I now realize an extra benefit of this blog: as people are reading it, they're sharing thoughts and information with me. For example, two friends have written to me about the Orkney Islands. One alerted me to its archaeological significance, of which I hadn't been aware (see
Skara Brae). Another, who's been there, gushed about the lovely understated Orcadians. She also offered advice about walking trails in Scotland, which we hadn't considered before, but now might. What's wonderful about having lots of time and being flexible is that we can ponder all these possibilities, rather than thinking, "Oh, we only have so much time in that area, we won't be able to do such and such." Since it's possible that we'll continue our nomadiness (is that a new word?) into future years, we can also plan to do some things on a future long stay.
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| Meltham, England (c. 1900) |
Les' cousin, who's an expert on Les' mother's side of the family, gave us a comprehensive list of places to look for in the Meltham area of England. So, instead of just spending an afternoon there, we might stay several days.
The new computer (an inexpensive lightweight Acer) seems fine for our future travels. We just did a 5-day trip to British Columbia, and it worked well for editing photos and reading and sending e-mail. We also tried out our new wheeled suitcase, and that seems OK, even though small. (It's the largest size it can be in order to be legal for overhead storage.)