On Sunsets and Thunderstorms

This morning, I spent my time walking about on the anvil of the sun. The weather has taken on a distinctive tangibility of summer, and mountains of energy were piling up in the atmosphere. The heat was wet and heavy, and felt like it might foreshadow the kind of fireworks that drop out of the tops of cumulonimbus clouds later in the afternoon.

Around eight pm, the sky hadn't opened up yet so I took a quick jaunt down the street to catch the sunset though the lens of my viewfinder. Thinking just a bit ahead, I managed to remember to carry along a zip to sandwich bag "just in case" thunderstorms split the sky.

The pinkish orange twilight was beginning to stretch to the tops of the clouds when I left the front door, but I'd scarcely travelled two blocks when a more ominous hint of trouble began to overtake me from behind.

Thunderstorm Gaining Ground on my Position - College Creek

I ducked into an alcove in the boathouse on College Creek.  The timing proved impeccable as the sky split just as I found a thing fringe of protected concrete. A brisk rain started to fall, but the sky grew increasingly heavy.

Beginning of the Rain - College Creek Boathouse

Moving with a quickness I associate with bicycles and school buses, the brunt of the storm picked up its pace, and the rain swept across the boat dock in sheets.

Sheets of Rain at the Height of the Storm - College Creek Boathouse

As quickly as the storm rolled in, it moved on.

Passing of the Storm - College Creek

Following the cleansing rinse, the thunder gods plied their trade on the back side of the storm. Lightning flashed through the air, and I spent quite a bit of time trying to capture a photo of the fierce denomount. Happily for me, I managed to strike it rich once. 

Lightning Strike - College Creek

This was far from the most impressive display of direct current produced, but you've got to be quick and lucky to get anything on a cell phone camera when this sort of thing happens. This was a blessing to both witness and bear witness to the power unleashed over the course of about twenty minutes.

The Storm Moves On - College Creek

I didn't capture my sunset this evening. It happened, and I'm sure it was spectacular. Flying over the fury to the east would have been a great place to capture the magic hour of the day. I'm pretty happy with how my own viewpoint turned out.

Nightfall - College Creek

Lightning continued to flash, but in spite of my best efforts to snag another digital view, timing and luck didn't favor me again.

I hope there will be other opportunities. Another adventure is in the books, and I'm looking forward to unwrapping the gift of tomorrow.

Melancholy Friday?

I'd like to think of today as a melancholy Friday. Getting back into the swing of things after an extended time on the road is always a little difficult, but today I managed to muscle through it pretty well. The day had the texture of melancholy because I had to dig a little to drum up the motivation for grinding back into the daily practice. Doing what I've learned is right for me is more challenging when the excuses to avoid the discipline stack up against you.

Hazy Sunrise over the Anacostia

All that being said, an objective view of the day leads me to acknowledge that it was not a melancholy day at all. Two-a-day walking made a comeback, calisthenics were conducted, I'm writing again, meditation went well, work proved fairly productive, and we celebrated a roommate's birthday with some gifts that went over well and an ice cream cake. We even had breakfast for supper which is never a bad way to prepare for the evening fast.

Looking back, I'm glad that the last year of "practice" gave me the fortitude to continue my practice. The accomplishments fell into place, and even though they weren't perfect they were maintained. The universe even gifted me with a sunrise. The air was warm. The breeze was humid. The air conditioning cool.

Tomorrow will be a new experience, and I'm looking forward to carrying on into another set of adventures, no matter how routine they may sometimes seem.

The Alpha and Omega

As my last full day in Florida draws to a close, I thought I'd celebrate with the bookends to a very long and only semi-productive work day.

Sunrise - Mayport, FL

I watched while the small cloud to the right of the sun sacrificed itself in the form of rain (the streaming column below the cloud) over the course of about ten minutes. I've never seen anything quite like it before in my life. It was a great way to start the morning.

I wrapped up the day with a sunset.

Sunset - Mayport, FL

Low cloud cover made this one a bit less spectacular than some of the more recent displays, but it was good being outside with a warm ocean breeze wrapping around me like a quilt.

Southwest Airlines is doing their best to make tomorrow an adventure due to a technical outage with the check-in feature of their website. As is my habit, I'm looking forward to finding out how this little adventure will play out.

Sometimes Another Sunrise Just Has to Be Enough

I got another sunrise today.  Sometimes...actually every time...a sunrise is all that you have cause to hope for, and when you get another one, you see it for the gift that it really represents. This morning I got a sunrise and a thunderstorm that I was able to observe from afar. The dawning of the day was a particularly nice one.

Sunrise Thunderstorm - Mayport, FL

Today was a great gift filled with wonder. After all, I found myself wondering later in the afternoon just what the hell were forty people hoping to accomplish by meeting over the course of four hours that couldn't have been completed in a much shorter time.  Be that as it may, I'm looking forward to seeing what a new dawn may reveal about six hours from now.

Every Now and Then...

You get an opportunity to experience something spectacular. Today has been one of those days where event after event proved more fulfilling than the last one. Take those chances. I think you'll find that if you're awake, aware, and participating, days like the one I had today roll around more often than you've come to expect.

