All God's Creatures ...

Trouble and Cody

Morgan & Fish - Boston

Hey gang ...  we're still in a holding pattern for our next trip but I can guarantee you ... we're really getting antsy to go!!!!!  In the meantime, here in greater metropolitan Ridgeway, S. C., winter has settled in for real.  We've even had a bit of freezing rain - but so far it hasn't stuck around long enough to cause any problems ... thank goodness.  But, with the inclement weather it makes you think a bit more about our surroundings.  I look out the window and see the horses in the pasture down the way and I see the deer peeking around the trees trying to figure out if the coast is clear so they can come out and munch on some grass in the front yard.  The cat is hunkered down in her bed on top of Linda's car in the garage and the neighborhood dogs are sticking close to home rather than visiting with us to see if they can beg a

Linda and Ende'

Ende' - Cabo San Lucas

snack or two.  And all of a sudden you realize that the beings with whom we share this planet are truly extraordinary creatures.  It causes us to think back on the wildly diverse animals we have visited on our journeys in recent years.  The picture on the right - showing our great nephew Morgan juxtaposed with a strange fish in the Boston Aquarium symbolizes our relationship with these unique spirits.  They inhabit our world - and we inhabit theirs - but, for the most part, our paths only cross in the briefest instances. Do we fully understand how they see us - or how we see them for that matter?  We are so incredibly blessed to have the great good fortune to share our planet with these majestic beings.  We can only hope that they understand the reverence we - at least some of us - have for their families.   After all.... they do t

Beautiful Anemones - Boston

hings we can only dimly comprehend, they form shapes we are astonished by, they exhibit colors that are almost unbelievable to us!!!  They enable us to begin getting a tiny glimmer of the astonishing complexity and beauty of our universe and an infinitesimal early understanding of the interplay of all these exquisite life forms.   So - here's the deal, folks.  In the overall scheme of life on our planet, these beings - our biological relatives - bring as much to the plate as we do.  They help filter the air and water, they help rearrange the surface of the planet, they break down those pesky features that would cause us problems if left intact.  They fertilize the landscape and serve as a cleaning crew for nature's living spaces.  They fill the air with color and beauty, they stir the dust of the ground with their shaggy bodies and they remind us that love can take more forms than we could ever imagine.   And it makes us ask questions of wonder.  How in the world did that happen?  How on earth did a creature that looks like that come about?  Do those things look at me with the same amazement with which I see them?  Yes, it's all a profound mystery.  But, we wind up coming close to the answer if we work at it.  This planet and all the miracles that abound on it's hallowed surfaces are manifestations of a universal force that we can barely imagine.  But it is there!!  I'm not doing a recruiting job for a religious organization gang but, hey, how can you look at all this and not start thinking ...... "... well, some thought went into that!!!"  You look at the delicacy of some of these entities and the overwhelming power and strength of others and you marvel at the exceptional balance that has been established on our planet.  But here is the main point ... are we responsible enough to be stewards of all that has been

Gentle Leviathan

placed in front of us?  No, I'm not trying to espouse some political line about "green energy" or something but I'm pointing out that we have a real truth staring us in the face.  This is an interconnected planet.  Every creature and plant on it's face depends on all the others - as difficult as it might be to see the connection sometimes.  In my particular religious faith we are told to ".... love our neighbors as ourselves."  How does that relate to these creatures.  Well - we are reminded that these inhabitants of earth depend on us and we depend on them.  How can we not love and respect them?   So, I guess that is our assignment as we continue to wait for our next trip.  How can we use our relationship with the remarkable creatures and plants on our planet to make life on earth worthwhile?  I think we can do that.  Let's all be thinking of ways we can use our experiences to improve the quality of life for all those on our earth.  We'll be back soon so, until then, take care.  See ya.
Rick V. 

Forward and Backward

It is the month of waiting and watching, gang.  The month when we look forward  and backward.  An ironic month.  The second month of winter for us folks here in the Northern hemisphere but the second month of summer for folks down Australia way.  The coldest month for us in the U.S. and the hottest month for the folks in New Zealand!!  Named after the ancient god Janus, "the keeper of the gate - or doorway", January is appropriately named since it represents the portal to the future but it also is the point from which we view the past year.

For those of us right here in beautiful metropolitan Ridgeway it is certainly a paradoxical month.  Just a few days ago it was seventy nine degrees and this morning it dropped to twenty eight!!!  Whoa, what a change!!!

