Hometown Girl needs a Bigger Bag

Got of you a rough start..unbelievably!  But salvaged my sanity and now flying to Bangkok via Hong Kong.  All my packing efforts in vain...repacked literally on floor on Pittsburgh Airport with an awesome United ticket agent and packing expert.    Wish I had been able to video that!  Saved me $70 though and didn't have to give up all the lotions I just bought...and I bought a lot..  Request from my family for lotions and sunscreen....seems they are pricey in Bangkok.   Only one checked bag allowed!!  Need a bigger bag!!

Vacation Search by Keywords: Thailand hiking

Vacation Search by Keywords: Thailand hiking

December 18, 2011 - Good morning, fellow travelers and pioneers.  Today wise Shiro reminded me of travel as a confluence of both spiritual and physical travel.   As we travel through our lives, we encounter lessons both good and instructive...I hesitate to say bad, because even unfortunate, seemly bad events are to be analyzed and blessed as seeds for growth.  We've all had them, but we know that ruminating and holding grudges should not, in the overall scheme of a well balanced life tarnish our journey.  Sometimes the ride may not be comfortable, sometimes its scary but focus on the goal of the JOURNEY...happiness and spiritual growth,  love and forgiveness and loyalty and peace..some of the true qualities of life that are outside of so many people's reality that as they shop and shop seeking perfection, they believe they are buying happiness...such a simple existence.

So as I really mark down my days prior to my big birthday adventure to the Land of Smiles, I will smile again and  focus on family and loved ones both past and present, and thank them for blessing me with their lives both for the happiness and the sorrow.. seek forgiveness for any of my trespasses.   and hope that I have blessed them in many or a few ways.  You never know what may happen along the way, but if ones does get lost out there somewhere, I know love can bring them home.

So, enjoy your own trip...keep your eyes open and you can find new adventures in your own backyard or your kitchen.  My Sunday morning philosophy..before I head out for my morning walk.  xoxo..PG

The Joys of Packing

December 11, 2011... Things are shaping up!  I'm getting so much closer to ..well at least dumping items on my "packing bed."  As I think of things I may need, they go right on the bed.  Step Two will be to organize it all in true Pioneer Girl fashion.  Wonder what that is?   Rolling, and zip lock bags..

Went to Bakery Square over the weekend, picked up a few cute trinkets and tropical items at Anthropoligie...I love that store! Got my oversized funky sunglasses there..  See 'em?? on the left, very cute.    Hair accessories are really big at Free People, hippie headbands, feather earrings and clipins, floppy hats...  Oh, if only my hair were long again.

Well, still in prep stages for my solo adventure.  Guess it's not REALLY solo since I'm staying at my brother's once I get to Bangkok...but the travel almost around the world (32 hours including 8 hour layover in Paris, will be solo.  It's a little daunting, but PG is up for the challenge, new places, new people, new adventures.

A bientot for now..xoxo PG

Picking and Packing and Smiling

As a true Pioneer.. I'm preparing for my trip, checking off my checklist and picking and packing.. but I'm still smiling...cause I'm headed to Bangkok..a City of Smiles..so stay tuned. Let's just see how much this PG can fit into one checked suitcase and one backpack, and stay organized. xoxo PG (SMILING...) i

America's Heartland - Episode 714 - Owls Save Crops

Good morning, Pioneers! Last year about this time, I began this blog during a cross-country trip hauling a trailer. We began in Pittsburgh and since I felt like a pioneer, well...hence my blog name. The purpose of the trip was to set up camp in a beautiful vineyard to begin a study on the effect of barn owls as a natural rodenticide instead of poisons. The study was created by researcher, Mark Browning of the Pittsburgh Zoo and my BOBG (barn owl box guy!) Barn owls will feed on pocket gophers, mice...pocket gophers in particular can damage the roots of the grapes. The study is ongoing and is the subject of an episode of America's Heartland which is shown across the country's heartland farm lands on RFDTV and also PBS.

Check out the episode below, Mark Browning of the Pittsburgh Zoo.

America's Heartland - Episode 714 - Owls Save Crops

You done good, BOBG!!

Stay tuned as Pittsburgh Pioneer Girl will soon become Thailand Pioneer Girl, as my travels will take me around the world to Asia in a few short weeks..

Over n Out for now... XOXO, PG

November Night

Listen
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.

Adelaide Crapsey
1878–1914
 She also makes reference to the afterlife, invoking the mythological river Styx. In her poems the season is perpetually autumn or winter, and the reader visits bleak (though also beautiful) natural scenes and elegant cemeteries.