Garden pics

These were our first red tomatoes.


Hard to believe I used to think I had a "brown" thumb!

February Weather Avgs

Month Totals and Averages
Average Temp:
42.8°F
High Temp:
74.5°F at 2/5/08 3:28pm
Low Temp:
18.2°F at 2/28/08 6:52am
Total Heating Degree Days:
645.3
Total Cooling Degree Days:
0.0
Total Rain:
3.44"
Average Wind Speed:
3.4 mph
Max Wind Speed:
28.0 mph at 2/6/08 8:20pm
Dominate Wind Direction:
205°
Average Barometic Pressure:
30.06"
Average Relative Humidity:
63.4%

Source http://ashevilleweather.com/Archive/Asheville

I would love to know if anybody's scientifically tracking weather in Black Mountain? The weather seems to be so much affected by the mountains that the weather can be different from neighborhood to neighborhood and all my weather comes from Asheville.

This is homeschool

Procrastinating again

So I'm feel like I should be cleaning house and I'm thinking to myself, I really need to be writing my blog. Seems like my life is a never ending string of procrastination. I went looking for random topic generators because I always sit down and think, okayyy, what am I going to write about? I know that I am a great writer and I feel all these things clawing at my brain and my heart trying to get out but I sit down and draw a blank. My ideal would be writing and blogging every day at least for half an hour. Something to keep me feeling like I'm moving forward instead of holding still. Everything seems like so much work on some days. But I have turned over a new leaf, I am going to stop trying hard and try easy! It will work.

So anyhow, here is one prompt I found on WritingFix

"List all the CHILDHOOD FRIENDS you would write to if you could find an address for them. Choose several from your completed list and write about HOW CHILDHOOD FRIENDS CAN INFLUENCE A PERSONALITY."

I'll get back to you on that.

Just wanted to try this

Returning home

I think I just figured out why I always preferred writing pen to paper rather than fingers to keyboard. I just typed out part of a really cool post and I went to select and copy so that I didn't lose it and my wrist hit a button on the keyboard and goodbye!

BLANK SCREEN!

Arrgghh. I'll try and recreate it now that I've vented!

A beautiful synchronicity occurred this past Saturday with all this talk of going to Europe. I turned on 880 The Revolution (Asheville's Progressive Talk Radio) and Virato Live! had a lady on there talking about indigenous people. They brought up the fact that all of us are descended from indigenous people. Now it seems like a no-brainer but I have always considered myself a "white American" with no real ties to anything indigenous. I mean, sure I figured someone came over on a boat from Europe but other than that I've never given it much thought.

Being adopted has really hindered my ability to discover much of anything about my blood relatives. Even after my birth mother and I were finally reunited, I learned that she was also adopted. Chances are slim that I will ever find anything out about my blood ancestors and that fact breaks my heart, not only for myself but also for my children. Some people believe that whatever is in your DNA doesn't matter but I passionately disagree.

I have spent a lot of time on the family trees of my adoptive family and my husband's family as well. I found it fascinating to learn about the people who came before us, what they did and even what their names were. Working on a family tree helps you learn so much beyond the names of the parents and grandparents that came before you.

Anyhow, Naomi Archer was saying that we are now being called back to the places we came from, usually Europe. Listened to the show on my computer and tried to quote as closely as possible:

we've lost our sense of place and our sense of connection with place...the idea
of place-based knowledge. The spiritual knowledge and cultural
knowledge is always in the ground, it's always in the air, it's in the
earth and it never dies...No matter where we're at, not matter how long we've
been there we have a homeland and that homeland is Europe...This is the time
when people of European heritage will be called back to the ways of their
ancestors...Because (the knowledge) is still there we have an opportunity to
help regain the significant cultural knowledge that our ancestors held.
It's up to us to take it forward particularly as we face catastrophic climate
change. We're going to need that sacred knowledge to help us get through
that time.

40,000 years my ancestors spent in Europe, the Iladurarrak (Sacred Moon People). I wonder if this has any connection to my lifelong interest in paganism and fascination with ancient rituals comes from. I am most certainly being called back, now I have to decide how to handle it.
www.intuitivepath.org is the website to learn more about them.

Get me outta here

After an exhausting debate with my husband about politics, I can't help but find my mind drifting to my dreams of becoming an American Expatriate. He was the one who put the bug in my ear about it. I can't help but think I'd love to try living in Europe. Since I work at Starbucks, I checked to see where in Europe there are many Starbucks locations. France, Germany, Greece, Spain, Ireland and the UK. Well, I don't want to go to France because I've always heard that people are rude. I don't want to go to Germany because apparently it is illegal to homeschool your children there. It would be neat to live somewhere they don't speak English so I settled on Greece and Spain. I actually speak some Spanish which might make Spain more reasonable but I think Greece is absolutely more romantic.

Maybe it is because I am Pagan and all those Greek myths we learned in school really resonate with me but I can't think of anything more amazing than walking the same earth as the people who were telling those stories. I recently saw a Samantha Brown Show on the travel channel about Myknonos, Greece and just loved it.

Anyhow, I've been trying to find some blogs to read from American Expatriates but not having much luck. First hand accounts of living abroad would help me so much. Particularly if they were from someone in less than affluent circumstances.

Treasure Map Complete!

I have A LOT to do this year!!