Sad

As if I wasn't emotional enough . . .

I got this great new camera. I've been playing with it so that I can take great pictures tomorrow at my sister's wedding. I went to the rehearsal dinner tonight and got lots of good stuff with it. I was loving my new camera until just now . . .

When I accidentally erased every picture I had taken . . .

Now I'm upset . . .

And I can't stop thinking about it . . .

I'm getting mad . . .

And I'm sad because there were photos from the first night my other sister was at my house with her kids . . . There were pictures of my niece and nephew and sons playing together . . . And my younger son running down the "aisle" tonight at the rehearsal . . . and a really great picture of my older son and my husband (neither one with a goofy smile) . . . and my niece sleeping on her mother's shoulder . . . and a picture of me and my sisters - together - like we haven't been in such a long time . . .

Now, I'm sad.

A View from Space

Larger Image Here

This is an image taken by satellite of the Earth at night. While the image itself is what struck me at first - the way the continents are outlined by the lights, the deep, dark oceans announcing their presence by their absence of light - after staring at this image for a while I began to think about what it represented.

You see, the clusters of light represent the largest populations of "civilization." Those areas in which the most people live and therefore the most electricity is used, the most commodities consumed, the least personal space exists. And while these highly populated places jump out at you due to the light they produce I am just as intrigued by the darker places on the map.

Look at Africa. I mean, really look at it. It is a continent almost entirely in darkness especially when compared to India, Japan or the United States. Australia, Northern Canada and a large portion of South America (where the Amazon Rainforest happens to exist, at least for now) - all without the piercing beacons of light that are so clearly visible from thousands of miles above the Earth.

I guess it just makes me reconsider, yet again, what it means to be modern, to be technologically advanced, to live in poverty, to be civilized. While the benefits are many, the consequences are several as well . . . with our Mother Earth paying the highest price of all.

I will check back with this photograph often not only because of the pleasure it brings to my eyes, but because of what it says to me about my world.

I'm Totally Random Today

Well, I've received a request (Yes, a request!) to update the blogosphere about my big move. The reason I haven't talked about it in a little while is because things seemed to have hit a bit of a stall. Repairs that were supposed to get done (by the seller) and issues we had that needed addressing (by the seller) weren't getting addressed. In fact, we weren't getting all "No. No way. Not on your life;" We weren't hearing anything at all.

So my husband and I had been getting very frustrated. People were asking us about getting excited with the closing date coming up and my packing, etc. and all we could do was grit our teeth and try to smile because when it all came down to it, if we didn't get some answers soon we were ready to go look for another house. Don't get me wrong. We LOVE the house we found, but not enough to go into while there were still issues (especially ones that might cost me more money than I have) that needed to be taken care of. With the lack of communication, we had started to feel like we were being played and that maybe there were things wrong with the house other than what we alrady knew and that the sellers were trying to stall until it was too late for us to back out.

Whatever. So I sort of had a bit of a fit over the weekend (via an email to my real estate broker) and wouldn't you know it - the ball is rolling once again. Things are getting done, papers are being signed, repairs are being made . . . Hip, hip, horray!!! It's amazing what a few stern words will do and it appears that it wasn't the sellers at all, but their real estate agent who wasn't communicating with them. From a couple of phone calls we got this morning regarding a few of our "issues" it appears they're actually very agreeable. (Ask me again after I sign the final papers though.)

So we're still on schedule to close in a little less than two weeks (which really means that I should be packing right now instead of blogging, but it isn't the first, or the last, time that I'll be blogging instead of doing something else that requires my attention.) I've been packing, but I guess it's time to go turbo.

My hope has been restored and I am once again excited about moving into my own house! (If I'm lucky I'll never have to do this again!) I'm basking in the sunshine streaming through my window (which won't be mine for much longer!!) and I am giddy with the thought that I just did what was quite possibly one of my last pile of dishes by hand! (Yes, my new digs have a dishwasher and it's been WAY too long since I've had one of those!) I'll say it again - Hip, hip, horray!!!

On another completely random note, I read the January issue of National Geographic last night - AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! FIVE STARS! I had truly forgotten what I'd been missing the last, oh I don't know, 20 years. I remember flipping through it at school as a kid, you can always find a few good pictures to put in your latest collage creation from NG, and since it was such a cheap introductory offer (we're talking a dollar a month!) I figured, at least, the boys would enjoy all the bright photographs.

Well, I don't think the boys have even gotten the chance to look at it yet because their mommy and daddy haven't given them the chance. I mean, the photographs alone are worth having the subscription:

Not to mention the reporting. I read the cover story, Last of the Amazon, last night and it literally blew me away in words and in pictures. The portrait of devastation, of what further devastation would mean not only to the people of Brazil, but to the Earth itself - very, very dramatic.

It's not just the amazing writing or the breathtaking photography, but the wide range of topics covered by the publication - Science, Nature, Travel, Ecology, Culture, History, People (I could go on) - that there's really not much you won't get between the covers. How's this: It's like a passport that takes you anywhere you want to go even if you don't have the financial means to get there phsyically. (OK, now I sound like the advert I got in the mail!)

But it's just that good. I'm so glad we subscribed! Maybe I'll actually get around to letting the kids look at it, but only after I've poured through it several times because I feel like there's so much to it, I want to make sure I don't miss anything.

Now I just have to make sure I change my address with NG . . . and with the bank . . . and I have to call to have the gas turned off . . . I need to go through the boys' closet (I think there are some things in there to bring to The Salvation Army) . . . I need to get a list together for what we're going to need to buy for the new digs . . . I guess I really should be going now :)