TimeToShine

He Dreamed of Flying

2011-11-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Tug on anything in the universe.....

There's a quote like that; tug on anything in the universe and you find it is connected to everything else...

So feel this; I write about dad and his coal mine days unbeknown to my sister who resides 6,000 miles away in the old country.. And 'out of the blue' she "decides" she wants/needs to go check out that piece of history. I open her email this morning, begin to read.. and; like a hand arresting me in the dark..., I am suddenly breathless, choked, feeling dad, feeling that young man who dreamed of flying up into the wide blue yonder, sent 'down-the-pit'.

Tom scribner statue

Maggi writes:

"I decided I wanted to go check out the place Dad stayed during the war; Tudor Street, with Mrs Proudly, his kind landlady.. I met an older guy across the road who had worked in the mine Dad worked in from 1952 till it closed in 1988. Amazing to learn how it was; he gave me a photograph from the 1940's. Talk about grim, dad must of felt like he'd been sent to hell; four years of 6 day weeks down in that pit, for £3 and a bit. Mum insists Dad used to speak about Hebden Bridge and actually I realized he probably would have cycled here on his days off, as it's about 40 mile north west from Thurnscoe.

Small wonder he looked so grim on his 1945 travel permit card. Went to the museum of national coal mining to find out a bit more about the Bevin Boys.

The pit where he most likely worked was called HICKLETON MAIN, 800ft deep; one of the deepest in Yorkshire and therefore very warm down there; guys used to work virtually naked it was so hot! This neighbour across the street, he showed me the metal chits they used to have to carry, as a check-in/check-out system, so they knew who was down the mine and who was out. Little brass tags with a number on them and with the name of the mine. Apparently when Dad worked there it was owned privately by the landowner of the area; Lord Halifax! That was before coal was nationalised.

Anyway, it made me wonder if that is one of the reasons i was drawn to take a place at Hebden for a while, to connect with this piece of history. Thurnscoe now is a horribly depressed ex-mining town with those working mens clubs and boarded up shops, not dissimilar to Kilsyth. I could imagine for Dad to get out of there in 1947 and move to London and work in Uncle Jimmie's factory, would have been sweet relief in comparison.

Maggi xxx

Oh what shall we do
with this parched Spirit
whose wild beauty was blackened
with fossil fuel?

What shall we say to this wild beauty
this youth
this manhood of Scotland
of England?

What shall we say
to terra firma
We have so pitted and scarred

Deep deep aquifer
May we drink now
of your fountain
May we herald in
together
A Day
that tastes
of Sunshine

300px-Humanitarian_aid_OCPA-2005-10-28-090517a

. The tender kindness of a young solider
raising water to the parched lips of a young girl
in our day and age
in Iraq

MAY ALL BE HEALED, MAY ALL BE FED, MAY ALL BE LOVED

Audio Tour: Robin Hood, Ale & Alley Cats Tour in Nottingham, England

2011-10-21T03:29:00.000-07:00

Audio Tour: Robin Hood, Ale & Alley Cats Tour in Nottingham, England

Fun self-guided walking tour of Nottingham for your iPhone/iPad

Sparkly Shoes, Happy Feet

2011-09-27T22:09:00.000-07:00

Raven, Pine Ridge

18 Votes

So this 3 year old happens to be the same as a million other 3 year olds who light up at the shiny sparkly pretty color shoes... Nothing wrong with that unless the fun shoes are made badly. Vote for the shoes that keep feet as well as kids happy.

http://www.pediped.com/CastingCallGallery.aspx?ShowEntry=5912

Used my last sheet of CRANE PAPER 'Old Money' Cardstock today :(

2011-08-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

A SAD SAD MOMENT: Why oh why did Crane Paper Company discontinue making their exquisite 'Old Money' paper & cardstock, especially since they are the only paper company in the USA licensed to do it?

"Contains Recycled United States Currency" the package declared.

And the 24# paper had a gorgeous 'Old Money' watermark
Everyone I know who knew this paper existed, really appreciated it. But hardly anybody knew about it. Crane discontinued it. When I registered my stunned disbelief, Crane responded apologetically and commented that I seemed to be the only person in the country who cared or noticed.

Where is Stephen Crane when we need him in our Day & Age to "make a Statement";
CRANE PAPER COMPANY HISTORY (from Crane website)

Give Us Liberty

"More than 200 years ago, Stephen Crane decided to make a statement. And it wasn’t with his fashion forward breeches or well-groomed mutton chops. It was, rather, with the name of a paper mill he opened in 1770. He called it the Liberty Paper Mill and, for purveyors of our American heritage, was named so just two years after the British occupied Boston – and just five miles away. A tres bold move, if we do say so ourselves.

Always the extrovert, Stephen, along with friends, family and customers, were Revolution tastemakers, expressing their fiery patriotism whenever the opportunity presented itself (a little event called the Boston Tea Party, if you will).

From Patriotic newspapers to Colonial Currency, Stephen’s 100 percent cotton paper was material of choice for all the Boston activist elite, including one Paul Revere, whose engraved banknotes on Crane paper helped finance the Revolution. He would also pasture his horses at the Liberty Paper Mill – just in case he needed to make a midnight ride (wink, wink). "

http://www.crane.com/about-us/crane-company?RPL

IMAGE from: http://currencycommonsvt.org/2010/08/the-colonial-money-revolution/

Everybody Can Help

2011-06-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

Fruit orchard for Lakota - you vote

2011-05-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

The Natural Homes Appeal:

"You can help.... REALLY, YOU CAN.

Put our story in your blog JUST FOR THE MONTH OF MAY!!!!

so people can find out about our project and vote for us..."

THANK YOU
The Natural Homes Appeal

The Imagine-a-Nation of Lala Child: Wow

2011-04-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala
Wildly Unique Theatrical Series Debuts in Santa Cruz.
Three Plays, Thirty Characters, One Actress
A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala
Wildly Unique Theatrical Series Debuts in Santa Cruz.
A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala
"Wildly Unique Theatrical Series Debuts in Santa Cruz"

Three Plays, Thirty Characters, One Actress

"Spiritual, epic, poetic, deeply profound and fun"

We went to a Preview. Afterwards there was a Q&A. I was still quivering from the performance. She is wholly inside every one of those (30) characters...; you will forget it is one woman..

A transformative one-woman show; series of 3; get a $36 'season pass' at Brown Paper Tickets (Fair Trade) for all 3 shows in May (choose any of 4 dates for each show)

A STAR CALLED LOVE: THE FREEDOM STORIES OF LALA....

Rising Sun Dance Theater

Abraham-Hicks: Feel your way there

2011-04-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Numinous beings in our lexicon

2011-04-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Sharing a moment; little ones (delighting in...) at Abel's wedding..;1980-something??!!

Jewels in our crown

"Robin Hood, Ale & Alley Cats" new iPhone App

2011-03-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

The app works with your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

Robin Hood, Ale, & Alley Cats

...More

iPhone App available through iTunes ($2.99)

http://itunes.apple.com/app/robin-hood-ale-alley-cats/id419595762?mt=8

This Tour orients the visitor at the Robin Hood Statue beneath the Castle Wall. Then hugging castle wall to the oldest Ale House in England. Double back to the historical timber house; cut through to the central Fair Trade Church, across to Flying Horse Walk leading to Old Market Square (renowned stone Lions & 21st century City Centre year-round playground).
Tour winds up at award-winning Alley (cat) Café & Bar.

This audio narrated walking tour comes with a detailed tour route map and powerful navigation features to guide you from one tour sight to the next. Tour sights included in this application are:

* Robin Hood Statue
* Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Pub
* Museum of Nottingham Life
* Timber Frame House circa 1450
* Fair Trade Church Cafe & Shop
* 'Inspired' studio shop
* The Flying Horse Building
* The Council House Lions
* Old Market Square
* Alley (Cat) Café Bar

All the data used in this app is built into the software; hence, no Internet or Data Connection is necessary. The app works offline, so you will not need to pay the costly roaming charges when traveling to foreign cities. The app works with your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The powerful navigation assistance includes:

* Touring route clearly displayed on map.
* Precise turn-by-turn walking directions from one sight to the next.
* The "FindMe" feature displays your exact location, while an auto tracking feature displays your movement on the map, so you always know if you are moving in the right direction (this feature is not supported by the iPod Touch).

Sasha Neese Signed Original Print — 1000 Hummingbirds

2011-03-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

Sasha Neese Signed Original Print — 1000 Hummingbirds

MATRIOT DAY {September 10 is...}

2011-03-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

MATRIOT DAY {September 10 is...}

Just for the record:

City of Santa Cruz Mayor's Proclamation:
http://members.cruzio.com/~egar/artandrev/matriot/proc96_03.pdf

matriot (ma' - tri - at) noun 1: One who

loves his or her country. 2: One who loves
and protects the people of his or her country.
3: One who perceives national defense as
health, education, and shelter of all people
in his or her country. (Orig. FPA, 1991)

"During Desert Storm in 1991, I was sitting at my desk, and heard on the radio that our defense force had invented a missle and named it the 'patriot.' That evening, i invented a word, asking myself what does a matriot look like?"

-Frances Payne Adler

This the Holy Birthing Ground

grelf holds Minnie newborn

When Waters Break
upon the shores
of human high endeavor
A noble birth is re-assured
through clear or stormy weather

Speak from your truth
forbid it not
for that alone will guide us
The birthing of a different way
begins in Truth inside us

The crowning head
we now receive
with infinite attention
rings of empowerment have served
to end this child's detention

Step by step by lucid step
our co-creative urging
No more bereft our circles hail
the sovereign self emerging

May Peace Prevail on Earth we said
into the scenes of war
conscious evolution chooses
visions from our core

Corrina Cop Rain

*~*~*

Centenarian WomenRise Eleanor in Peace Jacket

WOMENRISE FOR GLOBAL PEACE
promoting a new consciousness and standing together as one to proclaim that :

We can live in celebration and respect for all life and all love
The power of our individual choice to be peaceful in our thought, word and deed does change the world
Using compassionate communication, we can promote peace more effectively

www.womenrise.org

Member Benefits | EnOcean Alliance - Membership

2011-02-14T07:21:00.000-08:00

Member Benefits | EnOcean Alliance - Membership

Mayor's Proclamation: February 12: Phenomenal Woman Day in Santa Cruz

2011-02-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

Santa Cruz Lighthouse Bank Community Page

2011-02-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

Santa Cruz Lighthouse Bank Community Page

A Bank, is a Bank, is a Bank?

Not anymore, so choose wisely.

Richard G. Hofstetter, Lighthouse Bank President & CEO, is the featured guest author of this recent issue of Burroughs Financial Report. He discusses points to consider when selecting a new bank or evaluating your current provider. Click here to read the article.

*~*~*

Richard was the first person at Lighthouse Bank I contacted. I wrote to him concerning banks and banking. He didn't know who I was and he wrote a very considered note back, which I greatly appreciated. That was a couple years back. Now with have been banking with Lighthouse for that long and I have the funny feeling that my childhood dream is finally being fulfilled;

I don't know how the heck I even saw this TV commercial, since I grew up in a house without TV but maybe that had something to do with why it left such an impression on me; a TV commercial for a bank who cares. It really got inside me. They made it emotionally like those classic Hovis bread ads (UK from the 70s)..

.. can't find the bank one from back then but they had the bank manager heading down from his house to his bank, greeting everyone as he went, knowing everyone... Cheesy, maybe but I like it!

Over the years I have banked with every small bank that rose in my vicinity (in both UK & US) and it is always worth its weight in gold. In the UK, The People's Bank in East London (cannot find now?) and Ecology Building Society. In Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Community Credit Union (SCCCU started off with deposits in a biscuit tin and now lead the way as best brightest greenest credit unions in the country), Bay Federal (awesome connection with bank manager in River Street branch this past summer as Maggi & I set up the River Prayer Shawl venture), Santa Cruz County Bank (Only The Brave kilts!!), & Lighthouse Bank (1000 Hummingbirds)... Yes, between all the non-profit and micropreneurial ventures, we've been in them all!

We love that Kyle Thiermann launched CLAIM YOUR CHANGE.. it's all about how your banking choices, even if you don't deal in mega bucks, can shape and re-shape our World

NOW WATCH THIS SPACE FOR THE NEXT WAVE OF LOCAL CURRENCY; SANTA CRUZ-BASED
NEW EARTH EXCHANGE

Wear your heart like an emblem

2011-02-01T12:13:00.000-08:00

"Wear You heart like An emblem,
like a banner, like a flower,
Bright on a field of argent,
bright on a field of gold.."
Jehanne Mehta (planet earth treasure)

"It's About The Water"

2011-02-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

Carousel Teeter Totter Heaven

2011-01-31T15:50:00.000-08:00

This rocking on a Teeter table is SO the motion
of a carousel horse. Am I stoked? 
You Bet I am. I LOVE this thing!

Raven on carousel

Why Don't You

2011-01-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

Radiant Muse... in Santa Cruz

2011-01-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

Hummingbird Magic

2011-01-30T14:04:00.001-08:00

Making Peace With The Sugar Cane

2011-01-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

SWEET AS!

"Making Peace With The Sugar Cane

Running Through My Veins"

"Sugar, because of its simpler chemical structure, was once assumed (without scientific research) to raise blood glucose levels more quickly than starch, but results from more than twenty studies demonstrate that sugar and starch cause blood glucose to rise at similar rates." Wiki

TOILET PAPER MADE FROM SUGAR (does not raise glucose levels)

AND:

Making decent business quality Paper for office use

Marriage Basket

2011-01-30T01:03:00.000-08:00

A Marriage Basket is woven with many strands
It takes a thousand hearts and twice as many hands...

Different World

2011-01-30T00:38:00.000-08:00

In a world of broken archetypes and ragged heart-strings
You saw a different world where each their talents brings..."

Traversing Planet Earth

2011-01-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

See You In The Forest
love,
elf

"Long Live The Weeds And the Wilderness Yet.."

2011-01-29T11:21:00.000-08:00

Inversnaid

THIS darksome burn, horseback brown,

His rollrock highroad roaring down,

In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam

Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

Degged with dew, dappled with dew

Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,

Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,

And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,

O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.

February 13: Self-Love Day MAKES V-Day Phenomena*l

2011-01-29T10:55:00.000-08:00

St. Wanda's Day

IS YOURS

~ St Wanda ~

Why?

For the Bright Being

Inside of you and me

Whom we needs must honor

If we would truly open

To a rich-red-hearted

Full-throated

Exquisitely embodied

Valentine's Day

February 13^th

Take this Day

From dawn 'til dusk

To and from your secret bed

To dwell inside your

Ever-spacious heart

See what you find there

And fully embrace it

So that on Valentine's Day

You may turn

With all your self

And all your Will

And say with all your hearts

I love you

I love Me

Come

Come inside……

WANDA

First seen

& acknowledged

Brought forth

& made real

by Britt Aageson

ST WANDA'S DAY

Upheld

& celebrated

By Wo/Men

anima & animus

(PlaNetweavers*)

Everywhere

*Captured on film: PlaNetweavers Treasure Store May Pole

Credits:

Red Balloon Lady is by 'Dryad' erstwhile Gaia/Zaadz friend..; wherefore art Thou Now sweet Dryad??

Wild Red Lady Golden Gate Bridge is Ana, my Axis Dance Teacher

'Reconciliation of the Sexes' by Pamela Matthews of The Grail (Kiwi/NZ/Aotearoa)

WATERSHED WIZARD:Brock Dolman & "Basins of Relations"

2011-01-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

Brock is fun, dynamic, passionate, a total live wire untiring advocate for the water and how we as a species may honor our symbiotic relationship to all our precious, vital, integral, bodies of water, inside and out.

"Basins of Relations" is an absolutely accessible book that invites you to breathe your way back in to the Flow that makes Rivers and down to the sea.

THINK OF YOUR WATERSHED AS A LIFEBOAT YOU SHARE WITH ALL WHO LIVE IN THIS PARTICULAR CATCHMENT REGION

BROCK HAS A CHAPTER IN ALTERNET'S WATER CONSCIOUSNESS book.

AND APPEARS TOO IN THE VIDEO INTRO DIVINE WATER
In Santa Cruz County, Brock was a major presence behind raising funds to put signage throughout the region so that folk would know; entering/leaving which watershed...
Brock signs off variously; "In a Watershed Sign-Age I entrust"..., or;
Mostly Water,
Brock

Brock is director of the Water Institute at the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center.

BUY NOTHING WEEK {Re-Tweet}

2011-01-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

Staff of Lifers opt to observe BUY NOTHING WEEK
Feb 7 to Feb 14

February 7th, 2011:

Good Bye Staff of Life (Water Street)

February 15, 2011

HELLO STAFF OF LIFE1266 Soquel Ave!!!

On February 7th, 2011, the old Staff of Life building will close its doors for the last time.

One week later, on February 15th, the grand new Staff of Life location, directly across the street, will welcome all-comers to enjoy STAFF OF LIFE New Paradigm reality.

So we're having a stock-up-and-BUY-NOTHING-WEEK

(farmer's market excepted : )

Then, we all pile into the new Staff of Life on February 15th and buy up a storm!
PASS IT ON

Santa Cruz Eye Candy

2011-01-23T23:46:00.000-08:00

His latest Guise: "Runneth Over With Cups"

It's the Great Morgani in yet another spectacular costume (busking on Pacific Avenue, always with his piano accordian inside his latest stretchy costume)

Way fun
Every time

Staff of Life buzzz (........on the Mooooooove!!)

2011-01-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

The buzz inside Staff of Life right now is palpable; very exciting. BIG MOVE scheduled for Feb 15th... right across the street (still closely neighboring 24 Hour Fitness, which is a good thing for any Natural Food Store :)

Staff at Staff have been over the road for trainings this week and the word from the shop floor is that the spirit we know and love has been faithfully carried over into the new space.

Perhaps it is part of catching the excitement that I saw Chef Deanna's sweet PT Cruiser out back for the first time this morning...

About Staff of Life

Staff of Life celebrated its 40th Birthday recently. Their history is as colorful as the times that birthed this one-of-kind local grocery store; The Old Days

1000 Hummingbirds "It's About The Water" Concert & Silent Auction

2011-01-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

"It's About The Water" Benefit Concert for
1000 Hummingbirds "All Nations, All Women"for the water

When: Saturday February 12, 2011, 7:00 PM to 10:30PM
Where: Inner Light Sanctuary, Santa Cruz County: Inner Light Ministries, 5630 Soquel Drive, Soquel, CA 95073

Advance Tickets: $20 from In Ticketing ($25 at the door)

If you cannot join us on the day, buy a ticket (tax-deductible donation) for someone who can!

Why we chose In Ticketing for Hummingbird Ticket Sales:

Through ‘In Ticketing’, one tree is planted for each ticket purchased. Tree plantings are sponsored by In Ticketing in collaboration with Trees for the Future. Your trees will be planted in worldwide tree planting projects that help restore devastated forests in developing nations.”

1000 Hummingbirds Concert details

A rocking, pulsing, joyous, empowering, utterly memorable evening; Concert & Auction benefit for the Waters;

Expect to be uplifted, moved, and changed by the astonishing alchemy of these musician-songwriters, medicine women, artists & artisans, drawn to the same stage by 1000 hummingbird vision.

"Here are your waters and your watering place, drink and be whole again beyond confusion" (Robert Frost)

Note: Ticket fee plants a tree!

WATER AT THE EVENT: Please note that water from deep inside Santa Cruz Mountains is being bottled in 5 gallon casks & trucked by our own little hummingbird/mountain dweller, Robin Coyote, to Inner Light for your hydrating delight.

There will be for sale (for fill-up!) a few dozen of our Hummingbird Water Woman blue glass bottles as well as a few dozen utterly delightful ‘Cafe Gratitude’ “What Are You Grateful For” ceramic tumblers. Still, we are expecting 500, and you may wish to come with your own water cup/bottle.
Water fill-ups are free ..
1000 Hummingbirds Concert details

"He Writes The Lessons Of The Heart And Learns Them Well.."

2011-01-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

Then rest in peace

now may you sweetly sleep

for we were tested and did find

our Love run deep

Then come the Winter Solstice

let us now our Vows renew

we enter into marriage

free and true...

CELEBRATING 20 PHENOMENAL YEARS

of bubbles(globes) & stars

2011-01-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

"We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars, the stars form a circle, and in the center we dance." - Rumi

".....Things were brighter here. The cerulean sky was full of stars.
"Look," said Huila.
The stars formed straight lines. Then the lines expanded horizontally and vertically, creating a grid in the sky..
"Look," said Huila.
The stars swelled....formed small globes, a million, ten million brilliant silver globes above and around her...
"What is this?" she asked.
"Isn't it beautiful?" said Huila.
"Yes."
"It is you," Huila said.
"it is you, every possible you..."
(always in a universe of choices..")*

**

A bubble is a membrane,
a thin translucent skin
of swirling curling colors
with something held within

It looks to us as nothing
but if that were the truth
the membrane of the bubble
would straightway pop.. forsooth

Instead the law of levity
gives wings to our puff-prayer;
a bubble pops; we bi-locate
And mingle over there :)
CCR McF

*Huila & Teresita
from:The Hummingbird's Daughter
Luis Alberto Urrea
**{Avebury stone circle}

On being Waaay past the point of "WHELM"

2011-01-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

I am restoring WHELM to my fluid vocabulary; this is my true vernacular

"When I feel overwhelmed, waaay past the point of "whelm," (that's for my buddy Rikk) I go into hiding....." Rickie Byars Beckwith

WHELM
Wow

whelm/(h)welm/
Noun: An act or instance of flowing or heaping up abundantly; a surge.

How come we are so familiar with 'overwhelm' yet are not readily cognizant of the joys of WHELM..; the breathtaking joys of Whelm??!!

This is starting to sound like WOAD and other cool things we forgot....

WOAD BLUE SKY*:"....Your force is great, your power is immense. You only need to wish something and in the next moment it will be brought into reality."

WHELM me;
I want to be utterly whelmed;
“Love informs life = new forms,
Life informs love = new forms
Water informs life = new forms
Life informs water = new forms..”
{ad infinitum... ahhhh yes;
that wonderful Johanna/Corrina mantrasong
from the Ridge!}

WHELM: [Middle English whelmen, to overturn, probably alteration (influenced by helmen, to cover) of whelven, from Old English -hwelfan (as in hwelfan, to cover over).]
vb (tr) Archaic.. with or as if with water
[whelmen to turn over, of uncertain origin]

Wrap me around in my Woad
I'm off to the woods...

Now here, you, this tree;
You can over~whelm me...
Ahhhhhhhh
That's better
Heaps & heaps better :)
*~*~*~

*The Woad Blue Sky
Author: CGriffin
Software: Photoshop

"I am attended by 3 conscious angels, who abide with me always.."

2011-01-05T12:11:00.000-08:00

"how ya'doin' James?"; her tender inquiry as they arrive, sitting together in the Rainbow Garden.

"I am attended by 3 conscious angels who abide with me always; Water, Air & Sunlight." quoth James.

She gasped. It had been all of 20 years since first she happened on those words, and nobody but nobody had ever spoken them back to her. They had stilled her then. They stilled her now.

Findhorn; 1988 or '89 when she found that slim white paperback book in the Findhorn bookstore; The Gospel of Peace of Jesus Christ (Essene); found the text stunning and exquisite in its simplicity; took it off to Randolf's Leap to drink it in.

The words were a portal then. The words are a portal now.

Yes, Yes. It's the truth, she smiled remembering..., breath releases..., and all's right with the world.

What To Do On Mondays

2011-01-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

Growing is Forever from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

DISEASE: More people drop dead from a heart attack at 9:00 AM on Monday morning than at any other time
CAUSE: joyless striving

Down In Yon Forrest ~ Joan Baez

2010-12-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

Joan Baez sings Traditional English Renaissance beautifully...

Darkest Night (willingly beguiled)

2010-12-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

When I embraced my woman

I met my spirit child

She does not feel her life is wrong

Accepts the invite to belong

Is willingly beguiled

By Christmas trees and faerie lights

And stars in moonlit skies

She taps a well of playfulness

Is infinitely wise…

My spirit child

She never left

The shores of fairyland

She never lost her innocence

Walks willingly and hand in hand

With anyone of any creed or hue

And knows her sisters and her brothers

Are not few

But many souls apart

Not strangers of the heart

But healers of the rift

Each soul each birth on Earth

A precious gift

The music box, the music box

It always stirred me so

Silver metal strips that strum

On and on around that drum

On and on it played around

As I looked in from where

O I remember, my heart said

I'm sure I know that air

That air of sweet and crystal clear

Those notes of clean delight

O yes, my spirit child replied

You know that tune alright

For that's the tune our Mother sang

As you skipped by her side

And that's the tune your Father played

And you his pride

And joy

And there you are, my little one

And now you understand

That everything we sent you

was no more than you planned

We sent so many many things

To help your mortal frame to see

We saw you stirred so many times

Only to watch you start and flee

Yet now we know you've heard us

We know you're listening well

With dancing feet and sparkling eyes

You weave the Christmas spell.

CCR McF

*~*~*~*~*~*

"Lavender Beet Kvaas Is the New Wine"

2010-12-18T22:17:00.000-08:00

I do not like the wine she said
I do not like the bread
Give me a glass of beet kvaas
Take back the wheat that turns to lead....

I will always remember Creative Cultures Kelly with her big broad smile, saying as she handed me a glass to try; "This will become your new wine!"

She's right; it's delicate and pleasing, and how very cool that this 'wine' is a liver tonic, among many other beneficial properties. If you're lucky enough to live in Santa Cruz you can sample it at the various farmer's markets. If you're far away, you can make it yourself. There are plenty of beet kvaas how-to YouTube videos.

My peak experience with Lavender beet kvaas this weekend was having a wine glass of kvaas in the late evening along with one small cube of Pacari chocolate bar; single-source Ecuadorian 100% cacao (smooth, accents of flavor,raw and entirely unsweetened). I guess I'm having another one of those amazing Galactic moments...
"The Universe is The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." Eden Phillpotts

Creative Cultures Beet Kvaas now comes in....Lavender!

Kelly's beet kvaas has fresh ginger, kefir whey, unrefined sea salt and a little stevia, as well as Lavender option. This is a connoisseur beet kvaas recipe (deserving wine classification!). You will see from various online demos that you can make beet kvaas from just beets.

Favoritie Poet David Whyte on SOUNDS TRUE: 'Insights at the Edge'

2010-12-17T13:27:00.000-08:00

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge ("beautiful mercies")
Listen to David Whyte sage-in-the-modern-age talking with Tami Simon of Sounds True about originality, being on the frontier of human experience, and 'exile as a core human competency'.

This guy is phenomenal to me. I first encountered him years ago at Natural Products Expo West; a keynote presenter in the early morning breakfast session. Despite the early hour, all seats were full and I slipped into a standing room only scene. The first thing he did in that setting, after reading the very first poem, was to coach us not to clap. David Whyte has a beautiful way of pausing at the end of a poem then repeating the last line or the last verse. That trait, combined with absence of clapping invites something profound to occur; let it in, let it in, let it in.... (I let it in and it reverberated as well it should).

I took this treasure home in the form of a CD and over time we acquired more of his recordings. We listened and listened and listened, as we carefully poured our beeswax candles. We liked to say that the candles we delivered were happily imbued with all that profundity.

"It is difficult to get the news from poems, yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there." William Carlos Williams

David is utterly masterful at getting folk to re-focus in to a broader landscape, so that what is standing in the way of their real life can move to its rightful place in the core hierarchy of needs.

David Whyte's newest offering:

What to Remember When Waking: The Disciplines of Every Day Life.

The PlayPumps Water System

2010-12-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Bought 2 'cargo nets' today.. plus rear folding basket

2010-12-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

So, once upon a time, when I was 18, you could get a little waterproof elasticated cover for your front wicker basket on a bicycle. Now no more. So this is the work-around; you buy a cargo net and it works to hold a waterproof cover over your wicker basket contents on the bike in the rain... The cargo net that has hooks that fit on a wicker basket is by ToPeak:

Then; you've got a back rack on your bike and it has no spring-loaded gripper (like the old days). Delta cargo net is the solution for that conundrum:

And lastly, my back rack is too close to my saddle to mount a milk crate on the back rack so I got a WALD rear folding basket

Am I happy?
You bet.

Stretching Time Like Taffy

2010-12-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

I was going to post days ago. I never got there. Nevertheless, I am fascinated that this concept would not leave me; stretching time like taffy. I know how it arose and I know what it's related to; I was breathing; consciously breathing deeper; that's all. But it was getting to me, in a good way. I would be parking up my bike, putting the lock on, and find myself noticing all around me, especially what trees and plants are doing...., and suddenly the transition moment would s*t*r*e*t*c*h. It's a very cool experience, very trippy, and it's distilling lots of half-remembered wisdom-words about time doesn't exist, and all the ways we know that a minute can take forever or zip.

LAST of the DOGMEN ~ quintessential moment

2010-12-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

Don't watch this if you are intent upon seeing the (1995) movie. I watch this particular moment again and again.
What if something you thought was destroyed and gone forever..something you cherished beyond words...., came back... what then?

Last of the Dogmen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Last of the Dogmen is a 1995 film about the search for and discovery of an
unknown band of Dog Soldiers from a tribe of Cheyenne Indians.
The film stars Tom Berenger and Barbara Hershey with supporting roles by
Parley Baer, Kurtwood Smith, Steve Reevis, Andrew Miller, Eugene Blackbear
and Gregory Scott Cummins.
Last of the Dogmen is written and directed by Tab Murphy.

The setting for the story is northwest Montana, near the Idaho and Canadian
borders; but it was actually shot on locations in Cuernavaca, Mexico;
Banff, Alberta,Canada; Canmore, Alberta, Canada; Kananaskis Country,
Alberta, Canada; Stoney Reservation, Alberta, Canada; and
Yoho National Park, British Columbia.

"Kitchen Farming" epiphany & My Sweet Tooth

2010-12-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

*'Kitchen farming' is a term coined by Terces Engelhart of Cafe Gratitude.

We have been making radical shifts in the kitchen, driven by a bodily condition that demands new input; building good blood for major surgery. We are juicing piles of greens every day, especially fennel, parsley, kale, celery, with ample fresh horseradish, ginger and garlic. The green juice is phenomenal. I can almost hear my cells zinging and have no doubt that my blood is getting richer as it courses through my veins.

Part of the regimen has been to eliminate all grains for the time being (I happen to find surprisingly liberating), and it also requires eschewing all refined foods, which means (the big one); seeking out and experimenting with all manner of sweet alternatives to refined sugar. We both love chocolate and have for years concurred that most 'alternatives' to our favorite chocolate treats in no way rank as acceptable alternatives.

It was right around my birthday when we discovered Cafe Gratitude's Chocolate Mousse. For clear moments we were speechless (with joy!); knowing that every ingredient is something our bodies are more than happy to put to good use, AND.... it tastes like the real McCoy (as my dad would say). This chocolate mousse even has Irish moss in it; Irish moss!! Now that's sweet.

So we got hold of the Cafe Gratitude book, 'I Am Grateful'. We've been making our own chocolate mousse** among other delights, and we are stoked.

Yet, all of this is a process; a lot of work; takes time; a lot of time. Everything takes longer to bring this food to our plates; from juicing veg to soaking nuts to combining tons of 'new' (long-forgotten) ingredients into our daily round.

And here comes Terces of Cafe Gratitude and names it. She calls it 'kitchen farming'* and she delights in it; everything that it takes to make it happen, she delights in it.

Kitchen farming..... it caught me inside, right where I needed catching. The concept is doing the trick. It lifts me from the tricky feelings I have been encountering through this increased 'workload' in the kitchen to a bigger context. I know I am not alone among my women friends, to have experienced going into the kitchen with a willing heart, only to find ourselves depleted and drained before we're done, just as our mothers before us. Over the years this has made me avoid the kitchen, tend towards deli bars, grazing, snacking; anything to eliminate cooking full-on meals in endless rounds.

To relate to what we're doing now as kitchen farming begins to shift a drudgery dynamic passed-down (former slaving over a hot stove!). It actually causes me to remember the whole cycle; what it took to till and plant and grow and bring this awesome array of foods to our kitchens. Now here I am doing the final piece; preparing the feast from great plenty, and I am in awe.

** Note on sweeteners - chocolate mousse recipe in Cafe Gratitude book calls for Agave nectar. The Cafe Gratitude chocolate mousse we purchased in San Francisco was actually sweetened with coconut palm sugar. We guess Cafe Gratitude has made the switch.

We have not been using Agave syrup since we read the 2009 excoriating article in the Townsend Letter so I was curious about this 'coconut palm' sugar source.

Coconut palm sugar is the sap of the coconut palm; low glycemic and high in minerals, making it a good choice for nutritious desserts. You are going to see more natural food manufacturers making the switch in coming months.

You might experiment also in your dessert adventures, with using a little Stevia (then less of whatever other sweetener you are choosing to use). Stevia plant is a great resource but if used as the sole sweetener, will leave you with a weird aftertaste in your mouth.

"Water Is Our Hero...."

2010-12-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

"...documentary film on vitally important, little understood fascinating aspects of water, and at the same time is calling for a new culture that takes water as the paradigm to learn from." from 'Healing Water' re Divine Water Project documentary intro:

Divine Water Trailer with Subtitles from Iain Trousdell on Vimeo.

Ho Ho Ho

2010-12-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

Spake my little Babushka...

With a jolly tummy to rival whatshisname :)

Just like he said...

2010-12-11T09:08:00.000-08:00

The pointless ocean moans on top of each conventional mathematics.

So we'll kindle a beacon on every high mountain...

2010-12-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again....

King Arthur was buried so legends they tell it

Deep under the mountains in days long ago

With twelve faithful knights dress in armour like silver

With their long swords beside them in scabbards of gold

But dying is only a new kind of waking

Or a new kind of sleeping resplendent with dreams

If times they are hard you have only to call me

And you’ll not catch me napping said Arthur the King

So we’ll kindle a beacon on every high mountain

To the sound of our music the valleys shall ring

To waken the sleepers of long-vanished ages

To waken the knights and Brave Arthur the King..

Well the dragon may prowl in the streets of the city

And the world may turn out to be not what it seems

And many-a-job may be lost by tomorrow

And we may be obliged to abandon our dreams

But bring it the Fool with her motley and bells

And remember the minstrels who taught you to sing

And the Quest it begins with the steps of the dance

Won’t you please take your partners said Arthur the King

So we’ll kindle a beacon….

There’s no need to look far to find news of disaster

Of wars and of rumours of gathering gloom

And it’s hard to escape the dead-weight of inertia

As we hear the fraud words of the prophets of doom

But each one is equal around my Round Table

And each has a note and a ribbon to bring

And the quest it begin with the jig and the reel

Won’t you take out your fiddles said Arthur the King

So we’ll kindle a beacon….

There are times when the fog is so thick on the hills

Fell enchantment has settled on river and lake

And the poisons have sunk so far into the earth

That we ask is there anything left there to wake

But bring in the Morris the sword dance the step dance

The music is there and you know how to sing

And the Quest it begins with a song from the heart

Won’t you join in the chorus said Arthur the King:

So we’ll kindle a beacon on every high mountain

To the sound of our music the valleys shall ring

To waken the sleepers of long-vanished ages

To waken the knights and Brave Arthur the King.

Jehanne & Rob Mehta, Green Jack album

"One of those days in England I was saving up to spend...."

2010-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Roy Harper sang that..

And that line was running through me on my first morning in England; a crisp, frosty brilliant blue morning as I shot along Farncombe's little High Street in Surrey to buy ingredients for soup at the Co-op.

Definitely having one of those amazing-to-be-alive-on-planet-earth moments.

Making Peace With Physical Realm Clunkiness

2010-11-20T08:42:00.000-08:00

Our friend broke her neck 8 years ago; one little dive into a swimming pool, misjudged the depth and; ping (not much of a hit she says, more the angle) and she lay at the bottom of the pool unable to move...

{I cannot continue with my story without mentioning here that our friend did not drown because there was a woman sitting on the side of the pool who had had a premonition that she would be at a scene such as this and therefore her responses were lightening-fast. She retrieved the prone body from the bottom of the pool and knew exactly how to handle her to prevent further injury... How's that for a terrible/tremendous moment in time?)

Anyway, early on in her new-capacity 'quadriplegic' body our friend learned the hard way that caregivers get burnt out fast if she says "Can you just...." a hundred times during their shift. She actually found an article coaching paralyzed persons to find other ways to make their Ask than to be constantly saying can you just (do this, do that..). A hundred 'justs' are not JUST anymore. She got it.

She's black belt aikido, so perhaps better equipped to engage with dynamics that would whither lesser beings..; we think so; we say, we couldn't work with just any quadriplegic... Appreciative is her default.

Nevertheless, caregiver-burnout junctions arise and I am not immune. I had one just recently but this time, it came with a big life insight that she and I then both shared; an unforgettable tender arriving.

I realized that the edge I hit sometimes whilst working with our friend for a length of days, is succinctly, the edge that is wont to wear me down me in 'normal' waking reality;

What it takes to accomplish something on the physical plane sometimes can be exasperating even infuriating; how laborious, how tedious, how long coming to fruition stuff seems at times to be.....

THIS is exactly the edge that comes into stark relief betimes when working with a human form that must ask for every shift and adjustment, for every measure of slight or light relief, for every nuance of stance and settle.., besides a 100 tasks that are not directly doable to the one who desires to have them done.

I am still integrating my new perception. There was an energy release for me just to make this connection, and, it must be said, a profound acknowledgment of the same from our wise friend who inhabits the body that is compelled to Ask.

Magnificently clunky is all I can say (because bottom line is, I do love it here... :)

On drinking "Oat Straw Tea"

2010-11-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

Oat Straw Tea is on our super-nutrition 'list', compiled by local wizard, Craig Lane. We're busy attempting to get more blood and oxygen into the fine capillaries of disintegrating femur bones. We may or may not be heading into a full hip replacement. Either way, being in optimum health is advised and micro-nutrients is a key component.

Oat Straw Tea; just Google it. Properties are blow-you-away amazing. And since we're not exactly tea-drinkers, we're using it in scrambled eggs, soups.. Whatever; just get it down you! Good for:

bones
teeth
lungs
nervous system (tonic)
circulatory system
etc etc etc...

Then I happened upon blog post that Oat Straw was Harold's tea-of-choice in Harold & Maude movie. That was a cool piece of trivia since I had just learned that Harold And Maude was THE most favorite movie of all time at Santa Cruz Nickelodeon (independent movie theatre); back by popular demand more times than they can count and always played to full house.

Get Rad! (what makes you come alive...?)

2010-11-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

-Howard Thurman

("get rad" was snapped at Santa Cruz Lighthouse Point. It's a surfer dude's car or a surfer-dude-watcher!)

1000 HUMMINGBIRD T-SHIRTS ~ in stock now

2010-11-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

1000 Hummingbirds eco-tees

Various sizes in the following color/style/design combos are currently in stock:

Color: Red / Style "OR428" /Design: "Bright August Joy"

Color: "eco-blue" / Style "AA1973" / non-sweatshop tee

Color: "eco-blue" / Style: "AA1973" / Design: "Hummingbird Water Woman"

Color: "eco-red" / Style: "AA1973" / Design: "Bright August Joy"

Color: "eco-green" / Style: "AA1973" /Design: "Bright August Joy"

ORDERING YOUR HUMMINGBIRD T-SHIRT {PayPal transaction}

"who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes"

2010-11-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Carl Jung said that.

One amongst us has passed on. One amongst us has Passed from this Realm. We are bereft. We are swept up... in the whole gestalt of our interwoven lives together, which spans all the way back to teenage beginnings.

Tears flow. It is the essential nature of grief; tears come in waves. I am not above or beyond this 'undoing', unraveling. Unraveling I am.

Yet what is being unraveled is knots. I am cognizant of this even as I am inconsolable in real-time. The one who has left, so to speak, is emerging more accessible, not less; accessible through the breath. Pure access.

"Please call me by my true names,
So that I might here all my cries and my laughter at once,
So I can see that my joy and pain are one..."

(Thich Nhat Hanh)

That was one 'download-delivery' during our grief;
And another was Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah;
one of your favourites..

Now every word feels poignant:

"..There's a blaze of light in every word

It doesn't matter which you heard

The holy or the broken Hallelujah..

..I did my best, it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch

I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you

And even though it all went wrong

I'll stand before the Lord of Song

With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.."

And finally

brilliantly

woven in..

The Smith's 'I know it's over';

Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head (I know it's over...)

Pronoia strikes again

2010-11-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

'Pronoia'; how the Universe is conspiring to shower you with blessings... Thank You Rob Brezsny for this invaluable reminder. Today I feel totally & utterly showered that way

"Utah" Phillips Tribute

2008-06-01T16:24:00.001-07:00

PANGEA Phenomenon Rocks the World

2008-05-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

"An incredibly inspiring event!! It brought me both tears of joy and sadness on several occasions. Best four hours spent in front of the television EVER!"

Zaadz Became Gaia (and we survived)

2008-05-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

My Gaia Online Community Blog:
Gaiadotcom began life as "Zaadz" which is Dutch for seeds. Zaadz had quickly developed into the most profound online community I participated in. When Gaiam bought Zaadz last year we (bonded online friends) were concerned they would use our goodwill for commercial gain(!) but they are proving good stewards of a precious space.

700 Eco-Porta Potties in Glastonbury!!

2008-05-23T20:48:00.001-07:00

Australian eco-porta potty wizard, Hamish Skermer, has just landed in England to oversee the installation of 700 eco-porta potties at Glastonbury Music Festival: A First! The MOST!!(that England has ever seen). Hamish is there by invitation because he has proved it's possible in the most extreme conditions (blistering sun, 1000s of people, days on end.. He ranks as a hero in my book. NATURAL EVENT: "Changing the World From the Bottom Up"

"We're Ready" One Minute Shift (IONS Winner)

2008-05-22T16:15:00.001-07:00

This video, produced by 13-year-old Shannon Leonard and his friends for the IONS "One Minute Shift http://www.noetic.org/emails/SIA/oms/email.htm, expresses a heartfelt call from youth who are ready to make the change to living more sustainably. They pointedly ask if we’re ready to do the same.

What is "Noetic"?

The word "noetic" comes from the ancient Greek nous, for which there is no exact equivalent in English. It refers to "inner knowing," a kind of intuitive consciousness—direct and immediate access to knowledge beyond what is available to our normal senses and the power of reason.

What are 'Noetic Sciences'?
Noetic sciences are explorations into the nature and potentials of consciousness using multiple ways of knowing—including intuition, feeling, reason, and the senses. Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world.

The institute explores consciousness from three perspectives:

(1) First-person perspective — Supporting individuals exploring and developing their own subjective consciousness (e.g., meditation and other spiritual practices). Emphasis on inner knowing and personal transformation.

(2) Second-person perspective — Exploring and supporting transformative relationships and intersubjective consciousness (e.g., compassionate dialogue, community building, a global wisdom society). Emphasis on transformative learning and collective wisdom.

(3) Third-person perspective — Gathering data about objective physiological correlates of consciousness (e.g., research using rigorous scientific protocols, including experiments in psi, mind-body healing, and subtle energies). Emphasis on scientific understanding.

The Institute is not a spiritual association, political-action group, or a single-cause institute. Rather, we honor open-minded approaches and multiple ways of knowing, bring discernment to our work, and support diversity of perspectives on social and scientific matters.

We are a nonprofit membership organization located in Northern California that conducts and sponsors leading-edge research into the potentials and powers of consciousness—including perceptions, beliefs, attention, intention, and intuition. The Institute explores phenomena that do not necessarily fit conventional scientific models, while maintaining a commitment to scientific rigor.

How IONS Came To Be
The vision for creating the Institute of Noetic Sciences came in 1971. Nations throughout the world had galvanized around the exciting frontier of space exploration. The potential for scientific understanding of our world seemed unlimited to a naval air captain named Edgar Mitchell. He was a pragmatic young test pilot, engineer and scientist; a mission to the moon on Apollo 14 was his "dream come true." Space exploration symbolized for Dr Mitchell what it did for his nation as a whole—technological triumph of historical proportions, unprecedented mastery of the world in which we live, and extraordinary potentials for new discoveries.

But it was the trip home that Mitchell recalls most. Sitting in the cramped cabin of the space capsule, he saw planet Earth floating freely in the vastness of space. He was engulfed by a profound sense of universal connectedness—an epiphany. In Mitchell's own words: "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. . . . The knowledge came to me directly."

Picture of Outer SpaceMitchell faced a critical challenge. As a physical scientist, he had grown accustomed to directing his attention to the objective world "out there." But the experience that came to him in space led him to a startling hypothesis: Perhaps reality is more complex, subtle, and inexorably mysterious than conventional science had led him to believe. Perhaps a deeper understanding of consciousness (inner space) could lead to a new and expanded view of reality in which objective and subjective, outer and inner, are understood as co-equal aspects of the miracle and mystery of being.

After his safe return "home," Mitchell sought out others who likewise felt the need for an expanded, more inclusive view of reality. They resolved to explore the inner world of human experience with the same rigor and critical thinking that made it possible for Apollo 14 to journey to the moon and back. In 1973, this small group of explorers founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences—derived from the Greek word nous, meaning something close to "intuitive ways of knowing." (Dr Mitchell's story is told in the book The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds).

The mission of these noetic scientists was, and has been, to expand our understanding of human possibility by investigating aspects of reality—mind, consciousness, and spirit—that include but go beyond physical phenomena. They seek to seek to understand the inner world as thoroughly as we have the outer world—based on the premise that what finds expression in the world at large is a reflection of our interior landscape. Today, three decades later, the institute carries out its mission as a worldwide research, education, and membership-based organization in Petaluma, California.

Over the years, we have sponsored hundreds of projects, including a comprehensive bibliography on the physical and psychological effects of meditation, an extensive spontaneous remission bibliography, and studies on the efficacy of compassionate intention on healing in AIDS patients (see our Research section for detailed information on our scientific endeavors). Since 1987, the institute has published a magazine (now called Shift: At the Frontiers of Consciousness) that highlights the broad field of noetic sciences also played a key role in the development of the popular Heart of Healing television series and book (shown by Turner Broadcasting in 1993).

In the year 2000, the institute expanded its scope by purchasing 200 acres of land in Northern California for our offices, scientific laboratory, and retreat center. Today we have nearly 30,000 members and close to 300 community groups worldwide. We invite you to join our organization and get involved as we continue to actualize Dr Mitchell's vision of deep exploration of consciousness, self, and society.

MAY BIRTHDAY!!

2008-05-17T13:51:00.003-07:00

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARPER... 2 YEARS OLD,
MAY 11, 2008

Price of Rice Rockets

2008-05-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

New Paper Paradigm

2008-05-14T22:03:00.001-07:00

Crane Paper Company in all its 200 and more years in business, has never used paper for trees. Cotton rags; Yes. Denim rags; Yes. Old dollar bills; Yes!! Trees..... No!

Architect Bill McDonough says: "Imagine this design assignment: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy to make fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, changes color with the seasons and self replicates. Why don’t we knock that down and write on it...?"

The only reason we're still making a ton of paper from trees is that the infrastructure is in place. Otherwise it would make no sense at all.

World Without Oil: We're Still Playing...

2008-05-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

THE FUTURE "Play it – before you live it."℠

"THE END IS NEAR" -'Peak Prophet' snapped this one ($4.68 at the pump)

AND, HERE FOLLOWS.... A COOL FLOWGRAM I MADE (approx 2 mins)
___________________________
"World Without Oil is the first alternate reality game to engage the Internet's collective intelligence and imagination with a real world problem: a global oil shock. The serious game for the public good ran from April 30 to June 1, 2007, and has been hailed as groundbreaking work that uses a new, net-native game storytelling medium to engage mainstream audiences and spark collective learning and action."

The website for World Without Oil (WWO) Alternate Reality Game (ARG) was set to launch on April 30, 2007 with a game "Headline" pretending that gas was heading to $4 gallon. The day before the game launch the San Jose Mercury News headline read: "$4 gallon Looms at the Pump"... Perhaps because the subject was so close to the bone WWO proceeded to draw in an unprecedented number of non-gamers (never before played an ARG).

The newly launched WWO website got 60,000 hits from all over the world. In the end there were 1900 active players, many more 'lurkers' (tracking the game).

The game ended after simulating the first 32 weeks of the oil shock, but its effects continue, as game designers analyze its unique gameplay and we all watch the continuing drama with global oil prices and supply.
________________________________
WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE:
World Without Oil (WWO) has now earned:
Honors for Activism (SXSW) and Games (Webby)
Environmentally Themed Art (01SJ)
Technology in the Service of the Environment (Stockholm Challenge).

Best activism site winners World Without Oil celebrate onstage at SXSW.
http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/03/sxsw-its-the-we.html

On stage at SXSW: That's Ken Eklund, WWO director, & Jane McGonigal (victory arms)
______________________________________________
Jane McGonigal is one of my sheroes:

“Making the world a happier place” : )

March 11, 2008 in activism, conference, game design, world without oil

Tags: avantgame, dan hon, keynote, mcgonigal, six to start, soulja boy

WWO’s own Jane McGonigal delivered the closing keynote at the South By Southwest (SXSW) conference, and her theme was “the future of happiness” featuring of course “games as the ultimate happiness engine.” World Without Oil was a case study in her talk, which may seem odd, as one doesn’t normally associate an oil crisis (real or simulated) with happiness. But as she spelled out in her talk, the latest research on happiness shows otherwise. As Jane aptly put it, “happiness is not (just) a warm puppy”; lasting happiness actually has more to do with doing something worthwhile with people you like, and that’s WWO all over. See Jane’s slideshow (and Soulja Boy dance) via her blog, Avant Game (edit) and a transcript of her talk by ARG mastermind Dan Hon of Six To Start. (photo by Ken Eklund)

http://wwolives.wordpress.com/

Artist's rendering of McGonigal's keynote address at SXSW.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News.com)

| View | Upload your own

Luke Susumu is my Pangea Phenomenon!

2008-05-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Luke & Friends Momoko...

Born in Aylesbury, England, of Scots-Irish and Scandanavian -New Zealand descent, Luke went, when he was barely bi-ped, to be raised in his mother's native land, New Zealand ('Aotearoa': Land of the Long White Cloud), together with his two older brothers.

Today he turns 22 years old, can jest and 'parlay'(!) with his Chinese and Korean friends, besides graduating from his university with a major in Japanese.

But that's not all together why he is a Pangea phenomenon to me: this guy saved his bus money (for launching his dreamed-of Japanese life) by walking the miles to and from uni every day, with his iPod, rain or shine, singing out loud every blessed song that appealed to him; favorites spanning time and place and generation.

Luke baby Mags snuggle

He is not bound by cultural norms, by ageist protocols, nor by some diminishing self-consciousness (in the words of Marianne Williamson: 'who am I to be so brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?' Actually, who are we not to be...?"). Luke Susumu McFarlane gets this home truth.

This guy, whose little smile came into our lives and melted our hearts is the same spirit who, 22 years later, wooes and wows his neighbors, teachers, friends and family only now, it's a big, broad smile and evermore mirth in a trans-continental reality!

That smile...

That smile!

Dear Luke, we (The World!) celebrate you; all that you are and all that you bring, on this 13^th day of May, 2008 ~ your 22^nd Birthday!

This Flowgram is dedicated to you:
http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#4OLLLCR1Y7ESGI

You Rock!

Pangea Day Phenomenon

2008-05-12T10:07:00.001-07:00

"An incredibly inspiring event!! It brought me both tears of joy and sadness on several occasions. Best four hours spent in front of the television EVER!"

Dear Global TED Community,

The above comment is typical of the amazing torrent we've been receiving from all over the world in response to Pangea Day, the TED-backed global film event that broadcast on Saturday. You can read more of the comments below.

But did you see Pangea Day? What was your experience? And what would have made it better? Please write to us: feedback@pangeaday.org. No one has ever put on an event quite like this before, so it's really important to me to hear the collective wisdom of the TED community.

If you missed it, or want to revisit, there's a one-hour highlights package here and all the films can be viewed on the pangeaday.org website. Or check out the LA Times' write-up.

A giant thank you to the many people in the TED community who made this day possible. It's been truly thrilling to see Jehane's TED Prize wish, that seemed so impossible two years ago, turned by you into dazzling reality.

- Chris

Chris Anderson
TED Curator.

Here follows just a small sample of the thousands of comments we've already received.

Barbara A. from Mexico
This has been one of the most inspiring and beautiful events I have ever experienced.
Let's never forget what we all felt and experienced today.

Organizer DR from Dominican Republic
As the only organizer of a public event in the Dominican Republic I was pleased incredibly. The show exceeded my expectations completely...

karima saad from United Kingdom
I am speechless. But i am sure of one thing, that while i was attending Pangea Day in London, those 4 hours were felt as if i was part of the whole world as one community, rather than countries divided by borders.

Cmsilva from Portugal
We joined 45 in a private event in portugal. It was great. Next year we'll be more, for sure.

Carolyn from United States
Thank you for doing this. I laughed, I cried, I was enlightened, I was moved and touched and inspired. I watched almost the whole thing without getting up. Too bad I had to watch it alone...

Marina from Brazil
If I had to express my experience in words, I would not be able to. These were the best movies I have seen as an expression of art. And all the movies combined, just changed my way of thinking....

Marcosncosta from China
Loved the event. Hope next year it can be bigger and better.

Galleher from United States
The Alaskans gathered in Anchorage to be witness to this global campfire were inspired and appreciative

LIDIA from Argentina
I didn't know that Pangea existed. I feel too moved to speak and happy that so many people feel that really all of us are ONE.

Biriscalin from Romania
We all are "Pangea Day". We all represent one earth, one life. Now is time to act !

RicardoSilva from Portugal
I've been using the internet since the 90's, but this is truly the first time that I feel that here, for brief hours, was a global community talking. I hear people from Canada to Pakistan, Shanghai, New Zealand, Chile, Romania...

CassieBrady from United States
I have always dreamed of a united world. I never knew how to act on my dreams, so I am so happy that it is finally happening. Imagine peace. Imagine a global community not separate countries. This is what the world needs.

Jacqui from Jamaica
I wish that this had been a public event here in Jamaica for people from all walks of society to see. It was truly a spectacular event , I sat riveted in front of the television.

Sana from United Arab Emirates
Hugs and love from United Arab Emirates.... It aint little...Its a big start considering we are thousands of miles apart and felt the same last night...

Light Sister from United States
Thank you all so much for this World Consciousness Raising Event. In my 59 plus years of life, I have never felt so hopeful about the direction this world is taking...

Nabeelkarim from Pakistan
There are matters greater than that of political, economical and social nature...they are the environmental and humanitarian ones!!! it is clear that a change is required...and each and every one of us can make a difference.

Marcusmeisel from Austria
Austria says thank you for all this work of love, passion, and devotion that went into realizing this dream come true.

Danna from United States
Pangea Day was an incredibly inspiring event!! It brought me both tears of joy and sadness on several occasions. Best four hours spent in front of the television EVER!

Divamover from United States
Several hours after the "end" of Pangea Day 2008, I am especially moved to see such an outpouring of support and longing from the US. I cannot help but believe that there are many in the US who want a united world...

Umc59 from Canada
i just stumbled onto the last half hour of the pangea day show here in toronto and am sooooo happy i did. i'm 48 yrs old and i got the most wonderful feeling of finally belonging to a community that speaks to me.

Rhea from India
I am 23 years old and I just finished watching the Pangea Day broadcast. it's 4:00 am here and I couldn't go to bed without writing to you and telling you how beautiful, thought provoking it was.

Nabeelkarim from Pakistan
Just for starter...each one of us could just start by helping just one person/or doing something good.....once a day....

IBelieve from Canada
Hello World; What an amazing day! I laughed, shed tears of joy, smiles of love, and tears of compassion.

Sherryl from Australia
A powerful vision and enormous drive has brought Jehane's dream to reality. Confucius c. 500BC said; In his teaching the wise man ...opens the way but does not take them to the place. Pangea Day has opened the way....

Much more feedback here and here.

Pangea Day ~ it's happening now!!

2008-05-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Check out my Pangea Day Flowgram:
http://beta.flowgram.com/f/p.html#KYC15G3ACGNZ6M

(2 films of 24 picked from 2500)
COMBATANTS FOR PEACE

Egypt/United States

In this gripping short documentary, we meet a former Israeli soldier and a former member of the resistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories who have renounced violence to try and find a peaceful solution to conflict through a group called Combatants for Peace. In a meeting of the organization, we see how former enemies who have lost loved ones are able to see past their tragic pasts by focusing on their common humanity.
Website: Combatants for Peace

Jehane Noujaim is the director of, among other films, the award-winning documentaries Control Room and Startup.com. Raised in Cairo, Egypt, she attended Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Visual Arts and Philosophy. She has worked for MTV's News and Documentary Division as a segment producer for the series Unfiltered, and as a director and cinematographer on films such as Born Rich, Only the Strong Survive, and Down from the Mountain. In 2006, Noujaim won the TED Prize, an annual award in which the recipients are granted a wish. Jehane's TED Prize wish – to create a day in which the world comes together through film – was the catalyst for Pangea Day.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

PALE BLUE DOT
United States

In 1990, Carl Sagan persuaded NASA to use the Voyager 1 spacecraft to take a photograph of the planet Earth from a distance of 4 billion miles. The result was simply arresting: a portrait of our home as a tiny, fragile speck of blue adrift in an unimaginably vast sea of space. In a commencement address for the public release of the photograph, astronomer Sagan offered these profound words:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

Intrigued? Inspired? Get involved...

Carl Sagan Foundation
Carl Sagan Homepage
Voyager
NASA
SETI

Heartlines (headlines)

2008-04-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

When the 1000 Hummingbird All Nations Women Ceremony comes around in Spring 2009, remember that we said in April 2008 that it also carried the full vision of Reconciliation of the Sexes.

It is almost 20 years since I first saw New Zealand artist Pamela Matthews 'Reconciliation of the Sexes' painting. http://www.grail.co.nz/

I first saw it on a magazine cover and it so moved me I did not rest until I stood with the artist in her studio. Thus, before I left those shores I got to be with the original painting; acrylic and standing 8 foot high; downloaded into me, literally a transmission of my deep heart dreaming; that there could be such a healing between men and women.

For Pamela, she told me, she painted that painting and her partner found his way to her shortly thereafter. For me the same; my partner found his way to me weeks later. He and I have now been weaving together for 18 years and our love is astonishing in its ever-deepening surging quality.

Now the 1000 Hummingbird ceremony has lit it up all over again. I stand in awe of what is coming.

Bury Me In A Basket

2008-03-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

Bury Me In A Basket

Bury me in a basket
Curled around
A spiral coil
Of gratitude
In the ground

Let me go like compost
Turning to earth
Morph into topsoil
till my worth

Let Earth rejoice
when you lay me to rest
Make me food for the ones
Who gave me their best

CCR McF

"GIVING LIFE BACK TO THE EARTH - natural burial is a new idea - the idea that in choosing how and where we are buried each one of us can conserve, sustain and protect the earth... the earth from which we came and to which we shall return.."

from The Center for Natural Burial website http://www.naturalburial.coop/

And check out recent article posted there "IT'S NOT EASY DYING GREEN": formaldehyde compunds used in embalming, to hardwoods used for caskets, to steel vaults and concrete; being laid in our final resting place has unwittingly become one of our least ecological acts.. http://www.naturalburial.coop/2008/03/31/its-not-easy-dying-green/

It's Not Easy Dying Green is by By Michael McKinney, Fiona Brady and Hilary Dixson http://earthlymatters.hellbenderpress.com/

Kudos to England on this one: leading the way with more than 200 'Woodland Burial' sites that double as conservation/restoration initiatives (ecological intelligence). Once the spirit has flown these precious bodies of ours can be food for trees: “Who wouldn’t prefer feeding English oaks to pushing up daisies?” http://www.igreens.org.uk/woodland_burial.htm

2008-03-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

Now offering fee-based human potential services on Skype:

Human Potential Briefing
Conscious Conception
Cherish the Children
Relationships that Rock

All I Want For Christmas....

2007-10-10T13:30:00.001-07:00

This worry doll Unworry wonderhat was woven for Minnie when she was in utero. It's all woven with her stories/our stories. We dropped it for half a minute on a street in the City of Nottingham, England, turned around and it was GONE. So we're proposing a Nottingham dropspot so you can return it to its mini owner

http://dropspots.org/what-is ~ thanks for making this happen!

Inspired

2007-07-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Inspired to update my blogger blog after reading Naomi's http://www.milkforthemorningcake.blogspot.com/

Since I bloggered-off for over a year and in between found the "zaadz" (Dutch for seeds) blogger community http://timetoshine.zaadz.com/ you haven't heard any of my BIG news which includes the birth of Minnie, to whom I am the Queen Mum, grandmother or, to be precise, "grelf"... so here's some whizzy piccy's to update you on that grand unfolding.

Just back from Florida family reunion and now happily ensconced again with Ninya Minnie and Michael in Nottingham

2015... on a quiet day you can hear her breathing

2006-06-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Beyond the log jam of the fabled 2012 (convergence of prophesies) lies 2013, 2014, 2015..

2015 is already out there, in the wide blue yonder, complete with songbirds and babies, movers and shakers, productive, receptive vibrant elders, wilderness and rivers teeming with life. It's literally breathing; a rise and fall as palpable as our own breath rhythm. We just have to quiet down, tune in and look that way...

.... like the lunar pilots returning from the moon; the sight through the window is awesome.

Under the Prayer flag tree

2006-05-29T08:21:00.000-07:00

Out front of the Dalai Lama's summer palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

Margarine in the butter lamps turned my stomach so I sat instead under the prayer flag tree in the courtyard at the gates. This is where Tibetans have left their prayers for resolution.

Water tornado & Hooping celebrating Life

2006-05-25T23:03:00.000-07:00

First I discovered the water tornado toy, then I discovered hooping. Both have a whole science to back up why they enhance quality of life. Both the water tornado and the hooping is exhilerating. A molded piece of plastic with an internal spiral twist form, this water tornado toy 'spins' your water, restoring original vitality to water that's traveled through straight pipes picking up pollutants. Just google "water tornado" to get this cheap toy that screws together two ordinary water bottles. Love that action!

Hula hoops take an evolutionary leap. I loved this swirling, releasing feeling as soon as I did it. It was fun as a kid, it's just as fun now. www.bettyhoops.com ... Water swirling spinning in a bottle, or my own body spinning swirling in a hoop - Love that action!

All in the Merry month of May...

2006-04-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here's to the day when it is May.
And care as light as a feather,
When your little shoes and my big boots
Go tramping over the heather.~Bliss Carman~

'Twas as welcome to me as flowers in May.~James Howell~

The maple puts her corals on in May.~James Russell Lowell~

Then came fair May, the fairest maid on ground,
Deck'd all with dainties of the season's pride,
And throwing flowers out of her lap around.~Edmund Spenser~

Hail, bounteous May, that doth inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire;
Woods and groves are of thy dressing,
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.~John Milton~

When May, with cowslip-braided locks,
Walks through the land in green attire.~Bayard Taylor~

http://homepages.tesco.net/~derek.berger/holidays/mayday.html

Crop Circles

2006-04-14T16:18:00.000-07:00

"SOMETHING WONDERFUL HAS HAPPENED...BUT IT WAS NOT IN THE NEWS!"

Ian Chistopher founded the Mariposa-Pacific Research Institute in Palo Alto, California to provide important findings to other researchers, authors and speakers. His interest in the Crop Circle Phenomenon prompted Ian to analyze the results obtained from years of investigations and studies of the mysterious formations in England. He wrote, produced and directed this Crop Circle Documentary, "Something Wonderful Has Happened...But It Was Not In The News!" It was a winner in the Santa Cruz Earth Vision Film Festival.

The footage to me is as uplifting as stepping into a newly formed crop circle. I guess the essence is the same.

http://www.film.bc.ca/filmfest/entrants/ianchristopher.htm

Is everything just getting TOO BIG?!

2006-04-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

"The only reason a great many American families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a dollar down and easy weekly payments." ~Mad Magazine

E.F. Schumacher and Stars
“I have no doubt that it is possible to give a new direction to technological development, a direction that shall lead it back to the real needs of man, and that also means; to the actual size of man. Man is small, and, therefore, small is beautiful.”

Churning butter coalescing

2006-03-30T07:24:00.000-08:00

If you've ever hand-churned butter you will know that the cream stays watery thin for what seems like forever. Then, of a sudden, it 'turns' and the butter you dreamed of Happens, just Happens.

We're in this moment in the time continuum where much is coalescing suddenly, very quickly, like someone just walked into the room with a mega-magnet. Breathtaking, effervescent, and it's true: it makes no sense to measure life by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away (apparently Anon)

2006-03-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

Time To Shine (TTS) - links of hope on the planetary grid

"To not allow energy to flow to your desire is a true squandering of life." Abe

The impetus of TTS is perhaps best expressed in the words of conscious evolutionist, Barbara Marx-Hubbard: we're interested in "mapping and tracking everything that's working" and disseminating that in cultural creative hotbeds!

Our lexicon morphs like Tibetan sand paintings but, to give a flavor, currently includes World Pulse Magazine, Water's Miraculous Message, organic cotton, hemp, and beeswax items (fair-made), Profound Fool jewelry, Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children "WarmLine" (for parents) info, Lakota Sister City project.....

We happily shine a light on products that uplift, serve, transform and are gentle to the Earth, and we delight in showcasing purely info-inspirational initiatives too.

The following website was a gift from an inspiree(!) and, though it is not current, certainly captures the spirit of our weaving in the world www.timetoshine.org

Time To Shine ~ because time is of the essence

About your one wild, precious life...

2006-03-29T10:34:00.000-08:00

"What will you do with your one wild, precious life?" Mary Oliver

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her lifetime attempted to impress upon people that the greatest tragedy in human life is for us to be dying filled with sadness that we did not pursue our burning/secret desire. Since she attended countless people in their transition she came to know that this is an all too common life-end experience.
"To not allow energy to flow to your desire is a true squandering of life." Abe

tudortailor.com - for serious Renaissance folk

2006-03-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

Fabulous book "Reconstructing sixteenth-century dress"... includes patterns, graphics, lots of photographs, period paintings and fascinating background information on every aspect of Elizabethan dress for males and females, from highbrow to lowly.

Authors are historical & wedding costumier, Ninya Mikhaila of www.ninyamikhaila.com / www.kissthefrog.co.uk , and former Hamptom Court Palace costumed interpretation manager, Jane Malcolm-Davies. Forward by Susan North, curator of 17th & 18th century fashion at Victoria & Albert Museum in London. A total treat. http://www.tudortailor.com/

Holding on, letting go...

2006-03-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

"These exercises are a pathbreaking approach to the trauma recovery proccess. They are designed to release deep, chronic tension created in the body during trauma. " David Berceli
http://www.traumaprevention.com/

Did TRE for the first time today. I am in awe once again at what we can do toward wholeness. Can't even remember the name of the guy right now but he developed this release technique to help war-torn people in Africa and the Middle East (both sides/any 'side'), and it has proven to be applicable to just about anyone living a life. Works for physical or emotional trauma. It's simple and you don't even have to know what you releasing. You can just experience the release and be glad that you feel clearer, lighter than you did before.

Basically drawing on how a traumatized deer processes: freezes and then goes into involuntary trembling, which is literally the way the muscles 'shake it off'. Humans do this too when nature runs its course (and you may have) but more often than not our naturals instincts are overlaid by cultural patterning.

I'm remembering she said don't be surprised if you have unusual dreams after too, and I can see how that could be since I still feel in a slightly altered states 6 hours after the session.
________________________________________________________
David Berceli, 435 W. Rio Salado Pkwy, #101Tempe, AZ 85281
Tel. 480.452.2055 traps@traumaprevention.com

TimeToShine

He Dreamed of Flying

Tug on anything in the universe.....

Audio Tour: Robin Hood, Ale & Alley Cats Tour in Nottingham, England

Sparkly Shoes, Happy Feet

Used my last sheet of CRANE PAPER 'Old Money' Cardstock today :(

A SAD SAD MOMENT: Why oh why did Crane Paper Company discontinue making their exquisite 'Old Money' paper & cardstock, especially since they are the only paper company in the USA licensed to do it?

Give Us Liberty

Everybody Can Help

Fruit orchard for Lakota - you vote

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A Star Called Love;the Freedom Stories of Lala

A Star Called Love;the Freedom Stories of Lala

A Star Called Love;the Freedom Stories of Lala

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Numinous beings in our lexicon

"Robin Hood, Ale & Alley Cats" new iPhone App

Sasha Neese Signed Original Print — 1000 Hummingbirds

MATRIOT DAY {September 10 is...}

MATRIOT DAY {September 10 is...}

Member Benefits | EnOcean Alliance - Membership

Mayor's Proclamation: February 12: Phenomenal Woman Day in Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Lighthouse Bank Community Page

Wear your heart like an emblem

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Carousel Teeter Totter Heaven

Why Don't You

Radiant Muse... in Santa Cruz

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Making Peace With The Sugar Cane

Marriage Basket

Different World

Traversing Planet Earth

"Long Live The Weeds And the Wilderness Yet.."

February 13: Self-Love Day MAKES V-Day P*h*e*n*o*m*e*n*a*l

WATERSHED WIZARD:Brock Dolman & "Basins of Relations"

BUY NOTHING WEEK {Re-Tweet}

Santa Cruz Eye Candy

Staff of Life buzzz (........on the Mooooooove!!)

1000 Hummingbirds "It's About The Water" Concert & Silent Auction

"He Writes The Lessons Of The Heart And Learns Them Well.."

of bubbles(globes) & stars

On being Waaay past the point of "WHELM"

"I am attended by 3 conscious angels, who abide with me always.."

What To Do On Mondays

Down In Yon Forrest ~ Joan Baez

Darkest Night (willingly beguiled)

"Lavender Beet Kvaas Is the New Wine"

Favoritie Poet David Whyte on SOUNDS TRUE: 'Insights at the Edge'

The PlayPumps Water System

Bought 2 'cargo nets' today.. plus rear folding basket

Stretching Time Like Taffy

LAST of the DOGMEN ~ quintessential moment

"Kitchen Farming" epiphany & My Sweet Tooth

"Water Is Our Hero...."

Ho Ho Ho

Just like he said...

So we'll kindle a beacon on every high mountain...

"One of those days in England I was saving up to spend...."

Making Peace With Physical Realm Clunkiness

On drinking "Oat Straw Tea"

Get Rad! (what makes you come alive...?)

1000 HUMMINGBIRD T-SHIRTS ~ in stock now

"who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes"

Pronoia strikes again

"Utah" Phillips Tribute

PANGEA Phenomenon Rocks the World

Zaadz Became Gaia (and we survived)

700 Eco-Porta Potties in Glastonbury!!

"We're Ready" One Minute Shift (IONS Winner)

MAY BIRTHDAY!!

Price of Rice Rockets

New Paper Paradigm

World Without Oil: We're Still Playing...

“Making the world a happier place” : )

Luke Susumu is my Pangea Phenomenon!

Pangea Day Phenomenon

Pangea Day ~ it's happening now!!

Heartlines (headlines)

Bury Me In A Basket

A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala

A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala

A Star Called Love;
the Freedom Stories of Lala

February 13: Self-Love Day MAKES V-Day Phenomena*l