Month: August 2010

Photo of the Month

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Hi Folks:

Well, September descends upon us tomorrow – back to school for those who are so inclined, and the end of summer vacation for most.  On this last day of August I had a look through Lightroom to see that I made nearly a thousand images this month.  In the digital age there are many who make a thousand images a day, but I’m still from the film era, where I would get a dozen images from one roll of 120 film.  Anyway…

I’ve put a lot of thought into what to make my ‘photo of the month’ for August.  We had family visiting at the beginning of August, and while I made several ‘tourist’ shots, I’m not a people photographer at heart.  We went to two different car shows this month and there were some good prospects there, but I profiled an image of an automobile last month.

I met some old friends for lunch today as they passed through town, and in explaining to them what we like about Victoria I mentioned that this is largely a city of villages, each one unique, and yet forming a coherent whole.  We haven’t been everywhere in Victoria yet, not by a long shot, but of the various places we have toured Oak Bay is my favourite.  While a separate municipality from the city of Victoria proper they are adjunct, with Oak Bay covering the city’s southeastern shore.  From our walks there we’ve found that Oak Bay has a sense of neighbourhood and community that we really like.  To that end I thought I’d use one of my Oak Bay images for this month’s selection. Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Resistance is Futile?

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Hello Dear Ones!

“Resistance is futile.” For those of you who are Star Trek TNG (The Next Generation) fans, you will recognize that phrase – known to be the famous line spoken by all the Borg before they assimilate your planet! The Borg are a mixed species of computer-enhanced humanoid beings who resonate to one common consciousness and pose the threat of extinction to every culture they encounter. Each member of the Borg collective do one thing at a time based on what is best for the entire collective in that moment.

I thought of the Borg when I read the following quote that popped up in my inbox the other day:

“Instead of creating expectations of what should or should not be happening, cooperate with the form that this moment takes. Bring a ‘yes’ to the is-ness, because it’s pointless to argue if it already is. A greater intelligence is available to you when you no longer reject, deny, or ‘don’t want’ what is.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

Frightening, you say, that I would compare a Tolle quote to the Borg phrase? Here’s why: when something is happening NOW … you have a cold sore, the children are screaming, your computer just crashed, you’re stuck in traffic … and there is nothing you can do about it in this specific moment … then resistance to each fact is futile. HOW you respond to each fact … well, that you DO have control over! That’s where the difference lies. No Borg would ever consider HOW to respond to anything … (tongue firmly planted in cheek!).

The cold-sore you can medicate. The kids can be hugged or easily distracted by something pleasant. You can remember that you just backed up your computer the day before and its only today’s work that might need some revision and likely the revision will be even better than what you were scrambling to put together today. You can put on that new meditation tape while you sit idling in traffic … As the Tolle quote indicates: “Bring a ‘yes’ to the is-ness” – make each and every moment a positive experience. Accepting what is before us, making the most of each and every NOW and loving it to its maximum potential reduces the resistance. In a less resistant state, we bring more joy and fulfillment to our moments, our days, our lives. There is always a better feeling thought or action that can and will enhance our moment. Often acceptance alone (rather than resistance) is all that is required. Breathe out a contented “YES” … and your is-ness, your NOW, will fill with amazing potential.

My $0.02 worth today.

In Light and Laughter,

Marcia

He Says, She Says… Unraveling the Truth

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Hello, Dear reader:

Our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ topic for this week started with one of  the daily ‘Tut quotes‘ (notes from the Universe):

“The truth not only sets you free, it slays all dragons, banishes all fears, connects all dots, and casts a brand new spell over those who’ve yet to see you as I do.

And you already had the world spinning in the palm of your hand…

Careful now,
The Universe

Dwell in truth and you will literally start to glow.”

In reading that quote we thought about another one, this time from Seth:

“I have something to say to each of you, and all of you. In many areas of your lives, you go to learn discipline. You are taught by another and by a teacher and by a great authority. You are taught to become disciplined. In this class, there are other issues involved, and now I will tell you the terrible truth!

