Hubby and I have to find a way to make a living so we have been discussing setting up our own business. Deciding what to do is a difficult process, particularly when we both have differing ideas.
Tonight we hit upon an online store selling equipment related to a news site hubby has been wanting to start for some time now. He is very excited by it all and feels we have a good idea to develop and work towards.
How we will live until we have something up and running, and can start getting back some money I am not usre. But the mortgage needs to be paid, as do the basic bills. So credit cards to the ready for a while, it seems.
I have every faith that we will survive as my angels will take care of me and make sure I am provided for, as well as hubby.
Friday, 23 January 2009
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Stetson Mountain Wind Farm
John Baldacci, Governor of Maine, was at the opening of the Stetson Wind Farm just outside Danforth. The great and the good of the area were there, along with community members, or so the news blurb said.
Hubby and I thought we should go along, take some photos and see the wind turbines up close. There is one spot along the road going to the site where several of the wind turbines are visible. They look majestic, slowly turning above the trees, backdropped by the sky.
When we arrived at the site entrance, we were told we could not go up the mountain as we 'were not on the list'. We had heard about the opening on MPBN, Maine public radio and I had searched on the internet for the time, but no-one mentioned it was by invite or list only. We were shocked that this was the case as only a handful of community reisdents would go anyway, and what did they think? Someone might try and do something funny?
Well, the best bit was a group of protesters who felt that the whole scheme had been pushed through by the Governor without any public vote or discussion. There were seven people with placards from Lincoln - a very interesting group who are concerned about another proposed site around the Lincoln lakes that would ruin the scenery for all there. At least the Stetson farm was out away from any town, so the noise and lights would not be disturbing like the Mars Hill farm iss to residents.
So we stayed and chatted with the protesters and took pictures of them and their placards for about half an hour. We were cold by then so came home. I will be writing to the Governor to express my displeasure about not being allowed up the mountain today. will be keen to see how he responds (or whoever responds on his behalf).
Hubby and I thought we should go along, take some photos and see the wind turbines up close. There is one spot along the road going to the site where several of the wind turbines are visible. They look majestic, slowly turning above the trees, backdropped by the sky.
When we arrived at the site entrance, we were told we could not go up the mountain as we 'were not on the list'. We had heard about the opening on MPBN, Maine public radio and I had searched on the internet for the time, but no-one mentioned it was by invite or list only. We were shocked that this was the case as only a handful of community reisdents would go anyway, and what did they think? Someone might try and do something funny?
Well, the best bit was a group of protesters who felt that the whole scheme had been pushed through by the Governor without any public vote or discussion. There were seven people with placards from Lincoln - a very interesting group who are concerned about another proposed site around the Lincoln lakes that would ruin the scenery for all there. At least the Stetson farm was out away from any town, so the noise and lights would not be disturbing like the Mars Hill farm iss to residents.
So we stayed and chatted with the protesters and took pictures of them and their placards for about half an hour. We were cold by then so came home. I will be writing to the Governor to express my displeasure about not being allowed up the mountain today. will be keen to see how he responds (or whoever responds on his behalf).
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Birthdays
Today was my birthday. I received many e-cards from friends on my social networking page as well as from family. I had already prepared food for today so I didn't have to do anything much, and did not get up early. I stayed in bed listening to some music on the radio until 9:30.
Birthdays invoke strange feelings in me. There are happy memories of childhood all the presents were a surprise and birthday tea would have cake, jelly and ice-cream. Each birthday as a teenager got me closer to that door of freedom, adulthood, being able to do what I wanted to do, no more listening to parents. How naive we are at different times in our lives!
As the years have slipped by, I find myself liking birthdays and the little gestures made to acknowledge a birthday. Like the time my husband and I were in Paris when hubby was working on a project with an interesting French co-operative savings club. I had spent the morning touring Paris while ameeting was taking place. When I arrived at the restaurant to meet up with everyone, all of whom I had met before, I was told I could only have a main dish to eat. I didn't think anything about that, so had a chicken plate. Then a cake with many candles was wheeled out, and the whole restaurant sang 'Joyeaux Anniversaire" to me. I was kissed on both cheeks by many handsome men and blew out the candles. it was a surprising, romantic thing for my husband to arrange, especially given he usually got the date of my birthday wrong!
