I stray blog 
Archives
The vast majority of people who do not live in Jerusalem are primarily coming to the city to see, pray, or be in one of these three places. The literal focal point for the majority of the worlds faiths, these sites draw staggering crowds. Even with sometimes crushing crowds, these major holy sites can be warm, welcoming, and inspiring. The people of Jerusalem who administer them will be found to also be… Read More
Jerusalem is a city that, I think, defies description. How you choose to try and describe it completely depends on the point of view you bring with you. Ancient, storied, troubled, and revered; the city is a gathering of cultures, treasure seekers, religious zealots and pilgrims of every type. That statement is true even today. In this overview of a couple days in Jerusalem, I am intentionally not covering the Western Wall,… Read More
So, I’ve been reading this book called The Timbuktu School for Nomads. It’s helping me keep my head in other places over the winter, before I start travelling again in the spring. I enjoy the story very much, and it makes me think of my own time in the desert (such as it was). The reason I bring this up here is that there is a fair bit in the story about… Read More
This is a follow up post, of sorts. A little while back I wrote a post about travel photos and wrapped philosophic about what happens to them when you return from vacation. This is an adjacent take to that post. A bit more, present day. Since returning from the middle east, I have found that I need to reestablish the general level of comfort that I am used to. When traveling from… Read More
Having come back to America from the Middle East, there was a requirement to head back home and see mom and dad. I utilized the initial couple weeks being back in the USA to handle the things that need to be handle after a year abroad. There was finding an apartment, rifling through loads of mail, miscellaneous doctor visits and the like. Having the necessary items in the bag, it was time… Read More
It’s been a minute since I’ve left, what had become, my desert home. I have to say that of the small number of things I enjoyed about the desert, the heat would be number one. It’s interesting to me how something like the weather can have a lasting effect on people’s impressions of a place. For the record, I grew up in the northeast. The winters were snowy and blisteringly cold. The… Read More
With my tenure in the Middle East coming to a close, I have set my mind on new adventures. My current musing have me, in my mind’s eye, backpacking around Europe. A Europe of the summer type of event. This, as we all know, is not the cheap time to be in Europe. Normally, I would consider the shoulder season, unless there is a specific date range that I need to be… Read More
