Tag Archives: Life

Wildcat Mountain camping trip

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Yesterday I returned home from a camping trip to Wildcat Mountain State Park. Because I was so involved with moving to my condo last fall, I haven’t been camping since last August. It was great to finally spend some time in out in nature recharging my batteries.

Wildcat Mountain State Park

I ended up doing a lot of hiking. Saw quite a few animals (including deer, wild turkeys, hawks and a lot of migrating songbirds) and some pretty nice scenic vistas.

One interesting thing I discovered is there are a lot of Amish people living in the area surrounding the park. After I saw a number of their horse and buggies driving along the rural highway, I really started to think about modern life. Here I am going to the country to recharge my batteries and get away from it all, while they’re living the simple life there all the time. Oh, I’m sure the Amish have their difficult and stressful times, but I doubt any of them are complaining about not having enough time for things.

Time may change me

Lately I’ve been very aware of the passage of time — both in small and large amounts. In this age of modern conveniences, why do we often run out of time? Not enough time to get the house chores done before bedtime, not enough time to write a blog entry (wink), not enough time to finish reading that magazine before next month’s issue arrives…

As I get older, time seems to move much faster for me than it did when I was younger. Is your perception of the passage of time inversely related to the amount of memories in your brain? I remember summers when I was a kid that seemed to go on forever. Now the seasons (summer especially) seem to just fly by.

As David Bowie once sang, “Time may change me, but I can’t change time.”

Closing time dream

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I had the “closing time dream” again last night.

I’m at work (in the library) and it’s closing time. So we lock all the doors, but somehow people are still able to come in. They keep walking through the locked doors in droves. We tell them that the library is closed and they have to leave but they don’t. Of course since all the library patrons keep coming in, that means I am unable to go home (and getting a bit irritated about the whole situation).

Around 14 years ago I had earned my masters degree and was searching for a job in the library field for several months. I was working in a retail store at the time and every so often I would have a dream similar to the one above. It was closing time. They doors of the store were locked. I wanted to leave, but customers kept coming in.

About a year ago I started having the same dream every couple of months or so. The only difference is, it takes place in the library. When I thought about the dream today an important question that I had not considered before, popped into my head. Why don’t I just leave?

First sign of Spring

I saw one of the first signs of Spring today. I opened up my mailbox to see the L.L. Bean outdoor gear catalog waiting for me. Unfortunately it was accompanied by a big sign of winter — a snowstorm. Right now there’s about two inches on the ground and we’re supposed to get another four inches. I guess I won’t be camping anytime soon. At least looking at all that cool stuff and daydreaming about the outdoors will make the winter night seem a little warmer.

One link at a time

So there I was at home with cabin fever, day dreaming of summer camping and biking. As I was silently wishing it was spring and all of this bitter cold weather was well behind me, I clicked on a web page and saw the following quote:

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.

– Sir Winston Churchill

Space Shuttle Columbia

Tragic news today when the Columbia space shuttle broke apart and all of those aboard perished. In a time when war, terrorism and other negative aspects of humanity can be all too prevalent, those 7 astronauts died while on a peaceful quest to expand our scientific knowledge. May that noble quest never perish.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who were close to the astronauts.

The hounds of winter

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I am definitely behind in my blogging. I blame it on the winter. It certainly isn’t MY fault. [grin]

Short days and long nights in bitter cold temperatures bring out the hibernator in me. I find I sleep more in the wintertime and I spend more time curled up on the couch with a good book (and maybe a blanket). Of course the lack of snow doesn’t help. Looking out the window and seeing a winter wonderland of brown can be a bit depressing.

I’m as dark as December.
I’m as cold as the man in the moon.
All I hear is that lonesome sound.
The hounds of winter, they follow me down.

– Sting, The Hounds Of Winter

The best thing

What’s the best thing that happened to you this year?

That was one of the topics of discussion at the Thanksgiving dinner table last Thursday. It turned into a very philosophical thought for me. When I first heard the question I realized there were quite a few things that could have been the best thing that happened to me this year. Sometimes it’s easy to let negative things overshadow positive ones. But having to consider one event being the best makes me realize just how many positive things have happened to me this past year.

So, what did I choose as the best? I’m still thinking about that.

Ouch! Hurry up and wait

Thanks to me rushing to get a home improvement project done and a little accident involving my left thumb and my drill, I had a fun filled trip to the emergency room last night. After my thumb was stitched up, I had spent a total of three and a half hours there. Weeeee! Needless to say, I probably won’t be doing any home improvement projects until I get this big purple bandage off of my thumb. Yes, I have a purple bandage. It’s actually quite fashionable and a better choice over the hot pink gauze they also had in the cabinet.

Memories can’t wait

So there I was going through some stuff as I was packing yesterday and I came across my high school yearbooks. I couldn’t resist opening the first one and browsing through it. It’ll just take a few minutes, I said to myself. After I had finished looking through all three an hour had passed and a rush of memories were flooding my brain. Sometimes I wish I could go back to high school with the knowledge of life that I now have. I also wish I could go back and visit those good friends I had that I lost touch with so long ago. Here’s to my classmates. I hope you’re doing well.