Today’s post is 1500 words, 1 photo, a 7 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

Welcome back to Traveling With Tom. This week I’m taking a one-week break from writing about our time in Brazil to acknowledge the 10th anniversary of this blog. If you want to read any of the ten posts (so far) in this series on Brazil, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Its been 10 Years!

It was on November 13, 2015 when I posted my very first blog post. Looking back at it after all these years, that post was primitive, brief, and crude. I didn’t know what I was doing. The software was unfamiliar and clunky. I was scared as hell but I posted it anyway with the satisfaction that I finally did something rather than just talking about doing something. If you want to take a peek at that first post, click here. Don’t judge me, I’ve made improvements and WordPress has also improved.

Since that first post I’ve published 520 articles, once a week on Sunday at 4:00 PM Central Time with a few exceptions. You might wonder, do I ever bump up against my self imposted deadline? Yes, it happens when I procrastinate doing the writing and researching or gathering the photos to supplement the story. A blog takes me 4-10 hours a week to write and edit. There are times when I have writers block or can’t find the right words or angle to the story. It happens.

Photo processing takes at least an hour. I never publish an unprocessed photo so it takes time to curate the media gallery. (The gallery now contains over 12,000 photos!). The rest is writing and research. Even though I visited the places I write about, I regularly look up additional facts and information. Many times I find stuff that I wish I knew when I was there. My helpers are Safari, the Apple search engine, Wikipedia, YouTube, ChatGPT, and tourist information sites when available. Plus a few surprises.

My shortcoming in writing these posts is editing. When the first draft is complete, I read the post from beginning to end looking for missing words (always a problem for me), correcting punctuation (another problem), and rewriting sentences that don’t make sense (yet another problem). If I have the time, I let it sit for a while then come back for another poke at editing. The final edit is done by my Traveling Partner. She often fills in those missing words and points out sentences that don’t make any sense. Once corrected, it is cued to post.

When I know I’ll be away for an extended period of time, I write and cue to post before I leave. That way I don’t have to find a place with WiFI to finish or post a blog. I’ve been known to finish writing and editing a blog post just before loading the suitcases in the car. This is the work flow that I’ve developed for the past ten years. It keeps evolving and hopefully improving.

I started writing about my travels in the fall of 2015 when we took a six-week camping trip from Madison across the northern part of the United States. We drove west through Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, south to Oregon, northern California and Nevada and then back home through Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa. I sent friends and family nine emails during the trip with descriptions of our travels but no photos. The Eldest daughter suggested I start writing a blog post and add to photos to the story telling. I did some research on how that works and here I am ten years later, still at it. For me this is nothing short of a miracle since I like starting new things then get bored and move on to something else.

In addition to writing this blog, I’ve written and published a memoir (Farm Boy) about growing up on a farm in North Dakota. I have a second book about my time in the Army that is nearing completion (way past my self imposed deadline). I’m also writing a book with a dear friend about coming to America. Look for that book sometime next year. Her story is compelling with twists and turns that will leave you appreciating the perseverance and persistence that it takes to make it in this country. I’m honored that she is allowing me to tell her story. Stay tuned.

Post Number 2

I posted my second blog less than 24 hours after the first. It was in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured over 400 some critically. Seven of the attackers were also killed. Just a couple of years before, I made first trip to France with The Youngest. We had a grand time and enjoyed the French people, their food and culture. It was my way of processing the incident. The French are too observing the 10th anniversary of this horrific event. Click here if you’d like to see what I wrote ten years ago.

A Few of My Favorites

Even thought I write a lot about places, I like stories best when I can share about people I met along the way. When the pandemic hit us in early 2020, I scrambled to find things to write about. Oh, I dusted off my photo archives and put together what I thought was a coherent story. But a couple of my best stories were about a couple and a woman that lived near us.

Carl and Myrtle lived down the street. They lived in the neighborhood long before we moved here. They were both retired. I met Carl soon after we moved in our house. He was riding his bike and stopped to introduce himself. He spoke with good diction and looked me right in the eye. I learned later that he didn’t hear well but could read lips. Sometimes he wore a directional microphone so he could hear and participate in conversation. He was a grand fellow. Myrtle was the comic in their family. She always had a smile and a quick comeback that made those around her chuckle. Anyway, I wrote this story about them, it was titled Down the Street with Carl and Myrtle. I think you will enjoy reading about them.

We met Clarice Dunn in 1997 when the 4-H club we were leading spent a few hours doing fall yard cleanup at her house. At the time she was 85. She loved having the kids around so we returned every spring and fall to help with her yard work. My Traveling Partner and I would occasionally visit her at her home a few blocks away. We’d take her some goodies, she loved sweets, or some soup she could warm in the microwave. One time when we went, we found her on the floor. She had fallen and broke her hip. We called 911 and went with her to the ER and visited her during her hospital stay. She was unable to go home so spent a few weeks in rehab then moved to assisted living. We visited almost every Sunday afternoon and brought her a chocolate ice cream sundae from the Dairy Queen. Read what I wrote in a two part series by clicking on these links; Part 1 and Part 2.

Holodomor Remembrance/Memorial Day

Tomorrow, November 17, begins a week-long remembrance of the millions of victims that starved to death during the Holodomor of 1932-33. This was a man-made famine that occurred in Ukraine as a result of the policies of collectivization implemented by Joseph Stalin. Farmers were forced to give up their land and production to the state. When Ukrainians resisted, Stalin imposed quotas and removed food sources thereby intentionally starving the population into submission. The weeklong remembrance culminates on the fourth Saturday of November (this year on November 22nd) with a national moment of silence at 4:00 PM and the lighting of candles. Remembrances are also held in places with a Ukrainian diaspora.

We were in Ukraine in 2019 and visited the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide in Kyiv. It’s a sobering reminder of the struggle for survival when a dictator uses fear, control, and ideology to inflict extreme suffering and death upon its people. Below is one of my favorite photos from our time in Ukraine. I purposely display it in black and white to evoke an emotional response from the viewers, much like the response I had when I saw this monument.

Did you know there is a Holodomor Memorial in Washington, D.C.? I didn’t until I wrote this post. It’s been at 1 Massachusetts Avenue NW for the past ten years. The memorial is managed by the National Park Service. I plan to visit it the next time I’m in Washington. Check it out by clicking here.

Well, folks that’s it for the 10th anniversary remembrance. Thanks to you, the readers, for sticking with me all these years. I appreciate your comments, suggestions, and especially your helpful ideas for improving this site. For all that I can’t thank you enough. Now on to my 11th year, I have more to say. Next week back to Brazil.

Until then, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM