Azura Skye

Lovely Raw Food!

2010-10-28T16:54:00.005Z

On the weekend I went to see the Cat Empire play at Brixton Academy. Such a lovely sounding group!! And then on Sunday I went to the inSpiral resta urant, in Camden (London). Woweee! The best raw food I've tasted. Not that I've tasted much, but I went to VitaOrganics before in London and I wasn't impressed. Tiny portion sizes, weird flavours. No thanks. And I really like Rainforest Creations Raw Food - but I find it very oily and bit too spicy for me. This was the perfect grub. I had a massive sized Sunfood Burger and three delicious salads. I was full for about 6 hours afterwards! Usually I'm hungry on cue every three hours. Then on the way home in the car, (6 hours later having almost digested the food) we couldn't resist trying the cakes we'd bought for pudding but had to have them to-go. We had Raw Key Lime Pie and a slice of Peanut Butter and Chocolate cheescake - oh and some fudge that was like a solid brick of cocoa but still awesome. Anyways, the cakes were to die for. It's the first time I've really had a proper raw cake. And although I felt they were very bad for me (all those nuts and oils!!) it was still the naughtiest and nicest thing I've eaten (in the unhealthy category) for a long time.

They do cooked vegan and veg food as well.

This was the Sunfood burger I had.

They do amazing raw chocolates - but pricey. £1.25 for one single choc!

The peanut butter cake we had.

So off topic... Here's a picture of the dog bite two days ago.
Today it's much darker. Hope to goodness it isn't infected! But it's been a week now, so hopefully things are going ok. I'm putting lots of lavender oil on it because it's antimicrobial and like a disinfectant of sorts.

And apparently it is WORLD VEGAN MONTH in November, and today I was filmed for a Welsh Magazine programme called WEDI 3 about my vegan diet. It wasn't a very concise interview, just all smiles and niceties - I didn't even really talk about what exactly it was I ate. But hopefully people might think - oh she's very nice and smiley, therefor, vegans must be lovely. LOL! :))

I reneged on the Facebook thing

2010-10-25T20:34:00.002Z

Yup I reopened my own account again instead of the one I was using for the transition town - and it's much nicer being 'myself' again = so much so that I'm pretty much back on facebook lol! It was annoying having the TT one because I wouldn't allow myself to look at any one else's albums, but now I can and I can upload my own albums too - what a turn around! :)

Dog Bite!

2010-10-21T20:31:00.003Z

I got bitten by a dog tonight!!

There's this man who breeds horses along our lane, in a field and he keeps an Alsatian there to guard the horses... but this dog can come out anytime. Thing is the man doesn't live there, and I never ever see him to ask him to put a fence up to keep the big dog in!
But tonight, first time in AAAGES he was actually in the field, cleaning out the stables.. so I went to ask him.. and as I asked him, two terriers came growling at me and one of them bit me! I was so frustrated and ANGRY! His gate was wide open, and he TOLD me, "Yeah these dogs bite!"

Well I carried on going running with my friend, by the time we'd finished our jog my leg was all bloody. And the bruise really came out.

Here's a pic of it. Two nice little puncture wounds and a small one. It's been leaking blood and lymph all night and kinda hurts!

So I called the police! It's the THIRD time I've been bitten by a dog along our lane.
Hopefully I'll get a visit from a police person tomorrow.

Thing is I'm a dog person mostly - but rescue dogs are mostly friendly, it's when the dog has been taught its OK to bite, that's when you get trouble. These dogs were nervous as anything - just like the owner. Come on people! Train your dogs!

Rant over :))

But on the lighter side - or heavier - check out my heavyweight Summer Squash from the polytunnel, awesome or what?
And my cucumber plants are still CHUCKING OUT THE CUKES! love it.. means I can have my daily shot of wheatgrass and cuke juice everyday.

I've recently bought sunflowers in their husks to grow sunflower sprouts.
Also I had a new jar of Kika Green Powder - it's got every green plant ever in it, love it. Non heat treated, dried freezed kelp, chlorella, blue green algae, amaranth, spirulina, barleygrass - the works.

I always feel raw inspired in the Autumn! Don't ask why :) I guess to me Autumn is time of creativity and magic - LOVE IT! BRING IT ON!! WHOOHOO!

Face book cold turkey

2010-10-21T19:23:00.002Z

I have no idea why, but facebook is addictive!
Actually I have got an idea or two.

You get to see your friend's photographs and talk to friends and present a face for all to see.
Funny thing is, I haven't got a facebook page - I have a Transition Towns page for my local area and I'm the admin. But I made a booboo by not making it a business account but a personal account! Luckily I have ridiculously high moral standards (urm..) so I restrict myself from looking at my 'friend's' photographs. I think that would be wrong as they arent' MY friends but Transition Cwm Gwendraeth's friends. But of course the temptation is still there.
I used to have my own facebook page - but I deleted it - only I haven't deleted it, because with facebook, you can reactivate your page anytime you want just by logging in - it's just too simple! But that's the point - it keeps people on facebook. I hate that, I wish they could just make you go through a huge rigmarole everytime you want to re register, you know think of a new password and fill in a form. But the temptation is there all the time just to login again! Unless of course you make a really hard password to remember and don't write it down and don't let your pc remember it for you...

..anyways!! Long story short (Too late!) - I have now got rid of the Transition Towns Facebook, and hope I find a way of making a group page without me having to log on.
It's weird tho, I just want to click on it all the time to see what people are doing. Why do I care that someone I've never met is driving on the motorway, or going to eat pizza tonight! I don't care! (although I obviously do, hmph!!)

Has Anyone Tried...

2010-10-21T15:12:00.003Z

InnerTalk CD's - or other 'mind programming CD's'... You know the type, they repeat positive affirmations like "I enjoy not holding a cigarette", "I can enjoy feeling hungry" - sort of thing.
In a way, it makes sense that if your subconcious believes something you'll have difficulty doing otherwise... but is listening to affirmations really the way to change your subconcious?
I'm not so sure.
I think you can change by making small changes and facing your desire for whatever head on, until new connections are made in your brain.
I don't seem to have found (not that I've looked) any proof that mind programming things work!

Any opinions?

Get Fresh Magazine

2010-10-21T09:00:00.004Z

Just to let you know there are two Free Get Fresh magazines available from the Get Fresh Website. Autumn 2007 Issue is Free as is Summer 2006. I'm not sure if you have to buy something to get them free, I got these two as I added them to my basket because I bought the recent issues

Recent Stuff

2010-10-02T19:43:00.003Z

Chicken in the house... Father was away, so the chickens come in to play (shh, don't tell).

Ferrets having a cuddle the other day.

I finished my plate today. I worked on it ages ago... but haven't got around to finishing it... but I did today. It isn't hard to do a plate - but it is very physical and tough. Contradiction?
It's noisy, and you gotta bang down the mallet hard on the chisel and my arms were aching... so it feels good to have the plate done. Well, I still have to sand it. It's a very chunky plate! And heavy :) But my plate making teacher - my bf - kept saying 'It's supposed to look like that - rustic'. So there we go!

Babies!

2010-09-29T20:35:00.003Z

I've watched this film twice today! haha! But omg the love! The love! After watching this film you feel love and spirit of all these women and babies is just filling you up and eminating out of you in a starlight glow.

I've always loved babies... up to one year old - I love them. So frickin' adorable. After that age, it becomes harder - although lots of fun too. So this film is perfect to revel in the babyness of babies.

It's definitley a feel good film - there are no 'bad times' shown at all. None of the reality of what it's like for the parents in the Himba tribe, with no doctors around, but yet again, it's the babies perspective - what to babies know of doctors? It just shows THEIR world, NOT their parents' or families thoughts/world.
It makes me happy to see how resilient the babies are. They are very very very clever, and tough, and have such intuitiveness, it's unbelievable. They KNOW - everything, it seems. How can they? It's amazing. One day they can't even see very far, then a few hundred days pass and they are crawling and communicating, then another hundred days and they are dancing!
It makes me feel that children, in a way, CAN look after themselves. Also in another way, I almost ALMOST envy the freedom that comes with the Himba tribe in Africa... The mothers are the best of friends, laughing and touching eachother and feeding eachothers babies. They seem to have the most TRUST that everything is going to be okay. And maybe it IS... Our busy, road and car filled world is, strangely more dangerous... We are far more tense here. But how can we re create such ease of the Himba tribe within our own culture? I guess it is to trust in your baby.
Bayar, the Mongolian little baby boy seems to be always on his own - almost getting trampled by cows at times...I just wonder what the mother's mindset is... Does she care? Does she trust? Where was she when a cockerel was walking on his bed and could have scratched out his eyes. Does she trust the animals? Or does she feel that she can 'deal' with whatever happens? These people are very tough and perhaps she just expects that her baby needs to be as tough as she is.

Just wondering :)

Another bike ride to Many Tears!

2010-09-26T14:46:00.002Z

I must be mad! But today I went there again with my boyfriend. It was a lovely cycle there - mostly down hill. And we went another way home, a way I didn't want to go because it invloved crossing over the dual carriageway = but we did and it was a much quiker route.
Mind, I cycled quite fast today coz bf is a fast cycler, and after friday's 19 miles my legs were almost giving up the will to peddle!
Bf wasn't too keen on Many Tears - well, he isn't a dog lover, so I'm really proud/glad that he came.

I only walked two lots of dogs today. Bf took a chocolate lab called Morocco who was lovely, but apparently extremely nervous when he arrived there first. I'd never have known just by looking at him. His head was massive.
And I took a lab cross, black, called Pollen who was bounding along on the lead and I had to lean backwards because he was pulling me so hard! Apparently he didn't get on well with other dogs so I had to be careful. They also had kennel cough.
Then bf had enough and I took out another two dogs. A collie called Gordon who was lovely and didn't pull on the lead, and a Cairn terrier called Keltic. I was actually quite nervous that this small dog would bite me because she was really nervous and didn't want to walk on the lead at all. But she finally came around and even jogged along side me a little. But when I took off her lead I thought I was going to get bitten!
But there we go, half or more of the dogs in there have got behavioural probelms - because some of them were almost drowned as puppies and just caught in the nick of time. The little one I took today was a breeding bitch. Imagine giving birth to litter after litter in a dark barn or shed never seeing people and just being sore and lonely. No wonder they're nervous.

My Bike Ride Ended in Many Tears...

2010-09-24T17:27:00.003Z

...but luckily, Many Tears is a Dog Rescue Centre!

My bf gave me the idea today. I usually like to go for a bike ride once a week, but I also wanted to find a way to go the Dog Rescue to walk some dogs. Thing is, Many Tears is miles away and I didn't even think it possible to get there any other way by car. But my bf suggested I cylce there.
I went home and had a look at how to get there - I found a route, 8 miles long! Not so far! I've done 8 miles before. But it's tough and I usually end up after a 16 mile round trip with jelly legs. So I didn't think I could make it. I phoned my sister who lavished me in moral support and said I could do it. So I went for it!

I got rather lost in the back roads - but the views were stunning and the weather clear and cool. I was really enjoying myself - well, until I got lost. Then clouds started coming over and it echoed my mood. But I finally found a person along the lanes and he directed me as to where to go. And I finally found it!

I had such a GREAT day! I feel chuffed that I managed to find the place and cycle back all in one piece. And not only that I did some good. I took many dogs for a walk and it must have made them very happy.

The rescue centre is a very busy place. They have so many dogs. The owner, Sylvia goes to Ireland to collect dogs from a pound that has a kill policy. Most of the dogs she rescues from there are literally walking death row, minutes from the injection. They obediently walk next to the human and wag their tails, not knowing in a few minutes they'll never breathe, walk, wag or run ever again. Why? Because horrible humans decided to throw them out, like rubbish.

The dogs probably don't know how lucky there are to be given a second chance at life.

In Many Tears they get walks and love and there's a website that people from all over Britain check daily to see which dogs are in the Centre. Most of them find their forever home - and one day soon we'd like to offer another dog a forever home with us here.

Today I took a Great Dane pup for a walk, a collie, a labrador, and a lurcher cross. I also put a dog and her few days old puppies into a crate in a car - they will go off to a foster home until the puppies are big enough to be adopted.

I really admire the work the people at the Rescue centre do, and for Bill and Sylivia's determination and love for animals.

Sylvia is a vegan and she loves and rescues horses and cats too.

I'm really glad I could spend time there today :)))

Magico the great dane pup - extremely strong!

Can;t remember this one's name, but very sweet natured.

Forgot his name too.

Roxie's puppies

Madame the black lurcher

Osca the collie

David Sye Yoga Workshop

2010-09-20T17:44:00.004Z

Yesterday I spent all day in the village hall doing a David Sye YogaBeats workshop. It was really cool and I enjoyed. But my back is hurting today! There were forty of us there and I think there was a pretty nice vibe going on. I suppose we didn't know what to expect - I certainly didn't.
David was super enthusiastic and talked all day as well as doing all sorts of yoga shapes with out losing an ounce of energy. He talked a lot about self love and fear and love and more love!

He wanted us to feel joy and to feel pleasure - because pleasure, he said, is the door way to intelligence! So there we go!
I really liked what he had to say, because he was a genuinely confident happy joyous person, who believed with all his heart that other people were beautiful, fantasic, awesome and perfect and he just wanted us all to know it! That makes for a pretty uplifting day.
It was a from 10am to 4.45 pm and we did all sorts of yoga as well as other activities. Lots of meditation, including a chocolate meditation, we also created a corridor of people and you had to walk down the lines of people and they'd whisper things into your ears about how lovely you are. Of course, none of the people knew me, and I didn't know them, so it tended to be superficial compliments - BUT! it was still very cool to walk with your eyes closed and hear all these lovely things said about you.

Me and the man himself.

Thanks David for your kind words and inspirational energy.

Spoon Carving in the Garden

2010-09-09T08:43:00.006Z

Here's the Byw yn Yr Ardd programme with the spoon item of mine. Here I am in me garden showing my friend how to carve spoons out of willow wood.

Me showing her the spoons I'd made before.

Close up of the spoons I've made before

I think she's impressed, hehe.

Time to get carving.

Close up of knife on wood.

Hmm what the heck am I saying here. Looks like it begins with a W 'What are you whittling, willow? Well well!'

A finished spoon (but shh, we didn't finish it on the day because it actaully takes me like 2-3 days to finish a spoon, if I work like a mad woman and don't mind my wrist being unusable the for the next week).

Yoga in the Garden

2010-09-09T08:04:00.006Z

Last night my last slot on Byw Yn Yr Ardd aired.
It was the yoga one, and I thought it turned out really well. My friend was great on it (she's a yoga teacher btw). It's funny to watch yourself do yoga, never seen myself do it before. My headstand was rather curved lol! The theme of the eitem was that I wanted to show how important nature is = that we ARE nature, and together we are totally linked. I thought yoga meaning - union - would demonstrate that link in a lovely visual way. Which is why I got us doing partner poses too, (union) and using the tree for support - which is what trees do - support us!

Here are some pics.

Meditation to bird song by the pond.

Side stretching

The boat - a fun partner poses

Headstand :)

My feet - very green. Hey, maybe I'm turning into a tree nymph or something, woohoo!

Corpse Pose - Shavasana in the Cat's Ears flowers.

Pretty innit? looks like stars!

There were a few things cut out - we did partner down dog which is also fun, and we had a sun salutation in there too, but I guess you can't have everything to fit into 5 mins!

I'll have to post a few pics of the other two items as well coz they were also lovely.

Juice

2010-09-08T11:47:00.002Z

The polytunnel is still chucking out those cucumbers - I collected 13 last week! And they are as long as my arm. It's taking me so long to get through them that their now turning a little old. Seeds inside are a bit big, skin is tough etc - BUT they are great for juicing. Mind, one cucumber is a heck of a lot of juice.

I am NOT drinking courgette juice anymore it was making me nauseous, just thinking about it is making me cringe.
So now in the mornings (or whenever I feel like it) - I drink a shot of my own grown wheatgrass - which is very good, and then 1 cucumber with one orange. As soon as the cucumbers run out I think I'll transition into Kale juice because I've planted a HECK of a lot of kale plants (which are being destroyed by caterpillars) for that reason. But I am nervous, cucumber is pleasant - kale is - well, cabbagey and green and difficult to drink. But hopefully an orange, or an apple or even carrots from the garden will help it go down.

I would like to ideally eat the way Natalia Rose describes in her RAw Food book - eating light to heavy. Start with juice - then next meal is fruit, then next meal is veg and if you need to eat cooked then make it your last meal - but I just can't seem to stick to that although it sounds so simple. By the time lunch time comes i want heavy food loaded with fat hehe, not just fruit. But there we go!
Luckily I got loads of tomatoes from the glasshouse at the moment, and I'm loving them cut up with mixed seed and bean sprouts and tahini, raisins and vinegar. Fatty and sweet- what's better? :)

Be at ease with your Self

2010-08-31T08:09:00.003Z

You know, it's so easy to look outwards for - well, anything and everything. But especially validation... Love, acceptance... but it may never really come in the package that you want - or demand. So I've been learning over the last year how important it is not to expect people just to be what you want them to be. People have a right to be moody, miserable, annoyed with you, angry with you, not friends with you and even rude to you. But so what?
If you are your own friend, what does it matter how others treat you?
Finding a strong core inside your Self is very important. But if you're not used to trusting yourself like that it can take ages and AGES to find it. But it's there. Inside yourself you have strength, you just don't believe it yet.

I know i'm saying You You You - but I mean Me! me me! Coz the other day I felt a bit of strength inside after I fell into a very deep well of sadness after someone treated me WRONG! hehe! But I just forgot that why should people treat me the way I demand? It's like being a spoilt child. But it's so easy to demand that people tiptoe around you when you don't have any strength inside. It's like saying "Please, please be nice to me! Or you'll ruin my day - heck you'll ruin my life - because I don't like myself either, and if you're nasty to me and I'm nasty to me, why should I live?!"
Well those were the kinds of thoughts twirling around my head.
But after hours of sadness, I finally just told myself to STOP! just STOP! and there was such certainty in my voice - a resolutness - that I listened. I felt my mind, my soul, whatever wanting to pull down onto that well worn path. But I kept stopping myself, with an attitude of "lets see what will happen." I stopped myself crying, I stopped myself thinking - and I fell asleep.

When I awoke in the morning I felt different. I felt like for the first time ever, I could rely on myself. And you know what I felt too? I felt like "I don't mind how people treat me today." Because inside I felt that I can look after myself. I want to encourage this growth, for definite. But I won't lie - it's scary. That bit of strenght I found was a mere scrap, I need to nurture it and believe in it and walk a new path in my mind.

Byw Yn Yr Ardd

2010-08-31T07:43:00.004Z

I think I posted before about me joining a Welsh Gardening programme... And here are some stills from the recent episode in which my niece and I create a wildlife habitat in the garden for toads and frogs and newts and hedgehogs.

My niece loved seeing herself on telly.

I don't think about it as 'being on telly' because I never watch tv! (well, rarely rarely rarely).

This is the third item that's aired. The other two included me and my mother making a wild salad out of garden weeds and there's one where my friend and I carve spoons. The next one to air will be another friend of mine and myself doing yoga in the garden - I really loved filming that one because we spoke about the importance of having a connection to nature. And whilst we were filming we had to hold poses for a long time - particularly one where we were leaning against the apple tree - and I felt literally supported by this tree and as they took shot after shot, I did get into a medititive state and truly FELT the connection we were talking about. I watched Avatar yesterday in 3-d and when they talk about making the 'bond' with their funky ponytails, I only hope people understand the realism behind such an idea, and go and hug a tree!

