Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

This past weekend we went to see another lighthouse. This one was the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse in America and the tallest brick lighthouse in the world.



The automated beacon of light from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is visible every seven seconds. Over 1 million bricks, baked in kilns along the James River in Virginia, were used during construction between 1868 and 1870.



It is believed that the engineer who was originally assigned to paint North Carolina's lighthouses got his plans mixed up. Apparently, the diamond-shaped figures, which were supposed to warn traffic away from Diamond Shoals, went to Cape Lookout. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse received spiral striping, thus obtaining the nickname ''The Big Barber Pole.''



We enjoyed the visit very much. We did not grab that many pictures though because of the smoke that was in the air today. There is a fire on the mainland and the smoke was courtesy of that.

Cassi and her Feather

Gratitude

Gratitude is a beautiful thing. I've been full of thoughts of gratitude all month long. Today I realized what a strange thing it can be though. We did a Skype chat with one of our Reach the World classrooms. And I left with such overwhelming gratitude for the opportunity, I had to blog while I am still full of the emotions that it filled me with.



Picture it. Here we are sitting in sunny and warm Florida...hanging out in our lounge chairs next to the palm trees. Living a leisurely and good life. On the other end is a fourth grade classroom. In Harlem. Living...well, I don't know how, because I've never been to Harlem. But I'm guessing it is not so warm and maybe not so lazy of a pace.



That's not the point though. Because it's not like we were sitting around feeling sorry for them because we are in Florida and they are in Harlem. We've traveled enough to know that every place is interesting and has it's pros and cons. So it's not pity moving us to be here. In fact, we were not really sitting around feeling anything but excited to do this. We want to give this classroom full of wonderful little people whatever it is they might ask of us during the chat. Stories, information, maybe just a chance to talk to someone living somewhere else.

On the other hand, we are not so naive that we aren't aware that they may in fact lead a harder in some ways life than we currently are. We realize just being in school might be a daily challenge. Getting good grades and having great attendance might be something that presses heavily on them and is a giant victory when they do succeed in reaching those goals. We trust like most children, they are warriors in their own ways.

But none of this is on our minds at this moment. Mostly I am just filled with excitement that I get to do this chat with them. And I'm wondering how Austin will do with it all. The point is, I am completely self absorbed really. Just full of myself wondering what I can give and hoping it is enough and so grateful to have the opportunity.

The point is, I'm not thinking at all about what this might mean to them.



Then the beauties and cuties file in and we see them on the webcam. They are awesome. Bright and shining faces and all. Nervous grins so we are waving at them to ease them (and ourselves). The teacher says how excited they've been to meet us. That they showed up on Monday waiting to chat. (We had to cancel and reschedule due to our travel plans) And then she says...they dressed up so they'd look their best for you. I look and see that they are in fact dressed up. In their Sunday best. To meet us.



At which point I lost it. I mean, started crying right on the spot. Had to step away from the webcam to pull myself together. These amazing people were so excited to meet *us* that they dressed up to look their best for it??? Seriously??? Oh, my. I didn't quite know what to do with that except stop and revel in the wonder of it.

These lovelies were extending such a precious gift of gratitude to us. Wow. It's a rare moment in life when you realize equally mutual gratitude is happening right at that very moment. I mean I've been on one side or the other many times and it's a good thing to be on either side. But to have both of you be so filled with gratitude and sharing it in this communal way. It's a deeply spiritual thing. It changes you. It is something words can't quite capture.



I was just showing up to do a chat on our travels. I had no idea such a beautiful gift would be given to me. Incredible! What a wonderful, and oh so fitting way to head into Thanksgiving.



Thank you, Ms. Johnson's class. I can't wait to meet you in person. It is a given I will cry even harder then.

Happy Hour at Our Place

We keep thinking that each Happy Hour we have attended lately is probably the last one for this season. Luckily, that has not been the case. Donna decided to throw another one with those of us who are still here. And there ended up being plenty of us to have a really nice Happy Hour. We held the party at our place and we had tons of great food again. Donna made sloppy joes and there was lots of great side dishes and desserts.



We spent most of the night talking with each other, which is what Happy Hours are mainly for.





We also like to have fun, and this time our cornhole game provided the entertainment. We managed to get almost every single one of us out there to play this fun game.



This game might look easy but it is not as easy as it appears to be. It requires lots of concentration.



Buddy and Tonya were naturals. Right away they looked like they'd played the game forever. Travis played a pretty mean game too. The rest of us are still learning but we had tons of fun too. The best round of the evening was one where Travis and Art put five in a row through the hole. I managed to snap the fifth one as it is heading through the hole.



We played most of the night and then sat and chatted some before the mosquitoes drove us all back into our rigs. The weather was perfect and I'm so glad we did have yet another great Happy Hour.

The Ninilchik Russian Orthodox Church

The Holy Transfiguration of Our Lord Church sits atop a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet south of Soldotna in the tiny community of Ninilchik. We stopped there on the way to Homer because “The Milepost” (the travel guide we're using) stated that this church was a popular tourist site on the Kenai Peninsula with beautiful views of Cook Inlet.

The church was picturesque as was the cemetery. The church has an active congregation and there were several recent burials in the cemetery.