January is a month I associate with one of the first "modern era" books by a Russian author I read during the "cold war", Boris Pasternak's "Dr. Zhivago."  Folks today have a hard time understanding just how radical it was for us to be able to read a book like that in the late fifties or early sixties.  And then - when we moved to Columbia, S. C. in 1966 - the movie version of the book was just beginning it's tour of the country.  We went to see it in June of 1967, one of the hottest months we had experienced since leaving the U. S. Navy.  We were new to the city and went to see the movie with our next door neighbors, the Powells, at the old Palmetto Theater (I think) on Main Street.  It was incredibly hot in Columbia that June and when we entered the theater, the frigid chill generated by the air conditioner was welcomed.  Well, if you have ever seen the movie you probably remember the part where Dr. Zhivago (Omar Sharif) deserted from the army and trudged through the snow for what seemed like weeks!  By the time he got where he was going I was virtually frostbitten - sitting right there in the movie theater in Columbia S. C. - with the temperature somewhere around 100 degrees!  Just recalling that incident brings back so many memories!  The book was such a dramatic "in your face" gesture to the Soviet Union. Unbelievable at the time!  And the Nobel Prize in literature it earned was almost incomprehensible by most average folks because of the psychotic politics we were living through.

Anyway - rushing back to the present - we are here in the middle of what is a very interesting month.  Interestingly, when the ancient folks developed their calendar they simply left out the winter months and it wasn't until the 600s that someone decided that they needed to chip in another two calendar months (January and February) to straighten things out.  But the bottom line is .. here we are.  It's cold, dark and a time when pensive reflection by a crackling fire is a lot more fun than trudging around through snow.  Linda has been out of town on an "artist's retreat" and Sherwood has been hip-deep in her responsibilities at St. Michael's and I've been at loose ends.  So - while we have this time for reflection why don't we think about all those ways we are going to make 2013 the best year yet in our short time hanging out on the planet.  We are beginning to work on our plans for the next adventure so hang in there with us and we'll be ready to go soon!!!  See ya.

Mea Culpa ... or ...You've got some 'splaining to do Lucy!!

Linda's Mandavilla

Hmmmmmm.... it's about this technical stuff gang!!!  I hope I haven't succeeded in totally confusing you guys with the pics on the various posts recently.  I've mentioned before that I'm not the most "technically savvy" guy on the block - and - I've

Palmetto Palm - Hilton Head

also noted that we are using several different methods to initiate our posts to the blog.  Wellllll... that means that I've got to be somewhat "flexible" with the methods I use when posting.  And that, my friends, is way  easier said than done. 
Here's the problem .... I didn't even know about things like "Picasa" or "Best Album" when we started the blog.  And, the peculiarities of those sites were totally foreign to me!!!  Consequently, as we started putting photos on the posts

Canada's Glacier National Park

Johnathan L. Seagull

we quickly realized that they were going to be controlled by the whims of the sites that were storing the pictures for us.  And - since I didn't take the time to learn about the finer points of those sites - I wound up putting photos in some rather weird places!!!!  The result was that the ongoing "slide shows" we had put on the blog wound up including a bunch of photos that didn't have anything to do with the title of the slideshow!!!  And when we tried to move the photos into folders that were more correctly named, they disappeared from the posts!!!!  It happened with videos too! 
The methods we used included some "YouTube" videos and some that are straight from the computer.    (We also wound up exceeding the capacity of our space on the sites rather quickly!!  But, we're learning.)   Now ... Our posts go back for several years and we have tried to set things up so that you could easily scroll backward through the various trips if you choose to do so.  But

Sunset At Sherwood's Condo - Litchfield Beach

- we realize that there is a bunch of narrative out there too.  So, if you want to look at thephotos and you don't want to mess with going back through the various posts (although I encourage you to do so) try going to "picasaweb.google.com" and searching for the SCTravelersX3 photos. 

Believe me folks, I really don't fully understand how everything is stored out there so you're on your own when you get there.  But, when you do, I think you will find an absolute treasure trove of beautiful photos.  The folks who put stuff out there on Picasa are awesome!!!!

 So - as I was thinking about all this - and reviewing the photos I have successfully screwed up

Litchfield Beach

from time to time - I found a number of pictures that I don't think we've shared with you.  I'm going to sprinkle some in this post so you can get a look at them and we'll try to go back and re-visit them from time to time.  Anyway - just wanted you to know about our "techno-challenges."  It won't be long before we're ready to go again - so - stand by!!!!  See ya.