Travel | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

Slice of Life: Retirement 101

Posted in Slice of Life, Travel, Writing, tagged #beingmamére, Retirement, Travel on September 16, 2025| 10 Comments »

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

I retired at the end of the 2025 school year. I’m still finding my way.

Check off travel: We spent a week in Scotland over the Labor Day weekend. (It seems like a dream now.)

My husband Jeff and I on the Britannia in Edinburgh.

Daily walks with my dog, Albert: We did this earlier on school days. Now I get to stop and chat with neighbors along the way.

Time with grandchildren: I’m driving to New Orleans this afternoon for another few days with Thomas. I hope to get in some Sam snuggles, too.

Grandparents’ Day in kindergarten with Thomas!

Domestic stuff: Watering the grass, doing the laundry, cooking (wait! I haven’t done much of that), financials, cleaning…There is always a list of chores.

On Monday, I told Jeff I was finally going to have a real retirement day. I had a massage and lunch with a friend (also retired). Taking care of myself in this way makes me feel guilty. Isn’t there something more productive I “should” be doing?

I had to buy a paper calendar, no free one from the school photo company. It’s mostly full, but I find myself with pockets of time rather than a whole day. So what do you do with an hour here or there?

People say I will get into a rhythm, a routine, settle in to retirement. It’s only September.

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Slice of Life: Novel Coffee

Posted in Gratitude, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Maine, Molly Hogan, Portland, Travel on November 26, 2024| 16 Comments »

My husband and I are on vacation in Portland, Maine. On Sunday my dear friend and fellow Inkling (writing group) Molly Hogan and her husband Kurt took us to the most photographed lighthouse.

The views were incredible, but the best part was seeing Molly in person and getting to know her husband. We talked for hours.

The highlight of our time here yesterday was the ferry cruise. We happened upon a ride that carries supplies and mail to the islands. There was a young man who did everything, and one of his jobs was to find us and tell us stuff about the islands. I’m guessing in the winter months there are fewer tourists.

I like some alone time in any given day, so after shopping at Reny’s (Molly was right; we found good deals), Jeff dropped me at the Novel coffee shop where one can read and have coffee. I picked up a copy of a book I didn’t know existed about a poem that few knew existed.

Walt Whitman’s Live Oak, with Moss is not the poem you think it is. The papers he wrote the poem on were torn and put back together into other more acceptable poems. Originally Whitman was writing a love poem to a man (or men).

The book drew me right in and I read it on the spot. Brian Selznick took an idea he had discussed with Maurice Sendak to illustrate the long hidden poem. Sendak never had the chance.

Here are some pages:

In every vacation there are the things you plan and the happy happenstances. This little treasure was waiting for me, I believe.

Happy Thanksgiving! May you find a small moment to treasure in your heart.

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Slice of Life: Courir de Mardi Gras

Posted in Slice of Life, Writing, tagged Acadiana Center for the Arts, Courir de Mardi Gras, Eunice Louisiana, Travel on February 28, 2023| 8 Comments »

I have lived in South Louisiana for 40 years, but had never attended the authentic Courir de Mardi Gras. Courir is a French Cajun word meaning run. In the western parishes north of us, there are multiple small towns that have a chicken run. The basic idea is the krewes are going house to house to get all the ingredients for a gumbo. The final ingredient is a chicken. The chicken run is a crazy, wild drunken race to catch the chicken.

I introduced this cultural tradition to my students, and we did chicken art on the Thursday before our Mardi Gras break. We followed a video created by the Acadiana Center for the Arts linked here. The chickens were created using recycled materials. In Courir de Mardi Gras, the costumes are made with scraps of fabric and masks are made with screen. It is the total opposite of New Orleans Mardi Gras which is all about royalty and elaborate beautiful costumes. Courir de Mardi Gras has a captain rather than a king who leads the krewe.

My husband and I became interested in Courir from a performance we saw at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. We decided to go to the parade in Eunice when all the krewes come in, some on horse back. My daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids joined us. We had made some costumes by adding fabric patches and fringe to old clothes. I used an old scarf, some sparkling jewel tape, and an old denim shirt. As the parade came through, Leo was poked (in jest) by a couple tricksters; one of them untied my shoelaces. Afterward there was a band we love to hear and dance to, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys.

I have to admit I was a bit creeped out by the chickens. I refrained from petting one. They walk close to the crowd to allow for petting. The chickens are surprisingly calm. I gasped when I saw a dead one on the ground. And to top it all off, a woman was wearing a taxidermic chicken on her head. While the band was playing, some of the tricksters got on the stage and threw a live chicken into the crowd. Luckily, I was not close by.

Learning more about the culture of my own state is fascinating and fun. I’m also trying to accept some of the craziness of it all. For the most part, it is harmless fun.

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Slice of Life: My Three Girls

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, tagged Fredericksburg, Travel, tricube on November 23, 2021| 7 Comments »

For my 60th birthday back in August, my daughters bought me a vacation with them to Fredericksburg, Texas. A sisters trip. We invited my sister-in-law who lives in Dallas to come along. This was to our advantage because she drove and picked us up at the Austin airport to drive to Fredericksburg. Not to mention she was fun to have along.

Fredericksburg is a town in the hill country, settled by Germans, and home to 59 wineries. Just imagine all girls at a winery table on the banks of Baron’s Creek toasting and sharing stories. Nothing better, right? We laughed, we cried, we laughed.

One evening we found ourselves closing down a winery. We had stayed beyond our welcome, and it was dark. Two of my daughters worked on getting us an Uber (We were being responsible), but on a Sunday evening in a small town, they were few and far between. We were also being a bit picky and didn’t want the old cowboy with the car full of trash (and a foul smell). We walked to the entrance and someone told us the gates were closed. We’d have to walk to the back gate which was apparently quite a distance down a dark dirt road.

To the rescue appeared Enrique. He told us to wait right there while he got his truck. His truck was like brand new and big enough to hold 4 of us in the back seat comfortably. When he got us to the back gate, Katherine said, “The Uber is 15 minutes away.”

Our angel Enrique said, “Ya’ll going back to town? I’ll take you.” And he flashed his million-dollar-twenty-something-Mexican smile our way.

We made it safely back to town while I embarrassed my girls by calling our angel “Enriquo.” But I was sober enough to find $40 to leave on the seat. He saved us and wanted no payment for it.

My Inkling friend Linda Mitchell is the host at Ethical ELA today with a prompt for writing a Tricube poem. Here is mine in deep gratitude for my daughters.

My three girls
now women
look at me
What they see
in my eyes–
mother’s joy
What they hear
from my lips–
words of love
Margaret Simon, draft

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Slice of Life: Explore!

Posted in Photography, Slice of Life, Travel, tagged Explore, Florida, Grayton Beach, OLW, South Walton, Travel on June 5, 2018| 9 Comments »

See more posts at Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life .

My One Little Word for 2018 is Explore! I’ve decided to thoroughly embrace this word this summer. I am currently on an exploratory adventure at the beach. My daughter is an account executive for an advertising agency, so she had some meetings here and invited me to tag along. What a treat! Our first day we ventured out to an inlet lake that is surrounded by sand dunes. We did stand up paddleboarding. The day was hot and sunny, but we did it. I felt a sense of pride that I was actually able to make the paddleboard move in a somewhat straight line. On Wednesday, I’m going to try paddleboard yoga.

This morning while she was in meetings, I ventured out to Grayton Beach State Park. Even in the rain, this was a beautiful area. I was alone on the trail of crystal sand dunes, of bending sand live oaks, and of tall pines that look like tall umbrellas. The dunes set off a lake (Western Lake where we went paddleboarding.) that is a unique salt water/ fresh water ecosystem. The dunes themselves are preserved. Here are a few of my pictures.

