Wanderlust: spring

Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

This Week's Bucket List Additions 12

Spring is here and rebirth is in the air. Spring always makes me think of joyful celebrations. This week, I'm adding things to my bucket list that fill me with a sense of childlike joy.

-Have an Ohanami. Difficulty Rating 2 out of 10:

In Japan, they have a springtime tradition know as 'ohanami' or 'flower viewing party'. When the world starts to bloom, everyone gathers together with friends and family beneath the beautiful Sakura trees for a picnic and they celebrate life. During ancient times, I hear they would also have poetry contests. Ohanami picnic parties are so popular that the news in Japan reports the cherry blossom forecast every night until the cherry blossom front sweeps through the whole country.

I love picnics and spring. I think this is a wonderful tradition from a culture I already love, so it should be no surprise that I want to make this one of my own families' traditions. I've already made plans to have my first ohanami next week and I hope to continue the tradition every spring. For the Japanese, the Sakura blossoms are a metaphor for live: beautiful and fleeting and a reminder to make the most with the short time we all have here.

-Visit Harry Potter World. Difficulty Rating 6 out of 10:
I remember the first time I read Harry Potter. I was at the beach during a family vacation and I borrowed my sister's copy to see what all the fuss was about. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything other than read day and night until I had finished that book. I love the magical joy of the Harry Potter series. But perhaps even more than the story, I love how excited people got about reading. Anytime people get dressed up for a midnight release party celebrating a book, my heart fills with joy.

My Book Nook

When I heard that Universal Orlando was opening a theme park zone dedicated to Harry Potter, I knew that I would have to make a journey there to pay homage to a series that revealed the joys of reading to so many people and to live in Harry's magical world one more time.

-Kiss my wife in a hot air balloon. Difficulty Rating 4 out of 10:
Who doesn't want to make out in a hot air ballon? Drifting slowly over beautiful landscapes, held aloft by heat and passion. If I could only travel by bike and hot air ballon for the rest of my life, I think I'd be pretty happy. Hot air ballons are pure romance and I love seeking romance and finding it with my wife.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

The Chronicles of Our Beach

Living in a small, simple town by the shore has forever changed my relationship with the beach. Before living here, the beach was always a busy, crowded place that tried to burn my skin, put salt in my mouth and leave sand in my pants. But living at the beach, I've been able to see that the beach has many different moods. The beach, like all things famous, gets stereotyped. And there is certainly a bit of truth to most people's expectations of my beach, but like most stereotypes, there is also so much more.

Welcome to my Beach

The beach, like everywhere, changes drastically with each season. In the summer, great crowds of frolickers come to play in the sand and sun and sea. They bring their umbrellas and their beach towels and they decorate the beach with their excitement and joy. The people find so many things to do on the beach: swim, surf, read, build castles, search for buried treasure, play sports, take naps, I even saw someone film a TV show. It seems everyone loves to do something different at the beach. Quite solitude is very hard to come by during the summer. But it can be found, especially after the sun goes down when, like most of the world, the beach gets much quieter.

The Beach decorated with People

Filming something for HBO

Children Playing

Searching for Treasure

In the fall and spring, the crowds mostly leave and the fishermen come out to play. They are most present during the twilight hours, I think because that's when the fish are hungriest. Some of them have great big poles the size of two men. They throw their lines out beyond the waves, shove their poles into the sand and wait for animals of the sea to bite. Others have simple fishing poles and stand on the edges of piers and jetties dodging waves and searching for fish.

People fishing at daybreak

Giant Poles

Exciting Discovery

Winter is certainly the quietest time at the beach, but people still try to surf in stormy waves or plunge into the freezing water for charity. But mostly people seem to take peaceful walks along the beach during winter, especially with their dogs. Dogs aren't allowed on the beach during summer, I guess because tourists and dog poo don't mix very well. If you want to be alone with the beach, winter is the best time to do it.

Solitude at the Beach

I've seen the beach change more than just moods while I've been here as well. It seems the constant assault of waves is carrying the sand from our beach away to some unknown adventure. To keep the beach from washing away, the government trucks in several tons of sand. But instead of dumping the sand evenly all over the beach, they built a 10 foot mountain of sand. Perhaps it was to help shield the town during the stormy season, but it also makes a great new vista point. I love walking along this new mini-mountain range and soaking in the beautiful view.

Erosion of our Beach

It seems there is always something new at the beach. Nothing ever stays the same, even somewhere as simple and enduring as the beach. I'm so grateful for the chance we were given to spend a year living on this beach. I have learned a lot about the place I once disliked and I have come to love the beach. I never know what I'll see or find next at the beach, which is all I really want from life anyway.

New York City as seen from our Beach

Some Locals at the Beach

My Wife's Footprints

Strange Object Found at the Beach

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

All Four Seasons in the Garden State

Before moving to New Jersey I spent nearly a decade living in the deserts of Arizona. I went to high school in Phoenix, college in Tucson and encountered very little seasonal diversity during those times. Arizona is a beautiful and unique place, but all the seasons feel a lot like summer. It rarely snows there and the botany mostly consists of cacti and imported palm trees. Before I left the desert, I had vague memories of the four seasons from a childhood spent in Oklahoma and Tennessee, but I was not prepared for the strength and vibrancy of each season. After moving to the garden state, I was completely captivated by the beauty and spectacle of the four seasons; I had to try and capture them on film (or SD card to be more accurate). I've posted links to most of these albums before, but now that the project is finished I felt they should all be together. Click the links below to watch my Flickr albums for each season.

Fall: Persephone departs and nature mourns

Winter: Persephone, Queen of the Underworld

Spring: Persephone returns and nature rejoices

Summer: Persephone, Goddess of Vegetation

I hope you enjoyed the change of the seasons as much as I did. I think I'd like to focus another series on the four seasons, this time concentrating on the less glamorous phases of each season like dead, brown leaves in fall, dirty snow in winter, sweltering heat in summer. Because I don't just want to capture beauty with my camera, ultimately what I'm looking to capture is truth.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Absence makes the heart grow...

Spring is here and that means all kinds of change. Not everybody likes change, it often gets a lot of bad press. That's because with all change there is loss. Now matter how great the newness which change brings may be, the loss of the old can be bitter.

I'm going to miss sledding and hot chocolate on a cold winter's night and especially the smell of Christmas. But constant winter, or even constant spring, summer, or fall, wears on the soul. We all need loss, it makes way for new fruit.

It's not always easy to put in the effort and energy needed to bring about change. Especially when the loss is certain and the gain is unknown. I try to periodically examine the constants in my life, to make sure comfort and familiarity aren't holding me back. I once wore only corduroy pants for an entire decade. As comfortable as they were, refusing to change limited me in ways I didn't even imagine. If you don't absolutely love your job or your town or your life, you may need to consider change. Don't be seduced by the comfort summer brings, we all need a little winter and spring.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Even Introverts Need Somebody

As a younger man I wasn't always sure I needed other people deeply involved in my life. I find my voice not from social interaction, but rather from quiet reflection. I enjoy being alone and entertain myself well enough as to never be lonely. So why would I need someone else nearly constantly at my side? But after being married almost 2 years I find that I do function much better as a team rather than alone.

When others are deeply involved in my life they usually hold me accountable to my goals. But when I'm alone I have a tendency to procrastinate and ignore my goals in favor of play. I have a very STRONG urge to play. Yet when I have someone constantly involved in my life, it's much more difficult to hide lack of self improvement.

I need others who are deeply involved in my life. Whether it's through church or meetup.com or friends I meet on campus, it is others who give me a reason to be a better conversationalist or game player or keep my floor clean. My wife has been a constant source of inspiration, a partner who holds me accountable to myself, and the perfect excuse to go on adventures. I truly am a much better person now than I was before I met her. And while much of that improvement has come from hard work and determination on my side, she was certainly the initial reactionary agent and continuing source of motivation. Thank you my dear, I love you deeply.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

True Romance

Romance is not just an attraction between two people. Romance is a feeling inspired by the possibility of adventure waiting to be shared between people or had in a certain place or time. Friends or lovers can share romance, it can even be had alone.

Today was a romantic spring day and I spent it with friends in a romantic city. Flowers were blooming, kids were exploring the unlimited possibilities for play, and the city beamed with pride as millions awed at it's beauty. It's the kind of day that makes you fall in love with the world again.

New York City is full of possibilities. I took a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge today, a place full of romance. It's a truly unique place, unlike anywhere else in the world. But the world is FULL of unique and romantic places. Go out and find some romance in the world, it's everywhere. Don't forget what it feels like to explore something new. The world is always changing and never runs out of new adventure and I find that extremely romantic.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A New Beginning...

Today was Easter, a day of new beginnings and a day of Spring. Yesterday we spent time decorating that most obvious symbol of fertility, The Egg.

This year our egg coloring kit came with hats and pipe cleaners. Probably the result of some failed doll line which they repackaged as an Easter egg kit. But it was quite fun populating our refrigerator with Egg citizens. We also designed some traditional eggs as well.

I realized Japan has been on my mind a lot as of late. It is calling me to it's shores like the moon calls to the ocean. Perhaps I was a ninja in a former life. Or maybe I've just had so much sushi that I've become Japanese. For whatever reason, I will not feel complete until I one day live in Godzilla's playground.

For now I am very happy living on the east coast and exploring the birthplace of America. But there is a new beginning out there waiting for me. There will come an Easter when I will wake up in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Spring.

Spring is a new experience for me and my wife. We spent the last decade (or more) living in the middle of a desert where Spring has a very different meaning. In the desert there is no great surge of life springing forth from the formerly frozen landscape. There is no loss in winter, and so no gain when spring arrives.

We spent today exploring spring with every one of our senses at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. Our nation's capitol is beautiful and even more so in spring. I wish I were capable of saying something more than, "nature sure is pretty". But after a day of sensory overload, that's about all I can muster. Hopefully tomorrow I can come up with something semi-clever.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Girl Scouts of America

I have been searching for signs of spring as of late. Little whispers have been appearing, like tiny flowers.

But today I stumbled across the most sure sign of spring there is, tiny children selling things.

Like Pavlov's dog, as soon as I saw that table full of cookies I instantly began to salivate. But after purchasing my cookies, I began to wonder if I should be suspicious of these small females. I know virtually nothing about the Girl Scouts, but their secrecy and strange pledges worry me. If I've learned anything from the free masons or the Illuminati, it's that anytime there are large groups of people surrounded by secrecy, they're probably trying to take over the world. What would we all do if we woke up one day to find that the Girl Scouts had all left to form their own nation, like some sort of modern day Amazon Warriors. Using their massive treasure to develop nuclear capabilities and leaving us addicted to cookies to which only they hold the secret formula? I think it's pretty clear we'd be helpless. Most girl scouts probably claim there is nothing to worry about, and they might even believe this. But who is to say they aren't sleeper agents, trained in deadly arts by ancient descendants of the great Amazonian Warriors??

I am calling for immediate sanctions and oversight of the Girls Scouts of America. The FBI needs to get some undercover agents in their organization ASAP, and the FDA should hold an immediate investigation of their cookies. If I'm right, and of course I am, someone bribed them years ago to look the other way as they began selling cookies that contain secret, massively addictive ingredients. I call on you to help me thwart their evil plans, America! Please contact your congressional representative and ask them to take action.

Wanderlust

Pages