In the middle of the Atlantic, depth 17,000 feet

Wed August 29^th

As usual with a Semester at Sea voyage, time is flying by so far!  The community is off to a good start, I’m really enjoying the students, faculty, staff, crew, and officers, and I love the student life staff—they are a great, brilliant, hard-working bunch of good folks.

As I am writing this, we’ve been having some really big swells.  I am sitting in my office in a roll-y chair, and I pretty much just crashed into Chris, my assistant dean of students, and knocked her off her chair— “I’m coming your way!” is now the quote of the morning.  The past couple of days have been really swell-y.  I slept last night in what I like to call my Michael Jordan pose—legs wide to brace against side to side and with one arm above my head sort of bracing against the wall.  I have also taken full advantage of the hold bars in the shower.  What I’ve taken the most pictures of so far is the ocean—as much as I’ve been spending time with fantastic people, I feel like it’s been my constant companion, and I continue to be in awe of its moods, its power, and its poetry. 

In no particular order, some other highlights—shopping for art supplies in Halifax with Darlene (one of the professors) and Randy (the Assistant Executive Dean), seeing a whale swim by at dinner, stopping to watch the moon peek out from behind the clouds and paying respect to Neil Armstrong next to Kathy Thornton, next fall’s academic dean and an astronaut herself, and getting a gift of yummy snacks for the first Atlantic crossing from my friend Debbie.

In Galway, I will be travelling overland to Dublin with several friends.  We will be stopping in the lovely town of Dingle.  Will post again soon!   

chin-rest services $2/hour will accept mice in lieu of $

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh," he whispered.

"Yes, Piglet?"

"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw, "I just wanted to be sure of you."

Little tykes

zola & brie

Beginner's Mind

"If grief or anger arises,

Let there be grief or anger.

This is the Buddha in all forms,

Sun Buddha, Moon Buddha, Happy Buddha, Sad Buddha.

It is the universe offering all things to awaken and open our heart."

Jack Kornfield

Life has been bringing up challenges for me; I have been seeking new and graceful ways to learn and grow from them. I am trying to cultivate "beginner's mind", to look at things afresh and in new ways, instead of letting old habits and fears determine my path. I am appreciative of the things that I am learning, and of the family and friends that have been offering their support along this leg of my journey.

The picture is from last weekend in Esalen, where I had the opportunity to take a weekend workshop called "conscious embodiment and the path of nature". We were taught some somatic akido methods of mindfulness and presence--what does that mean? Well, it's a bit like grounding/meditating in your body, while standing or walking instead of sitting. We also applied this to the lessons & grounding & connectedness one can get from nature, and this included a hike in the Big Creek wilderness preserve in Big Sur.

more kitty pics for Caleb

Zola & Brie. Sleeping during the day. Brie managed to fall out of a window last night at 5am, but she seems fine, except for some of her little claws on one paw--I can't get the image out of my head of her hanging on by a paw...but again, she seems fine.