mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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My 18th great-grandfather was born and is burred in Vilnuis, Lithuania. His conquest of Slavic lands that had been held by the Kievan Rus was his claim to fame. He was successful in establishing a headquarters in the Crimea. My 18th great-grandmother, his wife, was an Orthodox Russian princess, but he still tried to take over Moscow by military force. He is buried at Cathedral of the Theotokos
in Vilnuis.
Algirdas (c. 1296 – May 1377) was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. He ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians.
With the help of his brother Kęstutis, who defended the western border of the duchy, he created a vast empire stretching from the Baltics to the Black Sea and reaching within 50 miles of Moscow.
Algirdas was one of the seven sons of the Grand Duke Gediminas. Before his death in 1341, Gediminas divided his domains, leaving the youngest son Jaunutis in possession of the capital of Vilnius, with a nominal priority. With the aid of his brother Kęstutis, Algirdas drove out the incapable Jaunutis and declared himself a Grand Prince in 1345. Thirty-two years of his reign (1345–1377) were devoted to the development and expansion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Two factors are supposed to have contributed to achieve this result: The extraordinary political sagacity of Algirdas, and, the lifelong devotion of his brother Kęstutis.
A neat division of their dominions is illustrated by the fact, that Algirdas appears almost only in East Slavic sources, whereas the Western chronicles are aware mostly of Kęstutis. The Teutonic Knights in the north and the Tatar hordes in the south were equally bent on the subjection of Lithuania, while Algirdas’ eastern and western neighbors Muscovy and Poland generally were hostile competitors.
Algirdas not only succeeded in holding his own, he acquired influence and territory at the expense of Muscovy and the Golden Horde, and extended the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the northern shore of the Black Sea.
Principal efforts of Algirdas were directed to securing the Slavonic lands which had been a part of the former Kievan Rus. He procured the election of his son Andrew as the Prince of Pskov, and a powerful minority of the citizens of the Republic of Novgorod held the balance in his favor against the Muscovite influence. However, his ascendancy in both these commercial centers was, at best, precarious.
Algirdas occupied the important principalities of Smolensk and Bryansk in western Russia. Although his relations with the grand dukes of Muscovy were friendly on the whole — he married two Orthodox Russian princesses – that did not prevent him from besieging Moscow in 1368 and again in 1372, both times unsuccessfully.
An important feat of Algirdas was his victory over the Tartars in the Battle of Blue Waters at the Southern Bug in 1362. It resulted in breaking up of the powerful Kipchak horde and compelled the khan to migrate still farther south and establish his headquarters for the future in the Crimea.
Pecans grow abundantly in Arizona, with large commercial groves to be found both north and south of the city of Tucson. Green Valley Pecan Company is the largest pecan farm in the world. I love the organic pecans from our neighbors just 20 minutes south of Tucson. They sponsor the Sahuarita Pecan Festival to celebrate the harvest and get festive with the local population. This year the festival will take place Nov. 8, 2014 from 9 am to 5 pm at the farm. Parking is free until 8:30 am, and $5 per car after that time. I adore food festivals. I am a bigger fan of nuts than I am of wine, so this local festival is particularly appealing to me. I am not waiting to start eating my organic Green Valley pecans. I have already polished off half of the first bag I purchased eating them straight up. That is honestly my favorite way to have them. I do cook with them, and when I was in Austin this summer I heard about a pecan syrup being used in bourbon cocktails that intrigued me. My friend made a wonderful concoction of bitters by using a whole pecan in the shell as one of the local ingredients she was testing. The flavor of the nut came out nicely in the final product, the shell lending some bitter notes. My mother used to shell loads of pecans each year and give them to me as a holiday gift. It was the best thing she gave me, and she kept doing it until she was very old. She would spend a month or so shelling pecans in the fall for her holiday gifting. She was from Texas, so I imagine this came from her childhood. She made a decent pecan pie, but my mother, Ruby, specialized in pralines. She made no other kind of candy, and it only happened once a year (for the holiday gifts). She put pecans in her fruitcakes too, but then she ruined them with fruitcake (I was never a fan of this extremely labor intensive preparation).
