The number of things we have is astonishing. It unimaginable what we’d do without them. I’m reminded how animals live so independently and without electric toothbrushes, sterling silver flatware, automobiles, hair dryers, jewelry, clothing, cosmetics, tables and chairs, pianos, umbrellas, artwork and luggage – to name but a few things!
Already I am back to my old habits, drinking far too much coffee, staying awake until the middle of the night, then – after having taken my pills and dissipated the caffeine – sleeping unrepentingly late until after ten o’clock the next morning. It is unquestionably an unfavourable modus operandi but one from which I was happily able to recover this morning without difficulty or collateral remorse. In the result, by four o’clcock this afternoon we were both shamelessly lanquishing upon the balcony overlooking the sea, meaninglessly chatting and reminiscing about our passage upon Hilton Head Island since our first encounter here on Christmas Eve in 2012.
Long ago I recognized the deceit of euphoria; namely, it is but an intoxication. And like any other fuel, its effects are limited. Barring perpetual enhancement (elation, ecstacy or rhapsody) the cloud-9 effect is predominantly short-lived.
Lying back this afternoon in a deck chair on the balcony with my feet on a footrest while overlooking the glistening sea constituted a sizeable recovery from my early morning angst. I was still feeling the effect of yesterday’s pedal upon the beach. My legs and knees hadn’t yet returned to passable praxis. But seeing the shimmering sunshine upon the sea pines and ocean it burned me up to contemplate spending the day in utter idleness. Yet from the smallest attempt at mobility I could tell it was a day to set aside the usual cycling ambition. I would only end doing more harm than good in spite of the putative psychological advantage of doing so.
When I awoke at eight o’clock this morning and stretched, my first thought was the tide chart. I hadn’t bicycled yesterday and I was anxious today to do so on the beach. My hurried investigation of the tides led me to an internet site which showed a painting of a sailing ship on the cover of an album of sea shanties. My immediate interest in the sailing ship instigated further inquiry. At last I unfolded on YouTube the rendition of a sea shanty which had its beginnings in New Zealand. This in turn led me to an article in the Guardian. All told it was a fascinating pursuit.
Where to begin! Such unbargained for and unabridged expressions of well-being, magnanimity, providence, rich humour and artistry! A vertiable wholesome conglomerate of adventitious disconnected and disassociated events. And all with reciprocal assembly.
It began earlier this morning when a dear friend gushed noticeably (and quite purposively I am certain) for having been remembered on her special day. While I initiallly dismissed the utterance as a pleasantry, upon subsequent reflection I acknowledged the strength of what she had said. I too might appreciate being remembered. But before I had the opportunity to test the prediction (and possibly to my unfolding disappointment) I distracted myself from the brooding by embracing what little forward thinking already percolated within me on this grey, cool day by the sea on Hilton Head Island. That is, the practical though critical resolve to get the car washed.
It isn’t the first time this has happened. Suddenly I am overtaken by a feeling combined with a colour or sound which reminds me of something inexplicable though powerful. Whatever it is, it moves me from deep within. It is always a bland though predominantly favourable sensitivity, a reminder of something vaguely pleasing or reminiscent to me for an unexplained reason. It doesn’t remind me of any event in particular; rather it is a broad though strangely intense recollection of a moment, somewhere, as simple as a laneway or a town we once passed through or a feeling I had somewhere.
Experience a memorable two-hour Sunset Sail on a living piece of yachting history— the streamlined America’s Cup racing yacht the Stars and Stripes. Set sail out of Hilton Head Island and enjoy this amazing scenic sail.
The Sail America Foundation commissioned four 12 metre yachts to support a campaign lead by Dennis Conner, representing the San Diego Yacht Club, to win back the America’s Cup in the 1987 competition in Fremantle, Australia. This racing machine features an 85-foot-tall mast. She is solid, fast and features two steering wheels and a wide cockpit where you and up to five other passengers and the crew will control her speed and high performance. Throughout this South Carolina Sailing Adventure, your Captain and crew guide you as you help trim the sheets and grind the winches!
My father died in the year 2014; on the 8th day of April, my sister’s birthday. I believe my goddaughter was with him when he vanished. She seemingly had predicted his demise and had stayed with him overnight at the hospital, sleeping in a chair in his room. He was almost 96 years of age (born August 17, 1918). He was a decorated war hero. The decoration, from what I could tell, was the lingering horror of the entire episode acidly mixed with its bolstering conviction on both sides. I once overheard him remark of the Swedes, “At least we fought with the Germans!”
The Scots have a history of trauma and deprivation from which has evolved an array of images and promulgations designed to ensure the perpetual flavour of Celtic and Gaelic broth and whiskey having as they do ancient pre-Roman ancestry. The depth of hardship is unimaginable for most. Yet seemingly it has furnished the peat, moss and fire of both imagination and performance.
The Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church
Faithful Contendings Displayed
THE
P R E F A C E TO THE
U N D E R S T A N D I N G R E A D E R.
By John Howie
John Howie (14 November 1735 – 5 January 1793) was a Scottish biographer. His best known work was Biographia Scoticana, first published in 1775, which is often called The Scots Worthies. It deals with Christians and particularly Presbyterians especially in their strivings with church and civil authorities.