{"id":9836,"date":"2020-11-16T00:35:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T00:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=9836"},"modified":"2020-11-16T00:48:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T00:48:01","slug":"on-some-of-my-adventures-in-old-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=9836","title":{"rendered":"On “(Some of) My Adventures in Old Age…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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To see more images of the “meanest 33 miles in history,” go to\u00a0Chilkoot Trail\u00a0–\u00a0Image\u00a0Results<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Welcome to the \u201cGeorgia Wasp\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/h1>\n

This blog is modeled on the\u00a0Carolina Israelite<\/a><\/em>. That was an old-time\u00a0newspaper<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 more like a personal\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 written and published by\u00a0Harry Golden<\/a>. Back in the\u00a01950s<\/a>, people called him a \u00a0\u201cvoice of sanity amid the braying of jackals.\u201d\u00a0(For his work on the\u00a0Israelite<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s now my goal as well. To be a\u00a0\u201cvoice of sanity amid the braying of jackals<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on the blog-name connection, see the notes below.<\/p>\n

In the meantime:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"(SomeI just published a new\u00a0E-book<\/a>,\u00a0(Some of) My Adventures in Old Age<\/a><\/em><\/strong>. <\/em>(“Or ‘<\/em><\/span>How NICE it was to travel, before COVID<\/a>.'”) It’s published under my\u00a0nom de plume<\/a>, “James B. Ford.” The cover photo – at right – shows me in Jerusalem in May 2019, wearing a “shemagh<\/a>.” Also called a\u00a0keffiyeh<\/a>, I got it at\u00a0Ranger Joe’s<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in Ft. Benning before leaving for Israel. (To “blend in.”) I’m wearing it over my black\u00a0Atlanta United<\/a>\u00a0ball cap, thus “blending in” the best of the old and new.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the\u00a0blurb<\/a>\u00a0I wrote for\u00a0Amazon Kindle eBooks<\/a>, I said this book should be timely – “in the middle of our Covid-19 pandemic” – because right now “lots of Americans can only dream<\/em><\/strong> about visiting such exotic locales in the future, when the crisis passes.”<\/p>\n

I compared it to the 1920s and \u201830s, when so many Americans were fascinated by Hemingway\u2019s books on France and Spain. (Like \u201cThe Sun Also Rises <\/a>\u201d and \u201cA Moveable Feast<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing part of it was that back then most Americans could only DREAM<\/strong> of travel to such exotic places. (Like today with Covid…)\u00a0Then too it may be because Hemingway gave all those exotic street names and local pubs and restaurants. Like my<\/strong> finding the \u201cBEERBAZAAR<\/a>,\u201d in Jerusalem, in May 2019. Which makes me think I should have written down way more information when I was \u201cover there.\u201d Then I could do more what Hemingway did, vivid description. But I have something Hemingway didn\u2019t have. GOOGLE MAPS!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then too – aside from my May 2019\u00a0pilgrimage<\/a>\u00a0to Israel – the book includes chapters on\u00a0hiking the Chilkoot Trail in 2016. (\u201cMeanest 33 miles in history,\u201d exemplified by the top photo.)\u00a0Or hiking the Camino de Santiago,\u00a0twice<\/em><\/strong>. The first time was in 2017. I met my brother in Pamplona \u2013 home of Hemingway\u2019s Caf\u00e9 Iruna \u2013 and together we hiked (and biked) the 450 miles to Santiago de Compostela. (He flew into Paris and hiked over the Pyrenees, but the Chilkoot Trail had cured me of any such wishes to go hiking over mountains again so soon.)<\/p>\n

Incidentally, the last two chapters of the book are based on my last two posts,\u00a0Here\u2019s that second post on the Portuguese Camino<\/a>, and “They sell beer at the McDonald\u2019s in Portugal<\/a>!”<\/p>\n

That last post was really<\/em> <\/strong>long – “Word count 3450” – or three thousand four hundred fifty words. Mostly because I had a lot to fit in, but to balance things out I’ll make this post shorter. The upshot is that I wrote about a lot of great adventures, but still had more<\/em><\/strong> to write about. Plus those I did cover I didn’t do full justice to. (Which reminds me of the joke about the Southern lady talking to a Northern lady and ending a sentence with a preposition.*)<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

There’s more on that later, but first a couple production notes on the\u00a0E-book<\/a>. First off, you’ll notice\u00a0that on page 6 of the Introduction – right after the paragraph beginning “May 28, 2019, Tel Aviv” – the line spacing goes all\u00a0kerflooey<\/a>. From justified it goes to non-justified text, and the line spacing gets wider. It goes back to normal for the next one-line paragraph – “Then the COVID hit” – but the text stays non-justified through near the\u00a0 middle of the next page. (It says page 6 again; there are apparently two “page 6’s.”) Then it goes back to justified text.<\/p>\n

I tried correcting it, uploading a second and ostensibly-corrected Word document, but it stayed the same, kerflooey<\/a>\u00a0for a page or two.\u00a0Another note: I had the “Observations” at the end of many chapters in italics and non-justified, as well as the notes at the end of the book. The program made all those justified type. And for the paperback version the publishing program required a minimum of 100 pages, so I had to add four pages to the original 96.<\/p>\n

