St. Croix Old Years Day and Project Link

i want to congratulate a group of students from Project Link that faced their challenges head on and made 2014 the year they accomplished one of their goals. They did a phenomenal amount of work in a short amount of time. They overcame huge obstacles in their lives that will create ripple effects within their families and friends for years to come.

There is an anonymous quote that kind of sums up the path most of these students have been on.

"You are on the road to success when you realize that your previous failures were only a detour."

Grisel, Plarita, Catherine, Amara, Patricia, Sonia, Tiana, Yamayra, Patrick, Hazel, Alwyn, Raheem, Da'Jah, Adika, Brandon, George, Terrell and Janell... Congratulations.

See ya next week.

St. Croix Boat Parade 2014

Celebrating the Boat Parade has become a very big occasion on St. Croix. Every year more and more people turn out to line the boardwalk, set up family areas on the grass in front of the fort, or actually ride on the boats and parade through the harbor.

Music booms from loud speakers and the observers set up their chairs to make sure no one stands in front of them so they can't see. Children are everywhere, cuddling in laps, standing to one side, running riot over the grass, or glowing from necklaces placed around their arms and necks. All faces are turned toward the boats when the parade begins.

Over twenty boats participated this year along with some paddle boarders that managed to stay lit and on their boards.

It was great watching them paddle along while trailing their lights.

One of the Sea planes was decorated and moored alongside the wharf.

And two of the boats that came past had Dicks Garage and Pressure wailing their lovely tunes for all to hear.

The boats made a loop through the harbor two times...making sure everyone had a chance to see them strut their stuff.

                             

  Photo taking this year was more challenging without a stable surface to rest the camera on...
and having family fly in for the holidays meant i was not totally paying attention.

The sailboat looked quite lovely as did all the other boats.

When the boats had finished motoring through we all waited awhile for the fireworks to get going...

 And they were great.

Lighting up the sky with loads of colors,

crackles,

and even designs.

The crowd

oooooooodddddddddddd

and ahhhhhhhhhhhhddddddddd

and when it was all over the crowds broke up and went their merry ways.

See ya next week.

Cleaning Day

i imagine all of us collect things, save them for too long then have to throw them out. My father used to make me stand in front of my bedroom closet while he pulled things out and asked me when i had last used it. If i couldn't come up with a quick response...he would say "OUT" and move on to the next item.

Unfortunately i do tend towards keeping things too long and always think of him when i'm trying to eliminate the clutter. But one area where i really take after him is with the little scraps of paper scribbled with poetry, insights, philosophical ramblings and political complaints.

Since i've been blogging instead of throwing out the bits of paper i can now assault all of you with my minds meanderings after a cleaning frenzy. Assaulting you means i can find it one day.

What follows are the new scraps i've accumulated since the last time i did this...so here goes. If you want you can just scroll through the pics...but you never know maybe you too will like them.

Grout Cleaner
7 cups of water
1/2c baking soda
1/3c lemon juice
1/4c vinegar
Put in spray bottle...spray and let sit.

Still haven't tried it so i don't know if it works...but if any of you do try it let me know.

If sometimes we seem contradictory it is because there is no such thing as an absolute reality.

www.lendle.me  apparently i wrote this website down because i read that it is a lending library for kindles...will have to check it out.

Beginning of an unfinished poem:

Seek out natural sounds and silence
listen consciously
make sounds with your voice
sing
protect your ears
speak up.

i think this was the beginning of a song:

floating on the sea with currents,
me and wild eyes float with currents,
all morning and all night sailing with currents
me and wild eyes
me and wild eyes sailing with currents,

me and wild eyes

Its funny, i found that one today and just this morning on the swim we had some strong currents. i have no idea who wild eyes is but i must have written it on some day when there was a strong current. Here's another one:

A pocket universe
pinch of earth
and we can grow a new Spinoza
pinch it out
peck it out
use the birds.

At first i couldn't remember what that was but then i remembered i've been working on a kids book that has a world i temporarily called Spinoza. i love Spinoza and was probably going to get all philosophical.

Here's a political one:
"The constitution codified slavery, women's inequality and elitism. Its limited in accountability and inefficiency. We've had to amend it to conform with the realities of the present times. It was created to be amended. American revolutionary philosophy is so inherently, idealistically and optimistically broadminded that it defies the bigoted and limited men who crafted it." Melissa Harris Lacewell

and another political one:
"We lead the world in prison population, drug use, child hunger, poverty, illiteracy, teen pregnancy, firearms deaths, obesity, diabetes, recorded rapes, use of antidepressants, income disparity, military spending.

Violence plus violence leads to more violence. If we don't teach peace someone else will teach violence."

This is me thinking too much:
Imagine that everything you know and have learned is erroneous and the person you are talking with is completely right. Imagine everyone holding a conversation with this attitude.

Things ripple backwards.

God won't kill you...life will.  You are the cause of my effect.

Here i'm collecting bits for a story.

Reclining on the pane of glass, avoiding notice, the tiny delicately formed moth waits. The man notices it and calls her over. "It looks like a T," he says. "No, it is a male fairy, a miniature lifelike figure reposing quietly until noticed. His way out is confusing you and yours.

i have two pages of notes on moths...but the one that stayed with me is when i write that moths feel it in their abdomen.

Questions:
What made you laugh today?

How generous are you?

If you feel fantastic how can you make someone else feel fantastic?

If you get a chance go out to Jacks and Iaascs...i have never seen the hills covered in so many flowers, it is really worth a trip out there and my pics don't do it justice.

"When the wave realizes it is part of the ocean, the resistance to change disappears." Thict Nhat Hanh

Now i'm all cleaned out and can start collecting again.

See ya next week