Feliz Ayyam-i-ha!!

I am dog tired and not gonna make much sense but I can't resist. The Baha'i days of Ayyam-i-ha started on Monday and end on thursday. 4 (and sometimes 5) days of gift giving and service. The theme for us this year is actively trying to find a way to serve someone every day. We start off the hunt for gifts around the house with a prayer and each of us sharing a service story. This past weekend we drove to NY to be with the Ruhe family. We all got together for brunch on sunday with lots of good food, laughs and some truly memorable quotes (the second one is Jamal... of course who else... right?) ... and got to do some serious (Sledding_train) sledding on a really fast, ice-covered hill near Dad and Janet's house... (Isaiah_Jump) Friday the Fast begins... amazingly this will be my 26th consecutive year that I have been fasting... weird. Anyway, another reminder that tomorrow I am 41 years old and truhely gruhevy.

Sugarloaf

Saturday we had another round of sledding. We hiked up the access road of Mt. Sugarloaf for a nice afternoon of romping. The sledding was fun and so were the snow drifts. And yes that is Mason asleep in the sled... tired little guy. Today we had an Ayyamiha party for children's class. We decorated cookies and played with balloons to celebrate the upcoming holidays.

Silly List

Here's a silly list I received that tickled me to giggles yesterday along with 2 very old but silly pics of the boys.

15 THINGS THAT IT TOOK ME 60 YEARS TO LEARN

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 21.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic back-ground, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice person.

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

The Only Way

It looks like the only real way to do winter is to get out in it... Not much to report. Just a few saturday jaunts. While the kids were at their friend's house and Britt was having some chill time I went drove back to the swift river where we went kayaking in the fall. I wanted to see if it was frozen over thinking that might be a great skating adventure... Check out the images of what I found. Had the ice been a few more inches thick I probably would have attempted it.... it was exquisite!!! Like standing on a piece of 4 inch glass. (Swift_River_Ice)

Then I went and got the kids who were invited up to lake wyola in shutebury to go... ice fishing with Aiden... interesting stuff... these guys were prepared with lots of gear and we slid on the ice, got rides on the snowmobile, ate hot dogs and asked alot of questions. An intense snow shower while there made it magical.

The Happy Factor

This is kind of interesting... A psychologist from Britain's University of Leicester produced the first ever "world map of happiness," which shows Denmark as the happiest country, with the United States doing relatively well at 23 out of 178 countries. Adrian White, an analytic social psychologist at the University's School of Psychology, analyzed figures published by UNESCO, the CIA, the New Economics Foundation, WHO, the Veenhoven Database, the Latinbarometer, the Afrobarometer, and the UNHDR to create a global projection of subjective well-being. The "map" will be published in a psychology journal this September and presented at a conference later in the year, Science Daily online reported Wednesday, based on a University of Leicester press release. The meta-analysis is drawn from the findings of over 100 different studies around the world that questioned 80,000 people worldwide about their satisfaction with life. Data concerning health, wealth and access to education was also analyzed. The 20 happiest nations in the World are: 1. Denmark 2. Switzerland 3. Austria 4. Iceland 5. The Bahamas 6. Finland 7. Sweden 8. Bhutan 9. Brunei 10. Canada 11. Ireland 12. Luxembourg 13. Costa Rica 14. Malta 15. The Netherlands 16. Antigua and Barbuda 17. Malaysia 18. New Zealand 19. Norway 20. The Seychelles Other notable results include: 23. USA 35. Germany 41. UK 62. France 82. China 90. Japan 125. India 167. Russia The three least happy countries were: 176. Democratic Republic of the Congo 177. Zimbabwe 178. Burundi Here's the rest of the article and the map... World_Happiness_Map World_Happiness_Article

Snow, blanca, fria y deliciosa

Como para tener un poco de sirope y mas pinito (ya se me acabo el otro)!!!

Friday night we were finally given presents... the first was just the plain old end to a really grumpy, miserable week at work (both Britt and I). The second was a nice snow storm. We got about 3-4 inches. Britt got her warm clothes on and took a walk in it that evening while I was finishing being grumpy upstairs. It is just plain magical... the way the snow transforms another dreary winter evening into a cheerful, bright, quiet treat. Anyway, we took full advantage. Steve came up from Chicopee and Alfie and I got ready while Isaiah was at soccer (they won... again) and with some of Isaiah's friends we went sledding at their school (Isaiah_trying_to_fly). Of course we couldn't resist jumping out of the nearby tree into the big snow pile the plow had made. I include also just some recent artwork... so you can get an idea of what they are doing.... and a during and after picture from a presentation Aman had at school on friday...