I haven’t worn contacts since 1997, well, except for the expired pair I wore to my wedding in ’05. But I’m not four eyed in most posted portraits, you say. I know. I’m holding my glasses out of the frame.

Contact lens technology for astigmatic eyes has advanced since I first poked my eyes 18 years ago; what makes me even happier is that my eyes have improved greatly since I hit my late 20s. Not many 31-year-olds get to stop wearing bifocals or find themselves in a weaker prescription.

Now I look a little more like my profile photos and I need to find a pair of sunglasses.

Until now.

I’m no longer a quiet small business owner. In my business blog I hope to provide education, information, and other resources to guide you, my potential client, toward an educated technology decision. You can read a bit more about who I believe my clients are in four signs you should be my client. Not sure if you are an exact match? Contact me and ask!

I plan to keep this space more for personal pursuits, but I expect there will be some cross-posting when appropriate.

I’m nervous about this new direction and hope that I can overcome the years of silence.

Why?

Life is very busy this month: pesach prep and the holiday, work deadlines and being out for pesach, a few minor but time consuming home improvement projects, and building a four-shaft table loom (ok, that part has gone quickly) and learning how to weave (this part will take a while).

There has to be time for kitten kisses.

Is that all? No. For the past few months I’ve not been happy with what I write and toss up on this site. I need some time to pause something and figure out what and how I want to change. I’ve been posting here for many years now and I accomplished a goal: I have regained confidence in putting words down even if they still need quite a bit of elbow grease to be the right ones in the right order.

I need to figure out what’s next.

I’m sure if you follow the various social media services I often post to (hover on about on the navigation up at the top of the page, a drop down menu appears — those are various applications I use with some degree of regularity. My flickr stream will show you most of what is in Ravelry. I don’t know how much I’ll use twitter…)

I will try to reply to comments and emails in a timely manner.

May you have a lovely month that is full of health, happiness, friends, and family.

חג פסח שמח וכשר May you have a happy & kosher passover!

when i was nine i didn’t always know when you were teaching me a very useful lesson. nor did any of us expect that sunny sunday afternoon would be the last one the three of us would have together. from you i learned about hard work, creative approaches to solving problems, that there wasn’t anything i couldn’t do if i tried, how to love wood and woods, how to listen, how to love, how to care for those around me, and so many things i can’t put into words. you taught me to be me. every day i’m thankful for the short time we had together. it wasn’t enough. i’m sad that you and mommy didn’t go to the doctor and we didn’t know you were so sick. you took such care of me, i wish i could have taken care of you. i miss you every day. you were my world then and you helped to shape my world today. thank you. i love you.

always,
your daughter penny

my grandfather, daddy (on right), circa spring 1980

לשנה טובה ומתוקה

(kitten posts will resume in October. Sorry! he’s been really hard to photograph lately.. all i have are blurs!)

Why? Perhaps I might educate and indirectly save a life, or at the very least keep someone from doing something really really stupid.

Also, I’m sick of people thinking these rules do not apply to them. I don’t know why they think that. Are they too cool? They will be when they’re dead.

• If you run or walk on the road (not on the sidewalk) at any time BE OPPOSITE TO TRAFFIC. The only ones who can go the normal way and should go the normal way are bicycles and cars. If you are on two feet, no matter what pace you are cruising at, you need to be opposite to traffic. The only exception to this is if you are on a sidewalk or another area that is (theoretically) barricaded to traffic. I still often go opposite to traffic on a sidewalk but that’s years of being very distrustful that a huge fast chunk of steel will stay where it ought.

  

• If you run or walk or bike on the road (or really on a sidewalk in my opinion) early in the morning or late at night be bright. My brights are items I would never be caught dead in at any other time, but without them I could be dead.

