The weekend was pretty fun, on Friday while doing some grocery shopping I noticed a signed about a Kiwanis annual Dog Walk which was going on Sunday morning, and I thought: (insert sarcastic tone of voice here first) "what a great way to start the day at 6:30 am, specially on a Sunday"....
But then for real I thought, our dogs would love it... So I mentioned it to my husband and he said: YOU want to wake up early on Sunday? So I said, yeah maybe I do, cause I know the dogs would have a blast.
And guess what, we made it to the walk... Got up in time and had a wonderful time, here is the proof.
getting ready to start the walk
but not without the proper good morning greetings!
after walking for a while...
for Sheba it's time to cool off, before the rest of the crowd arrives
Like in every story there are two sides of the story, so please visit my husband's blog to read more about the wonderful time we had with the dogs...
In other news:
My bosses from FL arrive today and my manager's dad passed away on Saturday, so she is leaving to Canada tomorrow for a week, so I know it's going to be busy week for me... Have a great day!!!
I received this article by email a few days ago, I found it to be very inspiring and kind of true, once again it shows the misconception some people have about what real beauty is.
To me it's all about thinking of our bodies as temples of our soul and not as temples of beauty. Plus beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the most important things in life can't be seen or touched, so that says it all, right????
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Recently, in a French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said: THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE? A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.
To Whom It May Concern:Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia.
Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.
Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?
They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they do not have kids either.
Plus, who wants to get close to a girl who's skin is all scaly and smells like a fish store? The choice is perfectly clear to me... I want to be a whale!!!
P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my grandkids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a latte with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy. Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, "Good gosh, look how smart I am"!
This morning while driving into work on one of the main roads on the island (West Bay Road), the 3rd car in front of me started to break as if they were ready to turn, but to my amazement instead of stopping to take a turn, the driver stopped to give right of to way a momma chicken with 6 little chicks.
Thanks to this driver, the group managed to cross a two way road and make it safe to the other side making those seconds we waited for them to cross just precious.
I was such a delight to be able to witness that there's still kindness towards animals in this busy lives we live and specially to witness such a wonderful event in a place like West Bay Road, many times when I drive on this road I see a lot of death animals (specially chickens and iguanas), and that makes me very sad.
So today I am happy to say that it was a great beginning of my day and to that driver that gave the right of way, thanks for caring and showing that some of us are capable of amazing kindness towards all creatures!
Like I mentioned yesterday, April is already here so this marks the beginning of month #4 for 2010.
So, let's recap shall we? On January 1st of this year, I posted about my new year resolutions, in case you didn't read that particular post or you were not familiar with my blog, here's a little reminder of what I had in mind at the time:
1. Keeping my #1 resolution of last year and be thankful for it too! (Resolution was to be thankful!)
2. Continue exercising at least 3 times a week.
3. Be more patient.
4. Surround myself with positive, good energy people!
5. I still want to volunteer for something- I already have something in mind.
6. Be more creative and get back to basics with my art.
7. Go to the beach with my husband at least one night a week.
8. Read a new book every month.
9. Take a vacation away from the island.
10. Keep at least one resolution during the whole year.
And so far here's the update on how I'm doing:
1. I am in fact good at being thankful, I've come to realize that whenever I am thankful for a simple task or even a very hard ones (those that seem impossible at times), once I realized that I can be thankful for it, it complete changes my view and approach towards it. I am giving me a 9 out of 10 on this one.
2. I have to admit that with my arm situation and all I've been very lazy lately, even put on a few pounds, but as of this week (actually Sat). I am back on the exercise wagon. 6 out 10 because it's too early to call it a victory.
3. Patience, oh my dear patience, where are you in times of need??? I guess I am doing o.k. but in this arena there's always room for improvement (specially with annoying customers, LOL!). 8 out of 10.
4. This one is a hard cause there are many vampires out there to get you and suck out your positive energy, but still since the management at work changed, I believe this helped me achieve this task easier, still got to work on it daily, cause u just never know who you gonna run into, right? 8 out of 10.
