THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Andy Andrews latest book, THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, is a wonderfully packaged inspirational message about how every single thing we do matters.  He uses examples from history to show us how one thing, one action, can lead to another and then another, that "snowballs" into something that really effects more people than the 2 or 3 that were involved in the original decision or action.  It gives us a long term view of otherwise short term actions.  For those of us who sometimes have "blinders" on, taking life one day at a time (which is not always a bad way to do things) it provides the reminder that what we do today does have an effect on what might happen tomorrow. Although I found his examples of the "Butterfly Effect" to be very interesting historically, I think perhaps it might be hard to relate some of the more mundane, "ordinary" events in our lives to such broad, far ranging effects.  BUT, this is perhaps the main focus of the book----to help us do this, to help us see day to day decisions and events on a much broader scale.  As an inspirational package, it is very well done; a beautifully made, well written book with a wonderful, uplifting message.


THE BOY WHO CHANGED THE WORLD
    by ANDY ANDREWS
This is the companion book to THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT.  Written for children, the book relates the story of how the lives of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, inventor George Washington Carver, and Vice President Henry Wallace were influenced and interwoven by decisions and choices that were made around them and by them.  It's core focus comes from the message in  THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT, that each person is made to make a difference, and that everything you do matters. It is very beautifully illustrated by Philip Hurst, and written in language that will engage both younger and older children.  I found it to be very entrancing to read to myself, and think that it will be inspiring, and thought provoking for the children I read it to, besides just being a plain good bedtime story.

Oh Canada!

Mike and I had a great trip to Canada last weekend.  We had 5 nights, with one night in a hotel in Ottawa, two nights camping in Gatineau Park, across the river in Quebec Province.  Then we had 2 rainy days, Saturday and Sunday, so we drove toward Montreal.  Since this was a fairly spur of the moment, play it by ear trip, we didn't have reservations in Montreal.  We found out quickly that all rooms anywhere near where we wanted to be were taken up by parents of McGill students, and perhaps other local colleges.  That was the weekend before the start of school.  SO, we headed back out of Montreal and up toward Mt. Tremblant.  We stopped in a scenic little village called Ste-Agathe-Des-Monts, about 2/3 the way up to Tremblant.  There we found a room at a Super 8!  with a fairly large indoor water slide/park.  Another day I would have been thrilled to try it out, or if Hayden had been there.  We went out to eat and visit a local music bar instead.  The last night we spent in a wonderful old inn at Quebec City, in the Old Town (Upper).  We had the afternoon and the next morning to explore Old Quebec, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is now on our list of places to go back to, along with Canada in general.

To backtrack just a bit, before I go off to work, we also thoroughly enjoyed Ottawa.  It was very green, and being right on the river had lots of scenic waterfront to see, and the architecture was entrancing.  We did a lot of walking, rented bikes, and saw a lot of historic sites.  Camping was also wonderful.  We rented a canoe, walked some, and enjoyed the wildlife (4 legged kind).  If it had not rained the weekend, we would have continued in the camping mode as we headed east.

I have put all the photos up on flickr, along with a few videos and photos of Hayden in Haverstraw with me earlier in the month.  As I have time I will post a few of the best photos here, but for now, please feel free it look at my flickr site.

Gloves

I just had to post this photo after reading Margaret's most recent entry.  I too have a photo of gloves that I just love.  Mine was taken in Nova Scotia a couple years back while visiting a friend.  And, while I am looking at that trip's photos, here is another one I really liked; with two versions:

The one photo has a rain drop on the lens.  I was trying to "erase the smudge look" and ended up experimenting with color saturation.

THE SELFLESS GENE

The Selfless Gene  LIVING WITH GOD AND DARWIN,  by Charles Foster, is a very thought provoking book.  The blurb on the back of the cover says "Intelligent, provocative, and highly readable..... a reconciliation of what are popularly seen as two opposing worldviews."  I must agree with this, although the "highly readable" part I might beg to differ.  I have always, since childhood, had a tug of war in my head and heart concerning how to reconcile what I was learning in Sunday School with what I was learning in science classes the other 5 days of the week.  For those of us, like me, who have a deep interest in the natural world around us, and an innate curiosity with a leaning toward scientific process and inquisitiveness, The Selfless Gene provides a wealth of information that may help us integrate two different views, and perhaps somewhat resolve the inner conflict. 

