Over The Top

LeShan from a Lil Enchanted passed the OVER THE TOP BLOG AWARD to me. I enjoy her enchanted blog . . . and she's really fun and sweet ...... So I am touched that she thought enough of me to pass this great award to me. Thank you - I usually don't do this stuff, but I'llt ry it.

So here is what you gotta do:

- thank the blogger who gave it to you.
- pass it on to 6 of your favorite bloggers
- and answer the following questions with only one word.

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your hair? cool
3. Your mother? gone
4. Your father? gone
5. Your favorite food? chocolate
6. Your dream last night? gelato
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? happiness
9. What room are you in? office
10. Your hobby? lots
11. Your fear? anger
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something you aren't? free
15. Muffins? cranberry
16. Wish list item? travel
17. Where did you grow up? Georgia
18. Last thing you did? phone
19. What are you wearing? clothes
20. Your TV? works
21. Your pets? allergies
22. Your friends? blessings
23. Your life? okay
24. Your mood? pumped
25. Missing someone? yes
26. Vehicle? CRV
27. Something you're not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? Walmart
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? recently
32. Your best friend? lots
33. One place that I go over and over? Alaska
34. One person who emails me regularly? Debbie
35. Favorite place to eat? Cafe-Sunflower

The McKinley Explorer

The Alaskan Railroad to Denali. Actually I took the McKinley Rail run by the Princess Cruise Line and it was attached to the Alaskan Railroad cars. (To tell you the truth they had the better and prettier car.) Mine had a glass dome and I sat upstairs. The dining car was below. At first it was freezing and several people complained. The lady/guide explained not to worry - in a little while we'd all be wanting more. She was right as the glass dome did heat up a little bit. I must admit I feel asleep on the train and woke myself up snoring. The guide I had on the way to Denali was excellent and I have her name written somewhere in my notes and I am going to write up a good comment on her. Coming back - not so good. Same for the bar tender. Yes - even tried a Mississippi Mud Slide drink. Something new - as I was trying to do and taste some things I had never done before.

This was mine - notice the clear dome on the top and all windows on the side. Like I said you sat upstairs and had a clear view where ever you looked. Below were the dining cars - they served two meals if you were interested. Complete with tablecloth and linens. Sometimes you sat with someone and sometimes you sat alone - I guess depending on how many people wanted to eat at a time. Met some travelers from other cities in the US on the train. Everyone was pretty friendly. They had a souvenir shop too.

The views were spectacular. Passed Wasilla where Sarah Palin lived. They like her a lot there. The guide told us stories from beginning to end. My son went five years ago on the Alaskan Railroad and there was no guide and no stories. Another difference.

It took 8 hours to get into Denali. Actually it took me right up to Denali National Park. The only way to get into Denali National Park itself was to be taken in by bus from the train. You cannot drive a car into Denali National Park. The park is seasonal and stays open from about April to September. When it does close they give 350 people (via a lottery) from Alaska the opportunity to drive through it before it closes totally up for the winter.

They do have dog sleds in the park all winter long - looking for poachers. The number one thing I have found there - is the love people have for their sites and their animals.

I have a friend from NC and she said it seemed as if I feel in love with Alaska. I did. I have another friend from California (we all started in Chicago) who went to Alaska last year and when I asked her if she felt the same she said, "Yes!" I'm not alone I can assure you.

Okay my son, daughter in law, and me - we looked at my pictures. It brought back memories for them. Now they went on their own, but camped out and did hostels. I went the 'nice' way. So it ended up that I got a lot more stories and inside information and facts with my guided way (and I had some great guides) then they did on their own. My daughter says I'm like a walking encycolpedia.

I'm just trying not to forget.

Chatty

Mixtures

Mixtures

Once we ate from the tree of knowing good with evil, our world became a place of compounds and mixtures.

You will not find beauty without ugliness, joy without sorrow, pleasure without pain.

You cannot invent a thing that will provide benefit without threat of harm, or a man on this earth who does only good without fault.

Wherever you will find one form of good, you will find another sort of evil.

And where that evil does not lie, another will take its place.

Rare it is, so rare, to find pure and simple goodness in a single being.

