Music in My Day

I was listening to music this morning as I was cleaning. I am using Green Products in everything now and really love it. Green products are usually aromatically therapeudic as they use essential oils in their products so they smell wonderful. Most importantly, for me, Green Products do not disturb my respiratory system; that is, they don't make me sick and they're good for the planet. But back to the music. I used to like to contemplate while I cleaned but I'm no longer able to do this as so many things have changed for me in the past 4 years. I didn't need to play music then and I would become very quiet and focused on the work I was doing. Sometimes it would lead me into prayer. It was a beautiful thing. I had forgotten to listen to my music until most recently and I'm so glad to be revisiting this special world of music again.

I think music enters the soul, the mind, the body and the spirit. It becomes a part of us and we become a part of it. Today, I began listening to relaxing nature music called Canyon Dreams with authentic nature sounds. This music really takes you to another world, the world of canyons, sunsets and majestic rock images. This is one of my favorite soul sounds.Then I moved on to Beethoven at first thinking that I would be jumping to something quite lively - but it was great. I listened to Appassionata, Pathetique and Moonlight. My whole body energy was transformed and I thought this is music I need to really listen to intently because of the many variations and themes that move you to hear them with great attention.

I do love almost all kinds of music but my favorite is classical. Chopin is on the top of the list. He has such incredible emotion and his music speaks to my heart, soul and mind. His melodies are amazing. Next favorite is Bach and I love Yo Yo Ma. Then perhaps Debussy, Mozart, Beethoven.

Other forms of music that I like are Folk, Blue Grass, Gershwin, Ragtime, Spiritual and some modern day music that isn't heavy and loud. My daughter will introduce me to some music that is so beautiful, especially when she sings it, that I would never have known about. She doesn't have a perfect voice but there is something mesmerizing about it that you (at least I do) need to stop and listen. I wish she would sing more.

Music runs in the family. My mother used to sing opera and had a good mezzo soprano voice. I sing soprano and love to sing when I'm happy at home and have been in many choirs. I'm a bit shy so I like to sing in a group with a really good leader. I've never heard my daughter sing out in front of an audience but I understand that she is really good and can often sound like the original singer - the gift of being able to impersonate them but she has her own sweet style as well.

I realize as I write this that I'm missing music very much. I would like to use my voice in a way that would be meaningful to others; I would like to sing to God and inspire and uplift the hearts of others. As I envision this perhaps it will come my way. I think of how my Granddaughter likes to sing as well and has a good Alto voice. It would be a lovely thing  for the three of us to sing together. Sometimes family voices blend in an extraordinary way.

I hope you will share with me about the music you like and perhaps introduce new music and voices that I may have never known otherwise.

The above photo is one of my own of the sunset and at the lower left corner the mountains. It was enhanced with color in Photo Shop

Community - What's It All About

My inspiration for this blog is the book The Different Drum - Community-Making and Peace by M. Scott Peck, M.D., Copyright 1987. This may be an older book but it is a book for all time. We really need to think seriously about his challenge to take this "journey in self-awareness; to achieve, through the creative experience of community, a new 'connectedness' and wholeness . . .". I see brokenness everywhere in families, in churches, in communities, in governments all over the world. I hear people disagreeing about things that they really don't know anything about but they hear something from someone they know or a family or group has always done it a certain way and so on and so forth. I find in most cases people really don't know what they're talking about because they've never really researched for themselves or because they don't like change. I feel badly for people who end up being hurt because they trusted false people or listened to hearsay and never really truly understood the repercussion of their decision. Dr. Peck shows us how to come together in community to talk things out, to think, to understand and to go through the necessary process of learning how to become community.

The world is getting smaller and smaller by the minute, so to speak and I truly believe that our only hope is to find people, leaders that can take us through the community process. It has a definite pathway, a sacred structure that must be followed; it is work, it is joy. I believe we were meant to evolve into community people. Dr. Peck shows us how to do it and is "a founder of the Foundation for Community Encouragement, a nonprofit organization for promoting community and world understanding.

I was very impressed with his book and plan to follow up by looking into the Foundation. I will share as I learn.

I took this picture at a monastery and gave it a sepia look. This is my sacred passage to a world of holy community. As a visionary it is my hope for the world.

Homemade Blueberry Pancakes - My Recipe, Sort Of

Today, I made the best homemade pancakes of my life. I'm not quite sure how it happened because I've used this recipe many times before but they turned out fantastic. I'm not one of these great cooks or anything but sometimes I really get lucky. It's like someone else is doing the cooking and I just do the movements and put the ingredients together. I really believe in making things as natural as I can; what we call from scratch with the best ingredients I can afford. I go organic when I can and stay away from processed foods. I read all the labels and the less ingredients the better. I need to know what the ingredients are in everything. This is so important to healthy eating. Something might be cheaper but when you check out what's in the product you might change your mind about eating it. You might think your saving time but often making something homemade does not really take as long as you might think. I hope to entice you into trying homemade pancakes.
The basic recipe actually comes from my the Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown, copywrite 1970. I love this book and I believe it was done with love because everything I've made from it comes out wonderful. So here it is modified from the book to make it easier for me and you can re-modify it as you wish:

1 cup whole wheat flour (yes, whole wheat and you won't even know it's in the pancakes) and 1 cup unbleached white flour; 3 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 T sugar (or honey or brown sugar or Agave honey); 3 eggs separated (I don't separate the eggs); 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of oil. You can add flour if needed or more liquid depending on how thick or thin you like your pancakes.

I do as my Grandmother did. I put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and swish everything with a wire wisk really well and fluff up the flour. I make a whole in the center of the mix and add all the liquids. I wisk the center and gradually bring in the rest of the flour on the sides. Blend well but do not over mix as the batter well turn out thin. I add the fresh blueberries, a small package, and blend them in gently into the batter. I had my grill set at 350, ready to go. I splash a little water on the grill and if it sizzles, it's ready. I ladle in the batter and let them cook until the sides firm up and they bubble. Flip them over and it only takes a very few minutes to cook the other side. My husband and I like the Maple flavor Agave syrup by Clarks. Yum-yum. This is a large recipe for us so I finish cooking all the pancakes, let them cool very well and put them in a plastic bag and into the freezer. Later, whenever we feel like it we can toast the pancakes and enjoy them again with no fuss.

Agave syrup from the Agave plant of Mexico and the Southwest has the lowest glycemic index of all the sugars. The back of the bottle says: "Madhava Agave Nectar is an all-natural sugar replacement made from the juice of the Weber Blue Agave plant. It's a simple plant based food that is a healthy alternative to processed sugar and artificial sweeteners". It comes in Light, Amber (maple flavor) and Raw.


Another of my favorite books is Heinerman's Encyclopedia of FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND HERBS by John Heinerman, Copywrite 1988 by Parker Publishing Co., Inc. I researched this book to see what blueberries do for us. It's a fun book.

Blueberries: This berry has a substance called myrtillin which reduces blood sugar as insulin does. It has a hypoglycemic effect. Berries, he tells us are really good as tonics for rejuvenating both the heart and blood. Berries are also remarkable cleansing agents and most berries have "varying degrees of antiviral activity" to them. They are also purifying for the blood, cleansing for the skin and help to improve the complexion. And, I do believe they are considered great antioxidants.

Please let me know if you try this recipe for homemade pancakes and how they turn out.

The photo above is a picture of my pancakes as I was cooking them.

Philanthropy

Today I was thinking about the idea of philanthropy. I love the idea and wondered if just anyone could be a philanthropist. We're one of those middle class people that like many of us Americans loves to donate to causes in need. We're limited by a retirement income but give our ten percent to our favorite charities. The really hard part is having to limit to what we can afford.

I decided to look up the word philanthropy in the dictionary. All this time I've been able to say and spell the word but I've never really checked to see exactly what it really meant. I was so pleased to read this: "Philanthropy is the effort to promote the happiness or social elevation of mankind, as by making donations, etc. (Also) Love or benevolence (disposition to do good; any act of kindness) toward mankind in general." This came out of Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary's 1974 version. A very old one, to be sure, that I found at a garage sale. It explains words that I can't always find in newer dictionarys at the store, so for me it's a keeper.

I never realized what a beautiful word philanthropy is and that it belongs to all of us, rich and poor alike. And so I have gotten my wish to be a philanthropist; what a lovely occupation! So, when we do good and are kind to our neighbor and do good in our community, we are an expression of this lovely word. I'm sure this concept can be aptly applied to our families. This seems to be a time to help out one another as a family in every sense of the word.

I truly believe that our president is a philanthropist as well - he's looking out for the little guys. I try to stay in touch with what's going on in Washington because I want us all to do well; the everyday Americans . . . that's most of us, and I want our children and grandchildren to have a great and caring country to live in that they can be very proud of. It seems we need to take care of one another, to have love and benevolence for all.

A paradigm shift, a change of attitude and example of behavior, seems to be needed for us all to be philanthropists; a shift from greed to giving; a shift of self to other. Perhaps you can help me with more examples. I hadn't thought of this before but I think this new attitude could be well applied to the day after Thanksgiving when many people were not philanthropists but full of greed for things that will be forgotten very quickly and will have no lasting value on the heart.

This photo was taken at a delightful, small chapel in the hills. There are many angel statues there. It is a beautiful place.

Galaxies - Trouble with Junior - A Difficult Morning

I just checked out PhotoBlog.msnbc and saw some gorgeous galaxy photos from NASA. They truly remind me of an artists work, such a beautiful universe. The one pictured here is Cygnus X and shows stars being born. It was captured by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Cygnus X is 4,500 light years away in the Constellation Cygnus or "the Swan". Check them out and see what you think. Do you realize there are billions of galaxies out in the Universe? It's all incredibly beautiful and absolutely awesome.  The discoveries are coming in faster than ever before. There are 700 confirmed planets called exoplanets outside our solar system. They have even found 2 planets that have 2 suns, something thought to be impossible. There are two satellites that have been recently sent to the moon to learn about gravity, something I want to stay informed about. Again I encourage you to check it all out. It brings out the child-like wonder in us all.

Now, as to my difficult morning, it started out with me feeling sick as soon as I got up. I felt very dizzy and nauseous. All I could think of is good gracious what is going on here, I should not be sick. I finally guessed that it might be due to a blood sugar drop and sinus pressure combination. I had some juice, a bowl of cereal and took my homeopathic sinus medicine and after a while I felt better but knew it would be a slow day and I would be over sensitive to everything. Then it was time to feed our two dogs and Sweet Kitty. Our Yorky, Doogi begins to do his bouncy, excited performance. He has enthusiasm for everything, a real joy boy. And Junior, our large Retriever-Border Collie mix, with his sweet brown eyes that tell all his feelings, was standing quietly waiting for the morning grub.

I put out the food, one bowl for Doogi and one bowl for Junior side by side and turned to the kitchen sink to clean up. Suddenly there was the crashing sound of the bowl, dog food spread everywhere on the floor and Junior standing to the side with his mouth open not moving. At first I couldn't tell what was going on and was afraid I would get dizzy if I bent down to check him. The first thing I looked for was choking and could not find anything when I checked down his throat. I knew he was breathing and his tail was actually slightly wagging but he continued to stand with his mouth open, not moving. I couldn't see anything at first so I sat on the floor and started to feel around his mouth and teeth. I didn't have my glasses on but something looked amiss by his teeth so I felt some more and realized something was attached to his teeth. I pulled on this something and it came off. It was a curved piece of bone that he must have had in his mouth when he came in from outside and when he tried to eat something happen that clamped the bone to his teeth. When I looked closely at it I could see it was curved in a U shape and it also had a sharp point at one end. As soon as it was off he was fine physically but it was a trauma for him and he went to his bed for a while and rested after being comforted for a while. Later he came back to his bowl and ate his meal.

All I could do at this point, after the emergency, was wrap myself in my soft blue robe and rest on the couch for a while with a cold cloth on my forehead. Little Doogi weathered the crises quite nicely and ate some of the extra food that had spilled out on the floor not being concerned one bit. However when I laid on the couch he came to comfort me and stayed by me till I felt well enough to get up.

We never feed our dogs bones like this. Junior likes to find the deer legs and other things that hunters leave around in the woods after they kill and cut up the animal. I guess they don't care to think about the possibilities to other animals when they leave their mess behind. I am now begging my husband to put some kind of fence, even a small area where Junior will be safe from these kinds of issues.

Our animals are our children and our friends. I guess I believe it never hurts to be more cautious than less. At our previous home Junior grew up being free to roam a fenced area of over an acre. It is hard for my husband to keep him from his freedom now and I do understand this. After all Junior has friends to visit and places to explore - being a dog. But, I could not bare to loose him and all our animals go for a walk with their Dad through the woods everyday and sometimes twice a day and in the summer when we garden and landscape our animals are out with us. There is the old adage better safe than sorry and I'm just an old fashioned girl.

Our 2 dogs were also adopted and I will share their lovely stories and pictures another day.

SWEET KITTY Morning

As I sat and drank my morning coffee, I began to think of how blessed we are to have our animals. We have three and today I would like to tell you about our cat Sweet Kitty. We've had her for 3 years now. She was found in the snow and was very thin. They brought her to a foster home on a farm with many other animals and she lived in the barn with the others in a very loving place.

I had been thinking, as I always do, about getting a cat, a thought that would just reappear for weeks and months. At the time we had two dogs and I wasn't sure we could handle another animal or that my husband would go for it but I found myself looking at shelters on the net, something I just couldn't help. One day I went to the post office and there was a picture of a cat in our local animal rescue publication. There she was. I was drawn to her face and I had to find out about her. I called, we met, we fell in love.

I was told that she really needed a home where she could get more personal attention and I knew we could do that. She was adopted and melded into our home which she knew was hers now. The very first night she nestled with joy into her own bed as I laid with my face next to hers welcoming her home. I know she felt my happiness and I felt her joy.

The next couple of months were a challenge for us both getting to know each other. I've never had a cat quite like her and she was truly a sweet kitty as they had named her at the shelter. But, she also had issues and had to adapt to new rules. Thankfully I love to work with animals but I have to admit she is a cat with a mind of her own, as cats are known to be, and she had issues as a result of her early life. She still doesn't like to be held too much but loves to come and lay on my legs and sit near me or lay behind me on the back of the couch or walk right in front of the computer to get me to notice her. My husband works near a window that she likes and as she sits there she bounces her tail up and down on his keyboard. He lovingly allows this for a while. She will sit with him and watch hockey and likes to bat at the Yorky who sits on the other side of the couch sometimes and of whom she is rather jealous. They are friends though and play with each other. We have many window sills for her to look out at and she loves this. We like to look out the window together. Of course, being a cat, she sees and hears so much more than I ever could but I love the comradship of two friends sharing something they enjoy together.

Here are some interesting things that Sweet Kitty does and I wonder if there other people out there whose cats do the same thing, such as: I don't know how this got started but she has trained us to stand by her when she eats in the morning - I think this is a comforting thing, that it makes her feel safe, another thing she does only happens when she goes to the water bowl that isn't in the kitchen and she meows in a way that sounds like a baby talking. She has brought birds to the door, as all cats do, but I can not congratulate her for that as I love birds but I don't scold her either.

She is both an indoor and outdoor cat and loves to climb the trees in the yard and the limbs that we put on the porch to hang plants on. I always know when she wants in because she sits at the glass door with her little face peering in and waits for us to open it. Being outdoorsy people the door is often open when not too cold for the fresh air that can't be beat so between the three animals and me and my husband there is a good bit of traffic throughout the day.

Leadership, Cleaning and Butterflies

I wanted to write about Leadership but today is cleaning day. I do it in a very unorganized way these days but some cleaning and laundry still gets done. It's a busy day and even though Leadership was the topic of thought for this morning, I will wait because it is a very important topic to me and I do want to share it with you when I have time to really go at it. It is a topic that I'm sure I will be addressing often and learning about as I go along. It is a topic that I hope people will share their thoughts about with me.

This morning I created a card for my daughter's birthday. Creating cards is something I love to do. It started a long time ago because I could never find a card in the store that said just what I wanted to say. I began doing everything by hand, the lettering, the art, the prose, the folding and the envelope. As I went along I advanced to the computer. Since I was already an artist and a graphic artist and typographer, doing cards on the computer was a great find. I taught myself the programs, I use Pagemaker and had great fun creating. My cards now have a very professional look but I do not sell them, although I used to and hope to again when I'm ready.

Of course I had to be on the computer checking my e-mail, reading info and writing this blog. Little by little I will get some cleaning done. One thing that helps me is making it a quiet, contemplative day, listening to soft music and putting love into something as mundane as dusting and dishes. It really is possible to do this. It quiets my mind and allows me to think about deep things and often when I do this I am inspired to write a poem or pray for someone or something that troubles my heart or perhaps something that gives me joy like butterflies, sunshine, birds and our animals, the smile on my husbands face this morning and the lovely house plants that I need to be watering today. The picture of the butterfly is one I took myself. I thought it was so neat because I usually imagine butterflies being attracted to things of color and fragrance. Who knows what it was that drew the butterfly to the gray, dark ground; perhaps some unknown, unobserved treasure that only the butterfly could see.

I love to be organized and like to clean and shine things. It's is not an obsession for me; it is a joy. I also love to be messy, especially when I cook. In any case, it is time for me to return to my cleaning since it is Monday and the day I most prefer to clean. It really is a beautiful, joyful work I suppose - depending how one chooses to see it. Have a lovely day.

Poem for Today: TO-DAY by author unknown

I shall do so much in the years to come, But what have I done to-day?
I shall give out gold in princely sum, But what did I give to-day?
I shall lift the heart and dry the tear, I shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
I shall speak with words of love and cheer, But what have I done to-day?

I shall be so kind in the after while, But what have I been to-day?
I shall bring to each lonely life a smile, But what have I brought to-day?
I shall give to truth a grander birth, And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,
I shall feed the hungering souls of earth, But whom have I fed today?

This beautiful poem reminds me that today's moments are precious and that I have a great opportunity to give and share this very day in some way; and there are so many ways, some simple, some great. You may think that there is nothing you can do but you can do this: send a happy, loving thought to someone in the world today, send them your heart felt blessings and if there is no one to thank you for this loving gift, I thank you. I want you to know how important you are; how valuable. Thank you.

My Goal

My interests are many and I want to share my thoughts about them so that others might find new avenues of thought and action. My main goal is to share my hopes and dreams, to uplift and encourage and inspire in any way that I can. I am a visionary and I hope to encourage visions and imagination in others. Here are some of my interests that I plan to write about:

Children, Animals, the Universe, Nature, Art, Home life, Ideas about the World and People, Books, Gardening, Ideas for Crafts and Recycling Things, Green Goods that I've used and like, my Vision for a Kinder World, Linking the Old and the New, Hopes, Dreams, Possibilities, Natural Things that Help me to heal, Greater Expectations for Better Leadership, Photography, Inspirations and Inspirational People, Things that Make Me Laugh and who knows what else. This story will evolve as I write. It is for myself and it is for others. 

Today's Thoughts: I learned that there is a vent in the antartic at the bottom of the ocean and there is extraordinary, unbelievable life existing where the pressure is immense and the heat from the vents intense and yet life exists, like a small all white octopus. Unbelievable. You can find info on this in Time Science on the net. There is an ocean of imagination right here on our planet. I hope we will encourage children explorers for our future.

I've decided to begin drying fruits, vegetables and herbs. I have an electric dryer but there must be a solar dryer and I will begin to search for one. I understand there is a small solar oven - let's hope the price is affordable. Otherwise my window will do as I have a very solar  house.