Going Home! Florida here we come!

Tonight I leave my home in Colorado, to finally go home to Florida,  even though I was home in May, this past month seems like a life time. My father in laws 85 birthday was Friday, it is so nice to see someone enjoy his family so much! I am feeling better and better each day, even though I have been limited to walking only ten minutes a day! This past weekend was the llama and burro race here in Fairplay, this is a tradition that has been around for many years. Basically people pack their burros and run with them for twenty four and a half miles. This town, is usually a sleepy little town, but when they decide to do some type of festivity, they do it right! Lauren says that Fairplay is not normal, it is a Western Disney type place. Of course when she found out that South Park the cartoon show got its name from here, her mouth dropped wide open. People for the most part are in a time warp in the part of the world. They do not care what kind of car you drive, how big your house is, or if you wear designer clothes. They care about hunting, hiking, enjoying the outdoors, and in general just appreciate life. How nice is it to not get caught up in the rat race of it all! The first photo is Lauren, me, my sis in law Nat, mother in law Lavena, Ashley (Ted's girlfriend) Ted (Ken's son) Ron my brother in law, and Chuck my father in law. The second photo, my first dinner out with my girlfriends Cheryl and Nery and my daughter Lauren. The third photo is of the Llama race in town, which was this past Saturday, this race is much easier than the burro race,  the course is a mile and a half up and around town. Easy for me to say because I am not the one running with these stubborn Llamas. The fourth photo is Bob, my plumber that dresses up and plays cowboy on the weekend with his friends to have fun during the festivities. I told him I want to take part next year and play dress up! The photo of Ken and Lauren is after they finished transferring the 6070 pounds of tile from the truck to the porch! Yes that is correct 6070 pounds! My heroes. I was so happy to see this group of male Prong Horn Antelopes hanging around the fire station two days in a row! And the final photos are of a glorious sunset after I dropped my friend Nery at the airport, I had to pull over from the highway to watch this amazing sunset. My final word of advice for now, take time to enjoy the small insignificant moments in life. Those moments when relished will be the ones that at the end of the day mean the most! I have been blessed to have an amazing husband and wonderful daughter that fill my day with those cherished moments.
Here is some information on the Burro Days of Fairplay. :-)
An annual event in Fairplay, Colorado since 1948, Burro Days celebrates the role of the burro in mining days of old.

Always held during the last weekend in July, the 65th Annual Burro Days will take place on Saturday, July 27and Sunday, July 28, 2013.

Over 10,000 people participate in festivities such as: burro races, llama races, kiddies pack dog races, parades, contests, over 140 arts & crafts booths, over 30 food vendor booths, local musical entertainment, Mountain Man Rendezvous, dance & BBQ, pancake breakfast, Cowboy Church services and more! 

Slow motion is not for me, trying to adjust to turtle's pace

Well, I am so very thankful that so far all my tests are checking out well. I have been recovering at home with my friend Nery and my daughter Lauren, while Ken was traveling to New York. The doctor told me that it would be at least three months till I feel normal and not feel like I have been hit by a Mac truck!  I find it very difficult to slow down, since none of me (thankfully) is in a cast, it is hard to take things a notch down. I walked the other day for an hour and a half, the doctor scolded me and told me to walk only ten minutes! Really?!
Ken and I went to the Park County Fair the other day, and I found this to be a very interesting event. I remember I loved going to the fair when I was little and seeing all the animals. What I do not remember is the worked and dedication it takes to show your cow, sheep, pig, off to the public for auction. These kids, from ages 8-18 spend a year teaching their cattle how to posture, walk and show themselves off, almost like the Dog shows. These young boys and girls dedicate a year and then the morning of the event they spend the time bathing, shaving, grooming, polishing the hooves and blow drying the cattle to make them top of their class, and at the end of the day after collecting their ribbons, winning first, second and third prize, their precious cattle is auctioned off to the highest bidder and slaughtered the next morning!
My question to you all is, does this make for a better, more well rounded young adult, understanding work dedication and knowing how hard and long one has to work to make a dollar and make ends meet. Or does this
create a person that is harder, colder, more realistic and able to deal with the harsh realities of life?  Are these young people that have nurtured, cared for, and loved their animals for a year's time better adjusted to the realities of life?
I don't know, I would love to ask them how they feel, I know one young girl broke down and cried after receiving her ribbon and I did too. Life is very different out West, the next morning we went to watch the mutton racing, where parents would willingly put their three and four year olds on a sheep and let them ride the sheep while it raced out of the stall. Of course the children had helmets on, but three and four I think it is a bit too young, but then again I think I may be wrong after watching the movie Babies, I realize what a disservice we do when we coddle our children too much.
I will try to post photos tomorrow.
love and light,
E

