Just Where They Wanted To Be
Ellen Sollinger Walker
“It seems my life began with sailing,” the author’s mother wrote. “During those ten years, every sense, every emotion, and all mental and physical energies were pushed to their extremes.” This is the story of the author’s parents who, at age fifty-five, quit their jobs, sold their home, bought a sailboat and, for ten years, circumnavigated the globe. The circumnavigation is told through ship logs and letters home. The author begins with their backgrounds, descriptions of their personalities, and early travel and ends in their twilight years. This book champions all those who are adventurous enough to leave their comfortable “home port” and venture out into unknown waters. Like the author’s mother wrote: “There is nothing to be afraid of way out at sea, with no land in any direction for thousands of miles. There’s only the sea, the wind, the stars, and God’s universe.”
Just Where They Wanted to Be: The Story of My Amazing Parents (2nd Edition)
The Bird Released:
A Collection of Poems by Ellen Sollinger Walker
When I release the bird of my heart, I will be at peace." So ends the poem from which the title of this collection is taken...and, in another poem, the poet writes: "When my grandmother was my age, her dress was already chosen. 'Lay me down in my casket, cross my arms over my chest and place a red rose in my hand.' Me. I want to be on fire. No red rose for me. I want to hold a lightning bolt."Ms. Walker is definitely "on fire" in this collection of poems. Some of her poems sink to the depths of despair, others fly to the heights of rapture. Some speak to travel to exotic places, other poems search for true love, purpose, and meaning in life. This collection of poems documents an emotional journey, fifty years in the making.
