Tactile Travel in Tunisia

I just had my chance to test my skills (You’ll remember that I cancelled the Tuscan Textiles tour due to the dubious status of volcanic ash).  On our yearly soujourn to Tunisia last month, my carry on sported the essential toiletries, passport, copious amounts of knitting and my swim suit.  After all, what more does one need for their beach vacation?  Our luggage lagged behind us for a day or two.  I was prepared.

With bags unpacked, we were ready to enjoy time with friends and family… which means eating well.  My husband loves the fish markets in Hammamet, and the baguettes in Tunisia are simply scrumptious.  While crossing the street to buy an armful of freshly baked loafs, my husband was hit by a car.

To his best recollection, he jumped before hitting the car and was tossed 8 or 9 feet away from the car.  His immediate reaction was to get up out of the street before anyone else hit him.  An ambulance whisked him quickly to a clinic nearby. Large quantities of dermabond sealed up the many facial wounds, but his wounds also included broken ribs and compressed vertebrae.

Time to be thankful that things aren’t worse.  Time to regroup.  Time to call the travel insurance again.  Time to call the airlines, friends, family and the cat sitter.  Time to take things day by day.

I’ve always encouraged Tactile Travelers to take certain safety precautions before hitting the road.  Here’s my revised list, based on a vacation that became something different:

• Take a copy of your driver’s license, passport, prescriptions (including glasses and contact lenses) with you.  Send a scanned copy of these to yourself at a web-based email (e.g. google, yahoo or hotmail).
• Check out the locations and telephone numbers of consular offices in the country you’ll be visiting.
• Give house keys to a friend, neighbor or house sitter
• Create online banking options for all of your monthly bills.  Alternately, create a spreadsheet with account numbers, pins and telephone numbers of these obligations. (You can call to notify of late payment or arrange for pay by phone).
• Seriously consider travel insurance (I sell TravelGuard insurance.  Those gentle Midwestern voices answering the phone are very calming, and they have quick claim response… good stuff).
• For US travelers, understand your health care insurance before you hit the road.  Out of network or foreign claims may or may not be covered, which means that travel insurance is more important than ever.
• Be sure to let all of the credit and debit card companies know in advance that you will be traveling.  Even if you don’t plan on using the cards, this helps prevent declined transactions due to unusual usage.

We’re now home, and my husband will be recovering for another couple of months.   Things were made a lot easier thanks to this check list.  Hopefully, this list will help your travels as well!

The beach near Hammamet

Schedule: Follow a Mediterranean rhythm; schedule your most strenuous activities and outdoor time in the early morning and late afternoon.  (Who would have guessed that we needed a Mediterranean schedule in northern Vermont last week?).  If you are having difficulty sleeping at night during the heat, take a cat nap during the day (your boss will quickly realize that these 20 minutes are good for productivity!)

Shade: Seek it everywhere: Walk on the shady side of the street, hide under eaves while waiting at cross walks.  Park your car, bike or vespa in the shade whenever possible.  In Italy, cardboard or shiny padded windshield screens are sold in variety stores and on street corners.  I always put mine up whenever I leave my car… even if it is currently parked in the shade.

Close the curtains or pull down the shades whenever there is direct sunlight pouring into  windows.

Shade your body as well.  Wear a hat, and cover your body.  A light layer on your torso keeps your core from heating up too much, and allows the perspiration to cool your body temperature.

Water: Drink it, spritz it, soak in it.  Keep a bottle with you at all times, and start the day with several ice cubes if you prefer cooler water.  A small spray bottle can provide instant relief when you’re on the go.  Just spritz your face, wrists, the crook of your elbow and back of your neck.  We found that spraying your feet also was refreshing last week!  Take a cool shower, dip into the nearest lake, pool, or sea.  Even 5 minutes helps you cope.

In Tunisia, they wash the floors as the day warms up to help cool the house.  This works particularly well if you have tile floors.

Breeze: In Texas, a dogrun or breezeway naturally fans the area between the house and garage or barn.  It’s the coolest place to hang out on hot afternoons.  Likewise, create breeze in your home by opening windows across the floor to encourage circulation (only if there’s a breeze!).  Beef this up with a floor or ceiling fan.  Even in high humidity, this helps a lot.

Wearing loose, light colored clothing reflects heat and allows evaporation and breeze to cool your body.

The Barefoot Dragonfly suggests resting your feet on cold stones, keeping lotion in the refrigerator and running cold water over your feet to keep your entire body cool. (I wouldn’t mind trying one of her reflexology sessions for “Arctic Feet”).

The summer heat will eventually pass, but don’t let the summer go by, cooped up in air conditioning.  In New England, we need to soak up that warmth to make it through winter!  Savour the moment, right?

Catch trip photos on the twitter feed, but here’s another.  Yesterday we visited Shelburne Farms, which was awesome for its agricultural stewardship philosophy, architecture, vistas and of course, cheddar cheese!

