From the Shores of Introspect and Retrospect

Passport Stamps

2012-01-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."
~A. A. Milne

A Happy New Year

2011-12-23T13:09:00.002-07:00

Counting the days to the New Year, to new footsteps on new sand, new oceans of peace and the wide open possibilities of the future.

Happy New Year to you, with our heartfelt wishes for the best of your years to come.

Scarlett and Viaggiatore

Wordless Wednesday

2011-12-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Letters To The North Pole

2011-12-06T14:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Santa,

In an effort to be more ecologically mindful this year, could you please trade out the coal for a renewable energy source; preferably sunshine.

Thank you!

Merry Christmas!
Love, Scarlett

Love Is Not All

2011-11-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.
-Edna St. Vincent Millay

Do you think if I read this continually that I might believe it someday?

Where In The World?

2011-11-01T10:26:00.001-06:00

The Arab League demanded that Syria end the violence toward its people.

Palestine bid UNESCO for full membership, UNESCO said yes and the U.S. cut funding to UNESCO.

These are headlines that CNN was publishing today. How well do you know this region of the world or any of the impact of these newsworthy events on our lives?

If you are up for a really good challenge, try to name the countries in this geography game:

Map the Middle East

Viaggiatore and I have used it several times to learn and remember the geography in this area of the world.
I only wish they had map games like this for the whole world as well as one for the better known astronomical bodies of our universe. Wouldn't that be a fun learning tool!

Good luck with it!

Straight From The Heart

2011-10-26T10:56:00.000-06:00

I was visiting my dear Cupcake Man and discovered that this friend had reached right down onto one of the soft quiet beaches shoring the deep oceans of my heart and discovered a lovely sea shell that he plucked up, put in his pocket and took back to his own shore.

He proudly displayed it by way of publishing it and there I discovered it, recognizing it right away but never having seen it before. That familiar shell brought forth a sea spray of salt water from my heart to my eyes and the waves inside me swelled with a powerful current.

Here is the treasure he has taken from the dark and placed prominently in the light...

"Overboard I fell, overlong we dwelled. I was lifted up in the arms of that strong one, lifted up into his cape, too tired to thank the man, I spent a month harvesting his grapes. When he let me play with his children, when he let me sit at his table, I gained a position, small bit of dignity in the household a go to child when a salesperson dropped in from town. "Please sir sit down and let me pour you green tea." Please sir, I would think to myself, can you tell me what happens in town? I was thirteen and heard of the glass fountains in the main square, covered with lights in spring evenings." ~ Cupcake Man

It is his creation and it is my truth.

Isn't it surreal when we find ourselves in each other by mere whim or chance? Perhaps it isn't chance at all, perhaps it is not serendipity perhaps it is because we are all made of the same elements of everything in the universe and sometimes those elements rediscover grains of themselves when circumstance brings them near one another again & again.

Thank you, Cupcake Man, how very sweet this is.

Dear Daydream,

2011-10-24T16:11:00.000-06:00

Dear Daydream,

They are hiring for a photographer and photo editor at a baby and mom business called Zulily - which I just love, based in Seattle. So, today I quit my job and hopped on a plane and flew to Seattle. Zulily hired me on the spot at twice the salary I was making before. I found a wonderful little apartment facing the bay, just a block from Pikes public market where I can go every day to buy an armload of fresh flowers, Starbucks coffee from the original Starbucks while seeing the street musicians outside and enjoy lunch at that little Irish pub that's tucked in the alley or that cozy seafood restaurant hidden in the market that looks over the water. I can visit all the fun shops in the area and zip around on the train, go to practice for Wyld Stallyns, play outdoor chess and stand atop the highest needle in the world.
My new coworkers are amazing people who inspire me and are incredible to be around. My photography has never been better and things are simple and good. Having the ocean at my doorstep and the mountains right behind me in my back pocket does wonders for my soul...

....love, the Serendipitous Daydreamer

Fight Like A Girl

2011-10-13T14:40:00.000-06:00

In hope for those who fight for their lives.

In memorium for those who have lost the battle.

Keep It Simple Scarlett

2011-09-13T15:53:00.001-06:00

~K.I.S.S.~

To say that I have a busy, chaotic life is a monumental understatement. For a long time I've lived under the misconception that if there is a free moment, it should be filled with something that needs to be done. There is always something that needs to be done. Sisyphean tasks... always more to do... never done...

I am solely responsible for the life I make for myself; when did I ordain that I emulate Sisyphus? The things that spill over the edges of my time are not great steps to completing a magnum opus, they are like sea shells... lovely on the outside, hollow on the inside, save for the echo of something greater that isn't there. Each duty a puzzle piece that builds the image of my life, filling moments with an immutable story that can never be unwritten, undone or remade.

There is no resource as precious and priceless as time. Not in the whole universe.

I procrastinate... and I've said that one of these days I shall stop procrastinating. I always carry my planner with me and I pencil in chaos until even a glance at the month I've made is overwhelming. Busy does not equal productive. Work smarter not harder.

Scheduling balance into life is a gamble at best... I allow so many things to come up and change the direction of the ever flowing river of time I navigate. Balance is imperative for stability, growth, strength and peace.

Peace isn't something to be scheduled into a day after the gym and before work. We carry it within us, in every moment, in every place.

I decided to downsize. I decided to make a change to live simply. Less clutter everywhere in my life, my home, my work, my schedule; everywhere in every aspect. I began to eliminate at every juncture.
Then one of my friends moved and gave me half of the contents of her house. I have a lot of stuff. You want stuff? I got stuff. What I will not use now will be donated to those who need it far more than I. The Sisyphean task of elimination has begun again; only this time, that boulder will be resting at the top of the hill and I will walk off the mountain. Here's a great piece on what I mean by downsizing and amen to Zen.

There is a way to find peace and organization and simplicity and focus by creating it in our lives. Our hectic, noisy, chaotic, non-stop, stress filled, busy, runaway train lives.

I'll let you in on a little secret... shhh... listen...
~you really are in charge of everything in your life~.

If you don't like it, change it.

There are roughly 4 billion bits of information being processed by our brains every single second. That is a LOT of information. It does not help that we have so much more coming into us constantly (i.e. the endless stimulants to our senses that are an inherent foundation of our culture such as tv/radio/media/ads/phones/computers/entertainment/
noise/lights/all the amenities of our lives that are supposed to make our existence easier but somehow just fill up more space and time and leave us with a deficit of enrichment).

Consider:

Environment ~ start with environment. A seed cannot grow in poor soil. If your environment isn't conducive to nurturing healthy growth, then repot yourself. Old soil doesn't have the nutrients we need to grow stronger, either, but instead leads our experience to stagnancy and inhibition.

Circumstance ~ we have basic needs to meet and the labor we trade for providing for those needs does require some of our time, but not all of it. Two things that matter here are; first, is the labor we are trading worthy of the recompense we receive? Are you happy in your work? Is it fulfilling? Will you look back at the days you've spent toiling and believe that each one was worth what you accomplished at the end? Second... all of the time that isn't given to supporting your lifestyle is yours to make what you will of it... what do you make a priority of in that time? What is it given to? Are those things something worth giving your time to? If you do not have enough time for the things you want, then change your life to make those things happen. Each second of our lives burns away so quickly, until they are gone. Make them count. Make them all count.
They don't all have to be big moments, but they should all count. Let go of the ones that clutter your precious time, the things that would continue on without you, the Sisyphean tasks that will subtly devour your life if you let them.

Opportunity ~ It has been said that the harder one works, the luckier one gets. I said above that it's a better use of time to work smarter not harder, but sometimes working smart is hard work, too. The more you go after, the more opportunity will favor you; this I know to be true in my own life. Many times people have asked me how it is that so many wonderful experiences have found their way into my life... the answer is easy. I go after them. I ask for and work for the opportunities in my life, and the rewards are that I am able to experience living outside the box. I take risks and chances. I dream big. I don't give up unless I know for certain that my endeavor isn't truly within my realistic grasp. There is always a way... like water that runs against a rock until it finds a way through, opportunity will come if it is sought. It is a rare visitor if one sits idly by and waits for it to come of its own accord.

In short... your life is what you make it. Make it truly good.

Passport Stamps

2011-09-09T14:09:00.000-06:00

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret."

- Ambrose Bierce

Con Amore

2011-08-15T16:59:00.000-06:00

Asleep, my love?

What, dead, my dove?

O Pyramus, arise!

Speak, speak. Quite dumb?

Dead, dead? A tomb

Must cover thy sweet eyes.

These lily lips,

This cherry nose,

These yellow cowslip cheeks

Are gone, are gone.

Lovers, make moan.

His eyes were green as leeks.

O Sisters three,

Come, come to me

With hands as pale as milk.

Lay them in gore,

Since you have shore

With shears his thread of silk.

Tongue, not a word.

Come, trusty sword.

Come, blade, my breast imbrue.

And, farewell, friends.

Thus Thisbe ends.

Adieu, adieu, adieu.

A Golden Age

2011-08-04T17:19:00.001-06:00

Woody Allen just premiered my favorite film of his, ever. Welcome to Paris in 2010, where the city of lights by day is romantic, charming and enchanting as only this city could be. There is magic in this place where the light is pink, though, and at Midnight In Paris, wishful daydreams come true.

Enter Gil (Owen Wilson) who discovers at the stroke of midnight each night, that his dream of living in what he believes is the "Golden Age" of Paris in 1920, can be a reality. He climbs into a vintage car that stops for him on the Rue du Montagne Ste Genevieve and whisks him off to a party where Cole Porter is playing piano for all the guests, including his wife Linda, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Scott's wife, Zelda. Scott takes him to meet Ernest Hemingway who takes him to meet Gertrude Stein and we see cameos of Alice B. Toklas and Josephine Baker. Stein is, of course, hanging out with Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. More visits to this beautiful golden era find Gil in the company of T.S. Elliot, Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel.

