Whether you are an optimist and stay up to see the arrival of 2010, or a pessimist and bid farewell to the old and imperfect year, everyone has, or at least think, if only slightly, about some resolution for the approaching year.

Here is my resolution for 2010: to make a resolution that can be accomplished!

Because just like many others, I also I promise myself things, that I often do not deliver. Not always because I simply lost interest in them, but mostly because the activities and worries of everyday life start taking control of everything and… you know the rest of the story…

Well, it would not be New Year’s if I didn’t have regrets, but I’ll leave the old year in the limbo of the past, and its imperfections and give thanks to God, I can at least keep trying…

And with this in mind, I thought a lot about doing the following: in 2010, why not share my backyard with someone in need, planting a special bed of vegetables so as to reduce world hunger?

With that thought, I discovered that there is an organization that since ’95, has served 50 million plates of food, without any help from the government, surviving only with… ‘people helping people’.

If you have a small space in your backyard, can join, if you so desire. Just discover someone in your neighborhood who needs to be benefitting from your efforts, dedication and work here or in America, call 1-877-492-2727 and find out from them where this place would be in your city.

They have a website, its: www.gardenwriters.org

Perhaps many prefer to make a day’s resolution instead of a new year’s resolution. I think that’s tremendously valid, after all…

Ahhh, and this is what I’ll do: I’ll all agree not to worry so much about ‘what’ and ‘how much’ I eat during Christmas and New Years, but ‘what’ and ‘how much’ during the 12 coming months…

God help me in this.

I need to make better use of time I have. Nothing simpler than that … This is New Year’s resolution that I must keep.

…was the daily goal of the Shakers – the American religious utopian community of the 19th century. Very interesting…

Today they are remembered for style of architecture, furniture and fine handicraft products. They are called Shakers because they did a ecstatic dance that was like shaking. So you can imagine…

They were a strong organization, and for more than 200 years they lived together with American history. Now the few that do exist, live in Maine and Kentucky, where visitors can experience the beauty and simplicity which mark the existence of the people in the country.

They were pacifists who lived in communities, fighting for social, spiritual and economic equality, as well as simple and godly living.

They believed that working was a kind of worship to God and that God was in details. Since then, the name ‘Shaker’ has become synonymous with quality.

During their peak popularity, there were around 6000 celibates in 19 communities.

For them, the more honorable way to show devotion to God was hard work. They are credited with the creation of circular saws, flat brooms and clothespins.

They were hard-working and super thrifty. They ate what they grew, and created everything with their own hands, from brooms, work ladders, furniture, baskets to hold small utensils, etc. Also, they were farmers and were considered the best architects and manufacturers of furniture.

Are they had divine aspirations – not social or material.

Now, if you want to see the place, they have a hotel with 81 rooms with a restaurant, shops with handicraft products and herbs, all in the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. There is a nonprofit organization that tells the story of the people through a museum there.

May your Christmas be one of silent wonder! 

www.shakervillageky.org

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/

While most of you are going to the beach under the hot sun, take alook at my day…

What can I call day like this? 

An ALBINO day!

A day with no color, perfect for playing ‘hide-and-go-seek’, and where I felt like Bella Swan, the character of the Twilight.

Snow had already burned the grass days ago …

Is there such a thing as a “storm of mist“? Sand has…

And that fog has ruled my world for several days! It is like living in the town of Forks being a twilighter

Ships incessantly blow their lonely whistle…

…always coming to my little place… Where is the sea?

Without fog this place is like this:

There’s a bit of everything here. The weather is not so bad… for those who like heat and humidity…

But today, nothing could be seen… I went closer to the water’s edge and heard voices.

Eu, os DESAFIO a adivinhar… De onde…?

Just try to guess… from where?

A BOAT FISHERMEN!

Lost in the fog?

Can you see the boat with the fishermen?

They are below the word “podem” and are enjoying the sport of fishing in this fog, behind our house.

You have to squint your eyes to see it… see it?

It was beautiful. Poetic. Terrible.

It must be nice to fish… but I would like to have had a breeze to take this fog faaar away so I could have seen them…

Oh… It is like depression. Time should be depressed, one can not see the end …

Human beings survive almost anything, when they see the end of the tunnel …

It seems that the fog is lifting… I could feel the dew on my face and leaves of the trees were dripping when it wasn’t even raining.

In my part of America, they love to fish so much, that they are not afraid to practice the sport without being able to seeing anything – and under such thick fog!

They don’t even fear being in the way of many ships coming and going day and night, docking and undocking on the fifth largest port in the world.

Sailors, fishermen you taught me some lessons lately…Look, there they are just as I was leaving.

Believing in someting that you don’t see is faith and the reward is seeing what you believed in.Living without faith is like sailing in a fog.

Change your Christmas with these ideas, and I apologize if they were slow to arrive – they appeared when I least expected them…

In fact, my mind has many good ideas, but sometimes it’s hard to squeeze them out…

I’m still trying to understand the WHY of my attraction to dead wood, stumps of trees disposed of without any other use than to be junk… But every time I see them, they still seem to have so much potential for some kind of ‘other life’… Is there anything more simple and yet so sophisticated…?

How about arranging your Christmas cards like this?

Almost everyone has tape in the drawers, some thumbtacks, buttons and a little imagination to create something special with the cards you receive. I value them very much.

Or like this? Easy, charming, lovely… Below, you can use oranges, grapefruits, tangerines… It smells good.

A basket, some wreaths, a bow,….

And why not hang some big bulbs in the trees in front of the house? I loved it!

My pecan tree and is too tall to do this.

But if you are like me and don’t have such a high tree, you can put it on top of the table!

Change your Christmas, throw away all the bad ideas and so keep only the good ones!