High drama amid furious winds, perilous ocean voyages and murder most yummy

Brief reviews of three books kick off Book Notes return after a bit of a hiatus. Readers, however, have not taken a hiatus. Book lovers of all ages have been busy this summer. Fifteen percent more books sold the first week of August 2020 than sold last year at this time. Juvenile nonfiction saw a 40 percent jump in sales and adult nonfiction saw an 18.9 percent increase in hardcover sales due in part to Mary Trumps book, Too Much and Never Enough.

All the books featured here are written by authors living on Bostons North Shore. Two are nonfiction books on the topics of hurricanes impact on the United States and the engrossing origin story of what is now the Peabody Essex Museum. Both are deeply researched, rich with fascinating detail and first-rate storytelling. The third is a cozy mystery with as much tasty food writing as suspense; happily, recipes for some of the Mexican dishes so lusciously described are at the back of the book.

Collecting the Globe: The Salem East India Marine Society Museum

By George H. Schwartz. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst and Boston. 2020. Paperback, 296 pages, $28.95.

George H. Schwartz, associate curator at the Peabody Essex Museum and teacher of museum studies at Tufts University, has published a fine book about (among other things) how Salem, Massachusetts one of this countrys busiest ports in 1799 came to be the home of the United States oldest continually operating museum.

Schwartz starts off with the dramatic story of sail in Salem. Great risks at sea led to great wealth and also a keen awareness of cultures far from home. Master sailors and business agents known as supercargoes traded around the world. Complex trade schemes involved Japan, Jakarta, Yemen, China, India, the West Indies and ports along the western coast of what is now the United States. The countrys first millionaire, Elias Hasket Derby, was one of Salems captains who traded in the Baltic and Far East. The ports rise to great prominence, with its 40 busy wharves and growing fleet, writes Schwartz, mirrored the rise of the burgeoning nation.

The East India Marine Society was formed in 1799 by 22 of these pioneering sea captains. Membership was exclusive. Candidates had to have sailed the harrowing seas off the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. Among the Societys aims was to form a Museum of natural and artificial curiosities known as the East India Marine Society Museum. This museum, transformed over time, would eventually become the Peabody Essex Museum that still retains much of the original collection.

The book, says Schwartz, demonstrates how the Society used its collection to support a vision of Americas identity tied to the sea. A fastidious researcher, he tells a story of risk and wealth and cunning. In 1795, for example, Salem captain Jonathan Carnes discovered a place to buy valuable pepper directly from local inhabitants of Sumatra. He went back to Salem and found a wealthy merchant to outfit a schooner he then sailed back to Sumatra where he bought pepper that yielded a 700 percent profit. This trip kicked off what was to be 50 years of lucrative trade for Salem merchants.

Fiction writer Arlo Bates (18501918) described Derby Street, along Salems waterfront, as follows: Derby Street was alive with bustle and excitement; when swarthy sailors were groups at the corners, or sat smoking before the doors of their boarding-houses, their ears adorned with gold rings, and their hands and wrists profusely illustrated with uncouth designs in India ink; when every shop window was a museum of odd trifles from the Orient, and the very air was thick with a sense of excitement and of mystery.

The acquisition of items from abroad meant that Salem residents possessed commodities normally associated with large European cities. Captains built elegant homes and owned art and objects from distant cultures. There were two newspapers in the city, 10 churches, along with schools, banks and much more. The community was, according to Schwartz, on the forefront of the American Enlightenment. It also accounted for 5 percent of the nations per capita income.

It was in this time of largess and cultural awareness that the captains built the museum on Essex Street and displayed some of the 6,400 objects they had collected from around the world. A canoe, kayak, a 6-foot, 7-inch sculpture of the Hawaiian god Kukailimoku, portraits, books, busts, spears and much more were exhibited.

Together, writes Schwartz, the vast ensemble was an organized display of the natural, cultural and spiritual world bound by the sea and open to visual inspection through the efforts of the American maritime trade. In so doing, it opened Americas eyes to a world beyond imagination and to relationships between world cultures that continue to this day.

Nacho Average Murder

By Maddie Day. Kensington Publishing Corp., 2020. Paperback. $7.99.

Award-winning author Maddie Day of Amesbury, Massachusetts, has published another of her increasingly popular cozy mysteries. Nacho Average Murder, set in Santa Barbara, is lots of fun despite the inevitable murder. This book is part of Maddie Days Country Store mystery series that is usually set in Indiana.

Amateur sleuth Robbie Jordan, owner of a restaurant and B&B in Indiana, traveled to her hometown of Santa Barbara for her 10th high school reunion. She meets Paul, a committed activist working to ban a prominent agrochemical companys fumigants. He believed the fumigants were a threat to the regions farm workers and animals. He tells Robbie that her recently deceased mother, who worked alongside Paul, may not have died of natural causes. A few days later he is found dead in his apartment. It turns out he died of an aneurysm, just as Robbies mother had. Robbie begins digging into her mothers and Pauls deaths.

Maddie Day does a fine job capturing the specialness of Santa Barbara. Her writing delivers something more than a virtual vacation to a beloved place. She nails the citys charms, with its miles of coast, the vast rolling expanse of foothills, the farmers market unlike any other for all that it has to offer, the delicious Mexican cuisine made with just-picked ingredients, the sweet and tangy perfumes of orange blossoms and gardenias, and that quirky side not everyone notices. Robbie visits a palm reader while out on a stroll. Madame Allegra tells her to pay attention. Danger lurks.

A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of Americas Hurricanes

By Eric Jay Dolin. W.W. Norton & Co., 2020. 393 pages. $29.95.

I happened to have read most of Eric Jay Dolins new book, A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of Americas Hurricanes, while Isaias was busy declaring itself. Reading about hurricanes while knowing one is headed your way is good and bad. We love weather. We fear weather. Hurricanes, a feature of summer and fall, are reliant on a handful of elements scorching desert air, 80-degee-plus ocean water, moist heated air and a low, horizontal wind shear. While landfall or colder waters can seriously alter their might, a hurricane fully manifest is among natures most deadly and destructive forces. You just never know.

