When Wanderers Cease to Roam

It's been a dreary February here in Minnesota. Unusual rain has washed away the snow leaving everything ugly and gray. I've taken to curling up with hot tea and a book to pass the gloomy hours.

The book I've been reading fits my mood exactly. It's called When Wanderers Cease to Roam: A Traveler's Journal of Staying Put.

It's a travel memoir. It's coffee table book. It's like nothing I've ever seen.

The entire book, all 197 pages, was hand written by the author, Vivian Swift.

Not only did she hand write every single word in the book, she also illustrated it extensively with watercolors and pen.

After 20 years traveling the world as a backpacker, a Peace Corp volunteer and a professional, she decided to find a small spot in a small town and make herself a home.

This book is basically a scrap book her travel memories. It becomes apparent that Swift is a fantastic hoarder of stories, trinkets and travel scraps as she fills pages upon pages with intricate drawings of the places she's been and the things she's collected.

I especially liked a reoccurring series in the book. Swift picks a theme -- say tea -- and then writes five one-paragraph stories involving tea that happened to her in five different countries. It was a writing idea I think I'm going to try.

Once I'd finished the book, there was a page in particular that stuck out at me: page 21. It probably rang such a bell as it talked about the dullness of February, which it now is, and the desire to plan a trip, which I currently feel.

Anyway, this is the passage that stuck out at me:

"February used to be the month I paid the least attention to,
except as inspiration to plan a long road trip as far away as
possible. Now that I've acquired the habit of staying put,
February is the month that keeps me closest to home, feasting
on the memories of travel . . . "

Photos - close up shots of inside pages from When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Vivian Swift