Celebrate the Small Things: A Fun and Safe 4th of July

I want to wish everyone a fun and safe 4th of July. I expect a lot of you will take today off, and Monday and Tuesday too. That makes for a nice five-day holiday. I remember those times. Working hard five days a week, with never enough vacation time. But when the calendar fell just right, we'd take a trip and go camping somewhere. Or barbecue at home, buy 'illegal' fireworks at the reservation, and have some old-fashioned fun.

Not sure what hubby and I will be doing. Company is coming, so I suppose that means hamburgers and fireworks at the park. We may participate in the annual golf cart parade. We live in a semi-retirement community, so there are a lot of golf carts!

Meanwhile.....I'm still promoting my new book, The Shells of Mersing, and could use some serious readers and Amazon Reviews. A FREE eBOOK COPY to anyone interested!

Did you know the story starts in Seattle in 1995? Email and the internet were brand new then, and cells phones were practically non-existent in the U.S. However, in Malaysia, where half the novel is set, cell phones were definitely in use and becoming rather popular. 

It was fun introducing my main character to Email and Cell phones for the first time, having lived in Malaysia myself in 1995. I remember my writer friends in the states were nervous about sending their manuscripts half way around the world over the internet for critiques (as was I). Our worries ranged from worrying about losing our work entirely to getting an enormous internet bill!! Boy, have things changed.

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

V is for Polly Vacher - Pioneer Women in Aviation: A-Z Challenge

Polly Vacher (1944-)

In 1999, Polly Vacher was busy planning her solo flight around the world. If successful the trip would raise money for Flying Scholarships for the Disabled in the UK and the U.S. She loved flying and wanted those with disabilities to also have the opportunity to fly. She called on members of the British Womens' Pilots Association to help.

The women formed a fundraising committee to organize special events for potential sponsors. The largest event, complete with a flying display, champagne gathering, dancing and dinner, brought in £65,000 from one sponsor alone. Some offered to pay for fuel, while others paid for charts and maps. In return, Polly would offer publicity for their support.
 
Polly Vacher was born in south Devon, UK in 1944. As a young child, she often daydreamed about flying. She even tried "growing wings" once. At 19, while a student in London, she was offered a ride in a glider and found the experience "magical." Life went on and she worked briefly as a physiotherapist, married, taught music for twenty years, and raised three sons. She was 45 before going up in the air again. This time is was skydiving, which she did to raise money for a charity, but she was thoroughly hooked afterwards. In the end she would log 245 skydives.

It was only a matter of time before piloting her first airplane in 1994. At 50, her children raised, Polly took lessons with her husband Peter in a Piper Dakota while living in Australia. Both earned their pilot's licenses and logged 84 hours flight time before circumventing the Australian continent. Back in England, Polly obtained her instrument rating (Peter was more interested in airplane maintenance at this point). Eager to test her skills, Polly flew solo across the North Atlantic to the U.S. (and back again) in their Piper Dakota in 1997. While in the states, she and Peter (he'd flown commercial) toured the U.S. and Canada together.

Polly and husband Peter

Flying the Piper PA-28 Cherokee Dakota

Itching to try something new, Polly began contemplating a solo world flight. Even with the British Womens' Pilots Association's help, it would take two years to raise the funds needed for such an undertaking. They called the trip the Wings Around the World Challenge.

In 2001, she lifted off the runway in her Piper PA-28 Cherokee Dakota, which became the smallest aircraft flown solo by a woman around the world via Australia. She visited 27 countries en route. One of her fondest memories was being received by Queen Noor in Jordan and meeting Prince Hamzah and Prince Faisal. It was scary flying over the Pacific though, where a cyclone forced her to land and wait out the storm, and on the final leg from Hawaii to California she experienced a grueling 16-hour flight. The engine had even quit as she was switching over fuel tanks. In the end Polly flew 29,000 miles and raised over $200,000 toward Flying Scholarships for the Disabled.

