feelin' right this time of year

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;
Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me,
Fluttering from the autumn tree.

–Emily Brontë (1818–48)

the road trip with no predetermined destination, revisited

So I have road trips on the brain.  Back a while ago, I mentioned that I would like to go on a road trip with no predetermined destination, with the caveat that I did want to have some kind of ultimate goal or at least idea of a goal in mind for somewhere on down the line.

Brian said this made him sad, because there IS a predetermined destination. My thought was, yes ultimately you're aiming for somewhere, but that doesn't mean you have to go STRAIGHT there, hence it's an unplanned road trip! Same thing, right?

Brian said that you're supposed to just go and 'see where the road takes you.' I have no idea what that means.

No. Seriously. The concept is unfathomable. How do you decide where to turn?

Apparently, I have nary a spontaneous bone in my body.

How do you decide where to turn, when you're on a spontaneous road trip to who-knows-where?

the video of Anne Frank

I saw on CBS.com (and a number of other blogs) that footage of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who died at the hands of the Nazis and whose diary has been published and read by many, has recently been discovered.  In the video, a neighbor of Anne's is leaving to go to a wedding.  Anne is looking out her window.  It's easy to recognize her shadowed eyes and dark hair.

You can see the video here.

Of course, I got lost in a timesuck of watching Anne Frank videos and reading about her life, her family, and her legacy.  I read the Diary of Anne Frank when I was around her age, and I remember feeling so sad.  I could relate to her in many ways, but there were other things in her life that I had no way of comprehending.  Heady, heady stuff for a young teenager.  I probably would have had a breakdown in her situation.  As I often remind Brian, I have little, if any, survival instinct and I might not fare well in a do-or-die situation.

Heady, heady stuff for a Tuesday.

I think I forgot to mention ...

... that we are moving!

Yes, we are relocating.  To a completely different and new-to-us part of the country.  Many hundreds of miles away from family.

We leave in 3.5 weeks.

THREE POINT FIVE WEEKS we are leaving Richmond and driving to Denver.  And I have only had 2 breakdowns (that I can remember).  (and one of those was really small.)

I love Richmond, and I am really really sad to be leaving it.  I love my job, I love my neighborhood, I love this town.  But I also love snow, and I love major league baseball, and I love my husband.  There is some sadness in leaving Richmond, but there is much joy in going to Denver.  It means Brian is finally going to live his calling.  It means we will have a fresh start in a new place, just us, together, everything as 'we' or 'us' or 'our.'

This is a new chapter in my story, in his story, in OUR story.  This will be a major dividing point - we'll have Before Denver, which is a nebulous mis-mash of Ashley's life and Brian's life and Brian and Ashley's life together, and we'll have After We Moved To Denver, which will be wholly ours.

You know what else this means?  ROAD TRIP!!

Anybody have any tips on road tripping with a papillon?

Water - it's important, y'all

It's amazing how big of a difference water makes in day-to-day physical function.  I have often sat in a slump at 2pm, wondering why I can't seem to focus my eyes or concentrate on anything, only to realize that I had not yet taken a single sip of water that day.

Granted, I'll have a piece or two of fruit most days for breakfast, which is a good step toward proper hydration. But there's nothing like dehydration to get me permanently sidetracked in a sorry slump.  One or two cups is enough to revive me, but it's sometimes an effort to get a full 8 cups throughout the day.  Generally, if I don't get it all in while I'm at work, I don't get it all in.

I urge you to learn your body's signs of dehydration.  For me, I lose the ability to concentrate.  I will 'come-to' with my head to the side, staring at my computer screen, with no memory of how the previous moments passed.  Also, the back of my tongue will feel dry.  If it's REALLY bad, I'll get a slight headache above my eyebrows and find any movement to require more effort than usual (read: I get clumsy).

How do you know when you're dehydrated?  What are your symptoms?

Photo by Nico van der Merwe, from here.

Manic Monday #185

It's Monday!  And that means it's time for another Manic Monday post.  This week's MM is coming up in the evening, for a change of pace.  At least, that's what I'm going to pose this late post as.  Here goes!  And of course, please play along here.

What word describes you best?

ooooh..just one word?  I'd really like to do some kind of deep philosophical cop-out and say something like 'myself' - but that's lame.  I think one word that describes me well, if not best, is actually introverted.  I am really introverted, and this is a major driving force behind what matters to me, and in a large part it shapes who I am.  Because I'm introverted, I want to be home a lot, and because I spend a lot of time at home, I want my home to be a nice, warm, welcoming, interesting place.  Because I'm introverted, I limit the number of people I spend time with, and the friendships I do have are really meaningful to me.  To pass the time, I might knit or sew or write or read - solo, quiet activities.  I have an interest in photography - always looking and observing, less inclined to be a part of the action and more inclined to watch the action and enjoy it from my own perspective.  You know, that kind of thing.

What drives you every day?

A 2001 Toyota Highlander.

Jokes aside, I don't know.  I love my job, I like getting up in the morning and going to work.  But career isn't what drives me.  I don't know what drives me, really.  Just a resolute understanding that no matter what, this is life and life goes on.

Where do you want to retire?

 Oh!  I know this one!  Hawaii! 

Or maybe Alaska!!

Or maybe a yurt in New Mexico!

Or a house boat!

Or a beach house on the rocky Maine coast!

oooh...I don't know. 

How about you?

365 photo challenges

I'm thinking about doing a 365 photo challenge - maybe this one with Blissfully Domestic.

This challenge is pretty simple - commit to taking at least one photo every day for a full year.  In some of them, you put them on a blog.  Some you tag in a group like Flickr.  Some have a topic, like a color or a subject (the self-portrait one comes to mind). And I'm sure some people just do it, without rules or public disclosure.

I've thought about doing one starting in the days before our big move - say, Nov. 1, 2009 - Oct. 31, 2010.  I think it might be fun to have the first year of our new life out west documented.  

Have you ever done a 365 challenge?  If so, would you recommend it?  What did you do with all your photos when your year is over?