Tom Marshall
My wife and I retired to Naples Florida knowing that we would not stay there during the summer. Our plan is to go to different place each year, one that suits our criteria. We have rented for at least three months in: IRELAND, AUATRALIA/NEW ZEALAND,SLOVENIA, ESTONIA, MEXICO, CARMEL, Ca. (3 times) and presently ANNAPOLIS, Md.No2ndhome
I have published four books about this lifestyle: (They are the basis for my blogs, and are at Amazon.com)
OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA
OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA
OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL(due Sept. 08)
I am woking on a book to explain the benefits, financially, and as a lifestyle, of NOT HAVING A SECOND HOME,...it will be titled
THE WORLD IS YOUR SECOND HOME
You are invited to visit my free website for more information and review my work. I would welcome your ideas about my book.
WWW.MARSHALLPUBLICATIONS.COM
Travel Blog Posts
March 27th 2011
Extracted from my book Our Summer in Boothbay Harbor. WWW.CREATESPACE.COM/3434436 In Chapter 4 of my book I cover three of the many events that occur annually in Boothbay Harbor. The next several postings will be about the Windjammer Days. During the third week in June, 2009 Boothbay Harbor celebrated the 47th Annual Windjammer Days. This was a community-wide festival celebratingthe relationship of the town to the waters of the surrounding region and the livelihood these waters have provided since Boothbay Harbor’s beginning days. It was unfortunate that the weather that year was uncooperative. As noted in the Introduction, June that year had more rainfall by far than any in recent years, and the two days of the well-planned festival, a centerpiece of Boothbay Harbor’s annual lineup of events, was not spared. Despite the inclement weather during ... read more
HUNTER VALLEY: GOLF AND WINE
Published: February 21st 2011Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Cessnock
February 21st 2011
Excerpted from my book...OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND: AMAZON.COM Before leaving for Sydney we played a round of golf at the Hunter Valley Golf and Country club, a pretentious name that did not live up to its lofty promise. For example, at the time we visited there was no golf clubhouse, as the facility was alleged to be under redevelopment — but there was not much earth being moved that I could see. However, the golf course was fair and reasonable, with a round costing about $35 each. We also visited a resort development associated with Greg Norman. It had potential but oddly, although almost all the currently available lots were sold, only two houses had been built. As in the rest of Australia, there seems to be a lot of property speculation, with, ... read more
HUNTER VALLEY WINE: I'LL GET TO THAT SOON
Published: February 21st 2011Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Cessnock
February 21st 2011
Excerpted from Our Summer In Australia and New Zealand, Amazon.com Woolombi, which means “meeting place” in the Aborigine language, is typical of a settlement in early to middle 19th century rural Australia. At one time, the valley had a population of over 2,000 with over 200 in the Woolombi township itself. Initially a wheat growing region, the town was developed with permanence in mind, such as having the unusual combination of an Anglican and Catholic Church, both built in the 1840s. In 1893, a disastrous flood severely damaged the wheat crop, and growing of grain was abandoned in favor of grazing, in addition many people were by then working in the numerous collieries throughout the Hunter region.There is much evidence of the primacy of coal to the economy in the small, but quaint, Wollombi museum, which ... read more
HUNTER VALLEY-AUSTRALIA'S NAPA
Published: December 21st 2010Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Cessnock
December 21st 2010
EXCERPTED FROM MY BOOK: OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND: AMAZON.COM The Hunter Valley region lies between 150 and 200km north of Sydney…about a two hour drive. Today, one might compare it to Napa Valley, in relation to San Francisco. A premier wine growing region of many independent vineyards, numerous B & Bs, restaurants, balloon rides, music festivals, a few golf resorts and several wine tasting tours. That’s today. Yesterday was quite different. In 1798, coal was discovered, by a British officer, Lt. Shortland, while in pursuit of escaped convicts. It was he who named the region after then Governor Capt. John Hunter, R.N., But it wasn’t until 1804, following a convict uprising near Sydney, that the subsequent Governor, Lt. Phillip King, R.N. decided to establish a penal colony at Newcastle, where second offenders would ... read more
November 12th 2010
EXCERPTED FROM OUR SUMMER IN SLOVENIA AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM FOR MORE ON SLOVENIA GO TO: http://oursummerinslovenia.blogspot.com/ Our second day in Venice with our friends the Loves once again confronted us with the worst of summer tourism; crowds, jostling for transportation, waiting on lines to be paraded through antiquities, and price gouging. Once more our hotel, the Metropole, helped by arranging a private water taxi to the world-renowned glass works of Murano. Interesting to see, but wildly overpriced; glassworks that only a dowager Venetian Aunt could take pleasure in. But the boat trip was OK, about thirty minutes with several interesting villas along the route. Unfortunately, the private cost-free boat that takes you right to the dock of the sponsoring glassmaker, does not pick you up for the return. I suppose if you bought enough glass ... read more
