STEVEN CALLAHAN adrift at sea

    Adrift at Sea is a short book that I have recently read.  It talks about a thirty year old man named Steven Callahan who is trapped at sea on his tiny life boat.  He nearly starves, dehydrates, and gets eaten alive by sharks.  Callahan stays  alive for over two months, floating on the salty ocean.  So long that barnacles start to grow on the bottom of the raft and fish start eating the barnacles.  After he is saved, he doesn't let the terrible experience stop him from sailing.

    The book also talks a little about Callahan's life.

    It is the kind of book that is very interesting but only takes you fifteen minutes to read.

What is The Meaning of My Life? (Chinese Story)

    There once was a little monk who wanted to know what the meaning of his life was.  So he asked his master, "Master, masterer, can you tell me what the meaning of my life is?"

    He answered in a wise tone, "Go up to the mountain behind our monastery, my boy, find a boulder and bring it to the market.  If someone asks how much the boulder is, don't say anything, just put up two fingers.  If they are still interested, don't sell it, bring it back here and I will tell you the meaning of your life."

    The young monk did as his master said and brought a boulder down to the market.  A while later, an old lady approached him and inquired, "Young man, how much do you want for this boulder?"

    The monk put up two fingers.

    "Two yuan? " She asked. The little monk said nothing. "No? Twenty then. Oh, well, I need it to help me pickle some vegetables." She said.

    The little monk was amazed, "There are so many boulders on our mountain." He took the boulder back, and told his master, "Guess what?  A lady at the market wanted to buy this boulder for twenty yuan!  Now will you please tell me the meaning of my life?"

    The master replied, "Once again take the boulder, then instead, go to the museum and stand besides it.  Do the same thing and return.  Then I shall tell you the meaning of your life."

    The monk took the boulder and placed it in the museum.  He stood besides it like his master had told him to.

    A little later a bearded man came over and said, "Hey you!  Is this boulder for sale?  It seems pretty old.  How much?"

    Once again, the young monk put up two of his fingers.

    "Well, well," the bearded man said, "Now, is that two hundred yuan?  No?  How about two thousand?"

    The monk smiled and shook his head then returned to the monastery.  "Master!" he chirruped excitedly, "Today someone offered two thousand yuan for that bolder! Tell me the meaning of my life now."

    His master chuckled and said, "Now, now, bring this boulder once more, except this time bring it to an antique shop.  Come back and I shall finally tell you the meaning of your life."

    The little monk was off again.  He brought the boulder to an antique shop and set it down.  No later did someone approached him and asked, "Do you know how much this rock is worth? Eh?"

    And so, the monk put up two fingers.

    "So that's two thousand?  Or perhaps twenty thousand yuan?"

    The monk hurried excitedly back to his master.  He said, "Today some thought the boulder was worth twenty thousand!"

    The master nodded his long neck and smiled, "Oh, You see.  Your life is like this boulder, my dear student, the greater you value yourself, the greater you are truly worth."

    The monk remembered this for the rest of his life ...

House Near the Mountains

This is a wood project.  I used a Vice Versa burning tool and acrylic paint.

Nature Diary #9

8.29.2011

After The Storm

    Yesterday there was a hurricane! (Well, not really--by the time it reached MA it was just a tropical storm with hurricane gusts.)  Anyways, the media completely overreacted...but I guess overreacting is better than not reacting at all.  There was a really really tall pine in our backyard that kept swaying back and forth.  My dad got a little nervous and kept asking, "Is that our tree or theirs?  How do you know?"  Well, in the end we were just fine.  We didn't even lose power!

    Today you can barely tell that there had been a storm!
                                                 
                                                 
                                                           AFTER THE STORM

 

The sky is blue and cloudless

While the sun shines bright  

The shadows of trees don't move

There is no wind to rustle their branches.

All you can see After The Storm

Is the remains of scattered leaves and twigs

But other than that the storm seems

To have brought peace from rage.

Because her rage
Was full of sadness and when she left
Her sadness blossomed back to happiness
Because everything is fair in Nature's eyes.


      That's a poem I just came up with after I looked at the photos!  Isn't the sky so blue?

black receipt

     Today some section of a receipt turned black!  It had been lying under a warm tray from the oven so I figured the blackening had something to do with heat.  So I did a little research...

Blackened Receipt

    I was right! Receipt paper is made out of thermal paper which paper that reacts to heat. When you also briskly swipe a nail over thermal paper, it may may a black, blue, or red mark!

Swan

Another piece of woodwork!!!  This is a swan I carved and painted with watercolor.  When I finished painting I covered it with a clear oil base coating. (The reason it didn't smudge when I put the coating on was because it was oil based.)  When I put the coating on my hands got REALLY sticky!  It was very hard to get off!  I even tried to use dishwasher soap and it didn't work.  My dad told me that I was supposed to use paint thinner...that worked immediately but my hands smelled weird the rest of the day.

Ocean church

     This is a picture that I drew with a wood burning tool.  I had to constantly switch points to make different textures in the wood.   My favorite part is the moon in the background.  I used a knot in the wood to make it.

Ocean Church

The steady surge of the chestnut mount I ride has feelings too,

For he even stops before I was to will him with a rounding jerk on his reins,

He loves scene as much as I do, his neigh echos in the crisp night air,

And somehow he knows deep in himself that we have come to the end,

The end is also our beginning-- like the wind that frolics the sailboat playfully,

As it rocks lost in thought in the warm summer ocean truly innocent,

Her captain does not care that the boat is drifting off course,

He does not care that the lighthouse is dimming and sometimes dark without light,

The church is just a mere cottage, its bricks worn out like wood, eerie from the cheesy moon,

Its cross that used to stand proud on the moldy shingled roofs, is lost in time,

My horse and I have not come too soon and we know we must be going,

And as I said, every journey ends and then there comes the beginning.

Flying Girl

I got the inspiration to draw this picture from a story in the FLIGHT comics.  The comic is titled "On Importance of Space Travel".  It was drawn by Svetlana Chmakova who is a manga artist.

I liked the comic a lot and enjoyed reading it countless times.  There is a preview of it on her website.

  

Thirteen chosen steps

Everyone knows
Where the timid snake lives
Where the crabs hide away
Where the stones are too
smooth to skip

Everyone knows
That they are where they should be,
That thirteen chosen steps
Have brought them here
Only to lead you away

Everyone knows
Know is the sweet time:
while the trees whisper 'here, he-ere'
while the water gurgles 'thirteen'
To take everything when you can

Nature diary # 9

8.11.2011

Cliff View/ Art of Nature

    My family went on the hiking trails today.  We climbed a pretty high mountain and saw the view off the edge of a cliff--straight down, maybe even tilted over that point.  We also saw some nice flashes of nature...Anyways, let these photos do the talking:

These Mushrooms are very very orange---More orange than this photo

There is a little fruit growing on this plant that looks like a cactus blossom 

S<= MIDSTATE TRAIL =>N

A thick carpet of moss

Very Berry

Carefully balanced...  By who?  By what?

A huge stone

Rock road and overgrowth

This is a trail and hiking sign

A pretty spiky fallen tree trunk

Three round 'Shrooms

Lamenting scene

The water laps on the rocks,
As the rain thrashes the trees,
Oh, the footsteps of the clouds above,
show no sign of fading...

The rain is somewhat lamenting,
For its loss over the lake that stretches beyond,
Oh, its laments bring my happiness,
In this gloomy landscape...

The poor little droopy pine,
Gives poor cover, over the rising tide,
Oh, beauty is what describes this scene
As "Ugly" will not enter my thoughts...