(impersonating a newt I think).

And here's the recipes from the website of the salads and tea's I made on the programme:

Weed Salad!
What to put into the salad:

* Fat Hen
Pick this plant before it flowers or the seeds will be all over the garden! You only need to use the leaves.

* Sheep’s Sorrel
There are about five kinds of sour leaves and they all tast of lemon - excellent in a salad!

* Ground-Elder
This strong tasting herb that is extremely hard to get rid of from gardens is popular in salads in Scandinavia.

* Daisy
The Daisy looks lovely in salads. Traditionally daisies were used to treat rheumatism.

* Borage
This will give a nice cucumber taste to the salad. You may use the leaves and flowers.

How to make dandelion coffee

* Dry the dandelion roots for two days.

* Then put the dry roots in the oven for 10-20 minutes until they are brown (see the picture above).

* You’ll know that they’re ready if they snap easily.

* Mill the roots in a coffee grinder to get a coffee-like powder (see below).

* Put a large spoonful in a pot with boiling water.

* Leave to steep for 5 minutes so that the flavour can develop.

* Remember to strain the coffee before drinking!

How to make herbal tea

Salad

* Put dried Selfheal, Mint and the flowers of the Elderflower into a teapot.

* Pour boiling water over them and leave to infuse for 5 minutes so that the flavours are released.

* Remember to strain the tea before serving or you’ll get a mouthful of herbs!

Chill Wind a'Blowing

2010-08-29T17:39:00.003Z

Yup - these last few days I've really noticed that it's chilly! Well I guess we're at the end of August, and there have been some changes in the air for a while. Leaves slowly changing visibly, and other plants changing underneath the surface.
The other night was the first night I went to bed and thought "ooh! I'm cold!"
It's been such a long time since it's been cold. And now here's this wind again.
It's beautiful and wonderful because it feels so new and fresh. But it's sad because the wonderful warmness and comfortable air with it's luke warm embrace is leaving us! It won't matter now whether the sun will shine or not, because there will always be a chill in the undertones.

Time to open up and welcome another change. Don't you just love seasons?

Wheatgrass and a Cute Puppy

2010-08-18T12:23:00.006Z

My friend is on a mega sprouty and wheatgrass diet - pretty inspiring - she went to Hippocrates and all! She went away for a week recently, and I got to babysit all the sproutlings.

Here's the set up!
Sunflower and pea sprouts and wheatgrass.

Every Saturday she starts her sprouting routine, by soaking lots of seeds. Then they are rinsed like ordinary sprouts for two days. Then they are planted in an inch of compost, and the peas and sunflowers have a weight on top. The wheatgrass only has a cover over it to keep it dark.
Then they are watered every day, and the hard part it that all the runoff water has to be drained into a bucket. Twice a day. And as they grow they get really heavy! So it's slightly back breaking leaning over holding the heavy trays. But That's enough for a week... but of course, every week you start another batch!

Peas with tiles on top

Sunflower

Wheatgrass

I then bought some myself. Here's my wheatgrass. I grew some ages ago and I got really ill from drinking it - instant stomach cramp! But this wheatgrass is perfect, very sweet and no ill tummy!

And here's the cute puppy! Her name is Lola and belongs to a cousin of my bf. She was adorable!!
A miniature shnauzzer :)

Budokon

2010-08-11T15:47:00.006Z

This is Budokon - a blend of martial arts and yoga, created by a guy called Cameron Shayne.
I bought the beginners DVD recently and really enjoyed it. It just attracts me to it. I guess it's a bit like dance, but it's more controlled and in a way I like that, because it's something to learn - learn the right steps and movements - but wrapped up in the fluidity of dance and expression.

I've discovered a workshop next month in London, and I'm hoping to go - but Budokon is a strong thing - and it attracts proper yogi's and instructors - not me! hehe - But it looks like fun, although I feel I'll be totally out of my depth, I hope I'll still have fun :)

Stuff

2010-07-19T17:40:00.002Z

Some pics of what I've been upto... A Medieval Festival in Tewkesbury which was awesome, then a walk along some of the Pembrokeshire coast in very windy conditions, and whilst caravaning, a cool moth called a Garden Tiger we found in the shed of the camp site. Gorgeous huh?!

Busy Bee

2010-07-01T19:51:00.002Z

I've been all over the place these days and I haven't checked in with ma blog for a while, so apologies for that.

I've just been filming for 4 small slots on a Welsh Gardening show called Byw Yn Yr Ardd - Living in The Garden, or Life in the Garden.

It was a busy two days that I've been preparing for for a while. I'm rather tired now, but I enjoyed all the prep work I had to do and I learnt a lot.

Due to preparing stuff I've become a lot more interested in wild plants and their medicinal properties.... I'll post some more on this later on.

This post is just a quick check in. I shall update more soon, I'm hoping to have some more time soon : )

What I do on Thursdays...

2010-06-24T13:24:00.003Z

...is show my friend Sage stuff about computers! Today, it's a lesson on blogs :)

Here's us - having fun, learning....

Wholesome Weekend

2010-06-07T13:10:00.008Z

I had a wonderful, wonderful weekend.
My friends and I organized a Skill Share Day for Saturday as we are part of the Transition Group in our valley.
I really enjoyed the day.

These are the skills that lovely people volunteered to share with others - peg loom weaving and drop spindle (wool work), bread making, BeeKeeping, massage, meditation, leather repair, herbal tea making, wildfood cooking, soup making from garden produce,
willow bark cordage, willow weaving.
We had a Skill Share last year, and it was quiet - and so was this one too, not many people turn up for this kind of event, unless they are totally interested in that kinda thing already. But of course, we want people to come who aren't into all that - So we have to find a way of being more appealing! I totally enjoyed and certainly learned A LOT! Which makes me want to share it with others. Hopefully if we have another one we will do it in a town, in a more open and public space.

Willow Weaving

Repairing Leather

Then, my Sunday was delightful too.

In the morning I cycled up the hill (slowly), to a project that is again part of our Transition group. It's basically a Community Supported Agriculture - but we haven't quite got the community in yet because it's so new. A few of us have got together and started gardening on a member's land that he was willing to share. I have only just been getting active in this project, and the other folks have done an awesome job. They have planted all sorts of veg and dug and dug and dug the rocky soil. What we'd love to happen is for the community to soon become aware of this lovely project and desire some veg from it. Totally local food, grown by local people FOR local people! We'd love for the community to get INVOLVED and see where their food is grown, and join in with the growing of it.
I'm so excited by the possibilities of this project.
Yesterday I scavanged sticks from the hedgerow, sawed them, and placed them along a raised bed in order to put butterfly netting over the cabbages. It took me an hour and it was a workout for my shoulders!

I then cycled home and started cleaning up the place because my girl friends were coming to hang out.
We made smoothies - yum yum - and my friend made a lovely cake with no wheat and no sugar! I was really very impressed.

We then played frizbee (which I've never done properly before, because I've only ever tried it with bully boys) - it's so much nicer and better playing with girls, because, well - girls are so KIND! My friend helped me and showed me how to throw a frizbee. It was great fun. We also threw a rugby ball around. Totally non-competitively! haha, girls are so fun.

(pina colada smoothie, spinach and banana smoothie, strawberry and coconut, and peach and mango!)

I think the frizbee hit my finger, and it hurt. But then it was fine. Last night however I was crying in pain because I thought I'd broken my finger. Somehow, hours later, my finger remembered it got hurt! I slept with a frozen bag of peas. :)

Anyways, after a girly afternoon, I went for an evening picnic with another lovely friend, and we went up the mountain (big hill, or high point of our valley rather), and ate celery and potato soup with sprouts and with some homemade bread from the skillshare (although I got very sick after eating the bread - oops). Being out in nature, eating and talking and connecting was so refreshing and amazing.

(I didn't take this pic, it's from the web -
but it's where I went for a walk yesterday).

I felt, not rushed--- I felt at ease, at peace, calm. Sitting, amongst the bugs and the moths and the spiders, listening to the blackbirds - many many many of them, singing over their territories. Looking at the sun, slowly setting over a beautiful sky. Wild horses in the distance - it was as perfect and as sweet as I'm making it sound. I really felt THERE. Awake, aware, mindful - in a completely natural and non-effortful way.
My friend and I connected, sharing stories, talking, then silence and listening and being in nature together.

Today, despite my stomach being very upset from bread munching to excess, I do feel calm.

I think all these connections to REAL things over the weekend is so restorative, so restful and meaningful. It's like filling up your tank with, well, love, I suppose. Loving feelings. Happy feelings.

:)

Books!

2010-06-05T19:36:00.004Z

I've just finished reading Colin Beavan's 'No Impact Man' book. I really enjoyed it! For so long I've been saying NO! to reading anything about C02, the state of the planet, global warming - I've just been saturated with knowing too much stuff. I couldn't take it anymore.
But when my friend had bought the book and gave it to me to read, I took it. When I scanned through it, I was delighted to see it has a "how I went about doing so and so" feel and THAT gets me (for some reason) very excited!
I just love blogs detailing someone's journey, especially a journey of self discovery - and Colin Beavan certainly discovers alot. Perhaps it's because he was so 'behind' in the green ways of living, that he found out what many green clued up folks already know - but because he's so honest, and self depricating, you are with him every step of the way and agree with his wise, but simple insights. I couldn't put it down - it has a lot of personable, story like qualities to it. It was almost novel-y in some respects, so it felt far lighter and easier to absorb than a full blown "Silent Spring" kind of scary book.

And I've just found out that the wonderful, bubbly, inspiring, upbeat Annie Leonard - of The Story of Stuff - has released a book of the same name! I mean she couldn't possibly fit EVERYTHING into that awesome 20 min film of hers.
As I finished No Impact Man so quickly (a sun bathing day, a late night and a lazy morning) I wanted more of the same - so I'm hoping that The Story of Stuff will do the trick.

I feel it's time I reintroduced myself to - not facts of doom and gloom of the planet - but simply put truth of the situation and then WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT! Time to feel reinspired by what's possible, it's not all going to end terribly, and that I'm not the only one saying no to flying and feeling awful about buying plastic wrapped food. (at times - too often even then).

So many films, documentaries, books are so blinking - unfinished....
Like the film 'The Age of Stupid' - good idea and bold, but left you feeling completely hopless.

The Story of Stuff - I think will deffo have a lot of facts in it, but I can't imagine the deliciously personable Annie not to include HERSELF in the book, and HER story, not just the story of stuff.

After all - she's even got it on the cover "A VISION FOR CHANGE" and that's exactly what I and everyone needs. A plan, a dream, a fantasy that's so warm and inviting that you WANT to get there, you like dreaming about it so you want to live it.

Visioning is so important. How do you know what to do if you can't even imagine it?

I'd like to see:-

wooden toothbrushes, people carrying stainless steel bottles for water, clean flouride and chemical free water for all, gardening everywhere, local foods, neighbours being friends, regular lights out and electricity out for people who don't need it (most of us not in a hospital or other similar states), family time, nature loving and wilderness enjoyment as a part of SCHOOLING, not formica tables and plastic chairs, but mud pies and willow woven tiaras, less addiction to stuff and external pleasures - but a deep contentment for everyone, being at peace with who they are and feeling capable of loving eachother and ourselves and enjoying being present - letting go letting go letting go

Beach, beach and more beach!

2010-05-31T19:06:00.012Z

I've been to the beach loads of times this month last month. It's been great. The first week of May me and my friend went confidently to the beach with our boogie-boards, but the water was freeeeezing... we stayed in, for a bit, just upto our bottoms, but our legs went blue and numb pretty quickly - we got outta there! Still a nice beach though...

Here's me wrapped up warm!

The second weekend, I went with my parents and niece - and it was a scorcher!
The beach was full of happy folks.
The sea was bracing, but once we acclimatized it was great fun, the waves were massive, and even though I don't like being under water, when a wave hit me and went all over my head, I was okay about it! I think because I was with my niece who was feeling the same thing as me, so I felt safe. We could both grow in confidence together.

A pic from our spot.

The third time, we went in the late afternoon. The sun was hiding behind an overcast and grey sky, and the wind was very cool indeed. The tide was coming in. I walked down to the shore line, in my trousers and tshirt thinking, "I'll never go in the water today, not with such a cold wind!" But as soon as my feet touched the water - I realized the sea was warm! In a fit of whimsy, I just stripped down to my underwear and splashed into the sea... but of course, feet are one thing, the midriff always feels cold! It took me a while, but I went in for a proper swim! And every time i poked my shoulders out, it felt sooo cold.

Here I am like a mermaid in a grey sea - with a rather pained look on my face!

And here's me wrapped up warm afterwards, with damp hair!

And last weekend, i went with my friend. Ooh it was a lovely day... The sun was out, and we were the only ones on the beach. I wanted to go in the sea again, but the waves were large and curling and crashing... so we ran in but it was really cold. I was very proud of myself for actually going in. I was so glad i did swim because it was bracing and it felt good - in a - I know this is good FOR me - kinda way :)

Haven't really got one of the sea or anything. But here's the beautiful blue sky and me reaching for the sun :)

Clear Out!

2010-05-26T18:40:00.004Z

Aaah - sigh of relief...

Today I have cleaned out A LOT OF STUFF!
Perhaps a physical demonstration of the fact that I've been mentally and emotionally having a clear out these last couple of months.
I had clothes in my wardrobe, that I didn't want to admit were just clutter - and holding me to a past self that I just no longer am anymore. Some clothes say "You'll look good in us, if YOU look different" some clothes express "Please don't look at me" - today those clothes are in charity shop bags.
And why stop there? Books have gone in too. Perhaps shoes next.
I clung onto them, because I wanted to sell them, I wanted money for them. Regretting the fact that I ever bought them in the first place. But actually, sorting them out and giving them away has been a great feeling. There's space all around me.

And funny enough I read about space today in the Jivamukti Yoga book. It said something along the lines of "Without space, you go mad, because you can't see what you're doing."

(pic I took of the sky at the beach earlier this month)

****

My poor ferret had an operation today to remove a lump from his head. It was only a cyst, but it was getting bigger. Now he has staples on his head and he looks a right state! I'm just sooo glad that he came out of it okay. Waking up from an op is the most dangerous part. I'm glad he's through that.

Here he is looking brave :) Hope he'll be ok :(

And me and him - frankenferret !

****

Look at these stunning flowers I got given as a gift!

I couldn't quite take a decent pic though.
Very shiny! But still, beautiful. :))

Who's this Rascal?

2010-05-26T18:22:00.003Z

Hahaha! I saw this today, and I thought, I gotta scan that in.
Tis me! Mischeif. My mum said she found me in the shower turned away, when I turned around and she saw my face she ran to get the camera.

I knew lipstick needed to go on the face, and around the lip area - but I clearly thought the lip area was huuuge!

I'm gonna see...

2010-05-26T12:18:00.003Z

...Dr Brian and Anna Maria Clement from the Hippocrates Health Institute give a talk in London next month!

I'm so excited :)

This is what's gonna happen:-

At this information-packed event you will:
* Hear two of the world's leading experts on the living foods diet and lifestyle share their top strategies for success. There will also be ample time for questions.

* Receive a special goodie bag from us.

* Spend a day among like-minded people.

* Be able to buy products from The Fresh Network's online store at amazing discounts of up to 20%. On offer will be raw food staples, gourmet packaged raw foods, superfoods, supplements, kitchen equipment, detox aids, back issues of Get Fresh! magazine and a huge selection of brilliant books.

* * * * * * * * * *

It'll be cool just to SEE them both, let alone hear them speak.

:))

Powerful Songs

2010-05-19T15:15:00.004Z

Don't they just pull at your heart?

I've been swept up by Florence and The Machine's music this week. Florence's voice is just WILD ..in its most natural sense.

This song - Cosmic Love - makes my heart want to pull itself out of my chest and dive into a midnight ocean full of glittering stars!

For full benefit and POWwow - turn volume and bass RIGHT UP!

And this song - Hospital Beds - is great for singing too - gets me all "weee!" excited this one.

So one is deep, the other light :))

x

Ode to Rackham

2010-05-17T13:05:00.004Z

Arthur Rackham is one of my favourite illustrators.

I thought I'd post a pic I drew, which I copied from one of his, and modernized it thanks to photoshop - I actually drew it on the pc.
Dramatic, innit? :)

What I'd say If I was Wrong about Climate Change

2010-05-14T13:25:00.002Z

I'd like to quote No Impact Man - Colin Beavan here.

I'm in a Transition Group - and I guess our aim is to help people deal with climate change and peak oil. Thing is - some people don't believe it's even happening. Like my wood work teacher for example. What to say to these people?

Well today, I had a meeting as we are organizing a Skill Share day - and a member, Margaret (hello!) told me of Colin's post on his No Impact Man Blog.

This is exactly what I need to tell people who doubt. There's more than just one reason for doing something!

What I'd say if I was wrong about climate change - by Colin Beavan - No Impact Man.

I get emails from people, every so often, asking what I would say and feel if I was wrong about climate change. What would I say if, after dedicating years of my life to bringing attention to the problem, I found out there was no problem.

Well, first, of course, I would praise God in thanks that we have no catastrophe to contend with. Then, since many of the measures needed to deal with climate change have a lot of positive benefits, I will think:

I am glad we created 5 million or more new jobs here in the United States in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable generation.
I am glad we created a culture that relies less on foreign oil, so that our children can live secure lives, knowing that the energy rug can't be pulled out from under them.
I am glad we have found a way to save people and industry billions upon billions of dollars by making the use of energy more efficient.
I am glad the millions of children who suffer from asthma can now breathe easier thanks to the fact that we aren't pumping the air full of toxins from our exhaust pipes and smokestacks.
I am glad that, by no longer burning oil and coal into our air, we've put an end to acid rain and the devastation of our aquatic life.
I am glad that we created good, reliable, fun-to-use public transportation system so that families no longer have to raid their budgets to pay for cars and gas.
I am glad we've stopped building suburbs, which make people unhappy and [thanks to the happy suburbanites who wrote in] are designed for cars not people, and instead build villages where people can have strong community bonds that help make life fulfilling.
I am glad we now have fuel-efficient automobiles.
I am glad that we've learned as a culture to get off the work-more-to-spend-more treadmill which gobbles up resources and leaves us unfulfilled and instead turned to a way of live full of meaning and purpose.
I am glad we developed local, fresh food systems that care not just about filling bellies but what we put in those bellies.
I am glad that we have rejected the philosophies of survival of the fittest and competition for resources as driving philosophies and have instead embraced a philosophy of compassion and justice.
I am glad that we have understood that a sustainable society cannot work without supporting all of its people and that we looked for and found ways to improve the lives of everyone.
I'm glad that we've come to see people rather than things as our most valuable resource and that, in embracing the respectful and loving principles of not wasting, we have learned not to waste youth in prisons but instead to get them help for their drug addictions and alcoholism.
I am glad that, in realizing our resources are limited, we have come to use them to do what is important and to help each other rather than compete with each other.
I am glad that we have come to see education as the ultimate in sustainable industries.
I am glad that we have developed distributed, renewable energy technologies that allow kids in all parts of the world to have electric light so they can learn how to read.
The list goes on and on, but in short, I am glad that we have embraced the opportunities presented by the crisis of climate change in order to improve our society in ways we should have done anyway.

