Here Comes the Sun!

"It is the life of the crystal, the architect of the flake, the fire of the frost, the soul of the sunbeam. This crisp winter air is full of it." ~John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist, 1837-1921

     Today is day two of total sunshine! What a difference it makes to heart, soul, energy--especially solar energy. I woke this morning about thirty minutes after sunrise to find my batteries which usually read anywhere from 12.6 watts to 12.4 first thing of a dark and brooding winter morning, reading 13.5 and full of happy solar energy. Yes the lack of cloud cover coupled with glorious sunshine means the temperatures are colder and the canal wore a thin rime of ice across the surface but for An Alaskan, or a Canadian for that matter, the cold is relative. While it dropped to -2 C/28F last night, it isn't even comparable to the eight degree Celsius thaw my dear friend Bryce Lee enjoyed in Burlington, Ontario, Canada yesterday, bringing the temperature up to a whopping -30C/-20F! Lake Ontario is frozen with an inch and a half thick lid of ice. The wind chill makes it feel soooo much colder. Mind you, In Alaska the children still pile on their outdoor gear and have recess outside until the thermometer drops below -20F.
     A few days ago my daughter Jesse posted a meme on FaceBook asking "What is your favorite memory about snow?" Bear in mind my favorite oldest child hates being cold and wears sweats pants and and shirts until it is 80F/26C outside! No Joke...
She posted: "Yeah, no...it’s pretty if I don’t have to be out in it but since I am forced to leave my house it’s a cold, gray land of suck."

 I responded:  Oh I have so many!! I love the smell of snow in the air. I love the soft, muffled sound it makes as the world is blanketed in snowflakes. I love the way the landscape appears clean and pristine after a fresh snowfall; how sharp edges become blurred with an accumulation of snow. I love moving across the ice on skates and the scriiiiiitch sound of my blades on the ice. I love spinning on ice skates!! I love sledding in the snow. I love the way the cold plants roses on my cheeks that last for hours after I've gone inside. I love making snow forts and snow people and dressing them up. I love making snow ice cream and eating it with my grandsons. I love the tradition I started when my daughters were small, of playing a certain piece of music which sounds like snowflakes dancing, to celebrate the very first snow fall (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w-_QOlCJUek). I love the sound of children's happy laughter echoing across the snowy playground. I love the way playing in the snow makes me feel more alive. I love the memory I have of driving on a date, down to Girdwood from Anchorage, Alaska on a beautifully clear moonlit night two days after a heavy snowfall. The full moon reflected off the snowy mountainsides and rounded foothills; the dark road was a shining ribbon glazed with ice stretching out in front of us for miles, undulating as it wove up, over and down the landscape along Cook Inlet. It was one of the most breathtaking sights I've ever seen. I love the way snow cozies the world like a down comforter when I am snug and warm inside by the fire. I love the muffled sound of snow on the boat roof. It sounds like hundreds of small children's fingers tapping at random against the metal. I love how 12 feet of snow slows but does not stop life in Alaska--it just makes you resourceful about getting where you need to go and thankful to return home again. I love the way the snow covered landscape on short, clear winter days paints a sunset that appears to light the snow on fire with reflections of crimson, orange, and gold and then fades to a soft, serene pastel of muted blues and pinks before dusk gathers in. I love the way snow covered Spruce trees appear to be draped in sugared frosting. I love the glitter of hoar frost gathered on every twig and branch, outlining the world in sparkles. I love traveling by dog sled across the snowy ground, the schhhusssss sound of the sled runners mixed with the muffled pad-pad-pad of a dozen Husky feet and the way the dogs bay with high pitched excitement when they know they are going on a run.

 I adore gathering vehicles around a snowy, pristine field, passing around a bottle of Schnapps, and slipping feet into the creaking binders of snowshoes to gallop on giant's feet across snow up to our knees to play a game of snowshoe baseball. I love the crackle of a good fire and the smell of wood smoke on the wind. I love following the Iditarod sled dog race each March as it blazes a 1049 mile trail across the northern snow and ice. I love the delicate peeping chorus of Black Capped Chickadees gathering in a mass to strip a suburban shrub of its freeze dried berries or the sharp lonely caw of the Raven echoing across the barren landscape of frozen snow. I love that the Siberian Yupik Eskimo's have 40 terms for snow, the Canadian Inuit have 53, and the Inupiaq of Alaska have 70! There is not one thing I don't love about snow and I am thankful I was born and raised in Alaska-- the Great Land which fills my senses with memories of winter. xxx

 My favorite picture of me and Les was taken in January 2013 when we were iced in at Blisworth on the Grand Union. We went for a walk with friends on a snowy winter day. I discovered that Les didn't know how to make snow angels!! I stopped, looked at him with incredulousness on my face and slowly fell backwards in the snow and began to move my arms and legs. I held out my hand and Les pulled me upright and viola!! A snow angel. He was enraptured, bent over with laughter, just like a little kid. 

