Some Favorite Things

I decided to make a list of some favorite things, so here goes!

1. Fresh cut flowers. There is nothing quite like the spontaneous buy of fresh flowers. You know - you happen to be walking, on a mission - "places to go, people to see", when you get caught up for that one moment, take a breath, and really look at the cut flowers you almost completely missed. So you stop. You look at the pinks, purples, blues and yellows. Wow. And then you decide that whatever you were doing, can wait until you pick out the perfect bouquet. Ahhh.....

2. Bird watching. I love it. I could spend hours watching birds at a feeder. How many are coming? Which species? Watching their little bodies flit across the ground as they go about their everyday business of life. How fun to be a little chickadee!

3. Children's books. I mean the good ones. The old ones. The classics. I love everything about them, their simple yet complex meanings, and their illustrations. Sometimes the place they take me back to - sometimes the place I wish I was. I love that they can do this for me.

4. Puppies. I mean, who doesn't love little animals?? But still, I think out of many different kinds of little animals, puppies are the best. Their squishiness, their playfulness, their puppy breath - but most of all, when they are peacefully sleeping - isn't that great?

5. The color of spring grass. Man, that kelly green in the sunshine gets me every time. When the dull winter brown gets replaced by the new season, the new beginning, the fresh start - when everything seems possible now that the winter has thawed and photosynthesis has begun again.

6. Reading recipes. I actually enjoy flipping through cookbooks and reading the recipes, looking at the pictures and thinking about how I might change or add, or create combinations - it's fun!

7. Snow storms. Anybody who knows me knows how much I love snow. I am a bit of a weather junkie, especially in the winter, and I don't think I could ever live in a place that did not have 4 seasons. So L.A. and Miami are out. :-) But I love snow even more at night. There is something magical about listening to the snowflakes fall that is music to my ears. Like we are in some enchanted forest where magical creatures can come to life at any moment.

8. Traveling. I love exploring new places, but I not in a touristy kind of way. I actually like to get in the car and just go - find those tucked away places - the ones where you say, "people actually live here? It's too perfect!?!?!"

9. Good stories. Whether fictional or real-life. I like nothing better than a good, inticing, captivating and memorable story. Some are funny, some are sad, some are thought-provoking, doesn't matter. I love that we humans have the ability to tell stories (even our own) and imagine stories and listen to stories.

10. Mint. Mmmmm. Peppermint, spearamint, mint tea. I must be honest. I didn't used to love mint. In fact, I avoided it at all costs. Maybe that is why I love it so much now as an adult. I have grown to love it. I love the fresh smell and the bright taste. It is a "pick-me-up" for the senses!

What are some of your favorite things????

What the !?@$#@Q???????

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/01/polls_open_in_s_1.html

I don't believe it. I can't believe it. Ted Kennedy is rolling over in his grave. I am absolutely stunned. MASSACHUSETTS for God's sake! Teddy Kennedy worked and was an advocate for health care in the United States and this upset by Republican Brown is dumbfounding.

Brown has been endorsed by the Tea Party fanatics and I just can't believe that people would vote for someone who they barely know. I'm so upset I can hardly type. What is going on in this country??? For 8 years this country was being sent down the tubes and in 12 months they want it all back to "normal." Well it doesn't work that way. Sorry! But you can't make substantial changes to this country without changing health care and jobs. Where were these crazy people when George Bush was sending us all over the world taking over countries? Where were these crazy people when he de-regulated the banks? Where were these crazy people when the line for the Republicans was "privitize privitize privitize!" Now look where that greedy mentality has gotten us. How does it feel now that people are out of work and can't AFFORD health care - how does it feel now that the rate of homeless children has steadily increased over the last year?? And people want quick fixes. Well, it isn't going to happen!!! The only thing Scott Brown is going to do is set us back another 25 years. I'm sick.

Haiti

"In the last week, we have been deeply moved by the heartbreaking images of the devastation in Haiti: parents searching through rubble for sons and daughters; children, frightened and alone, looking for their mothers and fathers. At this moment, entire parts of Port-au-Prince are in ruins, as families seek shelter in makeshift camps. It is a horrific scene of shattered lives in a poor nation that has already suffered so much.

