mariners

We Are the Mariners

I had every intention of blogging while in Switzerland. Our ‘active schedule’, however, consumed any time I might have had for such an activity. Now that I am home, and reeling from the experience, I will begin plowing through my pictures, recordings and memories in an attempt try to convey, in some simple manner, the enormity of what happened during our ten days in Switzerland.
 
The Mariners

 
To be honest, I don’t really know where to begin. My feeling is that it would be easier to explain what the Alps are like to someone who has never before seen a mountain than to tell you our tale. Also, I am really not sure how much I want to tell you. No, I’ve got nothing to hide. Instead, I’ve so much to keep, and I fear that watering it down for you will dilute its richness in my own mind.

Part of the challenge, is that the seeds for this trip were sown not only in the weeks and months preceding it, but the decades. There is a very rich history between the Ancient Mariners of the United States and the Swiss Mariners that dates back to the early seventies. That history has been building and evolving, much the same way a healthy marriage unfolds. We learn from each other, we grow with each other, we argue with each other, we laugh with each other, we sing and play with each other, we cry with each other and we love each other. Consequently, our reunion culminated in a synergy that is really beyond my ability to verbally describe. Every story is enriched, in our minds and hearts, by the history and the duality that hangs on everything we do. We are not only travelers hoping to see some foreign attractions, we often are the attraction. We are not only old friends, we are also new friends. We are not only guests, we are at home. We are not only the Ancient or Swiss Mariners but, simply put, We are the Mariners.

The pictures and sound that I can offer you don’t really do any of it justice. But until you are on the mountain with me, they are all you can have.

youtube

The Mariners have been YouTubed

Just found this clip of The Mariners on YouTube. The footage came from the parade at the Deep River Ancient Muster in Connecticut a couple of weekends ago. The guy laying on the ground in the opening seconds of the clip is the mutinous shackled prisoner that gets dragged around, beat up and shot. It is a crazy bit of street theatrics that always wakes the audience up, especially when he makes his way into the crowd. Incidentally, I’m the short fifer on the leftish side of the line.
 


 
I’m hoping to have some YouTube footage from our upcoming Swiss show. I just need to figure out how to operate the video camera and play fife at the same time.