Supporting Flying Scholarships for the Disabled

Polly flew again around the world in 2003 for the same charity, this time over the North Pole, Antarctica and all seven continents. She became the first woman to fly over the polar regions solo  in a single-engine aircraft. The 35,000-mile journey covered 30 countries and was called Voyage to the Ice. Some of the preparations for the flight were intense, including the probability of a polar bear attack, should she land and have to survive in sub-zero temperatures.

Commenting, Polly said, "I have got a gun on board and have been trained to use it. It is not something I want to use, but if I meet a polar bear and it's a choice between me or him, I will use it. Apparently they don't like it if you fire into the air above them so I'll do that first."

Landing at the North Pole

In every long distance flight Polly took flight preparations seriously. She learned how to navigate by the sun, in case her GPS failed. She believed in using a checklist for every flight regardless the distance, and always paid attention to the weather. If in doubt, "Don't go" was her motto. Asked in 2015 what it took to be a good pilot, she added,

"Never be complacent. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots! Pay attention to detail as flying requires you to be very precise."

(2007) Did it! Wings Around Britain Challenge
(Her last challenge before retiring. Polly
visited 221 airfields in Great Britain, flying
19,000 miles. Sixty-six disabled passengers
traveled on legs of the trip with her.

A Book about her North Pole adventure
(A portion of profits go for flying scholarships)

Website - Flying Scholarships: http://www.fsfdp.org.uk/news/news.html
(Flying scholarship donations apply to UK or U.S.)

Source:
http://www.inspiredpilot.com/podcast/polly-vacher-mbe-wings-around-the-world/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1429312/Polly-the-pole-to-pole-pilot-aims-at-world-record.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Vacher; http://www.avweb.com/news/profiles/182917-1.; http://www.ninety-nines.org/polly-vacher.htm

 

B is for Barbie Doll: Inventions by Women A-Z

First Barbie (1959)--available as brunette or blond

My granddaughter has a fabulous Barbie doll collection, complete with doll houses, clothes, accessories, and just about anything you could imagine. When I first saw it, all I wanted to do was sit down and play dolls with her, which I did and had a ball.

So where did Barbie come from, you might ask? Who invented this one of a kind doll?

Ruth Handler
(1916-2002)

The lady with the nice smile on the left, Ruth Handler, was the inventor, and she was one savvy business woman. She and her husband were co-founders of the Mattel Toy Company.....that's right, Mattel. 

One day, as the story is told, Ruth was watching her daughter play paper dolls with some friends. She noticed the girls were playacting scenes from the future, not the present, and began to imagine a doll they might like. Certain she was onto something big, she modeled the doll after a popular doll in Germany (initially sold to adults) that she had discovered on a trip. She named the doll Barbie after her daughter Barbara. (The Ken doll invented later was named after her son).

Barbie was introduced to the public at the 1959 American International Toy Fair in New York City on March 9, 1959 (which happens to be Barbie's official birthday). The doll was an instant success, in fact so successful, Mattel was soon listed as a Fortune 500 company.

 Not everyone liked the new doll. Some parents voiced concerns about the doll's adult chest, which clearly showed a woman's breasts. Ruth was adamant the doll have an adult appearance, but did agree to one change in 1971. Barbie's eyes, instead of casting a "demure sideways glance," were changed to face forward. 

Meanwhile, Barbie's measurements were somewhere around height 6 feet, weight 100 pounds, and body size 39-19-33. In 1997, in light of criticism that Barbie's body shape was unrealistic and young girls might try to emulate the doll, Barbie's waistline was made larger.

Barbie has been sold in over 150 countries and remains popular to this day. The average girl age 3-11 owns at least 10 dolls. 

How about you? Are you a Barbie doll fan?

Sources:
http://www.women-inventors.com/Ruth-Handler.asp;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie
http://www.teenink.com/opinion/pop_culture_trends/article/175098/The-Barbie-Effect/

Copyright 2015 © Sharon Marie Himsl

D is for Durian: Yummy Fruits A-Z

Durian has been said to smell like rotten fruit, dirty gym socks, smelly armpits, and sewage. True, true, it is all true! I lived in Malaysia for nine months in 1995-96, and you could smell this fruit a block or more away.