Therefore, do not reject any thing for the harm it may render, nor despise any man for the ugliness within him.

Rather, use each thing towards the purpose God conceived it for, and learn from each man all he has to offer.

Volcanoes and Stillness

The climate of Alaska - Cold and Warmer (lol)

Main article: Climate of Alaska - Wikipedia

The climate in Juneau and the southeast panhandle is both the wettest and warmest part of Alaska with milder temperatures in the winter and high precipitation throughout the year. This is also the only region in Alaska in which the average daytime high temperature is above freezing during the winter months.

The climate of Anchorage and south central Alaska is mild by Alaskan standards due to the region's proximity to the seacoast. While the area gets less rain than southeast Alaska, it gets more snow, and days tend to be clearer.

Barrow, Alaska is the northernmost city in the United States - The temperature is somewhat moderate considering how far north the area is. This area has a tremendous amount of variety in precipitation. The climate in the extreme north of Alaska is Arctic with long, very cold winters and short, cool summers. Even in July, the average low temperature in Barrow is 34 °F .

The climate of the interior of Alaska is subarctic. Some of the highest and lowest temperatures in Alaska occur around the area near Fairbanks. The summers may have temperatures reaching into the 90s°F, while in the winter, the temperature can fall below −60 °F .

Interesting Fact: The highest and lowest recorded temperatures in Alaska are both in the Interior. The highest is 100 °F in Fort Yukon (which is just 8 miles inside the arctic circle) on June 27, 1915, tied with Pahala, Hawaii as the lowest high temperature in the United States. The lowest official Alaska temperature is −80 °F in Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971, one degree above the lowest temperature recorded in continental North America .

Daylight Vs. Night time:

In Anchorage, you have light about 5.5 hours from sunrise to sunset in December. Useable twilight is another 1 to 1.5 on each end (low-angle sun takes a long time to full set.) = 7

In June, you have light about 19.5 hours. Plus those hours of twilight. Fairbanks is more extreme by a few hours. Juneau and Ketchikan, etc are between Anchorage and Seattle in both temps and light (but much wetter than either). = 21

On March 21 and September 21 (the equinoxes) everywhere is 12 hours daylight and 12 hours twilight+night. After each equinox it gains or loses about 5 minutes a day either way.

Alaska Winters vs Alaska Summers

In summer Alaska can stand alone for it's beauty and the outside activities are a plenty. . . fishing, hiking, sight seeing, baseball, bike riding . . . everything and anything.

In winter, now some locals there say that the cold, darkness, and snow doesn't keep them indoors and there's plenty to do outside - snow machines (not snow mobiles), the Iditarod, ice hockey, skating, etc . . .

However after reading and learning about Alaska and this is just my opinion - It seems a slight bit cold and dark there for a long time in the winter. I think you must have a strong constitution for that way of life. I'm also believing that Alaska gets in their blood and they will endure anything for it - a love affair. I believe they live for the summer and all the daylight it provides.

Personally, I think you'd have to have something or someone (lol) to keep you warm or it could be a long, cold, lonely, and dark winter. . .

Chatty

Ice and Waterfalls

In Alaska you have frozen glaciers yet running waterfalls in the same place . . .

A fainting sheep: By ClassyChassy:

'A fainting goat 'faints' if it gets frightened - like a possum plays possum. You know? It would not be good for 4-H, because when it gets judged, if it faints while you are leading it, you could get disqualified!'

Eagles and breathing . . .

"The Peace of Wild Things" by Wendell Berry found on Chet Day's website.

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.




The eagle is not endangered anymore. They are alive and well in Alaska. I saw them everywhere. I thought they were beautiful. Strong and mighty. Free. Determined looking. Stately. Apparently they are not thought of that highly there - they are more thought of as a scavenger bird as they break into the garbage cans, etc. In fact small dogs beware - the eagles will come down and swoop them up (no kidding). The funny thing is - they don't know they are not well liked so there self-esteem has not been affected what-so-ever! They still think they are regal and stately.

(In Homer which I will get to later - there was a house - who used to belong to Jean Keene - she was known as the Eagle Lady - and when the eagles came over head - she used to feed them, nurse them, and bring them into Homer. I hear the people weren't to happy with her at first. )

Now a problem I'm experiencing is now that I have had this new experience - quite unlike any other I've ever had - now that I've experienced - it it's hard to go back to life as it once was. (I mean once you let a kid drive - can you take the car away?)

Learning to love Alaska, it's peacefulness, joy, beauty, knowledge, learning that being open to receive is much better than being closed off to deny, risk taking, happiness, excitement, blissful sleep, breathing, trying new things like gelato, talking to people, making friends, seeing new things, feeling happy, and for some reason I felt so safe there - anyway it has left me with a hole in my heart - an emptiness. I mean once you've experienced all that (having never had experienced that before) how does one come back and continue their life as normal? (Pain equals growth.) I wonder if the discomfort will go away? I ache. Once you've had a taste of a different life how can you life ever be the same again? I don't want it to be the same again. How do you go forward? What if when you come back not everyone is as joyful as you are about finding these new things for yourself? A lot to deal with I'll tell you, but let's more on through one lady's journal to the final frontier.



Just remember this secret - don't listen to what others tell you about you - decide for yourself your own self worth and sense self esteem. Remember down deep in your soul that it is a choice.

Be free and breathe like the eagle today and soar . . .

Chatty

PS. Do you know what a fainting goat is? And if your name is ClassyChassy you can't answer - you already know what it is.

PSS. Bet you thought I forgot to give you the answer from yesterday's riddle (well I almost did).

If you take off the beginning letter, and take the rest of the word and write it backward - then add the beginning letter on - it is the same word.

Example:

banana
what is left - anana
reverse it - anana
add the b - banana

I didn't get it either, but thought it was fun.

Ever seen a Yurt? What is Yurt?

What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.
- Yiddish proverb




So my friend ExpresslyCorgi has a niece working in Alaska.



And she sent me some pictures. This is a Yurt. The closet thing I saw to an igloo in Alaska. I saw some Yurts in Homer - and this is what a Yurt looks like from the outside, the deck, and the inside. Kind of cool.

You see everyone loves Alaska.



Now let's have some more fun.

This is a real classic owned and operated by a real classic:

She has driven this car 540,000+ miles.

ENJOY THIS!!

http://growingbolder.com/media/technology/vehicles/romancingtheroad259598

You HAVE to watch this.

Two sisters, one blonde and one brunette, inherit the family ranch. Unfortunately, after just a few years, they are in financial trouble. In order to keep the bank from repossessing the ranch, they need to purchase a bull so that they can breed their own stock.

Upon leaving, the brunette tells her sister, 'When I get there, if I decide to buy the bull, I'll contact you to drive out after me and haul it home.'

The brunette arrives at the man's ranch with $600, inspects the bull, and decides she wants to buy it. The man tells her that he will sell it for $599, no less. After paying him, she drives to the nearest town to send her sister a telegram to tell her the news. She walks into the telegraph office, and says, 'I want to send a telegram to my sister telling her that I've bought a bull for our ranch. I need her to hitch the trailer to our pickup truck and drive out here so we can haul it home.'

The telegraph operator explains that he'll be glad to help her, then adds, it will cost 99 cents a word.' Well, after paying for the bull, the brunette realizes that she'll only be able to send her sister one word.

After a few minutes of thinking, she nods and says, 'I want you to send her the word 'comfortable.'

The operator shakes his head. 'How is she ever going to know that you want her to hitch the trailer to your pickup truck and drive out here to haul that bull back to your ranch if you send her just the word 'comfortable?'

The brunette explains, 'My sister's blonde. The word is big. She'll read it very slowly.... 'com-for-da-bul.

I am sending this only to my smart friends. I could not figure it out and had to look at the answer. See if you can figure out what these words have in common.

1. Banana
2. Dresser
3. Grammar
4. Potato
5. Revive
6. Uneven
7. Assess

Look at each word carefully. You'll kick yourself when you discover the answer. This is so cool.....

I'll give you the answer tomorrow.

Bet you can't get 100% on the first try! But I'm rootin' for ya. This is pretty neat! See how you do with the colors! Have fun!

