“Fellow World Travelers.”
It is always great meeting fellow travelers who seek nomadic adventures as we are a unique tribe of people whose experiences of the open road brings joys to our hearts.
It is always great meeting fellow travelers who seek nomadic adventures as we are a unique tribe of people whose experiences of the open road brings joys to our hearts.
I recommend you visit Key West during the Fantasy festival with a daily schedule of events, there is something for everyone.
It has been three months of writing, editing, re-writing, editing, and a repeat of all with an occasional blog post. I recently took time for some mountain biking in Florida,…
Doubt, courage, and confidence are a persistent emotional tug of war deep within you and between your ears.
These three words are the essential foundation for every human living on this planet. There are millions of different ways to achieve all three based on need desire and what…
Every day I'm honored to wake knowing I love you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fpR07wwpS4 I recently viewed the movie trailer "Green Book" scheduled for November 21, 2018, release in the US, and it triggered my thoughts about my travels across the US during…
Last year, at this time, I was very proud of having attained the, respectable, age of 60. I thought about what it meant to be entering the door of another…
On many occasions, my family and friends have voiced their concerns about me backpacking or hiking into the forests and deserts. They fear for my safety of everything and anything…
Sculpture Guide: Buffalo Bill—The Scout By Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney 1924 Location: North of the building, visible from inside the Whitney Western Art Museum Following the 1917 death of William F.…
Elegance is a word used to describe style and beauty. Outdoor photography captures natures ever-changing elegant views of a Florida sunset. This, landscape sunset cloud formation in Key West stretching…
On many occasions, my family and friends have voiced they're concerned about me backpacking or hiking into the forests and deserts. They fear for my safety of everything and…
For the past several months, I have struggled with a writing routine as I traveled but, summer has eased into autumn, and I draw inspiration from quotes, by Gustave Flaubert.…
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I entered the local library for a book, and I saw the most incredibly beautiful king size quilt hanging on display behind glass. I stood for…
It was a day after the American Labor Day holiday and the unofficial end of summer. But more importantly for me, it is the demographic transition of the US National…
Recently while I was touring and photographing the West Rim Drive of Crater Lake in Oregon, I met a New Zealander in his late twenties, and a 66-year-old couple all…
The Pacific Crest Trail Celebrated 50 Years as A National Scenic Trail of 2,650 miles from the California Mexican border to the Washington State, Canadian Boarder. It normally takes…
I was taking a short day hike around the campground in Collier Memorial Park in Oregon when I met another camper/traveler and our conversation turned to current events. It was…
Monarch Pass, on route 50, in Colorado, at over 12000 feet above sea level. It has been a little over a month since I last posted a blog simply…
There are many unique museums and places I want to visit, learn and further understand American history. Many tourists and travelers see and reveal in video and blog postings the…
During the last couple of years, I have traveled mostly in the western US and back home to my much beloved Florida beaches and the Florida Keys, I have seen…
I will never forget the sunny Monday morning inside the coffee shop, knowing you had seen me dozens if not hundreds of times reading the new paper. But on this…
This blog posting is uplifting and enlighting for all aspiring writers. :-)
My freedom is traveling nomadically, one destination to another, exploring, discovering and learning. (MJL) In April I attended the 2018 Continental Divide Trail Days held on the Campus of…
The town of Creighton New Hampshire was to celebrate the 1948 class reunion of the small towns only high school with 43 of the original 97 class members still alive. On…
An unfortunate aspect to writing and blogging when I want to play outside.
This blog post is serendipitous of what I have accomplished with my self-imposed writer's residency in the wooded forest of the Green Mountains in Vermont.
