Kiva.org is an organization where people such as you and I can make micro-loans to people in other countries to help them in their businesses – in order to help them go from poverty to self supporting themselves and their families.  Just $25 can change a person’s life.  

 Kiva is the world’s first person to person micro lending website, empowering  individuals to directly help a business owner in developing countries.

This is the way we change the world – one person at a time – from the bottom up.  This is how we combat poverty – one person at a time.   I encourage you to go to this website Kiva.org and get involved.   And please watch the video linked above.

Why go? More than any other waterway, the 1,450-mile Colorado River (277 miles of which run through the Grand Canyon) represents the lifeblood of the United States—and dams are starting to temper its wildness.

Difficulty: 4 out of 10. Novices are welcome, and guides will not only help paddle through the Class V rapids but also prepare food and provide sleeping bags with sheets, pillows, and inflatable mattresses. But be ready to hike nine miles into the canyon and nine miles out, and to paddle hard day after day.

Your guides: O.A.R.S., whose founder, George Wendt, was granted one of the first Colorado rafting licenses, in 1969. Guests hosted include Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Christine Todd Whitman.

O.A.R.S.
Tel: 800 346 6277
Rafting and dory trips, from $1,690 per person; 19-day trip from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead on a dory (including 47 major rapids, three to five hours per day on the boat, guided hikes, and all meals), $5,296 per person

Boulette Family Travel

Pfizer has just launched a wonderful new website about Fibromyalgia. Since this is something I deal with, and have for the last 20 years, I of course had to check it out. Well, I am calling this site as one of the Finest. It is the site that anyone who suffers with this medical condition, should send their friends and family to since this site will better help your support group understand what you are fighting with everyday. This is truly an excellent website for fibromyalgia.

Good Job!!

Why choose Aspen as a vacation destination? I wouldn’t! Nope! Me, I would travel and stay at Snowmass Village. With only 7 miles between Aspen and Snowmass, you can enjoy the ambiance of Aspen but you will be staying in an absolutely delightful pure mountain village.

The middle of August until the end of September is the best time to be in Colorado as the aspen trees will have begun to change, the days are warm in the sun but cool in the shade and the star filled skies at night are absolutely clear – perfect for a light jacket and a walk down the main street of Snowmass Village. If you prefer a more upbeat night life, go to downtown Aspen and the clubs, restaurants and bars will be open – you can party with the local folks who live there year round. The prices and discounts are still at off season rates. There are no big crowds of celebrities being snow bunnies on the slopes, no crowds out at night. You might even be able to enjoy a lunch in an outside cafe and not have to wait for a table. Hey people you can’t beat that! (Oh but I can!)

Independence Pass will still be open so you must schedule some time to drive to the top. Independence Pass is one of the highest paved roads in North America but is closed during the winter, because of the snow and hairpin curves. The view at the top of the Continental Divide is some thing breathtaking. From the top, going downhill, on Highway 82 towards Aspen, are hidden campgrounds with only 10 to 12 spaces. So if you are into camping, there is one hidden across from the trail head for the hike to Maroon Bells. What – no one has told you about Maroon Bells?

Maroon Bells is a mountain range with the middle mountains forming a perfect V which is reflected in the most perfect lake at the foot of Maroon Bells – a photographer’s dream because mere words can not be found to describe it! So, grab your camera and take a day hike to Maroon Bells, but don’t tell anyone about the camping site – shhhhh – our secret!

Do you know where the best gliding air is in the US during late summer and fall? Between Aspen and Snowmass. Glider pilots to take you up can be found at the airport. And when they cut the engines off, sometimes you can glide around for 30 minutes and just listen to the sound of silence!

There is one more activity that you might want to consider but it closes sometime in September. A van will take you 40 miles to Glenwoods Springs to go on a day trip of white water rafting, complete with a chicken box lunch at noon. You will get wet and you will get sunburned, so take necessary precautions.

Now, if my vacation is too much excitement for you city people – there is still the balloon rides, exploring trails on horseback, golf and music festivals. But for me – Maroon Bells, glider planes and white water rafting makes this area of Colorado truly God’s country!

And don’t forget to make you travel plans at Boulette Family Travel.

