Nautie Notes :: Basil, Coconut Oil and Dolphins.

Dear Sweet Little Basil Plant,

I'm so glad you're coming back to life.  I mean, so, SO glad.  I was really worried about you for awhile there.  A little green in this world of blue is lovely.  Hang in there little friend!

Dear Atlantic Ocean,

I thought we were friends.  You seriously did me wrong this crossing.  You were just so rough.  Ugh.  I know its winter and all but.....really?!

Dear Coconut Oil,

You taste sooo yummy in my Oatmeal.  You have changed breakfast for me....like forever. I now wolf down my morning bowl of Oatmeal happily.  *For all you haters silently thinking, 'chick puts oil in her cereal - no wonder she has a ba-donka-donka' you can just hate away*

Dear Dolphins,

Thank you so much for showing up today.  I needed you.  Badly.  Watching you frolic in the bow wake was as magical as usual.  I loved watching you zoom around skimming just under the surface of the water.  I also loved how white your tummies were.  Again, Thank You.

Dear iTunes,

I don't know if I love the new you.  I can hardly keep up with all the changes in your life.  I feel like we're drifting apart.  Spending time with you just leaves me confused.  I'd love to say, 'it's not you...it's me...' but I can't - it's you.

Dear Hilo House,

You'll soon have a person occupying you.  This is exciting!  Treat them well please.  Tell those nasty spiders to keep to themselves....we don't need to scare them away...

Dear Nautie Friends,

I know I've been a little scarce lately.  Get over it.  Kidding....I'm sorry?  In all seriousness my stress levels have been through the roof the past few days.  I'm feeling a little better and I'm ready to get back in the game!  Enjoy your weekend!

xoxo,

Megan the Nautie Mermate

Almond Milk. Ginger. Happy Tummy.

I've mentioned before that I actually get a little seasick at work.  To be honest, I didn't get queezy very often until I moved over to this ship.  It just moves more. I've already devoted an entire post to mal de mar but, I have an important addition to the seasickness guide!

GINGER.  I know, I said that already.  BUT.  Seriously.  GINGER!

If you go to the Asian Grocer you can get these packets of 'Ginger Drink'.  My Mom used to buy them when I was a kid.

It's basically just Ginger in granule form - add hot water and BOOM!  High potency Ginger Drink!

I normally only use half a packet in a mug because it really packs a punch.

It gets better.

Cream it up like you would coffee or tea but with Almond Milk.

I'm tellin' ya - it's a tummy soother!!!!

(For the record - this will settle your stomach regardless of cause.  A little hungover?  Or maybe you legit have the flu...)

Do you feel like you're about to throw up?

Drink This.

Nautie Books :: February 2013 - The Lemon Tree

A few years back I was on a ship in the Persian Gulf (it was of the pre-blog era).  I didn't really love this ship except for one thing...every month they got a box of books.  The books were completely random which meant that you got a little of everything each month.  At the very end of my six month hitch a book showed up that perked me up.  I started reading it - and it was GOOD but, then it was time for me to go home and I felt really bad taking the book with me because I thought it should remain aboard.

I've thought of this book often over the years and have always wanted to pick it back up.

Without further ado, I'm pleased to announce February's Book Selection!

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East By Sandy Tolan

Here's what Amazon has to say:

In 1967, Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian twenty-five-year-old, journeyed to Israel, with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house, with the lemon tree behind it, that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Based on extensive research, and springing from his enormously resonant documentary that aired on NPR's Fresh Airin 1998, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.

I know what you're thinking:  Why are you making me read another hard book?  I get it.  I'd feel like that too.

It just seems to me that there is so much conflict in the world....that I don't understand.  I want to understand.

Mid-month I'll be providing a book club alternative.  An easy, light hearted read....just in case you're just in dire need of some feel good.

Watch With Glittering Eyes

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.  Those who don't belive in magic will never find it.  -Roald Dahl

Nautie Books :: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Wrap Up

Judging from the lack of interest I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume this one didn't grab you.  I understand.  Really, I do. I got a lot out of this read but, here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Like the Bible said,' Gary whispered, 'man brought nothing into this world and he'll carry nothing out. Sometimes we care about stuff too much. We worry when there's nothing to worry about.”

“When he asked if she was okay, her eyes welled with tears and she said, “Like I’m always telling my brothers, if you gonna go into history, you can’t do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was different.”

“She's the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother is so important to science, why can't we get health insurance?”

Vocabulary:

Henrietta Lacks

HeLa

The 500 Foot Photo Safari

Here's what I've been up to the last few days...think of it as a photo safari limited to 500 feet!

The water has been the best blue.  

No, one blue water photo wasn't enough...

This is the spare anchor.  (This is actually the first ship I've been on that had a spare anchor.)  I stood behind the anchor for quite some time waiting for a wave to make a big splash near the bow...and then it happened and I caught it...awesome.  FYI, that's really, really high.  Probably 30 feet over my head.

No More Blue Photos.  Moving on...

There are officially 400 cranes folded.  Only 600 to go (oh-my-god...I'm never going to finish in time...)!

I'm still Actively working on my plans for 2013.

I'm still obsessed with trying to get photos of light hitting my jars.  

All photos were taken with my iPhone...