Eat, Drink, and be Mindful

2010-05-13T20:07:00.005Z

I just want to sing the praises of this awesome book - Eat, Drink and Be Mindful.
It's written by a Susan Albers - who is a clinical psychologist specializing in people's relationship with food. And she's done a great job. She quotes her clients, and writes in a way that makes you feel totally validated, accepted, and normal! It teaches you to be mindful in everyday life, and then how to take that mindfulness onto YOURSELF around food. It brings you into balance with your emotions and teaches you acceptance.

Also - her other book - 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself without Food is really blinking good as well!
It's so obvious, but I never really thought of it before: We eat to soothe ourselves because it feels good. To some degree, everyone does it! But how much and how often you run to food needs to be looked at, if every emotion results in eating, then you need a mindfulness check.

So I just thought I'd thank Susan Albers here for writing such helpful books.
Thank you!

1940's Me

2010-05-11T20:11:00.004Z

On Saturday I was supposed to go to a 1940's birthday party. But I got sick! I felt baad. And after all that time picking through our attic stuff for original 1940's clothes! thankfully my mother is a hoarder, a fantastic seamstress and a fancy dress fanatic. I found the skirt and the shoes, and she sewed in shoulder pads for the awesome 1940's blouse. I wore old pearls, and a faux fur stole that I wore to a 1940's wedding before.

So seeing as I was too sick to go to the party, I thought I'd wear the clothes now and photograph myself in them before putting the clothes away - never to be worn again!
I thought I'd share them here : )
I had originally straightened my hair to just curl the ends, but that didn't work out - so the hair ain't too 40's unfortunately :)

Inside The Human Body

2010-05-08T09:23:00.003Z

I've always wanted to know what the inside of a human body looks like. I want to know, particularly, the size and placement of the uterus. I'm also interested in the stomach and its size.

Two nights ago I was once again pondering my insides. The next morning I check up on some raw blogs, and what-d-ya know, Courtney Pool from Radical Radiance had been talking about the very same thing as I was wondering about.

She introduced some videos from Gil Hedley who is a - erm - what do you call it, someone who opens people up and looks inside!

Here comes a WARNING - if you don't feel like you can bare to see inside the human body, especially that of a kind dead person who has donated their body to science, then don't click on any links here! But I won't post any inside pictures here.

I, however, really wanted to see. Gil Hedley is a very passionate and kind and respectful man, who has an awesome appreciation for the human body - it is contagious. After seeing some of the videos; last night, for the first time, I actually felt ME instead of SEEING me. Those stupid biology, neat and tidy, 2d pastel coloured drawings of the human body are DAFT! When you see the truth of what we look like inside, you can relax and realize what we are.

Last night I held a true appreciation for my body - what it does, how it works, how it's keeping 'me' alive and at the same time - it is 'me'. I felt my bones and my muscles and my guts with my hands, and for the first time in a long time, I didn't judge. I just felt. Like when I give massages to people, I simply feel the body. A self-massage last night made me feel honoured and real. Not just a personality with thousands of thoughts, but I felt like a skeleton, I felt muscles and flesh - just as they were.

Gil Hedley has a cool video that I think people here would appreciate! It shows what happens when we don't STRETCH! We build up a fuzzy substance between our muscles which builds up overnight when we don't move so much.

You can actually see this fuzz and how it moves away when a finger is pressed on it. When we move our body through dance, yoga or have massages, this fuzz melts away. He says "Some people call this Fuzz - ageing."
I thought that was really interesting. So now I'm going to do some yoga!!

Here is the link for the Fuzz video.

Be Proud of Who You Are!

2010-04-29T14:41:00.005Z

I just made these two desktop pics and I thought I'd share them with you here.
Hope ya like my drawings :)

Feel free to use them!

Personality Types

2010-04-28T08:25:00.003Z

Yesterday I found out my personality type, thanks to a 70 question questionaire based on Jungian psychology and the work of the psychologists Keirsey and Bates.
I took the questionaire from a book called "Please Understand Me" and what came from it was so cool! The type that I turned out to be was very similar to me, like 80 - 90% the same. I read through the other types too and couldn't see myself in any of the others.
There are 16 types.
It made me think - wow, I'm not crazy. I feel like I AM this, and I AM understood. I'm a bit of a rare type so I've probably thought (correctly) that I'm very different from others which can be a bit excluding.

If you want to take the test, then I don't know where it's free, unless you buy the book or read the overviews of the types and see what's most like you. www.personalitypage.com
I thought it was free, I just checked, and it's not - d'oh! Sorry about that.

I'm an INFJ, here's an titbit from the page about INFJ's:

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get "feelings" about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people's feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

I feel this is very ME. I feel I'm quiet, and don't say a lot about the internal me. I definitley have strong feelings and often really feel the feelings and emotions of others.

I'm aware that personality types like this can be very broad. So I was really skeptical at first. But with an open heart you can take in the bits you feel are true because I think at least it's nice to have the WORDS to describe who you are and how you are like, even if you don't agree with the rest of the analysis.

My mum took the test and her type was SOO her it was hilarious. We couldn't stop laughing at how accurate it was, only because she's an extravagant type who likes to perform. I thought we'd be really similar, but in fact we were totally different. In a way - that was refreshing to know!
I'm keen to find out what my bf's type is.

Type in Personality Typing and perhaps you can discover a free questionnaire, or you may be prepared to pay a bit.

Or get the book outta the library :)

Kale = Green Drink

2010-04-20T20:30:00.004Z

Mmm I made a green juice today. Trying to use up all my kale before it flowers.

I have Russian Kale. Here's a close up (not mine)...

I used A LOT of Kale. Like two big handfuls, or a salad bowl full. I thought it was going to be very 'green' tasting, but it didn't. Here's the recipe I used...

Lots of Kale
4-8 sticks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
2 apples
1 small carrot
1 lemon (without rind)

I think the one whole lemon really helps. It makes it lighter and fresher.
I'll miss having kale in the garden.
I'll have lettuce though - yet I find that makes quite a bitter juice.

I'm eating apples atm, called Elstar apples. Really nice indeed.

There was some talk of people running out of fruit because of the airplanes not running... but the wholefood shop I go to doesn't use any air-freighted produce. It's all shipped.
I think the planes will be back tomorrow. Oh well! Hope Mama Earth enjoyed her breather.

I don't think the butterfly is going to make it! His wing is a bit crinkled and it ain't doing anything. I think tomorrow it's time for it to go out and find its own way.

Nos da! (Good Night in Welsh).

Butterfly and Blooms

2010-04-20T08:47:00.003Z

The butterfly has emerged!
A couple of days ago the chrysalis had fallen from where I'd stuck it on the window pane. So it was just laying on the windowsill. Eventhough I tried to prop it up so that it would remain vertical. Perhaps all my bothering it stirred something up.
Last night, I noticed this!

The 'shell' was cracked. It was coming out!
Unfortunately I was on my way to bed, so I knew that if it would come out, I'd miss it!

And indeed I did. Here is what I found on the window sill this morning...

Poor thing was flat on its back! As it was holding onto the chrysalis, I turned it over. It walked on my hand - I wanted it to walk onto something flat to dry its wings. But it climbed onto the orchid instead.
(and is it me, or does that chrysalis shell look way too small to house something that large?)

And it's remained there ever since. Drying its wings. Heating them up.

Makes a nice picture on the orchid though :)

And here are my gerbera's (African Daisies).
I'm posting these because I'm so happy they've come out of the little pot of soil after a year and a half. Especially as the packaging on the original pot said to chuck them after 6 weeks!

Here's the flower about a week ago.

And here it is this morning. :))

I haven't done much aerobic activity recently, so I think this morning I'll do some skipping.
Have a nice day everyone.

Garden and Hair

2010-04-16T18:43:00.006Z

Here's what's going on in the Polytunnel these days.
Growth!
Man it's hot in there. I feel like I step into another country when I open the doors of the tunnel. Like Narnia. Only with a heatwave, not a blizzard.

Lettuce and Peas growing. Some greedy slug is decimating the little salad sproutlings. But I can't find it anywhere!

This bed is parsley and radish so far, but soon it will be full of perpetual spinach and marigolds, hopefully!

Here's my table of seedlings. I've got salads, cucumbers, and tomatoes seen here. Underneath the table there's summer squash and chocolate peppers and sweetcorn.

I was out for two hours digging over and weeding a raised bed today. Phew. I was glad when my bf stopped fixing his car and came to help out. It seemed like the never ending bed of weeds. When we'd finished, I planted out my courgette plants and sowed flowers in the middle of the bed. Asters and hollyhocks.

This is the kale I'm eating at the moment. Correction - juicing. Not that often mind. But as it's almost flowering, I'm trying to juice as often as I can before it bolts!
In the background are purple sprouting broccoli that are just emerging. Very yummy steamed.

Here's my dog, Gwenno looking as beautiful as ever. I think she is the most gorgeous dog, and when I look at her it's like pleasure for my eyes and like chocolate for my brain to see her. Delightful beauty!

Here's a cool plant growing outside the house. Burning Bush plant, I think it's called. Cool looking.

Did you hear about the volcano in Iceland? It erupted, spouting ash into the air. So all planes to and from the UK were cancelled. So today, I made a point of enjoying the sky without any vapour trails. A clear sky at last! No bad planes polluting our world. It was so nice! :)

Here's an evening view over the valley where I live. Trees are still brown. No green yet. But all the buds are there. Soon everything will be lush and verdant.

My hair is another thing growing. But it had split ends and looked a bit messy. So I went to the hairdressers today to get a trim. Whilst sitting in the chair getting my locks chopped, I asked the girl if she'd be willing to make my hair wavy, with curlers. She said yes, and she used straighteners in a curling iron way to create very shiny long waves in my hair. I've never seen my hair so movie-star like. It is actually shining! And really bouncy. I felt like I was in an advert and felt a bit self conscious walking around town afterwards. It was so smart looking, it felt wrong doing the garden later on. I thought "This hair should be drinking cocktails next to the pool dahhling!" Not quite my usual mass of crazy curls.

Life in my Room

2010-04-09T09:55:00.004Z

Spring is here, and new life is all around us.

Even in my bedroom.

Last year I bought a Gerbera/African Daisy houseplant in a sale in a supermarket. On the pot it says "Plant lasts 6 weeks. Think of a Gerbera as a long lasting bouquet."
The flower lasted a while, then died. But I didn't throw it away, the leaves were still green. But the leaves withered, until I was left with four strangly dandelion looking things. But still, I kept it. I just didn't want to throw something away, not when I thought it still had life inside it.
And by golly - so it did! I think, as a thanks for not chucking it, the gerbera has grown again!
Out from the soil, two little heads popped up. No leaves, just heads!
This is what they looked like a few weeks ago.

And here's what they look like today. Bad photo, sorry. But you can see Ruby, the pig in the background :)

It'll be cool to see them flower!

Another bit of life in my room is a chrysalis. I found it in our Wendy house, and I thought, the butterfly is going to emerge, only to be trapped instantly in a dark room until it dies. So I took it and stuck it onto my window pane with some sticky-tack stuff.
This morning, it was wriggling back n forth!
Unfortunately, it is a cabbage white chrysalis! Oh dear! But still, I'm going to enjoy seeing it emerge. And when it does, I'll ask it very nicely not to eat my cabbages :)

Here it is mid-wiggle. You can see it's bent at the abdomen.
What an amazing thing. It even has a face like a butterfly. How did that happen?

Google StreetView

2010-03-30T10:09:00.004Z

Have you heard of StreetView from Google? They say it's like the last zoom option when you're zooming in from above over a town, when you click + you usually get a blur if you get too close, but now with Streetview you get magically transported onto the street! You can look about and stroll down the street as if you were there.

Sounds like a good idea, but I really don't like it!

To me it sounds invasive and wrong.

Sure, it's possible that I could one day go to that country and see the street for myself and that wouldn't be considered invasive. But the thought that people who wouldn't normally walk along your street, can now see where you live whilst they sit naked at the computer scoffing mini hotdogs seems a bit sick.

Well that's my rant, nothing more to say on the matter.

* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * *

I've just come back from a long weekend in London. Went up on Friday with bf. I spent a lot of money, ate odd things, slept -not much - in a room with 6 others, used the tube a lot.

On Friday we went out and had curry. My bf and his friends who we were visiting like hot food, three of them had just come back from Thailand which is kinda why we went, to welcome them home. Well they had had enough of rice, bless 'em, but came out for curry with the rest of us anyway.
I hate hot food! As well as street view, I think it's wrong! My mouth is like "What the hell are you doing you idiot? Do you usally lick the threads on a bleach bottle and say, 'ooh it stings a little but don't worry yourself about it!'"
I laugh when I see people sweating eating it, and think, what on earth are they thinking? If I sound judgemental, I'm reaally sorry, but chili lovers like my naughty bf are so judgemental of people who don't like chili, it's like a I'm holier that thou - or rather - I'm hotter than thou attitude. Just because I don't like chili it doesn't mean I'm a wuss. It means I like my taste buds to stay intact, thank you very much.

Anyways, after the curry, my (now sweaty faced bf) and myself went out to see a band that we found out were playing just the day before, and happened to include my bf's colleague, and a neighbour of mine (although I only found this out at the gig).
Thing was, I had damaged my ear drum on Monday due to using a loud machine in woodwork, and I wasn't wearing any ear defenders. That's all I could hear was a crackling, crunchy noise in my ear, as if someone was trying to shove a full packed of foil wrapped crisps into my ear canal.
So I spent most of the gig outside in the street, in the drizzle, where my nose started to bleed and I must have looked like I'd been in a fight or was a crack addict or something.

On Saturday we went to Chinatown. I ate sushi. Then bought some tamarind which weren't as good as I remember. They mightn't have been good ones. Then we went to the Natural Science Museum and I enjoyed immensley, despite being boiling hot and tripping over children every minute. The fossils were awesome. I loved it.
In the night we went out again to a really, really cool bar. It was in an old tram station, and was huge like a double sized barn, with white tiles everywhere, vintage furniture, old lampshades and chandeliers, fairy lights, roses and lily's and dark wooden chairs and leather sofas. It was like my ideal home, and probably everybody who went there thought the same thing.

On Sunday, bf and I ventured to the markets. We got lost in a crazy tube station called Bank, but once we joined up again, wondering around the power central of london was amazing. No one was around, apart from builders, so we could stand in the middle on the empty street and gaze up and the magnificent money - making buildings, thinking that we had been transported to Vienna or somewhere.
We then had some raw food (yay!) called Rainforest Creations, and I had a young(ish) coconut, young enough to be green and full of water, but not young enough to have jelly in it. Doh!
Then a juice and a wonder through some cool markets. After a street or two, we wandered along to some less than cool street jumble sales which we were inclined to believe sold mostly stolen goods. After walking past a dancing robot and a drunk woman rolling on the floor we decided to go 'home'. Once more on the tube, chug chug chug, silence, no staring, humid and sleepy, back to my bf's sister's pub, which we were staying in, and had come to visit too.

The rest of the day was very pleasantly spent watching video's - sorry - films, and laying on sofa's eating tamarind until it was very late.

The next day, Monday, we drove all the way home. I read a cheap chick lit novel I bought in a charity shop, and the car smelled like incence because I bought a box of twelve nag champa incence boxes, which was a bargain, especailly as you don't even need to light them to get the room to smell nice ; )

Then I felt very sick after a weekend of stuffing myself silly and arrived home late so I missed my wood work lesson. But realized I was free to go to my friend's yoga class!

It was an hour and a half of yoga, which I really needed after 4.5 hours of sitting in a car.
I truly realized how much I've progressed in my yoga practice. I now have so much more balance, flexibility and an affinity for feeling the edge of pain - whereas before I would recoil at the slightest hint of tightness and uncomfyness.

Anyways, it was nice to be home. I like going away, but now, cities freak me out a bit. All those people, and no one knows one another - I'm such a country bumpkin and I love it :)
I felt a bit frightened and hardly grounded at all in the city. I had to keep checking to see if I was about to be run over, or stabbed (paranoid, me?) Well there was a stabbing on the tube recently, which didn't reassure me much. Plastic bottles everywhere, people buying, fast foods, fast cars, fast people, it was all a bit much! But there's a lot of culture there, and what I like is that I truly felt like I was in India when walking around some areas, or Bangladesh or China, or somewhere like Iran when walking around other areas. It means you don't need to fly to see the world - it is all in London!
But I couldn't get calm or meditate even, I felt buzzed up in a strange way. My mind kept twirling around in a negative vortex, I felt like I was in an addicitive state - something unnatural.

Anwyways, that's enought from moi.

X Namaste X

Blast from the Past - Start of my raw journey

2010-03-25T15:34:00.004Z

I found an old diary I used to keep on the PC, I recorded my first year eating raw food.
It seemed I started eating raw foods in April 2006. Here is an excerpt from my third day raw! :)

8^th April 2006

Today is the morning of my third day raw, it’s another beautiful sunny morning, and I’m happy because I know it isn’t boiling outside, it’s still cool. I love this weather! The flat is a bit messy, but that isn’t really getting me down today. I went on the scales and nearly fainted, I am 9st8… that’s pretty crazy, I know it HAS to be water loss (eventhough I am drinking 2+ litres a day) because real fat loss just does not happen that fast. I can really see me losing a lot of weight eating this way, even though I eat a lot and get full as well.

I don’t really understand it, but I think its that when you cook food, you eat way more, because cooked food shrinks down. You also can’t really chew it, because it is soft. And you feel like you want more food a lot of the time because your body’s sugar levels are all over the place. And you are eating nutrient low foods. Eating raw literally fills you up with nutrients, why would you be hungry after that? There is sometimes an empty feeling in the stomach, but that is because it is accostomed to huge meals. My body is responding alarmingly well to this rather drastic change. It seems to be telling me- keep eating this way, please! So I will. Today, and then again tomorrow. One day at the time. My blender is arriving in 2 days, I’m really excited. So many of the recipes I’ve read call for blended foods. But I don’t see the logic behind dehydrators, surely fresh foods is better than ones that have been sitting in a warm place for 10 hours? My mixed sprouts are ready today, I will juice a couple and eat the rest today and tomorrow in my salads.

How cool is that? I so enjoyed reading the start of my raw journey - I just fell in love with it from the start. But I did have the mindset of - it's raw so eat as much as you can! And I ain't 9 stone anymore lol!

Reading on - I went all over the place after the first two weeks. Obviously didn't hear of transition! Went straight in raw and came out after a week with chocolate around my gob :) But I knew I liked raw - reading back it seems I was sooo experimental. I was eating all sorts of salads and combinations.

In May I went on telly talking about raw food and preparing some dishes.

I kept eating raw but it got less and less as the year went on. Also as I was thinking the only way to do raw is 100% it didn't give me much leeway in my thinking

I wrote in my diary in December 2006 -

Getting back raw is one of my big aims though, because when I’m raw, everything else falls into place.

I also need to be raw because my of my health, it really needs to be tip top. For four months I haven't been RAW.

It was high raw, just not 100% - I think it's really important if you want to eat raw, to just RELAX! I don't like labels anymore because of this mindset it seems to push you in.

Like now, I just want to include as much healthful food - but more than that - take away the unhealthful food.

This is the practice.

Taking away the rubbish and not replacing it.

Being happy when you 'think' there's a gap, that's a challenge.

