Tag: wildswimmer
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Boatyard Bitch
After much grief from various Boatyard Bozos, I created a group of my own: The Boatyard Bitches. Much to my delight, another capitana joined immediately. To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes (via Arthur Conan Doyle), the air of Peñasco is sweeter for my presence. Surfing helps deal with dodos too. When the tide is low and the…
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Clan Markings
A bright yellow fish I’d never seen before accompanied my morning swim today. Three inches long and roundish, it may have been attracted by my neon marigold swimsuit. This singular pisces darted around me the entire mile (with my other marine friends), and I was sad to exit the Sea and leave it behind. I…
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Yes-ness
A feeling of Yes-ness means you are on the right Path. It doesn’t mean there will be no obstacles. Several times this week I found myself in a river of tiny fish. Millions of inch-long swimmers surrounded me, flicks of iridescent beige, rose, cobalt, gold, and silver in the emerald Sea. Sometimes I could not…
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Sand & Sea
“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” —Mary Oliver, Upstream: Selected Essays Inching out the back through the impact zone this week, I recognized that I have been in this zone countless times throughout my life, and always—ALWAYS—get through it. Life was never meant to be a straight line, no matter what anybody says. Only always…
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Divine Mystery
“Love all God’s creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And…
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The Cure
“You suppose you are the trouble, but you are the cure.” —Rumi Transitions are tricky. Plate glass tabletops shatter into millions of pieces. The clothesline is dirty, so the sheet is washed again. Canines loudly wonder what you are doing in their ‘hood. The apartment owners may need boundary lessons. On the scarier side, a…
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Swim Friend
“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” —Rumi It was a whale. Beneath me and to the right, similar to where the dolphin had been tracking me in April. I was on my fifth length, speaking a healing mantra as I swam out into the Gulf of California. A small whale,…
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Humorous & Haunting
The funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time (other than the Little Yellow Dog Gang, which continues to amuse) is a video of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra performing Ennio Morricone’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” Particularly the perfectly coiffed woman singing, “Wah wah wah.” Then the sparkly-dressed conductor leads them into beauty. A…
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Diary of a Reluctant Traveler
The memoir is out! Winner of the Rainbow Quill for Best Travel Writing, and the Minerva Prize—nab your copy now! What folks are saying: Shé is wow-pow: world of wonder, piece of wonder. She reminds us how to live.—Dominick Brah, Oregon Coast Trail cyclist Learning to surf at 54? Traveling across the continent solo? Yes! Inspiring…
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Bi
Bisexual is not a synonym for promiscuous. I recently read two casual slurs against bisexuals, by folks who should know better. Let me clear this up right now: bisexual is a word that simply means gender is irrelevant, attraction-wise. It does not mean a smorgasbord of sexual activity. It means that a specific person appeals…
words & art by shé 