American, And Proud Of It!

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Okay, so this will only mean something to people from northeast Ohio. Our reservations are written on the room schedule by last name only. For a week and a half now, I've been looking at one particular name and wondering....could it be...?

This afternoon I checked him in. His name is Paul Serpentini. As soon as we stepped into the office, he said something about this being much nicer weather than Ohio. Okay, I had to go ahead and ask right away. I said, "I'm sure you get this all the time, and I apologize, but are you related to Bob?" Yes, Bob is his brother. And Paul has just bought the Ford dealership in Wooster. I feel closer to home already.

People Connections

It started way back in 2000, when I was planning for my Appalachian Trail hike. I spent a lot of time reading trail journals online, and that's where I first came to know Deb. She was hiking the trail that year, and hers was one of the better journals so I followed her to the end. Her trail name was Ramkitten. She still uses that moniker online, much like I still use Shepherd of the Hills in various places.

I had left a comment on Deb's trail journal, and some time later I received an email from her. She'd written a book, and part of the publishing deal that was she had to pre-sell a certain number of copies. She was contacting everyone for whom she had an email address to make those sales. Of course I wanted to support a fellow hiker and her fledgling attempt at authorship, so I ordered a copy of her novel. I am pleased to have that book in my collection.

At some point, perhaps when she needed my address to send the book, and I was living in Ohio and wishing I could break away from the routine to do something different, we emailed briefly about her being a caretaker on a property in Pennsylvania. She encouraged me to try caretaking, and pointed me to Caretaker Gazette.

Through the Gazette, I found the position at the hot spring in Arizona, and that started my wandering life. Deb and I had no more contact until early 2009. In the meantime, I had written my book. The online company where it is printed sends helpful suggestions to its authors for ways to gain more exposure. One of those ways was Squidoo, a free platform for writing articles, essays, and short web pages. It looked like fun, so I joined up. Lo and behold, I found Deb writing there, too. Between the two of us, we dominate the Squidoo community for the Appalachian Trail and backpacking topics, and we promote each other's sites.

By this time, Deb was living in Arizona and writing her second novel. She's very active in Search & Rescue in the Flagstaff area and has a couple of related blogs. Because of her experience in Search & Rescue and her skill at writing, the founder of the only Search & Rescue squad in Nepal invited her to come meet his team and write a book about them. What an incredible opportunity! I was so excited for her when I heard. Her writing career is really taking off. (And I have a signed copy of her very first book!)

Nepal photo by Kogo

I can only imagine the expense of a trip to India. And she'll be there for three months with no income. In order to raise money for the trip and for promoting the book, Deb has set up an account at Kickstarter.com where people can pledge financial support. Each pledge level has an attached reward, like a copy of the book or other neat items. The thing is, if the funding goal isn't reached by a certain date, none of the pledges are collected.

The Hi-Tec company, maker of outdoor footwear, is supporting Deb by providing all the footwear she needs for that rough and rugged country. I've pledged $50 myself. But there is only a month left to reach her funding goal. I really want to see her get this funding so she can concentrate on getting the information she needs for her book, rather than worrying about money. I know what it's like to pinch pennies on an adventure -- you tend to pass up experiences you really shouldn't miss.

I've made a page at Squidoo to help get the word out about Deb's Kickstarter fund. You can read a bit about her and click through to learn more about her trip and the rescue team she will be writing about, and you can make your own pledge. (There are other projects on the page, too, but Deb's is at the top.) Help spread the word and get more people involved. Read it at Grassroots Funding.

Though we have much in common, and we've emailed, and we've been at times within a couple hundred miles of each other, Deb and I have never met in person. I sure do admire her talent, her generosity, and her courage, and I hope we get to meet some day.

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Writing, books, author, caretaker, Nepal, fundraising, AppalachianTrail, Hiking, Search and Rescue, Squidoo

Animal Connections

When I first came here, the only animals I saw much of were the chickens and the geckos. The presence of a stranger in their territory sent all the rest into hiding. After a couple weeks, I began seeing seeing iguanas and cats, but only at  distance. Now they are getting accustomed to my being around and aren't so quick to run.

At first, the iguanas would take off as fast as they could as soon as I looked their way. Then they started coming up into the courtyard outside my apartment. Then there was the day one marched right up Tom's steps and onto the edge of his porch while I stood there taking pictures. A few days ago, an iguana was hanging out at the edge of a path I wanted to take. I approached, but he just stayed there rolling his eyes at me. I stopped to talk to him and saw that he was busy digging in the dirt -- for insects, I suppose. He wasn't going to give up lunch for anybody. I passed about 2-1/2 feet from him and he didn't budge.

