Wandering

From a bumper sticker at the grocery store:

Not all those who wander are lost.

Feeding the Gulls

After another weekend at the beach on St. Simons we are back in Columbia for the week. Before leaving the island yesterday, Mario and I took a collection of stale cereal, bread ends, leftovers, and grains down to the ocean. We made five different piles (cheerios, bread, Honey Nut Oh's, another cereal, and matzah) on the shore. Within mintues the entire place swarmed with squaking gulls trying to get to the goods.

The fisherman just down the beach didn't appear to be terribly happy with our recycling efforts, but we ignored his nasty looks and continued our operation. Mario and I sat on the steps and watched the numbers grow for about five minutes until all that remained were a few crumbs mixed in the wet sand and hundreds of grey and white gull backs.

We stood up to leave and the gulls scattered into the ocean, we chucked our boxes in the nearby trash can and hit the road to return home.

The Blonde

In response to the questions about the Blonde in the May Peace Prevail photo, that's Andrea. My pen pal of 16 years. She lives in California and rocks my world.

Use Your Resources

That's my new mantra for the new year. And I might drive Mario nuts in the process...but we have so much stuff and raw material in our house, there seems to be little need to spend so much time at Target and the grocery store.

For now before we go out to run errands we've been thinking about whether or not we really need something, do we have the resources here in our house, can we make dinner with the supplies we already have in our freezer and pantry? So far it's working and we're actually having fun with it.

The line might have been drawn last night at the Super Walmart. Another aspect of this new mantra requires carrying cloth bags, old bags, and other plastic bags around from store to store to use for our purchases. After a run out it's amazing how many handled plastic bags we acquire, granted Bailey uses them for poop bags on walks, but it's still too many.

Attempting to leave Super Walmart with two pillow inserts tucked away in a cloth bag seemed to confuse too many people last nite. The concept of bringing your own bags to Walmart was just lost and Mario left the the store about 200 feet infront of me with his baseball cap pulled low over his face.

But aside from that experience, most clerks seem surprised and pleased with concept. We even brought our own mugs to the coffee shop last night...but washing your own mug just took some of the fun out of going out for coffee. I'll have to work on that one.

Blogging

According to Merriam-Webster, blog was the #1 word of 2004:

Blog: noun (short for weblog): a web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, commments, and often links provided by the writer.

You don't have to be computer savvy or register your own web address to get your own little piece of the web. If you can use a word processor, you can write a blog. And sites like www.blogger.com and www.livejournal.com let you sight up, pick your web address, and blog away.

--excerpt from www.skirtmag.com January 2005.

May Peace Prevail On Earth

May Peace Prevail On Earth
Originally uploaded by scindiagirl.

May Peace Prevail on Earth

That's the sticker I find staring at me as I work this afternoon in the Tangerine Room. The motto is everywhere in Mcleod-Ganj. It's strange to be surrounded by so much news, mostly bad. I don't think I noticed so much negative activity in the press while in India. I only read the paper on occasion, more so at the end, so perhaps selective ommsion contributed to my opinions. People just seemed happier there, an amazing feat by my Western standards, as I watched them live with so little. I wonder why they're happier?

Cruising up 95

Thanks to Verizon's Mobile Office I'm crusing up 95 while I type in the front seat. Mario's driving our Subaru Outback and Bailey is curled up in the back seat exhausted after too many walks and swimming outings.

We shared a delightful holiday on St. Simons. We've had the house down there for a little over a year and continue to flourish in the 'do nothing' except walk, play, and swim atmosphere. It's our haven (that we're willing to share if you're interested).

It's been almost two weeks since I returned to the States. In that time we celebrated Christmas with the family in Charlotte, made our home a bit cozier, opened piles and piles of mail, taught 2 classes in the Upstate, visited a dear friend in Charleston, and went to St. Simons.

Things I'm currently loving include:

Coffee made by Mario in the morning
Smart pop microwave popcorn mixed with craisns
Walks with Bailey
Hot showers and yummy soaps
Catching up with friends
Signing up for tennis leagues and teams
Figuring out how to use the resources we have

The upcoming week holds lots of prep for additional classes I'm teaching in February, another visit to Charleston, hopefully a bit of tennis, and more catch up.

Adjusting is proving to be a bit easier. It's a thrill to have everything around me 'new' again and seeing things a bit differently. I'm going to have my first Indian food with Caroline on Wednesday nite...that should prove to be interesting.

I want to figure out ways to keep pushing my comfort zone in 2005. How will you push yours?

Mario at the Taj Mahal

Mario at the Taj Mahal
Originally uploaded by scindiagirl.

Mario on the Ganges

Mario on the Ganges
Originally uploaded by scindiagirl.

My Guys

My Guys
Originally uploaded by scindiagirl.

Greetigs from St. Simons Island in Georgia. We're here for the holiday weekend and are loving the mild temps, long walks, and bike rides.

Discovered that the seagulls are my new version of the Indian cow. They'll eat anything I bring them and I don't have to throw anything away!

Happy Birthday Ann!

Happy Birthday Ann!
Originally uploaded by scindiagirl.

Happy Birthday to Ann! Eat lots of cake and drink champagne!

And at Midnite

They planned to toast the New Year by hurling a 1/4 lb. piece of cooked beef tenderloin into the dark depths of the Atlantic Ocean along with a Tropicana bottle filled with their paper wishes for 2005.