And Dolin is not about to sugarcoat the story.

You can rely on this Swampscott author to dig deep, unearth reams of fascinating anecdotes, seek detailed historical records, and then tie it all together with plenty of his signature, edge-of-the-seat storytelling. Like so many of his earlier books on topics like whales, fur trade, privateering, lighthouses and more, Dolin has a special way of filling sentences with information while retaining your full attention. I brought his book with me everywhere.

He writes that a hurricane is the meteorological equivalent of a temper tantrum on steroids, with moods that rank from a Category 1 to Category 5 with winds that equal or exceed 157 mph. He reminds readers that a measly Category 1 rating is a ferocious thing, ripping off house shingles and siding, uprooting trees and tangling power lines. A No 5, however, is akin to catastrophe.

Dolin had to cover a lot of territory to write about hurricanes. We learn about Morse code, the impacts hurricanes had on Americas early settlers and settlements, the geographical configuration of this country, wars, and even the names of places, like Thacher Island off Rockport, Massachusetts coast. He tells the tragic but riveting story of how a hurricane drowned 21 of 23 people sailing from Ipswich to Marblehead. Thacher and his wifes survival was miraculous but horrific for they had to watch their children and relatives wrenched away by the storms roiling waves.

Books about weather are especially nerve-wracking. While reading A Furious Sky I was reminded of Sebastian Jungers Perfect Storm. He wrote about a Gloucester fishing boat that vanished in a late October, 1991, confluence of storms. Junger covered several related subjects including rogue waves, weather forecasting and harrowing rescues at sea. Dolins book is similarly instructive about related topics.

Dolin, with the benefit of hindsight, looks at the heroics and the mistakes made in the face of furious skies. He investigates the countrys most significant hurricanes including the Great Hurricane of 1938, Sandy, Katrina, Andrew, Camille and those that came much earlier in our history. The book is filled with images and meaty captions. And, like George Schwartzs book on the early days of Salems groundbreaking enterprise, the notes in the back of both books are exciting adventures, also.

Rae Padilla Francoeur is an author and journalist. She can be reached at rae@raefrancoeur.com.

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BOOK NOTES: Tied to the sea and other mysteries - Wicked Local Beverly

Our country is deeply divided along racial lines as we continue to try to shake off roughly 400 years of prejudice. Jim Wallis, in his book

Americas Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America states unequivocally The United States of America was established as a white society, founded upon the near genocide of another race and then the enslavement of yet another.

Despite major advances in paring back de jure racism, we continue to struggle with de facto racism. Racism is still alive in America, and there are troubling signs that we may in fact currently be losing ground in this epic struggle.

A recent exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC intending to encourage a dialogue entitled Talking About Race sparked major controversy as itself being racist. The museum, a part of the Smithsonian, bowed to pressure to remove a chart outlining signs of Whiteness used to describe salient aspects of White Privilege.

Such is the tinder box of political division currently in this nation. We are not even comfortable with posing propositions, regardless of their merit, that encourage debate and seek resolution. The maddening paradox remains as many who adamantly insist they abhor racism as a concept sit idly by while institutional barriers to equal justice perpetuate a definitive racist system.

Civil discourse, if exercised correctly, requires an ability to disagree and reach for a complete examination of the differences that separate those discussing the topic.

White privilege, defined as white people in America hold most of the political, institutional, and economic power, they receive advantages that nonwhite groups do not, is central to our racial division and is a good starting point for a national dialogue on racism.

Civil discourse, if exercised correctly, requires an ability to disagree and reach for a complete examination of the differences that separate those discussing the topic. If we cannot even begin a discussion without extracting concessions on potentially controversial assertions we seriously diminish the value of the discussion and its ultimate conclusions, or lack thereof.

I have often written over the last several decades about the conclusions reached by the Kerner Commission in 1968, a Presidential commission established by LBJ in the wake of riots that ripped through American cities during the 1960s. In short, the Commission concluded Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.

If a Presidential Commission on Race were instituted today would they disagree? I sincerely doubt it, in fact I would assert that an objective assessment today might conclude that in fact we as a nation have already arrived at the point where we are two societies, one black, one whiteseparate and unequal.

The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report in March of this year that showed a 55% increase in white nationalist hate groups since 2017. The report also concludes the following: The most powerful force animating todays radical rightand stoking the violent backlashis a deep fear of demographic change. This fear is encapsulated in the conspiratorial notion that a purposeful white genocide is underway and that its driving the great replacement of white people in their home countries by foreign, non-white populations.

We are flirting dangerously with the medieval concept of a closed society, something that is prevalent in dictatorial and authoritarian regimes throughout human history. The very concept of an open, transparent, civil, and democratic society is characterized by its openness, inclusion and diversity. In order for our civilization to move in a forward looking direction we must reject the concept of us and them, and focus on us.

The American experiment in representative democracy has been the gold standard not because we shut ourselves off from the rest of the world, either through destroyed alliances, name-calling or walls to keep others out, but rather through the inclusiveness encouraged by the welcoming light emanating from the torch of Lady Liberty, modeled after Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. Her torch symbolizes enlightenment, Liberty enlightening the world. This is what will make America great again.

Our strength reflects our diversity and is our strongest asset. Mahatma Gandhi teaches us Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.

Our nation is fast approaching the day when we will be a majority minority population, hence it is in our best interest to develop a civic acknowledgement of the importance of unity through diversity. It is who we are and we must live up to the image we project not only to ourselves but to the rest of the world.

Dr. Martin Luther KingJr., taught us to reject violence in our pursuit of enlightenment and justice. Violence from either side of the ideological spectrum only breeds deeper division and must be rejected. Diversity bonds us together and represents conviction and strength, understanding and compassion, the key ingredients to success.

Lance Simmens

Continue reading here:
Us and Them, or US - LA Progressive

The Indian side said a comment by external affairs minister S Jaishankar on the shared Buddhist heritage of the two neighbours was misunderstood in the Himalayan country. (ANI)

India on Sunday dismissed a controversy over the birthplace of Gautam Buddha and said a comment by external affairs minister S Jaishankar on the shared Buddhist heritage of the two neighbours was misunderstood in the Himalayan country.