 
The technical writing aspect of the book is very readable; "plain English", so to speak.  The wealth of information offered though, and the intense amount of research (with almost 40 pages of notes and bibliography) put into the author's discussions throughout the book made it a gargantuan project for me.  I frequently put it down  after reading only 4 or 5 pages to ponder and mentally chew on what Mr. Foster was offering up.  This made for rather slow going in getting through the book. It is a book that I feel I will refer back to and re-read to see what parts I have "missed".  I appreciated the fairly neutral position of the author. I have shied away over the years from some treatments of the subject of Darwin versus Creation due to the sometimes hysterical nature of each side.  It was refreshing to read a calm, academic discussion.  It provides the possibility of accepting aspects of both beliefs into a personal ideology that I can live with. The book will not be satisfying to those who are extremely diametrically opposed, but for those of us who see a world that includes both natural evolution/selection (a "wholly self-centered process") and God, it provides some promise of peace.

In his closing paragraphs Mr. Foster asks the reader to consider that "consistently, another force has been at work molding the shape of the biological world--the force of community, of altruism, of selflessness.  Sometimes this force might have been the tool of natural selection--there is no problem at all with that.  Sometimes it might have been a self-energizing force."  It is a book that I will read again, and recommend to anyone needing answers to the ongoing debate.

Father's Day

It is a hot Father's Day here in New York.  I hope all the father's I know are having a good time, wherever they are!  I just tried calling mine, but the lines must be busy so I will try again.  Even if I can't be there to wish him a Happy Day!,  I am thinking of him.  In more care free days I would have jumped on a plane to go visit, and I have had that thought several times the past few days.  I know I don't go visit often enough.  I have picked out some of my favorite photos to post though.  If I had a scanner I would go through all the boxes of old photos I have and scan in some of my older memories.

A Lazy Day

I started this day thinking I would finish the boat cushions.  BUT, not yet.  After a busy weekend with Hayden, I guess I needed a "do nothing" day.  Anything to avoid the cushions.  They are not that difficult.  I do not know why I keep avoiding finishing them.

We had a good weekend.  I went to pick Hayden up from his after school program on Friday and we headed back up to Poughkeepsie.  We have a little routine, I am sorry to say.  He ALWAYS wants to stop at the rest stop right before the NY State Thruway, to eat at Burger King.  I have never been a big fan of BK, but he loves the chicken nuggets.  And, I can never deprive him of food after we have all had to almost force him to eat in the past.  So, BK it is.  I usually get a salad, or the grilled chicken sandwich and then sometimes we splurge on an ice cream.  I was ready to be home though, so we decided to get ice cream at the grocery store on the way.  I shop at Stop and Shop and they have handheld scanners so you can scan and bag your own groceries as you shop.  It is really cool to do this.  I can keep track of exactly how much I have spent as I go along.  I take my own bags, for which you get a 5 cent discount per bag.  Hayden loves to scan the bar codes.  And the scanners give you extra coupons and discounts, so he scrolls through those and tells me what the specials are for the day.

We had high hopes of swimming over the weekend, at the marina, whether or not the boat got launched.  But, alas, it turned out to be a partially rainy weekend.  We managed to walk the dog between showers, and ride bikes in the park at sunset on Friday.  But, Saturday we changed our plans due to weather and spent a couple of hours at the Mid-Hudson Children's Museum.  They have a fairly new exhibit with a mastodon found in Hyde Park several years back.  It is a small museum, with some exhibits that really do need updating and maintaining, but Hayden always enjoys the interaction with other children.

After the museum we decided to do a geocache.  We had done some a previous weekend with his mom and dad and really enjoyed it.  I printed out the coordinates of one close to us and we took off on our bikes.  The sun came out and we found raspberries on the way there.  We filled our tummies and carried on.  The geocache was pretty easy to find, just at the coordinates listed and we signed the log and took a really neat marble someone had left.  We left an unopened sample of some EcoTools earth friendly hand lotion.  For those of you not familiar with it, geocaching involves looking for "hidden" caches, usually an old ammo box, a watertight container, or some other weather proof thing, by using a handheld GPS to go to a set of coordinates and then searching for the exact spot. It gives hikes and walks a new meaning, and a fun goal.  There is always a log book and pen to sign your name and leave a little message, and you can take or leave small items in exchange.

It was still a nice day when we got back from that so went to play mini golf.  Hayden is getting better at this.  He is beginning to remember the rules, and some of the etiquette involved in golf activities, and his aim and focus are improving.

When we weren't out of the house we did some serious game playing.  He likes "What's Gnu?", so we played that, and of course Crazy Eights card game.  We played a few Scrabble words on Facebook, Chinese Checkers, and then read books before bedtime.

