Similar things are happening in Pacifica, CA. Mother nature is still winning this one.
4 leaf clover
luckycharm4me@gmail.com
http://www.fourleafclovergoodluckcharms.com/4-leaf-clover/







January 19, 2010: The house in the movie Nights In Rodanthe is moving! The November 2009 storm (scroll down) that overwashed the ocean into my neighborhood, flooding it for months, was the deciding factor. Storm after storm, whether a summer thunderstorm, fall hurricane, winter or spring nor'easter, or simply average northeast wind, bombarded the house with waves and tide. Often, the ocean flowed right under and around the house to the one road leading on and off Hatteras Island, gushing like a waterfall, carrying sand. Time and time again the county and state pushed the sand back up to the beach, dug out the house, even protected it with sand bags when preparing for the filming of the movie. Finally, it is ruled in too dangerous a position. It is in the process of being moved a few hundred yards south along the beach, and set a bit further back. Named "Serendipity", the house is one of the first vacation rental homes built two decades ago on this northern part of the island in the old fishing village of Rodanthe.

 








December 31, 2009:  OCEAN Magazine Winter 2010!






   So many of you speak about the Song of the Ocean, a universal song.
   We heed its call, drawn to the ocean where we are soothed by the flowing tide,
   where we reflect and discover, are soothed and inspired.

   In this upcoming issue of OCEAN, we explore the Song of the Ocean
   and discover why it calls to us, how it calls to us, and why it resonates within us
   so powerfully.

   And thus, we learn the basic order of the universe, we learn how dolphins heal us,
   and we learn that there truly is a universal song of the ocean that sings the song
   that lures us. That is within us.
  



   Purchase Here









December 27, 2009: OCEAN VOICES ––Sound artist Halsey Burgund and marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols have joined forces to collect the voices of people around the world recounting their personal experiences with the ocean. Just as Jacques Cousteau increased ocean awareness among every day people around the globe, Ocean Voices endeavors to represent people and their stories collectively. The musical performance will be staged by Halsey and his band, aesthetic evidence, and will also include live-generated projected visuals which will be tightly woven into the music/voice fabric. Combined with music written by Halsey, these voices will soon become audio collages which listeners can create to suit their own preferences. Help them by sharing your voice and spreading the words of all participants around the globe.
 
Lend your voice! www.oceanvoices.org









December 23, 2009:








December 10: Dr. Richard Murphy, Director of Science and Education for Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society, reads OCEAN's story about his work with Ambassadors of the Environment (AOTE) in the Grand Cayman Islands, written by Donna Mann. Murphy, the author of Coral Reefs: Cities Under the Sea among other books and articles, is one of the world’s preeminent marine authorities.


In OCEAN's Fall 2009 issue he says, “Our goal at AOTE is to give people a completely different view of the relationship between themselves and the ocean. Mangroves are such a surprise. When you’re expecting a dismal swamp and you find a pristine ecosystem, people have a ‘Wow!’ experience. The mangroves teach so much about living successfully as a perfectly contained ecosystem. Trees, fish, birds, and all types of creatures live and thrive while nourishing the beach, coral, and marine life, which in turn circles back to the mangroves. If only mankind could live in such harmony. Our biggest challenge as a species is to figure out how to live sustainably and gently with our natural world. All of these processes are what keep our planet habitable, and we only have one planet. We must learn how to coexist with our relatives on earth.”







November 22: As soon as the storm named Atlantic Assault ended, I kayaked down the road to the beach to assess the erosion and photograph the changes in the dune. And to see my neighbor who experienced the ocean's power from her oceanfront home!








November 19: The morning the storm named Atlantic Assault began, Thursday, November 12, a fisherman found two kittens trapped in crabpots on his fishing dock. The water was rising quickly, the wind was blowing stronger and stronger, and the kittens were wailing. Wet, smelling of fish, and hissing for their life, he brought them to me. After cleaning and drying them off and feeding them milk, they cuddled together in my lap, purring. The girl is Ida, named for Hurricane Ida, which began this storm.

    Her brother is Oreo, named for his black and white coloring.   
                                                                                             I can't keep them.
Jana, I wish you could take them too! They are so sweet and adorable, and good little kitties!
Diane







November 17: The Atlantic Assault that began five days ago leveled the beach in my neighborhood. To the left is the view from the beach to the dune and marsh now. To the right is the view the week previous, and closer.