Grayton Beach sand dunes

Sand live oaks grow in sculpted shapes.

The sky itself looks like an ocean.

Hanging out with women in the advertising business has taught me some new terms to add to my lexicon:

cranking: This is another word for getting on the computer and getting work done. Best done when it’s raining and you can’t go “content gathering.”
content gathering: This is a term for going out and taking pictures so that you can post them on social media to show others how fun it is to be here.
content: a picture that could be used to promote a place. One of my pictures was used on Instagram as “content.” Follow @Southwalton

And the best way to have a team meeting is when everyone is in PJs and passing around a bottle of wine. (I think I may have gotten into the wrong profession.) In addition to being a relaxing trip to the beach, I have enjoyed time alone with daughter number 2 and learning about the work she does everyday. It’s not always at the beach, though.

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Slice of Whitney Plantation

Posted in Photography, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged New Orleans, Travel, Whitney Plantation on July 18, 2017| 10 Comments »

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..out in de camp, out yonda in da camp, de ole, ole women too old to work and too old to make babies, dey stay an mind de young chilens so dat de me kin all work in de fields and dey fee dam an all so when de ma come back all dey got to do is to push ’em in de bed, all of dem in de same bed. –Frances Doby, age 100
Cammie G. Henry Research Center
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
Federal Writers Project Folder 19

On Monday, I went on a summer field trip to Whitney Plantation located in Wallace, LA. Established in 1752, Whitney Plantation was a working sugar plantation until the early 1970’s. Recently, it has been transformed into an active museum that captures the experience of enslavement. This place tells the unheard story of all other plantation homes. This story is not a romanticized version of plantation life. This story is gripping and harrowing and sad.

Inside the old Antioch Church, statues of enslaved children stand, some sit on the pews. The children of the slaves from Whitney Plantation tell you the story with their staring eyes. These stories were captured by a Federal Writers Project led by John Lomax in 1936. The plantation now honors over 100,000 names of slaves and children.

The Antioch Baptist Church was moved to the plantation in 1999. This church was built post Civil War (1870) by former slaves.

This memorial statue stands in the Field of Angels to honor all the slave children lost before age 3.

Panels in the Field of Angels include etched photographs, prayers, and quotes along with 2,200 names from documents in the Sacramental Records of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

A Jamaica line of sugar kettles remind us of the long, arduous task of turning cane into sugar.

If you are ever in the New Orleans area, Whitney Plantation is a worthy side trip. I believe we must try to understand our history to move forward into a better future.

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Slice of Project Poem

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing, tagged #ProjectPoem, Jenn Hayhurst, NM, Santa Fe, Travel on July 4, 2017| 8 Comments »

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An invitation to #ProjectPoem

Jenn Hayhurst tagged me in a post on Facebook asking me to join in a project she is playing with this summer: #ProjectPoem. The premise is that teachers of writing should write, a mantra of mine adapted from the work of Donald Graves. She is asking teachers to synthesize experience into poetic form in 140 characters.

I joined in with the image below. I am on vacation in Santa Fe, NM and staying at a lovely casita. The patio is private, quiet, and inviting. The picture is a side garden of Aspen trees.

My writing friend, Linda Mitchell, recently visited Seattle. There she collected words and made collage poems from them. I took inspiration from her to capture the feeling in Santa Fe. There was a procession to return an old statue of Mary to the Cathedral of Saint Frances. The people here are serious about their worship of Mary.

Consider joining in the summer writing fun by tweeting your poem to #ProjectPoem and tagging me @MargaretGSimon and Jenn @hayhurst3. I made the first image using the app WordSwag, the second in Canva.

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Chicago Slice of Life

Posted in Slice of Life, tagged Chicago, Travel on July 7, 2015| 11 Comments »

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My husband and I spent the long holiday weekend in Chicago visiting my youngest daughter and her boyfriend. I captured a few moments in words and pictures.

