Get travel inspo in your inbox every week from storytellers Marilee and Paul. Discover wonderful places, delightful hotels, and meaningful travel experiences in the USA, Europe, and beyond – currently, GREECE. 100% original content by Paul, the photographer, and Marilee, the writer behind Spotlight Sojourns.
✨One wild and precious life
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On this grey afternoon, as we strolled through quiet streets in a quaint old Minneapolis neighborhood, a flash of sparkle suddenly caught my eye. Intrigued, I tugged Paul’s hand and drew him into a narrow alleyway. In this nondescript and unnoticed space, an artist has created a dazzling three-dimensional mosaic mural. The mosaic features two phrases: “Reach for the stars” and the final lines of a meaningful poem, “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver. “I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver first published “The Summer Day” in her 1992 collection, New and Selected Poems. Her beautiful and thoughtful poetry added the 1992 National Book Award to a trophy case crowded with a Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and other awards including four honorary doctorates. She wrote this beloved poem not as a blithe youth but rather as a mature woman nearing 60. A woman who understood both the bitter and the sweet intimately. Oliver personally chose this and other favorite poems for her last collection, Devotions. In this week of Thanksgiving, Paul and I feel deep gratitude for our one wild and precious life. For the grace of kneeling down in wonder, the joy of reaching for the stars. And for the gift of sharing with you the journey on and off the beaten path. Reader, may you be blessed in celebrating the festive season. And may you reach for the stars in planning your one wild and precious life. Until next time, Travel on, sparkle on, meaningfully✨ Marilee + Paul Kostadimas PS: Do you know friends or family who’d like a little inspo in their box? Please forward this email. They can subscribe by clicking the button below:
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Slow travel with the Hidden Gemologists
Get travel inspo in your inbox every week from storytellers Marilee and Paul. Discover wonderful places, delightful hotels, and meaningful travel experiences in the USA, Europe, and beyond – currently, GREECE. 100% original content by Paul, the photographer, and Marilee, the writer behind Spotlight Sojourns.
And just like that, December begins with a blizzard-worthy blast of snow, ice, and single-digit temperatures in the Midwestern USA. Paul and I are currently in Chicago, during our second week of holiday travel. Having celebrated a joyous Thanksgiving with beloved family, our hearts are warm even if our feet are cold. And, of course, we’re also visiting European-inspired Christmas Markets in North America. With this year’s focus on the Christmas Market experience domestically, rather than...
Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkt - Vienna, Austria Across the continent from Empress Sisi’s estate in Greece, to her imperial palaces in Austria, the festive season is officially underway in Europe. Traditional Christmas Markets are open daily in the capital, Vienna. Elegant Christmas lights sparkle in every district. Ethereal classical music and carols resound in every neighborhood. (we can’t help but wonder if Empress Sisi found the formal court ceremonies and opulent palace extravagances more...
What’s the view outside your window today? The view outside our window is entirely unexpected this early in November. Just the other day, a glorious autumn was underway: Blue skies and golden sun. Green lawns. Crimson and amber leaves. But today, a snow plow rumbling down the street serves as the soundtrack to the winter scene. Looking out the window as I write, suddenly Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 comes to mind: “That time of year thou mayst in me behold / When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do...