A Start

Shades of green tails dancing to the wavering whispered breaths
Their hint of chill raises the hair on her neck and warmth in her heart
Blushed cheeks touched by splintered rays of light seeking through
The wandering clouds, she's swept up in frolic with sticks and stones littered about her feet.

Notes to myself

Sometimes I just need somewhere to drop the lines that pop into my head, like this one
"Walls of dusted scars"
Later I'll come back to this one and the others...to continue....complete and continuously revise.....

Not mine

Some 'light' reading and came across this:

The Exile

She surely raised her bairns well,
Taught us strength and pride,
Gave us love o' homeland,
But couldna' make us bide.

We set off young, we set off auld,
In search of pastures new
Yet, one by one, along life's way
Find little that would do.

We have our homes, we make a life
On every foreign shore;
Choose a husband, find a wife,
And still we yearn for more.

To soothe a restless, aching heart
We chase another scheme,
Follow one more rainbow
Yet we never still the dream
Aye, she let us go so easily
With never a backward look.

But...how could we know as we sailed or flew
Our heart was a baited hook,
With a line as long as we want it to be
To wherever we may roam,
Till...out of the blue, with one sharp tug "Mother Scotland" reels us home.

Fading light

Gravely breaths push life into his sandy cheeks as he lies quietly upon the cedar planks
Sixty years of sea salt hasnt stifled the relaxing scent of northern woodland winters
The comforting roughness beneath his fingers as he stretches out and opens himself to the sky above.......

.....blocked....I need rest and a vacation

Monday mumblings and tired hands

Wretched wreck of father's first son, wandering through the maze he has recklessly spun.

*****

The body is rather beat up today despite my attempts to relax it over the weekend. Then again so is my psyche. I'm trying to get motivated but the last few weeks have been tough and tiring and neither my mind nor my heart are into a lot except playing with the kiddos, training 4-5 days a week and CG work. these are the things that keep me motivated right now. Got to find the 'corner' and get around it. I'll keep looking.

Random Musings #2

Ran in my first 'road' 5K in a decade yesterday. Actually ran it with Aidan. Tara and Maddy walked it with our sitter Donna. But Bear was sure he wanted to 'run' the 5K the entire way, so we did just that. He impressed me in a way only a parent can understand. Except for short walk breaks to catch his breath and get fired up, he probably 'ran' 60% of the 3.1 mile course and finished strong running the last 1/8-1/4 mile without stopping and pushed ahead of his ol' man at the end. Super proud of him.

As for me. Well, the body held up alright. Hips are both sore today as is my back. But it s a good sore. The left knee made me nervous at about mile 2 but hung in there to finish without noticeable pain. Both arches are REALLY sore but I'm hoping its just from the non-use in these type of conditions and the plantar fasciitis stays in check.

*****

CGAUX stuff going well. Am gaining a lot of momentum with the Flotilla's MS program and working with our Division and District MS Officers.

Working on my MSTR (Marine Safety Training Ribbon) and my AUX-MEES PQS (CG Augmentation qualification) and hope to have them both completed before June.

Boat Crew Academy is winding down. We only have three weeks left of classroom work. Then we have to schedule our on the water training and dockside sign-offs, followed by patrol time as a trainee. Once you feel 'ready' you sign up for a day with a QE (certified instructor who signs off on your all around knowledge and proficiency) and get all your paperwork signed to go up to DIRAUX. Will be glad to get my Wednesday nights back after a long four months.

Love every minute of it....some days I think I'd enjoy doing this fulltime. If the money were there.

****

Spent Saturday completely disengaged from work, Scouts and CG. I needed it as I was truly hitting burnout stage from all three. Back to it this afternoon with prep for Scouts, some CG studying and a few hours in the office for work. Nose to the grindstone.

****

Training has been going well but I over did it a bit last week. Four days in the gym, plus the pool/swim test for the CG, plus a hardcore night of climbing Thursday and my body was completely wrecked. Yesterday was tough but I'll be ready to start up again on Monday. not having a Flotill a meeting this week will also aid in recovery and give me more rest after hours.

****