Gathering details on my throw from Shadow

Today I went to Platte Ranch to see my angel Bill and to give him a small gift as a token of my appreciation.
I saw Bill in the distance and I started to get choked up as I walked to him. We embraced and I kissed my Bill.
I introduced Ken to Bill and we had great conversation, and then he started giving Ken details about my accident.
I was thrown from Shadow landed on my back side and then rolled and rolled. Bill started to tell Ken that I even mounted another horse and tried to ride. I told Bill that I did not think I could ride, got off the horse and walked
for a bit, I then told Bill I could no longer walk and the rest of the story you know. Yesterday I went back to the hospital because even though I complained about my head aching they never scanned my neck or brain. The good news is that my neck is clear, but my brain has some "changes" in the white matter in the back of my brain. I have an appointment next week with a trauma neurologist to see what is going on with my brain. I am amazed at how strong my body is, I walk and walk around the ranch and even though I am in constant pain, I have decided not to take the pain killers, I am only taking the muscle relaxants to help with the swelling in my back and neck. I loved seeing Bill today, meeting his wife, and being able to give him another hug before I left. Bill asked me if I would ride again and I told him yes, and he said he looked forward to riding with me again. I am so very thankful for being alive, able to walk, and on my way to recovery.  I am thankful for all the prayers and well wishers.
Ken has to travel for a few days, so my friend Nery and my daughter are flying out on Sunday.

Thrown from a horse named Shadow, twice!

I am the luckiest girl alive! I am in Colorado and my girlfriend Cheryl asked me to go horseback riding with her on Saturday morning. There was a large group of us riding and my horse's name is Shadow. We were riding along when Shadow got spooked from a horse next to him, he jumped back lost his footing and threw me. Ouch! I caught my breath and mounted Shadow again. We walked along the trail some more for about an hour, later one of the people from the ranch said to me "you see how nicely Shadow is behaving, because you got on him again and showed him who was boss". Well, I said okay, even though I was still leery about riding him, I continued. A few moments after some photo ops Shadow was spooked once again and set off for the ride of my life! I was pulling on my reigns with all my might trying to get him to stop, but to no avail, Shadow kept on barreling forward and when he could not go anymore he decided to turn and make a beeline to the group, all the time bucking! I finally lost my grip and went flying off Shadow, and took a really hard fall.  The group gathered around to make sure I had feelings in my legs and arms, asked me if I could sit, and I did. After about five minutes they gave me another horse, I mounted him and decided I could not continue to ride. I got off the horse and started to walk while in excruciating pain. The rest of the group went on and Bill stayed with me. I told him I could not longer walk and was feeling terrible pain all over. Bill laid me down and that is when I felt as if I were going to die. I told Bill that I did not think I was going to make it, but that I had to fight because I wanted to stay for my 19 year daughter. Bill told me that the good Lord was listening to my prayers and that I was not leaving. Bill continued to hold my hand and pray with me. For what seemed like an eternity, I laid on the ground and saw the last moments of my life pass by. My breathing was shallow and Bill kept on telling me to hold on, that it would only be a few more minutes and finally the ambulance came. The medics started working on me cutting my shirt and bra off, giving me shots and oxygen. Minutes later I was on a helicopter called "flight for life". The storm had come in and I was lying down on a stretcher in the helicopter fighting to stay alive.  I arrived to St. Anthony's Hospital, the best in the area for spinal injury and trauma. There I had CT scans, MRI's, X-rays, you name it, I had it done to me. I remember the doctor coming in and telling me that no damage had been done to my spinal cord and that no surgery was needed. I had broken four of my vertebra's, three of them on each side! Thank God, he listened to my prayers. I then asked that they call my husband to let him know what happened to me and that I was okay. Luckily, Ken had just arrived to New York from Hong Kong. I spent the next three days in the hospital thanking God for saving me and allowing me to have full mobility. 