“For I am an un-teacher. And an un-teacher un-ravels you, or lets you unravel yourselves, back to the truths of your being. An un-teacher helps you un-learn your ‘discipline.’ An un-teacher, hopefully – and it is a difficult task that I embark upon, playfully – an un-teacher, hopefully, lets you lead yourselves toward the freedom of your being. So, when you are used to discipline, you may, for a while, feel un-done, or without a foundation. And then, when you let your disciplines go, you feel the great foundation of your own being, and its greater freedom.

“There is a purpose to this class, as all of you know, and for all of my talk, you see, you still have not un-learned enough. For when I tell you that you create your own reality, none of you are really sufficiently secure in that belief to take advantage of it as yet; to grasp this great creative freedom of yourselves, and use it to make the life that you presently [live] be the most creative and joyful for yourself and others. And so you give yourselves and others excuses, and you are in this position because of that, or you are in this position because of that person, or because of your background.

“Now, this applies to everyone here, Ruburt included – to each of you. When you thoroughly recognize the majestic freedom of your own being, and your own creative power, then you recognize yourselves as creators, creating your daily life and joyfully helping create the mass experience of the world as you know it. And then, you are ready to say ‘I act out of the full joyful knowledge of my creativity.’ Then you do not blame events or others or circumstances. Then you are able to thank yourselves for the joys of your being, and the glory of your days. You are able to say to the smallest cell within the ear, ‘I give you greeting. I am thankful for our joint creativity: for our eternal knowledge which is ever new.’ . . .

“And your dreams will help you point the way to your own freedom – and they are pointing the way to your own freedom.

“Again, from my reality to yours: if there is one gift that I would give you, it is the reflection of yourselves as I see you, returned to you so that you could sense, as I do, the miraculous joy and freedom, and trust it. If you make mistakes, they are your own mistakes, and you can learn from them. If you make decisions, they are your own decisions you can make new ones. If you are afraid of making decisions, you cannot learn from them.” – Conversations With Seth, Volume II

The ‘truth’ of anything is certainly a huge concept, and more than we can cover in one blog post.  Still, we each wanted to share some of our thoughts on the subject.  However, before reading our ideas, we’d like you to stop for a moment and ask yourself what ‘the truth’ means to you.  Have you unraveled it?  Has it unraveled you in the process?  Or has it made you whole?

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Eating Our Way Through Victoria – Literally

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Hello, Dear Reader!

August seems to be harvest time here on the island.  Last month we wrote about some of the farmer’s markets in the area, and we’ve been adding to our food cache by eating the many fruits that are ripe and ready as we wander the roads and trails around Victoria.  Himalayan blackberries are unfortunately highly invasive around here, and so (strictly as a means of suppressing their spread, you understand) we’ve been collecting and eating their berries by the bowlful.  The canes do have quite persistent thorns, however, and don’t give up their crop easily, as our scratches can attest!  We’ve also been fortunate to find some tayberries, and in one spot a few loganberries that we simply couldn’t pass up.  We’ve also found some semi-wild apples, and if our neighbour’s pear tree would only grow a little more over the fence… oh well.

But enough about that.  We were fortunate also this month to have family come for a visit, and they’re big fans of Korean food.  Although we’ve sampled various Chinese cuisines as well as Japanese and Thai food, we’d never been to a Korean restaurant.  We ended up at the Korean Gardens (3945 Quadra St. in Saanich, just south of McKenzie).  Actually, our nephew-in-law did a wonderful review of the restaurant, so we’re just going to copy what he said here:

“After reading some of the negative reviews we were hesitant to visit the Korean Gardens restaurant. In fact, we first tried to find a Korean restaurant downtown instead based on those reviews. Luckily that restaurant was no longer in business and a hunger for Korean food drove us to the Korean Gardens.

