Thirty Days of Letters

Today marked thirty days of letters left out in public for others to find.  To date, I haven't received a reply to a single one of them, but I'm hopeful.

Day 30 Letter Drop - Bass Pro Shop Fish Tank Display - Spanish Fort, AL

I'm not sure what I expected when I started writing these letters. I do know that I'm still hoping to make a connection with someone that finds the content compelling enough to respond.

The exercise has proven to be a practice in consistency.  I'd like to think the writing in them is getting a little clearer and more heartfelt. I do know that from time to time, just getting the writing done and the letter delivered has been a challenge. 

I'm not sure where this is all leading, but I continue to be drawn to the practice, and I'll keep it up until the calling fades to the background.

Holding Pattern

Occasionally, I find that my life gets into a holding pattern.  I'm doing the daily practice.  I might even be hitting some elements of the practice better than I have at other times during the journey. For whatever reason, during these time, it feels like my progress has stalled.

I haven't been able to correlate these episodes to anything in particular, and I've come to assume that they are really just a normal part of existence. I like to think of them as time when the universe is just consolidating. If I'm fortunate, and I often am, I still find the beauty that I'm seeking in the daily rising and setting of the sun.

Night Shatters - Spanish Fort, AL

When I get into one of these spots, I find it best just to relax a little.  Great experiences sometimes take a little time to put together, and the world is an infinitely complex place. Forcing the issue or trying to get ahead of the way things are meant to be often just leads to frustration. Better to keep pressing on with doing the next right thing and enjoying the ride.

Sol Beats a Retreat - Mobile, AL

I'm a little impatient, but I've seen this movie before. I don't know if the dam will break and things will start happening tomorrow, but I know if I'm lucky the answer will be revealed.  Until then, keep walking.

Six Sunset Vistas to Add to Your Bucket List

If you've been following this blog, you should know that there are not very many of you, and you have probably figured out by now that I enjoy to post pictures of sunsets and sunrises.  The pictures lean toward sunsets, but that's mostly a function of the schedule I keep. Both astronomical phenomenon are equally beneficial from my perspective.

I also love travel and have been blessed with visits to four of seven continents and a fairly robust log of locales visited over the course of my life. Although the beginning and ending of a day are special experiences anywhere you find yourself, I do have some favorite locations.  Without further ado, I give you six sunset vistas to add to your bucket list.

1.  Key West, Florida - A week's worth of attending the Sunset Celebration hosted daily at Mallory Square Dock in Key West is worth the planefare and boarding combined. Every day that the sun makes an appearance is a celebration with performers, crafters, food, and hundreds of people gathered for the finale of the day. Key West in general is a very special place, and the Sunset Celebration lives up to the billing it receives as a party to acknowledge the glory of nature as the sun settles down into the Gulf of Mexico.

2.  West Shore of Oahu - Anywhere along the western shore of Oahu, Hawaii delivers a sunset vista that should be experienced at least once in your life. Some of my favorite views of the sunset in Oahu came during the (more expensive) celebration at the Paradise Cove Luau. Having been to a luau or ten, the sunset as viewed from the beach associated with Paradise Cove makes this one special. If you're going to attend a luau anyway, and you should, might as well make it a two-fer and take in colors of the sky as the sun makes it's exit until the next morning.

3.  Bridge over College Creek on Rowe Blvd, Annapolis MD - For reasons that I don't completely understand, the quality of lighting in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, particularly in Annapolis, MD, rivals anywhere else in the world I have traveled.  The bridges over College Creek in Annapolis offer long stretches of water to reflect the spectacular pinks, reds, oranges, blues, and greens that often accompany the setting sun. Partly cloudy days with a clear horizon provide the best viewing, but if the sun is visible any day will do in a pinch.

4.  Fairhope, Alabama - The bluff overlooking South Beach Park and Stack Gully has a concrete walking trail, numerous benches, convenient bathroom facilities, and a number of public art installations and piers that add interesting contrasts to the views of the sun settling down into the waters of Mobile Bay. In the winter the air off the bay brings a hint of warmth and in the summer there is usually a cooling breeze to cut some of the famous south Alabama heat and humidity. After the sunset, the town of Fairhope offers the same celebratory atmosphere that seems to be a theme to accompany my favorite sunset parks. The folks at McSharry's Irish Pub are always warm and friendly, and the shepherd's pie is well worth the visit after a long day of walking.

