Santina and I attended a talk and slide show last night at the library. The speaker, Sy Montgomery, studys the 500 tigers that live on a preserve along the Bay of Bengal. Since they have no roads there the local people travel by water and the tigers consume an average of 300 of them a year; mostly the hungry tigers swim out into the Bay of Bengal and silently snatch unsuspecting passersby. As a result I'm sure they go through a lot of the guys who man the boats.

On days like today when everything I do goes wrong, braving the tigers doesn't seem such a bad option. If you also have days like this, and if you could come up with a paddle, we could maybe both explore this further.

Ferdinand Magellan was famous for circumnavigating the globe. He didn't actually do that, but that's what he's famous for. Eighteen of the 259 men who set off to sea with him did manage to survive the 3 year voyage from Spain to Spain; a journey during which they generally abused and mistreated the people they met along the way. Magellan himself went evangelical in the Philippines and was hacked to pieces for his zeal.

That was nearly 500 years ago and maybe things have changed, but I've always thought it prudent to follow local customs when far from home.

I have often wished I could be braver than I am; wished that I could take big chances, risk everything.

Paul Woetzel came to my house in the woods in the mid 70's to corral a swarm of bees. He came armed with nothing more than a corncob pipe. And when he'd finished the work he calmly walked into the woods and dealt with the errant bees that had crawled up his pant legs. It was, I thought, the height of bravery. John Wayne without the swagger.

Fact is, this is as brave as anyone should aspire to be. Even just a little bit braver (no matches for the pipe, or a disconcern for errant bees) would qualify as stupid.