Since starting this blog in November of 2006, I have used a series of tag lines to describe what it is about. Initially, I used “Traveling the world, following my joy.” By the time I had I returned from my around-the-world backpacking trip last fall, I realized that joy comes from within. This realization, along with the fact that I had completed my long-term travels for the immediate future, led me to change my tag line a few times, until I finally settled on “One woman’s midlife crisis and her search for a meaningful life”

Although the search for a meaningful life continues to describe my quest, I have often wondered about the validity of the “midlife crisis” part of the tag line. I’ve done the math. I’m 56 years old. If this is a midlife crisis, my statement implies that Read the rest of this entry »

For many years people asked me how I could function in business without wearing a watch. Recently, it occurred to me that no one has questioned my refusal to wear a watch for quite a long time, and so I began checking out people to see how many were wearing watches. I must have looked at a hundred wrists and only spotted two or three. We simply don’t need watches anymore. When we’re driving, there’s a digital clock in the car. At home, there are digital clocks on the stove, microwave, and TV. The time is displayed our on computers and our cell phones. Even my iPod displays the time.

That made me think about other things that have been rendered obsolete due to advances in technology. Cashiers no longer count back change at the store because cash registers do the figuring for them. Hand-held calculators have virtually Read the rest of this entry »

Key West is a free-wheeling, hard-partying kind of place that never seems to sleep. It’s the kind of place you come to people-watch. A place where anything goes, as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else. Where else can you see a man drive by on a Harley with an African Green Parrot perched calmly on his shoulder? Where tourists ride bicycles down the main street wearing only swimsuits? Where the taxis have bike racks mounted on their rear bumpers for those who get too drunk to ride their bikes back Read the rest of this entry »

I may alienate some people with this post, but I feel strongly that the above video contains important information that everyone needs to hear. If you are offended, please consider that our ability to freely express our opinions is one of the things that makes this country great. You may not agree with my opinion, nor I with yours, but isn’t it wonderful that we can express them without fear of reprisal?

It has astounded and mystified me that we have allowed our current President to get away with actions that have led to the death of more than 4,000 American soldiers. From the beginning, I never believed his claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and by now everyone (hopefully) understands that there was no direct link between Iraq and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. At the the very least Bush is guilty of narrow-mindedness and less than admirable intelligence. But now, Vincent Bugliosi has written a book titled “The Prosecution of George W. Bush For Murder.”

Who is Bugliosi and what makes his opinion different or more important than anyone else who may have heretofore made similar claims? Bugliosi is highly credible because Read the rest of this entry »

A few years ago, Alex Cequea Fuentes wondered what would it be like to meditate in a public place where there is a lot of traffic, like a busy intersection or a shopping mall. His question ultimately led him to create the Public Meditation Project, a social and spiritual movement dedicated to bridging the gap between inner peace and world peace. The group now holds events in public places all over the country, including San Francisco, Chicago, Iowa City, and Houston. Alex’s says his goal is to create change from the feeling level. “The best case scenario is that people walk past and feel the peace. Then they momentarily become peaceful, and the people they are with become peaceful. This is world change from the core of our beings.” Reactions to these events vary, as you can imagine, but some of the funniest come from mall security guards. Check out this absolutely hysterical entry in Alex’s blog that describes one such experience at the Katy Mills Mall in Katy, Texas, then take a look at this video of Alex meditating in public places:

In a similar vein, in 1977 two American Buddhist Monks from San Francisco’s Gold Mountain Monastery began a bowing pilgrimage from downtown L.A. to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Talamage, California near Ukiah. Heng Sure has made the vow to bow to the ground in a full prostration every three steps along the road. Read the rest of this entry »

Day after day I write and receive no responses, until I sometimes wonder if anyone is actually reading my blog. Then suddenly, I’ll post something that hits a nerve and lots of people will comment or email me. The story about the lion, “Love Knows No Bounds,” was one of those posts. In addition to public comments, I received a private email from one reader, who wrote:

“I absolutely loved the lion video. Humans should be more like animals don’t you think?”

I never really thought about it before, but maybe we should all try to be more like animals. They show unconditional love, are non-judgmental, do not gossip or criticize, and do not have egos. My intention is to never say or think negative things about people, but my behavior always seems to fall short. No sooner have I Read the rest of this entry »

In 1969, John Rendall and Ace Berg rescued a lion from a cramped cage in Harrods Department Store, where it was offered for sale. The lion soon grew too big for their small apartment and they reintroduced him to Africa. A year later they wanted to visit their former pet in his natural habitat, but they were told he was now the head of a large pride and was entirely wild. They went in search of him anyway. Watch the amazing video below to see what happened:

I rolled into Key West on Friday evening, dumped my bag, and strolled down Duval Street to see what manner of craziness was afoot. Almost immediately I spotted a portly, white-bearded gentleman who looked for all the world like Ernest Hemingway, returned from the grave. I continued a bit further down the street, only to see another man who could have been Hemingway’s twin. As I approached the heart of the tourist district, the number of reincarnated Ernests increased, until it seemed I was surrounded by khaki-clad, red beret-wearing, white-bearded men.

No, I have not lost my mind. Nor am I seeing ghosts. I simply arrived in Key West during the 28th Annual Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Contest, sponsored by Sloppy Joe’s Bar. Hemingway lived in Key West for a number of years and was an enthusiastic regular customer at Sloppy Joe’s. In fact, the author once called himself a silent partner in the enterprise. Today the bar celebrates its the birthday of Ernest Hemingway and honors his work as author and sportsman with the annual contest. Take a look at some of the Hemingway’s I spotted – and keep in mind that this is only a fraction of the 141 men Read the rest of this entry »

Hurricane season is upon us and the media is all over it. Having lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Sarasota, I try to be particularly aware of the weather from July 1st through November 1st. Each year, as hurricane season approaches, I spend more time watching the Weather Channel and monitoring the low pressure systems in the Atlantic on the National Hurricane Center’s website, in an attempt to predict which might become tropical waves, depressions, storms, or, perish the thought, hurricanes.

Those of us who live in hurricane-prone areas hope and pray that no storms will come our way. I wish I could say the same about the media. For all their blathering about how terrible the destruction is from weather-related events, the truth of the matter is that they are eager for this sort of devastation to occur. I have witnessed this during hurricanes on the Outer Banks. In all the years I lived there, I never left for a hurricane; I hunkered down and weathered each hurricane that came our way. Before the eye of the hurricane arrived, Read the rest of this entry »