Seattle Waterfront photos

Just got a link to photos of the Seattle Waterfront from 1907 and 2002, showing how much it has changed. One thing that struck me was how tiny the buildings from then looked compared to how huge they look now. What is with this gigantic building thing? Is it that we have to dwarf ourselves more? Or just an economic thing -- make more money from the same amount of land? The water is much less used in the 2002 photo, which kind of makes sense since we now have a lot more cars and trucks and such. But you'd think people would at least do recreational sailing? Then again, nobody has any free time these days, do they? Workaholism has practically become institutionalized.

Plastic Bags Are Killing Us?

According to this article in Salon's website, plastic grocery bags are the worst type of litter in the world. They are choking waterways and killing wildlife. They don't break down, pretty much ever, and they are generally not recycled (our local grocery stores do have bins for them, but you have to remember to bring them it regularly).
It's better to use the cloth totes, or at least the reusable bags made from recycled plastic. Although the latter aren't really washable. You can buy cloth totes at a craft store and decorate them yourself. Or even make your own totes if you have a sewing machine and a bit of talent for that sort of thing.

reusablebags.com has a wide selection of cloth bags, even ones for bagging produce (you can't store the produce in the fridge in them, though).

Why I stay away from restaurants

I had what should have been a fairly innocuous meal yesterday at a Mexican restaurant -- refried beans and grilled chicken with mole sauce. Wrong. I have got to remember that most restaurants use MSG liberally, and sauce = extra MSG. I should have just gone home to eat, we had food. I was just tired. But now, I am beyond tired because I woke up about 4 am and just could not get back to sleep, and I'm convinced it was the food. I am going to do what I can to purge it from my system -- lots of fruits and veggies to detox it, I think. Ugh.

Headscratching moment

I decided to try to read an article that was the transcription of a channeler. Part of it addressed how global warming may not be so bad after all. I was intrigued, given that they've been predicting all kinds of dire consequences for the past 25 years or so. That somehow the global warming phenomenon will trigger us to take better care of the earth.
Then I read about micro-magic, and about how you can possibly merge with a tree. Wow, how cool, I've always loved trees! Who doesn't -- they are so wise and so green! Anyway this is what the channeled spirit said:

For example, how do you know that a part of you may actually not be, or be, the tree that is near your home? Or is it possible that a portion of who and what you are is also experiencing tree, and how would that possibly add to the language of your Being, and thus, add to the definition of who and what you are. You also make a very clear distinction between who and what you are and your dream self. But what if the apparently distinct separateness is not as distinct or separate as you've assumed? Does this make sense?

It was about language more than magic, but I just had to share. I am so sleep-deprived it isn't funny, so maybe tomorrow, I will see it differently. But right now it seems really cool.

Ashwin's Blog contest

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

Be the Change

There is a movement, called "Be the Change" that was inspired by Mahatma Ghandi's statement, "we must be the change we wish to see in the world.” It is a movement of people who try to do something every day to improve things, to change things for the better. Their principles are:
* Identify and pursue your life's passion and purpose
* Aspire to be your greatest self
* Make at least one conscious, positive contribution or act of change each day

Here's a link
Here's another one (apparently there is more than one "be the change" movement)

Peace Pilgrim

From January 1, 1953 until her death in 1981, a silver haired woman calling herself only "Peace Pilgrim" walked the streets of this country, spreading her message asking for peace, both inner and outer. She gave up all her possessions and lived completely without money (when people sent her money, she spent it on postage for letters she sent to people who wrote to her -- this was back when snail mail was pretty much it).
She said:

This is the way of peace: overcome evil with good,
and falsehood with truth, and hatred with love.

NEGATIVE vs. POSITIVE: I have chosen the positive approach - instead of stressing the bad things which I am against, I stress the good things which I am for. Those who choose the negative approach dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgement and criticism, and sometimes even to name-calling. Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect. When evil is attacked, it mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and strength. When there is no attack but instead good influences are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does the evil tend to fade away, but the evil-doer tends to be transformed. The positive approach inspires - the negative approach makes angry. When you make people angry they act in accordance with their baser instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has a lifelong effect.

Here is a link.

Cancer New Moon

We're in a Cancer New Moon now. For those of you who are interested in astrology that is.
My dad, were he still alive, would be turning 88 in a couple of days. The 18th to be exact.

Chakra test

You can do a questionnaire about your chakra health. Cool, eh?

Mutant (?) Fish baby

The Newborn Baby Fish (comic)
www.NewsTarget.com
I have to add: this guy can scare the dickens out of you if you read a lot of his site.

Child Labor Awareness

I think this site is tracking some very important information, like how to buy chocolate that wasn't produced with child labor. Rock on, dude.

Do your own Tarot readings

This is pretty cool. You can do your own tarot readings online, from several different decks. See: http://www.consciousone.com/c1Cards/

Nigeria's "Lady Mechanics"

This is a pretty cool story. Interesting how things around the world are so similar to what they were when I was in college. Back then they kept saying to help developing countries, help the women.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0126/p01s03-woaf.html

Autistic Savant draws from Memory

What a cool video! Amazing!

