Outside is the best side

Craig heading up stream.

Craig and I went on three snowshoe hikes over the Christmas holiday, joined by his brother Randy as well on occasion. It was nice to be able to get out with Craig as he has been working a lot lately and being outside with Craig is just fun. We had some lovely snow as well recently and that made for beautiful conditions in the forests. We know of a few streams that freeze up pretty solid early in the winter and we like to meander our way up the streams, navigating obstacles and jumping quickly when the ice buckles or cracks under your snow shoes. The water below is only a few inches deep so there's no real concern but the snow shoes get heavy with ice if they get wet. What's really neat is the sound of the water echoing beneath the ice you're standing on, sometimes bubbling softly, sometimes thumping and drumming against the surface, sounding hollow, eerie. It's a lot of fun. Yea for winter and it's unique perspective..however I see some snow biking in my near future, I miss riding already and it's been less than a week.

Craig and I almost home..

It's been a lovely holiday for us, relaxing and full of activity of our own design. However it goes by so quickly, I wish I could slow it down somehow. It all just comes and goes and leaves you standing there wondering what just happened. And now we move on to a new year, with more adventure and memories to be had.

Craig, Me and Randy. What a lovely, cold day this was.

May you have a Kick Ass Christmas and New Year!

Bike of Light, Winter Twilight looking North

Happy Holidays to everyone! Once again the winter holidays and solstice are upon us, hurray for the return of the Sun! Though I find the cold and snow appealing at this time of year, as it should be. There has been much snow biking, hiking and running, variety is good and winter gives that too me, all good things to feed the body and soul. I'm looking forward to eating some good food over the holidays, meaning GF cakes and cookies and roast beasts of some kind, oh yeah the Kielbasa and Pirogi will be a delight. Really, spending time out side of walls and being with friends and my little family is gift and blessing enough to me. A new decade is before us and I have intentions to kick ass in 2010 and I hope you do too. May all beings know love, kindness, inexplicable joy and peace in this moment and in this Holiday Season.

Beyond the Stars

She saw through the night by the light from her crown of stars by Amanda Blake

Two ideas that have been floating around in my mind lately have to do with the Stars, or more specifically the Universe and beyond as well as something called Noetic Science, the universe of the mind. Perhaps it's because the winter has been brutally cold lately and at night when it's clear the stars seem closer and more brilliant than usual. I lay in bed and look out at the deep inky black sky with its crystal like stars staring back at me and wonder. In the winter everything sparkles more brightly and that includes the stars we can see from our little spinning planet, how incredibly fast we spin in space, yet we can't feel it except for the movement of our skies and the passing of our seasons. How very far away these other suns and planets are from us yet must of them exist within the same galaxy as us, the Milky Way, which has a giant black hole at it's center, how exciting is that! And the idea of how much time it took for all of that light to travel to Earth so I could see it while laying in bed on a winter night, crazy! "The light you are now seeing is around 25,000 centuries old and began its journey around the time of the dawn of human consciousness," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's Night Sky columnist. "When it began its nearly 15-quintillion-mile journey earthward, mastodons and saber-toothed tigers roamed over much of pre-ice-age North America and prehistoric man struggled for existence in what is now the Olduvai Gorge of East Africa." I'm not an expert by any definition of the word when it comes to astronomy, so you'll have to excuse any mistakes I may unintentionally make. Craig and I will talk about these things from time to time. What blows me away is the possibility of it all, and how beyond our universe, there must be other universes. But where does it all stop or begin for that matter? We are one galaxy that exists in one universe, there are others, but what does our universe exist within, how far can we travel from the center out until we reach, well until we reach nothing?? I don't know but I like to think about these things, mostly because it blows my mind and puts life as we know it into perspective for me. Our existence is quite infinitesimal really. With that in mind I've become aware of the study of Noetic Science and the exploration of human conscience and it's ability to affect physical matter. It's quite exciting science really.
We live in exciting times, we as a culture think we know so much and we do know a lot but we certainly don't have it all figured out, there is much left to contemplate, understand and explore, I feel we've touched just on the tip of something incredibly vast, physically and mentally. The planet we live on exists within a vast wilderness that is almost completely uncharted, kickass! What is beyond our understanding right now might not always be, we'll see. There is much to learn grasshopper!

The Binder

Clay tile by Jenny Mendes

About 9 or so years ago I began printing daily the email correspondence between my Mother and myself, this went on for a year, I put everything in a very large binder. I don't remember exactly what made me do this, perhaps it was because at the time I realized that my Mother's health had begun to decline for no particular reason, but I'm really glad that I did so. Now, when I need to "talk" with my Mom I go to the binder and read the emails, her emails to me and it's like she's right there again talking to me, her words, her style of inflection, her love, it doesn't matter that it was written so long ago, it could have been yesterday but it's these very conversations we shared as Mother and Daughter, as friends, that connect me to her now, how could I have known. This binder has become one of my most valuable and cherished possessions.
The holidays are upon us, my family is small, my memories are many and lovely with details. Cherish those memories and cherish the ones you love deeply now.