The entire quote goes like this: ”Hey, when you paint flowers you call it a still life, so when you paint people, you call it a move life”. Lucia is likely graduating from HS this year, but this brilliant linguistic theory never gets old (for me). Now, I actually believe that flowers are fully alive however, people are programmed for movement. Not only our bodies, not only our selves from places to places, but our higher selves and our internal worlds; as in, rising up, moving to new choices, growing emotionally & spiritually, ascending and more.

I’m putting this right here in the BE THE SHIP blog because these concepts have been the main theme of David’s and my discourse over the past few weeks. Why? Because it is what we do and it can be difficult. All this becoming requires energy, it requires vision, it requires power, fierceness, and faith, We rally to literally move the boat as weather and wind permit. We rally to stay physically limber within the confines of a 34 x 12 foot vessel. We rally to keep learning and becoming the beings we think to evolve to be. We rally to release our fears and to rise up, day after day. The remedy is always movement.

And, have we ever been on the move! We left Lady’s Island, SC on May 13 (10 days ago), we have traveled approximately 500 miles. That’s a significant distance for a vessel that moves an average of 8 miles an hour. We have had some very long days on the water. As I write this, we are just south of the Virginia border near Coinjock, NC, where we will spend tonight on a dock. Seven of the last nine nights we have spent anchored out in creeks, at beaches and behind islands.

Some views from anchorages in South Carolina: Cape Romaine National National Wildlife Refuge on the Harbor River; Anendewa Creek; Carolina Beach; and a sideways rainbow at Church Creek (just south of Charleston).

We also anchored at Camp Lajuene again this year and were forced to stay a couple of hours beyond our preferred departure time because the Marines were training in the river that morning. A piece of me appreciates this as my own mum was a marine however; I remain a pacifist who does not subscribe to separation rather, to oneness. I remain in this world, but not of it.

We have crossed some of the most significant bodies of waters on the east coast including the Albermarle Sound, the Alligator River, the Pamlico River, the Neuse River, Bogue Sound, and the Cape Fear River. When things became “a little” suspenseful yesterday with high wind gusts and big waves, on our beam, amid a mass of crabpots crossing Albermarle Sound, David reminded me that we have crossed much vaster bodies of water and encountered tougher seas. Alas, his fervent scolding was ineffective as I continued to whine, off and on, until the very moment we dropped our anchor behind Buck Island. The 8.5 hours underway for that 62 miles really brought out the toddler in me. I wanted joy, right then. Not more glorious challenges to exercise my body and mind. That said, ”We are here, we are here, we are here”, alive and well.

We had two nights on a dock at Pawleys Island, SC, where we were able to reconnect with neighbors Eric and Marge, from Marlin Bay in Marathon. They have a home on Pawleys Island and were the most magnificent hosts a person could conjure up. They brought us to their beach house and cooked for us. Marge brought me to the grocery store and pharmacy and they toured us about. People have busy lives and their kindness was appreciated beyond measure. Loved being free with them, moving slowly, enjoying the spaces of Pawleys Island and taking care to stay focused on the good stuff.

These images remind me to take more images. Which reminds me that this wonderful article came across me recently about Ansel Adams and a voyage he took in the 40’s along the Intracoastal Waterway. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://loosecannon.substack.com/p/the-forgotten-voyage-ansel-adams?r=17ws1y&s=r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

What a gifted witness to life he was. His work shines on. Such a bright light in a world in need of light.

Here we go. Off to Coinjock Marina to wash the salt and mud off IRENE, do our laundry, walk on land, eat at a restaurant, say my prayers while tied to a dock, and I think I’ll paint me a picture too.

Remember as you reflect on your own life, you created it. Every thought, each decision, every story, you created that.