5. I am seriously trying to volunteer but it's been so difficult, lost of paper work, police clearance, etc. I have a charity in mind and I'm sticking to it, I hope to be successful before the end of the year. 5 out of 10 cause I feel I'm not doing much progress on it.
6. I am trying to be more creative, I've painted a few little canvases and did some stuff to add to my moms pile of gifts. 7 out of 10.
7. So far we've been to the beach more than usual, but when we used to live at the apartment we would go EVERY weekend and sometimes even both days of the weekend. 5 out of 10 because a must improvement is needed.
8. Read a new book every month. Well, I am proud to announce that I started my 4th book this past weekend, everything I've read so far is very particular and I can't wait to add more books to my list, any suggestions??? 10 of 10 (so far!).
9. Vacation time is coming (well at least on my mind it is, and that's the first place to begin at). My husbands birthday is in July so we want to go to Mexico and visit the Yucatan where I lived for 3 yrs, it's a beautiful area, I still have lots of friends there and besides going back to see such a special place I am looking forward to share it with the most special person in my life, can't wait. 9 out of 10 cause it's still just a plan.
10. Well, I guess I'm right on track about keeping at least 1 resolution during the whole year, so far. (See #8). I'm giving me a 10 out of 10.
So that's it, my resolutions update. I feel pretty good about a few and not so good about others, but like I mentioned before, there's always room for improvement and we are only in month #4 out of 12 so I have a good way to go, otherwise there's always next year!
It's hard to believe you are here already, it feels like it was just yesterday when we celebrated Christmas and then when I turned 33, but oh well, dunno if it's days are moving faster or my memory is getting shorter!
This past weekend was very nice, it was a 3 day weekend, haven't had one of those in a very, very long time, can't even remember when was the last time.
Like I mentioned before, my friend from high school Maria Fernanda and her boyfriend (with his family) were here visiting for a week, they left Saturday afternoon but not without having our last lunch together, I hope it's not going to be another 15 years until I see her again.
Sunday we took the dogs to the beach and they had a great time. It's funny how different they behave at the beach, Ditto is a total Beach Bum, he has it down to a science, it's like he has a PHD in "chillaxing" at the beach, we lived about 2 blocks from the beach before and he used to go more than once a week, so I guess we can call him a "beach expert"!
Sheba on the other hand, takes a while to get relaxed and when she sees any of us going into the sea, she gets really worked out and even cries a little... After a while there, she was able to just "chill".
After we came back home, we gave both dogs a bath (like we always do after they've been on the sea), the afternoon was beautiful and specially on our back deck; flowers are blooming, birds are bathing and it's the end of another wonderful weekend!
Today, on this beautiful and sunny Friday morning I am going to share yet another wonderful gift from nature decorating our back porch
This is another Orchid, a wild species native of our neighbor island Jamaica. I guess because we have very similar weather than in Jamaica this one particular Orchid has bloom many times before... isn't it beautiful???
The weekend is here, it's Easter Weekend so we are not open tomorrow Friday (at work), my usual days off are Saturday and Sunday, so it's a 3 day weekend for me!!!
I know for many people around the world Easter is a very important religious celebration and even though I was raised Catholic I don't practice this religion as to go to church, but by all means I believe in God, he is the most important of everything I am and everything I have.
But like I said before, I was raised Catholic and during my life I been fortunate to interact with people that practice different religions or just have other believes/faiths, this helped me appreciate and respect them, even if they don't apply to my concepts of faith and spirituality.
Just the other day I hear somebody say "going to church doesn't make you religious anymore than standing in a garage makes you car", a lot of people now a days go to church, act all good inside the temple and then is a COMPLETELY different story, what's the point of that? dunno...
So whatever your beliefs are, may those be genuine and that this few days are celebrated and enjoyed with the spirit of your believes guiding you to strike a better yourself but mostly to act better towards other living beings...
In my case, I will try to be present in all, thankful for what I have, always being provided by God. Although my next choice will be...
