Category: inspiration

Pause.

This week a friend of mine died unexpectedly – a fellow sailor, a husband, and father of 3, who worked in the IT industry by day, and sang karaoke at night.

This week is also the 3 year anniversary of the unexpected death of a cousin of mine who was my age.

Mom died not too long ago, not unexpectedly, but creating a great hole in our hearts.

An aunt died without any warning signs, mourning the loss of her husband 2 years before.

My sister-in-law’s brother died this year unexpectedly as well.

The impact of all these losses piles up, in the mind.   And it causes me to pause.   And maybe because of that when I saw this quote posted this week, it touched me:

So live your life that the fear of death can never

enter your heart.

Trouble no one about their religion;

respect others in their view, and demand that

they

respect yours.

Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all

things in your life.

— Chief Tecumseh’s Words of Wisdom

I shall strive to do so.

A fun, full, first weekend of Fall!

We’ve been busy!  This past weekend, we made a roadtrip out to west, stopping first at William Chris Winery, where we caught up with a friend of ours that we ran into, by chance;  then we hopped over to Wildseed Farms to pickup a bunch of seed; then made it over to one of our faves, Becker Vineyards, where we had a tasting, a picnic, and checked out their new field of zinnias.  Just beautiful.

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On the way home we headed over to the Real Ale Brewery in Blanco.  We took the river road south/southeast from Hwy 290 to Blanco, and stopped along the way several times to check out the now lazy river that was uncontrollably raging just 4 months ago, tragically sweeping away homes and families over Memorial Day weekend.IMG_9158

At Real Ale, Monte sampled a flight, and I sipped my favorite – Hans Pils.

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Then Sunday rolled around, and we headed out to see the Anderson Mill historical site, near its original location at Cypress Creek on Lake Travis.   The Anderson Mill Gardeners do a wonderful job of preserving the site and its history.IMG_9183We made it to the boat in time to cheer the Seahawks on to their first win of the season, enjoying the recently repaired air conditioning on Nirvana (yay!).

About an hour before sunset, Kurt, Barbara, Dakota and little Leila joined us on the boat, and we motored out to the body of the lake to drift and watch the supermoon lunar eclipse.

Have I mentioned taking photos of the moon and stars on a moving boat is hard?  I didn’t get any good shots.  But I thought this one was kinda cool… you get the idea.

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It was a great weekend, indeed.

Lovely blooms.

I happened upon these beauties while running an errand after work yesterday.   Just have to share…

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A great day for a sail.

Yesterday was pleasantly windy – 15+ knots.   So we set out for the lake and met up with Lori & Joe on Camelot, and Kurt & Kevin on Dancer, for a long sail towards the dam.  We managed to weave our way through the Austin Yacht Club regattas, and made it to Mansfield Dam Park and turned around.   What a marvelous day!   We had a slip up and talked all night with Lori & Joe.  Just like old times.  I miss the rest of the gang! 🙂

Here’s a shot of Camelot on the way back.

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Quiero mejorar mi español.

In addition to my lifelong, ongoing quest to learn how to play the guitar well, I have been nursing my Spanish along for a the last 30 years.  In both cases, though, it just takes practice – which I never seem to be able to sustain for long periods of time.  My Spanish is ok, but I would really like to become fluent.   And that means broadening my vocabulary and hardening my grammar.  And practicing.

I have two Spanish novels on my bookshelf that I have started to read several times over the years, and with my spanish-english dictionary in hand, have made my way through a couple chapters.  It is hard work.  Not just for my brain, but for the manual back-and-forth effort of putting the book down to pick up the dictionary, then putting it down to pick up where I left off in the book.

So, for the umpteenth time, I picked up one of them again last week, a novel called Nada by Carmen Laforet.  I started at the beginning again.  After about 2 pages I paused and experienced a moment of inspiration:  wouldn’t it be great if I could read this book on an e-reader that would look up a word for me on the fly with the mere touch of a finger?  What a great idea, maybe someone has thought of that already!  😉

I have a five year old 1st generation Kindle Fire with a kindle e-reader built in.  So I downloaded a sample of the e-book version of Nada for free from Amazon and tried it out.  But, alas, the device only has an English dictionary built in.  I found a helpful document that explained that, unlike later Kindles, the 1st generation Fire does not support changing the default dictionary.   Strike one.

I also have a Kindle e-reader app on my Mac.  So I tried the same thing with it.  But switching dictionaries was also not possible in that scenario.  Strike two.

I understand the kindle e-reader for iPhone and iPad may support what I want to do, but I’m really not interested in reading a book on my phone – too small.  Nor buying an iPad – too expensive.

So, then I began to research whether what I wanted to do would even be possible with a new e-reader device, like the Kindle Paperwhite.  And it appeared to be.  There were two ways I could do it.  One requires being connected to wifi to look up each word, by using the built-in “translate” feature, but that was not what I wanted.  I don’t want to have to be online to lookup words.  The other method requires downloading a Spanish-English translation dictionary to the device, and then making it the default dictionary for spanish e-books.   Bingo.  Sounded like a plan.