      

And where there once was a large dune and sand fence, now there is sand.

       







November 16: After the storm subsided, I kayaked through the floodwater to the end of the road and walked over sand piled many feet high where three days earlier I walked on pavement onto the back of the dune surrounded by lush vegetation - grasses, sea amaranthe, and sea oats swaying in the ocean's breezes. Now, there is sand. Hard packed.



I walked out onto the beach and see the ocean looks much calmer, and is, yet the storm's might remains deceptively powerful. As I turned to look north, I witnessed a terrible human tragedy by the sandbags holding the pool in place. Why, why must we put pools and sandbags on the beach? If these had not been there, there would have been no tragedy. If these had not been there, the overwash and erosion would not have been nearly as immense.



it is just as those who come to the mountains here and level and landscape their yards and then bring in things that do not belong - *shaking head*
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://www.tendergraces.blogspot.com









November 15: Surrounded by ocean water and watching the ocean crashing and running down the back of the leveled dunes and into the marsh and filling up the land all around us all day long, the sun set with a brief respite from the northeast winds that bring the ocean onto us during the second day of the storm named Atlantic Assault. I had been preparing for two hours, taking my most important things to higher ground. The high tide came with the sunset and with that, I thought my home would be flooded, possibly even collapse. The northwest wind blew back the waves enough to stave it off. As soon as the sun set, the wind turned back to northeast, and the tide began to ebb.








November 14: Atlantic Assault is what The Weather Channel is calling it. If it weren't so powerful and in our yards, it would be purely magnificent. Each house in the neighborhood is an island. We watch each tide and listen for the wind direction and speed. Two days ago the froth came over the dune into the marsh with the evening's high tide. We thought the worst was over.


But with the next high tide at dawn yesterday morning, tremendous waves barreled over the dune, flattening it and pulling the beach sand into the marsh, then rushed into our yards, higher and higher, rapidly. We continue to watch each high tide, hoping the ocean recedes, the waves calm.







November 10: The morning was beautiful. A heavy dew soaked the marsh and dune, a blanket of misty clouds hung over the ocean, the day's warm air mixing with the cooler ocean water. The sun made its way up through the sky, its rays reaching out.


The gentle wind barely waved across the water. The smooth waves are sent by Ida. Hurricane Ida who passed through the gulf as a storm and whose remnants are due here soon. The ocean carries her faster than the air.








November 2: I was so absorbed with the falling raindrops splashing into the puddle that I didn't realize behind me, the ocean had begun to overwash the dune and was fast approaching.


We've had so much rain here on the east coast since June that everything is saturated. The northeast wind that brings the rain also stirs up the ocean and causes it to overwash, thus tearing at the dune that protects private property. In the days when no homes were built by the beach, the overwash replenished the dune and the land behind it, and washed back out to the beach, carrying the sand back and forth, redistributing and nourishing.


Truly beautiful picture, very peaceful!

~Christine Brooks
www.fourleafclover.us







October 31: You'll find me with the crashing waves and waxing moon at twillight . . .








October 22: It seems so quiet here. Jonathan has left. The last that I saw him before he migrated for the winter, he was one of a few laughing gulls left on the beach. I swam along the shore, the ocean calm and shallow. A few feet away a seagull watched me intensely, with that special look in his eye. "Jonathan, is that you?" He tilted his head one way, the other, stretching it in different directions. Then characteristically chased the birds standing nearby, claiming his territory. "Jonathan!" I swam along, parallel to the beach and Jonathan walked right alongside, for about 100 yards. Every few strokes I looked at him, "Hi Jon!" He seemed just as thrilled as I. (Read his story in OCEAN's Fall 2009 issue.)








October 10, 2009: Swimming with dolphins! More and more people are swimming with dolphins. Dolphins heal people with their sonar. They heal people emotionally, mentally, and physically. They can even free cancer victims of tumors. How do dolphins heal with sonar? OCEAN Magazine's Fall 2009 issue explains how. You'll only read this in OCEAN. It's fascinating and inspiring.



Dolphins are amazing animals for sure! Wow! Thank you for the wonderful information, as always . . . terrific!

