WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Participate in the flow- things, ideas, occasionally
money, words passing between us. Such a gift
just to be part of it. You can't do everything and
shouldn't try to. But you can and must do
something when the Universe invites you.
from: Consider the Butterfly
by: Carol Lynn Pearson

(steph, becca, anna)

Now here's a girl who won't let any of life's moments pass her by! So full of energy and light and fun!! I even think she wouldn't be embarrassed by me-her nutty aunt- dancing in my kitchen. I think she might even join me!! Love, love, love this girl!! Have a happy Birthday Becca!!

This nice and subtle happiness of reading,
this joy not chilled by age, this polite
and unpunished vice, this selfish, serene
life-long intoxication.
~Logan Pearsall Smith

(thanks swissmiss)

Walking, Hiking, Moving

She knew the time had come to rise up,
to be seen, to be heard, to grasp the
ladle of life and stir.
from: Jumping Off Places
by: Laura Stratton Friel 2004

Want to lose weight for free? No supplements needed, no drugs required, take a walk or a hike. With the economy deteriorating fast we are all looking for things to do that are free. Unemployment is up, prices are up, about the only thing going down are our home values and retirement funds.

The weather is perfect for walking. Start the walking regime that works for you. If you are in reasonably good shape, just open your door step outside and start walking. If you have any health problems at all, check with your doctor before you start any exercise program. You should walk fast enough to get your heart rate up but not so fast that you cannot speak comfortably. Try to increase your intensity or distance every few days. To increase your weight loss and conditioning try to jog for short spurts.

Grab the dog, call a friend, bribe a child, do whatever it takes to get moving. You will feel better after taking your walk or tackling a trail, and you may just lose weight in the process.

Emma!!!

Dont forget to watch the last episode of EMMA tonight!!
It started 2 Sundays ago, and it's AMAZING. Emma is so charming and adorable with her gossip and matchmaking, and the show stays really true to the book. If you have missed any of it, dont despair, you can find it on line!!!
(and dont worry further, for the superbowl should be over by 7:00)
I'll be DVRing it...for I will be on the road today...heading to sunny
Cal-I-forn-ya-a!!
Lucky me!!!

One Nation Under God

This Weeks Hiking

Dont under-estimate the value of Doing
Nothing, of just going along, listening
to all the things you cant hear, and
not bothering.
from: Winnie the Pooh
by: A.A. Milne

ZION MANY POOLS HIKE AND OVERLOOK

Colosseum

Where's the Good Editor When You Need One?

One need not be a chamber to be haunted;
One need not be a house;
The brain has corridors surpassing Material place.
-Emily Dickinson

Im dismayed that I cant wholeheartedly recommend a book solely for the blatant misuse and abuse of the "f" word. Here we have a powerful story that needs to be told. A story of the power of the human spirit for survival and the goodness of people to help and love one another under the most dire of circumstances...its a story that the world should never tire of hearing. And to tell a story with such beautiful words and with such wit and humor (at times), but having to flinch at the use of the 'f' word more than I deem necessary...is too, too bad.
Here is the description from the back cover of the book.
"British couple Andrew and Sarah O'Rourke, vacationing on a Nigerian beach in a last ditch effort to save their marriage, come across Little Bee and her sister, Nigerian refugees fleeing from machete-welding soldiers intent on clearing the beach. The horrific confrontation that follows changes the lives of everyone involved in unimaginable ways. Two years later, Little Bee appears in London on the day of Andrews funeral and reconnects with Sarah. Sarah is struggling to come to terms with her husbands recent suicide and the stubborn behavior of four year old son who refuses to take off his Batman costume. The tenuous friendship between Sarah and Little Bee that grows, is challenged, and ultimately endures in the heart of this emotional, tense, and often hilarious novel."

I recommend this book-but it comes with a disclaimer for the offensive language sprinkled throughout the story.

TGIF

May you spy something lovely this weekend!!
May it take your breath away!!

The sweetest sounds I'll ever hear are still
inside my head. The kindest words I'll ever
know are waiting to be said. The most
entrancing sight of all is yet for me to see.
And the dearest love in all the world
is waiting somewhere for me.
from: Cinderella
by: Brothers Grimm

One of the sweetest girls I know is my dear niece Meagan! And this year she's going to thoroughly enjoy being 13!! Hard to believe!! She was all about everything 'princess' when she was young...now its horses and all things Middle school that draw her attention. Plus being the little sister to a beloved big brother who is on a mission and being the adored big sister to Amber!! Life is sweet for our dear birthday girl!!
We love you Meagan...so very, very much!! You'll always be a princess to me!!!

