I Walk for Water

I Walk for Water

Good morning Brave hearts.

The clean water, delivered to your home, provided by an intricate system of plumbing and waterworks. A modern invention of convenience and good health, that changed the lives of the developed world and brought relief from harsh living conditions. A feat of engineering, a marvel of advancement. Clean water brought into your homes and clean plumbing as well.
This fabulous technological improvement in our lives has saved thousands of people from water born disease. The convenience itself keeps us cleaner and healthier. More water to drink, for washing dishes, laundry, the shower and your home. This modern improvement has changed our lives. No more buckets of sparingly dispersed drinking water, of trips to the outhouse in the freezing cold. Modern plumbing, brought to our homes, keeps us cleaner and healthier.
The earth sighs from the weight of pollution. Dirty water is a killer to the earth as well. The clean, sparkling rivers and streams, the network of lakes and ponds, are life sustaining necessities of the planet. Clean water! The marvelous sight of waterfalls and tumbling rivers, of beaches for play and lakes for swimming. Playful past times of sport and leisure, through the abundant waterways of our country. The network of rivers for exploration, navigation and trade. Clean water, a necessity of life!
A primary component of the human body is water. Proper hydration keeps us alive. A dehydrated body functions poorly and dehydration can put the body into peril. Clean water, drinking water. A precious commodity of life giving sustance, water cannot be taken for granted.
All over the world, nations work to keep their waterways clean.
Sluggish, brown, dirty water is a peril to the planet and to our lives as well. Water pollution is a dreaded enemy, toxins and waste are killers. The mighty oceans die from oil spills and the rain hails down polluted drops.
Today, is just one day to remember to enjoy a glass of clean water for your health, to promote the benefits of the life giving force. This glass of water, now enjoyed at leisure, with no thought of the work and cost of this marvel in advancement. Filtration systems, wells, lagoons and piping, bringing fresh water and cleaning the contaminants. The average African woman walks six kilometers a day for water.
Today, I walk for water. A simple gesture on behalf of the planet and ourselves. A fundraiser for clean water. Water pollution is an all round killer that we have to constantly address.
With your support today, another water source could be saved. Please give generously. Your donations count.
http://www.iwalkforwater.ca/ Aveda, I walk for water campaign.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 22, 2014

The New Planet

The New Planet

Hail Brave hearts!

This glorious day of the risen lord brings peace and hope to a weary world.
The earth moans under the weight of 7 billion humans. All of the rest of its creation needs room to grow. Room for trees and plants and landscapes, room for animals and birds and insects. The awesome creative powers of the planet need to be expressed. Like the fine aptitude of an artist, needing to paint a brilliant canvas, the earth needs to cover it’s surfaces with beauty and colour and life. Awesome great planet with life giving forces. The beautiful great planet surrounds us with nature. Each and every delicate balance, a life sustaining act. The trees, recycling the carbon dioxide of our breaths and returning fresh, clean oxygen into the air. The trees, our life support system for clean air. 7 billion breathing humans, destroying forests, up routing plants, filling in ponds, covering the earth with pavement, building, building, building.
Hail, you awesome human! The earth struggles to support you, struggles to feed and nurture you, struggles to provide air for you, clean water and good food. The self destructive human, unthinking in it’s quest for income, housing and land, destroys the very thing that provides the most. Hail, to the almighty human, who protects the only thing that we have in the universe, the mighty great planet earth.
So much taken for granted, so much destroyed for no reason, so much loss of habitat and loss of life, human, wildlife, plant life. From the tops of the mountains to the depth of the oceans, the environmental destruction is severe.
In myth, the world of the gods lies in the heavens, in science fiction aliens inhabit other planets. In reality, will that save us here. The awesome mind of science tells us that there is a possibility of life on other planets. The constant search of the heavens and the universe for life sustaining planets, challenges us to think outside of this small, rotating sphere of life and look to the possibilities of new life among the stars. Our imagination takes us in leaps of wonder and anticipation. Could it be real? Could we live somewhere else? What would it be like?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/earth-sized-planet-found-in-star-s-habitable-zone-1.2613794 The new planet.

