Never. Give. Up.

We have been galavanting around enjoying the sunshine and clean air.  Good food, Good wine, and Good times.  The Captain's 38th birthday has come and gone, and it goes to show ya, that just showing up is half the battle.  Most people don't even muster.  Cheers to his 38 years of mustering!  May he have at least 38 more!

The boom worked perfectly.

"At sea, I learned how little a person needs, not how much."  Robin Lee Graham

Today is the Reason We Live in Morro Bay

Today is the reason we live in Morro Bay: 75 degrees, warm offshore breezes. 

Truman helped with the race committee at the Yacht club for the day-sailor race today. We are happy to announce that we are officially yacht club members.  I know I will have yacht club responsibilities at some point, but today was too beautiful and I was very selfish.  I went running on the beach.  Then I cruised down to the local coffee shop to meet a friend a'la photo-tour of the sunny day.

Right before sunset, Truman and I rode over to a new wine bar called STAX.  I would highly recommend it!  The day was so picturesque and I wish that sunset wasn't so early.  We both rode our bicycles all day!

Morro Bay Harbor Festival 2010

Go For Broke docked in Hawaii today!  I was happy to report to family and friends that Truman is back on dry land safe and sound.  He will be home in 2 days.  Meanwhile, I went to my first Harbor Festival! 

Garlic and Butter!  Hmmm. . . .

The Glass is Half Full

I sat in the spa alone with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.  The high tide waves were audible crashing in the background.  The first winter squash of the season was in the oven and the smell in the house was nothing short of divine!  Today was a good day.  I went to church.  I tithed.  I had a solid afternoon nap.  I spoke to my father on the phone and my mother-in-law today.  I went for a leisurely evening run with a new Morro Bay friend.  I can’t see any down side here!

One might be tempted to argue that the second turning back of Go For Broke is a failure of human endeavor. It would be more accurate to say that we humans might have been forcing a thing that was never meant to be.  As for my part, again, I cannot see much of a downside here. I don’t know how else to say it, but I have a tremendous peace about the whole thing. Of course, I am not on the boat, but for whatever it is worth, I think that the glass is half full.

Truman’s goal was to go for a long sail and learn a lot. Has that not happened? I think that there is always more to be learned in complicated times than in easy-breezy ones. This has been my experience anyways. I cannot see how he could come home and not have learned an amazing amount about sailing, crewing, boat maintenance, and navigation. It cost us very little for him to learn all this. In comparison, I hope that Steve makes out good on the cost of the boat. I cannot see how he can come out of this situation anything but the wiser. And that is priceless!

Lovin' the Land Just as Much as the Ocean

I am so excited to show you my new "dynamic composter"!!!  We love keeping green things green just as much as keeping the oceans blue!  I had to stalk the Home Depot Garden Dept Guy for 10 days straight to get this.  I think he was stoned most of the time, so when he couldn't tell me when their next shipment was due I just decided to call him back everyday and ask if the composter arrived. 

By the end of the two weeks, he was starting to figure out that there is some crazy lady out there who wants a composter really bad!  I wanted this composter so bad that I actually convinced myself that it would make a good wedding present for my friend.  I bought a second one and the bride loved it!

Pâté Saturday!

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred,
I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is probably nothing better than a glass of red wine and a slice of French bread with homemade Pâté! This may be one of the most romantic combinations of food available on the face of Estero Bay! Fodder for poetry, just begging for a breathtaking sunset accompaniment . . . Hemingway would be jealous!

Red wine contains many wonderful antioxidants. For women, one glass a day is all that you need. More than one glass a day increases your risk for heart attack, stroke, and breast cancer, and any number of horrible ailments. For healthy wine drinking, I refer to a culturally appropriate book, French Women Never Get Fat. The author describes the French effort of conscious consumption, taste awareness, and sensual appreciation.  And French bread is not hard to celebrate! There is some wonderful bread available locally: La Parisienne, Carlock’s Bakery, and the Old Cayucos Bakery and Deli to name a few!

Pâté may be harder to find, harder to understand the celebration if you’ve never tried it, but certainly worth the effort. Pâté usually includes chicken liver cooked with mushrooms and herbs then pureed and chilled into a sliceable and spreadable constitution. Liver, an organ meat, is extremely rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E & K, essential fatty acids, and trace minerals, copper, zinc, and iron. Clearly, it is best to buy organic, free range, grass fed liver as to avoid any stored toxic substances that the liver may harbor.

Unfortunately, pâté is not sold in any store around here. Trader Joe’s carries it on the winter season only. So, I made my own today!

Not a bad snack! Bring a notepad and pen because this meal is sure to have you hearing La Vie En Rose, smelling three different varieties of fresh ocean air, and falling in love with your taste buds all over again!

Losing Sight of the Shore: Mindfulness Exercises

I am totally consumed by the concept of living mindfully.  I buy everything on the subject: books, ipod meditations, local food from sustainable sources, even a sailboat!  I blog. Self-help is my favorite genre.  I try to live peacefully.  I try to be emotionally present.  I try to be an engaged listener.  I try to maintain my boundaries.  I try to do what I have been taught is good.  I try to do what is right. 

I know there is value in this way of living.  I know that these thoughts are worthy of my attention.  I cannot live otherwise, but today...I am exhausted.  I remember hearing an appropriate line from a movie:  “Too much thinking wears down your batteries.” Lois Lane to Clark Kent, in the original Superman.

At any rate, I would like to share a little of the sentence completion exercises from Taking Responsibility: Self-Reliance and the Accountable Life.  This book was phenomenal!  I highly recommend it.  The author has about 30 sets of these sentence completion prompts; here are a few.  Basically, you just finish the sentence with as many endings as come naturally to you.  Don't over-think it.  Just blurt or write out the answer.

If I pay more attention to my inner signals today—
If I am more truthful in my dealings with people today—
If I am 5% more self-accepting today—
If I am self-accepting even when I make mistakes—
If these ideas start working in my subconscious mind—

If I disown what I am thinking and feeling—
If I place other people’s thoughts above my own—
When I look at what I do to impress people—
If I face who I am to make myself “likeable”—
I am beginning to suspect—

Dock Gnome and other Dock Accoutrements

There has been lots of weather as you can tell from the Captain's posts.  Today was supposed to be calm.  The Captain got an invitation from Neighbor Wilson to go out on his 27' Catalina this morning and troll for salmon.  They went out for two hours, but nothing was biting.

The Captain inspected our sail and did not find a new nest.  I was a little sad to hear about that.  On the up side, I won't have to be cleaning baby birdie poop off of the sail.  At any rate, dock life is thriving.

I love the stuff that our dockmates put out for decoration!  I feel extra lucky to have a communal gnome!  I would have never thought to procure one of my own, but I am very happy to share in the collective luckiness!

Check out all the other gnome statues that I found!

Dock/Garden Gnome:

Function: noun
Etymology: French, from New Latin gnomus
Date: 1661
1 : an ageless and often deformed dwarf of folklore who lives in the earth and usually guards treasure
2 : an elemental being in the theory of Paracelsus that inhabits earth
— gnome•like \-ˌlīk\ adjective

— gnom•ish \ˈnō-mish\ adjective

I was thinking about getting a fake owl to stand guard over our boat when we are gone.  I think the plastic owl is supposed to discourage gulls and other birds from making homes on the boat.

I love the shiny triangle "used car lot" streamers!  I want some for our boat, but I don't know where to get them.  Seriously, if anyone knows where to get these, please let me know!!!

I am a sucker for shiny things....

Sailor Food, Eating LOCAL, and Carol Alt's Raw foodbook

I have been saving this one up. This is for the all the Foodies and the Foodie in me. I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If you don’t know this book, you’ve got to pick up a copy! Barbara Kingsolver is Michael Pollan expanded and enriched. The book is Sally Fallon’s dream! It is the fulfillment of the Slow Food Movement!

I buy it all, hook, line, and sinker!  We have been subscribing to a local farmer's food basket delivery service.  It is not technically a CSA, but it is basically the same concept.  So, we've been doing this for almost 2 years and it has been great!  I don't have to stress about getting to the market and we are eating everything local and in season.  It feels so healthy!!!

I love feeling more in tune with my surroundings, the land, growing things. . . and the composting!  Oh, the composting!  I am in heaven!  We are greener and brighter and cleaner!

And, I've been trying to go raw, and using Carol Alt's primer to get started.  My contention is this: how do I eat RAW and LOCAL?  Umbashi plums, coconuts, tarmari sauce, flax seeds . . . not local! And not in season!  It is much easier to eat local, but I can make some modifications. I’ve spent a lot more money just getting together a RAW kitchen. I can’t decide which is best.

Which brings me to the discussion of The Cans of Dinty Moore.  After reading Charles Dewell's account of 40 days at sea and losing 41 pounds, living on Dinty Moore. . .  Is this the reality of sailor sustenance?    Really?  Is that necessary?  I get the sea sickness. . . . but, all that MSG?  Really?  Do I have to?  Did they really have to drink grog to stave off the scurvy?

