Indomitable Spirit

(You can click the photos to enlarge.)

It’s been some time since I’ve written here to celebrate the creativity and courage of people in my beautiful little town at the tip of the country. During the 2013 Wooden Boat Festival some members of our NW Maritime Center decided to sponsor a boat race from here to Alaska, the longest one of its kind ever attempted under (mostly) scientific scrutiny.

38th Wooden Boat Festival

 (You can click on the photos to see bigger versions!)

Getting Back in Tune

It’s a dangerous world, but when bad things happen I’m usually somewhere else. I don’t plan it that way by avoiding all risk, but I do try to proactively move toward the light.

Loud & Clear, Big & Fast, Slow & Just Right

A newsy, catch-up post

When the world is full of danger, fear and catastrophe, it’s a good time to plant.  At my house, we make improvements slowly.  We’ve been looking over our property borders for two years, considering what might make them more inviting to our senses, and to neighboring wildlife.

Turn of the Wheel

Soon after the turn of the millennium, we took a sailing vacation on the boat my wife’s friends had built.  I once lived on a 25 foot boat for a couple of years, but this one was over 50 feet long, with several rooms, electricity and an array of instruments and computer-assisted navigation aids.  It was built to sail anywhere.  I had not expected we would sail into a time portal.

Bad Art in the Boonies

There is one restaurant within walking distance of the Motel 2 ½ where we are living.  It’s swimming in bad art.

Island Adventure

Some of the San Juan Islands are on a main ferry route, but the boats taking people and their vehicles there are not large.  It’s wise to make reservations, or to walk on if possible.  I had to take two ferries to get where I was going.  Fortunately, I drive a Honda Fit.  I got squeezed into the Keystone Ferry without a reservation.  Small is beautiful.

Great Blogs (Part Two)

As an American with a sense of adventure, I’ve often dreamed of living in another country.  There are things I care deeply about, like good healthcare and liberal attitudes toward religion, politics and social justice issues.  I couldn’t live anywhere that didn’t have them.  I grew up in a middle-of-the-road place, and I didn’t belong there.  There are a number of other nations that are more to the left than the USA, at least on social issues, and one of my favorites is the Netherlands.

Wheel of Fortune

I’m hundreds of miles north of the town where the fish ladder was.  In a few hundred miles I will arrive at my final destination.  Driving the open road is wonderful for contemplation.  Walking it would be even better, but I don’t have the time.  I have to get there and look for a job.

A Dance of Life

This is the 700-somethingth annual Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, which I attended.