With these transitions, we are called upon to adapt, change, grow. It can be demanding, complicating, confusing, frustrating. We rely on our basic coping strategies. We use our wisdom, tolerance, flexibility and adaptability. We look to our friends and family for support and advice. We use our sense of humor and irony. Sports, recreation, hobbies, travel, fun, etc. offer stress relief.

Clearly, change and transition don’t always have to be bad things. In fact, change can frequently be wiser than we are. Oftentimes the world we want to construct is really quite a small one. Change can break that way open and reveal possibilities we never could have thought of ourselves. Indeed, change is an ally, not an enemy.

The stress comes when we try to hold on too tightly. At that point, people typically fall into two camps: Pessimists — who take things personally, think problems are pervasive, and believe their situation is permanent; and Optimists who see change as a challenge. They believe they have choices and can control the outcome of their lives, yet they don’t waste time or spin their wheels trying to control the uncontrollable… Change is a challenge and not a threat.

In the end, it doesn’t mean that everything will go our way or that every transition and change will be painless or positive.

But, it does mean we should ask ourselves – how will we approach change? Will we be an Optimist or a Pessimist?

Author Unknown – if anyone knows who write this please let me know – thanks!

I have had arthroscopic surgery and it’s not much fun – and my knee still bothers me 5 years later. Six weeks after surgery, I still was having problems walking and was dragging myself to physical therapy. This is what makes me understand and admire this man and the natural ability along with the hard work he does to keep in shape. Tiger Woods is the true definition of greatness.

I watched Tiger when he won his first major PGA tournament, the Masters in 1997. And I have watched and admired him ever since. I am not really a golf fan, perhaps because I can’t play well enough to even enjoy the game and I always thought watching a golf tournament on TV was so boring. But then Tiger joined the tour and I have rarely missed watching a tournament that he is playing in. He has been ranked number one on the tour for a record 500 weeks, which is only one of the records that he has earned. His list of records, achievements, and awards is much too long to list.

At the press conference following the win, Tiger said “I think this is probably the best ever,”

Congratulations Tiger – you are my hero – give the knee a rest and enjoy your baby girl on her 1^st birthday!

Those of us, who love politics and love to write about it, consider him to be one of the premier political journalists. His interviews of candidates on Sunday mornings were something that I never missed, because he was so probing with his questions and his follow-up questions were simply masterful. He was so totally prepared on the person who was that Sunday’s guest. I believe he was almost the only political journalist who was completely fair and non-bias so I always tried to read whatever he wrote and never missed viewing the interviews he hosted. My Sunday mornings began with Meet the Press and now Sunday mornings will not be quite the same.

Tim Russert was also the host of many of the presidential debates and I felt those debates were the ones with the most substance and also the fairest and most un-bias. Mr. Russert was always very prepared with his questioning and asked questions on subjects that mattered most to the American people. His political analysis on election nights were insightful and explained in such a way so that any one of us could better understand the political issues. Tim Russert was trained to be a lawyer and that is probably what made him such a great interviewer.

After graduating from law school, he worked on New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Senatorial campaign. He later worked on New York Democrat Mario Cuomo’s gubernatorial campaign. Russert was hired by NBC at their Washington Bureau in 1984. He arranged for Pope John Paul II’s first interview on American television in 1985. He became Washington Bureau Chief in 1988.

He was the author of three books which were all three about fathers. He often talked about his father, Big Russ, and his son Luke, who just graduated from Boston College this year.

Tim Russert is survived by his father, his wife Maureen and his son, Luke. He is respected and admired by the entire journalistic and political communities and will be greatly missed.

The biggest theme park in Branson is the Silver Dollar City Park which takes you back into 1880′s America with a complete craft village. The whole park is filled with crafts, thrill rides, and family attractions never losing the 1880′s style. One traditions celebration held every year in the park is The Bluegrass and BBQ Festival. The biggest names in Bluegrass music are usually there during the 23 day festival that goes from May 10th thru the 1st of June. And every year there is an Old Fashion Christmas celebration which begins around the 1st of November every year and end at the end of December.

The park’s hours are different during different times of the year, so you should plan ahead and get further information at 1-800-475-9370. There are great discounts and family packages so be sure to look into these and what they include. more…..