Building Pearls - Important Today!!

One of the important steps to achieving a fulfilling, more rewarding life is to realize the ramifications of this simple observation: A PEARL is the only natural gemstone that can be made in a human lifetime. A tiny grain of sand or piece of dirt gets inside the shell of an oyster. That creature’s way of dealing with an irritation is to coat it over, over and over, until it becomes a smooth thing of deep beauty, the pearl.

Much like the oyster, we too must manage life’s irritants, those things that get into our shell. And, like the oyster, we have to work at dealing with those irritants, learn to cope, to smooth and round, polish, maybe even enjoy, so that eventually, they become us and we become them.

All that we are as a person is a collection of those “pearls”, how we’ve dealt with the problems in our life, how we look at them now, the opportunities we’ve taken to build things of beauty out of what at first seemed like adversities.

You will find helpful information at http://www.platinumpearls.com/. PLATINUM PEARLS® is designed to sharpen your pearl building tools. To arm you. To help you with the changes, the bumps, the rough spots of the next era.

We are all pearls ... now going platinum. Welcome to your new life.

Baby Boomers Discovering Wine Country!

by Tom Hays

It’s not as if baby boomers aren’t acquainted with drinking, partying and having a good time. But as they are entering mid-life, many of them are discovering the joys of fine wine. Wine is an acquired taste, more valued for the nuances of its flavors than beer, which was the boomers’ choice to be chugged in great quantities at a frat party or ball game.

Now that they are older and somewhat settled, the mid-life baby boomers are discovering a variety of new tastes, including food and wine. That discovery has led many of them to want to learn more about the gracious lifestyles found in the prime wine growing regions of the world.

Wine tastings, tours, and visits to Wine Country are increasingly leading to the purchase of a second home or a retirement home in the vineyard regions. A simple lifestyle, based on fresh, locally grown foods prepared by excellent chefs, paired with delicious wines, and presented in a beautiful, small village or country atmosphere is a powerful magnet to the boomer who is entering the second half of his or her life. And for those who are not quite ready to move to Napa, Sonoma or Tuscany, many are ordering food, wine, cheese and other items from Wine Country over the internet to bring a bit of the charm, tastes and treasures to their own life.

Up-scale real estate continues to hold value in Napa Valley and other wine regions. Most have strict ordinances controlling conversion of vineyard land to housing development, keeping the idyllic rural atmosphere that people are seeking in their Wine Country dream home. That bodes well for the future housing prices in these desired areas, in spite of housing downturns in other parts of the country.

Those mid-life baby boomers who can are buying now. Those who can’t are buying as much of the lifestyle as they can, either on visits to Wine Country or over the internet from websites such as http://www.winecountry2go.com.

Welcome To Your New Life!

You are invited to join countless others who are coming together in Platinum Pearls®.com . . . . sharing ways to enjoy the rest of their lives, becoming more satisfied, more secure through self discovery and self actualization. The secrets are there, to be discovered and utilized. Shared, they will become a positive force for an entire generation.

Who are you??? There’s a new person born every eight seconds. One of them may well be you! We’ll help you nurture and educate that new person you are becoming. Ahead is a different road, and it will take you where you want to go only if you use the right map. Stop and ask directions.

Not for babies only! While we deal primarily with life factors and life styles of those persons born during the so-called “baby boom” years of 1946 to 1964, the fact is, a lot of people on both sides of those years face those same challenges and opportunities too, and we welcome your participation in Platinum Pearls® programs and membership benefits.

We can all enjoy a longer and happier mature life if we resist becoming “old”. We’d love to have you join the organized resistance!

Please add your thoughts, ideas, methods and experiences. We are all in this together!

My Volunteer Vacation! Building Hiking Trail In The Colorado Rockies.

The cool, thin mountain air stabbed my lungs with each breath as I lumbered up the trail at over 10,000 feet elevation, carrying the weight of my daypack, loaded with lunch and snack provisions, water for the day plus a little extra, raingear, binoculars, plus a slew of extras for "just in case", and, I was carrying a Pulaski, with which I would work all day, building a stretch of the Colorado Trail.

The morning sun and the physical activity was beginning to warm me, and I removed layers of clothing as I, along with around 20 other volunteers, progressed from our campsite at 9,800 feet to our work site at nearly 11,000 feet. Through clearings in the trees, traversing a small meadow, the view stretched out for miles and miles, and I felt like this mountain was the very top of the world, and I was on it. "This", I said, "is a vacation!"

Being a flatlander from Oklahoma, adapting to the thin air at this altitude took some time. But I had come up to Breckenridge, Colorado two days early for my week long stint as a trail builder. I had read about the Colorado Trail, a 490 mile stretch of hiking trail which roughly follows the continental divide from Denver to Durango in southwest Colorado, and I was impressed that it was built primarily by volunteers, with the support of the U.S. Forest Service. The Colorado Trail Foundation was formed to build and maintain the trail, and it was through that organization that I signed up for a week-long "trail crew".

My fellow crew members were from all parts of the United States, along with two people from Great Britain. Each were volunteers, and each brought their own tent and sleeping bag, their own eating plates and utensils, some good hiking/work boots, plenty of sunscreen for the high altitude sun, and a good attitude. We each paid thirty-five dollars to join the Colorado Trail Foundation, and the foundation provided the food for the week, which we cooked as we each took turns doing kitchen duty. The Forest Service hauled in potable water for us.

Setting up camp on Saturday was a team effort as we dug a latrine and erected the kitchen and community tents. On Sunday we learned to use the trail building tools properly and safely. We worked on the trail Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was a free day for hiking, fly fishing or just resting, and Saturday morning was spent tearing down camp and restoring the site as best we could to lessen the effect our presence for a week had on the environment.

All in all, we built nearly a mile of fresh trail to the exacting specifications of the Forest Service. It is proud work, something that countless hikers and backpackers will enjoy for years to come.

For more information on this volunteer service contact the Colorado Trail Foundation website.