Thats what I call a party...

My brother Paul, for those of you that don't know him, and his favorite house plant.

And...this is what I call a party! Even the babies get to have a beer!

Thats my good pal, Alison (the responsible madre) and her little (drunk) pride and joy, Haven. Haven is only 6 months old but check out that grip!

No, really folks, we didnt let the children drink at our party, but that doesnt mean Atlas, my brother's dawg, didnt kick back a 40 with the rest of us. Good boy.

Im going crazy waiting for my plane to leave. I had some sort of emotional breakdown today but in the context of crying in the shower (it doesnt really seem like crying if you do it in the shower--wuss) I realized how good it felt to cry for no reason at all. It IS exhausing making all of the preparations to leave for a few months. I like my sis-in-law's advice and will heed it next time: "If I have too much to do, I just dont do it!" haha I tend to overdo things so it is important to remember simplicity is the key.

Back to a good bottle of shared wine and my last mellow evening for awhile. Hope everyone is doing phenomenally well this fine June eve.

PS! Leave a comment if you want! Read a comment! Follow the "comment" link! I love you!

Project 1: South Australia and Yookamurra...and Madness

Wow.

Just like that I'm getting slapped silly trying to assemble my meager precious belongings, a few morsels of sanity, and the necessary requirements needed to "lead" rowdy bunches of American students in Australia. Again.

With only a few days before departure I am thoroughly freaking out. Tonight my younger brother is having a party, complete with a massive 25lb turkey! If you are in the neighborhood, stop by. 1133 Mulberry (I think) - red log cabin...cant miss it.

On that note, my brother also shared this quote with me this morning. From a book written by
Kahlil Gibran (author of "The Prophet"):

Here is what he says about madness:

Madness is the first step towards unselfishness.
Be mad and tell us what is behind the veil of "sanity."
The purpose of life is to bring us closer to those
secrets, and madness is the only means.

I'll go with that.

My first destination is Melbourne, at which point Im to assemble
40 "ruggers" from all over North America and the UK (only nine of
these guys are mine) and line them all up for our mass flight to
Adelaide. As soon as the flying ceases, the driving commences as
I'm going to plant my ass behind the wheel of a Holden Minivan for
our 2 hour journey to our project site. That should be interesting
to say the least. The project is another wildlife sanctuary--which
means Ill have yet another chance to get up close and personal with
a roo!

The Yookamurra Sanctuary can be perused at:

www.australianwildlife.org

Alright! I have a heap of things to do before my plane leaves Thursday. My phenomenal friend, Holly, has been gracious enough to give me a ride and I am VERY VERY grateful to her for that!

Check in when you can! You can leave a comment here or email me at lakaters@yahoo.com

Laura had a baby!

Okay, folks and friends, not a real baby, as in live human kicking and screaming. Oh no. But today, after struggling with my "older" (only two years) Canon Digital camera I realized in a flash what I needed to do. And a friend's wise words (thank you Andy Bohn) also rang in my head. "If you want to make the art you have to have the tools!"

My "baby" is a digital SLR, the Canon 30D. I didnt seriously consider getting it until a friend picked up the same camera from Best Buy and was able to score a 3 year, no interest finance deal! So, I have three years to pay it off which I will most likely need. Ha!

Hm...this blog is pretty fun, and pretty boring, so FAR! Just bare with me, things will take a crazy turn soon, I'm sure.

Off to take pictures of everything!

Laura

Two weeks and counting

Hello family and friends!

I leave exactly two weeks from today, Thursday. It's really quite phenomenal to pick up and leave "life" for 2.5 months. In many ways, however, that amount of time seems like nothing. I remember my first night in Australia last year, in Sydney, I was already devising a plan to remain in the southern hemisphere--maybe forever! That was actually my plan this time around but, alas, I have some pretty good writing/publishing opportunities in Fort Collins, and not to mention a wonderful and inspiring relationship.

Last night some friends and I visited the Little Thompson Observatory, at the Berthoud High School. I'm writing a small piece on it for the Matter Journal. Very beautiful and inspiring place and I would encourage everyone to get out and gaze up at the sky tonight. They figure 3,000 stars are visible with the naked eye, and taking light pollution into consideration. That number jumps to 6,000 stars with perfect night, and light, conditions. Still doesnt seem like than many, though, does it? When there are millions of them out there. Happy counting!

That is the update for now! I'll be in touch,

laura

Here I go again...

Hello friends and family. I'm off to the southern hemisphere again in a few weeks (less than 3 in fact, wow) and have really been itching to put something together so I can better stay in touch with everyone. This entire thing might flop but it seems quite easy, actually, and I would encourage you to keep this site address somewhere handy so you can check in on me if you are bored, or just looking for a laugh (I'll try to make it REALLY funny.)

Alright, web page is still in progress and might not be up for awhile but for now its kind of exciting to get my hands into this techno craze.

And with that she is gone like a cool evening breeze...