Contrary to what others have experienced, the waitresses were prompt, yet patient, as we navigated the menu looking for dishes similar to those we were familiar with from other Korean restaurants. Once ordered, food began arriving quickly. The food tasted great, and the size of the dishes was average for this type of cuisine. All through the meal the service remained superb. It’s a rare restaurant where the staff will go out of their way to make a two year old, our son in this case, feel at home.”

It’s a restaurant we look forward to visiting again.  We also had the opportunity to have breakfast out at Floyd’s Diner earlier this week; we wrote about Floyd’s in our first ‘Food’ post.  The experience was wonderful, as always, and we maintain that the servers there give the best hugs in town.

Enjoy!

M&M

P.S. You can read more of our Food posts and restaurant reviews here.

Being Green – Consciousness and the Environment

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, and time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  I’m going to take a slightly different tack this week (and some people might think I’ve gone off track completely) but if you have a wander through the 14 different post categories on our site you’ll find that we cover scientific topics in some and more esoteric topics such as poetry and spirituality in others.  In truth, however, our lives are a blend of both and we make no effort to separate or distinguish our spiritual lives from our day-to-day existence.

Having said that, in this post I’m not going to be covering the topic of religion per se, but rather what some might refer to as esoteric sciences.  And no, that’s not a contradiction in terms.  Skeptics aside, there have been and continue to be a number of people who are working to combine the fields of science (quantum physics, for example) with fields such as parasychology and different spiritual traditions.  If I was going to pick two names off the top of my head I’d probably go with Dr. Fred Alan Wolf and Dr. Dean Radin, but there are many more, people like Lynne McTaggart or Dr. Marilyn Schlitz, current director of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Continue Reading →

He Says/ She Says … More than Enough

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Hello Dear Ones!

Today’s topic came clearly and emphatically to both Mike and I this week. What each of us thought (independently of each other) to be a challenging belief, turned out to be a symptom or mask of an actual core belief. See if this resonates with you:

You are doing everything you sense is wise. You are living your true self.  You trust and follow through on your instincts and inspirations. You know that things should be moving along swimmingly and yet are finding things not flowing easily or synchronistically. In the short term, you try to let this go, finding ways to rationalize the discrepancy. However, as it continues over the longer term you begin to question what is occurring.  Something is not right. You look around for the source of the dichotomy between what you know should be unfolding and what is failing to appear, to manifest.

Over time, you begin to question your own role in the less-than-ideal outcomes. You start to doubt your instincts, insights and wisdom. You may get angry – at yourself, at situations or at the Divine … depending upon where you may be at that moment within your inner growth. You recognize this as the problem or challenge you need to overcome and  you are ready and willing to tackle it.

Sound familiar? Continue Reading →

Being Green – Celebrate!

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Hi Folks:

Happy Friday!  End of the week and time for the ‘Being Green‘ post.  It’s going to be a short post this week, mostly because it’s too beautiful outside to invest too much time in front of a computer.  So, in honour of today’s beautiful weather and in honour of summer in general, I thought I’d just offer a couple of links to things that are worth celebrating (from a ‘green’ perspective):

First is a development I recently heard about in Germany called ‘Solarsiedlung (Solar Village)‘, which has the main building (Sonnenschiff (Solar Ship)) at its heart.  This community  incorporates many ‘green’ standards, including rooftop gardens, rainwater collection, passive solar orientation, a woodchip boiler for winter heating and Passivhaus standards for construction, but the reason for the ‘Solar Village’ moniker is the huge number of solar panels in use in the project.  Not only does their use make the project ‘net-zero’, it actually produces more energy than it uses.  Four times more energy… which definitely makes it energy positive.  The designer of the Solar Village project is Rolf Disch.  You can find out more about this and other projects on his website; he also has a site on what he terms ‘PlusEnergy‘.  In a time when people are wondering what they can do to help reduce their energy costs, this development proves that it’s possible to go far beyond that, in a practical way.

