Friday, January 22, 2010

Comfort or, The First Steps of the Journey

Before you can set out on a journey, you need to be prepared and well-rested. It would be shortsighted to pack up one's yurt and set off across the Mongolian highlands without a giving a thought to provisions. (Yak's milk yogurt? Mutton jerky? Tea?) And you'd be sure to get a good night's sleep and fill up on Power Bars before stepping onto that marathon starting line.

I think the same is true of journeys in the metaphorical sense. You can't go out and search for fulfillment for your soul without knowing where you're starting from. So, since my redesigned blog is all about conversations on the journey, I thought I would start out the new year with a little taste of home. The photos I'm including are all evocative of comfort, taken over the just-ended year.



New Year's Day 2009, on the road to my best friend's house.



Baked goods are a no-brainer: always comforting. Whenever I come home for a stay, I stock up on hometown bagels; they just aren't the same in the state where I am in exile - er, currently living.


A trail marker on a cross-country course invited me to remember my own high school running days.



The cloves studded in the lemon twist really do make the hot toddy.



Is "a dusting of snow like powdered sugar" too cliché? In any case, the snow made my favorite park even sweeter on New Year's Eve, and companionship made the walk a little warmer for these friends. (One imagines, anyway. What might they have been talking about?)

What brings you comfort?
What sustains you on long journeys?
And if you were packing up your yurt, what essentials would you put in?