Travel with Nancy

 
I was born to travel.
From the earliest times hopping into the car
to go for a drive
meant adventure.
 
Little did I know that the roads would lead me
to far off lands.
Not, just to come and go but to find new friends,
to work, to live and to love.
 
The excitement of packing the suitcase
having tickets and passport ready was just
as exciting as driving to destinations close to home.
 
It is an attitude
where all the vistas you see and
all the people you meet,
and all the experiences you have,
will help make you the person you are.
Travel is an integral part of the person I have become.

 

I never wanted to go to India. My aunt and uncle were medical missionaries to somewhere in India and as kids we had to watch their slides of Indian diseases. Now this was in the 1950’s but the images remained vividly in my brain. I would give India a miss. But, I relented and we did the tourist route, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and I absolutely loved the sounds, heat, and especially the colours. Even the food was super good and I don’t particularily like curries but there is so much more than curry. The Taj Majhal is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It had just been washed for a visit from the Clintons and it sparkled.

                                           

I want to share some of my very special places in the world with you through words and photos.  We will jump around the world and the trip starts  at Esaouria, Morocco.   

If you like seafood, there is nothing as fresh as the fish served at the restaurants along the foreshore of Essaouria, Morocco. Fish pulled from the sea, on to a sizzling BBQ, then on to your plate, served with green salads, a beer or white wine and life is good.
Essaouria is on the west coast of Morocco, a popular resort town. It is a samll town-or it was when we were there built in the eighteenth century.  The midevil looking walls that surround the city were designed by a French architect who was a prisoner. The  battlements face the sea on one side and sand dunes on the back side. Maybe I have my backsides reversed and the sand dunes  face front and the sea the backside. Eitherway it is beautiful. Life seems uncomplicated with fishermen, markets, restaurants, stunning white houses with blue shutters, and locals and tourists strolling along the foreshore in the cool evenings.

I received a phone call yesterday with a very excited Lenore on the other end. We won, we won. It seems that a photo that I entered into a NZ Women’s Weekly magazine was the weeks best wedding photo. We were both extremely happy, Lenore got her wedding pic in the magazine and won a saute pan and I got my name in print as the wedding photographer. What fun!

I must say that I have a few gray hairs that were not there before the wedding. I kept asking myself “what happens if none of the pics are any good?” I figured that if I took enough pictures that some of them would be acceptable. Lenore and Mike received a cd with 956 photos of the day that they could choose from for their albums.
This picture was number 353 and we all won!

The sun was out and we girls, two sisters-in-law and a cousin went for a picnic. When we girls get together we always start our day at the Nurse Maude Shop. Great second hand shop that has quality clothes for men and women and accessories. I use it as my shoe store. I am pleased to note that other women have big feet like me and I have bought three pairs of good shoes. The ones today have not been worn. The soles are perfectly clean. Who ever bought them originally never ever wore them outside. I am so impressed with them especially for $10.00. A bargain. I have trouble finding shoes for my size 11’s.

Coffee comes next. A necessity after all that shopping and big decisions have to be made as to what we are going to do for the day.
Today is picnic day.  Louise has made an old fashioned picnic lunch. So we pile into Robyn’s cheerfully blue Echo and head to a local park, The Groynes. We found a table in the shade, unpacked the sumputious lunch and froze. The wind was cold and biting so we picked up all the lunch and moved into the sun. So much for harmful sun rays.
Warmth was needed and the tea water was only luke warm. A rich gooey carrot cake came out, bread was shredded for the ducks, gossiip was bantied about and a good day was had by all.

I like to write.  Why I stopped, I don’t know.

Perhaps there were too many other things to do.

It takes a lot of mental effort to write something, anything.

Just to start can be difficult.  You know

Choosing the correct words and phrases

To mean exactly what I am thinking.

I will not worry if what I write means the same to you as it did to me.

Is that what I want or

do I want you to put your own interpretation

on to my words?

We tend to do at anyway, or at least I do.

So this is for me and if you want to read more please come ahead.

I feel privileged you are along for the ride.

In future posts double click on the picutre to enlarge it.