A walk thru The Avenues

I am all moved into my new place in The Avenues. The Avenues is kind of a swanky part of Salt Lake. I don't like being swanky, but I do like my place and the view it offers. It sits up on a hill overlooking Salt Lake and The Valley below. The Avenues is a 1 mile grid, or so. I live in the far Northwest corner of it, which I like. Within a 6 block radius is all kinds of color this time of year and some extravagant homes. It is still not New Hampshire, but I do like it. I am here 10 months and we shall see.

 

My new home!! Not really, but I do love this tree house which is about 3 blocks from my place.
Reminds me of my friend Emily's new song "Treehouse" off her latest album Keep It With Mine.

                                                         www.emilycavanaghmusic.com

I love the tree covered sidewalks in my neighborhood. I am curious what winter will bring. Maybe some sledding down the hills?!! That would be fun eh. Want to join me? Come on and visit.

Not a very inspiring or warm post I know, but just wanted to mark my new beginnings.

            Now Go Out and Hug Someone Today!!
 

Home Sweet Home... Maybe?

So, I got a new place to live starting next week. It is a little quirky, which I like. It is a great location for ME I think and hope. It definitely has promise. I guess time will tell and I am looking forward to the move. In the end, I am not sure it will really matter WHERE I live, as it has never really mattered all that much to me in the past. I think along the lines of a great Jack Johnson song called "Home".

If you don't know it, you tube it and listen to the words... I like it..

"Home is wherever we are, if there's love there too"

         No, this is not where I will be living :0). This is a glimpse of my "hometown" in Ohio.

                   No Go Out and Hug Someone Today!!!

 

Back on my Feet

I stumbled across a video yesterday that made me think, made me sad, made me inspired. It is about a young woman who started a non profit called Back On My Feet to help homeless people. Check out the 5 minute video below if you have the time.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/homeless-business-owner-one-running-154620319.html
(I am not promoting this organization directly as I know very little about it, but it seems great)

It made me think about homeless people differently. What are THEIR stories? How can we truly HELP? Is it possible to wipe out homelessness in the greatest country on earth?

It made me sad because I realized I JUDGE homeless people way more than I ever should! Every time I see one holding a sign, I think "Why don't they try harder to get a job?". I am not proud of this thought, but I still think it. I wish I knew how to change it to be honest. I don't like to judge people, honestly. I do my very best to never judge ANYONE. But I still do sometimes. Why? I am not really sure. Something I need to learn and work on! For some reason or other, homeless people are the hardest for me to think about, deal with, etc. Not sure why, but I guess it is probably because I have a brother who is homeless and I know his true character. Of course it is WRONG to lump all homeless people into a category that is my brother. And does it truly mean my brother is a HOPELESS lost soul? Or is there a way to help him too? I have no answer for that, but I pray he gets found somehow. I just can't help him. He wants handouts from me, not hand ups.

This video inspired me because it makes me think in a different way. I still don't know what I am going to do about it, but at least I am thinking. That is the first step in any struggle in my opinion. To think DIFFERENTLY about it than you had before. I might see if there is a local Back On My Feet in Salt Lake?

Please share any stories or thoughts you have on this subject! I am all ears and ready to learn!

 

Not a spectacular photo of course, but appropriate for this post. These are the feet of a runner.

 

 

Now Go Out and Hug a Runner or a Homeless Person!!

 

 

 

It's a Magical World

I have been reading a lot of Calvin and Hobbes recently thanks to a friend who sent me some books on C&H. It has to be one of the funniest, if not THE funniest comic every written. So smart and so funny. You can read deeply into it and enjoy it, or just read it on the surface and enjoy it. The whimsical mind of a 6 year old boy and his not so imaginary feline friend. One of the books is called "It's a Magical World". They could not be more correct in my opinion. It IS a magical world indeed. At the end of the book is  the strip where it is a pure white setting of snow. Calvin contemplates it and says he loves the new fresh snow and a world of pure white... the possibilities are endless. "It's a Magical World, Hobbes Ol' Buddy. Let's go explore". Some of that is paraphrasing of course, but the last quotes is exact I believe. Anyway, there are endless possibilities for this life and exploring is the best way to discover those possibilities in my opinion. So I urge you to go out and explore the world as much as your little heart desires!

                              A painting by my cousin Joslyn. It's magical don't you think?

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper" ~Eden Phillpotts


Now Go Out and Hug Someone! It's Magical!
 

