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Butner Game Lands - Brickhouse Road

I feel all filled up with sunshine.  After the gray, rainy weather of last weekend, when dear husband had to work, and being apart all week, we were really looking forward to today.  The forecast was sunny and unusually warm (60's).  We wanted to go hiking somewhere where there was lots of sunlight so we chose the Butner Game Lands in northeast Durham County (NC). 

We usually end up hiking there at some point in the winter.  We used to live about 15 minutes away from the Game Lands when our older kids were little.  Back then, dear husband would often take older son hiking while I stayed home with napping daughter.  We have so many memories tied up with this place that most people in Durham County, even hikers, don't know about. 

Older son has a cold so he didn't feel up to going.  Younger son said it was too warm (!) so it was just the two of us.

We park across the dirt road from this entrance. There are rarely any vehicles on the roads in the Game Lands.  Today, we didn't see anyone else at all.  It was so wonderfully peaceful.

I remember one very cold Sunday afternoon when older son and daughter were 8 and 4.  We hiked in to this pond, which was totally iced over (doesn't happen that often in this part of NC).  We spent lots of time throwing sticks and small stones out onto the ice.

Interesting rainbow pattern on this pond.

The Flat River

The water in the swampy areas was unusually high.  I love seeing the water right next to the road.

This area is so open and beautiful, and I never can catch it in a photo.  Dear husband said that I needed a person to give a sense of scale.

I thanked him for volunteering.

I liked this line of trees in the water.

A closer view.  I love the reflections.

Milkweed seeds.  If you pull them out and release them they float away...

...which, of course, I have to do.

The dirt road on the way back.

One of my favorite trees there.

 

Moods, "She Loves Me," choosing a word, Eddie Izzard, and Pink

It was gray and rainy all weekend.  Dear husband, who has been traveling every week lately and has to continue for the near future, had to work all weekend.  Yesterday, I woke up to a quiet, gloomy house and looked outside at the fog. 

The music in my head, as beautiful as it was, didn't help.  She Loves Me is one of my favorite musicals.  The two main characters fall in love through letters.  In Dear Friend (a waltz, giving a feeling of coupleness), she waits for him, with diminishing hope, at a romantic restaurant:

Charming, romantic, the perfect cafe
Then as if it isn't bad enough a violin starts to play
Candles and wine, tables for two, but where are you dear friend?

Couples go past me, I see how they look.
So discreetly sympathetic when they see the rose and the book.
I make believe nothing is wrong, how long can I pretend?
Please make it right, don't break my heart, don't let it end, dear friend...

Listen here.

I could really easily sink into the same lonely depression I had last winter, but I'm determined not to.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions.  If I want to change something, I can try at any point.  However, one idea floating around friends' walls on Facebook struck me this year.  Choose a word to set the tone for your year. 

I decided to choose "laugh" - in two senses.  First, I tend to take things too seriously.  I get silently argumentative so "laugh it off" would be good for me.  Also, laughing helps depression.  Okay, it doesn't fix anything, but it makes things a bit better.  Last week, when I woke up gloomy one morning, I started the day with this Eddie Izzard clip (language, of course):

It doesn't help that Broadway Dance was cancelled last week.  Last night, I tried Lyric Dance.  It's sort of contemporary dance with a very small bit of ballet.  It was fun, but I'm not sure I want to do it every week (it's also more... swoopy, and my back and neck aren't happy this morning). We did a dance to a minute of Glitter in the Air by Pink:

 

Tonight, I'm, hopefully, going to try tap.  If tap were on another night, I'd definitely take it.  Tuesday night, however, is when I go to a really high energy Zumba class.  I get out all my frustrations and feel lots better after it.  Can I do both classes?  I'll see tonight. 