But before I starting enjoying my 3 days off, here's my one advice for the weekend...
Back in the 90's when I was in high school I lived in upstate NY for a few months.
One of my most vivid and special memories of my time there, was in the morning walking to the mail box (in the freezing snowy weather most of the time) and retrieve the mail. Always looking forward and hoping to receive a letter from my family or my friends back home.
I love getting letters, they make me feel so special and connected to whoever send them to me, just thinking that somebody had taken time from their day to write to you, tell you about their life and make you feel part of it even if you are far away.
But now, times have changed. The regular written mail has been replaced by the famous email and in some cases (even mine as well) replaced by facebook, tweeter (for some, but not me!), my space, blog or any other cyberspace way to communicate.
In my case, I still use the mail quite a bit, in fact I am always sending my parents little presents via air mail, they send me stuff all the time as well; every 2nd day of the month they send me a 1/2 kilo of my favorite coffee, can't live without my Costarican coffee! Sometimes when I tell this to people they appeared so amazed by the news that regular "snail" mail is still around, but I think mostly they are amazed about the fact that I use it, weird!
So yesterday I got a wonderful flashback of my time in NY back in the 90's, and that's the feeling of excitement and happiness when you open your postal box and you get mail. I got a lovely package in the mail from a fellow blogger, I feel very thankful and fortunate for her beautiful gift but mostly her kind words.
Besides saying Thank you for such a wonderful and special package you sent me, I have to add that if ever I had doubts about starting this blog, sometimes have feelings that I don't have enough inspiration or if by sharing my life and experiences with others through this blog are making a difference in anybody else life (but mine), yesterday's package confirm to me that this blog is not only enjoyable to me but one more blessing in my life, just by being able to connect with people as special as you.
The weekend is over and all I got left of it is, the good memories and some pictures to prove it.
Saturday we went to the beach during the day and then at night to a friends birthday party, we had a good time!
coral
Sunday morning we went for a dive with a friend from high school and her boyfriend. I probably haven't seen my friend Maria Fernando for at least 10 yrs! We had a nice dive (even saw a nurse shark), a delicious lunch with great conversation.... They are visiting the island for a week so I am sure we are going to see them again in the next few days.
Me & Maria Fernanda
Then in the evening we went to dinner with my husbands cousin, his wife and kids who are also here visiting from Washington DC.
It's funny, sometimes we go months without visitors, and now this week we have more than one visitor at the same time, that's alright cause we like visitors!
Well, now it's Monday again so it's back to work, and all that's left at the beach is this lonely board (and a crooked horizon, LOL!)....
Even though I don't particularly care much for frogs (at least when they are close, and it looks like they are ready to jump on me), I do love this picture...
Happy Weekend and many beautiful days full of serenity,
Today's flower is blooming in my own back porch, it's a beautiful Fire Dancer Cattleya Orchid.
After about 2 & 1/2 years of having this orchid, it's the first time it delight us with this wonderful gift, so it's pretty special to us. Happy Weekend!!!!
"Dear" Mr. Traffic policeman (who yesterday saw me parked in the wrong zone);
According to you, my car was withing 45 feet of a pedestrian crossing, although yourself managed to park your car in front of mine and still had enough space between the crossing on the street and my car, but you also insist that my car was obstructing...
Them Mr. Traffic policeman, when I came back to my car you were sitting inside yours, right there in front of mine, doing whatever is it that you do, and because of this you were unable to come out of your car and give me the ticket in person, instead you check the computer files for my personal information, got my cell phone number and called me but not without harassing me over the phone.
When I answered the phone, you Mr. Traffic policeman asked me my name, then proceed to asked me the following in the worst possible attitude of abusive power:
Do you drive a white Honda CRV? I answered, Who is this?
Are you driving your car? I answered, Who is this? (again)
Is it you driving your car or is it somebody else, where are you? Again I said, if you don't tell me who this is, I am going to hang up...
