IWSG: Wednesday, June 4 ~ Bitten with Wanderlust

It's the first Wednesday of the month,
the day that members of the
Insecure Writer's Support Group
share their writing struggles
and writing successes
and offer their encouragement
and support to fellow writers.






To visit the IWSG website, click here.

To become a member of the IWSG, click here.

Our wonderful co-hosts who are volunteering today,
along with IWSG Founder Alex J. Cavanaugh are 

PJ Colando, Pat Garcia, Kim Lajevardi, Melissa Maygrove, and Jean Davis!

Stop by their posts and thank them for hosting.

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Every month the IWSG announces a question that members can answer
with advice, insight, a personal experience, or a story in their IWSG posts.

Or, the question can inspire members
if they aren't sure what to write about on IWSG Day.

Remember the question is optional.

This month's optional question is: 

What were some books that impacted you as a child or young adult? 

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Happy June, Everyone! 

I hope all is well with each of you.

I don't remember a time I couldn't read, and I read voraciously while I was growing up.

My parents and other adult family members encouraged me to read,

and they never censored my book choices.

I had free access to all the bookcases in my extended family, and there were many.

One lazy summer afternoon in Charlottetown when I was eight,  

I was browsing through my Grandmother MacBeath's bookcase in her living room.

I pulled out a plain black book titled "The Flying Carpet" and opened its cover.

I was expecting magic, genies, and rugs swooping through the air.

The Front Endpapers of The Flying Carpet by Richard Halliburton  

Aurora, Colorado, USA

June 2, 2025

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  All Rights Reserved

Instead, the endpapers were maps covered with routes, 

the front cover's of Europe and North Africa, and the back's of India and Asia.

The flying carpet was not a magical rug. It was a plane!

More specifically it was an open cockpit biplane, a modified Stearman C-3B.

Richard Halliburton (forward) and Moye Stephens (aft) sitting in the Flying Carpet

Wikipedia

I read the opening lines:  "Ten thousand feet above the California hills.  The airplane sailed through the air with the ease and the grace of a sea-gull.  It hurdled the clouds, soared over the mountaintops, dived toward the sea, and skimmed the waves."

I was hooked, bitten with wanderlust.

Moye Stephens and Richard Halliburton

The Attic

Stephens, an aviation pioneer, shook hands with Halliburton

and agreed to fly him around the world for no pay but with unlimited expenses.

They began their adventure on Christmas Day, 1930, 

just three years after Lindbergh flew the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic.

Halliburton's flying trek around the world with Stephens made him a household name.   

Richard Halliburton's Books

halliburtonbook.com

I avidly followed his 40,000 mile journey, and I vowed that I would travel the world too.

I swore, like him, I'd visit the hidden city of Petra and visit the headhunters of Borneo.

I've slept on a dirt floor in a hut among the headhunters, 

but I've haven't made it to Petra ~ yet ~ although I've studied and read

about that magical city carved from rose sandstone throughout my life.

Al Khazneh or The Treasury

Wikipedia

Of course I devoured Halliburton's other books over the years, 

and I've followed his footsteps as I traveled the world.

I really, really wanted to follow him into the Blue Grotto of Capri.

I came so close ~ within a few dozen feet,

but high seas prevented me from going inside.

Me, by the Entrance to the Blue Grotto

Capri, Italy

May 21, 2016

© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue  

All Rights Reserved

I haven't given up on the Blue Grotto either!

I've been gifted with a sense of wonder and wanderlust,

and I hope to visit more of the amazing places Richard Halliburton introduced me to. 

Wishing each of you a great IWSG Day,

and a big thank you to our awesome co-hosts.

Have a healthy, happy, and creative June!

Take care!

Till next time ~

Fundy Blue

Standing Into Danger https://selkiegrey4.blogspot.com

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My next post will be Friday, June 13th 🤞