Howdy Howdy all, before I went to Arizona my friend Lady M ( not Myclette, although she is a lady) went sky-diving and invited me to come along. I wanted to say yes but had already planned my trip to the Grand Canyon. Well she is organizing another trip and guess who signed up........that's right yours truly, LaPaganista! Here is one of the pics from her jump....doesnt it look refreshing????? Look at that earth racing up to meet them! Man, I am so totally excited because skydiving is on my list of things to do this year.

Not only is this on my list and scheduled for this July (wooo hoooo!) but I also have a number of other activities like this one on tap for this year. I started training seriously (like weights, cardio, and stamina building) for a triathalon that my cousin participates in every year. I am gonna chronicle her journey this year for potential publication in a fitness an health magazine and then participate myself next year. In the interim there are some small marathons that will take place this year that I have already signed up for (uh oh, there is no turning back now)so that I can be better prepared. Well, before the the jump there are a number of other things list-wise that I will be tackling. I am taking a sewing class with the Cocoa Goddess, Myclette . Here is the thing, she got a lovely sewing machine last Christmas from her mom and has yet to use the thing. I can sew like the Dickens by hand but I want a sewing machine to help speed up my quilt-making. I have NEVER used a sewing machine though and would certainly need some instruction on how to use one (after I buy the machine of course....any suggestions on machine makes and models?).

I will also be taking a map reading, orienteering and navigation class next month.  That's right, I can't read a map which is interesting because I am always wandering off and having to "feel" my way back to civilization. I figured that this would be a good class for me. It will get me ready for the other outdoor activities I have lined up for this year (vigorous hiking, kayaking, canoeing and mabe even some rock climbing. I am very interested in repelling also! I am on the move folks.  I usually try whatever I want with little to no background information or instruction but my goals are a bit more ambitious than my knowledge. And since I will be doing all of the stuff SOLO I figured some practical knowledge is the way to go......so off I go.  Anyway friends......How about a poem...here goes....This one is for you Myclette .......I know how you love this poet and this poem is a pretty good descriptive of what I feel a lot of the time....though not Lonely by any means, I am sort of a loner by nature.......Of course not of the crazed,axe-wielding, children scaring, skin eating kind...You know, the other kind.....ugh well anyway...

Alone

From childhood's hour I have not been  
As others were--I have not seen  
As others saw--I could not bring  
My passions from a common spring--  
From the same source I have not taken  
My sorrow--I could not awaken  
My heart to joy at the same tone--  
And all I lov'd--I lov'd alone--  
Then--in my childhood--in the dawn  
Of a most stormy life--was drawn  
From ev'ry depth of good and ill  
The mystery which binds me still--  
From the torrent, or the fountain--  
From the red cliff of the mountain--  
From the sun that 'round me roll'd  
In its autumn tint of gold--  
From the lightning in the sky  
As it pass'd me flying by--  
From the thunder, and the storm--  
And the cloud that took the form  
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)  
Of a demon in my view----Edgar Allen Poe

Goddess Bless

Oh yeah the guy I referenced in the previous entry is 9 years my junior, 25