Perspectives

It is snowing a lot today, enough that the local schools were canceled, and many people are staying off the roads. This is slightly unusual here in which we generally get more rain through the winter than snow - although not as unheard of as the snow that has fallen in the southern United States' east coast of late. Still, snow usually doesn't last long here. So for us, it is a treat. The kids get a day off to go play around, through snowballs, make cool snow sculptures, etc. Looking out from a warm interior, I'm reminded about a CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) program a year or two ago about how our views of winter have changed over the years. Not all that long ago, really, we humans from the northern hemisphere dreaded winter. It was not so much the darkness, as the hardships of staying warm, sheltered, clothed, and doing the chores. To be frank, winter often brought death. But then our attitudes changed (along with our affluence, so goes the theory) and winter became romanticized, and a grand place for winter sports: hockey (this is the CBC after all!), skiing, sledding, sleigh rides, etc. In many ways, it became a matter of perspective.

It seems to me, in this boating life, that perspective is incredibly important. Having to fetch water in jugs from the shore, is the chore a drudgery or an exciting challenge? While the activity is the same, the attitude (and hence the experience) are totally different.

What draws you to the water, and a life upon it? Was it to embrace a life different from one you had on land, with the challenges this includes? Was it to bring that land based life to the sea? (Which brings different challenges with it.)

So on this wintery day, I'm thinking of the remarkable blessings that come our way - if we have the perspective to see them. May we all have such perspective.

Blessed Be,

Joel

In Review: A Month Without Plastic

On December 4, we gave ourselves the change of going a month without buying any plastic (Soup On Wednesday - Food for Thought: Plastic Challenge). The plastic free challenge was issued by the crew of Mollymawk.

How did you do?

While we found this quite changing, it was impressively eye opening. There is plastic on or in everything. For instance, just this past Saturday we bought a cloth filter for our Melita coffee pot. We've had one in the past that worked much longer than the four months predicted. But it did finally give up the ghost. We feel this is better than constantly using the paper filters, but ... you guessed it ... the filter was plastic wrapped.

Much of Whatcom County is used to not using plastic bags, if you've brought your own, so we didn't have that issue. Yet milk (whether cow or rice) still comes in either plastic or waxed cardboard that the recyclers won't take. If we had a wood stove, maybe ...

But even our box of local food from a farm share often comes bagged in plastic bags. This isn't necessary!

The challenge encouraged us to be creative in the gift giving within our family. This became a unique and special time.

While we didn't keep detailed notes during our month, the process sure opened our eyes to all the ways plastic products surround us. And while we couldn't go the entire month plastic free, we still found it worth the challenge.

Here is how the Mollymawk crew did (with some tips) (Life Without Plastic ...).

Blessed be,
Joel

Hospitality - Re-visited

A few Mondays ago, I wrote of hospitality and the ways in which that can open us up to encounters of the Divine. Since then I have seen similar themes of hospitality pop up.

Here is a great example of hospitality - and some of the why it is we cruise/sail - from Simply Sailing Online.

The next time you're around some locals, why not invite some of them out for a cup of tea?

Blessed Be,

Joel