Happy New Year, everyone! Are you ready for 2026? 

2025 was a heavy year. The energy was heavy. There was lots of worry. There were many endings (in numerology, 2025 is a “9” year, which is a year of endings). 

2026 starts a brand new cycle. In addition, it is the Chinese Zodiac year of the Fire Horse, which starts February 17. Things should feel lighter, and more enthusiastic. There is hope in the air.

If you want to know more about the Year of the Horse, go to this site: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm

If you were born in the year of the Horse (which comes around every 12 years, but a Fire Horse only comes around every 60 years), you can find out more about what the Chinese Zodiac says about all the different elements (Fire, Water, Metal, Earth, Wood) here: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse/five-elements.htm

My brother was born in the year of the Horse. He is very much as described, and has always been a cha...

What is the Holiday season without snow?

Usually it's Arizona here in the U.S. This year it's also Colorado and a lot of other places.

Today in Colorado it was 73 degrees, which is about 30 degrees above normal. Hot, dry, windy, Red Flag warnings, and fingers crossed, we're safe, even though we live in the middle of a brown field.

This does not look like December in Colorado. More like April. Or September.

So in the spirit of the Holidays, here is a little Snow Furry for you, from Sandra Boynton. I used to buy her cards all the time. She had her own line in the 70's, and they were all soooo good!

May your Holiday be merry and bright. We will be staying in our Jammie's, eating popcorn and watching holiday movies. And appreciating you all so much!

Nope, not talking about the TV show, although if you haven't seen it, and its British counterpart (on which the U.S. version is based) I highly recommend it.

I'm talking about how spirit continues even after it leaves the 3-D body. We are consciousness. Consciousness knows no boundaries. And sometimes that consciousness hangs around - and you can always ask it to be present.

When my dad (who believed there was nothing after this 3-D life) passed, he gave me signs that he was still around, and he seemed excited about what he could do now that he wasn't in a body. My mom, on the other hand, knew exactly where she was going when she passed, and I didn't feel her at all. Zzzzzzip! Gone. 

That said, mom will come back from wherever she is and talk to me if I ask for her.

Another thing I thought was interesting: my dad passed about 10 years before my mom, and whenever I'd think of him or have an interaction, he always "looked" in my minds eye like an older man - 60's or older. After my m...

What's all the fuss about anyway?

With each passing year I'm more and more inclined to visit with my mom and sister (if she doesn't have plans) for Thanksgiving and then stay home during the December holidays. What's not to appreciate with a morning walk with the dogs, followed by breakfast, a nice toasty fire in the wood stove, good food in the oven, or Chinese take out (inside joke), holiday-themed movies, and of course, popcorn!

Over the years when I was raising two children with my first wife we would visit with her two sisters and their families throughout the year. Each sister hosted a holiday: Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas with a little Hannukah sprinkled in for me. Meals were an extravaganza with all the trimmings depending upon the holiday.

Now that I think about it, we ALWAYS HAD BLACK OLIVES with every holiday meal. Was it a family tradition or was there something special about those fleshy orbs of fruit?

Botanically speaking, olives are technically fruits because t...

As I sat down to write this post my fingers typed the title before I could think about what I wanted to write about.

Magic.

Since I was raised on rock-n-roll starting in the late 50's, yes that's the 1950's, I was wondering how many songs were written with the same title. I knew a couple of versions, firstly thinking of the Alan Parson's Project, and then to my surprise after searching on the web of the digital domain, I saw a long list of music with the same title and by a variety of artists. 

Wow, this old music aficionado learned something new toady! The first song was actually written in 1917 by Written by Percy Wenrich and Howard Johnson shortly after WWI. Even more surprising are the number of songs that I saw: 30 or more. I'm willing to bet some share the same lyrics and music with different styles based on the artist. Didn't stop to listen to any of them though. I leave that up to you.

This post is actually about how we live our lives going forward. There seems to be a 'bef...

I'm writing this post on Wednesday morning Nov 6 long after reading about the election results from the previous night and early morning.

