birthdays (e.g.,) SEEMS like an eternity. I know it does; I remember only too well just how slow life (and time) once went. but the mathematical model doesn’t help me understand the WHY of it.
I like the more social psychological one (surprise!): new experiences, those for which we have no previous “hooks” to hang aspects of it on, take lots of our time to process. As we age, fewer and fewer experiences are new. We have more “hooks” and life just whizzes by as a result. So to speak.
Didn’t Einstein’s theory include a speeding train?
Anyway, it’s always good to “see” you again. thanks for dropping by.
Vera Marie Badertscher
Thanks so much for featuring A Traveler’s Library. Sorry I just now got around to finding this post. I’m flattered and delighted that you like the “library” enough to recommend it to others. And thanks to Bonnie Lee Black for matching us up. You know I reviewed her first Peace Corps book, don’t you?
Janet
How very nice to find you here, Vera. Thank you so much.
You do such good work with your blog. You’ve carved a fine niche for yourself with Traveler’s Library that none of the other travel blogs accomplish. If mine accomplishes half your reach after a few years, I’ll be thrilled.
I had forgotten that you’d reviewed Bonnie’s Peace Corps book, though it certainly makes sense. You know, she’s got a new one coming out this month: How to Make An African Quilt. Sounds like another winner.
Happy Trails
Donna Hull
I’m so glad that you found my writing friend, Vera Mare Badertscher’s website, A Traveler’s Library. It’s my first stop when looking for travel related books. And now, through Vera’s mention of your nice accolades for her, I’ve discovered a a writer who’s been to Kazakhstan. Not many traveler’s can claim that destination. And, like you, time seems to be swishing by my window in an ever faster blur. My husband and I often look at each other and say, “What happened to retirement?” Fact is, neither of us would be satisfied leading a retired lifestyle. So, we go like we’re 29, okay 39, and crash every 5 or 6 days due to our over-enthusiasm and, “we better do this while we can” attitude. Nice to meet you through Vera.
Janet
Donna, I’m so pleased to meet you. Welcome. And thanks for going back to add your website. I’ve since bookmarked One Healthy Change a Month (what a clever idea) AND also found BlondeBrunettTravel while there. Met your sister, added your blogs to my list of weekly subscriptions, and am now eagerly anticipating lots of fun travel tales. If you think Kazakhstan sounds like a destination, please stop by the Learn More section of my website. I’ve listed two (or is it now three?) organizations you might like to check out. I’ll be adding A Traveler’s Library to that list soon. Thanks again for visiting. I hope you’ll come back.
Donna Hull
After 5 years of blogging, you’d think I’d know how to enter my website when a comments section asks for it. Duh.
Look Where I Have Been
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