Gil meets a lovely lady in the 20's who dreams of being in Paris before the turn of the century when Maxim's was all the rage and her dream comes true for her, just as Gil found himself in the 20's of Paris, Gil and his lady friend Adriana find themselves back in time in her ideal golden age where they meet Toulouse, Gauguin and Degas.

The question then becomes... are all those golden eras that we believe came before us really golden or were they just as common as our own era today is? I have said that I would love to have lived during the height of Egyptian and Greek and Roman glories, the Renaissance, and in the 20's, and in the 40's and that I was born too late for the old soul that I am, but perhaps I did live in those times and that's why they are precious to me, or perhaps the romantic in me loves the idea of being in a time and place that saw the birth of the things I love so much now.

It's a wonderful query, and it is an abundant banquet of a film that is delicious in every single aspect; in writing, music, history, literature, art, humor, politics,

romance, surrealism, nostalgia, idealism, and love...

and most of all, it is the very quintessential heart of one of the most special, wonderful cities in the world, the city of lights; Paris.

There is a day trip to the Palace of Versailles and some wonderful views of the grounds and the Hall of Mirrors there.

One of the sweetest moments in the film is found in a poetic comment Gil makes to Adriana on the

Rue du Chevalier de la Barre stairway in Montmartre, just underneath Sacre Coeur, when he tells her that Paris must be the most beautiful city in the universe.

There is also a quick cameo moment when he walks out of Shakespeare and Company; an English bookstore across the Seine from Notre Dame, a bookstore which is owned by Walt Whitman's grandson.

This is Allen's crown jewel, I believe, and I can't wait to dance to the luscious, rich soundtrack, and find myself in this wonderful story and dream, again and again.

Faith Restored

2011-07-21T09:37:00.002-06:00

I received a call from a gentleman this morning that restored some of my faith in humanity. He'd found a wallet (no cash, he said), but there were credit cards and various things in it. The only contact information he could find in it was the phone number to my office, so he called us in an attempt to return the wallet to its owner.

I called our customers and left a message for them to come by the office and I asked the gentleman to bring the wallet by for us to hold. He said it would take a while to get to the office as he was in a different part of town and, being homeless, he'd have to take the bus to get to us but he'd arrive before we close.

Morality knows no echelon of societal class; but when one who does not have much holds fast to their ideals, it speaks volumes of their character and though this man may have no home, it is certain that he has a wealth of values.

For Love Or Money

2011-06-28T15:48:00.000-06:00

This morning as I was getting ready for work, the dj's on the radio asked a controversial and interesting question.

Who should pay on a date? Without getting into too many specifics or politics on variations in the subject (i.e. same sex dating/short term and long term relationships/level of physical involvement in the relationship etc) because those things do play into this, but I'm only referring to the 'skim across the top of the subject' that was brought up this morning on the radio...
who should pay on a date?

Of course I had an immediate albeit well thought out opinion. I am independent and strong and able to care for myself and others in many ways. Yay me. That does not mean that if a man were to try to woo me that I should not allow that pursuit with grace and enjoy being treated like the valuable lady that I am (the dj referenced a Goddess concept which I delighted in).

Allowing the man in pursuit to express his affections by treating does not detract from my independence at all; on the contrary, it reinforces the ideal that I am open minded enough to allow someone else the pleasure of offering a kind gesture. If I insist that we go dutch every time or that I pay every other time, that does disesteem the man who is interested in me by denying him the opportunity to show it in this way, if he chooses to.

I also agree that it’s good for the lady to treat on occasion as a means of reciprocating the affection and gesture he offers her.

On the flip side of this coin and the other side of the truth in the middle is this (because truth is always in the middle); while it is very nice to be treated by a beau, it is absolutely and inherently wrong to allow a man to try to buy the ladies affections. There is a difference between the two and if the lady is unsure of that boundary then she should not be in the relationship.

Men have tried to buy my affections in inordinately extravagant ways and I flat out refuse to allow it at every instance; integrity must always be at the heart of the action, but I definitely support the custom of the man treating the woman as long as it does not compromise either of them. It is romantic, it is thoughtful and it is slightly in a chivalrous vein.

What do you think about it?

Happy Birthday Viaggiatore!

2011-06-11T10:00:00.000-06:00

Viaggiatore is 4 years old today! Happy Birthday my beautiful muse! We've traveled so far; over the world, through days and weeks and years, made many friends and discoveries and had countless wonderful experiences.

I'd never trade a moment of it! I am so looking forward to all of our days to come; each one special and precious.

Happy Birthday Viaggiatore!

From Viaggiatore~ The Lion of Lyon Tail, "...Viaggiatore was once a single thought... just one idea. Long ago, a good Samaritan selflessly saved the life of another human, with no thought for his own safety. The Lord was so pleased at this act of love, that he offered the Samaritan a wish... anything he wanted. The Samaritan said he wished only to continue to do good, everywhere he went, without ever knowing it. The Lord granted this wish, and then decided that it was such a good idea, it ought to be everywhere, for everyone.
He created Viaggiatore as a thought... it is him, in those moments of kindness when we do not know the good we do for others, he is a passing idea... a traveling thought that steps gently within us, and then moves on. As Viaggiatore passed throughout the world touching others, he walked away with remnants of each step touching him, and these remnants created a tangible body for him. The beauty of a world in unity incarnate in the skin of a lion. (Viaggiatore said) ".....I am made of the places that I have passed through, like any of us, it is the good and the bad that make me who I am and I cannot discard those things in my life that weren't good, any more than you can. It gives me character anyway, don't you think?"

*If you haven't yet met Viaggiatore (and you should, he's fascinating!) you can find out all about him here:

Viaggiatore~ The Lion of Lyon Tail
Viaggiatore~ Lion hide & Jungle Flight
Viaggiatore~ Sahara Sand & the Mediterranean Sea

Cuppa Joe

2011-06-06T02:27:00.004-06:00

I pulled up to a shed that had been painted baby blue and renovated into a drive up coffee hut. A rubber hose that stretched out across the asphalt rang like a service station bell to alert the proprietor to my presence, when I drove over it. I looked at the brief and simple menu and then at the window.

A man of at least 150 years in age leaned his old weathered face out the window.
"YOU WANT SOME COFFEE?" he yelled across the two foot distance to me.

My biting satirical tongue was barred momentarily by my teeth which flashed a million dollar grin and I swallowed the smarty pants retort that rushed to spring from my lips before I ingested it... "No, Sir, I just pulled up to this drive up coffee shed to see if you could wash the windshield of my car and check the oil." But I didn't say it.

"Yes, please, Sir!" I offered up to him as his window towered over my drivers side door. Examining the menu, I thought I'd reserve my usual barista lingo coffee request and keep it simple for this elderly gentleman of the small country town persuasion. I was surprised to find a coffee shed there at all, let alone one which sold several beverage options in Italian (espresso, cappuccino...); it was encouraging, but I thought simple would be best.

"Could I please get a mochaccino, decaf?" I asked.

"A WHAT?!?!" he yelled at me, the deep lines on his old face transforming into bewilderment.

I realized, too late, that I had overestimated the culture curve bridging the short distance between us. I could simplify this again and put it into steps for him, in an effort to be helpful.

"Could you please make a cappuccino?"

"YEAH."

"Do you have some sort of chocolate syrup that you could put into it, please?" ...voila, mochaccino.

"OH... YOU DON'T WANT A CAPPUCCINO. THERE'S NOTHING IN IT!" he hollered at me.

I was at a complete loss.

"I'm sorry?"

"YOU OUGHTTA GET A LATTE. DON'T YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CAPPUCCINO AND A LATTE?"

I was dumbstruck. I was trying my very best to fathom how this elderly gentleman could possibly be serious. I smiled in confusion and politeness and he took no notice; he just plowed right on.

"A CAPPUCCINO IS ALL FOAM. YOU DON'T WANT THAT. THERE'S ONLY HALF A CUP OF COFFEE. GET A LATTE, THEN YOU HAVE A WHOLE CUP OF COFFEE."

I stared at him incredulously. My two friends who were sitting in the car with me were in hysterics laughing at the situation. I could only think that I didn't want to confound the old man any further, for that would invariably lead to more amazement on my part, and I'd had enough by this point.

"That's fine, Sir, please use decaf and please put some chocolate in it."

He left to start the coffee and I turned and stared at my friends who were still in fits of laughter.

"HEY!" He yelled to me and I turned and looked up at him leaning out to me again.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO BE A SMART ASS, I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU KNEW THE DIFFERENCE!" he yelled. He handed me a large cup, I paid him and we drove off.

I tasted it; it was the worst cup of joe I have ever had the misfortune to lift to my lips. I looked at my friends and said, "I'm so sorry that I didn't go to Starbucks." They continued to laugh at the whole debacle.

Since this encounter, I have made a new cardinal rule in the Holy Book of Scarlett's Cardinal Rules... 'If they don't know what it is, don't ask them to make it, and never buy coffee from an old man in a coffee shed in a small town. Ever.'

Passport Stamps ~ On The Lighter Side

2011-06-01T19:35:00.002-06:00

"Yes, I'd like the Reality entree with the special Common Sense Sauce, a side of Snark, lightly grilled, the Wild Side Salad but please hold the Stupid Nuts, bring the Spice of Life dressing on the side and Chocolate Covered Dreams for dessert, please."
~ Wanderlust Scarlett

3.5 Minutes

2011-05-31T14:56:00.001-06:00

In June, 2009 AirFrance Flight 447 fell out of the sky and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis has stated that it fell from 38,000 feet in three and a half minutes. That's 10,000 feet per minute.

A minute can be a long time.

60 seconds.

Watch a clock tick for 60 seconds and see how long it is.

I believe that in the experience of all of those people aboard that flight, that it was very likely the longest three and half minutes and simultaneously the shortest three and a half minutes of their lives. They had to have known... falling at 10,000 feet per minute. What were they thinking? What did they do?
Our truest colors show through in the most difficult times.

