Trip to Florida

I have been really slow in writing this for some unknown reason, (or for a reason I am not prepared to talk about.   :)    ).

I traveled to South Florida back in October for Nicole's wedding, and to see friends whom I have missed badly. This visit was also an opportunity for Nicole and I to reconnect and for me to spend time with my Granddaughter, Leila. For my part, mission accomplished, we all spent a month of good quality time together and I hope for many more vacations.
The wedding was splendid, I would estimate 100+ people most of whom I had never met. The ceremony was outdoors on a patio in breezy but warm weather. I have to admit that I had mixed feelings about the giving away thing, it did not feel right. ( irrational perhaps). We had a wonderful meal, good company and dancing. Here is a link to the Wedding photo's. ( A lot of the people in the pics are unknown to me or I have forgotten who they are, so my apologies to them )

http://picasaweb.google.com/nereus1956/NicoleSWeddingAlbum2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ6o6r_OxKTdUA#

I also got to spend all to brief a time with my other friends. I went to Keith and Evans new abode twice, once to see the new place and the other time to hang out with Keith, Evan, Jose, Ethan and Vanessa. It was a fun afternoon looking at pictures and catching up on the fetish scene in South Florida.

Nothing earth shattering I'm afraid.

Love and Blessings.

Jim

The Green Guide - For Everyday Living

National Geographic's green guide, it's worth at least a read :)))

The Green Guide - For Everyday Living

Jim

VolunTourism.org Travel and Volunteer Opportunities

I spotted this website designed for the traveler with a conscience, very cool and something that I would love to be involved with at some point.

VolunTourism.org Travel and Volunteer Opportunities

Check it out!

Witch Hunt in UK

Can you believe this BS. I know that I should not be surprised anymore, but I guess I have more faith in humankind than perhaps they deserve.  Very Very Sad

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rogue-preachers-use-witch-scares-to-abuse-children-2034998.html


Nereus

Here I sit.

I continue to be amazed by the bureaucracy that is invasive and for the most part, completely un-necessary. If doing business in Europe is always like this, then I am not surprised that the Euro is in the toilet and the EU is coming to a slow and painful death. In most of my missives, I have given a time line for my departure, but no more. I going to let folk know what is going on when it is actually going on and not before, having said that, I have no news.
I have considered other options to living and waiting here and find that there are no other options but waiting here. As Wil has said that I have put more than enough sweat equity into this venture and that a little more time will be worth it.
Love and Blessings one and all

Happy Birthday to Stacey

I just thought this was cool

"The best thing for being sad,” replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, “is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then — to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.”



- T. H. White, The Once and Future King

 I have had the pleasure of living in this awesome place for 15 months and have enjoyed (for the most part) the raw beauty of this Mountain. I plan on adding some more pictures as I continue to explore.
I had forgotten the joy of seeing the buds break forth in the spring, my cherry tree is now in full bloom and is certainly expressing her approval of the emergence of the Sun, this is truly the emergence of the Goddess in all her glory also.

At Last

The contract is signed and we are just waiting for the money.. It has been a long road, (longer for Wil, 10 years), and I will be glad to see the back of this mountain. I am grateful for it's shelter, but I am ready to face the outside world once more, there is only so much research you can do until you need to get out there and do something with that research.

I am off to visit with my Daughter and my Florida friends on the last week of this month and the 1st week of May and then off to Panama and FREEDOM. I will be back in the US in October for Nicole's wedding and that may well be the last time in the States for me. Over the next 2 weeks I am going to delete my Facebook page and probably my Yahoo account as I rarely use either one. I will be keeping my G Mail though.

We have seen the last of Winter I think, and the fruit trees are out in Blossom and the wild flowers carpet the ground. The groundhogs are back for their spring layover and seem to be building a home under our house, at least judging by the noise they are. :)

Friends

This was sent to me by a good friend, Lauren. It says all that I would say myself but do not have the skill to write. I thought that I would post it here as opposed to sending it out to all my friends and filling their inboxes


People come into your life for a reason,
a season or a lifetime.

