Release your inner duck

Children see things

With different eyes

They smell, sort, sigh, sing, and say things

With such refreshing insight

That we can't but stop

And listen to them

And learn to appreciate

The lessons they teach us.

- Yomi Ogunnaike

...this is from a Buddhist quote.

Let the moment happen.
Don't fight the storm, but embrace it.
Ride its waves to your destination.
Whatever destiny has set, will happen, you cannot affect the final outcome but you can affect the journey to that outcome.
.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FireFly,

Today I peeked inside a huge book called Wilderness which must weight around 3kg (you work it out, lol) anyhoo... one of the many absolutely gorgeous pictures of animals - pygmy marmosets (soooooooo cute!!), flocks of wild macaws, animals carefree without humans near them, and various indigenous tribes spread around the planet, and... I saw a wonderful picture of the Kaieteur Falls, in Guyana... it looks a totally amazing, wonderful, powerful, spiritual place. Gasp... nature holds so much beauty and power, yet its power never corrupts.
Just a thought... look it up on the web, and take a moment out to inhale the awesome-ness that is wild nature - wow!
.
.

Boyz-in-da-Pond...

here's a kinda cool lil piece of interactive nature - turn on your computer speakers and click on each frog.

http://www.enature.com/sitenav/boyzindapond.asp

the rest of the site has some great guides and links to nature parks and info:
http://www.enature.com/home/

toucans are really pieces of art that fly!

Teaching Children to be "K-I-N-D" to Animals

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/teaching_children_to_be_kind_to_animals.html

For many children, the family pet is their best friend. The Adopt-a-Classroom program teaches kids to be a friend in return.

Through the program, parents and community members provide elementary-school classes with subscriptions to KIND Newsâ„¢, an award-winning classroom newspaper that emphasizes concepts like compassion, respect, and responsibility. The monthly newspaper is published by the National Association for Humane and Environmental Education (NAHEE), The HSUS's youth education affiliate, and is currently read by more than a million children nationwide.

KIND News (the acronym stands for Kids In Nature's Defense) includes articles, short fiction, activities, and projects that teach children simple, everyday ways to show kindness to people, animals, and the environment. Teachers use the paper to supplement their science, reading, writing, and character education curricula.

Give a Classroom the Gift of Kindness Now!

1. Sponsor a classroom for the teacher or child of your choice.

2. Adopt a classroom on our waiting list.

Topics covered in KIND News range from pet care to living with wildlife to getting along with peers. In the September 2005 issue of KIND News, NASCAR driver Ryan Newman discussed the importance of reducing pet overpopulation and caring for pets. Dr. Kind explained why donations to animal shelters are so vital.

Other features covered problems with keeping wild animals as pets and what students and teachers should consider before getting a classroom pet.

In my second life selling books, I get very excited when I sell books to customers from the Indigenous history section... without tying them to a nearby chair.

It's sad when customers evade my persuasive charm and instead buy a theme-park book on Aborigines or after-first contact history book, but it's a happy uplifting day when a customer chooses a book of stories from the Dreaming or a Henry Reynolds book about dispossession or similar.

The past 2 weeks I have been ecstatic!!

ETHNOBOTANY is a new term to me.
I came across it as part of the content of optional study for a Sociology and Anthropology degree outlined online.
I've always been interested in plants and particularly the use of regional plants, food and diet of various cultures. The primary commercial focus of ethnobotany is more about the pharmacology of botany, however anyone - like me - who is interested in the diversity and cultural geography of food throughout history might find this of interest.



Online info....

What is ethnobotany?

Since the beginning of civilization, people have used plants as medicine. Perhaps as early as Neanderthal man, plants were believed to have healing powers. The earliest recorded uses are found in Babylon circa 1770 BC in the Code of Hammurabi and in ancient Egypt circa 1550 B.C. In fact, ancient Egyptians believed medicinal plants to have utility even in the afterlife of their pharaohs. Plants have been recovered from the Giza pyramids and can be found on display in a dark corner of t Access Excellence Resource Center he Cairo Museum.

A discussion of human life on this planet would not be complete without a look at the role of plants. A complete record of the many thousands of plant species used for human functioning would fill volumes, yet historians have often tended "to dismiss plants as less than fundamental in history." In recent years, however, there has been a reawakened scientific interest in the fundamental role plants play in many cultures, including medicinal purposes. Why is this so? That is the story of today's ethnobotany.

Ethnobotany is the study of how people of a particular culture and region make of use of indigenous plants. Ethnobotanists explore how plants are used for such things as food, shelter, medicine, clothing, hunting, and religious ceremonies.

http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/Ethnobotany/page2.html

- - -

ETHNOBOTANY OF WILD PLANT FOODS
by: Sarah Mason

Ethnobotany is the study of the use of plants by people, and can draw on many sources ranging from anthropological or ethnobotanical studies of current plant use by existing peoples, through documentary and historical sources (travellers' tales, writings of the Classical authors, Mediaeval Herbals, etc.), to present-day cookery or woodworking books, to give a few examples.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/profiles/smason/smethnob.htm

- - - -

ALL THE EARTH IS SACRED

In classical Greek mythology, the Earth-Goddess Gaia brought forth all life on planet Earth. All the different species of fungi, plants, animals, insects and fish were her children, yet also a part of her body. Gaia breathed life into them all, and all were equally important. An interrelated web of life, each species dependent on all others. From her, all live proceeded and to her all must return. She was the womb and the tomb of life.

This co-evolutionary vision of life recognizes nature itself as the source and sustainer of all existence, the central hub of the wheel on which all the individual strands of life depend. Without her all encompassing nurturing, life would not be possible at all.

This ancient story is echoed in mythologies around the world. It stems from a time long ago, when mankind still had awe and respect for the forces of nature. But then a new belief spread like a cancer across the surface of the earth, deeming mankind to be the pinnacle of creation and demanding that we should take dominion over the earth, and over all that there creepeth...

2000 years later our inheritance is a world of exploitation in which other species are primarily considered for their economic value and everything is up for grabs, for a price, of course. We no longer even respect the God that once upon a time had installed such megaglomanic desires in our souls. Nowadays, we respect no gods at all no more, neither ancient earth goddesses, nor moralistic father gods - our only belief is money, and as for omnipotence - well, we call that science.

Today, we want to play gods ourselves. Co-creation takes place in the biotec labs where the descendents of Frankenstein fiddle about with molecules of genetic material as if they were legoblocks, dreaming up organisms that not even Gaia could ever imagine. And as confidence, egos and profits are swelling, respect for nature is diminishing. Now that we can create lifeforms according to our fancies we all too easily disregard what has taken Mother Nature milllions and millions of years to evolve. More or less in passing we notice species disappearing, one strand of the web after the other breaking and falling apart...

So where in the world can we go from here?

This website is intended as a brief introduction to Ethnobotany. We hope to inform and provide resources for teachers and students as well as lay people who share an interest in the subject. But beyond simply engaging in a typical subject/object study we encourage you to take a deep, good look at the underlying issues with which we are confronted. Follow the links throughout these pages for various articles, resources and links on the subject.

(This website is an evolving project that is constantly growing and changing. Check back often for new articles and pages.)

© revised Kat Morgenstern 2003, all rights reserved.
http://www.sacredearth.com/ethnobotany.htm

It occurred to me how much like the pyraminds a tagine is (inspired by??)....







in case you're feeleing hungry...

Lamb & Pear Tagine.

2 lg Onions, peeled & sliced 1 ts Cumin
1 kg Lean lamb, leg or shoulder 1 ts Ground coriander
-cut into 4cm cubes. 1 ts Ground ginger
4 Pears, peeled cored & cut 1 ts Cinnamon
-into 4cm chunks 1 ts Black pepper
1/2 c Sultanas Water, to cover the meat
1/2 c Silvered almonds Salt, to tast
1 tb Olive oil


Tagines are Moroccan slow-cooked meat, fruit & vegetable dishes which are almost invariably made with mutton. Using lamb cuts down the cooking time, but if you can find good hogget (older than lamb, younger than mutton, commonly labelled "baking legs" and sold cheaply) that will do very well.

1. In a large saucepan gently fry the onion in the olive oil until soft, add the meat to the pan and cook until it changes color, then add the spices. Add water to just cover the meat and salt to taste.
Cover and simmer gently until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. (Displace the lid a little after an hour if there appears to be too much liquid.)

2. Add the pears to the meat together with the sultanas & almonds. Cook for a further 5 minutes or until the pears are soft. Serve with rice.

- courtesy blkcat! Ted Taylor

By the way... I cooked the Pear + Lamb tagine last night for a friend.

I didn't bother checking the recipe and used a half leg of lamb, 4 pears (brown skinned ones), and what I had in the cupboard... cinnamon, sumac, black pepper, red onion, potatos, garlic, dried figs and dates, chicken stock, fresh red chilli.

I sat it on the gas stove top covered for around an hour and let it simmer gentley.

It tasted OUTTA SIGHT!!! This is a must-cook!

"There is no snooze button on a cat who wants breakfast."

... to make a differnce and help stop global warming. Heck, it affects us all no matter where we live.

Whether or not you go and see the film an inconvenient truth here are some suggestions...

1. Change a light
replacing six regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs will save 44kg of carbon dioxide a year

2. Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take public transport more often. You'll save 1.5kg of carbon dioxide for every 5km you don't drive!

3. Recycle more
You can save 1,000kg of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste

4. Check your tyres
Keeping your tyres inflated properly can improve your car's fuel efficiency. Every litre of petrol saved keeps 2.5kg of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere

5. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water - use less hot water by installing an energy efficient triple A rated showerhead and washing your clothes in cold or warm water

6. Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 545kg of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%

8. Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one tonne of carbon dioxide over its lifetime

9. Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you're not using them, will save you thousands of kilograms of carbon dioxide a year

10. Be a part of the solution
Learn more and get active at www.climatecrisis.net

Yes it's Spring. And I hope the huge bird that has built a huge nest in the tree outside my apartment finds a mate sooooooooooooon - much as I love birds, it's non-stop LOUD 'calling' for a mate from 6am onwards, is starting to make me go cuckoo!

Some people can, and do, move mountains.
But often it's the little things that make life remarkable, and create a remarkable life.
~ FireFly

Life's what you make it ~ celebrate it!
Talk, Talk... that band from the 80's

ENJOY WHO YOU ARE...

...because WHOEVER you are... you are DAMNED FINE!




(unless you are the woman who came into my store on Dec 23 ... and who we should ALL feel sorry for, for her evil and ugliness... sigh....)

LOVE IS ABSOLUTLEY EVERYTHING....

you know it's true.

EMBRACE IT... without question.
Who are you to question it?

someone dropped a Season's Greetings card - I don't recognize the handwriting - into my letterbox and forgot to sign it, lol.