Leveraged Intelligence

Tears

This is a Friday Loose Blogger Consortium topic brought to us by Grannymar.  Tough subject of which I’m sure many of our bloggers will do it justice and I encourage you to make the rounds by clicking their links on the left side of this form. 

Some are busy with life activities right now, so be patient.  It’s still summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

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It never used to happen to me all that easily – this crying thing – but part of the maturing of a man in our culture is to drop his guard a bit, to allow a more sensitive vulnerability.  It came to me full force in my involvement with the high school choir in which my daughter performed.

It wasn’t so much the scenes with pathos in their musicals even though the kids performed with amazing interpretation for their ages.

No, it was their singing and the marvelous music itself.  It moved – and moves – me in ways hard to explain.  I don’t know how many times I would film their performances and be surreptitiously wiping tears from my eyes.

I’ve become like Pavlov’s dog.  Gather those kids together for a performance now, have them sing, and I’m sure I’d start leaking.

Next Friday, I will be doing another type of filming, for I’ve been asked to film the performance of Masonic Scottish Rite for James’ grandfather’s memorial.  It will also be a military funeral, I believe, but am uncertain.  I hope they don’t play taps.  Taps tears me up … in both meanings of the word. 

Life was easier with young bravado.  It was also less fulfilling, more emotionally impoverished.  Tears are sometimes the price of admission.

New Zealand: The Fiordland!

India is in Monsoon season, the Magpie just got soaked in England – but neither has anything on New Zealand’s Fiordland in terms of overall rain.  Believe it or not, they get seven to nine METERS – for the Americans, 23  to 29 1/2 FEET or 276 to 354 inches – of rain annually!  And these are the results:

Plant growth that is perennially green and THICK.

Water continually running out of every nook and cranny, flowing, cascading, washing out roads.  You can literally just stand and hear the background roar of water.

We stopped the bus on a bridge and the water was rushing below it with such power, the bus continuously rocked back and forth.

The rocks are covered with moss.

… and the best is yet to come.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is reputed by many to be the most beautiful place in New Zealand.  Mind you, this is like talking about which is Michelangelo’s best sculpture, but Milford Sound takes a back seat to nothing.

The day that we went, it rained all day – surprise – and then cleared up as we got to the sound – which is actually a fiord!  Here are the definitions:

Sound – a large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, wider than a fjord, or it may identify a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land.

Fjord (fiord) – a submergent landform which has occurred due to glacial activity.

Milford Sound is misnamed and was actually created by glacial activity.  But, like they say, you can call me anything you want, just don’t call me late to dinner.  Well, you can call it a sound or a fiord and neither makes it less beautiful.  First, the countless waterfalls:

The glaciers:

And the stunner, the sight everyone comes to see … Mitre Peak!

Rhonda, you said in one comment that you wanted to go there.  Well, let me tell you … it is worth it.

In Sickness and In Health

Ramana and I have been exploring some of the heroes of everyday life, those people who make a huge difference in the quality of life for society as well as for those around them.  These are the people who go unheralded.

In our modern times, marriage has become a disposable commodity.  The old “in sickness and in health” pledge has often gone out the window – because many couples never even get to that point.  But, every so often, you see someone who sees beyond the superficial and gets to the real meaning of life and commitment.  In the process, they ennoble us all.  This is one of those stories filled with one main heroine, someone absolutely at the top of the scale of human quality as far as I am concerned.  She also has some help from a fine supporting cast.

See if this story moves you as it did me:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/38021027/ns/today-today_health/

The Inessential Belongings That We Collect

Carol and I are always trying to get rid of junk.  We have a garage full of it.  We have relatives who use our house, for various reasons, for storage – something we are seeking to change just short of actually eliminating any of the relatives.

Of the more essential things around, I would count a stove and an oven and lights and a refrigerator and … well, practical things you use in day-to-day survival.  Things can be replaced for the most part and most that can’t are fine gone, for it is people, pets and relationships that matter.  However, there is an interesting class of inessential belongings that are a bit different.

Hard to know what possessed me to make these guys somewhere along the way, but I don’t think they should be tossed.  You can’t find them in a store … for a reason.  But, I made them, it was a hoot, and it makes me and Mom feel good when we look at the silly little jaspers.