When you know which one it is,
you will know what to do for that person..

When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty,
to provide you with guidance and support,

To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at
an inconvenient time, this person will say or do
something to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met,
our desire fulfilled, their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered and
now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.

They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it, it is real.. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons,
things you must build upon in order to have a
solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person
and put what you have learned to use in all other
relationships and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Thank you for being a part of my life,
whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime.

waiting, waiting, waiting.

Here I continue to sit, running out of web sites of interest or so it seems. Maybe just a lack of enthusiasm, perhaps an element of depression. As I have said before things appear to be moving forward but at a pace that rivals that of a slug. I had intended on writing about Karma simply because it has been on my mind lately, but the mood is not there for me right now.
Anyway, off to watch yet another movie, either St Trinians or Transporter.

Haiti (Pat Robertson BS)

I am a member of the Traditional Strega message board and one of the members (Myth Wooding). Who has researched the "Pact with the Devil (Satan) made by the slaves in Haiti". All of this was done in response to Pat Robertson and his inflamatory speech on the 700 Club after the Haitian earthquake and also after the attack on Voodoo practioners in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. This is an interesting and provokative read.

http://www.jesterbear.com/Aradia/HaitiDevilCompact.html

http://www.nola.com/religion/index.ssf/2010/02/voodooists_attacked_at_ceremony_for_haiti_earthquake_victims.html


Myth stated in her E-Mail that anyone could use this link, spread the word.

Here I sit

So here I sit upon "The Mountain", "The Mountain" that I have called home for just over a year. All the plans for the future are still working toward fruition, this is an exercise in patience that I never thought would be possible for me. The machinations of business in Europe are to say the least archaic, I have this vision of old guys wandering the halls using walkers and still carrying paper memo's and still writing checks. I have been told that monies will be available soon, but I am not holding my breath. My thoughts run to leaving and finding my way some other way, but I have a lot of time and energy invested in this venture and find myself unable to walk away from the oportunity.

We had our second snow storm of the year last week, and have since then dug out. Digging was painful at first because of my inactivity for much of the year. I have lost a little weight as a result of the exercise and I am really happy about that. I am currently sitting at 260lb, about 40lb over the weight that I think I should be. As soon as I am active again the weight will fall away and I shall be svelt again. LOL

Planning Travels and adventures

So here I am again wondering about the future, and considering the route my future is going to take. Not being legal in this country and having no possibility of getting legal, my future is therefore not in in the USA.

Legality is only the tip of the iceberg in why I am leaving, living in a Police State is not what I have in mind for the rest of my life. I hear people touting the US as the land of the free, are these people walking around with there heads up their asses. The Constitution does not in truth exist any more, the leaders of the government (and I include the Bankers in that) break the law each and every day with apparent impunity.

But I digress LOL (this is a topic that I will revisit at some point and really piss off some of my friends. lol )

I have been looking at alternative countries to live in that would be peaceful, safe and financially viable. I thought of Brazil, and I can almost hear you saying: "WHAT is his thought process, Brazil is a crime ridden land with political unrest and not to mention civil unrest and economically not viable". Well I thought that myself until I looked at the country with eyes and mind open. Most of the serious crime is in the south of the Country in and around the cities of Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo with other pocket throughout the country. The area that I was focusing on is in the NE of the country in Joa Pessoa, Forteleza and Natal. The crime rates are minimal in Joa Pessoa and light in the other two places. My intention is to go there with some money and live off investments with the possibility of buying a small farm and try to become self sufficient. The government is encouraging investment in the country and make every effort to make one feel welcome, particularly if one employs one or more locals. A serious contender to say the least, with the downsides being, Brazil is so isolated from friends and family, and that they take taxes out of your world wide income.