Peace,
Christine Brooks
www.fourleafclover.us
writing, a different wave of life....

Chris, more is coming in OCEAN Winter 2010 about dolphin healing along with dolphin and whale sonar and the song of the ocean!
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to your new book - postcards from the road.
Diane

Thanks Diane . . . can't wait to see the new issue! postcards from the road is done and on its way to you as we speak! It was a wonderful adventure and exploration of self writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it as much I enjoyed writing it!
Christine Brooks
www.fourleafclover.us







October 4: A MONTH ON A BARRIER ISLAND is a journal of poems and photographs reflecting upon the progression of life and time from one day to another upon the shifting sands, changing winds and tides. Here life and time are different. Their pace and flavor are created by the winds and tides. The book's author, Steven Lewis, has visited Rodanthe on Hatteras Island along the North Carolina Outer Banks for decades, just a short walk down the beach from OCEAN's Rodanthe office. The book's photographer, Tom Nolan, contributed his photographs of Rodanthe to A MONTH ON A BARRIER ISLAND, creating a stunning collaboration. With them, you soak in the salt and feel the grit of the sand, basking in the island's sweet ruggedness.

Coming from the mountains of New York State, Steven and his family spend a month on the island at the water's edge every summer. Several times a year, his writer's group spends a week at a time under his stewardship writing intensely and experiencing island life. From this, Millrock Writers Collective, a publishing cooperative, "is located in New York's Hudson Valley and publishes quality poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. The Collective provides an organized means, outside traditional publishing routes, for its writers to gain substantive input into the editing and publishing processes."



As a fellow lover of Cape Hatteras, I can't wait to get my copy! Ah, if only I were drinking in that ocean air right now . . .
Stephanie Padovani
benedets@hvc.rr.com
www.besthudsonvalleyweddingever.com







August 28: Go ahead - get wet!



Oh, our wild wild ocean, oh ferocious beauty! I am so glad you are here to show us what we cannot always see - thank you Diane and OCEAN magazine!
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://www.kathrynmagendie.com


Kat, I hope you come to the beach soon and soak in the salty beauty! Meanwhile, your Nerissa swims on (OCEAN Fall 2008) and Nerissa's Lover bemoans (OCEAN Fall 2009).
Diane






I absolutely LOVE all the wonderful photos!! Thanks so much for sharing to us landlocked folks! =)
Christine Brooks
chris@fourleafclover.us
www.fourleafclover.us


I hope to bring the ocean to you!
Diane






August 23: Hurricane Bill left behind big waves! Surfers were everywhere in the tiny town of Rodanthe on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, well-known and celebrated for its waves by surfers all over the U.S. The front that arrived with rain just in time from across the country pushed all of Hurricane Bill off these shores except its powerful waves. And surfers came from all over the country for the epic surf.





There is nothing more dangerous or beautiful than an angry ocean! Beautiful picture!
LEILANI
leilanitresise@yahoo.com
http://naialani.blogspot.com

Leilani, thanks! I'd like to know more about your swimming with dolphins.
Diane







August 22: Hurricane Bill passed by Rodanthe on Hatteras Island at nearly high tide this morning. The hurricane was far enough out at sea to visit only with waves.








August 21: Surf's UP! Hurricane Bill is out in the Atlantic, a powerful category 2 hurricane, headed toward the U.S. east coast by tomorrow. His waves came ahead of him, starting yesterday mid-day, and are expected to grow and grow, overwashing the dune. I got in the surf only to be tumbled, over and over, coming up giggling. The surfers are here and more are coming. I'll keep you posted!








August 14: The Song of the Ocean and whale songs fascinate me. They are pulsing in me with the slightest rhythm . . . They are one and the same, and sing the song of the universe. If we listen, we can hear. To listen we must be quiet. To hear, we must be still. And open. 

I will be quiet and with that, still. I will also research and talk with people. If you can lend your knowledge, your listening, please do! OCEAN's Winter 2010 issue will feature stories about these.

Meanwhile, OCEAN's Fall issue has just been completed and is at print - featuring The Call of the Dolphins, Dolphin Healing, and the Mangrove Forests of Grand Cayman.







