I’m amazed at the amount of traffic out on the ocean.

Sailboats, shrimpers, yachts, jet skis, kayaks. Having seen them all from this and other shores, I am most intrigued by the freighters that regularly pass by my beach. 

    Cargo ships off Delray Beach, Florida

In his book, Looking For A Ship, John McPhee “…provides the reader with stories and tales of modern seafaring life and the problems of making a living as a merchant mariner.” It is “…both an engrossing tale of the sea, with excellent detail and humanity, and a disturbing portrait of the merchant marine...” ~ RBI, Inc

It’s quite a different journey to read about freighters and the people who command them and to actually see the vessels out there on the horizon. It gives one a new appreciation of shoes and clothing and refrigerators and automobiles and just about any other consumer good which is made elsewhere and transported via the world’s seas. And while freight rides in tractor trailer sized containers, I can only imagine what it’s like for a person to travel aboard one of these cargo kings.

These really big ships are generally manned by a couple dozen crewmembers of various nationalities and, oddly enough, you can book passage on a freighter. Joseph P. Lenze, in a recent article for The Art Of Manliness, offers tips for travel by freighter based on his own 22 day adventure aboard the freighter, Punjab Senator, traveling from California to Singapore. Brief in comparison to McPhee’s version, it does provide interesting information for the curious who are hard pressed for time.

While Pug and I won’t be embarking on that kind of excursion anytime soon, we have recently completed a notable journey of our own.

Pug At The Beach, An island dog’s reflections on life, the book, is now available at the Claremont Center For Spiritual Living in Claremont, California. As stated on their website, the CCSL’s mission is to “provide a sanctuary of peace and to ignite the spiritual fire within everyone.” As a center for New Thought, it seemed like a perfect place for Pug.

Even though Pug has traveled the world and has readers as far away from his Florida beach home as Australia and Sweden, this marks Pug’s first adventure in California. We’re grateful to Pat Perkins who leads the good folks there at the CCSL for asking us to join them.

If you’re in that neck of the woods, make sure you stop in. You’re promised an insightful and enlightening time which may just take you to new and exciting places. The journey to one’s own heart and soul is just as exciting, if not more so, as travel on the world’s seas to far away lands.

I invite you to look inside today. Look into your heart and ask, “Am I living my life to the fullest?”

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Copyright 2009 Diana Taylor, Pug At The Beach
Photo credit: Diana Taylor

Pug At The Beach ~ where mindful living meets artful play through the adventures of a small island dog philosopher named Pug. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and in Delray Beach, Florida, USA