"I'm going to speak my mind because I have nothing to lose."--S.I. Hayakawa
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Monday, December 19, 2011

Second Guessing

I bit a bullet a few nights ago.  In fact, I bit a couple bandoliers full of bullets.  Metaphorically speaking, that is.

I signed up for a trip next November that will retrace Ernest Shackleton's voyage in the Endurance to Antarctica.  If you haven't read that book, Endurance, do so post haste.  It's one of the world's great adventure tales.

The next day I was quaking with the enormity of what I had committed myself to.  I was second-guessing myself, having buyer's remorse, but oddly excited by the whole idea.  I've been a Shackleton aficianado for many, many years.


Just one of the many piles of snow in my yard.

The middle of the afternoon, I drove into Moose Pass to the post office.   On the return trip, I trying to calculate how many trips to Hawaii I could make for the cost of the Antarctica voyage.




Hawaii.  Warm.  No weekly blizzards and power outages.  Snokeling and SCUBA diving.  Exotic flowers.  Vegging out poolside.   Nothing to do but bake in the sun and read.





There was a long, pink box waiting on the doorstep for me when I got home.




A long, pink box full of exotic flowers and foliage from Hawaii.  Instead of me going to Hawaii, Hawaii came to me.




I quit worrying about the expense of retracing Shackleton's expedition.  C'est la vie.   Some things are just meant to be.



Thank you, Bruce and Betsey.

3 comments:

  1. Gorgeous flowers for a gutsy lady. What an adventure that will be, but I'm glad it's you and not me. Also love the photo of the sunlit mtn. Merry Christmas dear friend.

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  2. A neighbor in Manley Hot Springs works down there and has for some many years .. Art Mortvedt .. did you meet him when you were in Manley .. smiles .. he is something and has a web site ..

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  3. Marvelous juxtaposition of snow scenes and tropical flowers (gorgeous). Am latching on to "Endurance" -- sounds like a great read. So excited about your own expedition. You go girl! Buck and I are planning some trips. With new hearing aids, he'll be ready to fly! (Don't have them, yet, are in the research phase.)

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