Sunday, September 04, 2005
Ocean
c.1290, from O.Fr. occean (12c.), from L. oceanus, from Gk. okeanos, the great river or sea surrounding the disk of the Earth.
While the Pacific Ocean lapping at the shores of the SF-Bay Area is this big benelovent being, the Mare Balticum, sighted at the Copenhagen harbour, black and unfathomable is a terrible beauty to behold. That some 1000 years ago people of that area ventured into this vastness with small, long, agile boats, to go and arrive in
Newfoundland is a stunning thought. To this day the wayfinding methods of these seafaring people are unkown to us. For nourishment I reckon they brought big barrels of beer, buttermilk, and lots of barley cakes on board, then some sheep and fishing gear.
Public Domain
I long for the ocean. I miss it physically and emotionally. Weird for someone grown up landlocked, but then again, ancestry-wise there was this line of Pomeranian merchant marines on my mothers's side, which may explain it somehow.