tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72561604654697557502011-08-10T00:46:16.785-07:00"All that is gold does not glitter.... not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. TolkeinLucynoreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-4029010138223908892008-07-18T15:21:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:23.153-08:00

As you may know, I’ve been writing several blogs in different topic areas. http://lava-to-lilikoi.blogspot.com - about my “homesteading” efforts here in Hawai’i http://talkstory-lucy.blogspot.com - inspirational posts taken from retreats and seminars I’ve given http://lothlorien-lucy.blogspot.com - memoir-type material about living on my boat and more I’ve also been posting to two

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-55818146219873826592008-07-16T20:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:23.378-08:00

Here on the Big Island of Hawai`i, it seems we are having a problem keeping traditional medical doctors. I won’t go into the reasons for that, but it brings a deeper awareness that I need to start taking care of my own body. Certain diseases and surgical procedures that I may need as I get older will require more of Western medicine, I’m sure. However, in keeping with Da Vinci’s notion of

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-5375702007425821792008-07-09T22:11:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:23.501-08:00

This stately bird on a pier on Anna Maria Island in Florida is a perfect example of poise and grace. The pier continues to hold its own through all the hurricanes. I had been doing yoga for a number of years before I moved onto the boat. Yoga gave me flexibility and inner well-being. But I gave that up when it became impossible to maintain a position, no matter how still the waters were.

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-80519535887312133532008-07-02T21:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:23.608-08:00

Many of my sailing stories are of events that happened to us at the Isthmus of Catalina Island off the California coast. This particular story, however, took place in the anchorage outside of Avalon.One lazy afternoon, most people on the hook were relaxing in the sun, napping or reading. The owner of one small sailboat (about 18’) had evidently dropped anchor and taken off for the shore without

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-32106751327478550882008-06-25T21:00:00.001-07:002008-11-12T18:26:23.773-08:00

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://

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-8890749617078592482008-06-18T22:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:24.082-08:00

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

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-90667211551904915182008-06-11T22:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:24.406-08:00

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

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-40864427971047734062008-06-09T10:05:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:24.550-08:00

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

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-38728795117623223982008-06-04T22:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:25.164-08:00

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

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-31117575696725898792008-05-27T11:22:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:25.328-08:00

Most of life on Lothlorien was like normal living anywhere. We did laundry, went to work, fixed meals, washed dishes. I qualified for a homeowners exemption and we were even visited by the census taker for the 1980 census.Erik was a junior in high school at the time. Each morning as we left for school, he and I found more and more interesting things to watch as we walked down the dock toward the

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-77033876112790123062008-05-21T23:00:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:25.570-08:00

In my May 8, 2008 post (http://lothlorien-lucy.blogspot.com/2008/05/davinci-and-camels.html), I started using DaVinci’s principals (as described in Michael J. Gelb’s How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci) as a general guideline for writing these posts. I began with his principal of “curiositá” (curiosity).This week, I shift to his principal of Dimostrazione. According to Gelb, Da Vinci was committed

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-77503127225106059332008-05-14T20:24:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.039-08:00

I was born in Granite City, Illinois toward the end of The Great Depression. It is an old industrial town along the Mighty Mississippi across from Saint Louis, Missouri. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granite_City,_IllinoisMy father went North from Mississippi to college and my mother went South from Illinois to college. The two met as students at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. The Myth in

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-24179345575803964562008-05-08T15:15:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.262-08:00

One of my favorite books is How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci by Michael J. Gelb. (See the Amazon link to the left.) Every second spring semester, I teach a college course called “Psychology and the Expressive Arts.” I use Gelb’s book to help students develop their creativity.One purpose of this blog is to help me define and embrace variety within DaVinci’s seven principles throughout my whole

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-55285041272494565712008-05-01T10:17:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.573-08:00

Traveling along the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been part of my life since birth. We lived in Southern Illinois, but since my father came from “Miss’ippi,” we went down South to visit our relatives fairly often. So many places are no longer there, but they continue to live on in my memory.Being in a preacher’s family, we didn’t stay in fancy hotels or go out to eat much. We pitched a tent and

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-66740172289899752152008-04-25T11:49:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.715-08:00

One morning, while safely tied up in the harbor, my son met me in the galley with his cup of coffee and said, “Did we have a storm at sea last night?” I blushed, and we both laughed. It seems that a “guest” who had spent the night with me on board had gotten a little rambunctious and we rocked the whole boat!Several months later, my friends Marty and Darline sailed to Catalina with us. They

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-62631156789094390822008-04-18T10:38:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.810-08:00

The shakedown wasn’t over yet! We felt like the pounding would never stop. Lothlorien would come up over some of the swells and surf down the other side. Sometimes she would come up and pound down on the other side with a huge bang, shuddering the whole boat.After one of those particularly hard crashes, water started flooding into the cabin until we had several inches of water standing. I really

Lucynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-76595286145712184082008-04-17T23:57:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:26.934-08:00

I have many sea stories to tell, but one of the most memorable is that first shakedown cruise after I picked up my new boat – the Lothlorien.I bought her in the late 1970s in the middle of winter. My sons and I went to Marina del Rey to bring the boat down to Oceanside Harbor. One of those notoriously wicked winter storms of California came up and aborted several attempts.At last it seemed

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-4799631859924687052008-04-09T21:47:00.001-07:002008-11-12T18:26:27.050-08:00

In the late 1970s, when Flower Power and Free Love were languishing, I flirted with trading the equity in my house for equity in a new 37' O’Day sloop-rigged sailboat. Within five months, I became a “live-aboard” with fifteen-year-old Erik, my youngest child. We christened our new home Lothlorien, for the sanctuary in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy to which the Elf King and Elf

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7256160465469755750.post-72454779830360818692008-04-03T13:59:00.000-07:002008-11-12T18:26:27.163-08:00

At the birth of this blog, I offer my own farewell salute to Aloha Airlines. They carried me on many of my travels around the islands of my state and they always were filled with “aloha.” I grieve their loss, and I am ready to welcome their return someday.MAHALO NUI LOA - ALOHA OEJuly 26, 1946 - March 31, 2008My thoughts today are focused on wandering through my “fresh spring herbs.” Those three

Lucynoreply@blogger.com0