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I am typically slow to embrace new technology and gadgets.  But when I find a use for them that is important to me, I don’t waste time!  So, I splurged and ordered the Kindle Paperwhite, which arrived yesterday.  And in a matter of minutes I was in business.   As of this morning, I am 10% of the way through the book.  And I can almost feel my brain expanding.  🙂  Home run!

By the way, this is the Spanish-English translation dictionary I’m using.  Seems to work great for what I want to do.  Even better, I downloaded it for free by using the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library perk that comes with my Amazon Prime membership.

I also found a great free app for my iPhone called Duolingo, which seems to be a very decent tool for practicing and learning.  I’ve even started trying to learn French and Irish with that app.   Now THAT’S going to take a looooong time, but what the heck.   Anyway, if you have any interest in learning or polishing your foreign language skills, check it out.

Never forget. 

Fourteen years.  So much has happened.  In each of our lives.  In the world. 

But in an instant I am taken back to that day.  That morning.   Aren’t you?  The sunny, stunningly clear blue September sky.  Getting ready for the day.  

I have tried before, unsuccessfully, to write what I felt on that day.  I cannot.  It was a powerful mix of emotions.  Anger.  Sadness.  Pride. Fear.  Uncertainty.  ANGER.  Pain. 

But here is what I can share….

I watched the planes hit and the towers burn.  I called my family. I prayed. I went to work.   I talked with colleagues in NY.  TVs in the hallways were tuned to the news.   We were glued to them. Three planes.  Maybe more. The pentagon was hit. One tower collapsed.  2 towers collapsed.  Heroes on Flight 93 gave their lives to stop even more carnage. 

Flights all across the country were grounded – a business trip the next day and a flight to Seattle for my mom’s 70th birthday celebration were put on hold.  And I was ok with that. 

I went home from work.  Put a flag up in the window.  Mostly I remember the numbing, profound sense of national mourning – and pride – watching what unfolded for weeks. 

We must hold this in our hearts and Always Remember. 

  
There are so many memorial reminders today.  A friend shared this with me today, and it touched me.  So I share it with you here. 
Hug your loved ones, ya’ll.  

The river giveth, and the river taketh away.

Well, mostly the river taketh away.

It’s a risk we deal with, spending so much time playing on the water.  And, it so happens that this past weekend I lost yet another pair of prescription sunglasses.   I was helping put up a friend’s wind scoop on the bow and the wind whipped things up and the next thing I knew they were sinking below the surface of the lake.  I summarily jumped in to try to grab them, but to no avail.

I lost a different pair of prescription Raybans on the San Marcos rapids a few years ago.  Monte lost a pair of prescription glasses there, too.  A friend lost their wedding band on the same rapids.  I’ve lost three favorite hats, a towel, and know of at least one bathing suit top and diamond earring sitting at the bottom of the lake.   And, amazingly, we lost our entire flag and flagpole that was flying off our transom – on the Fourth of July, no less!  It happens so frequently that we keep a Lost Sh#t Log on the boat.

But every once in a while, the river gives back.  About 10 years ago, I lost a pair of prescription eyeglasses in the lake.  One minute they were sitting on the cabin-top while I tightened my pony tail.  The next minute they were gone.   Over the following few years the lake alternately rose and dropped.   Until, about 3 years after I lost them, the lake was finally low enough that the place where we anchored the day I lost my glasses was high and dry.  So one Saturday morning, I announced that I was going back to that part of the cove to look for my glasses.   And I did.   I combed that dry cove for an hour or two.   I found a snorkel, swim goggles, a swim fin, numerous pieces of fishing tackle, several pairs of sun glasses, a hat, an anchor, lots of trash, AND my lost-for-three-years eyeglasses!

They were sun-bleached and cruddy and one ear piece had broken off.  But there they were!  I can’t bring myself to throw them away.  So they sit in a drawer until I take them out for a chuckle every once in a while.

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iPod wars. 

When rafting up with friends on Lake Travis, we invented this game to amuse ourselves – everyone takes turns playing a song from their iPod that they think is awesome.  We pass the plug from one person to the next.  You strive for a song that others will agree is awesome.  Some songs take people down their own memory lane, some are just funny, some songs everyone sings along to, some are songs other people never heard before.  It’s a great way to pass the time, under the stars, on a boat, with friends, slightly impaired, at anchor, off the grid, into the wee hours of the morning.   Here’s the typical scene.  

 

Awesome!  🙂

Perseids show. 

Pre-dawn today was to be the peak of the annual Perseids meteor shower.  So last night after work, and after the rush hour traffic had subsided, we headed to the marina.  We anchored in the cove after sunset and made comfy spots on deck to lay down and watch the stars.    