I still remember the durian truck that lumbered through our neighborhood one afternoon, the driver honking his horn, the neighbors gathering with excitement as he approached. Malaysians love this fruit! At twelve inches long and six inches wide on average, and with a thorny husk as hard as a nut, durian is one funky-looking fruit.

Durian is native to southeast Asia, dating back to prehistoric times, but has only been known to the western world for about 600 years. Durian trees can grow from 60 to 164 feet tall. One fruit weighs around 3.3 pounds and can fetch a surprisingly high price. A high quality durian in Singapore, it is said, can cost as much as $50 U.S dollars! It has long since earned a reputation as the "King of the Fruits."  

Durian is eaten fresh, cooked as a vegetable, boiled, roasted and fried and added to various dishes, and sugared as a confection. Nutritionally, durian is a good source of dietary fiber, thiamine, vitamin B6, Manganese, and high in vitamin C. 

There are a lot myths surrounding this fruit, among them its aphrodisiac qualities and lethality when consumed with alcohol, neither of which has been proven. But one myth that is true is the legal damage a durian can do landing on one's head (as posted signs sometimes warn!). 

Durian Recipes

I don't have an official recipe to share, as the likelihood of finding durian in the U.S. is next to none. Ways prepared include durian mixed with chilies in a spicy Sambal sauce and durian mixed in curry sauce served over fish and vegetables. 

However, I saw Malaysians eating durian fresh and wanted to try. I bought a slice at the market one day, plugged my nose, 
and took a small bite. Once I got past the odor and slimy texture, it tasted a bit like squash.......but with a strong after taste....and then there was the odor problem. The vendor thought my sample was under ripe and should taste sweeter than squash. I later discovered Durian ice cream at the store. I thought, Wow, ice cream, how bad could that be? 

(Durian Ice Cream at Pink's)

SPIT OUT, SPIT OUT! It was the worst ice cream I had ever tasted. So.....imagine my surprise when I discovered online that it is now served at Pink's Ice Cream shop in Seattle, WA. You don't have to travel to Malaysia to sample it! 

I challenge you....next time you are in Seattle, stop by Pink's and give Durian Ice Cream a try. If you become a fan, I really want to know.

Durian Jokes

Said the Puffer fish to the Durian: 

"I'm in love, I'm in love!"

No  joke!

We saw signs like this at upscale hotels in Singapore and Malaysia.

Durian Books

Durian: King of Tropical Fruits by S. Ketsa (2001) (nonfiction)


Durian by Kelly Weisheit (2010)  
(With her family murdered, young Shekrah 
escapes to the Kingdom of Durian, where she meets the prince of Durian, Torian)

So How Smelly Is Durian? (video link)

Durian Song (video link)

"Durian" by Zainal Alam (1950)

Zainal Alam (1926-1991) was born in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia. A popular performer in his day, he has been called the 'Bob Hope' and 'Bing Crosby' of Malaysia. (Song is in Malay).

Sources: http://zainalalam-memoirs.blogspot.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/healthyliving/DietandNutrition/Pages/durians-8-myths-and-facts-about-the-king-of-fruits.aspx; http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/2088/2

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

Africa Mercy - War and Worship: One Nurse's Journey

More from Marilyn in Africa. She tells the story of Ibrihim, an Africa Mercy crewman she has come to know. The brutality that so many children like him suffered in the 1990s during Sierra Leone's Civil War is chilling.........Sharon

(This is a running post about a nurse's experience on a hospital ship, the Africa Mercy)

10 November 2012

War and Worship

Greetings, my friends. I have two thoughts to share, and perhaps they are related. I heard a bit of the life story of one young man from Sierra Leone who is now part of the African Mercy crew. As you may remember, Sierra Leone had a terrible civil war in the 1990's. The rebel forces were murderous and cruel, and many terrible things happened.

They would invade villages to murder the men and boys. They would chop off children's hands and feet, leaving them maimed and
crippled. They would kidnap young boys and force them to carry
guns and do unspeakable atrocities to their own families, hardening them to a life of violence as members of the rebel forces. 

