EARTH'S DARING SWING AWAY FROM THE LIGHT AND BACK

     Although our weather is mild again after some chilly days, we see each day getting shorter.  I'm convinced that one reason for lights and celebration during the shortest days of the year is to distract us from darkness.  Still, darkness has its benefits of retreat and gathering round the hearth.  Once when I lived in Cambridge, MA, I attended a Winter Solstice celebration I will never forget.  It seemed very English, with Elizabethan old scale music and jesters and tumblers in colorful costumes with bells on their turned up toes.  I enjoyed the pageant enormously!

     As for the turned up toes, I read in a novel recently--I've already forgotten which one but it could have been by Georgette Heyer, a superb writer--that shoe toes made in that style did not kick up mud as other toes do.

     For those of you who are looking for special gifts for friends and loved ones, here are a few I've found for you and mentioned in past posts:

FOR THE PARENTS ON YOUR LIST: Nicole MacKensie's ebook and on line class. There is no work more sacred than raising children.  See the curiosity based parenting method.  No punishment. Free e-class. Learn to set rules and consequences that develop respect naturally… Plus have fun in the process.

http://patricia77.momhasfun.hop.clickbank.net

FOR THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER: Start with James Siew's ebook of humor. Click Here!

FOR YOUR WRITER FRIENDS: Good nuts and bolts advice. HOW TO WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR OWN E-BOOK by Jim Edwards and Joe Vitale. Click Here!

Enjoy the benefits of darkness and the celebration of light!  Trish/SwampWalkingWoman

HEALTH: HEALING FROM INJURIES

Health, Laughter, and Persistance

Good morning from New Haven, CT, where we have a mix of sun and clouds with a few more thundershowers likely today.

I am not a health professional. Far from it. I'm so interested in simply living that I will run my body as far as it will go without attention. But I have needed to learn certain basic health strategies, such as eating vegetables for breakfast (hey, it works for me!) and how to handle a lifelong problem with yeast. Sarah Summer's eBook Natural Cure for Yeast Infections rounds up the data nicely.

Click Here!

But this blog is about what I learned about healing from a knee injury. In a word, persist.

A week ago we had perfect weather for a hike. I was used to doing a five mile loop every Monday, but that was before I fell on my left knee, cracked the knee bone, and traumatized the entire joint. All the tissues were involved. My knee was so sore, and so disappointed in me for not taking better care of it, it didn't want to be a knee anymore. I wore a knee brace for a month and then started therapy. At first the knee would only bend about 45 degrees. I did LOTS of exercises! Reluctantly at first, and then with more enthusiasm, the knee decided, Well, all right, I'll be your knee again.

I vowed I would take my first hike by early May. On May 3rd I walked the two and a half miles around Wintergreen Lake, a lovely easy gradient hike. And now, with my Monday trip up around West Rock, I'm fully back to hiking! Enjoy a few of the sights with me. Like this picture of Judges Cave where a couple of Connecticut judges hid out in 1661 after siding with the losers in England's political wars.

I can now grab my ankle and bring left my knee up to my butt just as I do my right knee. One thing I decided during the course of this healing time: I do not ever want to be disabled. What good is life on earth if you're not in the action?

Bringing the topic back to general health, remember to laugh. Have a look at James Siew's eLaughter. This fun ebook is worth the price just for the jaunty music--but don't try to read it while eating! These jokes will clear your sinuses. Click Here!

What am I doing these days?

Getting Sweet Potato Suppers ready for republication as an eBook.

Writing articles and reviews for eZines.

Taking pictures of my grandkids and the wide world around. (Some of the kid pictures in my blog were taken by my daughter-in-law.)

Looking for a good laptop with camcorder and voice recorder.

Keeping connected with family and friends, so wonderfully easy with email and other websites such as facebook.

Happy Trails, from Swamp Walking Woman