Having "Me" Time

The last day of the week has arrived and is almost ending for people in Asia.  On the other side of the world, Europe is still midway through and the US is just awakening.  It's snowing hard in Europe and the US.  People are waking up to a winter wonderland and trudging through the snow to get to work.  Roads are blocked.  It's a nightmare for those who have business to attend to, but for children snow is fun.  Snow is about snowball fights and snow angels.  Snow is when we get to put on those ear muffs and fluffy coats.  I like snow.  It reminds me of the little pleasures and especially of a little incident involving my dog Dyzio and the 'snow'.  It happened when we were living in Warsaw, Poland and Dyzio was but a small puppy almost a year old.  He was an Aquarius, born in January when it was cold outside but of course he had been kept indoors being about the size of my palm.  He was my baby and I o...

Too much politics can give one a headache, so tonight my topic will be completely different. My topic tonight is: Rain. (And no, its not about the Korean star called "Rain." I really mean the rain as in raindrops) As it has been raining cats and dogs regularly for the past few days, tonight is no exception. As I sit here at my desk, I can hear the soft tapping of the rain as it hits the window pane. The tapping raindrops are intermittently disrupted by sounds of the blowing wind, and then the soft tap evolves into a gentle gush of wind. I love all this: I love hearing the soft tapping of the rain, feeling the coolness that it brings, smelling the freshness in the air, and the momentary silence as people halt their activities. It makes me nostalgic. For me, rain has always been associated with good memories. I spent a good part of my childhood life in Belgium where it rained for 10 months out of a year and the sky was a permanent shade of grey. It rained when I fir...