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March 25 Against All Odds  If you ever need a role model for your kids I've found someone who is possibly the best I've ever seen or heard about. Her name is Jessica Cox, she's twenty-five and she recently got her sport pilot license- the first such certificate to be given to anyone using only her feet for the controls- on October 10, 2008 ! You see, Jessica was born without arms because of bilateral congenital limb deficiency but she can do anything anyone else does. Her certificate qualifies her to fly any light aircraft up to 10,000 feet ( altitude). How's that for amazing ?
 That isn't all her abilities and accomplishments. She has two black belts in Tae Kwan-Do, has earned a college degree in Psychology and currently has a career as a motivational speaker. I can't think of a better person to step up to such a podium ! Apparently, from birth her feet became her hands. She drives a car, types 25 wpm, applies her make-up with her feet and I'll let the photos show the rest.
 
Never let anyone tell you the odds are stacked against you. Jessica is proof that there is no such thing !
Never give up on your dreams! The Castle Lady
 Quote for the day:
I have no respect for reality as soon as it is acknowledged as such. I am interested
in what I can do with unacknowledged reality.- Elias Canetti
To my faithful readers:
I am going to be busy with a Denver writing project for a number of days and wanted to let everyone
know that it may look abandoned around here for awhile. Never fear. I will be back with lots of
poetry and surprises for April but it may not look like it for awhile. Stay posted or review some old entries.
There's a lot to read on this blog. Think of it as a chance to catch up or delve a little deeper.
 March 20 Once Once there were
No limits to my dreaming
No boundaries to my ambitions
No love I could not possess.
Some fire raged within
Volcanic and seething
Nourished by success
That only at intervals could rest.
Each day another test,
Each idea a challenge beyond compromise,
Critics only shadows, empty voices
That came and went.
Then I lost a love I thought I owned
And tried to conquer life myself alone
While age came crashing into youth
In cosmic conflict,
And left me lost in fears I'd never known.
 So... now I'd like
To kiss your hand
Maybe laugh a bit
Give a flower life
Love a child.
Then again there would be no limits to my dreaming !
copyright by James Kavanaugh
Fait des beau reves, The Castle Lady
March 18 Vail's Vonn Means Victory ! ! Good news for the Vail Club here in Colorado is Lindsey Vonn's recent championship win at the World Cup Super-G ! I happened to catch the news last Thursday after she'd made another victory at Are, Sweden which gave her the overall title. She's really making World Cup history with each win- to the tune of many Crystal Globes this season and tying the U.S. record which Phil Mahre made in 1982 !
She's only twenty-four but won the super-G finale last Thursday- the only American woman so far to win that particular championship. She topped Nadia Fanchini by 45 points with 461 points that day in 1 minute 20.63 seconds. Just the month previously, at Val d'Isere she'd won her third consecutive World Cup Super-G and Thursday's became her fourth consecutive win- plus her ninth World Cup Victory making it another U.S. first-male or female
 In Lindsey's own words, "To have five back-to-back (wins) is more than I ever thought was possible. It's incredible. Going into the season I did not start off so strong, but later in the season I finally picked up a rhythm and stuck with it. It's been a crazy season for me. I'm really happy."
 Lindsey has been compared to Picabo Street because her consecutive downhill titles matched Street's in 1995-96 and her youth and meteoric rise but has definitely exceeded her and many others this season by setting new records for the World Cup and with a total of 1,788 points- even with a last downhill slalom race mishap that took her out of the second run. She has had 23 total World Cup victories (of which that number includes this winning season) plus 47 podium finishes- another record for women downhill skiers. This Park City, Utah resident is one to watch for the future.
 to see a video: http://www.denverpost.com/snowsports/ci_11895775
Kiss the future ! Your own true Castle Lady !
 Quote for the day: You'll learn more about a road by traveling it than by consulting all the maps in the world.
Congrats to Nuggets for winning over the Nets 121-96 ! March 16 All Things Irish ! !  http:www.amazon.com/Irish-That-Original-Members/dp/B0000060EJ Just a slight detour today...
to head on over to an
enlightening entry just
click here:
Top o' the mornin' to ya from The Castle Lady   Congrats Nuggets on your win over the Nets 121-96 ! ! !March 14 Play-off Ides
Remember January 2007, home game with the Nets? Defense can be very tricky around some people. Beware the ides of Vince Carter.
