Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Flooding - Then and Now


There are many events in our memory that recede with time. Trying to bring back those memories is not always successful. Reading about the flooding along the Mighty Mississippi River this past week has brought back some of those memories for me.

In January 1937, there was a major flood in the Ohio River Valley, which has since been described as the deepest Ohio River flood on record. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lmk/?n=flood_3

I was twenty-eight months old at the time, and my family lived in Mound City, Illinois, where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers came together. The estimated population in 2003 was 673. Here are old photos of that flood. These pictures show people trying to move about on boats. http://www.enquirer.com/flood_of_97/history4.html.

I was told that when Daddy came to take us out of the parsonage in a small row boat, Mother grabbed three things: her violin, a Monopoly game, and me. Her violin was precious because it was a rare instrument and Mother was an excellent violinist; the Monopoly game (new to that generation) was a borrowed item and she needed to return it at all costs; and I suppose she saved me because I was her child. We were taken to higher ground to wait until the waters subsided enough for us to return.

My father had gone to help out on the levees, and according to Mother, the only way she knew he was still alive was through occasional radio reports of a great rescue miracle performed by the town’s “young Methodist minister.” Her tales about the flood may have been histrionic, but I suspect they may have contained an element of truth.

I scanned this picture of my father from a fragment of an old photo that was made during his time of working on the levees.

I was in fourth or fifth grade when I read in our geography book about how the terrain of Southern Illinois had been drastically altered because of the 1937 flood. Years later, when my youth group from another church attended a function in that flooded out little church, the water line was still visible about twenty feet high on the still unpainted walls.

Almost up to the moment I left for college, women would come up to me and say, “I made little dresses for the Methodist preacher’s daughter and you must be her!”
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es1308/es1308page07.cfm

I pray for the many people who are trying to survive mentally and physically in the flooding today.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Overview of DaVincian Principles


In the process of trying to organize my thoughts for this blog, I went to something that has been floating around in my head for years. In early May of this year, I briefly discussed one of my favorite books, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael Gelb http://lothlorien-lucy.blogspot.com/2008/05/davinci-and-camels.html. I want to keep this book in mind as I continue to write for Lothlorien.

This week, I am giving you an overview of da Vinci’s seven principles, as organized and identified by Gelb. I have created three other categories in order to cover some of the areas I want to discuss on these posts. First, here are the ones from Gelb’s book.

Curiositià – I explained this in the above link so I won’t go into it again, except to suggest that you think about doing one of Gelb’s exercises. Sit down and as quickly as you can (in one sitting), write out 100 questions of things you are curious about. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

Dimonstrazione – After graduation, I talked briefly about this principal http://lothlorien-lucy.blogspot.com/2008/05/back-to-davinci_21.html Here, Gelb suggests you let thoughts flow on the question “What would I do differently if I had no fear of making mistakes?” That one isn’t easy, either.

Now we get into some of the principals I haven’t touched on yet, but will in the future.

Sensazione – Sharpening my senses requires a conscious decision. I love to smell a fresh pot of tea, touch a luxurious orchid, hear a roaring surf, taste a new herb or spice, see color and movement. Gelb writes of Da Vinci’s “continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience.” There are many topics I can discuss under this principal.

Sfumato - This word literally means “going up in smoke.” To the best of my ability, I have sought to follow da Vinci in his “willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty...”, to become “more at home with the unknown, to make friends with paradox.” Ambiguity is where many of us have difficulty.

Arte/Scienza - Music and other arts provide nourishment for my emotional and spiritual life, yet I am drawn to new technology of the 21st Century. Da Vinci is my role model for maintaining that delicate balance between imagination and logic as I seek to develop both sides of my brain, for what he calls ‘Whole-brain’ thinking.

Corporalita - Health and physical activity isn’t always as high on my priority list as I would like, but I hope Da Vinci’s modeling will assist in my “cultivation of grace, ambidexterity, fitness, and poise.”

Connessione - When I write, or read favorite authors, or explore other cultures and sub-cultures, there is a “recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and phenomena. Systems thinking. Ties everything together.”

Here are the three categories I created, using the Italian words to stay in the mind-set of da Vinci.

Famiglia - Family includes my biological family, my extended family, genealogy and the infamous Kaimana Kat. More recently, my family has expanded to include six beautiful hens – three Araucana and three Rhode Island Reds.

