almostttt forgot today...

we all know i love jewelry, so heres a photo of some of mine in a tangled mess...i like it, i mean, its composed entirely of shiny objects, whats not to love?

Days Left: 330

Photos Posted: 35

mountains

Brief update:  If you recall, when I started this whole blogging business...again, after my Peace Corps blog came to a close, I started up my job hunting blog and told you all about my efforts to find permanent or semi-permanent employment.  One of the many opportunities I was pursuing was an Americorps position in California.  I made it all the way to the second round interview and then was not selected for this position, HOWEVER just a few days ago I received an email, it seems it has opened back up, and I have been offered the opportunity to take it.  I hummed and hawed and thought and thought, its very late notice, training starts today so I would be getting there late and would be way behind everyone else, I need to finish up my Peace Corps medical crap before I can go, I would have no car, etc.  After much thought I realized these are all challenges I can overcome and this opportunity will be worth the sacrifice so I accepted, now i just need them to accept me back on my terms, my late arrival and lack of car, etc.  I gave my answer on Saturday and heard back that night, my requests are reasonable but need to be approved by my site, etc etc so I should hear soon.  

I've been checking my email every 5 minutes all day to see if I've heard from them, the royal "them", the ones who will decide my future, my very near future, namely if i'm moving in 2 weeks or not.  At about 5pm a friend reminded me that today is a holiday and I probably will not hear until at least tomorrow...and while thats logical and sensical and all that jazz, I'm still rather impatient so I took the doggies to the park and took dozens of pictures of puppies in snow and mountains and trees to settle my mind...heres my pick of the day:

Days Left: 331

Photos Posted: 34

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Today was my Poppa-Bears birthday and I spent the whole morning baking this cake, selected specifically with my Poppa in mind:

It was 4 layers of from scratch, dark chocolate cake with homemade raspberry filling between them and a dark chocolate ganache frosting with raspberry garnish.  It took between 3 and 4 hours to make, bake, and assemble, and if I may say so myself, it was worth every minute.  mmmm mm good!  I found the recipe here: http://www.pickycook.com/dessert/chocolateraspberrylayercakewithchocolateganachefrosting.aspx  in case anyone wants to try it!  Let me know if you do, I'd love to hear how it goes, and if you like it as much as I did!

Happy Birthday Daddio!

Days Left: 332

Photos Posted: 33

Give Hope

I wanted to share with all of you an email I just received from Sarah B, a former Peace Corps Mauritania volunteer with me.  I trust her and I trust the Haiti-Micah Project and would like to encourage those with the financial capacity, to consider a gift to the Haiti-Micah Project to help the hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti who were effected by this devastating earthquake.  




Hi everyone,

We all know Haiti has been dealt a bad hand.  She was just emerging
from decades of bad governance and damage from successive
hurricanes-and now the earthquake.  I volunteer with an organization
that works in Haiti. The Haiti-Micah Project (www.haiti-micah.org) has
a feeding program in a town not far from Port-au-Prince. The board
just approved increased funding so we can support the refugees walking
in from the capital. Because supplies to outlying areas can't make it
through right now, there is price gouging on available supplies (gas
is up to $100 a gallon).

The direct effects of the earthquake were felt mainly in the area of
Port-au-Prince, but the indirect effects are already at play in the
central plateau region and beyond.  Haiti-Micah actually began in
response to a similar refugee situation in the central plateau after
2004’s Hurricane Jeanne.

All donations to Haiti-Micah in the next few months are going to
emergency relief.

Haiti-Micah's fundraising board is volunteer so we have no
administrative costs-literally everything goes directly to Haiti.  I
would love to answer questions and urge you, if you were planning to
give and haven’t already, to consider Haiti-Micah.

Thank you.

Sarah B.

i'd like to get things in order here...

so folks, sorry about missing a day, then posting a day late, and then missing a day, and now posting two dates at once....i was traveling once again and power outages in Keene/internet downages/etc got in the way of my posting of photos and then big decisions...which i will explain later... distracted me for some time, but all is resolved, so, for the purpose of straightening out all confusion, the three photos posted yesterday, were for the day before, posted the next morning when the internet came back on.  The one I'm about to post right..............NOW!

.....is from yesterday, we spent our Friday night selling the works of Martha Gallagher and Brian Melick at Martha's annual LPCA Concert.  We saw the show too, of course, and it was wonderful (as always!).

Days Left: 334
Photos Posted: 31

The very next morning, today, i got in my car and headed homeward (where I am now) and en route I snapped this little beauty, for my photo of the day: today.

Taken in the heart of my old stomping grounds, Peru.

Days Left: 333
Photos Posted: 32

sorry stowe...lake placid still wins

taken out of a moving vehicle...and still gorgeous.

this one was an accident...just a random snap before we went into the trees and lost the view, but i think its lovely.

life is a winding road.

especially mine.

Days Left: 335

Photos Posted: 30

a real thinker

taken at the beautiful Gallagher Residence, this gargoyle captured my heart with his pensive pose and classic backdrop.

Speaking of, I'm in this neck of the woods to go see the lovely Martha Gallagher play her annual concert at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts...interested?  Check it out at http://www.adkharper.com/ and if you'll be in the area you should definitely try to come out, it's a great time!

Days Left: 336

Photos Posted: 29