Another year he had arranged for some friends to come round for a potluck, after telling me to relax while he prepared our evening meal. Today he forgot. I was waiting for him to ask me if it was my birthday, and it was only after my daughter rang in the evening to wish me a happy birthday that he said 'Oh, happy birthday. Why didn't you remind me?' And that was that, not to be mentioned again. I don't take it personally any more as I have grown through my spiritual practices. I am very happy whether my birthday is remembered or not as I have so much to be grateful for in my life.
Birthdays invoke strange feelings in me. There are happy memories of childhood all the presents were a surprise and birthday tea would have cake, jelly and ice-cream. Each birthday as a teenager got me closer to that door of freedom, adulthood, being able to do what I wanted to do, no more listening to parents. How naive we are at different times in our lives!
As the years have slipped by, I find myself liking birthdays and the little gestures made to acknowledge a birthday. Like the time my husband and I were in Paris when hubby was working on a project with an interesting French co-operative savings club. I had spent the morning touring Paris while ameeting was taking place. When I arrived at the restaurant to meet up with everyone, all of whom I had met before, I was told I could only have a main dish to eat. I didn't think anything about that, so had a chicken plate. Then a cake with many candles was wheeled out, and the whole restaurant sang 'Joyeaux Anniversaire" to me. I was kissed on both cheeks by many handsome men and blew out the candles. it was a surprising, romantic thing for my husband to arrange, especially given he usually got the date of my birthday wrong!
Another year he had arranged for some friends to come round for a potluck, after telling me to relax while he prepared our evening meal. Today he forgot. I was waiting for him to ask me if it was my birthday, and it was only after my daughter rang in the evening to wish me a happy birthday that he said 'Oh, happy birthday. Why didn't you remind me?' And that was that, not to be mentioned again. I don't take it personally any more as I have grown through my spiritual practices. I am very happy whether my birthday is remembered or not as I have so much to be grateful for in my life.
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Fascinated today
I have been fascinated by the pomp and ceremony that happened for the inauguration of the new President in contrast to changes of government in the UK. I have been watching most of the day and have been moved by the hope and optimism shown by everyone for the future.
I wonder why there is such a long period of time between the election and the new president actually taking over. In the UK, the new Prime Minister just takes over the day after winning the election, with a short speech outside 10 Downing Street. And that is that.
Here, there is the long weeks when the outgoing President can take all sorts of actions that might be detrimental to both country and the following President, especially if the party in power is changing. And all this fuss over questioning the people chosen for positions within the government. Surely the President can pick who he likes without them having to be voted on.
I do feel that there is a huge amount of expectation for Mr Obama to make many changes for the better, both in the US and abroad. I am hoping that he is someone who can bring people together in peace and harmony, and help those who are less fortunate in their lives. I wish him well.
I wonder why there is such a long period of time between the election and the new president actually taking over. In the UK, the new Prime Minister just takes over the day after winning the election, with a short speech outside 10 Downing Street. And that is that.
Here, there is the long weeks when the outgoing President can take all sorts of actions that might be detrimental to both country and the following President, especially if the party in power is changing. And all this fuss over questioning the people chosen for positions within the government. Surely the President can pick who he likes without them having to be voted on.
I do feel that there is a huge amount of expectation for Mr Obama to make many changes for the better, both in the US and abroad. I am hoping that he is someone who can bring people together in peace and harmony, and help those who are less fortunate in their lives. I wish him well.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Writing a blog post
Having set myself the challenge of writing a post on here every day, I am finding this to be quite daunting. So far I have managed to find something to write about most days and been happy to tap away at the keyboard of my laptop. I am not expecting anyone to read these posts or make any comments on them, although that would be nice.
I am finding this to be both liberating and difficult. It is liberating because I can write whatever I like and believing nobody will look at my writing makes it more so as I would feel anxious if I thought there might be other eyes on this. It is difficult as I am never sure about the content of the posting and have no idea about the topic until I click on Create Posting.
I did jot down a list of subjects after my challenge that I could write about over the weeks and as yet have not looked at the list again. I can see that I will be reading it for ideas in the days ahead once I decide I am running out of spontaneous writing. Or maybe I will always find something to type regardless of my feelings prior to opening my blog.
The main reason I challenged myself to write every day is that I have always avoided writing before as I have a limiting belief that I can not write. I studied mathematics for my degree, not just because I really like working with abstract ideas and numbers which I do like, but also because there was a minimum of writing involved. In many ways this is debilitating as I have refrained from applying for work where I perceived there would be more than small amounts of writing as part of the work. In this way I have misse out on amny opportunities to work in interesting fields and to make a career in any sense.
I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron a few years back and tried the journal writing for 10 minutes every morning. Needless to say I stopped after a few days, even though the idea was to write whatever came into my head, no worry about other reading it, no need for good grammar, just to let it flow. Not much flowed. I think I tried too hard. So now I am just letting it flow within constraints of a loose subject or post title and this works much better.
I am proud of myself for having come this far on my 18th day of posting something on the blog. There is hope for me yet!
I am finding this to be both liberating and difficult. It is liberating because I can write whatever I like and believing nobody will look at my writing makes it more so as I would feel anxious if I thought there might be other eyes on this. It is difficult as I am never sure about the content of the posting and have no idea about the topic until I click on Create Posting.
I did jot down a list of subjects after my challenge that I could write about over the weeks and as yet have not looked at the list again. I can see that I will be reading it for ideas in the days ahead once I decide I am running out of spontaneous writing. Or maybe I will always find something to type regardless of my feelings prior to opening my blog.
The main reason I challenged myself to write every day is that I have always avoided writing before as I have a limiting belief that I can not write. I studied mathematics for my degree, not just because I really like working with abstract ideas and numbers which I do like, but also because there was a minimum of writing involved. In many ways this is debilitating as I have refrained from applying for work where I perceived there would be more than small amounts of writing as part of the work. In this way I have misse out on amny opportunities to work in interesting fields and to make a career in any sense.
I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron a few years back and tried the journal writing for 10 minutes every morning. Needless to say I stopped after a few days, even though the idea was to write whatever came into my head, no worry about other reading it, no need for good grammar, just to let it flow. Not much flowed. I think I tried too hard. So now I am just letting it flow within constraints of a loose subject or post title and this works much better.
I am proud of myself for having come this far on my 18th day of posting something on the blog. There is hope for me yet!
Sunday, 18 January 2009
Rushing
I'm writing this in a rush tonight as I am on my way to bed, as I am extremely tired. I think it's partly the cold weather wearing me out. On the other hand I have done a lot today, and moving wood around for the wood stove is hard work.
We have our split dried wood in a shed attached to the basement. Wood is brought into and stacked in the basement, and then taken up some steep stairs to the main room. We have enough in the main room for a day's burning at a time, so need to move wood most days. Some pieces of wood are very heavy.
I also got up quite early - I am not an early bird, liking to have my morning coffee around 8am in bed, after which I do my morning meditation before getting up. When the weather is warmer and the days longer, I get up around 7am, but winters are definitely made for stay in bed late months.
So although it is not so cold tonight, I am off to bed earlier than usual to have a read before sleeping. I just had to make a post of some sort today. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow, and something interesting too.
We have our split dried wood in a shed attached to the basement. Wood is brought into and stacked in the basement, and then taken up some steep stairs to the main room. We have enough in the main room for a day's burning at a time, so need to move wood most days. Some pieces of wood are very heavy.
I also got up quite early - I am not an early bird, liking to have my morning coffee around 8am in bed, after which I do my morning meditation before getting up. When the weather is warmer and the days longer, I get up around 7am, but winters are definitely made for stay in bed late months.
So although it is not so cold tonight, I am off to bed earlier than usual to have a read before sleeping. I just had to make a post of some sort today. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow, and something interesting too.
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Costa Rica Webinar
This is a short posting as I have been listening to the wonderful speakers on the Costa Rica Webinar, running from 10 am today for 24 hours. I have picked up some great information in notes I have been making from essential listening skills to transformative sharing.
There are fewer speakers during the night so I will be going to bed at my normal time and getting up early to listen to Fred Johnson with his Accessing Power for Personal Transformation session at 5:15 am. Fred Johnson is a sound sculpturor who uses music to help people on their spiritual paths.
As far as I jnow, all the speakers sessions are recorded and will be available for viewing on the internet. I hope there will be many more people watching the recordings and donating to the earthquake fund in the coming week. I will report on the availability of the recording as soon as I know where they can be found.
So I am going back to listen to the current speaker and intend to write more tomorrow.
There are fewer speakers during the night so I will be going to bed at my normal time and getting up early to listen to Fred Johnson with his Accessing Power for Personal Transformation session at 5:15 am. Fred Johnson is a sound sculpturor who uses music to help people on their spiritual paths.
As far as I jnow, all the speakers sessions are recorded and will be available for viewing on the internet. I hope there will be many more people watching the recordings and donating to the earthquake fund in the coming week. I will report on the availability of the recording as soon as I know where they can be found.
So I am going back to listen to the current speaker and intend to write more tomorrow.
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