Showing posts with label travel journal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel journal. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Travel Journaling and a Wednesday Medley



What I see, early morning, when I look from the porch

Join Terri and the Gang
for


She writes the questions;
we write the answers.
to plug in your own post
and join in!


Tomorrow is National Croissant Day!!

NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY – January 30

NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY - January 30

NATIONAL CROISSANT DAY

In the United States, National Croissant Day is observed each year on January 30th. Croissants are a buttery, crescent-shaped rolls that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  
The key to a perfect croissant is laminating the dough. Laminating the dough is a process by which butter is folded into the mixture creating multiple thin layers of butter and dough. The result is a mouth-watering flaky crust and airy body.
Legend surrounds this pastry, as is often the case with a popular, worldly treat. What is known, is that crescent-shaped breads have been found around the world for ages. One of these was the Kipferl which originated in Austria as far back as the 13th century. This nonlaminated bread is more like a roll.
Credit for the croissant we know today is given to an Austrian military officer, August Zang. In 1939 he opened a Viennese bakery in Paris introducing France to Viennese baking techniques.
HOW TO OBSERVE
Stop by the bakery for a fresh, warm croissant or try making your own using this recipe: Croissants recipe.

1.  Well, I do love croissants when they are fresh, but day-old croissants need to be turned into a donut.  I happen to really like the croissants that have a donut-like glaze on them!  Sugar overload but so good.  So... do you like croissants?  What is your favorite way to eat them?
 I do love croissants, but rarely eat them. My favorite are either when they are filled with my curry chicken salad (YUM) or filled with cream cheese and raspberry jam (Good grief, WAY too good! I've not eaten one for years.) 

 What I see when I look across the road
2.  Speaking of food... How do you handle stress?
LOLOLOLOLOLOL. Very funny, Terri!  Actually, there is nothing like stress to drive me to the bag of chocolate chips or dark chocolate bars, OR cookies, if I have them in the house. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of stress in my life, and I've tried to get over that reaction to it, but it persists. Sigh.
3.  Out of the negative emotions of greed, anger, jealousy, and hate, which one would you say affects you the most?
I try to duck other people's anger, jealousy, and hate. I don't think I personally have an issue with those, but maybe greed if you're counting the number of books and other things that 'spark joy' for me. :-)  I can't help it that so many things SPARK JOY!!!
4.  Out of the positive emotions of compassion, positivity, enthusiasm, and initiative, which one is your biggest strength?
I'd say that positivity is my biggest strength - and I've taken the initiative to pray enthusiastically for more compassion. Please, Lord. (So I got done writing this, read it to Mr. C., and he said, in all sarcasm, 'and your greatest strength is humility.' OKAY, FINE!!! Who asked him anyway??)
5.  What do you get every time you go grocery shopping, other than the staples such as bread, milk, butter, flour, sugar...
 I guess I simply get another staple item: Dark Chili Chocolate bar from Aldi. We keep a stash - for emergencies - which, oddly enough, tend to occur almost every single day. This would not be a stress emergency, but one of those times when you think: What can I eat that will be delicious and satisfying and NOT set up cravings? Ah yes, very dark chocolate.
You thought I was kidding. We don't go through them very fast, for at most we each have about a 1.5 x 3" section. Any more than that wouldn't even taste good. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
6.  Please tell us something random about your week so far.
Oh boy. The biggest thing is the deep freeze we're heading into, -30 degrees F. air temp for a low. BUT, the next biggest thing is that I finally finished my travel journal for our trip to the UK in November/December of last year. It's about 140 pages long (which means two sides of each of the 70 sheets). I had to order two large plastic coils and divide the whole thing into two fat books, but I'm pleased with how they turned out. Mr. C. asks, 'who's ever going to see it?' Well, what a stupid question is that! I mean, it's not like ANYone has to see it (and if you don't want to see the following pages, you can close your eyes while you scroll to the end) but I need to make it and enjoy it. And I do. So here are just a few pages, trying to avoid pages that have too much of my personal text, recounting huge fights between Mr. C. and me (just kidding), and showing you what it is I do to occupy a few long, cold weeks here in NW Wisconsin! So I started after the first of the year, working on this project occasionally (and then obsessively!) and am SO glad to have it done.
 Visiting Durham Cathedral, where we met friends for lunch at the Undercroft Cafe
 Visiting Fairford

