Ann Marie Gamble

Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Somewhere Out East

Friday, July 18th, 2014

We are . . . somewhere in Boston. Somewhere Priceline could find you a deal, missy, which turns out to be an inconvenient distance from the airport or any attractions we might hit before joining the rest of our party and heading north. Our actual destination this trip is Maine, but the six daylight hours in Boston could be put to vacation use, too, right?

For a spatially oriented person, that “somewhere” turns out to be anxiety producing. I don’t know where we are, my nerves are all telling me. How can I do what needs to be done next if I don’t know where we are? I’m itching for a map, something to spread out on a table or suitcase or browser window and find north, orient the hotel and the harbor and the–do we want to go to Beacon Hill? The aquarium? Tell me, kiddo, what are your druthers, and here it is, in this quadrant here in relation to our current location.

The itchiness started in the airport, where one is already forming lists of what needs to be done next and plans of attack. But we had arrived late, and decided to grab the bird-in-the-hand dinner option from a Dunkin’ Donuts kiosk–welcome to New England. We ate our sandwiches and reviewed the options to get to this hotel that was too far for a courtesy shuttle. We sat under a map of the subway. (more…)

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Road Trip Reading

Friday, June 13th, 2014

We’re getting ready to spend three weeks up north, and I’m trying to decide what to pack, bookwise. The mp3 player is crammed full of audiobooks for the drive, thirteen hours on a well-known route so no wasting time with maps. The destination has a good library, so I ought to be able to relax about any decision I come to. I’m already daydreaming about the beach chair, the Adirondack lounger, the swing in the woods for the print reading once we arrive. But what to bring, what to bring! Do I Woman

Take those couple of titles I’ve been slogging through–at last here’s some distraction-free time to knock them off.
Take only what fits in my suitcase, except that
We’re going by car, so I can take more than one suitcase.
And what about my e-reader?
(adds “e-reader charger” to packing checklist)

(more…)

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Backyard Adventures

Wednesday, January 30th, 2013

We did not burn down the garage in the course of this cleaning project

I’ve been to Bali. I used to eat lobster for lunch. I had a Filofax. Today, the thing that excites me is that my new vacuum cleaner has a nozzle that fits between the ribs of the radiators. I am dusting spaces that haven’t been dusted in years, and I finally have a vacuum cleaner with a nozzle that fits (I’m of an age that I’ve owned several vacuum cleaners; I’ve lived in this house for more than one vacuum). Under the hall radiator, I found a screwdriver with interchangeable tips. In the living room, I found a quarter. (more…)

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The Harder Part of This Summer

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

my aunt and my grandfather

my son

Also this summer
We did another underwater photo shoot with different wardrobe. We ran through some of our usual “up in Michigan” activities—climbing the Big Dune, biking around the bay. But in between heat waves, car repairs, and mysterious illnesses, my aunt collapsed and died.

My mom rushed to Nebraska help her niece and nephew manage the details, and we took care of the pets and otherwise held down the fort at the house their grandfather built. My mom had left behind a photo album, and I told my kids stories about being at the lake with my grandparents and showed them pictures—these in black and white of different sand babies on the same shore, kids bundled up after swimming on the same front porch (now with big trees!) hamming the same ham for whatever relative was holding the camera.

These trips were not entirely easy. The overlapping households were run by smart women whose only venue for the exercise of power was the house, and their ideas of appropriate behavior–on vacation or otherwise–and effective management often clashed. (more…)

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Finding the Perfect Gift

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

I’m blogging about the tricky people on my Christmas present list at the Pop Culture Divas.

I remain this easy to buy gifts for

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Kids in the Kitchen

Friday, August 12th, 2011

We went blueberry picking with the gang: a reluctant but competitive crowd of teenagers, toddler, non-fruit-eaters, and adventure buffs, plus a few adults who compared the prices of already-picked berries at various stores around the Midwest.

After an hour or so, we had 17 pounds of berries. (We should have weighed a couple of the kids before and after.) We’ll freeze most of these, but for the rest of the weekend, blueberry everything. One of the kids suggested blueberry pie, and I suggested this recipe. (more…)

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Letterboxing

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

I’m posting about a vacation activity, whether you’re at home or on the road, at the Pop Culture Divas.

Our letterbox got chomped by a woodland creature

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Vacation/Research/Life

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Guédelon, France, summer 2010

It’s been a while since I’ve been at the blog: our summer ended up chock-full of away-from-the-keyboard adventure (and inspiration). There are those who consider it impossible to get much writing done if you don’t log off. I get a lot out of the Internet, as far as research goes: old-school facts and figures, maps and photos and nowadays videos and accounts from a wide range of people. I get enough that I forget that stumbling through a specific physical space gives you ideas that a general read-about doesn’t. (more…)

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Blog Party

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

My e-friend Karen Quah has been blogging for one year this month, and in honor she’s posting interviews of some of her frequent guests. Today’s post is an interview with me (me me me me me!). That reaction is one reason I’m getting such a kick out of this, I suppose, but I’m also hugely enjoying learning more about people who’s avatars I’ve gotten to know from the comments.

Getting to know Karen encapsulates everything I love about social media. I had just joined Twitter. My goal was to post once a day. (more…)

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Convergence

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

This is a sample of columnular basalt in the Field Museum in Chicago:

The famous place I’ve heard of this formation is the Giant’s Causeway, a cliff on the northern coast of Ireland. There’s a geological explanation and a legendary one, a tale I enjoy because the hero actually dodges the issue and defeats the villain with a trick instead of a fight. In Rite of Return the hero and heroine end up at Giant’s Causeway at a moment when the heroine is questioning why she’s in the country. It was a scene that took me a long time to write, and I did a lot of staring at photos of columnular basalt while I was trying to do it. (more…)