Two

 

Starting with two different interpretations of a childhood favourite of mine, a golden oldie.

Let the blow fall soon or late,
Let what will be o'er me;
Give the face of earth around,
And the road before me.
Wealth I ask not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I ask, the heaven above
And the road below me.

~ R.L. Stevenson, excerpt from The Vagabond. 

My mother, who departed this world four years ago this April, used to recite this to me as a child. She was the one who gave me two different interpretations - treated me in the most age-inappropriate manner by today's standards. 

One, she said, was the simple meaning, a guy who didn't like being indoors and liked to travel, stating his preferences in no uncertain terms. The second, she told me, was a faith based explanation - heaven above signifying God's guidance and grace, the road below being the life in this world that's allotted to each individual. 'All I ask is God's guidance to do the work, the karma, travel the road given to me with faith and focus.' Very much an echo of the message of the Bhagavad Gita. Ma was a person of deep faith. 

I miss her, miss her random poetry recitals - she had perfect recall of a whole swathe of poems - miss the discussions and interpretations, the points of disagreements even, quite heated sometimes. 

She's always in my thoughts, more so in April. 

Ma in the 60s. 

Also remembering and honouring other family members who have passed in April - long ago and last year. 

Here are today's photos - T is for travel...I'm totally in agreement with Robert's core message above. Trying to travel the road given as mindfully as I can. 

For the longest time, travel meant sailing over water. Mamanuca, Fiji.

And over land by foot or on animal back. Dahshour, Egypt.

Horses, mules, donkeys, oxen, camel and other pack animals are still used
for transport in many parts of the world. Suez, Egypt.

Trains drawn by steam locomotives happened in 1800s.
Bath Railway Station, UK

Planes and cars came in much later, only about a 100
years ago. London, UK. 

Initially, travel was either trade related or religious
journeys/pilgrimages. St Catherine, Egypt.. 

Leisure travel or modern tourism, became a thing in the late 17th century.
Noblemen's sons would do a tour of Germany, France, Greece and Italy to
experience history and culture. Paris, France.

Today the global tourism industry contributes a hefty 10% to the world GDP.
Venice, Italy.  

Many economies around the world depend on tourism. It creates jobs and
promotes better understanding amongst different peoples. Aegina, Greece.

However, travel  and tourism industry has its challenges as well. Over-tourism
has led some cities to impose restrictions on the number of tourists. There's the
environmental impact and carbon emissions and a whole host of factors
that have to be managed for sustainable tourism.  Amboseli, Kenya.

So a tribute and travel that's for T. Also for trouble, which is what my eyes are giving me still. Not much hope of increasing any screen time or read-n-write time.. I'm still toing and froing and running in circles around eye doctors, still navigating the logistics of a tsunami of eye drops. I'm super tired of it all. 

Hope you've enjoyed the photos. Happy A-Zing! - if you're participating. And happy cusp season to you, if you're not! 

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2024