 And London, of course
St. Paul's for First Sunday of Advent

 Gloucester Cathedral, where we met  friends
for lunch in the Monk's Kitchen 
(different friends, different cathedral)

Canterbury Cathedral, most beautiful job site in the world. I've always avoided the scaffolding when taking pictures in the past, but thought this time I'd show the reality of the upkeep of these beautiful cathedrals that are in constant need of repair, restoration.
I'm hoping to get around to posting more photos of this wonderful adventure for Anglophile Friday, but it's a very busy week, so we'll see what happens. 
Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone, thanks for stopping in, - and thank you again to Terri for the Wednesday Medley!

 So after scraping the ice from the windshield and shoveling the walk and hauling in a couple loads of firewood, these two decided that a snuggle break in the livingroom, near the fire, was in order.
#tommyandsmokey
***

 Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap!
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE 

 
Heavenly Honeysuckle
Natural, Handcrafted Vegan Soap

Moisturizing, wonderful lather
Beautiful fragrance
Each bar is labeled and wrapped,
ready for gifting


...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch

and at

Our ETSY Shop


Join me on Instagram: @cranberrymorning


Judy

Sunday, February 28, 2016

How to Make a Travel Journal

 Making a Travel Journal

Our granddaughter asked me if I would guest post for Two Nerds Travel, a blog that she and her husband co-author, while they're away on their honeymoon. She specifically asked me to write about how I make a travel journal, because she's seen me do it - when, before she was married, she accompanied us to London and Cambridge. And although some of you have already seen this little project, many have not. For me, it's a fun and easy way to take a few simple tools along in my carry- on and end up with a completed souvenir to take home at the end of our stay.

So, to get the easy instructions on how to make a fun travel journal, please go to Two Nerds Travel for all the juicy details. I know that Anna and Ben will love to hear from you when they return from their honeymoon on warm, sandy beaches, far away from cold, blustery Minnesota...sigh.

On a personal note:  After reading my post at Two Nerds Travel, I hope you will leave a comment for them, so that they will know it was worth asking Grandma to guest post! :-)  I've gotta protect my reputation, you know!




Linking to:

***


Check out my natural, handcrafted vegan soap.
Buy any 5 or more, Get 1 FREE

  'Ocean Mist'

Ah, to be on warm, sandy beaches.

Natural Vegan Soap



...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
 
HomemadeSoapNSuch


and at


Our ETSY Shop




Writing in March, Wisconsin's snowiest month,

Judy

Friday, June 21, 2013

Travel Journal Tutorial - Anglophile Friday

 You can see that it's been a while...
I'm hoping for next spring

I posted this in 2010, but thought it might be helpful to bring it around again - especially now that it's travel time for many. Along with planning an itinerary and making a packing list, this is one of my favorite things about preparing for a vacation.

***

I have found a great way to come home from a trip with a keepsake that I will enjoy for years to come.

BEFORE LEAVING ON VACATION:

I like to purchase a Cambridge 6"x9" spiral bound drawing tablet, for it has good, heavy paper. For this particular one, I found some pictures of England and made a collage for the front cover, then laminated it.



The inside of the drawing tablet has a pocket which is nice for storing adhesive mailing labels which I pre-print and take along, so that it's easy to address postcards to mail home. On the inside front cover, I glue the print out of our flight and itineraries. I also use adhesive labels to keep important contacts  and phone numbers close at hand.



The only other items I need to take along on my trip to make my keepsake, then, are a gluestick and camera. The gluestick has to go into that one TSA-allowed quart-size Ziploc baggie of toiletries, such as shampoo, toothpaste, and soap. When I once packed a bar of soap separately, I found out that  even bar soap scans as a liquid, so I make sure to pack my gluestick in that baggie as well.




