I went home on leave early in December. It was great! Man, I love AZ.

Alrighty, here's the deal. It's crunch time, Saturday night. I head out to th airport in about 6 hours. Then it's 13 wonderful hours of planes, then finally at about 0200 my time (1830 AZ time) I'm gonna be getting off the plane in Phoenix. I am so pumped I can't contain myself. Just imagine the hikes, the family, the Americanness, and the sunlight! WooooHoooo! 12 fun-filled days of non-England-ness! Trust me, you miss some things living over here. Like shopping malls, and good Mexican food, shops staying open after 1730, the sun.
Here's my WooHoo picture:

Might I say "Yay"? I think the quote from the best teacher of all time did it. Check out the first line.

Okay, here goes. It's been one hell of a long week, but it went by in a blur, it still kinda feels like Monday, and it's Saturday. That there should tell you something. Last Saturday my boyfriend, Mike, got into a motorcycle wreck. The general idea is that he lost control, regained control and then hit where a tree a telephone pole cross. He flew 15-20 meters (about 50 feet) from that. He broke his left metatarsal (pinky bone), has a stable fracture on his C2 vertabrae, and broke his tibia just below the knee, tore 3 ligaments in his knee while at it. Oh, and his bike is totalled.
Right now he's hurting a lot, his leg has 4 pretty impressive bolts in it, and he's been stuck at a British hospital. Wednesday they're gonna do some reconstructive surgery, hopefully he'll be out of hospital by the 28th. So yeah, long week. I've just been going to the hospital every day trying to at least be there for him, I wish I could do more, but I can't. It's been hard, I've been running on empty most of the week, but it's worth it if I get to see him. By the way, national health care is not such a good idea. It means you get substandard stuff. Trust me, British medical standards have nothing on America. Oh yeah, English toilets flush funny too.

Look! Alex just took a drink!

Tiffany and John

A picture of Charlie.

Alex, and she's not eating anything or lookig like a hunchback. I always take pictures of her with food for some reason. Anyway this is my roommate. She's pretty darn fun.

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At the pub for music.

Hanging out in the pub listenng to good music by Charlie.

Mikey and me again! Not bad for a picture of a photo, huh?

Me and Mikey at the Navy Day Ball!

Mikey.

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This is from the CD of my favorite band, Boy Hits Car. It means a lot to me so I decided to share it. Basically, it reminds me to follow my heart and ot be afraid of the path less taken, that sometimes it is better to risk the more uncertain path to get what we want out of life, to beome who we want to be. UNCERTAINTY...RISK...FREEDOM... <->

He rose again from his shadow to contemplate the decision before him. The sun was decending into the west, and he felt it exploding him from behind. A few feet from where his eyes rested upon his young face, stood two signs. One sign pointed down a road where a car awaited to take him into the womb of certainty, should he choose that path. The other sign pointed towards a narrow trail that disappeared into a lush forrest.

He looked at the sign pointing at the car. Upon it, in big black gleaming letters was the word, CERTAINTY -10 miles. Underneath this word, written a bit smaller, it read: Acceptance and Security. He stared at the sign for a moment before shifting his gaze to the other. This sign was older looking and the words were a bit faded- it read: UNCERTAINTY- miles unknown. Underneath, like the other sign were two words: Risk and Freedom. The boy became confused and distraught once again as his eyes began to swell with water. Most of his life he had been told that this day would come. They had all said for him to prepare himself, and he now knew that this would be the biggest decision he would ever make.

A resolution that would decide his life course. Those close assured him that it would ultimately be his decision; but at the same time he felt urged to get into the Car, which would lead him to Certainty. They had all been where he was now, and they would convince him that getting in the Car would be the safest way to live his life. Most of them had chosen the path of Certainty. They had all sat down in the comfort of the car, and like most before, had all ended up secure and accepted.... but were they happy? Were their hearts singing everyday they awoke? The boy thought about this as he turned to let the setting sun dry his face. He watched the beautiful merging of the sun and ocean.

The sight seemed to return a calmness that had been absent from his soul. He breathed deep, longing for the rays of light to enter his body; to maybe melt away his emotions. Then, after awile, he closed his eyes and slowly turned to face the inevitable. The boy retracted his eyelids to let all perception enter. He glared at the first sign, trying to dismantle the words until they were naked, revealing their true meaning. CERTAINTY... ACCEPTANCE...SECURITY. He couldn't figure out why most of the world was obsessed with obtaining these things; why most deemed this path the safest for ones life.. He shifted his eyes to the other sign, looking deep into the words. UNCERTAINTY...RISK...FREEDOM. He repeated the words over and over as he read them. Then, slowly but suddenly; quietly but urgently, the revelation crawled.

.... into his head and rested upon his brain.The boy quickly looked up, beyond the sign to the trail disappearing into the lush green canopy. Then he glanced at the car. He felt his heart begin to beat harder. He looked back to the trail and the beautiful forest which eventually enveloped it. The boy watched as a bird took flight from one tree to another. He noticed a squirrel run down the base of a tree, then disappear under a bush. He realized that animals are not concerned with security or acceptance. They are content with being who they are, and they are satisfied with what they have. His breath quickened as he looked back to the car and the looming city beyond. He pondered all the people scurrying around in the shadows of those towering buildings. He wondered if they were content with who they were. He wondered if they were satisfied with the path they had chosen

The boy concluded that maybe some were, but most were trying to fill the void where their childhood hearts once sang. Most were trying to get somewhere the Car could not take them; because in this life, nothing is certain... He felt a wonderful burning in the center of his chest, as he finally turned his back to the Car forever. As he moved to the head of the Uncertain trail, he glanced at the sign which pointed to it. A subtle smile crept across his face. for now he knew what the sign meant. The boy stood before the path of Uncertainty, held his head high, and said these words aloud... "This is the route for my life. I know because my heart has shown me the way. This passage will not be an easy one. There will be numerous obstacles blocking my way, and many challenges to overcome; but by doing so I know that I will learn and grow from every experience, pleseant or unpleseant.

