Broadening one’s horizons
I was reminded by friends recently, that not all people are as fortunate as I am in having large spaces about themselves.
It’s funny in a way, because I’ve lived in other places that had a much broader view than where I find myself living now, and so I hadn’t considered that aspect, but it’s all degrees isn’t it. There have also been times past where I couldn’t watch a sunset from my home, nor a sunrise. Anyway, here’s a few shots I’ve taken in the past week, showing some of the broader views I see when I drive about the region.
Naturally, the cat Pixel, has to have the final say – that’s a cat’s prerogative!
It pays to get a higher perspective every now and then!
Fracking the Homestead
Home used to be a place where everything that was needed to live well was grown or made on site by family and neighbours.
A place in which food was prepared several times each day and shared by all present.
Many basic necessities were stitched or nailed together by those who used them.
Home used to be a vibrant, thriving project in self-sufficiency, with what was needed to be bought in, purchased on a rare trip to town, or ordered several times each year, to be delivered and stored.
Normal and natural
Many times people say – “Oh there’s not much I can do” when in point of fact, that is not the case. We can all make a difference in this crazy sad cruel world, if we simply care enough.
Take the case of eggs. Well, a carton of eggs. Purchasing eggs from caged hens is guaranteed to ensure hens continue to endure horrible insane conditions. The same applies to meat birds.
Listen to this report by ABC Bush Telegraph, and hear how even a hardened reporter is confronted by the mass of birds living under such conditions.
Purchase eggs direct from a producer you can trust, or from a trusted source of genuine free range eggs. Beware of false claims.
How a society treats its animals is a sure predictor of how it treats the vulnerable members of its community.
I’m old enough to remember when chickens weren’t raised in this manner.
I’m old enough to remember when Live Animal Exports didn’t exist.
I’m not advocating that we all become vegetarians. That is a personal choice. We must be responsible in our choices.
It is NOT A CHOICE TO BE COMPASSIONATE. IT IS AN OBLIGATION!
Here’s a wonderful compassionate farm that is doing some wonderful work in teaching people how to care. It all began with a pig called Edgar.
I once had a pig – his name was Horace the Hairy Pig. He was smarter than any dog I’ve ever had, and very lovable. He loved going for rides in my ute – not in the back but right up in the front seat thank you very much! Horace played a great part in my real education. I miss him still. Factory farming of pigs is absolutely horrendous.
Go for a drive in your car past a pig factory – you’ll find it by the smell. Then try stopping near it for a while. Then ask to view the premises. If by chance you happen to get access, I guarantee you’ll never eat pork again that comes from such a place. You won’t if you have any soul left that is…….
March Against Monsanto
The new sign at Bealtaine Cottage, alongside a more important one..."No Fracking!"
Time to advertise what it is we stand for!
The power of advertising is immense.
Corporations and governments allocate massive amounts of money each year to get their messages of suppression and control across to the public.
However, we have the access to advertising ourselves, if we decide to use our windows, cars, front doors, entrances to propagate our messages...what a load of free advertising space!
At the core of it all is greed
Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul.
Little Richard
For greed all nature is too little.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.
Frank Buchman
March against Monsanto
If you want to have sufficient food to eat in the future, if you want to live on a healthy planet, if you care about living creatures – then please, spread the word and march if you can on May 25th.
The March against Monsanto. (Link)
Numbers
by Ethel Mortenson Davis
The oil spill of the Exxon Valdez keeps on giving
for 18 years it’s kept on giving.
6000 workers along the shoreline sprayed chemicals on the oil,
breathing in the chemicals as well as the oil.
Many have died or have health problems.
The oil fell back onto the shore.
213 rivers have been destroyed—-
no longer can support life or spawn fish.
A Very Thin Line.
A client and I went to see a horse this week. He belonged to her in the past, but I have known him through 5 owners, each time given up reluctantly. This horse is 10 years old. Our Boy is a sensitive, athletic horse, smart and honest. In other words, a wonderful horse. In other words, a horse not just anyone can ride.
Fire retardants: the new asbestos
My toxic couch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvBkVfjcGpc
I’d like to nominate flame retardant chemicals used in our furniture, fabrics and baby products – as well as a host of other products – as being in the running for the “new asbestos”. These chemicals (halogenated flame retardants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers) are commonly known as PBDE’s. An editorial in the Chicago Tribune, responding to the series published by that paper about flame retardants called “Playing with Fire” (click…
Vale Stuart Wilde
Today I learned of the passing of Stuart Wilde, an author who has had a profound influence on the way in which I live.
Self-described as a Soldier, he worked ceaselessly to help others overcome their ignorance and to build a world of love and peace – but he was no sweet talking New Age Guru, that’s for sure!