Sunday morning the weather was still a little damp and gray, but not really raining.  We met his mom and dad at a U-Pick farm, Lawrence Farms Orchard, which is about halfway between our two homes. We have picked there for 3 years at least now and really enjoy it.  It is up on a ridge that looks east over the Hudson River Valley.  We usually pick strawberries, but this time decided to pick cherries, sugar snaps, and I picked some turnip greens and red curly leaf lettuce.  There is a children's village, with scaled down houses, school, church, jail, etc. for the kids.  And there are horses, goats, a ram, a turkey, chickens, and a beautiful peacock.  I have a new appreciation for the price of cherries in the store now, after picking them myself.  Not an easy job.....  I want to go back in mid July and pick apricots and maybe make jam.  For apple picking in the fall, we have several other places to pick that are our favorites.

It has been awhile since I posted, so there is really toooo much to catch up on.  I have all my recent photos up on flickr.com though, so they can all be seen there.  I had a great time in Chicago with Celeste and Sue, and have LOTS of photos from that trip.  It is a great city......think New York without the noise, grit, graffiti, litter, and about one fifth the number of people.  The open spaces were beautiful and the proximity to the clear fresh lake water was a plus.  We visited Navy Pier (pretty touristy), did two different boat tours, one at sunset out into Lake Michigan, and the other up the river with a very knowledgeable Architecture Foundation guide. We had drinks and dinner with some of Sue's family at a hopping Irish Pub downtown one evening, sampled good Cajun fare one night, and a boisterous sea food  cafe on the river another night.  I wandered around Grant and Millennium Parks, took the buses, subways and els around town, and spent the only rainy morning in the Field Museum.  I really think it is somewhat better than the Natural History Museum in NY.  The public transit around Chicago was very efficient, clean, and quiet.  It links both the airports with downtown, making ground transportation very easy.  Sunday night Celeste and I went to see "Blue Man Group", a live production that is really hard to describe if you have never heard of it.  Suffice it to say it involves Blue Men, lots of drumming, not much speaking, but lots of audience interaction.

For Memorial Day weekend, I did manage to get some family time, despite the fact that I had to work one of the nights.  On that Saturday we all went to do our first couple of Geocache's, with great success, in an area of Harriman State Park called The Silver Mine.  And on Monday I drove to Rob and Rachel's for lunch and a swim in Hayden's new pool.  You really must look at the photos on flickr to see the amazing pool.  It was nice to get some holiday time with family.

Fourth of July I am able to go visit Mike for a long weekend.  Air fares have sky rocketed, but I had some US Airway frequent flyer miles to use.  USAir doesn't go very many places that I fly, and they make it difficult to use their FF miles.  I have tried several times in the past to use them to various places, Lincoln and Omaha included, but without success.  I was totally amazed that I was able to use them for part of a trip to see Mike, especially over the holiday weekend.  It has been since April that we were together, so it will be good.  Then he will come up here some time in August, after he hauls the boat out for the season.

My boat is coming along, but slowly, with all the cool wet weather we have had.  The barrier coats of bottom paint need a pretty narrow temperature and humidity range to cure.  It will be a short boating season for me, but this is a once in a lifetime maintenance thing.  So, that brings me back to the cushions.  Guess I will go cut out the rest of the fabric for now.

Where Did April Go?

Here it is May already.  April went by in a blur of travel and work.  We had a wonderful and adventurous time on vacation in St. Martin and Saba in April.  It was great to wake up each morning with Rob, Rachel and Hayden aboard. Below are just a few photos from the trip.  If you are interested in seeing more, please go to my flickr page.  If you can't log in to flickr, let me know and I will send you a guest pass.

The trip started out rather ominous, with too much wind, some rain, and the requisite dinghy mishap.  I won't go into the dinghy problems; it did get resolved, and in the meantime gave us a couple days of exercise, rowing ashore.  During part of the four days on St. Martin we rented a car and I gave the kids a tour of the island.  The Butterfly Farm was a good place to start, thanks to Mike's suggestion!  The sun was out at that time, and so were the butterflies.  I saw butterflies that I had never seen before.  We also walked around Marigot, on the French side, a couple times, and explored the grounds of the old fort.  We anchored off Grand Case for this part of the trip.

