<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Random Mutterings]]></title><description><![CDATA[Ballad of Berme Road]]></description><link>https://www.bermeroadballads.com/home</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:10:28 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[Instructions for the Water Sampling Ritual]]></title><description><![CDATA[In the vast cathedral of the valley: Green hills, blue sky, Sun pouring down like honeyed rain First: to remember the spot, To find it on the map and, wearing boots, Checking the pocket watch, clutching the vials- Labelled precisely, rattling hollow in the back seat- Walk to the bank, avoiding the brambles, The stumbles. the gleaming poison ivy leaves Reaching like innocent hands to stroke my knees. Wade into the swift stream, slowly, not to slip. Avoid stagnant pools. Then, the ritual...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/instructions-for-the-water-sampling-ritual</link><guid isPermaLink="false">67ed6dfc9fed29845b3f8260</guid><pubDate>Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:04:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_584c308fb2cb44469c769929e00c5d7c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_949,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Three Legged Deer]]></title><description><![CDATA[The three legged deer was sleeping in the backyard last night, huddled against the south wall of the house on a patch of bare ground near...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/the-three-legged-deer</link><guid isPermaLink="false">67acc99cc738e2bc2b39df44</guid><pubDate>Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:20:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_af97fe688fb94f5f90af9b6e808b02a2~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_722,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[My First Month on Clearwater: Pumpkin Sail 1978]]></title><description><![CDATA[By way of introduction,  here’s an interview, excerpted and edited, from the book “Chopping Wood” by David Bernz. I was a part of a...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/my-first-month-on-clearwater-pumpkin-sail-1978</link><guid isPermaLink="false">674b534d15c769c5f5608060</guid><pubDate>Sat, 30 Nov 2024 18:11:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_9b66272abdbe409ea15dc39b9cfceb02~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_540,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER ELEVEN Downeast : Saugerties to New Brunswick, Summer 1984]]></title><description><![CDATA[Letter to a Friend, December 1983: Next summer, David and I  want to take our little row boat [we still have the same one; a ship brought it over here from Europe for us] from Saugerties, New York, a hundred miles up the Hudson river, all the way up to New Brunswick, Canada, along the coast of Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island,  Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and  Maine. Want to come? May 31 We left Saugerties after rolling in on a bus from Poughkeepsie in the pouring rain. The creek was...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/downeast-manzanita-in-america-part-2-saugerties-to-new-brunswick-summer-1984</link><guid isPermaLink="false">654ba0c06523a4fb8fdbbac8</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Nov 2023 14:52:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_b66b1368d8094362857d9a7bdae886b1~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER TEN Prodigals' Return:  Baltimore to Saugerties, Fall 1983/ Home to the Hudson]]></title><description><![CDATA[photo:  running downwind [ Dave and Sarah, the nautical nomads, have just returned from a three year sojourn of cruising around Europe in...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/prodigals-return</link><guid isPermaLink="false">63234a1e39deb6bf492874d2</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:55:27 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_0c45e8d22bed491ebb4c6642f84a40d3~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[EPILOGUE Final Voyages: "Rainbow Warrior's" Sendoff &#38; Other Greenpeace Adventures ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Episode 1 Readying the "Rainbow Warrior" for Sea, Winter 1984 Just back to the Hudson Valley after their epic summer trip to Canada in...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/final-voyage</link><guid isPermaLink="false">63234aaed8461cac54b76bdd</guid><pubDate>Thu, 15 Sep 2022 15:54:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_1ad81a9f2d3f45689bc96c89b3e8f452~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[White Guilt Part 3: Gift of the Ramapough]]></title><description><![CDATA[notes on a future post/place holder With heartfelt thanks to Allan Goldhammer, Paul Tobin, and Chief Vincent Mann October 15, 2021 [ this is a reminder to me that I intend to write this account at some point in the future] Notes: include letters to Jack Tchen and Akwesasne Notes]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/white-guilt-part-3-gift-of-the-ramapough</link><guid isPermaLink="false">62dc226289694c4620d82a2e</guid><pubDate>Sat, 23 Jul 2022 16:34:55 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_977f30d6d39d4fa59ecf73ae2298877c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_542,h_596,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER NINE Manzanita  Goes Home: Norway, Summer 1983]]></title><description><![CDATA[The further adventures of  Manzanita and Crew photo: "Manzanita" and her crew INTRODUCTION: Rounding Lindesnes The day we sailed around Lindesnes, the cape on the southernmost tip of Norway, the wind was blowing fiercely from the northwest. We wouldn't have left the safety of Hidra harbor if the wind were unfavorable, but even running before this much wind was tricky in these unprotected waters. photo: leaving Hidra harbor Friends escorted us in a motor launch as we sailed our sixteen foot...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/manza-goes-home-norway-summer-1983</link><guid isPermaLink="false">624327854cf68eb2acf46b33</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:36:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_6f6c4f9cd61e492abb87a8c817a412aa~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER EIGHT Expats Redux: Winter in Puerto Andratx 1983]]></title><description><![CDATA[photo: Dave getting ashore from "Sea Gull",  Andratx harbor. The cat is not pleased. Foreword (or Backword?)  written in1992, Ulster...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/expats-redux-winter-in-andratx-1982-83</link><guid isPermaLink="false">624325fa52cedc887283b4a9</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Mar 2022 15:32:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_cdf61cc4851f40e2a5052f5774428412~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER SIX Costa del Sol]]></title><description><![CDATA[Foreword: The Story So Far The title Dave  suggested  for an account of our travels,  "Rowing Against the Wind" was  meant to be ironic.  