Matching Gift Will Double Your Donation to Women for Women International

A lot of you already know that I am a big fan of Women for Women International. Maybe you've checked them out and thought about giving but the time just wasn't right or you didn't think you could contribute very much. If that's the case, please reconsider. If you donate any time between now and November 15th, your donation will be doubled through a matching gift program.

Women for Women International currently has programs in eight countries, helping women survivors of war rebuild their lives through skills training, rights-awareness education, literacy training and leadership education. Many of these women have lost their husbands and other family members to war, have been raped, have not been allowed to receive an education, cannot read, cannot afford health care, have little or no marketable skills, and are now responsible for taking care of themselves and their families and rebuilding communities that have been ravaged by war.

After such war-time experiences, women often feel isolated, shamed and helpless. Women for Women provides a safe place for these women to gather and share their experiences while they learn new skills that will help them earn money for things like food, shelter, clothing, health care and education. Once these basic needs are met, women have the opportunities to continue on to become successful businesswomen or community leaders, striving for change and peace within their communities.

If you feel that this is a worthy cause, please donate soon. If you donate by November 15th, your donation will go twice as far. If you wish to donate but can't do it by November 15th, that's OK too. Your contribution will still mean a lot to a woman survivor of war.

Happy Veterans' Day!

Thank you to everyone who is serving our country and to all those who have served in the past.

For more information on Veterans' Day, check out this National Geographic article.

Happiness A-Z: L

If you don't know what's going on, go here, or just keep reading. It's fairly self-explanatory. :)

Leaves-We don't have much of a fall to speak of here in Hawai'i, so when I do get so see autumn leaves in all their glorious colors, I think they are absolutely beautiful. Check out this gorgeous photo at Dolce Belleza and tell me if that doesn't make you want to go out and buy a bike. That's not to say that I don't like regular green leaves either though, oh no. I love green plant-y things, and I can't help but touch plants that I encounter as I'm walking down a street or on a trail. I just want to feel them and see how they move and pet them. Usually this works out OK for me, but I know some day it's going to backfire. I told you about my experience in the cactus garden, right? Yeeeeaaah.

Libraries-A place where you can have all the free books you want? What's not to love??

Literacy-I can't imagine not being able to read. If you can read, you can learn how to do pretty much anything else; if you can't, you are dependent on other people for everything, and the world becomes so much more limited and difficult. I am so grateful that I know how to read and that I enjoy reading. I think my life has been much richer as a result.

Image by kpauli via Flickr

Luna moths-They're just so pretty!

Lady bugs-They're just so cute! And they eat all kinds of bugs that would otherwise destroy your yards. And their babies look like little alligators...sort of. Grrrr!

Love-Really, do I need to explain this one?

Larry and Liz-My dad and stepmom.

Laughter-It's always fun to laugh, but sometimes it's even better to listen to other people laugh. Baby's have the best laughter-it's the sound of pure, unbridled joy, and it's awesome. My sister also has a great laugh, in fact she laughs a lot like a baby now that I think about it! Hers is a contagious, full-on belly laugh, and I love it.

Lava-I like fire, so you can imagine how cool I think lava is, right? Lava has been flowing continuously on The Big Island (Hawai'i) for about 26 years now, and if you ever get the chance to go over there to check it out, take it! My husband and I have been to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park a few times, and depending on where the lava is flowing you can just walk right up to it.

During the day it's cool, but when night starts to fall and you realize that you can look down through the cracks that you are walking over and see the lava glowing, well, to be honest, that's a little scary! But also really cool! It's so primal and mesmerizing and beautiful. Also, there are no lights out there, and if you lie on the lava field at night and stare up at the sky, you will see the sky like you have never seen it before. The Milky Way is bright across the sky, and if you happen to be there during a meteor shower, it's even better! You do have to have some common sense-take a flashlight, lots of water, layer your clothing, wear sturdy shoes that aren't likely to melt (seriously) and heed any park warnings. You're mostly on your own out there, so be smart, but do check it out!

Okay, Maybe "Soon" Wasn't the Right Word

So, the other day I realized that I never followed up on the rest of my "Coming Soon!" post...from back in July. Anyway, I thought now would be a good time to follow-up on that. I mean, hey, at least it's still gonna get done this year, right? If you are looking for explanations of the rest of the pictures, they can be found here, here, and here.

I believe I had yet to address two items, the first of which is this:

Where was I when this storm moved in? Hint: Not inside!

