Starting Anew

Hello everyone!

It's been a while, and I've had a great deal of time to muse over the future of my blog. I've decided that for now, it is better if I began anew, and that means a new blog.

A Life Bright and Beautiful

Cheers!

Linden

Very Secret Garden I think. I love the imagery.

And the song itself is very lovely.

In Memoriam of my Childhood

Isn't this just wonderful?

May Begins

Hello. I know, I never post anymore.

It's not because there aren't amazing and wonderful things going on in my life. There have been many.

Christmas. Lent. Easter. Travelling to the East Coast again.

It's where I am right now - sitting in a friend's parlour, relaxing after a very busy first week of my three week long vacation. I've already logged well over 1000 miles in the little rental car I have- all since last Friday.

I managed to finally meet a dear friend in Pennsylvania, a 7 year long relationship carried on entirely via internet and letters and phones. I saw her younger sister graduate. We did silly girl things and laughed. It was wonderful.

The very next day, I drove the few hundred miles back to the school I attended in NY two years ago. It hurt, in some ways, to return. Old memories and aches flooded in; but I faced the lions (Oh, L.M. Alcott, I love your descriptions...) and had a lovely Sunday there.

I returned to Mount Irenaeus- where the noticeable beginning to my journey towards and into Catholicism began. I was giddy- bouncing like a child- drinking in the beauty of the place that in a few short weeks, two and a half years ago, came to mean so much to me and which changed my entire life. (I'm going back this coming Sunday. Yes, I'm still going to be giddy.)

Monday, I came to Buffalo and am staying with friends. I've been to Canada, I saw the Falls, I got lost, and I laughed.

And I got to go shopping at a small Italian corner market. Can't get much better than that in my few six days, can it?

2012

When I work graveyard shifts, sometimes the telly is the only thing that keeps me awake through the long slow hours. And I watch some pretty odd stuff, since late night programming is rather deplorable when it comes to quality. Lately, midnight shifts are all I've worked, and due to Christmas, the shows are even more spotty than usual. 

The other night there was show that actually perked my interest quite a lot and I found I was watching it despite myself and my usual urge to ignore the telly (used only for the sound to keep me awake). It spoke about the 21 December 2012 prophecy.

Do I believe the world will end on that day? No.

However, I am intrigued by the evidence they cited of natural disasters and global issues that are all occurring as the prophecy detailed. Specifically, one of the researchers on the show spoke about how NASA is tracking solar flares and the predicted worst storms, as far as they can tell, are set to hit sometime in late 2012, and could potentially knock out all power systems for days to weeks. 

Being from rural Alaska, black-outs don't scare me. I'm so used to them by now; in fact, I love them, always have. But they mentioned that this sort of lapse in technology could mean the loss of food transportation, or shipping in general. And as they bought up repeatedly, how many people have alternative means of living, let alone knowledge of any sort of survival skills? Do you know where to get fresh water if it's not coming from your tap? Alaska would be in terrible danger of starvation since we depend so much on shipping for our daily food. They even visited Alaska during the show to talk about the state, how in some ways we are the most prepared for disaster (think of the earthquakes, the tsunami, the volcanos, the winter storms, etc) and yet in other ways, the worst due to our inability to grow a wide variety of food staples, or to support our population size on our limited agricultural resources. 

Something else they mentioned, as a nationwide problem? Most people don't have stockpiles. Most people don't have emergency kits. I found that out when I was in New York. There is a level of readiness for disaster that I grew up with that is sadly lacking in most parts of the country. No one there had car First-Aid kits, or carried water and blankets and MRE. (Something I wouldn't be caught without up here in the Great Frozen Unpredictable North.)

I honestly believe I could easily survive a week or two before really starting to have issues, and that would be mostly due to supplies which cannot be found in Alaska. The rest of the country though doesn't have the excuse that we have- the inability to grow as much food due to short seasons. 

So, in the end, this show has inspired me to not only do more research on what to do in case of emergencies, but also to learn more about how to can, preserve, and survive without modern conveniences.

Are you prepared, whether in 2012 or 2020, if disaster strikes? How do you go about making sure you can survive whatever comes your way?

Reclaiming Wonder

This Christmas, don’t just do something, stand there | LifeSiteNews.com

Here's an interesting article that I found, all about reminding us how to find the wonder in Christmas that seems to be so sadly lost once people grow up.

I hope your day is going well, full of light and hope.

-Linden