But above all, we act for a very simple reason: in times of tragedy, the United States of America steps forward and helps. That is who we are. That is what we do. For decades, America's leadership has been founded in part on the fact that we do not use our power to subjugate others, we use it to lift them up—whether it was rebuilding our former adversaries after World War II, dropping food and water to the people of Berlin, or helping the people of Bosnia and Kosovo rebuild their lives and their nations."
- President Barack Obama, Newsweek, Jan. 15th, 2010


Watch CBS News Videos Online

To get more information and to help:

The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/01/12/GA2010011203712.html?sid=ST2010011603460

The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/


Oxfam: http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/oxfam-teams-haiti-initiating-aid-delivery/5/35451

The Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/16/clinton-bush-haiti-fund


A good book to read about Haiti and a doctor, Dr. Paul Farmer who for years has been working in Haiti and set up clinics all around the country (Partners in Health) is called "Mountains Beyond Mountains."


The amount of devastation to human life and the basic necessities to support life is hard to comprehend. With so many dead and trapped -it is hard to even know what to do or how to help. I think it is in our nature to want to help our fellow man, to jump right in and go help. And while for most that is not possible, for some, it is. My hope is that we keep in our thoughts and prayers centered on those that are affected by this disaster and those that are helping in the relief effort. This is a human tragedy, not just a Haitian tragedy.

Praying Mantis

Check out this video I took last week. Amazing reflexes! So eery! BTW, we don't know what those growths are on its back....

Howdy!

Well, again, sorry for the delay in writing. So much has been going on that it is hard to even summarize. This month has been an absolute whirlwind. Two weddings, work has been CRAZY!, and we found out I am going to be an Auntie! :-)

Needless to say, I am a bit overwhelmed. So overwhelmed that I can't even wrap my mind around what has been going on. Fortunately I think everything will be calming down in the next few weeks. Actually, I'm not so sure about that....well, anyway.

Know that I am trying to hang in there, and could use all the positive energy you all can send my way.

Thanks!!

Pictures

Pictures have been requested. Below, are pictures of my parent's Anniversary Party, the Penn State game with my dad, and Ubah's wedding. Enjoy!

Look at that band!!

absence

I'm so sorry for my absence. Since the start of school, my life has been crazy busy. Labor Day weekend was the party my sister and I threw for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful day. The late summer sun shone down on the flowers in my mom's garden and 60 family and friends came to my parent's house to celebrate their shared life together. It was an amazing day. But whew! You can imagine.
Last weekend my dad and I drove up to State College, PA to go to a Penn State football game. My dad receieved his Masters in Journalism from Penn State and he and my mom used to go to every game - even the blizzard conditions of some! Dad goes every year to one game (usually in September to avoid driving those curvy mountain roads in the snow). This year he took me. I'd never been to Penn State, and it was so fun to walk around the campus and see where my parents spent their early days of marriage. Penn State beat Syracuse and I learned the cheer "WE ARE....PENN STATE" cheered by 103,000 people.
Last night I went to my first Orioles v. Red Sox game of the season. It was great. Camden Yards was filled with Red Sox fans - I felt sorry for the Orioles fans - it felt like Fenway. In any case, the Red Sox won, and we had great seats! Fun times with my friends Gregg and Carrie.

So besides the start of school - which in and of itself is a hectic and crazy time - it has been difficult to get that time to center myself and rejuvenate my spirit. I need to somehow find some time to find balance. Today is filled with some much needed laundry, grocery shopping, school work and then the entire science department is getting together tonight for a bonfire at the dept. chair's house. It should be fun (the fire part)! Our headmistress sent this along to us and I love it. I'm going to share it with you here.

Editorial The Rural Life New York Times
Goldenrod Time
By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
Published: September 17, 2009

Somehow my internal timekeeper failed this summer — broken down, perhaps, during the utterly sodden month of June. Time passed, and all the natural events that happen on this farm happened in order. But when the goldenrod began to bloom a few weeks ago, I failed to make a connection between the two.

The goldenrod ripens with nearly the same power as the leaves turning. It’s one of the strongest temporal clues I know, and I usually respond to it the way I respond to most signs of a shifting season: with an inward emotional tug.

This year, I seem to be absent, or perhaps I’m just resting in the lull of late summer. Or perhaps I’ve become just another of the creatures on this farm.

I don’t suppose the bees answer the blooming goldenrod with a rush of emotion. They’re acutely aware of the sun’s position. They’re connoisseurs of ripeness, that moment of nectareous perfection in each blooming species.

In the life sequence of the hive, bees certainly know the order in which things are done. But it isn’t — or so it seems to me — a nextness that reaches beyond the very task at hand. And yet what could all that honey mean except an awareness of the future?

What I needed, besides the goldenrod, was a few cool nights. And now that they’ve come, I feel my clock restarting. The goldenrod is pointing headlong to September’s end, and soon the world around me will be turning copper, deepening the blue overhead. I moved to the country, long ago, in order to live with time. I believed it was something happening around me. Now I know that it’s passing in me.