The clarification came a day after Jaishankar referred to the teachings of Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries. The remark triggered controversy in Nepal with political parties saying that Buddha, the philosopher and religious teacher who founded Buddhism, was born in Nepal and not India.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said Jaishankars remark referred to common Buddhist heritage of India and Nepal. There is no doubt that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, which is in Nepal, he said.

The Indian side said at the time of the Buddha, who lived in the 5th and 4th century BC, there was no separate nation state called Nepal, and that the Siddhartha Gautama became Buddha after attaining enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, which is in modern day Bihar.

Earlier in the day, Nepals foreign ministry said that historical and archaeological evidence showed Buddha was born in Nepalese territory. It is a well-established and undeniable fact proven by historical and archaeological evidences that Gautam Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism, is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, a statement by the ministrys spokesperson read.

There were also protests by political parties such as the main opposition Nepali Congress and individuals such as former foreign secretary Madhu Raman Acharya and former prime minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, a top leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party.

The controversy came against the backdrop of a border row that erupted earlier this year when India opened a new road leading to Lipulekh on the border with Tibet. Nepal responded by publishing a new political map that included Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura, which are controlled by India, as part of Nepalese territory.

Last month, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli sparked a controversy with his remarks that the real Ayodhya is in Nepal and that Lord Ram was Nepalese.

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India rejects Nepals stand on Buddha row - Hindustan Times

As the UK continues to struggle with an ongoing heatwave, things are about to take a turn with at least a week's worth of rain and thunderstorms according to meteorologists.

Many people across the country have complained this week as they struggle to sleep in this humid and unpredictable weather.

To help ensure a good nights rest isnt too heavily impacted by overnight storms, Lucy Askew, a sleep expert at home interiors specialist http://www.Hillarys.co.uk, has compiled a selection of tips.

Invest in earplugs

If you are a light sleeper and loud rain and thunder will easily wake you, then its a wise choice to invest in a good pair of earplugs so you can experience a peaceful and undisturbed nights sleep.

If you are worried about not hearing your alarm the following morning, try inserting just one earplug in the opposite ear you rest your head on, in order to block out as much of the storms noise as possible.

Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here.

Give essential oils a try

Essential oils such as lavender can help in calming down your body in preparations for a full night of rest.

You can purchase it in a multitude of forms, including a pillow spray, a massage oil or even to add to the bath for a luxurious soak before hitting the hay.

Many light sleepers already swear by the benefits of reflexology, so its a worth a go if the storms are likely to keep you up in the coming days.

Listen to sleep meditation/white noise

Focusing on something specific that distracts your focus away from the outside noise will help with preparing your body for sleep.

Pop in your headphones and listen to some relaxing music or podcasts, or alternatively try downloading one of the increasingly popular apps designed to help users drift off to sleep more quickly.

Plan your sleep

If its crucial for you to rack up a sufficient nights sleep whilst a thunderstorm is predicted, then try to plan ahead and keep checking the weather forecast for when its likely to hit your local area.

If a trusted weather source says thunder and heavy rain is forecast for 12:30am for example, then make sure you are in bed at least two hours beforehand as youll be less likely to wake up if youre already in a deep sleep and significantly into your nightly sleep cycle.

Blackout blinds/curtains

If you havent already, invest in some blackout blinds or curtains for your bedroom.

Creating a pitch-black atmosphere in your room will signal to your eyes and brain that its time to shut down for the night and enjoy some well-deserved rest.

The last thing you need waking you is flashes of lightning creeping through your window in the middle of the night.

Keep up to date with weather in your area by adding your postcode below

Dont worry

Try and get yourself in the right headspace before bed and reassure yourself that one night of poor rest wont be the end of the world.

The more you start thinking about not being able to sleep, the more likely it is that your worries will manifest into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Find a thunder buddy

Whilst the humid weather can make it almost unbearable to share a bed with someone, having a partner, family member or friend there will bring you comfort if you are disturbed or scared of the noises that a thunderstorm can bring with it.

Read more here:

Expert's simple tips on how to sleep through a thunderstorm - Liverpool Echo

In this emotional equivalent to an ultramarathon, its key to have some stress-reducing strategies available that work quickly and efficiently to help you hit the reset button.

Heres why: Struggling with chronic worry gets in the way of effectively managing your emotions. Unfortunately, many people who experience distress try to escape their unpleasant emotions by distracting themselves in ways that ultimately backfire.

If you suspect you might be one of them, ask yourself whether you have a tendency to judge your emotions its a common thing to do. But it can fuel a vicious loop of feeling, then avoiding the feelings and feeling even worse. Pushing away feelings is like trying to force a beach ball underwater: They will pop back up. Instead, notice and normalise difficult emotions; ideally, negative feelings, including fear, can motivate us to solve problems.

So rather than dealing with anxiety and uncertainty by getting lost worrying, then chasing short-term fixes with longer-term consequences, such as procrastinating or using food to cope, its helpful to experiment with quick strategies that will empower you. These strategies are not necessarily a cure, but can help lower the intensity of overwhelming emotions, allowing you to recalibrate to better deal with challenges you face.

Focusing on relaxing sounds reduces stress. In research spearheaded by Dr Veena Graff, an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology and critical care at the University of Pennsylvania, pre-operative patients were assigned either to music medicine listening to Marconi Unions Weightless or prescribed a benzodiazepine. Remarkably, serene music proved nearly as effective in easing patients jitters as the medication option, with no side effects.

To honour your unique taste, explore different options and create a playlist that you find comforting when you need a break. Keep in mind that although it can seem cathartic to hear songs that validate your emotions (for example, listening to lyrics about heartache while feeling lonely), research on inducing varying mood states concludes that we can improve our experience with a more uplifting soundtrack. Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ear, as Dr Oliver Sacks wrote in, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.

Marsha Linehan, a professor emeritus in psychology at the University of Washington, popularised an exercise in dialectical behaviour therapy to regulate intense emotions that involves immediately lowering your body temperature by creating a mini plunge pool for your face. This sounds odd, but it activates your bodys dive response, a reflex that happens when you cool your nostrils while holding your breath, dampening your physiological and emotional intensity.

To do it, fill a large bowl with ice water, set a timer for 15 to 30 seconds, take a deep breath and hold your breath while dipping your face into the water. While this isnt conventionally relaxing, it will slow your heart rate, allowing blood to flow more easily to your brain. I love watching my clients try this over our telehealth calls and seeing firsthand how quickly this shifts their perspective. Just being willing to do this, I tell my clients as they prepare to submerge, is a way to practice being flexible.

One of my favourite ideas that never fails to fill me with gratitude, no matter what else is happening, comes from the mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn, who likes to say, As long as you are breathing, there is more right with you than wrong with you. In The Healing Power of the Breath, Dr Richard Brown and Dr Patricia Gerbarg offer a range of exercises to promote resilience. One of my favourites: Slow your breathing down to six breaths a minute by consciously inhaling and exhaling (to practice this timing, you can use a secondhand and inhale for five seconds, exhale for five seconds, and repeat four times, or try a guided recording). Paced breathing offers a host of physiological benefits, like reducing your blood pressure, which helps promote a sense of tranquility. When people tell me it feels challenging to breathe in a certain way when they feel panicked, I tell them to start with alternative soothing activities, like music, and work their way up to paced breathing.

Another way to stay present rather than spin into a crisis is to notice if you are engaged in thinking that isnt helping you. Our interpretations of events supercharge the intensity of our emotions. After all, anticipating, This will go on for years! in a moment of anguish will only inspire more hopelessness. But mindfulness, or learning to see more clearly as opposed to jumping to conclusions, is a nice remedy for anxiety. One brief way to enter the moment is known as anchoring, a popular strategy.

Start by physically centring yourself by digging your heels into the floor this evokes a feeling of being grounded in reality.

Then take a moment to observe: What am I thinking? Feeling in my body? Doing?

Then ask yourself: Is my response: a) Helpful? b) Aligned with my values now? Or c) Related to future worries or a past problem?

While we can get stuck in specific thoughts, stepping back to more generally decide if those thoughts are helpful can get us out of rumination mode. It may also help to tape a list of these prompts on your computer to remember to take a step back and refocus when your thoughts are only making things worse.

If you struggle with physical sensations of anxiety, like muscle tension and feeling like you cant get enough air, a counterintuitive yet important way to manage is to practice bringing on those sensations in more quiet moments to improve how you tolerate stressful ones.

Learning to repeatedly welcome physical symptoms allows you to stop seeing them as catastrophic. In a recent therapy group I led on Zoom, my clients prepared to try this by ordering thin coffee straws. I set my timer for a minute as they pinched their noses and tried to breathe only through the straw.

We also worked on replicating the other sensations they associated with fear, like muscle tension, dizziness and shortness of breath. We held a plank, spun in circles and ran in place. Some people were surprised that the practice experience was worse than the anxiety they normally felt. Others found it was similar, which felt liberating they didnt have to wait for the feelings to catch them off guard and instead could purposefully habituate themselves to them.

Recently, at the end of a long day of video calls with patients, my five-year-old daughter asked, When will the germs go away? After removing my three-year-olds sneaker from my one-year-olds mouth, I saw a request from a client about an urgent check-in. I practiced paced breathing and pulled up our nightly dance party playlist (by request: Justin Timberlakes Cant Stop the Feeling) before discussing my daughters feelings and returning to work.

Now I hope you create your own plan with the strategies above. By practicing managing your emotions, youll experience a sense of freedom in your life. I dont know about you, but Id chase that over any mindless short-term alternative. The New York Times

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Quick, stress-reducing strategies to help you better deal with challenges and anxieties - The Irish Times

Send your events to pgriffin@thedestinlog.com at least 2 weeks in advance if possible.

Rock the Docks

Rock out on the Destin harbor, and make this summer a hit with a free Scenic Heights concert at 7 p.m. Aug.15 at HarborWalk Village. On-site parking is $10.

Wednesday Night Concert Series

Sit back and enjoy a free evening of music from 7-9 p.m. Aug. 19 with Courtyard Saints on the Events Plaza Stage at the Village of Baytowne Wharf. Bring lawn chairs and blankets.

Aug. 26: Dion Jones and The Neon Tears

Sept. 2: Will Thompson Band

Sept. 9: The Blenders

Sept. 16: Geoff McBride

Sept. 23: Bay Bridge Band

Sept. 30: Forrest Williams Band

Bubbly Baytowne Canceled

An evening full of free champagne and shopping begins at 5 p.m. Aug. 20 at The Village of Baytowne Wharf. Stop in various retail merchants as you enjoy a selection of premium champagnes. This event is free and for 21 and up only.

Concerts in the Village

Enjoy the music of M-80's at 7 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village, 4323 Commons Drive W in Destin. Gates open at 6 p.m., and concerts begin at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door with general admission $15/adult and free to MKAF members and kids under 12. Visit https://francesroy.xtensio.com/CIV2020Rescheduled to see changes due to CUVID-19.

Sept. 10: Casey Kearney

Sept. 17: The Shakedown

Sept. 24: The Bonehoeffers

Oct. 1 : Pickled Pickers

Oct. 3: Shania Twin

Oct. 8: Emerald Gold

Human Trafficking Awareness March

Circuit 1 Human Trafficking Task Force for Walton, Okaloosa, Bay, Santa Rosa, and Escambia counties will hold a Human Trafficking Awareness March at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 29 at the Fort Walton Beach Landing Park. Care baskets will be put together for Human Trafficking survivors in our area. Those attending are asked to donate to the baskets. Call 850-598-1708 for more information.

Sip N' Stroll

A book signing with Jason Lindblad will be held during the gallerys Sip N Stroll from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 4. Send in the Nouns is available for purchase at J.Leon Gallery and Studio, 13370 US Hwy. 98 in Miramar Beach.

Baytowne Art Walk

The Annual Baytowne Art Walk will be from 5-10 p.m. Sept. 4-6. Stroll the Village streets and browse a variety of artwork from both regional and local artists. Enjoy live music throughout the festival from local artists and a spectacular fireworks show over the lagoon on Sunday at 9:15 p.m.

Celebration of Freedom

The DeFuniak Springs Business and Professional Association is hosting a delayed 4th of July celebration on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7. The event will begin with a parade at 3 p.m. around the Lakeyard on Circle Drive. Prizes will be awarded for best floats. To enter call Carolyn Mora at 850-892-3950 or 850-974-6774. Celebration will continue at 5 p.m. with opening ceremonies and entertainment by Shane Owens in the Lakeyard Amphitheater. Fireworks will conclude the celebration at approximately 8:15 p.m.

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Ahoy Matey! Join The Village of Baytowne Wharf for an evening full of adventure from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sept. 18 with special guest Captain Davy. Come dressed in your best pirate costume and get ready for a scavenger hunt, magic show, costume contests, and much more.

Throwback Thursday Cinema

Grab your lawn chairs and enjoy a relaxing evening with the Throwback Thursday featured film, 101 Dalmations at 7 p.m. Sept. 24 at The Village of Baytowne Wharf.

Redd's Fueling Station

Redd The Singing Bartender is back on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with a live band Fridays at Redds Restaurant on 30-A. It is located in Blue Mountain Beach behind Sallys By The Sea Store gas station convenience store, 2320 W County Hwy. 30A in Santa Rosa Beach. Dinner table reservations suggested. Call or text 850-325-0252. Check out the menu at http://www.reddsbar.com.

Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam

The eighth annual Country On The Coast festival in Panama City Beach will be March 26-28, 2021. Tickets for the three-day event are available at http://www.GulfCoastJam.com.

Seabreeze Jazz Festival

Tickets are on sale at http://www.seabreezejazzfestival.com for the 2021 Seabreeze Jazz Festival April 21-25. 2021, at Aaron Bessant Park Amphitheater in Panama City Beach. Or charge by phone at 855-233-6714.

Grand Boulevard Farmers Market

Grand Boulevard Farmers Market takes place every Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Grand Park in the heart of Grand Boulevard in South Walton. Bring your shopping bag and load up on local produce, eggs, jams and pies. Homemade soap, good olive oil, and pickled things are all there for the taking.

Rosemary Beach Farmers Market

Come browse the 30A Farmers Market in Rosemary Beach on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The local farmers market takes place on Sundays year round, and Thursdays throughout the summer months, in North Barrett Square along Scenic 30A.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Aug. 15 - Destin Log

A bad high can come with either physical symptoms or those that express themselves as paranoia, stress and discomfort.

One exercise said to work when dealing with anxiety is breathing. / Photo: fizkes / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Bad highs are common, but they express themselves differently depending on the person.

For some, the symptoms might be physical, such as nausea or dry mouth; for others, the symptoms can express themselves as paranoia, stress and discomfort. All of these reactions can lead to anxiety, which can quickly transform into being overwhelming if action is not taken.

A bummer high can be absolutely terrible, but its side effects have not been shown to be dangerous, especially if a person remains calm. Remember, no matter how bad it gets, the feelings are temporary and ones attitude can have a huge impact.

One exercise said to work when dealing with anxiety is breathing. If a person is overthinking things after a smoke, take some deep breaths and count them in your head. Place one hand on the chest and the other on the stomach, breathe deeply and focus on how the belly seems to inflate and the chest stays still. This kind of belly breathing is said to be effective in helping to reel in the brain and make a person feel present.

One exercise said to work when dealing with anxiety is breathing. / Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto Getty Images/iStockphoto

Cannabis heightens all sensations, which is one reason its so great. But when a person is having a bad high, this makes it particularly difficult to stay present and rational. One thing that can help is to put on relaxing and soothing music, even something without lyrics to help prevent overthinking, while taking deep breaths.

If feeling anxious and too high, a vigorous workout will likely stress you out even more. Some peaceful music or a background yoga video can assist with some light stretching to help focus on how the body feels. Stress and tension is held in the body, too, so the stretching will likely make it easier for to relax, no matter how anxious a person is feeling.

Taking a shower, either with hot or cold water, is likely to help switch mood. / Photo: yogenyogeny / iStock / Getty Images Plus yogenyogeny / iStock / Getty Images Plus

Showers are great things when high. If the water is warm, it can signal to the body that its time to wind down and relax. If the water is cold, it can wake you up and zap your brain into action. Try both and see what works, but either option will surely help switch mood.

The oldest trick in the book is also said to be the most effective. While sleeping is not convenient during certain occasions, its the quickest way of getting rid of a bad high, especially if a person is feeling drowsy and woozy.

If youre having a bad high and are with trusted friends at your home, set up an alarm and catch a half-hour nap. Although you might not be completely recovered, you will likely feel way better and prevent an anxiety spiral.

The FreshToast.com, a U.S. lifestyle site that contributes lifestyle content and, with their partnership with 600,000 physicians via Skipta, medical marijuana information to The GrowthOp.

Want to keep up to date on whats happening in the world of cannabis?Subscribeto the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network

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5 ways to cope with cannabis-induced anxiety - The GrowthOp

Arms and the Man, directed by Ben Natan, will be performed Friday, August 14 at 7 p.m. on the No Exit Theatre Collective Facebook page. All shows in their Fortnightly Reading Series are abridged to run less than 90 minutes, with a Q&A with the artists to follow.

Ben Natan, co-artistic director, founded NETC to give theatre artists a space to work on their craft during the pandemic.

This show is the first in their LOVE AND CONSEQUENCES micro-season.

Arms and the Man follows Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis, William Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Much Ado About Nothing and Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler in their Fortnightly Reading Series.

The cast will feature Jackie Alexis as Raina, Meagan Sisler as Bluntschli, Daniel Cabrera as Sergius, Kym Zlogar as Louka, Tessa Ramirez-Keough as Catherine, Keith Hale as Major Petkoff, Kassandra Perez as Nicola/Bluntschli's Friend, Emma Josephine Rucci, Swing. Technical directed by Daisy Phillips. Script managed by Caity MacNeill.

Honoring the activist roots of theatre and their artists is at the core of No Exit Theatre Collective. They seek to affect change with their work. With each production they put on, the creative team selects a social justice organization to support. Their support comes from their virtual tip jar.

This week, they will be supporting the Wallace Foundation, with 20 percent of the tips from their virtual tip jar. The Wallace Foundation provides artistic opportunities and resources for underserved and less privileged communities.

"Recently, one of our members lost a close loved one. In order to honor their memory, we are supporting the Wallace Foundation for this week's show. At NETC, we believe in radical accessibility and know what truly makes an artist is the chance to be creative," said co-artistic director Ben Natan.

Their virtual tip jar is where you can support their work. Each show week, 20 percent of tips go toward the organization selected by the creative team. The remainder of that money is equally split among the artists involved in the production.

On off-weeks, the funds from this tip jar go towards supporting the collective - buying rights to shows, upgrading their streaming capabilities, and expanding their team. Any funds that remain roll over to the following week's performance. Their tip jar is on Venmo, @NoExit-TC.

You can find constant updates by subscribing to their newsletter. Subscribe for constant updates on their collective, straight to your inbox. Their newsletter is written by editorial director Ryanne Salzano.

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No Exit Theatre Collective Presents George Bernard Shaw's ARMS AND THE MAN in Live-Streamed Reading Series - Broadway World

The warship is pulled from alongside the naval dockyard at Haulbowline Island by a tugboat before gently gliding under its own steam through the shimmering waters of Cork harbour.

nder the gaze of St Colmans Cathedral and the picturesque seaside town of Cobh, the L George Bernard Shaw turns its bow towards the ocean for another patrol over the horizon in the area of the Atlantic known as the cocaine highway into Europe.

The ships powerful engines pick up speed as it traverses the channel at the harbour entrance overlooked from either side by the old forts of Camden and Davis propelling it into the mercifully flat expanse of the ocean. The sky is azure; the sunshine glorious.

The first thing that our military mariners learn when they go to sea is not to take the Atlantic for granted; rather it is a mercurial beast, with mountainous waves and swells that can push a ship and its crew to the limits of their endurance.

The Irish Independent has been given exclusive access and a bottle of sea sickness pills to spend several days on the 67m patrol vessel to witness first-hand what the Naval Service calls a maritime defence and security operation.

Whenever we have visitors, the weather is good and the ocean is calm, but this is the exception and it is deceptive, the captain, Lieutenant Commander Phil Dicker, tells us as he supervises the bridge.

Out here we have some of the roughest, stormiest seas in the world, with waves of over 24 metres in the north-west Atlantic regularly recorded in huge swells, which can make life pretty uncomfortable boarding a yacht carrying a drug shipment in a force-seven gale is not for the faint-hearted.

The veteran sailor, who has more than 20 years service, knows what he is talking about. On a winters night in 2008, he took part in a major operation resulting in the seizure of over 750m worth of cocaine when the Naval Service intercepted the yacht Dances with Waves in the midst of gale-force winds and seven-metre waves 240km off the south coast.

It was one of Europes biggest maritime seizures of a drug that has been the source of violence and devastation on the streets of Irish towns and cities.

The captain sets a course that will take the patrol 200 miles south-west of Fastnet Rock to the edge of the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which has some of the worlds richest fishing grounds, and is the busiest shipping lane between the Americas and western Europe.

The 90-metre warship was commissioned last year and is the newest addition to the fleet, the fourth of its class, purpose-built for the Irish Naval Service. The ships are named after famous Irish literary figures: the others are the Samuel Beckett, the James Joyce and the William Butler Yeats.

The George Bernard Shaw carries enough fuel, safety equipment, support systems and essential supplies to ensure its 55 personnel are self-sufficient for up to four weeks at sea. It also bristles with enough firepower to start a small war.

About an hour off shore, Lt Cmdr Dicker issues the order to the gunnery crews to prove the ships weapons which, in laymans terms, involves test-firing them. After establishing a safe cordon around the ship and with no other vessels on the horizon, the ship erupts in gunfire. The primary weapon, the powerful Oto Melara 76mm cannon at the bow, fires a deafening fusillade that obliterates a target buoy several kilometres away. It can accurately fire up to 85 rounds a minute at a target 20km away.

For a while, the George Bernard Shaw feels like it is engaged in a full-scale battle as its two deadly 20mm Rheinmettall cannons join the barrage in chorus with two more 12.7mm heavy machine guns and four smaller general-purpose machine guns. There is no doubt that this is a ship not to be tangled with.

Its engines also make it one of the fastest ships operating in the Atlantic, delivering up to 23 knots with an operational range of 6,000 nautical miles. The on-board generators can supply enough electricity to power a small town.

The ship is also equipped with an array of information technology and state-of-the-art detection and tracking systems capable of monitoring the movements of all vessels within the EEZ. It also collates intelligence that is pooled and shared by various agencies including the Air Corps Maritime squadron, who support their Naval Service colleagues operating two versatile Casa 235 aircraft.

This is our day-to-day business in the navy where we patrol the Irish EEZ and beyond when we are required to. Our role is to protect the vast natural resources within that 200-mile radius which belong to the Irish State, including fossil fuels, fisheries, renewable energy. Fish conservatively worth up to 2bn a year are extracted within our waters every year, so our job is to ensure that this resource is adequately policed and protected, says Lt Cmdr Dicker as the firing ends and the voyage resumes.

The Irish Navy is the States only law enforcement agency out here and we are its sentinel on the high seas; the ship is the equivalent of the garda patrol monitoring the road and who is using it. This is our beat and we are the roadblock, using a ship that is an agile and resilient resource with a crew that possesses all the expertise and the firepower, if necessary, to carry out whatever mission we are assigned.

The ship has a responsibility to uphold Irish and EU sovereignty, but today the emphasis is on drug trafficking, which is one of the Naval Services top operational priorities. Over the past 12 years, its men and women have been directly involved in the interception of more than 2bn worth of cocaine.