I also need to thank my angel Bill, that stayed by my side and told me that I was not going anywhere, that he had never lost anyone and that the Lord was with me and he was listening! Amen, I do believe Bill was right.

                                                         sunrise Saturday morning

                                                              Joey, ready to ride

                                                       Cheryl on her horse peeing

                                                   Bill my angel

me on Shadow

in my hospital

news that I get to go home!

                                               

                                                yesterday afternoon, the view from the ranch

Listen, follow, and embrace your gut!

I am absolutely exhausted! I do not know what time or day it is, what I do know is that God gives you a voice, called your gut, your inner voice, your guardian angel, what ever you want to call it, listen to it! After 25 hours of traveling and fourteen hours time difference, sleeping less than three hours, my body, spirit, still spoke to me. I needed to go to Silverthorne today, I was awake since three a.m., at seven thirty I was to meet Jeff to go over some things that need to be done at the house. I needed to be back by twelve thirty because I was meeting Rick to  go over the things he was attending to outside. By eleven i I was dead tired, I just wanted to get home and crash. After buying all my cleaning items at Target, I was almost home on highway nine, and I see a guy walking, I look, and something hits me like a Ton of bricks, the hairs on my head stand up! I pull in to my drive way and decide it is not a good idea as he was too close, I quickly closed the gate again and jump in to my car and drove a couple hundred yards turn in to a rock pit where I could watch this man. As I watched him he confirmed to me that something was so wrong, he had no bags, no water and walking the highway to no where, his movements were disturbing, always looking over his shoulders. Looking towards the houses in the woods. Finally he passed my gate, and I gave him time to clear a bit more distance, by that time I knew my next appointment would be at my home, they were the longest fifteen minutes of my life. I pulled back out and started to drive back, he looked at me and I at him, and he nodded. The hairs on my arms stood straight up, I turned in to my driveway and he looked back. I quickly got out to unlock the gate, barreled across the cow pass and got out to lock the gate again. I got home and raced for my binoculars to see where he was. He crossed the street and sat across the street at the fence of the gravel pit, and I paced and waited. He decided to move and I could see Rick pulling in and I sighed a moment of relief. I continued to watch as Rick pulled up, I went to greet him, and he said, what are you looking at? I said a guy that makes the hairs on my neck stand, I think I am going to call the sheriff. I called and the dispatcher took my information, and told me to keep an eye out and she would send a sheriff. Five minutes passed and the phone rang, and the sheriff confirmed my suspicion. This man was released earlier today from prison and was hitch hiking, not once did I see him with his thumb out. The sheriff told me to keep my eyes on him and that if he tried to jump the fence to call 911. I started to pray and watch, pray to God that he would continue to walk and find his way far away from any trouble here. I finished my meeting with Rick and lost sight of the man. I then called my alarm company to see how I arm my home while me being inside. I cleaned the stove for eight hours trying to clear my mind, and then the fridge. And almost twenty fours hours since I awoke I am completely and utterly exhausted, physically, psychically, and emotionally. I am so thankful to have listened to my gut. The one thing I did ignore my gut days before when it kept telling me to go buy a gun and now I know why, because even though we are removed from society in the mountains of Colorado, society is not removed from us. good night and listen.

Sixty countries visited! So many more to go.....

Well with all my travels this year, I reached sixty countries!  This may seem a huge accomplishment to some, and not so attractive to others, but to me it is the icing on the cake! I hope to make it to 100 countries before I am 60!
The incredible thing is that if I do make it to 100 that is only half of the countries in the world! My problem is that I fall in love with a country and I continue to go back, like Italy, France, and the Dominican Republic, which believe it or not, I have been to every year since I was seventeen! The funny thing is that I know most countries better than the own residents in most cases. When I travel I like to spend at least two weeks in a few areas, and this gives me a better feel and perspective on the place I am visiting. Most people that travel, I call "hit and run" tourists. They  usually get a package, maybe to a place like Ocho Rios, Jamaica spend a week in an all inclusive resort and say they have seen the island.  I remember almost ten years ago I wanted to take Lauren to Egypt, many of my dear friends did not want me to travel because the Gulf war and it being in the middle of a hot bed at the time. They were afraid that we would never come back. Interestingly enough, Lauren, my mom and I had a great time and it is to this day one of Lauren's favorite countries! India is a country that has not shades of gray, you either love it or hate it, I happen to love it! I hope to travel back to India in October for the third time and having spent more than two months there, I would say I know the country pretty well. I love all the colors, the raw beauty, everything. When one travels to places like India, you need to read up and brace yourself for what you are going to see and then just embrace it! The good, the bad,  the ugly and the beautiful, diversity of it all. I thought I would share a few photos from past travels.

