Archive | Dee’s Adventures

Carmel: Dr. Stuart Brown, continued

Stuart listened as each of us shared our thoughts and hopes of this time and the whole summer.  He shared the biological evidence, after extensive experimental work on rats, that play is indeed not something we learn or are conditioned, but truly a part of our DNA.  It is woven in our very genetic fiber.    At […]

Carmel: Dr. Stuart Brown

We met with Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute of Play and author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, which was an amazing time for us all.  What an amazing man, in touch fully with both masculine and feminine sides, authentic, genuine, funny, brilliant, a story teller, Stanford […]

Carmel: Getting Your Grove On

At a wonderful Greek restaurant, after the appetizers were served, the owner and the waiter and the chef came out with guitar and tambourine, and started playing. The atmosphere of the place shifted radically as everyone joined in clapping and cheering then they brought out two belts with bells and invited Kay and Nicki to play – and […]

Carmel: Curiosity

A sea otter The distance between the marine mammals and where we were allowed  to observe had one compromise; if the otter or seal wanted to check us out they could come as close as they wanted to.  Patti and I were talking when just 4 feet in front of us appeared this face – in […]

Carmel: Boundaries

There are several protective rules for sea kayaking and the water mammals.  For instance, there are very stiff fines if one gets too close to them or annoys them.  The indicator of this is how the otter or seal reacts.  The otter, typically floating on their backs, will sit up in the water with head looking […]

Carmel: Motherly Love

Otter love In the Otter world, older mothers are considered the best mothers.  The younger mothers are still learning and have difficulty protecting and providing for their young.  The older they are the higher the baby’s survival rate.  If an Otter is over 11 years old, there is almost 100% survival rate of the young. What […]

Carmel: The Power of Kelp

As we would sit quietly watching the otters play and eat and groom, we were aware our boats would drift with the tide.  Our guide, John, educated us to a natural braking mechanism: kelp.  By holding onto the kelp we could hold our position to keep our eyes open to see each angle of the […]

Carmel: Team Work

We all decided to paddle in tandem with the kayaks which involved a lot of communication, a great deal of trust, a lot of laughter, and an ability to work as a team. We were successful in doing all of these…well for the most part!! It was a time of bonding for us all. And […]

Carmel: Getting It Right

Patti and Dee ready for sea kayaking As we set off to sea kayak, they gave us brief instruction on kayaking, paddling, and keeping the boats upright.  After spending a great deal of time on the water, we felt confident in our ability to not tip the boat over.  As we approached the shore, we […]

Carmel: Otters – Seals – Sea lions

We were overwhelmed with seeing over 30 otters; our guide said it was otter heaven.  They were quite amazing.  They camouflaged themselves in the kelp so it’s easy to miss them unless they are eating or sleeping in a raft, with tails up in the air.  The seals were also playing and swimming around us […]