Travel v. Home

There is almost nothing in the world I like better than traveling-- from big cities to small, sea side villages and everything in between.  I'm always amazed at how you can go halfway around the world and still find similarities from place to place and at the same time, you can move from one neighborhood to another in a city or town and each has it's own sense of identity.  There's nothing more exciting than exploring those similarities and differences and getting a sense of how people live.

I'm always excited by the prospect of traveling to places I've never been before and drinking it all in.  But I also love the feeling of going back to a place for the second or third or 100th time and discovering hidden gems with each visit-- the tiny little cafe that only the locals know about, the independent bookstore-- so rare to find these days-- that has open readings every night, the jazz club that despite being decrepit and smoky is packed with people and has a line out the door. Even places that I haven't liked much have drawn me back at times, given the right opportunities, because I'm intrigued to find out why people stay there.

No matter where I go, or for how long I'm gone, ultimately, I long for home.  I crave my own bed, my comfortable chair, my sweet kitty cat-- who does not travel well and so inevitably is left at home to sulk-- and the opportunity to start planning the next travel adventure!

Jane Austen

I'm late this week in linking up to the FINAL week of Summer of Color2.  Maybe it's because I hate to see it come to an end. This has been a fun challenge for me and I've loved seeing how everyone has interpreted each week's colors so differently.  I'm looking forward to a Summer of Color3 in 2013.  Many thanks to Kristin for creating and coordinating this event!

Since I'm so late this week, I'm also taking the opportunity to link these tiny, watermelon ice colored scribbles to Paint Party Friday--  another of the best sources of inspiration to be found!