I left Portland at around 7:00 a.m. and needed to arrive at the course site for our 9:30 a.m. morning circle. I made very good time despite the rain. The one thing I remember from the ride is the billboard for cage fighting. Unbelievable! I was barely 15 minutes outside Eugene when the fuel light…
Another restless night on the futon. I even had someone take the frame out from under the futon mattress. Apparently I am just universally unable to sleep on futons – at least the old, thin mattresses. When one hip succumbed to excruciating pain, I switched to the other one. This continued every few hours throughout…
I slept barely a wink last night. Obviously last night’s restful sleep on the futon was a fluke. I could feel every board and every separation as I continually adjusted my aching joints from position to position. I was in the kitchen around 7:05 a.m. as part of the cooking crew. Brett, Helen and I…
Well, I feel a lot better this morning than I thought I would. Not sure how that happened. It’s freezing here, so I joined the group of folks in the kitchen this morning waiting for hot water for tea. I had a few cups throughout the morning. Breakfast was hot oatmeal with apples, raisins, brown…
I would’ve made this entry last night, but I was too damned tired! Did I mention 13.5 hour days? I wasn’t joking. I drove my trusty rental car (which was thankfully a Hyundai Elantra and not a Jeep Commander, which is what I got last time I reserved a compact car) the 10 minutes to…
Today is the beginning of 18-days of adventures in permaculture. Several months ago, I signed up for a course in Eugene, Oregon that should result in a Permaculture Design Certificate. I say “should” because it probably won’t result in this certificate. Why? Because I just found out, quite coincidentally, that the structure of this course…
Last weekend, I had the good fortune of going to the ECHO farm in North Ft. Myers with my good friend, Tenille. Their website states: “Our goal is to improve the abilities of international community development workers assisting poor farmers by providing useful, important information and by networking their skills and knowledge with each other.…
I hope most of you see me as more of a realist than an alarmist. I am generally optimistic about the future, but I also see the value in being prepared for some of the more unlikely (yet entirely possible) scenarios that may unfold around us. I mean, who would’ve thought Japan would be in…
I recently had the pleasure of going to Bonaire, a tiny island about 50 miles off the northern coast of South America. It was an entirely new experience for me, being that it was the remotest place I’d ever been. It’s also fairly primitive, with wild goats and donkeys roaming around untethered.
Today I went snorkeling for the first time! Twice! It was incredible – truly a surrealistic experience. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity. It is something you can never imagine unless you actually do it. Then Jim and I got to have a night out alone. We went to dinner at a…
Today is my 38th birthday despite the fact that my sweetheart bought a card that indicated I was born in 1971. I forgive him, though, because when he’s not “trying”, he’s the sweetest, kindest person in the world. Besides, how could I be angry when I’m spending my birthday on Bonaire? What can I say…
A few weekends ago, I attended a Tiny House Workshop given by Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. I was so excited when I saw that this workshop was coming to Orlando, and I quickly recruited my sweetheart to go with me. We stayed at the Holiday Inn “Castle”, which was a treat… so…
Weeds… here in Florida, we all have them. They’re growing out from the cracks in our driveway and lanai. We pull them up, but they grow right back. It’s so tempting to spray them with poisonous weed killing agents and be done with them. But there’s another solution that doesn’t involve harmful chemicals leeching into…
You may recall that I shut off my cable TV around a year ago. It’s bad enough that I pay $70 a month (yes, that’s right) just for my high speed internet, which I need for business. My cable TV was running me another $60 each month, and I refused to continue to succumb to…
So, I’d like to present some simple rules to follow for giving a gift to your mate. PERFUME: Many men have some weird notion that women love perfume. Many do, but generally not just any perfume. You can’t just give Red Door to someone who wears Chanel #5. Every perfume is different and, furthermore, smells…