DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!

The two biggest proponents of off shore drilling have yet to say anything about the oil leak wreaking unbelievable havoc in the Gulf. SARAH PALIN AND MICHALE STEEL what do you have to say now? Come on, where is the chant you spearheaded during the election?

From Huffington Post:

 "Drill, baby, drill! And drill now!" Steele memorably chanted at the Republican National Convention in 2008. "Do you want to put your country first? Then let's make decisions about our security based on what keeps us safe and not on what's politically correct," he told the crowd.

And during that year's vice presidential debate, Palin told Joe Biden, "You even called drilling -- safe, environmentally-friendly drilling offshore -- as raping the outer continental shelf. There -- with new technology, with tiny footprints even on land, it is safe to drill and we need to do more of that."

Boy Handled

That's what my husband has been calling our trip to Oregon tomorrow. He tells everyone we are going to be "boy handled."

It will be an experience. Our grandson has not been apart from his mother and father for over 24 hours in any one stretch. They will leave for 10 days to Costa Rica, and we will be the care providers of a two year old firmly attached to his parents. We have no idea how he will handle this separation, but we intend to thoroughly enjoy being with him. Now that my playmate is returning to work, this will be our last getaway for a while. Luckily the new company is allowing him to work from Portland, as I would have been alone with my little guy. (It's been quite a while since I've handled a two year old all by myself.) This way his Gumpa will have some quality time before our lives become tied down once again.

In other news, my youngest will be home from Thailand on Friday. Not a moment too soon for her family. She lost her only form of money the second day she was there! Thank goodness for Western Union and Internet cafes. Maybe next time she will listen to her mother when she tells her to take two ways of accessing money while traveling.

On second thought. Probably not.

Adopt an Elephant!

My daughter, who has been in Thailand for the last month, will wrap up her visit with an overnight visit, and hands-on opportunity to care for elephants, at the Elephant Nature Park in Chaing Mai. After visiting their website, I am very excited to hear her stories and find an elephant to adopt. I'm sure she will have a favorite. They are a wonderful species of animal that are endangered on so many levels.

Here is little Faa Mai, who loves to eat. The caption read that her "carer" always makes sure she has plenty of fruit and sweet grass to eat. She certainly seems to enjoy her food:

One thing my husband and I have learned over the past two years is that the money best spent is that which is given away. So in the spirit of living our best lives possible, we hope to find other worthy causes that touch our hearts. I have a long list: elephants, Haiti, gorillas, the oceans, the list goes on and on. What is your favorite place to want to give?

The Power of Roots

For those of you who follow my blog, you know that after living my entire life in one place, the miraculous finally happened and I convinced my husband to move from the home he had known for 25 years (and the company he had worked for 23 years) and take a chance elsewhere. He was offered a job in the city that I had always wanted to live - Portland, Oregon. Our children followed, and continued their education at the universities in Oregon. My daughter married a native Oregonian and gave birth to another native Oregonian.

 I was happy, but I never really felt a part of that wonderful city. I thought it would just take time. After all, I needed to learn new friend-making skills as I had always lived near the ones that I had known for most of my life. Not much effort needed there. (They were always visiting, so the need to expand my horizons didn't seem urgent.) But before that could happen another opportunity came our way. It was timed in such a way that the decision to leave our children and move to the Twin Cities seemed appropriate at the time.

That too was short-lived. My husband's company merged with another and we chose not to move to the small Midwestern town that was to be their new headquarters. Luckily, we sold our home in Prior Lake, Minnesota and moved to our small vacation home in Lake Tahoe. We have remained here during the economic tsunami that has threatened to drown our country and much of the world. Grateful to have a home when so many have lost theirs.

Now he has accepted a new job offer. Where, you ask?

Well none of the places that have come calling over the last couple of years. Not Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Washington, Hawaii, Oklahoma, or Boston.

No, the job offer that was offered and accepted is in ..... Reno, Nevada. Yep, full circle in just six years. It looks like I will be just 22 miles from our home here at Lake Tahoe, and back in the city where I was born. Weird, huh?

Nevada is drawing new companies due to favorable business taxes, and the lack of a state income tax. It is thought that it will be new companies that will drive the most growth in the near future, especially when it comes to employment opportunities. After all, we know big companies are not worried about keeping their employees any longer. That ship has sailed.

