Tanked

The sputter can surprise us
Running wide ass open
Taking no prisoners
Casting laughter like caution
To the wind
Blowing up a storm of passionate dreams
And friends cheering us on

The road turns, twisting
Thought and perceptions
Into unrecognizable shards
Broken, poured out, spilled
Across memories of tomorrow’s
Dreamers awake
When the fuel of creation
Runs dry

Thus fools rush in
Where angels fear to tread
And shout
"Fill’er UP!"

Relief

Wandering in the woods

Or In the mind

Of seasoned 'scapes

Brings reasonable

Lavish dreamers

Hopeful clarity

Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss

Clinging to branches among the oaks
Timeless observer of time's passing
You sway through breezes and revolutions
Directing humanity's passage
As if orchestrating a divine symphony

With nothing but a wisp connecting you
To the lofty vantage from which you
Observe us, coy and unaffected
Your slight presence fans our dreams
As a winter wind stirs the smoldering fire

Little more than air feeds you
A hint of sea salt to spice your tasting
Of our adventures and chaos
You remain, lingering luscious
As the memory of a lover's sigh

Eternally upon us

Spanish Moss

Clinging to branches among the oaks
Timeless observer of time's passing
You sway through breezes and revolutions
Directing humanity's passage
As if orchestrating a divine symphony

With nothing but a wisp connecting you
To the lofty vantage from which you
Observe us, coy and unaffected
Your slight presence fans our dreams
As a winter wind stirs the smoldering fire

Little more than air feeds you
A hint of sea salt to spice your tasting
Of our adventures and chaos
You remain, lingering luscious
As the memory of a lover's sigh

Eternally upon us

Success Is When You Win

The Pelican

A wonderful bird is the pelican,
His mouth can hold more than his belly can,
He can hold in his beak,
Enough food for a week!
I'm damned if I know how the hell he can!

-Dixon Lanier Merritt, a Southern newspaper editor and President of the American Press Humorists Association, penned this famous limerick in 1910. It is carved in stone and displayed prominently at Brook Green gardens in SC.

Watching several Pelicans feed in the tributaries of Murrells Inlet, SC, I was taken by how often they fail to catch fish. It is fairly easy to mark a successful dive, as the stately bird will raise its beak skyward to send the fish wiggling down its gullet. I began keeping score. I counted a total of twenty five dives between four birds and could only verify a catch seven times. With a slightly better than 25% success rate, these gobbling fowl still are known as great fishers.

I guess nature confirms the old saying, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”

1. Hunger for something will keep you trying.
2. The pain of failure is quickly forgotten once the benefits of success arrive.
3. Never give up.

Truth In Advertising!

ExOfficio™ touts that there Give-N-Go briefs are the most comfortable and functional underwear that you can buy. I have seen their ad displayed at a local outdoor supply store for a couple of years and thought, “What the heck. I’ll give it a try.”

The ad slogan reads - 17 countries. 6 weeks. 2 pairs of underwear.

I had eight days in Bermuda and took two pairs of ExOfficio™ briefs. As a safe guard (a man has to be careful) I also packed additional underwear – just in case.

Result – 8 ½ days. 1 pair of underwear (and a couple of swim shorts).

It isn’t a gross as it sounds. Honest. I would have used two pairs, but a lot of my time was spent in bathing shorts, so there was plenty of time for the 1 pair to dry in-between wearing.

All I am saying is that the briefs lived up to their claim of comfort, durability, and ease of use. Simply follow the instructions on washing, care and wear and you are good to go, and go, and go, and go…

I have even switched to the ExOfficio™ briefs for all my hiking.

I dub them the “Energizer Bunny of Underwear.”

Go get you some here.