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author, creator, mighty fine swimmer

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The Sun & the Solstice

December 21, 2018 — by Harald 2 Comments

view from stoop
I like to sit on my front stoop (means “small porch,” originally from the Dutch stoep) and watch the sun arc its way through the seasons. Above is a morning view I captured the day before yesterday. Our recent snow had melted but you can see some frost on the grass.

Because my house faces east—we built it that way; it’s a feng shui thing—I get to contemplate the movement of the sun as it appears over the trees one notch to my right (north to south) each day, working its way to the Winter Solstice, which happens to be today. After December 21, the whole process reverses until the Summer Solstice is reached in June, and the whole cycle repeats. It’s my personal light show.

[Read more…] about The Sun & the Solstice

Filed Under: HJ post Tagged With: hominid, neanderthal, solstice, sun, winter

Water Magic

November 27, 2018 — by Harald 2 Comments

In the deep end.
In the deep end.

I learned to swim when I was six or seven. In Miami Beach.

Our family was on summer vacation at one of those big beachside hotels. The ones with the vast pools and cocktail bars. Not that I knew what a cocktail was. But the pool was awesome. For a small tot, it was a lake—giant and blue with funny drawings of fish on the bottom.

One day I was playing on the steps in the shallow end, and my Dad comes over and says: “It’s time you learned how to swim.”

[Read more…] about Water Magic

Filed Under: HJ post Tagged With: bobbing, swimming, underwater, water

36 years ago today…

October 13, 2018 — by Harald 8 Comments

mass swim start
The Ironman’s mass swim start. Photo © Brandon Magnus, https://www.brandonmagnusphotography.com/
Sort of today—I’m distorting a bit. But not by much. It was actually on Saturday, October 9, 1983, when I participated in the Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii. Gregorian calendar fluctuations put today’s Saturday close enough.

Here’s what happened…

[Read more…] about 36 years ago today…

Filed Under: HJ post Tagged With: 1982, Harald, Hawaii, Ironman, triathlon

On this day 409 years ago…

September 12, 2018 — by Harald 2 Comments

Half Moon Hoorn
A replica of Hudson’s ship sails off the coast of Hoorn, Netherlands. Source: Center of Sailing Heritage Museum, Hoorn, Netherlands.

The story of New York City begins with the arrival of Henry Hudson’s ship Half Moon into New York’s Upper Bay and then on to the island of Mannahatta (Manhattan) on September 12, 1609.

It was almost noon on that Saturday, and Hudson stood on the quarterdeck with his son, John, and took in a bay such as he had never before seen. Excerpt from my book New York 1609:

[Read more…] about On this day 409 years ago…

Filed Under: HJ post Tagged With: 1609, Half Moon, Henry Hudson, Manhattan, New York City, September 12

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