July 26: Jonathan Livingston Seagull lives! He knows where I am most of the day. Sometimes he swoops and swirls overhead, calling out as I walk over the dune to the beach. When I swim he watches me, his eyes steady, from the sand. Amongst a crowd of seagulls, I'll peer, "Is that you Jonathan?" He rises, and chases the others off. He sits with me afternoons near my deck as I research, edit, write. Sometimes, he escorts me down the road, circling, claiming his territory. One morning heavy with mist, he stayed with me as I sat on the sand photographing the rising sun. His story of friendship with myself and my neighbor is in the making for OCEAN's Fall 2009 issue!








July 5: After the 4th of July, a day that the fireworks truck exploded by the ferry, a day of many near drownings, and drownings, a day that sparkled with happiness, deceptive of the pain to come, a welcome quiet has fallen.








June 26: Anew star has appeared in the sky. That star was among us, a brilliant light here upon earth, and touched many, many of us since the 1960s. I grew up singing along with the Jackson 5, "A-B-C, easy as 1-2-3, do re mi, baby you and me". With all of my college age energy, I danced in Los Angeles to his music as it burst into the world. Later, as a dance instructor, my students learned to dance with Michael's music. His music and dance and humanitarian deeds created much joy and a spontaneous outpouring of love throughout this world during the life of this magnanimous yet sensitive, even fragile, man.  Michael Jackson now sings with the forever song of the universe. His light still dances among us, a true, lasting gift.

June 19: The sun stands still this weekend for a few days, halting its gradual rising point from the north. It has reached its furthest northern point and will begin to shift south along the earth's horizon after the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, on June 21. The ancients celebrated this time as a time for hope and inspiration. We too, can stand still and reflect.



Summer Solstice! First day of summer, YAY!
Kat Magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://www.kathrynmagendie.com







June 14: One week from today will be the Summer Solstice when the day is longest. Now when the sun is rising almost as early as it ever does all year, I am rising with it some mornings. Before dawn this morning I awoke to mist. Mist everywhere. I sat on the beach close to the water's edge, alone except for Jonathan, my seagull friend. Other seagulls came and went. One man walked past and disappeared into the fog. A woman appeared, shouting intermittently into the air. Was she crazy, was her dog lost? She stopped right in front of me, cell phone to her ear, then shouted into the air, the same word. Moving on, she too, disappeared into the mist, along with her voice. As the sun rose higher, the mist thickened until the sun's heat burned off the mist. Each sunrise, its very own in color, wind, warmth, and surf, is like a dawning of poetry.








June 6: On this morning 65 years ago the boys of the United States, France, Great Britain, and Canada waded to a misted shore. My father was one of them.


There, they fought madness, they fought for their lives, they fought for one another, and for their mothers and fathers and sisters. They fought for us. Some gave their lives, others lived to bear the burden of the terror, of horror, of death, and of victory against all odds. Those boys were men of courage, conviction, self-sacrifice, and valor, of the greatest strength in the face of evil. They became heroes, our heroes, heroes forever. On this D-Day, thank you.






June 3: With days nearing their longest of the year, morning comes early and night comes late. The sun awakens me, and the waves beckon to me. Sunrise is a daily miracle. Quiet time on the beach filled, saturated by the changing colors, crashing surf, and busy birds collecting their breakfast is a beauty and a peace that stays with each day. Some moments are glorious, some are serene.

The sun is low early in today's sunrise:





And the sun has climbed higher above our horizon:








May 25: A great writer, perhaps a Great American Writer, Tom Sheehan is also a great OCEAN writer. He writes with his generous heart, from his vast memory, and tells American stories from his lifelong home where the Saugus River winds its way to meet the Atlantic Ocean along the Massachusetts coast. From the depths of his experience, we walk through his life, meet many who touch his, then our lives, and carry on the great American traditions of hard work, playing ball, of sharing with family and friends, of living life to the fullest every moment. His six year old grandson recently tapped his chest with his small fist, and said, "It's in our soul." With Tom, we pay homage to all the moments in life, big and small, and realize their ongoing value. On this Memorial Day weekend, he carries out a great American tradition of remembering those he knew and didn't know who served with him for America's freedom, for the world's freedom, his lost comrades who gave their lives for us. He is a Great American who reminds us, by his deeds, to be great Americans.


