environmental depression?

There's been a lot of news recently about how beneficial it is to get out and interact with the natural environment, such as this one on LiveScience. I saw this article on Yahoo News today, about "eco-therapy" for environmental depression. Here's an excerpt:

Eco-therapists point out that human beings have evolved in synchrony with nature
for millions of years and that we are hard-wired to interact with our
environment - with the air, water, plants, other animals. But in the
past two centuries, beginning with the Industrial Revolution, people have
been steadily removed from the natural world, our lives regulated not by the sun
or moon but instead by the factory clock. Recently it's gotten worse, with the
rise of the Internet and other technologies, like iPhones and BlackBerrys, that
dominate our lives, pushing us even further from any appreciation of our natural
surroundings.
"We began to get the impression that we were somehow above and
separate from nature," says Craig Chalquist, an instructor at John F. Kennedy
University in San Francisco and co-editor with Buzzell-Saltzman of the new book
Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind.
Today, more than half of the
world's population lives in cities, and many people barely ever get a glimpse of
green. At the same time, human beings appear to be doing their best to destroy
what remains of the earth by contributing to climate change - a problem that in
itself causes some people deep anxiety. But what the average person feels as
stress or depression, eco-therapists suggest, is a longing for our natural home.
"People were embedded in nature once," says Buzzell-Saltzman. "We've lost that,
and we're paying the price."

So what does that have to do with living on a boat? The article goes on to say that many Americans can spend as little as 15-30 minutes per day outdoors (walking to their car, no doubt). Living aboard both enables and forces us to spend lots of great time connected to nature in ways we never were when we lived in a house. There's sitting in the sunny cockpit with morning coffee watching the day begin, or sleeping in the V-berth under an open hatch watching the stars and moon. For the rest, even when we're tied up in the slip we're made aware of nature and its cycles. We know the rise and fall of the tide, as the boat moves. We know the strength of the wind and whether it's calm or rough on the water - in extreme cases things slide off countertops and tables. The patter of rain is loud with only a thin shell of fiberglass between us and it. I don't know how strong a force "eco-depression" is if one is isolated from nature ... but I know that the alternative, living on a boat, in touch with nature, makes me very happy!

Decluttering Day!

I've got a group of female friends who are into simplifying their lives, but many complain that they can't get their husbands to go along. Not me! We've been on a kick the last week or two, to focus on "quality of life" projects. We've been so busy with boat systems, these little jobs have been back burnered, that don't make the boat safer or sail faster, but just improve the little stuff. Stuff that you don't notice how annoying it was, until you do it and then wonder, why did I wait so long? First, we bought some plastic baskets at TrueValue to organize the fridge. We took everything out and played with alternate arrangements of baskets and what to put in them, spending an hour or two on something that's been bugging us for over a year. (In the process we also got rid of too many half-used bottles of condiments, but that's another story.) Now we can actually find and access ingredients for dinner - what a thought! Well, that apparently was all the momentum we needed. My amazing wonderful spouse got the decluttering bug this morning. He had decided we needed to do laundry because he had nothing to wear ...but then he noticed that his clothing locker still had plenty of clothes in it. So he took every single item out, and sorted, and pretty soon a large grocery bag of clothing left the boat. (for scale, each of us has space in our lockers for enough clothing to fill 2-3 airline carry-on suitcases, so this was about 25% of his total clothing). Then he decided that the bathroom drawer was too stuffed so he started on that, finding new homes for some of our meds and rearranging what was left. Now he's outside, rearranging the way things are stowed. We must have too many heavy things on the starboard side, because we sit slightly tilted in the water - he's working on leveling that. Not bad when you figure it's only noon! He inspired me to work on clothing too, though I generated only about 1/2 a large grocery bag of surplus. To be fair, though, part of what he removed was a number of polo shirts with "Navy Sailing Instructor" logos - he doesn't need them any more since his last trip was in early June. I expect in late August to be able to put away all my office clothing. Clothing and "what ifs" seem to be my biggest battle. I wish there was a list of how many of each item we'd need for 8 months of cruising. I remember on our Grand Canyon trip, there was such a list. They listed everything you needed, exactly how many T-shirts, shorts, 1 pair rain gear, 1 hat, 2 swimsuits, water sandals, etc etc, right down to "1 clean dress, for camp." Odd as it seemed, it worked out perfectly, and everything on the list exactly fit in the one rubber bag we were each alloted for the trip. Hmm, if I can't find one on the Web, maybe I'll have to make my own!

Vindicated!

