In yesterday’s blog, I expressed the hope that in life’s box of chocolates, today might turn out to be the one with a purple wrapper and a caramel filling.
I wouldn’t say that today was a perfect day (as in, I didn’t break any of my personal best records), but overall it was an awful lot better than yesterday, and that in itself is enough to earn today the Order of the Purple Wrapper.
And in honour of that, I am going to list my top 5 favourite purple things.
1. Dried blueberries (by Wilderness Family Naturals) – absolutely yummy in my Organic Oats2Go porridge, along with dried sliced bananas, sunflower seeds, and salt. The perfect blend of salt and sweet.
2. Amethyst – not exactly part of my rowing regime, but I am very fond of the amethyst necklace currently sitting safely in my rucksack in the fore cabin. After my original amethyst necklace was stolen in Papua New Guinea last year (along with the rest of my very small store of jewelry) this one was bought for me in Istanbul by my friend Umit while I was there for the World Coastal Rowing Championships last year. Amethyst is supposed to be conducive to clear thinking. Sounds good to me!
3. Toothbrush – part of my getting-ready-for-bed ritual, symbolic of the end of the day’s rowing. Glorious though it is in its purpleness, it is horribly plastic. Has anybody found a good alternative to “disposable” plastic toothbrushes?
4. Sleeping bag liner – one of my favourite moments of the day, when I snuggle into its soft purpleness inside my fleecy Ocean Sleepwear sleeping bag and lay my weary head to rest.
5. Sedna – Her Royal Purpleness, Queen of the Ocean. What more can I say? She used to be silver, but since her new paint job, it couldn’t be clearer that she was born to be purple.
Other Stuff:
Samurai – you asked if I can see the Southern Cross. Yes, absolutely! You can actually see the Southern Cross from a little way north of the Equator, so I am well into Southern Cross territory here.
Tumbleweed Truckers and Dave – thanks for the additional perspectives on fear. I agree with the approach of moving towards our fears. When you shine the bright light of reason on them, they are usually so much less fearful than we imagine. I would go so far as to apply this to the fears that many people have about the future of our planet. All too often the reaction is to go into denial, or to abdicate responsibility. If we were collectively more willing to address the problem, it really is not so intractable. More on that in another blog. UncaDoug – you know what I mean!
Brent – I’ll be speaking in AZ next year for National Geographic, in Phoenix. Not sure how far that is from Scottsdale, but hope I might see you and your wife there!
Oops, laptop battery running at 12%. Last night it took me many attempts to get my blog uploaded, so I’d better start trying now before I run out of juice!
Sponsored Miles:
Noelle Sadinsky, Richard Butcher, Suwin Chan, David Gilbert, Scott Wagner – a shorter list of names because some names represent a number of consecutive miles sponsored. We are extremely grateful for all sponsors.
“2. Amethyst – not exactly part of my rowing regime, but I am very fond
of the amethyst necklace currently sitting safely in my rucksack in the
fore cabin. After my original amethyst necklace was stolen in Papua New
Guinea last year (along with the rest of my very small store of
jewelry) this one was bought for me in Istanbul by my friend Umit while
I was there for the World Coastal Rowing Championships last year.
Amethyst is supposed to be conducive to clear thinking. Sounds good to
me”
Sounds good to me – I love All the Purple Gemstones – Amethyst, Sapphire, Garnet and Diamond to name just a few…
Such ideas you generate without even meaning to…
More surgery on my scalp tomorrow… That should be it for the weekly scalp routine until next year – I hope… Then just back to the normal twice monthly “Nuisance Routine”…
I’ll be thinking of you Darling Richard & will look forward to your next cheerful comments.
Wilderness Family Naturals at
http://Www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com
Oats 2Go is still building their website.
Row Roz Row!
Hey Roz,
Thanks for the props in your blog today. I’m glad you found my thoughts on fear to be interesting. I just wanted to share my recent experience of seeing the Southern Cross with you as well. During my trip to New Zealand this past January I saw the Southern Cross for the first time during a night Kayaking trip. It provided me with a remarkable sense of place that I had never felt before, and reminded me of how generations of Seafaring people used this beautiful constellation as one of their most important navigational tools. At the same time I noticed the bioluminescence beneath me every time my paddle met the water. It was a wonderful experience, and one I will long remember.
Good luck on the rest of your voyage Roz. We are all rooting for you.
Your plum jam qualifies as another purple in your arsenal!
Continuing the purple theme:
Purple Heart
Purple People Mover
Purple Flowers (from thistle to iris)
Purple Drank(!)
Purple Rain
Purple Haze (song and flower)
Purple Kush
Hey, My favorite Roses are the Purple ones…
Now we have a Purple Roz…
Richard,
Should that be Captain Purple?
HMS Captain Purple – I like it!
