Land of Cool Sunshine

When artist Georgia O'Keefe left New York City and traveled west to paint because of the amazing light here, and when photographer Ansel Adams declared the light of the Southwest to be superior for photography, the area became a mecca for the artistic minded. These photographs of northern New Mexico illustrate the influence art has on the area. Temperatures are cold in the winter, and cool in the summer. Vegetation is typical of arid regions. And while I love the green forests of the Atlantic seaboard, the lush vegetation of the Pacific Northwest, the rolling green hills of the Midwest, and the landscaped gardens of Southern California, I find the vast openness and sunlight of the Southwest holds my appeal.
Be well, do good.....

San Fran Expo 1915

Every holiday season I make sure to take in interesting history workshops, conferences, or trips. The best ever? Colonial Williamsburg. Google that, then once on their site, in the search box type Christmas or Decorations. On the right hand side you'll see "Media". Treat yourself to slideshows and videos that are amazing.

But this year....
I've been intrigued with how after the 1906 earthquake and fires, San Fran was able to rebuild and then host this amazing World's Fair just 9 years later. The Palace of Fine Arts and it's Golden Gate Park area are what remain. Nearby Golden Gate Bridge and The Presidio Compound were interesting. But what I found most interesting was the role San Francisco took in the formation of various treaties being signed and the formation of the United Nations. Obviously the area is rich in Asian culture, so this too was of interest. While there, I took in cultural events: The Nutcracker at the War Memorial Building, and two night concerts at Davies Hall. The San Francisco Symphony is an equal favorite alongside New York's Philharmonic and Chicago's Symphonies. Not only did I attend the Nutcracker Ballet, but one of the concerts I attended in Davies hall was selections from the Nutcracker. It was interesting to learn that the strange keyboard instrument used in the Sugar Plum Fairy dance/music was new to Tch. But when he heard it in Paris, he knew he wanted to be the first to use it. So he did. He had it sent to Russia in a box labels "machinery" so that no one would discover it and use it before him. The "celeste", pronounced, "cellesta" is that instrument. Tch. died before his Nutcracker became popular. In his last years he believed it was a failed ballet. Ten years after his death it began to become extremely well-loved, world wide. Ironic.

I have read some fine books this fall. "Miniature Rooms" is a photography-accompanied-with-text book about the 68 miniature rooms at the Art Institute of Chicago. Two close up shots of each room and then a detailed summary give the reader an understanding of historical eras. Great book. Next, an interactive book about Dr. Watson, the sidekick of Sherlock Holmes, being accused of murder, titled: "The Crimes of Dr. Watson" was a fun book. Every other page contains a large envelope with clues (tickets to an event, unsigned post cards, small mail-order catalog, folded full-spread newspaper page, etc.) wherein the reader is to solve the crime. I wasn't able to do so. Yet. I'll try reading it again before I open the sealed "solution" envelope at the back of the book.

Dr. Pauline Maier of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston was a guest lecturer I enjoyed this summer, she spoke about her decade-long writing of her latest book, which in July had not yet gone to press, "Ratification". So, seeing her on Book TV on CSPAN 2 this fall, was a lot fun. She gave her t.v. address at the National Archives in DC, a place I often enjoy going when I'm in Washington. Like these other historians I've learned from, she is unassuming, has a quick wit, and is very well schooled in the specifics of this era. Getting the Constitution ratified was no small matter, and I look forward to reading this fine book.

Of the many places I've been during the Holiday Season, each is unique. LA (with it's Disney decorations and fireworks & the Rose Parade) and San Francisco offer warmer weather. NYC offers wonderful window scenes at Macy's, Barneys, Lord-n-Taylors, Saks 5th Avenue, etc. & Broadway shows. Salt Lake City has the most amazing lights and fabulous, free music as well as the best food anywhere. Philadelphia has great concerts. Milwaukee, Wisconsin has an amazing German influence. It's German food and culture are celebrated, as are all it's many ethic cultures annually at this time at a Cultural Fest held downtown. Great music, food, and ethnic dancing in costumes. But it is "The Domes" of Milwaukee's south side, 3 amazing glass domes, that is unique. One dome is "Arid/Desert" themed, another is "Tropical". But the 3rd one changes according to seasons: a mass of landscaping design and floral color unrivaled anywhere. What they do with summer flowers in the winter, especially the holidays, complete with a train that travels thru the various floral displays, is really very, very cool. Portland, Oregon has their amazing pine scent, year round really, and laid back people, it's just a fun place to be during the holidays. Albuquerque and Santa Fe have their amazing luminaries: candles in sand-bottom-filled paper bags.... on roof tops, on sidewalks, everywhere. Chicago has wonderful German foods & festivals and the Joffrey's presentation of The Nutcracker, 2nd to none, anywhere. Denver has great lights: City and County building downtown. But....

