Handy? I want to be skilled at using my hands, a person able to fix things. I learned early in life that I wasn’t “handy”. My repair attempts more often than not ended poorly. Failure did not mix well with my introverted, shy nature. I would quietly watch my father do home repairs but seldom tried. I didn’t “do”. I was afraid of another failure. There are “doers” and “thinkers” in our world and I was a thinker. In my teens…
We just returned from a lovely stroll through the Cotswolds, English countryside designated as “an area of outstanding natural beauty”. With rolling hills, “wolds”, it is the second largest protected landscape in England (in case you are wondering, the Lake District is the largest). Also, in case you were wondering, a “cot” is a sheep enclosure. So the Cotswolds are a land of “sheep enclosures on rolling hillsides”. Inhabited since the bronze age, the area made its fortune and reputation…
Took a step toward Gunkholing this month. Uh, Tom, what is Gunkholing again? Glad you asked. According to Wikipedia “Gunkholing is a boating term referring to a type of cruising in shallow or shoal water, meandering from place to place, spending the nights in coves. The term refers to the gunk, or mud, typical of the creeks, coves, marshes, sloughs, and rivers that are referred to as gunkholes. While not necessary, gunkholers typically seek out the serenity of isolated anchorages over the crowds of marinas and…
Cruiser’s University is a boating education program for sailors and power boaters held at the US Naval Academy twice a year during the Annapolis Spring and Fall Sailboat Shows. This past Thursday, April 19th through Sunday, April 22nd, I spent four days attending four 90 minutes classes each day, selected from over 50 classes taught by very knowledgeable, experienced sailors. America’s Great Loop? What? Two years ago, I met a physician at a cocktail party and we started discussing…
For the past several years I have been humorously predicting a financial catastrophe when I retire, partly because we are way overdue for a correction and partly because continuing to work is the best option for preventing poverty in old age. Keep the paycheck coming.
On Palm Sunday, March 25, 2018, I turned 68 years old. It reminded me of my sixth birthday in 1956, sitting in a Westhampton Methodist Church pew celebrating Palm Sunday. The world was fresh and new. For years after that, I wondered when it would happen again. Well, 62 years later, my birthday was once again on Palm Sunday. I wanted to “bookend” … sit in the same pew in the same church on Palm Sunday. Morgan and I attended the 11 AM…
Why are you blogging about methylation? Well, as it turns out, I have major genetic flaws in methylation which explain (but don’t excuse) some of my lifelong physical and mental problems. This is a big topic now in Integrative Medicine with new information every year. Hmmm … can you explain a little more? Sure. Methylation is a biochemical term. A “methyl group” is a simple structure, a carbon atom with three hydrogen atoms attached. The process of “methylation” takes place on a…
“Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward.” – Vernon Sanders Law How true. You live life forward but only truly understand it looking backward. We all have had that “if I only knew then what I know now” experience.