Life on the Bay

Don't be satisfied with stories,

 how things have gone with others.

  Unfold  your own myth...

                                                                     ~ Rumi

The sun is peeking out of the clouds this morning and it makes all the difference in the world.

Go out and play today.

HAPPY SATURDAY!

Photo: Perry's Monument on Presque Isle State Park "Don't Give Up The Ship"

I sit at my kitchen table working on another pencil sketch  for a drawing class I'm taking online from Misty Mawn.  It's bitter cold and blowing sideways on the bay and even the ice boats are not moving outside.  I didn't think I would enjoy pencil drawing as much as I do.  It is meditative for me and allows my mind to travel within.  In quiet moments I can be objective and see patterns and themes in my art.  As I draw myself peering out from my curtains, I wonder what I will learn about myself.  Life is a continual journey if you learn new things, choose to sing, and follow your path.

 

If you want to draw

you must shut your eyes and

sing.

~ Pablo Picasso

If you can't change your fate,

change your attitude.

~Amy Tan

On a bitterly cold winter day this quote holds a lot of weight. Just like this poor winter heron I am stuck with what the weather gods throw at us. I either buck up and dress warm and go out into the cold day or spend another long day house bound looking out at the world.  So I pull on my Uggs and stalk my local heron around my part of the bay. Sometimes he chooses to ignore me and will grace me with the perfect pose.

Things don't change,

you change your way of looking.

~ Carlos Castaneda

 

 

Traveling has made me a better observer of my everyday life.  I have often wondered what my favorite part of traveling was. I thought it was the planning and the making of long lists of where to go, what to see, what to eat, and what to take. I realized that I do love the planning part, but that wasn't it.

The thing is, When I travel I actually allow myself to enter into a new reality where I am in a childlike trace.  Everything seems new and exciting.  My senses are heightened to all of the new sights, smells, and sounds. It is this surge of the senses and grasping at the new that is addictive to me and makes me yearn to wander the world.

I refuse to fall into the trap of the oh-so familiar routines like driving unconsciously to the grocery store, and then forgetting that I had even done it. The joy of discovery shouldn't be limited to the few weeks that we  travel.

My goal this winter is to observe my own backyard. I have recently been looking for the perfect snowflake, listening to the sounds of the bay ice cracking like a living thing and smelling the wood smoke from my neighbors fireplace. I truly realize that what may be mundane to my eyes is a dream come true for a traveler from a

faraway land.

If your interested in more of my travel photos please see the albums on the side or go to my flicker site

Dreaming of Sailing on the Nile

Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry,

but by demonstrating that all peoples cry,

laugh, eat, worry, and die,

it can introduce the idea that if we try

and understand each other,

we may even become friends.

~ MAYA ANGELOU, "Passports to Understanding"

M & I traveled to Egypt several years ago and sailed on a Felucca and camped on the Nile with several friends from Britain.  It was a  hard trip in some ways, rough camping in a third world country is challenging at the best of times.  But the rewards and experiences out numbered the desire for creature comforts.  We loved the ancient sights, we really liked the people and the connections we made with them.  We have been spending our cold winter nights going through our old photo files, thanks to a inspiring photo journaling class I took from LK Ludwig.  I hope you enjoy reliving our trip and memories and if you want a great travel company to have your own experience I recommend the G.A.P. which was the outfitter that we have traveled with several times. Here is a page from my diary:

I hope you'll share some of your travel photos and experiences with me and if you want to see more of my photos please see the album on the left. 

PS: I have no financial ties to either LK Ludwig or the G.A.P. I just think they are both outstanding experiences in their own way.

 

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

~William Ernest Henley

 

The weather is playing games with the Ice boaters. It has been in the 40's and the melting ice is lying in giant reflective pools. There are cracks that randomly tear through with a scary low rumbling sound. The boats look like giant Water bugs perched to move out at any notice. Their owners have to decide whether to leave the safety of the shoreline. If it gets cold again, we will have the world's biggest skating pond and the boaters will be in heaven. If it gets any warmer, the boats have to leave.

 

The only thing

that stands between a man

and what he wants from life

is often merely the will to try it

and the faith to believe that it is

possible

~DeVos

It finally happened. As sure a sign of true winter as the daffodils will be when they announce the spring. When I came home from work last night, the ice boats were on the bay. Even in the dark you could hear the whooshing and scraping sounds that the blades make as they streak across the ice. It seems to me that it must take an amazing amount of faith to sail them at night.  I worry for them that they can't see the open water, the bad ice that can catch a runner and tip them over.  The worry is mixed with admiration and a sense of excitement that they are back and I get to watch. These guys grew up on the bay, and are seasoned sailors.  I admire their sense of adventure, their perseverance, and their need to be out in nature even when it seems so formidable. 

Cooking done with care

 is an act of

 LOVE.

 ~Craig Clairborne

I have loved to cook since I was a teenager, but my love for great food didn't develop until I was much older.  I learned to really appreciate the quality of the ingredients that I use from an Italian man in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. His store, Sunseri Brothers  was open on my only day off,  Sunday.  The Strip District is Pittsburgh's Wholesale food area and is lined with giant warehouses. Most of the fresh food for Pennsylvania and Ohio passes through there on a daily basis, and the streets are lined with small stands and vendors. I would wander down in the afternoon and this kind gentleman would slice off chunks of aged cheeses and make me taste them. He would give me little pieces of bread soaked in imported olive oil, or cut the freshest melons and wrap the pieces in a paper thin piece of prosciutto. He would say " taste, taste, taste...love at first bite."  This all happened before I got a chance to travel much...but on Sunday mornings I did get to travel and enjoy the tastes of the world.  He knew something that I know now. To cook is "to be in the moment". To prepare a meal and serve it with beauty is a form of meditation.  You can not be distracted and cook a fabulous dinner. You must use all your senses and visualize the outcome of the meal. Who taught you the joy of good food? 

Here is my version of a simple soup to warm you up today:

Ribolita Soup

1/4 cup of olive oil

1 carrot  chopped

1 onion chopped

4 oz. bacon chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbls tomato paste

1 -15oz can diced tomatoes

1 lb fresh or frozen spinach chopped

1 -15 oz can cannelloni beans drained

1 tbls herbs de provence

3 cups chicken stock

1 bay leaf

1- 3" piece Parmesan rind

1/4 red pepper flakes (optional)

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, bacon, minced garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook until the onion is golden brown and the bacon is crisp.  Add tomato paste and stir until dissolved.  Add tomatoes and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the brown bits.  Add the spinach, beans herbs, red pepper flakes, stock, bay leaf and parmesan rind. Bring the soup to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  * sometimes I add cooked macaroni noodles  to the soup when it is done to make it a more hearty meal.  Get some good crusty bread and enjoy!

 

"How you do anything is how you do everything"

~ Zen Saying

 

I want to learn from my dog Weasley to play more and not feel guilty.  We forget how to play as adults, I know this is a running theme for me this year but I truly believe that we need to concentrate on enjoying our simple pleasures.  

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
~ John Quincy Adams

 

Patience is not one of my  best attributes, I tend to think I can tackle  most things and accomplish them in a  quick and efficient way... Now, that is not true but I think it and sometimes it has gotten me through some hard times. I have been watching this Heron in the small creek fishing every morning and evening and it has taken me weeks to catch him when the light is right....finally he must of thought I learned my lesson in patience and waited for me to get this shot.