My dad standing next to my first touring motorcycle a Kawasaki Voyager-12 Today men all over America are celebrating Father's Day spending time with their families, throwing a ball in…
A man and woman conceived a child. Some people debate when the circle of life begins, but for this poem, the ring of a lifetime starts when a mother is…
Again, as usual, I am seated watching the archaic traditions leaving no assumptions for what is to happen at this ceremony that has been held every year since 1877. I glance…
Many things in life are comfortable assumptions, like night or day, green light or red light, and a massive crater in the middle of a desert created by a meteor.…
I attended the 2018 Overland Expo West gathering that brought people together from around the world to Fort Tuthill County Fairgrounds in Flagstaff AZ. This event is organized for anyone…
Everyone who visits Arizona always recommends the Grand Canyon and their next recommendation is usually the city of Sedona AZ to see the picturesque red mountains surrounding the town. Many…
Oh yes, the Petrified Forest National Park has been on my must-visit list for years, and my recent scenic drive tour has only conjured up plans for a re-visit to…
We do not celebrate wisdom, because it comes with age. Many fear age while never gaining its wisdom. Youth spends money, wisdom would never consider. Youth is fertile ground for…
There are many places in the world, but none compare to traveling to witness vistas, landscapes, and wildlife. My current place on this planet is the above photos inside…
Usually, on the weekends mostly during the morning hours, a hiking trail fills with groups of people flaunting their newly purchased hiking and backpacking gear. These groups move along in…
My travel aura was projecting as I sat reading about my next destination inside my vehicle at an eastbound I-10 rest-stop in East Texas. Actually, it was my Florida tags…
I have witnessed unbelievable angry tantrums and lost tempers by toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults. But, during a lovely wedding, I watched a 5'4″, 160-pound, grey-haired woman, with bright red…
Great blog post to calm the soul. :-)
Ms, Charlotte Wetzler, was seated on the main stage, looking out upon well over 500-hundred guests who are her former students and the recipients of her 42- years of teaching…
With each swing of the mallet, I pound the spike deeper into the ground. Anger, jealousy, envy, and hate fuels my swings but, I cannot stop pounding the spike more…
A great blog post by Giggles and Tales. :-) https://simpledimplesite.blog/2018/04/22/the-daily-prompt-partake/comment-page-1/#comment-22454
Capturing sunrise photos while stopped at the "Sols Cliff scenic overlook with views of Bar Harbor Maine from inside Acadia National Park. The crisps winds of an early September cold…
On a cold rainy spring day, I toured several critical locations in the city of Mongomery Alabama which is ground zero of the Civil Rights Era in America. In 1877…
Our family, our children, forty years we made. The mind-numbing daily routine we made. Our separate sleeping bedrooms we agreed. Because of commitments, our love has become veiled from one…
The daily WordPress word prompt inspires thoughtful, creative writing ideas based on the WordPress user's past experiences with the word which can hold various meanings and definitions. The word churn, cause me…
April is National Poetry Month, and I'm creating inspired poetry daily to celebrate events online, at libraries, and communities everywhere. A mindset for poetry can be inspired and created by the…
From the time, I saw her from across the dance floor, I was tranced into seeing them closer. Standing in front of her, I was awakened by her voice…
Attending a funeral, a retirement gathering, a college or high school graduation, of a family member or friend allows for personal self-reflection. Your thoughts peel away layers of life's reality igniting and stirring…
Since Feb I have enjoyed and settled into the Florida warmth, and because of cold temperatures, I used my backpacking pants' less than a week. As March winds to an…
Incredible poetry by a long time blogger friend. :-)
The weekly photo challenge asks the question where would you rather be. The following photos reveal where I would rather be as photography allows for the repeated return to moments…
This is an excellent and timely piece of prose, for today’s society and the times we live.