Chicago, a city of old and new,
packs of people
in an array of colors
speaking different languages.

Chicago, a skyline of high rises
and shore lines,
fireworks,
music,
crowds and space.

Chicago, a city of many flavors,
fresh brewed beer that tastes of flowers,
specialty tacos,
frites–
“If you call them frites, they are good for you.”

Chicago, an artistic expression–
mosaic faces in the train station,
sidewalk statues,
Chagall’s window–
invitation to stop and see.

Chicago, miles and miles
of neighborhoods
holding on to history,
museums and parks
for playing and learning.

Above all
is the person
Chicago holds.
Keep her safe,
teach her tolerance,
peace, and kindness,
inspire her
to dream.

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DigiLit Challenge: An Invitation

Posted in Digital Learning, Photography, Writing, tagged Animoto, Canva, Digilitchallenge, digital learning, Nola, Travel on May 31, 2015| 5 Comments »

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Last week on a whim I invited my readers to a DigiLit Challenge. Many of you responded, so I started a Pinterest Board. There are already 12 pins on it. Let’s add to it this week.

This week’s DigiLit Challenge is an Invitation. You can create your invitation on the app of your choice. For Memorial Day, I went to New Orleans to visit with two of my girls. I was inspired by the art on the electric boxes. The project is a nonprofit organization to rebuild and beautify New Orleans. You can read more about it here.

My blogging friend Julianne (To Read, to Write, to Be) is coming to New Orleans this summer, so I wanted to show her some of the more beautiful parts. I took pictures and stored them. I tried Haiku Deck. The result was not exactly what I envisioned. I tried to make it into a movie using iMovie but some of the words were lost. My frustration made me quit. Here is one of the images and a link to the haiku deck. (I wish it would embed on my site.)

https://www.haikudeck.com/p/wXUiuAbwnR/an-invitation

For my second attempt, I used Animoto. I just love this app. I have even paid to get a longer time. I can make movies that look expertly done without having to go through the cumbersome steps of iMovie.

https://animoto.com/play/vyjaKvSxfnbPPbxp2IUeMg

For your invitation, you can create a movie or a still image. I created this invitation for blueberry picking on Canva.

Have fun creating. Tag me in your posts @MargaretGSimon and use #invitation and #digilitchallenge. And as always, link up with InLinkz.

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Celebrate Religions and Traditions

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Digital Learning, Poetry, tagged #DigiPoetry, haiku, Laotian New Year, Palm Sunday, Travel, video poem on April 4, 2015| 6 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Use this button created by Leigh Anne Eck to post your Digital Poetry this month.

Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts

Since this is Easter weekend, and I will be celebrating with my family, I am combining my weekend posts into one. Continuing my April commitment to digital poetry, a weekly celebration link up, and DigiLit Sunday all in one.

I think I am getting the hang of Nutshell now. You have to take the pictures on the spot because that’s how the app knows to take video. You have to keep in mind that after you take the picture, the phone is still capturing video.

I did not go on an exotic trip to Laos, but very close to my own town, there is a Laotian village complete with a Buddhist temple, Wat Thammarattanaram. This weekend they celebrate Songkran, the Laotian New Year. Yesterday we attended the opening prayer service.

For us in the Christian tradition, it is Holy Week. I began the week with Palm Sunday and a procession led by bagpipes to celebrate Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem. This video I took while participating in the procession of the palms at my parents’ church, St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson, MS. I uploaded it into iMovie and wrote a simple haiku using the title slides in iMovie.

There is stark contrast here in these two traditions. We felt uncomfortable seated on the floor in the Buddhist Temple; however, Bea, a Laotian woman with good English, welcomed us to sit with her and turned to tell us the story of what was happening throughout the service. This kindness made us feel more comfortable.

Today I celebrate the many religions of the world.
I celebrate that traditions are passed on generation to generation.
I celebrate resurrection and renewal.
I celebrate celebrations.