... back to Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. It outdoes them all. What a great place any time of the year, but during the holidays.........amazing place. Everything and everywhere is decorated with greenery and colorful fruits, herbs & spices. Ornate wreaths and window boxes from common foods. The music is Colonial Era. Everything is candle lights. There's simply no place like it. Re-enactors in historical costume. It's stepping back into time. A time of refined graces, old world social etiquette, Virginia ham and hot spiced cider. A dust of snow may settle, but otherwise, the weather is temperate, day and most nights.

Home, however, near a warm stove and family, with our Danish Christmas decorations and tree ornaments from when the kids were small, remain my favorite. Instead of fighting crowds and traffic, which sometimes has to be done in order to experience and see much of what I mentioned above, I can relax with PBS, the Home & Garden Channel, the BYU Channel, old Christmas movies. I listen to The Carpenters on CD while drawing at my art table. Aromas waft of family and Danish recipes being baked. Sometimes we ski or go tubeing in the fresh snow of nearby mountains. We hear from family and friends.
And by the end of the holiday, seed catalogs begin arriving in the mail.
Be well, do good...

"...Heal her infirmaties..."

We visited one of our daughters recently. We attended Church services with her. At her congregation a young woman, in her twenties I assume, spoke. It became apparent that there were some physical limitations. Her speech was slow and labored, somewhat slurred at times. She walked with difficulty. I noticed she was with child, she sat down after her comments next to a man in his late 20's/early 30's, I assume her husband. At the conclusion of the meeting, she was asked to give the benediction. She returned to the the front of the chapel and began taking steps up to the podium area when I noticed she stumbled and nearly feel. She caught herself somehow, regained her balance, and proceeded to offer the closing prayer. I can't remember a word she said. I just felt so ashamed for taking for granted my health, my ability to run and walk without difficulty, my ability to talk and converse and carry myself. I watched her return to her husband there after, she made it down the stairs without problems, but again, her hands/arms were extended to help her get her balance. Her blond hair, tied back in a ponytail, she dressed not in Nordstrom's fine attire, but in a clean and comely dress, and seemed genuinely happy, not embarrassed nor upset by her condition. I remember somewhere in all of this thinking, "I wish the Savior could heal her infirmaties now." I've seen movies where He is portrayed healing the blind and those with infirmaties. And I desired this for her. Now. But I've had to tell myself that this isn't my call. Only God sees all. I trust Him. Paul spoke about praying 3 different times in his life to have the "thorn in his flesh" removed. It wasn't. There was a reason why God allowed it to remain. Perhaps the same thing can be said of this young lady. I don't know. I felt like I knew her from somewhere. It can't be. She lived in Phoenix before living in Western Colorado. But she's made an impression on me. My prayers may or may not be "Heal her infirmaties..." But I'll ask "Help me to remember her and the graceful, humble way she goes about her life, and help me be more like that." Maybe that's how we're to live our lives: with grace and humility regardless the afflictions and infirmaties we live with in mortality. I think so. I hope I don't forget her nor her radiant face. Instead of "...but for the grace of God, go I there..." I think I'll say, "...with the grace of God perhaps I can carry on as she does with gratitude and humility."

Having said that, with the end of summer came putting my garden beds to bed for the winter. It's taken a lot of time getting the soil cleaned of summer roots, then tilling both garden spot as well as large and small pots for spring planting. But it's done. My greenhouse now becomes my winter reading spot. And I'm surrounded by soil that is ready for spring planting. I washed the greenhouse windows to allow maximum sunlight so that sitting in my Adirondack chair anytime between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., on Saturday's or Sundays, while it's 20 or 30 degrees outside, I can read and write in temperatures of 70's or maybe 80's. I've planted about 50 different spring bulbs in there too so that when last spring frosts kill my outdoor tulips, I'll still have "indoor" ones that give color and help fight off that white-knuckled grip that winter holds year after year.
Be well, do good...