Last year, one of our day crew had been machine-gunned along with all the rest of the men of his village--he alone survived. The year before, when I was in Sierra Leone, I saw many of the young people who had had limbs chopped off when they were babies or children. The city had gangs of youth who lived a life of crime, the only "job skil" they had learned from their conscription into the rebel army. The wounds of war were still very much in evidence.  Ibrihim, the young man I mentioned, was thirteen when the  rebel forces invaded the school he attended. They shot the teacher and kidnapped the boys for their army. Most of the boys had to carry guns and kill people, but Ibrihim was big for his age, and strong.

The leader of the army unit had a young girl who was his prize  possession. She was treated like a princess, which meant, among      other things, that her feet were not allowed to touch the ground. Ibrihim was assigned the duty of carrying her everywhere she went. One day, about eight months after his capture, he heard a voice telling him to run, and run he did. He ran all day and into the night. He traveled for several days, until finally he found some people who believed him (he was still wearing his school uniform, the only clothes he had). They helped him to get home, back to his parents. But in telling the story, Ibrihim doesn't sound bitter.

 Instead, he mentions how thankful he is that he did not have to  carry a gun and kill people. My second thought comes from attending the church service on the ward this morning, and from other opportunities I've had to worship with Africans, both in West Africa and in Congo. They are exuberant! You might mistake it for a football rally--but the focus is on praising God and giving thanks.  It seems like no matter how hard their circumstances or what they have suffered, they enter wholeheartedly into worshiping God. Their attitude of gratitude is one of their great cultural strengths, it seems to me.

I'm sure you've heard African worship music.  If not, you have   missed something rich.  In general, the only instrumentation is     drums.  The complicated rhythms give pulse and energy to the     singing--they can really stir the blood. Generally someone will      lead off with a song, and the people answer by singing a responsive
phrase. The phrases will repeat, back and forth between the leader and the people, reminding me of the structure of some of  the Psalms, with their responsive chants. The leader will gradually evolve to new phrases, and the song continues. At some point, someone else will take the lead, singing what they want to sing.

 The melody also changes from time to time--it feels like something organic, one thing leading to another, but it is all expressing praise and thanksgiving to God. There aren't any songbooks, and no designated succession of leaders. It just seems to happen spontaneously, everybody participating.

So, which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Does the pervasive attitude of gratitude give the worship singing its energy, or does their style of worship fuel their hearts with thanksgiving that spills over into the rest of their lives? Who cares? It works! It's beautiful!  

Blessings to you all,

Marilyn

Click here to learn more about the nurses and doctors on board the Africa Mercy.


 

Weekly Recap: Finding Time to Write

Hi, Another busy week. I've been trying to increase my writing output, not on the blog....but my novel. During the A-Z Challenge I read an interesting post on Stephen King's writing schedule and was favorably impressed. He writes 4 hours a day, which means he writes only 28 hours a week. I have since read variations of this schedule, but the idea stuck. Four hours a day......Can I do it?

 As it turns out, I can to some degree. I wrote 21 hours and 30 minutes last week, up from my average 11 hours. However, the plan failed over the weekend. I admit that weekends are precious to my husband and me. It is our playtime, catch-up time, church time, relax time, shopping time, and occasional 4-day travel weekend. I try to do bills, housework, gardening and other activities during the week. (It helps that I no longer need to work outside the home).   

So on Friday we went to Thai Ginger for dinner (phad with eggplant and tofu for me; chicken with peanut sauce for hubbie). We have been in love with Thai food for a long time. We first ate Thai Jasmine rice while living in Malaysia ('95-96). We thought it funny at the time that this rice was technically illegal to purchase in Malaysia, but everyone skirted the rule. We were later stranded on a Thai train over night (another train had crashed ahead of us!), where we were treated royally and served the best lemon grass soup and other Thai courses we have ever had!

Top: train that derailed and crashed on a track parallel to ours! 
Bottom: Vince and me.....safe and sound in Bangkok (1995)

  We also saw the new Star Trek movie over the weekend, Star Trek into Darkness. This movie is mostly for younger viewers, with lots of ear-popping loud action in 3-D, but we are hard core Star Trek fans. We accept any bone Hollywood is willing to give us, and the actors they have picked for young Kirk and Spock are well suited for the roles.