So we will be moving once again. I guess it's time to go home. Those deep, mysterious, roots that started in the 1800's with my great great grandparents have claimed their prodigal daughter.
At least for now.

Simple, really

Saving our oceans is a huge undertaking. We're talking years and years of overfishing, polluting, generally doing a nasty disservice to something so incredibly vital to the health of our planet. But today I'm going to give you two very simple things that you can easily do that will go a long way to saving our precious oceans.

#1 - QUITE USING PLASTIC BAGS - Buy yourself a package of Envirosax and keep one in your purse, a couple in your car, and one or two next to the door you usually leave from.  You can order them online, or buy them individually from Target in a multitude of colors and patterns. They are incredibly strong. You cannot carry too much in these bags! We use them for groceries (although we have other fabric bags just for the grocery), for the farmer's markets, shopping for clothes, going into just about anywhere where you would need a plastic bag. They are very light and roll right up into a little ball that fits right in your purse, backpack, or briefcase. They also make great gifts.

You cannot believe the number of bags clinging to trees and bushes in Maui - blowing in the wind and just waiting to choke a sea creature. Seriously. It doesn't take much energy to quit using plastic bags. Just say no thanks, I have my own.

#2 USE LESS FERTILIZER - Excess fertilizer usually ends up in the ocean. Even if you live in the middle of the country the fertilizer you use runs off into streams and rivers - ending up in the oceans. The result is Dead Zones, areas with low levels of oxygen in the water. One is the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico that blooms each spring and summer. Marine animals need oxygen to live - thus causing them to leave the area or die. Use fertilizer sparingly, if at all, and better yet, find an organic way to fertilize your yard. Amy, of Miscellany, did a wonderful post on a natural way of dealing with pests on your plants. Having owned a retail nursery, she tells the story of listening to a new way of using sea weed to naturally increase the health of plants.

These are two very easy things everyone can do that will make a huge difference in the health of our oceans, and our planet in general. We need to make a difference right now. We just can't wait any longer.

It's simple, really.

Out of the ocean and back to the snow!

What is it about sleeping in your own bed after being away? It just never feels so good. The sheets are perfect and the pillows fit in all the right ways. I'm happy to be home although I will miss the ocean, sand, and sea creatures of all kinds. We were lucky enough to see a few humpback whales, one with her baby, still in the protected bay where they have their calves before the long trek to Alaska. April is the end of the season with December through March being the best time to see them. My husband managed to see two sea turtles, but I had a leaking snorkel and missed that highlight.

Spending time near the ocean reminds me of all the reasons we have to fight to save them. Starting with using less plastic, which always seems to make it into our oceans, turn off our lights to help alleviate coal accidents on protected reefs, make sure we don't use chemicals on our lawns that eventually wash into the sea, and since there are many more, I'll save that for tomorrows post.

In the meantime, I am looking forward to catching up with all of you. I know I've missed a ton!

Mahalo

I Found Green!

Hope to catch up with you later in the week. Life is very good in warmer climes. Although even here in Hawaii it is unseasonably cool!

Finally!

I think we could be seeing spring in the mountains. There is talk of snow on Saturday, but I'm going to play Scarlett O'Hara and "think about that another day." Most of the giant icicles, two stories high, have fallen off the condo and scared Lucy all they're going to this year.  I am so ready for spring weather that is above 40 degrees.

I will be away from my blog for a bit. I know from your pictures that many parts of the country are experiencing an explosion of color, with blogging friends from afar enjoying fall color. Now it's time for me to find some of my own. While it's warming up, the ground is still mostly white.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

A new perspective on a troubling subject...

There is something about the most recent shipping accident, this time on the ecologically sensitive Great Barrier Reef, that has been troubling me more than usual.

The Great Barrier Reef is home to a vast and diverse sea life:



There have been at least 600 such accidents in this area over the last 30 years. We can point our finger at the captain of this latest ship carrying coal. His ship is in danger of breaking apart and causing untold damage to the coral reefs, as he was nine miles out of the shipping lane, in protected territory, when he ran aground.

But maybe we should consider this in a new way. Marcus, of  22C+, has a theory worth considering.

A Mountain Tsunami?

I guess every rose has its thorn.