Here are some savory examples of pecans for fall festivities:
Most of the classic pecan recipes are for sweets:
If you have made the ice cream you can them have a:
What is your favorite way to enjoy pecans, Gentle Reader?
Science Friday is a show on PBS radio that I enjoy. This week I heard a story that has fascinated me. They are sponsoring a nationwide program to encourage people to enter into science experiments. The scientific methods are shared with anyone who cares to discover literally anything. Citizen science is a booming area of interest. Anyone can participate and if the results are shared on line with the hashtag #observeeverything there is a chance of encouragement and coaching from other scientists. The idea is to observe anything with a question in mind. Random observation can be the place to start. If you start today to closely watch what happens around you something may catch your fancy that can be the basis of your experiment. It should truly interest you and make you curious. There may be something you have been wondering about for a while, or you may stumble upon a phenomena you can’t explain or interpret. After you narrow down a question or theory to prove you need to take detailed notes and maybe some photos or videos to support your experiment.
I did a lot of science at home with my father when I was a child. I was struck by the way my dad was relatively careless with chemicals. He brought chemicals home from his job at Gulf Oil research. I like the dry ice the best. He liked to blow things up and make bombs. That was okay, but there were some fairly dangerous accidents as a result of my dad’s science lab in the garage, the backyard, and the front sidewalk. One time we spilled an explosive mix designed to be dropped in small quantities on the sidewalk to pop when it was touched. My father set of the toxic explosive spill with a broom and it flared up and looked like it might set the front porch on fire for a few minutes. I preferred to put dry ice in the bathtub and blow bubbles that would rest on the top of the CO2. I was also allowed to play with a large bottle of mercury..that’s right, mercury. My friends and I rolled it around in our hands…OY! I had access to a Teslacoil that we used to make our hair stand on end and to zap each other. I guess my childhood was a kind of mad experiment.
I have been making bitters lately and have been thinking maybe there is an experiment I could do that relates to different kinds of bitters and their effects on the body. Since it is subtle I don’t know how one might go about such a test, but I am considering that as a possible subject. I think the thing to do is go start that observation and see if something jumps up at me and wants to be studied. Is there a question you are itching to answer? Take a look at the twitter stream or the #observeeverything streams on any social media to follow the latest and see where the citizen science movement will lead us.
My 10th great-grandmother came to America on the ship Suzan and Ellen in 1635. She was born in Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England. Her profession on the ship’s log is listed as vixor (a word for which I find no definition) , her husband’s as a husbandman, and my 9th great-grandfather, Thomas Crosby, was 8 weeks old. He was lucky to survive the crossing at such a tender age. Ann’s husband died young, and she married a minister who went broke and died of melancholia. This was a huge drag for Ann. Lucky for me they survived.
Ann Brigham (1606 – 1675)
is my 10th great grandmother
Thomas Crosby (1635 – 1702)
son of Ann Brigham
Sarah Crosby (1667 – 1706)
daughter of Thomas Crosby
Sarah Sears (1697 – 1785)
daughter of Sarah Crosby
Sarah Hamblin (1721 – 1814)
daughter of Sarah Sears
Mercy Hazen (1747 – 1819)
daughter of Sarah Hamblin
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
Ernest Howard Crosby, In the portion of the family history taken from the October New York Genealogical and Biograpical Record, Surmises that Simon Crosby ‘may have come to America as one of the company of the Rev. Thomas Shepard, who crossed the ocean in that year (1635) and settled at Newtown, now Cambridge, Massachusetts. This Mr. Shepard was preceeded or accompanied by a large number of his freinds and acquaintances. He had taken orders in the Church of England, and had held livings in Yorkshire and Northumberland, but he enertained conscientious scruples regarding the ceremonies of his church, and was consequently so harassed by those in authority that he left England, and became one of the most eminent clergymen in New England. The Cheif reason for establishing Harvard College at Cambridge is that he lived there.’
This record goes on to state that before the end of 1635 we find Simon Crosby living at Newtown (Cambridge). He was admitted as a freeman on March 3, 1636 and chosen as a selectman in the fall of that year. In September of 1637 he was elected surveyor of highways; was selectman again in 1638, and in October of that year was elected constable.