On Tuesday we headed out to Saba, with fair weather initially.  The seas got a bit lumpy though, and we were all glad to make it into the lee of Saba and pick up a mooring.  Saba is a rather dramatic, small, cone shaped island (Dutch).  It was, like most other Caribbean islands, a volcano.  Many years ago though, its dome collapsed.  So, when you hike the mountain you do not see a caldera, as it is not active at all.  It is all covered with thick tropical rain forest-like vegetation, some open fields of tall grasses and trees, and then on the windy side, a more arid clime and less vegetation.  Mike and I love Saba, despite its fairly unprotected mooring field.  Getting ashore can be a real (wet) adventure, but the hiking and the friendliness of the people are unsurpassed.  We rented a car for a day to be able to show the kids the entire island, and then spent a couple days hiking, and diving.

Rachel and I went diving with Mike (BIG Mike, from Saba Deep Dive Shop) for two beautiful dives one morning.  I had always wanted to dive Diamond Rock, a tall pinnacle that juts up above the water off the coast.  We did a shallower dive (40-60ft.) first that was really awesome in the HUGE variety of sea life and beautiful coral.  Then Diamond Rock, which was great for the dramatic wall of corals.  I am really almost more impressed with the shallower dive.  It was truly a wonderful underwater garden, but any chance I get to breath underwater is awesome!

The hiking on Saba is the other main attraction.   The vegetation is always amazing.  The LARGENESS of some of the plants takes my breath away.  The huge exotic looking tree ferns seem prehistoric. Saba is always on my list of places to return to for more, as I never get to all the trails there are! The trails are fairly well maintained by the well organized trail association.  I have always wanted to take Rachel and Rob and Hayden hiking on Saba, and now I finally have! We criss-crossed the island, seeing all sides, and even getting a view of Statia in the distance on a clear day. There were lots of flowering plants, and the banana plants were in bloom.  I was sorry we kept missing lunch time at the Eco-Lodge, but Scout's balcony was a great respite and good food.

Of course the weather changed, and when it was time for our trip back to St. Martin of course it was lumpy, again.  Thanks to the guys who stayed up all night, Rachel and I managed to sleep through the worst of it.  Hayden never seemed bothered by the seas.  And when we got back to St. Martin, we gave him a couple sessions of beach time, as Saba does not have any sandy beaches!  It is all rock and steep shorelines.

Although the weather could have been better, the company and the meals were wonderful.  Rob brought us delicious meats from D'Artagnan, so we ate like kings and queens.  I loved showing them Saba, and just having them aboard Island Flyer.  Hayden never once complained with all the hiking. Mike was a very gracious host to us all!  And at least Rob got one dry dinghy ride at the very end!

Spring Green

The lush bright new green of spring has always been one of my favorite sensory experiences.  Most memorable is probably how Gainesville and the surrounding area used to seem to just pop into green overnight. Even being Florida, there was a dramatic difference.  When I lived there, spring was my favorite season.  Here in New York, our green has not quite caught up yet.  We are having lots of rain to stimulate it though, so hopefully soon we will see more color.  Right now it is a cozy, melancholy rainy day.  The fog is so thick along the river that I can hardly see the Mid-Hudson Bridge.  It made for great napping weather.  It doesn't stimulate much progress on the boat job list though.

I was looking through my photo files and found some more of my favorite spring time photos from years past and thought I would post them, along with some of the fog today. The fog had cleared a little by the time I took the photos, but when I first got home from work this morning I could not see the Mid-Hudson Bridge from the park.  The hiking photos are from Harriman State Park last Sunday, along one of the old mine trails off of Seven Lakes Drive.  It is a wonderful place to wander in the woods.  In Florida, the holes in the ground would have been sink holes, but they are actually iron mine entrances from bygone years. And, a couple of the photos are from a Caribbean springtime trip last year, but reflect the wonderful spring green I love!  Next month I have some wonderful April photos I took in Central Park when I lived in the city.

March Roars Right In! or How Bottom Paint is like Life!

It might not have been roaring from the very first day, but it made up for any lag by this past weekend.  In Poughkeepsie we didn't really get much wind.  We did get rain.  It nicely washed away most of what was left of the dirty snow piled up.  Although the surrounding hills do still have a layer of frosting.  Other places in the NE were not so lucky it seems.  Most of the storm seemed to be mainly east and south of here.  Parts of New Jersey, Westchester County NY, and of course the coastal regions got pretty slammed with lots of trees down and major power outages.  I did not have any loss of power.  The creek has been higher than normal, but not overflowing.  The city came by before the storm and cleaned out a couple of trees that slow down the flow of Fallkill Creek.  The river must have had exceptionally high tides as even above the sidewalk at Waryas there was flotsam and jetsam.  Working the weekend, I missed seeing it though. It all made for great sleeping......