 We watched the original Star Trek in the 1970s. I still remember being concerned with my two young children watching this series. I issued a ban on all Star Trek viewing, which was then nixed by the family over time. Ha! The original series seems so innocent now. We also watch Star Trek (Next Generation) on Netflix during the week. Yep, we're hard core.

So, how about you? How was your week?

Copyright 2013 © Sharon Himsl

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

What's the Next Big Thing?

Thanks author Mary Cronk Farrell for tagging me in the Next Big Thing Blog Hop! I have one Work In Progress . . .  

What is the working title of your book?

Shells of Mersing

Where did the idea come from for the book?

My husband and I lived in Kluang, Malaysia for nine months in 1995-96. I was volunteering at a local orphanage when I learned that one of the boys (7) had been rescued from domestic slavery. I was aware of human slavery, of girls mostly, but my shock level jumped to a new level. This was the little boy I had made yarn dolls with at Christmas time. I then learned that human trafficking and slavery did indeed exist in Malaysia and even more so in Thailand to the north. From this experience a story grew.

I began to ask a lot of what ifs. What if a Malay girl and her sister had been sold in Thailand? What if an American G.I. later met and fell in love with this girl, and took her to America as his bride? What if he then died and left his Malay wife alone with two children? Would she miss her family, especially her sister in Thailand, and try to rescue and bring her to America? And finally, what would be the fate of her children, if she disappeared in Thailand?........which is where my story begins.

The idea for the title came from my travels. We sometimes meandered up the east coast of Malaysia along the South China Sea. The views were incredible. We would stop to gather shells or just walk along the beaches. Mersing was the first stop, and I fell in love with the colorful boats in its fishing harbor and a section of beach. I decided to make Mersing the childhood home of my Malay mother, and the shells a special collection her daughter inherits.

What genre does your book fall under?

Adventure/Mystery, Young Adult fiction.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

-Only two actors so far. They may be too old for the part, but I have always imagined Vanessa Hudgens as my main character Callie (15), who is half Malay; and Zac Efron for Sam (16), the American boy she meets in Malaysia.
-Lucas (8), Callie's brother (also half Malay), plays an important role, but I'm not familiar with younger child stars. He needs to be smart and confident.


(Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens; realitybyrach.blogspot.com)

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

After witnessing the murder of her Seattle foster dad, a teenage girl runs away with her eight-year-old brother and sets off on a journey to find their missing mother in Thailand and family in Malaysia.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I hope to find an agent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

One year. I have since written several drafts and changed the tense twice.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

To some degree the following:
-Patricia McCormick's Sold, the story of a thirteen year old girl from Nepal, who is sold into sexual slavery. (There is a tragic back story of human trafficking and slavery in my book that becomes a live threat to my main characters, Callie and Lucas).
-Wendelin Van Draanen's Runaway - Holly is abused by her foster dad. (My main character is afraid of her foster dad when he drinks, especially the night she and her brother run away).
-Heidi Ayarbe's Compromised - A father goes to prison and his motherless daughter is left to fend for herself, and ends up in an orphanage; She runs away to search for an aunt in New Mexico. (My main characters’ mother is missing and their father is dead; they are placed in a foster home and then run away to search for their missing mother and Malaysian relatives).

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

-Callie and Lucas stowaway on a large sailboat called the Meli Ann and cross the Pacific to Hawaii.
-The Mersing shells are stored in a wooden box with a beautiful dragon carving on top, but there is a secret compartment and much more in this "dragon box."

I'm tagging authors Catherine Ensley and Kim Harris Thacker.

Check out their Next Big Thing!

[This traveling blog started in Australia. Each author answers ten questions about his or her Work In Progress and "tags" one or more authors (up to five) to be The Next Big Thing]

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing
 

Happy Groundhog Day

"Well, it's Groundhog Day . . . again."  My favorite line in Groundhog Day (1993) starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. My husband and I started watching this movie every February several years ago. How many times now? We haven't a clue, but we love the tradition. Any other fans out there? What are your favorite lines?