Supposedly, it should clear up today.  Not yet.  I woke up to clouds and fog again.  I had a different song in my head, though.  More Pink - Raise Your Glass.  It's helping my mood:

 

Saturday Fun Song: "Una Aventura - Bandoleros"

Sometimes it takes me weeks to like certain Zumba songs.  I liked Una Aventura, by Bandoleros, the first time I heard it.  It reminds me of the Gypsy Kings, one of my favorite groups. 

 

Kayaking at the West Point on the Eno

 I've wanted to try kayaking for years, but it never worked out.  We were going to try it at Long Pond on Mt. Desert Island a few years ago, but the weather turned bad the afternoon we had time for it.  I was determined to try it last fall.

We were able to arrange for a lesson/kayaking session with Frog Hollow Outdoors on the last day they were open for the season at the Eno last October (yes, it's taken me this long to get around to posting it).  The guide/teacher we had was wonderful and patient.  If you're in the Durham area and interested in kayaking, I highly recommend them!

 

The teacher taught a bit on land, and again in the water.  He's in the red jacket, a bit to the right of the center.  We invited some friends along so we had a good group.  Dear husband is in the yellow kayak, and younger son is to his right. 

  Heading up river.

It was an unusually cold day for October.  It was in the upper 40's, but we were well bundled up.  The sun came out about 2/3 of the way through.

There are so many things I love about kayaking.  I like being closer to the water than in a canoe.  I like the shallower areas you can get into.  I also like being more independent and more maneuverable.

Kayaking also gives you a different perspective.  I've hiked over this bluff before, but I hadn't gotten this view until kayaking.

Heading back.  We'll definitely be back here to kayak, but I'm also looking into other places to try.  I definitely want to kayak on the French Broad River in Asheville and maybe on the New River in the Blue Ridge. 

 

"The Day The LOLCats Died" - Chris Parker

Today, websites are being blacked out, and bloggers and internet companies are speaking out - all against two badly written laws currently making their way through Congress.

Scientific American's blog has a good summary, What's Next in the SOPA Fight?:

...But the real power in the bill is not in the powers it gives the courts. Rather, the bill creates a system of incentives whereby the mere accusation of copyright infringement is enough to block a site entirely. The law gives immunity to ISPs, financial transaction providers and search engines who voluntarily block web sites accused of infringement. And if they don’t block those sites? Then they, too, may be held legally culpable for the infringing activity. The laws also contain no penalties or disincentives for copyright holders to avoid falsely accusing others of infringement... [italics and bold are mine]

All based on an accusation?!  No.  Our country is based on innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

I'm not blacking out, though.  I'm doing what I do - posting music (with apologies to Don McLean):

• The story behind the making of the song

[Hat tip to the author of Books and Movies]

 

Gronk

Gronk is a sweet and funny web comic by Katie Cook that I found recently.  I highly recommend it!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - January, 2012

I totally forgot about Bloom Day last month (we spend the afternoon of the 15th at the Science Museum), and I almost forgot this month until I was reading Trudging Through Another Bloom Day at Outside Clyde  last night.  Unlike most January Bloom Days, we actually have blooms in the yard this time.  We've had a really mild winter so far so the pansies have been quite happy:

We bought some brightly colored pots to put on the deck in the winter in order to lighten things up. 

I wouldn't normally post this many pansy photos, but I'm so happy they're blooming!

The purple and yellow one is my favorite pansy this year. 

Winter jasmine

Creeping phlox

We even had two daffodils blooming in the gardens yesterday!

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Days, visit May Dreams Gardens.

A Zumba song that I thought I'd never like

Eventually, I end up liking most Zumba songs. 

That wasn't the case when I first started Zumba a year ago (has it only been a year?!).  The music seemed too repetitive, and I couldn't tell a salsa from a mambo (still can't do it very well!).  As I've gotten more used to Zumba and the music, I've gotten to like it more and more. 

This didn't necessarily happen in aerobics.  Many times I would just put up with a song.  I think the difference in Zumba is that, unlike the way hi/low aerobics was for the last ten years I taught/took classes,* Zumba choreography is very tied to each song.  With the instructors I've had for the last half year, they either pick or choreograph Zumba choreography which really goes with the music.  I think that helps me to enjoy the music more. 

