Florida Fam-dango

Back from holiday florida trip to visit the fam. Unlike Miami, this trip was cold...i wore boots and sweaters the whole time (minor waah). But time with my niece and nephew was priceless...little angel-demons that they are. Some pics:
We went to some crazy ICE show inside a hotel....where the entire environment (3 or 4 rooms) was carved out of ice. Yes, it was 9 degrees in there and just like walking into a freezer. You were loaned blue parkas and given tissues and warned.( pics here )

BOokmerryness!!

wheeee! Santa is in the know- I am book lushness gifted!
Tibetan Mandala: Art & Practice- The Wheel of Time (All about the Kalachakra Mandala(!)- this was a bookmagnet find...discount section of a bookstore I wasn't supposed to go into...went straight to it, B found me looking through it wide-eyed, laughed, rolled his eyes and brought it to the register.) Later unwrapping surprises from a bulging mailbox:
Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion This book is so amazing, I've been taking it out from the library over and over again for years. There's really a mysterious force in it...hard to explain.
Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn yeeha squirrelness soap operas- think I'll leave this one til spring to read out back;)!
The Hand of God:Thoughts and Images Reflecting the Spirit of the Universe (some of the most mindblowing Hubble telescope images that I've seen- excuse me but we're really a teeny part of all that???anyone forgetting here???me too.;) )
Mantras of Avalokiteshvara chanted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche- CD gifted by a new friend-(!) Short and long versions:)

+Music- received my most longed for: Kate Bush's Lionheart. :) Know it by heart,listened to it for years..lost/destroyed the cassette, missed singing along, with her stories unfolding in my head. Now it's baaaack, bringing with it that lost part of me all theatrical and deeeeepothermood like reading a favorite novel of another age mmmm.:)Thankeethankee I am soveryluckygirl.