I understand that by taking this uncertain path, I may risk acceptance and security, and at times life might be filled with suffering; but if the risk is taken out of life, then there will be no true living. Through the risk of the life I'm choosing, ultimately...I will be free..." Tears of joy began to gather in the boys eyes as he took to the path of Uncertainty, because he knew he was following his heart, and his heart had told him to stay true to the dreams of his youth. Just before the boy was consumed by the thicket of trees he looked back over his shoulder to where the car was. He began laughing aloud and singing lovely songs of freedom because the car...had vanished.

Rally

Gravemarkers.

A neat old cematery in a churchyard.

A yawning owl.

My friend and Barney the Barn Owl.

A vulture close up. I can't remember if it's Dumb or Dumber. But those were the names. There were two.

Vulture. I like them too!

Curtains!

A stalagtite glued together! Cool!

Mmmmm......devilly

This is just neat.

Looking out into the big cavern. See those dangly thingies? Those are called Straws.

It kinda looks like a lady's face. And it glows with a blacklight too!

Look up into the hole.

More fossils

Can you find the fossils in this picture?

Part of a stalagmite! Spiffy!

Inside the cave

An underground waterfall, in White Scar Cave

Another beautiful day in Yorkshire.

What do you do when you no longer enjoy your job is? I’m beginning to become unhappy with my work. I mean I love being in the Navy, don’t get me wrong. But I am not enjoying being a human ping-pong ball. I did not come here to work at a Post Office; I want to actually do the job I signed up for. Instead I find myself doubting that maybe coming to England was not the best idea right now. Maybe I would have been more productive in Maryland, or someplace else. But I’m sitting and waiting for the day to come and for me to be graced with the gift of working, instead of this limbo I find myself in. I’m not a limbo fan. In fact, I’m pretty un-limbo. I prefer doing things, feeling useful. Yet now I’m a waste of space and time living on the graces of others. Not my idea of fun.

This is inside the cave. Spiffy huh?

Looking back on the "trail". It's that nice slippery bare strip on the right.

Just around the corner to the left is a "tunnel". It felt more like a cave to me. All dark and fun.

Look at that water! If was summertime I so would be slippin' and slidin' down the river. But it's not, so I didn't

Looking upstream at How Stean.

Another one of How Stean Gorge.

So I went to this place called How Stean Gorge, waded around shin-deep in water for most of the day and had a blast. Crawling over rocks, slipping and dropping my backpack in the river, and hitting my head in caves. My kind of day.

Chickens, oh joy! They're almost as bad as geese to me. But maybe I'm just afraid of birds.

Geese, they're evil but pretty.

Look! Geese! So...pretty....

Okay, so I'm sitting in room "training" on nothing, and I'm bored. One good thing about the computers here is that they all have Internet. A bad thing is this plastic cover over the keyboard. No more happy typing clicks! Anyway, since I'm bored it's story time! Rambling! Tune in next week to "Nauta's Boredom Corner"

How The Paranoid Sissy Toad Named Toddles Got His Wings

Once upon a time in a land far, far, away I'm talking amazingly far, like a five-minute walk kind of far. There was an ugly, crotchety old toad named Toddles. Now we all know that Toddles isn't a very manly name for us humans, in fact it's the kind of name that would get a kid beat up in school. Well, it just so happens that Toddles is an extremely toady name for a toad. It is the name of the greatest toad of all time, or at least of the last seventeen minutes. That hero was known as Toddles the Grand, Crosser of Roads, Survivor of Shoes, Catcher of All Things Yummy, and Toad of the Wart. He was very distinguished. But our little Toddles was nothing like Toddles the Grand, oh no. Our Toddles was a big sissy. He lived in abject fear of, well, everything. Every so often Toddles would venture outside for food, when the coast was clear and the wind wasn’t blowing. Toddles was a very skinny frog, he was afraid of flies and ate flowers instead.

One day, when Toddles was venturing outside to collect his flowers for the week, a big crow swept down and snatched him. Toddles was so terrified that he promptly fainted. Several hours later, he awoke to find himself atop a really high cliff. Deciding that he should just five up on life, Toddles ran to the edge and threw himself off. Suddenly, wings sprouted from his back and Toddles began to fly! It just so happens that Toddles was a fairy toad who was impervious to all harm and could fly. It was passed down to him from his grandfather’s uncle’s brother’s son’s son. Toddles fondly called him Dad. Everyone else called him Toddles the Grand, Crosser of Roads, Survivor of Shoes, Catcher of All Things Yummy, and Toad of the Wart. And that is how paranoid sissy toads named Toddles can fly. The End.

At the start of the "Public Footpath" it didn't feel very public friendly. I had to wade through purple flowers, squeeze through ferns taller than me, and run through fields of a spongy plant that conveniently hid the water under it. I had mud up to my butt, and my shoes went all squishy. What a way to start an adventure! See the pines over in the distance? That's where I took the pics of the forest road further down this blog. Then I followed the tree line beyond the hill to a dam. After that I found the highway about 3 miles from the dam and followed it back. It was fun.