Today was Beautiful!  It really felt like the first day of real spring; blue sky, warmer breezes, sun all day.  I went to the marina/boatyard to see the boat and formulate a plan and my spring "to do" list.  YES, I know some diehards already have their list half finished! I was enjoying winter and just didn't get around to mine. The boat was going to get launched next week, but after looking things over I decided to delay it.  The boat bottom has so many layers of built up paint that it was beginning to peel off in spots.  It rather looks like a moderately bad case of psoriasis. So, the bottom will get blasted with baking soda down to nice smooth gelcoat and then I can put a coat of bottom paint on it.  I had an enlightening discussion with George (at the marine store) about bottom paint, and the pros and cons of getting it blasted.  (the major con being, of course, Money!)  For those of you not familiar with bottom paint, be now informed.

There are "hard" bottom paints, and "soft" bottom paints.  Hard bottom paint stays on longer, sometimes will last two seasons even, and soft paint gradually wears off, definitely needing a new application each season.  The soft paint is also called "ablative". The major purpose of bottom paint is to protect the boat bottom from critters.....things that attach to the bottom such as mussels and other mollusks, little crabs, other microscopic life, grass, algae like stuff, etc. especially in the tropics, although there are mussels and vegetative growth in cold northern waters that still necessitate bottom paint.  I have always been a fan of hard paint.  It seemed to work better for my purposes.  I always lightly sanded every time before a new season's paint (or every other year), just to get a nicer cleaner surface.  BUT, eventually, the coats add up, and now after 31 years of bottom paint (the boat was built in 1979), it is pretty thick.  It will be exciting to see a nice clean bottom.

Twice now, after having boat conversations with George he has remarked that he sees that my boat is not just "a boat", but more a member of the family.  Each time we talk he learns more about my boat; sailing the Bahamas in the summers, leaving the boat in the Bahamas for 3 years, and painting the bottom in Green Turtle, having it slide off the jack stands in Hurricane Francis in Ft. Pierce, coming up the waterway......and the fact that I have owned the same boat for 23 years now.  George is a sailor, owns the marine store, is a yacht broker, and he and his wife have also sailed many miles, but I may be one of the few people he knows who has owned the SAME boat for so many years. He remarked today that he can see that there are lots of memories that go with my boat.  It started me thinking, and my remark back to him was that "YES, there are a lot of memories with it, but last fall I pretty much stripped the boat down below (mainly to clean and paint) and now am stripping the bottom.  Time for some new memories!"  The old ones (good and bad) will still remain in my heart and mind, but maybe sometimes I get bogged down by all the layers of memories.  Time to strip the peeling layers off and have a clean fresh "bottom"/"boat"/"mind"......I seem to have such a hard time "letting go" of things, whether it be clothes, books, events, just things in general.  Maybe this will be an inspiration and I can clean out the closets at home again, maybe even some of my storage unit!  SO, this brings me around to how bottom paint is an analogy for life!  Got that all you readers out there?  ;)

Hopefully the next post I will have "before" and "after" photos of the bottom! 

On a less philosophical note.....Mike is now in St. Martin.  We had a too short visit weekend before last (a long weekend) while he was still in St. John.  I flew in with a major sinus headache; it rained almost the entire time; Mike had a very close call with getting major lacerations when the dinghy flipped trying to do a beach landing at Maho Bay in an effort to get the propane tank refilled so we could make dinner.  BUT, we did get several things done on the boat to prepare for his St. Martin time.  And we had a wonderful dinner with close friends who I dearly miss and are like family.

Hopefully March will go out like a lamb, and April won't have too many showers; just enough for the flowers. 

February Still Here!

Well, this is our week for the snow!  We got about 8 inches with our "first" storm (as the weather announcers said, although it was JUST snow!), then a break yesterday for a bit, then sometime last night it started snowing again, and we are forecast to get anywhere from 1-10 inches (depending on which weather site you go to!)  Our temps though are just in the mid 30's, so it quickly turns into slush, at least the bottom couple inches.  So, black ice is a problem at night on the roads.  The snow plow just now, at 11:30 am came along Water Street, so before that I was entertained watching the cars trying to make it up the slippery little hill outside my windows.  Some of the drivers were not happy, I could tell.  They were probably trying to make the train (the train station parking lot is just 1/2 block away from here).  It amazes me that some people don't plan ahead for the snowy roads.  We have a couple of nurses on the day shift at work that always have that problem when it snows.  Don't they ever think to just get up and start out an hour earlier? Fortunately for them, the hospital has a 2 hour delay clause, so they still get their full days pay if they are late due to weather.  UNfortunately for those of us on the night shift, we have to stay till they get there!  But at least we do get the overtime.  I, personally would rather have them plan ahead so I could get the 2 hours sleep!  I am on a long stretch of work, working 5 nights over the next 6. I did have last night off with a good stretch of sleep.  But, now the cross country trails are just out there waiting for me in vain.  I hope Rob and Rachel go take advantage of them this weekend.

