Beauty and the Beach

When is a walk on the beach more than a walk on the beach? Answer: When you open your eyes to the beauty around you. Seems apparent. Yes? But, 'the devil's in the details'. Adele and I are typically on Playa Portrero by 8AM the latest. Approximately 4km. long, it takes a few ticks over an hour to walk the beach from nearly one end to the other and back. In other words, it doubles the time it would normally take to walk the @2.5 miles. The slow saunter enables me the opportunity to raise my aspect across an expanse of steel blue, shimmering sea, to the rise of rock cliffs matted with tufted trees, and the distant sailors and fishermen in skiffs to schooners, searching for schools of fish.

Or, I lower my head to have revealed a beauty of a different nature - not massive but discreet; not grand rather granular in scale. The small, exquisite and surprising life in the sand. It is said that "the devil's in the details". Never so much as when you wak the beach.

A view of Playa Danta. 

Exquisite symmetry - low tide. 

The Tides at play... 

...while others play... 

The mystery of light. 

Simply a nice ending... 

A Taste of Things To Come

I have noticed how quickly I can get bored looking at photographs that someone else shot. No matter how expertly set and blocked, how stunning the vista, how colorful the scene, how exquisite the delicate flower, most travelogue photos have relevance and significance only to the photographer. To others, family and friends alike, the viewing pleasure quickly fades. Looking at an endless stream of photographs can be, admittedly, tiring and more so because of the inherent pride, over-the-top enthusiasm and pseudo-artistic affectation the photographer may possess for their own shots. So, at the risk of being both hypocritical and tedious I thought I would, in anticipation of our current journey, display some photos from past trips including last summer's hiking expedition through the Bavarian Alps, that could act to whet your appetites for what is to come. My intention is really to lend some excitement to our shared adventure, and to say how happy I am that you are here. Please enjoy the views.

Every turn in the Bavarian Alps is breathtaking...

The loveliness of small German towns.

Lakes near the Austrian border.

I am "Uncle David" to my Daliyat al-Karmel 'nieces' in Israel.

Praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem

A beautiful child in Peru

Amazon Family Siblings

A Friend Along the Amazon River

Please meet Emad Halabi, my brother in Daliyat al-Karmel, israel.

EMBARKATION

This is the first entry to my new blog. First off, I want to extend kudos and warm notes of appreciation to Karen Al-Chacar who patiently guided me through the process of creating, developing and learning to navigate a blog. It has been a pleasure working with her and a real learning experience.

I am looking forward to communicating with you all over the next year and by description, both written and pictorial, hope to convey our experiences in thoughts, feelings and 'reflections' as the blog tag line says. I am told that I do 'wax on' and maybe need to 'wax off' every now and then. So, my goal is to come from my heart even when I am observing and commenting from my head. I am so looking forward to speaking with all of you through this format and hope that you will respond in kind.

Please note, that I was given the option to allow discussion/comments to go 'live' or not. It was explained to me that open discussion boards can be a gnarly thing to manage. I have opted not to allow 'public' comments on the website.  For this trip Adele and I request that you simply contact us through the website. We wish to hear from you and invite your submissions, responses, tall tales and tales of woe. We want to be as much a part of your lives even as you follow ours. By setting up and utilizing a dedicated email address, we are ensuring that our emails remain private and if by some remote chance we are hacked, that no critical information is available to seriously impact our lives.

The title, "Embarkation" reflects our feelings about all the thought, preparation and energy that has gone into our 'launch' on January 2nd. Today, as an example, starting at 7:30am we unpacked our individual suitcases to allow each other the opportunity to investigate and interrogate, like whether 16 pairs of undershorts are necessary when 10 will suffice. "Where are your Keens? Did you pack them?"; "How many camisoles do you need? We're not going to a ball". Having happily submitted ourselves to mutual, impartial "third degrees", we moved on to emptying out the refrigerators and freezers. I think this 'frigid reverse-foraging' can be summed up by the evidence - 'homemade lobster sauce' and Italian Wedding Soup from June, 2014. The kitchen ended up smelling like the stale fusion of Jewish, Thai, and Mexican cuisines - "KishkaPadMole". OY! Suffice it to say that we are putting in our time. The "list Nazi" and I meet every morning and, typically scratch two or three things off the list and remember three or four additional things to accomplish. Yes, the math suggests we will not catch up. But, at least our refrigerators are clean.

We are experiencing some anxiety. Less each day and less each time we pencil a line through an open item. But, there is one thing we cannot put a line through, or forget, or slough off, or diminish the importance of...and that is YOU. We have felt so much love and good will. Adele's greatest concern was, "what happens to our friends"? The more accurate question is, "How are we with departing?" Our friends have delivered such sincere messages, often spoken with their eyes only, that we are feeling more grounded and, with the blog, have a greater sense of connection. We are truly being launched by YOU. Your thoughts and prayers will follow us. You have inspired us to take this adventure in the best of spirit - to accept the risk, to challenge the unknown, to be willing to let go of what is secure and safe, and simply take each others hand, inhale deeply, and GO! So, with your blessings, embraces and support, we are off.

There is no one that will read this blog that we are not crazy about, and love dearly. We wish you a healthy and fit, prosperous, deeply fulfilling and p-e-a-c-e-f-u-l New Year.