chuck jumps

Skydiving, Woodcutting, & Garden Harvest: Summer's Done

I've wanted to go Skydiving for a few years now. Wanted to go bungie-jumping as well. Finally went skydiving, with our son and one of our daughters, and while I'm really glad I did it, especially with them, my good wife and their mom there to support us, I've decided I no longer want to go bungie-jumping. That free-fall, going out of the plane backwards, was really kind of frightening. Actually, the New Zealand Maori guy that I tandem jumped with, (all his Maori tattoos, protruding tongue that showed that intense Maori warrior face), was as frightening as the actual jump at 12,000 feet. The 120 - 140 mph speed down to the earth was kind of a rush in some sick way, and when, at last, the parachute opened, it jerked like crazy, but I actually then enjoyed the view: Denver off to the south, Boulder to the west. Both of the kids were allowed to land on their feet, but my tandem-guy had me/us land on our rear-ends, and I gotta tell you, alfalfa fields are bumpy on the ol' bum. Ouch! But I'm glad I did it. It's been a few weeks now and I'm beginning to think I may do it again sometime. The best part was being with part of my family. I missed those that weren't there, that was the worst part. I paid extra to have a professional skydiving video record me. I'll try to figure out how to include that in this posting. If you want to see and hear the look of unadulterated terror, check out the video.

For the first time in years, I didn't have my son home to help me get winter firewood cut and stacked. He's away at college. I missed him. I know he never really enjoyed that, it's hard, boring work that I don't enjoy either. But what I did enjoy was having him next to me, working together. I'm thankful for the years we had together to do this. Some men never get a son to work with. I'm lucky.
I still have some Wisconsin Pine (from a building project that I had permission to use. This will be the 3rd winter it's helped warm us. I was laughed at by other teachers who saw me daily after school loading wood with nails, into my truck. But this wood burns hot and is remarkably clean!)to cut, but otherwise, I'm mostly done. And not any too soon. It's not yet the middle of September and we've already had a few nights of freezing. At 7,650 feet above sea level, it's cold here.

I wasn't home much this summer, spent most of it in New England (my previous posts show/tell about my Sailing in the Atlantic and research fellowship at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. I saw Dr. Gordon Wood, live, 3 hour lecture, again last week on CSPAN II. No one but me, and perhaps the other 29 that spent time with him this summer, enjoyed this as much as me). So I didn't have my typical garden. Rather I planted in pots and window boxes and used the greenhouse. This saved a lot of water and seemed to give us just enough fresh produce. Unheard of here, my Pear trees are still growing, 2 out of 5 have survived the past 2 or 3 winters. They've not born fruit yet, maybe never will, but Hope keeps me thinking that they might. A chock cherry tree, apricot tree, and our apple trees grew, but little fruit, but Perhaps next year. And my raspberry and strawberry patches gave us some fresh berries.

We're empty-nesters now. We enjoy going to Pueblo, walking along the River Walk there, it's one of my favorite places to be. But we miss our kids and grandchild. But we Skype, text, email, and phone visit, and so that's something nice, technologically, that our parents and grandparents never had in their life times. I would still rather be nearer to them all, especially that granddaughter of ours, she's just the cutest, smartest, and busiest kid I know. If I ever DO bungie-jump, it will because she wants me to go with her. For her, I would do anything.
Be well, do good...

Back When I Was a Sailor on a Sailing Ship....

