My spin on Internet Dating: a mixed blessing Over the last decade, we’ve seen an explosion in Internet dating sites. Today, rather than going into the world to find a romantic partner, we sit alone in front a computer and shop for the man or woman...
Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel sends us at Telluride Inside...
As Mother Nature continues to paint the Opus Magnus of her year, I find myself experiencing perpetual feelings of humility, gratitude and grace. Colors blaze as light ignites the landscape and snow-capped peaks rise up to meet the brilliant blue of Colorado’s autumn skies. It’s spirit-touching and soul-moving, stunning and inspirational, to say the least. The magnificence of seasonal cycles and the mysteries of life and death, birth and rebirth will forever intrigue and seduce us. And the metamorphic month of October is the time when the Libra/Scorpio magic is in full force. Why not surrender to its power and transform?
Good luck and may the beauty of Libra and passion of Scorpio of be with you!
The pressure surrounding motherhood in the 21st Century is extraordinary. Everywhere we turn there’s an expert (yes, including me) telling mothers how to do it “right” and “better.” And while this wealth of information is incredibly valuable, it also sets an impossible standard for the person in charge: mothers. In addition, lofty standards mothers feed the cancer of destructive coping mechanisms, the most common of which is drug and alcohol abuse.
Although we’ve made great strides in the field of addiction by de-stigmatizing substance abuse, society continues to maintain stereotypes and myths regarding what an alcoholic/addict looks and acts like. High on that list is the perception that people who abuse substances live substandard lives. In my experience working as a marriage and family therapist with high functioning and successful families at the Caron Treatment Centers in Manhattan, I’ve found nothing could be further from the truth.Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel is always sending us some great videos of dogs training, dogs playing, dogs just being dogs. This video is just fun: Ted has gotten down in the grass to get a puppy's eye view of Jesse, a...
October 13 to 20, 2011 Visible Planets: Morning: Mars and Jupiter Evening: Mercury and Venus
The Crimson Ivy and Crackling Fires of Libra/Scorpio
It’s off-season in the San Juans and that translates as a time to slow down and take a look around. Magnificent Indian Summer weather gifts us with the blue, blue skies of autumn, stunning snow-white peaks, still-green fields washed with yellow, crimson ivy and forests paved in gold. October is a month of magic, mystery and metamorphosis. The tantalizing tales of witches, sorcerers and spirits make their way into living rooms and schoolrooms, travel the ethers and fly from bed to breakfast as we enter the darkest, most mystical time of the year.
Last week’s full Hunter’s Moon illuminated the multi-faceted jewel of relationship. Sharing and pairing, how we show up for others and how they show up for us were themes that resonated throughout the cosmos, filling our hearts and heads with thoughts, emotions and experience. This week, the focus on relationships continues. As we move into the last week of light and lovely Libra and approach the magnetic, seductive power of Scorpio, we instinctively shape-shift with the changing light and shortening days. Our bodies crave comfort, food and shelter. We find ourselves attracted to crackling fires, cozy couches, hot meals and warm bodies. From harvest to table, we gather the fruits of our labors and prepare for winter.
Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel refers to her as "the Amazing Mae." This week Ted has put up a video of working with Mae on retriever training. She looks pretty amazing to me....
October 6 to 13, 2011 Visible Planets: Morning: Mars and Jupiter Evening: Venus
October and Bracing for Winter
I arose this morning in darkness, well before sunrise, and it was raining – raining hard. Last night’s news sent out the season's first winter storm advisory for the San Juans with forecasts for snow and lows in the upper 20ºs – yikes! Mother Nature painting the landscape white; summer is definitely over.
Now the day is breaking and it’s grey outside. The grass in the yard is emerald green, the windows streaked with rain. Fire crackles in the woodstove and it’s warm and cozy inside. Winds blow and bend the tall blonde grass in the pasture where the horses are out of sight; they’ve taken cover in the pinon-juniper forest way ‘down yonder.’ Now, that’s a saying I’ve heard used on and off in Colorado since I was a kid. It’s a cowboy-country kind of slang that always makes me smile.
Weather changing, just like life. When it rains and storms, it seems like it will always be so. The human animal reacts to atmospheric conditions just like that, when it’s sunny and bright, it’s hard to imagine sleet and snow. The Sun is always there, and clouds will come and go. Like emotions and feelings, it’s all temporary – just like life. C’est la vie, here we are, moving into the second week in October and bracing for winter.
Just like that, just like life…
Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel and his young female Black Labrador Retriever, Mae, are a team. It is always interesting watching Ted work with a dog, but to see him in action with Mae is pure pleasure. Telluride Inside...
September 29 to October 6, 2011 Visible Planets: Morning: Mars and Jupiter Evening: Venus
“The Whirling Rainbow is the promise of peace among all Nations and all people. The Rainbow Race stresses equality and opposes the idea of a superior race that would control or conquer other races. The Rainbow Race brings peace through the understanding that all races are one. The unity of all colors, all creeds working together for the good of the whole, is the idea that is embodied in the Whirling Rainbow. When all pathways to wholeness are respected by all cultures, the prophecy of the Whirling Rainbow will be completed. - Jamie Sams, The Sacred Path Cards
For years I’ve been fascinated by Native American teachings. Perhaps it’s the Colorado territory I grew up in, so rich in stories of cowboys and Indians, playing in creek beds where red men roamed, finding arrowheads and riding horses across mesa tops, dreaming of buffalo and watching the sun set behind the peak-studded horizons of my youth. Or maybe it’s in my blood, where a genetic past-life memory lingers. According to my Grandfather, his forefathers came over on the Mayflower. And one of my Grandmother’s ancestors was the first recorded fatality in the Revolutionary War. Plenty of time to interbreed. Whatever the case, fantasy or reality, I hear the voice and feel the heart of the people who lived and loved these American lands long before the white man ever saw it.