On Dec. 5, 1636 land was granted to him and six others for pasture. He died in Cambridge in September 1639, at only 31 years of age. The cause of his death is not known, but we can surmise that his death may have been fairly sudden, since he died intestate. An addendum to Ernest Howard Crosby’s record quoted above says that the orginal inventory of the estate of Simon Crosby, signed by his widow Anne, is on file in the archives of Massachuetts at Boston. It places the value of his property at 433 pounds.
Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, in York Co., England is an extensive Parrish located 15 miles SE of the city of York.
Simon and his wife came over in the ship “Susan and Ellen.”
Notes for ANNE BRIGHAM:
It is from Thomas 7, the firstborn, that our line descends, but before proceeding to his generation, it may be of interest to record some of the facts of the later life of the widowed Anne Crosby. In 1646 or l647, she married the Rev. William Tompson, aa distinguished clergyman in Braintree (now Quincy), Mass., who apparentlly pursued his religious duties with zeal but with little regard for financial gain. Ernest Howard Crosby’s record says that in Aug. of 1652 she sold the Crosby house4 with six acres adjoining, and also 147 acres of land in the neighborhood. Mr. Tompson’s health was finally undermined ‘by melancholia’, and he retired from preaching in 1659. He died in 1666, leaving his family in straitened circumstances. In 1668 Anne petitioned the General Court, complaining that moneys due her for his services were witheld. She died in 1675 and was buried in the Quincy churchyard. We have no record of what became of her daughter Ann, her only child by Mr. Tompkins.
At this point, it may be as well to record what is known of two other brothers, both younger than Thomas:
Simon Jr., born 1637, moved early in life to Billerica, Mass. and was the first innkeeper in that town. He was Representative in the General Court in 1691, 1697, and 1698. (Indications are that it is from him that the Alonzo Crosby descent is traced.)
Joseph, the third son, is the ancestor from which Ernest Howard Crosby descends. Born in 1639, he was just 7 months old when his father, Simon the Emigrant, died. When his mother remarried, he was taken by her to live with his stepfather’s family. He passed his life there as a farmer, but was always prominent in town affairs, frequently serving on committees.
Children of SIMON CROSBY and ANNE BRIGHAM are:
ii. SIMON CROSBY, b. Aug 1637, CAMBRIDGE, MA.; d. Unknown.
iii. JOSEPH CROSBY, b. Abt. 1639, CAMBRIDGE, MA.; d. Unknown.
Here are the notes from the ship on which they arrived in Salem:
In the Ship Suzan And Ellen EDWARD PAYNE Mr for New-England Theis pties herevnder
expressed have brought Certificates from the Minister of Justices of their Conformitie and that they
are no Subsidy Men.
Columns represent: name, occupation, and age of each passenger.