Mike made it to the Virgin Islands okay after about an 11 day voyage.  Bad weather early in the trip, but then a period of almost no wind.  The usual breakage of equipment, but nothing that can't be repaired.  He is now in St. John fixing things, cleaning up the boat and getting rejuvenated for the short trip on to St. Martin.  

 

  

 

 

The above photos were from last Saturday.  Hayden and I went to the Frost Valley YMCA camp.  It is a large, beautiful tract of land up in a high valley in the Catskills.  They always seem to have more snow than anyone else.  We skied for awhile, then did the sledding hill.  VERY exciting. The sledding hill had sculpted bumps and lumps where you would fly through air for a short bit.  It was a gray day as you can see, but had earlier been sunny.  The photos below were from yesterday morning when I got home from work.  It is very wet snow, very Pretty to watch coming down!  I could sit all day and watch it snow.....and of course not get anything else done.

This is Fallkill Creek, as it flows down into the Hudson.  The Pavilion next to the creek is owned by the Mid Hudson Children's Museum and is a teaching and event space.  This is the walk the dog and I take several times a day.

 

The above is part of Waryas Park, along the river.  Below is our parking lot, with the train tracks in the background.  The lot gets very slippery.  We having a plowing service, so must park elsewhere when the plow comes!  Takes planning ahead when you leave town or sleep during the day!

 

I

Happy Valentine's Day!!

With Valentine's Day approaching, here we are with a snowstorm!  A couple of winters ago the only time we got snow was on Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.  That was the winter that it was 50 degrees a couple days before Christmas.  But, we made up for it later. 

It is snowing here right now, and started a little after midnight last night.  It has been intermittant, but much more is forecast for this afternoon into evening.  Just in time for me to go to work!  I have enjoyed days off for the past several and now start a 4 night stretch on.

Last Sunday Rob and Rachel and Hayden and I all met at Belleayre for a day of cross country skiing.  Hayden was much better, and Rob and Rachel, who had never been, did pretty good! I was glad that they were able to go.  It is more fun most times with someone else along.  And, I am slowly getting a little better too, falling less often, and better at going down inclines.  I also went mid week last week by myself and had a great time on fresh powdery snow.  Today would be a lovely day to go.  SIGH   Hopefully the snow will last until I am off again, next week.

I am in the midst of winter projects though, so skiing is definitely a distraction.  I still have to finish the boat cushions.  I am almost ready to send my tax stuff to my accountant.  That will be a big relief.  AND I have several books to finish.  It is nice to have a list of things to do though and be able to do them.  I think of all the people whose lives were disrupted by the earthquake in Haiti, and am thankful for the roof over my head, the job to go to, and the lists of things I CAN do.  I had thought of volunteering to go on a medical mission to Haiti to help out, but have not found the right opportunity.  Most of the nursing/medical teams want two or more weeks commitment, which I cannot do right now. 

Mike is currently out at sea, heading down to St. Martin.  He left Green Turtle Cay on Sunday, and hopefully will be at his destination within the next two weeks.

I Can't Believe It is Almost February!

Yes, almost February!  I hope some of you got to see the "Wolf Moon" last night.   It was the first full moon of the New Year, and the closest a full moon will be this year.  If you would like to read more about the full moon names, see this web site:   http://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/     It was really beautiful here in Poughkeepsie, as it was so COLD and Clear the past several nights.  If I had not been on my way to work, I would have tried to stay out and enjoy it and maybe take photos.  I did go use the fancy viewing binoculars down at the park on the Hudson to look at it.  The nights leading up to the full moon were also great viewing times here.  Last weekend when Hayden was here we looked at the waxing moon through the fancy commercial viewing binoculars down on the river at Waryas Park. 

