Hotel @nyware

It is like I am walking through a painting

Going, Going, Gondola Back in 2014 (insert)  and 9/29/16 Where the Earth STILL  revolves around The Sea

Venice is  a city built on the water, a working, living city, and everybody gets around in boats. NO CARS!

All the traffic is waterborne- All the emergency services--water ambulance , police boats, fireman; garage collection boats, Fidelity armored cash couriers. All the delivery-boats that deliver goods of every sort; and all the postal service delivering packages and  letters. What a cool place. Put it on your Bucket list.

You don't just visit Venice, you undergo this Picturesque Floating City. 9/29/16.Then it was off to Rome Sweet Rome, and The Vatican.Not many folks realize it, but you can take the stairs to the top of the dome in St Peter's Basilica., which is exactly what I did.But I digress. Back to Venice:

Getting lost in Venice is the only place worth going to. knowing that you have a finite life creates an urgency to the minutes that you live. Had to go to Venice(once) in the Winter! My sole currency from their language “espresso” was already spent. I used it twice.

In Venice, Italy they don't have streets,  they have canals.Today the water level reached onto the sidewalks-  and I got some canal cred-

Venice Cash-Courier Boat

Garbage Collection

Police Boat plowing through the grand canal

Water Ambulance Behind Me,Taxi in Front.

A Simple Delivery Barge, the most common kind on the canals

Today September 21, 2019  The Have And The Have Yachts

The Time Machine June 2015   The last time I was on RIB, Rigid Inflatable Boat (Ballistic Brand)...Roll Video:

The Time Machine September 2015

How Swede It Is-The smaller the boat the bigger the Captain September 11. 2015

Had some business in Bournemouth today, and on the way back stopped by SO'TON for the UK's Leading Outdoor Boat Show. In the background is The Queen Mary 2, Cunard's flagship. Sailed that last year and it was cool to see her docked alongside all these wonderful yachts.

The best ships are friendships

I always get an amazing feeling when I walk past a ship I have "lived" and worked on with the person I love, my wife Sarah.

If ecstasy is doing something out of your ordinary experience, and nostalgia is the pain of remembering something beautiful-then that sums up cruising---it's an amazing lifestyle!

It's a miracle that I "Get to go" to work on ships-If a miracle is a shift in thinking-then it takes a special kind of shift to count your blessings, ride the wave and enjoy the ride.

The QM2 and the Cunard brand, is no miraculous exception.  This is not your typical cruise ship. In fact, The Mary  is the last of the great ocean liners- passage ships designed for 12 months of  brutal Atlantic sea crossings: NY to SO'TON. Her keel sits higher above  the water line, 7 decks instead of 5, which makes it cut water better and makes for a smoother sail.

The Mary Sailing towards The Verrazano Bridge

Time Machine June 25 2015

Portsmouth-America's Cup with Oracle Team USA Training Day

Took a bit of video and some great photos of not only Oracle's Rig, but also Emirates Team NZ, Softbank Team Japan and The Swedish Team Artemis out in The windy Solent.

Out at historic Portsmouth Naval Dockyard and met up with 2x America's Cup Champion, Skipper Jim Spithill, from Oracle Team USA, going for #3 next Sunday Capturing a bit of The SPIRIT of Racing-With Land Rover BAR Back to Today's Photos:

Oracle Team USA

Softbank Team Japan

"English? Why do I have to learn that, I'm never going to live in England" Glad I didn't follow that advice.

MIA to LGW Miami Beach

Norwegian  Air-Commercial flight. Wow what a difference from Mil Air

FT BLISS  El Paso Texas

Pease,New Hampshire

New Hampshire

Frankfurt Germany

Kuwait

C 17 from Bagram Afghanistan

When the weather's good, there's no better place to be than the British countryside. We go walking  around in the forests, rivers and shoreline, creating our own fairy tale and our carefully nurtured sentiment for the simple life.

Being in the countryside is like being in a dream, where you don't quite know who's who but can tell what's what.

The cure for anything is salt-sweat, tears or the sea

There is an anonymity to it all when you connect with nature...“The Dude Abides Principal” says that there is this energetic force that has your best interest at heart that you can tap into it any time you want. Doing nothing in particular, you feel nature somatically, through the senses.

The smell of fermented hay, peat  and grass makes me feel more wholesome...Then comes Rain. Somebody said, is like confetti from heaven. So even the heavens were celebrating this morning my return to The UK. That liquid sunshine just added to the vividness of the colors to give it a cinematic quality and texture to our day trip.

When we go out in the sun with all the green grass and pasture and sheep grazing and thatched roofs, and swans and everything flowering, I say it all belongs to all of us.

Cerberus' job is to let you into hell but prevent you from ever leaving, perhaps like the valet at the Hotel California. He is Hades Hound dog. It is stamped on this gulf war relic that stands guard at the temporary housing I've been at all week.

Being in the desert sun causes me to think: What is the ONE thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
The quest is in this question.

After more sun on the brain, I have come to realize that the only normal people are ones I havent met yet. Sharing an open barracks with 100 men is a "challange" to say the least. Again, my IN to my SANE has been reading.

Random quotes that served me this week:

Trust only movement.  Life happens at the level of events, not of words.  Trust movement. Alfred Adler


Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls-- family, health, friends, integrity-- are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.
Gary Keller, The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results


The more money we dont spend, the more amazing experiences we forfeit during life. Because money buys those experiences. Those who save generally save too much.  It’s about using your resources – health, money, and time – before you die and it’s called “Die With Zero” Bill Perkins

And finally,  This was a dangerous job, with hours of quiet routine that can suddenly become moments of by deadly violence at any moment.

On Aug. 2, two American soldiers were killed by a suicide car bomb as they were providing security for a convoy in the southern province of Kandahar.


I MUST continue to Live a life worthy of their sacrifice, with energy, intelligence and integrity.