1 Procter, John Husbandman 40
2 Proctor, Martha 28
3 Proctor, John 3
4 Proctor, Marie 1
5 Street, Alice 28
6 Thorton, Walter Husbandman 36
7 Thorton , Johanna 44
8 North, John 20
9 Pynder, Mary 53
10 Pynder, Francis 20
11 Pynder, Marie 17
12* Pinder, Katherine 10
13 Pynder, Jo: 8
14 Skofield, Richard 22
15 Weeden, Edward 22
16 Wilby, George 16
17 Hawkins, Richard 15
18 Parker, Tho: 30
19 Burd, Symon 20
20 Mansfield, Jo: 34
21 Cole, Clement 30
22 Jones, Jo: 20
23 Burrow, Wm 19
24 Atwood, Phillip 13
25 Snowe, Wm 18
26 Lumus, Edward 24
27 Saltonstall, Richard Husbandman 23
28 Saltonstall, Merriall 22
29 Saltonstall, Merriall 9 mos.
30 Wells, Tho: 30
31* Coop, Peter 28
32 Lambart, Wm 26
33 Podd, Samvel 25
34 Belcher, Jeremy 22
35 Clifford, Marie 25
36 Coe, Jane 30
37 Riddlesden, Marie 17
38 Pellam, Jo: 20
39 Hitchcock, Matthew 25
40 Nicholls, Elizabeth 25
41 Carpenter, Tomazin 35
42 Fowle, Ann 25
43 Gordon, Edmond 18
44 Sydlie, Tho: 22
45 Leach, Margaret 22
46 Smith, Marie 21
47 Swayne, Elizabeth 16
48 Wells, Ann 20
49 Bewile, Grace 30
50 Taylor, Dvonis 48
51 Smith, Hanna 30
52 Backley, Jo: 15
53 Battrick, Wm 18
Theis vnder written names are to be transported to New-England imbarqued in the
Suzen And Ellen
EDWARD PAYNE Mr:
the pties have brought Certificates from ye Ministers of Justices of the peace
yt they are no Subsidy Men: and are conformable to ye orders and discipline of
the Church of England.
54 Hudson, Ralph A Drap 42
55 Hudson, Marie vixor 42
56 Hudson, Hanna children 14
57 Hudson, Eliz: children 5
58 Briggham, Tho: 32
59 Thwing, Ben: servant 16
60 Gibson, Ann servant 34
61 Kirk, Judith servant 18
62 Moore, Jo: servant 41
63 Knowles, Henry servant 25
64 Richardson, Geo 30
65 Thomlins, Ben: 18
66 Thomlins, Edward 30
67 Ford, Barbara 16
68 Broomer, Joan 13
69 Brooke, Richard 24
70 Brooke, Tho: 18
71 Crosby, Symon husbandman 26
72 Crosby, Ann vixor 25
73 Crosby, Tho: child 8 weeks
74 Rowton, Ric: husbandman 36
75 Roswton, Ann vixor 36
76 Rowton, Edmond child 6
77 Greene, Percivall husbandman 32
78 Greene, Ellin vixor 32
79 Trane, Jo: servant 25
80 Dix, Margaret servant 18
81 Atherson, Jo: 24
82 Blason, Ann 27
83 Buckley, Ben: 11
84 Buckley, Daniell 9
85 Corrington, Jo: 33
86 Corrington, Mary 33
Durga is the mother goddess capable of killing demons. She was born from the anger of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva and outfitted with every weapon of the gods. She was brilliant, and extremely bad assed. She is the very angry mother who drives demons from the earth and puts the fear of retribution in all her children. She has nine different forms she may assume in her motherly duties. During the festival of Navaratri she is worshiped in three of her forms. First Durga the destroyer purifies for three days as only wrathful mother can. Then Lakshmi takes over for three days of bestowing spiritual wealth. The final three days are ruled by Saraswati, the mother of wisdom. To skip any one of the three mothers is to fail to grasp the whole meaning of the creative essence. The feminine spark, or Shakti, does all the work and holds all the energy. In 2014 Navaratri lasts from 25 September until the 3 October. The Durga puja is an affirmation of good over evil, a classic version of mother knows best. She will remove the miseries of life and chase the demons out of the building. Respect her in all her forms…..you want to stay on her good side.
One of the most symbolic of all the foods we harvest in the fall is the pomegranate. This is the fruit of the dead Hades gave the goddess Persephone before she was retuned to her mother. The pomegranate seeds she ate in the underworld created a magical bond she could not break. She was doomed to return to Hades for three months each year. This complicated story is about birth and death, cycles and seasons, sabotage and fate. She was kidnapped and raped by her husband Hades who planned to keep her forever. Persephone’s mother, Demeter, goddess of fertility, went into such a tizzy about her daughter’s kidnapping that Zeus, her husband, finally relented and brought Persephone back to her. The entire incident could have ended at that, but the pomegranate seeds she ate magically sealed her relationship with Hades and the underworld. She was, after all, since her kidnapping and rape, the queen of the underworld. Now we have three months of winter, and during that time Demeter will not produce crops or warmth for the land. Each spring when Persephone returns from her underground realm life begins anew and Demeter gets busy providing ample food for humans.
The ruby red color and the delicious taste of the pomegranate makes an exotic ingredient in all kinds of dishes and drinks. Here are a few ways to honor Persephone and enjoy the season:
Pomegranate molasses is available at Middle Eastern grocery stores, and is a wonderful ingredient. It is very handy at the bar. This beautiful alcohol free drink is named after the queen of the underworld:
Last but certainly not least I leave you with a recipe for an exotic cocktail with chocolate covered pomegranate seeds:
Enjoy!!!