In the fall, the Zumba teacher whose routine is more hip hop-ish added this song to his routine.  I hated the song at first.  Then I got used to it.  A few weeks ago, I realized that I had the song running through my head, and that I actually liked it.  I don't usually like rap, and I never thought I'd like a song by Eminem.

This is the clean version of Till I Collapse by Eminem.  However, even though the words are blanked out, the sentiment still comes through.  I'd rather listen to it without reading the words:

 

 

*  Hi/low started out being what they called "chorus/verse," which means that the chorus and verse of every song were choreographed for that song.  The next song had different choreography.  Eventually, the style changed to "add on" which meant that you gradually added moves on until you got to 32/64/etc. beats of choreography which you repeated throughout the class.  That wasn't as tied to the music, although I would choreograph to the individual songs and then string the moves together.  I kind of cheated. 

Back to normal...

Daughter is back in Asheville.  Dear husband is in Atlanta.  Older son is back at NCSU.  Younger son is still asleep.  The house is quiet.  The cats aren't even throwing up or pestering me.

BORING!

To recap:  I hit the ground running on the evening of the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  My goal was to get the Christmas shopping/letters/etc. done before we went to pick daughter up for Christmas break - oh, while continuing to homeschool younger son.  That's why I didn't blog for the first half of December. 

I didn't want to spend the time my older kids were off from college running around and focusing on shopping.  I don't multitask well.

I pretty much succeeded.  I had a few odds and ends left to get, but I got most of the shopping done.  I got the Christmas letter written, although daughter did help me address the envelopes the week before Christmas after the letter sat on my computer for two weeks. 

Part of me is feeling quite successful.  Except for some illnesses, we had a great Christmas break.  I may get more into the details on other blog posts.  I really focused on spending time with my family (hence the lack of blog posts for the second half of December and the first third of January). 

But now, January and February loom before me as large blanks.  Last year, they were very lonely.  This year, I'm determined that they won't be, even though the play we were excited about helping with was cancelled, and I haven't had any success in meeting more people in the homeschooling group.

Even if younger son and I just go and wander in new places, that will be better than last winter.  Tomorrow is his 13th birthday.  We celebrated on Saturday, before everyone left.  Tomorrow, the two of us will go wander in Raleigh or Durham - whatever he wants to do for his birthday.  

I'm so glad that Broadway dance starts tonight.  I'll really need the dance and the conversation.  I wish today were not a rainy one; some sunshine would help my mood! 

Daughter had a really nasty stomach virus yesterday, but she went back, as planned, with her best friend.  I really wished I could still take care of her, but that's part of having grown up kids. 

I think I've cried more about her going back this time.  I don't know when she'll be home again.  We'll be going up in mid-February to celebrate her birthday with her, in April for the dance concert, and in May, hopefully, to move her into an apartment.  She has a possibility of a research job with one of the Botany professors.  She'll find out this week.  It would be part-time during the school year, and full-time during the summer.  It's a wonderful opportunity for a sophomore, and it would last the rest of her college time.  There's also the possibility of her being able to do her own research, and the professor said this is the sort of thing that really helps you get into grad school.

Actually, I put that more mildly.  He really said that it puts you at the top of the list. 

I'm really excited for her, but I'll miss her so much during the summers.

I have a bunch of half-written posts going back to September.  I'm going to finish those up and post them, including the half-written end of the year/beginning of the new year ones.  I'll be posting those late for the next few years for however long we have kids home from college on winter break.

Dueling Jingle Bells

Well... maybe one more Christmas Carol - unusually done!

Then again... Maybe not

The Twelve Musical Days of Christmas sounded good when I put the list of music together on Christmas Day.  However, yesterday, I realized that very few people would still want to hear Christmas songs after New Year's so I'm not going to continue.