“My Green Goddess”

I'm not one of those ladies who gets up an hour early to style my hair and apply makeup to look perfect. I insist on natural beauty, without trying to look commercial perfect, but I love to feel pampered. Seeing me in various stages of spa treatments is nothing new. While preparing for our evening out, I wandered upstairs to apply a honey, aloe and avocado mask to my face, neck and décolletage. I thought nothing of wandering back downstairs.

My honey didn't look up from reading a technology magazine and proceeded to read me highlights from a research article. Our eyes met as usual in private couple's communication for passing non-verbal messages. Conversation stopped mid-sentence.

“My green goddess.” After tasting the mask my honey asked, “How long do you have to leave it on?”

I'm sure I blinked at the question and maintained silence because I thought it might have been shock or disapproval. I shouldn't have worried.

“You couldn't look bad if you tried. Just I'm already dressed and I'd hate to wear my appetizer all evening.” Aww, romance lives and breathes due to humor.

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Romantic Use of Time

My honey and I tried an experiment to determine how much time we spend together or doing things for each other because we often hear one complaint from people. “We’d be able to have romance if it wasn’t for children, jobs etc.” True enough sometimes I think we take for granted some of the things we do like daily chores as benefiting our selves and others too.

Here’s how our typical day breaks down.
My honey – 51.8% of time with me or for me, 25% chores and work
Me – 40.6% time with my honey, 16.1% cooking, 37.5% working

Our times don’t add up to 100% because of incidentals like grooming, exercise, email, taking breaks and personal time. Surprise! My honey spent more time for my benefit than I though. We each recorded three intentional hugs throughout the day, multiple quick kisses and numerous ‘thank yous” We also eat our meals together. Despite varying schedules day to day we appreciate every moment we spend together and we discovered even though we have tasks and outside responsibilities the majority of our time is spent on our relationship. Even work can be considered for us because we both enjoy the results.

Try keeping a record and you might be surprised as we were how many romantic or necessary things we do for each other.

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Amateur Trackers We Are

Winter is the best time to develop tracking skills because snow creates almost forensic-quality imprints. After studying several guides on identifying animals and behavior by their tracks, we set out on a warm sunny day (if 26 degrees F is considered warm). We started with the exercise path before heading deeper into our urban wilds. Don’t laugh we worked on guessing gender and size of the Homo sapiens who’d been there before us and Canis lupus familiaris (dog) was also easy. Our observational skills and the guide also helped us identify squirrel, rabbit and fox.

We were fooled though the next weekend when we planned an outdoor adventure with another couple. We had reservations at an outdoor lodge and the blizzard conditions weren’t stopping us. With the guys in the front bucket seats and the gals in the backseat we drove along the major highway at about 25mph. Headed into the snowstorm we thought the big flakes became mesmerizing picked up by the headlights in the dark.

My honey saw tracks. “It might be a moose.”

The guys kept lookout eager to see a moose up close. “I see it,” one of them yelled.

“Yeah, if moose wear parkas and running shoes.” Us urban trackers should have picked up on the first sign. We passed an abandoned car on the side of the road about half a mile back.

Grab a guide, learn some signs and get out in nature with someone you care about. Happy tracking.

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