Merry Christmas!

Those of you who I don't have addresses for and those who I only know in a blog relationship, Merry Christmas! This is our Christmas card this year!

Christmas Runner Up

This was the runner up to our 2005 Christmas card. Next week I'll post the winner!

Azure Sky, Falling Upward

I went for a short walk on Sarasota's bayfront last night after a videoshoot. I had my digital camera with me, it was just before sunset and the sky was picture perfect! I love days like this, crisp, clean air, brilliant colors, bright hues of orange and red from the setting sun, and a deep, azure sky. The kind of sky that when you look into it you wish gravity would reverse itself and you fall helplessly into it headlong. I found a sculpture on my walk that resonates with that kind of thinking, it looked like I felt at the moment - of course the photo doesn't do it justice, you had to be there, in fact, you had to be... well, ...me, to experience it!

I'm coming to terms now with leaving this place. Moving on from this beauty to another. Letting go. The want of falling into the blue sky is a sort of metaphore for letting go. Lighter than air, lifting me into the unknown, no care. This place has been good to me. I have found what I was looking for and now I'm ready to experience what's next. I will be happy to come back here as a tourist. I will greet it like an old friend.

Here are a few other snapshots I took on my walk. Hope you enjoy!

Trials can leave the jurors with haunting memories

I know I haven't posted in a while, I was tryig to post everyday, but frankly, I've been busier than normal with work. Good thing for my wallet, bad thing for my blog! So, to save myself a little time, I decided to post a letter I wrote to the Sarasota Herald Tribune which was published over the weekend.

"Trials can leave the jurors with haunting memories"

This summer, I sat on a jury for a rape case here in Sarasota. The case was a rape only and, unlike the Carlie Brucia case, wasn't compounded by murder or the victim being a child.

Yet it was difficult to sit through it and listen to the graphic testimony. It wasn't like we were exposed to it once and then it was over. Each day we were on the jury we were ensconced with the information through repeated testimony. Witness after witness exposed the graphic nature of the case. I cannot imagine anyone having to live through the nightmare of the actual experience. In some ways, we jurors shared that.

Nor can I imagine the kinds of mental trauma that were created in the minds of the people sitting on the Carlie Brucia case, being pummeled with such details every day. When my experience as a juror was over, the sigh of relief never came, because the memories lived on in my dreams. I had to purge the thoughts from my mind for weeks afterward.

I can only hope former jurors have the resolve to live better lives and also know how to reach out for help now that their ordeal is over. It might be prudent for the Sarasota County justice system to offer counseling to former jurors for a period of time after such a trial.

Bruce Anttila van Hoover

Sarasota

Back at it

Mercury was named by the Romans after the fleet-footed messenger of the gods because it seemed to move more quickly than any other planet. Southwest Mercury pictured here. (from www.solarviews.com)

Well, after a nice long week off for Thanksgiving, I am back, albeit, briefly. I found coming back after a week off that I have catching up to do - I guess that'll teach me to take a week off! Anyway, I also got a bit busier than I was before the break so I don't have as much "liquid" time to spend blogging - or much else for that matter.

We received our immigration application for residence to New Zealand (in case the move to Finland doesn't pan out - we wanted to keep our options open) and the list of criteria and regulations is staggering to say the least! Still, it's a process we want to go through for ourselves, but it seems it is wrought with challenges along the way. Perhaps starting this process wasn't a good idea while Mercury and Mars are in retrograde...