Gratitude Monday --Memories

I am grateful for a great many things in life. The air I breathe, the place I live that allows me to be in the mountains in about an hour, the time and freedom I have to travel. Some countries have restrictions on their nationals visiting other countries or even talking to a visitor from another land. We can go anywhere we please and talk to anyone we choose.

Today I am grateful not just for having travelled, but for the memories of those trips. I can go back anytime in my mind and relive those moments, breathe in the air, feel the textures of the trip both physical and emotional, hear the sounds, and be there once again.
As the years pass the relived moments lose their acuteness. Feelings and fragrances dull, as do sights, and sounds grow fainter with the years.
But the memories themselves are there, they exist, and they cannot be taken from me except by the ravages of disease or the simple passage of time.
I have photos to help remember. As long as I only have time with which to fight, I will still have my memories, and for that I am grateful.

This is out the window of a train in the Andean Altiplano 21 years ago. A local man leaned against the door at the back of the car playing a haunting melody on his pan flute. It is a memory that will stay with me for as long as I have memories.

Photo-Finish Friday -- Morning Over Argentina

An early morning view.

Here's the south east edge of Argentina with the Andes rising above the land.

We were on our way back to Argentina from our stopover in the Falklands.

As I've said before, it was wide open with a bracing sea cold. Barren of people for the most part, but filled with the other creatures, those who are kitted out for the life in the water and adapt to it to survive.

It's quiet there. The space lets a mind expand beyond the borders and in the silence you can hear yourself think.