My great great grandparents left Denmark aboard The Forrest Monarch Ship. I've been to the harbor where they, and it, sailed first to England and then to America. I've also done a lot of reading about ships: Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander", the Horatio Hornblower series, and most recently, a biography about Captain Cook. I've longed to learn what it was like to be on an engine-less, large sailed ship. I realized that dream the past week when I was one of 13 student sailors aboard the Schooner Mary Day out of Camden Harbor in Maine. (Remember the CBS t.v. show on Sunday nights, "Murder She Wrote"? Camden reminds me of "Cabot Cove", it's a great little Main Street town with clean shops, bakeries, chowder restaurants. It's a wonderful place. This was my 4th time to coastal Maine, a favorite place of mine, but my first to Camden. What a great place!) This one week, once a year sailing school usually has 24 students. We had 13. Good, in that we each had more time at the helm/wheel; bad, in that we did twice the work of a regular crew. 3 or 4 of us were on a "crew" or team that rotated daily doing 4 "watches". For the first 4 or 5 days we learned by doing. The last days we had control of the ship, with Captain and the rest of the teaching crew available to help us if needed. (The crew is comprised of kids that have graduated from college. Wonderful people. Smart, strong, girls and guys both. As far as we went, the youngest was 46, the oldest 83. He began sailing at age 70. "Ed" was my mom's age, 78. This was his 7th time on the Mary Day as a sailing student. He became coming 7 years ago when after his wife died unexpectedly, he didn't know what to do with his time. This man knew the ropes! I sailed shoulder to shoulder with a corporate lawyer, an engineer, college guidance counselor, a female pharmacist - the only smoker among us and she was very considerate, and a guy older than me with mulitple PhD's from Columbia University name Tom who, this being his 26th trip on the Mary Day, taught me a lot, he knew I was from the West so when I had trouble with ropes he would say, "Think of this as roping a calf, now how would you secure the rope to the saddle horn?" He was much help.) There is so much to do, to learn, so much new vocabulary, so many pins and pinrails, each responsible for a different sail and part of a sail, that I usually had to ask for explanation. I got sick the 2nd day out, (we saw whales in the distance, so all the sails went up and we took off at a very fast clip. I was on bow duty, front of the ship, where the heaves and swells are felt the most) but I recovered quickly, stuck with my duty, and enjoyed fluke slapping and whale spouting. We also so a blue tuna in pursuit of a smaller fish. Amazing stuff.

HELM WATCH is responsible for actually steering the ship. The Captain is at the helm. He taught us how to look at the water to determine, by eye, high vs. low depths. We also had access to an electronic depth monitor, but it was also viable to look at water, notice differences in wave trough and peaks, and then ascertain where and when we might be just above rock ridges or sand bars. Cap taught us how to sail by the amount of wind in sail, especially the large main sail. He taught us to use the compass, then not to depend on the compass, but look to the horizon.

MARLINSPIKE WATCH is all about learning the ropes, tack and pulley systems, securing ropes when in use as well as when not in use, knots, pins and pinrails, etc. It's a very compicated process. I've read about "Able Sailors", but had no idea what an Able Sailor really is. I'm not one. Look at the photo of the coiled ropes. I've just coiled the large section, but have then started to "Ballentine" it (Celtic/pretzel like) into an even more secure coil. It holds it's place better on a slanted deck, as what happens when the ship is leaning 45 degrees due to the wind and full sails. Ships have to have perfect order. A dangling rope could easily trip a sailor, or get caught/knotted when a free line is needed to hoist or take down a sail in a hurry. Lives depend on the ship being in orderly fashion. It's a big deal. Therefore, ropes have to be secured either in these kinds of coils, or on pins on the pinrail, "to the bitter end", meaning, literally, to the end of the rope where special knots are tied. Pulleys. I've seen them, I knew they gave mechanical advantage. But until I hoisted sails, I never fully appreciated this amazing system. There's a price to be paid for this "mechanical advantage", the amount of rope is increased dramatically with every additional pulley, so that means a lot of more to tend to. But it's so worth it. I'm amazed by the tack and pulley system.

NAVIGATION WATCH includes using compas readings, landmarks (when land can be seen), nautical speed awareness at all times, low and high tides, weather forecasts/watch, and competent use of ocean charts. I love maps. I learned that map show you where to go on land. Charts show you where NOT go go on water. Use of a hand caliper helps in using "The Six Minute Rule", meaning, the captain needs to know not only where we are at present, but where we will be in 6, 12, 18, 24, etc., minutes. Tacking (turning the sails) at the right time and not the wrong time, is crucial. I knew that both LaSalle and Champlaine had sailed these waters centuries ago. I asked Cap, "How did they do this without charts?" He said, "They brought their own cartographers and charted these waters as they went." Wow. New England's north Atlantic waters are ridden with massive rocks seen only during low tide. I am in awe of sailing these waters, more so when thinking about doing so without charts.

BOW WATCH is the ears and eyes of the ship. Positioned at the front tip, we were responsible to warn (by yelling and hand signals) the Captain back at the helm/wheel, of any and all obstacles and danger. We learned Sail Theory (difficult stuff, like how the wind effects both sides and the top of the sails), Rules of the Road (who has right of way when coming to another vessel), and how to set and then retrieve anchor, an art in and of itself. The chains and anchors are very heavy and have to be taken in in a layered manner, like stacking a cord of wood so that it drys properly, otherwise, if knotted, would prevent quick anchoring which is sometimes needed in emergencies.