Every day since forever, I have seen you, and we are identical twins. I look into your eyes, and I see the mirror image of me. I have seen pictures…
See my elegance? My jet black hair was cooked and processed with waves galore, against platinum silver and neon green, circumferencing from temple to temple rising to the cowlick above the…
Casandra entered the room, and I could not make eye contact, She walks past my table, and I look down at my paper, I sensed a connection, but I'm too…
I can remember as far back as a kindergartener, hearing my mother, father, siblings, friends, and teachers, telling me, or writing in the margins of a report card, "Slow Down."…
As the days of March wind down and I continue editing, re-editing and repeating the process of my short stories. The recent cold weather in Southwest Florida provoked a wrinkle…
During my lifetime of travel along the back roads, my reason to stop is best described as "distracted." by what my eyes witness and I want to learn and discover…
Suddenly there is no sound of the trail, but I feel and hear my heart pounding after my climb to summit the small peak of 2500 feet. My breathing slows…
Our parents, families, and friends say we are too young to know love. We both wish and desire a love we neither know of or have ever experienced, yet,…
My plan for the day was to set up somewhere along the beach to write and read all day on a picnic bench under a shelter looking out onto the…
I want to start the first day of March 2018 with a cheerful hello to all of the followers of this site. For the next 30-days or so I'm developing…
At the beach, or in the park, the morning blend of sites and sounds coupled with the warm sunrise temperatures to sooth the skin adds to the beauty of the day ahead,. Sparrows,…
As a caterer with twenty-two years in the business, I love the quote "Eating is a necessity, cooking is an art." I once prepared dinner for 50-people, who attended an…
For over forty years I have traveled around the US for which my family and friends were astonished by the journey and marveled at the destinations completed on a motorcycle.…
Well, it has come around again the commercially celebrated Valentines Day of love. It is the erotic, exotic, enticing, inspirational day for the expression and confession of love for one…
Within the imaginations of everyone who's creative ideas and thoughts are inspired or influenced by anything seen on television, read in a book or magazine, can become a reality. MJL I…
When I began traveling in the late 80's upon a 1987 Kawasaki touring motorcycle around the US, I never created or was bewildered with a title for what I was…
The twins and Johnathan are in the rear seat of the car with their father at the wheel, as they travel along their driveway from their home to the main…
At 4:45 pm, their father, Jefferson Wheeler, was a third-generation farmer, who stood six-foot, seven-inches tall, with muscular arms, and a matching barrel chest. He was a hardworking, strict disciplinarian,…
It was 4:30 pm on a western Nebraska farm, in the summer of 1969 with the humid July winds blowing as usual while the Wheeler twins Jason and Jacob who…
True love posting from a fellow blogger.
I was scared almost out of my seat when Sister Abigale screamed at the top of her lungs forcing all of the fifth-grade students to stared forward, but it was…
I was born and raised in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York, and the first time I saw photos of a beach, I dreamed of living on an island. As…
I am a part of what some people call the greatest generation. When I consider how my parents who lived with nothing close to the conveniences I enjoyed as a…
Fortunately, during my lifetime I have recorded hundreds of hours of video with accompanied thousands of photos of my now adult children. My recorded library reveals decades of family and…
Be candid with me, I can take it. Honesty is the best policy when the truth is the foundation for any relationship. However, many lies are spoken in considerations of…
As the college semester comes to an end, the mood of the students on the entire campus becomes stressfully solemn. Every nook and cranny is occupied as students seek silent locations…
The desert is a great place to experience the beauty of nature when the approaching rains transform the landscape scenery. A weather system pushed through the Quartzsite AZ desert providing…
For twenty years' or more, the theater's dancers have taken a ten-minute break every hour during any rehearsal no matter how long they rehearsed. Three months into the theater season…
My thoughts often drift to the Arizona desert horizon at sunrise during our two week Christmas break. My face brightens with a smile, and yet my heart aches for endless…
When a child is born, they are an unwritten computer program learning from parents teachers and society. M. J. Leake
Mel and Susan Hubbard a married couple were sitting on a park bench after walking three miles along the beach which they do every other day when Susan tells Mel,…