Not that it didn't happen from time to time. There were many  times when we  drifted  along in  the heavy lifeboat in light airs under the ever present sun, and  there were various other adventures during our second summer of open boat cruising along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Our compulsion to paddle around the world's harbors in an extremely small...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/travels-with-manza-2-costa-del-sol</link><guid isPermaLink="false">61e1e966b21dca001608eb06</guid><pubDate>Thu, 20 Jan 2022 18:11:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_4f897600b03e47dcb465a2abfc357ee9~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER FIVE Expats of the Western Med: Winter on Mallorca ]]></title><description><![CDATA[photo: taking in the view. Embroidery by Sarah. Autumn,  1981 Introduction: [letter to a friend, Virginia Sands] Dear Gini- Here it is,...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/expats-of-the-western-med</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fd8c6eac25a3b001742215a</guid><pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2022 22:07:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_09b0333855774fc69b683fe2bc2f880c~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER FOUR Travels With Manza  ]]></title><description><![CDATA[photo: the original sail rig Why did we do it? What blend of nihilism, recklessness, whimsy  and angst  motivated this journey? One might call it  Jack Kerouac meets Diogenes meets the Swiss Family Robinson. July 1981 Letter to a Friend: David and I are still traveling around together. We recently spent most of our money buying a boat. But it's not a reasonable type of boat. It's more like a small pulling boat, a sixteen foot lifeboat off of a Norwegian freighter. We plan to live on, near,...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/travels-with-manza-1</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fc929fc6d12880017986381</guid><pubDate>Tue, 15 Dec 2020 18:14:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_424e3d04bb604081aa0ace6ad49e6c64~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Keeping Christmas]]></title><description><![CDATA[[Warning: this message is unabashedly pro-Christmas, in a Pagan sort of way.] Growing up in an informally Secular Humanist but culturally...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/keeping-christmas</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5fcfb0bc24f3520017fac924</guid><pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2020 17:18:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_0235ae8e63af4f02ae4550268bb8c7c5~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_480,h_233,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER THREE Transatlantic Crossing, Spring 1981]]></title><description><![CDATA["Oh, Baby, Baby, it's a wild world It's hard to get by just upon a smile. Oh, Baby, Baby, it's a wild world And I'll always remember you...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/oh-baby-baby-it-s-a-wild-world-transatlantic-crossing-spring-1981</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5ed7bfc3a38eea0017f8d0a2</guid><pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2020 18:09:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_b9e0b1c4f1c74691a140bc9408d84b1a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_540,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER TWO Boat Bums of the Caribbean: Winter, 1981]]></title><description><![CDATA[photo: Sarah on "L'Amie" Jan. 13 Letter home: Dear Dad- This is another quick "I survived" message to let you know that David and I are...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/boat-bums-of-the-caribbean-winter-1981</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5ed68cbf13036b0017e77061</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2020 18:33:31 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_471d6561bad040d3a93a0176b77355c1~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_563,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[CHAPTER ONE Ocean Vagabonding : Connecticut to the West Indies, 1980-81 ]]></title><description><![CDATA[To set the scene, we were young. I was 21 and David 33, and we had known each other for barely a year. Casting our lot together, we were...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/ocean-vagabonding-part-1-connecticutt-to-the-west-indies-1980-81</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5eb85ecf6b981a0017c45c29</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2020 23:55:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_56c7195da4704116a879f75b0d2524cc~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_467,h_720,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Alaska Journal: Prince William Sound pre Exxon Valdez]]></title><description><![CDATA[Prince William Sound, Alaska June-July 1979 [age 20] [Wilderness kayaking course with NOLS, the "National Outdoor Leadership School"....]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/alaska-journal</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5ea8bfe806095000172e00ff</guid><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2020 18:04:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_a3a9c5e67c2f43068b7d465032da24ea~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_705,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Sea Beast]]></title><description><![CDATA[July 5, 1978. Prince William Sound, Alaska. Travelling by kayak. "Four killer whales intrigued and terrified us at Point Nowell- so close...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/the-sea-beast</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5ea73487ad223000b11baac9</guid><pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:19:24 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_5d9aaeac913f401a86a9ba820042908b~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_712,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[WHEN IT'S POT PICKIN' TIME IN HUMBOLDT COUNTY]]></title><description><![CDATA[[An episode from “The Wonderbread Kids Play Cowboy”. Our protagonists, teenaged lovers “Jenny” and “Bruce”, are sharecropping on a...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/when-it-s-pot-pickin-time-in-humboldt</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5e4045827646800017166778</guid><pubDate>Sun, 09 Feb 2020 17:47:57 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_4958c56cfa3d4ca8bbdce5b7238b6885~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_540,h_720,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[No Blood]]></title><description><![CDATA[[This chapter of my life took place in the fall of 1979. I had been crewing on the environmental educational sailboat “Clearwater”,...]]></description><link>https://underhval.wixsite.com/website/post/no-blood</link><guid isPermaLink="false">5dfbb7f6ba50ff0017c40e69</guid><pubDate>Thu, 19 Dec 2019 17:54:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/628624_9b66272abdbe409ea15dc39b9cfceb02~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_720,h_540,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Sarah Gibbs Underhill</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>