You can read his writing in every issue of OCEAN beginning with OCEAN Fall 2007, Issue 16.

You can purchase his books here: http://www.new-works.org/9_4sheehan/sheehan_bio.htm

Diane,
I have to agree with you on your post concerning Tom Sheehan. I have had the pleasure of knowing Tom for close to two years now and I can assure you he is the genuine article. He's a true American who, through his writing, does not let us forget the sacrifices made by those who gave so much for this country.
Thank you Tom.
Scott
scott@ropeandwire.com
http://www.ropeandwire.com

I discovered Tom Sheehan while reviewing for MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW. His writing is a blessing. I consider Sheehan to be a literary icon of the highest caliber. Any praise I might give is inadequate compared to Sheehan and his work.
Laurel Johnson
laureljohns@gmail.com





May 2, 2009:Kathryn’s prose is poignant, tangy, sweet, loving, wanting, needing and so satisfying!

That's what I say about Kathryn Magendie's writing in TENDER GRACES. (http://www.kathrynmagendie.com)

"Kathryn Magendie has a magical way with words. They bubble out unchecked onto the page to cascade over readers like a cool mountain waterfall. But those words in TENDER GRACES don't just flow prettily; there are scenes and chapters so poignant or devastating, readers will be swept away and left wanting for oxygen. Besides the absorbing plot and characters, Magendie's unique fresh voice and lyrical turns of phrase are gifts she gives to readers, and which last long after the last page is read. Powerful stuff for a debut novel."  ~ Angie Ledbetter, Author of SEEDS OF FAITH (http://angie-ledbetter.blogspot.com)


Read an excerpt and let us know what you say about Kathryn's TENDER GRACES! (click on the title to read an excerpt)





April 26, 2009: Like Silk Thunderby Diane Buccheri







April 21: OCEAN is named OCEAN because the earth has one ocean. The seven oceans of the world are different areas of the one ocean that covers 70% of earth's surface. Earth is, in fact, an ocean planet, a planet of water. All life on earth depends upon water for life. And the ocean dominates earth's conditions and existence. The ocean water evaporates into the air, our atmosphere, and falls back to earth as rainwater. Wind generated over the ocean brings rain and minerals to land and determines where plants and animals thrive and where we live. The patterns of plant and animal distribution determine our agricultural growth, which all people are dependent upon.

We are all island dwellers. Most of us live on big islands, some on small ones. The earth's continents are floating islands in the world's ocean. That's one reason why OCEAN Magazine's motto is to "celebrate and protect".








April 8: Once you are touched by someone or something, you are touched forever in the never ending circle of existence . . .







April 1:Naturalistic, not Materialistic. Yesterday, Edna Gordon, Seneca Hen-Hawk Elder of the Haudenoshaunee Iroquois Six Nations Confederacy said "Naturalistic, not Materialistic." And I agree. What this world needs now is naturalism, not materialism. We've gone the way of the dollar, and that, unfortunately, so often leads down the road of things, stuff, more and more –– all the way to greed. And that never leads to happiness and wellness. Grandma Edna, an 88 year old Native American who is a writer and speaker, says, "Walk the earth." Indeed, walk the earth, look and see, feel and truly perceive, hear with open ears, smell like an animal, taste real food, fresh food. And then, we will be healthy. We will learn. We will know truth and strength, the Real. We will love. And we will be whole, not broken.

I'm not against capitalism. America the Great was born and made from brave men and women who took chances, pioneered new thoughts, and independently produced and sold goods to support themselves, their families, and their employees and their families. Money is good, when used for the better good.

America once was a land where mankind walked the earth and lived among the spirit of the living waters. Having gained the knowledge from her ancestors, Edna knows the walk. "There is freedom at the water's edge . . . In the Creator's realm of Nature's scenic splendor, the Living Waters now in rhythm with the Earth-Mother, embracing the Mountains, the Valley, the Deserts and the Forest, the Winds and the Waters of Life . . ."

Let's walk again.