5.  Anywhere on the ocean - Sunsets undefiled by city lights and foreground obstructions are near the top of the list.  While I've never personally seen the green flash , I'm going to keep going to places with unobstructed horizons until I do see one or can no longer make the journey.

6.  Wherever you are right now. I post quite a few of my sunset and sunrise pictures to other social media sites, and I had a friend comment the other day that I "was making everyone look bad with all these pictures of the magic moments" of the day. It's not that I'm a particularly good photographer or that fabulous sunsets are particularly rare occurrences. Every photo I post is a contemporary sunset or sunrise from the day it was posted unless noted otherwise (and that is a rare occurrence). I'm lucky because I put myself outside at the magical moment that happens almost every day and just wait for the unique but ubiquitous event to occur while I'm watching.

I'll leave you this evening with another view closing the chapter on another day.

Sunset - Residential Street - Spanish Fort, AL

Another great day for the books, and I'm looking forward to facing the mystery of tomorrow.

They Call It a Trial and Not a Kegger for A Reason

Today proved to be a long, tiring, and thankfully, productive day.  I hit the trail early and put some miles under the soles of my feet and welcomed the dawn toward the end of my walk.

Sunrise over Spanish Fort, AL

Bringing a ship to life and demonstrating it the an independent inspection team in a process known as acceptance trials consumed the rest of the day up until a bit after nine pm. I guess there's a reason they call it a trial and not a kegger, although I think that a party might be a better way to go about the task.

Late in the afternoon, a series of thunderstorms rolled across the area.

Mobile, AL skyline as the storm tapered off

The rain broke through the oppressive humidity about thirty minutes before sunset, and we wrapped up the day bathed in the cool beauty of the air freshened by the rain.

Clouds Breaking as the Sun Sets over Mobile

Mother Nature in all Her Glory - Mobile, AL

Fire Mingling with Water - Mobile, AL

I managed to keep up with the daily practices and still put in a pretty full day's work tackling problems. I'm looking forward to what tomorrow may reveal.

Returning to Normal

Getting back into the swing of things really started to kick into high gear today. For the first time, I interacted with two colleagues who apparently didn't realize that I had not been promoted.  The first one congratulated me on making the cut. That was a bittersweet revelation because I really respect this guy and it seemed that he was a little surprised things had broken left when he thought they'd broken write.  The second one was a well meaning but clueless gent whom babbled on about the most recent decisions without acknowledging I might have even been in the mix.  I kept my tongue and moved on with this lad.  Not advertising my apparent misfortuned seemed the best course of action for him.

All that aside, today was the first day that the recent state of events did not linger at the forefront of my mind. I found enough action afoot to manage to lend a hand without being overbearing or inserting myself in situations that did not require my input. I believe that's the course I will chart going forward. I'm finding that not pursuing things that are outside my scope of responsibility feels like quite a relief.

I also got back to thinking about walking, calisthenics, and photography.

Foggy Sunrise - Mobile, AL

This evening, I headed back into the office to pick up my items for the daily practice of minimalism, and while on the road came across this vista that begged to be captured.

Mobile, AL Skyline with Austal Ship Assembly Bay in the Foreground

This picture doesn't quite to justice to the scene that I stumbled upon, but it gives some idea of the stark industrial beauty of the riverfront landscape in Mobile, AL after the sun has set. After stopping to take in the sights, I picked up my candidates for divestment and headed back to the hotel.

Minimalism Day 5 - Alabama Edition

I left five books in the business center of the hotel. After a bit of arranging, I got them to sit a little like a miniature library. I caught myself imagining that this might become an informal version of the Little Free Library concept. If you see something you like, take it while you're on the road. If you finish something while you're here, drop it off for the next traveller. Perhaps we can all save ourselves nine or ten dollars at the airport when we've exhausted our reading material just before catching the next plane to wherever we're headed.  

I'll track it for the time I'm here, and if it lasts or changes let you know.  This little book exchange hasn't been sanctioned by the hotel, so it would not surprise me to see it disappear entirely in relatively short order, but perhaps it will remain. If it does, I look forward to observing the ebb and flow of the reading material of my fellow travellers. One way or another, my pack got just a little bit lighter, and I now have something to look forward to observing, my own little literary experiment if you will, as the day unfolds tomorrow.

