Ray's Blog

Mother Earth Hasn't Given Up!

 
MOTHER EARTH HASN’T GIVEN UP!  Not by a long shot. Witness the Ring of Fire, that chain of volcanoes that stretches in a gigantic arc in the Pacific Basin.  Earthquakes and volcanic activity occur with great frequency in this region; but there are other zones or regions prone to this Mother Earth activity.  The unpronounceable volcano in Iceland is just one of many.

 

This planet is alive, active, and amazing.  We are lucky to be on this journey hurtling through space while spinning and twisting. What a ride!

 

Countries and airline companies, hotels, and businesses are complaining of the financial loss due to canceled airline travel. But how about the human benefit of people being thrown off their usual course and forced to make adjustments, meet new people, experience a different rhythm to their lives? Trains became important; buses; boats; cars.  People shared spaces, ate in crowded restaurants, and met new people. Is that all bad? Of course not.  People can thrive on adversity as long as it isn’t bloody warfare or devastating earthquakes that claim lives or hurricanes that destroy cities.

 

Mother Earth continues to surprise us even when we least suspect it. ( I haven’t mentioned plagues or killer viruses that lurk on our Earth.  I just didn’t want to.)

Well, well, well.

WELL, WELL, WELL, THREE HOLES IN THE GROUND.  Cold up here; scant snow. Mountain as hard as rock candy.  Very few animals about.  Saw some wild turkey tracks under the pine trees where they browse for pine-nuts.  Spring, where are you?  But, I asked for it, years ago, when I moved to Vermont. I knew what I was getting into.  Still, I want to be on a boat in the Caribbean or on an island in the Gulf of Siam or tucked up in a nice apartment in Paris or Bologna.

I’ve been thinking about energy and its flow lately: Electromagnetism, Gravity, The Strong Force, The Weak Force.  It’s all around us in the energy of people (the crowd at the Super Bowl, opera, pop concerts, excitement in a classroom when there is a good teacher and a good lecture, the feeling of unity over a cause (not always a good one: witness the great rallies held by Hitler in the 1930’s) the joy of people in love, kids, kids, kids. Yin and Yang.

Magnetic poles North and South. Batteries with positive and negative poles. Energy in the atom.  WOW!  I repeat: it’s all about energy.   Start with the Big Bang and move forward--except in space/time there is no forward.

MONEY. Yup, here it is again: Energy.   The flow of money keeps the world going; its stoppage or slowing causes problems.  Greed disturbs it.  People are motivated by it.  It spawns such nightmarish creatures as sub-prime mortgages and derivatives.  It drives people mad.

The energy I like best is the Sun, except of course for LOVE, the real energy in the universe.

If this offends you, mea culpa.

Ray  (it’s still cold out there. Yuck!!)

Looking at the Mountains

LOOKING AT THE MOUNTAINS this morning as I sit at my desk, it is spring-like.  There is almost no snow on the peaks.  Barely a trace.  Yesterday it was 56 degrees and raining.  Today it will be in the 40’s and sunny.  It’s strangely beautiful with leafless trees defining the mountains and nearby hills in a fine tracery of greys and browns.  The fields are golden.

This is not normal. In Northern Vermont at this time of year it is usually in the 20’s during the day; snow covers the mountains and the fields.  The ski areas often open for skiing, although sometimes the skiing is limited to terrain where they make snow.

I’ve seen this before many years ago--- no snow until Christmas day and then a 3’ dump!  But, you have to ask yourself  about global warming. 

When I was in college I loved to mountain climb, and the glaciers in Switzerland and France even then were retreating ( 1950’s).  The glaciers in the Himalaya up in the Annapurna Sanctuary showed huge retreat back in 1982 when Shannon and I spent time there.  We stood on a lateral moraine and looked down 30’ to the glacier floor which was almost all gravel.  The glacier was snugged up much closer to Annapurna. It used to be a full river of ice and snow.

So, what is going on?  Global warming is real, part natural and I believe part exacerbated by C02 and other pollutants that are man-made.  I’ve seen it and I am seeing it. We must be better custodians of our planet home

R. A. M.


 

Return to My Blog

I’m so sorry that I have not been blogging for many many months. Sometime soon---a  month or so more --- I will tell you why.  It’s been a rough time in my life adventure.  But, we go on and life changes and we change --- or try to.  Anyway, I’m back and it feels good to blog again. And I’m smiling.  Family and friends and work that you love, that’s what it’s all about. No, it’s not about my health; it’s about loss.

CHOOSE books have been the adventure of my life.  Reaching out to kids and letting them know that they count, that they can make choices, that they can fail and try again, that they can fashion their lives and respond to the challenges along the way.  I love what I do.

