Quiet Mornings After A Storm

Enjoying my morning coffee outside... It's a cool, quiet morning after a summer thunderstorm last night. It must have rained for quite a while because everything is still wet. Cloudy skies and greyness are welcome after a few days of sultry heat and thick air. Not complaining though, after this past grueling winter anything summer is welcome!

Love how this sunflower, though imperfect, faces the day!

Dutch Mourning for Victims of Malaysia Flight 17

Today is the official day of mourning in the Netherlands, as the remains of the victims of flight 17 are brought home. Short down by a missile over the Ukraine last week, passengers aboard this flight were on their way to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Many were going for vacation, others to an AIDS conference, and yet others were going home to Malaysia or travelling further to distant destinations. No doubt, each of these passengers boarded in anticipation of the future...a stark reminder how precious our lives are!
While the country mourns and trains stop for one minute during the day, clocks toll their bells, and the general business of the day is interrupted into silence so as to respect all those whose lives were cut short, one unique element to this day of mourning is the position of all of the 1200 remaining Dutch windmills in mourning mode.

Disclaimer: These are photos are not mine but borrowed from the internet to illustrate the mourning position of the sails of the Dutch windmill. Note that the bottom sail is positioned slightly to the right so as to signify what has gone and past on.

The normal resting position of a windmill's sails is straight down. As this straight-on photo shows, this windmill is in mourning position because the bottom sail is slightly to the right.

May all those souls rest in peace. 

More On Phillip's Garden

We have an abundance of sunflowers, and consequently a healthy bee population! Guess that's good for the environment, right? 

For aesthetic purposes he has planted flowers all through the yard. I do love it when I come home from work and see a vase with fresh flowers on the kitchen table!
He also has been working on a grafting project...I don't know exactly what he's been grafting, but it involves fruit trees.


See how bees love sunflowers?
Love the blushing shades of pink and rose...

This is another variety of pear tree...we also enjoy a healthy crop of tomatoes!

Phillip's Garden

While Phillip's garden seems more like a mini-farm (because it is so crowded with so many things!), I have to say I'm so proud of the things he's learned to do! Believe me, gardening is not exactly a family trait (other than my sister's green thumb) and Phillip has managed to learn everything himself. Here's what he's growing:

A pear tree...

Fresh carrots from the garden... Oh so sweet and fresh!

Most beautiful flowers such as these roses...

Earlier this year we had gorgeous tulips!

Stay tuned, there's more to come...

Wilmington & Western Railroad

Such a great way to start the day... On my way in to work this morning this historic train stopped traffic on Lancaster Pike. A train load of school children on a field trip... Happily waving to all of us stopped in traffic. I wonder how many people have never ever ridden a train? Has train travel become a romantic notion of the past?

Pablo Neruda & Human Existence

“Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you'll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.” ― Pablo Neruda

"reality is an invention of observers" 

My introduction to Pablo Neruda was in my doctoral program at GWU in 2006, when we studied Maturana and Varela, and I was the TA for our course in Chile called Human Existence. The intention of our study abroad course was to actually meet with Maturana, a Chilean philosopher. However, his popularity came at a steep price, and shortly before our departure, we knew we likely wouldn't meet with him because of his price. We went to study in the mountains of Chile anyway, led by Dr. Clyde Croswell, our fearless former Marine turned professor who led us in a quest to examine who we are and what our purpose in life was. 

Maturana introduced us to autopoeisis, an autonomous and operationally closed system, much like a living cell, which replicates itself because the system is self-sustaining. I'm simplifying this, of course, because i still don't understand all of autopoeisis, but it sure was fun studying it and questioning who we are and who we want to be. 

I celebrated a birthday in Chile, and when I shut my eyes, my favorite image is of Pablo Neruda's house, which is somewhat ironic, given that I was quite hungover the day we toured. 

Neruda built his house in segments along the ocean, and loved to collect glass cast up from the sea. This is the image imprinted in my brain, and when I can't sleep, this comes to mind. 

This is the view from Neruda's house... this is the picture I place in my mind's eye when I think of perfection! I believe that who we become is formed by the mental images we hold... so I hold this mental image of beauty and wait to see how it plays a role, if any, in my autopoetic system. 

Polar Bear Plunge

This was my 3rd Polar Bear Plunge, and the air and water temps were the coldest yet!

This plunge is an activity that began 3 years ago as a service project for my honor society...

... simply because it would be a fun thing to do. Every year, I say I'm going to spend the weekend at the beach, but then I usually just wind up driving down for the day. It's not too bad, a 2 hour drive to the beach, but because it snowed the night before, I left extra early, first stopping to pick up fresh bagels for the many students and supporters who were coming down to cheer us on. So I got to the beach extra early, by 8:30 AM, which was good because after 9 AM parking spaces were gone! I walked around just to take pictures of the snow on the beach and the special olympics organization setting up for the 1 PM event.

As you can see from this polar bear, the temps were chilly! Colder than last year!

I finally decided I needed to get warmed up so I found a little coffee shop...

It wasn't easy finding some place open at this time of the year, and coffee shops are in short supply along the boardwalk.

Then it was back to the Rehoboth site (Wilmington University has a small site on the main street near the boardwalk, and that's where we change and get warmed up) and set up for the rest of our group to arrive...

... and here we are-- grown from the initial group of 4 plungers 3 years ago to 16 registered plungers for this year, with a healthy group of "towel holders" to cheer us on!

The water didn't look too warm, but at 38 degrees, it wouldn't be! I just kept telling myself that this would be like bath water because the air temp was colder than the water. Shortly before the plunge, guards in wet suits patrol the water...

...and as I watched them I could see how this winter's storms had eroded the sloping shoreline and created an immediate "deep" slope in the water...

...and I felt that deep area when I was in the water because the sand was soft and very gravelly, and it was hard to get a good solid grip on the ocean bottom because my feet kept sinking in so deep. Fewer people ran in very far this year, so I was proud of my rib-cage depth attempt! Once were were given the go ahead to plunge, it's all over very quickly!

Another plunge completed!

Yesterday's Commencement

Commencement is always a day long event as we conduct 3 ceremonies, with Colleges grouped by size. It's a joyful time as we watch our students graduate, and it's also joyful to see fellow colleagues wear the new academic regalia showing their new elevated status of academic achievement! So it was yesterday when Stephanie wore her new gard showing she was now Dr. Stephanie!

I loved seeing her in her new robes because this is my goal as well!

There's a pomp and circumstance to commencement that I love, and I do love seeing my colleagues in their regalia because they look so handsome!

And, of course, there's always one outlier in any group, and for us this is our beloved John as he wears a purple medieval beefeaters verson of the doctoral tam...

...and, if you look closely, you can see the he also wears a long feather in his hat. No one else wears this, so this is uniquely John! I like it though. It's always good to have someone in the group push the limits a bit!