Geographia - I have lived in a variety of geographical locations, visited in many others, and hope to visit in those I’ve never seen except in my dreams. This section will include past, present, and future.

Proprio – This grouping is for odds and ends of personal “stuff” that doesn’t seem to fit under any particular heading.

I will continue to organize this blog in my mind (as many of us bloggers do), but at this point, I think I will try to do something from one of the principals or categories for each post. That may change – but hey, I’m a woman, right? I’m allowed!

Next week – Sensazione!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

No Hardtack For Us!


I had a wicked time trying to cook a meal on the little two-burner propane stove the first few times. By the time I moved off the boat and into a house five years later, I could cook a full Thanksgiving dinner on the tiny stove – turkey, pumpkin pie, and all the trimmings.

There was a small oven on the stove, and I had this fantasy that people would be lured by the smell of baking bread as we sailed along. Probably no one else could smell it, but it was enough to tantalize myself and whatever crew was sailing with me at the time.

My recipe was simple – a no-knead whole wheat bread. Put 7 ½ cups of whole wheat flour in a large bowl and set it in a very low oven for about 20 minutes. Dissolve 6 teaspoons dry yeast in 1 cup lukewarm water and add 1 tablespoon honey. Mix 4 tablespoons molasses with 1 cup warm water. Combine yeast and molasses mixtures and add with 2 tablespoons salt to the warm flour. Add enough water to make a sticky dough, approximately 2 cups.

I usually get 2 large loaves out of this, or you can get 3 small loaves. Butter your pans and turn the dough into the pans. No need to knead the dough. Let it rise for an hour and preheat oven to 450 F. Bake about 50 minutes or until crust is brown. I let it stand in the oven for a bit after I turn off the oven. You are supposed to let it cool before you eat it, but I’ve never been able to do that!

I marked it in my cookbook that I fixed this for the first time on July 25, 1980 out of Avalon. Mark turned 21 years old the next day, so we celebrated that night.

Split pea soup with smoky pork became a tradition on all our homeward bound trips after a week or more at sea. It’s a good thing stoves on a sailboat are gimbaled so that they remain steady and the soup doesn’t slop out when we are heeled over on a good run.

I like to use bacon ends and scraps. Brown these in a pan, then add chopped onion and slivers of carrot and cook slightly. Add a package of split peas and water. Add seasonings. I put in pepper, oregano, marjoram, bay leaf, or whatever I have on hand. Simmer until peas and veggies are cooked, but I like to leave the peas slightly lumpy for a hearty soup. It thickens as it stands, but it rarely has time to stand.

A big mug of hot pea soup with freshly baked bread slathered in butter seemed to make it easier to head back home. There was no hardtack for us! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack

Monday, June 9, 2008

What is this?


I read Deborah Dera’s http://therhythmofwrite.com/blog/ on a daily basis. As a writer, I like to find tips and ideas from as many reliable sources as possible, and still leave time for my own writing. Her info is always valuable, so I'm following her advice today.

This morning, she wrote “Increasing Your Technorati Authority” by adding your own link to the list. As a fairly new blogger, I’m not exactly sure what she means by this, but I’m game to find out.

My understanding is that in order to take part, you follow a few simple rules:
~ Copy the list below into a blog post of your own.
~ Add your link to the list.
~ Comment on this post so that we can update the list with your link
~ Watch your authority sky-rocket.

I have visited most of the blogs on this list, hoping to increase my own networking ability. Why not join me?