What would you think or do in that circumstance? If you were on that plane... if you knew that your life was about to end and there was nothing you could do to stop it. If you knew the lives of others around you were ending... what would you do? Three and a half minutes.

I believe, if there were a loved one sitting next to me, that I would hold them tightly and tell them how much I loved them. If I were seated by a stranger, I would hold their hand, if they wanted it. I would think prayers and thoughts of love to all those who mean the world to me. I would probably watch, as I would very likely be seated by the window, in hopes that somehow it would work out. Disbelief.

The truth is that we are all in that position, constantly, though undoubtedly not as tragically. The minutes of our lives are unknown, and they tick away incessantly. There may be mere moments left to us, 3 minutes or 3 billion minutes. Does it make it any less valuable if you have more of it? No. Are you making every minute count? Do your loved ones know how much they mean to you?

Would you leave it unsaid or undone?

Zombie Apocalypse Plan ~ Centers For Disease Control & Prevention

2011-05-18T10:33:00.003-06:00

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a Zombie Apocalypse Plan. It's fairly well thought out and presented. It's important to be prepared for just about anything. Zombie Apocalypse preparedness is just another step in ensuring the safety and survival of the living in the event that the Mayans were off on their calendar and the Zombies rise to eat all of our brains.
If nothing else, it is a good laugh, and laughter is the best medicine. Thank you, CDC, for looking out for the well being of all, in many ways.

Passport Stamps

2011-04-14T16:50:00.002-06:00

"All love that has not friendship for its base is like a mansion built upon the sand." ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Masking The Truth

2011-03-29T23:29:00.000-06:00

This is not the first post that Viaggiatore and I have published on masques... but it is a different masque, this time.

Oscar Wilde said, "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

Why do we hide behind our masks? Why do we only feel the confidence to bare our souls to the universe when our faces our hidden?

Truth is no stranger, but why would we keep it… hidden away, secret… unable to face the truth without a mask?

A child's plaything? Oh no… this game is for the grownups. Children are openly honest and truthful; sometimes painfully so, but not the adults. Not the ones who believe that they must hide themselves from the world, and only come out to play when the lighting is right, and the curtain is up and the mask is on: then we can be anything we dare to be, without concern or recompense.

A mask to hide behind to tell the truth… to say this is who is inside me, what I believe, what I want, what I think, how I feel. But look neither upon my face, nor into my eyes… for therein lies my mortal soul, and it would whither should you see it bared before you.
Oh but it wouldn't… really. Fear binds us tighter than any other lie. Fear suffocates us into silence, tethers our feet to the ground so that we cannot fly into the heavens that call us, and over time it dissolves our cores like a rotting disease.

Fear is the impetus behind the need for the mask.
And for what purpose? What need? There is none.
Why would we ever hold tight to a disease that destroys us?

If we are without a mask to hide behind, then what is lost, and what is gained?

What strength could be found by defeating that façade… what honesty, truth, love and beauty could be given fully when there is no masquerade? No pretense. Would we discover that we are much closer to becoming the person that we long to be, if we did not hide our true selves away from the world?

Oh yes. Yes, indeed.

Sea Fever

2011-03-25T10:48:00.000-06:00

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

~John Masefield

Wonder Women

2011-03-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

"Human beings the world over need freedom and security that they may be able to realize their full potential. We want to empower our people; we want to strengthen them; we want to provide them with the kind of qualifications that will enable them to build up their own country themselves." ~Aung San Suu Kyi

"There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." ~Harriet Tubman

"Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you."

"They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?"

"People think that at the end of the day a man is the only answer. Actually, a fulfilling job is better for me." ~Princess Diana

“All our problems, all our disputes, all our disagreements can be resolved quickly to mutual satisfaction if we address the question” "You can imprison a man, but not an idea. You can exile a man, but not an idea. You can kill a man, but not an idea." ~Benazir Bhutto

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! ~Sojourner Truth

There are countless women to honor on this 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, Women from every country, every culture, every imaginable background, who used their lives to make a significant difference not only in the lives of other women in their own days, but in the lives of all people in the time that followed them. I've selected a few to represent the masses who changed the world. Thank you! For the young women just growing up today, and for those to come in years ahead, you have a mantle to carry, lifted with strength and dignity by the ladies who came before you, bear it well.

Passport Stamps

2011-02-22T13:30:00.004-07:00

"I do not believe that we are what our lives have been, but rather, we are what we have made of our lives." ~Scarlett

Dreams In The Deep

2011-01-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

Federico Fellini (a man with a brilliant mind, in my opinion), said... “You exist only in what you do.”

I thought about that this week... especially this week, having just come away from Martin Luther King Jr. Day (MLK is my most loved hero). I always steep my heart and mind in unfathomable depths of philosophy, integrity, morality, goals, dreams, love and values of character during this week more than many others in the year. It is my own personal mental and spiritual epiphany; thank you kindly for your indulgence!

So... Federico...

"You exist only in what you do."

At first glance, I thought... why yes! Yes, of course that's true. I smiled at his thought. Then I thought of Martin. One of the most incredible things about Dr.King was that he not only existed prominently in what he did... but he most assuredly existed, famously even, in what he did not do. Non violence. Not accepting the world as it was, but working peacefully to change it into what it ought to be; the better place that it could be.

Then I realized that both ideas are correct. Really, it's a glass half full or half empty sort of thing. In effect, when an action is not taken, it could be viewed as action by inaction... could it not?

My mind goes to a dear friend of mine who is oftimes quiet and thoughtful in most circumstances, taking everything in silently, processing, and only occasionally offering a response. I have seen so many people attempt to affect this friend's opinion, thought and action, by means of sugar & honey, by salty tears & heartfelt pleading, by anger & rage, and by so many countless other means that very rarely bring an end to their solicitor. Nearly always, these trials effect not much more than a nod at best, and when it truly matters, there is no reaction left ungiven, but more often than not... most of the waves that sweep in to that shore are left to retract back out to sea without so much as a whisper.

This inaction is another example of existing in what is not done... which is the same, I think, as existing in what is done, from another point of view.

...and you? What do you think?

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-12T15:33:00.000-07:00

Grains Of Sand

2010-12-28T13:49:00.002-07:00

There were so many different grains of sand that fell this year. Each one very precious. Each one with significant purpose and meaning. I learned so much, this year, more than I have in a very long time. Listening affords one the opportunity to hear and then change, if one is open to that.

This was the year that seemed to ride on shifting sands all the way through... everything I thought would go one way, went another, so many plans were changed or let go of, and things I didn't expect presented themselves from seemingly nowhere.

Fine grains~

There was forgiveness between people I love, and I forgave, and I was graciously forgiven. It emphasized compassion, understanding, patience, devotion and love, and it strengthened bonds.

There was discovery and adventure in small and huge ways, in new places and in old, hand in hand with friends, which only serves to enrich those kind of experiences even more. These excursions included the procurement of a red satin fringed flapper dress, Tony Bennett, King Tut, incredible moments in Muir Woods, tigers & leopards, ocean waves, orca whales, beautiful cities, a champagne birthday on a beach before an ocean sunset, a random cow, tangible history in Westminster Abbey, new friends in London, old and new hidden treasured places along the Thames, midnight under Big Ben, a movie set & some incredible actors, dolphins in SF Bay (?!), the best breakfast cafe in SF, the best sushi in the world in V.BC, a girl and her horse make beautiful subjects before a lens, mountain lakes don't last for eternity, there are faerie glens in woods & secret mountain places, I went halfway up the Eiffel Tower... again, the umbrella salesman has a stand at the end of the rainy road, I already met the only accordion player who knows La Vie En Rose and he's not in Vegas, art comes in every form and when it's water, it's beautiful, there's no rush or thrill like standing on a stage in a theatre singing your heart out to strangers, and it is equally thrilling to see dear friends do the same.

Medium grains-

Friendships mean different things to different people and when they are lost, it isn't always a bad thing. In the face of lost friendships, the loyalty and devotion of good friends is truly shown for its priceless worth.

When times are very difficult, in loss, in fright, in pain, in anger, in confusion, there isn't anything so good or precious as the warm steady strength of a friends hand or loving arms to make it through the darkness.

We have control over our environments, most of the time, and we have absolute control over how we choose to react to our environments and our experiences. I quote Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor, “...The last of human freedoms – the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” as he explains how he made it through his unthinkable ordeal. I repeated lessons in learning to adapt and grow in different environments... learning to make choices that would benefit others as well as myself.

Humbleness is found in honesty with self and when spoken with love by others, and it is the essential nutrient a soul needs to grow strong and upright.

Allowing shame and guilt to dictate behavior and thought is an unnecessary self-inflicted binding that hinders recovery and growth and should be left alone entirely.

Coarse grains-

One of the biggest lessons of the year, and one I am still working through, is that love is all encompassing... real love knows no bounds, it is not ruled by organization... by trying to force it into categories and definitive segments... compartmentalized until it is nicely and neatly controlled. It is fluid, powerful, endless, as the oceans I love so much. Learning how to love like that is a work in progress for me. It is astounding what I've held back from others because I did not understand the way that love is. I raged against the wall only to discover that I'd built the dam with my own two hands, all by myself. There's a confounding revelation.

Another lesson is learning to deal with everything as it comes, instead of pretending it does not exist, as has been my modus operandi for a long while. This behavior has excluded me from the very world at large... known, unknown, wanted, unwanted, and I've missed more than I could ever express. I have a passion for life that is boundless within certain bounds. That paradox cuts off so much possibility. I want boundless passion for life... period. I don't want to miss anything. Ever.

I hope that this year has found you well and successful in every way. Healthy, strong, and happy. I hope you've realized dreams and goals, and I hope you have new ones shining in the distance of days to come.

Happy New Year

Nobel Peace Price

2010-12-10T12:12:00.003-07:00

Our most sincere and delighted congratulations to

Liu Xiaobo for winning the Nobel Peace Prize this year!