It takes an average of 5 tries to get=2 0to 100%. Follow the directions! It's harder than it seems, as it should be!

A brain waker-upper for today!

The word at the top is what you are supposed to look at and then you have 2 choices below and you choose one of them. But I think you only have 4 seconds to make your choice.
Click here to start .

Have a great Saturday. My son and his wife are here from Cincinnati and we are going to a kangaroo farm!

Chatty

Earthquake of 1964

The Earthquake of 1964

The picture below shoes the Hilton Hotel. In 1964 the land that slopes down from the Hilton was level to the Hilton.

The Earthquake Museum writes this about the earthquake:

"1964 Alaska Earthquake The Great Alaska Earthquake that struck the Anchorage area on Good Friday, March 27, 1964 at 5:36 PM registered 8.6 on the Richter Scale, although scientists now favor a different magnitude scale for very large quakes that shows this quake as 9.2. This made it the largest quake that has hit the United States in recorded history and one of the largest known worldwide.

Geologically, the effects were widespread and dramatic. Large areas were lifted up or dropped by several feet, landslides were extensive, ground failure led to large fissures in the ground, landslides into bays caused huge seiche waves locally and a tsunami caused damage thousands of miles away. Luckily, the casualties were considerably lighter than might be expected for a disaster of this magnitude. 115 deaths are attributed to the quake. This relatively low number can be attributed to the sparse population of the area and the fact that the quake occurred when most people were at home.

Description: The earthquake started with a few seconds of small tremors. These quickly built into intense shaking that knocked people down, threw objects from shelves and caused buildings to collapse. Amazingly this shaking lasted for a full 5 minutes. People reported that it seemed like an eternity. For comparison, the Northridge and Loma Prieta quakes in California each lasted less than 30 seconds. The time of shaking generally increases with increased magnitude. The longer the ground shakes, the more damage will occur as structures first weaken and then collapse under the strain. The long period of shaking in this quake doubtless caused much of the ground failure that was observed.

Downtown Anchorage was especially hard hit. Building facades crashed into the street. In some places one side of the street dropped down over 10 feet, leaving the facing buildings towering above. In places ground waves of over 3 feet high were observed. People reported feeling as if they were in ships at sea as the waves passed through. Fissures opened up as blocks of earth dropped and tilted. Underground layers of soil liquified, allowing the solider ground above to slide many feet, sometimes in solid blocks. Cliffs collapsed in huge landslides. One landslide occurred under an expensive housing development overlooking Cook Inlet."

More Information I heard on the trip -

The tsunami wave that hit right afterwards was a big one. To this day they still have 'dead forests' around because the salt from the ocean killed the soils ability to grow vegetation.

Okay, today Chatty has her 'groove' back or at least she is getting there. Thank goodness for you and me both!

I tell you - Alaska threw me for a loop. Felt like an earthquake happened in my own life and shook it up - I'm just now recovering and starting to rebuild.

So many people there left their 'home' and went on their own for awhile. I mean even woman and men my age were doing their own thing - it totally amazed me! I felt knocked over the head -like a huge boulder hit me over the head. I never even dreamed of doing anything like that. Well, I just said I never even dreamed of doing anything like that - right - but I did start dreaming of doing something like that - and then I did it!!!!!!!! I'm just a little bit older than I wanted to be before I started this journey. Well you can't have everything.

So Chatty's been thinkin' (as dangerous as that is) it really doesn't have to be Alaska per say - it was just Alaska for me - that opened my eyes - saw what I could have had - but didn't. It made me mad at myself and even sad. I decided to feel my feelings whatever they were so I've had to kind of cope with that the first couple of weeks I got back. Regrets you know - feeling sorry for myself and all that I missed out on in life. There is a whole big world out there folks.

That's one reason I went to Alaska now. I was ready. I needed Alaska. Alaska woke me up. It has my head and heart spinning in every direction. So while at first I was sad thinking about all the things I had missed in life - I've decided (yes it is a choice on my part right now) to move forward trying to think about all the choices and life I have ahead of me. It's a great feeling to be alive again. There are so many things to see and do out there - yikes.