*–Copy Here - Technorati Authority–*
1. Brad Blogging.com - Daily Blog Tips For The Masses
2. Daily Blogging Tips At The Daily Rambler
3. Blog Chews - Blog About Anything
4. Steve v4.6 - Big Made Small
5. GIVEAWAY CITY
6. Indo Contest.com - Find the Latest Contest Here
7. POTPOLITICS-We Smoke the Competition
8. ATA - AskTheAdmin.com
9. Dolly’s Daily Diary
10. The Tech Juice - Tech Tips And More
11. Wendy’s OBA, Blog Tips & Tricks
12. Wendy’s Reel - Fact And Fancy
13. A Grateful Heart
14. 50+Whatever..Just some Ramblings in Life
16. The Blog for DesignCreatology
17. Contest Whiz - The Blog Contest Expert
18. About Blog Contests
19. Esmeraldasblog - Como aumentar la Authority de Technorati
20. Best Widgets for free - Blog Widgets
21. New life by Pitonizza
22. Todo Seiya - Como aumentar la Authority de Technorati
23. Blog for Spanish Readers
24. The Blogger And The Blog
25. Hero Help
26. Makmalcyber
27. Forex Study
28. Techyplus
29. 8
30. Darn Good Reviews
31. Blogger Tips - DotBlogger
32. Lilyruths This and That
33. That Blog 4 Me
34. Pinoytek - Make Money Online and SEO Blog
35. Snigit(blogspot)
36. Snigit(.com)
37. Best Of The Web
38. Swat the Fly
39. Area3000
40. Shut Up And Eat
41. Find Torrent Blog
42. Cebu in the World
43. Web Design
44. Trestin Adventures
45. Ask Trestin
46. Trestin Autobiography
47. Trestin Ideas
48. Trestin Gallery
49. Trestin Games
50.(Impressive Results!) Trestin Hall Of Fame
51. Trestin History
52. Parnell Forever
53. Trestin Political
54. Trestin Spiritual
55. Trestin Sports
56. Trestin Store - Yep, Each One Of These Are Different Blogs.
57. The Ordinary Agung
58. Il blog di Luca Marchi
59. What About Brazil?
60. Shri Rada Blog
61. Hawaiian Travel Blog
62. Hawaii Cruise Superstore
63. GadgetHeat!
64. Over The Sky
65. Yavinator log
66. I Travel to Work do you?
67. The Rhythm of Write
69. Heroscribe
70. Ultimate Credit Online
71. Lucy: Lothlorién
72. Join this list! It’s not too late!

Be sure to leave a comment – and if you like what you’re reading here, please subscribe via RSS or email. You might be interested in my other blogs. Check out the sidebar on the left of this one.

Aloha until next time!

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Livin' the Life!


One summer, I hadn’t gotten paid for about three months. The insurance company that reimbursed us for most of our clients was undergoing a major change in their computer system. None of us in the clinic where I worked were getting paid on a regular basis. My boys and I were hanging on by a thread.

So what does a girl do when the going gets tough? She takes her boat home to spend a week moored at the Isthmus of Catalina Island. With a good book, all her troubles are left behind.

We were really living a good life, in spite of having no money. I had a bag of masa, a hunk of cheddar cheese, a few eggs, and stuff like spices. The boys were fishing and diving for abalone. What else do you really need for food? We had lots of homemade tortillas with melted cheddar and scrambled eggs, along with plenty of fresh fish and abalone. That’s when abalone was still plentiful in California.

Someone taught us how to eat raw abalone. Instead of pounding it like you need to if you cook it, you cut the raw meat into pieces like shoestring potatoes. Dip it into a mix of soy sauce, ginger, and anything else your taste buds desired, and munch! It’s a wonderful treat!!

Once, when folks from our local sail fleet had a cookout, we showed up with fresh sheepshead http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=26, abalone, and hot tortillas. Everyone else was roasting wieners and opening cans of beans. Even though we didn’t have money for beans or wieners, we ate well – and were the envy of everyone else.

I was kicking back on the boat one day with my book, half asleep in the fresh air and warm sun. My boys, Mark and Erik, had gone ashore to hang out with friends. The dinghy bumped against the fenders on the side of the boat and I knew they were back. The boys scrambled up into the cockpit.

“Hey, Mom!” Mark whispered. “Come below. I want to show you something.”

So we went down below and he pulled a huge roll of money from his pocket, about $50 worth or more - a lot of money in those days, and especially to us.

“It was just there on the ground by the garbage cans,” he said. “Someone must have dropped it out of their pocket when they were dumping trash.”

We talked about what to do, and finally checked with the Harbor Police who said that almost anyone could say they’d lost a bunch of money. So they suggested that we wait a couple days to see if anyone asked them about it and if they didn’t, it was ours to keep. No one ever came forward to ask about money that might have been found. It was enough to get us over a financial hump.

The picture above shows me hanging out on Lothlorien, hooked on a mooring - livin’ the life – livin’ off the sea (and a bag of masa)!