Our most sincere and heartsick sorrow to Liu Xiaobo that the Chinese government has charged him with 'inciting subversion' and imprisoned him for 11 years. This stems from his work to change China's communist ideals.

The price of freedom is high, but there is nothing that those who want it won't sacrifice to get it; history has shown us this time and time again.

The Chinese government has called Xiaobo's Nobel win "an attack on its political and legal system" and a "political farce", as they view the (massive world wide) support of Xiaobo in an extremely negative light. His wife, Liu Xia has been under house arrest since the Nobel committee announced Xiaobo's win. No one will be allowed to accept his prize for him, unfortunately.

The Nobel committee will honor this imprisoned hero by representing him with an empty chair at the presentation of the awards. He may not be there to accept it physically, but his absence will make him more powerfully present than anyone else who is there. It will speak volumes to the world, and hopefully, to the leaders of China.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said,

"The Nobel committee has to admit they are in the minority, the Chinese people and the overwhelming majority of people in the world are against this. The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not represent the wish of the majority of the people in the world, particularly that of the developing countries... This is not an issue of human rights; it is an issue of interference of internal affairs... Liu Xiaobo broke Article 105, a crime of instigating the subversion of state power. He went beyond general criticism of the state..."

I believe that she is wrong, and I am not alone in that opinion.
Almost 100 protesters marched on the Chinese Embassy in Oslo with a petition containing more than 100,000 signatures demanding Liu Xiaobo be released from prison, crying "Freedom to Liu! Freedom for China!".

Leaders from many nations all over the world including President Barack Obama and his wife have called for his release as well, and China's leaders in Beijing have only grown more furious over the requests and demands for Xiaobo's freedom. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has blocked all media and internet coverage and all information about the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to Liu Xiaobo.

President Obama stated,

"Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity also depends upon the advance of democracy, open society, and the rule of law. The values he espouses are universal, his struggle is peaceful, and he should be released as soon as possible."

The chair is only empty of a physical body... it is filled beyond measure with faith, with ideals, with dreams, with the support of those who have freedom and of those who believe in it and dream of it every day.

These are the struggles that bring us to freedom in the days to come. Liu Xiaobo, we believe in you, and in what you stand for. Keep the faith. Peace be with you.

Chris Andrews Photography http://www.cja-images.org.uk/index.html

The Rhyme of the Dream-Maker Man

2010-12-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

The Rhyme of the Dream-Maker Man

Down near the end of a wandering lane,

That runs 'round the cares of a day,

Where Conscience and Memory meet and explain

Their quaint little quarrels away.

A mist air-castle sits back in the dusk
where brownies and hobgoblins dwell
And this is the home
Of a busy old gnome
who is making up dream-things to sell,
My dear,

The daintiest dreams to sell.

He makes golden dreams of wicked men's sighs.
He weaves on the thread of a hope
The airiest fancies of pretty brown eyes,
And patterns his work with a trope.

The breath of a rose and the blush of a wish
Boiled down to the ghost of a bliss,
He wraps in a smile
Every once in a while
And calls it the dream of a kiss,
Dear heart,
The dream of an unborn kiss.

Last night when I walked thro` the portals of sleep
And came to the weird little den,
I looked in the place where the elf-man should keep
A dream that I buy now and then.

`Tis only the sweet happy dream of a day-
Yet one that I wish may come true-
But I learned from the elf
That you'd been there yourself
And he'd given my dear dream to you,
Sweetheart,
He'd given our dream to you.

~William Allen White

Passport Stamps

2010-11-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

~Aristotle

The Unemployed Philosophers Guild

2010-11-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Viaggiatore and I wandered across a delightful new site and must share it with you; it's that good. I don't like to think of any philosopher being unemployed, but this group has made the most of it, that's certain!

Welcome to The Unemployed Philosophers Guild!

This is where you will find such fantastical fancies as:

Atonemints... for each of your sins - You could ask forgiveness with fresh breath, which won't hurt...

Relativity of Time Watch - The numbers on this watch actually rotate with each passing second, making 3:00 into 9:00 in 30 seconds.

Alice's Enchantmints - Fresh breath for the Curiouser and Curiouser!

Inspired by Leonardo's notebooks, this watch tells time backwards. The numbers are backwards. Everything is backwards. Look at in a mirror and it looks like a normal (but beautiful) watch.

Mug Shots - 6 arresting shotglasses! Includes Al Capone, John Dillinger, Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano, Machine Gun Kelly, and Pretty Boy Floyd.

"Super Strong Manly peppermints. Let the world see and smell you for who you are."

One of their best products, in my humble opinion:

Freudian Slippers!

"Now you can really put your foot in it! Walk in the masters footsteps with our Freudian Slippers!"

There are so many clever, fun things to enjoy at this site. I do love the mugs; most of them have disappearing and reappearing features when a hot beverage is poured into them, some of the best are:

The Cheshire Cat mug... the cat appears and disappears
The Global Warming mug... the continents disappear
The Civil Liberties mug... the civil rights disappear
Dr. Who's disappearing Tardis mug
The Freudian Sips mug
The Dorothy Parker martini glass "...'I like to have a Martini, two at the very most; three, I'm under the table, four I'm under my host!' So quipped Dorothy Parker."

I bought the Shakespearean Love mug, of course, as I am a hopeless romantic and I adore Shakespeare.
If love isn't your thing, there's a Shakespearean Insults mug which is very fun!

The best thing on my SLove mug is a little notation printed on the bottom that states, "For best results, use other side." Such clever mirth!

There are T-shirts, notepads, a large variety of mints, time pieces, finger puppets, energy bars, pill boxes... and so many other fun things for the keen thinker who has everything.

If you like politics, art, history, impressionism, science, philosophers, music, religion, literature or the renaissance, you will find yourself laughing at so much of what these Unemployed Philosophers offer.

Have a fabulous time visiting them.

That's The Buzz

2010-11-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

There are companies who manufacture caffeinated water. I used to buy a couple called H20 Zip and Aquajava. It seemed a sort of oxymoron incarnate to me, because caffeine dehydrates a body.

I was just wondering... what would happen if someone made coffee with caffeinated water...

Letting Go

2010-11-16T13:33:00.001-07:00

The bad news: letting go can be a difficult thing to do.

The good news: once we let go, it leaves our hands wide open to accept new things.

Love Embattled

2010-11-12T15:57:00.001-07:00

"It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same..."

"...He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."

"He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine..."

"He'll never let his friends be at ease, and he'll never be at ease himself!"

- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

Is there nothing as tragic and beautiful as deeply passionate love that exists but cannot be given a breath of life? I find myself wandering through the mists of Wuthering Heights from time to time; aching for the dark, brooding, melancholy Heathcliff and the only light in his life, his strong and determined Cathy.

It is nearly unbearable to love someone so much that you cannot have; as though they were the very air that brings life and without it there is no life worth living. Is there passion like this in life? Is there love that cannot be measured, cannot be lost or changed; even by death? I must believe that there is. I must believe that every level of love leads to a pinnacle as poignant and eternal as this... as deep and strong and timeless as this... for there is no denying what our souls know, and mine knows that this is true.

Oh The Irony Of It All

2010-11-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

First and foremost: a hearty thank you to those who served their country whether or not they agreed with politics or war. Happy Veteran's Day.

Second... I had something shipped from a distant library to my library because I need it desperately and immediately. I got an email from my library this morning saying that it was in and I could come pick it up when I liked. So, I drove to the library today, was delighted because the parking meters were free (Veteran's Day) and then completely flummoxed that the library was closed (Veteran's Day). My urgent request will have to wait until tomorrow.

Dear, Dear Diary

2010-11-08T15:25:00.000-07:00

Dear, Dear Diary,

Let's do this today, because we need to do this today. Let's come up with 5 Things What Are Good, as our Dearest Jon used to do.

1. Trying BIG new things which necessitate one jumping feet first into the OMIGOSH-I-HAVEN'T-EVER-NEVER-THOUGHT-I-COULD-DIDN'T-THINK-I-EVER-WOULD-BUT-I'M-GONNA-DO-IT-ANYWAY-OMIGOSH pool. It's deep in here, and I like it.

2. Very grateful for dear friends & family who are always there to support, love, encourage and believe in me. I cannot imagine where I would be without you.

3. Stash White Christmas White Tea. O.M.G. This is my new favorite tea of the season. I don't like peppermint, but I LOVE this tea. YUM. If you could put a snowy Christmas morning in a mug and drink it, this is what it would taste like.

4. The last truly warm day of fall on a Monday, following a weekend that could have been stolen out of late June... right before the first snow of the fall.

5. Seeing each new day as an opportunity to grow.

Beautiful

2010-11-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

Something very beautiful, to make up for the last post.

Momentary Pause For A Trainwreck

2010-11-05T15:53:00.001-06:00

Normally I only post quality material on this blog.

I'm going to make an exception today because Halloween just didn't scare me enough and one of my friends directed me to a very scary website; a recommendation which just may have earned him a smack in the back of the head.

As with any trainwreck, it's one of those seriously disturbing things that draws you in and you just can't look away, even when you know you should.

Fair warning & disclaimer given. Welcome to People of Walmart.com. Don't eat or drink anything while you are at this site; it will not end well.

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

It is astounding to me that people like this exist on our planet, and may I just say how grateful I am that so far our paths have not crossed often. Sometimes there are just no words... and yet, somehow, the commentator on this website is witty enough to find a fitting & oftentimes humorous caption for every single photo.

If you click on the photo tab, be sure you scroll down each page... you won't believe what you'll see.

Here are some of the more TAME demo shots from the site... Don't say we didn't warn you:

A Denial

2010-11-05T03:50:00.003-06:00

A Denial

We have met late-it is too late to meet,
   O friend, not more than friend!
Death's forecome shroud is tangled round my feet,
And if I step or stir, I touch the end.
   In this last jeopardy
Can I approach thee, I, who cannot move?
How shall I answer thy request for love?
   Look in my face and see.