   
The best time is typically between 1AM and 4AM.  There was no moon to interfere.  We just had to wish away the partly-cloudiness that arrived with sunset.   And the clouds did clear up and we saw the first burner by about 10:30.  More clouds came.  And then the sky became crystal clear around 12:30.   We were treated to a nice show – dozens this year.   Star gazing on a boat does not lend itself to photographing meteors, so I have no awesome pics to share.  

Even if we hadn’t seen any meteors, sleeping under the stars and this morning’s sunrise would have made it all worth the trip out. 

  
Now…off to work!

Peaceful, easy feeling. 

We enjoyed a slow day at the lake.  Anchored in our spot and had the cove to ourselves by nightfall.  

  

The urge to purge.

IMG_8911After mom’s funeral, I stayed on another month, expressly to help sort through the myriad of papers and things.  It took that long because there was so much to look through, and also because I looked at each thing.  Some things documented a memory of my mom & dad’s.  But many also documented one of my own memories – each of which I relived as I uncovered something new.   In the end, the task was completed.   What was left was no small pile of boxes of papers that needed to be shredded.  I googled “mobile shredding service” and found one that would come to a residence with a shredding truck and shred all documents right then and there in the presence of the customer.  We had enough to fill a 100 gallon bin, and it cost around $130.  Not bad.

Now that I am home I, too, feel a need to purge the boxes of records documenting the last 30+ years of my own life.  And so, I’ve begun.  I started with the oldest first.  And, I think perhaps that was not the most expedient approach, because I find my progress slowed by the recall of long buried memories as I looked through each item I’ve saved:

  • Transcripts from college documenting the high and low points of my academic journey.
  • College medical bills for stress induced stomatitis, birth control pills (ironically), mono, painful dental work and… the mumps, no less.
  • Plane ticket receipts for every back and forth leg of my life’s path, so far.
  • Student loans and paystubs from jobs to help me barely get by.
  • Car repair invoices for the junkers that got me from one place to the next until I could afford a real car.
  • Applications to graduate schools; knowing now, but having no idea back then, what the profound impact that choice would make on the direction of my life.
  • Phone bills showing in detail each and every call I made home….every couple of days…some for just a few minutes, some for a half hour or more.  Records that bear witness to my committment to keep a close relationship with my family over the years.  This especially touched me because when I came across the annual Christmas letters my mom sent out after I had gone off for college, in the blurb where she wrote about what I was doing, she would always add her wish that I would be moving back to be near the family.  Which I never did.  And that still makes a part of me sad.
  • Graduation documents, job interview letters and interview trips.  Job offer letters from some prospective employers.  The letter of the job offer I eventually decided to accept, which took me even farther from home, and further wove the fabric of my future.
  • Bank statements from a variety of banks, different ones as I moved from one place to the next – one showing all the money that I had to my name (unpaid student loans not withstanding) on my first day of work of my professional career:  $1067.   I must confess that seeing that got the tears rolling for me.  I was simply overwhelmed at how far I have come from that day, and the staggering amount of hard work it has taken to live my American dream.   I had forgotten.   It also reminded me of how my father and my mom’s father immigrated to this country on their own life journies, each with a hundred or so dollars in his pocket, to live out their American dreams.

I’ve gone on too long.  But I guess the point is that they don’t call it a “purge” for nothing.   The process of purging those papers from your past can end up being an emotional purge as well.  So, if you’re up for it, join in, grab some kleenex, and find a mobile shredding service near you.

Fair city.

My seat for my flight home on Saturday was on the side of the plane that usually faces away from Mt. Rainier.   So, I was happy to hear the pilot announce that we would be taking off to the west and flying around the city, due to the fact that Seafair was underway and the airshow that accompanies it over Lake Washington.  It turned out that I was treated to the most beautiful views on the way up after all.  Thanks, Mom.  🙂

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This shot is taken looking to the south east.  Queen Anne Hill is the treed hill to the lower left.  Lake Union is above it.  Downtown is in the center of the picture.  Elliott Bay is to the lower right.   Above downtown is the south end of Lake Washington, and the wispy loops of smoke to the right of the I-90 floating bridge are from planes in the airshow flying over the hydroplane race course.  And, of course, Mt Rainier watching over it all – Mount Adams poking out to its right.  If you look closely you can find the Space Needle, Seattle Center, CenturyLink Stadium and Safeco Field, Boeing Field, Elliott Bay Marina, among other landmarks.

I love this town.

B’bye. 

I’m on my way home — like I have been doing for the last 30+ years of visits to Seattle.  Washington will always be special, I’ll surely be back, but it won’t be the same.  Austin is my true humble abode.    

I’m in my comfy chair, with mimosa in hand.   Bye Mom.  

OK, Let’s go.   

Goodnight. 

Goodnight mountains.  

  

Goodnight moon. 

 
Goodnight Mom. 

I’m going back home in the morning.  

Nite, nite.