Ginnylynnpeterson: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Flordia Vacation - Everglades

We took a day and drove down to the Everglades.

All kinds of birds, moss, mangroves, turtles, snakes.....

And of course alligators right beside the road!

I couldn't believe they would let you get so close.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Flordia Vacation - Trout Fishing in America

Honestly, REALLY, i'm not much of a fishermen. I'm usually the one who pukes when I have to bonk the fish on the head....! But fishing with Chris, well he just makes it perfect....as really all i do is cast and hold the rod....

Magically some how or another I did manage to catch a couple of things. Above is the Florida Pompano....that one was my favorite. Just a really pretty fish...almost looked like it belonged in an aquarium. I guess they are super good to eat....but for some reason it never got cooked while I was there....hmmmm, i think my parents are up to something....!

We also got a ton of lady fish, trout and a bonnet head shark!

That was cool! But didn't make me want to jump in the water....!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Flordia Vacation - Cayo Costa

Just spent a week with the folks in very sunny and warm Florida.

Very nice to take a break from our sub-zero temps....

Cayo Costa State Park is a boat ride away from where my parents live. Long white sandy beaches, clear aquamarine water, and an endless amount of shells lining the shore....

The island my parents live on is mostly mangroves.....so not much beach....but its pretty easy to jump in the boat and find a remote sandbar or beach to lounge around on. This place quickly became one of favorites. The shells were truly amazing!

More Florida vacation to come!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Ever Wonder What the Boys do While in Chickaloon?

Saturday, January 17, 2009

The 80's Prom - The Second Time Around

Yep, it was prom all over.....
puff-puff dresses, big bows and rolled-up/torn up jeans....

A time when doves cry and you don't stop believing......
the start of grunge, the start of rap, the start of hip-hop....

Madonna, U2, Beastie Boys, and MTV......
Jelly shoes, parachute pants, and break dancing......

I'm not sure if the photos do the evening justice,
as truly dancing to cheesy 80’s music all night long…
well, it actually was a ton of fun!

And as all good things come to an end....so did the 80's!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Freeze Project - Frozen No Longer

I just got back from a run in which I should have worn ice-skates…..nonetheless I went by the Freeze Project, that perhaps should be re-named “The Once was Frozen, Frozen no Longer Project.”

At first it made me a little sad to see all the ice sculptures falling apart, dripping with water, shapes completely changed, but then I thought about the artist Andy Goldsworthy. The way he uses natural materials to make images, statues, sculptures, only to watch them blow away, float away, melt or fall down........really intense and really amazing.......

So I kept running/sliding and enjoyed the memory of walking through the exhibit with Sherrie and Ryan, appreciating the time together and the enjoyment of the project….. And maybe life is kinda like that…..things come and go, but we are always left with the memory…..

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Seldovia, Alaska - Focus Group Work Trip

Today Anna, Claudette and I travelled to Seldovia, Alaska to ask a small group of Alaska Natives their opinions on specimen banks and biological sampling, otherwise known as a Focus Group.

We first took a plane to Homer, Alaska and then a smaller plane across Kachemak Bay to Seldovia. I liked the blurry plane photo....gives me the impression of the late morning sunrises topped with cold temperatures.....

This is a photo of one of the local Churches.

This was probably the highlight view of Seldovia....I never knew that Seldovia has a spit. Although not as large as Homer's spit it was very beautiful.

On the way out I spyed some ice!

There actually was a ton of it....anyone know anything??

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Welcome 2009 - And Chalkboard Art # 1

My fortune cookie said “you will make many changes before settling down happily.” Of course as we move forward into a new year, it does make me ponder. The "unexpected" feels like a constant these days and I wonder what kind of change this wise cookie fortune is referring to. I enter the new year with an eagerness to move forward quickly and rapidly, but that inner self saying pause for just a second and take it all in. As with change, so comes new beginnings. I am certain in my life there is change on the way and I promise to receive what comes before me as openly and honestly as I can. And so begins year three of the blog.

Happy New Year!

Meet Joe Black Quote

"Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived"

To Lucy Barfield (The dedication in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)

My Dear Lucy,
I wrote ths story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand, a word you say, but I shall still be

your affectionate Godfather,
C.S. Lewis

Ithaka

When setting out upon your way to Ithaca,wish always that your course be long, full of adventure, full of lore.Of the Laestrygones and of the Cyclopes,of an irate Poseidon never be afraid; such things along your way you will not find,if lofty is your thinking, if fine sentimentin spirit and in body touches you. Neither Laestrygones nor Cyclopes,nor wild Poseidon will you ever meet,unless you bear them in your soul,unless your soul has raised them up in front of you.

Wish always that your course be long;that many there be of summer mornswhen with such pleasure, such great joy,you enter ports now for the first time seen;that you may stop at some Phoenician marts,to purchase there the best of wares,mother-of-pearl and coral, amber, ebony,hedonic perfumes of all sorts--as many such hedonic perfumes as you can;that you may go to various Egyptian townsto learn, and learn from those schooled there.

Your mind should ever be on Ithaca.Your reaching there is your prime goal.But do not rush your journey anywise.Better that it should last for many years,and that, now old, you moor at Ithaca at last,a man enriched by all you gained upon the way,and not expecting Ithaca to give you further wealth.
For Ithaca has given you the lovely trip.Without her you would not have set your course.There is no more that she can give.

If Ithaca seems then too lean, you have not been deceived.As wise as you are now become, of such experience,you will have understood what Ithaca stands for.

Constantine P. Cavafy

I am Vertical - Sylvia Plath

But I would rather be horizontal. I am not a tree with my root in the soil Sucking up minerals and motherly love So that each March I may gleam into leaf, Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted, Unknowing I must soon unpetal. Compared with me, a tree is immortal And a flower-head not tall, but more startling, And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.

Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars, The trees and the flowers have been strewing their cool odors. I walk among them, but none of them are noticing. Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping I must most perfectly resemble them --
Thoughts gone dim. It is more natural to me, lying down.
Then the sky and I are in open conversation, And I shall be useful when I lie down finally: Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me.

Thoughts....

When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion -- when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors - when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (1957)

A friend of mine just shared this with me and I thought I would pass it on!

Myself
by Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so, I want to be fit for myself to know;I want to be able as days go by, Always to look myself straight in the eye; I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I've done. I don't want to keep on a closet shelf A lot of secrets about myself, And fool myself as I come and go Into thinking that nobody else will know The kind of man I really am; I don't want to dress myself up in sham. I want to deserve all men's respect; But here in this struggle for fame and pelf, I want to be able to like myself. I don't want to think as I come and go That I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show. I never can hide myself from me, I see what others may never see, I know what others may never know, I never can fool myself -- and so, Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience free.