As it turns out, there's really not too much to this story. My friend and I got up super early to catch sunrise from Diamond Head. The thing is, sunrise happened before the park even opens, but we still caught a pretty sunrise, just not from the top of Diamond Head like we were planning. This pictures was taken at the top, as a huge wall of water was moving in. And, yes, it moved in right on top of us. It wasn't really that big of a deal though. It moved through pretty quickly, and it kept us cool on the hike back down. Some things to keep in mind if you decide to hike Diamond Head:

If the park doesn't open until after sunrise, you can still get a nice view from the rest area outside the gate.

It's steep, and there are a lot of stairs.

So, be sure to wear sensible shoes. These are not sensible shoes.

Let me reiterate: Not sensible shoes.

I was happy to have railings to hang onto climbing up and down all those stairs, but they are rusty. When it rains, that rust transfers right to your hands. I would suggest taking some wet paper towels or something with you just in case. Being a grownup, I was able to keep from transferring the rust from my hand to any part of my outfit or the outfit of anyone around me. However, I think if you had little ones with you, this would be a nightmare for you and your summery white shorts.

Finally, hiking to the top of Diamond Head crater was not quite what I thought it was going to be. It's all sort of paved-see pictures above-so it's fairly easy going in that regard, but at the top you have to do this weird little ascent up a ladder and through a little crawl space opening-like crawling up out of a bunker, which may very well be what it is-and then once you get to the very top it's just a series of platforms. The view is wonderful, but there's no real place to just hang out and enjoy it. It's you and 40 of your closest tour bus buddies all trying to get the same picture and then right back down the trail again. This is a tough one if you have bad knees (I know). Or claustrophobia (I would imagine). If you want the great views without all the tourists and a much more serene, respectful setting, try visiting the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Oh, also, if you plan on parking and you go early in the morning, be sure to have small bills with you. All I had was a $20 bill, and as I was disdainfully informed by the booth attendant, they don't have change that early in the morning. Luckily, my friend had change. Otherwise, I guess they just wouldn't have let us in. Seems like that no-change-in-the-morning thing is something they could address, but maybe that's just me.

That bring us to the last of my "Coming Soon" teasers:

And finally, horseback riding 101.

Don't worry, nobody's broken; that's just my husband showing you how relaxed he was at the end of our moonlight ride at Gunstock Ranch. This is an awesome experience! If you ever make it out to Hawaii during a full moon and want to do a horseback ride, it's worth the effort to try to schedule a moonlight ride. They have schedules set up around the full moon, but they were very accommodating and set up a private ride just for us since my friend was flying home before their first scheduled ride. We've done this twice now with our out-of-town visitors and it's been a great experience both times. Sorry I don't have any better quality photos, but my camera doesn't do very well with night shots.

The guides take you around the ranch property, and you'll see cattle wandering around, but mostly you'll just enjoy the country while you watch the light fade and the moon rise on the horizon. We did this the same day that we went to Diamond Head, and what a fabulous beginning and end to the day!

Sun setting behind us at the lookout point.

And the moon rising over the ocean on the other side.

Book Blogger Holiday Swap

The Book Blogger Holiday Swap is on! You have until November 12th to sign up. I didn't participate last year, but it looked like a lot of fun, so I am looking forward to finding out who my Holiday Swap buddy will be! Are you going to participate?

Thanks to our hosts:

Amanda (The Zen Leaf)

Amy (My Friend Amy)

Ana (Things Mean a Lot)

Chris (Stuff As Dreams Are Made On...)

Debi (nothing of importance)

Eva (A Striped Armchair)

Jill (Fizzy Thoughts)

Lenore (Presenting Lenore)

Questions for the Rocky Mountain Institute?

I am going to be meeting with a representative from the Rocky Mountain Institute® (RMI) next Friday, November 13th. I'm not sure how best to explain RMI, so I figured I would let their Mission Statement do it for me. As stated on their web site:

Rocky Mountain Institute® (RMI) is an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit think-and-do tank™. We envisage a world thriving, verdant, and secure, for all, for ever. To that end, our mission is to drive the efficient and restorative use of resources.

RMI's style is nonadversarial and transideological, emphasizing integrative design, advanced technologies, and mindful markets.

We work extensively with the private sector, as well as with civil society and government, to create abundance by design and to apply the framework of Natural Capitalism.

RMI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to come up with solutions that companies and industries can implement that will help them be not only more environmentally responsible but financially successful as well. Their goal is not just to come up with great ideas, but great ideas that are usable. You can check out their Summer 2009 eSolutions Journal to get an idea of some of their projects.