A big part of what we do involves drug interdiction operations and we are on constant alert for suspicious vessels. The crew members on watch are encouraged to be curious just like the dedicated garda and investigate any ship on our screens that is acting out of the ordinary, says Lt Cmdr Dicker.

If we spot something suspicious, as we regularly do out here, the information is relayed back to Naval Ops in Haulbowline for a full background check on the vessel to see if it is on any international suspect lists. Unless I am specifically told not to intercept the vessel, I will go and find out who it is and what they are up to as a matter of course.

Today we are headed into the southerly most part of our area of operations, which is the main route for cargo ships between Western Europe and North and Central America. Consequently, it is also the main cocaine smuggling route into Europe. It is the international drug dealers Route 66 or cocaine highway and they tend to hide in plain view.

The Naval Service is a member of a Joint Drugs Task Force with the garda and customs, which in turn plays a key role in the EU-funded Maritime Analysis Operations Centre (Narcotics) Maoc (N) which is based in Lisbon and headed by former garda assistant commissioner Michael OSullivan.

Maoc is responsible for co-ordinating the collective police, naval, air force and customs resources of seven nations to combat the trafficking of cocaine along Europes western coastline, which is also the main source of supply for Irish gangs such as the Kinahan cartel.

In a recent interview with the Irish Independent, OSullivan described the Irish Naval Service as the unsung heroes in the fight against international drug trafficking

The Irish Navy go out there on the high seas in all weathers at short notice to track suspect vessels we are monitoring we would be blindsided without them, the former drug squad detective said.

As it continues its journey, the George Bernard Shaw receives an urgent message from Naval HQ ordering them to locate and track a suspicious ship that is crossing the Atlantic from the US and headed for Western Europe. While it later turns out to be an exercise, the vessel of interest suddenly elevates the patrol to mission status.

The suspect ship is outside the EEZ, in the southwest approaches to the zone. The requirement for the operation is for us to maintain a covert presence and we are now working up to the highest state of readiness that the ship comes to, says the captain. We have proven our weapons, weve proven all our systems on board and made sure our boats and machinery are working correctly so that the platform, as we term it, is fit to fight.

The first phase of the operation is for the George Bernard Shaw to locate the vessel and covertly monitor its progress over the horizon using high-tech radar systems.

As this is an intelligence-led operation, sent down from Maoc and the Joint Task Force, the Naval Service must be prepared to board the vessel and arrest the crew if ordered to do so. Alternatively, they will hand it over the covert surveillance to one of their other navy partners. The service conducts operations like this on a regular basis but for security reasons they are rarely made public.

Over the next 24 hours, the crew prepares for every eventuality. Every member can multitask. Cooks double as machine gunners, while electricians are also members of armed boarding crews.

The second phase of an operation like this is the boarding phase, which will involve an armed team in high-speed rhibs [rigid-hulled inflatable boats] and they will go covertly to maintain the element of surprise, get on board very quickly, secure the crew and the ship, says Lt Cmdr Dicker.

The next is the search phase, where we conduct an initial search to determine if there is an illegal cargo on board, and then we are into the diversion phase, which is to put a crew on board to bring the vessel back to port. At the same time, a second navy ship would be dispatched to the area with members of the garda and customs to make formal arrests.

As the shadowing operation takes the warship deeper into the Atlantic, the specialist armed teams practise their shooting skills and boarding drills.

As the operation enters its third day, the ship receives new orders: find out what flag the vessel is flying. This will require sending a surveillance team under the cover of darkness. The George Bernard Shaw is now more than 300 miles from Cork. At 10.30pm, after the sun has dropped down below the horizon, the boarding crews depart the mother ship in two high-powered rhibs and disappear into the eerie darkness.

The boats will travel up to 16 miles over the horizon and creep up on the target ship, obtain images and return without the suspects ever knowing they were there. It is a nervous time as the George Bernard Shaw remains in total darkness and in radio silence, waiting for the teams to make it back safely.

We are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean if something goes wrong here, there is very few people I can call. It is a time when we need absolute focus, says the captain.

Then, about 90 minutes later, two tiny dots of light can be seen in the dark distance signifying that the surveillance teams are on the way home with information to send back to base and to their partners in Maoc.

The exercise that has just taken place is similar to an operation co-ordinated by Maoc two years ago that led to the seizure of over two tonnes of cocaine by the UKs National Crime Agency off the coast of Cornwall.

A Naval Service vessel and an Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft shadowed a catamaran carrying the cocaine from South America for a British crime syndicate as it sailed close to Irish waters.

When todays mission is over, the captain radios the skipper of the suspect ship to inform him that he had been used in a surveillance exercise. He asks if they had detected either the George Bernard Shaw or the rhibs; they had seen nothing out of the usual.

Lt Cmdr Dicker is happy with the outcome. That for us is mission accomplished. It means that our level of readiness and training are up to standard for the real thing.

Petty Officer Aileen Hanna, the head chef on the L George Bernard Shaw, has laid down the gauntlet to fiery celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay: could he could cook for the ship's crew in the middle of an Atlantic storm?

The senior non-commissioned officer (NCO) has the distinction of becoming the Naval Service's first female chef after joining up 18 years ago, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and father, who were also in the navy.

But PO Hanna is also a trained machine-gunner, which makes her more than a match for Ramsay, who is famed for his temper tantrums in the kitchen.

Every day on patrol, seven days a week, Aileen and her able cooks Alex Pluchart and David Onderko - both of whom are originally from Poland - prepare an average of 120 meals for a hungry and very appreciative crew of officers, NCOs and sailors.

Having spent four days at sea, we can understand why the cook is the most important person on the ship, even in the eyes of the captain. The grub is as good as anything served in a top-notch civilian eatery.

"It doesn't matter what sort of weather we are in, we still have to be in here working every single day. After 18 years of experience, I know how to make an omelette in a force-10 gale, but it's not nice," PO Hanna says.

"The food is what keeps people going when things are tough. It is not an easy life at sea. There are fabulous moments and I have great memories, but it is hard work and it is our job to keep morale up.

