On Other Topics

Just to talk a bit about things outside of Ecuador today (due to a lazy day yesterday when I had lots of time to think). So lets talk about books.

I love reading. My love affair with books began when I was in Grade 4. During our reading class, if we finished our assigned reading before the end of the hour we were given permission to go to the bookshelf at the back of the class and choose our own book to read. I finally was brave enough to walk to the back (past all thIe “big boys” sitting in the back) and there choose “Little House in the Big Woods”. The pictures by Garth Williams first drew me to the book (no pun intended here LOL) but right from the first page I was drawn in to the story. And so it began.

I love almost all types of books, or genres as they are called in the adult world. I don’t care for Science Fiction or Fantasy but otherwise my choices are wide ranging. In particular I like non-fiction, biographies, histories, self help, New Age books. You can see from my lists below some of my tastes in the Classics and current fiction. With all this vast “knowledge” one would assume that a person ought to be able to strike up a conversation with a relative stranger. However, did you know that less than 20% of the population read books? Of those, many will start a book but never finish it.

I’m not a person who enjoys “gossip” and when I use that term I mean talking about people in general. Naturally one likes to “catch up” on what people are doing and I participate in that sort of conversation but to go on about people I don’t really know, or creating stories about people, well, I am simply not in to that type of conversation. Last night I was with a group that included 3 men and 4 women. I found myself failing at every conversational gambit. I even went to the extent of bringing up sports (my least favourite topic in the world) but all fell flat. One sentence conversations.

Is it any wonder that I retreat back into my books, where conversations flow like a fluid river?

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

Single Girl Stuff

Since the blog is titled “Welcome to the mind of a single middle aged woman” perhaps I should spend some time on my mind, such as it is. In fact, I rarely think of myself in the box “single” or “middle aged” but naturally there are occasions when these categories pop to mind, usually when something either annoys me or seems glaringly biased, as I had to mention a while back about being a grey ghost to the roving eyes of men.

There are a lot of advantages to being single such as being the sole decision maker of one’s life, good or bad. At this point in my life I certainly am enjoying the advantages of a great job, good income, nice savings account, a good vacation schedule and the freedom to make my own choices as to how to dispose of sad income, savings and vacation time. My family is a little taken aback at the moment with my “wild spending” and adventuresome vacation locales. Out of the blue I said yes to a trip to NYC where I had an amazing time with women who were essentially strangers to me. My experience has shown me that not only is NYC a really safe place for girls to have fun but I can certainly go outside my comfort zone and travel with people I don’t really know.

My next trip is to Ecuador and some would say that is a really extreme local. Most people do a double take when I mention that is my next site and ask me “why?” Because someone asked me to go! As simple as that. I am starting to feel like a real adventuress and that is mostly caused by all the comments I am getting from colleagues and friends. Who knew I could be so wild and wooly? When the nurse at the vaccination clinic reviewed all the medications I should take and what I had to be careful of I began to feel like Stanley heading off to find Livingston! There is a lot to be careful of and the political stability is the least of my worries. I am more concerned about healthy food and mosquitoes. Not to mention snakes, spiders and other bugs.

However, I am travelling with 2 interesting ladies which is a lot better than travelling alone. A couple of years ago I experienced England on my own and while I truly loved my trip the thought of having to eat alone every day really palled after a few days of my own company. A solitary meal has its place in life but there's the saying "too much of a good thing . . . ". After all, as human beings isn’t interaction with others not our greatest achievement and pleasure as the civilized ones on the planet? Being single has its perks and having the choice of finding companions to travel with is one of them!