So lets move on to Alaska and the joys (?) of midlife . . . another name for this is . . . living.

Love, Chatty

Alaska, Saturday Market, Downtown

Downtown Anchorage -

This is a picture spot for kids -

On Saturdays - they have a market place where all sorts of vendors bring their wares and set up a booth and try to sell them. There are even fresh fruits and veggies there too I believe.

Below is a plane ride for kids. I checked out the stores and the downtown area. It really wasn't all that big (I'm from Atlanta and Chicago) and I basically walked it - to and from the hotel.

I went to the post office and mailed some gifts back - went to a coffee shop and read some brochures on Alaska. I was waiting for my trip to really start - going to Denali the next day - with great anticipation.

Okay the following song - Jim Croce's 'Time In A Bottle' is what has come to my mind today. I wish I could have bottled up some of Alaska to take home with me - gelato ice cream and all.

Am I going through a midlife change (crisis) or what! Has anyone else ever felt this way or am I alone in examining my life and where I am at this particular point?

I'm 56 and I'm wondering where I was or who the heck I was in my younger years.

How come I've found all these interesting things now and not back then? So many young people were working out there for the summer - getting a life and an education like none other. Adventurers - voyagers - risk takers . . . I want to be an adventurer - voyager - and risk taker.

I question some of the whys - Why didn't I take time to grow back then? Why do a lot of us wait until midlife? I think it is because we 'see' so much clearer and frankly we don't care as much what others think. What we think might be a little more important for a change. It's like the last chance to finally get it right. You see what's really important.

Now that I 'see' there is a life out there and I want to go back and get some more of it!

Well, I do hope you're enjoying my 'adventure of many facets' with me.

The Saturday Market




Chatty

Song below

Our God Is Awesome

What an awesome and orderly GOD!!

God's accuracy may be observed in the hatching of eggs.

For example:
-the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days;
-those of the canary in 14 days;
-those of the barnyard hen in 21 days;
-The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;
-those of the mallard in 35 days;
-The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.
(Notice, they are all divisible by seven, the number of days in a week!)

The lives of each of you may be ordered by the Lord in a beautiful way for His glory, if you will only entrust Him with your life. If you try to regulate your own life, it will only be a mess and a failure. Only the One Who made the brain and the heart can successfully guide them to a profitable end.

God's wisdom is seen in the making of an elephant. The four legs of this great beast all bend forward in the same direction. No other quadruped is so made. God planned that this animal would have a huge body, too large to live on two legs. For this reason He gave it four fulcrums so that it can rise from the ground easily.

The horse rises from the ground on its two front legs first. A cow rises from the ground with its two hind legs first. How wise the Lord is in all His works of creation!

God's wisdom is revealed in His arrangement of sections and segments, as well as in the number of grains.

-Each watermelon has an even number of strips on the rind.
-Each orange has an even number of segments.
-Each ear of corn has an even number of rows.
-Each stalk of wheat has an even number of grains.
-Every bunch of bananas has on its lowest row an even number of bananas, and each row decreases by one, so that one row has an even number and the next row an odd number.

-The waves of the sea roll in on shore twenty-six to the minute in all kinds of weather.

All grains are found in even numbers on the stalks, and the Lord specified thirty fold, sixty fold, and a hundredfold - all even numbers.

God has caused the flowers to blossom at certain specified times during the day, so that Linnaeus, the great botanist, once said that if he had a conservatory containing the right kind of soil, moisture and temperature, he could tell the time of day or night by the flowers that were open and those that were closed!

Thus the Lord in His wonderful grace can arrange the life that is entrusted to His care in such a way that it will carry out His purposes and plans, and will be fragrant with His presence.

Only the God-planned safe life is successful. Only the life given over to the care of the Lord is fulfilled.

I think a lot about God and what his plans are for me. I ask why or why not a lot of times.

I tell him I need this and want this . . . at times I think he gives us just enough to survive - he gives us what we need - in his own timing.

Life can be hard, but God is always good.

I do know this, God was sure busy creating Alaska.
Chatty

Confucius say - Where ever you go - go with all your heart.

