dailyprompt – Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree

Across the country on the road less traveled #dailyprompt

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

With a prompt like this, I’m going to assume we’re talking about a leisure trip. Obviously, for business purposes, you would choose the fastest way possible. But for recreational purposes, I’d choose a car.

Why not a train? Because then you are limited to the destinations that the railroad serves. Yes, you would get to see the countryside, but you couldn’t get out and enjoy the scenery.

Why not a bike? Being a 65yo grandmom, I just don’t have the energy! Not to mention the will to deal with possible bad weather.

Nope, friends I’m going to take a car. My time is my own so I can take as long as I want to see all the sights. Bad weather? Just stay put until the storm passes by. In a car, I can take the road less traveled and enjoy the scenery a small town brings.

I’m in Florida, so I’d start there and drive up the coast. Stopping at smaller towns. When was the last time you stopped by “South of the Border“? When I was young and my parents were driving to visit family in Florida, we thoroughly enjoyed watching for all the signs for this attraction.

Drive through the 17.5-mile Cheasapeake Bay-Bridge Tunnel and enjoy the scenery to be found on the Eastern Shore of VA. Stop by Checoteague and see the wild ponies that live on the barrier island of Assateague. There’s actually been more than one book written about them.

There are so many more small town attractions to be found on that “road less traveled.”

Losing Myself in a Book dailyprompt

What activities do you lose yourself in?

Ever since I learned to read, I tended to throw myself into what I was reading. At first it was the many books written about dogs or horses. As I grew older, that changed.

While I was in high school, I served on the Literary Magazine’s crew. It was my job to help set up the layout for printing. Sometimes it included pairing illustrations with poems, sometimes it included setting up the articles.

During this time, I was introduced to the magic of Middle Earth. The worlds that J.R.R. Tolkien created just utterly captivated me. There was nothing like it. This was the start of my love affair with Science Fiction and Fantasy.

By the time I finished high school, I was hooked. I adore the worlds I could visit via the words on that page and my imagination. I wished more than once that I could actually see these places. The details that the authors included just made the world come alive.

It’s many years later, and my chosen genre has changed. I still love Science Fiction and Fantasy, but I want a little romance thrown in there as well. The devil is still in the details that are included in the world-building.

I guess I’ll never lose my love of reading. If my eyesight gets to the point where I can’t read anymore, I’ll switch to listening to the audiobook version. But I’ll never stop reading!

A Letter to my 100 year old self -Enjoy the ride! #dailyprompt

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

I’m sitting here thinking about how I want the next part of my life to have played out. From my perspective, I’ve got a lot ahead of me. How was it like for you?

Did you keep moving as much as you could? I sit here and watch my husband struggle to do anything. Sometimes I wonder if he would have done better to have kept moving even after the Pandemic hit and they put him on Oxygen therapy. As it is, his weight has shot up and I really worry about losing him.

There’s an old saying about “Use it or Lose it.” Looking at him, I can tell you that if you didn’t use it, by the time you read this, you’ve already lost it.

Well I’m not much for writing letters so I’m going to stop for now. Enjoy the day!