Just a still shot, this time

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Originally uploaded by Gerry Bergtrom

Trying to figure out the zoom capabilities of my new camera ... Gerry caught me again ... and helped me see the "zoom" dial at the top -- which I had entirely missed before!

Anything that moves!

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Originally uploaded by Gerry Bergtrom

Again, in love with my new camera and its video capabilities, Gerry caught this photo of me recording a belly dancing performance at the Duluth sidewalk sale street fair.

Taking video of Lake Superior with my new camera!

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Originally uploaded by Gerry Bergtrom

Thanks to my colleague, Gerry Bergtrom, who was at the D2L User Conference (Fusion 2007) with me in Duluth last week, I actually have access to a photo of me using my new camera. Here I am, fascinated with the ability to take MOVING PICTURES ... so I'm doing a video of water movement!

It takes so little to make me happy!

For accomplishments, challenges, travel, and gifts

It's been a long time since I've posted to my gratitude journal. Sometimes, the "speed of life" prohibits stopping long enough to share ... even though I am mindful of my gratitudes, most of the time, I don't always get a chance to point them out to others.

So, here ... from the last month:

I'm grateful for another year ... a birthday for me, and one for John, and another year of being married to this man I love so much. Another year with our loving, beautiful, talented, and dearly-cherished daughters, as well.








I'm grateful for my kitty (Mack) cooperating with my psychic messages begging him to continue eating, despite our extended absence on vacation and my subsequent travel for a work-related conference. He's doing just fine, although he does tend to insist on his special food treats, and has enjoyed sleeping for the last three nights smack-dab on my chest!



I'm grateful for a successful Summer Assembly, and for the presence of mind, for whatever reason, of not accepting more responsibility for next year than I already had. And for time to spend with people I care about, but see only once a year. For time to "just be me," and relax, if only for moments at a time.












I'm grateful for the opportunity to travel to a new place with an adventurous companion who led me to meet Lake Superior again, after almost 30 years; and with a delightful coworker I only get to see a few times a year.









I'm grateful for the artistic talents of people I don't even know, but have the good fortune to meet occasionally at street fairs and art fairs, and those I will never meet whose works have brightened my waiting hours at the Duluth airport.







I'm grateful for the magic (science that I don't understand) that allows planes to fly, and therefore allows me to see the earth as the living organism she really is, and us as an infinitesimal part of her enormous awe-inspiring "being."





I'm grateful for the opportunity to practice loving detachment as my youngest angel tries her wings, and I hope we have established strong enough "roots" for her to feel confident that we are here for her, whatever her path.





And I am grateful for family time, enjoying silly things and laughter together. Making memories is much more important, I believe, than being practical.

Kitten Chow!

Thus far, today, I'm grateful for:

1. Purina Kitten Chow -- which is what my sick cat, Mack, chose as his first ORAL intake in a L-O-N-G time ... about a month.

2. Friends, family, and colleagues who have been wonderfully supportive during Mack's illness. It's been a roller coaster ride of emotions and physical challenges ... not as huge as being the caretaker of small children or sick elders, but a challenge nonetheless. Sharing the ups and downs with caring others has certainly lightened the load.

3. Perspective -- which allows me to understand and appreciate that, in the grand scheme of things, a sick cat ... even a dying cat ... is only earth-shattering for a few of us.

4. Self awareness -- which allows me to understand and appreciate that I work best when I'm focused almost obsessively on an attainable goal, like giving my cat enough nutrition to survive until he will again eat enough on his own to survive and thrive. It's not as overwhelming as "save my cat's life," and not as discouraging as "save the world."

5. The jukebox in my head. Today's song is "Feelin' Groovy."