Then Mr. Transit policeman, (after my reaction to your harassment), you identified yourself, but not without asking me the questions again, then I answered all of them, and you proceed to tell me that you were going to give me a summit for a ticket....
And here's the deal Mr. Transit policeman, if in fact I was parked in a wrong zone, if I was breaking the law, I will take full responsibility of my acts and pay whatever fine I have to, and I know you are only doing your job, but part of being a policeman or a public servant is to give the example of education, politeness and empathy (yeah, well at least in Utopia)...
I wonder Mr. Traffic policeman, why do you have to harass people like that? If I did something wrong, like I mentioned just before, I'll take full responsibility of my acts but there's not need of you to invade my privacy and call me to ask all of these questions like I'm some kind of criminal...
Now Mr. Traffic policeman, I have called your Superior and complained about your procedure, attitude and the way you handle your so call "power of the law". Because Mr. Traffic policeman, if this is the way you treat a good citizen, I don't even want to imagine how you treat criminals, or is it maybe you've watch one too many "Dirty Harry" movies?
Lately I cannot help but noticing how rude people can be.
From when I was a little girl my parents always teach me (and sometimes even forced me) to say hello to people, specially grown ups, to shake their hand or even kiss them if applied, so I guess I'm pretty used to encounter people and greet them. I know you cannot do this with everybody that you encounter during the day, but at least those that you make eye contact with you should, right?
Let me explain when I coming from with this:
I work at a gallery which is part of a souvenir/apparel shoppe building located right in front of the waterfront in downtown George town, Grand Cayman. This is probably the most touristic zone of the whole island (besides the beach), so daily I have to deal with at least 98% of tourist customers.
The gallery is located on the second floor of our building, so as soon as people come up and are at the top of the stair (if there's nobody around), they can see me sitting at my desk usually catching up on my emails, sending my orders, etc...
So as soon as I see them I try to make eye contact and greet them: -"good morning/good afternoon, welcome to the gallery"... Very few people actually acknowledge my greeting and reply to it nicely. But most people act like I talked to them in some weird alien language and their heads might just explode if they look into my alien eyes. So instead they just look down, keep on walking and ignored me before they even dare return the greeting....WTF?
It's not like they need to come right at me and give a kiss or even introduce themselves, but c'mon I am the first person they see up here, and sometimes it even happens with people that are walking right by me and they still don't return my greeting, how rude!
photo source iStockphoto
I don't know if this happens because people feel intimidated when walking into a gallery, like if they talk back they might just break something and will have to pay for it... LOL!
Another scenario is when people are looking at the art and I approach them and say: -"If you have questions or comments about our art, please I'll be glad to help you, so let me know"... Some people react immediately and they say: "Oh, we are just looking and not buying anything". To this I wish I could reply: -"well, it doesn't mean that if you ask me a question or give me your comments I will force you to buy anything". I only wish I could, LOL!
To me by being polite and greeting people you share good energy with them, it's so much more pleasant when people take a second of their very busy minds to share a hello, a smile and maybe even a few minutes to have a random pleasant conversation with a stranger...
Think about, try it and you'll see how much brighter and nicer your interaction with other would be, and if you already do it, know that your greeting or just a smile could make somebody elses day happier!
Unlike Madonna back in the 80's when she sang "I'm a material girl in a material world" I don't consider myself one of those girls.
Of course I like things. Pretty things, shinny things, useful and not so useful things, sometimes expensive things (actually most of the time) and occasionally even things I don't even really need, but who doesn't right?
But now, when it comes to buying things for other people, that is a completely different story with me... I LOVE to buy people presents, I am a big time giver, and I take pleasure in finding things for people that I know they are going to love and appreciate.
Whenever I go back home to visit I make sure to get gifts for my parents as well as my closest relatives, to me giving people presents is another way to show them how much I care about them, besides the most important presents of love, care, respect, honesty and happiness among others....
This year my mom turns 60 years old and to me that's pretty important milestone, specially cause out of those 60 year she has giving most of them to me, my dad and my brothers....
