In the heart of the Canadian Prairies, is a road that runs straight and unpaved for miles. There are no sign posts to indicate where it leads. There’s only an abandoned stone schoolhouse, the only beacon that can be seen along a road that points straight into the horizon. I imagine that if there were time, it would be an adventure to driv
In the heart of the Canadian Prairies, is a road that runs straight and unpaved for miles. There are no sign posts to indicate where it leads. There’s only an abandoned stone schoolhouse, the only beacon that can be seen along a road that points straight into the horizon. I imagine that if there were time, it would be an adventure to drive this road to the end.
And that’s exactly like the beginning of each of my stories – it’s an adventure that I drive to the end. That opening sentence, like this road, runs straight into the unknown. While I know the characters and where I want to take them, there are twists as sometimes the characters and even the villain(s) decides to lead the way. They drop what I consider surprise bombs that are encouraged by me saying “what if” over a coffee break. Those two words can change a lot.
What is an adventure really? Not too many of us are going to climb a mountain, jump from a plane or, hopefully, run for our lives. But we can shake up our day to day lives, change up our schedule, sign up for a new sport or club or go on the occasional trip – even a local trip. We can also dive into fictional adventure. Books have been my escape since I was a kid back in the day when I road my bike to the library. Of course, that doesn't mean I haven't had my share of travel adventures with hopefully, more to come. But in the gaps in between...
If you’re looking for an adventure and you’ve no plane ticket in hand - check out a book. I'll try not to suggest which one.
Safe Adventures!
Ryshia
"The border means more than a customs house, a passport officer, a man with a gun. Over there everything is going to be different; life is never going to be quite the same again after your passport has been stamped."- Graham Greene
Dec. 6, 2023
In my travels both near and far, I've discovered something that is common everywhere - road craziness. There is always the person who doesn't signal, speeds etc etc.but it's the different traffic rules that can truly broadside you. Here's a sampling of what I've experienced in my travels.
Cambodia
· Don't assume that the cab driver with
In my travels both near and far, I've discovered something that is common everywhere - road craziness. There is always the person who doesn't signal, speeds etc etc.but it's the different traffic rules that can truly broadside you. Here's a sampling of what I've experienced in my travels.
Cambodia
· Don't assume that the cab driver with perfect English that you hired to pick you up the next day, is the cab driver you're going to get to take you cross country.
· Speed and the ability to understand English sometimes has an inverse reaction. The more you tell the driver to slow down, the faster he may drive.
· Your driver's continual horn honking does not actually ensure your safety nor get other vehicles out of your way.
Canada
· The cab driver you hire is the one you'll get.
· Radar is common and painfully slow drivers plentiful - a rather inverse correlation.
· Horn honking is rare but glaring and speeding up to cut you off when you signal to change lanes - common
Malaysia
"The left hand side of the road - the left, the left..."
This from the passenger - coming from a place where cars stick to the right except to pass.
Safe Adventures
Ryshia
Dec. 12, 2023
Up here the frozen north isn’t so frozen. In fact, we’re having a warm winter. While there's snow on the ground and sub zero temperatures that seem pretty chilly to those of you from more tropical climes, it's way warmer than usual. Although warm won't have me hauling out my shorts and sandals, for it's not flip flop weather. Nope, not
Up here the frozen north isn’t so frozen. In fact, we’re having a warm winter. While there's snow on the ground and sub zero temperatures that seem pretty chilly to those of you from more tropical climes, it's way warmer than usual. Although warm won't have me hauling out my shorts and sandals, for it's not flip flop weather. Nope, not that kind of warm at all. It’s, the snow is melting, hanging - rotting a bit more and hanging, kind of warm. Temperatures hovering around that melt or don't melt zone which is almost hot for February. Although it’s still chilly enough to want to curl up after a walk with a good book.
Well that leads us the fact that today is the first day of Freedom to Read Week in Canada. If you ask me, that event should go on all year. You can’t sweep history under the rug and pretend it never happened. That only ensures that you’re poised for a replay. No matter how many times you say it - Ignorance is not bliss. Of course, there are other reasons for banning books like frightening content, magical beings etc. etc. but are those reasons any better?
From an author perspective, Stephen King said it best when he heard that some of his books were banned from school libraries.
“16 of my books? I must be doing something right.”
And that's not all that's going on today...
It’s a busy day for it’s also National Wine Day. What could be better this evening than curling up with a glass of wine and a good book? What book? Well – you’re only limited by your imagination.
Safe Adventures!
Ryshia