{"id":456,"date":"2018-10-05T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-05T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/?p=456"},"modified":"2018-10-05T13:00:10","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T17:00:10","slug":"day-4-journaling-through-your-senses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/05\/day-4-journaling-through-your-senses\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 4 Journaling Through Your Senses"},"content":{"rendered":"

My camera clicks as I take yet another picture, a feeble attempt to capture some of the details and beauty of this place I am currently visiting.\u00a0 I note that I have already taken 359 images and we are only on day 5 of our vacation!\u00a0 What is it that I am trying to preserve?\u00a0 Is it a memory, a smell, the details of architecture?\u00a0 Is it the people that are sharing this journey with me?\u00a0 Is it perhaps the amazing tastes that I am experiencing for the first time?\u00a0 Are there other memories that this place is evoking?\u00a0 Is it perhaps all of these things at the same time? What is it that is important for me to remember?<\/p>\n

I look up from my camera, considering these questions.\u00a0 Knowing these photos will not stand on their own, I also pick up my pen.<\/p>\n

In days past, my journal entry for this photo might have looked something like this:<\/p>\n

“Day 5-Sept 21, 2015. We traveled by train, up Mt. Snowden in Wales.”\u00a0 Pretty boring indeed!<\/p>\n

\"FIL218\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If I utilize my 5 senses; touch, taste, sound, smell and hearing,\u00a0 I am able to document this image much differently.\u00a0 Here is the journal entry as it was actually made.<\/p>\n

“Day 5-Sept 21, 2015. My camera clicks incessantly, as I sit with my nose pressed against the glass window of the train.\u00a0 The window drips heavy with condensation, permanently fogged by the warm breath of the 69 passengers who have joined me on this journey. There is a quiet peace among us, as each person strains to see the beautiful views.\u00a0 We are stacked 6 people to a bench, with 2 benches facing each other. Knowing I will be taking the pictures,\u00a0 Alan has kindly given me the window seat and my mother in law sits across from me. How different are our views, as I look uphill and she looks down?\u00a0 I am pleased that we have chosen the right side of the train to sit on.\u00a0 Our experience might have felt differently, had we chosen the opposite side and only been able to view the mountain wall. But then, I think this limited view is often how people go through their lives.\u00a0 Slowly we climb the 3,000 feet to the peak of Mt. Snowden.\u00a0 The conductor must maintain a good visual of the ascending tracks, never sure if there will be rocks or sheep blocking our path.\u00a0 This gives the one hour, uphill journey, a sense of adventure.\u00a0 The sun is playing with me, as it peeks in and out of the low lying clouds.\u00a0 Earlier in the day, as we were getting drenched by the rain, we feared that this “must do” trip would not be possible during our time in Wales.\u00a0 What would be the point of having our heads in a permanent cloud?\u00a0 Hoping for a brief break, we took a chance that the clouds would clear and booked our tickets anyway. As the scenery now unfolds, we are told these are the best views of the day.\u00a0\u00a0 Finally I give up clearing the window, with the single tissue I had in my purse. It is now too burdened by the water to be of much value.\u00a0 I lower the top pane of glass on the window and point my camera toward the valley floor. In doing so, I sense myself opening fully to this experience. I’m sure people think I am crazy, as I seem to be snapping the same image, only seconds apart.\u00a0 The sun is playing with me, highlighting first a lake, then a\u00a0 craggy cliff, or a lone sheep grazing in the field beside the tracks.\u00a0\u00a0 I do not want to miss any of it! The brisk, fall air is cold and refreshing.\u00a0 This seems to awaken many of the passengers.\u00a0 Conversations and laughter now also fill the air.\u00a0 People begin interacting, asking “where are you from” and listening with interest as stories and shared.\u00a0 The smell of the diesel engine mixes with the damp, earthy fragrance emanating from this unspoiled land.\u00a0 Memories of my father-in-law quickly ignite.\u00a0 In his younger years,\u00a0 he had been a fireman on the trains.\u00a0 I linger on the edge of these memories, imagining how much he would have enjoyed this trip we are taking.\u00a0 He so loved his trains.\u00a0 I share this thought with a fellow passenger as I reach for my mother-in-laws hand.\u00a0 It is in this way, that he journeys everywhere with us.\u00a0 Will the other passenger remember this conversation days from now?\u00a0 I am not sure.\u00a0 Perhaps if they are a journaller like myself, this trip will have triggered a deeper emotion or personal memory for them.\u00a0 Perhaps they will just recall me in their own notes as an outgoing, friendly, American girl, who shared a glimpse of her past and seemed to be taking pictures of everything.\u00a0 Perhaps, like me, they will simply be grateful for this place, this time and these new memories that we are all making.\u00a0 These are all the true gifts of this day. “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My camera clicks as I take yet another picture, a feeble attempt to capture some of the details and beauty of this place I am currently visiting.\u00a0 I note that I have already taken 359 images and we are only on day 5 of our vacation!\u00a0 What is it that I am trying to preserve?\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[368],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photography-journal-scrapbooking","tag-wrtiting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abcexplorers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}