• Do not blast headphones and music. I admit to listening to podcasts on my walk home during bright daylight hours, but I always keep the volume low enough I can hear cars. You would not, however, ever catch me listening to PodRunner while out for a run. It is perfect for indoor situations, such as when I have a bike on the trainer.
• Assume if you can’t see them clearly, they probably can’t see you. If you are rounding a corner at the top of a hill and you hear a car coming and you can’t see them? Get as far out of the road as you can and make yourself big. In my case that means throwing up my arms.
• Give cars the right away on all intersections and crossings unless the driver stops and makes eye contact and some sort of (g-rated) gesture to proceed ahead of them. This especially applies to driveways too.
• If you go out alone tell somewhere your proposed route and when you expect you’ll be back. Keep some sort of ID including emergency contact info on your person. added: see Devorah’s link below. I’m not endorsing them per se, but it’s much better than an index card with a name and phone number scribbled. If you are allergic to any medication or have a unique blood type, list that.
• If you run in a trail system definitely wear bright colours, and know when different hunting seasons are in effect. At the very least it may alert you to when you might find animals half field dressed in the trail. Trust me, you’ll learn to hurdle really quick!

If you are not following these reminders, I might see you and start screaming at you.

Now, the question always comes up, I want to run and my (spouse|child|dog) wants to ride a bike. What do we do?

Find a dedicated trail or path system. Do not go out on the streets. It’s too dangerous.

Please just think. Be smart.

Ok, was that a lot to digest? Here it is again:

Assume all drivers are brand new drivers, exhausted, and driving distracted. Assume they can’t see you.
Do everything you can to be seen. Wear bright reflective clothing. Run against traffic. Make noise (or size). Be prepared to slow down and stop. Safety is much more important than the stop watch.

That concludes today’s public safety reminder.

I don’t often drink plain water because well, I’m chronically dehydrated and I grew up with the best water ever from my back yard. Other water, no matter how clean, tastes wrong or funny to me. I also like it frigid ice cold. It took these many months at the dentist in order for me to enjoy water properly again.

So where is this going?

Yes, water, and the scarcity of clean drinking water is all over the news and has been for a few years now.

Let’s think about this. Ignoring the waste, if I wanted to I could buy a bottle of clean water and not think too much about the cost of that bottle. There is no reason why I shouldn’t get the recommended daily amount. It’s clean. It’s (relatively) cheap. I don’t need to stress about it. And that’s just for drinking! I cook and wash without thinking or worrying much about the water I consume.

But many do. For more reasons than I think I can write about. Just turn to most any news source and you’ll see stories of natural and man-made destruction that threaten the availability of this resource.

I didn’t expect to write this post today, it just happened, so unfortunately I don’t have a good list of links you could follow to donate so that others can have clean, affordable, accessible drinking water. I ask you to research and choose a place where you think they do good and send them what you can, a dollar makes a difference.

When I finally decide (though I may just send more money to MSF) I’ll try to remember to update this post.

In the meantime I’m working to reduce the non-compost waste we produce as I believe it is a step toward helping conserve and preserve. Some weeks are better than others. I really need to break my zip-lock bag habit, even if I reuse them until they are very worn. One step at a time.

At another time I’ll talk about our gardening choices.

What are you doing to help? Do you have a favourite resource that helps explain this situation?

now if i could only figure out that whole balance thing combined with at least 48 more hours in each day …. maybe i’d do better about helping happy little creations to arrive on your doorstep too …

The next few weeks will serve a reminder for me to practice good tooth habits.

Today? Another root canal. I last had one over a decade ago, one would think I learned these lessons then.

If you don’t like or aren’t comfortable with your current dentist, find a new one. If your dentist seems more concerned with payment or your insurance than with your health, find a new one. If your dentist is insisting on yanking wisdom teeth just because they are impacted if they don’t bother you and don’t have sign of infection and you are over the age of 25, find another opinion (and probably a new dentist). We have a new dentist now that we moved. I’m actually looking forward to today’s visit. I’ve had the reasons why and the plan explained to me in a professional and intelligent manner. I’ve been allowed to question why and “what if we did this” and I wasn’t shot down for ignorance.

Update: That was PAINFREE! He ROCKS. I ♥ my new dentist greatly.