Wishing away the Cloudy Days

Clouds over the Atlantic

Having just come through a series of cloudy days, I sometimes wonder what they are good for? Cloudy, gray, gloomy days. They are just there and hang around almost defying me to do something creative.

Yesterday, for instance, the weathermen indicated that the afternoon would be filled with rain and possible thunderstorms. I drove my truck to work coming out in the evening to discover bright clear skies that laughed at me for not driving my convertible. I prepared for gloom but was pleased to be bathed in clear skies. 

Some days, though, I can lay on a beach just looking at the clouds and imagining that I am somewhere else.

Of course listening to the waves crash onto the beach is never a bad thing in my mind, and so watching clouds while on the beach is not a true test of how to spend a gloomy day--but it is one approach.

I often go to the movies on cloudy afternoons. What better way to get out of the gray gloom than going into a dark room with a hundred or some of my new best friends to watch a movie? Planned properly, the gray afternoon melts away into darkness while I am being entertained.

And so does the day, it seems.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Darkness Falls but not my Spirits

Makayla

I noticed it last evening as Chris, Makayla and I headed out for an evening walk.

I confirmed it this morning as I walked Makayla before heading off to work. 

Darkness is falling earlier and staying later, ugh. I almost need to use the flashlight to clean up after Makayla. 

The darkness is beginning to take its toll on the available sunlight. August has been a bust in terms of weather with rain, cool, and gloom being the usual fare of the day; and now the darkness is gathering in preparation for the final assault upon summer.

Why am I projecting ahead? Because autumn arrives exactly one month from today.  Schools go back into session next week and because vacation is over many people erroneously believe that summer has ended.

It has not.

Summer is still with us. We need to celebrate despite the gathering darkness that causes gloom. Summer is with us for 31 more days.

Labor Day is coming.

September is coming.

I'm thinking about splitting my time between the Northern and the Southern Hemisphere so that I can enjoy perpetual spring and summer!

So despite the darkness, there is still plenty of summer to celebrate.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

On the Water

I love being on the water in a small boat.

There is something exhilarating about being on the waves looking back at the shore and the people and houses on the shore.

It is fun to look at the expensive houses arrayed along the water ways with their pools within steps of the water and significant boat houses to hold their expensive water craft.  I sometimes feel like a voyeur looking into their lives from the water.

But beyond the bounds of the water ways and onto the open ocean--that is the real thrill. Crossing the boundary from coastal water into ocean where the waves are real and the bottom drops out of sight fascinates me still, even though I have dove down and explored wrecks along the bottom, from above there is no trace of the complex bottom and sea life below.

Much has been written and movies have been made about life on the water and heading out onto the sea in small ships or boats and I am sure I cannot add anything significant to the body of work, except to note, I get it.

I love the clean smell of salt air and the coolness of the waves as they break over the bow and splash me. I am not a fan of being bruised by the boat as it slaps my backside repeatedly, but that kind of goes with the experience.

I am reminded of the John Masefield poem titled Sea Fever:

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,

And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters -- Review

I am a sucker for some genres of fantasy adventure movies, especially those involving Greek gods. As a result, I had to see the newest installment of the Percy Jackson series.

I took my Mom with me--who is a very critical movie watcher. She liked it, like many non-movie critics, while the seasoned critics do not like this film.

I found the plot to be engaging with the usual twists and turns of relationships between adolescents. The movie does rely heavily upon the storyline from the previous movie for background, however; it is easy for a first timer to get involved in the plot without understanding everything else that has happened in the first movie with respect to Percy Jackson learning that he is the son of Poseidon and all that entails. 

I felt that Logan Lerman did a good job reprising his role as Percy Jackson, but the show stealer was Jake Abel who portrayed a very evil and troubled former friend, Luke. The story revolves around a quest to recover the fleece and its magical healing powers. The quest has its share of monsters and troubles along the way. But it moves along quickly and the action scenes are not so long that I lost interest in the movie. 

Here is the real important aspect of the film though. When it ended, I was left wanting more! I did not want the adventure or the action to end. That is the sign of a good movie. In terms of the watch checking quotient--I did not check my watch at all during the movie and so it received a perfect score of zero.

