What bothers you and why?

I’m a frequent traveler & what annoys me the most is bad customer service. For example my coffee is hot & my pancakes are cold. Or attitude when I want to spend time in your store.

Bad customer service just rubs the wrong way & personnel that should work elsewhere than customer service. Being kind goes along way but when I get my food before my coffee I have to wonder what’s happening in the kitchen.

I enjoy sitting down & writing but when I have spent money I expect that I can be there for more than 15 minutes after I have eaten. It’s rude to chase people away because I believe in word of mouth & not outing them online.

Anyway, I feel like people are becoming more rude after COVID. Either they travel still wearing masks in public which is avoidance of others. Just stay home if you’re going to travel that way.

Being kind to customers goes along way. Even at an airport. Being kind even when things are Texas goes along way.

If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

I’d invite Ernest Hemingway, for his whiskey & his banter. Plus he was an amazing storyteller so I’d ask him about his writing of course.

Someone from this period I’d invite Valerie Perrin because I’m a huge fan of her writing & storytelling ability. Plus, I think she’d be the life of the party & Hemingway might get jealous.

Then I’d invite Mary Oliver as I really like her body of work & she’s a fellow poet. I’d think she & I would have lively conversation about beats & form.

Describe your most memorable vacation.

We did the LAX-Sydney route & spent a few days there till we traveled up to Cairns & Port Douglas. Where we went out to the reef. My favorite part of that leg of the trip was the rainforest.

Then we flew from Cairns to Darwin in the Northern Territories & began our long road trip down to Alice Springs. The road trip was amazing, we went to Uluru & went kayaking in nature preserve. Kings Canyon was a beautiful hike in the afternoon. We went into caves & looked at old Earth.

As we approached Alice Springs & Uluru we were again surrounded by other tourists & they had reminders on which side of the road to drive on. Alice Springs was magical in the middle of the desert. People were really friendly & it was laid back.

I’ve seen that much has changed since we were there but I’ll cherish the road trip & the schnitzel we had at this motel in the middle of nowhere.