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By Felix a. Montelara
Author: Potencial Millonario (Spanish Edition)
Today I want to talk to you about work. What is work? Why do we work? What kind of work do we value? What work are we willing to pay for? Why is work so important to us? When you think about yourself, do you define yourself by your work? Do you work for a living, do you live to work, do you have a career, or do you work just to pay the bills? Is there a difference between your job and your work? These are questions worth pondering. Believe it or not, your job probably is a big part of how you define yourself. Your job, and how you feel about your job, probably define much of your self-worth and your self-esteem. The ins and outs of your day at work probably determine whether you have a good day or a bad day. The million dollar question is: should we define ourselves in this way?
Let's think about how work has been defined in the past. Actually, long ago work was thought of as something that really important people didn't do. In ancient cultures such as Greece and Rome, the truly important people didn't labor or do work. That would be beneath them. Important people had servants to do their work, from running their land to running their household. These people definitely did not define themselves by their work, so why do we?
The role of work in people's lives has changed. After the period in history known as the Renaissance came the Reformation in the 1500s. It was then that work began to be acceptable both socially and morally. This was a turbulent time in all aspects of art, science, religion and culture. From this time period comes our modern view of work which is to say that people began to "do" things and then defined themselves by what they did.
Later on, with the advent of mechanization and industrialization, the major means of employment became paid labor. The definition of work became associated with being paid. It was then that tasks for which payment did not occur became devalued by society. For example, no one was paid to clean their own house, so cleaning the house was not considered work.
No one was paid to take care of their children, or to care for the sick or elderly of the family. So caring for family members was no longer considered work. Everyday tasks and chores, primarily the responsibility of the female caregivers of the household, became things that women were expected to do – while men went outside the home to work and get paid.
Now we need to ask ourselves a few more introspective questions about how we define work today. Let's not just think about ourselves. No, I want you to think about how you define the work of women and mothers in particular. Soon it will be Mother's Day. Women and their role in our homes, workplace, and society should be on our minds. Do the mothers in your life a real service on Mother's Day this year. Not just flowers or a card, or a quick sentiment that lasts a day only. Instead, do some real soul-searching about the real, honest work that the women in your life do. How many responsibilities does she have that go unpaid and unacknowledged? How many roles does she fulfil, and do you expect her to fulfil them just because she is a woman? How many sacrifices does she make on a daily basis that go unnoticed? Let's take some time to think about the history of work and our attitudes toward it, as I have reflected on here. Let's take some time to think about how the roles of men and women in the home have developed and the historical background for why we view these roles the way we do today. Then, let's take the time to examine whether we are really fair to the women in our lives, especially the mothers. Give this some real thought, and then approach the mothers that you know with some real respect. And rather than a box of chocolates, take responsibility yourself for one of those things you 'expect' her to do. Not for a day, but from now on. If you truly want to honor the mother's that you know, then honor them making a lasting change to how you value the unpaid work they do every day and night. Then prove yourself worthy by doing some of this work yourself.

subset: commoncrawl


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Charles Mingus is one of the greatest jazz composers of all time, and he also, it seems, shared some similarities with your typical crazy cat lady. He liked having cats around, and spent a lot of time thinking about the nettlesome issue of feline fecal matter.
On p. 77 of Cassavetes on Cassavetes we find the following anecdote, told by John Cassavetes, about enlisting Mingus to do the soundtrack for his first movie, Shadows. Mingus would only do it if Cassavetes would come over to Mingus' house and clean up the cat shit—but even that didn't solve Mingus' problem:
First we were going to use Miles Davis, but then he signed with Columbia Records and I got so angry I didn't want to use him. Anyway, someone said there was this great improvisational artist down in the Village who'd cut a few records, so I listened to a couple and oh!—this guy was wonderful! Charlie Mingus. So Charlie said, "Listen, man, would you do me a favor? I'll do it for you, but you have got to do something for me." "Sure, sure," I say. "Listen, I've got these cats that are shitting all over the floor. Can you have a couple of your people come up and clean the cat shit? I can't work; they shit all over my music." So we went up with scrubbing brushes and cleaned up the thing. Now he says, "I can't work in this place. It's so clean. I've got to wait for the cats to shit."
Cassavetes had intended for Mingus to improvise the needed music in a single session, but Mingus demanded to compose it properly. Cassavetes ended up using music composed by Mingus' saxophonist Shafi Hadi. Meanwhile, two years after the first release of Shadows in 1957, Mingus completed his own soundtrack to the movie. According to Cassavetes, those Mingus compositions are "Nostalgia in Times Square" and "Alice's Wonderland."
At some point Charles Mingus figured out the best method of toilet training a cat, and he felt he had to get the word out. He wrote a short pamphlet called "The Charles Mingus CAT-alog for Toilet Training Your Cat." You could order the "CAT-alog" directly from Mingus, and it also appeared in a publication called Changes that existed between 1968 and 1975 and was run by Mingus' wife, Sue Graham. (Interestingly, the officiant at their wedding was Allen Ginsberg.) You can read the entirety of Mingus' "CAT-alog" at this website, which is administered by Graham. Mingus' main point is to execute the transfer to the toilet very slowly: "The main thing to remember is not to rush or confuse" the cat. Also, don't use kitty litter: "Be sure to use torn up newspaper, not kitty litter. Stop using kitty litter. (When the time comes you cannot put sand in a toilet.)"
Recently Studio 360 dedicated a segment to Mingus' kitty program, even enlisting actor Reg E. Cathey, familiar from such TV shows as The Wire and House of Cards, to read Mingus' pamphlet in its entirety.
Here's Mingus' "Pussy Cat Dues" from Mingus Ah Um, his first album for Columbia from 1959:


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A comprehensive assessment of cheetah populations in southern Africa, supported by the National Geographic Society, indicates that the species is facing a dire situation.
In a study published on December 11 in the open-access journal PeerJ, researchers present evidence that low cheetah population estimates in southern Africa and population decline support a call to list the cheetah as 'endangered' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.
With partial support from the National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative, an international team of 17 researchers, led by Florian Weise of the Claws Conservancy and Varsha Vijay of Duke University, analysed more than two million collared cheetah observations from a long-term study by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and another 20 000 cheetah observations from the research community and the general public.
Their findings show that free-ranging cheetahs were present across 789 700 sq km in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2016. The study estimates only 3 577 adult cheetahs exist in this extensive area, which is larger than France, and a majority (55%) of individuals are found within only two habitats. This estimate is 11% lower than the IUCN's current assessment, supporting the call for the up-listing of cheetahs from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered'.
"This collaborative, multiyear effort sounds the alarm about the state of cheetah populations in southern Africa, shining a light on the imperative need to protect these majestic predators," said Gary E. Knell, President and CEO, National Geographic Society. "The National Geographic Society is proud to support such a comprehensive assessment and similar efforts aimed at safeguarding our most precious species, their habitats and the planet we call home."
A novel aspect of the research was the use of observations from the general public. "For a highly photogenic species like the cheetah, using crowd-sourced photographs and videos taken by tourists is an innovative and cost-effective approach, especially in well-visited protected areas," said Weise.
"This is the area with the largest population of free-ranging cheetahs left on Earth. Knowing how many cheetahs there are and where they occur is crucial for developing suitable conservation management plans for the species," added Vijay.


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Sunday, April 24, 2016
Book Review: first communions by Geoffrey Girard
The stories range from haunting to comical to fantastical with disturbing images abound. There is Translation floating mind-controlling aliens with a family tearing each other apart while the writer father has to listen to Collecting James and skull fragment collecting serial killer. Girard does not hold back on the violence and seems to find the best words to describe the horrifyingly disgusting things that happen. He even includes a YA sample in the form of H. E. Double Hockey Sticks, which shows how horror can still be fun and humorous.
The setting range from an old Indian land with a horrible secret in Release Me to curse pirate ships in Dead in the Water. The future is mainly bleak in Girard's stories with zombies over running the world and used as choral instruments in Unto the Lord a New Song or a nursing home that has to finally be demolished after the residents have gone on living for centuries in For Restful Death I Cry. His research pays off for stories like Pyschomachia about a strange occurrence in coal mines and Misdirection telling the tale of a French musician in Algeria.
Girard plays with narrative styles whether it is second person, stream of conscious, or a mix of several perspectives like the brilliant and chilling title story First Communions. Even when the author goes more literary like Crawl, the images will get under your skin and make you itch. My favorite story was Dark Harvest about a small town that discovers an injured Ringwraith that has fallen from its flying steed.
For fans of horror, zombies, and well-used gore, I would highly recommend this collection of sixteen stories. It is also very cool from a writer and reader's perspective to see the inspiration and publication history of these stories, which Girard includes at the end. I felt the whole book came together nicely to give me a nice dose of horror in each story that made me continue reading on to the next one. Girard also has several cool novels out that hope to read soon.
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I'm writing to see if you'd be interested in having YA author Geoffrey Girard and his upcoming book, TRUTHERS, as a guest on your blog this summer. We are currently scheduling interviews, ARC reviews, and – as/if requested – playlists, dream casts, etc. Whatever works best for you and your readers!
About TRUTHERS: (coming August 1st from Carolrhoda Books)
Katie Wallace had never given much thought to 9/11. But when her father is locked up for claiming to know what really happened that momentous day, Katie's life, and connection to 9/11, changes forever. He insists he has evidence of a nightmare conspiracy that will shatter America's beliefs and that Katie herself is living proof, a survivor, of the true story.
To save her father, and discover her own past, Katie must navigate the clouded and secretive world of 'The Truthers.' A world of fact and fiction, of questions and distortion. With the help of close friends and new allies, and as she's drawn into an ever more-deadly web of lies, Katie finds the strength and trust within herself to face those trying to prevent the truth from being known.
Exploring the roots of our conspiracy-theory culture, the controversy of the 9/11 Truth movement, and the historic records of that fateful day, the speculative and introspective thriller TRUTHERS invites a new generation to learn about 9/11 and, also, the high costs, responsibility, and traps of searching for "truth."
Early Praise for TRUTHERS:
"With compelling characters and non-stop action, Truthers will leave you thinking."
- Mindy McGinnis - Edgar-winning author of The Female of the Species
"Told through the eyes of a tenacious teen who kept me up at night, challenging the things I'd previously regarded as fact. A deep, yet approachable story, both thrilling and touching."
Kristen Simmons - author of the ARTICLE 5 Series and Metaltown
"Girard is a skilled storyteller, weaving history and conspiracy into a thriller that's bold, smart, and impossible to put down." - Natalie D. Richards, author of Six Months Later and One Was Lost
About Geoffrey: Geoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, and dark speculative fiction for adults and teens. His first YA, the techno-thriller PROJECT CAIN published by Simon and Schuster, was nominated for a Bram Stoker award for "Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel."
His short fiction has appeared in several best-selling anthologies and magazines, including Writers of the Future. The debut collection of his short fiction, First Communions, was published by Apex Books earlier this year. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey currently lives in Ohio where he is the English Department Chair at a private boys' high school and teaches creative writing, philosophy in literature, and horror. He has a BA in English literature and an MA in creative writing, and will finish his MFA this year.
Please let me know if you'd like to schedule Geoffrey and/or TRUTHERS for your site. He's planning to incorporate giveaways, ARCs, original hardbacks, etc. and he's quite adaptable to whatever format you think would best serve your audience. Scheduling now for late June, all of July and early August.
Let me know if you have any questions, etc., and thanks very much for your consideration.
Hope to hear from you soon!


