the great explor(er)

"The church says the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church." ~ Ferdinand Magellan

nyc in the background

this past weekend mr c and i put down our paint brushes and drove a surprisingly short 1.45 to nyc where we met our friends anton and kendall for a weekend sail up the hudson on the 42’ blue mingo.

there truly is nothing like nyc. the constant barrage of noises and smells, the ethnicity's, the 60 yr old + german waitress at nicks with the army hat, purple flower stockings and heels who called us “my lovies” and refused to get me a coke refill because it seems nick has to charge for refills and she was sure i couldn’t possibly pay another .75 cents for more coke. this was pretty annoying seeing as i had been up since 1:30 am stupidvising the return of mingo in the middle of a rain storm, was soaking wet, 2 days un-showered and was still trying to rid friday nights hangover of epic proportions.....

no, i am not tipsy.  yes i will have another.

all i wanted was another coke. but nein!! no refill. in her defense, i probably looked like a dime store hooker with a dollar to my name (so evidently not a very good hooker) therefore in hindsight, her refill refusal was pretty thoughtful as she did save me a large part of my dollar and brought me a free water instead.

not as tipsy....but not too far behind either ;)

anywhoo…..back to nyc….as i was saying, nothing like it. the mass-concrete jungle of it all… 10 million very unique individuals crammed asses to elbows on an island 22.7 sq miles and purchased for the equivalent of $24 worth of beads and mirrors. contrast this pulsing energy and vast skyline with what you find when one sails a mere 10 miles north on the hudson river….craggy cliffs, miles of forest and…believe it or not… gently chirping cicadas....and one can't help but be amazed!

2010............1610

so i couldn’t help but think as we anchored….just what it was like in 1609 when ole henry made his famous sail. who was more fearful…the men on the ship who had no idea just who or what (think "lost" black vapor and non arctic polar bears) lay over those hills or the indians as they sat hiding among the trees looking down on one damn big vessel and the strange, pale, bearded, men they saw before them. and then i wondered at the primal thrill of discovering something so vast, mysterious and wild that all the bitty hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you are one big raw nerve of excitement. 

and then my thoughts spiraled to the pessimistic and i started feeling shameful for us humans.  it seems that once beauty is discovered our natural tendency is to destroy it all...ironically, under the guise of “discovery”.

purchase of manhattan

here in 2010, all the trade routes have been discovered, all the mountains scaled and most lands explored. rivers have been charted and ocean floors mapped. the stars have been named and elements understood….things have been boiled down, dissected, discussed and debated till it feels as if there is very little left out there to truly discover. perhaps that is why spirituality is so fascinating and self exploration so intense…in a world where most frontiers have been conquered….those are our new worlds. being a magellan of self and spirit can afford us an internal glimpse of that external adventure, a little of that fear, and a touch of that unfathomable grace that hudson and his fellow trail blazers were so very lucky to encounter around each and every corner...

thanks k & a

xoxo- mrs m