Heal Foundation - Heal Walk at Jacksonville Zoo

Help Raise Funds for a very worthy cause and help my buddy Jayson!

Heal Foundation Inc - online fundraising made easy for any nonprofit organization - Jill Carter's Fu

www.firstgiving.com

As many of you know, the HEAL Foundation is very near and dear to my heart. They are the only organization that I have found that actualy helps enrich the lives of children with autism in our community ...

If you're in Jax, follow the link and come out to support a great cause. Sunday, April 25, 2010

Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens

This is one of the most recent nature preserves opened in Jacksonville and it's a real gem. It has become one of my favorite places to walk. You can enjoy walking one of the nature trails and view plenty of wildlife. There is the Ravine Trail which loops around a large ravine and intersects with the Jones Creek Trail (my favorite), which runs along a creek that winds its way through the woods. You can stop along the way and sit on one of the benches placed near the creek and enjoy the view and listen to the sounds of the flowing stream. You can take the Lake Loop around Lake Ray, named for Councilman (now Representative) Lake Ray, who pushed for funding for the preserve. If you enjoy bird watching, there is plenty to see. During several different visits, I've spotted a great blue heron, egrets, cormorants, ducks, an anhinga, and a barred owl. There are of course many other varieties of birds such as robins, wrens, chickadees, grackles, blue jays and cardinals. If you get there early enough you could have a close encounter with opossums or maybe a raccoon; I don't know who was more startled one morning as I came upon a raccoon who quickly darted across the creek and off into the woods. There is also the Live Oak Trail, appropriately named for all the large, stately live oak trees draped in spanish moss. With spring approaching, the red buds are blooming, wild azaleas, beauty berries, atamaso lily and other types of flora will soon provide for beautiful color throughout the arboretum.

The Jacksonville Arboretum and Gardens can only get better as the city and volunteers continue to work towards making this a first class nature preserve, recreational and educational facility. There are plans for a butterfly and hummingbird garden, a picnic area, visitor center, amphitheater and more. You can visit their website for events and activities and check out their
master plan at www.jacksonvillearboretum.org.

10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn From Albert Einstein - by Dumb Little Man

10 Amazing Life Lessons You Can Learn From Albert Einstein - by Dumb Little Man

Posted using ShareThis
I love this site and thought I'd share this article.

Speaking of Winter

After finishing my last post, I found this on my facebook. So, all of my thin blooded Florida friends, let's be happy we don't have this to deal with.

Battling Winter Blues

The winter of 2010 was a very hard winter for Floridians, especially in North Florida and the panhandle area. We've had weeks of frigid temperatures, seemingly endless periods of cold, wet, gray days that have left many of us with a case of winter time blues. I myself had to fight that "funk" frequently over the past few months. For some people, it's more than just a case of the winter time blues or cabin fever; they have a more serious condition known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. People suffering from this disorder often fall into a deep depression during the winter months. They may even need to seek medical attention to find a way to deal with their situation. For most of us though, we muddle through and there are things we can do to keep those winter blues at bay. It may be a bit late but here are some of the things I do to try to make those gray days more bearable, I'm sure we're not quite finished with winter just yet.

• Open up the blinds or curtains and let in as much natural light as possible.
  
• Keep candles burning with pleasant scents, my favorites are apple cinnamon or vanilla
  
• If you have a fireplace, use it, light a fire, there's nothing like sitting around a warm fire
  
• Winter is a good time to enjoy fresh homemade soups
  
• Make hot chocolate and curl up under a warm blanket with a good book
  
• Get together with friends, get out of the house
  
• Put on some Jimmy Buffet and dream about being in the Florida Keys where it's always warm.
  
• Winter is a good time to catch up on indoor projects, cleaning out closets and drawers are biggies for me; use those dreary days to accomplish something inside so when the weather is nice, you can enjoy doing those outdoor activities.

• Try to keep in mind, we live in Florida, our winters are shorter and we'll be enjoying spring weather very soon; we haven't had it half as bad as those who live up north trying to dig their way out of several feet of snow.
  

Hang in there friends, spring is coming and before you know it, summer will be here and we'll all be complaining about the heat and wishing for cooler weather.

So Many Books to Choose From

I'm really beginning to think I may need an intervention. I need to join Bookaholics Anonymous; I've developed a serious addiction and I fear I am losing control. It's not as if I don't have enough books sitting around my house that I have yet to read. I can't help myself, I love to read. One of my favorite things to do when the weather is nice is to sit out on my back porch with a good glass of iced tea and a good book. And that time of year is right around the corner. And there's the matter of that annual spring camping trip coming up in a few weeks. I'm going to need a good book to read while I'm basking in the sun by the springs. Some people are out shopping for their spring wardrobe, I'm out shopping for spring reading. I was just browsing the latest Book Page Magazine and there are several that sounded very intriguing to me. I narrowed it down to four that I feel like I just have to read.

The Journal Keeper, by Phyllis Theroux
Making Toast, by Roger Rosenblatt
So Much For That, by Lional Shriver
The Art of Choosing, by Sheena Iyengar

Of course The Great Jacksonville Book Sale is this weekend and I'll be there when the doors open.
Is there a 12 step program for me?

Thoughts on Reading

I was at a bit of a loss tonight as to what today's post would be. I'm currently reading a good book on which I will be sharing my thoughts at a later date. I read a few interesting articles last night which gave me an idea or two. But, nothing really inspired me today. So, I was chatting with a friend on facebook and eventually as it often does, the topic of books came up. I of course had seen another book I want to read, my list grows ever longer. Then I remembered that this week is the 2010 NEA Read Across America. So, I hope everyone has found something good to read and for those with young children, please spend time every night reading with them.

I was browsing through a book of quotes and found some quotes on reading that I'd thought I'd share.


"If we encountered a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he read."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"There is hardly any grief that an hour's reading will not dissipate." L. de Montesquieu

"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body" - Richard Steele

"You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I had a mother who read to me. - Strickland Gillilan

"When we read we may not only be kings and live in palaces, but, what is far better,
we may transport ourselves to the mountains or the seashore, and visit the most beautiful parts of the earth, without fatigue, inconvenience, or expense. " -John Lubbock

"To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting" - Edmund Burke

"He that loves reading has everything within his reach." -William Godwin

Quotes found in Phillips' Book of Great Thoughts, Funny Sayings, Bob Philips 1993
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.


"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." -Dr. Seuss

The first books I ever learned to read were by Dr. Seuss. When I was a little girl, I lived right across the street from the public library. Every summer I would participate in the summer reading contest. The winner got their picture in the local newspaper.. One summer I won; I remember getting a free book and a big bag of tootsie pops! I still love tootsie pops, and I got my picture in the paper; I still have that paper today. Some days I would spend hours sitting at a table, or on the floor by the bookshelves reading. I remember when I wanted to check out a book about Hiroshima, the librarian thought it might be just a little advanced for me and encouraged me to make another choice, but no, I wanted that book and I read it all the way through. I've always had a love for books, my favorite subject in high school was English Literature and Composition. Maybe it was the teachers I had, who were so passionate about what they taught. We read some great books, Camelot, Romeo and Juliet, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Flowers for Algernon, Pride and Prejudice and more, I still have some of those books. By the way, The Great Gatsby is when I discovered Robert Redford! When I go to a book store, I can be there for hours. I have to browse through books in nearly every genre and I have to have great self control, because I always spend more than I set out to. It's a joke in my house that if you're invited to go to the bookstore with mom you had better pack a lunch, you may be there all day.