Sultanhani Caravanserai, 1229 AD. Along the Konya-Aksaray highway in Turkey

The song reached out to her, and she risked the disapproval of her fellow travelers by delaying long enough to learn its name from the shopkeeper.  And so she carried the music home, where she could replay it at any time.

From thousands of miles away, she closes her eyes and returns to the caravanserai along the Silk Road.  And feels the presence of long-ago travelers lingering in its golden afternoon shadows.

– with love for the journey.

Photograph by Lou Ann Granger, September 2009

Musings on the song Gülümcan, from the album Köprüler.  And the power of music to capture a precious moment from the journey.

Lose sight of the shore

“On ne découvre pas de terre nouvelle sans consentir à perdre de vue, d’abord et longtemps, tout rivage” (“One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore”)

- Andre Gide, Les faux-monnayeurs [The Counterfeiters] (1925)

A  favorite saying, which re-surfaced for no apparent reason the other day.

– with love for the journey.

Mixed Media Journal page by Lou Ann Granger, March 2011

Buenos Aires nights.
She is there. Dancing. Laughing.
Yet I’m not. Why not?
– Lou Ann Granger

Perhaps I am a bit jealous. Others are visiting Buenos Aires on a steamy summer night. Why am I not there, too?

I realize I could be if I wanted to be. There is a longing, but no call yet. What magical alchemical process occurs to change something from a dream to an intention? I’m often surprised to find I am suddenly called to visit a place, perhaps somewhere I had not really considered before. I wonder if that will happen here, if there is such a journey in my future.

I pause to wonder about Buenos Aires. Are there treasures waiting for me?

– – with love for the journey.

Photo by Courtney Granger, post-processing by Lou Ann Granger, December 2010

Uncover what you long for, and you will discover who you are.
- Phil Cousineau, The Art of Pilgimage

I don’t know where the wanderlust comes from, just that it has always been part of me.  I believe it comes from the ancestors, who traveled great distances searching for ‘home’.  I search for my own place in the universe, knowing that the answers are not found in any specific place or sacred site.  Just that there is a need to observe many places in the world from many vantage points, and only then to have a slight glimmer of understanding.  And so I venture forth on yet another journey.

I know beforehand, that it still won’t be enough.  But, I am not satisfied where I am and I am restless.

– with love for the journey

Visual journal page by Lou Ann Granger