"The Elusive Photo" by Nancy Dickeman touched me so deeply –– Diane –– it was a beautiful piece and I was SO proud to have my photo with it –– that piece near brought me to tears –– I read it in that waiting room, hung on every word –– beautiful, beautiful.
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://www.kathrynmagendie.com


Thanks Kat!
Kat is referring to a story in OCEAN Magazine Volume 6, Issue 21


Thank you, Kat, for your very lovely comments. I am deeply honored, and likewise, proud for my piece to be placed with your gorgeous photo!
Nancy
Nancy Dickeman
n.dickeman@comcast.net







March 20:A sign of Spring! The sun rose through the early morning air, already warm. Spray and evaporation from the cold wintry ocean mixed with the warm air, creating a thick cloud of condensation between the two. As the sun rose higher, its rays spreading warmth, the mist spread over the dune and marsh from the beach. Its sight brings promise of spring. And indeed, spring arrived with the Vernal Equinox at precisely this time, 7:44 A.M.

At the Vernal, or Spring, Equinox the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly to the west. After today, it will gradually set more to the north through the Summer Solstice then trace back to the west until the Fall or Autumnal Equinox, and then to the south until the Winter Solstice, after which it will head west once again. An equinox is a time of balance. Equinox is from the Latin aequinoctium, from aequi meaning equal and nox or noct meaning night. Night is of equal time to day now when the sun is crossing the celestial equator. Long ago, the new year was celebrated on the Spring or Vernal Equinox when winter turned to spring, a time of new growth and hope.







March 13:THE JOY OF LEX! Black Labs are terrific dogs. One black lab is a really terrific dog. Trained by Canine Companions for Independence, Lex brings great joy to  poet John Thomas Clark. whose poetry graces many OCEAN Magazine's issues. John's story of his service dog, Lex, will make you smile, make you laugh, and make you love Lex. John's poetry is illustrated with handsome photographs of Lex. And I designed the book and website! (www.BlackLabBooks.com)







 
Diane,
The photos on this blog and on the Ocean Magazine site are STUNNING!
You've created quite a resource here!
Peace & Blessings,
Rebekah aka "The Conscious Cow"
Rebekah Fraser
rebekah.fraser@gmail.com
www.conscious-cow.org

Rebekah, thanks! A resource for . . . .?
Diane






March 10: No one is talking about Hydrogen Energy. Therefore, I feel compelled to talk about Hydrogen Energy. It is the solution to satisfying our energy needs without damaging the environment. In fact, hydrogen energy can reverse the damage we have caused the environment without depleting any resources. Hydrogen energy's only waste product is 100% pure water –– something this earth, and we, desperately need.


HYDROGEN ENERGY (1st published in OCEAN, Volume 6, Issue 21):

FOR AS LONG AS THE SUN SHINES

It rocketed America’s 1969 astronauts to the moon.

Stars are primarily made of it.

The sun consumes 600 million tons of it every second.

It’s so light it floats out of our atmosphere yet it’s the most abundant element in the earth’s crust.

It’s the simplest element we know of with one proton orbiting around one electron in each atom.

The sun is a ball of hydrogen and helium gases. In its core, hydrogen atoms fuse, forming helium gas that radiates energy into space, glowing out from its center. The sun’s radiant energy sustains life on earth, providing light and warmth, causing plants to grow through photosynthesis, causing the wind to blow and rain to fall.

This lightest, most flammable, non-toxic gas on earth can be utilized to fulfill all of our energy needs, cleanly, with no harmful waste, producing only water as its byproduct.

Fourteen times lighter than air, uncontained hydrogen gas rises and disperses, harmlessly. Uncombusted, in its pure form (H) on earth, hydrogen is compounded with other chemical elements and makes up 90% of all earthly matter, including all organic matter. Combined with oxygen, it creates water –– H2O, essential to all life as we know it. Combined in various amounts with carbon, it forms different compounds such as methane (CH4), coal, and petroleum. Since it is within all growing things –– biomass –– most of the energy sources we use today are produced by hydrogen.

Existing as a contained gas at normal temperature and pressure here on earth, in weight it has the highest energy potential of any fuel, and the lowest energy potential by volume. Obtained from a variety of sources –– water, biomass, fossil fuels –– hydrogen can be compressed and safely stored and transported in large quantities, converted to energy when needed, and a little goes a long way.