"We cater for different tastes and needs; we are the hub of the ship and we take pride in that. People can't go out and order a chipper or luxuries like that, so we try to make things as nice as we can here."

But like everyone else on board, PO Hanna and her staff are also trained to do other important jobs on board.

"We need to be able to do almost everyone else's job on board. I fire machine guns, I handle the ammo, I do firefighting, I do damage control; you need to be able to multitask on board an Irish Navy ship. It keeps the job interesting. I love it.

"I would love to see Gordon Ramsay cooking in a force-10 gale down in the galley, frying an egg and then make his way to the deck and fire off shots like Alex does," she smiles confidently, standing next to Alex, who has just fired 100 rounds from her general purpose machine gun.

Now there's a challenge for you, Gordon.

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Paul Williams: Life on the high seas with the maritime drug busters - Independent.ie

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the nation in celebrating the 74th Independence Day by unfurling the national flag at the majestic Red Fort on Saturday (August 15) and address the nation from the ramparts of the iconic monument. Since India secured independence from the British colonial on this day 73 years ago, the day holds a great significance for every Indian citizen.

Two nations were carved out of India 73 years ago, but ahead of that several developments took place. The DNA report has delved deep into the pages of history to inform you about those incidents and also about the key architects of the partition and independence including first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

Lord Mountbatten, who was the last Viceroy of India, set the design of the partition. He considered Jawaharlal Nehru to be a leader who followed principles but when someone firmly presented his argument, Nehru would immediately submit. He viewed India's first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as sensible and a firm leader, but Mohammad Ali Jinnah was very stubborn and nobody could influence him.

When the news of India's partition started spreading in June 1947, there was a panic situation in Karachi, where people withdrew Rs 6 crore from their bank accounts.

A robbery took place in Delhi's Viceroy House, where Lord Mountbatten's military advisors lived, but thieves could never be caught. Notably, Viceroy's House is today's Rashtrapati Bhavan.

As the situation in the country began to deteriorate amid strikes and riots, 70 Hindus were kidnapped from Rewari in Haryana.

Indian leaders were worried about these developments, but Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was concerned about his cigars. He wrote a letter to one Yunus of Dehradun asking him where were the cartons of his cigars. Notably, when India was burning in the fire of partition, Jinnah was more concered about getting his cigars.

By the end of June 1947, riots started spreading across the country, and curfew was imposed in cities like Gurgaon, Dhaka and Lahore. Jinnah, however, was interested only in knowing how much money was left in his bank account. Bombay and Lahore branches of Bank of India told him that there were 7 lakh 97 thousand, 149 rupees, 12 ana and 3 paise left in his accounts.

In the first week of July, an American citizen came to India to meet Mahatma Gandhi. He asked Mahatma for his autograph, but Gandhiji asked him to pay Rs 20. After bargaining, Gandhiji agreed to give him autograph for Rs 15 and got this amount deposited in the Harijan Welfare Fund.

As Indian Army was also to be divided between the two nations, the Government of India announced a new pay scale for the soldiers and fixed a monthly salary of Rs 3000 for the post of General while Rs 35 was fixed for a soldier with class 10 qualification.

With Jinnah's stubbornness, Lord Mountbatten was very upset. The latter wrote a letter to Jinnah's daughter Patricia and said her father was stuck in a situation from which it is very difficult to come out in a respectful manner. Further, he wrote that he too had ruined everything because of his over confidence. He also expressed his disappointment that despite working so hard, he made a huge mistake in understanding Jinnah, and he wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

After a meeting of top leaders in the first week of July 1947, Mahatma Gandhi referred to George Bernard Shaw in his prayer meet. Bernard Shaw used to say that an Englishman is never wrong, he does everything according to principles. He serves the King but beheads the Monach using the principle of democracy. Therefore, which principle they would apply to leave India, Mahatma guessed.

On July 12, 1947, when Justice TL Shevde took oath in Nagpur wearing a Gandhi cap, a British judge asked him if he slept wearing a Gandhi cap? To this, Justice Shevde replied "yes" like you sleep wearing a hat on your head.

The next day in a press conference, when Mohammad Ali Jinnah was asked if he could tell how would he make Pakistan a modern democratic country. Jinnah said when did I say that? I never said that.

Ahead of partition, when 470 Indian Civil Service officials were asked what did they want? 400 of them opted for retirement on 15th August, while 40 decided to stay in India and the rest 30 went to Pakistan.

The British government wanted its flag, Union Jack, to be included in the flags of India and Pakistan. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mohammad Ali Jinnah refused to accept this. On August 14, the British flag from the Lucknow Residency was removed and sent to London. This British flag was continuously waving there since 1857.

Notably, Rs 2 lakh was sanctioned for organizing the events related to Independence Day in Lucknow.

In Mumbai, a name plate with M A Jinnah - Bar At Law was also removed from a chamber of lawyers. This was the name plate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah who was also an advocate.

India got independence at midnight, but the reason behind was no less interesting. A telegram from Lord Mountbatten was sent to Britain suggesting that it was advised by some Indian astrologers who considered it auspicious.

When someone asked Jinnah about role of the army in Pakistan, he became very angry. He stared at the person from top to bottom and said that there will be a government of citizens in Pakistan and those who diffe have no right to come to Pakistan. But his claims proved wrong like the rest of his claims and the army ruled in Pakistan for 33 years.

By the first week of August 1947, the number of refugees in Delhi swelled to 80,000, and there was a shortage of food. Schools were run in two shifts so that studies were not impacted.

During this time only, it was decided that the Prime Minister's official residence would be at 7 Prithvi Raj Road in Delhi, but 7 Race Course was later made the official residence of the Prime Minister of India. This is curently renamed as 7 Lok Kalyan Marg.

Interestingly, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which was established in 1928 as cricket was very popular in India. The then BCCI chairman Anthony de Mello had suggested that the partition should not divide the cricket team as it would affect the spirit of the game.

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Independence Day Special: Interesting developments ahead of August 15, 1947 - Zee News