souldare

Now listen, you who say,

“Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city . . .”

(James 4:13 NIV)

Grand Harbor Marina, Mississippi 

If you would have told me a week ago that we would be docked at a marina on Pickwick Lake in Mississippi, I would have scoffed.

But here we are, happily decided to stay put until Saturday.

We’re enjoying summery autumn weather and just relaxing on the water.

Yesterday was the big shuffle day, which to be honest I pouted about for a little bit.

The big shuffle means we borrowed the marina’s courtesy car at 8am and drove 20-30 miles to rent a car, and got stuck in a construction zone both ways. We brought both cars back to the marina, picked up the dog, left the courtesy car and drove the rental car the four hours back to Kentucky Dam Marina to retrieve the truck and trailer.

Whew!

Once there, Les drove the truck and trailer and I followed in the rental. It took another four hours or so, and various pit stops  to get back to drop off rental car. Once that was done, I hopped into the truck and we arrived back at the marina by 8:45pm.

Another whew!

This morning, while we were weighing options of where to go next on our adventure, the idea of just staying put for a few days sounded real good.

Our intention was to vacation along the inter coastal waterway starting in Myrtle Beach, SC for a week or so, and ending up at Marineland Marina in Florida, so Les could work from the boat and I could explore the area.

Fortunately, the marina will take us a week early, and they had minimal damage from the recent hurricane.

So what does all this have to do with composition?

One of my leisure choices while traveling is to catch up with books that I have never quite finished reading.
I have several stowaways with me. (I’ll post another time about the titles of the books.) But one that I was reading this week is The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman.

This phrase about the topic caught my attention: “Composition is essentially organization…”(Freeman)

This complex idea of composition can be summarized by the concept of organization. (I say complex, because I tend to be more intuitive on my approach to life, and especially my creative pursuits. And composition has always intimidated me.) But no more! I am going to burn the bridge that says a technical approach is beyond my abilities.

I can relate to organizing. I’ve been at it most of my life. Organizing, planning, managing my time and resources, and even my family, sometimes to their delight and sometimes not.

Organization has its merit. And also its own faults, but it is helping me understand composition.

I can organize life by descriptions.

Life is composed of happy moments and frustrating moments and boring moments and downright hellish moments.

Right now, I appreciate the inconveniences this particular adventure has served us.

And even though I’d prefer my adventures to be composed of all fun and play, my wise husband reminded me that even the best adventures have some element of work involved.

The big shuffle was tiring, but actually fun, too. (I got to drive a Chrysler 300, and for one funny moment, I couldn’t figure out how to start the keyless ignition, and finally I saw the instructions on the screen. “Apply brake and push button.” Ok, that’s real intuitive, not. But, I did figure out how to sync my phone to the stereo with Bluetooth. Who said I can’t do techy things?)

Today, I was greeted by the morning sun while I ran in both Mississippi and Tennessee. The marina is right on the state border.

We were going to have a southern breakfast in Corinth by the rental car place, but it was closed, with a simple sign that said “doctor.” Now that we’re staying an extra couple days, we might drive back over to see if Abe’s back from the doctor.

My own version of southern comfort food: fried apples, fried cornbread cakes and white chili.

I love composing meals in our small galley (kitchen) on the boat.

Now I have to recompose myself, and tidy up so we can have coffee and leftover corn cakes with honey or jam for breakfast, and maybe some eggs and turkey bacon, too.

What are you composing or organizing or cooking up these days?