Beautiful People of the Dominican Republic

We have returned from a "muy spectacularoso" trip to the Dominican Republic. This will be the first of a few posts on this most wonderful adventure. Our stay could not have happened without our buenos amigos whom we met through the Plymouth Writing Project. 

Santo Domingo is a vibrant non stop city.

We had muchos guias but our superior controladora was Clara with her esposo Woscar.
                
Two other famous guides and writers were Nelsy and Maximo. Gretchen and I visited classes when we met up with our friends Jen and Karen from Sant Bani School in Sanbornton, NH.

 It was a wonderful trip because of all the families we met through our "new family" connections. Here Hector introduces us to his niece and nephew. What Fun.

My Exhibition at U.A.S.D.(largest public university in Santo Domingo) also connected us with more wonderful people like Dean Maria Pilar and Profesor Agustin Cortes.

Our friend Albania and her two daughters gave us the Colonial City tour.

This is just the introduction. Please check back for the continuing D.R. adventures, including our wonderful tour with Dede at the Hermanas Mirabal, visits to the family farms in the mountains, beautiful faces of the city, and our trip to Samana.  Next installment in two days .

Now I'm "64"...

The Beatles are playing my song all year long.

"When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now

Will you still be sending me a valentine, birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I'd been out 'til quarter to three, would you lock the door?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?
You'll be older too
Ah, and if you say the word, I could stay with you
I could be handy, mending a fuse when your lights have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside, Sunday mornings, go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I'm sixty-four?"

   Yes, on January 5th I celebrated "The Day" with a ride around the lakes looking for eagles and other beauty to be found.

The ride was just right. Beginning with a ride around Laconia, I ended up at the Weirs. No birds but great changes in the weather and scenery.

Back home for lunch and a ride down to the Pemigewasset.

Great snow squall along Brook Rd.

Looking down the Pemi,

I found a lone Black Duck 

and a soaring Red-Tailed Hawk.

Walking deep in the hemlocks were 8 turkeys.

 Some of the photos now off to the Dominican Republic for my exhibit: "Nature Under Our Noses"

After delivering 25 photos to "The Courier", we went off on a great ride over the Kangamangus Highway.

 Too mountainous for Iceland but it felt like it.

Tallest Mountain in NH. Can you see the Weather Station?

Who waits for You? A greeting upon our return.

A Super Year so Far.

33 years and counting

It was 33 years ago we moved into our partially finished house.

Today we moved filing cabinets back into the shed we used to sleep in while working on the house.

It  has a new roof and siding, the bear helped (earlier entry). The "writers shed" is a very peaceful place still.

December for me has been for the birds. Through the kindness of a neighbor and the generosity of her brother I have an amazing new lens for my camera.

Here are just a few of the birds photographed with this Nikon lens on my Canon Rebel. I surely do love to mix things up.

Crazy poses.  Any guesses for the kinds of birds?

There's more coming!  January 2 is the Christmas Bird Count.  My team of 7 birders are ready for the day.

November: the Edge of Winter

November is the time to prep for Winter. I have been collecting fallen ash trees for our winter's heat. Because of the ash blight, we have our woodshed full and have burned only pulpy wood so far.
      
We also had a bumper crop of apples. Gretchen put up 21 pints of delicious apple sauce.

We had apples to share. This adolescent Black Bear was with us at least 4 days in November eating drops by the lower garden.  He wasn't bothered by me, much.

He even tried to help in the shed repairs

Here's a great surprise from the garden. Our soil tends to be rich in humus, but yields 'just ok' carrots . This year I added three 5-gallon buckets of sand to one bed.  Guess which carrot came out of the sandy soil!

The results were shocking. All the "sand"carrots were 14" up to 17" with no off shoots. Next year I will be mixing of sand for carrots.

We are approaching a peaceful time of reflection and snuggling-in. I hope to find more time for sharing stories with friends  and focusing my life on the good things we can do to build Sustainability throughout this great planet -- which I'm not sure we humans deserve.

Bioneer's: Connecting for Change New Bedford, MA. A Leading Edge

I just returned from a weekend of inspiring solutions.                                

Music  

Dancing and Drumming

Great Quotes.

Kids

Voices speaking out.

Nikki Henderson: Food Justice and Jobs

The speakers ranged from:

David de Rothschild sailed the Plastiki across the Pacific and used his adventure to explain our misuse of plastic. It never breaks down, it just gets smaller. There are 6 pieces of plastic for every plankton organism.

Riki Ott shared amazing facts about the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the deadly health problems we now face in the Gulf as a result of BP's actions.

She also pointed out the absolute danger and hypocrisy we face with the Supreme Court's decision on Corporations as Citizens.  So, they lend money to polluter-candidates for public office because that is their "right".

But, when they are sued for bribing public officials, grand theft, fomenting unjust wars, murder, torture, fraud, stock swindles (just to name a few well-known crimes), then they are corporations and have special exemptions.

Annie Leonard:   A wonderful speaker explained how we get depressed by having too much STUFF.    She makes such a good point how the advertising media can hook us into believing we need MORE and more and more.

For this, George Beck has incited people to call and harass Annie with death threats. The FBI warned her not to speak in public. Now, that's real Democracy! 

Beck Blabs On.  Click off Fox.  Click on: (http://www.storyofstuff.com/).

Most upsetting fact for me:  One perfectly healthy newborn from middle U.S.A. had 200 toxic chemicals in its umbilical cord.

The overall message of the weekend was Collaboration and Education. 

Greg Mortenson was amazing in his presentation of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools.His ability to empower people to work together is such an inspiration.

He is still trying to get the U.S. to sign the Land Mine Treaty.

Hope and Power

The Ameri-Corps staff were amazing examples of organization and kindness.The mass of young people in attendance gives me hope. They are connecting and mapping out the difficult road to a sustainable future. 

I was empowered by making connections with old friends and new. I was inspired by brilliant college students who work on the geology of rocks on Mars, awesome microbiology research, and robotics to aid humankind. All these examples of people at work reinforced the "Education and Collaboration" focus of the weekend.

Bioneers by the Bay:  Conference on Connecting for Change 

Go and Become Part of the Future