Ten more of the best lines:

1. "Today is tomorrow! It happened!"

2. "Don't you have some kind of a line that you keep open for emergencies or for celebrities? I'm both. I'm a celebrity in an emergency."

3. "What would you do if you were stuck in one place and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?"

4. "My years are not advancing as fast as you might think."

5. "He might be OK ... well, no, probably not now ... "

6. "I'm a god. I'm not the God I don't think."

7. "I was in the Virgin Islands once. I met a girl. We ate lobster, drank pina coladas. At sunset, we made love like sea otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn't I get that day over and over and over?

8. "I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life."

9. "This is pitiful - 1,000 people freezing their butts off to worship rat."

10. "What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today."

Ten Facts about the Groundhog:
1 - also known as a woodchuck, whistle-pig, or land beaver
2 - a member of the rodent family
3 - most common in the northeast and central United States; but found as far north as Alaska, and as far south as Georgia
4 - measures in size from 16 to 26 inches (tails are 6 inches long)
5 - lives up to 6 years in wild; some reported to live 8 to 14 years; but in captivity only 2 to 3 years
6 - diet includes wild grasses, other vegetation, berries, grubs, grasshoppers, insects, snails and other small animals, and nuts
7 - lives in a burrow, which can have 2 to 5 entrances to escape predators
8 - hibernates, often in a separate winter burrow; usually from October to March or April; but in milder climates as little as 3 months
9 - can also climb trees and swim
10 - when afraid, the hairs on a groundhog's tail stand straight up; the tail looks like a hairbrush!


Copyright 2013 © Sharon Himsl

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing

Winter of the Stars

It was April, 1996. Vince and I had just spent nine amazing months in Kluang, Malaysia. Soon we would be traveling home again to Moscow, Idaho. As we stood on the balcony of our spacious terrace home gazing at Kluang’s one mountain, not too unlike Moscow Mountain, we found ourselves looking up at the stars. "You know it’s funny. I don’t think I have ever noticed the stars before," I commented.

We had witnessed some of the best sunsets and sunrises imaginable in Southeast Asia. From Thailand to our north, Tioman Island to our east, and Singapore and Indonesia to our south, no skyline would ever compare with the orange glow of those skies. I recalled Singapore, then the largest port in the world, and the endless stream of ships that had lined up on the horizon waiting to dock. There was the beach in Koto Bahru, where Japanese had invaded Malaysia during World War II so many years ago. Tioman Island, our island paradise in the South China Sea, where the movie South Pacific had once been filmed, filled my senses. How could anything or any place ever compare?



Port of Singapore - through the trees

 

Malay girls on east Malaysia beach

Kuantan, Malaysia - South China Sea

Yet, for some odd reason, the stars had never been an attraction. We stared awhile at the alien star-filled sky and felt strangely out of place, and perhaps for the first time, yearned for home. It is the same with any move, I guess . . . when you know you about to leave that place or station in life—you slowly begin to disengage. Yet part of me struggled with our decision to leave. "I wish we could stay another six months," I lamented. "Don’t you?" I already knew his answer. Vince had grown restless and was worried about his university position. It was time to leave.

I stared at the sky again. We were so far from home, and to see our wide open skies in Idaho would be wonderful. Here the tropical sky was heavy with moisture and seemed to hover, not too unlike our experience growing up in Tacoma, Washington when the clouds drifted in from the bay—only there it was colder, and when the sky cleared, the stars were familiar. Here the constellations we had grown to love as children, like the big and little dippers and the nearby North Star, were missing. And where was the man in the moon with his big eyes and sunken nose for heaven’s sake? I had to laugh. 

There were plenty of reasons why we had not noticed the tropical sky in the past nine months. Except for checking the sky for sudden downpours, and there were plenty during the monsoon season, it could be hazardous looking up. Exploring Malaysian cities on foot required a good dose of common sense. Just crossing the street in Kluang or nearby Batu Pahat could be a hair-raising experience. Not only did we need to reprogram our brains to cars driving on the left side of the road, speed limits seemed virtually non-existent. Our son was nearly run over by a motor cyclist. But mostly we took things in stride, always thankful for our temporary home half way around the world.

