Pretty is something you're born with. But beautiful, that's an equal opportunity adjective. Unknown.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
The Dream
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Without a doubt mine is Blue Rodeo. Has been for years. I can guarantee that at any one time I have at least one of their cds in my car deck and usually 2. It seems virtually impossible for me to experience listening fatigue when it comes to these guys. Whenever I hear "5 Days in May" I make everyone stop talking and listen. I lovingly refer to it as my codependent music. Somehow it triggers that thing in me, that thing that lets you know that we are all fucked up in our own way, and despite this, there is still hope for us all, even when it doesn't work out how we imagined.
I can tell you that it started in 1987 in a rec hall fifteen minutes from where I grew up, at a weekend dance. His name was Robbie, he had the most beautiful olive complexion and hazel eyes that were slightly green around the outer edge of the iris. His hair was brown and he was wearing bleached Levi's and a yellow polo shirt. He was 17 and I was giddy at being asked to dance with this older boy. We slow danced to "Try" and when it was over he kissed me. For days afterward I found myself catching my breath and replaying the melody in my head.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
the money shot
we take ourselves too seriously. we think things are do or die. who are we kidding? we are specks of dust in a world of wonder and joyous anticipation. we are not our house or our car or our occupation! we are. we are. we are.
we are flesh and blood. we are spirits soaring and crashing. we are tears weeping and laughter echoing. we are this mind of firing synapses and this heart of pumping blood and lungs of oxygen pockets. inhaling our humanity that reaches out like floating particles in the air.
we are not where we come from. we are this moment. only this moment. in a universe measured by our trips around the sun. we are this creative force of genius, a chip off the divinity block. if only we would let ourselves be, if only we would get out of the way and stop this sabotage. we, you and me, meeting here in this cyber moment in space, destined to break free of this illusionary life.
don't over-think it. just be with it. sit with it. dance with. walk with it. talk with it. sing with it. move with it. the rhythm in your head, the ancient beat of a drum you can't forget but haven't yet heard.
feel it. move with it. live it.
this is who you are.
To default on this effort is to default on the self at the most basic level.
To honor the self is to be willing to think independently, to live by our own mind, and to have the courage of our own perceptions and judgments.
(Brandon, 1983).
Thursday, December 14, 2006
It's Coming on Christmas
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
To Kill an American or a Canadian
To Kill an American or a Canadian - received by email Dec.12/06
You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper - an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American or Canadian, ANYAmerican or ANYCanadian. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American or Canadian is, so they would know when they found one.(Good one, mate!!!!)
An American or Canadian is English, or French, or Italian, Irish,German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan. An American or Canadian may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans or Canadians.
An American or Canadian is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America or Canada than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American or Canadian is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American or Canadian lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence (or in Canada, the Bill of Rights), which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness. An American or Canadian is generous. Americans or Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans and Canadians came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!
As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. Americans and Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American or Canadian if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place.
They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American or a Canadian
Please keep this going! Pass this around the World. Then pass it around again..... It says it all, for all of us.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Addendum
But I do feel as though I must elaborate... or you might be left with the wrong impression.
1. Canoeing. Where I am from EVERYONE knows how to canoe. Everyone has a canoe. And every so often you find someone with a half ton truck to drag that canoe up the river (they actually drive it on the roadway) a ways and give you push so you don't get caught on the rocks. From here you just pretty much let the current take you and try to stay in the proper channel. A true outdoors man would consider this an assault on the art of canoeing.
2. Polar dipping. January 1, 2001 - have you ever drank a French 75? It is a combination of champagne, brandi and a splash of bitters. I dipped several times along with a couple of girlfriends. Apparently we had an audience. I woke up alone (in the buff) in the spare room of husband's boss' house. The boss chalked it up to a successful party. Husbands of dippees were unimpressed.
3. Tree surveying. I hated that day. I was lost in a 40 hectare clearcut among trees that had grown just above my head. It was impossible to see anything and necessary to shimmy your way through. Worst of all it was a spruce mixture so the needles were very sharp and kept poking me. Getting up on the stump was initially just to see where I was (the stump was about 6 feet tall). I couldn't bear the thought of spending the day in those horrid little trees, so I just stayed there and sang loudly to keep the bears aways.
4. Old Spruce Grove. This truly was amazing. I was unprepared for it. The west coast has a mystical quality - to be present in a forest like this has spiritual impact. I was there because of work, it had been a gruelling day. At one point we had followed a grizzly path as the bush around us was too thick. Had I not been forced into it (and dropped off by helicopter) that moment would never have happened.
5. I do love to laugh. Often at the most inopportune times.
So, now that you know the rest of the story...still think me a nature-lover?
;)
This is Cathedral Grove on Vancouver Island located between the Island Hwy and Port Alberni. A very worthwhile visit if you are in the area (40 minutes north of Nanaimo).
Monday, December 04, 2006
5 Things
1. In grade 9 my cousin Darron and I won a canoe race and were given tshirts for entering. 19 years later I am still wearing that shirt to bed - sexy. It shows its age.
2. I have polar dipped naked in the Pacific Ocean.
3. I was once hired to do tree growth surveys in a rainforest (nasty work). Instead, I found a tree stump, climbed up on it and stayed there for the rest of the day. Remarkably I was not asked to go back.
4. I have stood in an old growth Spruce grove in a remote coastal area of British Columbia, accessible only by helicopter. It felt like wonderland.
5. I really like to laugh.
And the new nominations go to...
Ms. Saltwater Princess, Ms.D, and Terri.
Hope you have fun with it girls. Its harder than you'd think.
:)
Thanks for the fun Rob.
The cold has made her grow elf feet (seriously).
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Pushed
Your love is just the antidote when nothing else will cure me.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Restored
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of Spirit.
Romans 12:2, Amplified.
Namaste.