First, let's back up to the night of Nov 5. Ashara and I stayed away from all news sources and social media. Instead we watched an episode of The Lincoln Lawyer with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo playing Mickey Haller who is a defense lawyer based in Los Angeles. Really good writing, acting, and producing! Next we watched an episode of Monk played by Tony Shalhoub, a former San Francisco police detective who helps his former partner and police captain in each episode. It's quirky, funny, and has the right amount of pathos to keep us engaged with the show.

We basically didn't want to know what was happening with THE ELECTION. We were already feeling stressed, our own, and from half the population of the world.

It ain't easy being an EMPATH!

I avoided looking at email before meditating this morning (Nov 6) even though intuitively I knew who won. Hell, we all...

Do you crave knowledge?

Are you fascinated by the latest article about anything new?

Can't get enough of Merriam-Webster online dictionary?

Maybe you're a lifelong learner like me!

Recently I had a fun and engaging session with Daelyn Larche-Sigman who is a coaching colleague and a friend of ours. She helped me review and understand my strengths based on the CliftonStrengths assessment I took earlier this year. The report is known as "Your CliftonStrengths® 34 Results".

Extremely informative!

My #9 strength is 'Learner' which is part of the Strategic Thinker category. These are some of the qualities of the Learner:

• You have a great desire to learn and want to continuously improve. The process of learning, rather than the outcome, excites you.
• You love to learn, and you intuitively know how you learn best. Your natural ability to pick up
  and absorb information quickly and to challenge yourself to continually learn more keeps
  you on the cutting edge.
• Respect your desire to learn
...

Oh my, what a subject!

We could go many places with this post.

Like, why were they so ______________? [You get to fill in the blank]

ZaZ! (Don't ask)

Today we're gonna explore the meaning of your family of origin surname. Could be your father's surname or your mother's maiden name or both.

Wondering why or how I decided on the subject?

A short story to explain: on my way into the garage of the office building this morning one of my colleagues drove in just ahead of me. Let's call him Aaron because that's his name. I'll withhold his surname as a courtesy and out of respect for his privacy. As I nodded 'hello' I wondered what his family's origin was, like, where in Europe did his family originate?

So, after getting setup at my desk (work station) I asked the oracle, otherwise known as Google, this question: what is the origin of the name ____________ [Aaron's surname).

The bots went to work and in a nanosecond the information was returned. OK, that was fascinating and fun to lear...

Hello from Colorful Colorado.

It's really a thing! Google 'welcome to colorful Colorado sign pictures' and you'll see lots of pictures of signs along the highways and byways at the borders of Colorado. I added one below as an example.

What's all the hubbub, Jed?

Well, this time of year many flat landers, a dubious term for people who don't live in the Rocky Mountains, us included, spend every weekend driving up to the mountains to see the aspen change color from green to shades of red, orange, and gold. From late September to late October the colors are CRAZY BEAUTIFUL.

Ashara, our three dogs and I went to southwest Colorado last Wednesday. We drove close to eight hours to Cortez where we stayed through Friday. On Thursday we drove northeast to catch the colors between Cortez and Telluride. We were greeted with breath-taking, eye-popping, and soul-satisfying COLORADO in all it's glory. The artist in me embraced the heart throbbing scenery. 

We stopped in the small town of Rico. ...

The post for this week is about an article that I recently contributed to.

Actually, I was invited to contribute to an online mag titled Bold Journey which contains stories by people who have overcome problems or dilemmas in their lives and have chosen to share those stories to help more people. As written on the About Bold Journey page: one of the best ways to deal with [those] challenges is to learn from the stories and experiences of others. 

After reading some of the stories that were published I opted to contribute answers to a series of questions that became my story in the magazine. I hope you enjoy my story and read more stories from other contributors in the Building Blocks of Success: Confidence and Self Esteem section.

On another note my wife, our three dogs and I are on a 3-day mini vacation in the southwest corner of Colorado (Cortez) with a day trip to Telluride and the surrounding area to see the colors of autumn in the San Juan mountains. It's absolutely stunning thi...