March 07 O'er My Father's Castle WallThe trees they grow high and the leaves they do grow green.
Many's the time my true love I've seen,
Many an hour I've watched him all alone
He's young, but he's daily growing.
 Father, dear father you've done me great wrong;
You've married me to a boy who is too young.
I'm twice twelve and he is but fourteen,
He's young, but he's daily growing.
Daughter, dear daughter I've done you no wrong.
I've married you to a great lord's son
He'll make a lord for you to wait upon:
He's young, but he's daily growing.
Father, dear father if you see fit
We'll send him to college for one year yet.
I'll tie blue ribbons all around his head,
To let the maidens know he's married.
One day I was looking o'er my father's castle wall
I spied all the boys a-playing at the ball.
My own true love was the flower of them all.
He's young, but he's daily growing.
At the age of fourteen he was a married man.
At the age of fifteen the father of a son.
At the age of sixteen his grave it was green.
And Death had put an end to his growing.
Anonymous from the 15th century
 Mon amour pour toi s'ame'liore'e chaque journe'e !
The Castle Lady
March 01 Dydd Gwyl Ddewi !
Just for today we're taking a little detour to Wales because this is a very special day for the Welsh people. This is the day that they celebrate their patron saint who also happened to be a native of Wales. This is Sant Dewi or Saint David who was born to the King of Ceredigion, Sandde (pronounced: Santh). David attended school in Henfynyw near Aberaeron and was taught by Paulinus! His mother, Non, was the daughter of a Chieftan by the name of Menevia and he lived in the village Glyn Rhosyn, part of his mother's inheritance. This is where the cathedral that bears his name stands today, one of only four such grand cathedrals in Wales ! Many stories abound about St. David but one legend, which is the most miraculous story of all, is the best known story of him in or outside Wales today.
a monument inside St. Davids Cathedral
 When David began preaching he traveled widely and as a result many churches are named after him in Brittany (France), Cornwall and southwest England. He drew large crowds and congregations with his testimony and in a small village near Tregaron in Wales this posed a bit of a problem. Today the village is Llanddewibrefi. He had been invited to an important meeting there and when he presided the large crowd couldn't see or hear him. According to legend he stopped and placed a handkerchief on the floor and stood on it. As he continued to preach the earth rose under his feet and everyone could then see and hear him. On the hill that still exists there they built a church which is called church of Llanddewibrefi.
People all over the world, who are of Welsh origin, celebrate St. David's Day because it was the day he died back in 589. As with many saints there are quite a few churches named after him but the cathedral in Pembrokeshire, which practically sits at land's end in the western-most point of Wales at Tyddewi, is very special to people all over the world for pilgrimage alone because many people consider two pilgrimages to this cathedral as being worth one to Rome. His body is entombed there at the cathedral and a small ruined chapel nearby is dedicated to his mother.
His sainthood is well-founded because many miracles besides the one I recounted are associated with him according to an account written late in the 11th century by a monk, Rhygyfarch, who resided near Aberstwyth at Llanbadarn. It wasn't until the 18th century that St David's Day became a national festival but it is considered a high holy day in Wales marked by the singing of traditional songs, a Te Bach (tea with teisen bach and bara brith) and a flag of the Red Dragon is flown and displayed widely in Wales and can also be worn as a pin ! Leeks are also worn and at times eaten.
  interior nave of St. David's Cathedral There is much information on the Wikipedia page on St.David's Cathedral and I encourage one and all to look as it has quite a history all its own although what stands there today was built much later in the latter part of the 12th century with the original monastery founded by David long gone. It has also been restored and rebuilt throughout the centuries for various reasons and by various builders- one being John Nash, although his work is also gone through rapid decay. What you will see today was the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott who made significant and extensive restoration in the 19th century, keeping the character of the 15th century roof and retaining much of the medieval integrity of its older architecture. A pilgrimage here entails getting a complete guided tour of the interior and also access to the beautiful gardens, the graveyards and the Bishop's Palace which is in ruins but still retains some of its former elegance.
To see a gallery of photos of it click:
Nos da , The Castle Lady !
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