MMTT4S - "Come outside with me - there's this moon you've got to see"

Captain's log: 20 July 2019 - Still on Earth, but looking up

Go here and check this out, now. Then come back and read my blog.

You know how some things are just too good to only have one or do once? 

Potato chips, fishing, fresh steamed oysters, going to see a Dave Barnes show, Harold Nutall's chocolate dipped Oreo balls, watching Castaway...

Yum!

Well, today is the day we landed on the Moon back in 1969, fifty years ago. I've already written about this momentous event and celebration...thrice. Still, I can't resist reaching into that cosmic chip bag for just one more.

Image courtesy of NASA.gov

Let's briefly discuss the Moon. Our Moon. I find it lovely, mysterious, mesmerizing, and powerful. Plus, it can perfectly illuminate a midnight swim. It has captured our imaginations, and guided our ways. It has inspired explorers, poets, artists, soothsayers, chieftains, and surfers for ages. It controls tides, fishing cycles, migratory patterns, our seasons, and maybe even moods. 

Read this about the Moon from Space.com (after you've finished my post).

I like the moon for other reasons, too. For instance, when it is really bright you can see your shadow. Think about that - you can see your shadow at night, naturally without artificial light. You can actually watch it move when you see it rise or set if you have a straight line horizon. I prefer the ocean, but it works well over White Sands, New Mexico, too. Some say that if you are lucky enough to catch it set at just the exact moment, you'll see a green flash. This typically occurs over a tropical sea from a vantage point of a waterfront or pier-side bar after a few daiquiris. I've never seen it, but I keep looking. 

Anything that is so involved with the tides, fishing, and art has got to be awesome. That's our Moon. And we were so inspired by it, fifty years ago we stuck three guys into the nose of a rocket and blasted them into outer space to give the place a visit. Then we did it 5 more times, putting 2 astronauts at a time on the surface, the last occurring way back in 1972. Six trips and 12 visitors total. 

Now it looks like we're headed back with the Artemis missions. Scheduled arrival is set for 2024. That makes me happy, hopeful, and proud.


Today's tune from Jimmy Buffett is yet another homage to our planet's celestial buddy called "Everlasting Moon." This gem is found in Buffett's box set Boats, Beaches, Bars, & Ballads. It's on the Ballads CD, where it should be. Play it at night, outside, as you gaze into the nighttime sky and stare at the Moon's "smiling...laser-painted face." You'll be glad you did. 



Ground control: "Aloha, Amigos!"

MMTT4S - Hurricane Coping Advice, Part 1

Today is the official first day of summer, my favorite time of year. Maybe I'll have a chance to discuss some of the many reasons why I do so enjoy summertime at some point, but today I'm blowing dark clouds into our bright, sunny skies. Massive storm clouds all gathered up, looming, and rotating. Without further ado, I bid you...

Happy Hurricane Season!

From June 1st to November 30th, eastern and southern U.S. coastal residents have the great pleasure of existing in the official Atlantic Hurricane Season. For those who live or have property along the Eastern Seaboard or along the Gulf Coast, this time of year can be unnerving on occasion. Anxiety levels rise and fall like the tides. A watchful eye is subconsciously and intermittently kept on forecasts.

Image courtesy of www.nhc.noaa.gov

I remember listening to my grandfather's NOAA weather radio when we summered at his house, the Surf Pearl, in Surfside, SC.  Pappy, tan and shirtless, would sit at his spot at the dinner table and check the forecast regularly, and if a tropical depression formed out in the Atlantic, he'd bring out the tracking charts, pencils and rulers. Whenever that happened, I remember being scared and excited at the same time, and thinking, "This is pretty cool." It was cool...until we were chased inland and our summertime quarters declared off-limits. I recall helping my dad board up windows, affix a giant "x" with tape across sliding glass doors, and secure everything we could find that might get loose. Then we'd quickly pack up and head west, back to our ho-hum habitat away from the beach. It's a part of life on the coast.

Nowadays, technology has taken the "fun" out of tracking hurricanes. In the name of convenience and progress, all the work is done for us. No charts, pencils, rulers required. A battery-operated weather radio is still a smart possession, though. While I'm sure we're safer today, and damage and loss has been greatly reduced because of better technology, my child-like wonder and thrill has taken a hit. I felt like I was doing something back then, like I was a part of the process. Now, I just react to experts, trusting their research and predictions.

Dealing with the aftermath of destruction, in this case from hurricanes, can be tricky. Catastrophe can cause hopelessness, despair, anger, sorrow, pain. Do you mourn? Cry? Throw blame around? Give up? Pray? Curse? Do you relocate or rebuild? Do you lend a hand or take care of your own? It's difficult to know unless you experience it firsthand.

Image Courtesy of www.nnvl.noaa.gov

Jimmy Buffett offered up a song after Katrina devastated south Florida and Louisiana's Gulf Coast back in August of 2005. The catastrophic category 5 hurricane left a wake of death and destruction in its path. Homes, businesses, and lives were taken. Some areas simply washed away. When the nation struggled dealing with the devastation, Buffett sang his advice for coping in "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On."


I love this song. It's not one you'd hear in concert; It would be quite out of place accompanying a sea of sunburned, grass-skirt adorned, pain-free partyers bouncing beach balls and dropping in and out of makeshift conga lines. That's fine with me. While I do enjoy Buffett's standards, his "Songs You Know By Heart," many of my favorites are his more obscure, less anthemic offerings. This is one of those songs and it can be found on the album Take the Weather With You.

Basically, as the title suggests, Jimmy reminds us to not live in the past - it's "dead and gone," and instead, to live in the present. He introduces his idea with a clever anecdote about buying a watch that seemingly doesn't work. Surely he was duped. After all, it has no "numbers or moving hands." It only says "Now." He realizes that "this watch is never wrong," though, and it serves him well when considering how and when to move on - "the time is now." After all, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. To complete his counsel on handling tragedy, he suggests not trying to explain or shake it, but rather "nod your head," "bow your head," "breathe in, breathe out, move on."

Image courtesy of noobpreneur.com

I'm reminded of a scene from one of my favorite movies, Castaway, in which Tom Hanks' character, Chuck Noland, describes his mindset after thinking he'd never see the love of his life again because he was shipwrecked on a deserted island, only to defy the odds to return home and find that he'd lost her all over again to another man. All alone on that island and learning he controlled nothing, he discovered that he simply had to stay alive, to keep breathing - and that is what he must continue doing after coming home and losing his girl all over again. He says he must "keep breathing, because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?"

Truth.

Not bad advice, if you ask me.

If this is just a little too somber for your summer mood, we'll look at another option at dealing with hurricanes next time. Until then...breathe in, breathe out, move on.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com