As for sailor food…

Me thinks that sprouted grains and beans are perfect for the boat. Eating in the Raw is possible!  What about dried hummus, dehydrated fruits, bottled kombucha, and live food bars?  Luckily, I can have this conversation in my head and it is all theoretical because we never intend to do any long ocean sails, so hopefully I will never be that far from a beloved farmer's market. 

The food is where it is at!  What do you think?

TGIF Sunset BBQ

Thanks to the good Captain, we had planned to take the boat on the Bay for BBQ Filet Mignon, photography, and local Sauvignon Blanc!  I was so grateful to have this evening cruise on the schedule, because it has been a super long busy crazy week!  And, I've been reading The Motion of the Ocean!  This is Janna Cawrse Esarey's book fully entitled: The Motion of the Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife.

So, I had planned to present the B-HAG concept to my Captain: Big Hairy Audacious Goal.  This is Janna and Graeme's grand concept, a'la stimulus package!  Basically, come up with a goal that is bigger than life, create a stategy for accomplishing it, and then throw caution to the wind and take a deep, cleansing breath, and go for it!!!!!!

If you have a big Goal . . . . would you dare even say it out loud? Would you share it with anyone? Would you keep it silent, secret and let it build momentum inside like a 2 Liter bottle of Pop shaken up? What do you think?

TGIF!  We had a wonderful sunset BBQ cruise!

Weekend Roundup

Over the weekend, I plowed through the rest of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See, because I couldn’t wait to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s eagerly anticipated sequel Committed. I was not disappointed!

I have to say that reading these two books so closely together makes an impact! The juxtaposition of the narrative voice of a submissive traditional Chinese female and the modern professional Westernized woman is quite remarkable. I cried while reading one and laughed out loud with the other.

To quote Gilbert (my hero) on the subject of the childless professional woman:

“Moreover, as I aged, I discovered that I loved my work as a writer more and more, and I didn’t want to give up even an hour of that communion. Like Jinny in Virginia Woolf’s The Waves, I felt at times ‘a thousand capacities’ spring up in me, and I wanted to chase them all down and make every last one of them manifest. Decades ago, the novelist Katherine Mansfield wrote in one of her youthful diaries, ‘I want to work!’--and her emphasis, the hard-underlined passion of that yearning, still reaches across the decades and puts a crease in my heart. I, too, wanted to work. Uninterruptedly. Joyfully.”

What does this have to do with sailing? Absolutely nothing. Truman ran 17 miles this weekend. I ran 4. I flew to Denver for a Boston Scientific Cadaver Course on pelvic reconstruction products. I made a yummy bulgar-wild rice-cabbage-onion-herbes-de-provence-green pea salad to take to the Super Bowl Party. Packed in some dark beer. Did some No Meat Athlete Blog reading.

Absolutely fantastic! Uninterruptedly! Joyfully!
~Lauren

How to Look at the World

One of my patients is an artist. I mean, a real artist…like, with paintings in galleries. Not just a hobbyist. She is radiantly beautiful. She glows with an inner calm, a spirit of peaceful harmony with life and the land. In some minutes of openness, she shared with me how she developed thinking, knowing artist eyes. Her grandmother, also an artist, took her out of school on special days and they would walk the land and look at trees and flowers and grass. And “my grandmother taught me how to look at the world.”

It is not a philosophical or religious question. Well, that is not fair, because maybe it is. But, it is meant to be a health question. How can I live the healthiest life available to me? We look at the world whether we think about how we do it or not. Clearly, some outlooks are healthier than others. Did we learn to look at it? Did I look at it the way I’ve always looked at it? Did I take any different steps in my looking? Were there any new vistas? Are there any new colors or shapes?

Since I’ve started examining how I look at the world, I’ve noticed that playfulness comes easier. There is more room for humor and even failure. What would it be like to have a purple dog? How about green eggs and ham? And almost as quickly as I can come up with these endless possibilities, I want to share them with someone else. This presents a problem akin to the tree falling in the forest. If I don’t post it on facebook, does it really exist?
George Berkeley (1685-1753) talked of objects ceasing to exist once there was nobody around to perceive them. Old George would probably be overwhelmed with the amount of information available at our fingertips today. The internet, while fraught with cyber-pollution and cyber-noise, may not exist if I don’t look at it.

My artist patient is a Baby-Boomer. I’m a Gen-Xer. Everyone born after 1980 is a Millenial. At some point, we all decide how to look at our world. Perhaps more of my days could be “special” days in which I take time out to observe, revere, appreciate, listen, describe, and find peace. Maybe I can pass it on to someone else the old fashion way: in person, face to face, with a bright radiant gift smile.

~Lauren