Then there's Schwartz, the feral cat with the black nose. In the beginning, he couldn't stand for me to see him. But he was always lying around in the open where I would be passing by. (I thought for a wild cat, he chose strange, vulnerable places to snooze, but I think he's lying in wait for geckos.) After a few weeks, he would stand his ground when I walked within thirty feet of him. Just this week he let me pass within three feet. He even stayed put when I stopped to look at him. But when I spoke to him, it was just too much, and he ran. He's a rough-looking cat. Not skinny, by any means -- he finds plenty to eat -- but dirty and skinned up. He's one cat I have no desire to pet.

Now, the chickens. There's a rooster who hangs around one of our buildings and isn't so flighty, but most of them run like...well, like chickens when I make an appearance. This morning down by the pool I spied a hen sitting on the ground. I wondered if she was getting ready to leave me an egg to steal. I watched and nothing happened, so I walked over to make her move so I could see if there were already eggs under her, though it was not a protected place for a nest. When I got too close, she picked up her skirts, revealing eight yellow and brown balls of fluff. Mother hen took off into the trees, chucking all the while, and the day-old pompons on legs followed, scrambling over twigs and branches to keep up. And me without my camera.

Universal Language?

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Lest Americans get any more arrogant, I just thought I'd let you know that English is not the common language everywhere. A couple of guys stopped in today wanting to see a room and perhaps stay here. Jose met them on his way out and called me down to assist them. When I got to the office, I found out they were Italian and spoke very little English. They did, however, speak Spanish. In this case, Spanish was the common language -- even though mine isn't that great, we were able to communicate.

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Refracted Perceptions

All last week while that storm was going on wherever it was, the water surrounding our island was a gray blue. Now the storm is done, and the bay is back to beautiful bright blue. The waves have shrunk to normal size.

When I go down the hill to clean the pool in the morning, I spend some time watching the water. It is so clear, like liquid glass. I was delighted to find that when a wave swells to just the right height, I can look straight into it and see what's below. Refracted light paints a picture of the floor of the bay inside the wave, and as it advances, it looks like the rock and coral are peeling up and folding into the wave.

Positive Waves

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Last week there was a storm somewhere, miles and miles away over the ocean. There was no indication of bad weather here -- it was bright and sunny, though with a little more wind than some days. Even the surface of the bay lay smooth and still like on a normal day. But shoreside of the reef, the waves rose up abnormally high. Usually there is just a gentle washing onto the shore, but these waves were two to three feet.

I sat and watched the waves one evening. A succession of several small waves formed from out of nowhere, then a long swell grew to three feet, breaking into a curl and crashing white on the beach. As it retreated, rock and coral washed back with it; the sound of tumbling coral was like the fizzy effects after certain fireworks. How is it that such a force can creep unseen along the ocean floor for so many miles and then heave itself up at a distant location? What even creates that force?

It makes me think of the way every minute action in the world affects something somewhere, even if we aren't close enough to witness it. The decisions we make, the things we say, even the things we think have an effect on the world because everything is interconnected. This molecule touches that one, which touches the next one, and so on, each transmitting vibrations and perpetuating the effect. It's not even limited by direct proximity. No one is unchanged by an encounter, and the person you touch with your thoughts and actions today could jet to the other side of the world tomorrow and touch someone else with perceptions catalyzed by you.

What if everyone everywhere began interacting with positive vibrations, setting in motion an unseen force like that in the ocean, covering the entire world and washing up unexpectedly to bless someone with beauty and happiness? Let's start a wave of positive thinking.

Dream Distillation

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Figuring out what you want in life is sort of a distillation process. You focus on what you think you want; the Universe condenses it out of all the garbage in your mind and sends it to you. Once you're actually living it, you realize that isn't quite what you expected and you refine your focus. The Universe takes that and removes the parts you didn't really want. The process continues until your desires have been distilled into exactly the life you dream of. I hope.

I think the important things are to give the Universe something to work with; to recognize that what you get is, in fact, what you asked for -- the best the Universe could do in the early stages of distillation, given the impurities clouding your thoughts; and to be grateful for the things you receive. Then you have a place to begin again, working with the Universe to further refine your life to the purest expression of the perfect life for you.

I need to get better at impressing my desires on the Universe so they manifest faster. As it is, by the time I receive what I ask for, it's been so many years that I've changed. By then I no longer want what I asked for, and I have to start over. I must be more clear on what I want, spend more time communicating that to the Universe, and practice being grateful for it as if I already have it.