November 10th 2010
Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN ESTONIA: AMAZON.COM ARRIVING AT HELSINKI'S FERRY TERMINAL, YOU CAN'T MISS THE USPENSKI CATHEDRAL (1868), THE LARGEST RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH OUTSIDE OF RUSSIA. Tallinn is one of those places ideally located for an excursion of a few days or a week. The most accessible country for a short getaway is Finland. Almost a commute, Helsinki is about 35 miles north of Tallinn, across the Gulf of Finland. The proximity of each nation’s capital has contributed to a growing commerce between the two countries, and large numbers of tourists from Finland come to Estonia to enjoy the relatively low prices. Estonia has wisely allowed tourists returning to Finland unlimited duty free on alcoholic beverages (Estonia produces excellent vodka) and this practice has enormous appeal to the heavy drinking Finns. By car, ... read more
BOOTHBAY HARBOR MAINE AMAZES
Published: October 30th 2010North America » United States » Maine » Boothbay Harbor
October 30th 2010
This travel journal will be used to post excerpts from my recent book Our Summer In Boothbay Harbor, otherwise known as The Marshalls Become Maineaics. The cover is as good as any place to begin our journey. I met the artist Mark Mellor during our stay in 2009. His studio, next to his home, is a few minutes walk from where we stayed. Over the course of the summer I would stop by in acceptable New England tradition to pass the time of day; "yhep, that's about right" and "uh huh." Describing to Mark that I needed a photo of Boothbay Harbor that would be instantly recognizable to anyone who lives or had been there, and the difficulty I was having getting just the right perspective, he agreed to paint what he called an illustration depicting ... read more
PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS: CAR CRAZY WEEK PART-2
Published: August 14th 2010North America » United States » California » Carmel-By-The-Sea
August 14th 2010
Excerpted from my book :OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL- Amazon.com (This posting covers my visit to the PB Councours in 2005) Late Thursday morning found me walking up into Carmel’s central business district, or to be more precise, Ocean Avenue, the main thoroughfare. This avenue is about a five minute walk from where we rented our house for the summer. I was on my way to witness a stopover on the eighth annual Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance. This fifty-plus mile road rally brings Sunday’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance cars out of the “garage” and demonstrates that they are not just “hanger queens” only to be ogled at and photographed. They are also to be driven and enjoyed as they were a long time ago. In that sense, this touring event is what the Concours d’Elegance is ... read more
PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS:CAR CRAZY WEEK
Published: August 11th 2010North America » United States » California » Carmel-By-The-Sea
August 11th 2010
Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL; Amazon.com (Narrative about the 2005 Pebble Beach Councours d'Elegance) On the third Sunday in August, the center of the automobile universe is a tiny piece of golf-sacred land, the finishing hole on the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course, alongside beautiful Carmel Bay, California. Isn’t the 18th at Pebble an unusual place for such a boastful automotive claim? Here’s the background. Since 1950, when the inaugural Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Road Race was conducted, the now week-long, peninsula-wide festival has grown to achieve an unparalleled status as the premier international celebration of the automobile. It began simply enough with a road race inside gated and private Pebble Beach, which in that first year was won by legendary driver Phil Hill. The accompanying Concours of about 30 cars at ... read more
AUSTRALIA'S WAR MEMORIAL-CANBERRA
Published: August 2nd 2010Oceania » Australia » Australian Capital Territory
August 2nd 2010
Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, Amazon.com The Australian War Memorial, is located directly opposite from Parliament House. These two buildings face each other in a dramatic way. Politicians, from there exalted hilltop site, deliberating on decisions to go to war, need only to look out their window and across the lake at the imposing War Memorial, to be reminded of the consequences. I have visited “Tombs of the Unknown Soldier” in many countries… France, Great Britain, United States, Italy, Turkey and so on. The Australian War Memorial surpasses them all, not only in its respect for the hardships of those who served — particularly in the two World Wars of the last century— but also in the direct, realistic and unadorned manner in which the story of the combatant is ... read more
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