Thoughts Before Thanksgiving 2014

I am facing this years holiday season with mixed emotions.

This first holiday season without Lori will be very difficult 

I will be heading back to Maryland for a week and hopefully remember the good times there and enjoy time with Stephen and Victoria and see old friends and visit old haunts. Maryland is always very pretty in the fall.

I have bought a new house in Rockport. 

Nothing fancy, but on the water and Sara and her husband have kindly offered to move my things to the new house while I am in Maryland so when I come back the dogs and I will be in a new domicile. That should provide enormous emotional relief. Staying in this house is simply too sad.

Having Stephen and Victoria now living very close to me in Rockport is great and frankly the dogs have been a blessing. They depend on me to get up, feed them, entertain them, and they are great company on some of the long sad evenings I spend alone here in this house. We really do not treat dogs properly in this country or any other. They are amongst God's most special creatures.

Had a great visit with a large group of our Midwestern investors a week or so ago. With their help and trust we are proving you can build a true sustainable and productive business in America and produce something the world really needs - "healthy clean food", not just more celebrities and sports teams. 

I was amazed by the out pouring of support for myself, for Stephen, and for the project. 

There really are still great people with strong values and faith in the world. 

I just get so cynical I lose sight of that sometimes, but an event like the one ten days ago restores my conviction, that some people do care, and people can make a difference, despite the stupidity of governments and the dumbing down of the world via the lack of intelligent and reasoned reporting by the press. 

The shrimp were a big hit as well.

In any event, despite ongoing frustrations with less than optimum American suppliers and manufacturers things continue to progress at the site. For more up to date info you can go to the GBT web site at: globalbluetechnologies.com

I have such a great team running the operations, both in production and in construction, I really find myself virtually unemployed. 

Everyone on the GBT team is smarter, more innovative, more passionate, and frankly overall just better at virtually all aspects of the project than I am. That is actually a pretty fine place to find oneself in. 

And Rockport is a pretty special place as well. Decent caring people, with strong ethical and religious values. 

And finally as I wrote in a previous blog I have been finding great comfort in returning recently to reading the works by the great English Romantic Poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

There are so many insightful and brilliant quotes and indeed full poems by this largely forgotten genius that is saddens me to think how much more people's minds could be opened to old thoughts and ideas that now seem like new thoughts, if they would simply pick up one of his works and read it as opposed to watching another stupid sitcom on a week day night. 

Just read some of his quotes on animals, government, death, God, etc., and your mind will find new and fascinating pathways down which to wander.

So, in an effort to stimulate some small part of our brain that may crave true knowledge and reflection I offer this quote for the day.

"Government has no rights; it is a delegation from several individuals for the purpose of securing their own. It is therefore just, only so far as it exists by their consent, useful only so far as it operates to their well-being."

Think about that.

Thoughts of Autumn

It has been barely two months since Lori succumbed to triple negative breast cancer and the pain of loss is still acute.

November is the real herald of autumn in my world and this year seems especially sad as the evenings seem to come on quicker and the nights are longer.

I find myself remembering the tale of Persephone and Hades and how that Greek myth prepares the earth for the sadness of 6 months of winter ahead, but giving us hope, for as always, there is the promise "if  winter comes, spring cannot be far behind." 

(The quote is from a Percy Bysshe Shelley poem. Shelley also dies tragically and too soon being a month short of 30 years old when he drowned.)

That brings another Shelley quote to mind. "We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

In any case, this autumn seems exceptionally melancholy so I am determined to try and focus on ways to find a lighter feeling in my soul and some happiness in small things.

One thing I am very proud of and I know Lori would be proud as well, Stephen and Victoria, his fiancee, rescued a stray dog on the way home the other night after we had enjoyed dinner with a delegation of our Japanese partners in Corpus Christi.

He is definitely carrying on our family's tradition of saving animals and never passing by a creature in need without trying to help. 

Everyone at GBT had a great time during the visit from some of our Japanese partners this past weekend.

Jason prepared a fantastic smorgasbord of sushi treats for our guests using GBT shrimp fresh from the ponds.

Jason who spent some time in Okinawa while in the military is an excellent chef and well accomplished in Japanese cuisine. Not a bad accomplishment to have in one's skill set.

The Japanese delegation had a great time and were effusive in their praise for the taste and quality of our shrimp. And they were equally complimentary in their opinions of the GBT system and the GBT team.

All of us at GBT are delighted to have such enthusiastic partners and persons of such integrity as we work to expand our production capabilities globally.

Stephen and I are definitely going to Maryland for Thanksgiving. It is a time to see old friends and family and try to begin to heal. I miss my two cats and my horses and Lily, our African grey parrot. 

It will be good to spend time back in Maryland over the Thanksgiving holiday.

We are trying to decide on something fun and unique to do for Christmas. Something that would be a whole new experience for us over the Christmas season. 

Maryland where we live is very, very, pretty in the fall. 

And a change of location for a while as the seasons change, may be a change we need, at least for a little while.