Archive for August 2010
Weekend’s End
Well, well… Monday has arrived. Ask me if I am exhausted. Go ahead, ask me. Absolutely! But it is a good exhaustion. It is an every second of the weekend used to the fullest kind of exhaustion. Even given the fact that some of those moments of the weekend involved lounging luxuriously. You see, even simply lounging, when in the sun and wind of an absolutely beautiful day, tends to take something out of you, at the same while it is rejuvenating you in other ways. So, I am energized to exhaustion. Is that even possible?
It may have something to do with having stayed the entire day yesterday, soaking up every last-minute of breezy summer sunshine, before hitting the road just as the big ball of fire dipped below the horizon. It being a 3-hour drive back to the cities, we got home a bit after the bed-time hour that allows for optimal liver happiness. However, driving home after sunset means we reduced the mosquito population by a significant amount, based on how nasty the front of Cyndie’s Mustang looks.
Over the weekend I found myself sharing with Cyndie’s cousins, the story of how our upcoming trip to Portugal originated. As I write this, I’m noticing that doing so has really amped up my excitement about the trip. Adding to that, yesterday morning, while browsing through my online ‘virtual community,’ Brainstorms, I discovered that my connection in Portugal, Ian Rowcliffe, had posted messages indicating he is thinking about us and our pending arrival. It is nice to see the preparations are happening on both sides.
What an amazing opportunity has developed out of my participation in the discussions of Brainstorms. It is nice to be able to share it with my readers here. As I have done for most of my other trips since I started this blog, I will pre-post something for the days I am in Portugal, and plan to post descriptions of our adventures after the fact, once we have returned to the stability of my internet connection at home. I remain open to the possibility that I will get a chance, or two, to post something directly during our trip, but I don’t plan to depend on it.
In the mean time, boa semana! (That’s “Have a good week!” in Portuguese.)
Woodland Biking
Yesterday was a blue-sky day if ever there was one. With all of Cyndie’s cousin’s families reuniting together up here at our lake paradise, there was a huge variety of options for activity. I volunteered to take cousin Heather’s husband, Jack, out biking in the woods. Here is a picture of what I saw while following Jack through the woods:
You may notice he is not visible. That’s what I saw of him most of the time we were riding. Finally, I would catch up to Jack at the major crossings, where he was nice enough to wait for me so we wouldn’t have any confusion over which option of route we were choosing. He was always smiling and far from short of breath. I was quite the opposite. 
In contrast, here is the view that Jack had of me, when he paused to glance back before beginning to pedal. We had an absolute blast together out there. The woods of Wisconsin were in particularly fine form. Never mind the mosquitoes.
Paradise Improved
There is little time to write this Saturday morning. I enjoyed the pleasure of sleeping late this morning. It was an incredible treat, sleeping in the cabin of our next door neighbor up here at our lake place. The different perspective of views of this place we have come to know so well over 30-some years time lends a magical touch. It makes a place that we know as special, even more so.
Add to that, special people; relatives whom we normally see for one afternoon a year, now spending enough time to connect in a much deeper sense. It takes our little paradise here up to another level of incredibly great.
I must go delve into more of that greatness. I’ll tell you about it later… if I can find words to describe the indescribable.
Numbers, Again
Number of mosquitoes swatted in the house last night: 6
Mosquito count outside the house lately: Googolplex
Seconds until hoards of mosquitoes descend on my exposed flesh in the garage: 6
Amount of bug repellent I like putting on my skin: 0
Amount of day being worked today: 1/2
Hours to be driven out of town: 3
Number of mosquitoes waiting for me up north: nevermind
Related families uniting for the weekend: 9
Family reunions so far this summer: 2
The unqualified answer to anything: six
Number of kids who know what that’s all about: 2
What that has to do with anything right now: nothing
Number of ideas I had when I decided to create this list: 0
Number of times numbers have been repeated in the answers above: 3
Significance of that: come on, it’s a numbers list!
Number of times the State Fair was brought up at work yesterday: way too many
Calories in an order of cheese curds at the fair: 1,140
Miles of walking the fair grounds required to burn that many calories: 11.5
How much less that makes me lust for fried cheese curds: zilch, zippo, hardly at all
How fond mosquitoes are of fried cheese curds: now that’s just plain silly
A Calamity
Two days ago I was thrown back to memories of my travels in Nepal when I learned that Jim Klobuchar’s Adventures has scheduled another trip to the Himalayas for April, 2011. It is tempting to think about the possibility of returning to that place of my greatest adventure. Then, yesterday’s news alerted me to a tragedy that just occurred there, related all too closely to those same memories I was just enjoying.
One of the small planes that shuttles trekkers and mountain climbers to the high peaks, crashed, killing all 14 people on board. They had taken off from Kathmandu, headed for the crazy landing strip at Lukla, and were forced to turn back when visibility diminished. The first day that my group was scheduled to make that same flight, back in 2009, the group just ahead of us had the same experience. They were in the air, but had to turn around and come back. We never even boarded a plane that day. If they aren’t able to fly, you go back to a hotel and try again the next day.
We luckily made it out the very next day. While it was happening, I experienced brief moments of trepidation, but the glory and wonder of the Himalayan Mountains and the sheer excitement of the exotic adventure overruled any fears I was experiencing. But our flight didn’t have any problems.
Having made that very same flight, I am experiencing a deeper sense of mourning for their loss. I can visualize all too well, being able to see the pilots in action and the view out the front window revealing where we were headed. I remember the one young woman flight attendant who passed out cotton for our ears and little hard candies. Then she sat in the very back seat during the flight. They make this flight so many times, I imagine they were able to sense the trouble before the tourists from USA (4), Briton, and Japan. The impact was so intense, none of the remains were intact, making identification of the victims difficult.
In an instant, their adventure is over. Their lives ended.
It is always a risk. The whole trek is fraught with potential for calamity. But it seems like a calculated risk. For those of us on the 2009 trek, we escaped serious harm. The tragedy that just occurred to the 14 souls who lost their lives in that crash, serves to alert us to the grace we experienced, being able to return alive and again hug those who love us the most.
I am feeling more satisfied with my likelihood of not participating in the 2011 trek now. I had a good adventure to that special place once already, and am home, safe and sound.
As if I am any less likely to experience life-threatening calamity in my life here, on any given day…
Temptation
I have yet to write very much about the planning we have been doing for our upcoming travel to Portugal, but with departure now less than a month away, Cyndie and I are daily making decisions related to preparations for that adventure. With the majority of my attention being funneled toward that trip, I was entirely unprepared for the email I received yesterday from the conductor of my favorite travel club.
In April of 2011, he will be guiding another trek in Nepal. I cannot describe how tempting that is to me. As I read his description of the trip, memories of my adventures there in 2009 came flooding back. Knowing what I now know about the whole experience feeds my thinking about how much more I might be able to get out of such a trip, the second time around.
I am remembering the Sherpa people who I came to know so well. They are a major part of the draw I feel to return. It feels uncomfortable to know that another group will be going over without me. It doesn’t feel right. I belong on that trip. I remember meeting Rosemary on the long plane flight out of Los Angeles, and her descriptions of having trekked in Nepal before. At the time, it seemed a little extreme to me. Now I understand it entirely.
I am so tempted to return.
For now, I have a whole ‘nother trip to distract me. We leave for Portugal near the middle of September. I will need to save temptations of the Himalayas until I return. But for a few hours yesterday, my mind was all Nepal, baby. All Nepal.
It is tempting.
Mindless Collecting
I saw a short feature on a news magazine program about a man who collects cuff links. The response it triggered from me appeared to surprise Cyndie. I said that I don’t want to be a collector. Now, to me, my comment makes a lot of sense, given my current interest in jettisoning my unused possessions.
I was surprised by her surprise. When she paused to consider the source of her reaction, the only thing she came up with was, rocks. Fair enough. I have been known to pick up a rock or two that appeal to me, hanging on to them for varying durations of time. 
Yesterday morning, I took a look at a couple of the batches of rocks around me and noticed one thing about them that particularly struck me.
I don’t know where they are from.
I don’t seem to attach any specific value to the exact location a particular rock is found. In fact, I don’t even reliably know the general area where whole batches of my rocks are from. I do know that a fair amount have been plucked from the shores of Lake Superior. I don’t know which batch, (I have a tendency to keep them in the groups in which they are first assembled), was found in which areas of the lake, nor during which special outing.
Meanwhile, others locations where I have picked up rocks include, our lake place in Wisconsin and a number of other random places I have traveled, including the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal.
I don’t know what my absent-mindedness indicates about the situation, but it does give me confidence that I will not suffer by sending the rocks back out into the world.
I guess I don’t want to be a collector.
Unclutterization
For everyone who doesn’t already live in an RV, there is a challenge that has been offered to get rid of a thing a day in a goal of uncluttering. I like that it is an open-ended challenge. Do it for a week or a month or a year. Whatever works for you.
I started the process a while ago. I enlisted my staff at work to help me out by being open to receiving things I was interested in giving away. I also invited them to consider doing the same with items they have accumulated. We have an ongoing swap-meet in place now. If an item is serving no purpose for you, then release it back into the world to serve in the manner for which it was intended.
I didn’t expect it to ripple in the way I have seen occur. Uncluttering is magic.
I also didn’t expect it to begin to expand beyond physical items. Now I’m experiencing some uncluttering of my mind. It’s powerful stuff, this challenge.
One thing a day.
It could become a way of life. Or, I could just sell my house and move into an RV. But that’s a different challenge.
Relative Something 