The first and the only rule in whistle blowing is: Never stop!!!! The second rule that I have learned is: Contact the Department of the Treasury. I have had to blow the same whistle about the same crimes being committed by the same people in the same place for over a decade. Finally, I think I have reached an organization interested in enforcing the law. The United States Department of the Treasury has seen it all, and knows from experience how corrupt government can be. The Royal Canadian Mounties may always get their man, but the IRS always gets their (our) money. I have been frustrated that none of our public officials or law enforcement agencies is interested in stopping obvious crime, but I now have a more realistic view of what to expect from the people I pay to enforce the law. It is naive to think that intense corruption that obstructs justice and fails the public trust does not exist at every level of our government.
I have lived next door to a charity scam operated by our HOA board for more than 10 years. My first request for help was to the local city Council member, Karin Uhlich. She never responded to dozens of requests over more than 5 years. Her assistant, who lives around the corner from me and is a “neighborhood outreach” employee has never been able to respond to the many requests I made for her to look at the evidence. I contacted John McCain two or three times with no response. I called and e mailed Ron Barber to try to get some help for the crime situation in our neighborhood. His office had the nerve to ask me how I liked the customer service from his office when I contacted it. I said I gave them an F since they never responded at all. They never responded to that either. The Tucson Police Department has willfully denied these crimes by creating a fake neighborhood watch comprised of only the criminals involved in the HOA board. They then go ahead and ask for a grant from the Feds to willfully ignore federal crimes and call that neighborhood policing. Dozens of requests to the TPD have been willfully ignored until last spring when Lt Frank Hand begrudgingly admitted that charity scamming is criminal and gave me the correct form to contact the IRS to claim a reward and stop the crimes. I had made attempts to tell the IRS many times, but Lt. Frank gave me the secret key to success…they only respond to the correct form. I filed the form and within about 3 months I had a response. This was heavenly after so many years. If I had it to do again I would physically camp at the IRS until I had a chance to submit evidence. I completely understand why Edward Snowden chose to tattle outside the country. Doing so to the agency invested in the corruption can only end in heartache.
The neighbors here petitioned the mayor of Tucson, who is a lawyer and should be able to discern crime from charity, for two years before officer Frank called me. The cops are not lawyers, so we think the mayor has responsibility to end obstruction of justice rather than participate in it. The sad news is that our government is not open to hearing evidence that will show how unethical it is. It will go to great lengths to deny reality if that reality includes crimes committed in broad daylight by our public officials. It is a shared deluded consciousness that endangers our society. Who knew you could be made so happy by a letter from the Internal Revenue Service???
The Fall Equinox is a time to reflect, budget, delete, and take stock of what we have. In modern times our personal harvest is less crucial to our survival than it was hundreds of years ago. We import and ship what we want all over the world. Because so much of our food costs are transportation related this might be a time to take stock of what we have in our local market or garden that can be a substitute for imported or processed foods. We like convenience, but may be able to find better priced locally made foods, goods, and services of superior quality. We like to be served, but can save money and enhance creativity by doing more of our own food preparation and preservation. It is time to create, prosper and appreciate. Do you have practices to note the day when the whole world has an equal amount of darkness and light? Normally the moon rises about 50 minutes later than the previous night. On the equinox it rises only about 10 minutes later, and the effect is that of almost standing still for a few days.
In ancient Greece this time of year was the time for grand rituals known as the Eleusian rites. From the equinox until the end of the month processions and rites to the goddess Demeter were performed. The elaborate rites involved bathing in the sea, building an altar around a tree, blessing the earth with wine and special potions, and a giant party to honor Demeter, goddess of the earth. Holy Night, on September 28, when the goddess Koré would turn from maiden to krone, and then into the young queen of the underworld. Some of the celebrants were granted the chance to see their own deaths on the Holy Night in order to free themselves from fear of the afterlife. The following day was a sports and games day before the final eighth day of the festival returns to solemn ritual to signify spiritual rebirth. This was very different from football season or American festivities for fall because everything was viewed as sacred. The rituals were believed to be an important spiritual gift to mankind. Can you find a way to honor that seasonal shift in your life this year? I would love to hear any ideas you have, gentle readers. I believe we have instinctive spiritual patterns that evolve, but are also part of historical beliefs and rites. We are still connected to Demeter even if we don’t know who she is.