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." ~ Confucius

"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it," observed the sage who believed with the proper models, every person could find goodness and balance.

Alaska is where I went. Can you believe it? I have to tell you that I didn't have high expectations about Alaska. I believed it was cold. The summers too light the winters too dark. Not true.

Now one reason I picked Alaska was that I wanted to get far away from Georgia. I flew alone. I needed to do something alone, away from family and friends - to see more of who I was. I had never ever done something like this before.

Guess it was my blooming if you will - because staying in the 'bud' was getting entirely too painful. My son and his wife had gone to Alaska a couple of years ago and I went to a lot of the places they did - and more. So I had help from people on where to go.

I sure learned some history about Alaska! Everyone knew the history of Alaska if they lived there - they had a real 'state pride' if you will - and they were more than willing to share it. Plus all the tour trips I went on shared a lot of history as well. Some tour operators were better than others. Some were fabulous - some were not. None the less - I lost my heart there. I would have never believed it possible or imaginable.

So for the next few weeks I'm going to debrief myself and share about Alaska on my Blog. It will be a good way to make a journal for myself. I'm having trouble starting because well one, I'm busy since I got back and secondly, I have all this information running around in my head and it's hard to know where to start.

Music has always been an integral part of my life. I heard this song by Keith Urban (who I love) - it's brand new and I could not help but think of Alaska and all the gelato ice cream I had (lol).
The timing seems to be amazing for me.

Hope you enjoy the song. See below. Chatty

Vacations

My grandson on his vacation at Myrtle Beach.

The following is taken From Daily Celebrations - about Anais Nin - a painfully honest woman.

"My ideas usually come not at the desk writing but in the midst of living." ~ Anais Nin

French writer Anais Nin (1903-1977) began her famous diaries on this day in 1914 when her father, a Spanish concert pianist, left the family for another woman.

"The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say," she said.

Her diaries were sorrowful letters to her absent father, a literary exploration of self and creation of feminine identity.

The first diary was published in 1966 and spanned the years from 1914-1974. She wrote 35,000 pages in 150 volumes. "I write emotional algebra," Nin observed in 1946.

Writer Henry Miller, her mentor and lover, called the diaries "a 20- year struggle toward self-realization... Each line is pregnant with a soul struggle."

The erotica of her voluminous writings was not something ladies talked or wrote about. Passionate and explicit, Nin delved candidly into her voyage of self-discovery as an artist and believed a woman's dreams were the source of nourishment. She launched Gemor Press and self-published her own novels and short stories.

"To write is to descend, to excavate, to go underground," she explained. As she searched to understand the forces within, she created an inner person she named Linotte: "impossible and must be hidden, hidden."

She gave voice to feminine perception. Writer Lynn Sukenick explained, "Nin's diaries are books of wisdom which have elevated their author to the status of sage and have had a healing effect on many of her readers."

About perceptions, Nin wrote, "We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are."
~~Live passionately so you have a tale to tell.
dailycelebrations@yahoogroups.com; on behalf of; _lei_aloha [leialoha@dailycelebrations.com

I love Anais Nin and this is my favorite quote:

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

I believe I blossomed on my trip and I'll start sharing it with you later this week. The state was wonderful and the people I met - totally awesome.

Now my daughter and grandson went to Myrtle Beach. I went on my vacation the opposite direction. Went to a different ocean entirely. Not Norway or Switzerland. It was in the USA. I'm getting my pictures ready.

My grandson and daughter at Myrtle Beach.
Love, Chatty

To be busy or not to be busy - that is the question.

I'm back and unpacking today - trying to do it slowly, without stress. I did some thinking about 'this topic' when I was gone on what shall I call my spiritual journey.

Beware the barrenness of a busy life. Vs. Doing absolutely nothing. Are they totally opposite?

I know some people who are workaholics - it can be with their jobs, in their personal lives, anywhere - people who run around and don't take time to breathe and relax and see the beauty of life or take time for other people.

There are other people who try (?) to do nothing and they are so busy trying to do nothing that it can obsess their mind - they still aren't really relaxing and seeing the beauty of life or taking time for other people.

Opposite sides of the same coin.