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/content/view/2198/35/

The immortal hamburger

This is kind of funny and kind of scary:


Note: I wouldn't bother going to the url mentioned in the video -- it's a raw foods guy selling access to his site for some outrageous fee.

The neighbor's poor baby

The neighbors' baby cries. A lot. And they are obviously of the "let them cry it out" philosophy. I even knocked on their door once at around 11:30 PM to "see if everything was OK" and tell them that their baby's crying was waking up my son, and they explained they were "Ferberizing" the baby. Ugh. This has been going on for several months now, so it's obviously not working, if their goal was to teach the baby not to cry. The poor thing cries off and on much of the day and a lot at night, too. The cries vary, from screaming disturbed cries to repetitive rhythmic cries. He woke me up this morning with his cries at around 6:30 am, what with everyone's windows open from the heat. He's cried on and off this morning. It was so nice and peaceful when they were out of town last week, I had forgotten how obnoxious the crying was. I don't know what else to say except I feel bad for him.

Too much sun again!

So, we have been out in the sun a couple of times in the past few days, and I find that I'm extremely sun sensitive. I get a rash from the sun going through my clothes! Sure, the summer sun here is very intense, but this didn't happen last summer. My low blood pressure may be a part of it, or it could be some of the supplements I've been taking. I have got to read up on them! This is ridiculous. I have been having a hard time with the sun for several years now (I recall feeling really woozy after riding on the back of a friend's motorcycle for the Dykes On Bikes contingent of the San Francisco Gay Lesbian Transgender Pride Parade over ten years ago), but this year it's the worst. I don't like having to stay inside all day! Ack!

On the beauty of the Pacific Northwest

I can't really explain the ways I have come to love it here, other than to say that it's gorgeous here and so open.

Decisions, decisions

Up until now, I have always been really bad at making decisions. I get a quick blast of a thought about what I want, and then later on I get other ideas that contradict that. Fears? I don't know...not wanting to be wrong? I guess fear of making a mistake can be paralyzing. Wanting to do more than one thing at once? Is that a fear? Not wanting to work at something -- is that also a fear? Maybe of putting a lot into something and failing? Fear of failure is a big one for me that I have to get over. Also though, I am convinced that living in three or four places at once will be possible some day, I just have to figure out the trick to bending time and space enough to be able to do it. Ha ha!

I do love living here in a lot of ways -- partly because I am here. Partly because the trees are all so green all year. The air smells so clean. There are so many parks. The library is great. People are very friendly and helpful. Puget Sound is so smooth. Riding a ferry on it is so different from any other ferry I've been on, because the ride is smoother than being on a car. Lake Washington turns a certain shade of blue on a sunny day. It's so very deep. Almost primeval. There are so many farms. And farmer's markets. There are a ton of natural foods stores. And supplements store. Traffic is not as bad as it was in California. My wonderful Aunt Janet lives a few hours' drive away, and she is a grower of fruit. My Uncle Walt lives in Seattle (though we don't see him much). My friend Becka and her wonderful daughter who is C's best friend. My friend Faye whose sons are fun and who always has great food to eat. The playgroups. The Seattle Center. Our apartment complex, which has suddenly become full of families with kids of all ages. Even our Ferberizing neighbors seem to be getting better after I tacked a La Leche League magazine to their door. The malls with the play areas. The homeschooling groups. The museum of Flight. The Children's museums. The beaches in Seattle that we've been to, particularly Discovery Park. The South 47 Farm. Minea Farm. The Berke Museum. The Sammammish River.

What I miss about California: San Francisco. San Rafael. My friends. Alameda. BART. The La Leche League Leaders who made me feel so welcome there (the ones here never did). The warm September/October Indian summers. The beaches. The dunes. The grazing cows at Pt Reyes National Seashore. The campus at UC Berkeley. The Castro District. The Mission. Berkeley. Orinda. Redwood Regional Park. The art museums. The J Church. The N Judah. Coffee shops everywhere. The Palace of the Legion of Honor museum. Golden Gate Park.

What I miss about Tennessee: my friend Stacy and her wonderful family. My brother Charlie. Being relatively near my other brother Stan. The warm spring weather. The Appalachian mountains. The local festivals. The creeks. The memories I have (although many involve leaving to go on trips, to places like The Blue Ridge Parkway, The Outer Banks, Washington, DC). The slower pace of life.

Messages of Love for autistic children

This is a short excerpt from a message of love from Amris:

Do you know that the writer was autistic? In a time when this illness was not so widespread, she experienced it, she lived it. A forerunner of the ones of tomorrow, she was. And today, is her tomorrow. Today, these children are everywhere.

These children are so much more sensitive on every level. And they all carry gifts as grand, or greater than the one you witnessed unfolding in the writer. The difficulty that you have is watching in this time before the unfolding. In doing the daily work of reminding this little one that he is perfect, just as he is.

See: Messages of Love