Tag Archives: travel

FMM 1 12 2024 Going with the Flow

”All night, all day.Angels watching over me.” ~ (Trad). Although I was brought up in the church, I can’t say that the usual vision of heavenly angels was something I actively believed in.  Like fairies, elves and gnomes, they seemed to be a little too fantastical to be real.  Thus, the concept of life after […]

FMM 12 29 2023 Roads Less Traveled

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” ~ Lao Tzu. When I first returned to Jamaica after an absence of some fourteen years, I had already begun writing, filling unruled journals (I did not appreciate the lined versions, which seemed too restricted, too dictatorial) with thoughts and impressions.  […]

FMM 12 15 2023 Lost with Technology

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ~ Albert Schweitzer. When I returned from Jamaica to live in the UK to go to nursing school, one of […]

FMM 12 8 2023 Altitude Adjustment

‘A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.’ ~ Lao Tzu. I read something in a group chat the other day that resonated. A friend wrote that often it is at a funeral that you learn something about the person who died.  Even if it is someone you thought you […]

FMM 10 27 23 Reconstructing Family

“Little children are still the symbol of the eternal marriage between love and duty.” ~ George Eliot. It seems obscene to say this, but fifty years ago I was a senior in high school (in Upper Sixth Form as we say in the old British system).  I had lived most of my life in Jamaica, […]

FMM 8 20 2021 In Tension

“Honor thy error as a hidden intention” ~ Brian Eno. It is almost twenty years since the day we saw the twin towers collapse. It was one of those events that most people can honestly say, I remember where I was and what I was doing that day.  Of course, for some the memories are […]

FMM 5 22 2020 Sheet Lightning

“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” ~ Frederick Douglass. The first time I returned to visit Jamaica after a thirteen-year hiatus, I spent a lot of my time gazing, staring out at mountain vistas, rumpled […]

FMM 8 30 19 Trains and Boats and Planes

“You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.” ~ Golda Meir. In 1963, the long journey across the Atlantic from the UK to Jamaica began with a long train ride from the north of England all the way down to the south coast.  As the youngest in the family, my responsibilities were few, so […]

FMM 6 10 17 Fret not, nor fear

“In a time of destruction, create something.”~Maxine Hong Kingston. I have never been fond of scary movies.  I prefer to escape into a light comedy, to be amused for a while.  I remember accompanying a friend to watch a couple of movies that were outside of my comfort zone (Jaws, and Carrie).  For her punishment […]

FMM 4 14 17 It Coulda Worse!

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.”~Denis Waitley. They say travel broadens the mind.  There is something about experiencing a place, a people and a culture far different to the one you are familiar with that helps to open […]