If you are lucky, your life will treat you to various forms and types of reservations. I have had room and dinner reservations and I have toured nature reserves and…
The first daily word prompt "conversation" is appropriate to begin 2018 since a blog post initiates a conversation between bloggers around the world. Four years ago when I began blogging…
Finally, with the end of 2017, the entire world is looking forward to 2018 with incredible optimism. Many people around the world will begin new healthy and personal habits in…
My thirty plus years of travel destinations are filled with photos and encountering people who are the inspirations for some of my creative writings ideas. In the beginning, I traveled…
Kevin and Katelynn Crawford age 38 and 39 are a couple with seven children. They have twin four year- olds, a 6, 8, 10, 12, & a 13-year-old teenager.…
Wanderer, your footsteps are the road, and nothing more; wanderer, there is no road, the road is made by walking. Antonio Machado A wannabe traveler's miraculous discovery is the day…
I hiked a trail without a compass within the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in the Robledo Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The area is located at an elevation…
Wonderful words of wisdom. :-)
Fifteen years have passed since international Dodgeball star Lucas Leonard Lopez was seen on the court. However, his eldest son Lewis Leonard Lopez has followed in his father's footsteps playing…
During anyone's life, there are jolly times filled with degrees of ups and downs, covered with varnishing layers of love. A life is filled with degrees of changes with reflective…
For a weekend I relocated to Northern New Mexico in search of winter landscapes to photograph. My destination was the ski area in and around Taos New Mexico. I found…
The images do not reflect the cold temperatures, of the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos New Mexico of the magnificent engineering marvel of the bridge, draped in the beauty of…
The word "age," is a noun, defining the length of existence from the beginning to any given time of life. Existence is the sparkle of life to be celebrated every…
The significance of procrastinating pressure to complete goals is sometimes a necessary emotion when you find snippets of excuses to forgo what should be done. With thirty days to write 50,000 words,…
This is lovely and inspirational.
These are incredible words/points of wisdom everyone should read to encourage a positive life.
Chrysanthemum Three months ago Jill and I decided to take a break with a tropical island weekend getaway. On our last evening, I dressed adorned in my best island attire…
Hiking in the great northwest of the US brings you into contact with many types of people. My first encounter with mushroom hunters began with the honk of a horn…
During our annual concert, my high school's jazz ensemble was playing before a packhouse of parents, students political dignitaries. We played several pieces that excited the whole audience who stood…
I have been fortunate in photographing wildlife in their natural habitats. However, these photos were taken at the Brantly Lake State Park near Carlsbad New Mexico and my campground neighbors…
Landscape photography changes minute to minute, hour, by hour and daily at the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. In these photographs, I capture a temporary moment in time, that are…
The annual sweetheart's dance has become a coveted gala event for the 190 residents at the "Living Years Village." And again for the third year in a row Edgar and…
I stood in the doorway of the kitchen watching my mother cooking and preparing the Thanksgiving dinner as I drooled with excitement wanting to sneak a lick of the bowls…
There was a time in the 60's, and 70's when the mystery of keeping your home secure during the Halloween season was something you passed on to new neighbors. I…
I have never really liked Halloween since the horrible calamity of 1975, for which my father tells the story with the smiling gleefulness of a teenager like it was yesterday.…
The end of green summer leaves leads to the transformation to various bright colors. During an October hike with crisp, breezes blowing red, yellow, purple, orange, magenta, and brown leaves…
With their annual Halloween party two days away, Erica stood in the mirror admiring her Cleopatra costume. She adjusted the black wig with a gold beaded headpiece while marveling at…
With the approach of NaNoWriMo, this is an excellent posting for all writers. This was originally posted on E. Denise Billups website and she is a published writer. https://edenisebillups.com/2017/10/13/a-perfectionistic-mindset/
The identifying trademarks were visible when the border officer lifted the tarp to reveal the cylindrical barrel. This story began after my best friend Charles and I attended the San…
My next door neighbors, Clifford and Joyce Ingram's raised 6-children, who were born two and three years apart. When their eldest child Cynthia began playing the drums in the local…
Surprising and knowledgable superstitions. :-)
Powerful words of wisdom for a daily life.
