This week turned into a case study on the powers of ginger (the root, that is) and sleep.
The case study began here:
The case study began here:
at a pond about 500 meters from my office. It's a pond I've walked and cycled by on more than a handful of occasions. Each time I've passed it I've thought, "I should take an afternoon break one day and go check it out." So, this week I set out to do just that. In doing so, it brought to mind my days at Texas A&M when I found myself staring out the window of the library in the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. On many afternoons I would see Jim Olsson, one of my professors, walking around the pond. I would often wonder what he was thinking about and whether he took these kinds of walks to clear his mind when he was embedded in the USSR during the Cold War.
As I made my way around the pond, I was curious as to how the feet of these little guys can withstand the frigid temperatures of the pond that already was starting to freeze. My hands were nearly frozen in the leather gloves they were donning.
I also wondered about an interesting sculpture I came across.
Any guesses as to what it is?:
As I continued to walk past the sculpture, I was amazed at how quickly it turned into something recognizable.
See if the change in perspective does for you what it did for me:
It's a batter!
It got me thinking about how a slight shift in perspective can have such a powerful effect on one's understanding.
As I was approaching the path to head back to the university, I spotted a really sweet, elderly couple feeding the ducks. It was quite a sight.
It became expedient to walk my happy little hind quarters back to the office as it was freezing outside and I wasn't properly outfitted for the outing.
The temperatures had dropped significantly from earlier that morning.
(Just a really cool picture of my ride home. There's a soccer field to the right, clouds on the horizon that are reflecting the city lights, and the moon is watching over us all. So, so awesome!)
The first 'real' snow came down on Thurs., Nov. 21st, in honor of Matthew's birthday. :)
This is the view from my office window.
That night Katie and I took Coco out for her evening walk. (These pics are actually from tonight.) The lake was beginning to freeze...
So we cleaned off the railings by making snow balls out of the snow and hurling them across the lake...only to watch them splatter on the half frozen surface of the lake. It was quite spectacular. Almost as impressive as Katie's killer aim with one of the snowballs...right in my face. :)
Here she is coming back up after examining the thickness of the ice.
That evening I read an article about the science of sleep:
(PLEASE read the article in its entirety. Here are the highlights, though:
*sleep is more important than food;
*sleep makes you happier and healthier;
*sleep improves athletes' performance;
*sleep makes for a more skilled musician;
*sleep transforms smart PhD students into brilliant ones.
(Ok, so the last point may hint at a bit of hyperbole...)
Oh, and we really should do away with daylight savings time. Really.
It became quite expedient, come Friday morning, to put to the test this assertion that sleep makes you healthier. :) I started to feel an awful flu about to hit. I have an action-packed week ahead and couldn't afford to be out. Rather than push through the day, I hurried my hind quarters (again!) home to try and stave off the onslaught of unpleasantness that has struck colleagues and friends alike.
On the way home I stopped by a corner store to pick up some ginger. I remembered Maria's g'ma insisting that I chew on fresh ginger when I was hit with the flu last summer over Juhannus.
So...
I took a nice chunk of fresh ginger, chewed it a bit, tucked it in the back corner of my mouth, and went straight to bed. 24 hours later I was hopeful that I may have staved off the full blown flu. 48 hours later I'm completely flu-symptom free. I'm sold on ginger. Apparently I'm not the only one...
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/ginger-herbal-remedies.htm
I was excited to be feeling fantastic today because it was my first day to be serving as the newly called Primary pianist (the children's Sunday School at church). I'm really excited about being able to use my piano skills more regularly--and to hang out with tons of really cute and rambunctious kiddos! (I'm still a bit uncertain of how these kids go from really talkative and active as kids to completely silent and still as teenagers...)
There were 3 kids who had birthdays in November. They celebrated by inviting each kid to the front of the classroom and put candles on 'their' birthday cake. (It's a fake cake, in case you couldn't tell.) There was a box of candles from which they could select the number of candles that corresponded to how old they were turning.) Such a BRILLIANT idea! It was fun to watch them pretend to eat the cake, and to have the other kids walk up and take a piece, too. The most surprising part, though, was that 2 of the 3 kids insisted that everyone sang the "Happy birthday" song in English. They all knew the song. Pretty impressive.
The week began with clear roads and clear skies. It ended with frosty, snowy paths and a Christmas tree!! AHHHH!! Incidentally, the first Christmas music I've heard this season was in the corner store where I bought the ginger (which is also the day after the first snow fall).
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! :)
Word to the wise: stock up on ginger (you can use it in this delicious recipe, too) and go get some sleep.
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