According to an entry in Wikipedia, the top bar of the double cross may represent the death of Jesus and the second one may symbolize his resurrection, but it could also be the cross beam on which Christ's wrists or palms were nailed. The bottom, slanted bar may represent a footrest where Jesus' feet were nailed to the cross. Another interesting interpretation has a much deeper meaning: The bottom bar may represent a balance of justice. Some sources suggest that, as one of the thieves being crucified with Jesus repented of his sin and accepted Jesus as the Messiah and was thus lifted into Heaven, the other thief rejected and mocked Jesus and therefore descended into Hell.

And even though Mother Nature wasn't cooperating (clouds and rain all day long), the view from the bluff was still quite beautiful. A portion of the town of Ninilchik and Cook Inlet (at low tide) seen from the bluff.

What Our Hands Can Do

Looking over these photos from the Friday after Thanksgiving, I noticed something interesting: Almost everything pictured here is hand-made.The dress I am wearing was made by my mother. The hat and scarf were made by me. Even the bicycle was hand-made by an Italian frame builder for Bella Ciao. This combination was not intentional, but once I noticed it, I found it striking.

My mother knitted this elaborate wool dress for herself in the early 1980s and wore it all through her 20s and 30s, after which point she gave it to me. The dress suited her much better, but that has not stopped me from wearing it since I were a teenager. It only occurred to me recently how remarkable it is for a dress like this to survive being worn for three decades by two different women - neither of whom are at all gentle with their clothing. And yet here it is, still looking fresh and current.The tailoring, the textural variation, and the attention to detail are incredible by today's standards - and my mother made tons of this stuff when I was a child, while being a busy career woman, too. (I remember seeing her knit while speaking on the phone and reading a book about mathematics at the same time... )



While my own attempts at knitting are fairly pedestrian compared to my mother's past projects, they do have one feature in common:longevity. I knitted this scarf back in grad school, and 8 years later it remains alive and well, while countless store-bought ones have since fallen apart. My friends, for whom I've made clothing as far back as high school, give me the same feedback - some of them still wear the things I made in the mid-'90s. Noticing this was a big reason why I started to knit and sew again this year: I am not that great at it, but the stuff I make lasts and fits me better than store-bought.



Over this past year I have done something a little nuts: I've sold or given away most of my clothing - stuff that I had collected and saved for more than 10 years. When I was younger, I was into edgy fashion and quirky designers, but lately that interest has all but faded - replaced by a curiosity regarding how far I can go making things on my own. Aside from knitting, I have been cutting up some of my remaining old clothing and handsewing "new" clothes out of it. Hopefully I will get a sewing machine for the holidays, which will allow me to take things further. In the past I have dabbled in making my own fountain pens as well. And eventually - maybe, just maybe, I would like to try my hand at building bicycle frames - or at least designing them à laGrant Petersen.



While my framebuilding days are not yet on the horizon, I do have enormous respect for bicycles hand-made by others, and an insatiable curiosity about the process. Whether independent framebuilders such as JP Weigle, Peter Mooney, Royal H.and ANT, or small manufacturers such as Mercian, Rivendell, Velo Orange and even Pashley andBella Ciao - I am impressed by the sheer amount of work and consideration it takes to get the design, the construction, and the finishing just right. The more I learn about the process, the more overwhelming it seems. In a world of homogenous, mass-produced goods, it is amazing to witness what our minds and our hands are capable of creating.

New stuff in the shop

We’ve just added three new books to the shop, all very different.






First up is The Boulder by Francis Sanzaro, published by the Stone Country Press. What does it mean for us to be involved in bouldering? How does it’s movement and sporting challenges relate to other activities like Parkour, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, or even art disciplines like painting. Are you doing it to engage in a sport? Simply play on rocks? Compete with others? Enjoy movement. Possibly all of these and many more reasons besides.




The boulder explores the philosophy of bouldering, what it can mean for boulderers and how we can use and examination of this to improve both our bouldering and what we take from it. For many readers, discovering bouldering will no doubt have changed your life. But surely starting out in a new found activity isn’t the end of the story? There are many life changes to be found as you learn more and more about what bouldering is doing for you. I would expect most readers to be helped along this path. It’s in the shop here.






Next is Fiva by Gordon Stainforth, which is only recently out but fast accumulating a big reputation for a brilliant read. Gordon was previously more famous for his excellent photography books. Eyes to the Hills was one of the first mountain books I borrowed from my library as a 15 year old novice climber. We don’t tend to get many mountaineering stories in the shop, but Gordon’s big win with this book at the Banff Mountain festival in November prompted us to check it out and we were impressed. I won’t say too much about it other than it describes a death-on-a-stick epic on Troll Wall in Norway. If you know anything about how serious the Troll Wall is, the Fiva route sounds particularly toe-curling just to read about. Much recommended by us if you like reading about proper adventures. It’s in the shop here.






Finally, and with some satisfaction I can finally report that we have the first stock of the new Scottish Sport Climbs guidebook by the SMC. I wrote a reasonable chunk of the text myself, and since I first had a draft of ‘my’ crags completed in November 2004, I can appreciate as much as anyone how long it’s been in coming. A more substantial introduction to the book is coming in another post in a minute, but for now the book is in the shop here.