Talcott Falls

Ok, wow, I have no idea how I got from mid-July to the beginning of October without a single post. Time sure flies.

Today I had the opportunity to enjoy a local waterfall on my drive home. Talcott Falls is on Route 11, just north of Adams Center. It was absolutely gorgeous with the sun shining (even though the ambient temperature was NOT in the least bit warm) and the water flow was substantial due to recent rains. It was a wonderful chance to take a deep cleansing breath and let go of the worry and anxiety of life.

Click here to see the rest of the photos in the album.

Happy Birthday to me! :)

I had a phenomenal start to this next year of my life. It was a busy, busy day and I wouldn't have changed a single thing.

Here's a timeline of my day yesterday:
~5:30am - Got ready for work and sat down to THE BEST breakfast ever: Mom's biscuits and sausage gravy. YUM!
~6:45am - Was continually entertained on the drive to work. (It amazes me sometimes how well we get along.) Received the perfect birthday card and a fantastic present: Six Collector's Edition Thimbles, each one representing the History of the John Deere Trademarks.
~12:00pm - Treated myself to a birthday lunch at Panera. I love the strawberry poppyseed salad with a half chicken caesar sandwich. I then crossed the parking lot to Target and used my birthday money from Grandma Wilson to buy a lime-green jersey dress and matching earrings.
~2:30pm - Was serenaded by a slightly off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" by my coworkers and enjoyed a piece of marble cake. I was a little surprised when the customers at the counter joined in the singing, but I rolled with it. Spent the rest of the day at work in a sugar-induced coma. That was SOME CAKE!
~4:45pm - Dragged Levi away from his office and enjoyed being chauffered home via the scenic route instead of boring old I-81.
~6:30pm - Played softball on the Union Church team, but had to cut out during the 6th inning because I didn't want to be late for SUPPER!
~8:00pm - Savored every last bite of the birthday supper that Aunt Cindi prepared for me which I was privileged to share with my fabulous family. The menu: Pork chops cooked in the crockpot in a creamy onion/mushroom marinade, white rice with gravy from the pork chop marinade, and mixed veggies with Catalina dressing. Dessert was a decadent strawberry shortcake and Chrissy's famous fruit pizza. YUM, YUM, and YUMMY!
~9:30pm - Opened presents! Debbie bought me a bobblehead turtle statue for my garden... SO CUTE! Aunt Cindi & Uncle David gave me matching earrings, a necklace, and bracelets to go with my favorite LBD. Chrissy & Joe gave me a specatular pair of earrings purchased from Ten Thousand Villages. Joel gave me a collection of items from Grand Turks: a conch, a basket of mixed shells, and a bobble dolphin (the tail and flippers are on springs). Mom gave me another year's membership to AAA which is greatly appreciated. I have had to use it at least once every year and it's such a comfort whenever I'm on the road to know I have that resource.
~10:45pm - Fell into bed, pleasantly exhausted from the day's activities, and dreamed about the year to come. See Photos.

I'm looking forward to what God has in store for my life. I'm so blessed! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped make my day so special. I LOVE YOU!!

Politics

Hmm...how on earth are we to truly know how a politician will serve once elected? Does history repeat itself so that by knowing their past decisions we can predict their future decisions? Makes you wonder.

http://www.votesmart.org/ - Good research source

Below is an article about Obama. Interesting.

Ken Blackwell - Columnist for the New York Sun
It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.
We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender.
Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.
The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.
Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton.
Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant.Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial 'beauty.'
Start with national security, since the president's most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong II, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists - something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.
Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on 'the rich.' How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck.
Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, 'All praise and glory to God!' but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have 'hijacked' - hijacked - Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and pr omises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. His spiritual leaders endorse homosexual marriage, and he is moving in that direction. In Illinois, he refused to vote against a statewide ban - ban - on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.
The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of 'bringing America together' means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandon ing any conflicting beliefs.
But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and - yes - they're talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.