So besides going home to spend the day with her (and I know that will be the best gift) I've also decided to buy her 60 birthday present!!! Of course the presents are small tokens of my love and how much I think of her daily, some things I will buy and others I will make myself.
I started buying the presents last week and I hope to be done before April 20th (her birthday is the 25th), so far I got about 26 things and this coming week we'll be getting some more stuff....
Now I can't wait to go back home and see her opening 60 presents... All of these present I will be giving her don't come close to ALL that she has done for me, so I hope to make her day extra special!
As of today I've decided to finish the week and start the weekend with a beautiful display of a tropical flower from the island, and there's no better place to start than my own back yard, right?
About 2 years ago we got a little piece of branch from a tree that some people know as Frangipani and others as Plumeria. Ours was on a flower pot for a while and gave lots of leaves but didn't grow much, then we decided to move it.
when it was in the pot
Despite the fact that our piece of land is very rocky (and every time we decided to plant something, we have to make a big enough hole, fill it up with good dirt and hope for the plant/tree is going to have enough space to develop the roots and survive) we planted the Frangipani in the back yard.
Time went by... probably a good 8 to 10 months since we put it in the dirt, at first it seems like we were successful and it was doing pretty good, then it started loosing all of the leaves and at some point it looked like one stick with two branches and I thought we lost it....
But then something started to change, at the very tip of the branches we started to notice some growth...
this is how it looked at the begining
then it started growing super fast
yesterday a.m. it looked like this
Finally here's the first beautiful flower... taa-daa!!!
Back in the year of 1988 and during a St. Patrick's Day I was particularly very lucky and blessed although I don't think it had anything to do with the Irish celebration, shamrock, leprechauns or drinking beer.
Instead on that day back in '88 I received a wonderful gift from nature, my first Dog, Ozzie.
Ozzie was an American cocker spaniel, the sweetest most loving dog anybody could ask for. His mom Candy was our neighbors dog and after years of nagging my mom about getting us a dog she finally answered: "well one day when Candy has puppies you can ask the neighbors for one" (she wasn't expecting that to really happen at all), a few years later in 1988 our wish came true.
Growing up I couldn't ask for a better dog, he was a very happy dog, active, super loyal and protective but never tried to harm anybody. He would go to our beach house and take a few hours ride in the car like a champ...
Before Ozzie became part of our family my mom and dad were not very fond of dogs, but just a few months later after we got him, they felt madly in love with him and they even put an old couch in their room so he could sleep there with them.
During the 16 yrs that Ozzie was with us, he always slept in their room, and during the day or morning when he wanted to sleep late, he will literally knock on my bedroom door for me to open and then he will come in and sleep with me...
His last years with us he was already blind but never lost his happiness and love for any of us, he would spend his last days sleeping and moving from one side to the other and by this time he had his own bed, so it was easy for him to find it.
I remember during those times when he was blind, sometimes he would have trouble getting to his food, his bed or just trying to get around the house, I would clip the leash on him and immediately he knew I was his eyes, his attitude would change completely as if he knew he could trust on me 100% to get him where he needed to go, I made me feel so good to be able to lend him my eyes- I miss him!
Ozzie Patrick (that was the second name I gave him because of the day he was born) died very quietly and peacefully in his sleep one morning in 2004. At the time I already lived away from home, but I was visiting about 3 months before he passed away, that's when I had a chance to say goodbye to him, last time I saw him, when I said good bye I whispered in his ear and reminded him how much I love him and what a great dog he is and how he will always be part of my heart...
And that's why every year in St. Patrick's Day I can't help but think of him, the years of happiness he brought to all of us, all of the wonderful experiences I shared with him, he made my life wonderful just by being there and I was able to hopefully make his a wonderful one as well...
So to me is not the luck of the Irish, but the luck of us animal lovers, to have this amazing bond with them, to open not only the doors of our house but the doors to our heart and soul, they are just amazing, the can teach us so much, we are definitely lucky to be part of this planet with them....