Malay boys on motorbike

We even learned to navigate the narrow sidewalks bordering the small shops in downtown Kluang,  jumping over the drainage ditches when crossing the street. Of course the worry was that one of us would one day fall in, which eventually happened. One of the expat American ladies in our group fell knee deep into the muck and scraped her leg up a bit, giving us all a scare. We could not begin to imagine the infections and bacterial maladies that lurked in those foul smelling ditches. And so . . . we learned to watch our feet.    
 

Aside from worrying about drainage ditches, I found myself on the lookout for black cobras, rats, monitor lizards or smaller less harmful creatures like cockroaches and geckos, although some spiders I saw looked lethal enough. On the grounds of a nice hotel in East Malaysia, I nearly walked head first into the web of spider the size of my fist. Back in Kluang I stepped on a cockroach barefoot, had one fly into my face, another leap at me from a silverware drawer, and to top it off, I once fished out a drowning gecko from our coffee pot.

Soon the familiar sights and sounds of rural Idaho greeted us again. Home at last, we found that not only had we missed Idaho’s spacious sky, we missed our long evening walks. And so we walked—every night, through the remainder of spring, wearing our layers of clothing wrapped snug around our yet-to-be acclimated bodies, into the pleasant warmth of summer. How we loved the lingering daylight. In Malaysia, the sky would darken around seven o’clock every night without fail and again in the morning about the same time the sky would turn bright again. We continued our walks on into fall, enjoying the changing scenery as the leaves turned vibrant shades of red, and finally the chill of winter came. Winter. It hit us how we had skipped winter the year before. How boring a season-less life must be over time, we thought.

When the sidewalks turned icy and the air temperature dropped, we simply put on more layers, for me that meant an old tried and true neck-warmer pulled up over my nose. The skies were brilliant that year with incredible star constellations, forcing us to pull out an old star book. And in fairness, most winters here have equally glorious skies, but our eyes were especially fine tuned that winter. We could not have picked a better winter to walk, for in January 1997, we were treated to an unexpected cosmic display that God himself must have sent just for us it seemed—Hale-Bopp’s Comet.

From January to spring 1997, this magnificent blue gas tail of light accompanied us on our walks. And towards the end of March, we were treated to yet another surprise—a lunar eclipse. We knew then that we would talk of this winter for years to come, because both occurrences would not grace our skies for some time—at least together. Hale-Bopp’s Comet is not expected to return until around year 4385! Lunar eclipses occur yearly, but the timing of these two events together was incredible. The comet was first observed independently in 1995 by U.S. astronomer Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp (amateur U.S. astronomer). The comet was visible to the naked eye for around 18 months and became known as the Great Comet of 1997. 

Hale-Bopp's Comet over Moscow, Idaho

 

Hale-Bopp’s Comet and the lunar eclipse inspired us that year, spawned conversations of going back to school if my book did not get published and of Vince’s desire to own his own airplane. We analyzed our lives over and over again, of decisions made and not make, of opportunities passed and those acted upon, and of the amazing gift we had never expected—living in Malaysia. We talked fondly of returning to the expatriate lifestyle, maybe somewhere else in Asia, especially when the wind chill dipped to temperatures unbearably low and blew through our coats. Although it was wonderful to be home with family and friends again, we dearly missed our life overseas, for from our perspective, it was the most exotic of gifts and one that rarely happens twice in a lifetime. We were also keenly aware of the timeliness of that gift. Worn out from raising our family, remodeling our home, working and going to school, and trying to make ends meet through it all, Vince and I had desperately needed a retreat. 

We continued to ponder the star-filled sky, walking every night, marveling at the wondrous display overhead, discussing our goals and dreams individually and as a couple. Perhaps returning to school was an option. Perhaps an airplane could be built instead of purchased . . . and on and on. And with each step we slowly felt our energy  revived, and with sharpened vision, a new sense of direction took root. For one, we were quite certain the adventure was far from over. 


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hale-Bopp
(photo): http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/images970312.html )

©Winter of the Stars, Sharon Himsl (orig, 01-28-02)

 

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing