July 21, 2013

Captions...

(post #25)


“It never ceases to lighten my soul when I realize
that through cunning and skill I have tricked the wind into moving my boat.”

David Seidman”

 One of my favorite shots.... Egret in the Marsh.

The following is an odd assortment of different photos and captions taken in the month of July, 2013... some in late June... There's no particular tale or cohesion for this post,
 just a collection of good times from good days, good nights, and good reason to keep on keepin' on.


3 Generations of us Greens

Mayport Ferry

Mom was happier than this photo may appear.
the Shopaholics.




This new lift system I rigged for the Dazy, the dinghy, rocks.

Happy 4th!
Our day sail route, July 5
Day Sail July 5 With Chris, Beth, Jean, Warren from GA

Great eats the night before.

What a nice gift.








Now back to real chores like finding a good place to hang my back scratcher.  It took
... and blowing out my flip flop





... and digging this great breeze and view for yoga

... and playing music for the beach front yoga class

... and watching mega yachts envy my Glory Days... yea, right
It seems I can never get away from running into my former students who took this one. 



Jessie up the mast again
Repairing the flag halyard.
Dixon back in town to assist.

What a great day.


Patricia and Dixon on day sail to St. Mary's
Dixon ponders the wonders of cumulous clouds.
"Let's SAIL this thang, DAD!"
View from the top of the mast.
View of Fernandina from mast head
Not bad for 85, Mom


The Princess, Amy






July 13, 2013

Cool Night In July .....

(post #24)


Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe.
It is the beach that worries him.

Charles G. Davis


I love life.

Simple things like rowing a boat or shaking a new friend's hand or buying a bundle of kale, or honoring a moon slither, or showering with a water hose, or releasing a wayward stingray, or folding laundry, or peeling shrimp, or understanding something new ...these are all colorful components of a beautiful day... It happens everywhere you go, everyday you wake when your're lookin'g for it...

Lou Rawls could really sing a song..,.. now and then, there's a fool such as I.












July 12, 2013

FREEDOM.....

(post #23)

I love it when a flower or little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete... It's so fuckin   heroic."     
George Carlin




Freedom
Words by Richie Havens
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
A long way from my home
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone
A long, long, long, way, way from my home
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Clap your hands
Hey… yeah
I got a telephone in my bosom
And I can call him up from my heart
I got a telephone in my bosom
And I can call him up from my heart
When I need my brother… brother
When I need my mother… mother
Hey… yeah… etc.


and now for my little commentary of the day.  Today's topic is Freedom.

What a powerful word.

It's far too powerful to be used in such casual reference as I hear these days.


Free to do this, free to do that, free from terror, free from injustice, fat free, sugar free, or free just to be, if that's your flavor of free.  


 Freedom is the main road.... the interstate, which is why I call it the FREEway...  it's the main drag to where you want to be....any other offshoots tend to get me lost or off course, and than can't always be avoided.  BUT,  If and when two people find, and sustain, this course, remarkably together, it can be a beautiful thing.  I have heard.

Rosette Spoonbill...

When I retired from teaching high school horticulture in 2012, I felt a sense of what I will term here, retroactive thinking, similar to deja vu, but different too.

 Retro seems to be a hip word these days as it infers the act of reviving something from the past, typically in a positive application.  And so this retroactive thinking just came all over me ...  like somewhere from the past.   It's like that excitable rush you get when you find yourself suddenly on a jet plane bound for some new country or place with great expectations in your gut....  it's like that dream that just came true and you just can't control your exuberance, and you do your damn best to capture any of the stridence that is gurgling out of you all at once before it slips away and is gone.




I know what freedom is...
For me, this retro-consciousness is a recollection, or revisitation, of those formative days in my younger years when freedom was just about all I lived for.... new places, new mysteries, while taking the time to study the minute details of a sunset, or spending ample time just staring in meditative moods at places of great beauty found just about anywhere in your path.  Freedom. It means different
Me Too.
things to different people, and all of those interpretations are valid if it sets you independent and unbound, liberated, footloose and unconfined even for a moment.  It can be a moment or it can be a lifestyle.For me, this thing called freedom is opening my eyes gaping wide to new places, new people, and as simple as it may sound, new adventures... for what really makes an adventure an adventure?  Is it the unknown?  Is it the element of risk?  Everyone has the potential and the skills we've each been given to pull it off to ensure that it will take flight and not just remain in some distant realm of possibility.... like someday, someday, someday.

If the unpredictability of the new day gives you goose bumps, and you are open to the possibilities of seeing, breathing, feeling, and touching the depths of newness and goodness in everything, then my kind of freedom is here, within reach... give it a bear hug and every little detail for the rest of the day will fall into perfect place.
As a teacher, I tried to run my classroom that way.  Each day completely new, each day different, each semester remarkably different than the previous... But that ever changing reliance could wear me down at times, cause I put the pressure on myself to enhance change and build on the unknown.... It always boggled me when one of my more astute students would say, "Mr. Green, what will be doing in class Thursday of next week,  cause I have to be out of town on that day?"  Sheepishly, I would make up some line such as, "oh we'll be moving on to Chapter 10 by then," although I had no idea what Chapter 10 even was... I mean, I had a general idea of where I was taking them in their course of study, but if the sun was shining or sand hill cranes were migrating overhead, or it was warm enough to walk in the rain, we might alter it all to go study leaf structure, insect habitats, or flight patterns on our back while facing cumulous clouds all day... It's all learning in the moment,  whether you focus on Chapter 10 or Chapter Zillion.... to be continued.
Great memories jammin' with students.... "sing songs, plant seeds..."