I love thee not, I dare not love thee! go
   In silence; drop my hand.
If thou seek roses, seek them where they blow
In garden-alleys, not in desert-sand.
   Can life and death agree,
That thou shouldst stoop thy song to my complaint?
I cannot love thee. If the word is faint,
   Look in my face and see.

I might have loved thee in some former days.
   Oh, then, my spirits had leapt
As now they sink, at hearing thy love-praise!
Before these faded cheeks were overwept,
   Had this been asked of me,
To love thee with my whole strong heart and head,
I should have said still . . . yes, but smiled and said,
   "Look in my face and see!"

But now . . . God sees me, God, who took my heart
   And drowned it in life's surge.
In all your wide warm earth I have no part
A light song overcomes me like a dirge.
   Could Love's great harmony
The saints keep step to when their bonds are loose,
Not weigh me down? Am I a wife to choose?
   Look in my face and see.

While I behold, as plain as one who dreams,
   Some woman of full worth,
Whose voice, as cadenced as a silver stream's,
Shall prove the fountain-soul which sends it forth;
   One younger, more thought-free
And fair and gay, than I, thou must forget,
With brighter eyes than these . . . which are not wet . . .
   Look in my face and see!

So farewell thou, whom I have known too late
   To let thee come so near.
Be counted happy while men call thee great,
And one belovèd woman feels thee dear!
   Not I! That cannot be.
I am lost, I am changed, I must go farther, where
The change shall take me worse, and no one dare
   Look in my face and see.

Meantime I bless thee. By these thoughts of mine
   I bless thee from all such!
I bless thy lamp to oil, thy cup to wine,
Thy hearth to joy, thy hand to an equal touch
   Of loyal troth. For me,
I love thee not, I love thee not! Away!
Here's no more courage in my soul to say
   "Look in my face and see."

~Elizabeth Barrett Browning

My Heart And I

2010-11-04T15:26:00.000-06:00

MY HEART AND I

Enough! we're tired, my heart and I.
We sit beside the headstone thus,
And wish that name were carved for us.
The moss reprints more tenderly
The hard types of the mason's knife,
As Heaven's sweet life renews earth's life
With which we're tired, my heart and I.

You see we're tired, my heart and I.
We dealt with books, we trusted men,
And in our own blood drenched the pen,
As if such colors could not fly.
We walked too straight for fortune's end,
We loved too true to keep a friend;
At last we're tired, my heart and I.

How tired we feel, my heart and I
We seem of no use in the world;
Our fancies hang gray and uncurled
About men's eyes indifferently;
Our voice which thrilled you so, will let
You sleep; our tears are only wet:
What do we here, my heart and I?

So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
It was not thus in that old time
When Ralph sat with me 'neath the lime
To watch the sunset from the sky.
"Dear love, you're looking tired," he said:
I, smiling at him, shook my head.
'Tis now we're tired, my heart and I.

So tired, so tired, my heart and I!
Though now none takes me on his arm
To fold me close and kiss me warm
Till each quick breath end in a sigh
Of happy languor. Now, alone,
We lean upon this graveyard stone,
Uncheered, unkissed, my heart and I.

Tired out we are, my heart and I.
Suppose the world brought diadems
To tempt us, crusted with loose gems
Of powers and pleasures? Let it try.
We scarcely care to look at even
A pretty child, or God's blue heaven,
We feel so tired, my heart and I.

Yet who complains? My heart and I?
In this abundant earth no doubt
Is little room for things worn out:
Disdain them, break them, throw them by!
And if before the days grew rough
We once were loved, used, - well enough,
I think, we've fared, my heart and I.

~Elizabeth Barrett Browing

Incognito

2010-10-28T13:28:00.001-06:00

incognito \in-kahg-NEE-toh\ adverb or adjective

: with one's identity concealed

Example: "[Mary, Queen of Scots] loved St. Andrews, where she kept a small vacation cottage and often stayed incognito, doing her own shopping and cooking, and playing golf along the links by the Firth of Forth." -- From an article by Sally Jenkins in The Washington Post, July 15, 2010

This blog has oftentimes been my mask. My voice aloud, my identity incognito (for the most part)... and I find that Oscar Wilde was perhaps partially correct when he said,

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth."

...but I do not think that this idea is entirely true. In the midst of the current political blizzard of lies, slanders and shallow promises, it is hard to see truth and the public masks that are worn aren't unlike those creepy clown masks with the empty eyes and painted smiles.

There are those rare and wonderful leaders who believe in honesty, revel in it, in fact... Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Sister Theresa, Mahatma Ghandi, and so on and so forth. No mask did they wear, to speak the truth.

I've found that I have different masques... different persona's for different circumstances and situations.

A masque for work

A masque for play

A masque for family

A masque for friends

A masque for various circumstances

I've wondered, when I gaze into the looking glass... if I wear a masque for myself too often. I wonder how much truth comes from behind these masques... if they are half truths, partially disguised for the viewer, partially revealed, because honestly, we really want people to know who we truly are, to some extent... or at least, we show them who we want them to believe we are.

Knowing that we constantly change; daily even, I am growing towards leaving the masques behind, so that I can see clearly, so that others can see me clearly and make no mistake about who I really am and what I really think.

To thine own self be true ~ remove the masques for my own perspective and for all of those around me, because if they are interacting with a masqued me, the self is lost in shadow and the interaction is skewed.

and...

Actions speak so much louder than words ~ the truth will out, one way or another.

and...

Truth is somewhere in the middle ~ there is a bit of honesty on both sides of the masque.

But... perhaps I will keep one or two masques around... for special occasions.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-27T07:00:00.003-06:00

Passport Stamps

2010-10-25T12:33:00.001-06:00

"Full fathom five thy father lies...
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change."
~Shakespeare, The Tempest

A Farewell To A Friend~

2010-10-21T10:47:00.003-06:00

We've seen and done so much, you and I, haven't we?
Been through highs and lows together,
Sailed & flown through days & months & years, together.
We've laughed and cried, loved and fought,
You and I have watched so much time pass;
More than can be measured.

There is a bend in our road that you cannot see,
A change in the cadence of our walk.
There is a road that I must take alone, dear one,
And though I am letting go of your hand, know that I will
Always hold you in my heart.
I know there will be a day when this road brings me back
To you
I will hold your hand to my cheek & embrace you so tightly.

But until then,
I have promises to keep; promises made to people
I love
And I must keep my word.
So farewell, for a time, sweet friend.
May wings of Angels encircle you,
And keep you with my love,
Until I can return.

Thanks to Radeka Photography for the image

Dear, Dear Diary

2010-10-19T14:36:00.000-06:00

Dear, Dear Diary,

You know I do some of my best thinking in the shower, where there is no distraction, only the sound and feel of hot water and steam. Nothing there but soft light and the water, washing the world away, washing all of the little parasitic thoughts that constantly consume my mind, down my back in rivulets. 'I need to get the oil changed in the car, I need to call this friend, I need to go visit that friend, I wonder if I'll have time to clean out the closet in the guest bedroom this weekend, I hope my brother is doing well... and his kids... I better call, must get a birthday card and paper towels, and on... and on...

And there they go... sliding down the drain, and my mind clears and it almost feels like it's spreading, growing, right outside of my head, and I can hear and think from the inside out, instead of thinking about all the information coming in - I am able to focus on information going out.

This morning I breathed in the steam, let the world go away and started wondering about reality.

I think we are all in our own little reality, and all of our realities have overlapping areas where we share a cohesive reality; that realm where we can communicate and understand each other, for the most part. There is no normal and I think, no definite reality - because where is that bar set? Who could set it? Who could say 'this is reality and that is not' because they're looking at it from their own perspective, from their own mind, lifestyle and their own reality.

Albert Einstein had a fascinating reality. A different reality. Nikola Tesla. Leonardo da Vinci. Marilyn Monroe. Stephen King. That guy on the sidewalk with the guitar and the hat filled with loose change and a dollar bill. The little girl sitting in that desk at the school, staring out the window and finding herself somewhere completely separate from the shared reality of her desk in her classroom. The pastor of the church down the street. The woman who is beaten by an angry man nearly every day. The single parent struggling to raise children on their own. The performer who spends their life on Broadway under a spotlight. The politician...

I wondered how far realities stretch... there are some people who are so far gone from our shared reality that they are labeled insane; unfit for society. What a different world is their reality! How far do they all go; our realities... and how much are really shared? Is there more of one than there is of the other... our own individual realities and our shared realities? If we are in one more often than we are in the other, how does it shape our lives? Is it easy for most people to keep that line between the two, drawn - to keep them separated? Do they blend and mesh for everyone?

How much do we have control over, and how much can we change? What about what we can't see and those things that aren't tangible?

I know I could change a lot of my shared reality; and I could change quite a bit of my own individual reality... what I think, what I believe, what I say, how I live, what I do, what dreams I allow myself to indulge in, and what I refuse to accept in my life.

Every single one of those actions and indeed, even every inaction, has that ripple effect that changes our lives and the lives of those around us (and then in turn the lives around them... so many degrees of separation later), and really impresses the significance of the incomprehensibly dynamic world of controlled chaos that we live in.

...and that's about when the hot water ran out.

Holding On To The Real Thing

2010-10-14T11:21:00.010-06:00

A friend of mine recently got a Kindle for her birthday. She was very excited and reports that it is one of the best things she's ever gotten. I was surprised, as she's an avid reader, and I expected that she would miss reading real books.

She said she thought she'd miss them, too, miss turning the pages... but she's found that she doesn't, and is thrilled with her new electric book.

I am of another opinion.

I love to lose myself in every aspect of a real book. The introduction; I love the look of the book; it draws me in closer, and I examine if from all sides. The first touch; texture is enormously important... the feel of it underneath my fingers; sometimes course, sometimes gently worn, and the pages! Oh... the pages, some thick, and when I'm lucky, roughly hewn around the edges, or thin... like a parchment, delicate as a flower petal. Open it up and examine the inside; the style of the font and layout of the words that splay across the pages, like the skeleton of the body held in my hands, about to be fleshed out with the story that all of the words create. Breathing it in... the smell of a book is paramount; it tells age, care, quality... a whole other story altogether.

Familiarity attained, I find a comfortable cozy place to curl up and lose myself in the story between the covers. As on any journey, the first few steps are taken as there is yet another introduction, and the first few pages are turned, but before long, I am one with the characters, and hand in hand, we head out into their world, to share every experience until the last page has been turned and we take our leave of each other with the closing of the book, and the end of the story.

I somehow cannot find this experience with Kindle. I know it's great to have the convenience (is there anywhere you could take a Kindle that you couldn't take a book? The only power resource needed for a book is the imagination and a functioning brain...) and I know that we are progressing forward technologically. But what of libraries, whose hallowed halls I hold in a reverence on par with that of any giant old cathedral? I do not expect retrograde motion... I know that Kindle is here to stay, and it's a good option for some people. But I suspect that it will be all the rage for a while, and then, in time to come, something nostalgic and sweet will happen...

I think it will be the same thing that happened with cd's and records. Records made a comeback. There's nothing like listening to an old album, with the soft rustling scratch that accompanies the songs as the needle winds it's way around and around from the outside in. Many friends have smiled with fond sentiment when I put an old Beatles album on and we listen to the way it used to be.

So too, will be the way of books, perhaps, in years to come. Friends will slide them off of my shelves and open them with a reminiscent gaze, gently touching the pages, turning them slowly, and thinking how wonderful it was, once upon a time, to explore endless worlds in this way.

It's The Great Pumpkin!

2010-10-12T15:36:00.001-06:00

Mid October a few years ago, I found myself feeling inspired and crafty and standing in the aisle at the supermarket, paging through a holiday magazine looking at those fancy schmancy pumpkins that are carved into amazing Jack O'Lanterns.

I decided that it didn't look that difficult and that I ought to make one. The timing was good, a couple of weeks before Halloween. It would last, I thought. This couldn't be that difficult, I was certain.

I bought a good size pumpkin, parked myself on a large towel on the garage floor on a sunny afternoon with the garage door open and the radio on and went to work. Cleaned it out, carved the lid, and then prepared to make my image.

I pulled out a Peanuts color book and found a great image of Snoopy that would be perfect on a pumpkin. Snoopy is requisite Halloween subject matter, considering The Great Pumpkin. I taped it to the pumpkin, took a toothpick and poked dots all along the lines that needed to be carved out; sort of a 'carve along the dotted line' idea. Dotting done, I removed the color book page and set to work with my special pumpkin carving knife.

At first, things seemed to be going well and I was fairly pleased with the results... but then I overestimated the carve and tried to fix it with extra toothpicks pushed into the inside side of the pumpkin and superglue. A word to the wise... superglue does not work on pumpkins. It does, however, work very well on fingers, paper towels, cloth towels and plastic carving knives.

In the end, I was relegated to carving my usual simple Jack O'Lantern face into a new pumpkin.

I'll leave the fancy carving to the pros!

Have a Happy Halloween!

One for Viaggiatore

A Snoopy for me

~Fair Warning~

2010-10-12T14:26:00.000-06:00

If you lurk without commenting, I shall send my Pirate friends after you, and I've got lots of them. If you are a Pirate, I shall send my secret Ninja.

Shyness isn't paid, tipped or tolerated and opinions are like belly buttons; everybody's got one, so leave yours before you wander off.

Thank you.

HRH

When Will We Ever Learn

2010-10-11T15:32:00.000-06:00

California isn't in a golden state, when it comes to hitting the books. TIME did a story on several teachers in several towns who are paying for their own supplies and going to every creative and extreme measure they can imagine, in order to come up with not only the tools they need to teach, but even basics like pencils and paper to run the classroom and their own vacuums to keep it clean.

Almost $17 billion was cut from California's education system in the last 2 years. $17 BILLION.

That is an appalling number.

It is estimated that an additional $2.4 billion will be taken in the coming year.

When teachers resort to cleaning their own classrooms after a day of teaching because the janitorial staff has been let go or had hours cut back, when they have paper curtains held together with duct tape, when they have to have car washes or bake sales to raise money for supplies and go to garage sales to come up with tools to teach children, things have gone severely wrong. This state of affairs isn't isolated to California; it's happening all over our country.

Where is this train wreck headed?

What happens to the most powerful nation in the world when the bulk of the children who will run it in varying positions and degrees in 3 decades have almost no education? Even now, the national rate of high school dropouts is stunning - Diplomas Count showed statistics at 68.8% graduation rate in 2007. There is no indication that it has improved since then.

This is not an issue.

This is a crisis that needs immediate attention and change. It is not only crucial on an individual level for each student that loses the opportunity to reach their full potential through better education, but that domino effect winds it's way up through the community into a national level and then it affects the world. If the U.S. does not have citizens with the knowledge to further this nation in every capacity then it falls behind other nations and a sociological revolution becomes probable, if history is any indication at all.

Knowledge is indeed power. Without it, we are crippling our future, the future of our nation, and the delicate balance of relations with the nations we share this world with.

I saw a bumper sticker once that said, "The world will be a better place when our schools have all the money they need and the military has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

If only.

I've said before that George Bush's education strategy was 'no child left behind... the platoon.' Uneducated people who have no idea how to think critically are easily controlled, and give far too much power to those few who would use it for their own gain and purpose. This is not the ideal of our nation, nor of our forefathers who fought and died to make it what it could be. Masses of ignorant citizens become sheep, are expendable, and the integrity of our future is lost because we cannot contribute to furthering the progress of mankind or even ourselves.

It is not with power in might that we could reach unimaginable realities, but with minds fueled by knowledge that have the capability of attaining limitless possibility.

Choose An Identity

2010-10-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

I was leaving a comment on a friend's blog yesterday, when I paused for a moment to look at the phrase, 'Choose an identity' under the comment box. I could use my blog pseudonym, OpenID, a name/url or be annonymous. Choose an identity. Decide who it is that I wish to portray myself as to the world at large. It made me smile and wonder about all the identities I would choose, if given the opportunity to do so.

I would choose to be so many people.

A secret spy with no identity at all; 00Charlie's Angels

A right hand to Martin Luther King Jr., marching alongside him

An adventuring archaeologist (ala Lara Croft)

A nameless member of the Peace Corps serving 3rd world countries

An ingenious inventor in a secret lab, creating brilliant wonders that would change the future of the world for the better (ala Tesla, Einstein, Franklin, Edison, DaVinci)

An elementary school teacher

A professional dancer (ballet/ballroom)

Sherlock Holmes

A student of DaVinci; while he was living

A race car driver

An Air Force fighter pilot

A painter who lives by the sea and sells my art on the docks, and/or in Paris, in Montmartre, selling paintings on the sidewalk

A photojournalist who travels the world and creates images of humanity and culture, printed in Natl Geo, Life and Time, whose photos give the world a reason to change the way we all live

A novelist who has the luxury of writing for a living; while living all over the world

...oh the list could go on for a while.

Who would you be, if you could choose an identity?

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-06T11:44:00.000-06:00

In Peace

2010-09-23T14:51:00.001-06:00

With enormous love, little Peanut

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-22T11:33:00.000-06:00

Leap of Faith

Introspective Reflecting

2010-09-20T11:33:00.000-06:00

I stayed up until 5:30 this morning, engrossed in fiction that had my rapt attention, and then I forced myself to take a nap before I got up to go to work. I don't normally stay up that late (or, rather, early)... but it does happen from time to time. There is a domino effect that follows, of course. I'm tired, I give less than a stellar effort in my work throughout the day, my interactions with people are subdued and they receive less than my best, and I've heard that we never actually catch up on the sleep we lose, although I've tried!

I've not reached a point in my life that I've been seeking to get to for a long time. One of balance. One where everything actually works the way it's supposed to. Sometimes I imagine a mirror image of myself, living a parallel life just the other side of some translucent barrier I can almost see and touch (thanks Hollywood for the air/water/energy force field filmy see-through image in my brain). It's the same me, living my life, but living it the way I always wish I could.

I see the Scarlett who gets out of bed early every morning, goes to the gym every day, gets everything done on time, always says the right thing, always does the right thing, the one whose morals and integrity are always intact, the one who remembers everyone's birthday and sends the right cards and gifts, the one who keeps the spotlessly clean home, the one who finishes everything she starts, the one who is unfailingly reliable, the one who does it right, all the time, every time, the way that I mean to and just can't seem to do. Sometimes I imagine her looking through that otherworld barrier at me, as I do her, and we regard each other.

She wonders at my life of chaos and passion and rushing about, at my spontaneity, at my self indulgence and all the extremities that are a constant in my life; everything as far as I can take it all the time, and over the edge more often than should happen. I wonder at her perfection, at her stability and constancy, at her ability.

We are both at a loss, because each of us has qualities that the other would need for a truly full and perfect life. We both have strength, dedication, and drive. We are both passionate about what we do, but because we are not one person, because there is no combination of our lives, we are each leading a life that is unbalanced. How I wish, almost daily, that she and I were one person. I wonder how different my life would be if we were one person... my pseudo other me and I. For now I will just keep seeking the balance between us... that place where we'd be if we were ever really able to meet and change everything.

In Which I Become The Muse Of Irony & Serendipity

2010-09-16T13:13:00.002-06:00

Scarlett: I'll have a chicken salad, please.

Waitress: We don't have chicken salad.

Scarlett: Fine. I'll have a chicken burrito with lettuce and tomato and hold the tortilla.

Waitress: No problem, that will be right out.

Scarlett: :/

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-15T13:13:00.000-06:00

Relax~Revitalize~Renew ~101

2010-09-13T16:10:00.001-06:00

Viaggiatore and I are ready for the road again. Nevermind that we just got back from another trip to London; there is a very special trip coming soon... one that we've been looking forward to for a very long time.