Now,at last, there is a possibility. An earth like planet, found only 500 light years away. We could escape this rotting, dying, war torn, diseased, overpopulated earth and escape into our spaceships and be gone! Gone to the heavens, gone to the perils of the universe, into the last great frontier of human experience. We’ve done it all here. The dying planet entertains us no more.
Off to the greatest challenge of our lives! Off to discover the universe and inhabit the new world. Like our ancestors before us, the age of discovery is upon us. Like Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Francis Drake and the Apollo Astronauts, we can pack our bags and venture forth again. Into the great unknown, to prove that the universe is not flat, but we can navigate it and we will not fall off.
Hail, to you almighty human! Flee the dying planet and explore the universe. You only have 500 light years to go.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 20, 2014

The fine estate

Hail brave hearts

Imagine the grand oasis of your own pristine estate, a secure place, a refuge from the world and the prying eyes of curious by standers. A place for your family, your whole family, brothers, sisters, parents, husbands, wives and children. The whole family, housed in one place where they can live and play together.
Shut out the world and the prying gossips, the insistent intrusion into your peaceful world.
Choose your palace, oh brave hearts and secure your family in a safe space.
The family has been torn and dismembered, wracked by divorce and abuse. The family is becoming a distant memory, of far flung people, irreconcilable differences and domestic dispute.
Who intrudes there, oh wise ones? Love protects you and love will save you.
The family is the focal point of your existence, all of your support comes from an intelligent, supportive family who helps to nurture friendships and life long relationships. The family nurtures and cares, builds self-esteem and character. A strong, congenial family, survives all obstacles in their cohesive, support for one another.
The family builds it’s own character, self-esteem and potential. They take care of each other, young and old, rich and poor. The oppressive negativity that surrounds you and reduces your peace and harmony can be controlled. The negative influence of outside sources can be reduced and the family can heal their wounds, their hearts and their souls.
Protect yourselves, brave hearts, you are all that you have. A strong and united family can heal each other and expel the pain of difficulty and abuse. The family, with their morals intact, will bind and build. Secure your fortress, nurture and care.
Hail to you, almighty ones. The strength of your lives resides in the strength of strong family, a cohesive network of friendly relationships and caring interactions.
The great good earth provides a place for all of us to dwell. A place for peace and prosperity, a place to care for the earth itself.
On your fine estate, let the earth breath it’s soft breath, sing it’s songs of joy, brighten your lives with it’s brilliant hues and cast it’s blessings of earthly wonder and garden produce among you.
The earth is still your paradise. It still needs your attention. It calls you to plant a tree, to let the birds nest and to enjoy the scenic wonder of the landscape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVOjtFrFPnI violin space music- sea of tranquility.

Tread lightly on the awesome planet and may peace find it’s way into your hearts, blessings to your soul and happiness in your daily toil.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 8, 2014

the new national dream

Hail, Brave hearts!

The land is vanishing before our eyes. The wealth of the nation, plundered in waste. That vast expanse of beauty, the view of wonder for the weary eyes to behold, and peaceful rest for the tired body.
The soul yearns for the quiet sounds of nature, the sweet scents, the soft underlay of ground, and the soothing bath of life sustaining waters, for cooling swims on warm summers’ days.
Oh, the land, so precious and finite. It’s allure, with it’s awesome beauty and natural wonder, compels us to venture forth, with the same inspiration to adventure, as our forefathers. The grand land. The grandeur of the land. The wealth of the nation.
Lucky are we to be the caretakers of such greatness and beauty.

