Yep, it's another sunrise. Check out all the rich colors. Bright cream, gold and yellow at the horizon. Salmon, purple and black in the cloud in the foreground. Shades of purple and blue in the higher background clouds. And the shape of that cloud! They don't get much better than this. 
I sent this email to Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series. These are the books that caused some fun synchronicities for me a while back. Anyway, here's what I asked her.....
Dear Diana, First, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for the Outlander series. I am a latecomer to the books. I bought Outlander at a church garage sale last autumn and didn't get around to reading it until this past March before leaving on a spring break trip. I was looking through my book collection for something nice and fat that would get me through the flights to and from Denver and Loreto (Baja). Needless to say, Outlander did that and hooked me in a major way. I am an avid reader, always have been, but there are only three book series that I "had" to own: Lord of the Rings, the Vorkosigan books, and the Outlander series. I think what I most appreciate is that the characters of all these books come alive for me, I care about them as I'm reading.A Breath of Snow and Ashes answered most of the questions I had been wondering about as I made my way through the books. Only one has remained: Who diddled Claire's toes (among other body parts) when she was in bed the night before Jocasta's wedding? I won't say that an answer will make my life complete, but it certainly would be fun to know ;-). Thanks for your time! Gail BonnerAnd this is the reply I received today, what fun!
Dear Gail,
Thanks for writing and I apologize for taking so long to reply to your question.
Well, I'm sure that while Jamie was very intoxicated and _seemed_ unable to locate his own foot in the dark, most of the evidence for the 'midnight masseuse' points towards him anyway. Many people have speculated that perhaps Phillip Wylie hunted for Claire in another attempt to woo her, or even that it was Ulysses, Jocasta's black butler (!). Remember, in these books, not everything is as it seems.
If Claire got up and went into the hallway to see Jamie there "waiting" for her on the stairs, who else would it have been tickling her feet? In a crowded room, it wouldn't have been feasible (or morally proper, wife or no) for Jamie to toss pebbles at the window to draw Claire out to meet him. By creeping through the mass of bodies he was instinctively able to discern which was his beloved wife, let her know that it was indeed Himself (the counting of the "piggies") and by his familiar touch, aroused her to a point where she was unable to return to sleep -- just as Jamie had hoped.
Thanks for writing and I hope you continue to enjoy the next book(s) in the series.
Best wishes,
--Diana Gabaldon
Do I ever get tired of seeing or photographing beautiful sunrises? Nope. Sunsets either.
Today is Aaron's 14th birthday, but he has been celebrating all weekend. It started with a sleepover with 8 of his buddies, continued with a family party yesterday and finishes with opening his presents from me and Steve tonight. All this fun has taken a toll - he is one tired teen!
And what was the most fun for me? Having all the kids home at the same time.....
This morning's sunrise was unusual...very hazy and a red sun. It's been an OK day for sailors here at 8400 feet ;-).
The digital camera wasn't able to catch the same color range as my eyes.
How could I have forgotten this fun-ness? Gaaah, I'm getting forgetful or something. Especially since I spent 2 weeks getting ready for this....
Last summer after the ren fair I decided that I wanted to go this year in costume. I made a costume for myself for Halloween, intending to wear it again this summer: chemise, vest, overskirts, etc. As it got to be June, I changed my mind and chose another outfit to make. Megan asked if I would make one for her. Then Aaron asked, then Matthew and then Steve. How could I refuse? So, two weeks later had made renaissance costumes for the whole gang.
We got to the fair in all our splendor and had a wonderful time. We did notice two interesting things...the first was that people assumed we were working there and asked us for directions. Second, it was subtle but the crowd got out of our way as we walked through. It wasn't exactly a parting of the sea - they just moved out of our way.
The photo on the top is Warren (Aaron's buddy) and Aaron. The photo on the bottom is Matthew, me, Megan and Steve.
This actually happened yesterday and I don't know why I forgot about it until after I had posted. Short term memory is a terrible thing to waste. On to the funness......
I've been troubleshooting Laura G's computer. She wasn't getting any video signal out to her monitor and we thought we had isolated the problem to the video card. Dell tech support sent out a new card to me, I installed it and still no video. That meant another call to tech support. I got this very funny Canadian guy named Mark. We did some more work and finally determined that the connector/adapter between the monitor and computer was at fault. He said he would order a new one, and that it is called a dongle. Oh, a defective dongle? That's right! A defective Dell dongle? Yes! Did I need to return it? No, I could dispose of it. Mark and I were highly amused by the end of the phone call. And....today DHL delivered a new, non-defective Dell dongle.
I feel like Zippy - defective Dell dongle, defective Dell dongle, defective Dell dongle............
One of the many things I love about living in Conifer is the spectacular sunrises and sunsets. The drama of cloud and color is unrivaled and can occur during any season. Sometimes they even look un-natural, as though they had been painted.
You know how sometimes you wake up and don't know what day it is or what time it is? Well, I did that one better this morning. I woke up sometime before my alarm went off (I don't know when, I didn't look at the clock) and didn't know where I was or who I was! It was quite disconcerting. After a moment I realized that I was Gail and that I was at home in my own bed. Perhaps I was astral traveling during the night and the re-entry was a little bit rough. Whatever it was, it was unsettling until I knew who and where I was.
I've been flashing back to the past, my own past, using a meditation CD - Past Life Regression with the Angels (by Doreen Virtue). I've used it three times and have had some fun and amazing results.
The first time, I was a little fuzzy on my request and I first experienced a glimpse as a life as a man dressed in fur - think barbarian - running through a forest with my companions, waving my arm at them to follow me. Then I was a young native woman, again in a forest, and I was living happily with my tribe. That life ended when I died in childbirth - I bled to death. This has to be in relation to the Period That Would Not End. Hopefully that problem is now cured. As for the first life, I haven't figured out what I was supposed to learn from it, however interesting it may have been.
The second meditation showed me another life as a man, a very jealous man. I was angry and shaking my wife for some imagined infidelity - she was innocent but couldn't convince me. I died on a battle field far from home and was sorry for my behavior. I recognized my wife as Megan and there were an older couple as well who were my parents. I see this as one source of my problems with Steve - always accusing me of imagined infidelities. Karma in action! The 2nd life in this meditation was as medieval peasant woman. I was dressed in bulky brown skirts/dress and lived in a village of crude huts made of saplings with thatched roofs. I was a healer. Our village was raided and I was killed. I was SO frustrated that my life and work had been cut short and that my death was so senseless.
The third meditation I saw myself as a woman in the mid 1800's sometime. I was in a plain dark gown with a bustle, with pince nez glasses and a small hat on my upswept hair. I was married, childless and was a college professor. This was in response to my question about my life mission - something to do with teaching adults. The last life was as a male slave in the middle east about the time of Jesus. I had on a coarsely woven short tunic and I was being beaten by my owner. I grew up and rebelled and was hanged. This may point to my need for independence and standing up to authority.
This has been very enlightening, but I need to leave it alone for awhile and process what I've been given.....even if it is fun!
I'm back from a very fun vacation in Naples, Florida. I got to spend five days with my best friend and her family, walked on the beach almost every day and enjoyed some wonderful seafood and wine.
I enjoy traveling with my family, but I do like traveling by myself. I only have to be concerned about myself, not a whole crew, don't have to think about who's crabby and how to bring them back around, don't have to referee, don't have to do nothing......and that is sweet.
It felt so good to walk on the beach, smelling the ocean (well, gulf of mexico to be exact), feeling the water and sun and sand. And of course the exercise was wonderful.
One of the funmeter pegging activities was receiving a reading from Barbara. She does a wonderful job and just had great things to tell me. The next couple of months will bring completion to issues that have been holding me back, moving past heartbreak. After that comes a new job, with success and everything my heart desires, especially intimacy. I think that is grand.
During the reading I asked if loved ones from the other side were around. Gramma came forward to say she was really happy for me. Uncle Charlie showed up, as well as dad. Got confirmation that dad is the source of the electrical stuff....the bear, mom's doorbell, the electrical stuff with the ford, etc. Just his way of saying hi. Also got confirmation about that dream of meeting dead people, it was the real deal, I really was there (wherever "there" is) and meeting all those people. Barbara said that they were telling me that they were all around me, supporting me. Pretty cool!
The kids will all do fine....Matthew will find his soulmate and his path, after a failed first marriage. Megan will kick ass and take names, will be very successful and will have only one child.
One of the most fun parts of the trip was my last night there. Diane, John and I went out to dinner at the Turtle Club, right on the beach, and were there for sunset. It was absolutely wonderful and the funmeter was so pegged that it is still up there in the red zone.
I've been cleaning computers at school, getting ready to put everything to bed for the summer. The teachers are all getting testy, the kids are getting wild, and tension in the building is high. I decided to have a little fun, so I made some strips of paper that say "Cleaned and Sanitized for Your Comfort and Protection" with clipart of a maid in the middle. Like the papers that motel maids used to put around toilet seats. I tape them across the keyboards, they're not quite long enough to reach all the way around. They've created chuckles.....mission accomplished!
Did I spell that right?
Anyway, the literary funmeter has been pegged ever since spring break when I read the first book in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. It sucked me in and hooked me big time. I read the first book, and re-read it while waiting for the second book to get shipped to my local library for pickup. I have since ordered the rest of the series in paperback from Amazon....and got 'em last Saturday, yeehah! The only other authors/series that I *had* to own are Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series.
I have a tendancy to fall for the male heroes of these books and this one is no exception. Jamie Fraser is hot, hot, hot. And that's where the synchronicities come in. I've been seeing references to Scotland and the name James or Jamie for the last couple of days. The hymn on Sunday was Brother James Air (the Lord is My Shepherd), from Edinburgh. Then, I started working on a baby blanket for Amy's little guy-to-be and it called for Jamie yarn. I looked at the yarn I had picked out from Mom's big bag 'o garage sale yarn ( I had picked out the yarn before I had a pattern), and of course it was Jamie yarn! That just made me smile.
Oh yeah, off topic, but I'm still seeing the angel numbers. Go angels!
Twice this afternoon I saw the number 5:55, or 555. First when I glanced at the TV during the weather segment, it was showing tomorrow's sunrise at 5:55 am. Then while I was in the kitchen cooking supper I glanced at the clock and it was 5:55.
So....I googled angel numbers and 555 is the number indicating big changes on the way, "buckle your seatbelts" kinds of changes. Wow. I'm getting the feeling like I'm at the top of the first big hill on a roller coaster ride. Kind of excited and scared all at the same time.
The funmeter has moved out of the redzone for awhile. After a couple of fun and frantic weeks of winning tickets and attending concerts, life has taken a step or two back.
Last week I had to go to town to rescue Megan. She had left her car lights on in the morning and returned after class at noon to find a car with a really dead battery. I drove down to the light rail station, calling AAA on the way, and sat with her until the battery guy came. I followed her home to make sure she got there OK. She did.
Yesterday as I started the van to go to the grocery store, it sounded a little sluggish - so I wasn't totally surprised that it wouldn't start at all this morning. Dead battery. Another call to AAA, I love those guys, and 45 minutes later we were on our way to school.
One of the teachers had been freaking because I wasn't there at 7:30 and she needed me. She was surprised that I wasn't upset over the dead battery thing and that I was laughing about it. Good grief, it really wasn't a big deal. Nobody dead, nobody hurt, no damage done, just a little late to school/work.
Lucky I'm blessed with a funmeter that's easily pegged.
we had a great time in baja over spring break. the weather was good, sunny and warm, but the wind was wicked from sunday thru thursday. on friday we were able to go fishing, caught two yellowtail and a triggerfish. only brought home one yellowtail because a sealion got the other one. enjoyed the trip up to the mission at san javier. it was a long and very bumpy bus ride up and down the steep, rocky, narrow road. a little bit much for the last day of a vacation, but interesting nevertheless. the trip home was an adventure. 1/2 hour late leaving loreto, bags delayed an hour in customs, missed our flight out of LA and had to wait in line 1+ hour to find that we couldn't get confirmed tickets and had to fly home standby. we got out 2 flights later at 4:45. getting on a plane never felt so good. except for that time we got out of cozumel/cancun on one of the last flights before a hurricane. that was on standby too.
the funmeter is in the redzone....
ever since the week of my birthday. Winning all those concert tickets: kt tunstall, bodeans, big head todd and the monsters. And going to the David Gray concert was amazing. I'm not sure what my angels were trying to tell me. Maybe to have more fun, maybe happy birthday, maybe all of the above.
I read somewhere that 50 is the new 35 and I agree with that. I haven't felt this good since I was 35, emotionally anyway. The physical could use a little work and with that work would easily be as good as 35 was.
I'm just glad to be back in the redzone, it's been a long time.
