I love animals, especially cats and dogs. But occasionally you cross paths with an animal who's needs directly oppose your own. Intact male cats have a biological need to spray everything in their path ... spray as in urine. He snuck into the house twice through the cat door and sprayed the entire house. I could barely breathe the stench was so incredible. So there he sits trapped in a raccoon cage awaiting transport to the nearest animal shelter. This is sad because he is a beautiful animal. But in his present state he is not adoptable. His days are numbered and he seems to know it. On the ride to the shelter he peed and pooped in the cage. He was really scared. I could feel it. But it was either him or me.

~Susanita ... who is getting back to her blog!

Smoking is Dangerous from Susanita on Vimeo

I was cleaning out my library on iPhoto getting ready for this year’s events and I came across this old clip from our kayaking trip to the Exumas. I haven’t been kayaking outside but Rob and I have been working on our eskimo rolls in the pool. A few weekends ago we had one of those rare warm February days and we did an organized bike ride with Potomac Pedalers. I even used the clipless pedals for the first time. And I only fell over twice. The first time I fell on the grass. The second time I fell on the pavement. Fortunately the only thing that was bruised was my ego.

~Susanita

Keeping a blog is almost like keeping a diary, except it's public. Lately I've received a few emails from blog readers to the effect "Where are you?" I'm here. Right where I've always been. But lately I've been totally focused on training for races in the outrigger canoe. Not exactly a blog worthy event. In fact outrigger canoe races aren't really blog rich. Basically we launch from the shore or the beach and we go out ... for several hours. Then we come back. Exciting right? Well we've had a few races this summer and I have a few photos from the before race and after race. But it's not like I can stop mid race and take photos. Although for the race in New York City that would have been pretty cool.

In a few weeks we'll have the BIG RACE that I've been training for all summer. We're going to Hawaii for the Queen Lili race. It's an 18 mile iron man race ... meaning no crew changes. It should be exciting. So we've been increasing the length and intensity of our workouts. Above is the speed graph from Sunday's workout. One of the spikes down is the huli drill. A huli drill is to practice tipping the canoe over and flipping it back up and getting back in. We're hoping not to huli during the race ... but it pays to be prepared.

Well off to work now and later another practice at the boathouse.

~Susanita

I don't usually blog about my personal life beyond the casual ... I went out to a party sort of thing. But I thought this was funny. I decided to try online dating. I was bored and every single person I know has been on those sites at one time or another. I tried it back in the 90's when I got back from Nicaragua ... when the internet was still young and the only people online were geeks and programmers. Hey .. that's me!

Trying to avoid all my fellow geeks and programmers I found this site called FitnessSingles.com. I had run into this site a few years ago and since it was geared towards active people I thought that would be a good place to start. So the hard thing is coming up with a unique profile. Everyone says the same thing. They love children, kind to animals, work hard, love to travel and haven't met that special someone. It all seemed so silly. So I came up with my own profile:

Surfski

I am an amazing person. I dance, I run, I bike, I weave, I sing, I row, I climb ... and sometimes all at once. I can blow bubbles out my ears. When I'm bored I build suspension bridges in my front yard. I am an excellent cook. I cook 30 minute brownies in 10 minutes. Children love me. Animals revere me. And the elderly salute me. I'm artistically inclined. I paint, draw, and build decorative sculptures out of paper clips. I'm a writer, a poet, and an anarchist. I'm also petite, cute and well fit. I have been caller number nine and a can of tomato soup on Let's Make a Deal. I once discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. In short, and I am short, I can read War and Peace, wallpaper the dining room, and fix a gourmet four course dinner for all of your friends on nothing but a table top hibachi in the time it takes you to read this ad. I am occasionally very silly, slightly irreverant and artistically comical. And I believe that one good laugh deserves another.

......

My life is almost perfect ... except I haven't met you!