He’s most certainly earned his escape – goodonyermate, and faretheewell on the other side.
At Dusk
Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray, where nature heals and gives strength to body and soul alike.
John Muir
The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is a secret and that we are united with all life that is in nature.
–Albert Schweitzer
In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
Aristotle
A the end of your life, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took,
but how many moments took your breath away.
- Shing Xiong
Faith and The Greater Good II
Its just a touch after midnight. You’ve all read about my infamous inability to sleep. Today was a touch different. I got about 3 hours last night trying to push out some orders, get some work done, and stay on track. But, I derailed this morning, pushed myself into something of a corner. I was a bit like a zombie. Glossy eyed and staring at the needles as I worked SLOWLY, much slower than usual.
In Violation!
Over the past few thousand years, humankind has regarded Nature as property.
This concept is rooted in biblical text and has spawned generations who have regarded themselves as having dominion over the Earth.
The feudal system was based on dominion and continues today as a land-grab mentality, based on the principles of ownership and extraction.
Where we are at this point in time is the evolution of that concept, that biblical teaching, where we are now forced to try to manage degradation of the environment rather than prevent it.
Ethereal
“It’s like I am inside this ethereal sphere wherein exists no logic, no reasoning, no typicality, no explanations, no realism, no comparisons, nothing ordinary, and no normalcy. And then if you are to understand me, you have to step into my realm and leave all of those things behind. I’m not typical. I’m not ordinary. And I’m not normal. And I never will be . So I don’t see the point of waking up in the morning and wishing to be so.”
C. JoyBell C.
What's the "new" asbestos?
What does asbestos have to do with fabrics?
Asbestos has been used in fabrics for centuries – the story goes that Roman soldiers (or, depending on the story, wealthy Persians) would clean asbestos napkins by throwing them into the fire – and they’d emerge clean and white. During the Middle Ages, some merchants would sell crosses made of asbestos, which looked just like wooden crosses, and claim they were from the “true cross” – the very same cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
Water
“Water, the Hub of Life. Water is its mater and matrix, mother and medium. Water is the most extraordinary substance! Practically all its properties are anomalous, which enabled life to use it as building material for its machinery. Life is water dancing to the tune of solids.”
– Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
“Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.“
- Jacques Yves Costeau
“In every glass of water we drink, some of the water has already passed through fishes, trees, bacteria, worms in the soil, and many other organisms, including people… Living systems cleanse water and make it fit, among other things, for human consumption.”
- Elliot A. Norse, Animal Extinctions
“Don’t empty the water jar until the rain falls.”
- Philippine proverb
“Rain scatters plum petals;
Weeping stains the earth.
One can only take shelter
And wait for clearing.”
- Deng Ming Dao
“If there is magic on the planet, it is contained in the water.”
- Loren Eisley
“Water is the driver of Nature.”
- Leonardo da Vinci
“Rain is grace; rain is the sky condescending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.”
- John Updike
“Truths are first clouds; then rain, then harvest and food.”
- Henry Ward Beecher
Innumerable as the stars of night,
Or stars of morning, dewdrops which the sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flower.
- John Milton
I’m singing in the rain, just singing in the rain;
What a wonderful feeling, I’m happy again.
- Arthur Freed
Is The UK Government Trying To Kill Off Photographers
New Act Makes It Legal for Photographs to Get Used Without Payment to Their Authors
Yes, you did read that correctly. I'm in a state of disbelief and utter disgust with our Government. Appalling behaviour. Before I continue, it's imperative to understand that my post not only applies to professional photographers whose livelihood just got taken away by this Act, but also amateur photographers too.
Looney
When the moon is full, there’s an opportunity to see things differently…..
Sometimes I feel like I’m going in a spiral……
The question is – to where?
I’ve been busy of recent times, preparing the house for inspections by prospective buyers…… and seeking new pastures for myself. While I don’t have to move yet, I have the feeling that sooner may be better than later……
Me, You and the EU!
The EU are trying to ban Heritage Seeds!
There is a new regulation in the making as I type that will ban, yes, BAN, all old and rare varieties of seeds.
Not only ban these seeds of biodiversity and extreme importance to the health of the land and Nature, but will, in effect, threaten the exchange of seeds as I have been doing over recent months.
The point of it
“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”
Galileo Galilei
Yet, love, mere love…..
Sonnet 10 – Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light
Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:
And love is fire. And when I say at need
I love thee . . . mark! . . . I love thee—in thy sight
I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
With conscience of the new rays that proceed
Out of my face toward thine. There’s nothing low
In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures
Who love God, God accepts while loving so.
And what I feel, across the inferior features
Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show
How that great work of Love enhances Nature’s.