So I’ll try to upload a corrected version, with the additional four pages and with a proper note at the very end as to where to buy<\/em><\/strong> a paperback version. I’ll let you know how it goes…<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back to the subject of the book not doing justice to all<\/em> <\/strong>my adventures…<\/p>\n

For one example, as to the Portuguese Camino hike: I only got “us” as far as the\u00a0Casa L\u00edmia in Ponte de Lima<\/a>. That’s only\u00a0about a third of the way up to\u00a0Santiago de Compostela<\/a>. Then too I could only provide limited coverage of my pilgrimage to Israel, which I last covered in\u00a0This time last year \u2013 in Jerusalem<\/a>, in May 2020. And by the way, that post has a lot of those “image may contain” boxes, that used to be pictures I posted, to make the posts more interesting. And which in turn is a problem I address in the book. And that’s why I now use lead captions like “To see more images of the ‘meanest 33 miles in history,’ go to\u00a0Chilkoot Trail\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Image\u00a0Results<\/a>.” That makes it much easier to\u00a0transmogrify<\/a>\u00a0these blog-posts into future picture-less book chapters.<\/p>\n

And about that Jerusalem trip. I described the\u00a0Leonardo Moria Hotel<\/a>, a short walk from St. George’s Pilgrim Guest House, with a lounge sometimes functioning as a piano bar. (Once even having a yarmulke-topped pianist playing the\u00a0Chicken Dance<\/a>.) That turned out to be a favorite watering hole, not just for me but eventually many of my fellow pilgrims at St. George’s. (One night, for a birthday, “we” had 17 pilgrims there. I should have gotten a commission…)<\/p>\n

So one point of this “limited coverage” business is that in the future I’ll have to do at least one Sequel. (Tentatively titled “(More of) My Adventures in Old Age.”) In it I hope to add more<\/em> <\/strong>oversea-travel adventures, including a return to St. George’s. (Once we kick COVID’s ass.)<\/p>\n

Stay tuned!!!<\/em><\/h1>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

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* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

The upper image is courtesy of Chilkoot Trail\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Image\u00a0Results<\/a>. See also\u00a0Explore the Chilkoot Trail – Klondike Gold Rush<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0St George’s College Jerusalem\u00a0–\u00a0Image\u00a0Results<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: “Joke about the Southern lady.” Or it could be a “snobbish English teacher.” See\u00a0Ending a sentence with a preposition. : Jokes<\/a>: “A snobbish English teacher was sitting in an Atlanta airport coffee shop waiting for her flight back to Connecticut, when a friendly Southern Belle sat down next to her.\u00a0‘Where y’all goin’ to?’ asked the Southern Belle.\u00a0Turning her nose in the air, the snob replied ‘I don’t answer people who end their sentences with prepositions.’ The Southern Belle thought a moment, and tried again. ‘Where y’all goin’ to, BITCH?'” The way I heard was, “So where y’all from?” And the Southern lady eventually thinking a bit, then sayin, “Okay, so where y’all from, bitch?”<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Re: \u00a0The\u00a0Israelite<\/a>. \u00a0Harry Golden<\/a>\u00a0grew up in the Jewish ghetto of New York City, but eventually moved to Charlotte, North Carolina.\u00a0 Thus the \u201cCarolina Israelite.\u201d\u00a0 I on the other hand am a \u201cclassic 69-<\/strong>year-old \u201cWASP\u201d \u2013\u00a0White Anglo-Saxon Protestant<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0and live in north Georgia.\u00a0 Thus the \u201cGeorgia Wasp.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyway,\u00a0in<\/strong>\u00a0North Carolina Harry\u00a0<\/em>wrote and published the \u201cisraelite\u201d from the 1940s through the 1960s. \u00a0He was a \u201ccigar-smoking, bourbon-loving\u00a0raconteur<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0(He told good stories.) That also means if he was around today, the \u201cIsraelite\u00a0<\/strong>would be done as a blog.\u201d \u00a0But what made Harry special was his\u00a0positive outlook on life<\/a>. \u00a0As he got older but didn\u2019t\u00a0turn sour<\/a>, like many do today.\u00a0 He\u00a0still got a kick out of life<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 For more on the blog-name connection, see \u201cWasp<\/a>\u201d and\/or\u00a0The blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To see more images of the “meanest 33 miles in history,” go to\u00a0Chilkoot Trail\u00a0–\u00a0Image\u00a0Results… * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * Welcome to the \u201cGeorgia Wasp\u2026\u201d This blog is modeled on the\u00a0Carolina Israelite. That was an old-time\u00a0newspaper\u00a0\u2013 more like a personal\u00a0newsletter\u00a0\u2013 written and published by\u00a0Harry Golden. Back in the\u00a01950s, people called him a \u00a0\u201cvoice of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9836"}],"version-history":[{"count":54,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9890,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9836\/revisions\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}