The Mary Day is all wood. No metal hull. The masts and sail booms are huge wooden trees. The sails are strong, tough canvas. One can understand the torque tension placed upon the hull when the sails are full, especially in a strong wind. We were able to sail over 250 miles given the week's high winds. The food aboard was amazing. A young gal from Canada is the cook, her sleeping berth right next to the wooden stove/oven that she lights ever morning at 4:30 sharp. Homemade breads and desserts are baked therein, delicious main dishes cooked above. A large ice chest near the anchor chains on deck is filled with ice the day of departure. An ice pick allows us to cool our water, which is kept is a barrel and retrieved with a dipper and funnel. Everything is very efficient. "Heads" or toilets, are used by stepping down two steps, or when privacy allowed, off the deck. "Showers" are early morning swims in the Maine Atlantic waters, or, if lucky, getting water from the wooden stove water heater tank before it's used by others, for a quick shower on deck while in shorts, or better yet, a sponge bath. There's not a lot of time for grooming.

We thrilled to here the ships bell ring 3 times a daily announcing meals: "For lunch today, cook has baked honey-glazed bbq chicken breasts on a bed of fresh coastal vegetables baked in cheddar sauce with smoked almonds. She's baked 2 fresh loaves of 8 grain sunflower seed sour dough bread and has fresh Maine blueberry jam with cinnamoned butter. We have iced peach tea and cranberry limed juice on ice. For dessert, we've baked double chocolate brownies with cream cheese frosting and we have spiced raisen cookies with white chocolate chips. Remember we have cherry-orange scones and melon balls left over from breakfast that we need to eat too." I was glad to get a reprieve from one of my duties one night to take my turn cranking one of 2 ice cream freezers. Dessert that night: homemade ice cream, CoffeeToffee and Vanilla, complete with an array of toppings. I would go back and do this again if for no other reason than the fabulous food.

Nightly we anchored in a safe harbor near one of the hundreds of tiny islands off the Maine and Canadian coasts. Cap is a kind man. He knows of an older man, 94, widowed for 20 years, that lives alone on Swan Island. When the Mary Day is in the area he goes ashore in the morning (as we did nearly every morning to stretch our legs. I learned so much about lobster fishermen this way. I so respect them and their ruggest, hard lives.) "Earl of Swan Island" is a wonderful character that was proud of his island garden, (he gave us fresh veggies for our supper that night), but prouder still of his new scope for his .22 which is used "to keep the critters from crawlin' under my garden fence." Yet he had hidden in his very neat wood shed, rabbit food, which I suspect was for his 4 pet rabbits that he allows to run freely, as if they owned the place. Notice in the photo of his home he has a "sunroom" (not much sun up there) where he can keep an eye on the goings and comings of the harbor. The Mary Day, without her sails up, can be seen in the distance.

For the past 15 years I've done a lot of traveling. My good wife doesn't have the penchant for travel that I do, nor would she have been overly excited about my "travel on a shoestring" methods (i.e., sleeping in the trunk of rental cars, various Youth Hostels in cities and Alaska, antics of bus travel, staying an extra night in an airport so as to redeem a voucher for a free flight later when my flight was over booked, etc.), but she's never complained. Rather, she's been very supportive. I so appreciate this. On these last 2 trips, first to Rhode Island where I did research at Brown University, and then this Maine sailing trip, I missed her greatly. Nightly I would crawl into my cramped sleeping berth, sheets moist/humid and cold, and think of our clean home and warm, flanneled sheets, me not with her. This was all compounded when somewhere between my tour of the JFK Presidential Library and the John Adams National Historical Sites tours I became sick. Stuck in Boston, I knew if I were home I would be given her tender care. So I resolved this was my last trip without her. We'll travel some, sure, there's places I've been that I want her to see. But we've pretty much determined that our travel time and resources will now be towards going to see our kids and grandkid(s).

I spoke earlier about safe harbors. I know now, literally, what that means. Without question, Genia and our family, is my safe harbor. She and they are my anchor She and they are my safe passage.

Be well. Do good...