Back at BWI - Headed out on the road again

Today started off right with a quick hop skip and a jump on Southwest Airlines down to make my connection in Atlanta. The air was warm, but the sky was clear. I'd even remembered to check in yesterday just a little after the twenty four hour mark hit. For those of you who fly Southwest know, your seating will largely depend on getting checked in just as soon as possible. I was a little late, so I ended up in a middle seat. I did have room in the overhead bin for my backpack so that was a plus. I also had plenty of relatively svelte folks to choose to sit between during the flight. A good start to the day all in all.

Art on Display at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
Atlanta, GA

My layover in Atlanta was characterized by a walk a little over a mile long through the tunnels connecting the terminals. I've found that airports are pretty good places to see emerging contemporary art, and Atlanta proved to be the rule rather than the exception.

Leaving Atlanta - Bound for Florida

The typical afternoon thunderstorms were just getting started when we left Atlanta headed for Florida. The embryonic cumulous clouds were shaking awake and marching together to form the cumulonimbus playground of giants.

Thunderstorm Breaking on Final Approach

Thunderstorms have an untamed and wild beauty about them. Rain crashes out of the heavens and lightning smites the earth like a hammer. The legends of giants in the clouds seem well earned. These gods of the southern afternoon dwarfed our three hundred foot airliner and forced us to change our course a number of times in the short hop to Florida.

Lighthouse - Mayport, FL

I didn't really know where I was going, and got sidetracked quite a ways out of the way, and in the process I stumbled upon the St. Johns River Lighthouse in Mayport, FL. Originally constructed in 1890, the lighthouse has been out of commission for some time, but I'm grateful that it's still around. It turned an unfortunate sidetrack into an interesting drive.

Destroyer Sunset - Naval Station Mayport

I wrapped up the day with a spectacular sunset and a three mile walk on the beach. Today was a great day full of quite a few little adventures, and I'm grateful that I took the opportunity to experience them all. As always, I'm looking forward to see what tomorrow's adventure may hold in store for me.

The Pillars of the Pilgrimage

No pictures today. It's hard to believe that my Fitbit recorded a little over eight miles of walking without a deliberate period of walking throughout the day. Just for the record, walking as a form of exercise has a great advantage over other forms of cardiovascular exercise. Most of my day was taken up with yard work, and it's hard to imagine trying to jog and mow the lawn at the same time.  Walking...now that's a different story, but I digress.

I've been thinking more and more about how to construct the reality of the N2N-TCP. That's Newport (RI) to Newport (OR) Transcontinental Pilgrimage in case you've just joined us. Some folks in China visited the other day, and I'm not sure the fully aware of what this blog's really supposed to be about. I digress again. It's a habit from not getting any real feedback. There I go again.

Anyway, I'm working on the Pillars of the Pilgrimage. One of the doctrines of Islam that I've grown to appreciate quite a bit with some life experience are the Five Pillars. These concepts provide a relatively simple, but spiritual guidepost for folks practicing their Muslim faith. In short they are 1) A Testimony or Profession of Faith, 2) Obligatory Prayer, 3) Charity, 4) Fasting during Ramadan, and finally, one that I most closely relate to, 5) Pilgrimage to Mecca. The link above will provide a better description if that's what you're interested in, but the Islamic faith is not the point of this posting.

What I like about the five pillars are that they provide touchstones and simple discipline and I'm thinking of adopting the concept of the pillars to my own embryonic pilgrimage. Here's what I've come up with as general areas for consideration:

1) The Practice -Walking across the United States isn't too challenging. It merely requires putting one foot in front of the other over and over again. The Newport (RI) to Newport (OR) route is approximately 3600 miles long, and that equates to about a 6.6 million steps. Each step will be a practice of sorts, and the sheer scale of the undertaking will demand discipline (and about twelve pairs of shoes) to complete. If this isn't practice, I don't know what qualifies.

2) The Path - The path of our route is what's drawing me to this adventure. Seeing the country unfold is proving to be a powerful stimulant to my imagination, and I'm looking forward to seeing what lies around the next bend.  In Nebraska, I suspect we won't even be able to see the next bend for many miles, so walking this path may take a bit of patience.

3) The People - Rory Conlan is looking forward to meeting the people along the way. I'm looking forward to that aspect also, but I think this is the aspect of uncertainty that is really sparking his imagination. He's good with folks, and I think that skill set may prove very useful as we make our way slowly across one of the fatter parts of North America. If worse comes to worse, he may be able to get us a ride to the next town for a replenishment of Diet Coke or a job to earn enough to grab a bite to eat. Who know's what will happen, but we're both hoping that interesting people (really that's anyone that interacts with us in some way) will play a major role in the learning that may or may not come with this undertaking...ha ha...I mean adventure.

Those are the three that have gelled in my mind. I need to run them past Rory. If he ever visited this site, which he should be doing since supposedly he's a contributor, he'd know what I'm thinking. Since his presence comes about every four to six months, I'm not going to hold my breath.

Other candidates include The Planning, The Plodding, The Pastures, The Prayer, and The Potato. Clearly, some of these are better than others, but I really don't like any of them too very much. If anyone's out there reading this and has some suggestions, please let me know.

Until then and as always, I'm excited to see what a new dawn may bring. I suspect it will be enlightening.