Hello and thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy yourself!
Feel free to comment, it’s good to know you’re out there. I enjoy comparing notes and anecdotes about just about anything — travel, photography, art high and low, culture, politics, social trends, global anything, why we need kittens…
All photographs were taken by me, Shellie Troy Anderson, unless otherwise noted.
In decades past I backpacked extensively, once for an entire year through China, Tibet, Nepal, and Thailand. For ten years I lived out of my backpack, coming home to Vancouver once or twice a year and only long enough to work and save funds for the next trip. Among other useful skills, I learned how to order a beer in several languages, be street smart, and share my hotel room with large insects. For a personal essay about how travel influenced my development through my 20s and 30s (when this photo was taken), you could see this published piece here.
I sometimes traveled alone, once for 6 weeks going overland from Southern Mexico into Belize and then Guatemala. In the late 80s/early 90s it was quite dangerous to be in Central America due to prolonged geopolitical warfare — but I was fearless, naive and very lucky. Oh, the close calls and stories I have to tell.
The only time I was ever robbed was in a clothing store in New York City — two women pretending to be sales clerks used kindness to confuse and disorient. That was a very good lesson. While one woman tossed pants into my arms and told me how good they would look, the other woman was busy behind me getting into my day pack. I lost my passport, $4300 US, and my beloved RayBan sunglasses. It was my first big trip anywhere and stupidly I figured it would be safer to carry the passport and travelers cheques than leave them in the Manhattan apartment where I was staying.
Fast forward 30 years, I’m in my 50s and approaching retirement. Two years ago my hearing was damaged in a freak explosion so I’m not sure if I can travel by airplane again — my wings are sturdy but they’ve been clipped. Nevertheless, hope remains and top of my wish list: Newfoundland, Quebec, France, Portugal, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, and Cuba.
The photos represent photographic evolution: the oldest often have sketchy resolution as they’re film prints I scanned and uploaded; others are developed from film slides; others are slide favorites that I had transferred into digital format; and a few recent photos are even snapped using an Android.
If an image catches your fancy and you get that urge to pirate, please remember there’s karma and send an email, say hello and ask for permission. Thanks very much.
email: emergencykittens@gmail.com
If you’re one of those who still crave the paragraph, you could drift on over to Addicted to Story for a peek at my published writing, sporadic blog entries or Funny Bone Fridays.
And if by any chance you, or someone you know, has had a sleeping dream about Justin Trudeau, or any other Canadian politician, check out I Dream of Justin…Trudeau, that is, and send the dream, I’ll add it to the compilation.
Emergency Kittens 