But from 2006 I stopped eating sugar. Since I started that diary it has become second nature to me not to even think about sugary treats, and processed foods like lasagna and pizza's and things. My junk food now is tahini, bread, porridge, and junk sized meals! lol!

It's just a journey though.

Perhaps one day in the future I'll look back and read this and say "Since I wrote that blog I now eat only when I'm hungry and I'm much happier feeling my emotions because I know I can deal with anything!"

Ooh - that's quite nice to write in past tense. Nice visualization too :)

Ok! peace out x

Oh to be a Fruit Bat!

2010-03-24T14:02:00.005Z

If I could be an animal it would have to a fruit bat.
I love birds very much, and I'd love to fly - but I think the fruit bat tops being a bird. You can fly, have some sort of hand things, look like a fox (and I like dogs too), and get to thrive on fruit!

About Fruit Bats from About-Bats.com

Fruit Bat

Yum! Fruit Bat Eating Fruit

Fruit bats are some of the most popular bats in the world– they are furry, cute mammals and do not inspire the fear that some people have of bats. In this article, we will explore some fruit bat facts that you may not know about, for example, did you know that another name for a fruit bat is a ‘megabat’? If not, then this article will definitely help you learn a little bit more about this ever-so-popular bat!

While fruit bats are generally dubbed megabats that does not always mean that the bat is going to be large. Actually, fruit bats have some of the smallest bats in the world in their family, the very smallest being just six centimeters long. Megabats do have some larger bats in their family as well, some of them having a wing span of about five feet and weighing in at about two pounds, so the largeness of the megabat group really does vary.

The fruit bat has an excellent sense of smell. While many people believe all bats are blind, fruit bats are really the only bats that do not have the best sight, they mostly do everything with their nose. The other group of bats called ‘microbats’ (the bats that eat insects) have excellent sight, especially at night.

Fruit bats diet contains mostly just fruit and no insects or blood at all. They do tend to feed from flowers, taking a cue from the butterfly and eating the sweet nectar out of the flowers, but generally speaking a fruit bat will stick to just fruit. Now, the fruit does not always have to be whole, there are many fruit bats that love to lick the juices from crushed fruit, but if they have to, these bats do have teeth which allow them to bite through the hard fruit skins if needed.

Larger fruit bats will sometimes eat an entire fruit piece whole, for they have a larger mouth, bigger teeth and they are able to swallow a larger fruit whole. The smaller fruit bats will just hover and flap their wings in front of the fruit or flower, stealing bites from the fruit or some of that sweet nectar from the flower.

Generally speaking, fruit bats can be found anywhere in the world! Although, they mostly like to stay in the tropical areas because not only do the tropics have an abundance of fruit, but also they have the heat. Bats do not, by nature, like the cold weather and while some bat species are willing to hibernate, the fruit bat or megabat is not one of them. This is one of the main reasons why you will find more bats in places like Hawaii, Mexico and the tropics.

My Windowsill

2010-03-23T16:19:00.004Z

Here are the plants that live with me in my room! At the moment many are in flower - and it's lovely. I have three others on my bookshelf that aren't in these pics.

(P.S - the blue sky outside is only fitting for a blog titled azura skye, right?) :)

Dog Days Are Over by Florence and The Machine

2010-03-23T16:08:00.004Z

This is a really powerful song! It moves me to tears, it's so strong and the beat and her voice pull something up from inside me.
The lyrics are ... I don't know.. thinner than the song itself and perhaps negative. What do you think? But the tune -- ooh aaah!

Here it is - Dog Days are Over by Florence and The Machine.

Happiness, it hurt like a train on a track
Coming towards her, stuck still no turning back
She hid around corners and she hid under beds
She killed it with kisses and from it she fled
With every bubble she sank with a drink
and washed it away down the kitchen sink

The dog days are over
The dog days are done
The horses are coming so you better run

Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children and your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your loving behind you
Can’t carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
the dog days are done
Can’t you hear the horses
Cuz here they come

And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had
and what was left after that too. oh.

Happiness it hurt like a bullet in the mind
Stuck them up drainpipes
by someone who should know better than that

The dog days are over
The dog days are gone
can you hear the horses
Cuz here they come

Run fast for your mother and fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your loving behind you
Can’t carry it with you if you want to survive

The dog days are over
The dog days are gone
Can you hear the horses because here they come

A plea from the Seals

2010-03-23T13:29:00.002Z

The Canadian seal slaughter is the largest massacre of marine mammals on Earth!

Every year, pregnant seals gather on the ice floes to give birth to their pups. Small and unable to fend for themselves, the pups are totally dependent on maternal protection during the first few months of their lives. They lay on the ice close to their mothers, waiting until they are old enough to be able to take their first plunge into the relative safety of the sea and swim amongst other seals.

As a direct result of our work and that of other animal protection groups, the seal product ban passed.

But the sealers are also waiting, armed with guns and clubs with which to shoot or bludgeon the defenceless baby seals in order to sell the babies' soft fur for a few dollars on the international fur market.

You Can Help Seals Today
1) Sign PETA's petition urging the Canadian government to call off the bloody seal slaughter.
2) Make an urgent donation today to help us keep putting pressure on the Canadian government.
PETA has played a fundamental role in the call for an end to the annual slaughter. We work at all levels, from high-street retailers to the European Parliament. Last year, dedicated PETA members and supporters like you sent more than 110,000 letters and e-mails to Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) urging them to support a ban on the sale and import of seal products across the EU. The MEPs voted in favour of the ban, and as a result, two-thirds of the seals who had been slated for slaughter in the Canadian government's quota were spared as seal-fur prices plummeted.

Although this is a historic and momentous step forward for seals, we must act now to step up our campaign as Canada's furriers look to new markets for seals' skins as far away as China.

Please support PETA today and help us strike another blow against the Canadian seal slaughter, the international fur trade and animal abusers everywhere.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E Newkirk
Founder

PS The Canadian seal slaughter was dealt a massive blow last year thanks to the work of PETA and other animal protection groups. We must continue the momentum of our campaign now in order to ensure that this vicious industry never recovers.Please give generously to PETA today. We are the largest and most effective animal rights organisation in the UK, but it is only with your continued support that we will be able to continue to ensure a safer future for animals

*************************************

A message from PETA.
Please sign the petition!

Ferret Bliss

2010-03-22T15:13:00.006Z

Here's my ferret, Mikko, enjoying a massage - check out his blissfulness! :)
He's on my lap right now as I type. I've lost his harness. His buddy Gwion is out digging in the garden, but Mikko can't join him due to lack of harness!

Animals loooove massage - and I like doing it, very relaxing for both parties.

Jivamukti Yoga

2010-03-19T14:38:00.006Z

I borrowed a book called Jivamukti Yoga by David Life and Sharon Gannon from my yoga instructor friend.

Basically David Life and Sharon Gannon began Jivamukti Yoga as a yoga practice for Western students who wanted to know more about yoga. The scriptures and its history. They think that yoga is a lifestyle choice and it's much much more than just postures for exercise sake.

I've been reading through it slowly. Not particularly absorbed in it. But when I came to a chapter on Karma, a passage grabbed my attention. I thought I'd share it with you here.

"...This approach helps up develop equanimity of mind in all situations, which leads, in turn, to the understanding that running away from unpleasant situations will not lead to lasting happiness.
Let's say you are unhappy with your job and wish to quit. Each day you go to work grudgingly and throughout the day you tally up the reasons for your dissatisfaction. One day your frustration and anger reach a breaking point and you hand in your resignation. What are the possible karmic repercussions of this action?
When you find a new job, you may initially be elated, but it will probably only be a matter of time before frustration and anger take over again. You will find yourself upset and on the brink of quitting again. The way of karma is such that it will assure us of continued placement in 'bad' situations until we transcend them.
Anger is never strong enough to transcend an unpleasant situation. Anger may feel good temporarily, as it seems to relieve frustration, but in the long run it causes harm because it disturbs your connection to the inner Self, which is joy. Anger mires us deeper in ignorance and pain.

The correct response, or rather, the response that would lead to evolution for the soul, would be never to leave a situation while you are in a state of anger, jealousy or despair. If you wish to be permanently free of the unpleasant situation so that you do not have to repeat it, you must find a way to be thankful for it. You must leave while in a state of happiness. Don't wait to be happy until after you quit your job. Your job is not what is standing in the way of your happiness; your state of mind is."

This really resonates with me. I so often find myself doing exactly what was said there - tallying up the reasons for my dissatisfaction! "Oh this is useless because of x, y and z!"
I know that what they said there is the truth because I feel I've always known that. But anger does indeed mire you so that you forget the truth - which is your Self.

To sum it up:
"The best way out is always through" (quote from Helen Keller)

And if I may add - "through... with a joyful heart!"

Raw book

2010-03-17T19:10:00.003Z

A couple of weeks back I bought Natalia Rose - The Raw Food Detox Diet.
I opened it and scanned her introduction, words like 'diet', 'weight loss', 'look good' all popped up.
I closed the book - I don't really want to lose weight, and I don't like weight loss books.
But as it happened, I had nothing else to read - and heck, I did buy it. So, I got to reading it.

Well - it turns out - it's a really good book!
It covers a lot of bases and I learnt a lot of things. Perhaps I relearnt them, as I knew of the concepts before but haven't put them into practice. Natalia Rose puts across a clear case for why we should practice these concepts - such as -
food combining, taking a slow transition into raw,
and she explains digestion in an easy way too.

I've read a lot of raw books and liked a lot, but somehow, this book clicked in my head!

I've been on the raw path since 2006 - not so long really :) A lot of that time includes NOT eating raw food - but that is part of the journey.
I think her Transitioning into Raw concept is fantastic - so if you're looking for a good raw book, I'd certainly recommend this!

Her website is here : )

Check out this raw runner!

2010-03-17T14:59:00.001Z

Saw this two year old article in The Guardian about pensioner Joan Pick - who only eats raw food and runs everywhere!

She said she still uses her cast iron frying pans - as dumbells! Lol! :)

The woman with a tiny carbon footprint

Forget planes, trains or automobiles - if Joan Pick wants to go anywhere, she runs. And she eats nothing but raw food. Is her lifestyle extreme or the future we must all face up to? Emine Saner meets her

- Emine Saner
- The Guardian, Thursday 13 November 2008

Joan Pick at her flat in Croydon. Photograph: Frank Baron

We all know we are meant to be reducing our carbon footprint, but I suspect that many people wouldn't be prepared to go as far as Joan Pick. She hasn't driven a car since 1973 and has only been in a petrol-guzzling vehicle twice since then (once in the hearse at her mother's funeral, the other time when an ambulance came to pick her up after she dislocated her shoulder). Her gas supply was cut off sometime when the last Labour government was in power, and her electricity usage is minimal. She eats only raw food and the only items she ever buys are new trainers - because she gets around by running everywhere. Pick is 67 and claims her lifestyle keeps her healthy. "I've been living on nothing for the past 35 years," she says.

She isn't, you gather, an average sort of person. She is charming, in her tracksuit, ready to go out running, with her hair pulled into a baseball cap bearing the symbol of the high-IQ society, Mensa. A scientist for many years, she has a mind that darts off in different directions and it can be hard to keep track of what she is talking about (perhaps because I am not a member of Mensa).

Much as I admire Pick's low impact on this frazzled earth, isn't her lifestyle all a bit, well, extreme? She shrugs her wiry shoulders. "Does it look like a hovel?" she says, throwing a beady glare around her Croydon flat. It doesn't; it is neat and tidy, and the furniture is classic 1960s - very fashionable now - that she has had for four decades. She last owned a television in 1975 and listens to Classic FM and Radio 4 on an old secondhand stereo system. The walls are hung with her own artworks. The only electricity she uses is a single light (low-energy bulbs, of course) for the evenings, and her kettle, which not only makes the tea she drinks all day, but provides the hot water for laundry - which she does by hand - and bucket baths.

Pick doesn't have heating. It is a chilly day so I keep my jacket on, but she is far less weedy than me. Doesn't she get cold? "Sometimes," she says. How does she keep warm? "Clothing and exercise," she replies. Since she gave up cooking, she now uses her heavy cast-iron saucepans as gym weights; space is cleared in her living room for hula-hooping.

She decided to start living like this, she says, "because I realised we have got the energy question totally wrong. I decided to imagine that the earth was a business in need of sound management. We are all members of the board, a shareholder, a trustee, a consumer and an employee. We believed that fossil fuels were infinite, but they are finite."

Pick was a scientist, and writer, for many years, with a particular interest in energy consumption. She despairs that most people have to be forced to change the way they live, rather than making the choices themselves. "They have to almost bribe people to use energy-efficient things. It's terrible. I adopt a [lifestyle] that is consistent with the sustainable management of the world's resources. Everyone knows we have to have very severe cutbacks to meet that standard," she says.

Her world has shrunk to the distance around her flat in south London that she can run to (which isn't small - she can run to Tower Bridge, several miles away). These days, Pick spends her time going to the library to read the papers - "It takes longer on a Thursday because I have to read the New Scientist as well, but it's so awful" - and looking through Who's Who and Google to find the addresses of the politicians, scientists and industry leaders she wants to write to (Pick is a prolific letter-writer, tapping out her missives in dense little letters on an old typewriter).

She rode a bicycle until she felt it had become too dangerous and the last time she went on a plane, she says, was 1971. Doesn't she ever want to go on holiday? "Oh no," she says. "I've never enjoyed going on holidays. You can learn about places by reading about them. My mother died in 1972, and my brother lives in Dallas, so there's no possibility of going there." I wonder if her life isn't a bit isolating. She has never married and doesn't have a partner ("a husband might expect three cooked meals a day. Can you imagine?") and she admits, with a sparkle in her eyes, that her friends and neighbours do think she's "a bit mad". Maybe she is, but perhaps we will all have to live like Pick one day.

She follows a raw vegetarian diet. "I had done studies of the food industry - the beef industry and the destruction of the rainforest to fuel it," she says. "I was at a Mensa dinner, with a vegetarian ..." She doesn't continue this thought. "I've always been a natural fatty ... I had tried every diet in the book, so I decided to try a raw-food vegetarian diet." When was the last time she ate a cooked meal? "I don't know, I can't remember." Doesn't she miss it? A nice bowl of soup, a roast dinner? "Of course not. There's no mess. Have you seen what I eat?" We go into her kitchen, where the cupboards are bare. She opens a large tub full of mixed seeds and nuts, which forms the basis of her diet, along with fruit and wheatgerm. "It's very easy to live like this. I couldn't imagine living any other way now," she says.

It seems a bit joyless to me (where are the treats?), but Pick isn't a joyless person; far from it - she's delightful. I've made her late for her daily two-hour run. We walk down the several flights of stairs together (she never uses the lift) and she runs off into the afternoon sunshine.

What if you didn't have any fear?

2010-03-13T14:53:00.003Z

You might do Parkour!!

Check out this young girl for complete inspiration (and also the most annoying feeling that you are like a bird in a cage!)

Bacteria - facinating!

2010-03-11T08:39:00.004Z

After my colonic, and discovering that my good bacteria may still be fighting with a left over strain of campylobacter I picked up in Africa, I've been reading about intestinal flora - bacteria in your digestive tract.

I really enjoyed a wikipedia article HERE.

Here are some juicy bits from the article.

Acquisition of gut flora in human infants

The gastrointestinal tract of a normal fetus is sterile. During birth and rapidly thereafter, bacteria from the mother and the surrounding environment colonize the infant's gut. Immediately after vaginal delivery, babies may have in the upper gastrointestinal tract bacterial strains derived from the mothers’ feces.^[13] Infants born by caesarean section may also be exposed to their mothers’ microflora, but the initial exposure is most likely to be from the surrounding environment such as the air, other infants, and the nursing staff which serve as vectors for transfer.^[14] The primary gut flora in infants born by cesarean delivery may be disturbed for up to 6 months after birth whereas vaginally born infants take up to 1 month for their intestinal micro flora to be well established. After birth, environmental, oral and cutaneous bacteria are readily transferred from the mother to the infant through suckling, kissing, and caressing. All infants are initially colonized by large numbers of E. coli and streptococci. Within a few days, bacterial numbers reach 10⁸ to 10¹⁰ per gram of feces.^[14]^[15] During the first week of life, these bacteria create a reducing environment favorable for the subsequent bacterial succession of strict anaerobic species mainly belonging to the genera Bifidobacterium, Bacteroides, Clostridium, and Ruminococcus.^[16] Breast-fed babies become dominated by bifidobacteria, possibly due to the contents of bifidobacterial growth factors in breast milk.^[17] In contrast, the microbiota of formula-fed infants is more diverse with high numbers of Enterobacteriaceae, enterococci, bifidobacteria, Bacteroides, and clostridia.^[18]^[19] After the introduction of solid food and weaning, the microflora of breast-fed infants becomes similar to that of formula-fed infants. By the second year of life the fecal microflora resembles that of adults.

The process of fermentation, since it produces lactic acid and different fatty acids, also serves to lower the pH in the colon, preventing the proliferation of harmful species of bacteria and facilitating that of helpful species.^{[citation needed]} The pH may also enhance the excretion of carcinogens.^[8]

Evidence also suggests that bacteria enhance the absorption and storage of lipids.^[3] Bacteria also produce and help the body absorb needed vitamins like vitamin K. In addition, the SCFAs they produce help the body absorb nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, and iron.^[2]

But what I want to know is, how can I increase the good bacteria without taking probiotics? I mean, how in nature do we absorb them anyways? That bit about the baby says it gets it from the mother's breastmilk. I suppose I could find a healthy lactating woman somewhere and ask her to fill my sippy cup, lol... But I guess they are present all around us. But if I go around licking surfaces, I'm probably going to make myself worse.
Positive thinking and probiotics are the order of the day for me.

Also - to reduce wind, I'm trying to food combine and reduce my intake of fat which may cause other foods to digest slowly and ferment in the gut.

Oh, and just read that fermented foods contain bacteria - like sauerkraut and kombucha.
I used to drink kombucha when my neighbour kept the starter alive. We weren't very good at keeping it alive, but if I can be a mad scientist and breed bacteria then I'll have to get my hands on some more kombucha!

Note to self - Chew!

2010-03-10T12:31:00.001Z

Why Chewing Food More Times Is Healthy

By Elena Gorgan

Any “respectable” gourmand can vouch that food is meant to be properly appreciated and enjoyed, and not chomped down like the Apocalypse is just around the corner. With all this, the reality is, as many nutritionists and health experts have already pointed out, that most of us are far too famished when we sit down at the table to restrain ourselves from eating hurriedly. Regardless of that, this is just the time to stop and chew our food more times, they also point out.

Chewing is not just the process that stands between our hunger and the feeling of satiety, experts warn, since not chewing food properly can have, in time, some very negative effects on our health. Not only that, but it also prevents us from enjoying our meal, while also leading to overeating, on the account that, by wanting to finish quickly, we do not allow our body to react to the food ingested.

One of the first benefits of chewing our food well is that it’s an act that tells the rest of the gastrointestinal system to start the digestive process, as experts explain. It also contributes to breaking food into smaller particles, which makes digestion much easier. Also, by not swallowing large chunks of food, we avoid embarrassing moments like indigestion, bloating, gas and the more painful stomach aches. Chewing food properly also ensures that it is better imbued with saliva, which contains enzymes that also aid digestion.

