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Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis – HistoryLink.org

Japanese drawing of the Morrison, anchored in front of Uraga in 1837. via Wikipedia

 

Interesting bit of sailing and international history from the early 1800s. Three Japanese sailors shipwrecked on the Pacific NW coast. Their ship and a crew of 14, on a short trip along the coast of Japan, were caught in a storm. The ship was dismasted and the rudder damaged. They drifted in the current for a year, living off their trade goods. Only three were still alive when the ship came ashore.

Japan was completely closed off to the outside world for centuries by the Shoguns. If you left, you could not return, so the sailors had no knowledge of any other place, or people, than their home.

The three “Kitchis” were taken as slaves by the local tribes, then traded and shuttled between various groups, shipped to London, then China, but never home again. One eventually became a well off translator for the British.

 

Link to full story:
Japanese Castaways of 1834: The Three Kichis – HistoryLink.org

Monument to the Three Kichis, Fort Vancouver, Washington, 2009 Photo by Glenn Drosendahl

 

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Night House

 

And the soul is up on the roof
in her nightdress, straddling the ridge,
singing a song about the wildness of the sea
until the first rip of pink appears in the sky.

from The Night House by Billy Collins

 

Renate climbed out the window after a bath
to sit on the roof in her nightgown,
combed her hair dry on summer nights
thick with fermented honeysuckle and magnolia
glowing up there in the moonlight and fireflies.

 

I liked to sit on the porch in the evenings,
in the swing behind the wisteria,
and could hear her up there, singing with the cicadas.

That was 40 years ago.

Reading this poem tonight reminded me of it.

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Home Again

 

Passed a couple of really big milestones this week.

1) Today I finally was able to bring the boats home.

 

 

The Melonseeds have been away rooming in Doug Lawson’s rented garage for well over two years – since a month after the house fire. We needed our shed to store what could be salvaged from the house while cleaning and construction progressed.

 

 

Even after the basement was cleaned out from two feet of sooty water, and purged and repainted, it was temporary storage when we moved back in, until remaining projects got sorted out.

 

 

So Doug gratiously offered to space with his boats about 20 minutes away. We’ve had four boats, plus kayaks, two or three lawn mowers and wheel barrows, etc., all crammed into that two car garage ever since.

Then, of course, we got hit with this little thing you may have heard of – a worldwide plague – which has lasted over a year.

So before I could re-home the boats I had to clean out the shed. To clean out the shed, I had to first clean out the basement. Done, and done.

 

 

 

 

Also, after a year of doing nothing, I’m out of shape, so this project required some concerted hammock time to finish.

 

 

2) And, fortuitously, I was able to schedule my first dose of the anti-plague vaccine last week. Apparently, I’ve been drafted by Team Pfizer. Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play!

 

 

 

Weather was great today, so Doug and I met over at the garage and extracted my boats. Looked just like we left them – a fine dusting of pollen the only sign they hadn’t been on the water a few days ago. And home they came.

 

 

 

 

It’s been a harrowing couple of years, no question. Today, for the first time, it’s starting to feel normal again.

And good.

Looking forward to time on the water again very soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Doug!

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Chasing Ghosts: A Short Documentary Debunks a Long-Held Theory About What Pollinates the Ghost Orchid | Colossal

Swamps are such amazing places, and when not maligned and drained, are mercifully neglected.

CHASING GHOSTS | OFFICIAL SCREENER | © GRIZZLY CREEK FILMS from Grizzly Creek Films on Vimeo.

In their quest to identify the pollinator of the ghost orchid for the first time, a team of explorers, photographers, and filmmakers spent three summers standing waist-deep in alligator- and snake-laden water, swatting air blackened by mosquitoes, and climbing to sometimes nausea-inducing heights. They came away with a startling new discovery – and an even deeper love for Florida’s wildest wetlands – revelations that may help to conserve both the endangered orchid and its shrinking home.

WINNER, ‘ECOSYSTEM’ SHORT FORM – JACKSON WILD MEDIA AWARDS

WINNER, ‘SCIENCE IN NATURE’ SHORT FORM – JACKSON WILD MEDIA AWARDS

WINNER, ‘LIVING FORESTS’ – WORLD WILDLIFE DAY SHOWCASE

Produced by Grizzly Creek Films in partnership with bioGraphic:

https://grizzlycreekfilms.com/​

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* Instagram: @grizzlycreekfilms @biographic_magazine @bendicci @carltonward @peter_houlihan @macstonephoto

 

Source: Chasing Ghosts: A Short Documentary Debunks a Long-Held Theory About What Pollinates the Ghost Orchid | Colossal

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Comet, Big Dipper, Cedar Fencerow

Comet Neowise

 

Emily out in Oregon encouraged us to get out and look at the comet. It’s been beastly hot and buggy. We have not been enthusiastic.

But they just mowed the big hay field, making tick-free walking possible for the first time in months, so last night we took a stroll and it was well worth it. After a few minutes for our to adjust to the dark we could see it clearly, and it grew brighter as the twilight faded.

This photo was a 10 second exposure taken with my old Canon camera. I managed to save it from the fire, though it’s blackened all over. Couldn’t save the tripods, so I propped it on one of the hay bales and a bag of black beans.

Some more from the series:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Be Wrong

 

“There is a way of being wrong, which is sometimes necessarily right.”

Edward Abbey – Desert Solitaire