As I finshed up the main portion of my personal purge and clean expedition, I found my thoughts in alignment to the task in a symbolic way. My generally tidy (but not too clean) apartment took on a whole new look and feel as I began (two weeks ago) to open up every drawer, cupboard and closet. What makes this different than prior purges which had a more functional motive to it, is that it began directly in relation to the beginning of a new chapter in my life; the full focus on myself. In the physical process of 'cleaning out my closets", I had made a huge mess. For the past two weeks, as things became simplified, they have also become more complicated (chaos theory)- yet in an exquisite, relaxing, grateful way; new projects arose from this- which will be worked on over time, no need to force it. In the symbolic process of 'cleaning out my closets', there wasnt so much a mess, but what was at first complicated is now so much more simple. Thank you!
Immediately I realized that I have an abundance of material items that are no longer necessary in my life. I gave away what I could and threw out the rest. Bringing garbage out to the road has been a delightful work out. Tonight it will need to be dragged through the thick snow, but it will get there. It is so nice to see the extra baggage leaving my sight. I began to make room for better as opposed to holding on. Its nice. Energy is flowing.

What originally brought me to post is that it had also been atleast two weeks since I have vacuumed, as I could not see the floor until just recently (I said I made a mess in this process!). Tired and hungry I considered saving the vacuuming until another day, yet I felt strongly compelled to finish. As I pushed and pulled the vacuum back and forth across the floor, varying thoughts and scenerios played out in my mind. Most revolving around the last quarter of 2006. Picking up bits of dirt and rummage was like picking up bits of these past few months. They were no longer needed and served no purpose other than to clutter my spirit. My thoughts weren't negative but they were cumbersome. When I realized the vacuum in essence was sucking up the last bits of residual work-related matter, my vacuuming efforts were now enjoyable, as just minutes before I *really* didn't want to do it. Oh boy, I felt better by the time I finished. Looking around, I know things are better.

very cool, and as I have been saying for years- I am grateful for that.

stay warm, peeps

wow-- my neighbor just came up my driveway with his snowplow. Now my taking out my garbage will be so much easier!

(e:pyrcedgrrl) sent me the following pictures of a Niagara Falls ice jam. A majority of online research claims an unconfirmed date of 1911, however local history books at the Niagara Falls Library provide a date of 1909.
Other noteworthy ice jams have been recorded for 1848, 1890, 1899, 1912, 1938, 1956.
Imagine living around here in 1848, the first time that Niagara Falls (American Falls) completely stopped flowing. People thought that this signified the end of the world!. The more adventurous of the locals wandered out onto the riverbed to explore the new vantage point. Others found really cool artifacts dating back to the war of 1812. Among these items were muskets, bayonets and tomahawks. This visual phenomenon was all possible due to the occurance of an ice jam at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Erie. This ice jam stopped the water from running down the Niagara River to the Falls.

In the following pictures, the ice jam slowed the water, which allowed the outer portions to freeze, however, the deeper sections of the falls continued to flow. The effects of ice jams were a common occurance prior to installation of the "ice-boom", which is installed to hold back most (but not all) of the ice that normally forms mid December. However, with the milder regional temperatures of late, the lake and river have not frozen over. When the lake does freeze, as with the falls, it freezes the surface portion still allowing for water to flow underneath. This creates an ice bridge at the bottom of the falls. People were allowed to walk out on the "bridge" for many years until one horrific occurance, in 1912, when three people died after breaking through. Yikes!

"The American Falls have frozen over on six occasions since the keeping of records began. Each were attributed to ice jams that have actually curtailed the flow of the American Falls to mere trickles."

"Unlike the Horseshoe Falls (which has never frozen over), the American Falls are susceptible to freezing because of the small amount of water flow."

"The installation of the ice boom at the mouth of Lake Erie, the building of the International water control dam (which regulates water flow) and milder winters have all but eliminated the possibility of the American Falls ever completely freezing over in modern times."

"The American Falls water flow was reduced to such an extent in 1909, 1936, 1938 and 1949 that it froze over."

"The American Falls today receives only 10% of the total water flow. In the early 1900's that flow was much less, perhaps only 5%."

above qoutes taken from following link:


Stay warm, peeps!

Paul??

Ready for your spankings, dahling??????????


we know how to spank on (e:strip) hehe


HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxoo



I totally stole the naked man pick from google images from a birthday card site. This card reads..

"what do you call a naked man in your back yard?....'ART' -Happy Birthday"

I could think of much more creative and delicious words and phrases to go with that image, so I will leave you to do just that.

again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Love, luck and lots of whipped cream,
Carey

1. if your chocolate icecream is melting, you should probably NOT leave it sitting out. That is what a freezer (or the porch) is for. :(

1a. Melted icecream does not refreeze or do anything else well, other than being tossed in the garbage.