Sedna, Such a special Purple Boat
Roz did everything needed to keep her afloat
Waves slapped her Bow, Midships and Stern
She ventured on without concern
The only one on-board who could vote
@d04fc101c94bae65a889fb0e831e56d8:disqus , If you want to try a GOOD “Purple Drank”, Try a good Vodka – I like Luksusowa a Great Polish Potato Vodka and very inexpensive compared to other Fine Potato Vodkas – and Pom with Blueberry… I call them a Purple Urple… But, within reason, They are supposed to be quite good for you too… Leading research has revealed that antioxidants – Like Pomegranate and Blueberry Juice – have their antioxidant effect boosted when mixed with A LITTLE alcohol…
Roz, I read your story while waiting in the dentists office for my daughter to get her braces off. Last year, I quit a horrible job I had been in for five years. I was making great money, but was miserable. I spent the next 8 months in a horrible depression. On March 17, I got out of my recliner, dragged my recumbent bike into the living room and began to change my life. I have lost 22 lbs, am off all but one medication and feel ten years younger. I still have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life, but have thought of selling the house and just taking off…..my daughter has one more year of school, other kids are grown and gone…….your story inspired me, perhaps I can find myself too…..Thank you, Cheryl Cook
Hey Cheryl, Congrats!!! As I said here earlier, Women are at their best as the approach and pass 40 – Comfortable with who they are, What they have, What they have accomplished, and what they haven’t, With vision as to where they are heading next, ready to accomplish even more – ready also for what they won’t accomplish while in the process of accomplishing more… Sounds like you are just beginning this very important and exciting process…
Cheryl, thank you for sharing your experience. It helps us who are currently struggling to show progress. Best of everything to you.
Well said, Roz: “When you shine the bright light of reason on [our fears], they are usually so much less fearful than we imagine. I would go so far as to apply this to the fears that many people have about the future of our planet. All too often the reaction is to go into denial, or to abdicate responsibility. If we were collectively more willing to address the problem, it really is not so intractable.”
I know what you mean! Thanks ;-D
Row fearlessly, Roz!
HEY!!! I am sure that I am not the first to think of this, But there are lots of best selling books out there that are essentially journals kept by people doing amazing things… Sometimes highlighted by comments, limericks, jokes, similar stories and the like from supporters – Rozlings in this case – that spurred The Adventurer on through the most difficult times… With 8 years if Journals, These Blogs, “In The Can” as they say, This could easily be a series… Roz and these Rozling Droppings could be the next J. K. Rowling…
re: toothbrushes
There are alternatives to plastic but I haven’t found a good alternative to plastic. You can buy various types of wooden, even bamboo brushes with natural bristles made from different animals, vegetables and minerals. However, most fall short of their main functional requirement; plaque control.
You can certainly buy brushes made from recycled plastic but I’ve only ever seen them with soft bristles. One company makes them from recycled yoghurt pots. There are also places which recycle toothbrushes.
A compromise is to buy a reusable (usually plastic) handle with replacement heads.
Still plastic but at least partially reusable.
Hey, Roz, I ran across a link to a good Ted Talk, from a survivor of the plane crash in the Hudson River a couple years ago, and it made me think of you. It’s Ric Elias’s story of what he learned from that experience. I know you can’t follow the link, so here’s an excerpt. I’ll post the link for the readers: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/08/elias.plane.crash/index.html
Excerpt from Ric Elias TED Talk, “What I thought when my plane crashed”:
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I learned that everything changes in an instant. We all have this bucket list of the things we want to do in life. And I sat there thinking about all the people I wanted to reach out to that I didn’t, all the fences I wanted to mend, all the experiences I wanted to have and never did. So I came up with a new saying for myself: I collect bad wines. Because if the wine is ready and the person is there, I’m opening it. I no longer want to postpone anything in life. And that urgency, that purpose, has changed me — as a husband, as a father, and as a business owner.
The second thing I learned that day — and this was as we cleared the George Washington Bridge, which was by not a lot: I thought, “Wow, I really feel one real regret.” I’ve lived a good life. I’ve learned from my mistakes and I’ve tried to get better at everything I do. But in my humanity, I’ve also allowed my ego to get in. And I regretted the time I wasted on things that didn’t matter.
I thought about my relationship with my wife, with my friends, with people. And as I reflected on that, I decided to eliminate negative energy from my life. Things aren’t perfect, but they’re a lot better. I haven’t had a fight with my wife in two years. It feels great. I no longer try to be right — I choose to be happy.
Thank you, Joan!
Great post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Just recently got to know about you and your great cause. Watching your progress with great interest and learning as I go!
Purple is the color of royalty–a power color. I am glad you got your purple-wrapped chocolate. Am really enjoying your blog. Here’s to more caramel-filled chocolates 🙂
I’m loving the photos too! I really liked those dramatic clouds! And of course Woody the pirate with the ocean background 🙂
There is a company called Preserve which makes toothbrushes out of recycled yogurt cups. The package it comes in doubles as a mailer and you use it to mail in your old one to recycle and they send you another one.
http://www.preserveproducts.com/products/personalcare/toothbrush-mail-back-pack.htmlHaven't tried it but, now that I think of it, I will.May the Purple Wrapper Days be forever yours!