And a third type person - one who can't see who they are - another story - the avoider of life.

I find for me there must be that balance of work and rest. I try to make sure that I live in a balanced life, but after this trip I am going to make darn sure that I carve out some time for myself to meditate and breathe, make an effort to talk to to a friend, do something that makes me stop and realize that I am alive. It does feel good to feel I've found out.

Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

So my gift to you today was this blog and this video - it is breath taking and I am going to watch it again myself. Stop - take a couple minutes - ENJOY it - and tell someone you care.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mass74ZgGS4&feature=email

Chatty Crone

So where did I go? I'll give you a hint for a couple of days while I get my head together.This place sells more ice cream in the winter than any other city in the USA. My personal favorite type of ice cream is Gelato and they had a lot of that there too. Where did I go?

Deep Love

Deep Love

You cannot reach deeper within another than you reach in your own self.

If you love yourself for your achievements, your current assets, the way you do things and handle the world -- and despise yourself for failure in the same -- it follows that your relationship with another will also be transient and superficial.

To achieve deep and lasting love of another person, you need to first experience the depth within yourself -- an inner core that doesn't change with time or events.

If it is the true essence, it is an essence shared by the other person as well, and deep love becomes unavoidable.

Love,

Chatty

Whispers

Whispers Click here

Love, Chatty

Creat your own poetry.

"You will not find poetry anywhere unless you bring some of it with you."– Joseph Joubert

Chatty

Perks of being older . . .

Someone had to remind me, so I'm reminding you too.
Don't laugh.....it is all true...
Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70! or even 80!

01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
04. People call at 9 pm and ask, did I wake you?
05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
07. Things you buy now won't wear out.
08. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You q uit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won't get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate than meteorologists at the national weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. You can't remember who sent you this list!

Love, Chatty

Milestones or Moments?

Life isn't a matter of milestones, but moments. ~Rose Kennedy

Enjoy them all!

Chatty

Little Things to Help You Succeed In Life

Little Things to Help You Succeed in Life

While some people face life-changing events, most of what defines and redefines us as people is not the stuff of big-budget epic movies, but rather the boring, mundane stuff of everyday life.

How can we grab hold of those little things that say so much about who we are -- and use them to move us closer to who we want to be? We have to go through an ongoing process that involves:

1. Discovery

The key to change in your life -- and really, the key to satisfaction as well -- is self-knowledge. Take some time to go over and record the moments that reflect problems you’re dealing with, as well as the moments that are typically “you.” The idea is to see patterns emerge. These patterns will be the grist for your analytical mill in the next stage.

2. Analysis

Look at your inventory of “totally you” moments -- what do they say about who you are? Now, who do you want to be? What’s meaningful for you, what values do you want to realize in your daily life?

3. Intention

At this point, it’s time to think about change: what do you intend to do about all this? The trick here is to be positive, not negative. It’s important that you find the motivation and intention within yourself if you’re to make real change that sticks. Doing things because you know others think they’re what you should do, or worse, to “show them,” might get a short-term shift out of you, but over the long term isn’t likely to be very satisfying -- or self-sustaining.

Personal change is hard, and harder still because there’s so much little stuff going on in our lives that all push and pull us in different directions. Which is precisely why it’s so important to pay attention to the little things, no matter how trivial they might seem.

Sources:

Lifehack November 5, 2008

Don't brood

On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.-Aldous Huxley

Love,
Chatty

Act as if the whole world were watching . . .

"Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." ~ Thomas Jefferson

Love,

Chatty

The Art of Now - Six Steps to Living In The Moment

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20081027-000001.xml

This is a great article I read in a doctor's office while waiting. It talks about the six steps you can take to start to live in the new.

I thought it was great and wanted to share it with you.

You are Not Your Thoughts
1 To improve your performance, stop thinking about it (unselfconsciousness)
2 To avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present (savoring)
3 If you want a future with your significant other, inhabit the present (breathe)
4 To make the most if time lose track of it (flow)
5 If something is bothering you, move forward toward it rather than away from it (acceptance)
6 Know that you don't know (engagement)

Hope you read it and enjoy it.

Love,
Chatty