“Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but the richer for having made it.” 

Wellington is a beautiful town – with its bay, hills, older renovated homes, booming film industry and weather that is gorgeous (while we were there, anyway).  Like San Francisco, Wellington has earthquakes, but every place has some little drawback to keep the faint-hearted away. Wellington is also Sir Peter Jackson’s home town, and the town …

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I don’t write a daily diary, but I do write a daily journal while we travel, which brings me to our latest trip to New Zealand and Australia.  I plan to share some of the things we saw and experienced while sailing around New Zealand and winging and busing our way around Australia.  I’m a …

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“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture.  Just get people to stop reading them.”  

We went back to Israel with a group from church, and then went on to Greece.  We bus-traveled around Italy and later Switzerland with Rick’s sister and brother-in-law.  We cruised to Central America and went through the Panama Canal.  We’ve driven thousands of miles, taking in sites in Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota.  …

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“When I am dealing with other people, I am dealing with children of God.” 

We had the travel bug and it caused a fever.  It’s never gone away. If you haven’t got much money, you still find ways to travel, if you want to travel badly enough.   Television programs, books, day-dreaming.  Wherever we lived, we considered ourselves tourists and went out to explore.  We didn’t wait for relatives to …

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“Hard work and honesty are always in demand, regardless of the economy.” 

My parents infected me with the travel bug.  Even on limited income, they found ways to get away.  In the beginning, our ventures involved stowing a picnic in the trunk of our car.  As they earned more, we graduated to tent and sleeping bags, then a small trailer, then a bigger trailer pulled by a …

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Quotes to go with my cooking skills:   “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure.  In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-**** attitude.”  Julia Child   “A balanced diet is a cookie in both hands.”                         Anonymous    “Where there’s smoke, there’s toast.”                         Anonymous    “The only time to eat diet …

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