A beautiful kayaking morning on The Sea of Cortez
The above picture was taken
about three weeks ago from my trailer as the sun rose over The Sea. It was a
kayaker’s dream morning. The Sea was flat like a lake, no wind predicted and a
slight, slight cloud cover so it would not be so hot as the sun climbed higher.
I don’t recall whether I saw anything of particular note that day, just the
quiet and tranquility of being with Grandmother.
I may have mentioned in an
earlier blog that my land partners, and adopted French Canadian family, The
Q’s, are all superb athletes and devoted to the study of the marshal arts.
Jean-Luc is a black belt in Judo and instructs in Quebec. My dear Brigitte just
completed her tests in karate, and is now ‘Shodan”, a first-degree black belt.
Brigitte Mercier, "Shodan"
I am extremely proud of her.
She has three grown sons, runs a restaurant with Jean-Luc, maintains a
household, attends karate classes devotedly (where she helps instruct) and
looks like a 20 year old. This picture does not do her justice, CONGRATULATIONS
Brigitte!
I enjoyed watching the Summer
Olympics except for the usual hyperbole that has become a consistent trait in
American journalism. I was particularly annoyed with the business about Michael
Phelps being “The Greatest Olympic Athlete in History”. I was a water-polo
player and swimmer so I do know the effort it takes to be the best in the water (not that I was) and I honor that. He very well could be the greatest competitive swimmer so far
in history…but “Greatest Olympic Athlete” is a bit much. When one considers the
ALL AROUND athleticism of a competitor in the Decathlon (two days/ten events),
one can talk about “Greatness”. My favorite choice would be The Native American
Indian, Jim Thorpe. He won gold medals in both the decathlon and pentathlon in 1912!!
Jim Thorpe, a truly GREAT athlete
Mexico’s gold medal in soccer
was a special treat. I watched it with the neighborhood cantina owner, Alfonzo,
who opened up his place at 8:00 am in the morning so I could watch it on his
big screen.
My homeland of Estonia
received two medals; one for wrestling and one for discus…go Estonia!
And one last word about The
Olympics. You have to give credit to Terri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor. Three
consecutive gold medals in beach volleyball, that’s twelve YEARS of being the
best!! Amazing.
Terri Walsh....."digging it"
On a different level entirely, here’s a little something to
ponder.
Keep in mind please, there are TWO heads
on the overpopulation monster…People Overpopulation and Consumption
Overpopulation. Two distinct but EQUALLY serious problems. Nevertheless, look
what we humans do sometimes.
I was also delighted to see
the landing on Mars of the rover Curiosity. Even if a single reproducing
cellular organism is to be found, every cent is worth it. And if one living
organism is not found, what an incredible feat of technology nonetheless, makes
me proud to be a human.
Curiosity, the Mars rover
Check out the NASA website to
see how they landed this vehicle…unbelievable!!
And here’s a picture it sent
back a few days later
That's Earth, Jupiter and Venus....from Mars!
On a more earthly note, we FINALLY
got our first summer rain on the fourteenth. A good three-day constant
watering…the desert is thriving!
The manuscript about my life
with the whales is now in the hands of Balboa Press. The working title is: The
Others, “The Whale People”: A Personal Journey of Discovery, Transformation and Healing. There will probably be much to be done yet but I am hoping to be
published by Christmas.
Speaking of Cetaceans, check
this out.
Dolphin sound
White beaked dolphin
(Lagenorhynchus albirostris) sounds, wavelet graph. This image was produced by
converting the frequencies of sounds made by a white beaked dolphin into a
graph using a mathematical process known as wavelets. Wavelets reveal structure
and detail that are not always visible in standard graphs of frequency over
time (known as a spectrogram). This image has been plotted as a polar
coordinate (circular) graph but wavelet graphs can also be in rectangular form.
Dolphins produce a wide variety of high frequency vocalizations, such as
clicks, whistles and cries. These sounds are used for echolocation and
communication with other dolphins. They can be recorded using underwater
hydrophones. Image created by Mark Fischer from Aguasonic Acoustics, USA.
Well, that’s about it for
now my friends. I hope with all my heart that your journeys are going well…and
I leave you with this little bit of wisdom.
Que les vaya bien, amigos
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