For Christmas I got the compilation of short stories called: Dangerous Women, Edited By George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. A treat we got for my daughter too, Elisabeth. Since Amazon or the Post Office, or life got it lost, it wasn't delivered by Christmas and Amazon graciously sent us 2 more books for  no extra cost. The original 2 copies showed up a month later- exactly- after Christmas and since I felt I had "suffered" their loss not getting them for Christmas on time I decided they were mine! So Elisabeth & I have given those copies to our best friends.
 So I kinda am the type of person who likes to save the best for last. Like spinach on my plate I ate last when I was a kid- you'd think this was because I supposedly don't like spinach, but rather I LOVE spinach and I wanted to leave that taste to the last to savor and leave on my palette. So here I am and I haven't opened my book for Christmas! So I'm traveling East to my Mom's for Spring break and I'm bringing my friends copy with me, and I'm thinking- Can I get away with carrying 2 more copies? Elisabeth left her's going back to Middlebury College and I want to curl up in that leather chair my Mom has and read. Of course as to who gets the leather chair (with ottoman) Elisabeth or I, well the loser gets the chair in the Greenhouse- not a bad consolation prize.
So I thought I'd start this blog to chronicle my reading of these short stories. I will return to make notes and we will see what happens and what I think of these "Dangerous Women".
Which reminds me of the Quote:
  “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (More on that: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/harrison.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

A review of this book: http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2014/01/book-review-three-book-giveaway-dangerous-women-edited-by-george-r-r-martin-and-gardner-dozois/

Livestrong Weight Tracker

Yesterday, by happenstance, I found the Livestrong site for keeping track of your eating. Talk about detailed. Not only does it keep track of what you've eaten and sometimes by logging exactly what brand of food you had, but it shows other details other than calories: like protein and sodium levels. I'm always wondering without meat am I getting enough protein? So it's really nice. You plot a calorie goal based on height and weight (it doesn't let you go low enough if you ask me), so I'm trying to hit below the mark, but then again I'm not forcing myself to feel like I'm starving -there's wiggle room. There's also a place to plot your walking route on a google map (unfortunately it doesn't go off the road and onto the trail. Maybe I'll log the road next to it to get an approx. distance.)
I only want to do this during the week, Mon - Thursday. I hate being hemmed in. But on weekends I can just see if I can watch what I eat and make better choices.
Last night in the Cooking Class I found I could avoid the pile of homemade donut-like-cookies plopped at my elbow (don't you think when you're trying circumstances try to fight your decision?). And I didn't have these lovely homemade cookies, yes wanted them. And the cheese & crackers- only nibbled on a bit of cheese. "Sure you don't want the last bite?". Nope! No thank you. So for the "NO" factor alone, this site seems to be helping.
Well see, next I hope to actually get to the gym- not just think about getting to the gym.
Good luck- to me!

Adventure Books

     After reading about the Avalanche at Tunnel Creek I was reminded how much I enjoy reading Adventure stories, real life situations where the people are striving to beat the odds as they scale a mountain or survive some tragedy. I do love happy endings, but there is something poetic and heroic about man's ability to try and overcome and survive.  Yesterday I looked for Adventure Books, books telling tales of real time triumphs and tragedy's of mountain climbing, hiking, and exploring and other adventurous endeavors. Now I have a list and I'm attacking the local used bookstore. I'm hooked, I forgot how much I like real life stories that take you far away to snow drifts on impossibly high mountains. Your adrenalin rushes as you wonder, will they make it? My heart also plummets when they don't, but I pause and realize, at least I gave their triumph or loss a moment of my attention, their life deserved at least our awareness of what they did and risked.

A possible reading list and links:

-Touching The Void by Joe Simpson Amazon- Touching...

Between A Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston Amazon- Between...

The Will to Climb by Ed Viesturs Amazon- The Will...

He also wrote No Shortcuts To The Top, which was great! Amazon- No Shortcuts

Another book on my list is: Buried in The Sky a recounting of 2 Sherpas rescued after a tragedy on K2 Amazon- Buried In...

Lastly, another mountaineer adventurer, a memoir about Anatoli Boukreev (one of the climbers in Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer) called Above The Clouds Amazon- Above...

I've read Into Thin Air  and loved the book and was moved by it. Any list of Adventure books aught to include it: Amazon: Into Thin...

Well, let's see what I can find....what a choice!

     I came across a quote today in an e-mail about a new book by Linda McDonald, I'm not familiar with the author, but I liked her outlook on life. She found her use of her personal art form- writing- helped her heal inside.

March 26, 2013 Dear Readers, Kurt Vonnegut said that you practice the arts, not to become famous, but to grow your soul. He also said it didn't matter how good or bad we were at it, that the spiritual growth still took place.  I came to writing relatively late, in my forties, when my life was something of a train wreck. After a number of years at it, I slowly came to realize that the healing I was experiencing from the creative process was way more important than any material success that might eventually come my way for having published.  I hasten to add that I’m not against making money. No, heaven forbid. I sweat the small stuff all the time. It was just that a larger truth was emerging. This “serious hobby” of writing seemed to possess the power to release everything inside me that hurt.  To all of us who attend to our creative journeys — whether painting, dancing, or making music — the arts speak to a part of us that often gets overlooked in our rush through life. In its indirect way, art asks the heart what it wants. Mine answered that it loved stories, about who we are and why we’re here.  Art also teaches us to empathize, which is the anathema to hate, bigotry, and small-mindedness (I think Mark Twain said that about travel, too, also true). My truth is anecdotal, hearing and seeing and sharing your experience as well as finding my own. And I rediscover, time and again, the beautiful paradox of meaning: the more specific and detailed my truths are, the more they touch on universal truth.  Finding out who you are through your imagination is like the difference between opening up to the beauty of the world or fearfully tiptoeing through it, as though walking through a minefield. The arts help us discover who we are. They confirm we are all in this together. I believe creativity does indeed grow our souls. Kurt Vonnegut, as usual, got it right. Linda McDonald's new book      Kurt Vonnegut's original quote can inspire all: “... go into the arts. I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country Goodreads Quotes      A reminder that to become whole and heal I need to retrace my steps and pursue my first passion- Art. Elise

  I spent Sunday reading this old NY Times article- http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/#/?part=tunnel-creek. It was about to be trashed and the first sentence I was hooked. Reminded me of the summer I read a whole slew of mountaineering stories of climbing 8,000 meter mountains. No Shortcuts To The Top by Ed Viesturs was my favorite-  http://www.edviesturs.com/. This piece reminds me of Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, the recreation of a tragedy, and what happened- blow by blow. But the article was also a look into a different lifestyle of adventure skying.

Now, I need to read the book.
Just an addendum to this story, the author John Branch was the winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for his New York Times narrative "Snow Fall," described as "a multimedia extravaganza about a 2012 avalanche in Washington state" by The San Jose Mercury News.

OK...so is this how I post and where does it show up??? Are we laughing yet? Mom

Manitou Springs...nestled at the bottom of Pikes Peak Mountain is my Home and Haven. The Mountain (14,000 ft) dominates the landscape around and for a girl from New Jersey it always takes my breath away. Originally the place where America the Beautiful was penned- thus the reference to Purple Mountains. A place where one cannot escape the AWESOMENESS of HIS creation. But the Rockey Mountains and Colorado is like that- large in its feeling in landscape and views and also the vastness of the blue skies above. A sudden thunderstorm will take your breath away. Than suddenly it can clear and the sky is Colorado blue again. We are 6,000 ft in the sky and the blue of the sky surpasses anywhere!
Ah ha, I hear the mountains rumble...a storm approaches...