Second, Cree Lighting and Habitat for Humanity have begun construction on the first Habitat house that will incorporate all LED lighting.  According to the Cree website, lighting is the single biggest energy user in the average home, at 22% of energy use.  I did a blog post on lighting a while back, and while LEDs do have some disadvantages, at the moment they’re the most efficient and most environmentally friendly lighting technology.  Continued development can only make them better.

Next, a little fun with a story about three swimming pools on Park Avenue in New York city.  The project was done by the development company Macro Sea, in cooperation with the city of New York.  Each pool is made from a converted dumpster, and completely portable.  Drop it off the back of a truck, fill it with water, plug in the filter and have fun!  The pools opened at 7:00 a.m. daily, and from the images I’ve seen there was no shortage of participants!  Given the heat islands presented by most cities, this is a great idea.

And finally, for now, also from New York, the office tower at One Bryant Park has become the first office tower to achieve LEED Platinum certification.  That’s something that’s definitely worth celebrating!!

Okay, the links for this week include:

Okay, that’s it for now. Have a great week!
Mike.

P.S. Looking for something to do with your summer? How about making some giant soap bubbles? (YouTube video) We’ve had a lot of fun with ours over the years – we even had them at our wedding reception!! You can get them here: BubbleThing The ingredients are non-toxic, and they really are a lot of fun for kids of all ages.

Being Green… Why?

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Hi Folks:

Friday once again, so that means it’s time for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post.  I usually come up with a subject for each week’s post sometime during the week based on an inspiration that I have or something I come across, but this week I was coming up empty…

Then today I came across a blog post with the title, “Why Ask Why? It’s a Good Sustainability Starting Point“.  The post does make some good points for any company at the beginning stages of determining their sustainability strategy, and is well worth reading. Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Ah, to be a ‘stupid flower’!

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Hello Dear Ones!

If you’ve been following my writings the past few weeks, this post will make immense sense. If you have not, may I suggest that you go back and read the following brief articles when you have time:

1.) A Crisis of Spirit
2.) Kicking & Screaming
3.) Insights from the Celestine Prophecy

The general gist of the above is about me going through a major spiritual crisis and the process of change and development that has since ensued in the weeks that followed. Yet another major life crisis arose this week resulting in a culmination of additional growth both emotionally and spiritually.

The past twelve years I have attempted to adopt a spiritual lifestyle more current with today’s new age phenomena (such as the Secret, the Law of Attraction, the counsel of Abraham, etc.). I have, however, recently realized that since the introduction of these newer philosophies, what I had innately lived all of my life – the magic and marvel of insights, inspirations and guided unfoldings – had begun absenting themselves more and more as I pursued these newer teachings.

With the additional crisis that arose this week, I have realized at my core that I no longer want to be responsible (the creator or co-creator) for the magic and unfolding of my life’s experiences. I do want to be a supportive and playful participant in all of the delicious and magical unfoldings as crafted by the Divine. Plain and simple. Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says… ‘Insights’ from the Celestine Prophecy

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Hello, Dear Reader:

When James Redfield’s book ‘The Celestine Prophecy‘ came out in in the early 1990s, we bought two copies of it and read them avidly.  The ideas contained within the book added nicely to the stores of knowledge we already had.  Time went by like it always does, and over the years the ‘insights’ from that book were overlaid and integrated with that received from other sources.  We heard a few years ago that a movie had been made from the book, but we never saw it.

A week ago we were at the local library getting some children’s books for visiting family and we came across the DVD version of the movie ‘by chance’.  Intrigued, we checked it out and took it home to watch it.  The movie matched the book fairly well (at least in our memories), but coming across those ideas again sparked new thoughts for both of us.  So, without further ado we thought we’d make this week’s ‘He Says, She Says…‘ post, “‘Insights’ from the Celestine Prophecy“.

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View