The kiwi bird is blown glass around a piece of kiwi fruit from the land of the kiwis, New Zealand.  We got him as the perfect complement to the Murano glass dolphin we bought when visiting Venice.  As with the pieces below them, none of them would cause the world to stop if they disappear – but they sure bring back memories!

This hammer, refitted with another handle over the years, was the hammer used by my great grandfather, the first blacksmith in Central Kansas.  I don’t really need the hammer, because I have sledge hammers for big jobs and smaller hammers for smaller work.  It is easy to get a hammer at a store.

But, that hammer might as well be Thor’s Hammer as far as I’m concerned!  You know what I mean?

So, what it comes down to is that the least essential of the things we have are often the ones most valuable to us.  They are actually the touchstones of meaning for people.  Priceless!

What do you have that is totally unneeded in any practical sense, but that is precious to you?

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This is another in the Friday offerings of the Loose Bloggers Consortium, this topic suggested by the Magpie himself.  Check out the inessentials of the other members whose links you will find on the left under – you guessed it – LOOSE BLOGGER CONSORTIUM!

Be patient if someone doesn’t have an entry.  They may be having fun with their items as we speak.

New Zealand: From the Barn to the Beauty of Abel Tasman

As we traveled the North Island and marveled at Waimangu and Wai-O-Tapu and Rotorua and the Auckland area, everyone kept telling us, “Wait until you see the beauty of the South Island.”  So, we were pretty jazzed when we left Rotorua to go to Hamilton and fly to Nelson on the South Island.  From there, we drove to Marahau to the place we would stay, The Barn!  It advertised that we would have our own separate “cabin” to stay in.  Cool!

Well, to our surprise, these were the “cabins”, LOL:

Each had a double bed which literally just fit one end and maybe four feet beside the bed.  But, of course, the view was rather nice.  Here is Carol in our cabin:

And remember what I said about “Cool” just a second ago?  Amend that to “Cold,” for these cabins were unheated.  But, they did have marvelous blankets and we survived.

It did give me an idea though, for when Grannymar, Ramana, Maynard, Deb, Margaret, … come to visit.  Welcome to our guest cabin out back:

They had laundry facilities, showers, bathrooms, and a place to cook in a commons area:

… but, we were on vacation and went to this great place a quick walk down the road.  The place had great food at a low price and another very nice view:

It also had a resident artist across the road and he also had an herb garden, encouraging anyone to harvest what they wished for their own cooking.  Note my throne used as the Chief mentioned in an earlier post.  And, if you have paid careful attention, if that was my throne then, this South Island must be where the LOST castaways are resident, where time is a rather fluid thing.

From The Barn we took an Aqua Taxi to Abel Tasman Park proper:

Along the way, we saw the much photographed famous Split Apple Rock:

Then, they dropped us off at a beach and we began the hike back to the pickup point about 10 mi. of hiking, 3.5 hours away.  Get ready for beauty, because I am just going to put you on the trail with us and let you soak it in.  The trail itself wasn’t bad to look at as far as that goes!

The picture below has become my new wallpaper on my computer.  It is very close to a picture I setup in a post before leaving, but this is the one I took myself rather than pulled from the Internet.  Look how nice that sand is and how clear the water.

Um, did I say clear water?

What is the last beach you saw that looked like this?

And the streams flowing down seemed to come straight from Paradise.

In some places, there were high bridges.

Now, they told us that if we reached a certain point by a certain time, we would be able to simply “wade” across the water.  Yeah, right!  It was up to Carol’s waist.  And James and I each managed to cut our feet going over some sharp rocks, my foot being at lower right after getting back to the cabin.  Don’t worry, it wasn’t as painful as it looked and I was able to hike anywhere we wanted without much discomfort for the rest of the trip.  Indeed, I wasn’t until about an hour after I cut it that I told Carol I wanted to stop and get a rock out of my shoe … to discover a mess, LOL.

The greatest salve in the universe is beauty and others to share it with, though.

The ride back was a very happy one!

New Zealand: Wai-O-Tapu – God’s Color Palette

Geothermal areas are natural chemical labs and as anyone who has worked in a chemistry lab can tell you, along with different elements come different colors.  America’s Yellowstone has it in abundance and so does the New Zealand equivalent, Wai-O-Tapu.  I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

The above shows the size of volcanic eruptions involved in some of these processes.  The Fourth ash cloud down is Mt. St. Helens and the third one down is Pinatubo, two VERY large eruptions in modern times.  As you can see, the two Taupo eruptions dwarf these!