The river still has ice, but with the warmer days earlier in the week, there is less of it.  This morning on my walk though, there were sheets of thinner ice (versus the big chunks that there usually are) drifting gently down river, until they ran into the remainder of the large chunks, making cracking and moaning sounds.  It is truly awesome to listen to the sounds of the ice on the river.  There were BIRDS! amazingly, swimming and diving in the river.  It is hard to imagine that they were finding any food, with the water so cold. 

It is a beautiful, clear, CRISP sunny day here.  Twelve Degrees!  at the local Dutchess County Airport.  Pretty darn cold!  Too cold to want to go outside and enjoy the weather!  But, alas, I am on my way to bed anyway, as I have to work again tonight.  BUT, the patients are doing good, and the past nights have been pleasant.  And so I hope it continues, at least for one more night.

Weekend with Hayden

I picked Hayden up Friday afternoon from his after-school care near his home and we headed back north to Poughkeepsie.   We stopped to do our grocery shopping and picked up "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" (the DVD).  I had not seen it, and liked the book.  As it turns out, the movie is much different than the book, but still fun to watch.  Saturday, after a slow start to the morning, I decided to see if I could introduce Hayden to cross country skiing.  We went to Belleayre Mountain, to the same trails that Mike and I had gone to when he was here.  The ski rental shop's smallest child's cross country shoe/boot was not quite the right size, but with an extra pair of socks we made it work.  The day was clear, sunny, and warm.  There was still a fair amount of snow on the trails, but it had warmed and refrozen, so it was kind of "crunchy" and packed down slick in some places.  Not the nice fresh powdery snow that Mike and I had.  BUT, it was still fun and since it was warmer, at least Hayden didn't complain about being too cold.  We started out with all the requisite falling down, but once Hayden saw that I, too, fell down fairly frequently, I could tell he didn't feel so bad.  At least he had a MUCH easier time getting up once he fell!  That is the hardest part for me.  Much easier to take one ski off than try to get up with both on sometimes.  I guess my ankles and knees are just not as flexible!  Plus, Hayden is much closer to the ground! (shorter)  By the time we were half way through the trail we had both gotten much better.  I felt that I did improve my skills some over last time, especially considering the slipperiness of the trails.  At the end of the trail Hayden did say "That was Awesome!"  So, I hope that means he will go with me again.  Sometimes I feel that he says things like that just to make me think he enjoyed it.  He seemed to like it much more than ice skating, so maybe he will go with me again.

When we got home we called Dad and Rita with Skype, and after some technical difficulties did have a fun chat.  Then it was pizza and meatballs for supper.  AND of course watching "Meatballs" again.  We played a couple of games before bed.  Hayden beat me at the "I SPY" Memory game (similar to playing Concentration with picture cards), but I won at Dominoes.  Then stories and bedtime.  I read one book, and Hayden read one to me, and then we were soundly asleep.  This cross country skiing really makes me sleep good!

Christmas Past

We are now more than halfway through January, but I am still feeling the spirit of Christmas and believe this is going to be a Great Year!  Looking back at last year I have tried to figure out what worked and what didn't work for me.  Remembering the times I felt the lowest, and the happiest times of the year may help me plan this new year to make the most of it.  I have also posted some new photos and a video of Hayden from his school Holiday Concert on my flickr site.  If I can figure it out, I will try to post the video on this page.  But, if you don't see it and are interested, please go to flickr to watch it.  Yes, I know, it is past history now, but I couldn't get things to download in the short time I had in December, a very busy month for me.  I am still learning how to arrange things and make them happen on my blog. 

Our snow is melted, after a couple 40 degree days.  For those of you in Nebraska........I would really like to have some of your snow!  I remember fondly the winters growing up in Nebraska, especially the big drifts and piles of snow next to the driveway on Benton Street.  And, playing in the snow at Grandma's house in Missouri.  I REALLY do LOVE snow.  It is so magical for me.  I think about why this is so and am just not sure what the fascination is.  IT is JUST frozen rain!, but oh so pretty and almost mystical. It covers everything so quietly and wondrously.  I wonder if it is genetic (coming from kin who were from cold climes such as Scotland)?, or the desire to return to childhood, or what?  Any ideas, readers out there?

Well, I am going to hope for more snow!  At least until late March, when it will be the beginning of boating season again!

TIME

Time is going way too quickly.  With my Christmas trip to California with Mike, I did not even get any Christmas stuff posted. So, I am going to go ahead and put some of the photos up anyway, even though it is past. The photos of Hayden's concert are not as good as I would like.  It was a full room, and the program went pretty quickly, without much warm up. The children's voices were wonderful though, and the expectant looks on their faces priceless.  It was heartwarming to see Hayden's smile light up when he saw me in the audience.