A really good idea with things like toothbrushes is to MAKE THEM LAST LONGER so you don’t have to throw them away. Regularly use very hot water to straighten the bristles up and remodel them back to the original shape. Plastic lasts “forever” and so can your toothbrush with a little concerted effort. NB. hope the plastic industry doesn’t find my post and delete it. 😉 Jim Bell (NSW Australia)
I hate plastic; Bottled (plastic) water being my number one hate! I have NEVER bought bottled water and have lived a very healthy life. I work hard physicly (no desk job for me) and have worked in many countries on lots of various projects inc oil rigs (land and water),Tunnels, pipe lines, road construction and the list goes on! Today I was building a deck in 90F (good ol’ warm Minnesota) and never had any bottled water! Yet I watched at least 6 people (men and women) just walking and there gripped tight in their puds was that ALL life giving bottles of water! The poor Bad Sastards!
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It is like some god worship!
Bert to the Cornelians chapter 54, Page 3 (hmmm not bad!)
And behold ‘The Plastic Bottled Water’! (all rise and raiseth thy Plastic bottle to thy lipeths) In the name of the Plastic and of the Sun heres more garbadge cos it’s all done! Amen (A’up if you from Yorkshire/Lancs area)
He who drink’s from this Plastic bottle shall live in garbadge for ever!
And so! It is written!
So holdeth on verily tightest to thy plastic like a demented fool. The waters willeth quencheth thy thistyness and the Plastic shall be transformeth in to a verily murkyeth soupeth in the mid oceanseth of this little spec-eus of space dustyneth we calleth home!
This is written to honour St Plastic (the patron saint of ‘modern living’! God/s help us ALL)!
Now we finish off with the spinkling of the holymoly waters from the Plastic bottle!
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The tooth brush? I remember a few words of a song about tooth brushes!
Starts off like—– I’m a blue tooth brush! Your a pink toothbrush
Da da dee da da da daaa
I think it was something to do with a boy/girl thing! But not sure if they were plastic then lol!
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Well Roz keep dipping the ores! You are in my thoughts – – –
“I’m a pink toothbrush, you’re a blue toothbrush
Haven’t we met somewhere before?
I’m a blue toothbrush, you’re a pink toothbrush
And we met by the bathroom door.
Every time I hear you whistle
It makes my nylon bristle
I’m a pink toothbrush, you’re a blue toothbrush . . . ”
etc., etc.
That’s all I can remember. And the tune.
Thanks T. Truckers for the “Preserve” Link. I’ve been looking for a company like that. At least #5 can be
recycled. Fat handled plastic toothbrushes along with the daily flood of loose bottle caps and zip off seals
from bottles are “loose” non-point source of environmental Armageddon for our Oceans. Do the
corporations really think we need “comfort” gripped handles the way most people brush? Most probably
spend no more then a minute a day brushing! At least minimize the plastic and give us a slim handled brush. It’ about charging you more for “enforced” pollution. I wish somebody would post a link for
the wooden handled toothbursh. I love wood and I’ve never seen it in USA store.
One solution: Soak them in pure peroxide to disenfect and use for almost forever.
As a surf fishermen I can tell you in Florida the beaches are littered with the loose bits, mostly from tops and broken frags. Even when the tides are strong and the wind is onshore; I can dig down in the surf sand and find the ‘litter line’ – the beach may look pristine, it isn’t. And to our east in the Sargassum weed, the poor critters like our baby sea turtles have to compete with an ever increasing volume of “trapped plastic” – its not just coming from boats – its land sourced and dumping…
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/welcome.html
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/plastic.html#2
(scientific analysis of effect of microplastics in our oceans)
One solution: we need to push for legislation to keep everything attached to food containers (no loose
caps and zip offs) and everything the SAME recycable plastic! Like #1 or 2…
If I have to use plastic bottles, the loose tops are being buried in my backyard (I’m rural) from now on.
I don’t trust government to landfill them safely. THERE IS NO AWAY IN THROW-AWAY!
(Join: Ocean Conservancy and Oceana…)
Roz Rows Purple Sedna (on and on and on!)
Hey Roz,
Just wanted you to know that I have nothing of value to say these days, but am following along avidly and cheering you on every night before I go to bed!
A message came from Caroline to Roz about a sustainable wooden toothbrush made of beechwood:
http://lifewithoutplastic.com/boutique/plasticfree-wooden-toothbrush-adult-p-400.html Based in Canada with warehouse in USA.
In the good old days of camping we I was a kid (40yrs ago!) we used a wet finger dipped in salt to clean our teeth. Yes, Mum forgot to pack the tooth brushes & we kids couldn’t care a hoot! (snigger, snigger)
Hi Roz, here’s a beech wood organic toothbrush with natural bristles!
http://www.cebraonline.com/eco-friendly-wooden-toothbrush-705-p.asp
All the best, Steve