Living Contentedly

If I ever write a book this is where it may begin  I have about ten weeks to go before I leave Australian shores and head for Spain to begin the Cinp Francēs.  This particular Camino (path) is the most common route though not everyone walks from St Jean Pied de Port at the French base of the Pyrenees. That distance is just shy of 900 kilometres so I'm not getting ahead of myself. Many pilgrims, religious walkers, will begin closer to Santiago de Compostela or take a bike, taxi or bus at times. Some will die too. Others will just hook a left and exit.  So why walk? This evolves and depending on my thinking, varies around a central theme. My first awareness of the idea of pilgrimage was piqued in early primary when I learned of people with illness or disease making their way to Fatima  or  Lourdes to be receive a blessing and potentially healed. I vaguely recall images of people being physically assisted to attend a holy grotto. An arduous journey to ...

For some days meteorologists have basically been predicting Marine Mayhem for this week. They are referring to the event as a "Bomb Cyclone". The Bomb sounded a bit hysterical, but it seems accurate as it describes the formation of a drop of more than 15 millibars as an intense Low Pressure System, or Cyclone, forms in less than 24hrs. Bomb is a short version of Bombogenesis, the process described above. The BC forming off the NSW coast will drop 25 points and effect waters from Qld, the whole NSW coast as well as eastern Victoria. Swell mapping. The system is south moving. For sailors, that can mean 125kph (60 knot) winds and seas from 7-10m. Gust may exceed this forecast. And for vessels seeking shelter in river ports like  Newcastle, Port Stephens, Forster, Yamba, Ballina and Tweed, there is a risk of flooding.  My question is whether the average sailors relying on the more basic weather forecasting methods, or indeed their crossing from New Zealand, Lord How...

Kicked off cancelling my shopping cart with an acrylic dome. I baulked at the $140 postage slug. But you know, there could be $60+ in tolls plus $40 in fuel plus vehicle wear & tear. I might still buy it.  Junking my Tiki. Well its a decision I don't regret. While towing the starboard hull the bow broke out of it, so as i suspected the hull integrity is dodgy. I could sell it, but someone might drown! But, its not burning well and its still tough watching a dream (and money spent) smoulder away in a paddock. On the plus side, the yard space is better, I don't have to feel guilt every time I see it and I set out this morning getting set to "move on", and I've certainly begun that.  Get gas bottle refilled. Whenever I take it to the "service station" the old do am anxious sidestep acringvreally prickly. Today was no exception, I thought once I'd paid for it they'd be locked in. But no, "come back tomorrow [somebody that's not me] will ...

Funny how persistent fear becomes. In mindful moments it is easily dealt with by application of logic and reasoning. But in the depth of night when the mindful mind is at rest the shadow visits and tries to gain a foothold.  In The Mission Walker , which I completed reading this morning, the author describes how fear is overcome by movement .  We just need to keep moving towards our goal, small steps, faltering steps, hesitating steps, we merely need to keep walking. One more hour, one more day, whatever. Late in the deal, despite injury, exhaustion or another obstacle on the path, you become fearless. Not wreckless, but fearless. You lnpw, you have confidence that you can beat the fear. Then you become your own hero, the best you can be.   

Its unusual to have "visitors" at my place. The driveway is hidden from the road and is in really poor condition, definitely not accessible for 2WD or low vehicles. So this morning I was surprised to have two visitors to claimed to be "from the police". They said they wanted a fellow seen looking around on a nearby property & showed me a CCTV image.  I told them I'd seen nothing, so they encouraged me to look out.  Not until after they left did I twig: I've never heard of plain clothes detectives looking for people that loiter, especially on rural properties, & one of the detectives was Asian. They sounded pretty motivated to nab this fellow. I could be wrong, but I believe he may be a suspect, or Person Of Interest in the disappearance of a local (Asian) resident.   I had new hiking boots, a desire to make at least some effort to look for May & a curiosity about this fellow, so I grabbed my best dog, walking pole & boots, & camel back, y...

So there I was yesterday afternoon, yes we'd had a boisterous sail earlier, but a reef had served is well. Then the wind eased, tied to this little wharf, not a care on the world.  But just after dinner suspicious gusts kept hitting from our port quarter. The forecast told of a ninety degree windshift and strong winds persisting for three days. So we loaded up on the dark on the lee of barge near the boatramp.We did well two get away unscathed. Overnight the wind increased. Its sunny, but cold and blustery. I get to the boat early and put her heavy cover on just in case. At 1300 I was surprosed to see that the wind had forced the parked boat to move. Here she is, normally facing the camera, the wind gusts have pushed her bow a good twelve feet to the right. Glad I'm not still moored by the wharf.  

Honesty, the weather was lousy! A man finally gets out sailing, launched in pissing rain pulled out in the dark to avoid three days of strong winds which were already building.  Sailed around Wangi Wangi a place where my brothers and I had our first long sail in a VJ dinghy. Off the wind with full sail was pretty boistrous but felt solid. Hard on the wind coming back, she was stiff and fast, so needed a reef. First time reefing was easy with good results, and no need to go forward.  On the way home I witnessed a road fatality, a B double striking a pedestrian on a highway.  Possibly a road worker, in the dark, not paying attention?   Regardless of what happened  it was shocking, very sad, &  humbling to see a recently live person laying on the road covered with a blanket.  these guys liked Clancy, I think.