It seems even in the mountains one can be at risk of a tsunami. A study done on Lake Tahoe, with three separate fault lines running through it, has proven that tsunami events have happened in the past. A wall of water three stories high could hit Incline Village, in the event of a large earthquake. Whew! That would be very cold water. Although it never freezes, the surface temperature is usually 40-50 degrees in the winter and a constant 39 degrees at 600-700 feet deep. It warms in the summer to around 65 degrees on the surface. 

Lake Tahoe is 1,645 feet deep, covering 191 square miles. It is the largest alpine lake in North America. (Crater Lake in Oregon is 300 feet deeper, but much smaller.)

With the 7.2 earthquake in Baja California yesterday, it does cause me to consider the advantage of not being right on the lake. Being grateful for not living right on the lake is a new one for me.

You can always find something for which to be grateful.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here's the view from my neck of the woods. It is snowing right now. Spring skiing anyone?

We had the most fabulous Easter brunch, with copious quantities of champagne. Here was our view:

This is the view of the lake from the Hyatt, (although this is a spring view - notice the umbrellas), snow still on the mountains in the background. It's usually there until sometime in June:

Hope you all had a wonderful day as we look forward to spring. I've been enjoying all of your pictures of flowers. As you can see, we are not quite there yet. Snow expected all week.

Dog versus Deer

Just in case you haven't seen this yet. You can read about it here.

Are you a Futurist?

The term "futurist" or "futurologist" refers to someone who is in the sciences, or social sciences, and attempts to predict the future of society or life on earth. From Wikipedia:

The terms most commonly refer to authors, consultants, organizational leaders and others who engage in interdisciplinary and systems thinking to advise private and public organizations on such matters as diverse global trends, plausible scenarios, emerging market opportunities and risk management.


I first became aware of this term while reading Sage of Synchronicity by Marcus T. Anthony. You can read my review of his book here. I remember thinking - wow, is there actually a profession that attempts to predict the future? 


Well, not only is there an emerging and expanding field of futurology, but you can find academic areas of focus directly related to many different topics that are future related. Here are some courses you can take from the Center for Future Consciousness:

• Philosophy, Wisdom, Enlightenment, and Education
• Mind, Consciousness, and the Future of Psychology
• The Study of the Future, Future Consciousness, and Science Fiction
• Evolution, Cosmology, and the Future of Science and Technology
• Virtue, Ethical Character Development, and Ethical Evolution
• Issues in the Future of Society and Culture

What is amazing to me is the depth of this field. We touched on this subject in college. My professors actually encouraged me to write about my views of human development combined with spirituality and evolution. I have always felt we are heading into an era where we will begin to understand exactly why we are here, and what our expectations should be of ourselves. How to use a disciplined mind to actually create the life you want to live. I believe some of them felt the same way. One professor talked about her out of body experience. The class loved it!

As the markets fell and the banks collapsed, I would tell my husband what I thought would be future trends. I knew we would be going through a drastic cultural shift, and sure enough, many of my predictions have come true. It doesn't take a genius to figure these things out - just someone who is tuned into patterns of behavior. We are all tuned into something. 

For the most part, I have been a lone voice in my life. I'm surrounded by people who believe this way of thinking to be "out there," or as my brother recently referred to it as - "weird." Imagine my surprise to find many of you actually have the same or similar thoughts. Now to find whole groups and centers dedicated to evolution, well, I am beyond happy. I feel like I'm coming home. Do you ever have that feeling when you are doing something, or reading something, and all of a sudden a light goes off and you feel illuminated? Well, that's how I felt as I read more and more about futurology. 

I have always been a fan of anything having to do with science fiction. I spent way too much time as a child daydreaming about what it would be like to live in the future. Which would explain my obsession with The Jetsons, and writers such as H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. I believe we are drawn to our "bliss" as Joseph Campbell coined the term, from a young age. But I think it's rare that anyone notices our special gifts unless it's something that really stands out. But what would the world look like if we had specific educational fields dedicated to helping a person see their unique potential at a very young age? If it was just part of the curriculum to be in touch with intention, consciousness and ethical responsibility? Would we still have bullies if they knew that what they were thinking and doing actually created their own personal experiences? How would that affect business or politics?

As for me, I am going to call myself a futurist and continue to study trends. I may even take online courses, and attend workshops here. As for educating myself, reading essays on the future by some incredible visionaries will go a long way in keeping me illuminated, in my bliss, flow, vortex, etc.

What about you? Are you a futurist?