My friend I ran with in the park. He's a little nuts!

What a day! My body is still sitting back giggling over my day. I’m still “like a child that’s discovering this whole new world as in a fairy tale.” Everything here is still new, and there are plenty of new things to discover.

Let’s see, yesterday in the store I saw sweet potatoes, and thought it might be fun to cook them. I hadn’t never tried that before, and with my new passion for cooking I thought “why the hell not.” So, I threw them into my trolley and walked myself home. I’ve figured out that it is a 12 block walk to the store; which is great exercise. I’m definitely walking a lot more here than I did in the states.  I’m getting smarter on how much to buy at a time.  I made the mistake a few days ago at buying too much heavy glass objects.  Let me tell you, that’s a bitch to carry even one block.

Anyway, tonight I made the yummiest dinner in my tongue’s non humble opinion.  I made a very Southern meal, and didn’t even realize it until later after researching the web.  I think episodes of falling asleep in front of the cooking channel with Paula Dean on must have stuck into my subconscious.  However, tonight’s menu:  I had garlic and herb roasted chicken, green beans/ham, and the most orgasmic brown sugar and butter sweet potato.  OMG!  I never realized how much I absolutely love sweet potatoes.  The moment that sweet buttery flavor hit my tongue I was absolutely flipping giddy.   I love delicious meals.  Sometimes I think I chose to incarnate on this planet for the food alone.  All the other stuff is just added bonuses.  But yes, definitely loving those sweet potatoes. I’m beginning to think I was a Southern Belle in one of my past lives.

Also today I started running again.  My friend asked me to join them, and they of course had been running for the last year where as I hadn’t been doing any running what so ever.  Do you know what a body feels like when you one day decide to start running, and it doesn’t have an excuse such as a wild boar chasing behind?  Well, I can tell you what mine did.  It whined, whimpered, and cursed out all kinds of naughty words that no one under the age of 17 would be allowed to hear with out a parent’s note.   Of course, this was all happening on the inside.  I was imploding wildly on the inside; not fully wanting to let my friend know that they may just have to call 911 in case I dropped down into the path they made look so effortless.   Yep, when I turned to look at my friend I would give a smile with my cherry red face, and ask the magic words “how much longer?”   I may not have ran so gracefully, but damn it I did it.  Rumor has it, that we’re going to do this again on Thursday.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

Down below I decided to post some cool pictures from the park that I went running in today.  I frequently go on walks here.  It’s gorgeous, peaceful, and I hope to catch a picture of the sunset soon as the purples, oranges, and golds over the tree tops make a beautiful picture.

The trail I ran on.....reminds me of a Beatle's song..."The Long and Winding Road"

I love ivy, and this tree was wearing it rather sexily...don't ya think?

Doesn't this tree look wise to you? Felt very witchy to me.

Next on my journey I ran into a swan on my path.  Those suckers are a lot bigger out of water.  In fact, I think if it stretched his neck all the way up, he just may be taller than I am.  I’m not kidding!  That was one big feathered dude.  He’d give Big Bird from Sesame Street a run for his bird seed.

The interesting thing about seeing the swan was the day before my friend, Karen pulled a card for me and received The Swan for me.

I was thinking, there is no way this is a coincidence, so I Googled the meaning of swan animal medicine, and this is what it came up with:

The Swan is one of the most powerful

and ancient of totems.

As you begin to realize your own true beauty,
you unfold the ability to bridge new realms and new powers.
Swan can show you how to access the inner beauty
within yourself and in others.

A Swan totem heralds a time of altered states of awareness
and the development of intuitive abilities.
Swan people have the ability to see the future,
and to accept the healing and transformation
that is beginning in their lives.
Accept your ability and go with the flow.
Stop denying you know who is calling when the phone rings.
Pay attention to your hunches and inner knowledge,
and Swan medicine will work through you.

The Swan’s call teaches the mysteries of song and poetry,
for these touch the child and the beauty within.

Here's the swan that was greeting me on the path.

The mate of the swan we ran into on the path

Two swans under a tree that was atleast 500 years old.

Flipping delicous ice-cream......MMMMmmmmmmm

Finally, for the finale, I had ice-cream in the park again.  OMG!  This ice-cream was even better than the ice-cream in St. Paul.  Thank God I started running again.  They have heaven sent ice-cream, cheese, and chocolate here in Europe.  Fairy tales indeed!