http://www.visitgeorgianbay.com/
The land that has called us for centuries, to marvel at it’s wondrous creation, to fulfill the dreams of adventure, and to capture it’s beauty on film and in art. The land that we share, with each other, with the great wild and with the world.
Who dares to enter the land and plunder there? Ringing our lakes with development, unaccessable to us, to the wild and to the world. Blocking out the view, the cooling waters, the beaches and the calm. Blocking out the meditative strength of peaceful rest by a sparkling lake. Blocking out the joy of swimming in fresh, cool waters, testing your strength against a wave, playing in the sand and marveling at the aquatic life, the small fish and the shy crayfish. Learning new skills, swimming, boating and snorkeling. Spotting new birds, identifying fish, shells and plant life. The awesome lakes, a learning playground for us all.
Oh, to be the almighty human, brilliant and daring! The investment in the land was so appealing, so enticing, so alluring. To be wealthy, to be rich, to be admired! The self conscious yearning of a life, craving the charmed achievement of social success. Wealth, money, prestige! Oh, to have it all! To be the almighty human! To be the prominent, the illustrious, the awesome, awe-inspiring human!
The plunder of the lake shore denies the rest. It denies the visitor and the great wild. Go to the parks, you inferior man! The gates to this lake are closed.
But you, bravehearts, rise to a different call. The nation is spent on foreign investment, on the gain of the massive fortune of international control. The wealth of tourism, a multi-million dollar venture, lost to foreign investment.
Hotel and resorts are your calling now. The all Canadian dream of cottage life and cottage grandeur, fade into the past as the family owned resort presents the new Canadian way.
Not merely a cottage, but a hotel, a resort, a fly-in remote location. The economic gain of this nation, for the international elite, is not some small cottage, but an investment into the multi-million dollar tourist market.
Where is your hotel? Where is your investment in the future of the country? Where is your economic gain?
A cottage in the wilderness is the ideal of Canadian life. Remote and prestigious and so, so exclusive. A cut above the rest, was once a wise investment, but the real prosperity went to foreign control.
Put your families onto an estate, oh brave hearts. It can be hotels, resorts, spas. All of these, support the economic prosperity of the country. They employ thousands of people in tourism and eco-tourism, making you, oh brave heart a prestigious owner and employer, learning many skills and trades and serving the surrounding community with jobs and promoting growth with happy visitors.
Tourism is a multi-million dollar word. A hotel, or resort on that lake, instead of a cottage, provides more wealth and uses less land. It teaches more skills and provides more educational opportunities than the cottage. Sports, book keeping, accounting, cooking, management and more. You, the almighty human, become a prestigious hotelier and manager, instead of just another cottager. A hotelier, who employs many people, who provides accommodation for guests and opens the nation to the world.
A resort owner, who helps to provide tourism to the local community.
Save your wealth, oh brilliant ones. This kind of investment in the nation, is greater economic gain, than the cottage. Greater for yourselves, for the nation and for us all!

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
March 31, 2014

The All Canadian Dream

Hail, almighty human

Cast your worries aside and lounge in peaceful comfort and restful relaxation, at the fine escape of your choosing. An awakening of senses, and the joy of prosperity, your family vacation property has it all. Awesome human, your lifetime challenge has been achieved. You linger over a fine view of vanishing waterfront on pristine, remote lakes. Ahh! the luxury, the joy of living, the peace and quiet of natures bountiful blessing. Awesome, good earth with its tranquil places of divine landscape and meditative stillness. The great wild holds you in its palm and you rest in the comfort of the creation of the great earth.
Warm summer breezes caress your skin and cool summer waters soothe the aching heat.
Summertime bliss, summertime, prosperity and summertime escape.
The chattering family moor the boat to the dock. Another round of watersports ended for today. The lesson of summers play, to swim, to fish,to drive a boat, paddle a canoe, water ski and play at water sports.
The cottage is the all Canadian summer time dream. An escape of infinite pleasure. Luxury, rustic setting, an achievement for only the wealthy to share. A cabin in the woods, where no other human dare to dwell. The toil and strain of business enterprise, of work and perseverance, of drive and ambition, of properly funded investments, and cleverly calculated risks. Now to achieve the all time Canadian dream. A cottage.
Hail, almighty human, you have it all. Side by side accommodation on vanishing lakefront. An exchange of place, from city to country, from neighbours to neighbours. To dangle your feet from a dock into the cool water and to call this simple act, paradise!
The rolling waves change your view, thunderstorms move in from miles away, the stars shine in the heavens above and what was once a remote getaway has become a semi-forested crowded retreat, with unending views of cottages and neighbours.
A speed boat interupts the quiet paddle of your canoe and the call of the loon echoes in distant memory. A Canadian tradition, a Canadian dream, the rights of passage to the moneyed world.
Hail brave hearts, look into your mind, waters for swimming and with varieties of fishes, but no access for you. The call of the loon, the racket of geese, the sounds of serenity and the remote wild, vanishing to the play and intrusion of motorized craft and overpopulated shorelines, filled with summer homes and islands filled with people. The escape into a different suburbia, from streetscape to waterscape, from overcrowded city into overcrowded country. Farther and farther, more and more remote, more development, more noise, less privacy, less tranquility, less peace. The awesome call to the wild, hurried by rush hour traffic, for miles and hours along speeding highways. Go north, along with all of the other hurrying humans, as they vacate the city for lakeshore retreat. To campfires and sing-a-longs, to parties and play. The crowded lakes of cottage country, entice those with the funds to escape.
To the wild! To the wild! Go north, to the wild! To fulfill the fabulous calling, of the needed wild paradise, and the still secure, all Canadian dream.
http://www.discovermuskoka.ca/