Mike and I had a great time with his kids and extended family.  Full houses of happy people, tons of great food (too much), sharing of good times, and some new scenery for me.  We visited the Felton/Santa Cruz area, Manteca (down in the valley), and Yosemite (just for a day trip).  We got to see Jupiter and the moon through a very nice telescope.  The colored bands on Jupiter were awesome to see, along with the moons of Jupiter, and our own moon.  The trip to Yosemite for the day took us from 50 degree weather, rain, sleet, clear skies, and then fresh new snow up in the Yosemite Valley.  During the clear skies we saw El Capitan, Half Dome, Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite Falls, the Brothers.  Then back down out of the valley, to the "other" valley (San Joaquin/Central Valley) where Manteca is.  We played Trivia at the local pub with Mike's two older (college age) children in Santa Cruz (came in 3rd) and had a wonderful time walking around the area.  It was a much needed "real" Christmas vacation for me.

It is the first time I have had extended planned time off around Christmas to really enjoy it since ???  I can't really remember when....maybe the year I left school nursing and Rachel and I flew to Lincoln for Christmas (1994?).  I've had other memorable Christmases since then, but with only a day or two off, if that.  There was Hayden's first Christmas, in 2004 when we all went to Rob's Aunt Barb's for a couple days.  That was a nice year, until the tragic event of the tsunami hit the news.  And then all of us except Rachel got sick within a couple days of Christmas.  Share the good times, share the germs! Then there was the first Christmas I was in St. John (2001?).  Rachel flew down and stayed on the boat with Mike and me.  It was a wonderful time, except I had to work Christmas Day, so Mike and Rachel enjoyed the Caneel Bay Resort and beach and cooked me a yummy dinner when I got off.  There are many more wonderful Christmases that I remember, even if I did work through parts of them, but as I try to think back over past Christmases, it is scary to not be able to remember each and every one!  Where do the brain cells go?!!  eek!

The ski photos are from just this past week when Mike and I went to Pine Hill, NY to cross country ski on Belleayre Mountain.  I enjoyed it much more than downhill last year.  The fear of falling is not quite so acute.  Plus, the snow was deep, fresh, and very soft.  No one else had been out on some of the trails, so nothing was packed down.  I've found my sport for the new year.  We only had to drive a little over an hour to get there, and cross country equipment is much less expensive to rent or buy.  Plus, we didn't need lift tickets!  The aerobic workout felt good.  Fairly low impact (unless of course you fall down!) And being in the snowy woods with such quiet beauty was awesome.

Now, as the beginning of the year evolves I try to make resolutions that I can keep and start with a fresh outlook.  And keep that fresh outlook going!

Books!

One of my favorite loves----reading! I read several new books over the past month. One was THE NOTICER, by Andy Andrews. It "had" me from the cover. The quote on the front that read "This is the best book I have ever read in my life." just dared me to read it just to see if that could really be true. And, we could all use "a little perspective", or a new perspective at times in our lives. The writing is very clean and succinct and naturally leads one on to the next thought, page, or chapter. As the story progresses from the opening description of Jones, "just Jones", the reader is given a fresh outlook on seeing things with a different perspective than they may have had before. Jones, a seemingly itinerant person who knows everyone but whom everyone in town knows very little about appears at just the exact crucial time in different peoples lives. Through each interaction he has with the town's people we are shown how our perspective on life and how to lead it may be hindering our achievement of success and happiness. The situations he encounters and the people who are touched by Jones are all very believable. Jones always has great advice on how to make life better, from finding a life partner, keeping the one we have, getting a job, making friends, or figuring out what we want to do with our life. One of my favorite parts of the book is the one in which he explains the four dialects used to convey love. As a "self-help" book, it is far above any other that I have read. Jones imparts his knowledge by being a careful listener, a consummate "Noticer" and a skillful conversationalist. The author has created a wonderfully inspirational and intriguing way to make the messages flow. Throughout the book I often thought about parallels between Jones and Jesus but never felt that religion was a dominating issue. Spirituality maybe, but not religion. The book, for me, though, read more like a novel than a self help book, all the while presenting thoughtful, probing pointers on how to gain new perspectives. It was both an enjoyable and helpful read. The study guide at the back of the book would be very useful for group discussion but is also a good self study guide. It is a book that I will read again and refer back to when I feel "stuck" and need to change my perceptions and perspectives.