Italy, wow that's a no-brainer, my spiritual path originated there, it's in Europe so it must be OK. I Will go there. Whoa Nelly. The crime rate is worse than Brazil as a whole, the economy is rocky to say the least and the government is very unstable. But my spiritual path originated there, OK but they take taxes out of your worldwide income, But my spiritual path originated there, OK Property is very expensive in Italy. bah humbug I guess not for now, maybe at a later date.

The Bahamas came onto the radar as a "tax haven" and moderate to high priced homes. Close to my daughter and granddaughter, tax free international income, lovely weather. The thought of Hurricanes sprung to mind and having lived in south Florida for twenty some years, no thanks.
But still a maybe.

Mexico was dropped almost immediately, who would live there unless you had a death wish. The drug cartels are in a major turf war, so if you are looking to have someone bust a cap in your melon, stay away.

Costa Rica was another one on the list. The country is beyond beautiful, stable government, great medical services and moderate pricing on homes. The downside to Costa Rica is that the people are not very welcoming and that getting citizenship is almost impossible. No 2 on the list though.

Now the place that rocks my world and has everything (or almost) is Panama. Panama is the Switzerland of the Americas, everyone needs them for the canal and that is there prime source of income. they are not reliant on tourism, agriculture or manufacturing for their economy. The country is as beautiful as Costa Rica and the weather is the same. Property prices are great and the people fantastic. So Panama is where I will make my home base from which to travel the world and enjoy life.

New Year (2010)

I got to thinking, (which for me can be very dangerous) what has this year in West Virginia taught me? This is requiring more thought than I am used to, I originally thought that this would be an easy excerise but almost immediatly had to rethink that.

Why did I come to Wil's home in West Virginia? Two reasons, 1) I had lost my job and had no where else to go. 2) A friend of some 12 years had given me an open invitation to come and learn a trade, namely currency trading. A no strings invitation, how often does one get those in the course of ones life, it is rare indeed. So what on the surface appears to be a self serving move on my part turned into a symbiotic relationship. Wil had lived alone on the Mountain for 10 - 11 years, with a daily trip to his dads house up the mountain. I quickly realised that I was doing something for him, keeping him company. Living in a cave (alone) is no easy experience and I discovered my value to him. I also found out that being a friend is not a short term thing, it is not being an aquaintance, it is not about daily chats, it is not about living entwined in someone elses life, it is about consistancy. I spoke to Wil twice a year and found out from him how much our conversations had meant over the years. I had no idea! I do however think that I am coming off better out of this whole year. I have learned a business that can and will sustain me and mine, I have been given an opportunity that I would not have had otherwise, and have discovered what true friendship is. Thats a pretty good deal. LOL

I found myself looking at the friends that I have and thinking negatively about them. This was a very "wo is me" thought proccess, wrongfully so. In my mind I was knocking people for not writing to me, out of sight out of mind. Perhaps they had their lives to live, mouths to feed, jobs to do etc. Some of those people I had not written to them for some time, so my thought proccess was warped to say the least. I am not trying to make appologies for my friends but trying to understand their thought proccess. I was the focal point of several groups as a High Priest or facilitator and it is no longer the case, I am not that focal point anymore, other folks have taken on that role and from what I understand are doing a good job. It is a strange feeling to not have that in your life, to be out of the loop. So I have decided to continue to update my friends on what is going on in my life and if they choose to respond that would be a plus. I am also interested in how active these friends will be when I have money (which I will) only time will tell. I think that some of them will be in for a shock. LOL

I also learned a lot about myself, who is Jim? I am going to intergrate those things into my life and do not see a down side to doing that. I am going to be very interested in how I am perceived with my new outlook and more positive actions. Time Will Tell.

What the hell is a blog anyway. (Jan 2010)

I am still trying to figure out this blog thing, what should I write about? Up to now it has been random thoughts and such, is that what a blog is? Should I even have a blog if I do not know what a blog is? LOL Truth be told, I will probably be the only person to read it so the only person I am writing for is ME. Now is that what a blog is, writing for yourself? Oh well, I think that I will continue to put down my random thoughts and hope to learn from them at some point.