They're finally starting to get uneasy about the idea of replacing me. Because my boss is also retiring, the plan is to spread my duties among several people part-time for a few months; then the new hire to replace my boss can fill my position with a person of his/her choosing.

Now, I should admit that I think very highly of my boss, L, but think that his boss, K, has been promoted above the level of her own incompetance. She's always subtly disrespected me, I believe she thinks I've been dogging it. I only produce a one-page letter every day or two for the Director's signature, how hard can that be? She doesn't really understand the background work that goes into those one-pagers. Sure, I just review documents - the hard part is that you're not looking for what's there, you're looking for what isn't there. So, today she asked L for a copy of my position description. Normally L would have hired my replacement, but since he'll be leaving, it falls to K. He forwarded it, the text they used to recruit me and justify my salary. It is full of lovely phrases like "As a senior environmental scientist, the incumbent must provide a high degree of technical skill ... and demonstrated expert competency ... in order to evaluate, review and prepare ... technical comments on ... environmental documents ... The incumbent must also have and must maintain a broad and current knowledge of environmental laws and regulations, including those established by Executive Order, the Council on Environmental Quality and the Department and shall provide environmental policy recommendations in consultation with the Chief, EAP. He/she must work routinely with a large number of specialists and professionals ... to assure compliance with environmental laws and meet with members of the Department and other Federal agencies so as to assist in the development of appropriate policies ..." L cc'ed me on the email traffic where K said, oh, my, we can't ask a part-timer to do all that, can you boil it down to a page that I can forward and ask around for likely candidates? [I had already recommended two names who understood the job and could do it] L, wonderful, honest, Mr. Integrity Himself, L, replied, well, no, K. I think this description of the job will do. If anyone has any questions they can call me." You don't have to read very far between the lines to realize that L has said, hey, look, we're asking for some fairly high-level stuff here! Doh! You need someone with some background! You can't just give it to whoever looks bored today and expect a good outcome! I don't think K ever understood that this job wasn't just a sinecure that any warm body could fill - now she's scrambling!

I'm reminded of the Piet Hein grook: "To many people artists seem undisciplined and lawless/Such laziness with such great gifts seems little short of crime/One question's how they make the things they make so flawless/The other's what they're doing with their energy and time."

And I feel smug!

Angering Out (Anchoring Out)

Absolutely picture-perfect, weather-perfect weekend for sailing. Its unusually dry and breezy and cool for July (attributed to dust in the atmosphere from volcanic explosions coupled with El Nino). We had planned to meet J&E on Solution and J&A on Valinor and raft up. J described it as acting out a Willie Nelson song: "on the Rhode [River] again, on the [anchor] rode again..."

We sailed down in company with J&E. J got in the dinghy with his camera while underway, E cast him off and proceeded to sail the boat solo while J zipped around taking pictures of Solution under sail, then came over to take pix of us under sail, then got back aboard Solution. This was the only really windy part of the day and made great photos that I'll add tonight. Later the wind died down to where we almost needed engines to come in to the river. They dropped the hook, we tied to them, and about an hour later J&A arrived and tied to the other side. This was our first time seeeing J&A's boat, and their first raft-up in it. Their son K was fascinated with the dog. Other acquaintances of J&E joined us for a while, too. We all took turns doing boat tours and comparing features - a first for us, we were the largest boat and hence the party boat for the evening. We were also the only one with a cockpit table, and our new awning made us the shadiest. Dinner that night consisted of heavy hors d'oevers (sp?), whatever was on hand, and a bit too much beer, lots of conversation and laughter until well after dark.

J&A had had some trouble with their wind indicator, so we planned Sunday to send A up the mast to take a look. She'd never done it before. Unfortunately her experience wasn't a good one, it was so rolly that by the time she reached the spreaders she felt she was at her comfort limit, so down she came and we sent J up instead. After enjoying both the experience and the view and getting a temporary fix on the wind instrument, down he came. We then all piled into the two motorized dinghies (even the dog) and explored up the shallow end of the creek. It's all research Smithsonian land, so beautiful and undeveloped.

Too soon, the weekend was over and one by one we cast off and set sails for home. We took photos of J&A under sail on the way out. Once we got out on the Bay proper the water was so choppy and the winds so light that we had to motor home. Our autohelm, the illustrious BaronOtto von Pilott, unfortunately made the trip interesting ... insisting that we were turning counterclockwise circles while we were in fact steering a steady course northward. We called Raymarine and described the problem, and explained that we had to get it fixed quickly because we were taking the boat south this autumn. The Raymarine tech said it sounded like the gyro in the course computer had gone south itself, just a bit early! The good news is that its still under warranty. Of course, we're not enthused about adding anything else to our "to do" list before September, but at least we can get it fixed before we go.

All in all, a perfect boat weekend. Rafting up at its best. And so great that this was J&A's introduction to it! I was reminded how much I enjoy gatherings of a few people, where you get a chance to connect in a little more depth than the cocktail-party level chatter I enjoyed in my 20s. I was reminded of how much I value the natural world, as time outdoors helps me regain my perspective. Every time we come back from a weekend at anchor, I feel like I've gotten the "anger" out.

He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins

I drove home following a car with this bumper sticker yesterday, and it got me thinking. Because of course we don't have room for toys on a 33' boat (except that many would argue that the boat itself is the toy). Instead, I trained our friends to give gifts of experiences: dinners out, concert tickets, museum passes; or consumables like a bottle of good wine. From that evolved the belief that he who dies with the most experiences wins.

As we get ready to leave Annapolis and try to schedule some one-on-one time with all the special people we won't be able to see as often, I realize that our social calendar is way, way overcrowded. I am incredibly wealthy -- I have discovered that I have more friends than days. New bumper sticker: He Who Dies With The Most Friends ... Really Wins.

23 More Goodbyes

I'm counting down not days at work but number of times I have to begin my day by saying goodbye to Dan. The end of those, can't come soon enough! I have 8 more weeks of work (Oh the suspense! Will she get everything done in time? Stay tuned!) but only 3 days per week in-office. I don't enjoy, but can make it through, getting up at oh-dark-thirty and staring at brake lights on the Beltway for at least an hour each way, but I hate seeing Dan in the rear-view mirror as I turn away!

I started another kind of goodbyes last weekend, the first of several one-on-one visits. We are trying to have some real intense time with the local friends on our "A-list" before we leave the luxury of having everyone within a few hours' drive (except D&J&A in Colorado and D&D in the USVI) and are reduced to email only. Its always fun to see people on their turf, you understand so much more about friends when you get to learn the context that shapes them. We had a wonderful visit, made more vivid by the knowledge that it would be the last opportunity for a year or so. Details seemed richer, more enhanced. Autumn leaves are more vibrant, colorful, intense than those of summer, and I wonder, is the sense of impending (temporary) loss part of the reason?

Is it symbolic?

My alarm clock has gone completely crazy. A few weeks ago it went off at 2:15 AM. Then last week it rang on time, but I couldn't turn it off. Another time it kept on doing "snooze alarm" after being turned off; I finally had to unplug it and remove its backup battery. Yesterday it failed to go off at all - fortunately it was a clear sunny day and that woke me up only 20 minutes late. I think my clock is ready to go into retirement with me. Do you think its an omen?

Our boat flies two burgees - small triangular flags that announce our club affiliations. One is for Navy Sailing, the other is for a cruising association that Dan has achieved senior status in. Yesterday their cord broke, the Navy burgee is tangled in the rigging, the cruising flag fell to the deck. Dan claims that Navy and SSCA parted ways. The symbolism is that Navy sailing would only apply if we stayed here in Annapolis, SSCA really applies if we're sailing around to new places and exploring. Hmmm.

We're still on a "high" of excitement about Dan's medical news.

Things are falling into place!

July 4 was my last ever paid holiday (or, if you think about it, in retirement every day is a paid holiday). Then, best news, yesterday we met with Dan's oncologist and he told us the last scans came back completely negative! Six months ago he had told us there were some "spots" on one lung and one on his liver that they were monitoring; this visit he told us that both were stable and benign. He doesn't need to see Dan for a YEAR! (That's forever in cancer terms) Dan is "medically boring" and we spent half the visit talking about sailing! Last month we got the boat survey (equivalent to getting your house appraised) and the surveyor was extremely pleased with the boat. The word "substantial" appeared seven times in his writeup and he described the boat as suitable to cross oceans, even though at this point we only plan to sail coastally. He also increased the estimated value of the boat; it may be that we have one of the highest, if not the highest, value for boats of this type. New insurance is in place with the new higher value added.

I had always promised myself I wouldn't be one of those people who just counts down the days to retirement, I want to do something important for my salary. Mostly I've been very able to do that ... until I finished my SI report last month. Knowing that that report is the last major contribution I'm likely to make in the field of science in public decisionmaking, it's been very difficult for me to stay motivated once I turned it in to my boss. Now, I'm not counting ... but I have 22 more days in this office (3 per week, except the week of 11-13 Aug I'll be downtown.)