In the very first birding book I ever owned is an inscription, "To my own wee Jimmy with love. Teal." Teal was Alexander Forbes Fleming, a Glaswegian who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in the 20's by way of a lake in northern Canada. As did his brothers, he set up a construction-related business: interior decoration. My father - raised in a Scottish family - was one of Fleming's employees.
When our errant father disappeared around my 3rd year, his employer - and my godfather - became a stand-in parent on occasion and took me on many vacations to the mountains and valleys of California. No mean feat during WW II what with rationing in effect on almost any imaginable commodity.
Perhaps I picked up the itchy feet from the errant parent, the Fleming Clan, or maybe from my mother's side: Clan Stuart. Whatever the source, "Wee" Jimmy has kept up his travels over the years. You can see just where in the world this lad has been, but the stories that will begin to appear in this spot might bring you a bit of laughter, education, and - hopefully - some arm chair adventure.
What you will not find here is the typical travel log or Backwater's Barefoot Guide to French Guiana. These are true-life adventures and the amount of and type of notes I kept at any given time was consistent with the person I was at that time - of course there will surely be a bit of exaggeration for effect, and a bit of plain old forgetting of some details, and ...
PS: On every trip since 1965, I have always carried my Swiss Army Knife. I borrowed the American Express logo for my use of the SAK: I don't leave home without it.
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Last updated May, 2008. Comments or questions?