Susan Barrett Price's Blog, page 53

My Box Of Maps

Okay, maybe I'm being a little anal sitting here and labeling my AAA Tour Books on the top edge with a fine point Sharpie. Actually, it was kind of fun. And makes fitting them into our map box very efficient.

I know that GPS and electronic maps are all the rage — got 'em — but it really feels like traveling when you can open a big old road atlas or unfold a slightly edgeworn map to plan a meandering route on old highways and state roads… with highlighter in hand, logging the miles.

International Walter T. Price Day: April 19

It's that time again to tip your hat to the neatest people you know!

To participate in the annual International Walter T Price Day, on April 19 contact someone you've been out of touch with for too long and tell them how great they are. Simple as that. No need for fanfare. It'll just be between you and Curly.

This annual ritual is a tribute to my dad, Walter T. "Curly" Price (1922-2005), who never forgot a face or name, who was impressed with the uniqueness of all people and who didn't...

Circling in on Plan B

The car mechanics are still mumbling and shaking their heads over our silver bullet — our utilitarian road-happy little Corolla, which got rear-ended on Friday. Even though we drove it to the shop without shimmies or shakes, they are saying the damage is "extensive" and will take more than  10 days to fix.

Not what we wanted to hear.

So this morning I brought my grand old Camry in to get 4 new tires and to be brought back to her former road-queen readiness. She is 10 years old but only has...

Pre-Roadtrip Fussing

Now I'm beginning to occupy myself with the thousand little details that go into a roadtrip: maps, flashlights, travel mugs, camera batteries and memory cards, cell phone kits, etc. Nailing down specific destinations is less important than the right playlist for the iPod and the right reading material for the Kindle. Mental preparedness.

Of course our road capsule is in the shop after it got rear-ended on Friday afternoon. We're waiting to hear if it will be Interstate ready or if I have to...

Week In Review: iPad Madness

There isn't too much to read about my week. I guess the big event was my succumbing to iPad madness, for a "maxi" thrill. The most hypnotic feature is the photo slideshow — I uploaded our West 2009 and our Ireland 2007 photos, with some background music and let myself be mesmerized. Reading e-books is cool; watching Netflix movies even cooler.

My Husband's People Were Puritans

I'm poking deep into Jim's uber-WASP history. The Rev. Robert Fordham, his daughter Florence, and son-in-law John Carman blew into the Massachasetts Bay Colony shortly after its inception — in 1631. This means (a) they were Puritans and (b) they were mad as hell at the Church of England and (c) they had lots of get-up-and-go. And whoa (d) were they ever risk-takers!

Dissatisfied with Roxbury Village (now in Boston), they worked their way down to Connecticut. Then Fordham and Carman paid a...

Week in review: it's a wonderful life

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Sunrise at the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge between here and Syracuse:

Feeling like Tom Sawyer with his bucket of whitewash

So I dragged all these old photo albums out of the closet. I have a rule that I can't pull stuff out, have a look, then put it away with no action taken. They were already pretty well labeled and Jim put his nihil obstat on selling them, so… next step, making little videos and taking photos to present them on Ebay.

It isn't exciting work. It's methodical. It makes me cranky (ask Jim). I think of Tom Sawyer:

Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He...

Antique Photo Albums: This Week's Objective

What would I do for fun if my closets weren't connected to a warp in the time-space continuum? If they didn't continually materialize whatnots and thingamabobs from the 19th and early 20th centuries?

Needing a break from photo-illustrated books, I reached up to the top shelf in the hall closet and pulled out this collection of old photo albums — some empty, some filled with tintypes and card photos of unknown people. This sort of treasure trove can suck me into days of research and days of...

Revelation