     My friend and fellow boater Ray Oakfield (NB Stronghold), left a comment asking for more information about the means by which I winter proof my windows, so here you go Ray: I always use a window film which is cut a bit larger than the windows, held in place with double sided tape (don't use the flimsy stuff that comes with the film. Les always bought wide, heavy duty double sided tape from Poundland in rolls of four for a quid). Once the window film is secured a hair dryer on low shrinks the film and makes it taut, blocking out the cold air and sealing the warm air inside making it as much as ten degrees warmer as soon as the film is in place. This film is available in the UK from Wickes, Argos, Robert Dyas, Home  Base and B&Q and online from Amazon.While this method works superbly, it does leave a residue of stickiness from the tape that builds up on the window frames over the years. I will be sanding our window frames this year and painting them a lovely cream to match the curtains so I have decided to have Perspex (plexiglass for Americans) cut to fit over each window and then purchase a good rubber seal from Seals Direct to fit all the way around the edge of each Perspex sheet. Then I will either install picture frame turn buttons which will hold the Perspex in place but make it easy to remove, or I will drill holes in the window frames and screw the Perspex sheets in place each winter. Either way will do the trick in creating double glazing and it will do away with the sticky tape on the window frames. Now I just have to figure out where to store them during the spring and summer!!
     Okay on to the next odds and sods as my hubby called these left over bits and bobs that are not necessarily directly related to boating or are to short to make a decent blog post: Coca Shell for composting loos. Our dear friends and fellow boaters (and the very fist boaters to install an Airhead Marine Composting toilet on their boat over here, blog about it, and the rest as they is history!) Ken and Sue Deveson have located a stockist who has tons of bags of cocoa shell much. Here are some pictures of Ken accepting a delivery!

To order cocoa shell go to the website www.tommytopsoil,com. Their phone number is 01422831112. Their address is Pine tree Farm, Hubbberton, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorks, HX6 1NT. If this is too big an order for you alone then go in with a couple of other boaters and get it delivered somewhere you can all moor up together and divide the bags among yourselves. This stockist does offer a discount on order of 10 bags or more.

Finally, tea bags. I discovered recently that tea bags are only 80% paper fiber and the rest is plastic! No matter what shape your "bag" comes in, it is sealed with plastic. The only brands to use 100% biodegradable materials is TeaPigs© which has moved from Nylon mesh tea pyramids to ones made from Corn Starch and Clipper over here in the UK.
     It is amazing what one learns when trying to avoid developing cancer from environmental pollutants. When my Oncologist and my Homeopathic Physician both told me to avoid using a microwave on my food and drink I knew I needed to pay attention. After all it is seldom that conventional medicine practitioners and alternative medicine practitioners agree on anything. So when they do agree I tend to listen. Another item I was warned about by both of them is heating any food or beverage in plastic or consuming anything which comes in plastic. 
     Why? Because plastics are notoriously unstable chemical compounds unlike glass which is inert. When plastic is heated it releases volatile compounds into the air, water, and our food and drink. Now think about all those cups of tea you've been consuming over the years, not to mention all the bottles of water you've drunk. Yeah I know, you may find the bottled water in the grocery store on a temperature controlled shelf or a cooler but do you know where those bottles have been stored for the many months before they reach your local grocery store? If they have sat out in the sun for any time at all then don't drink the water!!! This is why I have a good stainless steel water bottle and fill it at home. Now I know a lot of folks are going to pooh-pooh this and say, "Well you cannot avoid it and I've been doing this for years and I am fine," however bear this in mind: our immune systems can only tolerate so many hits before they are overwhelmed and fail to protect us. Cancer is a change in the cellular level of your DNA. It starts with one cell and generally takes many years to grow into a tumorous mass large enough to be detected or to cause mayhem in your body.  I was told that the ovarian cancer growing on my right ovary had been slowly multiplying over about 26 years. I was 52 when they found it. I would have been 26 when it began to grow from just one cell on my ovary and interestingly enough I was 26 when I started experiencing hormonal issues and pain in my right ovary every month, which my male GP's ignored. One last thing to consider: When my mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1993 the statistics were one in eight would develop the disease in their lifetime. When I was diagnosed in 2008 the statistics had jumped to one in four. When Les was diagnosed in 2013 the statistics were one in every two of us would develop cancer in our lifetimes. Cancer used to be extremely rare hundreds of years ago. I have gone to loose leaf tea and I have to say, it is amazing how different it tastes from the same brand (PG Tips) that I used to buy in enclosed rounds. It tastes better without plastics. Do your own taste test!! I dare you.