This is a great blog post filled with powerful words of wisdom. :-)
Enlightening moments in time brings life into focus. (M. J. Leake) After thirty-nine years of marriage, three adult children, one hysterectomy, and a husband I share a love with that…
After 9-months, of preparation, which included doctors visits, painting a nursery room, assembling baby furniture, storing diapers, infant clothing, and installing and securing the infant car seat in the new…
Do you love to dance, sing, write, sculpt, paint, or debate? What’s your favorite way to express yourself, creatively? I use words creatively in sentences, paragraphs, short stories and soon…
The above words are used to describe acts done by a person that if given a moment of thought many people would not perform for any reason. A person is…
What would your daily life be without risk? Most people try to avoid risk and some at all cost while many people take a calculated risk. Since the beginning of…
Loyalty is determined and measured by who you interact with over time. Loyalty and friendships are determined by time. Loyalty can be a long-term commitment in a relationship. Loyalty is…
Life is like ascending a mountain one foot after another to accomplish what is desired. Standing atop of an accomplishment is a personal goal and time to reflect upon the journey…
Succumbing to life's temptations keeps you from being your best. Succumbing to the bitterness of life closes your mind to reconciliation. Succumbing to the fear of learning leaves you…
A 5-year-old girl in a playground stops to look at the flight of a butterfly. She runs around mimicking its movements to understand the butterfly's flying motions. Malka Michaela Barshishathttp://malkamichaela.blogspot.com/2011/02/illustration-friday-swarm.html…
The fraud you do. The fraud to deceive. The fraud to trick and cheat. The fraud for your personal gain. The fraud committed in darkness will one day see light.…
Mistakes are a part of life because life comes with morals but not application instructions. Mistakes of the heart usually provide a second chance. Mistakes are failures to learn from…
The elastic balloons cover the grounds as far as the eye can see. Ground crews hold lines as the balloons are inflated reaching heights towering towards the sky. Thousands of…
Hiking a forest or desert trails with only the sounds of your footsteps crunching the ground quiets your soul to experience a believable sense of silenced spiritual connection. Natures natural…
For baby boomers, it is believed that upon a certain age exciting, interesting outdoor and athletics activities are limited, curtailed, or not done based on age. However, for the active…
Ever since I viewed photos of slot canyons in Utah's Zion National Park, I have dreamed of hiking within the vertical rock walls reaching towards the sky allowing glimpses of…
The term "laser focused" is associated with academics and athletics. To reach this level of concentration takes months, years and decades of mental and physical training. Some people believe multi-tasking…
What would our planet look like if the extinct land animals were to return? Would we make room for them to live in the wild? Would we stop clear-cutting the…
Hiking the trails within the National Parks, National Forest, and National Conservation Areas can produce a feeling of irrelevancy for whatever is going on in the world. Standing motionless staring…
Mighty is the sound of instruments to create the music of our desires from within our soul. Without the sound of instruments to create the music from our hearts,…
Social media produces journalling crumbs of our past. Crumbs for those you chose to see the highs and lows of your life. Wisdom can be gained from the crumbs of…
Recreating a time from the past can be an adventure. Malcolm & Ethel Marshall, lived thirty-three wonderful years in a beautifully appointed retirement transitional housing community. They both retired at…
I was traveling south along Nevada route 95 when I wandered into Las Vegas to visit family and to check out Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area. When I told my uncle…
As a child growing up, I always had Labrador Retrievers as pets, and one of my chores was picking up after the dog. When I became an adult, I swore…
I learned very early in my childhood before I started school that acting bad or being bad brought about a spanking or a scolding at the least. When I began…
The peculiarities of life and death manifest itself before, during, and after stressful painfilled tragic events. Personal reflections and contemplation about life, its meaning, and understanding its purpose are our…
The word "Overcome" is over used, because everyone's daily life is filled with moments, hours, days, months, and years of challenges. Without challenges, life will become boring and lackadaisical, and…
As a traveler, I have encountered many others who's mentality like mine is filled with the anticipated experiences of the journey and destination. The journey has numerous crescendos of discovery around…
My travel mission was set to photograph the Bonneville Salt Flats with a refuel top off in the town called West Wendover, NV en-route to Reno NV. However, it's been my custom…
The structure of nature can sometimes have no structure at all. The Bonneville Salt Flats white sands are a living sight to witness. The white sands distinguish no structure, only…
I love this blog posting. :-) It is a powerful statement to humans who utilize intelligence, and common sense never worrying about the socialization of what others think, demand or…