Category Archives: Blogging

Rinse and Repeat

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Writing a blog about your life is kind of funny when your life is pretty stable/comfortable. Everything comes and goes and comes again, just like seasons. I was asking Britton if I should post some pictures of our beautiful sunset that we had the other evening. Or of the nice flower bouquet I made from our garden flowers. Or about our chickens. Or a video of a concert we went to. But it seems like we’ve already posted all of those. We are in a loop. We are in a rut. We are rinsing and repeating. (When does it stop!?) I imagine our readers (you all!) thinking -they just do the same things over and over again.


Orchids and sunsets- some favorite blog topics

Which makes it all the more important that we now have Puerto Rico in our pockets ready to go. It’s something that is completely different from our usual routine. It is uncomfortable. We don’t know what to expect. We are excited. It is definitely not just rinse and repeat- at least not yet.

Of course coming home from Puerto Rico to our “normal” here in Greeley is nice. I love my warm showers with strong water pressure and the cool air when I walk out of the bathroom. I love how courteous Colorado drivers are. I love how long and straight and virtually traffic-less our roads are. I love how quiet it can be. I love the pastel more subtle beauty here. Especially in the summer when everything wakes up to life for a few months. I love speaking English and knowing exactly the nuance and slang of what someone else says to me. I even (sometimes) love our winter nights curled on the couch with our fireplace on watching a movie with a cup of hot cocoa or chili in my hands. The numbing comfort and sterility of it all…

But BAM! I want to experience life! And sometimes to really awaken to that, sometimes you have to do the exact opposite of what you are used to. You have to get a little dirty. You have to be a little uncomfortable at first. So I want to see what it’s like to take cool showers and walk into warm air! I want to see what it’s like to drive however you damn well please as if you were walking around a crowded mall. I want to hear the bugs and frogs and birds who are happy to be living outside year round. I want to see in-your-face, loud colors. All year round! I want to become so fluent at Spanish again that I dream in it. That I learn the Puerto Rican slang. I want to know what it’s like to never be cold.

I think it’s important that people get out there and try. Yah, you might fail. You might initially regret it. You might feel scared, insecure or not confident. But I think dreaming big (or even little) is part of what life is all about. Once you have your basic needs met -like food, water, shelter, love and companionship- I think dreams are just as important. They keep you going; they keep you striving to get better. If a tree didn’t seek new heights, was it a tree? And even if we fall, even in failure we learn! Maybe even more so! We learn every step of the way.

Sometimes I think my ideas and dreams are too big for my reality. Like when you are so hungry at an all-you-can-eat place that you fill your plate to the brim only to realize your stomach is just not big enough to hold it all. Britton and I are a good complement to each other in that way. Sometimes he is the brakes to my otherwise overfull plate of crazy “Lucy you have some ‘splainin to do” half cooked ideas, and other times he’s all in with me -as hungry for life as ever. He helps me moderate our risks, and I help him to be less afraid.

In the end, this is all a journey to writing our own story. The conflicts in the story are what makes it interesting! We have to remember that as we go along. It is never so bad that we can’t start again. Even in losing my dad I think I have gained a better understanding of this. Death is there to teach us how to live! To help us remember we are only in this form for so long. So if you feel a calling to something -to your dreams- however weird they are- go for it! It may change or evolve over time, but that’s just as well in a good story.

And of course we do need a little of the normalcy to balance us out just as I need Britton and he needs me.  And that is what these calm Colorado days are all about. Just remember to get a little dirty every now and then before you go back to rinse and repeat.

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Blog Connections and Cinzzetti’s

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We were contacted by someone who left a comment on this blog. His name is George and he wanted to know what we knew about Puerto Rico because he had some business ideas that he would like to see go to Puerto Rico.  We exchanged emails a few times and decided it would be fun to meet up in person.

So since they live in Colorado Springs and we live here in Greeley, we decided to meet at a halfway point. I thought Cinzzetti’s in Northglenn would be perfect since it is right off I-25. It’s an Italian Buffet restaurant.


With George and Sandy at Cinzzetti’s

We had a lovely meal and time with George and his wife Sandy. They are trying to start a new business sort of like Avon where they sell supplements direct to customers. It sounded interesting and we told him about our connections with Awilda and the naturalists in Puerto Rico.

I don’t think we would probably sell the products ourselves, but you never know. It seems a bit too pricey, and I’m not much for sales. I read a little about glutathione (one of the major ingredients in these products) later on. It is an important nutrient and energy source in our bodies, but I was surprised and happy to see that milk thistle also makes glutathione more abundant in the body. Milk thistle is what we gave our dog Schnoodle when she was really sick and jaundiced with some sort of liver disease as I mentioned before. Milk thistle, unlike some of these supplements, is also dirt cheap and the weed grows all around here.

So anyhow, it was a fun adventure and another example of how our blog connects us to the world around us with people of similar interests. Thanks George and Sandy for the meal and a very nice time. We wish you luck on your journey and hope that our roads will perhaps intersect again in the future.

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Life Prefers Warmer Temperatures

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I read thru a political forum from time to time.  I find it interesting for a number of reasons and it gives me an opportunity and a reason to try and educate myself on a number of things.  Just recently someone posted an article about prosperty and global temperatures.   The premise is pretty basic.  When it is warm out life grows more readily there is more food and more wine consumed!  When it is cold food is scarce, wars break out and societies collapse. 

The article doesn’t attempt to explain the reasons for the warming and cooling and it really isn’t the point.

I thought it was relevant because we are trying to move from a climate that has extreme swings in temperature thru the seasons to one that is much more steady.  In the summer in Colorado it can get up to 110F degrees and in the winter it can get to -20F.   I’ve started to notice that with those swings I also experience a change.  In the summer things are growing, I have more energy and am generally way more productive.  In the winter things die, I have less energy and it’s more difficult to try and be productive.

I would think that not experiencing the extreme changes in seasons and temp would keep humans (and all life for that matter) just a bit more on the productive and energetic side.  It will be interesting to see what my own experience is like living closer to the equator.

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Thankful

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I love Thanksgiving. It is the only holiday that we make a concerted effort to simply reflect on what we are thankful for along with our loved ones and our abundance of food -our sustenance. It is not about excesses or commercialism. It is about remembering what is really important. And although Thanksgiving is not until tomorrow, I thought I would give thanks a little early.

I am so very thankful that I grew up with such a wonderful dad. While it still pains me that he is not here anymore, I have to remember that this pain is just love inside out.  

I am thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones. Without your health, life is much harder.

I am thankful FOR my loved ones. Without the people in our lives who we love so much, life would have little meaning. I would even include Schnoodle, Kitty and our chickens as my “people” in this one. 🙂

I am thankful for our opportunities. Even when we sometimes worry or complain about them, my life is better because of work, because of our rentals, because of the opportunity to live in Puerto Rico! How great is that!?

I am thankful for our comfortable life. I have a warm house, food at all times, clean running water, transportation, entertainment  and more. Some may say they are not all the most important, but they definitely make life a little easier. A foundation for you to achieve your own dreams. I am thankful for all the people in all sorts of various ways who help keep our lives possible in that way.

And I am thankful for you! By taking the time to read our blog, you show that you are interested in our lives. Thank you for supporting us, engaging with us in great dialogue, and even becoming new friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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