Dream'in

1. You forget 90% of your dreams. Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream is forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone.
2. Blind people also dream. People who became blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion.
3. Everybody dreams. Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder). If you think, you are not dreaming, you just forget your dreams.
4. In our dreams, we only see faces that we already know. Our mind is not inventing faces – in our dreams we see real faces of real people that we have seen during our life but may not know or remember. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces throughout our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.
5. Not everybody dreams in color. A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. Studies from 1915 through to the 1950s maintained that the majority of dreams were in black and white, but these results began to change in the 1960s. Today, only 4.4% of the dreams of under-25 year-olds are in black and white. Recent research has suggested that those changing results may be linked to the switch from black-and-white film and TV to color media.
6. Dreams are symbolic. If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. Whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.
7. Emotions; The most common emotion experienced in dreams is anxiety. Negative emotions are more common than positive ones.
8. You can have four to seven dreams in one night. On average, you can dream anywhere from one or two hours every night.
9. Animals dream too. Studies have been done on many different animals, and they all show the same brain waves during dreaming sleep as humans. Watch a dog sleeping sometime. The paws move like they are running and they make yipping sounds as if they are chasing something in a dream.
10. Body Paralysis. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a normal stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. REM sleep in adult humans typically occupies 20-25% of total sleep, about 90-120 minutes of a night’s sleep. During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move. However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the brain awakens.
11. Dream Incorporation. Our mind interprets the external stimuli that our senses are bombarded with when we are asleep and make them a part of our dreams. This means that sometimes, in our dreams, we hear a sound from reality and incorporate it in a way. For example you may be dreaming that you are in a concert, while your brother is playing a guitar during your sleep.
12. Men and women dream differently. Men tend to dream more about other men. Around 70% of the characters in a man’s dream are other men. On the other hand, a woman’s dream contains almost an equal number of men and women. Aside from that, men generally have more aggressive emotions in their dreams than the female lot.
13. Precognitive Dreams. Results of several surveys across large population sets indicate that between 18% and 38% of people have experienced at least one precognitive dream and 70% have experienced déjà vu. The percentage of persons that believe precognitive dreaming is possible is even higher, ranging from 63% to 98%.
14. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.

(thanks thinair)

I think I am an Elephant,
Behind another Elephant,
Behind another Elephant who isnt really there...
from: Now We Are Six
by: A.A. Miline

CAN ONE SOUND ANY MORE RIDICULOUS THAN WHEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE PHENOMENON WHICH WE CALL "LOST"!!??
HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT YOURSELF TRYING TO DESCRIBE WHAT IT IS THAT'S HAPPENING ON A MYSTERIOUS, MOVING, POSSESSED ISLAND; A ISLAND THAT APPEARS TO BE A SENTIENT BEING ALL ITS OWN...AND THEN STOP....AND WONDER WHAT THE HECK YOU'VE DONE WITH YOUR COMMON SENSE!!!??
AND YET....
HERE I AM...
WRAPPED UP AND LOST
GLEEFULLY LOST!
WONDERFULLY LOST!!
MAY THE LOST CREW GO OUT THIS YEAR WITH GLORIOUS, LUSTY, MYSTERIOUS GUSTO!!!
AND MAY ALL THE QUESTIONS BE ANSWERED!!!

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our
next secret weapon. A happiness weapon.
A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed,
we would launch one. It would explode high in the
air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions,
of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to
earth - boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn't go cheap,
either - not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four,
with the sharpener built right in. With silver and
gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime,
amber and umber and all the rest. And people
would smile and get a little funny look on their faces
and cover the world with imagination.
~Robert Fulghum

Johnsons Arch

"Come south with me, Come right away.
Your house will never do.
The wind will blow,
the snow will snow,
And chill you through and through."
from: Mousekin's Golden House
by: Edna Miller

Right at the west entrance of Snow Canyon State Park there is a parking lot! If you park there and cross over the road you'll find a small wood fence with a swinging gate. If you would like a very mild, easy hike, head south on that well trod path and you will find an impressive arch tucked back in a delightful canyon. The "hike" is only 2 miles round trip, and very easy to do. I The locals call this hike Johnsons Arch. Tucked back in this beautiful canyon are glens of cottonwood trees as well as willows which get their water from a natural spring. Johnsons Arch was named after Maude Johnson who was a Mormon pioneer who settled here eons ago! This trail is closed from March 15th-Oct 31st because there is a nesting pair of Peregrine falcons which nest back in there every year.

If you'd like a very talented artists perspective on this amazing natural arch gohere to see Roland Lees rendition of the arch.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY