Why I Like to Travel

Well, maybe saying that I "like" to travel is a bit of an overstatement.

Because, honestly, while I like being in new and different places, or revisiting places I have been to before, the getting there -- whether by plane, train, or automobile -- isn't all that pleasant to me, especially at my increasing age.

Nonetheless, I can't do one without the other (at least until they invent the Star Trek transporter system), so I at least tolerate the going to enjoy the being.

A recent trip to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to indulge myself in at least one way; I was able for the first time since I commissioned it (from artist and craftsman Steve Cowan) to use my heraldic table banner to mark my place at the table at the gala banquet at the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada.

Here are two photographs of its first public "unveiling", as it were. The first picture is of the obverse side with my coat of arms:

And the second is the reverse, with my crest:

Note that on the crest, one of the apples has fallen from the tree and has landed on the torse.

Steve asked me before drawing it up if I would have any objection to him drawing it that way, and I told him that I thought it would add a nice little touch of whimsy, so he did.

And it warms my heart and makes me laugh a little every time I see it.

And, really, if you can't have a little fun with heraldry, what's the point of it?

As J.P. Brooke-Little said so well in his introduction to his book, An Heraldic Alphabet: "[H]erein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."