Embrace the spirals of nature. Fresh snow inspires fresh snow art.

I’ve made so many works of snow art that I have lost count, and can barely find them all in my enormous photo files. So when this one popped up when scrolling today, a distant cold day warmed my heart. Note the globe on top!

This year, we have no snow. The record-breaking warmth is pleasant and easy. But I do miss the bright white, the childish magic of playing in fresh white stuff, and making spontaneous snow creations. Climate change keeps getting freakier. So jump in the snow when you can. And of course…

Keep the faith.

This installment of the Snow Art Series is titled Solstice Rosy Sunshine.

Why the (?) in Happy Solstice headline? Well, lotsa reasons, including that the day is DARK, the weather can be frightful, and it portends the start of winter. Still, the day is full of hope and reasons to festivate. (Or just unplug and meditate.) Stonehenge was built 5,000 years ago by Solstice fans, and people throughout the N side of the globe have commemorated in countless creative (and sometimes shocking) ways since the Pagan days.

My 2023 commemoration stayed simple. Some sun-colored roses offer reminders of brighter days ahead, while taunting a frozen (and slippery!) lake for a backdrop. Fortunately, the day was unseasonably warm enough to assure that the roses survived the photo shoot unscathed—though I was prepared for them to become sacrificial blooms.

They’re inside now. The earth has tilted. And we’re only 6 months til the longest day…and a full year until we can commemorate the dark daze yet again. I may not be ready, but I won’t miss out. Happy Solstice!

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

I stumbled on this pic from a fun week in NYNY in 2015 with my daughter, who was only 12 at the time. The statue looks stark, perhaps because Lady Liberty knows the world is ringing with divisiveness, war, extremism, and worse. It’s no fun for wide-eyed children and millions (billions?) of people all over the world.

Yet it’s the holiday season. So we continue to hope and pray for peace, love, and understanding. Nothing so funny about that, right? So as possible, please turn down the noise and enjoy your holiday rituals and festivities.

And of course, keep the faith.

Punny or not…No season brings deeper or more colorful reflections than fall.

Fall is a great time to travel—a ‘shoulder season’ when the tourists are usually back home yet the tourism bizzes are still humming but without irksome crowds and lines. The weather can be lovely if you choose the right place and have some luck. And autumn in most climes brings a free show of color and natural transformation.

And yet…fall is a good time to be home too. ESPECIALLY this year, here in MN, where we were gifted with drought-busting rains but also more sunny, warm days than I can count. Record-breaking stuff! The lake is full; the neighborhood pontoon party is still afloat. Chores got done without the panic of stinging snow or frozen fingers. We’ve been blissfully blessed.

Oh yeah, the other shoe WILL drop. Hard and cold. And soon, like, next week. Still, as I watched with envy while friends flew off to autumnal BreakAways in Italy, Nashville, and beyond, I also rejoiced in the epiphany that, often, the best place to travel is your own lovely yard.

From the Frontier Bar, on the Midway, MN State Fair. Highly recommended.

People go to to the MN State Fair for the rides, the food, the animals, and the live entertainment—and by that we mean the People Watching. My ideal fair day includes lots of live music (5 bands yesterday), some crop art, the best cheese curds on planet earth, and, of course, a few beers

You see it all at the fair. But I did NOT expect to see aliens! At least that’s how my friend Scott interpreted this picture. You see, we have a longstanding inside joke about aliens. So when riding the bus shuttle home I texted him this picture with one word—ALIENS!

He quickly replied, “And some tall green people behind them.”

I dunno. Maybe you had to be there. But after a long day at the fair, one feels a dizzy, punchy glow. So I found that to be the funniest thing in the world. And proceeded to laugh like a bad church boy on the packed bus. Until tears were flowing.

Did anyone notice? Not really; they were experiencing their own giddy euphoria. Do you know that feeling? I hope so.

I skipped the state fair for decades—avoiding the crowds, the lines, the chaos. I know better now…and see this otherworldly stimuli-fest as one of the most unique, accepting BreakAways around. I recommend it. As do the 2+ million loyal annual attendees.

Which brings to mind an old BreakAway mantra: When in doubt, just go!

Don’t believe me? Ask the aliens.

Have we entered dystopian times? This skull—and some other sources—seem to think so.

BreakAways in the News (BITN) is back after a short sabbatical. Thanks for your patience…

The interns continue to pile up clippings that relate to our attempts to BreakAway from the things that ail us (more on that shortly) and leap into leisure, calm, and getting away from IT all. Here’s out take on a few of the latest news bits…

• We’re 90 seconds from … THE END

A Peter Sellers movie? Monty Python, perhaps? No, it’s a thing. The Doomsday Clock, as set by the Atomic Scientists, recently was turned forward from 100 seconds to 90 seconds. Until midnight, AKA the end of…time.

The D-Day Committee (which includes experts in all things nuclear, climate, global health, etc.) meets twice a year, as they have since 1947. And their optimism keeps waning. Consider this: At one point, the clock was 17 minutes from midnight! That was in 1991, at the end of the Cold War. Who knew we were living in such blissy times?

Naturally, they are concerned about the Ukraine invasion, nuclear escalation, disease, and climate hell. Our takeaway: Don’t postpone joy. Know your priorities. And do what you can to live as though there is no tomorrow.

One of these days, if this clock is at all timely, that could be true.

• Long Covid continues to shorten careers (and lives)

To some, Covid was a hoax—perhaps something akin to the Doomsday Clock. To others, Covid lives on, and not in a good way. According to a recent New York study, 18% of Long Covid patients were still unable to return to work 1 year after becoming ill. And more than 75% of them are younger than 60.

Have you noticed the nonstop stories (and Help Wanted signs) re worker shortages lately? Prognosticators continue to blame the usual suspects: Early retirement, The Great Quit, demographics. All have truth, but as Harvard professor David Cutler puts it, “Covid is not over, and it won’t be for some time.” Cue the Help Wanted sign.

Thus, the BreakAway lobbyists will continue to fight for health benefits and practices, seeing yourself as a citizen of Planet Earth (rather than a party of 1), and…again…chasing your dreams while we still can.

• 64% of Americans nearly broke 

Nearly 2/3 (64%) of Americans admit they are living paycheck-to-paycheck. That’s up 3% from the end of 2021. And more than half who make more than $100K also belong to this crumbling club.

Once again, the pandemic comes into play. Despite the government’s generosity during that time, people slipped backward. Meanwhile, inflation has come back with an ugliness not seen since the 70s. And yes, some of us remember that time—and the sight of parents fretting over the stack of bills late into the night.

So save some of your money and save yourself, please. BreakAway’s simple 11 Commandments of Fiscal Fitness will help. And the payoff may be even better than that sabbatical in Spain; you will help fight back against yet another killer illness: Stress.