To produce energy for our use, compounded hydrogen must be separated from other elements. Currently, hydrogen atoms are separated from carbon atoms in methane, a natural gas, by steam reforming, a catalystic process causing a reaction between the natural gas and other light hydrocarbons and steam, producing hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water. About 1.5 million tons of the 9 million tons of hydrogen annually produced in the United States are sold to refineries, chemical, and food processing plants. Ninety-five percent of this hydrogen is produced from natural gas through steam reforming. Its energy, when used, results in toxic emissions.

Merchant hydrogen is also produced by coal gasification, mostly to produce ammonia for fertilizer. Under high pressures and temperatures, reacting coal with oxygen and steam forms a synthesis gas mostly consisting of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The synthesis gas is cleaned of all impurities, and the clean gas undergoes a separation system to produce additional hydrogen.

Electrolysis, another method of separating hydrogen, splits hydrogen from oxygen in water, with no resulting emissions. Since all three methods of producing hydrogen are prohibitively costly, cheaper new technologies are being studied and developed.

Hydrogen fuel cells, or batteries, produce electricity very efficiently, but also with considerable cost. Small fuel cells power cars, larger ones provide larger scale electricity without power lines, and portable hydrogen fuel cells provide electricity to devices such as cell phones, laptop computers, and military applications.

Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles convert hydrogen gas or liquid stored on-board into electricity. Their hydrogen burning engines combust hydrocarbons, thus cleaning the air while burning. Vehicles that directly burn hydrogen produce no pollution. When burned, hydrogen produces water. Pure hydrogen burned with pure oxygen produces pure water.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has fueled its space program with hydrogen since the 1940s. Liquid hydrogen lifts the space shuttle, hydrogen fuel cells run the shuttle’s electrical systems. The crew uses its only byproduct –– pure water –– as drinking water. For space station oxygen supplies, water is split into oxygen and hydrogen. NASA plans to recombine hydrogen with exhaled carbon dioxide to renew water supplies in the future, thus, generating and recycling hydrogen will decrease the supply demand from earth and increase the space station’s independence for its most cost effective remote missions.

Running all vehicles with hydrogen, as has been studied, can improve air quality, our health, and our climate significantly by eliminating our toxic gasoline and diesel vehicle exhaust. Running all engines with hydrogen would not affect tropospheric water vapor concentrations and would reverse tropospheric global warming and stratospheric cooling, reduce the amount of aerosol particle emissions reaching the stratosphere, decrease the loss of ozone, and speed the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer.

Hydrogen fueled vehicles are beginning to enter our roads. Our existing gasoline and diesel refueling stations can be easily adapted for hydrogen refueling. Vehicles can be easily made to run on gas or hydrogen, with both fueling options available when needed, until total conversion is accomplished. Offering an alternative to refueling stations, refrigerator-sized hydrogen generators stored in garages can refill cars, trucks, and buses while parked, overnight for example. Our current production, storage, transportation, and dispensing energy practices can easily be converted for hydrogen. Safer than gasoline and diesel, hydrogen energy can become economically competitive with technical improvements to its implementation now being developed.

Produced at large, central facilities or small, local plants, hydrogen can supply energy in every area of the world, with hydrogen-containing resources readily available in every area of the world.

Hydrogen can supply all of our energy needs –– transportation, heating our buildings, cooking our foods, powering our appliances and  machines and communications tools –– cleanly, safely, and economically, without being depleted.

With our encouragement and efforts, renewed health and hope are on our horizon.





February 25: This winter more than any other I've been finding sea glass on the beach during my daily walks. I enjoy each find, wondering where it came from. One winter a few years ago, I found coins nearly every day –– pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters. Some days I found several, adding up to more than one dollar. By winter's end, I'd found nearly $30.00. Isn't it ironic, that this year, during an economic crisis, I am not finding coins . . .


Perhaps I will have jewelry made from some pieces. OCEAN Magazine's Spring 2009 issue features sea glass –– its origins, how it is crafted by the ocean, and how to recognize the best pieces –– and sea glass jewelry by Danielle Renée, a terrific artisan (appearing April 1). A Massachusetts native, she has combed the beach since childhood, and makes jewelry with her finds, wrapping each piece by hand with her signature wave. They are beautiful and very popular!