I’ve written several books in the last year.  It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I did it. Two were written for WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, to help get kids to consider all the negatives about using drugs to enhance sports performance.  WADA, supported by the International Olympic Committee, is giving these books away to member countries to distribute free to kids. Wow! What a responsibility it was to write these two books: TRACK STAR   and ALWAYS PICKED LAST.

So, I’m back.  I’m so grateful that so many of you have loved reading CHOOSE books.  What I would like is to ask all of you is WHY DO YOU LOVE THE CHOOSE BOOKS?  Send me an e-mail and tell me why.  And, thanks!!!  I’m not looking for praise, I’m curious why the books have touched so many people.  Don’t forget, I’m not the only author.

Best,

Ray   (R. A. )

Vermont Intercultural Semester in the Himalayas

Here is a message from our friend Thayer MacClay, 18, of Warren, Vermont.  Thayer is taking a year off before entering college (Colorado College) to put on 7 League Boots to explore the world and help people at the same time.  I thought you would enjoy this. He is spending the fall in  Ladakh in the Indian region of Jammu and Kashmir.  I wish I were there in those high Himalays on the Tibet border!

Ray 

Vermont Intercultural Semesters 

Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh 

Dear Friends and Family,

A lot has happened since my last update. Now, the VIS ( Vermont Intercultural Semester)  group and I are well settled into SECMOL (Student Educational and cultural Movement of Ladak h) and it's way of life. A typical day starts at 6:30 for the Ladakhis. They tend to study in the morning and some milk the cows along with some other chores. Then, at 8:00 there is breakfast. Curd and tea almost always are available, accompanied by teemok (unsweetened, cinnamonless, and greaseless cinnamon buns) or chapatti (thick barley flour tortilla), and lentils

or some other vegetable dish.  After washing our own dishes, we hang out in the morning sun until 9:00 when work hour begins.

My good friend Oliver Hoblitzelle

Well, I'm back! Sorry to have been away for so long. Someday I'll explain it all. But for now, what I want to say is that kids are so important to our world and our future. So, here are some stories about the passion for fishing by my good friend Oliver Hoblitzelle. I'm sure you will enjoy them as much as I have.

P.S. If you are a kid and want to send in a story or pictures or art or anything that you created, please do and we might put it on the blog. Ask your parents permission to do this.

Thanks,

R. A.

Striped Bass Daybook — By Oliver Hoblitzelle

Last weekend I went fishing for stripers with Max in Charlestown. On Saturday afternoon, my mom drove me to his house. When we arrived at 2 o’clock, I sat down with Max, and we made our plan for the weekend. We decided that we were going to wake up at 3:30 am on Sunday morning. Almost immediately, we got bored with sitting around and decided to go fishing right then in the pouring rain. We walked to the bridge and decided to fish off of a small platform right near the locks. We both cast our six-inch storm swim shad into the current.

CHOICES. IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES

Choose Your Own Adventure is all about choices. In a way it is a simulation model, an approximation of reality without the risks of the real world.  You make choices leading to different endings.  If you don’t like the ending, you can start again with different choices leading to a different ending. 

We as individuals and as societies make choices all the time.  The history of our species is amazing: fire, numbers, alphabets or pictographic language, medicine, architecture, money and banking, art, music, laws etc. Choices got us there.  We are still making choices both as individuals and societies.  Not all of them are good---but, we can change the bad choices, we hope.

So, here is something that was sent to  me the other day.  Give it a listen. Send it on, if you wish.

THE GREEN CUP CAFÉ, Waitsfield, Vermont

This is my second restaurant review.  This is another winning restaurant.  Small, intimate, excellent service and wonderful food. Flavors are fresh, scallops taste as though they were still in the sea, salads are almost a main course and are unique without trying for uniqueness.  If you want meat, the steak frites is excellent, and the fish is done so that the flesh remains true to the fish but never undercooked. If you want a large portion of twice-cooked ziti to nurture yourself, it is one of Jason’s mother’s old recipes and his family’s favorite.
     The wine list is small, well chosen and well priced. Desert?  Yes, more than equal to the moment.
    Prices?  For this food and this ambiance and the entire experience I would pay 50% more and not think about it.
     This is another  ‘run don’t walk restaurant.’

THE TIME IS NOW!!!!!

OBAMA.  What more needs to be said?  The world needs a leader, a person who can renew belief in humanness and decency.

Obama is just that.  Enough of venality, greed, dishonesty, and power- grabbing. Enough of war-making and preventative strikes  (neo-con).

Strong defense; strong leadership, fairness and leadership. Obama will give us this.

Here is our chance; and he needs our support as we need his leadership.

May the wind be at his and our back!

~Ray

PS: For your reading enjoyment, a Washington Post article

A break

Ray asked me to pop on and say we are on a mini Hiatus. A couple of things are on his plate that are devouring his creative time. Could it be another book? Maybe! He's not sharing.  He should be back wowing you with his wordsmithing soon. Thanks for your time! Check back soon!

~John (the Web Guy)