Chewing food well also prevents bacteria, health experts say, since it eliminates the risk of incomplete digestion, which, in turn, can be caused by swallowing larger pieces of food. It also helps us better appreciate our food, since we get to savor every flavor properly, while also preventing us from overeating. Taking our time with food has benefits both for our health and our diet, it is being said. A little test that we can perform to see whether we’re currently chomping our food as we should is to try to identify the food in our mouth by texture.

If we can, then we meet the “chewing standards” set by nutritionists and doctors. Contrarily, if we can’t, then this is just the time to start taking it slow.

Bowels before Breakfast (and let's not spare any details!)

2010-03-10T09:00:00.003Z

It's rather early and here I am talking about my bowels!

Hehe, well why not eh?

So yesterday I went to have my colonic hydrotherapy session.

I met with Mr Colonic and we started talking about my health, diet, exercise habits, any illnesses etc etc. I answered as best I could.
Then he took out a chart of the digestive system to explain to me what was going to happen and he talked a bit about how great the colon is (well he would, wouldn't he?)
He said the water would travel up the colon and when it would come to the far end it wouldn't go any further because of the illecocal valve, which only opens one way - to let food out of the small intestines and NOT the other way around.

He said he'd have to give me a rectal examination to check if I had piles which may be damaged when sticking the speculum up there. Then he showed me the speculum. Well I was very excited at this point ; ) Actually, I was thinking "Breathe! Breathe!"

So after a bit more talk, in we go. I strip off my trews and put on a fetching gown. I lay down on my side and yo and behold I was violated! LOL! The rectal examination was unpleasant. Hmmph. My poor butt was not amused. I then said "Please sir, can I have the SMALL speculum?" I always knew I was a tight arsed git.
Then, up that goes and it wasn't as bad as the EXAMINATION. When I turned on my back it felt a lot more settled. Although, I came to feel that it was slipping out, but it wasn't. I just wasn't used to that sensation.

Then the water entered, I felt it was leaking, it felt cold and then warm around my areas. But it wasn't, the water was entering fine.
So for the first five mins nothing really happened - I was just getting used to the idea that there was water inside my colon. But I couldn't really feel anything to begin with.
He then said that he would see when my colon was squeezing (peristalsis) by the water pressure in a tube. Then I felt like I really had to fart, and I didn't know what to do. Well I knew not to push! I just tried to relax as much as possible, but I found that hard. Then lots of bubbles came out. And more and more and more. I'm full of hot air too, apparently.

So he started massaging my guts and this really hurt. He said "You certainly do have a lot of air in there, this must be very painful for you!"
"You said it!"

So I mean, bits of stuff were coming out, but hardly anything. Then my stomach - or rather my guts, started to cramp up. It felt like period pain.

This went on for a while and I was getting uncomfortable and a bit emotional. I felt I was all alone, in a big city, with a tube up my arse and a man pushing my guts and I felt fearful. But then I took a big breath and just went with it.
Still nothing was coming out. I was getting a bit full. I felt I really wanted to PUSH something out! Thankfully, he suggested at that point that I go to the loo and empty myself.
"Yes please!!"
I was nervous of him taking the tube out, but it was fine. No leaking or anything. I was almost surprised that I didn't poop all over the floor.

I went to the loo, and that's where the fun REALLY happened!
I was gushing out water and stuff for ages. And then - oh yes - I entered - PAIN TOWN.
Cramping, shivering, feeling sick, getting ill and cold and pooping so much I could have won a medal in a questionable back alley olympic event.

I thought "What have I done to myself? I haven't read any account like this on all the bloody websites!"

Finally, it stopped. I tried to push more but it had ended. AMEN!

Then when I went back into the room, he was reading a magazine :)

He said "It seems to me you have a lot of bad bacteria. It's as if your good bacteria and bad bacteria have a battle going on."
Then I said "Oh! Now you mention bacteria, I probably should have said this earlier... But 5 years ago when I came back from Uganda I brought back some visitors in my guts, by the name of campylobacter gastrointernitis."
The health authorities had to be alerted and all.

He said "AH! Well those things can live for a long time. Did the doctor give you anything?"
Well I couldnt' remember that. I just rememberd that I got better.

He said "I thoroughly recommend you take probiotics. If you are still gassy by the end of the month, perhaps you should consider a lab test of your poop" (The man is obsessed!) "IT may tell you what bacteria you have in there."

I said I'd consider it.

I said goodbye, thanks for the intimate and painful experience. He apologized that I had a rough time.
I went to the loo one more time, just to check, but I was thoroughly spent.

Relieved, I went and caught the bus home. I was rather drained. I felt nervous that I'd be wanting to GO, thankfully I didn't. And apparently I may not even go today either.

When I got home I was really hungry, so ate a salad - and I thought I must chew better, and food combine - that may really help my gas problem.
And I hope probiotics will help too.
And now I have to go catch a bus, because I'm going to buy said probiotics.

I apologize for alll the glorious detail. But I hadn't read anything like this on the web and I felt it was my duty to show what can happen and what feelings and emotions one can feel!

Toodle pip x

Ding Dong! It's Colonic Time!

2010-03-09T09:44:00.003Z

Yes, the time has arrived.

For years I've always thought "Wouldn't it be nice to have my bowels thoroughly cleaned out?"

But I didn't think it was a very natural procedure and perhaps not safe.
Yet, that 'wanting' for having a cleaner bowel has stayed with me.
So today, I am going for my first colonic hydrotherapy session.

And I'm excited.

And nervous.

I'm most nervous about the initial 'placing of tube' - but then I think I'll look forward to the procedure.
I'm rather nervous about exposing myself to a stranger like that, but I suppose he's about to see all my poop so moving on!

I hope that some real bad old stuff will come out, which will make me glad that I went. I'll be slightly miffed if it's just regular stuff. But maybe bad stuff doesn't come out the first time around.

And most of all, I hope that I won't feel like going to the loo afterwards, because I will have to get a bus back home all the way from the city which takes about 45 mins to an hour and a half with all the waiting in between buses. (Welcome to Wales - where even the city is in the countryside!)
(ok, not reeeally).

I'll let y'all know how it goes :)

Swim and Sauna

2010-03-09T09:29:00.006Z

Last week I went swimming with bf and step daughter for the first time in years!! I've been swimming in the sea, but not in a pool for years I mean.
I really enjoyed. There wasn't as much chlorine in the pool as there was when I was a kid. No stinging eyes.

When I was in the pool I noticed that they had a sauna and steam room poolside, so I went in. I thought "Hey! I can handle this!" I didn't stay in long though, didn't want to leave the other two. But I felt so great after coming out from swimming and sauna-ing, that I vowed to go back.
So yesterday, I went on my own and had to walk from town to the leisure centre as there are no buses! Extra exercise anyway - and the weather was beautiful.

I swam first. Surrounded by kids having their lessons, and swimming past me like fish. I was puffing and panting like a tired, wet dog. Swimming is hard!
I then went into the sauna after drinking loads of water to hydrate myself. I lay down and chilled out and felt my muscles melt and go soft. mmm!
Then I had an ice cold shower, brr!
Then I went into the spa pool. All bubbles which made my thighs wobble big stylee.
All in all I really enjoyed!

But best of all I enjoyed the fact that I WENT - I feel that not so long ago I wouldn't have done it because I would have used the no buses as an excuse and would have been funny about going on my own.
Well, I'm all for NOT listening to that voice anymore. And now, after having such a fun time, I can blow a big juicy raspberry at the doubting voice in my head :)

My next post above will show another way I'm not listening to my internal doubter.

Why is it....

2010-03-03T11:59:00.002Z

... that when I eat a banana pudding (today blended bananas, spinach, green powder and carob) I manage to get it on my nose and my forehead and all around my lips, without me even noticing till hours later???

:))

I wasn't even drinking it outta a glass, I was eating it out of a bowl with a spoon! The mind boggles.
But I suppose when you eat something so yummy you get reverted back into a child, so it's only natural that it goes all over your face!

An uplifting tune, if your stuck in your chair browsing and needing to do some work!
"GET UP" by Juliette and The Licks.

pH Levels

2010-03-02T18:30:00.003Z

Today I recieved my pH strips through the post. I was so excited!

I got to testing straightaway. I pushed a pin into my finger and only drew a tiny amount of blood. I smeared it on the strip, but nothing happened. I guess it wasn't enough blood.
So I got some saliva on it and that worked.
Neutral! Yay, it was green - 7,0, maybe greeny yellow so more like 6.9.

Lower the number - the more acid. Higher the number - the more alkaline.

Then I did a urine ph test - and it was Alkaline... I was really pleased.

I don't know how our levels change throughout the day. I'd love to get more blood, but no way am I doing anything to myself to get a decent amount of the red stuff.
I might wait till I have a nose bleed (I get them now and again if I'm really boiling hot) or I wonder if a once monthly blood sample (know what I mean? sorry!) would work? Too much info, I know - anyways, saliva should be sufficient. But it does differ from blood.

I'm up for testing everything now! Parents' turn tomorrow, and then I'll do the garden. Maybe I'll test the dog and the ferrets.

Can you say PHun?!

FYI : I got narrow range PH strips, test from 5 to 9. Unlikely that your body will be either end of those numbers, at the extreme end of the scale.

WHAT's IT ALL MEAN?

This is from an article taken from Healing Daily.Com

What does "Acid" and "Alkaline" mean?

Water (H2O) ionizes into hydrogen (H+) and hydroxyl (OH-) ions. When these ions are in equal proportions, the pH is a neutral 7. When there are more H+ ions than OH- ions then the water is said to be "acid". If OH- ions outnumber the H+ ions then the water is said to be "alkaline". The pH scale goes from 0 to 14 and is logarithmic, which means that each step is ten times the previous. In other words, a pH of 4.5 is 10 times more acid than 5.5, 100 times more acid than 6.5 and 1,000 times more acid than 7.5.

Here's some info from Kris Carr over at Crazy Sexy Life. Taken from her blogpost called - A little pH refresher course.

I’ve written about pH many times but since proper pH (acid/alkaline balance) is the key to how I maintain a healthy life AND the foundation of our upcoming Adventure Cleanse Tune-up (aka ACT), I thought I’d revisit the topic once more.

Remember high school science class? Well, if you don’t, here’s a little refresher course. The body maintains a delicate pH balance. Technically, pH is a measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in solution. Wha? Don’t worry I won’t get too technical. For now all you really need to know is that the pH scale runs from 0-14. Neutral pH is 7.0. The higher the pH (greater than 7) the more alkaline, while a pH lower than 7 is acidic.

Proper pH varies throughout your body. Saliva ranges between 6.8-7.4 while your urine is normally more acid, especially in the morning due to the metabolic process of preparing for elimination. Health hint: when using pH strips to test your urine ignore the first morning pee reading – start with your next bathroom visit. By far the most important measurement is blood pH and it has a very narrow range. An understanding of how to keep your blood in an alkaline range is important for maintaining good health. Your body doesn’t just “find” the balance it works extremely hard to create it. When you make poor lifestyle choices or are burdened by a toxic environment, your body has to work harder to create a peaceful homeostasis.

For good health our bodies need to be slightly alkaline (with a pH of between 7.365 and 7.45). Sounds simple right? But this is not mathematical scaled based on arithmetic, pH operates on a logarithmic scale with multiples of 10. Therefore, it takes ten times the amount of alkalinity to neutralize an acid. I wish I was a graph wizz, I’m not, so here’s my very basic attempt at explaining this…

0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14 (The pH Scale – neutral (7) is in red)

A jump from 7 to 6 doesn’t seem like a lot but in actuality it will take ten times the amount of alkalinity to neutralize. 7 to 5 = 100 times. 7 to 4 = 1000 times. 7 to 3 = 10,000 times. Get the picture?

Now think of the SAD diet. Most folks are bathing their cells in an acid bath by making poor 3 or more times per day!

Breakfast: Coffee (with milk & splenda), juice, eggs, bacon, toast with I can’t believe it’s not butter (then what the heck is it?)
11am Crash: More coffee and a donut
Lunch: Hamburger, white bun, fries, cola
4 PM crash: Coffee or cola, candy bar
Dinner: Chicken, macaroni & cheese BOILED broccoli and ice tea
Dessert: Little Debbie Snack Cake, frozen yogurt (aka frozen chemicals and puss that create a mucus fandango!), etc

A menu like this keeps the body in panic mode all day every day . Remember those “Where’s the Beef?” ads? Well how about “Where’s the fiber, the water?” One of the biggest causalities of the SAD—standard American diet—is the toll it takes on the body, especially the digestive system, liver, and kidneys. Inflammation, allergies, arthritis, skin problems, mood disorders, depression, constipation, bowel issues, stress (physical & mental) and chronic disease LOVE this diet.

How about enzymes? When we feed our bodies nutrient-deficient foods, we exhaust our enzymatic reserves and mine minerals (like calcium, magnesium, potassium) from our bones, teeth, and organs. Hello Osteo! We create free radicals that damage our cells and rob electrons from healthy tissue. As a result, our system weakens and basic functions begin to break down. In a nutshell, this is the premature aging process. How can we press stop, rewind, and restart? Pull a garbage can up to your fridge and cupboards and treat yourself to a lifestyle makeover!

By eating a more alkaline diet (leafy greens, wheatgrass, veggies, sprouts, avocados, juicing, green smoothies, soups) as opposed to an acidic diet (high in animal products, processed carbs, refined sugar, and booze, cigs and coffee), we flood our bodies with chlorophyll, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and oxygen. Healthy food creates healthy cells and healthy thoughts. Conversely, junk goes in and junk comes out.

Look at your plate, peek in your glass. What direction are you moving in? On the pH scale, Soda = 2. Coffee = 4. Cucumber = 7. Get the picture? Burger, fries, diet cola, muffin, candy bar? Acid bath! Green drinks, salads, sprouts, wheatgrass? Alkaline super disco! Your goal is to make energy deposits instead of constant withdrawals.

Happy St David's Day!!

2010-03-01T16:27:00.002Z

Today is March the First - which is St David's Day, the Patron Saint of Wales.
Cool man, cured the blind and stuff, back in the day.

When I was in school we'd have festivities on this day. Singing and acting.

Now, as an adult - not much happens! No street parties, not even a Bank Holiday!
Probably Welsh speaking Welsh people celebrate more than non Welsh speaking Welshies.

Here's the national flower of Wales, the daffodil. : )

And for rememberance of singing in my school things, here's the Welsh National Anthem!

Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd,
Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.

(Cytgan - Chorus)

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.

Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,

O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau.

(Ail Bennill - Second stanza)

Hen Gymru fynyddig, paradwys y bardd,
Pob dyffryn, pob clogwyn, i'm golwg sydd hardd;
Trwy deimlad gwladgarol, mor swynol yw si
Ei nentydd, afonydd, i mi.

(Cytgan - Chorus)

(Trydydd Pennill - Third stanza)

Os treisiodd y gelyn fy ngwlad tan ei droed,
Mae hen iaith y Cymry mor fyw ag erioed,
Ni luddiwyd yr awen gan erchyll law brad,
Na thelyn berseiniol fy ngwlad.

(Cytgan - Chorus)

giggle...

2010-02-27T10:36:00.000Z

Fillings - which route to take?

2010-02-26T17:31:00.003Z

If you're a health bunny then you're probably aware of the dangers of mercury, when inside the human body. Thing is - the darn metal is in our tooth fillings, which dentists agree, leaches into the body - but they don't 'know' if the % leaked is dangerous or not.

But what's the alternative? Composite Resin?
"A composite resin is a tooth-coloured plastic mixture filled with glass (silicon dioxide). "

Plastic?
Plastic or Mercury...?
Those are the choices?

(ok there's more - cermaics/gold... but each have their own problems.)

"Composite resin restorations have several disadvantages: They are technique-sensitive meaning that without meticulous placement they may fail prematurely. They take up to 50% longer to place than amalgam fillings and are thus more expensive."

So - they may be a bad, but not as bad as amalgam, but they're not as GOOD - if that makes sense. They ain't as strong, and can chip...

Tricky huh?

I guess - look after your teeth - is no.1 prevantative for the above conundrum. Yet, even that is difficult at times.
Although - achieving an alkaline state within your body is good for teeth as well as general health.

Floss! I think this is important...

but I had my fillings years ago, I wish I'd have known then about mercury, I would have probably gone for composites.
I don't think I would move from composite to amalgam.

Just thinking about teeth and fillings, as I'm due for a dental check up in a couple of weeks.

First Juice of 2010!

2010-02-26T14:23:00.003Z

My poor juicer has been idle for the winter months - which makes no sense! It should have been pumping to the max in the little sunlight of the cold days!
Yet, the sun is shining, and it brings energy with. That energy made me wanna JUICE!
So I did - and guess what? It took like ten minutes. hehe :)

I had carrot and apple with garlic
with some celery and lemon
and some ...
pineapple
and...
mung bean sprouts! lol

and the last of my green powder. - sob sob - .

I've been locked inside all day - now it's time to go out in the sun and walk the dog x

Vitamin and Mineral Analysis

2010-02-24T16:17:00.002Z

Today I went into a health food shop to pick up some seeds and some stuff that I haven't eaten in a while. This lady came up to me and said she was doing free Vitamin and Mineral Analysis to find deficiencies. Free? Yes please :)
I don't know how acurate such things are but it was interesting.
I wasnt' deficient in anything but low in zinc, with ironically is found in seeds, which was just the thing I was there for as I don't eat many of them. I was very HIGH in B vitamins!
So if this test is accurate, it shows that even as a vegan, who enjoys raw food - you can be high in B vits. I think this is due to my not super scrubbing and washing my carrots! If I have organic carrots or celery and they have some dirt on them, I won't get rid of it all. As it is DIRT that b12 is found in, as it's not really a vitamin, but an organism.
The test was - well, I can't remember the name - but it was an electrical charge that temporarily distrups the body's homeostasis. I had to hold some metal, or copper rod, and on my finger tips she would use this pen thing, that'd send electricity into my body. The pen was attached to a disk that would hold vials of different vits and minerals.

Sounds a bit way out - but I was also low in florine and Iodine. Iodine is found in sea veg, which I also haven't eaten in about two months, or maybe a month - don't know if it shows up that fast. But as avocados haven't been in my shop, I haven't been doing sushi rolls with nori. Could be a factor.

Who knows? : )

Oh yes - Raw!

2010-02-23T11:29:00.002Z

Oh I almost forgot - almost! To blog about something RAW!!

Well let's see now...

I am going to make a Raw Pizza next week as a dinner for a friend and myself. I have just bought a huge bag of brazil nuts, and my bf has a huge bag of mixed seeds. I'm going to blend these up and dehydrate them as a base. Then I shall make a topping of carrot and tomato sauce, with cashew nut cheese over it with alfalfa sprouts, olives and tomatoes as the final touch.
To hell with too much fat - sometimes you need an exciting raw recipe to get you feeling that energy again!

Raw wise I've been eating bananas a plenty as usual. My stepdaughter loves bananas blended with celery, as do I. She was offered cake the other night, but asked me to make bananas and green stuff instead! Kids know what's right!

There are some fantastic oranges for sale in my usual Organic veg shop. The peel is soo thick, but I like that because you get extra pith - and I like pith - full of goodness :)

I haven't been making many salads of late - not even grated carrots and apples which is like my staple. Thankfully my boyfriend reinvigorated my inspiration when he made me a grated red cabbage with toasted seeds and tamari and raisin salad. That was full of lovely flavour - and reawakened in me an appreciation of DIFFERENT salads!!

