ONE MONTH LATER...

MY LAST POST almost a month past!!!
We have all since had the Holiday Season and entered the New Year...not much news there.
I took myself off to Basalt, Colorado, to visit with my daughter Bronwyn and granddaughter, Stephanie, for a week or so over Christmas, traveling by air from my local airport (Elmira) to Denver and then by Greyhound Bus and local bust the rest of the way. Due to weather, all flights were delayed but in such a way as to permit, as if by a miracle, connections all the way to Denver. Eventually, I arrived just before midnight ensuring the night at the airport. A good many others were in the same situation. Given the vagaries of the weather and the straits of airport security, I wished I had gone with my original intention and gone the entire way by train. In fact, the security experience on the return journey, beginning at Denver, was by far the worse...why do we bother to fly, I wondered.

A highlight of my visit was seeing Stephanie take part in The Nutcracker Suite. The entire production was most professional and with the venue the Aspen High School Auditorium. My first time to see this ballet as part of an audience. Wonderfully magical and completely enthralling!!!

Apart from that, it was almost every day skiing around the Aspen golf course. The snow was just great for cross country skiing and the Aspen network of groomed trails is quite splendid extending many miles up and down the valley. Aspen is not just a pretty place for those rich downhill ski and snowboard freaks. Like many other places this winter, record snow with good falls most nights. Corning and Painted Post have not missed out on the snow so plenty of shoveling awaited me on my return.

I have now returned to student hood...enrolled at the local community college in a French language course for the Spring Semester. A little strange to be a senior on campus, I do admit.

At this time, the world economy seems to be in desperate straights. Money and credit have dried up here in the US meaning we have slowed our spending on goods made in China. In turn, China's economy has slowed considerably with the effect that it no longer needs the resources it had been importing from Australia...and so it goes. In part, this goes back to the failure of credit due to abuses within the financial industry. Previously I circulated the NY Times article by Michael Lewis giving an insider's view of the workings of Wall Street and have since read his book, Liar's Poker. This details his experiences as a trader with Salomon Brothers up to the time of the 1987 Crash and his leaving the industry soon after. If you want to be definitely scared by the craziness within financial markets, this is the book to read.

Looking back on 2008, I realize my reading has covered many areas including Peak Oil, the interconnectedness of all life on earth, and the dangers of our relentless mining of the planet. Our economy seems to have been based on digging up more of everything and burying more and more of the resultant waste. With a little luck and lots of good management, it is possible that this recession (bordering depression) may give a breathing space in which we can discover a less damaging form of capitalism and a saner method of managing money. Perhaps we can use less and still be happy?