Sounds pretty awesome, right? I've been a supporter of RMI for a few years now (see them over there in my sidebar?), but never in what I considered the "Hi, we're in town and we'd like to meet with you," realm, so I was very excited to find out that I would have the chance to sit down and chat with someone from the organization.

I thought I would offer up my services and find out if anyone has any questions they would like me to pass along. If so, just let me know in the comments, and I'll do my best to get them answered for you. If you are submitting a question, please do so by Wednesday, November 11th. Thanks!

Oh, also, wish me luck so I don't say or do anything to make me look like a bumbling idiot. I've never met with anyone from a think tank before!

What I'm Reading Now-The Gargoyle

Cover of The Gargoyle

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson-What can I say about The Gargoyle? I'd heard so many good things about it, but I was so disappointed by it. The funny thing is, I don't necessarily think it was a bad book, I think it just suffered some timing issues. Here's a rough breakdown of my reading timeline:

Week 1: Reading The Gargoyle

Week 2-3: Reading The Sparrow (which I loved!) because my conscience finally kicked in and made me return The Gargoyle to the library.

Week 4-5: Slogging through the rest of my re-checked-out copy of The Gargoyle.

During Week 1, I was really enjoying The Gargoyle-I thought it was interesting and that the narrator was funny in a dark, cynical kind of way. He's been badly burned in a car accident, and his ensuing hospital recovery is filled with his wry acceptance of the fact that he will probably not be able to return to his career as a porn star as well as lots of interesting medical facts. For instance, did you know that burn victims go through a period of hypermetabolism when they're healing, thus "...a body that normally requires two thousand calories a day can consume seven thousand after a severe burn."? I didn't either!

So, this book is filled with interesting little tidbits like that along with some pretty gruesome narration about the things that happen to a burned body, both during the actual burning of the flesh as well as during the recovery period. The book is also full of stories told by Marianne Engel, the seemingly crazy woman who comes to visit our narrator in the hospital. She claims that they have known each other in previous lives and proceeds to tell him all of their fateful love stories, trying to convince him that she is, in fact, not crazy and that they do really know each other. I didn't really care one way or the other. It's not that the stories were bad--in fact I rather liked some of them--or that I couldn't suspend my disbelief for this possibility, but I kept thinking how much I liked The Sparrow and how much this paled in comparison. The writing seemed flat and I didn't particularly care about any of the characters, but, oddly enough, there were a lot of things that both books had in common.

-They both had main characters for whom words are their life. In The Sparrow, Father Emilio Sandoz is a linguist and in The Gargolye the narrator is a writer and a smooth-talker of women. At some point in each of their stories, their words, the one thing that they have always been able to count on, fail them miserably.

-In The Gargoyle, Marianne's 14th-century self discovers at an early age that she has a gift for translation, much like The Sparrow's Sandoz for whom languages come easy.

-Both The Gargoyle and The Sparrow address suffering as it pertains to religion. The Sparrow brings up questions of how God can allow so much suffering and The Gargoyle discusses suffering as a way to become closer to God.

-Both books have characters that are described as resembling Raggedy Ann/Andy dolls. That's kind of weird, right?

-Both books have characters who question celibacy and the church-is it right and/or necessary to deny the love of and for another of God's children in order to serve God?

So, while you would think it might be good to have a lot of things in common with something that I enjoyed so much...you'd be wrong. I felt like The Sparrow was what The Gargoyle wanted to be when it grew up; but, as I said earlier, I think this mostly just suffered from timing issues. I think if I'd read it at another time, I might have liked it better. The Gargoyle suffered the fate of many a rebound relationship. No matter how good it is, it's going to suffer strain under the constant comparison to your last relationship. That said, The Gargoyle seems like a perfectly nice guy. He's had a bit of a sordid history, but he's cleaned up his act, and he's got a good sense of humor. He just wasn't right for me. But you might like him!

Random favorite quote that I was too lazy to couldn't fit in anywhere else: "...against stupidity even the gods struggle in vain." See what I mean? Good sense of humor!

Reviews and other stuff:

Ann at Books on the Nightstand (podcast portion starts around 3:29) gives us some interesting background on the book.

Joanne at The Book Zombie tells us about a song that reminds her of The Gargoyle.

Jessica at Both Eyes Book Blog examines some of the historical aspects of the book.

Ali at Worducopia gave us some thoughts during her read as well as a final mini review.

Fond of Snape loved it!

Did you review The Gargoyle? Let me know, and I'll add a link to your review.