There's mystery and magic in everybody's life and maybe if we fail to notice it in our daily life, our subconscious manages to find a way to show it to us in our dreams.
I have to say last night was pretty good on the sleeping part, until this a.m. when after dreaming of a car I was ready to buy (a car that in fact really does exists and I really want now- specially after today's dream). All of a sudden I woke up and I was wide awake. I did not see the time for a while as I didn't want to torture myself with the fact that I had to be up and running before 7am.
But then I did it, I looked at the time and to my surprise (or maybe not) it happened again, the same thing that is being happening to me later and for a while, the time was 3:33 am.
I don't know how to explain this phenomenon or the reason behind it, is it normal that most of the time during the day when I look at the time is either 10:10, 1:11, 5:55, 6:06, 12:12??? (you get the idea).
So last night after I saw the time it was, I just lay down in bed staring at the ceiling and with the constant idea of buying this car and finding a way to sell my very recent purchased one to get this other one....
After a while of doing nothing on the bed (counting some sheep, singing, praying, etc), I decided to turn to one side and to pursuit more sleep, but not without torturing myself and look at the time, guess what time it was then? 4:44... What's up with that?
Does this happens to anybody else out there or does anyone knows the meaning (if any) of this??? If you do I would appreciate you sharing some of that info with me, hopefully this means really really good news, LOL!
It's not fair when dreams play tricks on us, when they wait until the very last day of the week (and sometimes even jump to the very early hours of Monday), and by the time you wake up to face the week you are simply exhausted already!
Well, the first hurricane of my season was here last night, or was it very early this morning? not sure, but it felt very real.
unfortunately this was not on my dreams last night
I was getting sand bags for the doors, already seeing flooding in some areas, wind picking up pretty bad and of course there was also a window that somebody forgot to close the hurricane shutters (from the outside) and we realized it right at the time when it was very dangerous to go out, go figure!
Just writing and thinking about all that happened in this crazy dream makes me tired.
And the thing is, I am sure this comes from the very deep end of my brain, where the constant stress of this annual season (for one of "nature's finest" natural disasters) always lingers. I know we are more than 2 months away from the official start of the season, but still I can't help but think that we are getting closer and we are drifting farther from the very quiet, almost non existent 2009 season (insert -relief sight- here).
Oh well, at least it was all a dream and there's night again at the end of this day to make up for my crazy dream, hopefully tonight I will having some sweet dreams...
One of the many traits of the island of Grand Cayman (where I live) is the fact that we have tons and tons of chickens (as well as roosters) pretty much all over the island. You see them walking down the street, in people's gardens, in town, at the beach... you name it, but they are all wild!
So, since we built and moved to our house about 2 years ago we've always had chickens all over our yard and since our house is up in stilts then you see them from the balcony all over.
A while ago I decided to buy wild bird seeds and feed some of the chickens that are around the garden, but every time I would go out on the balcony, all of the chickens down there would disappear into the bushes
(eventually they would come out to eat the seeds).
Well, I guess I've been feeding them long enough that finally today for the first time when they saw me come out on the balcony they did not run away, and while I was trowing seeds at them they were not intimidated or running into the bush, they are finally used to me, now they know I'm so kind of species that is not there to harm them but to actually feed them!
Also today to my surprise we have a whole family of chickens; with a mother hen, a father rooster and 12 lovely chicks all feeding peacefully in my yard, how cool!
Not sure which one I am on right now? I should be on the road to recovery but sometimes it just feels more like a trail, one of those where you sure need to carry a "machete" in case you have to clear of the path off some bush that makes you loose your trail.
Of course with my arm situation it's not very likely I can even manage a machete, so that's probably why I feel kind of losing the trail from time to time...Some days I feel pretty good with my arm pain, but then I go to be and I sleep very uncomfortably, from one side to the other, sleeping on my back with a pillow under my legs and always trying to relax my arm.