WHILE VACATIONING:

Wherever we go, I collect ephemera, and when we're back at our hotel in the evening, I tear our pictures from brochures, postcards, etc. and glue them here and there on the page. Then I start journaling around them. If I've taken a certain photo that day that I'll later want to include, I make a note of it in the journal so that when I print out the photo after arriving home, I'll make sure to place it in the journal.



I think it was about the time of the Churchill Cabinet War Rooms that I realized I need to make better use of my journal space. That's when I started overlaying, as you can see in the photo above. The two WWII posters are hinged at the top, so that I could lift them up and write under them. Same thing with the photo of Winston Churchill. He's hinged on the side. You don't want to see Churchill unhinged.



Tickets, receipts from the grocery store, ale labels, and business cards all went into making my journal a fun keepsake to read and re-read (if you're like me). :-)



Occasionally, I'd even sketch in my journal. This is supposed to represent the holiday cottage we rented with our daughter and son-in-law in Sutton on the Forest, near York. Okay, the illustrators of the world have nothing to fear from me.  By the way, I was fascinated by the many chimney flues that poked out of the tops of the houses.



If you're ever in London, it's definitely worth the small cost to take a London Walks walk. They're greatly entertaining and we learned so much from them! It just so happens that the man who owns London Walks and writes the fun brochure (see link), is from Wisconsin! Who would have thought!



More 'layering,' allowing me to lift up the photo and write in the journal underneath.



I'm trying to visually scan these pages and see if I'm giving away any family secrets. I hope not. But you can see by this page, above, that we paid $110 per room per night in downtown London, near Victoria Station. (That's US Dollars, not British pounds.I think the exchange rate at the time was 2:1, USD:GBP. It's not that bad now, although airfare has gone up dramatically.) For someone who generally stays at Super 8, (like we do) that may seem like a lot, until you compare it with other hotels in London - or even Duluth, MN!! It was really quite a find, and our hotel room, though microscopic, was very clean, and our hosts very friendly and accommodating!



UPON RETURNING HOME:

By the time we returned home, I already had most of my journal done - all except for the occasional photo I would add later. Above, the beefeater is 'hinged' on the edge so it can be moved to reveal more text.

In summary, this is a great way to remember a trip. It's so easy and inexpensive, and unlike the huge project of making a scrapbook after you return, it's almost done by the time you get home! I happened to have enough space leftover from the 2007 trip, that I decided to take it along on the 2008 London adventure with Joe and Anna. Now my journal sits on the bookshelf next to our England guide books. :-) It occasionally comes down so I can enjoy it all again, and will continue to do so until airfare comes down!



***

 Buy Any Five, Get One FREE

'Southern Magnolia'
Natural, Vegan, Handcrafted Soap

...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at


This post may be linked to one or more of the following: Mop it Up Monday  and Get in My Tummy and  Cure for the Common Monday and  Clever Chicks Blog Hop and  Barn Charm and  The Marketplace  and  Mix it up Monday and Make it Pretty Monday and    Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and   You're Gonna Love it Tuesday and Creative Showcase and Memories by the Mile and  Tweak it Tuesday and  Coastal Charm Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday  and Love Bakes Good Cakes and Mom on TimeOut  and Adorned from Above and Wildcrafting Wednesday and   Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and All Things With Purpose and Home & Garden Thursday and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Artsy Corner Thursday  and The Girl Creative, Thursday and  Creative Things Thursday and Be Inspired and Time Travel Thursday and Thrifty Things Friday  and  Friday Fences and  Thursday's Inspiration and  The Self-sufficient Home Acre and  I'm Lovin' it Thursday and Creative Things Thursday and   Mandatory Mooch   and Foodie Friends Friday and Freedom Fridays and From the Farm and   Anything Blue Friday and Junkin' Joe and  Serenity Saturday and Get Schooled Saturday  and Inspiration Friday(ThursNite) and Vintage Inspiration Friday and Photo Friday and Share Your Creativity and   A Favorite Thing Saturday and Sunny Simple Sunday and Sunlit Sunday and  Market Yourself Monday and  Saturday Nite Special

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails