appointed rounds

"we are mothers and fathers. and sons and daughters. who every day go about our lives with duty, honor and pride. and neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, nor the winds of change, nor a nation challenged, will stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. ever." -- mailman's creed yesterday paddling in the waves of 25 mph winds and stronger gusts on red rock i kept repeating a paraphrased creed for paddlers, " ... the paddler from his/her appointed rounds.

age of gold

"time will run back, and fetch the age of gold." -- john milton, hymn

stripbuilder leaves tomorrow for the NC challenge's 100 mile race. i hope that his 20 yr. younger partner doesn't spoil him for our tandem race as "team geritol". i prefer to refer to our team as "lewis & clark kent". my g'g'grandmother was a clark related to wm. clark so this race has more meaning. now if i could have even a fraction of his fortitude.

a swinging time

revisiting times past with bro took us to the eighth tee at pine knolls.. now if i could just find that slice somewhere in the rough. i've been out of the fairway most of my life i'm afraid. always looking for a challenge.

dark beginnings hopefully end in the light but today's run in the tandem from cordova to the dam and back terminated with wind and chilly dark weather. the two hour trip was a shakedown cruise for stripbuilder's NC challenge friday. 100 miles in less than 24 hours? the kiosk overlooking elk rock is well placed to see what is possible on red rock.

to arrive

i love to travel, but hate to arrive... -- Albert Einstein

solitude revisited

paddling everyday now expands the opportunity to revisit quiet moments. sunrises, sunsets, full moons, wind, waves and solitude.


the great misfortune - to be incapable of solitude. -- jean de la bruyére

in memorium

“War would end if the dead could return.” -- Stanley Baldwin

blackhawk down the river

last sunday's run from howell station below the dam to ottumwa was on a beautiful but windy day. the 8 hour trip included low water, suddenly appearing sandbars, and about 50,000 paddle strokes. solitude on the river ended at blackhawk access in ottumwa.

will the grand ol' party's deregulations increase this tragedy observed on more shorelines of the dsm? planting wall to wall will increase personal wealth but be loss for generations to come. this soil will soon be new land in louisiana i'm afraid.

native petroglyphs remind us that there were paddlers around here long before we called ourselves explorers and discoverers.

maiden voyage

stripbuilder's 23' tandem baidarka is almost finished and we took it out on rock creek for a trial run. now the only questions are, "can i keep his stroke cadence and can he tolerate me for 340 miles?"

"I simply believe that some part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to the laws of space and time." -- Carl Jung

rock & roll

last weekend our continuing trip took us from denison to storm lake and on to okoboji. life continues to be an adventure even for this rather wooden explorer.

the old roller coaster and ferris wheel at arnold's park, as seen from the water, reminded me of a high school weekend with bands at the "rooftop ballroom". a trip to the rock & roll hall of fame and museum there afterwards was nostalgic too. long live rock & roll!! now if i could apply that to my kayaking.. i can rock, but not roll well enough...

migration

in a trip down the lake stripbuilder and i revisited the "indian tree" or "peace tree" west of the mile long bridge. winter weather and flooding have sculpted the top off and shortened the stump considerably. one lone creature claimed this resting point even as we drew near. we all are migrating somewhere.... in our own manner.... in our own timeline.

more for loess

last weekend we ventured west to the loess hills parkway from council bluffs north and then on to denison and a nice B&B. the rolling hills and view of the receding flooded valley were spectacular and much better than my limited photography, but the serenity was special.

the sloughing hillsides resembled the terraced mountains of peru in minature. the term for this is commonly known as "catsteps" or terracettes. it is fascinating to see what nature has created in the millions of years past. our lives are like catsteps in that they seem forever, but are minute particles of loess making up the vast reaches of geography.

"in our leisure we reveal what kind of people we are." -- ovid