Beslan

We are in the middle of the 9th anniversary of the Siege in Beslan. As you know, Beslan is near and dear to my heart! The school was seized by terrorist on Sept. 1st, 2004. Teachers, civilians and children were held hostage for 52 hours. 1200 people were held hostage in a small gym with no food, water or means of going to the bathroom! In the end 334 people were killed, including 186 children!

This means that there were 800 plus survivors who have to live with PTSD and survivor guilt. Nine years later and these folks still need help. They need respites from the horrible memories and they need help in learning ways of getting past being victims and becoming survivors instead. Many have done that, but they all still need help. My friend Maria goes there every year for a week long respite and friendship to do all of the above. It is a splendid week of learning and loving. I invite anyone out there to go, if you are willing to love and respect and accept all that the people of Beslan have to offer! If you can't go personally, you can contribute to Maria's cause on the link below.

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/beslan-colored-support-children-of-beslan/

As some of you know, Maria's husband died this year and he was a big funder of this event. She needs more help now than ever! Global Giving is a nonprofit and even though you have to give them 15% of the money, they do good things as well! It is worth it in my opinion and I have donated. I hope to be one of the people going this April if all goes well! Hope to see you there too!

 

 

                     Now Go Out and Hug Someone Today!!
 

Hope for Today

A friend of mine gave me a book recently called Hope for Today. It is a daily reader, where you are suppose to read one page a day for a year. I have read more than one page the past few days, but not many. I wanted to get glimpse of the beginning, Jan. 1st, and the end, Dec. 31st, and a few days in between. Just to see if I needed to read it front to back. Turns out you don't. So, I am going to read one passage a day from here til next August starting with Aug. 29th. I will probably even read the passages more than once during the day as time permits.

The book is written for Al Anon members, but I feel it can be helpful to anyone really. I don't think every passage will necessarily relate to me, but the ones that do will certainly stimulate thoughts and emotions. Those are good things in life I think.

For some reason today, my thoughts and emotions have been about reflection and Hope. I hope I continue to grow in a positive way and can be a positive influence on the people around me. I hope I learn from past mistakes. I hope I am strong enough to do the things I should. I hope I AM doing the things I should now. I hope for all of these things today AND tomorrow!

                                                         A day of reflection

                                       What do you HOPE for today and beyond? Do share.

                    Now Go Out and Hug Someone Today!!

Climb a mountain

So, I "climbed" a mountain this past weekend with a friend. It was... I thought.... a typical hike up and down. It would be a 3.75 mile hike up 2500 feet, and then back down. Now I have done hikes where you went up 2000 feet in 2 or 3 miles, so I didn't think it would be so hard. Wrong!

The last 1/4 mile I thought my legs were going to give out... and that was just to get to the ridge! Once on the ridge we had another 1/4 mile to the top! To get to the top we had to "climb" up rocks. It looked daunting, but also fun... and for some reason my legs kicked in and we scrambled up to the near top without much trouble actually.

We didn't go all the way to the tip top because we weren't sure which "road" to take. We were told to stay to the right, so we took a trail that went off to the right. The road less traveled apparently and I am so glad we did! We were treated to our very own secluded ridge to sit and eat lunch while we watched the mountains to the east turn into crevices and trees. The valley to the west with more mountains cascading down to the West Valley below. No noise, no people, just me my friend and a few butterflies flittering around... Oh, and a rattlesnake!

Yes, I got to see my very first rattlesnake in the wild. I could not have been more thrilled!! He was big too... or she? I didn't get THAT close. We kept our safe distance and it kept it's safe distance. But I got some wonderful photos of it. I could have stayed there and watched it slither all day, but at one point it did raise it's tail (did not rattle though), so I didn't want to upset it too much.

We hike our merrily way down. You would think going down would be super easy. NOT! It was easy at first, probably because of the rattlesnake sighing and my adrenaline flowing. The last 1/4 mile was the hardest once again. Even though we were going DOWN, I just felt like I could not take another step! Luckily with my friend's encouragement I inched down to my car and felt exhilarated, victorious, exhausted and a few other adjectives. I am so glad I got up at 530 on a Sunday morning to do it and that my friend joined me!

I have been in a little bit of a funk lately and this "climb" was just what I needed. So, if you are feeling a little down I highly recommend "climbing" a mountain, whatever that mountain may mean to you. To me, Mt. Olympus will hold a special place in my heart even if I never climb her again.

Now Go Out and Hug a Friend Today, but not a snake!