In our dreams characters, including ourselves, play grand archetypes. Last night as I dreamed military factions were fighting it out in a prolonged battle. The warrior rarely appears in my dream life so I have considered it as a signal of some kind of change. The dream did not really upset or frighten me. In fact, after a while awake I fell back into sleep and dreamed about the same theme for a while again, which is very rare in my life. I normally do not go back to sleep, but I felt there was a story I needed to finish. Nobody won the war and I believe there were more than two fighting factions, sort of like Syria today. The warrior is an important archetype without which we would all be too vulnerable. Protection is something everyone needs, from within as well as from others.
In yoga the warrior pose is a wonderful strengthening posture. When one masters it one truly does feel like a warrior and a hero. To be a warrior archetype does not always mean to be a soldier or professional in the business of protection. The best attributes of this archetype are skill, strength, discipline and self sacrifice in the conquest over ego. The best warrior is stoic and possesses a tough will to conquer. The worst warrior is indifferent to the suffering of others. The shadow practice of this soldier in the dark is trading ethics for victory at any cost. The hero as well as the heel are contained within the warrior archetype. Loyalty and invincibility are identified with this character. Mercenaries and gunslingers are also part of the tribe.
I wondered today if thinking about my ancestors and the Civil War in the United States might be part of this dream’s arrival. I have been studying and considering how my family moved from Selma, Alabama to East Texas after the war and bought property with gold. They traveled by oxcart to get there. Both my 2nd great grandfather and his father-in-law were in the war, the older man conscripted to make steel in Birmingham Alabama to provide munitions to the Confederacy. The Confederate money was worthless after the war, so I wonder how they managed to have enough gold to buy property in Texas. Many southern cotton farmers had moved to the area, so the majority of the population was black, as a remnant of slavery and cotton. My people were religious and donated land for a church in the area. I have been thinking about what it is like to fight in a war like that and be on the loosing side, then move to a new place. They had to handle a lot of change and hardship during one lifetime, and the period after the war may have been as difficult as the war itself.
My relationship with this dream is asking me to be stronger and more disciplined. I have done very little self-sacrifice or tough willed commitment during my time on earth. I know few soldiers in my real life, and have no contact with war and the risk of loosing a loved one. As war explodes around the globe I stay relatively insulated until someone new invades Tucson. We all depend on cops, soldiers, and sailors to keep us safe from harm, but I normally give them little thought. War is hell, and most of us defer that hell to warriors and prefer not to know much about the details. Historical wars seem to me to be linked to spiritual warfare. How do you relate to the warrior archetype? Do you take the role of protector in your life? Who protects you?
I have drained my water barrel and am preparing for a storm of mighty proportions. Arizona has had a good year of rain during our monsoon season this year, but the last round was too intense. There was flooding all over the state, but Phoenix was hit hardest because the major freeway through that city was flooded and closed. There were disasters and deaths by drowning during our recent storms. Today we are bracing for what we are told will be 5 inches of rain in about 3 days. At this time the predictors are off a bit because it was to have rained all day today. We had some light sprinkles in the morning, but the deluge has not yet arrived. I took the dog for a walk early because I was convinced we would be trapped by rain all day. The sky is grey and the air very humid. The smell of wet creosote bush confirms that summer rains are still in gear. We normally welcome rain in all forms and amounts, but this is on the scary side. There is nothing to be done except get some sand bags ready for the back door just in case we need to protect our home.
I am thinking of it as a baptism. The rain can wash away all the recent violence in our neighborhood and cleanse the air. I hope people will pay attention to safety and stop themselves before driving into washes to be swept away to drowning death. As natural disasters go floods are swift and powerful. I am hoping our washes and rivers will stay within their bounds and that nobody will loose life or home. All we can do is be careful. Have you ever lived through a flood?