It sucks having all this problems and also the fact that I can't really exercise much because my arm takes a big toll on my afterward, what to do then? Well, yesterday was my first official physical therapy appointment, and other than getting this big, heavy and hot load of stuff on my back for 15 min, the girl asked me a million questions and then taped (literally) my back under my neck area as well as my arm.
According to the therapist, the tape applied over muscles helps to reduce pain and inflammation, relax overused tired muscles, and to support muscles in movement on a 24hr/day basis. It is non-restrictive type of taping which allows for full range of motion.
So my arm kind looks like this today:
This is supposed to take water and stay on until my next appointment next Tuesday.Unfortunately is already peeling off in some areas...
Hopefully soon I'm going to feel like I am not only "on the road" to recovery, but more like on a freeway riding like a dog looking out on the window, feeling the air my ears flapping with the wind and mostly feeling GOOD!!!
As of Sunday afternoon there is a new and improved version of me walking on this earth.
I am a much happier and much more grateful woman, wife, friend and specially sister. My brother and sister in law are finally residents of the same island as me, and although they are going to live in the other opposite extreme of the island, we are now just about 45min or a local phone call away. And as my husband will say, I am a BIG family person... so, yep I AM HAPPY!
Mau & Gaylene arrived on Sunday March 7th
Now, if only any of my blogger friend will come visit I can be even happier.... LOL!
It's so sad and very alarming to see everything that is happening in the world nowadays. Earthquakes, tsunamis, very heavy winters with high inches of snow, floods... you name it.
But this is not really something new, during the entire life time of this planet, things come and go, some affect a lot of people, some don't... Some have taken a big part in the declining of civilizations, some don't.... Many people die daily and not necessary from any other natural disaster but those created by us humane beings (wars, poverty, diseases, crime... etc).
Then there are the Mayans, who were an amazing and very advanced civilization and one of the many wonder they left to humanity was their calendar (which in fact, it's even more accurate than the one our civilization uses).
This calendar is very complex and of course I'm unable to even try to explain everything what it involves, I do know though, that it marks many different events concerning the cosmos and even marks certain phenomenons or events that not only have happened in the past but are still to happen in the future.
And then there's the Winter Solstice Dec. 21st 2012 which marks the end-date of the Calendar. According to what I've read about it:
"At sunrise on December 21, 2012 for the first time in 26,000 years the Sun rises to conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way and the plane of the ecliptic. This cosmic cross is considered to be an embodiment of the Sacred Tree, The Tree of Life, a tree remembered in all the world's spiritual traditions. Some observers say this alignment with the heart of the galaxy in 2012 will open a channel for cosmic energy to flow through the earth, cleansing it and all that dwells upon it, raising all to a higher level of vibration."
Now, this doesn't really mean that the world is coming to an end, right? It might to some people after watching the movie 2012, more it gives the information that a old era end and a new begins, taking about nature and tree of life that was so important to the Mayans.
I once read somewhere when I used to live in Tulum, Mexico (where you find lots of Mayans and their cities), that they believed that once us humans loose the connection with the tree of life, that's the end of our civilization... So, maybe that's what it means. (hint, hint: Avatar)
"the tree of Life" photo by Peter Lik
We need to act soon, change our mentality for good and instead of keep abusing the environment we need to start healing the planet, and then way to start is with a different mentality.
Friday is here and I will be spending tonight alone as my husband is gone to Cayman Brac for work, unfortunately for me I got to work tomorrow Sat. to have Monday off the spend it with my brother and sister in law, how exciting...
Of course I always have the dogs to keep me company and the video of this adorable Husky to sing me to sleep...
But yeah, have I mentioned I am super excited about my brother coming? I think so, it's kind of like a want to dance down the street just like this...
And then on Sunday night when we have Mau & Gaylene at the house, we will be so happy and celebrating just like this...
Well, maybe not exactly like this, but you get the point, right?
Have a great weekend!
Yeap, while I have tennis elbow on my right arm, meanwhile our dog Sheba loves her tennis ball, here's the proof...
