Growing Towards the Light

To be whole, let yourself break.
To be straight, let yourself bend.
To be full, let yourself be empty.
To be new, let yourself wear out.
To have everything, give everything up.

Knowing others is a kind of knowledge;
knowing yourself is wisdom.
Conquering others requires strength;
conquering yourself is true power.
To realize that you have enough is true wealth.
Pushing ahead may succeed,
but staying put brings endurance.
Die without perishing, and find the eternal.

To know that you do not know is strength.
Not knowing that you do not know is a sickness.
The cure begins with the recognition of the sickness.

Knowing what is permanent: enlightenment.
Not knowing what is permanent: disaster.
Knowing what is permanent opens the mind.
Open mind, open heart.
Open heart, magnanimity.

From the Tao

Dream a Little Dream

Thoughts become real - Your life is written by you...in your mind. You will see this first hand if you spend more time asking yourself "why not?" and less time asking "why?" Miracles are not really miracles at all - just the result of beleiving that you truly are the master of your destiny.

Hump-D, Sea Glass and Pigs

Friday July 8, 2011. Today we are supposed to be anchoring over at Manjack, getting into position to make our crossing from Great Sail. Our Plan A was to pull up anchor Saturday night at midnight, head out over the bank and hit the gulfstream by day break. However, the wind was testing our conviction to the "best laid plans..." by blowing twenty knots out of the south. The anchorage at Manjack is completely exposed to the south. Opting out of the bucking bronco ride and corresponding night without sleep, we tucked into the protection of White Sound Green Turtle with our buddy boat, Imagine. We each picked up one of Brindles' moorings and got busy with working up a plan B. The Parker report and XM Weather were in agreement that crossing on Saturday was a bad idea. There was a tropical wave making its way up the Florida Straits and seas were predicted to be unpleasantly big, not to mention the call for numerous thunder storms. Reports concurred on a good crossing for Sunday, so we all called home and offices to get clearance for an extra day. Our buddy boat had already hoisted their dingy on deck, but La Le Lu still had her transportation module attached to the davits. We all piled in the dinghy and headed for shore to find something to do.

White Sound is fairly remote - there isn't a lot of action on that end of the island, so we rented a golf cart in order to to venture out. All five of us crammed onto the cart (that we named the Hump-D). With two passengers facing forward and three facing rear, we roared up and down the remote dirt roads that criss crossed the tiny island. We went snorkeling at a beautiful white sand beach, then rode across the top of White Sound to the Bluff House Yacht Club for lunch. After lunch we did a crazy goose chase for boat parts - flying up a steep hill and down the other side (butt cheeks gripping the vinyl for dear life) - to the Black Sound Marina. We didn't find the parts we needed but nobody cared at that point b/c we were all so exhilarated from the ride there. Driving down a little further we saw a sign pointing down a side road betraying the location of a tiki bar. We beckoned the call, and headed down for a spot on a bar stool and the drink of the day appropriately named the TGIF. After chatting with the ladies that ran the bar and the few other patrons, time was calling us back. We stopped to admire a pristine beach along the way. However, Pam and I never really even got to admire the beach because on the way down the trial to the beach I looked down and noticed a piece of sea glass. Dropping to my knees I found that we had stumbled on the mother-load of sea glass. For twenty minutes we moved sand to reveal treasure - we must have looked like dogs digging holes. Pam and I could have stayed there all day collecting sea glass, but seeing as how the rental time had nearly expired on the Hump D, the men were about to drag us out cave man style. In such short time, we each were able to collect about 3" of glass in the bottom of our large zip locks. We committed the location of sea glass beach to memory, promised to return, and regretfully hopped back on the Hump D.
On the mad dash back to return our ride, we ran into a herd? pack? gaggle? of baby pigs. They ran out into the road to greet us with their snorty, wet noses. We got the Hump D back before it turned into a pumpkin, loaded up the dingy with a last ice run, and headed back to our boats to prep for the early morning last trip out the channel of White Sound. What a day! What a great day!

Magic...

It happens every day. Why not just accept it and resist the urge to challenge it?