This will be the one that truly counts, for the whole year. This will be the one during which we can relax and let the world go away, revitalize our souls and our bodies, and renew all those things about life that we love, live for, and believe in. We'll find new things, too, which will only enrich the experience. Oh the adventures to be had!

Mr. Black has agreed to join us on this excursion as well, so the company will be very good, indeed. There's much to be said for good company on adventures to be had. We'll visit friends and family, make new friends along the way, and see so many countless wonderful things and places.

Here's some preliminary Introspect:

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-25T13:30:00.001-06:00

Top Ten ~ Healthiest Sins

2010-08-24T14:13:00.000-06:00

From 1-10, as per Health magazine's proknowitalls:

Sleep....

Play!

Physical Love ~ XO

A little chocolate every day...

Girls night out! Friends are imperative!

Fattening dressing... honest!

A cuppa joe.

~Relaxing massage~

A little sun...

Vino by the 5 ounce glass a day!

Now... remember, too much isn't good for you, but a little bit will get you a long way!

More details at CNN.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-08-18T10:59:00.001-06:00

Finding Happy

2010-07-27T12:58:00.000-06:00

Things have been a bit slow around here lately.

*cue cricket*

Things have been a bit bumpy behind the blog.

So Viaggiatore and I have determined to find our happy again.

We searched Google, which is a wonderful tool to find whatever one (or two) might be looking for.

We started with "image of serenity". We found several images of a dark haired girl with a dagger.

.......

.........

................

Last time I checked, serenity was the state or quality of being serene.

Color us oh so full of doubt... but this just seems like the wrong path.

The search has grown to include peace, harmony and balance, but mostly happy.

We found some good things. Bubbles, water, sunshine, mountains, sea, coffee, chocolate, hugs, warm blankets, babies, giggles, new friends and old, lazy weekend mornings, red cars, hand holding, sunsets, cameras and good books.

How about you? Where do you find these things? What makes you happy and brings you peace?

One Night With The King

2010-06-25T11:14:00.003-06:00

Maybe it's luck.

Maybe it's charm, grace, or an Egyptian blessing from the boy king himself.

Tonight will find me photographing the King Tut gala and exhibit opening at the Denver Art Museum.

I am nothing short of ecstatic about this opportunity.

The board presenting this gala have decided to call it "Flappers and Pharaohs Bash" and tie in a roaring twenties theme complete with flappers, gangsters and Tommy guns galore to coincide with Harold Carter's 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb.

I can't really see the connection between a rough and tumble dangerous party era and one of the most fascinating and mysterious ancient kings in the history of mankind... but it's going to be a lot of fun!

What do you think... Flappers and Pharaohs? Do these images show any resemblance to each other?

Think Al Capone knew how to walk like an Egyptian?

The chance to photograph King Tutankhamen's artifacts and listen to Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, speak about him, will be one of those special life experiences that I never forget. The fact that they're letting me photograph it is one of the great highlights of the night for me. One night with the King. I can hardly wait!

Mike The Headless Chicken

2010-05-28T13:10:00.004-06:00

I really wish I was kidding about this one.

Let's go back to September 10th, 1945 in the very small rural town of Fruita, Colorado. Lloyd Olsen's wife, Clara, sends him out to kill a chicken for dinner. Lloyd fells the axe on the chicken's neck. The head comes off and the chicken, oblivious to the loss of his head, keeps right on going about his bird business. When Lloyd found him alive and well, sans head, the next morning, he decided to let the bird live and fed him with an eye dropper to keep him going.

They named him Mike and Mike became so famous that for the remaining 18 months of his headless life, he hit celebrity status; he even wound up in both Time and Life Magazine.

That celebrity status became legend and now there is an annual Mike the Headless Chicken festival in Fruita, during the third weekend of May. The festival features a lawn mower race, chicken dance contest, eating contests, chicken games (like pin the head on the chicken and an egg toss), 5k run, a car show and a 'Good Egg' award, among several other interests.

If you would like to know more about it, he has his own website:

Mike's website.

Alternate titles for this post:
~~the afterlife of a chicken~~
~~it just wouldn't die~~
~~and in other news... chicken defies death~~

~~axe me again~~

~~life after death~~

~~stranger than fiction~~

Let's Do It ~ Let's Fall In Love!

2010-05-20T15:46:00.008-06:00

Birds do it, bees do it

Even educated fleas do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

In Spain, the best upper sets do it

Lithuanians and Letts do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The Dutch in old Amsterdam do it

Not to mention the Fins

Folks in Siam do it - think of Siamese twins

Some Argentines, without means, do it

People say in Boston even beans do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Romantic sponges, they say, do it

Oysters down in oyster bay do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Cold Cape Cod clams,
'gainst their wish, do it

Even lazy jellyfish, do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The Dragonflies in the reeds do it

Sentimental centipedes do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Mosquitos, heaven forbid, do it

So does every katydid do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The most refined lady bugs do it,

When a gentleman calls

Moths in your rugs do it

What's the use of moth balls?

Electric eels I might add do it

Though it shocks em I know

Why ask if shad do it - Waiter bring me "shad roe"

In shallow shoals English soles do it

Goldfish in the privacy of bowls do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

In old Japan, all the Japs do it

Up in Lapland little Laps do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The chimpanzees in zoos do it

Some courageous kangaroos do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

I'm sure giraffes on the sly do it

Even eagles as they fly do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

The world admits

bears in pits do it

Even Pekingeses at the Ritz do it

Let's do it, let's fall in love

Let's do it, let's fall in love!

Let's do it... Let's fall in love!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T04:36:00.007-06:00

My Brother's Keeper

2010-05-06T00:04:00.002-06:00

Matthew and Marcus Mauceri are twin brothers.

Matthew Mauceri (age 40) was flying in to Clearwater, Florida on Tuesday morning to attend his court trial, in which he is charged with scheming to defraud.

Apparently he hasn't figured out yet that scheming to defraud is illegal, because he perpetuated yet another instance of it when he schemed to defraud the court he was supposed to be attending for scheming to defraud.

I'll expound.

He realized en route that he would not make his trial on time and asked his twin brother to go to court for him in his stead ~ and by 'in his stead' I mean literally pretending to be him.

Matthew's own attorney (who'd defended both men previously ~ note, repeat offenders) realized that things were 'one juror short of a full jury', and tipped the judge off. Marcus swore under oath that he was Matthew, then the judge had a fingerprint test done on Marcus and the truth was discovered.

Marcus is now serving 179 days for criminal contempt of court and his brother Matthew (who finally showed up) now has charges of failure to appear and contempt of court to answer for in addition to his trial for scheming to defraud.

Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying that 'the definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over again, expecting different results'.

Forest Gump was quoted as saying 'Stupid is as stupid does'.

I'm going with Forest on this one.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T09:25:00.000-06:00

A Nickel's Worth Of Free Advice

2010-04-29T13:31:00.000-06:00

From a recent discussion on Ethics... a good reminder.

~Take responsibility for your actions
~Do not make excuses
~Develop a personal discipline
~Balance time, energy and goals
~Know your weaknesses
~Align your priorities with your values
~Admit your mistakes and ask for forgiveness
~Take extra care with your finances
~Put your family ahead of your work
~Place a high value on people; and trust them
~Do periodic self-evaluations

~Live with integrity
~Know what you stand for, and what you won't stand for
~Live with a culture of honesty
~Live with a culture of humility
~Listen to the ideas of others
~Have the courage to tackle tough issues
~Encourage ethical behavior
~Live your values

...what would the world be like if we all did these simple ethical things?

What You See & What You Get

2010-04-28T06:00:00.002-06:00

OMG — oh my god
WTF — what the ~F~
STFU — shut the ~F~ up
PWN3D — aka 0wn2d = your computer is hacked, we own it down to the roots, we are already maxing out your credit cards buying stuff.
URAN00B — you are a n00b = newbie = my dog knows more about computers.
LMAOROTF — laughing my ass off, rolling on the floor = this is hilarious. (sometimes seen as ROTFLMAO or ROTFLMFAO)
KTHXBYE:P — ok thanks bye - pfffftthhbbbb.
IF YOU CAN READ THIS, UR EYEZ R THE L337. TTYL. — if you can read this, your eyes are “the leet” = excellent. talk to you later.

Avistrum- Fall from Grace - Bloodthorne's Trial

2010-04-22T10:00:00.000-06:00

How the trial ended...

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-21T14:29:00.002-06:00

Variations of The Spartan Boot

From Hogwarts to America: Welcome To Avistrum

2010-04-12T21:27:00.012-06:00

It seems that almost everyone knows this young man and his friends...

The story of Harry Potter enthralled readers around the world. Then, the movies came out and the fascination with his world and story knew no bounds!

What a great escape! Wouldn't it be incredible to go to school HERE:

Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to step into the story and be able to be part of it?

Unfortunately, we can't all live close enough to Hogwarts Academy to attend.

Fortunately... there were some witches and wizards who created a sister academy to Hogwarts, right here in America.

Welcome to Avistrum Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Avistrum began humbly (as all things do); it started as a fan table at a convention in Denver.

It has since grown to epic proportions.

What Avistrum really is:

Avistrum is a very dedicated non-profit interactive theatre group that has created a way for people of almost every age to use their imagination and step into the world of Harry Potter to play for a bit. It begins with the Avistrum website. This is a forum where the school exists online and where one can create a student and interact with professors and other students within the school, online, and follow various storylines.

...but then the magic happens!

What Avistrum becomes at showtime!:

Twice a year, the school materializes for real and the whole thing comes to life. There are 4 houses; replicated after Hogwarts in the same colors you knew from those stories. Parador (Gryffindor), Enigmus (Ravenclaw), Lobostro (Hufflepuff) and Colubrae (Slytherin). Each of the 4 houses has a House Ghost and a Head of House. There are several Professors, a nurse, a groundskeeper & keeper of keys, a Quidditch Coach for the 4 house Quidditch teams, a librarian, 4 house prefects, 2 Head Boys, there is a Deputy Headmistress, and of course, the Headmaster of Avistrum Academy.