2. its SNOWING- time to go outside and play. woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!

2a. XC skiing will be the play of choice, as snowball fights by myself may not go over very well with the locals. It would be funny though. (e:vincent) , do you have skiis or snow shoes to join me?


3. I am not a vegetarian, although a majority of my diet would say otherwise. What makes me totally un-veggie is the occasional need to sick my teeth into a cow. Yes, its that time of the year that I highly desire a slab of beef-grilled medium- and nothing else at all. I prefer poultry/fish when I get my meat on and occasionally any other form if it looks/smells good. However, this ravenous-carnivore desire is undeniable. It began yesterday, and I thought perhaps my body just wanted protein- so I selected a chicken sandwhich at Cafe 59 although an Eggplant sandwhich would have been preferred, taste wise. That didn't do it. So later on, I had an egg for dinner (brunch held me over). Nope, still not satisfied. Thats when I concluded that a pitstop at Federal Meats is in my future. Just a little is needed to suffice.

3a. With my steak, a side of red wine and an action movie is all that is needed, wanted.

4. My car is back. It was the brake line. The cost was nothing that I couldn't handle. Glad to have wheels again! :)


Be well, stay warm, drive safe!

Brrrr, it was a chilly day today. A good brisk walk in the sun was well needed and enjoyed. Although I danced on and off all day yesterday, and bounced around inside (love those stairs!) I still need to have my daily dose of fresh air, even if it is arctic cold. Playing with my car in Wegman's parking lot yesterday, freezing my ass off while assessing the sudden 'lack of brakes' issue, does not count as quality time in fresh air. Nope. So it was definitely on my agenda today.

I bundled up in layers, tossed a backpack on my shoulders and headed out the door, no particular destination or time frame in mind. I love my strong leg and butt muscles. They take me anywhere I want to go and as far as I want to go. It is wonderful to just take off walking and eventually forget that my lower body is moving as my mind takes over and takes in my surroundings or takes me places other than my surroundings.

My ever reliable back pack contained a few essentials: ID, cash, shiny lip gloss and two books. A pit stop for a steaming cup of blackberry sage tea allowed me the time to finish reading, The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo- another source that is replete with ideas and messages that I have thought about already in the past. One paragraph brought a tear to my eyes; it is strange to feel things much more strongly than what I have in the past. I dig it. The second book, Sun Tzu's The Art of War, was started and abandoned back in August of 2006 (e:theecarey,228) . I had needed to amp up my academic efforts therefore suspended reading anything that was not school related. I read a few more pages before heading back out into the cold and icy January day. It is a quick, albeit occasionally complicated read. I love that I can catch up on my reading. I pulled out at least a dozen books from my collection that I fully intend to delightfully tear into.

I returned to the 24 with anticipation of curling up and relaxing on my deep orange body melting barcalounger. I lit a few vanilla candles, put on a full length sweater, added a blanket for extra warmth and turned off the lights. I laid back and closed my eyes, not falling asleep but not fully awake either. Thoughts swirled around behind my closed eyes; most were visual with an emphasis on delicious.

Having not paid attention to the time all day, I am not sure how long I relaxed in my chair. Ooh, that chair felt good- it has been such a long time since I just sat down like that. The primary effect was rejuvenation which was much needful after a very busy and late night prior. It was nice to shake off any lingering negativity and insecurities as well. yeh, it happens and I just deal with it head on. With newfound freshness, I stood up and stretched, went downstairs to make tea, then resumed my stretching in more purposeful manner. I am very flexible and work at maintaining a balance in this flexibility; it must be combined with strength and balance to be optimal. I should take a yoga class or buy a DVD to further enhance my abilities.
rock on.

Considering that I am outdoors as much as possible (I go through a lot of SPF lotion all year long!) and immensely enjoy walking/hiking, it would do me well to incorporate it more with other fond activities such as writing and phtography. I love packing my backpack and heading out into the woods, usually without a destination, time frame or predetermined distance. Now, how about trying something different- having to carefully map out the destination with logistics pertaining to time and distance (and survival, hehe!) ? I would like to strive for hiking the continental divide one day. I am sure I have mentioned it before as it is something I think about on again, off again. However, I have taken an active approach to looking into it.




3000 miles. Come on, who's with me???Any takers?????????? hehe

yes yes yes yes!





update via p:mobl another pic trying to get the flower. Mirror image picked up me as well, when I looked at the whole image(accidentally and then purposefully). Still can't get in close enough for the flower as hoped. Sepia tone on Pocket PC.