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 1, 2014

A Day for World Wildlife

Hail brave hearts
Peace amongst you on this day of celebration. A day for the earth to sing its songs of gladness and to fill our hearts with joy.
This is a day for us to take action against the plunder of the environment, against the devastation of habitat loss and against the vanishing land and the precious wild lives that it contains. The earth sings its songs of gladness for all of the lives it creates, for all of the creatures that inhabit this globe and live in the balance of the natural world. A predator, a prey, a tree or a flower, all are victims of habitat loss and environmental destruction. They are victims of pollution, of over development, of starvation and poaching. The wide variety of life forms becomes more and more limited as sensitive species perish from over harvesting, starvation, habitat loss and over development. They call out their names as they vanish into the archives. Lists of animals and plant life, gone forever into the unknown world of perished species.

http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment

Endangered wild life, rare species, animals struggling to survive in a world already so overpopulated with people that the sparse land can house no more.
Dead land, desert, rock, dead lakes, pollution, plastics, fuel, contaminants. Too much for the wild life of the world to bear. No where to find clean water to drink, no where to find fresh grass to eat. Insecticides, pesticides, poison. Contaminated food, contaminated soil, contaminated water. Forest fires, shale, rock and clearing. No where to find shelter, no where to birth this offspring. No where to live.
The sound of the earth mover rumbles in the distance. Run from the machinery of habitat destruction, fire and smoke, it sears our eyes and burns our lungs. The forest is gone, the thickets are cleared, our bellies are swollen from pregnancy, but where to go to birth this calf. What to eat, as the grasses die, where to lie down as there is no shade.
The tiny ones can run no more. Their new legs so awkward, struggle to move. Their tiny hearts and panting breath, they cannot take another step. Their weary bodies, from too much exertion, lie down and rest to sleep some more. Where to find that needed shelter, shrubs and thickets to curl up in. Hours old, the tiny ones can only rest. Run? They can’t run. Hide? Where can they hide. The warm thickets that protect their small bodies die of harvesting and disease and the babies have no where to go.
Tiny offspring, who struggle to survive, your lives are hard enough. The natural balance of predator and prey, fills your lives with fear and hardship. But now, where to birth that new offspring, where to protect that tiny life?
The starving mother lies in stillness as her body consumes that tiny embreo. No food for this offspring, it won’t be born.
One day to celebrate the salvation of the planet. A day for world wildlife and environmental protection. Hear us almighty human, as we raise our voices, for the call of the wild.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
March 3, 2014

The Wolves of Yellowstone

Good morning Brave hearts!

The adventure begins, again! Lofty souls with high aspirations, lofty minds with virtuous goals. The spirit awakens to the joy of the day. A beautiful day, filled with the radiant beauty of the Earth.
Oh powerful orb of life in the universe. The creation of another day is the awakening of the dawn of life. Persistent animals and persistent plant life, thriving on a planet so amazing. The persistent planet, creating life, throwing more and more of its creation onto it’s surface. Live all creatures, sighs the great planet. Each and every one of you has it’s place on this great Earth.
The interconnection of ecosystems as they thrive in abundance, comes from the delicate balance of survival. The fittest are strong at each level of the food chain and the lush and nourishing environment survives.
A success story emerges, from a land of protected wilderness. The cry of the wolf as it sings its song to the Earth. It’s song of thanks and survival in a land of previous desolation to this wild animal. A land of previous culling and constant hunting and extermination. A land where the wild were no longer understood and the call of the wolf died in eerie silence. Gone from the land, gone from their lives and gone from the great wild.
Now the majestic beast has returned, reintroduced to a hostile and foreboding land of merciless hunting. Now protected instead of despised, the healthy hunter has regained the wild.
Hail, almighty human, for the understanding of the will of the great planet, for death no more to the mighty hunter, for research and experiments and environmental protection. The call of the wolf as it sings to you on this day. We are saved!
The experiment in Yellowstone National Park in the United States tells a tale of wildlife and landscape interconnection that hails of the virtues of this predator. The thriving, healthy population of the wolves has changed the land in Yellowstone and increased the beauty of the Earth in this park. The healthy predator, culling the week, preventing overpopulation of its prey, preventing over browsing of shrubs and trees and allowing the growth of saplings and regeneration of the forest.
An interesting experiment in wildlife interconnectivity. Why did the great Earth create the wolf? To sustain it’s environments, brave hearts, to send the predator into the wild, to protect the great landscape. To protect the forest and the other wild animals. The interconnection of life in the wild.
Hail, almighty human, for the wisdom of this fine and brilliant experiment. For the protection of the wild and the great beauty of the Earth. For the lives of the great hunters sing in joy and praises. We live! Our pups will be born this spring and we no longer starve!
Praises almighty human, you save us!


the wolves of Yellowstone – How Wolves change rivers

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
February 17, 2014

Tasks

For the ease of the family, so that everyone can work and play,the cleaning schedule should be a part of the daily living of each and every member of the household.
If each member of the household contributes 20 minutes every day to cleaning, the house will remain clean. No backbreaking, time consuming household chores for one individual only. That is too much work and too much indoor time for one person to bear. No more of one individual being stuck doing household chores while everyone else goes out to play. No more secluding and isolating one person to be a prisoner in the home, whose only achievement is the daily household cleaning and who`s conversations perpetually return to cleaning, cleaning products and general household care.
These conversations are for everyone, from time to time, for the general cleanliness and maintenance of the home.
The home is a place to be shared. The home is a place of comfort and joy. It is the responsibility of each individual to contribute to the comfort and joy of the home. This includes cleaning and cooking.
If each person cleans for 20 minutes a day, the house will remain clean. It has to start off clean. Do the deep clean first, them move to the 20 minutes each, every day schedule. It is not too much to ask. Choose how you would like to tackle this project. Will it be room by room. Task by task. One chore with an extra. The grounds have to be maintained as well. It could be an extra, since the maintenance of the grounds is a necessity and is essential.
Learning to garden, although a hobby for most who do it, is also a part of the Sustainability Plan for Food, if you are planting crops. Organic gardening is advised and all members of the household should be involved in the garden. Gardening is a pleasure, a reward, a life support and a means to understanding the Earth.
The family will interact with each other and share more, if these essential aspects of living are shared with each other. As the family shares more, the more they have in common. Since everyone does the same job, for the same amount of time, they will show more respect for each other. With the family working and living together, there is less intrusion by outsiders, because the family is always together. This gives them the time to play together as well. A close knit family is a family that will survive.
Praises mankind, your enduring relationships will last forever.
Written by Dr. Louise Hayes
February 3,2014

A dedicated place

Good day to you, Brave hearts

This day brings you the glorious, the fabulous, the fascinating, the wonder, the joy of creation: what beauty is. To aspire to the cause of your finest aptitudes, look around you, oh great ones. The joy of the never ending planet, with its marvels and toils, brings you fresh inspiration and wonder with each day. Yours is the mind that can perceive it, can develop it, can explore it. Since the dawn of time, man has been greeted with the pleasures of the great planet and all of its wonders.
“For the beauty of the Earth, for the beauty of the skies, for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies.” hymnary song
http://www.songandpraise.org/for-the-beauty-of-the-earth-hymn.htm
You, so fortunate as to be the creation of a human.
Still, the great planet casts each and every one of us into the land of our home. The Earth places us here and we dwell in the land of it’s creation. The migration of mankind lead them to the land of their destiny. A brilliant land, an abundant land and a challenging land. Here, almighty human, is the door opened for you, to stir the imaginings of your brilliant mind.
The land filled with succulent fruits, wary predators, catchable beasts. The land, with its awesome wonder, the landscape, the star filled skies, the warm and glowing sun. All of your needs are met, with the intelligent pursuit of the land.
The fascinating beauty unfolds as each aptitude is tested and strengthened, not yours to merely survive, but to live the grand and glorious adventure, that all the world provides. Hail to you, brave hearts, for the awesome beauty of the world, compels you to venture, to discover, to explore, to challenge and to take risks. For beauty can sometimes drive you and your aptitude to yield it’s highest purpose.
The land, with its ever changing fascination. It beckons us to seek health benefits, to feed us, to nurture us, to cloth and to shelter us. The great planet, with its endless creativity, gives each and every place it’s own special purpose. Each and every human race is the caretaker of their special place.
What drives you, almighty ones? Open your eyes to the wonder of this world. To the fascinating gifts of daring and adventure, of inspiration and creativity, to the endless pursuit of beauty and grace. A home, so filled with love and generosity, of perfect adoration and endless care. A home that saves and protects us, shelter from the billowing storm, warmth and security. A place made special, by the pursuit of a mind dedicated to the pursuit of aptitudes of décor, of culinary delights, of homemade remedies and helpful partnering.
You, almighty ones, are chosen. Chosen to dwell in lands of adversity, of difficult climate, of constant change. That land, that barren oasis, is filled with possibilities for the persistent mind. The earth puts you there, almighty human, like it plants its trees and sends its wildlife. Nurture and care, oh caretaker of the planet, you are needed where you survive and live and dream and love.

http://nunavut.adventures.com/nunavut_parks.html

Care for the great planet, as it calls out your name, human, save us.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 22, 2014

The Winter

Good Day Brilliant Mankind

Sighs the great planet. Come out to my wonderland of fresh fallen snow, of blue skies, of sunny warm weather, of winter freshness and winter play. The temperature drops to a mild -zeros and the warm blanket of snow, covers the earth. Tread lightly, oh great ones. Beneath you lies, in sleeping peace, the life of the hibernating wild.
The quiet pond, full of animals, frogs dug into the mud for winter protection and snakes, curled in sleep awaiting the thaw. The dead of winter, of biting wind, of chilling storms, of ice and snow, of planetary sleep in dreamy warmth beneath the soft cover of insulating snow.
But why the winter, with it’s housebound cold, with icy wind and chilling temperatures, with snowy sidewalks and treacherous ice, with slippery streets and flues and colds. Why the winter with sudden storms, with blizzards and frozen fingers. Constantly scrapping the car, the driveway, the sidewalk. The snow filled streets for dangerous driving and the cold! The penetrating cold.
Just dress for it and remember, be prepared.
Praises mankind, sighs the great planet, to winter fun and winter’s play. It is with great pleasure that I present the winter.
Come out, come out to play, oh great human and enjoy the winter’s treasure.
A skate on frozen lakes, with glass like ice beneath your feet. The darting fish trapped in the unfrozen waters below, play tag with you as you skate in pursuit. But where did they go, so fast and exciting, a game of chase so easily won. A different perspective of life in the lake, looking down at the reeds beneath the ice, beneath your feet.
The life in winter, on a beautiful, brilliant day, is filled with sporting possibility. The quiet forest, now changed with its, deep, soft blanket of beautiful snow. The chirping birds, so plump and cheery, greet us as we pass in silence. Listen to the winter, with quiet snowfall, perhaps a chance for an encounter with animals, the privilege of a walk into the great wild.
Here us, oh great human, sighs the great planet, winter is a wonderland of play and sports activity. While those of us who need the rest, nob off to needed sleep and needed quiet, beneath the warm and insulating snow, the rest will play on the surface and fill our days with the great Canadian winter.
The dog team rushes speedily, with happy dogs barking and pulling, the days of thrilling, driving adventure to pass the time in traditional pursuits. A skate on a sun baked lake, with suntan lotion lathered to your skin, sunglasses, sunscreen, just like the summer, but without the bugs.
For here in the north is where the fun is. Generations of cultural pursuits, of winter daring and winter bravery, of Courier de Bois and the fur trade, of the Inuit and the igloo, of polar bears and the whale hunt, of dog sledding and skiing, snowshoeing and trapping.
Here, almighty human, is the meditative stillness of winter.

small river in winter by Kleimer Bach
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 15, 2014