Currently Reading Atlas Shrugged By Ayn Rand see related

It is nice to hear from my old friends

One of the best things about me blabbing on and on .. here on this blog is that people actually come to see if I am here... Love and Hugs to ALL who have come by to say hello while I have been away settling into my latest journey. One thing I can say, since about 1995 or so my life has never been dull !

 One of my favorite things to blog about is where I live and things I have learned about and places I have seen and taken pictures of. There are places on Long Island that people do not even know about. It is my duty to set out and find those places and take pictures . I love Long Island, but there is so little of it left to nature these days. Even with this awful economy and foreclosures all around us here, new developments keep springing up all over the place. It is money madness and with gas prices the way they are headed, I do not see people any longer willing to commute as far as they have been.  Still Long Island as expensive as it is .. is a sort of paradise. I love living here, there are a few other places I might live, one being the Jersey Shore, and the Delaware Water Gap area of PA. I detest Florida, as beautiful as it is - it is so hot !

SO anyhow back to the beauty. Since moving where I have moved, when I have time I explore the back roads. During one of my exploration sessions I came upon a nature preserve I never knew existed. 350 acres of absolutely untouched wilderness 5 minutes away from my house. I drove by many times and two weeks ago was doing the same and decided .. today is the day.

I went in and it was so beautiful I spent 2 hours walking the paths. I was very careful but found ticks on me anyhow when I got out which was very dismaying because I would spend every Sunday morning there if I had the time.

It took me back to my dad telling me that his father used to go fishing at lakes in the area and I felt positive he had been there 100 years before me. I felt close to him - close to nature and just felt so peaceful in general and in total awe of how beautiful it all is.

The sad thing is that less than a mile away the town of Riverhead has approved the building of an indoor ski mountain vacation park with an indoor water park also. We have a water park and we are about 2 hours from decent skiing and 4 from good skiing. Who needs this mountain ? No one I have talked to wants the darn thing.

Building this resort so close to the Preserve will affect its well being. It saddens me because aside from the ticks... it is a wonderful place to walk and bring children so they can see what the island used to be like.

I pray that the park is never built. I pray that someone helps to just buy the land they want to put the park on and save it. The area is a major aquifer and is part of the pine barrens which are supposed to be kept untouched. What the hell is the use of designating acerage as pine barrens if you build a monster park that is going to affect it in a very negative way. Makes NO sense .. but then these things never do...

Here are some glimpses of my paradise, click on the link .. this video was created by a local man who is fighting to save the area and the lands which are so beautiful...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wJJAkOB7Ln8

Happy Sunday .. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoo

Storys of my Demise have been Greaty Exaggerated

LOL.... Yes I am still around. I do not really get time to write that much lately though. I usually spend my time trying to paint and do beading and read books and attempt ( ha ha ha ) to keep the mess in the house to a dull roar.

I am enjoying work, I did transfer to a building that is more of a day hab. I work with those who have severe mental and physical handicaps. I love it. the one downside is it is very physical and in the beginning my back was killing me every single day. I am getting more used to it. I still have to be very careful and I use oils and creams to help my back warm up before work and recover over night.  I am so amazed at how fast my body has acclimated to it. My biggest probem is exhaustion, I cannot deny the fact that I am over 50 now and my diabetes takes its toll also . This year my arthritis really kicked in with a vengeance.. and thank God it seems like the warm weather is here because the aches are not nearly as bad as they were during the winter. Its a no win situation, I detest sweating LOL I detest arthritic pain ... which do I choose !!

I love what I do .. I am overworked and underpaid and I have stepped into the work force of so many people and am feeling their pain. All of this has been such an eye opener to me  and I learning so much about everything.

I had always been blessed with working with something I knew, so this is also different in it has been a huge lesson in learning a lot in a very small amount of time ..and also learning to be able to think on my feet faster than ever before.

It has been a huge bowl full of all types of challenges ...just keeping my head above water to still be 'ME' has been one of the hardest things of all... but I am coping and am happy ...

More to come

Happy Weekend !! xcoxooxoxoxoxo

Yes I Am Still Here !

I have simply taken some time off to grow and adjust and search and do and play and be creative etc....

While I was away I decided I was going to change the format of this page .. so I will be doing that when I have some time ... I have SO Much less to say about my life LOL .. isn't it about time !  I turned 50 this year and I am so looking forward to my golden years... still having to work .. like so many .. but happy - struggling but happy and working at being More creative ....

Love to you ALL out there whoever still comes around .. you have been on my mind !!

Love and Caring .. xoxoxoxo carolyn xooxoxxo

Where on Earth does the time go !!!