-Susanita

Here are some of my favorite responses so far:

• "Hello I am new to DC. I am not some type of pervert."
• "You are cute as a button and can do many trades but can you make passionate love to keep the man of your dreams coming back just for you."
• "You're hawt, you're a hawty, UR cute, UR a cutiepie, U da man, U da WO-man, Im hawt(oops, thats mirror talk). I also make a mean set of blueberry/banana pancakes!!! Whats in your pantry and what should I pick up? "
• "Wanna chat?"
• "Do you wear a MOP-suit when you row on the Anacostia River?"
• "I have had it it with living by myself full-time. Please take a look at see what you think. I'm a research pathologist and can beat up Tarzan."
• "Hello Susanita I can see you have confidence issues. Well My name is Rich;how are you?"
• "Hi Susanita, I love your profile. Gee, and I thought I was the only one who '... can blow bubbles out my ears.' "
• "Hi! Well, now you have met me...so your life is perfect!"
• "Wow, What a coincidence! You said you were an amazing person. So am I!"
• "you sure are full of yourself arent you"
• "Stunningly well done. I thoroughly enjoyed every word of it. I have a hunch you're a foreign spy (occupation=gov't). Thus, I'll have to pass (not being presumptious). Hopefully quality men are beating a cyberpath to your profile. "
• "Hi, ( holla) I liked ur profile , Did u see the suspension bridge in Milo France , where i come from? Ciao Bernard"
• "I noticed you are in government and your house is for sale. We have government in Ky. Well;..sort of. They call it "gubmint" there. We just got rid of one very crooked governor and the jury is still out on the new one. "

It's so hard to choose.

-Susanita

This weekend Michael Bradley, who is a fellow kayak blogger stopped by for a visit to say hello and see the skin-on-frame kayak that Dave is building ... which I've been blogging about. He stopped by the house as I was clearing the dust from all the construction in my kitchen. I wanted to offer this kayak traveler a place to stay but I could barely offer him a place to sit. So after a brief tour of the house and the construction zone we went to the Savory Cafe for lunch. Michael wanted me to pick a place that best described who I am and I could think of nothing better than The Savory. The Savory is where I host my weekly bridge game. It's a cozy cafe with comfortable old sofas and an occasional band. A place where the locals come to eat or chat or just hang out.

Over lunch we shared stories about how we got into kayaking and why we started blogging. For me it was a way to post my trip reports for kayak outings and the occasional kayak race. When I started the blog I never knew there were so many other kayak bloggers out there. Derrick, at KayakQuixotica.com, probably has the most extensive list of kayak blogs in the blogosphere. From that list I found out about Michael and some other of my favorite blogs ... like Peter's Paddling Blog and Douglas in Scotland. The complete list is in the sidebar. I mention the last three because they each show three different styles. I love reading Peter's blog because he's a racer and he's so hopelessly ... male. Occasionally he posts a blog or photo that normally would make me cringe ... like the blog about the topless female rowers ... but I love it because it's part of who he is. And you have to love a guy that loves women and supports women in the sport of kayaking. I love reading Douglas' blog because he such an accomplished photographer and it inspires me to look for more novel shots when I'm photographing a trip.

I added Michael to my list of favorite blogs because, like so many others in the list, he lives far away. I paddle mostly in the Chesapeake Bay area with occasional trips down to the NC coast. I love seeing photos of kayaking in other locales. And it's a way to connect with other kayakers throughout the world.

But the blog is not just about kayaking. It's also about me. And I see the blog as a way for me to keep in touch with friends and family that I don't see that often. My sister-in-law, Mari, who is more like a sister than a relation by marriage, checks in frequently and occasionally sends me an email if she thinks my blog has revealed too much. Which brings up the issue that Michael and I discussed at lunch ... what do you blog about. A blog is really a personal web log or online journal. Do you blog about your deepest thoughts? Or should it be just about kayaking? To blog just about kayaking makes your blog a sort of online kayak magazine. Most of us read kayak blogs to read about .... kayaking. But the occasional glimpse into the lives of the author is enlightening and sometimes humorous, which is why I started including some of the videos of me and my friend Shannon rolling in the pool or photos from my kitchen renovation.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep the blog going. Michael had the same question for himself. I guess I'll keep blogging as long as it's fun. But when I start kayaking to blog instead of blogging about kayaking ... or when blogging becomes more like a job than a passion, that's when I'll stop.