I like having to make food for other people sometimes - raw - because I think, "Oh no, haven't got anything in the house!" - but if I've got veg, then I've got SOMETHING, so it's just a matter of being creative - and it's good when you GOTTA be creative because you can come up with some really cool stuff.

So I suppose - in summary, this post is a reminder that I need inspiration sometimes to conjure up some new raw foods - and to not let old (raw) rules of WHAT to eat block my creativity.

If something saps your inspiration and creativity, then question it!

Garden and Snow

2010-02-23T11:22:00.002Z

It's February - has been for a few weeks now - so it was time to get in the garden! I'd been out in the few sunny days of January, but February has been sunny lovely spring time! I've been digging some in the polytunnel and planting few herbs. I'm going to a seed swop event this saturday to find some treasures to grow.

The weather has been -mmm- invigorating! Sunny and warm, but with a chill breeze to remind us that winter is holding court still, yet buds and blooms can't wait to show themselves as they breakthrough despite frost and snow.

Spring is such an amazing time - full of possibilites. There's exitement in the air, the birds and the animals, the trees and plants, they exude happiness - it's infectious.

Anyhow - today it is snowing. I love the snow too. Everything becomes quiet and there's such different a quality to the air than usual. It's like silence falling from the sky.
I hope it lasts!

Sunshine Award!

2010-02-22T11:49:00.005Z

Thank you so much to Christopher - aka - Berry Boy, who has kindly given me a Sunshine Award!

I'm glad that I recieved this award - when I talk less about raw food and more about- erm, everything in between! So I shall blog raw foodily in my next post!

I now must pass on the award - yet, I read all the blogs that have already won it!
I cannot think of another twelve, so I have decided to pass on the award to the other raw food blogs in my bookmarks folder that I don't see have won it :)

The Sunny Raw Kitchen

Juice Feasting - With the Rainosheks

Via 811

Going Bananas!

But I'd also like to thank other bloggers that I read, who have won the award, but I don't comment on you often enough! I do read you though ! :)

Living the Fruity Life

Greenmama

Naked Food Cafe

And all other bloggers out there who post about the joys of raw food - you keep me connected to Raw Energy when I'm not having much of it myself!! :)

Headstands

2010-02-15T17:53:00.005Z

If only it were as easy as that!

Headstands are addictive = or at least, trying to do a headstand is addictive.
But they are tough - you need flexibility and strength. Of course, you can do them without either of those, but risk injuring yourself.

I've been trying to do a headstand for ages! Not that I practice everyday, but I wanted to do a headstand since, hmm, two years ago? And now and again I remember that I want to do that, so I try - feebly and obviously don't do one.
But lo and behold, my mother (I won't mention age) did a Handstand against the wall and I thought if my mother who is (of an age) can do it, they so can I. Once you see it's possible you KNOW you can do it.
I didn't do a handstand, I went back to trying my headstand - and now I can do it against a wall! I'm so pleased.
But I know that I still really need more strength and flexibility. You're whole shoulder area and arms as well as your core/abs need to be super strong otherwise you risk placing a lot of weight on your neck. And really, was your neck ever designed to carry your whole body weight?

So for that matter, handstands are better because our arms are far stronger than our necks. Thing is, for a handstand you need space if you want to kick up into one. I ain't got that, so it's headstands for me! I'd like to do handstands too, without kicking up into them so that requires flexibility!

Back to headstands - I want to do them properly without damaging myself. So I'm going to be doing far more preparatory poses, like the Dolphin pose, below. Very good for flexibility and strength.

achey breaky back

2010-01-31T12:20:00.003Z

Ouch!

I've been suffering from a trapped nerve for a long time now. It comes and goes, but I usually get a bout every month or so. Really frustrating.

I only just realised that I get it so much (it's as if as soon as it goes, I forgot I ever had it!) so I've been looking in to what I do that could cause me to be in pain.
When I realised what it was, it was so obvious I could have slapped myself! But when we do things everyday, and they are habits, you simply don't 'see' them.
Well, I know that I sit down too much, hence the yoga I've been doing to bring more energy into my body through out the day, so I get up and stretch more often. But it's not just sitting, it's how I sit when I'm on the computer... I am such a fidget and sitting with two feet planted on the floor drives me crazy, so what I do is sit on one foot!!
Duh! When I realised that I'm doing that, I thought of how one side of my spine must always be pulling me back into alignment. :-/
Also, I sleep on my stomach, with my head turned one way, this may also cause a pull down one side of my spine.
So now that I've brought these two suspects into the light I'm trying to change my ways!

Firstly - sitting at the computer, I must resist all urges to sit on my foot! It's tricky, that was so comfy for me (apart from the resultant trapped nerve).
When I sleep, I'm going to try and sleep on my back for a while to ease stress. I sleep with very thin pillows anyway so that should help matters.
Also - not to sit down for too long, which I do. If I'm working or browsing, the time can go by quite quick, so I need to make a note, or set my phone to ring every hour so I can get up and stretch, even go for a walk. Get some energy moving around my body.

Let's hope this helps, because having a trapped nerve is really horrible. It's very uncomfortable.
Massage does help too - if you have muscle trapped sciatica as opposed to vertebrae trapped sciatic nerve.

Yoga

2010-01-21T14:30:00.005Z

I've been enjoying Yoga this week. I never really thought of Yoga as a exercise workout before, but some poses and flows can be rather challenging! My upper body is a little achey today, and I couldn't think why. I haven't done weights for a while. Then I remembered that I did some yoga with many downward dogs!
But for me, yoga is the best for strengthening your intuition and letting energy flow around your body. When I was a bit sick over Christmas I was achey and sore, and that was mostly due to not moving. It's so important to move and I think yoga is a great natural thing to do. It's really good if you focus your mind - because it is afterall an extension of meditation practices. Your mind is focused on your breath as you go through the movements - which is a sort of breath meditation. It leaves you feeling stronger, intune and calm.

The yoga I like doing the most is anything by Shiva Rea. She is a wonderful yogi and I really dig her way of expressing herself and her yoga and the moves. She uses very fluid language which on its own sounds really strange, but when you do the moves you really 'get' them! For example she says 'drink in your breath' - and when your in a difficult posture it's easy to almost stop breathing, when she says 'drink' you really remember to inhale that smooth air!

Dance!

2010-01-14T14:53:00.002Z

Before Christmas I joined up with a Dance class. It's modern jive and salsa and the company that teaches it calls it Ceroc.
Yesterday I managed to go out for the first time since Christmas and be social again. I went for a meal for some friends' joint birthday. We went out into the snowy countryside to a sweet little restaurant. Everyone enjoyed their meals very much. It looked all a bit meaty to me. My vegan cooked meal wasn't too great unfortunately. Luckily I wasn't very hungry or in the mood for food so I didn't eat the whole caboosh.

Anyways - I'm going dancing tonight. But once again I'm going without proper shoes or nice cool clothes. It's actually quite difficult to think of what to wear to go out dancing. I end up in a top and skirt with leggings but always take my shoes off because it's easier to dance without them. When I dance at home, which is often, it's just in my slouchy house clothes which are very comfy! Couldn't we all dance in our pj's?!

I mentioned Beth Ditto in the previous post, and I'll continue my praise for her. When I think of what to wear, I have to take in consideration my underarms. But for the wonderful Beth Ditto - who has hairy armpits - well she doesn't mind! She's amazing!

Here's a picture of the album cover for Standing In The Way of Control- yes ALBUM COVER! Which was on billboards all over. She doesn't have much of a broom look, but still, she's doing it!

What a girl.

Bit of Gossip

2010-01-12T14:46:00.011Z

I took the plunge and dyed my hair dark.
It was strange the first few days - the last time I had long dark hair, I was 16!
Here's a perfectly standard pic of me, no computer fiddlery at all (seriously this time) : )
Hehe - in favour of au naturel! Woohoo. With my gorgeous nephew.

It's not my natural colour - about a shade darker I think. But hopefully I won't have to dye my hair (so much) now that it's dark again.
I miss blonde, but dark is fun too.

I've finally recovered from my Crimbo illness! Woohoo!
But now I'm a bit of a hermit, and it's taking me a lot of energy to get out and mingle with people again. It's like I've lost social skills or something. Being ill does that to me.
However, I am feeling very inspired recently - and I think that's to do with taking time to calm down and litsen to my intuition. I'm being inspired more than I've been in a while.
People, places and lots more are inspiring me.

Here's one person - full of great energy and a message to spread. I like Beth Ditto. Here she is in Gossip.

Here are the wooden pieces of cutlery I made as Christmas presents. They are out of willow.

They were a great project to make. Creating something useful and beautiful. Knife is a bit wobbly - but it didn't really matter. It was handmade with love and every curve and scuff was handmade. I liked it better than my woodworking class which is so precise! :)

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

2009-12-30T12:58:00.002Z

How's it going folks? Are you enjoying the Season?

I've been rather sick unfortunately, and eventhough I had a wonderful Christmas day, being ill has rather taken the shine out of enjoying the rest of the 12 days of Christmas.
Still, I've been able to read in bed and that's always a good thing. I love getting books for Christmas, especially the ones I've put on my list ;))

I was a bit stressed before Christmas, which probably didn't help my immune system, hence getting sick afterwards.

Following on from the previous post, I definitely managed saying NO to a second helping of grub a fair few times. And now I feel like it's expanding and growing inside - this feeling of 'knowing'. (when I said no, there was a rightness inside as well as a nice feeling of power and peace).

Sometimes I just get so confused as to what to do, not only with eating, but with everything - it renders me either frozen or I take wrong action, or at least unwise action.
Then I get more and more voices in my head telling me which way to turn that it confuses me even more.
Being sick in bed has given me some quiet time to realise that there is at least one voice inside me that I CAN listen to, but haven't really trusted... up until now.
It's that wisdom, or instict, or our true selves that lives inside us that can act as a compass that I'm trying to listen out to now. But not only hear, but act on and trust what I get from it.

I think this way can help in all aspects of my life because they'll feel more right to me. Not easy, or comfortable, but they'll sit well inside because at their core they'll be right.
I'll probably fall and fail many times, but at least there's something to aim towards.

'Bettering' Ourselves isn't really a straight forward activity like - learning to play the piano. If you press the wrong key, you HEAR it physically and instantly and you know to keep on learning. You also know exactly what to aim for, because you've heard the music before.
But with us, our SELVES when do we know when we've gone wrong? Or how do we know that what we've just done is the right thing? Or even, how do we know what to aim for?
Perhaps I should be grateful that bettering myself isn't an activity -because really, it's LIFE. And no one has ever written the symphony of my life before. I am the conductor and I'm in new territory but it's very exciting because it's original and real, yet inside I have all the notes and I know which ones sound the sweetest to me, and if I can tune my ears to these sweet notes inside I'm sure to write a beautiful piece.

:)

New Challenge

2009-12-01T21:48:00.003Z

I have previously set myself meditation challenges - but that's it on the challenge front really. Don't do challenges as usual. But I liked that I had something to focus on when I did my meditation challenge.
Recently I've been discovering a lot as I have embarked on lots of new classes. Basically - everything is difficult - or LONG. But that's life, and I'm learning that it's no big deal that I've got to put energy into it, it's just changing my expectations of what's supposed to happen. I like things quick and easy as is usual in this modern world. I'm starting to accept that I have to wait and work at things over and over again.
So to combine these things I want to set myself a challenge for just a week - but this time to do with food.
I think I'm a bit greedy - it's that quick and easy attitude again. Got a craving and I just go for it without seeing it as a caving. There's none of that slow waiting and patience thing that I'm learning about and accepting. I want to see if I can accept that things take time and slow down with my food as well as my food attitudes.
So my challenge - specifically is - to eat just one plateful. No more. This is tricky when it's all fruit. But when it's salad and what have you, cooked food, I'm always going in for seconds.

So my challenge this week is just one plate at dinner times. It sounds so simple and wierd, but I'm going to roll with it. I can see this progressing into other challenges.
But this WILL be a challenge for me because I'm going to have to be mindful as I eat to 'listen out' for those insticts to reach for more - if I can stop myself THEN at the hardest point, it will be like stopping a dog running after a cat whilst it's in mid gallop.
Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer always says you should stop those insticts way before the dog starts getting excited. As soon as you see the cat you should reign in the dog.
So perhaps I need to do that with food to make it easier. Reign in my instincts before the food is served!

There's a lot of analogies in this post :)) But they help me.

Ok so I'll say this was day 1 because it's the first of december and it makes it neat. So I failed nicely on the first day because i had about three plates : D

Adios!

Tis Mah Birthday!

2009-11-30T11:49:00.002Z

W00p! It's a beautiful sunny day, and it's my birthday! Another year older, but I have a feeling this is going to be a good year. Although, in fact, this year - 2009 - has been very good. Self employed for 1 year now and I've learnt so much. It feels like this year, for the first time, I've really been MYSELF! I've loved learning and exploring and growing. It's the first year of my life that I've been out of school/educational establishment and a conventional work place. And thank goodness. I felt like school was one big boring wait until life really started. And finally, at 25 it did indeed start for me.
I'm so much more secure and happy now. Finding my own feet at last. It's so bizarre that it has taken me 25 years to find my own feet, but I think if you're not right for school - or if the school isn't right for you - it does knock you sideways.

So after my first year of finding myself, I'm looking forwards for the second year of learning.
I'm doing so much more than I've ever done before. I'm in a dressmaking class, a woodworking class, on a permaculture course and having yoga sessions, just started a dancing class as well, been offered a job for next year to do with gardening and a possible job with raw food.
I am grateful for my few years in work because it got me off to a good start, but I knew I couldn't stick with it - now I'm glad I left.

I gave my mother a big hug today and thanked her for bringing me into this world. My parents were recounting my birth-day 26 years ago and how my mum had a tough time and my dad wasn't allowed into the hospital room with her. When I was born I needed oxygen and my mother panicked that they were taking me away, but when I returned everyone commented on how lovely I was. I was 10lbs9 and probably didn't look much like a scrawny newborn at all!

* * * * *

So, on the weekend I did a raw food demo for a local fair. It was do to with celebrating local food, and encouraging people to shop locally. Although it was buy-nothing day, I did buy soap and some tea from a local seller at the market. It's the third raw food demo I've done now and it went pretty good.
My mixer is hopeless but I coped.
I made sushi, courgetti and beetroot salad. They went down a treat. Then I made some celery and banana smoothie/pudding to surprise people. It's so funny seeing people going "Erm, oh I'm not sure!" And really looking quite apprehensieve about trying it, but they all love it when they do. I should have taken spinach, because banana and spinach together is a dream team for me!
I gave everyone the recipes and they seemed very eager to make the beetroot salad especially.

My mother did a bread demonstration and there was a lady called Hazel Thomas who I've met before, who's a proffesional cook and she made some cooked dishes. She really enjoyed my raw food and she's very much into women's health. Hopefully we can collaborate together in the future.

* * * * *
Another awesome thing about this time of year are the tangerines and clementines! Although you CAN buy them all year, I don't. There's something special about having them now.
I can eat clementine after clementine - they are so refreshing.

Hear Hear for November - but it's December tomorrow - time to start making presents! And sharpish!

Let's Dance!

2009-11-27T13:05:00.002Z

Howdy Folks. How's it going?

I love dancing - always have done. Going to parties is great, I just go straight to the dance floor - it's actually quite antisocial lol! But I don't require alcohol, just a good beat.
But when my friend asked me a while ago if I'd like to go to a dance class with her, something called modern jive - I declined. I didn't really know what jive was, I just danced my hip hop all over the place style. But that was before I got into Strictly Come Dancing!
Strictly Come Dancing is a BBC TV programme here in the UK where celebrities team up with a proffessional dancer and have to learn a new dance every week. They get judged and the worst one gets voted off each week, or the one who hasn't had enough votes.
After watching that I now know what jive is, as well as the Viennese Waltz, Tango, Salsa, Cha Cha Cha etc! (There's a version in the US called Dancing With The Stars).

So when my friend offered once more to go to the dance class, I was straight in there with a YES!
Three of us went last night, and I was a bit apprehensive because it was in a Social Club in Swansea and I thought, oh dear, it's going to be tar stained walls and bingo in the next room. The place was ok, but it was quite cheesy and Butlins. The dance organisation is called CEROC and it teaches a dance of the same name - it's all memberships and that kind of thing. BUT --- once I got dancing, I enjoyed it loads! At the end of the day, it was just learning to dance with people I'd not normally hang out with!

I was a bit rubbish to start with, but then I understood what the dance was like and I got into it. I had a chance to dance with three teachers somehow and they all thought I'd been to proffessional dance class! Lol - that was quite flattering. Finally, years of dancing in my bedroom has paid off :)

I'm also on a high because it's... PERSIMMON TIME!!!!!
I'm so happy. They are simply the best fruit in the world ever. So juicy, creamy, sweet and delicious. I'm feeling all fruity again. I don't know why I get into this groove in November, when most people are settling down to hearty soups and stews. But I love this time of the year, it's full of joy for me, and I get happy and energetic. If only I could keep it going into the summer time! :)

Here's a medley of dances from one couple on a previous Strictly Come Dancing so you can see what I'm talking about.

Some pics!

2009-11-11T12:29:00.004Z

Sorry! Its been a while since I've posted!
I've been rather busy :)
I won't explain too much here - but I finally found a cable for my parents' camera so I thought I'd share a few pics from the year!

Most recently - my bf and myself dressed as a corpse bride and groom for halloweeeeeen - Is it bad that I fancy my bf with make up? Yum!

Random one of my cute albino ferret, Mikko :)

Stunning flowers from the RHS Flower Show this summer:

And the biggest cabbages I've ever seen from the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show- Can you imagine making raw roll ups with these?! One leaf would feed a family, lol.

Not quite so big - veg from my garden,
Still getting courgettes and beets and wintery stuff, but no more lettuce or toms :( OR Cukes! doh.

Acceptance

2009-10-13T19:18:00.003Z

I just got this from a newsletter by Gillian Riley, the author of Eating Less and Willpower.
I thought I'd post it here because it strikes a chord with the posts I've written recently. She doesn't mention it, but this is what meditators have written about for years, but it's always good to see it specifically aimed at one part of our lives.

ACCEPTANCE, by Gillian Riley.

I had been wondering what to write about when a journalist emailed me to ask for something to quote in a magazine feature on the subject of 'acceptance'. Not a subject I would have come up with, but I enjoyed focussing my thoughts on this challenging concept. This is what I sent her.

Accepting isn't necessarily the same as liking. A common misunderstanding is the assumption that accepting something about yourself or your life implies being content with it. Of course it's easy to accept something we're happy with, but accepting something we'd prefer to change is, paradoxically, part of the process of making that change.

Accepting means first of all acknowledging something as a fact, no matter how unpleasant that fact may be. For example, it has been well established in research studies that people significantly underestimate amounts of food they have consumed. The larger a person is, they more they will underestimate - and not even know they are doing it!

When you resist something, you make it stronger. What you resent and try to get rid of, that conflict will make it persist. I've heard it said that happiness tends to be short-lived precisely because we offer it no resistance. As soon as we've said, 'Great, I'm happy again', it's gone! Of course it's considerably more challenging to accept sensations of hunger, even if it's a false appetite at the end of a meal. But by the same principle, accepting it ('I'm willing to feel this false hunger') will release us from its grip, often quite dramatically.

