TW3 - Treading Water

Japanese Tsunami
Some weeks just don't go as planned. I knew I was going to be busy with a couple pet sitting jobs but I imagined being able to get a lot done between runs and walks and feeds. I could blame it on energy level or that there was just not enough time to sit down and get involved with a drawing lt alone the beginning layouts of paint. But realistically my mind had not wanted to pet sit and paint.

And then came the earthquake. Followed by the tsunami. And of course keeping up with last minute developments on the potential nuclear melt down of three reactors damaged by the quake. Okay, I admit it but I am a natural disaster junkie. I find the workings of our earth awe inspiring and constantly educational. I don't merely read the reports but research everything about the storm or the quake or the eruption or the wave. I took geology in college but we have learned so very much since then. And the Internet seems to have it all.

The question is where do I go to take my exam? If I was to go back to college it would be to major in hydro engineering. As a kid I built dams in the gutters to subject rain water to complex paths. I learned early that what you do with water upstream effects how it behaves downstream. And what the earth does under the ocean effects what the mass of water above it does. Strange stuff water. Stranger still is the earth. Combine the two along a shifting shore and sooner or later disaster will happen.

I have to wonder why we build on our shores. And build, and rebuild and rebuild again knowing hurricanes love to wipe out our feeble efforts. Or once again it will rain and the Mississippi will rise and break down its levees. Or live within sight of Krakatoa knowing it will erupt again. Reminds me a bit of the ant hills I used to terrorize in my youth while wondering they did not move out of sight of my sandbox.

A definition of insanity I always liked was: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I think at heart I am a cliff dweller. I want to study water from a lofty distance. I suppose tomorrow I need to get back to painting - watercolor painting. Watching what pigment in water does on a surface - changing the flow and direction of water still.

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