Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Europe or BUST!!!

My daughter and I are getting closer and closer to our trip and its finally beginning to seem real.  It is my second time to Europe, but to a completely different part this time.  And I get to share it with my 16 year old.  Taking a trip like this seems sort of extravagant, especially considering how financially rough it is for a lot of people right now, but this is more than just a splurge.  This started a few years ago actually.  A colleague of my husband's suggested we bribe our daughters to stay away from boys for a predetermined length of time by offering them a trip to wherever they want to go at the end of such time period.  It seemed a bit far-fetched to expect a teenager to stay away from the opposite sex that long, but we thought we'd give it a try anyway.  At the time, our oldest already had a boyfriend and had missed the opportunity to participate, but we made this offer to the remaining two daughters.  One declined and one took us up on it.  The one that decided to try it was 13 at the time.  We agreed that she wouldn't go out on dates or see boys until she turned 16.  To this day, there has never been any indication that she ever broke that promise.  She then chose Greece and Italy as the destination(s) for this strip.  And that's where we're going.  Failing to follow through on a promise of this magnitude is NOT an option, regardless of circumstance.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Clean Renewable Energy

I just got home after a couple of days in Lewiston.  The drive is about five and a half hours from the Idaho/Washington border, across farmland, the Columbia river, Snoqualmie Pass and into Puget Sound.  The last couple times I made this trip, I noticed that more and more of the wind turbines were popping up everywhere on the nearby hills along I-90, just west of the Columbia river.  I've always been fascinated by them.  Initially, it was mostly their looks - white, sleek columns towering into the sky, elegant and willowy.  I've always liked their purpose and what they stood for - mining clean, renewable energy resulting in a more evolved and sustainable future for us and our planet.  That gives me hope.