Any ideas for the month of December?

     The bad news is ... I work 6 day's a week at my job and it is very hard to take vacation time throughout the year. It's been like that for 8 years now, well except for the one year that I did have weekends off :.:.:.:. sigh :.:.:. that will never happen again. Ya know having 2 day weekends is an extra 52 days off per year. Hmmm ...  I guess I shouldn't complain, I could always change jobs if I wanted to, right?

     The good news is ... I still have most of my vacation time left and I'm using it all in December. Yep, this is a dreadfully slow time of year for us in the home improvement industry so we usually save all of our time off for the end of the year. We work on a bonus structure so at least the top producers are smart enough to save their vacation days for this very sloooooow time.

     I usually have the week of Thanksgiving off too, that did not work out this year (for the first time ever) touchy subject so we won't go there, well ... at least not today.

   The point is, I've got all of this time off and with the exception of a few Holiday Parties and some Christmas Shopping (which I don't plan on spending the whole month doing), I have not made any real plans. I want to make good use of my time off, any ideas?

      

Struggles

  Reading a Pupas entry <-- click tonight in Steven's Sometimes Photo Blog, I was reminded of a story I heard one time and quickly scribbled down on paper, here it is ... 

     A man found a cocoon of a butterfly, one day a tiny opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force it's body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress, it appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

     So the man decides to help the butterfly, he took a small pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily but it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

     Neither happened, in fact the butterfly spent the rest of it's life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings, it was never able to fly.

     What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that restricting cocoon and struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were natures way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into it's wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved it's freedom from the cocoon.

     I guess the point here is ... sometimes the struggles we are faced with, help make us strong enough to fly.

                         Author unknown, at least to me.

                                   *** Coy ***

Being Fully Present In The Moment

    Mention meditation and most people think of sitting with crossed legs in a quiet room, chanting something like "ommmm, ommmm," right? Well ... there are actually many different ways to meditate.

     I read a Thanksgiving entry today in Albert's Journal about a visit he made yesterday to Grace Cathedral where he took a meditative walk on the Labyrinith. Reading this made me almost feel as if I were there.

     Meditation for me is usually found on a long quiet walk alone, outdoors in a beautiful environment uninterrupted, unrushed and viewing the world through the lens of my camera.

     One of my favorite places to do this is at the Morikami Park near my house. This garden was designed by artists' who's soul intent was to make every view in the park, picture perfect.

     Below are some pictures I've taken there at different times this year. I'm starting to feel more relaxed and connected just looking at them.

                             *** Coy ***

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring On The Carols The Holly And Snow

     Thanksgiving is over, we saw Santa Clause's face at the end of the Macy's Day Parade yesterday. Now it's time to deck the halls and bring on the carols, the holly and snow.

     Well, almost ... here in South Florida we can still look forward to blue skies, a warm breeze and early morning walks with the butterflies and bees.

                           *** Coy ***

Happy Thanksgiving

    Each of you are among the things that

          I 'm most thankful for today.

                 Hugs to you all

                    *** Coy ***

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving

This day was filled with family and friends. I went to the funeral this afternoon and then spent an evening at my sisters house. Mandy and Brittney were home, the house was full of kids.

    

     We had a Fajita Fiesta, played Texas Holdem with our friends and set the table for Thanksgiving.

    

       Ahhh ... all is as it should be.

                *** Coy ***

Remembering Russ Part 7

Yo ... Guiedo

Remembering Russ part 6

and Laughing Out Loud  

  

  

  

  

Our Jewish Santa Clause

Remembering Russ Part 5

Ho Ho Ho ... need I say more?

     

  

                             *** Coy ***

Trick or Treat and The Russell Hustle

Remembering Russ part 4 

     Every Halloween David and Zog would spend hours coming up with a really cool costume that they could both wear and then they would spend the whole day in character, accent and all.

     My very favorite was the year they both came dressed as Russ in his Saturday best. For as long as I knew Russ this is exactly what he looked like every single Saturday and the boys captured him to the Tee.

     Yep, the gray hair, the goatee, his tattoos, the girlie colored T shirts complete with geeky pocket protector, those old guy pants with that belt and OMG, don't know how they found those shoes. 

  

 

     This is a picture of the boys doing the Russell Hustle. I can hear them now ... can you shuffle like Russell ... Gotta feel the love here LOL

                                  *** Coy **

                   

 

Ode to Russ

Remembering Russ part 3

We'll remember the good times

We'll remember the fun

We'll remember how your hard work

and dedication helped Boca-Tel run

But most of all we'll remember ...

How happy you'd get when

we'd feed you. LOL     

          *** Coy ***

  

 

  

 

Because so many of your memories are the same as my memories ...

Remembering Russ part 2

I'll share

I've always been the girl with the camera, recording life's most memorable events. We had so much fun in the cold call years Russ and I've got the pictures to prove it.

                         *** Coy ***