Fun Fact I Learned, Googling Myself

In their bios on their blog, Scott and Brittany include "fun fact i learned googling myself." So I just had to treat this as a blog challenge, and googled myself. Wow. Just ... wow.

Every single entry in the first 3 pages was me. My Life Afloat blog for the Annapolis Capital was everywhere. An interview we did for Parks & Rec magazine whose title totally sums up why we moved aboard: "Life on a Boat -- Trading 'Stuff' for Freedom". A photo I took of drought in northern Michigan. A report on arsenic in ground water, also from my time in Michigan. And ... and ... (insert drum roll here) ... I'm utterly blown away to find that Life Afloat has been picked up by online papers in Baltimore and Bowie!!!! Yay me!

Dad

Me and Dad

“So, Dad, let’s say there was time travel, and let’s say an American Indian from before Columbus arrived was transported to our century. How would you explain Formica to him?”

My dad is the only person I ever knew who would take this kind of question from his twelve-year-old seriously and have the technical expertise to answer it. “Well, you start with tree resin …”

Mel in a typical pose - examining something!

What kind of guy was he? He was smart and creative, private, dignified and casual at the same time, loyal and trusting. There were three things that were important in his life:

People – his friends and family. He had a knack for maintaining friendships through many years.Several of his friends that I met at his funeral were able to describe me and my brother as kids … meaning they’d been his friends for 50 years or more. At the same time, years before it was in vogue, he was ruthless about dropping toxic relationships, family or no. “Family gets you in the door,” he’d say. “Respect and reciprocity and enjoying each other’s company, lets you stay.”

He met my mother on a beach, she was with her girlfriends and he told them it would start to rain soon – although the sky didn’t look like rain was imminent, his aviator skills taught him to read the weather. When he was proved right a short time later, the girls met him in the shelter of some park structure … they got to dating and he never looked back. He was utterly, totally devoted to her for the rest of his life, and they modeled for me and my brother an exemplary relationship.

He was absolutely crazy about his family and glowed with pride about his kids’ accomplishments.His lawyer was a family friend (another long-timer, the father of one of my elementary school classmates), who said that the biggest joy he heard my father ever express was when he was talking about me or my brother. He was secretly – okay, not so secretly – pleased that I’d chosen a similar career path to his own, and he loved to talk engineering with me and Dan. Yet he was equally proud of my brother, whose chosen path was business.

Profession - He was a brilliant engineer who worked on many high-profile projects, the lunar lander in the 1960s, the superconducting supercollider in the late 1980s, and a new type of waterproof, fireproof wallboard in the 2000s. He held several patents. His skills covered all aspects of engineering – civil, mechanical, electrical, and most especially, materials. If there was a substance in existence that would apply to a specific situation, he knew what it was … and probably had a small sample stashed in his basement workshop. He was as skilled on the home front as on those big projects, though. He joked that “Daddy, FIX!” was almost the first sentence I spoke as a toddler, after I somehow got a hold of his “scoodiver” and tried to disassemble my crib. I was one of very few kids who was taught the difference between Elmer’s glue, solvent-based glue, and epoxy while still in elementary school. When I was older, I could tell him that my car made “a brownish-purple noise” when accelerating, and he was able to diagnose and fix that, too. Yet, for all his brilliance, it seemed his parents were disappointed in him. His own father was a lawyer and his society mother, proud and conservative and judgemental and terribly concerned with appearances, made it clear that his choice of profession was not prestigious enough for the family; he should have chosen law or medicine like his older brother the doctor.

Piloting – The sky was the third element in the triangle of his life. He tried to join the second world war as a pilot but was turned down for medical reasons – a good thing, as only a handful of the men in the squadron he would have been in came back. He owned a small two-seater plane when I was a kid and would go flying every chance he could – not to a destination, just “up” to see the world from a different vantage and feel the air. When the pressures of a growing family made the plane impractical, he flew with Civil Air Patrol. In later life he rented time on small planes; his last flight was just a few weeks before his death. We both have the same funny squint as we look at the sky, which we do often, sharing a common interest in weather, astronomy, space (although he claimed that my life was easier than his, since on the boat I only have to navigate in two dimensions whereas on the plane he needs to know where he is in three.) He was buried alongside my mother on a sunny day in late August, and his flight instructor claimed at the graveside, “How fitting! He’s directly under the approach path for Kennedy Airport!”

Snippets:

His workshop, and after my mother’s death, his house, was always cluttered. Partly, he had a sentimental streak surprising for a science guy. But mostly, he was so creative he could imagine a use for any odd object – and when the time came, he could find it in the (apparent) chaos.

I was about thirteen, and very sad at the end of the summer because it seemed that with my birthday coming, it was time to act like a “grownup” fourteen when school started again. No more climbing trees or running and playing, I supposed it was time to act ladylike and get interested in things other girls my age were, like hairstyles and makeup and boys. For me, boys were just cool people to play football or ride bicycles with, not for (eeew!) dating. “Don’t you worry,” my dad said, “you’ll have plenty of time – the whole rest of your life – to act grownup. No need to rush. Go out and play now if you want to.”

“He who changes his mind, shows he has a mind to change.” When new information came in, my dad was always ready to reevaluate his previous position, like any good scientist should. Dogma scared him. He taught me to think, when solving a problem – and that if something that seems simple is unduly complicated, you’re probably approaching it wrong, so stop, and try another angle. He valued creativity far more than tenacity.

He wasn’t witty but he appreciated good jokes and oxymorons and memorized a few to tell at parties. He had a wonderful sense of silly and pointed out oddities or self-evident road signs when we traveled. He’d encourage critical thinking, and would always point out bloopers or scientific errors in movies (like, the “sound” of photon torpedos … of course, sound doesn’t travel in the vacuum of space).

Snippets (from Krissie's blog)

outside my window (er, porthole) ... construction on the rehabilitated historic drawbridge "Bridge of Lions" St Augustine, FL
I am wearing... chinos, long-sleeve T shirt from my physical therapy place, tennis shoes, sunglasses
noticing that... the tide is slowly rising
i am hoping... that my friend Moni's situation will work out
on my mind... some good friends (J&E) who are in the process of moving ashore in San Diego, CA
around the house (er, boat) ... swim suits, nautical charts
one of my favorite things... pizza, delivered to our slip. Sunrise on water. Sharing a cup of coffee with Dan
i'm creating... a playlist on my iPod called "Wild Women"
a few plans for the rest of the week... exploring the historic city, meeting LeeAnn who I know from FB but haven't met IRL, taking a trolley tour, a bit of shopping
i'm looking forward... to getting back to Annapolis and having my stylist Ron work his magic on my hair

This quiz made me think

Found on RoseAnn's and Heather's blogs:

1) What would you call yourself if you could choose your own name?
~Eryka <*wink*>, or Lindsay. Or something totally gender-neutral, like Madison or Taylor or Hunter.

2) What was your worst date (as in going out on a date, not an actual calendar date…unless you have a really bad one to share)?
~Probably the one and only time I tried replying to a dating ad – it was obvious to both of us that there was no chemistry, conversation was awkward, he had major baggage including an ex and a kid and debts, he complained that I was ‘geographically undesirable’ (i.e., I lived too far away) and then he wanted to make out. So I told him that I had a long drive home – he’d set himself up for that with his ‘geographically undesirable’ comment – and left.

3) If you had to teach one subject in high school or college, what would it be?
~Geography (do they still teach geography?) During our travels, it embarrasses me to see how many Americans don’t have a clue about how the rest of the world lives. Worse, many of the island people we’ve met know more about the US than some Americans we’ve met!

4) When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
~Dan did an amazing impression of a heron, squatting, walking in that weird mechanical way they have, stretching his neck and looking for food.

5) What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
~We lived in Colorado when we got a phone call that my mom was in a hospital in NY dying of cancer and wasn’t expected to last a week. One of Dan’s co-workers simply said, give me your housekey and some phone numbers and GO! We were on the next plane. We had a dog and 5 cats and a house in the country, she took care of them, contacted our bosses and explained the situation, and made sure our house, etc was okay. Mom lasted 6 days, and with the funeral etc, all in all we were gone 2 weeks. When we got back we gave the coworker some antique green and silver teacups that had belonged to my grandmother (the coworker was a collector of green antique pottery so it seemed an appropriate gift) and she merely said, “Tell me about the person who used to own these,” which of course was exactly what I wanted, someone to keep the memory alive.

6) If money or skill-set was no issue, what would you love to do for a living?
~I would be an actress or film star. I love to play make-believe and try on other roles, other lives.

7) What is one thing as an adult/parent/spouse you do that you swore you would never do?~Yuck. Drink too much.

8) If you could go back to one particular time in your life (not to live, not to change anything, just to visit) when would it be?
~One summer when I was in my late 30s, Dan and I both worked 4-day weeks. His was Sun-Weds and mine was Mon-Thurs. That meant we each had one private day, and we still had 2 days together. We lived in Colorado and went out every ‘weekend’ (Fri and Sat, the 2 days we had off together), backpacking one weekend, canoeing the next, something in a city the third. It was a wonderful time.

9) If your walls could talk, what would they say about you (good & bad)?
~Wash me! When I retired I thought I’d have more time to make my home a calm orderly haven. Hah! I’ve been so busy adventuring, if anything this boat is more chaotic than it was when we were working.

10) If you could fix or put an end to one problem in the world what would it be?
~People wanting/using/taking/HOGGING more than their fair share of resources, or not considering their impacts on others. I think competing for limited resources are a big cause of wars.

High-Fives in the Cockpit

and a fair amount of rum, and Jimmy Buffett playing "Christmas in the Caribbean." We've made it through all the bridges and the tides and the currents and the ports ... we're anchored in Virginia Key, the first of the Florida Keys, just off Miami with the city skyline off the cockpit ... we're here! Weather permitting, on Monday we cross the Gulf Stream and enter the Bahamas!

We probably will not have internet! It could be several weeks between opportunities to post and get in touch with you all, please don't worry! We'll be traveling in company with another boat and always in radio contact. What an adventure we're having!!!

We're On Our Way!!

We left yesterday afternoon, after a string of errands and goodbyes, and sailed 1/2 day to tie up in the marina at Knapps Narrows again - lovely spot, interesting to watch the watermen going up and down the channel, and the drawbridge. Had quite a challenge anchoring in the current, which I wrote about in Life Afloat. Today we sailed a perfect day, warm and sunny and winds from the north, comfortably behind us, to anchor at Solomons, MD. Tomorrow is a long day, down to the next good all-weather anchorage. Thursday is expected cold and windy and rainy, and we'll hole up there and wait for better weather. Stow the provisions we are still passing back and forth daily from V-berth to salon and back again so they wont clutter the place we're living in at the moment, and hope to catch up on some writing.

Everything's Falling Into Place

Finally! The weather's moderated, a hint of fall - dry and clear and crisp after the hazy, hot, humid days of August, and all the details of getting ready to cruise are also "falling" into place. The canoe and the Walker Bay and the car all listed on Craigslist; the first two magically transformed into wads of cash in our pockets. Dan spent a good deal of this morning detailing the car, we've got some eager buyers who want to look at it tomorrow.

We've emptied the storage shed we had here at the marina, got rid of a lot of stuff and are storing the rest for less than half the previous price in a self-storage in town. The new autopilot compass is installed, sea-trialed and ready to go. My office is empty (the boxes of my career packed back home to be stored in the new self-storage). We have a likely tenant for the townhouse. We've been through the rounds of our doctors and all are satisfied we're ready to go; Dr Gordon gave us a stack of prescriptions for drugs to ward off many of our most likely emergencies, from sea sickness to insect stings. The most challenging thing remaining on my calendar right now, is having time to say goodbye to all the friends we've made here.

OMG! We're leaving NEXT WEEK!

After years of having a vague dream in the mists of the future, it's here! My Facebook status is "Bittersweet - wrapping up a 34-year science career and beginning Act II."