mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Cajun Navy Reporting For Duty

August 28, 2017 1 Comment

Getty Image With rescue efforts still underway in Houston following the city getting hammered by Hurricane Harvey over the weekend, many volunteers have taken it upon themselves to help people trapped in homes or on rooftops, as local authorities are inundated with more rescue requests then they can handle. One such group of volunteers have…

via Louisiana’s Volunteer ‘Cajun Navy’ Tells Texans In Need How They Can Request A Rescue By Boat — Real Stories – UPROXX

#SelfCareSunday Soft Focus

August 20, 2017 3 Comments

shadow boundary

shadow boundary

boundary

boundary

Lines are bring drawn everywhere. Politics have seeped into the most mundane parts of our lives. We all need a break, a retreat from the news without dropping out of our responsibilities.  Many feel the fatigue of caring for others, either financially or literally.  To keep the well of wellbeing primed each of us needs to take care of our own needs before deciding what others might need. I believe in taking a step back, looking at things from a safe distance, and with a very soft focus. What do I mean by soft focus?

  • Find simple ways to express gratitude to your family, friends and coworkers
  • Make daily habit patterns revolve around healthy habits like meditation and exercise
  • Take control of the time you spend on line or texting for social purposes
  • Reclaim a portion (no matter how small) of your paycheck to save for a worthy goal, personal or community oriented
  • Analyse your own happiness quotient-how much you bring to the table, and how much you rely on others for emotional juice
  • Walk away from fruitless arguments you recognize that you have had in the past

It is very tempting to jump into all the arguments available to us at all hours on social media.  This too shall pass. Maintain balance by taking your centering practices much more seriously than the outrage of the moment. Don’t consume the toxic Kool Aid.  It is spiked, altered, unhealthy.

both

both

 

#WeekendCoffeeShare Fall Semester

August 12, 2017 4 Comments

fall

fall

If we were having coffee this weekend in Tucson I would invite you to relax with an iced tea. I am enjoying a white strawberry tea that refreshes me in this muggy weather. Please help yourself to apricots while we kiss this summer good bye. The stone fruits (peaches, plums, apricots, etc) are a symbol of summer. Along with berries they have the lively colors and flavors that remind us of outdoor dining in the warm season. At this time of year I buy the best looking stone fruits at the market and savor the last of the crop from this year. These apricots are luscious.

If we were relaxing with tea I would tell you my week went well. I fit in dermatology as well as dental appointments and continued trimming down and organizing my possessions. I excavated loads of paper files to destroy, and a few to save. I can’t believe how much useless paper I have stuffed into the spaces in my house. This is all changing, and making me very happy. I listed the real estate, so vacating the barn and dealing with anything stored over there is a signal I am really ready to sell.  I found the appraisal on the land I had done when I inherited it in 2008. I have lost a huge amount of imaginary money on this property, and payed Pima County about $15,000 in taxes over the time I have owned it. I will be pleased to give up the tax burden and end the madness.  It probably will not sell overnight, but I am ready if it does.

Again this week I trended more into poetry and fiction. I enjoy the more creative forms.  I think all of my writing needs practice, in every form.  As long as I continue to work on it I am satisfied.  I have started to dream up fiction scenarios in my spare time, which is new for me.  Usually I am all about finding more facts.  I have been invited to a mermaid parade next week in downtown Tucson.  I do have an outfit I could wear.  It has made me think about getting some photos and covering it as a real news story, and then writing some poetry or fiction using the images.  That could be fun.  I have done little photography lately, and the event promises to be a visual delight.

Parent, student, teacher, or not, the whole world feels the back to school season. Here in my neighborhood we welcome back the U of A students and faculty along with many other locals who leave in the summer because the can.  School and university traffic is noticeable on the roads, but then again so is the economic impact it represents.  I don’t mind the students, but I saw my first set of ceramic pumpkins in a grocery store display this week.  Hold on with the pumpkin spice and the Halloween gear until at least September.  Let’s enjoy some Indian summer before you start playing Christmas music.  How is back to school season for you, gentle reader? Do your local merchants jump the gun on holidays like ours do?

#WeekendCoffeeShare

#WeekendCoffeeShare

Join the digital beverage party every weekend at Diana’s parttimemoster blog.  Catch up with news from writers around the world over your beverage of choice. Read, write, comment, or check #weekendcoffeeshare on twitter

Listing To The Left

August 11, 2017 1 Comment

crew

crew

Returning from the voyage with a dangerous leak in the hull
The ship barely remained afloat while listing toward starboard
The lifeboats had all been deployed when the mast snapped
The crew had no choice but to try to make land on the carcass
Of the wooden vessel, laden with treasure, sinking from the weight
Plundered booty, food stores and ammunition, symbols of victory
Were all tossed overboard in an attempt to save human life
What did this say about the success of the voyage?
How does this comfort those who drowned in the service
Of the now deceased captain of this ship?