Carriage awning vista to Lake Champlain at Shelburne Farms

The East Coast heat wave hit Vermont as well, which left me feeling a bit like melted Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on Burlington’s Church Street.  Heat nor humidity could damper enthusiasm for an afternoon yarn crawl.  There was a wonderful collection of yarns and wool at Northeast Fiber Arts and the prices at Kaleidoscope yarns shows the price per yard… very logical, right?

We finished the day cruising Lake Champlain, watching the sunset reflections, listening to Vern’s piano classics and feeling the fresh breeze a la Titanic, except nothing sunk.  More later!

Ok, time to choose the coolest clothes I packed and get going for the day!

Tactile Travels allows you time to stop and enjoy things like rocks!

Musing on the difference between needing caffeine or needing the coffee break itself, it occurs to me once again the importance of savouring the moment.

Learned about a very interesting U.S. lacemaking boom in  The Laces of Ipswich: The Art and Economics of an Early American Industry, 1750-1840

Anyone out there on Goodreads?  I’d love to see what you’re reading… I’m Ciaobella!

Enjoy the music of Mina.

Listen to all of the coffee chatter here:

Virtual Cappuccino Episode 31

Quilts, lunch and nature

We organize a series of events, take care of details, gather the group, provide the setting and support.

We then share our idea of this experience to prospective clients.  Folks who think it sounds great decide to come along.

But the experience truly happens thanks to those people who come along.  This is the beauty of our small group tours.  ”Rolling Dinner Parties” as I call them become extraordinary with each personality.

I’ve had the privilege of traveling with some folks to the Vermont Quilt Festival for several years now.  Different perspectives, laughs, and great companionship make it a wonderful weekend.  And yes, the Festival is wonderful, too.  Downtown Burlington is always a good time, and there’s always lots to explore at the Shelburne Museum. This year, there was lots of space between the aisles, giving you a several vantage points to enjoy the quilts, and better opportunities for photography.  I had several favorites, including this one by Kathleen McLaughlin

Intersections by Kathleen McLaughlin

I also enjoyed Nancy Halpern’s talk about the 48 quilts she had in the focused exhibit.  Her storytelling made the quilts come alive.

Nancy Halpern telling quilt stories

When I choose photos to accompany tour descriptions, I’m trying to express details, ambiance and the joy of hanging out with others… the mojo.  In these cases, no picture captures the experience.  But the experience is a lasting treasure.

Many thanks to those fine Tactile Travelers who make such wonderful experiences.  You’re great!

At Boston’s waterfront Christopher Columbus park, stop and smell this Peace rose.

The rose known as Peace, Gioia, Gloria Dei or Mme Meillard

This is a very sentimental rose for me, which I always recognize by its Italian name, “Gioia.”  In France, its called Madame Meilland, and in Germany “Gloria Dei.”  Of course, I appreciate its international heritage!  Fragrant, the blossom changes color throughout flowering.

Not many pictures from the grey and wet days.  Rome definitely impacted my weather perceptions for years. Less than partly sunny and above 65 degrees was cold and rainy in my book.  I’m a recovering weather appreciator, but my photographic skills don’t catch the beauty of humidity….  I did find a lot of interesting patterns, however, and could imagine a beautiful quilt inspired by these lobster traps.

Lobster trapes in Maine

Saw a lot of covered bridges in Vermont. Often, they are painted bright colors and look so well maintained. Aging, uncolored timbers for this bridge in Quechee matches the landscape perfectly, in my mind.   This dam powers the Simon Pearce glass blowing shop. We’ll stop by here on the Craft and Cuisine tour next month (still got a couple of places left, if you’re interested!).

Bridge over Quechee, Vermont

Burlington, Vermont has a community “Cow” art program this summer. Throughout downtown, life sized cow statues have been painted, carved and souped up by different artists. This idea began in Switzerland in 1998. Chicago led the herd in the US in 1999, and cows started spring up all over the country. Here’s my favorite:

Burlington, Vermont Garden Cow

While I appreciate the clouds, humidity and lushness that summer rain in New England creates, it was fantastic to watch this red sky sunset on Lake Champlain in Burlington.

Red sky delight in Burlington

Looking forward to spending the weekend with Tactile Travelers at the Vermont Quilt Festival this weekend, as well as all of the adventures coming this summer. Hope to see you on one of our New England day trips!

“In the meantime Alice got up and washed her face and ate porridge for breakfast.  She went to school and came home and did her homework.  And pretty soon she was grown up.”

This book is enchanting for the story, but also for Barbara’s beautiful illustrations.  I love all the lupine blues, purples and pinks.  Lupine are perennial plants that tolerate poor conditions and rocky soil.  They fixing nitrogen which enriches the soil so other plants can thrive.  The Romans cultivated lupines throughout the Empire, and the beans were pickled and eaten like olives.

Lupine along the Maine coast

Last Sunday, Jennifer Graham suggested that your 10 favorite books park themselves at your bedside table.  ”Miss Rumphius” would definitely be one on mine.

On a recent jaunt to Maine, Miss Rumphius was not far away.  It’s a good reminder to live the Miss Rumphius way.  I’d hate to spill the whole story…

Is anyone else a Miss Rumphius fan?