After lunch we drove to Annapolis to see the kayak Dave is building for me. As I posted earlier it's kind of an experimental kayak. A skin-on-frame kayak that's designed to be fast. We're not sure how fast it will be or how easy it will be to roll since the deck had to be raised so high. But it's been an interesting exercise in kayak design. Michael, who has built a few SOF kayaks himself and has an interest in the greenland kayak design, was particularly interested in details of the kayak construction. Dave has been out of town on business so the frame hasn't changed much since my last post. He took out the electrical wire temporary ribs and has been soaking the real ribs in a bucket of water all week. To see photos from Michael's visit, click here.

This is a repost of an old photo Gina Cicotello took on our kayaking trip to Tangier. Gina took this with her Pentax Optio. It was basically this photograph and others she took on the trip that prompted me to buy a new camera. I like the features on the Optio but in the end I decided to buy the Olympus Stylus 720 SW. And I've been very pleased with it. But I still love this photo. I like it so much I added it to the header on the Links page.

I've added some new pages to the website. Most kayakers enter the website through the blog page because ... that's the link I've been posting. But I encourage you to occasionally check out the other pages. And also to tell me if something is not displaying correctly in your browser. The website was developed on a Mac with a high resolution browser. Sometimes older browsers do not display correctly. Or some people have had problems seeing the movies on the movie page. The movies require QuickTime which is a free movie browser from Apple. To download the latest version for Windows click here. On the Welcome page I have added plug-in photo viewer called Carousel from YourHead. This should work on all browsers without any additional software to download.

Thanks for stopping by,
Susanita

The other day Shannon and I were shopping for drytops at Springriver. And I was lamenting that the new kayak clothing colors are all muted and grey. Why don't they make kayak tops in fun colors like ... Purple? I have a purple kayak and purple pfd and I had joked about painting my house purple.

Shannon cast me a sly smile and said, "Have you seen the purple house in Takoma Park?"

Of course I had seen it. It's very large and very, very purple.

"Well, it's owned by The Purple People," she said. "They drive a Purple car. They wear Purple clothes. It's a religion ... based on the color purple. Since you like the color purple so much, maybe you should check it out. It could be your new religion. ... You could become one of The Purple People."

"Are you serious?" I ask. I think she's making fun of my obsession with purple. But I looked it up later ... on the internet ... and it's true. There is a religion based on the color purple.



According to the The Purple People Website, the color purple is a color of the highest spiritual vibratory rate. This is the color of the age of enlightenment, the age of Universal Consciousness, the age which the world is now embarking on.

I don't mean to make fun of their religion. Personal religious or sexual practices are just that ... personal. I just find it humorous that I've been a practicing Purple Person in my Purple Mirage with my Purple PFD and my Purple Bandana ... and I didn't even know it.

To all the Purple People out there ... may the Purple Force be with you!

-Susanita

The above photo was taken on Parramore Island by Marc Webster on a trip to the Virginia Barrier Islands with kayaktraining.com. Rick, who is one of their instructors, sent me this photo last week. He writes, "I find this photo almost surreal. The action you see brewing in the distance hit us while we were on the water paddling back to the put-in at Quinby - torrential rains, and then (I swear) hail! For about 20 minutes, we could see only about 40 yards in front of us ... All these islands (18 of them stretching from Chincoteague down to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) are owned by the Nature Conservancy. There is no one there and very little boat traffic. I've been down there about 6 or 7 times and continue to be stunned anew each time I go." They have another trip coming up in October. Definitely makes me want to sign up!

-Susanita