Ten Days of Little Celebrations - November 2012

Back in mid-August I posted about finding things to celebrate each day. It’s an easy thing for me to do and getting into the habit of writing it down each day reminds me to be grateful for these and a myriad of other things in my life. Here are some ‘little celebrations’ I’ve noted this month:

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starting. I had my outline and spreadsheet of character notes ready to go; it was a relief to finally start writing on November 1. I celebrated at the end of the day because I had successfully reached my goal of 3000 words.

 

Hot chocolate on a cold day. I celebrated that there were packets of hot chocolate mix in the pantry left from last winter. It is a nice contrast to hot tea.

 

Raking finished in the back yard. I celebrated even though I knew that it was only ‘finished’ for the day. There were still too many leaves on the trees.

 

Forest near at hand. Even though I live in an area that is full of houses and businesses, there are forested areas too - along the rivers and creeks, around catchment basins, in the medians and along the sides of roads. The forest has the effect of hiding the population density - a cloak of beauty over whatever flaws our ‘civilization’ has made.

 

The election. However fractured we are politically - the US held an election that told us more about ourselves than the polls had been screaming for months in advance. That is something worth celebrating.

 

Brookside Gardens could be on my celebration list every month of the year. There is always something new to see. The ‘river of leaves’ under the gingko tree was one of my favorite images this month.

 

Perfect score on a weekly quiz. I took a Coursera course on Obesity Economics and finally - managed to get familiar enough with the jargon to do well on the 3rd of 4 weekly quizzes.

 

50,000 words mark on my NaNoWriMo novel. The NaNoWriMo goals if 50,000 words and I managed to write them in the first 12 days of the month - and discovered I still had a lot of my outline to go. It took me another 7 days and over 20,000 words to finish the outline. I have had mini-celebrations all along the way; there are so many personal firsts.

 

A family medical emergency that ended well. I had a family member than was rushed to the hospital - had surgery the next day - and went home two days after the surgery. It was an emotional roller coaster for a few days….but turned into a series of little celebrations.

 

Gift wrapping. I volunteered to gift wrap packages at a local Nature Center shop to advertise the Friends group for the Center. It’s a great way to start off the holiday season - and I learned how to make a pretty bows with paper ribbon.

Previous ‘little celebrations’ posts can be found here.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 18, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week:

Which countries grew the most GM crops in 2011? - US, Brazil, Argentina, India, Canada…the post includes a nice graphic

A 3-D Printed Jawbone - For an 83 year old woman. Made from 1000s of layers of titanium dust melded with a laser

Zebrafish May Hold Key to Repairing Serious Eye Conditions - Lots of research on approaches to help people with macular degeneration and glaucoma. This is one.

Motherhood 'Detrimental' to Women's Scientific Careers, Study Concludes - It’s not biased hiring or evaluation…it is outdated policies that are the key stumbling block now. How much progress can really be made as long as there is an underlying assumption that an academic has a stay-at-home spouse?

Alexander Graham Bell and Mabel Gardiner Hubbard’s Love Story in Photos - posted by National Geographic for Valentine’s Day

Raining rainbows - a messy but pretty project

Crock Pot Ideas - Does everyone have a crockpot? This site will encourage you to use it more. Applesauce Chicken sounds good to me. (My crockpot (see photo at the right) is almost 40 years old and still turning out great meals!)

Obama Hikes Royalties on Oil Industry by 50% - Bringing the fees for oil drilling on public land up to those for offshore drilling and for renewable energy generation on public lands. The royalties paid to the government had not increased since the 1920s!

NASA Map Sees Earth’s Trees in New Light - a map that show the height of the world’s forests

Nanoparticles in Food, Vitamins Could Harm Human Health - Think exposure to nanoparticles is something that may be a future problem? Maybe it is already happening

Quote of the Day - 2/4/2012

Love me or hate me, the desert seems to say, this is what I am and this is what I shall remain. - Joseph Wood Krutch (books)

~~~~~

Our surroundings leave an impression. Krutch gives us one for deserts - “Love me or hate me…this is what I am and this is what I shall remain.”

What impressions do you have about the place you are right now --- or places you remember? Here are some ideas to get your brain storming started.

Forests say “We’re better as a diverse tribe.”

Plains say “It’s best to see things coming from a long way away.”

The mountains say “While being closer to the sky has its challenges, it has the advantage of being above the fray.”

The shores say “Ending and beginning are often combined; the boundary can change.”