Wonder

August 6, 2017 1 Comment

space

space

Inside the circular passage the whispers bounced
Off the reflections of the insinuations left by the past
Inner balance outer strength come with hard choices
When clouds obscure the top of the peak it is unclear
If there is a reason to climb today to the higher ground
Did pioneers or invaders carve this path on which we travel?

Sails Under Stars

August 1, 2017 1 Comment

How does the navigator read the map of the stars at night?
Do the winds and tides hold secrets used to predict a fight?
We have little knowledge of our history, and even less of our fate
This ship on which we are sailing is loaded down with pieces of eight
Stolen from pirates in the last century down on the Outer Banks
Our treasure has become our curse as we labor without thanks
Our masters run a cruel ship, violently whipping the crew
We would have never joined their side if we had known what’s true

#WeekendCoffeeShare Lazy Muse Edition

July 30, 2017 6 Comments

reflection in my pool

If we were having coffee this weekend I would invite you to sip a long glass of iced tea or coffee. The weather is muggy and the ground is muddy. My ambition is active in starts and fits.  Last weekend was extremely successful in the possession purge department.  I unloaded a big car, loads of fabric, twofold funky floor cleaning machines, and about 300 pounds of glassware.  We went to the used book store with our DVD’s, but only a small portion were accepted for trade.  The initial phase was exciting because as items left the house, more was revealed that needs to go.  I did uncover space in the garage and in some cabinets in the house, but I am not even 10% into the work that I need to do.  It is exhilarating to see the empty space appear.  It will be even more exciting to clear out the barn and sell the lot across the street.  The financial reward will be more than worth the effort. I will perceiver.

With all the extra emphasis on physical things, my muse decided to be lazy and fickle.  I wrote very little this week while I settle into my work and commute schedule.  I made some excuses about all the “work” I have to do. I admit that this is pure malarkey.  My commute is an easy 20 minute straight shot, and my work is fun.  Plenty of people go to school full-time and work full-time and get graduate degrees.  Surely I can work a tiny part-time job while purging my possessions and still find time to write.  I am putting this muse’s nose to the grindstone in the coming weeks. It is better to write something, even if it is not my best work, than to skip too many days.  How do you handle your productivity issues?  Does your muse just lounge around and refuse to work?  Today I am working a shift on Sunday so I can take a full day off for my facial tomorrow.  Ms Muse should realize she is living in a very privileged and pampered being, and be more grateful.  If I discipline her she just leaves.  I can usually squeeze a poem out of her as she exits, but there is no telling when she plans to return. She is a lot like me.

While I fill your iced tea glass, tell me how your life and writing are going.  I hope you are feeling more productive than I am now.  Are you looking forward to the next season (back to school for some) or treading water?  I love summer because I spend so much time in the pool.  I don’t really mind the heat because I have a pool at my condo village I can use 24 hours a day.  I am very fond of moonlight dips.  The water cools off in the middle of September, ending the nighttime enjoyment.  Until then I can be found in the deep end, thinking deep thoughts, teaching the muse to swim.

#WeekendCoffeeShare

#WeekendCoffeeShare

Please join us each week for #WeekendCoffeeShare, hosted by Diana at Parttimemonsterblog.com.  Share your news and catch up with the gang on the weekends here. The feast is moveable and the drinks are all digital and calorie free.

 

#WritePhoto Last Windmill

July 27, 2017 9 Comments

the last windmill

the last windmill

The pump beneath the windmill brings water to the fields
Narrow streams flow gently between the grain and weeds
Sustaining this small patch of land was easier in the past
Today we watch industry sprawl then collapse just as fast
In our youth we did not imagine this could happen here
That the last windmill in service would be held so dear
Ceremonies and pageantry now commemorate the times
When Mother Nature spoke to us in stories and in rhymes

#writephoto

#writephoto

Join writers from around the world each Thursday to respond to the photo prompt generously provided by Sue Vincent on her Echo blog.  Read, write, and comment here on last week’e entries.

Isaac Perkins, Eleventh Great-Grandfather

July 25, 2017 3 Comments

Colonist

Colonist

My eleventh great-grandfather was born in England and died in Essex Massachusetts.

