Priorities

 

The view of the Highlands from Stirling Castle

As I write, I have friends just back from a few days in LA and before that a longer stay in far north Scotland; other friends are in New Mexico, Pecos and Taos specifically, and one of them is only recently back from a tour of Scandinavian countries. One of my daughters is in Chicago, one son just back from LA, one son-in-law in Nashville at a music camp. My friend Jean has recently been to Mackinac Island, before that New York, and is making plans for a winter trip to Santa Fe, while Jeannie, who also went to Mackinac, is going to the Galapagos and then will be in on the Santa Fe trip. Mary is going to Galapagos, and Babette will stop in Fort Worth on her way from Winedale to Santa Fe. The whole world is traveling.

Meanwhile, the lawn service guy and I spent time looking out the window at some decorative grasses that are not one bit decorative. Mostly brown, they are lying limp on the ground—and were before the awful heat so that wasn’t the cause. This is the third thing we’ve tried in two smallish beds outside my desk window. And he said our pentas are the saddest he’s ever seen. (He has a horticulture degree from A&M, so he knows what he’s talking about). We have decided to put wildflowers in the two beds where the grasses are, and I will live with puny pentas until October when it’s time for mums. The wildflower beds will not be cheap—replanting beds usually involves a three-man crew, and time is money. My son says I pay too much for lawn care.

Tonight, Jean is coming for supper. We’ll have store-bought guac for starters, a smoked salmon Salad Niçoise, and a splurgy piece of chocolate cake for dessert. I usually keep smoked salmon on hand and often guac. I buy good wine, good quality meat and fresh fish, and my grocery bill is high for one person, though please remember that I feed four of us many nights. I haven’t yet bought the leg of lamb I crave, but I know I will someday. Or a rack of lamb.

You can see where this is going. I said to Jordan the other night that I know some friends and family think I spend too much on the yard and at the grocery, and she said, “It makes you happy.”

“It’s my travel,” I replied.

If I listed all the travel of my lifetime, I’d realize I’ve been far more places than most people. I’ve been to Scotland and Hawaii, California and Florida, New York and New Mexico, Seattle, Spokane, and Spartanburg, and more. Generally, I have great memories of trips, but the truth is I am not an easy traveler. I feel like the little old lady who, just off her first plane ride, was asked how she liked it. “It was all right,” she said, “but I never did put my full weight down.” I’m not really comfortable on flights, though when we went to Scotland on a red-eye, I was the one who slept while two of my grown children could not. But when I’m away, no matter how much I’m enjoying the new experience, I’m always counting how many “sleeps” (Jordan’s term) until I can sleep in my own bed again.

I do still have a bucket list of sorts. I never got to Alaska, and I’d like to do the inland waterway cruise and maybe visit Victoria on the way, see the abundant flowers, and have tea at the Empress Hotel. And I’d love to go back to the Scottish Highlands. But those are pipe-dream trips, given my mobility challenges. So I will content myself with wonderful memories of my one trip to Scotland. On a more practical level, I’d like to go back once again to Chicago, my hometown, drive by my childhood house, stay at The Palmer House that I’ve now written so much about. I could do that one. Just have to gear myself up to fly.

And I’d like to have a family get-together in Santa Fe. We used to go every Christmas, but now it’s been several years. I have some hesitation about the long drive. I love watching the flat Panhandle turn into the mesas of New Mexico as we head west, but ten hours in a car seat? Colin said, “We’ll rent a motor home.” Now that’s an idea to my liking.

Meantime, I’m content and happy in my cottage. I travel to the kitchen and the garden, though right now the latter is pretty pitiful.