Frances Mayes is one of my favorite authors.
In her latest work,
A Year In the World, Journeys of a Passionate Traveller,
she explains the allure of travel
in a manner that captures it perfectly.
of a journey unfolding before me.
Let Frances narrate as I share images
from my travels over those four days.
Come along, won't you?
View from the Castle Restaurant ~ Dunleith Planation, Natchez, MS
Travel pushes my boundries.
Seemingly self-indulgent, travel
paradoxically obliterates me-me-me,
because very quickly--
pretissimo--the own little self
is unlocked from the present
and released to move through
layers of time.
Longwood Plantation, Natchez, MS
You are released also because
you are insignificant to the life
of the new place.
Vicksburg Battleground, Vicksburg, MS
When you travel, you become
invisible, if you want.
I do want.
I like to be the observer.
What makes these people
who they are?
Could I feel at home here?
No one expects you to
have the stacks of papers
back by Tuesday, or
to check messages or
to fertilize the geraniums.....
Travel releases spontaneity.
You become a godlike creature
full of choice, free to visit
the stately pleasure domes....
....sketch a bell tower,
read a history.....
You open, as in childhood,
and--for a time--
receive this world.
There's the visceral aspect,
too--the huntress who is free.
Free to go, free to return
home bringing memories
to lay on the hearth.
Thank you for traveling with me.
Your comments have been so meaningful
and precious.
Now,
enjoy this weekend...
Go out as a traveler
in your own life, pause and
receive this world!
[1 Country Living] [All others: Privet and Holly]
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