Macau revisited, happy birthday husband!

Ken and I decided to take an overnight trip to Macau to celebrate Ken's 60th birthday (which is Monday), instead of staying in Hong Kong. I had been in Macau in 1998 with my friend Nery, my how things have changed and yet stayed the same. We took the TurboJet which only takes 45 minutes from Hong Kong,  ride premier class if you go, they have a lounge and free wifi! We decided to stay at  the Mandarin Oriental hotel, and I know we made the right choice, even though our room was not ready, a girl by the name of PeeWee took excellent care of us and even ordered a small cake tone sent to our room when she found out that we were there for Ken's birthday. After we looked at a map and booked our tickets for an evening show, we decided to take to the streets and walk. I cannot believe how hot and humid it was, in less than two minutes I was deep in sweat. We saw much of the old Macau and so much of the new. The incredible thing is that Wynn has two hotels and is building a third one! Macau reminds me of Las Vegas back in the seventies with a few more modern buildings.  Last night we went to an amazing show called  The Dancing Water Show. I will say it was incredible, the show O has nothing on this show. An hour and a half of amazing acrobatics! Sometimes I felt as though it was too much for the senses. I even felt my stomach churn, as if I was coming down a dip in the road. Do you know that funny feeling you get in the car or on a roller coaster? That one! Today after breakfast, we walked some more, and found the old ferry port and the part of Macau that I remembered. We were walking and a store was holding their grand opening ceremony and invited us to take a look at their store. Ken of course can never say no and was their first VIP customer. I did not want anything to do with them since one of their product was pills made out of sharks that are produced in Taiwan. I told the girl that it was Ken's birthday and a second later she coordinated fifty plus employees to sing happy birthday!  The great part of Macau is that they have kept much of the old Macau and its charm, plus you can never get lost in Macau you just have to look up and find the Grand Lisboa and you will be able to find your way! I hope they will continue to develop, but not destroy the old buildings like China and so many other places have done. I want to wish my husband a happy birthday, may you be blessed with a long healthy and happy life. Always your wife!

Here are some fun facts about Macau:

• The official name of Macau is Macau Special Administrative Region.
• The official languages of Macau are Portuguese and Chinese.
• Macau lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong province in the north.
• Macau was known by the name ‘Haojing’ (meaning Oyster Mirror) or Jinghai (which literally means Mirror Sea), before Portuguese immigrated to the place way back in 16^th century.
• It is believed that the name ‘Macau’ was derived from the A-Ma Temple, a place of worship that was build in 1448, with Matsu (the goddess of seafarers and fishermen) as its deity.
• Chinese form as much as 95% of the total population of Macau, whereas the rest of the 5% comprise of people belonging to Portugal, Europe and other countries.
• Majority of the people living in Macau are Buddhists, while one can also find Roman Catholics and Protestants here.
• The economy of Macau largely depends upon the revenue generated by tourism. Gambling is also a money-generating affair in the region.
• The currency of Macau is Macanese Pataca.
• After Las Vegas, Macau is one of the biggest gambling areas in the world. In fact, gambling is even legalized in Macau.
• Macau is the Special Administrative Region of China.
• It is one of the richest cities in the world.
• Macau was the first and last European colony in China.
• Macau is one of the most densely populated regions in the world.
• Macau ranks amongst the top 10 regions in the world, with a quite high life expectancy at birth.
• The infant mortality rate of Macau ranks amongst the lowest in the world.
• Macau is a highly humid region, with the humidity ranging anywhere between 75% and 90%. It receives fairly heavy rainfall as well.
• The Historic Centre of Macau, including twenty-five historic monuments and public squares, is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
• The tourists of Macau should know that tipping is a very popular as well as important tradition followed in the region. Nearly 10% of the bill is given as tip in most of the restaurants and hotels of Macau.