HOME - ANTICIPATION, EXPERIENCE & REMEMBRANCE I've forgotten when and where, but awhile back I heard about a study where happiness levels of participants were measured at three moments in time - before a vacation (as they anticipated it), during the vacation (as they experienced it) and after the vacation (as they remembered it). The results baffled the scientists. The time when people were least happy was when they were experiencing the vacation. Antic...

FAMILY & FRIENDS OR 'MOVING HOMEWARD' Note: As with the last blog entry, while I'm at "home" now in the Black Hills I still feel the need to catch up a bit and say a word about my time with friends and family. On the evening of Saturday, August 4 our airplane landed in Regina, Saskatchewan and after being away for three weeks we re-united with our son Elijah. We had a few days to relax, do a bit of laundry, reconnect with Elijah, attend church at Our Sav...

IONA Note: For both of you who have been diligently following this sabbatical blog (my mother and the one other person), you'll notice that I've given myself permission to take a bit of a break from blogging. While I'm at "home" now in the Black Hills I still feel the need to catch up a bit and say a word about my time in Iona. An hour's train ride from Edinburgh to Glasgow. A second train ride of three hours from Glasgow to Oban. A forty-five minute ferry...

A CASTLE & LAUNDRY IN EDINBURGH A quick flight from Paris got us to Edinburgh, Scotland late in the afternoon on Thursday, July 26. We took a bus from the airport to the main train station in Edinburgh (Waverly) and then walked to our hotel. We had enough time to walk the "Royal Mile" (the main street in Edinburgh which is so-called because it connects the Edinburgh Castle with the Palace of Holyroodhouse) and sit down for a meal at an Italian restaurant...

PARIS WITH A TODDLER We arrived in Paris on Sunday afternoon and stayed until Thursday afternoon. Being a tourist with a toddler in Paris wasn't as bad as you might think (most of the time it was much better, but a few times it was a bit worse). With that said, here's our time in Paris 'by the numbers'… # of museums/churches/sites we visited with our Paris Museum Pass… (11 - the Louvre, Pantheon, Cluny Museum/Middle Ages Museum, Museé d'Orsay, San Ch...