A Long Day of Travel

I'm back up in Maryland after a relatively long day of travel getting back here from the land of alligators and fried pickles. I got out and put in just a few miles earlier in the morning, and I was rewarded with a nice sunrise.

Sunrise - Spanish Fort, AL

A friend of mine remarked that I was blessed with seeing such beautiful skies. I noted that it's there for the asking to anyone who gets outside to observe them. The beauty that walking has brought into my life is indeed a real blessing.

The only other thing worth remarking on is that I managed to pen the title for the country song i mentioned in yesterday's post. I think the title of the tune should be something like, "That Five Finger Discount on the Little Debbie Snack Cake, Sure Cost Me Quite a Bit of Time.

Till tomorrow, and whatever it may reveal.

Roll Tide

As I write this, I'm watching the 2015-2016 College Football National Championship game unfold on television. Given my location, it goes without saying that I'm pulling for the Alabama Crimson Tide finishes out the last five minutes of the game with their lead intact. Currently, they're leading 38-27.

In addition to the fact that I'm watching television, an unusual event over the last several months, I also went out to dinner with the folks from work. I had a good cajun meal at Boudreaux's Cajun Grill in Daphne, AL, and the company was a refreshing change from my usual monastic walking existence.

Both of these events have been a welcome change to what has become my habitual routine.

Sunrise over Spanish Fort, AL

After all, life can't be all about sunsets, sunrises, and water views. With a little bit of work and sequencing, I actually managed to get in my daily practice as well as an hour of television and a social dinner.

Another great day in the books, some of my more recent routines have been challenged, and I'm well placed to enjoy whatever tomorrow might reveal.

The Benefits of Air Travel

I found myself on the road again for work. More accurately, I took to the air and in a surprisingly short period of time covered over 1800 miles on my way to lower latitudes. Although a bit on the pricey side, airports are one of those places where you are easily able to access anything that your heart might desire.  They really have become highly functional as well as artistic facilities. Those features are all on the public facing side of an incredibly complex and effective logistics enterprise that moves thousands of people and thousands of tons of cargo across the country (and the world) quickly and efficiently everyday.

Sunrise at Charlotte International Airport

Part way to my final destination, I found myself back in the land of what one of my friends calls the "Panther Plane" for obvious reasons.

Vertical Stabilizer of the "Panther Plane"

I also stumbled across this blast from what I assumed was the long forgotten past of a different sort of air travel.

Piedmont Airlines Offices

I always assumed that Piedmont Airlines was one of those regional carriers that had vanished into the mists of time.  There were some major changes after they merged with US Air in 1989, and here is some of Piedmont's earlier history. It turns out that they are still operating under the American Airlines group, and their headquarters is still in Salisbury, MD.  Charlotte International Airport is one of their principle hubs.  I do like their logo.

Arriving in my final destination for the day, I slowed down my pace quite a bit, and I put in just over eleven miles on the ground. As sometimes happens, I really wasn't too very thrilled about the prospect of that kind of distance after a day of travel, but when I got to about the halfway point, my outlook had shifted, and I was glad to be out on the trial.

Statue of the goddess Daphne in front
of the Daphne, AL City Hall

This statue is one of my favorite vistas along the thirty two mile long Eastern Shore Trail that runs from Spanish Fort, AL to south of Fairhope, AL. It is especially striking at sunset, and I caught it at just the right hour this evening. That was a fortunate piece of good luck and entirely spontaneous. It's a lesson for me that good things will happen if I'm willing to put in the work.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office in Daphne, AL

This was my turnaround point this evening about 5.7 miles into the walk. Overall, it was a productive and fulfilling day in the air and out on the trail.

A Missed Opportunity

Picture taking today was a bit constrained by the darkness in which my pedestrianism was practiced.  I did run across a sign that piqued my interest.  I have never seen anything quite like this, and I wonder what sort of testing warrants this sort of warning.

Unusual Signage in Spanish Fort, AL

This post would be much shorter if, after seeing this sign, I hadn't made an error that cost me a missed opportunity later in the walk along the Eastern Shore Trail through Daphne, AL.