RECOMMENDATION: See this movie. This film is suitable for the under 13 crowd. No bad language, no sex, it does have mild violence and scary monsters.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Monday Musings - August 19, 2013

1. The best part about being in a hospital is leaving.

2. Movies are a great way to spend a sleepy Saturday afternoon.

3. There is far more entertainment at wineries than just the wine.

4. Why has our news media become so sensationally oriented and one sided--are we losing our perspective as a society?

5. Movie critics just don't get it--they see too many movies.

6. There are 39 games left in the baseball season and it is time for the Orioles to make a move.

7. Opening Day seems like such a long time ago.

8. On this date during 1871 Orville Wright was born. Where would air travel be without him?

9. I like the Orioles Bird--he makes me smile whenever I see him.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Context, the key to Explaining Problems

Have you ever tried to understand someone who is explaining a problem for which you have not context?  It can be at the same time comical and tragic. 

One person knows exactly what they are explaining, while the other person isn't even in the same time zone in terms of understanding the problem.

Context! That is what is needed.

Too often we begin speaking without setting the scene and that is why sometimes the person who is being spoken to looks at us like two-headed monsters.

I heard a conversation in the hospital the other day between two people--one person was emphatically trying to get assistance for a problem and the healthcare professional was way behind in trying to render aid because there was no context.

Had it not been a medical issue, the scene would have been comical.

It is something I need to remember when I launch into a question or a discussion--maybe the person that I'm talking to doesn't understand because I didn't do a good enough job of setting the scene and giving them context. 

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Women at Play

Socks 

What happens when women get away for a weekend together for "bonding?"

Well, I have some secret photos to show how some of the women in my life decided to spend a weekend away.

Sunset at Ocean City, MD

Now, I am planning on attending Jeep Weekend next weekend and I can assure you that the guys and I will not be imitating the antics of these women. Guys just don't dress up and take pictures of themselves in similar garb. Actually, guys usually don't want any photographic evidence of what they have been doing.  Too many beer cans in the picture as you might suspect.

First though, a scene setter. They are in Ocean City, on the beach enjoying the waning days of summer as August fizzles into September. What a great plan!

That just makes everything better, being on or near the beach. And it also means that this picture isn't a weird as it might seem, without context.

Go girls, go! I love each of you--and the missing one, too!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Friday Again

Add caption

I am amazed at how quickly Friday has arrived to laugh at me and promise something new and different for the weekend behind it.

I am glad that I don't have a lot of plans for this weekend because they are all changing. Change is not a bad thing--it is just change. It gives me a chance to refocus and decide what is really important.

It is going to be a great weekend focused upon things that really matter rather than peripheral activities.

I was reminded of this butterfly that I imaged during a walk at a marine wildlife center during my vacation. I was being assaulted by millions of ravenous mosquitoes--even the bug spray seemed to attract them; yet, this butterfly was placid and unaffected. 

Take away? Despite the fact that my life may be in turmoil, there are peaceful places which can be found. I just need to find them.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

August, Die She Must

Starfish in the Inter coastal

It is August 15th and the temperature this morning is a warm 57 degrees. The summer that wouldn't start has decided to depart early and we are already in early Autumn--which doesn't officially begin for over another month.

The pool is beginning to cool and my interest is waning in outdoor activities because of the coolness.

It is frustrating--the season that I most enjoy is fizzling around me and there is nothing I can do except sit on the deck in the evening with a glass of wine in my hand and enjoy the crisp autumn weather. 

I am beginning to feel like the starfish I imaged this summer, during July, who had crawled out of the receding tide and was hunting like a fish out of water, so to speak. Summer has been the same way. I've been looking for summer in all of the wrong places. 

At least I have been enjoying what summer there has been. I just wish there were more of it and that I could still feel the heat. I am reminded of the Paul Simon song April Come She Will, in which the final stanza is about the demise of summer:

August, die she must, 

The autumn winds blow chilly and cold; 

September I´ll remember. 

A love once new has now grown old.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Chillin' at the End of the Day

Me, Makayla, Riordin

The chaos in the room was everywhere as children played and adults interacted. After a long day, I needed a break and in the middle of it all I took a time out. It seems as though Makayla and Riordin also needed a time out and found it in my lap or sitting very near to me. 

It is not often that Makayla actually sits with me and then to have Riordin crawl up next to us was an added benefit. 

Funny, I didn't even have a glass of wine in my possession at this point in the afternoon, but with three grandsons were playing loudly not six feet away from the apparent serenity of this scene is deceiving.

I guess that amid the noise and chaos I had carved out a small island of tranquility. Anyway, Nicole thought it worthy of an image and so here it is. 

Me and my best buds. Funny, there wasn't even a baseball game on TV yet.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD