23 June 2008 by Tristan Gooley
Stumbled across a bit of a gem this evening. Marion Owen, ‘master gardener’, describing the moment she decided to become a gardener at the end of a long passage from Guam to Seattle.
If navigation is about where we are and where we are going, then the senses have a bigger part to play than many realise, and not just physically. Marion’s passage about a passage beautifully illustrates that honing our senses can get us to our destination in more ways than one. She found land and a new career.
Here are some excerpts:
‘Wall-to-wall ocean, especially in the warm tropics, does something to your senses…
…salt crystals form on the decks and railings–even your skin– like granules of sugar. With the acrid smell of ocean water and sweat, always sweat, mixed with suntan lotion and more salt air, your nose is dulled with monotony…
Leaning against the metal railing like race horses at the starting…
Read More...
Tags: gardening, navigation, ocean, sea, senses, smell |
09 June 2008 by Tristan Gooley
Early this evening Mrs G and I escaped for a quick wander aboard Golden Eye, my Contessa 32, in Chichester Harbour. One of the lovely things about the harbour is that when time is short or wind is in short supply it is possible to enjoy a potter on the water that is more akin to a gentle river cruise than a sail.
The 20hp diesel pushed us gently west into a low sun. A moon that was a day off first quarter hung to our left and the line down its midriff, the line between light and dark, pointed neatly down to south on the horizon. There was a gentle breeze. It was forecasted to be from the south-west and obliged by making its way dutifully towards us over the harbour water from between the sun and the moon.
Tags: breeze, chichester, contessa 32, harbour, moon, sun |