 Hello to all who come across my space of blabbery LOLOL... I have not had a lot of time to be online lately and it is a good thing because I have been working and happy .. very happy :) .. I think I found myself a niche, a place where I can be a 'mom' and care for a beautiful home like I used to have... cleaning satisfies something I lost when I had to sell my wonderful home, if that makes any sense at all to anyone ..

I cannot go into much detail for privacy reasons but I work with mentally challenged adults and I take care of their home and get them off to their jobs in the morning. It is a wonderfully rewarding job and I am very happy there . My biggest wish is I wish I made more money .. but have settled for a steady income that I can rely on .. which these days is a complete luxury !! I have weekends off and that is also something wonderful ..:) 

Other than that I have been busy taking pictures and taking care of my own house .. although truth be told .. its too small and we have too much crap and I just get overwhelmed and I am happy in my life ..This house is bigger than the cottage .. but people are not willing to give things up so it is annoying .. and it is also temporary until the kids get on their feet .. but for now it is really painful for me - I am not happy here in this house .. it is not what I need. How terrible of me right ? .. Well actually nope .. I am finally getting to understand what I want out of life and I dream and hope for it .. knowing full well I have been so much more fortunate than most .. but still yearning for something nicer.. 

I am still singing in my car .. the band took a break and I am not sure what is going to happen except we want to play badly .. and we have not seemed to get a break so I pray that I do get to sing some before I am too old .. in the band business the fact is no one wants an old fart aging woman to sing rock .. unless they are Stevie Nicks or Sheryl Crowe .. thems the facts LOL .. and it is okay .. I must add though that Pat Benatar is singing Better than ever .. so let's hear it for experience and the skill that comes with getting older, that the youngsters simply have not got ...

 I am taking pictures, making jewelry, crafting .. I am an artisan who needs to create .. even if it is only a few minutes a day .. and I try to fit it into every days routine .. which of course keeps me offline and you know .. that is not such a bad thing.

I still feed the feral kitties at the cottage and there is peace and happiness out there except for the one bonehead neighbor who has to bust my shoes about a shed that has been there since about 1950 .. she called the town and the town guy came and said .. its pre-existing and is on the survey.. it is legal .. I pray she lays off now .. I need the persecution from her to end .. no matter what her reasons may be .. I have never ever done anything to her .. and it makes no sense .. and I refuse to allow people to persecute me any more .. this is a new model woman here .. 

I just read a Stephen King book I ran across at a yard sale and it was a goody .. it is Rose Madder a very good, if slightly cringeworthy, at times. Believe it or not it empowers women .. and I liked it and was sorry it ended. I love reading and I am reading more lately.. there is nothing online really and nothing on the boob tube .. so I need to read :) ...

 Hopefully I will be on more than once a month lol .. my love to all of you out there ... xoxoxoxoxo c xoxoxoxoxoo

Mother Earth is Pissed

You know I travel the side winding roads to the cottage to feed the kitties and I love it out there and I love the drive .. but the people who keep littering my paradise disgust me and I wish Mother Nature could just send a flaming firebolt up their asses .The back roads are filled with wild flowers and trees and beautiful wooded patches of land ..

Now though there has been a proliferation of land for sale signs .. and commercial building .. it will soon be a shit road like Peconic blvd in Medford, and it doesn't need to be ! 

The locals know that these roads are a back way to the north shore and so much more enjoyable than the expressway which is filled on the weekends with yuppie puppies going out east ..They are scenic and wonderful filled with the sound of birdcalls and silence in spots.. I love them, I would hate to lose them !

SO here are some examples of the crap that the local slobs leave in the woods ...

If by some miracle of chance the people who actually left this stuff here see these pictures .. I am hoping Mother Nature sends a flock of 3000 canadian geese to take a crap on your head and your yard ... you deserve it ALL of you who litter like this !

And you know this litter is mild compared to what else I have seen .. I once saw a boat on a trailer left there .. on another back road I saw a tow camper a big one just left there for weeks ..it never ceases to amaze me how people can leave crap like this behind .. and most likely because they don't want to pay the fee at the town dump, well then put good things on Craigslist as a curb alert .. someone will take it ..geez

Contractors and Lawn Jockeys seem to be the worst .. they leave bags of cut grass and leaves.. Boxes of broken tiles and crap they pulled off of walls filled with nails and sawdust and God knows what else .. it is really disgusting

Now there are some beautiful places along the way .. and I always focus on those .. it makes my heart sing .. but for some reason I knew I had to put these pictures up here today ..my personal shame shame shame on people who dump garbage in the woods you know who you are !

SO now for some beauty ! xoxoxoo c xoxoxxoxoxo