The spring show at Starfest in April, is a small sampling of what is to come in the fall. There are classes to attend, crafts to make, all the staff is on hand, faces can be painted and photo ops are taken on the Quidditch pitch with real Quidditch equipment. This is also where the Tri-Wizard Tournament is held every year for claim to the coveted cup!

It is a glimpse into the real deal that comes 6 months later...

The school semester is held at MileHiCon (lasting one weekend in October) and Opening Ceremony begins on Friday night with a sorting ceremony, and all the new students are sorted. There are always many returning students who flock to the opening ceremonies as there is always a new part of the actively running storyline that happens in real time in real life for the students to be part of... and it unfolds!

All weekend there are classes, some of which have been: Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, Charms, Divination, History of Magic, Muggle Studies, Defense Against the Dark Arts and in the last couple of semesters; Dueling (which is enormously popular). During the weekend and during the classes, the students learn valuable lessons - while simultaneously the Villain(s) are skulking around the school causing trouble and making mayhem of all sorts... but the students are wary!

Moments of (scripted) drama that are played out by the faculty and staff, keep the students participating in the ongoing and unknown story - until (after the final Quidditch match on Sunday) the Villain tries to do their dastardly deed and is foiled and defeated by the students! Everything they've learned all weekend is something that enables them to win the battle!

The current storyline has actually been put into video with quiet a bit of excitement coming this weekend at Starfest when some unprecedented secrets will be uncovered and chaos will ensue!

Headmaster Dowling is defending Professor Kraven Bloodthorne in a trial before the Wizengamot (wizard judges) who are charging him with several crimes that he does not remember committing. Students will be able to watch this trial live on the Wizarding News Network (TV) in between classes this weekend. Their classes will focus on proving Professor Bloodthorne innocent.

In this video, we see Professor Kraven Bloodthorne, who has been locked up in Alcatraz Wizards Prison, being interrogated by Wizarding Senator Oswald Kensington; who is no stranger to the halls of Avistrum Academy. Kensington has caused all kinds of trouble at the school. Headmaster Dowling comes to rescue Professor Bloodthorne just in time... the trial this weekend will definitely be something to watch!

It is an incredibly fun way for children (and their adults) to pretend and use their imaginations. It is an opportunity for new friends to be made, for old friends to play together, for some to escape into a world they would rather be in and for others to expand their skills at acting.

In a few days, Viaggiatore and I will give you a photo sampling of the staff, students, classes and some of the exciting drama that has unfolded over the last few years. It's been quite an adventure, and the truly exciting depths of the Tales of Avistrum are yet to unfold!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-07T13:28:00.001-06:00

For The Love Of Chocolate

2010-03-31T09:48:00.013-06:00

*News Flash* from CNN:

Chocolate is good for your heart!

It is believed that the daily consumption of moderate amounts of chocolate lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.

It is further suggested that eating a little chocolate (dark moreso than milk and not white at all), will lower high blood pressure.

This makes sense to me, because eating chocolate releases endorphins which produce a pleasureable feeling. High blood pressure has no chance of survival when immersed in absolute pleasure. That's the law.

"The good news is that chocolate is not as bad as we used to think, and may even lower the risk of heart disease and stroke," says Buijsse. "The bad news, at least for some of us, is that the amounts that are needed to benefit from these effects appear to be quite low."

That last part is bad news, but the good part is that it's important to eat chocolate to have a strong, healthy heart. I love this news. Most things are good in moderation. So please, endulge a little every day and treat your body to a real treat!

Bon Apetit!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-24T13:53:00.002-06:00

Therapy ~ Bring It On

2010-03-22T11:07:00.013-06:00

We are waist deep in March Madness. I have a new theory. The name "March Madness" refers to the insanity of so many games in so little time, as well as the frustration that consumes a person as their brackets begin to resemble target practice at close proximity.

It is also my belief that the Ides of March came late this year; instead of the annual date of March 15th when a disbelieving Caesar was assassinated (stabbed to death in the senate) by 60 co-conspirators, it came during March when a disbelieving nation watched UNI beat Kansas.

I've decided to use my brackets as floor mats in my car; I'll get more use out of them.

I still have 3 teams in the final four, so we'll see how it goes.

Bring It ON!

2010-03-18T10:34:00.003-06:00

My brackets are done... I am perched at the edge of my seat... waiting...

Bring on the MADNESS!

Get Your Green On ~or~ March Of The Sweet Potato Queens

2010-03-11T13:19:00.021-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is almost upon us, and with it come many things; wearin' o' the green, parades and Irish dancing, drinkin' o' the green beer, kisses galore because people are happy to use a complete lie as a reason to plant smackers on everyone they see, corned beef and cabbage and potatoes, whiskey, fashion-questionable attire and green derby hats.

It also brings something I look forward to every year... the holiest of holy days for the Sweet Potato Queens; the Hal and Mal's St. Patrick's Day parade in Jackson, Mississippi.

You don't know about the Sweet Potato Queens? Sit a spell. I'll tell y'all about 'em.

Jill Connor Brown wrote a book called, "The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love" in 1999. It is 'split your sides laughing' funny. Her gems of wisdom are found all throughout the book, but some of my favorite chapters are:

~The True Magic Words Guaranteed to Get Any Man to Do Your Bidding
~The Five Men You Must Have in Your Life at All Times
~Men Who May Need Killing, Quite Frankly

~Be Prepared On Account Of You Just Never Know
~What to Eat When Tragedy Strikes, or Just for Entertainment

~The Best Advice Ever Given in the Entire History of the World

There are fabulous recipes for Chocolate Stuff and Fat Mama's Knock You Naked Margaritas.

I've tried the True Magic Words Guaranteed to Get Any Man to Do Your Bidding and they work. ;D

So, the book published and almost immediately, there were groups of women forming Sweet Potato Queens clubs, popping up all over the nation, followed almost immediately by several (20+) other countries in the world. Similar to the Red Hat Society; in fact, some women are in both 'ladies only' clubs. The propagation of SPQ's has given women a sisterhood; a place to find camaraderie, adventure, fun, silliness and the chance to not only let their red hair down, but let that strong, wild woman inside them out for some fresh air and shenanigans!

Back to The Parade.

Every year on St. Patricks Day, SPQ's from all over the world descend upon Jackson and take the town over. There are get~togethers, luncheons, dinners, dances, activities and of course; the march in the parade in full regalia; green dresses, crowns, wigs and sparkly things abound. I wish I could be there this year for the Bathrobe Brunch at the Hilton on Sunday morning, which closes the weekend's festivities. I've gone out to a restaurant dining room breakfast with friends, all of us in bathrobes and pajamas, but it's been a long time and none of us were queens.

Jill Connor Brown began a sweet revolution for middle aged, middle class women and it spread so much that there are no limits now. None. The men who join are either 'Spud Studs' or Queens; fair is fair, yes? This is Diva Training at it's finest and funniest. Living large and laughing a LOT.

But it's not all about big curves, huge crowns, red hair and being spoiled sweet. The SPQ's donate enormous amounts of money made from their activities towards charities; in particular, the Blair E. Batson Children’s Hospital. That's a worthy cause.

Even with the explosive popularity of her book and all the glitz and glamour that are part and parcel, Jill did not stop, thank the Queens. One great book deserves another and if you're lucky, a chain of them to keep your habit satisfied. If you haven't read these yet, get started, you are missing out.

~Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love (1999)
~God Save the Sweet Potato Queens (2001)
~The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook and Financial Planner (2003)
~Sweet Potato Queens' Field Guide to Men: Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay, or Dead (2004)
~The Sweet Potato Queens' Wedding Planner/Divorce Guide (2005)
~The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet (2007)
~The Sweet Potato Queens' Guide to Raising Children for Fun and Profit (2008)
~American Thighs: The Sweet Potato Queen's Guide to Preserving Your Assets (2008)

Viaggiatore and I wish you a safe and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Culinary Shangri-la

2010-03-08T14:25:00.011-07:00

We've found it. We've been to the promised land and seen the light. Our waiter spoke the word, and the word is Ahi-tuna followed by Key Lime Pie.

Let me give you some background. I love both of these dishes, separately. En route to go see the Broadway production of Mary Poppins (which I very highly recommend!), we stopped at a little downtown Denver restaurant for dinner before the show.

The Avenue Grill.

It offers a relaxing and intimate atmosphere, an extensive and impressive wine list, and a waitstaff that knows no limits when it comes to kindness, service and helpful advice.

Their Reisling's are disappointing, the Pinot Grigio was sufficient, and the velvety smooth Pinot Noir that was served was one of the best I've ever enjoyed.

The sesame encrusted lightly seared Ahi tuna that was earnestly recommended to me, is just barely this~side of paradise. I'm not entirely certain that I didn't cross over in those moments of utter bliss when each bite was slowly savored in my mouth. There are no words to take you to this place of incredulity.

Believing that this zenith could not be topped, I smiled politely when we were brought the Key Lime Pie. I have been on the 'Key Lime Pie Quest' for well over a decade, and have searched high and low, the world over, for *the* Key Lime Pie. I even went to Florida for it. I had not yet found one that was deserving of the most coveted #1 top spot on my list.

And then I tasted this one, humbly offered up with little pieces of strawberry and pear on the side, and vanilla whipped cream perched politely and unassumingly atop the delicately cut ~square~ of pie.

Ladies and Gentleman, we have a winner.

I could not tell you which of these two dishes is better than the other. Is the sunrise any more beautiful than the sunset? Not at all; they are both perfect in their uniqueness.

I told our sterling waiter, Gabriel, that there were only two downsides to the event.

1. That there was a last bite to both dishes.

2. That I would never know how good everything else on the menu is, because I will always order these two things. Regularly.

If you are *ever* in Denver... ever, do not do yourself the disservice of missing the sheer ecstasy that is this experience.