Name: Isaac Perkins
Birth Date: 1571
Birth Place: Rugby Borough, Warwickshire, England
Death Date: 1639
Death Place: Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States of America
Cemetery: Old Burying Ground
Burial or Cremation Place: Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States of America
Isaac Perkins (1571 – 1629)
11th great-grandfather
Lydia Perkins (1616 – 1654)
daughter of Isaac Perkins
Lydia Peabody (1640 – 1715)
daughter of Lydia Perkins
Mary Howlett (1664 – 1727)
daughter of Lydia Peabody
John Hazen (1687 – 1772)
son of Mary Howlett
Caleb Hazen (1720 – 1777)
son of John Hazen
Mercy Hazen (1747 – 1819)
daughter of Caleb Hazen
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Mercy Hazen
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Isaac Perkins was baptized 20 December 1571 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England, the son of Thomas Perkins and Alice (possibly Kebble). Isaac married first Alice —. This Alice was buried in June of 1602 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England. Isaac married second Alice —. Isaac became a yeoman in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts. On 15 June 1639, his widow Alice sold the lot in Ipswich.
Isaac and the first Alice’s children are:
1. Sarah Perkins, baptized 3 Feb 1596 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
2. Elizabeth Perkins, baptized 19 May 1600 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
3. Thomas Perkins, baptized 27 May 1601 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
Isaac and the second Alice’s children are:
4. Abraham Perkins, baptized in 1603 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England, married Mary (Wyeth?), one of first settlers of Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire, miller, clerk of the market, constable, and tavern keeper.
5. Jacob Perkins, baptized 23 Mar 1605/6 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England, said to have settled in Holmes Hole, Martha’s Vineyard, Dukes, Massachusetts.
6. Abigail Perkins, baptized 8 Nov 1607 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
7. Isaac Perkins, baptized 26 Jan 1611/2 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England, married Susanna —, one of first settlers of Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire, constable.
8. Hannah Perkins, baptized 9 Oct 1614 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
9. Lydia Perkins, baptized 1 Jan 1617/8 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.
10. Mary Perkins, baptized 16 Sep 1621 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England, may very likely have been the Mary who married Henry Green of Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire and died 26 Apr 1690.[1]
Sources:
1. Perkins in Hillmorton Parish Records (England), extracted by Jim Perkins.
2. Davis, Walter Goodwin, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes, 1759–1820, of Topsfield, Massachusetts, Portland, ME: Anthoensen Press, 1959, p. 89.
3. Noyes, Sybil, Libby, Charles Thornton, and Davis, Walter Goodwin, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1976, p. 541.
4. Savage, James, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, Vol. 3, Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1990 (originally published Boston, 1860-1862).
5. Holmes, Frank R., Directory of Heads of New England Families, 1620-1700, New York, 1923, p. 354.
Baptisms20 Dec 1571 Isaac son of Thomas
3 Feb 1596 Sarah dau of Isaac
19 May 1600 Elizabeth dau of Isaac
27 Mar 1601 Thomas son of Isaac
Burial[28?] June 1602 Alice wife of Isaac
Baptisms[4 July ?] 1603 Abraham son of Isaac & Alice
23 Mar 1605/6 Jacob son of Isaac
8 Nov 1607 Abigail dau of Isaac
26 Jan 1611/12 Isaac son of Isaac
9 Oct 1614 Hannah dau of Isaac
1 Jan 1617/18 Lydia dau of Isaac
16 Sep 1621 Mary dau of Isaac
Source: Perkins in Hillmorton Parish Records (England), extracted by Jim Perkins.
In 1637 there was an Isaac Perkins in Ipswich where he owned “land lying above the street called Brook street, six acres.” He was dead before 15 Jun 1639, when his widow Alice Perkins sold the lot to Joseph Morse. It is tempting to believe that he was also of the Hillmorton stock. John Perkins did not have a brother Isaac, but he had an uncle Isaac only eleven years older than he, while other Isaacs were baptized in Hillmorton in 1597/8 and 1611/2.
If Isaac Perkins of Ipswich was a man of middle age, which we have no means of knowing, he and Alice may have been the parents of Abraham and Isaac Perkins who turned up in Hampton, not far down the coast, where Abraham took the Freeman’s Oath in 1640 and Isaac in 1642. These men are presumed to have been brothers. Abraham named a son Luke, not a common name, and John Perkins of Hillmorton and Ipswich had an uncle Luke, a brother Luke, and a grandson Luke.
Source: Davis, Walter Goodwin, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes, 1759–1820, of Topsfield, Massachusetts, Portland, ME: Anthoensen Press, 1959, p. 89.
Perkins/Perkeings/Perkus/Parkins, Isaac, yeoman, Ipswich, propr. 1637. His widow Alice sold land and house 15 (4) 1639. [Ips. Rec.] Ch. Isaac (rem. to Hampton); Jacob (sold land recd. from his father 23 (2) 1674, after removing to Holmes Hole.)
Source: Holmes, Frank R., Directory of Heads of New England Families, 1620-1700, New York, 1923, p. 354.

Terror Trap

July 25, 2017 3 Comments

symbolic

symbolic

When the center of town exploded we checked the sky
Nobody could see the cause of the blaze or find out why
Our news was jammed and twitter was disabled tonight
We are not sure if this is an invasion, a prank, or a fight
If our communications are stopped we will quiver in fear
It will be of no use to have all the latest of apps and gear
Please send us a signal, a message, a hint or a sign
Are we surrounded by zombies, or enemies of some kind?
We have become hyper-vigilant, paranoid, and obsessed
Is this one road we have traveled doomed or blessed?

symbolic

symbolic