It's late afternoon on Sunday and the house is surprisingly quiet for a weekend day ... everyone is out enjoying the better weather. I thought I would take a quiet moment to update here.

Some thing very different is going on with me. I'm trying some thing different. A different perspective for me ... which is "go with the flow". That seems like something, an attitude that would be very comfortable to adopt ... like slipping into a warm terry cloth robe after a nice long soak bath ... who wouldn't want that?

What seems more natural for me is planning. Like a flight plan.

Flight plans make sense to me. I am a big believer in planning (plan the work work the plan ... that has been my motto ever since when ... .) I like to identify a starting point and that point ... probably not a final destination, but definitely where this life is currently headed.

A direct B direct C direct ...

In an actual flight planning scenario I would flag possible alternates between those points ... really paid off during check rides btw ... . It's not always (ever?) just the most direct route, all kinds of stuff comes in to play when flight planning. I value the training that leads one to look at the variables. I always tell students to plan as well as they can using as many Navaids and visual reference points as seems right ... not like crazy anal, but conscientious.
There's a lot to be said for GPS direct, but so many little lessons are forfeited for expediency. That's a different story.
I loved when things went all wrong on a flight and plan B was called for on the fly ... very exciting, but plan B was always a result of plan A being well planned, that's how I see it ... like riffing on a foundational melody.
Here's a quick example ... Plan A is to depart runway 36 to the NW climbing 3000 ... and at 500'agl you find that you have lost you engine like sometimes happens on training flights ... now it's time for plan B which was briefed before take off ... if the training event or real life kicks in sooner ... or later ... you already have a pretty good idea of what plan C or D would look like ... if you don't, you may be jumping quick forward to plan F (which is never preferable). Wow, that's a lot of time there just to say this: I like a plan, I like to plan, I like to know the protocol ... the proper etiquette. I'm not saying that I absolutely won't make stuff up, wag it a bit here and there, as I go along in life, but ...
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ~T.S.Eliot
...I love that quote. I am definitely willing to risk going too far, but up 'til just here recently I would get there with a plan (and a uber organized flight bag as well).

I am noticing that I am wading in to relaxing ... like a little child at the shore, I really want to get in the water ... so I take two steps in and one step back ... trying to get in at least waist deep ... wanting to swim.

The last two pictures I have worked on, one painted from a picture I particularly admired and the other drawn as a rough sketch, I knew what I wanted them to look like. Yesterday, I experimented with a totally different approach to creating something. I didn't really plan it. I knew what the elements would be and I had an idea of what I would say it was when it was finished, but it's really just something to hold a little bit of my love.




I like my little wooden bowl and my old green ceramic platter. My brother sent a bunch of feathers that were shed by peacocks on his property. I made this for someone who like fairies ... so, that decided the charm ... and I just selected some beads and thread that I thought the person who I made this for would like. Here's the point: I just assembled some little things and sat with the pieces ... fiddling ... and it kinda made itself. I collected the pieces, but I didn't know what it would look like until it was finished. I like it. It turned out just fine without a lot of planning.

Part of where I find myself in life is this ... I planned well, and I executed the plan well ... and I seem to be sitting on the ground with low visibility at the wrong airport. Uh oh. I have been battling at the bummers. I have been wondering, "How did this happen?"

I don't know exactly how to express this because it is new to me, but I'm going to try. I'm trying to relax. I'm trying to not plan. I'm trying to go with the flow. A friend of mine and I have been texting more then usual lately and I asked how many texts are allowed in your plan ... my plan has unlimited texting so I guess I felt compelled to check out their plan ... my friend said "Don't worry about it." What a novel idea.

That's been the week ... don't worry about it ... and maybe I don't have to plan every thing ... maybe I can just go with the flow ... . It's funny to watch myself trying to embrace the chilled out within. I'm not great at it, but I like trying.