Sink holes have formed lined with minerals as above.

Pools of other minerals have gathered to form this unlikely green.

The above is the Artist’s Palette, where the water is emerging from deep below ground.

As it flows, it leaves mineral deposits that are amazing in size and mixture.

It just fills this valley area above.

Those yellow piles are mounds of sulfur!

Mineral deposits above at a closer glance.

And, the surrounding bush above and below takes up the minerals.

Beautiful, isn’t it?  Nature offers many views different from the ordinary.

New Zealand: Waimangu: How the World Began!

We didn’t let any grass grow under our feet on this trip, which is quite a feet feat when you consider how rapidly EVERYTHING grows in New Zealand!  We took a day trip from Rotorua – my first day driving on the wrong side which will be another story altogether – and went to a volcanic valley Carly had wanted to see, Waimangu! 

Do any of you remember the movie The Land That Time Forgot?  Well, I was told this was where it was filmed (as well as the newest Journey to the Center of the Earth) and you’ll soon see why:

The above is the view as you begin descent into the valley on foot.  I expected a T-Rex to emerge from the foliage at any point.  These are the famed New Zealand ferns in all their glory!  But, there is so much more to behold in the world’s newest geothermal system, much more.  For one, there is Frying Pan Lake, the world’s largest hot water spring:

And, yes, that is steam you see above it as well as steam venting from the mountain side.  Viewed from a different angle:

You can see that it is not just the other-worldly sense the continuous mist engenders, it is the magnificent colors from the minerals mixed with the incredibly rich greens of the vegetation.  Don’t ever consider going into that water for a warm, soothing bath, though.  It is formed of sulfuric acid!

June 10, 1886

That is the date when this valley as you see it was formed from the eruption of Mt. Tarawera.  Cracks formed in the bed of Lake Rotomahana and the water poured into it.  It met with magma there and immediately expanded 1400 times.  This caused a cataclysmic explosion that blew a crater expanding the lake to twenty times its original size killing all plant and bird life in the area – along with at least 108 people!  It created a 16 km (10 mile) rift and this valley is the aftermath.

This area is part of the Taupo Volcanic Zone, which just happens to be the Southwest tip of the Pacific Ring of Fire.  This means that it is volcanic activity formed not by a hot spot, as the Hawaiian chain is, but by a subduction zone, giving it much greater explosive potential.  Until 1904, it also had the world’s largest geyser, firing 400 meters into the sky!  One village had 2 meters of mud dumped on it, smothering many residents and some areas had as much as 40 meters of mud dumped in them.  The explosions continued on down the valley and I think there were about 20 in all.  It is the only valley of this kind formed in historic times giving us comparative notes and even some pictures of before and after. The picture below is showing the valley as it looked a few months after the cataclysm:

In the background is Lake Rotomahana, while in the foreground is an actual photo of what the same perspective looked like before plants and animals were able to re-establish.  As is evident, the conditions created for life were fertile to say the least.  Scientists have been able to completely observe the process and this has provided invaluable information.

It also formed some gorgeous pools with colors that seem unnatural, but are actually derived from the minerals:

Our next excursion (which we actually took on the same day) will be to Wai-O-Tapu, New Zealand’s equivalent of Yellowstone.  Then we’ll see some unbelievable colors!  But, the haunting beauty of Waimangu I actually found more exotic.

New Zealand: Rotorua!

Rotorua is where Carly had her original orientation and adventure days as part of the student exchange program, so it was a place she particularly wanted us to see.  I kept a journal on the entire journey and wanted to get my impressions at the moment rather than reconstructions where possible and I think you might find the following entry interesting:

As we drive to Rotorua, I am struck by its similarity to Eastern Kansas countryside.  A bit more lush, more ferns, but similar in many ways.

Yeah, right.  That impression didn’t last long:

Eastern Kansas never looked like that!  Even the snacks we found along the way started to become foreign:

Don’t let them fool you, those things don’t taste like any chicken I’ve ever eaten.  And, this was the first corrugated sheep I’d ever seen:

Tirau is noted for having all of its buildings made of corrugated tin, some of them in the shape of animals as you can see.  Another was in the shape of a dog.

Stopping at a rest stop, I found some of the most beautiful, softest sweaters I’d ever seen.  Looking at the tag on them, I found to my amazement that they were made from 60% Merino wool and 40% possum fur!  Possum fur?  Turns out that the NZ Possum is a totally different character than we are used to, thank goodness.  By the way, those sweaters cost $450!!!

I noted that the cemeteries we passed looked a little different than ours (I didn’t get a good picture, unfortunately) and Carly told me that was because they could not bury people underground in much of this area because of the geothermal heat.  In fact, Rotorua itself is a city built in the crater of an active volcano as attested to by the unimpeachable Ripley’s Believe It or Not! folks in an article to be printed 4/16, ten days after we arrived there:

Indeed, as you enter Rotorua, there is steam rising everywhere and there is an almost overwhelming smell of sulphur.  Well, overwhelming to James, but not to me, a fact that he attributed to the dulling of my senses as I age.  How rude!

Disclaimer: we did not see Edwin Shackleton or come down with the Bacterial Plague while we were there.

Some Māori words (like Rotorua: Roto = Lake and Rua = the number two, meaning that it was the second lake in the area the Māori found) are made in a manner somewhat similar to German words in that they combine concepts.  Many other Māori words have become mixed with English words over the past 150 years or so.  For example, a guitar is a cootahr and a backpacker is a bak paka.  In similar terms, the hostel where we stayed was called the Kiwi Paka, a delightful, clean little place that we loved:

Carly had stayed in one of the little cabins there when she was on adventure assignment after arrival and kind of thought no one would remember her.  Wrong!  Bev and Malcolm welcomed “their Carly” with open arms and set all of us up with fun things to do.  In fact, four of them were such extraordinary adventures, they will get their own articles.

One of the adventures I will share here, though is a trip up the side of a mountain in a gondola (that is Lake Rotorua in the background at the edge of the city … and, yes, it would translate to Lake Lake Two):

When we arrived at the top, we came back down the side on a luge.  Now THAT is a hoot!

More scrambled adventure soon…

New Zealand: An Introduction to Wonder

Reputed by many to be the most beautiful nation on this planet, the island nation of New Zealand provides one stunning vista after another.  Carly, Carol and I took 4,275 pictures of this incredible land over a twelve-day period, twelve very active days of ten mile hikes through mountains, across beaches, beside glaciers and through verdant plains.  Since returning home, I have been working to organize a presentation worthy of what we saw, what we experienced and what we shared with a fine people.

Notice on the left-hand side of the blog a new pair of categories below The World and Its Cultures, categories for New Zealand and Italy (which will be covered after New Zealand), the two trips across the ocean that the three of us have taken.  If you wish to quickly go through the entries for either, simply click on the category and you will be filtered to only those entries.

Added to our little group of sojourners this trip was Carly’s fiancée, James.  Don’t worry, he will make his way into many pictures – but someone had to take the one you see above.  I will let you know soon what the context of that picture is, but let it serve now as a good introduction to a stunning landscape that will unfold.  You will also discover a culture possibly quite different from your assumptions; part European, part Polynesian, close to nature but not at all primitive; part British, part Maori and a lot Hippie.

I invite you to join us on one of the most memorable adventures of our lives, a true trip to paradise!  As the Kiwis themselves say, this trip was SWEET AS!

Maturity

This topic was suggested for the Bloggers Consortium by Ramana Rajgopaul, he of Ramana’s Musings.  The entire list of Consortium members is on the left and I will be interested upon return from my trip to see what they have written on the subject.  So will you if you click on links to their sites, I’m betting.

At the time of this writing, our New Zealand trip has not taken place.   This is one of the few portions of the trip at which we are still unsure where we will be.  But, I have just been somewhere at the Coromandel as you read this:

The Coromandel, as Carly tells me, sits so close to geothermal warming that you simply scoop out sand at the beach and a pool of warm water forms.  So, by the time you read this, I will have probably done exactly that and gotten into one of nature’s hot tubs!

I’ll come out when I am fully done.  In other words, when I am fully matured!

Ahhhh…