And while I hope to take care of my tennis elbow starting next week Wed. when I have my first physio appointment. I also hope & wish that Sheba will never grow out of her phase of loving to play with her tennis ball, it makes me so happy to see her having so much fun.
It's Thursday so Friday is just around the corner, seize the day!!!
My brother and his wife are arrive Sunday and they are not coming for a visit but moving here for good, and I guess saying I'm very happy doesn't really cut, it kind of falls more into the category of "dream come true".
Just thinking about having my brother here makes me smile, knowing that he will be driving distance away feels like a dream.
It's been 5 yrs since the last time we lived on the same country, cause we both lived in Cayman Brac at the same time for about 4 months back in 2005, but before that I think it was probably 2001 or 2002?
Mau & Me at a National Park in Costa Rica (2001)
Tomorrow is my doctors appointment and I will get the results of the MRI, we shall see what the diagnostic is and hopefully start fixing my arm for good.
Today unfortunately I'm not writing about the movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, the one where they finally meet at the top of some building in Seattle... I am writing about last night.
Pretty much my entire life, sleeping is something that has come natural to me, I have it down to a science (or at least used to), if I am good at something sleeping will be on that list.
But now with this situation I have on my arm it's very difficult for me to feel comfortable and find a right way to sleep, I have a hard time sleeping on my right side cause of the pain of my neck, shoulder and now the elbow. Last night my tennis elbow situation took a big toll on me, I was awake most of the night in pain, finally got up to look for some pain killers, my lovely husband rubbed my arm to release some of the pain (and it helped), finally the pain killers kicked in and I felt sleep past 3 o'clock, of course by 6:30 am when I had to get up to go to work I was finally enjoying my sleep... ugh!
It's Tuesday and my next doctor's appointment is on Thursday and finally next week I am starting physio therapy on the arm, looking forward to get my arm in good shape and my sleeping back.... Have a nice day!
In a time when it's so easy to stay in touch, via regular land line telephone, cell phone, email, facebook, twitter and even air mail (that's if you actually have the time or care enough to sit down and write a letter), it really upsets me when people don't know when to draw the line...
But not only staying in touch is at the palm of our hands, now a days with the type cell phone people have, it's so easy to find out any breaking news just by accessing the internet in any of the many places that offer internet wi-fi connections for free...
One of these weekends I went out to dinner with my husband to a nice Indian Restaurant here on the island, half way during our meal, a couple (that looked like they were on a date) sat on a table pretty closed to us and for a good 10 minutes from the time they sat, the girl did not put down her blackberry but kept on texting or maybe even surfing the web, I find this not only offensive but rude.
I have had some verbal encounters with my husband about this situations (when they apply to us), I'm personally not much on the phone, never the less texting, in fact texting to me is one of the most annoying forms of communications, if you want to talk to me, call me or email me but don't text... I had this one boss that used to confront (and maybe still does) people on text, but the worst part of it was, that her spelling was so bad, it was very difficult to even understand what she meant... what a waste of time!
And don't even get me started on people that are texting while driving, that is the worst kind!!!
We have this friend of ours (a couple) that are constantly on line twittering their way around life, telling people what they are doing, with whom, why, how they feel about it and so on... the very few times we go out with them, they are checking their phones a few times during the dinner. In fact, I have found myself on the table talking or telling a story and then realizing nobody is paying attention to me but a few of their friends around the world already probably know what I just had for dinner because of their tweets, crazy!
So people, I know it's easy to communicate this way, but what about the good ol' "one on one" interaction, for some people nowadays look like it's better to communicate via email/text/tweeter/facebook with somebody that is miles away, than why those who are just next to them...
Verbal communication is one of the very few things that make us different than animals, but I am sure that doesn't mean we communicate better than many other species out there...
I know we here communicate via blog comments, but if you are ever close to me in person, please pretty please, leave you pda, iphone or blackberry in your pocket for use during those "solo" times with yourself and let's enjoy some nice, pleasant conversation in person, alright?