Before we can truly accept something challenging or uncomfortable, our freedom of choice in the matter needs to be acknowledged. Many people use the word 'choice' while simultaneously denying it with strongly held beliefs such as, "I've got to beat this." True choice turns a victim into a master, making acceptance a preferable option instead of an enforced punishment.

Accepting is compassionate, non-judgmental observation. It helps to separate whatever you're aiming to accept (such as the size of your body, how much you overeat or your unsatisfied false hunger) from your reactions to those bare facts (such as feeling hopeless, shame, guilt or deprived). The more you observe the bare fact and let go of your emotional reaction to it, the more you gain acceptance and the more things are likely to change.

A great many things may require acceptance, and will vary from person to person. For those with very low self-esteem, any sign of success seems unacceptable because it doesn't fit their self-image. For the perfectionist, mistakes are unacceptable. For many, their appearance is as unacceptable as their addictive appetite. Wherever you are stuck, just try and see what unfolds: if I did accept this, what would happen?

Reading List

2009-10-12T08:44:00.004Z

I love to read! Books surround me in my room. All over my desk, in piles on the floor, on my bedside table piled up high. I'm looking for more shelves now because I can't get to my printer for all the books on it.
I also use the library when I can, and I'm sad to take the books back. I like looking around my room and seeing the books and remebering what I learnt from them and when I read them. Books move me forwards in my life - learning, and reshaping my thinking. I use books as therapy.

I thought I'd write down a few of the books I'm reading recently, why I'm reading them, and how they have affected me.

A theme running through my books recently is definitley children. The reason why is because now that I'm self employed I feel a bit lost. I attribute this to the fact that in school, as well as at home partly - I wasn't encouraged to be independent or autonomous.
At home I was the baby of the family (still am). I was the last child my parents were to have and also female (perhaps this contributed to not being 'allowed' to be independent). I am the youngest of four and my parents were on in age a bit when they had me. I love my parents dearly, and I don't blame anything on them because I know everything they did for me they did out of love - but they did like to do everything over me. I was left feeling incapable and that I shouldn't do 'work'. With my father, I felt everything I did was wrong because he did it over me. Now I can see that in fact he just liked the work and wanted to do whatever other people did, having been brought up in a large family. Nevertheless, that wasn't something I could figure out as a young kid. My mother loves being a mother, she also doesn't like upsetting people at any level so I think she probably mothered me a bit too much and didn't include me in her chores - so I felt that this work was her work.
Now that I'm grown up, I find it difficult to do what I need to do, regardless of whether I want to or not. I feel that maybe I shouldn't do 'work'.
School contributes greatly to this feeling.
At school you get homework and you resent it greatly. I did anyhow. It adds another dimension to my feelings that work should be repelled.
The books I am reading and have read have shown me how children learn, how they want to learn and how we should help them do it on their own. What I'm reading has put pieces in my mind's jigsaw, which is why I love good books. Here are the ones that have helped me patch up my past:

* How Children Learn / Learning All The Time / Teach Your Own - by John Holt.
He is a master at writing from the heart, with compassion and understanding. You become softer just by reading a few of his words. I can see now that I probably, as most children do, wanted to help and be like my parents, but was very confused when I was (kindly) turned away from doing so.
He says that if you teach kids, they won't learn! It's true though... I think of when I'm excited about something, like the theme of my books at the moment, I just want to learn more and more about it! But if someone came to me and gave me all these books to read when I wasn't in that frame of mind, when I hadn't built up an excitement about them, I won't read them or at best won't learn anything from them. He says kids love to learn, or rather, they just learn it's what they DO. There's no need to teach. Children will discover far more, far quicker on their own because they want to be just like the people around them. It's hardwired. They learn to speak because they hear words and know it's important to do so. It becomes the same with reading, when they discover that words communicate in a different format what spoken language does, it's incredibly exciting and they most certainly want to join in on it. We don't need to sit them down and labour over the words. If they aren't ready it won't sink in, or might not ever get through because they are made to feel incapable of learning because it will be in a state of 'you're not learning fast enough!" which is what happens in shcool. School is standardized, so all learning has to happen at a certain rate, and all the same learning, and none of it joyfully discovered on its own. Looking back, I realise I learnt diddly squat in school. Apart from low self esteem and how to raise my hand to give the correct answer only. No wonder my confidence was shaken - a 'wrong' answer results in a public shaming - so nothing else would be forthcoming. Right answers made the teacher happy, you'd get good grades and parents would be happy. Learning was only done to secure a pleasing teacher. What do we learn from this? Make others happy even if what you say isn't true or heartfelt. Perhaps this builds into our culture of vanity and celebrity obsession. Make others like you, even if it's at a completely superficial level. If it looks right = it IS right.

* How to Talk so Kids Listen and How To Listen so Kids Talk - Adele Faber; Elaine Mazlish.
This is quite the 'how to' book and it seems full of common sense to me. Treat kids with respect. But sometimes we feel that we should be like our teachers or other parents and discipline the kids, show them who's boss, don't give them an inch or they'll take a mile. But this book, as well as John Holt's show that kids just aren't like that. They are people, family, treat them as valued members, EXPECT them to do what you do, and things should flow smoothly. But those nagging voices can take over sometimes and you get confused at how kids act and then it gets difficult. I find this especially true in our modern environments, where for lack of things to do we do seem to lavish a lot of attention on children, mostly the wrong sort. Which is why I moved on to read the next book.

* The Contiuum Concept by Jean Liedloff.
The author spent the sum of two and a half years visiting and living with a stone age tribe of Yequana Indians in the jungle of South America. The book is written quite strangely, but her general principles are sound. That the Yequana live their lives as they need to be lived, things to do, work to be done, time to relax - and children are simply a part of that, not an extra duty to be worked on.

The children live in an environment of respect and expectation - the expectation that they will do as everyone else in the tribe does. The rules are clear and there's no need to coerce of mollycoddle the kids into doing anything that needs to be done. The kids are also trusted a great deal not to hurt themselves or fall or touch fire without millions of warnings like "careful! Watch out! You're going to hurt yourself!" Jean Liedloff says that when parents say these things it's almost like a prophecy that says these things WILL happen. I totally agree. But I find it so hard NOT to say that when looking after my step daughter, especially as I only have her on the weekends and she's not 'mine' as such.
I totally agree, also, with the simple fact that lives are lived and kids join in on it.

I remember when I was a child I used to love taming the chickens and ducks on our smallholding. I learnt quite quickly how to do this. Chasing, running after with food, and trying to catch the fowl was never the way to tame them, or get them to come to you. The only way I could get the birds to come to me was if I quietly ignored them, pointedly working on making a daisy chain sitting in the grass in their enclosure. I'd sit there for hours, watching the sky, relaxing, looking about. Soon enough, after they got used to my presence they'd come closer and closer. I'd go there everyday, ignoring them, until they'd come so close as to not be bothered by me at all. It wasn't many steps after that stage to reach out and pet them or have them feed from my hand.
Not to simplify to greatly, but this is generally the same principle that works with kids too. The same principles that the Yequana tribes employed. They did what they needed to do, and the kids would come nearer and nearer until they were handed mini tools to join in on the work. Totally in juxtaposition to our situation in the modern world. The kids have their own plastic toys to work with and the adults treat them as strange and seperate beings. Adults run after kids quite a lot from what I see, this would never happen in the jungle.
Modern world adults go to the children all the time and demand attention, giggles and smiles. Seems to me kids just aren't allowed to be kids and join in! Everyone loves babies, and I don't see anything wrong with this stuff with babies, but as they grow up and seek to be independent it's only natural and right that that should be encouraged and expected.

From this point I'm going to read other books on how to bring these 'methods' into our modern world. Afterall, we don't have the luxury of living in the jungle with a close tribe that ALL adhere to the same rules. We live in a segregated, strange world, where you may raise your child as you see fit but have others, all well meaning, to raise and treat your child totally different.
How can we live naturally in an unnatural world?
This has always facinated me - as you can see by my Blog's subline - I want to be a monkey in a modern world.
We don't have work to do that is enjoyed - work is done and THEN we relax.
I want to work because I love my work, and do it as a meditation. I want physical exercise to be a part of my life and do it with joy. But I don't live like this, everything is easy - but it makes for a bored existence. I want to go out and make fires but I feel there's something stopping me.... probably a lot of stuff from my past - but with faith inmyself, and a trusting for trying new things regardless of how we perceive the outcome, we can change. With each change we can create a more natural environment and we can become the monkeys we so wish to be! :)

So the next books for me to read are:
Attachement Parenting by Katie Granju. (Based on works of William and Martha Sears).
Three in a Bed/ Letting Go as Children Grow by Deborah Jackson
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - Ina May Gaskin.

A Metaphor for our daily lives, with a fun video to express it :)

2009-10-02T10:38:00.004Z

This morning I was thinking about roles that we cast ourselves in and how stubborn we can be. I was thinking about how we want to create change but it can be tough to do and how we seem to resist our very own good intentions. With me, it's like the more I feel I should do something and force myself to do it, the more threatening I become to myself, the more stubborn I get, the more angry and depressed I get and everything becomes harder and harder to do.
I realised it was like meditation. The way in meditation is to be present and kind even in difficult states. It's not to think our way out of it, but to gently feel whatever is present in each moment. This soft FEELING of gliding into a difficult area and just seeing whatever is there to be seen is the way to go when meditating. The more we resist and think and force the harder it is to get anywhere.
I realised, then, that the way forward in meditation and in my life is to relax into the difficulty. With gentleness we ease into the difficulty and to remain soft even though we find it hard and uncomfortable.
Then I thought of when walking along the beach on the wet sand - how when I stand still I slowly sink into the sand and it covers my feet. But when I stamp, and slap my feet down hard the sand resists the pressure and it becomes solid.
I thought it was a good metaphor for how our minds become painfully hard when we ourselves are tough.

It's also a bit like the Cornstarch experiment that you can do at home :)) Here is the experiment being shown on Ellen. A nice visual for those tough times!
(I also like to think this --- if the task ahead is difficult for me, I only do a small segment of it, just the smallest amount. It eases me in to it. Flossing - I sometimes do it quickly, but just to do it is good. Weeding the garden - which I need to do - I'll only do 10 minutes, or half a row - sometimes just going IN to the garden is all I can muster! Just to do a bit, with kindness is the way).

Oh and I just remembered - my mother used to say:

Slowly slowly catchy monkey.

lol :))

Great Combo

2009-10-01T15:12:00.002Z

I love the show Whose Line is it Anyway.
I also love dancing - like a fool. A fool I tell thee!

So how pleasant it was to discover someone has blended these two loves of mine in one disco grooving you tube video.

W00p!

Other News this week from my Brain:

I went to a great yoga class today - but my back is still sore. I'm going running tonight.
I've run once a week for 5 weeks now. Not bad for a bonafide non-runner!

I've been ignoring my own advice of not deliberating, and I've eaten too much bread !! Grrr!
Balance is HARD!! Ooops, got a bit of the old exclamation trigger finger there.

Been reading too much and not working enough. When one thing topples in our lives, it's like dominoes - and other things come crashing down with it.
My advice (to myself of course) - if you want to be a rebel, like I cleary seem to want to be, then realise that once you rebel against one thing in your life, you'll start to rebel against everything!
So be a little rebel - if you can handle it! :)

I've been snorkelling in the sea again, it was cold, I didn't stay in long - but really glad I did it again!. Oh, and I almost fell off a cliff into the rocks and sea below, which frightened me so much I woke up later in the night crying!
Another note to self= if the path vanishes over a side of a cliff - FIND ANOTHER PATH :D

New Saying on My Wall

2009-09-23T14:23:00.005Z

I have a small collection of thoughts.

I quite like that sentence as it is, but alas there is more :)

I have a small collection of thoughts that I've written on post it notes and put them on my wall.
My recent one is this:

To do it is easy.
To deliberate is hard.

It is pretty much self explanatory. But here are my thoughts on it:
There have been countless times when I've ummd and aaahed over doing something, which only leaves me feeling nervous or annoyed or angry or sick.
Most often, we KNOW what to do, but I and I'm sure others, must just like the drama.
To do it, JUST DO IT, turns out to be the better choice - I've found. It usually takes less energy, it gives you something to focus on - which in itself is calming (like meditation), and afterwards you either feel relieved, or proud, or happy- which are all lovely feelings!

I've had this thought going over my mind a few times now that I've stuck it where I see it everyday. I hope it stays :) I like it!

Sea, Sun, Surf - in the Raw

2009-09-23T13:03:00.003Z

Ooh what a fun weekend!
Fed up of feeling bloated and nauseous I finally decided to overhaul my diet.... It took me this long because I'm fed up of doing stuff to the extreme - I want moderation... but moderation seems to be making me a bit sick. You see I almost don't want to be ALL raw. I like having some cooked foods because I know I won't go crazy on them if I feel I'm 'banning' them from my life. But cooked foods have a certain pull that means I do end up eating more of them anyways, and the cooked foods that have this pull for me are most definitely grains - oats and wheat - which have ended up making me very sick for the last month. So I woke up on Thursday with a determination to eat raw. I've been fooling myself that my diet is raw, when it's in fact been very high cooked. I felt a difference at the end of that day even though it had a bit of a bready interlude. I had this mindset, and it felt good. I carried on... Friday was very raw, with a bit of cooked. But this time, with an ENJOYMENT of raw, the cooked didn't seem so special, and it was definitely taken in moderation. Saturday and Sunday were all raw days with plenty of bananas mixed with spinach, oranges on their own as mono meals, and lovely grated carrots with grapes and polytunnel veg to fill me up like I haven't felt in ages. A totally different type of 'fullness' that I can't explain... Not the horrible, stomach stretching fullness I felt eating porridge, but a lovely satisfied, nutritious fullness.

On Sunday feeling quite good with a lot more raw meals in my belly than I've had in a while, I went to the seaside with a friend and my boyfriend. I did something I've never done before - worn a wetsuit, and then walked into the sea in a wetsuit!
It was brilliant, I didn't drown and I've now discovered, I love wetsuits! They make you buoyant and I wasn't cold in our chilly Atlantic waters :)
Then I snorkeled which I haven't done for many years. I loved it! I realised that I've never stuck my head under the waters in Wales before - I've never seen what it looks like under the sea in Britain! (Last time I snorkeled was in the South of France).
Well it was very cool. Huge fronds of mermaid tail looking kelp, with Bass fish swimming underneath them. And small fry swimming around me with their silvery scales glittering in the rather clear water.
After some time snorkeling, my friend and I enjoyed the buoyancy of our wetsuits by riding over a few waves as if we were on body boards.

I haven't done stuff like that for a while and I felt very safe with my two good friends (and a good wetsuit).

Super Hot Bath

2009-09-17T08:54:00.003Z

I've just come out of the bath, it felt like I was sitting in a cup of herbal tea. I don't usually take baths, but when my muscles are aching I crave to stew in some hot water. I had a bit of an activity full day yesterday. I did TaeBo in the morning, followed by weights and pilates. Then, later on in the day, I took the dog for a short walk and then went for a 4 mile run with my friend. The run finished me off I think! I felt my legs go funny, but carried on anyways. I'm so used to stopping once I feel pain, but my friend won't let me at all! It's interesting to see that you can in fact carry on even though you're so used to stopping. It's a good lesson in life really.
But last night I didn't sleep very well due to aches and pains all over, eventhough I stretched. I should have had the bath last night.
To ease my muscles I used essential oils in the bath. Chamomile, Peppermint and Ylang Ylang. It smelled really nice. It was all I had to hand, but I would have liked, Chamomile with Lavender and Black Pepper as that's a good muscle ease remedy.
I think I may go to yoga now to stretch - but I feel like I've got the flu! :)

I did it!

2009-09-14T14:25:00.003Z

I ran a 5k race :) I wasn't very sporty in school, and as I've got older I've turned into such a massive wimp! So running a race in public was really good for me, although I didn't allow myself to think on it too much. I didn't really get that nervous, until I turned up at the race and didn't see any fun runners there, only serious runner with abs, fat free butts and mp3 players!
I thought, oh dear!
My mate and I got our numbers on and started stretching. Some of the super fit men and women were jogging about already (yeah, we can see you've got energy already!)
Then the time to get in line came and I was very happy to place myself at the very back, and let the athletes go to the starting line! Then, some form of noise went off and we started running. Again, I say running but I was jogging. I knew that no way would I run just to look less unfit, I didn't care that I was last with my good mate who is fitter than I but stayed dutifully by my side the whole way. I knew that if I ran I would have gotten shattered and really would just have been in pain and would have had to stop. I did want to jog the whole way though but didn't care where I came in as long as I finished the course!

I didn't really know what the course was going to be like, I presumed flat, but boy was I wrong.
It was over all terrain - grass, gravel and tarmac - and it was up hill, and down and up again. There were three, not mega, but painful hillocks. (Is that a word? I like it).
The sun was beating down on us, as I knew it would. Where was the rain on Sunday, I pleaded!
I got very hot indeed, plus my month long stomach ache decided to kick in as I was jogging up one hill. I saw one girl stop and I felt like stopping then! I faltered a bit, but carried on somehow.

Coming down into the 4th kilometer was so wonderful. The course was around fields and the view was stunning, but I couldn't really appreciate it that much.
We jogged back into the grounds and had people cheering us on, that was really cool! Then the announcer over his loudspeaker was saying "Here come 153, and 154 now, big round of applause everyone!" Heehee!
And we finished! Crossed the finishing line and made a beeline for the water - in plastic bottles, but I had to!! And then got given our medals by a little girl.
We then checked our time.... 31 minutes!! Woohoo, I was really pleased with that.
I felt such pride, and excitement and happiness - I gave my friend a big hug and thanked her for asking me to do it, but also thanks to myself for learning to grow and not be frightened of everything :))

Absoloutley as purple as a pepper (yes, purple peppers do exist) we got in the car and headed to the beach after collecting a kayak and bf, friend and little one.
We went to Caerfai Bay in St.David's, and wow, the water is soooo clear there! We camped there earlier in the year (when we nearly got cooked by the biggest lightning storm ever) so I knew the water was clear. I got to go out in a kayak, the second time I've ever done it. The sea was so still, so I felt relatively safe. I felt super sporty! First running, then kayaking! My arms started to ache, but it was soo relaxing and stunning, bobbing along on the green blue lolling whispers of waves, looking around at the caves in the cliffs around us. The second time we went out, I took the little one. I felt much more confident this time, and it was lovely that the little one, as apprehensive as she was, felt safe enough with me to trust me. First she said that she wanted to turn back, but then said "It's not too bad actually," which made me smile lots. And she said "Please stop splashing me!" I said, "You're in the sea, you're going to get wet!" Which she thought was logical enough so stopped asking me to do the impossible :)

After a hearty breakfast of porridge, frugrains and banana, I was ready to eat something, although still feeling nausea. I ate bananas, and celery with almond butter. And had a Nakd raw cocoa bar too.
Then later I had courgette crisps that I'd made in the morning from my courgette glut. They were lovely! A bit salty though because I dashed too many dashes of Amino Liquid over them. And I had more fat in the form of tahini and pepper - I love that combination.

I think I've been feeling sick because I keep eating too many grains, and I have a very sensitive stomach to grains, but I'm feeling partial to them quite a lot recently - as happens when you have an intolerance to something, you start to feel more attracted to it - perhaps it's the body's way of saying "THIS is the food that hurts me!" (not a very efficient way, granted).

Now, I should be working, but I'm in the middle of a really good book! I should be writing a book, not reading them!!

I'm so excited, I just can't hide it!

2009-09-13T08:09:00.003Z

Or maybe instead - "I'm kinda nervous, I hope I can ride it!"
Today is the day of mah big race.
5k actually, but big for me. And big because I've never done a race before.
Oh let me start again - it's actually a FUN RUN! Not a race. I like that it's called Fun Run, because every time I say it, I have positive images in my mind. Yay!
It's around this lovely park that I'm looking forwards to see, of course I'll only see snippets of it as I run passed at the speed of lightning.

I went out on my bike yesterday and echddoe - which is a Welsh word for: the day that was before yesterday. How cool to have one word to say all that :)
I rode to my bf's old home, which is a community in an old Abbey. The track leading to it is like an assault course (or a 'salt course' as I thought it was called when I was a young 'un). You have to brave the stinging nettles on either side, ride over big stones in the narrow path, watch that you don't hit the bike wheel on the old railway sleepers that are still along side the path, and watch for low hanging branches, fallen trees and glass on the ground! My heart was pumping echddoe and yesterday - not because of the exercise but because I was nervous I was going to come off my bike, which I nearly did twice! I hit something hard but as I was going slowish I only got bumped off the seat. Time for me to write a letter of complaint to the local council!

I'm off to feed the ferrets now, then go racing (and get a medal, woohoo!) then hopefully spend the rest of this gloriously sun shiny day on the beach! We are having our summer now, here in Wales. Everyone is making the most of it, apart from the poor school children who are back at school just as the sun comes out after the wettest August I can remember -one day a week of sun in all the downpours :)

Fun with EarDefenders and SunGlasses and Other Photos

2009-09-12T13:37:00.003Z

Here's my bf, little one and myself playing about with sunglasses that I found in the mud in France, and my bf's heavy duty ear defenders. Love how my bf looks like a pilot.

And this is the view from where I meditated this morning - in the garden room - a little shack in the garden, with an open front where the sun pours in in the mornings. I sat there and the dog joined me. The room is next door to the ferret run so Gwion wanted to hug. I loved him falling asleep in my arms as my black tshirt got hotter and hotter.

New Blog, New Chair.

2009-09-11T19:50:00.002Z

I've just discovered a lovely blog by the name of 'Life with Girls'. Written by a very creative, homeschooling mam called Jennifer who radiates happiness with every post. She has three daughters and a little boy and they look like a bright, intelligent bunch thanks to unschooling and a lot of love. She blogged about this chair that she has bought for her kids over the years.

It's called a Tripp Trapp from Stokke. It looked awesome! The kids can be at table height, and join in better with family meals and creativty. I suggested it to my bf, and lo and behold, he's gone and bought one! I'm really pleased, I think the little one will really enjoy it. She'll be grateful she doesn't have to sit on a tower of cushions anymore :)
Thanks Life with Girls!

Hug A Veggie!

2009-09-11T19:42:00.003Z

Did you know that
September the 25th is
Peta's HUG A VEGGIE day!!
I'm excited about this, I'm going to wear a badge and have everyone hug me and admire me and say lovely things to me like "Well done for being a veggie!"
Instead of saying annoying things like "Where do you get your protein from?" Of course, I don't seem to get this anymore - not since in forever. I think people are really catching on, or it's coz I keep my trap shut.

Bag It!

2009-09-11T19:35:00.003Z

Check out this exciting new documentary called Bag It, from Reel Productions. It is currently being filmed, but due out next year. They called in our Beth from Fake Plastic Fish to ask her if she'd like to participate in the film - I hope she does! She'd be a great personal people friendly element to add to the film.

The Bag It website.

Tea and Trainers

2009-09-11T12:13:00.006Z

Today I've washed my stinky trainers. And they are still stinky. Getting ready for mah big race on Sunday!
(I'm drinking tea now, hence the title).
Yesterday I didn't manage yoga! I think my 6am start got my body clock mixed up and I went all wierd. I didn't even manage to meditate, not once!! But I finally managed to do some exercise in the evening in the form of 30 mins on trampoline and then out on the bike for perhaps an hour. I didn't enjoy it very much though, I got new tyres and I thought my wheels were going to come off. And an idiot in a racer boy in a ugly car nearly run us over on the lane! When we shouted "Slow down!" he shouted, "come and get it!" Actually my bf shouted "Wan*er!" but th driver was behaving like one, fool.

I have just sent off two aplications for courses! I'm so excited! One is a Full Permaculture design course, one weekend a month until May. And the other is a Beginner's Dress Making and Soft Furnishing course on Tuesday mornings!! Oh boy, I'm so excited, I can finally use my sewing machine without fear after these classes, I hope.

Yesterday I had a great great meal - everything from the garden. EVERYTHING BABY!
I can't find the cable for the camera but I will post the pictures when I find it.
I had:
Beetroot, courgette, apple and carrot grated salad
Cooked Peas
Romaine Lettuce (at last!)
Tomatoes with Parsley and Basil
Tomato Chutney (was supposed to be ketchup but tasted more chutney-y)
And a few chips - only a few mind.

Everything from produce from our garden, and I even forgot the Green beans and Cucumber in the fridge. I was over the moon and just HAD to take a picture. (ok some ingredients in making the chips and chutney were bought in, and so were the condiments. But still). It was a mostly raw meal, and for tea I had four oranges and a banana. So it was nice to have a raw afternoon.

Today I did 20 mins of standing yoga in warrior 2 pose for some leg strengthening, and then my weights for 40 mins.

In two weeks I'm hoping to go to a beach clean up and on the same beach a few days later there is a dog show that anyone is free to join, I'm thinking of entering our dog Gwenno into the shiniest coat competition, because as she is out in the rain all the time (her own choice) she has a lovely coat! :)

Here are two pics I managed to find on the pc. One of her staring at knees, and a hug with me in the sunshine. She has damaged back legs because she got run over, but she is the happiest dog. Aren't all dogs happy! Lovely dogs.

The sun is shining - but I'm doing THIS??

2009-09-10T12:05:00.003Z

Yes, I'm crazy!! I'm going out now to get some rays, but having a moment of pc addiction - argh!
I AM having a laugh though, so that's healthy, right?
Hope you smile too! hhehe!

Bore Da! (That's good morning in Welsh)

2009-09-10T06:28:00.004Z

How are you all feeling? I've been up since 6am - and it's great! I do like getting up early (when I'm not shattered) and I'm happy that so far, at 7.30am I'm still awake. My bf had to get up at 6am for work, and I couldn't get back to sleep, now here I sit looking at the dawn light through my window and getting ready for some aerobic exercise. Every other day I try to do some aerobic stuff, so today I'm thinking trampoline, then yoga. Then later on, go out on the bike - perhaps!

On Tuesday I had a very fun aerobic day, I went running in the rain with two friends! I've never done that before and I really enjoyed. First of all, running in the drizzle was pretty cool, and second of all, running with two lovely friends was a lot of fun. When two are talking, you can get your breath back and chat whilst someone else can have a breather! We ran 5km and it was flat all the way because we ran along the cycle path. That was another first for me, where I run (read: jog) it's all hills, hills, hills, so my legs were loving the flat. Now, after doing that without dying, we are doing a 5km fun run on Sunday! Omg, I haven't run a race since secondary school, yikes! And there are going to be photographers at the finish line - how cruel is that? But if my friends will be with me I think I should be able to manage, and enjoy! They are far fitter than I am, and are both running big races soon. One is running a half marathon, and the other a 10km. So impressive! I'm just going to stick with managing 5km with some more ease.

Meditation - twice a day - what's the story, morning glory?

I am pleased to say that I've managed to meditate twice a day since September the first! For my second meditation I'm trying different practices, rather that focusing on the breath as I do in the morning.
I had a WONDERFUL day on Sunday because I went to a Meditation Workshop Day! It was awesome, I'm so glad I went and I've signed up for the follow up day for next month.
I got to experience different practices in a safe, calm environment, without thinking "Oh I'm going to need to do some work now" or "Who's calling me now??" - it was time purely for mindfulness and I did feel very present. The challenge now is getting that present with the pressures of time on my mind.
The practices we did were - Studying a Raisin! (very beautiful), Gentle mindful stretches (ouch), Body Scan (very relaxing, but I was totally aware of my breath in a room full of people, I was self conscious!), Mindful Looking (enjoyed this, it was hard as there was almost nothing to look at, even though I was looking at a tree and a car and a bird, it was hard to remain focused, but I kept pulling back into the feeling of looking, and that was a good anchor), Mindful Walking (My favourite! I got so calm in this one because I was totally focused on the walking as it was intriguing, I've never done it before because I'm always self conscious that someone's looking or I'm going to lose the dog, or a car will come, but it was a safe environment for mindful walking and I loved it) and Breath Practice (this was the hardest even though I do it every morning. But in a room full of people close together I was again conscious of my loud breathing and it got really hot in the room, afterwards everyone said they wanted to escape from that practice but we all managed to stay put!)
I sat on a little meditation stool, and it was very comfortable. I want to get one now because it helped keep my spine straight and not wobbly.

PLASTIC - wassup with that?

I'm still keeping my plastic awareness, but I'm finding it tiring because I can't really control the amount of plastic coming into the house.
Today I realised that I was using plastic in a silly way, so I found an alternative. I was wrapping up the ferrets food in plastic freezer bags because that's what I've done before. So now I've switched to using plastic containers - which at least aren't disposable.

Yesterday I Fasted till Five (pm).

This is my fourth Wednesday of Fasting! It's getting easier, but I'm really rubbish at moderation in the week - THAT's the challenge! And breaking my fast ain't going well. I quite like the idea of Fasting till Five because everyone needs some alliteration in their day, right? And also if I have a light dinner or not at all the night before then half the day of fasting is whilst I am sleeping, zzz. It also means that I'm not weak on Thursday mornings for my aerobic workouts.
But I gobbled too much at the end of my fast, and it hurt my tummy, of course!
I did have a juice at midday - carrots, apples, 1 orange and a cucumber. It's hard when it's lunch time in the house and the aromas make me salivate. A juice in the sun really helps.

Adios folks : )

The Month Of Meditation has come to an end... Or has it?

2009-08-31T13:15:00.004Z

How did I do?
Last day of August today,which means my August Meditation Month Challenge is at its end.
I'm so glad I made the commitment to meditate every day in the mornings. I found brushing my teeth and washing my face really helped before meditating, I had to wake up a little first!
Out of 31 days I believe I missed 3 or 4 sessions.
I meditated for 10 minutes, and after two weeks or so realised that this was a good warm up, but not enough. I've moved up to 15 minutes. Now, with September at the door, I'm thinking of setting a new challenge; that of meditating twice a day! :)
I'd like to meditate for 15 mins in the morning and another 15 min session in the afternoon or early evening. I still want to stick with the challenge of meditating every morning, but the second meditation might actually be less of a 'challenge' and more of a 'thing I'd really like to do'.

How do I feel?
I seem to remember more often to have a focus. Not just to be mindful, but sometimes to remember why I want to be mindful.
Sometimes I find myself awake and aware without thinking about it first, and these moments are real treats. It's like I've gotten into a meditation in the middle of the day without the sitting. These moments are precious and memorable and make me feel like I've really lived. The other day I was on a really cool swing in the park. It's basically a very big swing like a dish, and you can lay down in it and look up at the sky. There was a beautiful cool breeze blowing and it felt so magical, the next moment I was totally there, feeling the air, seeing the sky. I loved it.
So often I'm just doing stuff, I don't even SEE what I'm doing.

I'm reading Teach Yourself to Meditate by Eric Harrison.
I like its straight forwardness.
Here's what he says about Alpha and Beta Brain waves:

Beta is an active, thinking mindstate. It is busy. we are usually in beta most of the time we are awake. When in beta, we are able to think, talk, handle many different stimuli at once. It is associated with the left side of the brain.

Alpha is the opposite. It is relaxed. it is a receptive, sensing or feeling state. When sensing outweights thinking - when biting into a peach, for example, or listening to falling raing - we are in alpha.
Alpha is most likely to occur when we are in the present, in the senses and in touch with ourselves and our surroundings. Is is associated with the right side of the brain.

The fastest way to relax is to throw the switch in the mind from 'active' to 'passive'. In other words, to shift from thinking to sensing.

We may spend an hour or two a day in alpha. Because it is a relaxed state, we tend to dring in and out of it, with little contril. By meditating, we learn to recognise this mood and consciously deepen it.

The secret is simply to spend more time each day in apha, whether we do it in formal meditation or not.
I think these are the best moments of the day. They are full of deep sensation, and deep feeling. The feel timeless.

I think that last sentence really sums up how I felt in the park. I was obviously in alpha. I want some more of that in my day please! With that in mind, September is meditation month no.2!

Plastic Week - How did it go?

2009-08-28T17:58:00.008Z

It happened more than a week ago I realise, but for that week I kept most of my plastic. I also managed to keep bits and bobs of my plastic for the rest of the month too. It took one week to realise how much plastic surrounds us. I knew this already, but being out there with a different mind set made it all so real. I'm definitely more aware of how I can step back from the plastic loop, but it just highlights the annoyingness of having it it flow right into the house through other people.
Plastic Free Week should be mandatory in schools! At the end of the week the child brings the plastic tally into school where they can form groups and talk about it. Just bringing the theory to reality is a huge step in our awareness.

My week comprised of quite a lot of plastic. Some I didn't manage to hang on to. One bit of plastic wrapper made it to the bin with out me realising, which is also an important experience: realising how used we are to chucking things away with no thought. I also lost a plastic carton that holds grapes, the logistics of keeping some plastics were a bit annoying. Every time I made a cup of tea with the dregs of the tea bag selection, nasty tea bags in plastic wrappers (come on!), I had to stuff my pockets with the wrappers, and annoying bits of plastic around jars, into my pocket they went only to vanish by the time I'd come upstairs to put into my shoe box of plastic tally bits. They probably went to the same place that missing socks go.

And today I didn't think at all, and it just made me realise how amazing people who stick to plastic free living for more than a week are! I'm so impressed. Today I got my external Hard drive through the post. I seriously needed to back up my files, and I didn't even think of looking for second hand or something similar. I just figured I needed new - perhaps I do, I don't know, but I didn't even check for options. So it arrived and of course, every component was plastic wrapped, from tiny ties to teeny bits of plastic wedges. But I'm keeping it under my bed.

What I did accumulate or use in my plastic tally week was:

4 Nakd Bar Wrappers (I know, four nakd bars are a lot for one week. But there was an evening out with nothing to eat and I had to bring back-up... lame I know)

Plastic from around Jars - Almond butter (not a healthy week, eh? :)

Tape and lots of plastic packaging from natural cleaners I bought, which included the plastic bottles themselves.

Envelope wrapper through the post.

Other stuff:
The grape carton, erm, some other random small bits I can't remember!

I also admire people who can tally their months in their blogs. I don't think I can do that!

Here are some pics from the permaculture farm I went to on the one hot day we had this month.
Quite a bit of plastic here. But the farm is organic and very beautiful none the less.

Internet is back!

2009-08-25T11:13:00.003Z

My internet has been down for what feels like a very long time, probably a week or so. I actually really enjoyed without it, and didn't miss it as much as I thought I would have. I did turn on the TV a few times though which I never do, so I suppose I did miss it a bit :)

I have been meditating every day, going for 15 minutes in the mornings now. Sometimes I feel like I'm just sitting there, thinking and not even being able to feel my breath at all. But just sitting is sometimes an achievement I reckon.
I also did a juice fast for one day, three cucumber and apple juices (from the garden). I got very miserable and hungry and fell asleep at about 8 p.m. but I seriously think I need to do that. I haven't given my stomach a break in a long long time.
Now I've been keeping a slight feeling of hunger with me because it's not as bad as the starvation I felt on the fast! Trying not to overeat and keeping that slight hunger as a sign that I'm not full to the brim, but sated. Tricky though.

Been drawing lots in the garden, which is a meditation in itself. Looking at the plants and really noticing everything about them. I've enjoyed that very much.

Well, I'm almost used to not being on the computer now, so I'll leave this particular blog post for now and update more fully in posts to come! Including my PLASTIC FREE CHALLENGE update :)

Take care all.

Photographs to Inspire You to Bring Your Own Bag!

2009-08-12T16:53:00.005Z

The Guardian website has just added photos of waste from around the world to its galleries. Shocking and disgusting. Seeing children swim in filthy water and people living next to rubbish dumps, and this isn't just in third world or poor countries. It's happening everywhere. In the accompanying text to the photos, it refers to the rubbish as garbage, trash or rubbish; but what I can see is plastics! Sure, there's other stuff there too, but it is mostly plastic in each photograph. This stuff is waste even before we buy it.
With that in mind, it was a relief to have just found a website for a sweet little shop called Unpackaged. The owner, Catherine Conway bought an old dairy shop in London and decided to sell health food products package free! Catherine was fed up of buying stuff in the shops, coming home and emptying them in her storage containers and throwing away the packaging. She wanted something different. In her shop, customers bring their own containers and fill up on fruit and veg as well as lentils, grains and the like. It looks like a beautiful and stylish shop that I'm sure will inspire others that no packaging is cool.
Here's a little video from reuters about Unpackaged.

Here Goes! Taking the Plastic Free Challenge!

2009-08-11T19:46:00.006Z

After more than a week of plastic filled information nurdles swimming about in my brain, and after reading loads of blogs on living plastic free, I can't help but notice plastic more.
I can't unlearn what I've learnt about plastic, so the shiny stuff seems to jumps out at me as I try to push it away.
Beth Terry at Fake Plastic Fish has created a blog called 'Show us Your (Plastic) Trash.'

It is a challenge that comprises of a week of living normally; aside from the fact that none of your plastic waste goes in the bin. Instead you hoard it like a squirrel does its nuts.

After the week is through, you photograph your new collection and share it on your blog as well as on the Show us your Trash blog. You can then choose to go on to hoard for a second week, but trying to minimize your trash stash in that one.

I've decided that I might as well do it. I want to live with less plastic anyways, so it would be beneficial on the research front to see how much I gather in the first place.
Of course, one week will give a slightly deceptive view of my total plastic consumption, but I will shop in that week as well as go out on the weekend so it should be pretty representative of my lifestyle.

Wednesday to Wednesday - here goes!

Be Open to the Possibility of Change

2009-08-11T19:02:00.009Z

(image courtesy of redbubble.com)

I'm about to do something, then I stop and I think...
"Does it have to be this way?"
I then automatically imagine another way for the scenario to play out. Simply thinking of this other possibility is a great way to stop myself behaving in a manner I don't like. Either reaching for seconds of dinner (or thirds). Or being moody when someone has criticised me.
Of course, you need to have the thought "Does it have to be this way?" to pop into your head, before you can think of a different way. This is when I take a sticky note and add it to my (growing) collection of notes on the wall. I write:

BE OPEN TO THE POSSIBILITY OF CHANGE.

I now see this everyday and I've actually found it wonderfully liberating to have it enter my mind when I feel myself going to those dark places! Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes it does.
Sometimes I WANT to act in that way because I'm so used to it. But at least then it has become more of a choice for me to do it that way, instead of mindlessly acting as I've done before.

When you see yourself acting on an addiction, a bad habit, an unhelpful behaviour, just be open and think of another way. You don't have to act on it. But at least the image of a different way has entered your mind. I'm finding myself having a thrill when it does!