Some background is probably in order to set the stage for a hasty and unthoughtful mistake that cost me an opportunity to practice some of the philosophy that got me out on the trail in the first place.  One of my fanciful imaginings before actually setting out on the practice of pedestrianism was that walking would afford me the opportunity to meet and interact with interesting people.  Now while this is not an untrue aspect of the walking completed to date, the circumstances for that interaction have not manifested themselves in accordance with my projections.

My imagination pictured walking a trail or a road and coming upon a like minded individual following a similar path to mine.  One of us would slow to the pace or speed up to the pace of the other and we'd exchange stories of the road and life...experiences seen in the and hoped for during our future travels.  After over a year of walking every day, the truth of the matter is that this has only happened to me once if you discount the walking and talking I've done with Rory. The one time that the interchange I imagined was going to happen was in downtown Mobile, just across the river from the encounter today, and I managed to turn a homeless man's attempt (successful in the end by the way) at panhandling into about a ten minute conversation about shipyards, beer, drugs, a Salvation Army sleeping back, work in a shipyard as a painter, the loss of automobile transportation, and what it was like living out on the street. I walked away from that exchange a little bit melancholy, but it was certainly not a boring engagement.

After over 4500 miles covered, that exchange is the one example where a version of my "meeting new people" as part of my walking occurred.  I've exchanged relatively hasty greetings, brief discussions on weather, and hours and hours of talking to Rory but given our history I'm not counting those.

Today, I was presented with another opportunity to make that human connection that I had created out of thin air in my mind and if my experience is indicative is truly a rare occurrence.  I blew it big time.  

I was walking north after completing the outbound leg of my evening ambulation when three youths wearing ties and headed south met me along the path.  Given the level of darkness, the age of the fellows involved, and the fact that there were three of them (although two is more common), I pegged them as Jehovah's Witnesses. Although I quickened my pace a little, I was not disappointed in my prediction when the lead lad said to me, "Excuse me sir, I was wondering if we could share our message with you?"  I brushed them aside with a wave of my left hand and said, "Thanks. I'm good." I continued my clip north, and I suspect that I'll never see them again.

Now there are a number of things wrong about how I handled that situation and a number of excuses that I could offer.  The bottom line up front is that I blew and opportunity, a rare one at that, to make good on one of the original visions that I had of this endeavor.  I sold my dream short because at the time I wasn't willing to listen.  Someone took it upon themselves to reach out to me and establish contact, and I blew them off for no reason at all.

I can't even say that I've heard the message that they were trying to bring me before.  Though a few of my close friends in high school were Mormons and I've heard snippets of their doctrine before, I've never taken the time to listen to their message. When they've come to my door, I've told them to fuck off.  I've said it a bit more politely than that of course, but that was the message.  It was the same message my dismissive wave and arrogant statement of being good with the world and not in need of hearing their message this evening conveyed. I've never given them the opportunity to share their missionary message, so it is just not possible to know that I'm good in the absence of facts.

On further reflection, I realize that a more appropriate response would have been to invite them to join me and share whatever they liked.  I suspect they would have wheeled about and come with me given the fact that they probably face the type of dismissive arrogance that I demonstrated time after time as they work to practice their own spiritual journey. I'd stumbled across that fellow traveller that I had imagined, some young men on the own quest for spiritual discovery, and I blew them off because on the surface their journey was not the same one I am undertaking.

I don't know what would have come out of that interaction, but it was an opportunity that the universe delivered on a silver platter to the middle of the trail I was walking and I went out of my way to exercise my will to ignore it.  

I won't say that it won't happen again, but I am committed to not making that exact same mistake again.  It's not in keeping with what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm also not so awash in connectedness that I can't afford to spend a little time with a fellow human who has the courage to reach out with an offer of brotherhood, however brief it might have been. If I'm offered another opportunity to hear the message of a Jehovah's Witness, I'm going to listen to it.  Then I'll at least be able to make a determination based on some facts.

There is a relatively long poem titled "The Laws of the Navy" written by CAPT Hopewood, RN, and I recommend it for consideration because it is excellent life advice.  I think this stanza has some application in this situation.

Saith the wise, "How may I know their purpose?"
Then acts without wherefore or why.
Stays the fool but one moment to question,
And the chance of his life passeth by