text: Question:How many different versions of GeForce2 Go will there be? Answer:OEMs can configure systems with an 8, 16 or even 32 MB of display memory to support mainstream, high-end and mobile workstation applications. GeForce2 Go supports both SDRAM (Single Data Rate) and DDR (Double Data Rate) memory configurations. This will be the first notebook GPU with support for DDR memory, delivering responsive graphics regardless of frame buffer size.


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3 Steps To Prepare Your Business For A Successful Tradeshow
When you have planned to make your presence in a trade show then you probably might have allocated a lot of budget to market yourself in the trade fair. But the question arises, what all tips you have taken to make worth going to a trade show. Trade show is in particular one of the best platform to promote the products of your business. There are tons of trade fares which takes place every year like Canada Expo and many more, for which you have to take some special measures to make your brand stand out from the crowd, for this here are few things which you need to consider before preparing yourself for a trade show. Step 1: Plan early and often: Planning is one of the most important things which you need to do while presenting your brand. Planning does not simply mean jotting out all the points required for your stall in the show for your business. It is basically the strategies which you follow to present your brand in a perfect way. All ways plan for your trade show for a year or more. Once you are done with planning the strategies, then plan on engaging and attracting good quality followers to your stall or booth. Step 2: Establish a buyer person: Are you aware of the interest which your intended groups resemble? Making the advancement of the buyers cranks just not only enables you to comprehend the anguish of the purpose of your purchasers, then you might discover different innovative answers for that certain issues. By understanding the view of the buyers or spectaculars, you can easily pick up bits of knowledge changing in how they can be accurately focused on and pulled from the walkways and into your booth. When you are clear and done about the profile of your objective participant, this would help you to proceed forward to pull meet, and wowing these prospects amid a show and helps you stand out of the crowd. Step 3: Select the ideal Booth size: Is greater in every case really best? No, not actually!! With the thought of choosing the corner place, you will have to consider the objective number of prospects and the bearing which will help you to bear the one that will have on the size of your group needs to accomplish your objectives and goals. Consider what's happening in the stall, are people giving your business good introductions? What amount of room does that require? To what extent is every introduction? What number of salesmen and care staff will be required in such a situation? In this case, you may probably consider the storage room, the desired hardware, and other gathering rooms. Answering all these questions together will help you decide the perfect size of the booth which meets all your needs. Conclusion These are the 3 most important steps while planning to exhibit your brand at the trade show. These steps will help you to walk as per your planned strategies, get a buyer person for your brand and choose the place with utmost convenience to make your brand sales come out with flying colors.


text: To be in shape and be ready for any test, Spider-Man must constantly train and hone their skills. You will help him to spend one of the workouts where you have to beat five rail stacked in a pile. You must press the space bar when the power level reaches the maximum.


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This year, I am celebrating an extra special Ganesh Chaturthi.
Why? Because I am finally an Engineer.
Many might question the significance of it. Especially since in India, being an Engineer is considered nothing sort of insignificant these days – so much so that every year we see 1.5 million Engineering students passing out! But hey, this year's 1.5 million sees me being a part of it.
It feels overwhelmingly auspicious. This day, this Ganesh Chaturthi day, I imagine myself on a line that is fine, thin and stretches for kilometres. I stand right on its edge. Behind me looms my four years of hard work. Four years of Engineering. Four years of working towards one of the things I adore the most – technology. And damn it! It has been a fun ride.
In a complete contrast to the misty past at my back, I see a clear and crisp future waiting for me. It is new, it is crazy and it is different. An unusual experience sings my name. It actively looks for me, trying to identify me from a crowd of 1.5 million fellow Engineers. And I feel it my purpose to wave back cheerfully.
I step across the line, finally entering a new chapter in my storybook. But guess what? This time, I am not alone.
I see Lord Ganesh accompanying me. I see him descending off his mount. I see him approach me, acknowledge me and together, we jump across the line. And as we do so, I hear voices. Loud voices of people praying and cheering in his glory. I hear them enjoying the Chaturthi festival with full pomp. I see their enthusiasm and I see their devotion. I see their love for not only Lord Ganesh but also for each other. I feel the festive atmosphere.
And I pray with them, with a renewed sense of purpose. In spite of being a little less religious all my life, today I find myself in awe of Lord Ganesh. And I bow to him.
My college years bid me farewell. But at the same time, a new phase of my life beckons. And this, kids, is where life really begins.
It is going to be a bumpy one, Kunal, so sit back, relax and enjoy it!
I write this post to wish everyone a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi! Hope you have a fantastic weekend!
As always, if any of it made you smile, laugh, frown or giggle like a little baby, comment share and like! To be up-to-date with my other posts, give a like to my Facebook page and follow on Twitter if you use it! Any images used are either taken from Google Images, from my own personal collection or some other sources (which will be mentioned if and when, unless stated otherwise). Contact me if you want it removed.


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One of my worst injuries as an athlete was pulled muscles in the groin (groan!) area! It is impossible to sprint, cut and explode the way you need to during practice or games when the groin area is hurt. Prevention is best when it comes to injuries. Trust me, it can take a long time for your groin area to heal!
You need to keep the groin area flexible and you will help prevent painful, nagging injuries. The groin flexibility test will measure the flexibility in the adductors.
1. Sit on the floor with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and legs together.
2. Let your knees drop sideways as far as possible keeping your feet together. The soles of your feet should be together.
3. Grab your feet and pull your ankles as close to your body as possible. Measure the distance from your heels to your groin. Record the results.
Groin Flexibility Test Results
Poor - 25 cm
Fair - 20 cm
Good - 15 cm
Very good - 10 cm
Excellent - 5 cm
Good stretches for the groin area are lateral lunges, seated butterfly stretch, kneeling hip flexor/groin stretch and static standing adductor stretch.
Stretch that groin area every day and prevent the pain and injuries!
Be sure and download your Free Bodyweight 500 Metabolic Fat Burner Program and start shaping your body faster!
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
Your Fitness University
My Fitness Hut
Her Fitness Hut
Sports Fitness Hut
Rapid Fat Loss and Six Pack Abs
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Groin Flexibility Test
Posted by Mark Dilworth at 1:18 PM
I am a Lifestyle Weight Management Specialist. Since 2006, I have been the owner of Her Fitness Hut, My Fitness Hut, Sports Fitness Hut and Your Fitness University. I have helped thousands transform their bodies to lean with lasting weight loss.
I encourage clients and readers to make lifestyle changes that lead to better long-term health, which includes acceptable body fat and your ideal body weight. I do not recommend fad diets, quick weight loss gimmicks, starvation diets, weight loss pills, fat burner supplements and the like.
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Thanks to everyone who entered my little giveaway.
Here are the three lucky winners of a JoyPatch "In The Bag" pattern.
Congratulations to ...................
I've sent you 3 lovely ladies an email ... as soon as I've got your snail mail addies I'll pop your pattern in the mail for you.


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I designed this simple flash app to help myself learn the Japanese Kana. Choose either Hiragana or Katakana. Type out the Romanji associated with the Kana displayed and press enter. When an incorrect answer is made, the correct answer is shown in red. Press enter to continue. Once you've mastered a set of characters, new…
Connect 3D
Basics: Tic Tac Toe with three players and inside a 3x3x3 cube. Goal: Make three in any row, column, or diagonal. Best out of 9 games wins. Controls: Play against three humans by selecting the little yellow stick figure. To play against a computer, select E, N, or H for Easy, Normal, or Hard respectively….


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Flora Balance
Flora Balance is a unique pro-biotic containing a remarkable bacillus, bacillus laterosporus BOD which was discovered in a pristine area of Iceland in the 1980's. Flora Balance has been used successfully to control pathogens including candida albicans, to normalize the digestive system eliminating constipation and diarrhea, and in alleviating the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Health organizations including the Candida Research and Information Foundation have given Flora Balance glowing reports based on trials.
Flora-Balance Ingredients:
Bacillus Laterosporus (BOD strain), a viable microorganism. 350mg veggie caps.
Suggested Use:
Adults: 2 capsules per day, best taken first thing in the morning. When symptoms diminish, reduce to 1 capsule for proper maintenance. Children: One capsule as described above. For liquid/topical usage capsule may be opened and contents dissolved in water.
Disclaimer: The product descriptions and the statements on this page are from manufacturers and/or distributors and have not been evaluated by VitaSprings or the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. VitaSprings does not imply any medical claims from the customer reviews on this Flora Balance product on this website.
Disclaimer: Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.
Statements made, or products sold through this website,
have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Read more.
Copyright ©2001-2019 VitaSprings.com Online Store - All Rights Reserved.


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I know what you're thinking…
Peanut Butter in Rice?
Peanut butter isn't just for a PB&J sandwich. You can use it in delicious savory dishes too! You can find savory dishes containing nut butter in cuisines ranging from African to Thai. Two of my favorite savory dishes include Chicken Satay (peanut) and hummus (sesame).
One of my favorite recipes using peanut butter comes from Animal Kingdom Lodge's Boma restaurant. Boma is an African inspired restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner at Walt Disney World. Whenever my family and I visit WDW, we try to eat at this restaurant at least once. We enjoy it that much.
If you haven't already noticed, I'm craving Disney foods lately. I love that Disney offers something other than just fried foods on a stick. Disney has something for everyone. My husband and I are going on an adults only vacation while my children spend some quality time with their grandmother. I can't wait…….
Over the past few days, I've been pulling out my recipes card and books in a search for comfort Disney food. Today, it's an African inspired rice with chicken breast and fresh snow peas. The star of this dish is this African Peanut Butter Rice. It has a mild peanut taste with a touch of spice from the cayenne and sweetness from the brown sugar. My children devour it! It's flavor is similar to a Thai Peanut Sauce. I hope you'll love it as much as we do. For the chicken, I seasoned it with a little salt, pepper, and Chinese Five Spice. Nothing fancy, but still delicious. Then I completed the meal with fresh snow peas.
3 cups Brown Rice, cooked
5 tablespoons Peanut Butter
1 Tablespoon Tahini (Sesame Seed Paste)
3/4 cup Coconut Milk
3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
1/4 teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/2 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
Cayenne pepper, to taste ( I usually put 2-3 dashes)
1 Tablespoon dried Parsley
3 Tablespoons chopped peanuts, optional for garnish
- Cook the rice according to directions.
- In a medium-sized pot, combine all the ingredients, except rice and parsley. Mix well until smooth and it starts to simmer. Simmer 4-5 minutes, stirring often, until sauce thickens slightly. Mix in parsley.
- Mix the hot rice into the peanut butter sauce. Transfer to a large pot/bowl if needed. Serve immediately. You can garnish with chopped peanuts.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'earth' tag.
I can't believe this is the last night.
The last night to sit here at this computer and tell you stories about the day's outdoor adventures.
How quickly a year passes!
One minute you're dancing around a bonfire mouthing the words "I'm going to go outside every day for 365 days and write a blog every day about what happens!" and the next minute you're sitting weepy-eyed at your computer thinking back on the entire year.
I don't even know how to adequately wrap it up into a nice little package. How to end it. How to thank all of you readers enough. I don't even know how I'm going to get up tomorrow and not have one to three hours of outdoor commitment and blogging. It's going to be a new doorway, a new chapter in life. And it's hard…because this chapter has been so precious.
A friend asked: What did you learn this year? How has your outdoor commitment changed you?
This is a hard question to answer. I will try my best to answer it here.
I learned that succeeding in a commitment involves something stronger than one's thoughts and feelings. Our thoughts and feelings are like weather. One minute we want to do something; the next minute we don't. If we want to succeed in a commitment, we must follow something deeper and stronger than our surface thoughts and emotions. In my case, I challenged myself to go outside everyday. Since that wasn't the easiest or more natural path (although during the warm months I already probably went outside as much or more than most people) I linked it to something I loved–blogging. When you want to change a behavior, connect it to something you love. It will help you. Also, for me, publically announcing this intent proved paramount. There was no way I could go back on my commitment after all you folks knew about it!
I learned how to see better this year through the lens of the camera. To capture the miracles of nature, to see deeper, to view wider vistas. The camera has become a second eye, always sweeping the landscape, always searching for new and interesting sights. Before this year, I belittled the camera. (Oh, shame, Kathy!) Belittled folks who would spend hours hidden behind the camera lens instead of experiencing the world directly. (Beware what you scorn! You, too, may be soon be in the same position.) I am wondering what this next week will bring. Will I drop the camera, forget about it, return to pre-photography days? Or will it stay a second eye, a second skin, another way of viewing the world?
The two biggest challenges proved: 1) going outside and staying outside when I didn't want to be outside and 2) relaxing enough to be confident that there would be something to write about each evening. My husband writes a weekly column for the local newspaper. He struggles to come up with enough inspiration to write something every week; he said he can't imagine how one could write something every day for a year. It WAS challenging. But, funny thing, something always presented itself. Something always came forth. So often I would empty my mind and sit at the computer and simply watch something larger than myself writing the story. Even on the one day when nothing came to mind (and no photographs presented themselves) a story came forth about not having anything to write. It was amazing!
The most amazing thing, to me, has been the support and love of friends and family. (Darn, crying again…) You readers have enriched my life so very much. I can't even begin to thank you enough for stopping by, for commenting, for sending emails, for cheerleading. For the family members with whom we have deepened our love and connection, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have also made friends across the world, special friends who send Christmas cards and books and emails and other gifts. You don't know how much your simple presence and accompaniment has meant. YOU are all so special and unique and wonderful….thank you from my whole being.
Here's a quick story (see! I'm having trouble finishing today's blog) to illustrate something that I've learned this year. Today I walked through deep snow down to the bay. On the way back, two choices presented themselves. Either I walk the "easy" way along the established path…or wade down to a little creek, jump across, and view the back of the pond.
Most of me wanted to just continue on the easy path, but it looked like there were new and interesting places to explore on the other side of the creek. So I slid down the snowy hill and leapt across the creek.
That is my wish for all of you: when faced with the easy paths, choose to jump across more creeks. Choose to try something a little difficult, to venture off the beaten path, to risk getting your feet wet. You can do it. And your rewards will be…more than you ever suspected.
If I decide to start another blog, I will link it on this WordPress page. Blessings to all of you as we approach the Winter Solstice tomorrow. May you feel inspired to listen to the Earth's teachings. Thank you again for everything you have contributed to the outdoor commitment. One person doesn't make a commitment alone–we are all enriched by the support of our family and friends.
Day 364 of the outdoor commitment.
Question to various relatives: which blogs did you like best?
Various relatives: Oh no! Which ones…? We don't know. Ummm, let us think. We'll get back to you.
Tonight's entry involves reporting to you all the answers thus far received. We'll start with my husband, Barry. He voted for every single "action" blog. He liked the outdoor adventures where we did things together, where we explored Baraga County and the surrounding area (he loved Duluth back in July!) This commitment has really been precious because we spent so much time together in the Great Outdoors, visiting places we have ignored in the past 20-30 years since we became so "busy" with everyday life.
His votes: The Slate Quarry blog (also known as The blog has had a big day today), Backwoods Adventure to the "Million Dollar railroad" and all the fishing adventures including Hey I caught a fish! (Please click on any of the links to view the old posts.)
Christopher, our son, voted for the crazed robin blogs, the ones where they pecked incessantly at our windows for months, including Crazed robin and stalking the first wildflower and The danger of philandering husbands. He also liked This blog is going to the dogs where those neighborhood dogs hounded in on my walk. And, finally, his sociologist side really enjoyed Horizon Envy, written in late November.
Kiah, our daughter, liked the very first Solstice blog (because she was there when we lit the bonfire and stated our yearly intentions!) She also voted for all the travel blogs, which included trips to New York City (see 5/19-5/22 including Opening the door, going down 15 floors in the elevator, saying goodbye to the doorman and walking outside, Fort Myers Beach, Florida, Duluth, my hometown of Yale, Georgia and San Diego. Did I remember them all? Another favorite of hers: What is nature anyway? (I liked that, too.)
My parents didn't want to list any particular blogs but my mom wrote this: " My favorite blogs were all of them that had you with family members across the nation and the related pictures. A snapshot (pun) look back at your blogs in general is a kaleidoscope of exceptionally beautiful pictures which run through my mind all the time!"
My mother-in-law liked the Duluth series (7/12 – 7/14 including "We go Duluth" and Duluth: Take Two. You may not want to swim there quite yet) She also really liked the Pow Wow blogs If you listen to the Pow Wow drums you will never be the same and Farewell Pow Wow. Until next year. She (and Kiah) also voted for the more recent one about the Santas and Snowmen: Dear Kids, The Santas and Snowmen opened the door and walked outside!
And now, you might be wondering which blogs I liked. Oh, that is a dangerous question. A very dangerous question indeed. How can a mother choose one child over another? How can we choose one blog over another? Each was special in its own way. Some caused laughter, some caused tears. Some proved easy to write; others hard. They were all so unique.
Nonetheless, because this blog has forced me to review many of the 365 days…I will offer you a FEW of my favorite ones. (All you other blogs, please do not pout. I love you, too.)
OK, here's my secret. I have a special fondness for the philosophical/spiritual blogs. The ones that perhaps questioned a little deeper. The ones which prodded below the surface a little bit. Such as Asking nature for advice and What is beautiful and what is not? However, having stated that, the one that made me laugh for days and days was: Let the Vegetables Speak! I laughed so hard about that one that Barry thought I was perhaps a little loco…
And then there was the blog Three gunshots at dawn which stirred my heart with its simplicity, making me want to write simple blogs from that day forward. (Which probably didn't happen again.) And then there was Skin which seemed to elicit a visceral sense of connection with tree bark. But I think my all-time favorite may have been the sweat lodge blog: Sweat lodge memories: fire, rock, lodge, medicine.
Phew! This was a LOT of work looking for these old blogs, copying, pasting, hyperlinking. I really could keep adding more and more. But now I'm all weepy-eyed and nostalgic and already missing this most incredible year. And it's not over until tomorrow… Sniff…
I suppose you've all figured out I'm crazy about numbers. Stats. Useful information. It's kind of an obsession, as I explained to a friend this morning.
We've covered the top search engine terms people have used to find this blog. Now let's look at the top blogs during the 365 day outdoor commitment. (Although, it seems to me that these top blog numbers are not really accurate. If someone logs on to a blog and simply scrolls down the page without clicking on the actual title of the blog or the comments, no "hit" is registered in the statistics of a particular blog.)
#1 is Some Like It Funny and Some Like It Serious (1,247 hits) and #3 is Repeating myself like a broken record, record, record (or CD, CD, CD) (393 hits). Those two don't really "count" as random top blogs because these were the blogs featured on the home page of WordPress.com. The #2 top blog isn't really a blog at all. It's the "About" (612 hits) story which explains what this blog is about.
#4 is Fisher, Pine Marten, Bear and Moose (326 hits) which features photographs by Pam Boppel-Nankervis, a local wildlife biologist. The first photo (up above) was captured by a game camera.
#5 is The gall of that oak tree! That was the exciting day when we discovered that oak trees often grow green balls known as "galls". Very educational…for all of us. Apparently, many, many folks are interested in oak galls. 309 hits for this one.
I am also delighted to tell you that I discovered one of the dead birds hidden within this blog! At least part of a dead bird. The above raven's claw was featured in a post called Dead raven, deer hide, river and stones back in March. Perhaps all the people searching for "dead bird" end up on this post. It has had 284 hits.
#7 in the greatest hits series (ha ha, Barry made me use this title!) is A sucker for sucker fishing, written in May. I'm sure many fishermen have visited this post, wanting to know the secret for catching suckers. Bet they left not knowing much more than when they started. Here's what I remember about that day: throw the fishing pole into the water and wait until the sucker bites. Then jerk the pole up and hope that the hook caught the sucker. End of my knowledge of sucker fishing. 237 hits here.
#8 An all-time favorite of blog visitors has been Let's have a scavenger hunt! (235 hits). The idea for it popped into this brain on the way to the mailbox one day and we had a few eager participants. The rules: find some pussy willows, sumac or wintergreen, birchbark, animal scat and an animal. Photograph all five and email 'em to me. Some folks opted to put them in their own blogs. We had so much fun that Amy over at Flandrumhill decided to feature a follow-up contest. Hers was really classy and educational.
(Photo credit for above goes to Pam Boppel-Nankervis. And this was NOT from a game camera. She actually got this close to the fisher. Can you imagine?)
I hope that you don't consider this cheating. Putting in all these old photos and doing wrap ups of the year. The statistics just beg to be included, you understand. Besides, I didn't think you wanted yet another photo of me in that darn snowmobile suit from 1970 filling the wood room. That's what we did again today.
Almost forgot to tell you! More excitement. The temperature leaped back up into the 20's. Once again, we're living in the banana belt…
Just think how many things we don't know about nature.
For example, I just had to Google the Question "Do beavers hibernate?"
You would think someone who lives in the North Woods would know the answer to this question. I thought I knew; maybe, perhaps, yes they do, no they don't, let's just get it over with and Google.
Google pointed its wise finger to several websites which provided the definitive answer: You Silly Questioner. Of course beavers do not hibernate. Don't you know they eat the inner bark of trees during the winter? Don't you know that because the surface of their ponds may freeze solid, making it difficult to get trees, the beaver will chew down extra ones for an underwater food cache located near the den or lodge? Don't you know that?
So now you're wondering about otter, I suppose. You want to know if otter hibernate. I am here to tell you "Facts you Otter Know". They are definitively active all year-round. Cold weather does not inhibit their behavior. In fact the author of the hyperlinked article insists that the otter loves ice and snow. You otter know that.
Bears hibernate. You knew that, right? Well, I am going to rock your world view, because some scientists disagree that bears actually hibernate in the same way as other animals. That's because they wake up frequently and their metabolism does not slow to nearly the same degree as, say, a possum or badger. Why some mama bears even give birth during the winter, requiring a degree of alertness to care for the new cubs. These scientists prefer to call this behavior denning rather than hibernating. (It IS amazing what a Google search will teach you.)
Another source just revealed that bears and raccoons torpor during the winter. This source said that the raccoons sometimes go out to hunt before returning to their torpor-like state. My husband can verify that. He caught a big lake trout ice fishing and was saving the carcass in the snow and the raccoons stole it in the winter.
Here is a partial list of animals hibernating around here this very minute according to wisegeek: chipmunks, ground squirrels (I beg to differ. A red squirrel climbed the exterior wall, sat on the window and peered inside while I 'denned' at the computer this afternoon), hamsters (not any hamsters in these woods unless they escaped from someone's house), skunks, bats, and badgers.
Let us not forget our non-mammal friends, either. The snakes that scared you last summer are sound asleep in a coma-like hibernation. When we bring in our wood from the wood pile to wood room, we find shedded snake skins everywhere. Sometimes we hang them up for decorations in the wood room. I kid you not. Back to our hibernation discussion. Here are some more non-mammals: lizards, frogs, toads, turtles and bees are all hibernating.
One bird, the Western Poor Will, is considered a hibernating bird. I can tell you what birds do NOT hibernate. The chickadees, nuthatches, finches, blue jays, woodpeckers and juncos have all been seen near the bird feeder already this winter. They are hard to photograph. They flutter and swoop and dive so quickly all you can capture is a blurry whirr of wings.
The chickadees at Catherine's house yesterday were more relaxed. You can see the non-hibernating bird here:
Oh yes. I would also like to add that I did not hibernate today. Barry had to go to the Trading Post, so I hitched a ride. Then he dropped me off about a mile or more from our house and I walked home. It was cold, but not freezing cold. Snowy, but not too snowy. The only non-hibernating animals spotted were ravens lunching on a deer carcass. (I decided to spare you the deer carcass photo.)
Dear Friends, Black Friday has come and (almost) gone. We've all decided to give natural items for the holiday this year, haven't we? Especially for our virtual friends. Because most of us only know each other in cyber-realms, we shall have to exchange cyber-gifts. This avoids the prohibitive cost of mailing. Please sit down at your computer and prepare to open your gift. I suppose you can have more than one. You don't even have to wait for the holidays. Please be considerate of the other cyber-recipients, though.
I shopped for gifts for all of you today. Oh my, there are too many of you to name with insulting at least dozens of you. But I am going to throw out some names at the top of my head. (All of the names not mentioned are at the bottom of my head, which doesn't mean I love you less, it just means that for some reason you were waiting patiently at the bottom of the head and didn't funnel out first.)
So here are gifts for the Susans, Cindy, Gerry, the Amys, Joanne, Dale, Kiah, Christopher, Craig, the many Jessicas, fountainpen, Gigi, Sybil, Emma, Julia, Pamela, Sandy, Christine, Carla, the Dawns, Deborah, Jen, Karen, Melinda, Catherine, Yellow Bells, Christie, Scot, Tim, Mom, Dad, Georgia Mom, Patty, Sonya, Kim, Janet, Laurie, Raven, H. Forward, Mrs. Uhdd, Reggie, Maunderer, Kath, Bree, Nature Loving Super Mama, Iris, Tina, Doris, Margo, Nancy…AND IF I'VE MISSED ANYONE ELSE WHO WANTS A PRESENT PLEASE GIVE A HOLLER AND YOU CAN CLAIM YOUR VIRTUAL GIFT TOO! (oh and all you unknown blog readers…please…take a gift. I am so thankful for all of you for stopping to read, even though we might never even have "officially" met in this virtual or earthly world.)
Of course this was all Sahlah's idea. As I posted yesterday, she got the brilliant idea that we should shop for rocks and feathers and twigs and such on Black Friday for all our blog readers.
If we meet face-to-face on the street I will give you a real rock. I swear it. I will carry around that basket of stones in my car until the Solstice. However, I'm afraid that there's only a handful of you within shouting distance. So the rest of you must be satisfied with virtual gifts. As we've only had virtual acquaintance, I'm sure you won't be dismayed or disappointed.
These are some of my prized possessions and gifts from the woods. But I'm willing to give them away to you in spirit, because I know you will honor them. You readers, I can tell, share a deep love for the earth, for the blessings of the land, for the abundance which surrounds us everywhere.
Rocks, feathers, pieces of woods, antlers, sticks.
As precious as Nintendos, computers (hmmm?), cell phones, iPods?
In the above virtual stone gift you could have one rock or both. It's up to you. It's kind of hard to separate them in the virtual world, though.
OK, tomorrow I really do have to hit a few stores for a few small gifts. I'm not a big shopper. (Can you tell? Maybe I could just shop virtually from now on. Tell the relatives, "Just log in on-line and you can see a picture of my gift for you." Hmmm, wonder how far that one would go?)
Hope all of the rest of you had fun on your Black Friday shopping. Enjoy your gifts! 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving all you blog readers!
Even if you don't celebrate thanksgiving, I am thankful for YOU.
Today (besides being the once or twice a year our mostly-vegetarian lips touch meat…that's if you don't count fish) we ate Thomas Turkey. He tasted quite good. Baked to that fall-apart perfection. Add some mashed potatoes, gravy and homemade stuffing and you've got a dinner to be grateful for. We said our words of thanks. I read a poem by Rafael Jesus Gonzalez entitled Grace. We included our family and friends, near and far, into the heart of our prayers. We ate.
It was snowing this morning. A very light snow, dusting the ground and then melting into it. Flakes danced from the sky and melted in odd patterns everywhere.
I was truly fascinated with the way the snow melted on the car. How interesting! What loops, what hieroglyphs, what symmetry! One has a lot to be grateful for when the snow melting on one's car is more entertaining than a movie or a Macy's parade, don't you think?
Barry put up the bird feeder a couple days ago. We've been waiting breathlessly for the arrival of the chickadees and nuthatches. They have been calling and chirping all around us in the past few days. They kept singing, "Where is our bird feeder? Where is our bird feeder?" but when we finally put it up, they were nowhere around. Until this afternoon when we put the turkey in the oven. Then there were a dozen of them pecking away in the feeder. I was too busy to photograph their majesties.
Excuse the insertion of this green moss photo. It was taken yesterday, before the world turned white. Isn't it a stunning color of bright green against the autumn leaves?
Another interjection: Remember when I told you about the NaNoWriMo commitment of writing a 50,000 page novel during the month of November? How many of you placed bets it couldn't be done? Well, I am here to tell you that 51,214 words have been sprawled across 96 pages and I now have the official "prize". You want to know what the prize is? I will upload it for you:
However, of course, the novel is not done. Nowhere near done. The characters are still deep involved in their drama, romance and historical fiction. Who knows when it will be finished. This month? Next? I do vow to finish it. Some of the writing is so raw I'm sure you could scrub countertops with it (ha ha, how's that for a metaphor?) but other passages are almost…almost…fairly decent. The editor would have to utilize an eraser and thesaurus before anyone could ever read it.
Just wanted to let you know the status of this secondary commitment. Which didn't really interfere with the outdoor commitment at all, did it?
What else can I tell you about this Thanksgiving night? How about the bald eagle which landed in the tree over the garage and sat there a long time? Barry said he's seen it there two or three times lately. I tried to grab the camera and capture his majestic wings in flight but he flapped away with his broad wingsweep the very moment the front door opened. Like all good trackers, I followed him up the road. He landed in a tree. I approached; he flew away. I shook my head and wandered back home, photographing ice crystals instead.
As for the front porch: oh my! Very dangerous. An unsuspecting walker, say, someone with birdseed in his hands, could take a sliding dive on the icy steps. Luckily, we maintained our wits. We walked oh-so-carefully. No one tumbled. No one fell.
We were truly thankful as we said our Thanksgiving prayer this year.
Sending you all Thanksgiving blessings, as well.
****Darn! Darn! I almost forgot to tell you THE MOST IMPORTANT THING. Phew. Memory is not always the best. Dawn, Sahlah, had a great suggestion for Black Friday. I will paste her idea here:
I have an idea – we can all give virtual rocks/feathers/twigs/puddles whatever to each other in our blogs!
We could spend Black Friday searching for those "just right" images…
So that's going to be MY Black Friday shopping. I'm going to officially shop for rocks. And a few other goodies from the woods. Virtual presents for all of YOU!
With bowed heads we remember
the sweet-shining sun under which the turkey strutted
all bold and daring,
the mud puddle where the pig wallowed,
the dark smell of the chicken barn,
the honking of geese.
We give thanks for the loamy earth where grew
that fat potato, the golden orange of sweet potato marrow,
the rooted slender carrots,
the curve of deep green beans.
Our heart remembers the moon which gives itself to wane and wax,
the roaring of tides in and out,
the ripening of acorns on the mighty oak,
the fierce red cranberries in the bog.
The yeast that bubbles water and hearty flour
into something new, something crusty, something tangled
with sweet butter and honey.
We give thanks for pumpkins and apples and walnuts and
maple syrup, drizzled from tree to plate.
Oh Thanksgiving table born of earth and sky,
this day our hearts open to kneel
on a horizon of thanks.
You feed us.
May we remember you this day as we
P.S. oh I better tell you what I did outside today. Walked up the road in the drizzling rain and down the road in the drizzling rain. Later stood in the drizzling rain helping Barry with his garage-addition project. Yep, that was it for the outdoor adventures today.
So the airplane lands and you drive almost two hours home. You're tired. You sing to yourself to stay awake. You put the radio on…loud. You roll down the window. You put toothpicks in your eyelids to keep your eyes open. (Well, maybe not that extreme…)
You pull in the driveway about 11:15 p.m. You hug your husband, exchange a few stories and drop dead-asleep into a nice warm cozy bed.
At 6:30 in the blessed a.m. he says, "Time to get up!" and you open one eye. In California it's 3:30 a.m. But then you suppose this means that on California time you went to bed at 8:30 p.m. so you get up without too much fuss. You drink coffee. You prepare to go to work, thanking all the stars in the Universe that you don't have to leave immediately.
You look outside. It's beautiful. The world has been painted frost-white overnight. You put on your warm winter coat wondering how this happened…yesterday morning in San Diego it was in the 50's. Now it's way below freezing. You feel your Upper Peninsula stamina returning.
You breathe the fresh morning frosty air. You admire that the garden has been rototilled in your absence. Now it is ready for spring planting, after the next six months of snow and ice and freezing cold.
You wander around in the dawn, half-asleep. You wonder at how quickly worlds can change. Yesterday you were someplace else. Another landscape informed your life. Today you are awake in another place on the great earth. Are we the same people we were yesterday? Will we be the same person tomorrow? Take another sip of coffee and ponder that.
You're starting to wake up because it's so cold. You're starting to think about all the work you need to do, both at home and work. Traveling is a delight, but then there is that catching-up time. You have so much to do. But you won't think about any of it, not yet. You'll just let the camera look around at the frost for five more minutes.
Finally you drive to work. You are not thinking about hunting season. Not thinking about the many hunters seeking deer in the woods. Not thinking at all. You are driving along, when suddenly, there is A Sign. You can't believe it! Look at that sign!
First thought: How terrible. How awful. All the berry pickers (meaning people from not around here) are going to have hurt feelings.
Second thought: Hey, am I still a berry picker? (only been here 30 years, you never know.)
Third thought: Wonder what kind of pain a person would be in to make that kind of sign?
Fourth, fifth, sixth thoughts, etc: Maybe it's a joke. Maybe "BerriPicker" is the name of a person and it's a big joke Maybe a drunk kid did this. Maybe some "Berry Picker" was acting stupid in a local bar and looking down at folks.
Maybe, maybe, maybe.
The mind can really tell a lot of stories. You could tell 1,000,000 stories about why the person wrote the sign. You could make it a good story, a bad story, a tragic story, a funny story, anything. You could make it have a good ending or bad ending. It could be just about anything. I think the sign maker and the outsider ended up having a beer at the local tavern. Six months later the sign maker moved away to live someplace else and learned what it was to be an outsider. The berry picker moved here. Everyone lived happily ever after.
How's that for my story tonight? Can any of us ever know the truth? Anyone have any stories of your own?
Have you looked, really looked, at the sky above you lately?
How marvelously the clouds dance against the sky, changing colors, opening up, obscuring the heavens, then teasing you with flashes of sunlight?
I have not stopped to truly fall in love with the sky until today. On Day #320 of the outdoor adventure. Three hundred twenty days of opening the door, walking outside, and I have not fallen head-over-heels in love with the sky until now.
Of course, I've noticed the sky. Everyone notices the sky. But it's so often the earth that demands our attention. The little things, the unusual prizes, the flowers, the leaves, the dogs, the snow. The Beings of the Earth.
Today the Beings of the Sky tapped my shoulder and said, "Hey! Look up!" and I did.
What an amazing world exists above our heads. Cloud-creatures sway and form and dissolve everywhere. You can lay on your back against the earth and watch the ever-changing cloud-creatures. I remember doing this for the first time at age eight. I saw our recently dead wire-haired terrier named Buttons in the clouds. Even though he had choked on a fish bone and died, he was somehow floating in the clouds. You couldn't convince me otherwise.
Earlier this year I discovered the sky in ponds and mud puddles. That was a revelation. It had never truly occurred to me before that mud puddles could reflect the sky so beautifully. (And I am not the only one! One of my good friends, an earth-lover extraordinaire recently confessed that she had not noticed that before either.) However, do you think I raised my eyes to the sky above and stood enraptured at the clouds and blue? No. I was only enraptured with the reflection.
Today I was enraptured with the Real Thing. The sky itself.
This morning I left for Houghton about 8:30 a.m. Spent a good hour or longer in the coffee shop writing on the laptop, aka Miss Ellie. Then headed off to recycle and shop. Felt a strong prompting to phone my nephew Doug who is attending Michigan Technological University. Would he like to join his aunt for lunch? I really didn't expect to get a reply, imagining how busy a college student might be.
Yet, miracle of miracles, he had seventy-five free minutes. Could I pick him up down by the library? Yes. We ate Chinese at the Ming Buffet, catching up on everything.
Afterward we agreed to meet again, hopefully before the holidays. I then phoned my son in California (yes, the same son I'm going to visit in one week) who has the flu. Yes, probably the dreaded swine variety. Half of our county has the flu. For the first time in our memory they've closed all of the county schools until Monday.
Driving home, I suddenly felt achy. Oh no, was I about to join the swine numbers?
I forced myself to stop the car behind the Pow Wow grounds and wander in the 37 degree temperatures, breathing deep the fresh air.
That's when I noticed the Sky.
Who knows if it was the Sky? But suddenly all my aches and pains disappeared. I felt energized and exuberant and totally in love with clouds and sunlight and blue sky.
Things are looking up.
Perhaps other flu victims should spend some time with their heads in the clouds. Just a half hour a day should do. The best medicine on earth! Or, rather, in the sky… What if doctors prescribed, "Take two half hour doses of the Sky for two weeks" instead of antibiotics. Wouldn't that be novel?
Today rain wept from the leaden sky. Rain pounded sideways, drenching. The great Lake Superior roared. Waves splashed with fury against the rocks along the Keweenaw Bay. A walker needed to step oh-so-carefully on slippery rocks. Place feet consciously, pause, take step, place foot again. It was a treacherous rain-sodden walk.
Sweat lodge memories have been nudging the back of my mind recently, memories kindled a couple of decades ago. When I was invited to attend sweat lodges with local Anishinabe people here in the Upper Peninsula. It's a long story which involved a lot of strange dreaming in my life. At one point I dreamed a voice said, "I want you to learn about the Native American people." The story took a lot of twists and turns but eventually I was invited to attend sweat lodges and ceremonies. This lasted about seven years back in the '80's and '90's.
The first time I entered the lodge and sat in the darkened womb of Mother Earth, I almost wept. It was a feeling of remembrance, of returning, of being completely safe, of being held in the embrace of an ancient culture and spirit. Something deep in my soul remembered this sacred ceremony. It was a ceremony of prayer, of steam, of connection with the Infinite. It helped me to remember who I was in a deeper sense than just a little white girl who only understood white culture. It was as if the spirit of my great-great grandmother from a native tribe in New York whispered in my ear, "Wake up, Kathy, and learn to be truly alive."
In the following years I probably attended two or three dozen lodges (a handful of these were conducted by respectful non-natives). Hot lodges, cool lodges, challenging lodges, easy lodges. They were all deep ceremonies of prayer and healing. We witnessed prayers come true, healings happen, mystical occurences, quiet prayers, deep connections. I cannot share what happens in lodges, because I promised to keep that sacred, but each experience offered a spiritual gift to the participants. Some of the gifts involved learning how to grow up, learning how to let go of ego's relentless attachments (um, still working on that!) and learning how to surrender. It was like the church of my childhood in many ways, although in other ways in was very different.
Three people died in a sweat lodge in Arizona recently. My heart breaks thinking about this. Immediately I imagined that lodge, imagined the heat, imagined the suffering. So many of us want to know more…how could this happen? You feel perhaps the terror and disorientation of the weakened fasting participants and your heart clenches in sorrow. I, too, have fasted before a sweat lodge. This feels very close to the marrow.
And yet, another feeling also comes in. Some people hear of this horrific incident and condemn all sweat lodges. Thinking perhaps they shouldn't exist; not understanding. Not understanding the sacred nature of this, a ceremony which has existed for hundreds or thousands of years. Perhaps thinking of limiting or restricting the ceremony. And that also makes me sad.
I think of how all religious and spiritual ceremonies and groups and churches can be fraught with challenges, how good-meaning folks can screw up, how some folk aren't perhaps so well-meaning. How we need to be alert and aware with both our mind and our heart. How we must be careful. How we must listen to our deepest heart. There are no easy answers.
Today I stood in the pouring rain, stared out over a churning lake, and thought about fire, rock, lodge and medicine. Said a prayer for the people who died. Said another prayer for the sacred sweat lodge. Asked permission of the ancestors to write this blog. The rocks said, "yes."


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Sunday, January 25, 2009
illustration friday - 'climbing'
I have always loved collage from the 'old school cut and paste' style to the 'scan it all in and mess around for hours in photoshop' variety. I have recently fallen in love with it again after stumbling upon a crate of photographs, filled with all sorts of images from our travels. My husband is the photographer in the family and this series is dedicated to him, for always inspiring me. I have posted this first one for Illustration Friday and the rest of the series will be on my blog.
Posted by Paula Mills at 8:58 PM
Labels: climbing, collage, illustration, illustration friday
9 comments:
- aeneadellaluna said...
I love the textures/patterns in here :) lovely
- January 25, 2009 at 9:45 PM
- shaky mouse said...
nice use of typography too..
- January 25, 2009 at 11:01 PM
- Kris-Tea said...
Very good work.. Fantastic mixed of colours and pics :)
- January 25, 2009 at 11:28 PM
- Nicola said...
As always, beautiful work!
- January 26, 2009 at 3:38 AM
great collage!
- January 26, 2009 at 3:52 AM
- Ulla said...
- January 26, 2009 at 3:53 AM
Nicely done, great texture, and I love the antique look to it.
- January 28, 2009 at 3:59 AM
- get zapped said...
So full and balanced. Great sentiment.
- January 28, 2009 at 7:59 AM
- Laura said...
I like the texture/comp.
- January 29, 2009 at 1:47 PM
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Jean-Marc Bustamante
"My work makes it possible to open up spaces that are traditionally inaccessible, to work in boundary areas, to explore spatial as well as psychological limits," says the renowned French artist Jean-Marc Bustamante (b. 1952) to describe his oeuvre consisting of photography, painting, sculpture and installations. Bustamante first became known with his series "Tableaux" (1977–1982), large-format colour photographs of new developments in the suburbs of Barcelona, empty building sites, fences and leftover building materials – a landscape in the process of change. The landscape is the central protagonist in the Paris-based artist's large-format mural reliefs ("Paysages" ["Landscapes"]) and in the works in which he experiments with the lightness and translucency of plexiglas, such as the group entitled "Panoramas". In 2002, Bustamante contributed to the Montblanc Art Bags series with "Untitled", a work that displays the artist's minimalist form language.


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Well done to all the clever crafty Elves who have been busy in our workshop ... another year of handmade goodness to gift and share with family and friends.
Thank you for keeping company through the year ... our workshop may have been quiet at times but it only takes one handmade gift to put a smile on a loved ones face xx
Time has been hard to find this year to be creative but I did manage another dish cloth and christmas ornament for our patchwork group's gift swap .. of course I forgot to take a photo in my rush to get them wrapped. If cooking counts, or perhaps the decorating after, then I was busy yesterday baking these treats for our family Christmas get together this weekend.


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There was not an exact match for the language you toggled to. You have been redirected to the nearest matching page within this section.
Head to the mountain pastures and visit Hatlingsetra, Steinkjer's only operational mountain farm. The summer mountain farm enjoys an idyllic location overlooking Hatlingsetra lake (Stood, Steinkjer).
Season: July to mid August.
Mountain farm advantures
We are operational from July to mid August every year and the mountain farm is open to visitors Sundays during the season, when we serve good food made from local and own produce (eg sour cream porridge and "black kettle" coffee).
As a visiting summer mountain farm, we can offer good atmosphere with pail milking of cows, separation of milk the old way and close contact with cats, cows, rabbits, horses, lambs and chickens. We have a children's corner on the meadow with a sandpit, swing, mini farm house and own specially made wooden dairy cow.
We can organise your party to your specifications. We offer good food using local ingredients served in an old-fashioned notched mountain farm building with crackling log fire. We have space for 50 people indoors and during good weather, the coffee can be enjoyed outdoors on the mountain farm embankment. We, of course, serve "black kettle" coffe, the world's best coffee!
Entertainment for your party
Hatlingsetra Setra Knort and separatorkompani can provide entertainment for your party, if desired. Prizewinners at the revue festival in Høylandet in 2009. We can arrange accordion music, if that is your wish. Hatlinsetra KoS comprise of Grete Volan and Lars Hatlingsetra and they write lyrics, compose and perform mostly self-produced material. The company was initially founded to entertain the mountain farm guests, but they also take also external commissions.
Hatlingstra is a member of Norges Midtpunkt SA.


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Ok, we have another little foray into the wider world of art for you tonight. Specifically, I wanted to bring your attention to an extraordinary work of art which I chanced across last year but which I was unable to fit into the blog; I'd like to put that right now. The art in question is a sculpture produced by British artist Jamie McCartney and entitled 'The Great Wall of Vagina'. Intriguing, yes? Well, let me explain more.
The Great Wall of Vagina is an exploration of women's relationships with their genitals. The concept grew from an original piece called Design A Vagina, which was a single panel of 40 vulva plaster casts made in 2008. McCartney realised that the sculpture would need to be much bigger to have the impact he wanted and since then the work has grown to epic proportions; with the final piece now comprising 400 casts arranged in 10 panels of 40.
McCartney states that the impetus to create the piece was the realisation that many women have anxiety about their genital appearance. He says;
"It appalled me that our society has created yet one more way to make women feel bad about themselves. I decided that I was uniquely placed to do something about it."
McCartney hopes this sculpture will help to combat the exponential rise, seen in recent years, of cosmetic labial surgeries. This worrying trend to create 'perfect' vaginas is the Western equivalent of female genital mutilation and sets a worrying precedent for future generations of women. This work of art counters this desire for 'homogyny' and demonstrates powerfully that vulvas and labia are as different as faces. The realisation of this fact frees us up to appreciate each for its unique intrinsic beauty and leads us away from the misguided notion that one is better than another.
Included in the piece are identical twins (pictured above), mothers and daughters, and examples of male to female and female to male transsexuals. Ages range from 18 year old students to a grandmother of 76. McCartney wanted to include as many possibilities as he could.
The completed work of art is certainly compelling, impressive and, undeniably, beautiful. Perhaps surprisingly, 400 vulva casts arranged in this manner is in no way pornographic, as it might have been if photographs had been used. In conversation with my feminist friend Selina (whom I use as a sounding board of current feminist orthodox opinion) we both agreed that the piece is fascinatingly and provocatively tactile, inducing the desire to touch as well as stare, but is firmly, perhaps paradoxically, non-sexual. McCartney hopes that, through this piece, for the first time many women they will be able to see their own genitals in relation to other women's, and doing so, they may dispel many misconceptions they may have been carrying about what women look like 'down there'.
McCartney is currently seeking women from every country in the world to volunteer to have their vulva cast for a sculpture celebrating the women of the world. If you are from overseas and are representative of the ethnicity of that area and are traveling to the UK this year then he asks that you please get in touch with him if you would like to be involved.
Alternatively, you may be interested in becoming involved in the work of FORWARD (Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development). This is an African Diaspora women-led, UK-registered campaign and support charity dedicated to advancing and safeguarding the sexual and reproductive health and rights of African girls and women. They work in the UK, Europe and Africa to help change practices and policies that affect access, dignity and wellbeing. They tackle female genital mutilation, child marriage and related rights of girls and young women.
Now, what music to complement this article? I decided to go with some more feminist Euro-punk, always a great favourite with The Streetlamp team (see 'here' for instance). The band in question are a three-piece from Berlin called Ex Best Friends (pictured above) who have several fine songs available as free downloads on their last.fm page. I understand that the band were back in the studio at the end of last year so look out for some new releases soon. The song I've chosen to highlight is the appropriately named 'Don't Try To Talk About Art' and our Ray has put together a wee video for your pleasure featuring samples of the art of feminist collage artist Barbara Kruger, another artist who had lots to say about women's relationship to their body image.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Griff says; It's not vulgar, it's vulva!
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'Peace' in the Nhengatu Native language, spoken in Brazil
'Brasilia' 7/3/12
photo cred: Ueslei Marcelino
Hello there!
It's been a stressful week for us, so I haven't been able
to carve out the time to post much recently. Sorry about that.
Summer is waning. I see yellow leaves on many trees now.
School has started for most of the Colorado schools.
Our neighborhood is quieter now.
Sometimes that's nice.
But I really don't mind the sound of children playing nicely.
illustration by Kate Greenaway
Here is a nice paper doll set of Marisole - a 'sporty girl':
I always hated it when teachers would ask on the first day of school:
"So, what did you do this summer?"
Many times my answer would be:
"I moved".
How can I sum up all the things I did during the summer?
I figured the teachers didn't want to hear:
I spent hours playing with clover, and making clover chains.
My friends and I went to the Lousville Pool and I got planter's warts,
Glenda and I went rolling down the hills of the Southeast Theological Seminary's grounds.
My sister was actually nice to me one day,
and we made 'tea' out of warm water and lemon drops
and had a tea party using the miniature china tea set we had.
Laura and I made gazillions of little bugs and butterflies
and other super fun stuff from our 'goop' maker.
My grandmother made some clothes for my Barbies.
Then she showed me how to do it myself.
Nah, I would have never said any of that.
I mean, really, how embarrassing!
Other kids in my classes would say
"We took a trip to _____________
(fill in the blank with some great sounding destination.)
"We visited my cousins in ___________
(fill in the blank with some great sounding destination.)
You get the idea!!!
vintage ad
let's see what others have been up to this summer!
photo taken November, 2011
George Edwards, a local fisherman and "Nessie" searcher,
took one of the most viable, authentic photos of Nessie to date.
aka....'The Lock Ness Monster'.
so called because it is in the Loch Ness in Great Britain,
along the Great Glen which divides the North of Scotland
from Inverness to Fort William;
and because there have been sightings reported there
for centuries.
You can check out the 'official' web site here:
Iris Folded card of a 'sea monster'
by Debbie Fagin, 2012
I have been able to create several new collage paper paintings.
Here is a sneek peak at a few that I haven't listed yet:
"A Stroll Through Cantebury Park"
original collage paper painting by inkspired
"Marzipan Ballerina"
original collage paper painting by inkspired
made from all recycled junkmail
"Romeo's Stolen Kiss"
original collage paper painting by inkspired
made from all recycled junk mail
(as are all of my paper paintings and Collage Art Dolls)
So, what have YOU been up to?
It's been awhile since I have had any comments on my blog,
why don't you comment, today?
It really is very simple, and you don't have to sign up or anything.
vintage Wee Wisdom magazine cover
Well, it's that time again, when,
after spending an hour and 20 minutes to type and post this simple blog
(gggrrrrrrrr....... boo Yahoo)
(gggrrrrrr.....boo Windows Internet Explorer)
I have to get ready and go run some errands.
The laundromat destroyed one of my Mom's jackets.
It was a very nice memory, and also looked great on me.
The laundromat lady, Mary, has been very sympathetic
and really very nice.
I'm not angry or anything - what would that change?
I'm just sad.
So, here is something to finish up on an upbeat note:
vintage hula dolls for sale at www.dollybemine.etsy.com
Now, who can't smile now?
Let's all feel peaceful today!


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Alessandro Del Piero runs with the ball
|Sun, 8 May 2005
|Preview Image #0000003445
|Date: Sun, 8 May 2005
|Photographer: Fabrizio Forte
Caption: Juventus' striker Alessandro Del Piero runs with the ball during the Italian first division soccer match between AC Milan and Juventus at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, May 8, 2005. Juventus won 1-0.
Event: Italian Soccer Serie A - AC Milan vs. Juventus
Location: Milano / Milano / Italy
File Size: 684.8 KB (1367pixel X 2048pixel)
Copyright © 2019 DIPAG di Guarriello Mirko
All rights reserved. Republication and redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited.
Programming by Mirko Guarriello Sports Photography


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Buy me a coffee to support posts like this.
(Or, you know, a house. If you're just like a bored billionaire or something.)
Sounds like we are on the same page sir - https://twitter.com/jasonbot2000/status/33907342856683520ReplyDelete
(Jason, psssst: I know, totally. In Catalonia, they called it "anarcho-syndicalism", but if I don't come at these things like a child and make the article about a website, then no one will read it. We should be friends.)ReplyDelete
I'd love to see public schools go this route. Along with your list at the top, I don't think families without children or who home school their children should be required to pay for public school. But allow me to donate, and I might. And I see kids having to go door to door selling candy/popcorn/whatever for band or choir or science class trips. But I don't think I've ever seen the sports teams having to do that... Hmm...
As far as political views go, I also find myself leaning heavily towards the Libertarians, but I do have a few issues with them. But check out the Constitution Party. It's size makes Libertarians seem like the big dog, but I like what they have to say.
OH! And I think Kickstarter is how the guys developing Diaspora got their funds.ReplyDelete
Saluton, Matt!
I mixed my ballot between constitution and libertarian in the most recent presidential election.
Mi kredas ke ni estas tre sama.


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Anupam Caterers and Decorators
Our legacy in catering segment is about 50 years. Western caterer was among the first few caterers in Kolkata .It started somewhere in winter 1987 with blessing of former speaker Mr. Somnath Chatterjee . Our mentor was Late Asit lal Mukherjee the founder of western caterer who was among the first caterers in the land Kolkata he had client profile including CM of West Bengal to soltate general . The company has been serving many bureaucrats and many misters. We have been working for many government organizations. We have a well-known structure for wedding segment. We have been maintaining our relations with our clients like they have been a part of our family. We have maintained our versatility as from wedding, durga puja and events. We have a working team which is responsible and reliable. Our experience counts. Our clients are like a family to us. We understand their values and try to improve with every event we make for them. We work for corporate companies as their food sector managers.


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Andrew McNamara was ordered to pay £90K to Tods Murray after bitter 16 year court battle. A millionaire pensioner goes into a final battle this week in a war that has lasted 16 years to try to overturn a ruling that he must pay his former lawyers almost £90,000.
Andy McNamara will try to persuade three judges at the Court of Session that Lord Woolman was wrong to find against him and for Tods Murray in February.
By appealing, and risking landing the substantial legal costs of his adversaries, the final bill for failure could be well into six figures.
McNamara earned his reputation as a difficult client by going to war with many of the lawyers who represented his contracting firm, Arakin Ltd, and became known as 'the client from hell' in the 1990s.
When Tods Murray sued Arakin in 1996 for payment of fees McNamara had demanded should be taxed, he hit back and managed to get more than £100,000 knocked off their time-and-line accounts, embarrassing the firm by obtaining publicity in a national newspaper.
Amongst other cuts he made, the Auditor of the Court of Session reduced by £26,500 a £34,000 photocopying charge, which had been billed at more than £4 a sheet.
McNamara also refused to take Nigel Emslie QC's advice to accept an offer of £175,000 to settle a dispute with his former accountants, McLachlan and Brown, despite Emslie _ then about to become Dean and now the high court judge Lord Emslie _ threatening to withdraw.
Emslie reluctantly continued to represent Arakin and the action finally settled for £1,040,000, almost six times the first offer.
More recently, McNamara became one of eight litigants branded 'vexatious' by the Scottish courts after the Lord Advocate made an application to that effect, largely because of the allegations McNamara made repeatedly about lawyers in open court.
The outstanding litigation between McNamara and Tods Murray should be a matter of simple arithmetic. Tods Murray's fees for professional services to Arakin in the 1990s, and the sums paid to account have been examined by lawyers, accountants, law accountants and several judges.
On one hand, Arakin can show an overpayment of more than £2,000 on total fees of £321,000, after taxation by the Auditor.
On the other, Tods Murray's lawyers show a deficit, accepted by Lord Woolman, by taking into account a sum of about £80,000 in outlays allowed by the Court, as well as interest and an uplift (increase) in fees allowed by the auditor, resulting in a figure of almost £409,600.
Lord Woolman therefore ordered Arakin to pay its former lawyers £86,376.
McNamara's decision to appeal is the result of his conviction that when Tods Murray sued for £204,000 in 1996, and froze £275,000 of Arakin's money to ensure he could defend it, the firm had no right to do so.
At the appeal, McNamara, who represents Arakin in court, will point to rules that govern a solicitor's right to sue a client that say no action should precede taxation of disputed accounts.
He will also argue that his firm had paid Tods Murray considerably more than it had been invoiced for when the writ was lodged.
He will present a document provided by Tods Murray dating back to 1997 in which the firm admits it has always known it was not due £204,000, and a notice to admit, in which Tods Murray acknowledges Arakin had paid £70,817.87 more than sums invoiced for.
He will argue that had all these factors been taken into account, the action would have no basis.
Now aged 70 and trying to live quietly in retirement on Arran with his wife, Janette, McNamara freely admits that if he'd known how long the case would run, and the effect it would have on his health and family life, he would have paid up long ago.
But, after Lord Woolman's opinion, which established that the lack of invoices did not negate Arakin's obligation to pay fees, he felt unable to walk away without trying to land a decisive blow.
Having talked recently of calling time on the dispute whatever the outcome, he now admits: 'I've been looking at possible routes to the Supreme Court and even to Europe.
'I've got total faith in our case, but I've not been given much reason to date to have faith in our justice system.'
His wife has written to the new Lord President, Lord Gill, to say that the current rules covering party litigants like her husband _ who is partially deaf but must address the court without help from his daughter Carol, who assists him _ appear to breach his human rights.
As Lord Justice Clark, Lord Gill chaired a review commission that recommended McKenzie friends be granted rights of audience in the courts. The Scottish parliament passed enabling legislation, but it has not yet been implemented.
Carol McNamara has written to all MSPs to remind them of this point.
At a preliminary hearing last month, three judges, led by Lord Bonomy, agreed that Tods Murray should produce, prior to proof this week, invoices covering the additional outlays allowed by the court, which the law firm says are already lodged in the lengthy process. Mr McNamara maintains those documents have never been entered in the process.
Tods Murray's chairman, Graham Burnside, is relaxed about the outcome. He said: "At every stage of the process we have trusted to the judgement of the courts and on every occasion to date they have found in our favour."
An earlier report on the case can be read HERE and more on the history of Arakin Ltd's dispute with Tods Murray can be found at a website on the case, here : Tods Murray v Arakin


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Oh the exhilarating freedom of homeschooling!! It at times must be the same feeling one has if you were to sky dive. Please somebody let me know because although I won't blink an eyelash as I jump off the homeschool mountain I can assure you that I will not be jumping off a real mountain in the near future. But now let's get back to the important stuff like chocolate.
You see it is my turn to teach class at co-op and this fall semester we are focusing on inventions. I happened to believe that the chocolate bar is a worthy invention that all should know about. Do you know where the cocoa beans comes from? At this point I am assuming that you knew that chocolate starts out as a bean, a bitter one at that. What continent did it travel to in the 1500's and who brought it there? Who was able to get it and in what form? What did Francis Fry have to do with anything? What is the story of competition with Hershey, Godiva, Ghirardelli & Nestle? Most importantly, who makes the best chocolate?? 🙂
Today I search Atlanta for raw or roasted cocoa beans. I thought I had it all taken care of when I thought , "Ah..Dekalb Farmers Market will have it." Good thing I called yesterday, they don't. Well, I least I know where to get the taste samples from!
So there you have it ….chocolate and homeschool, what more do I need?


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Disabled Program: Disability Resources
The Disabled Program lists here media coverage and
links to organizations and related publications
covering online policy issues and disabled communities.
For alerts, media coverage, and publications related
to incidents of online bias, discrimination, or defamation against
the disabled, see the
Disability SWAT Team page.
More general
information about online policy issues is available from the Issues
bar across the top of most pages on this site.
Featured Site: OPG partner CompuMentor has a wealth
of accessbility information on their TechSoup Accessible Technology
page at http://www.techsoup.org/accessible_tech/
Media Coverage
Back to the Disabled Program page.
Organizations and Related Publications
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text:
Older women with heart problems may be at greater risk for mental changes that signal a type of dementia.
It's called vascular dementia, and it's different from the loss of memory and function that happens with Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers measured the brain functions of elderly people over four years. They found heart problems, including atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease and heart failure, nearly doubled a person's risk of developing the mild cognitive impairment linked to vascular dementia.
The link was particularly strong in women.
The study is published in the journal JAMA Neurology.


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Shipping of products is one of the sensitive things to be done, and for this purpose people always want a company which is affordable, and is able to ship their products at the exact time with no damage. Plus they should provide us with many services. As we know that China is an emerging country, and their products are exported all over the world, as its main reason is that China is currently manufacturing every quality of products. SO company owners always want someone who can get their goods shipped with trust and care. One of those companies is FBA Freight Forwarder, and first of all the main reason that why they are so famous in China is due to their Pick up services of goods.
FBA Freight Forwarder
FBA Forwarder only requires the address of the supplier, as they have their own warehouses, and over there are all the goods are inspected before they are ready to be shipped to other parts of the world. And with the address of the supplier, they would also provide the services of picking up of the goods. It does not matter that from which part of China your goods need to be picked up, the picking service cost would be included in the package, which is really affordable for you. Next, comes their shipping services, and for that, they have the best transportation carriers available to get your goods to the desired destination. All the goods are directly being shipped to the warehouse of Amazon, where they are being kept till they are ready to be delivered in the country.
And this would be only possible if the supplier has paid for the customs charges as well, otherwise, the receiver has to personally visit the warehouse of Amazon, and pay all the customs duties, and then receiver it. As for FBA Freight Forwarder, they have a huge warehouse which is situated in Shenzhen, and the goods are safely kept over here for as long as you require them to transport. And the best thing about FBA Forwarder is that they would provide this service for free of cost. As we all know that with the delivery of goods quality matters a lot, even though custom would not allow the damaged goods to be entered in their country. So its simple solution is to get your goods inspected for any defects or damage. This company would provide their basic service for free to check for the damage on the outside of goods. While for further deep inspection they would charge you with a really small amount of $80 a day.
Taobao Agent
Taobao Agent is also another renowned shipping company, which is best for their services. They have many of their service which is available for free, like if you require your own shipping address then all you need to do is to be the member of Taobao Agent which is also another free of cost thing to be done. IF you goods are required to be picked up from different location or stores in chine, then there is nothing to worry about as they provide this service for free. Packing of goods is really an important matter, as this could increase or even decrease the weight of your goods. So Taobao Agent provides this service by the experts, and with no additional charges, to decrease the weight of your goods, and save yourself from additional shipping cost.


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Transplant survivor rides in Rose Parade
Monica O'Brien of Burbank was among 26 organ transplant recipients and donors to ride on the Donate Life float in the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year's Day.
"It's was amazing!" she said. "It was sad and inspiring and so great to be out there with the donors and other recipients. It was an overwhelming experience."
O'Brien was asked to represent Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center on the float, she said. A representative came from each of the 26 transplant centers. And unique this year, one of the float riders was a patient waiting for an organ transplant, she said. Three honorary walkers rode on the float as well.
O'Brien also helped decorate the float titled "Seize the Day." Spearheaded by OneLegacy, the Donate Life Rose Parade float was supported by 120 official partners from across the nation, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, for-profit contributors, transplant centers and transplant recipient organizations. For information about the Donate Life Rose Parade float, visit http://www.donatelifefloat.org.


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March has been very busy at Eliot-Hine! Check out the photos and highlights below:
- Eliot-Hine TV Network interviewed new DCPS Chancellor Antwan Wilson last week! He also met and heard from staff and current students.
- A group of students took a field trip to see Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirschhorn Museum. (A separate blog post on this coming up next week!)
- Eliot-Hine students read Ungifted by Gordon Korman and engaged in a book discussion with Kitty Felde of Book Club for Kids Podcast. Stay tuned for this podcast coming out in May!
- 3 of Eliot-Hine's Ski Team places in their recent competition:
- Malia: 1st place, middle school intermediate division
- Ja'shon: 5th place, middle school intermediate division
- Elizabeth: 8th place, middle school novice
- 5 students compete in the Science Olympiad at American University and place in five different categories they competed in!
- 8th grade students met with their community mentors as they work on their International Baccaleaurate (IB) Community Project. Topics for this year's research projects include raising awareness about the homeless shelters and population in DC, evaluating high school drop out rate and its consequences, how to address bullying in middle school, education reform, etc. Mentors will continue to meet with students until their presentation in late May.
Upcoming Events
- Thursday, March 23: Eliot-Hine STEM Fair Expo, 1-3 PM. This event brings together our students to demonstrate their abilities to create, problem-solve, and innovate in the fields of math and science. You will be able to view: 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Science Fair Projects; 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Math Projects; STEM demos.
- Saturday, April 1st: Pollinator Garden Installation & Enrollment Event, 9 AM – 12 PM.


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A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the TNS Postal Survey which generated a lot of interest, so today I have decided to share my experience of the Ipsos UNEX postal survey with you.
I signed up for this survey last November and completed a training period of 4 weeks before joining the live panel. I have found that it is very similar to the TNS Postal Survey in the sense that it involves sending, receiving and recording mail; it differs, however, in other respects which I will highlight in this post.
UNEX is an international postal survey and involves sending parcels rather than letters. Every week panelists receive a posting pack in the form of a large cardboard box which contains: a posting schedule; pre-stamped parcels to send to other panelists (in my case one for each day of the working week) and a pre-stamped envelope to return any transponders to UNEX. Transponders are small electronic devices that track parcels as they move through the system.
The pre-stamped parcels to send to other panelists include a transponder, a scrunched up sheet of brown paper and a short generic letter explaining that the parcel is a test item. As a panelist you will also receive these parcels and they have to be logged onto UNEX's website upon receipt. I find it quite exciting to receive these just to look at the foreign stamps – some of them are very unusual! The website is extremely efficient and user friendly, it takes about 10 seconds to log a sent or received parcel.
UNEX operate a points based rewards system whereby each letter earns you 10 points for each logged parcel and good performance is rewarded with an extra 30 points per month. The points can be redeemed for gifts or gift cards in a dedicated online shop. I usually wait until I have accumulated 260 points and claim a 20 Euro Amazon gift card.
Whilst I doubt that the rewards are sufficient to cover the costs/hassle if you have to go out of your way to post/receive the parcels, I am sure that anyone who visits (or at least passes by) the Post Office daily and is in a position where parcels can be left in a safe place if necessary, would benefit from this survey. Join here. You can also visit their Facebook page here. If you are a member of this panel already, I would love to hear your experiences of it.


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Today is super hectic but also super exciting for me! The "Sea Change" show is tonight so I have just been putting the finishing touches on all of my artwork that will be in it. Also SUPER EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT! I have completed one of my 2011 goals today by OPENING AN ETSY SHOP!!!!! AHHH!!! This is something I have been wanting to do for a long time so I am so happy I have accomplished this goal. The illustrations currently for sale are the ones that are going in the show tonight which I will post on my blog on Monday. Also I'm selling a set of 5 postcards that are drawings that I did while sitting on bloor and just sketching people. I'm really happy with the way things turned out.
Ans here are my sketches for today. A lot of prancing....:)
Friday, January 21, 2011
Sweet prancing girls
Posted by Alicia Eisen at 1:14 PM
4 comments:
Hey Freckles, thanks for visiting!ReplyDelete
I am so amazed by your gesture drawing! They all tell stories and are so lively! Wow! Love you style to!
I am linking your site on my blog for sure! Hope you will not mind;)
Hi Alicia! Thank you for stopping by my blog and commenting. I love your people sketches, they're very sweet (nice colours too!). Also very cool that you bring your talent to local schools and share your passion for art with others- keep it up!ReplyDelete
Wow! Thanks everyone for the amazing comments!! and Benoit thanks so much for the link! I am beginning to compile a list of blogs for my own link list and I will include yours!ReplyDelete
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Bledsoe Crossover Knee Brace
The Bledsoe Crossover Knee Brace is designed for very mild meniscal and/or collateral injuries. Patients with minor knee ligament strains and stretches or meniscal damage can benefit from added support to prevent more serious injury.
- Customized support with its 17″ Spacermesh or Neoprene sleeve with four straps allowing greater leverage.
- Alternative strapping techniques for more customized support.
- Cool, breathable Spacermesh provides alternative for patients with neoprene or latex allergies.
- Easily adjustable hinges for ideal anatomical placement.
- Available in Short and Standard lengths.
- Available in Standard Neoprene for compression, warmth and durability.
- Pull-Up available with or without patella buttress.
- Front Closure available only without patella buttress.
- For mild sprains of the medial or lateral collateral ligaments, mild injuries of the menisci, or mild injuries to the patella.
- Available in wrap around front closure style for easier application and adjustable tension.
- Available in black only.