Those are gorgeous! oh!
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://www.kathrynmagendie.com

wow!
Janelle
janelledsegarra@aol.com

Thanks for this site. It is very usefull
Daniel
http://bestimagesandphotos.blogspot.com

Daniel, thank you! I will look through your photos.
Diane






February 20:Big surf! After a rainy day with heavy easterly winds followed by a night of severe wind and wild thunder and lightning, we awoke to a warmer winter day with big waves blown back by westerly wind. It was a Surfer's Paradise. Warmer temps would have made it ideal but nonetheless, it was a real treat.

The northern area of Cape Hatteras National Seashore takes a turn at Oregon Inlet to the west from the coast just north of it. Easterly winds push the ocean toward shore. Waves hit the beach further east sooner than the beach further west. Momentum builds as those waves travel in the Atlantic Ocean south and west, both redirected and directly flowing, crashing bigger and further onto shore. Interrupted by an outside and inside sandbar running parallel to shore, the smooth flow is impacted. The waves crest, crash and run. Surfers  from all over flock to this shore, as well as photographers. On a good day, wetsuit or bathing suit clad surfers with board under arm and leashed ankles, smile big smiles as I pass them at the water's edge. Windsurfers and kitesurfers ride the wind and waves. Lately, paddle surfers have joined them.







February 14:"When the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets, and love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius . . . Harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust abounding, no more falsehoods or derisions, golden living dreams of visions, mystic crystal revelation, and the mind's true liberation . . . "(HAIR, The Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In)







February 11: First she is on the surface, then you swim with her under water. Google Earth tracks Adelita's swim from Santa Rosalita, BCS, Mexico to Isohama, Japan. Wallace "J." Nichols, a marine scientist and frequent OCEAN contributor, first tracked the loggerhead turtle's swim across the Pacific Ocean during 1996 and 1997. His tracking of Adelita's migration was the first tracking of an animal swimming across an entire ocean . . . a paradigm shifting event. Google Earth 5.0 gives us an eye view of her entire swim –– fast!





February 3:
My girlfriend and I are very much in love with the ocean and I was looking around and noticed your OCEAN Mag online. Would you be interested in posting a pic of us for your mag? Great lookin' mag tho!



















COMMENTS:

Brrr, but it is beautiful wrapped in cold.
Angie
angiedled@aol.com
http://angie-ledbetter.blogspot.com/

A pristine type of beauty though raw and rugged.
Diane







January 17, 2009:I came across this seal while walking on the beach. It wasn't visibly obvious from a distance since its coloring blends into the sand well. As I got closer and closer, I prepared myself for it to move but it only stretched its neck and back flippers a bit and seemed quite relaxed in my close company. He, or she, watched me, and even yawned. Seals come ashore during winter, exhausted. They sleep and warm themselves in the sun until rested, warmed, and regenerated. This one had a sore left eye and seems to have soreness or injury under that eye.

                               


















COMMENTS:

Look at them! *smiling* Just stopping by to see what's going on in your world!
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://tendergraces.blogspot.com

Kat's got a book coming out soon! TENDER GRACES- it's touching, intriguing, full of the real human story. It will leave you gaping.
Diane

*smiling* thank you, Diane... for all you do....and who you are.
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://tendergraces.blogspot.com

Kat, you do a lot for me and for OCEAN! Now, tell us about the books coming after TENDER GRACES.
Diane

It is YOU who have done a lot for me - I feel so honored to have been included in OCEAN - and in fact, I was thinking last night of what I can write next or what photo I can hunt up!

TENDER GRACES will be at least a Trilogy - so, the 2nd book continues Virginia Kate's story . . . the third book will take two characters in VK's life - her bio mother and her stepmother and tell their stories up until a particular moment in VK's life. I may have a fourth VK, not sure!

Thank you for your interest and support, Diane *smiling*
kat magendie
kmtrain@hotmail.com
http://tendergraces.blogspot.com

Wow - 3, maybe 4 books. You'd better get writing, lucky you. And yes, dig up a photo or write something for OCEAN when you have a chance!
Diane







December 20, 2008: The eve of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, when the sun stands still upon our horizon, having come full circle, completing its 2008 cycle. Soon, its movement forward begins anew, and our new year begins. For now, we too, pause and celebrate our blessings, and share joy with all those in our lives.
 

COMMENTS: