Reflections on a Stream

Have you ever consciously watched the thoughts that float in and out of your head and make the "eureka" connection that so within... without. Perhaps you were strolling around the grocery store looking at all the cranky people and then realizing that in your current mental state you were in good company. Or on a more  positive note you are enjoying all the beautiful sights of Nature on your walking meditation and passersby suddenly seem so friendly and cheerful as you marvel at all the beauty around you. When we finally make the connect the dots association of thoughts as things and mind over matter there is a fleeting sense that we do in fact have creative power over the world in which we live and serendipity should be the rule and not the exception. The hard part is holding the mind accountable and maintaining that utopian vision where peace and beauty are expected to envelop all those dark fearful thoughts and transport them away somewhere. I suppose it is possible, but if you thought for a moment about the tedium of sameness, wouldn't a little drama once in a while break up the boredom of all that nice quiet peace. Would there be anything in the world to laugh at if things were always so lovingly peaceful? I wonder.

Window to Within

When I came across this door I marveled at the window that reflected the colors of the outward surroundings... including the light of my flash. Those darkened diamonds truly hid the contents of the garage within. The sanitary whitewash of wood surrounding the windows stood in lined contrast to eerie eyed patterns of the aging beveled panes. People are like doors with windows. Sometimes they are open, transparent, and there is an honesty as they share of themselves. These are usually the people to whom the comment is made, "she/he is like a breath of fresh air." At other times people are closed shut, locked, and hiding in a fearful darkness  that merely reflects the gaze of those who look upon them. I can hear the phrase, "I just can't get through to him/her..,"  The next time you are speaking with someone... be aware of your own windowed door. Is there eye contact or are you looking through the person? Did you really hear what is being said (or are you only thinking about what your next words will be)?  When we truly connect with another person from that light and honest place we should see beyond the reflection of our own scary judgements. 

Healing Power of Birch Sap

I have always loved the beauty of the Birch tree... I'm an admitted Tree Hugger and there is no tree that I don't love. Recently I was hospitalized for pain in the place where my gallbladder had been removed. Long story short, it seems that one of my main health issues stems around the elevated cholesterol that my body produces. I have cut out saturated fats (for the most part), lost eighteen pounds, and have done research on natural products to lower cholesterol. Serendipitously, I saw a container of Birch Sap in the supermarket the other day and decided to give it a try. To my surprise it's main health benefit is the elimination of cholesterol from the body. Other health benefits include it use as a mild diuretic, anti-rheumatic, anti-infective. Externally it can be used to promote healing of eczema and other forms of dermatitis. As I was making my purchase an older woman with a very ruddy complexion told me she was buying the birch sap for her unnamed, but obvious skin disorder. Well, for the cost of $1.99 a quart I think we were both making a healthy choice of medicine for our ailments. Will keep you posted of any progress!

Here is the link to my research: http://www.liveandfeel.com/medicinalplants/birch_tree.html

Sticky Flower

On Monday I was strolling along the little park across from my daughter's home with my baby grand-daughter, when I came across a weird new "creature". Sitting on the branches of the small cedar trees were these globs of orange, with sticky looking finger-like projections. Of course, I left my camera at home so I couldn't catch them in all of their glory ( I also missed a red winged blackbird and a meadowlark). I was intrigued as I had never seen anything so strange looking (almost frightening) that just appeared out of the blue from my otherwise familiar walk. I went home that evening and searched the Internet and found that the thing is called Apple Cedar Rust and it is a parasitic fungus that will damage surrounding crabapple trees while not necessarily harming the cedars. The spores of the fungus can travel up to two miles to attack the apple trees. On Tuesday I went back to the scene of the creepy fungus and already it had started to shrivel up in a gelatinous mush (otherwise known as a gall). Although disappointed that my pictures didn't do the creepy thing justice, I was happy to have learned something new about a natural phenomena. Something I will be able to teach my grand-daughter when she begins to question the world around her. 


Here is a link and a better photo of the Apple Cedar Galls: 

http://lancaster.unl.edu/hort/articles/2002/CedarAppleRust.shtml 

The Ballad of Bunny Fay

There you are my Bunny fay
What have you to teach me today?


Fecund is a word that might sound funny
but it means to be fruitful, said my mild mannered bunny.


Do what you love and don't be shy,
the world is your oyster and you are it's eye.


It doesn't matter if your words are trite
they are your own which makes them right.


Then she wriggled her nose and nibbled some clover
winked at me once and the lesson was over.