I Recover from Noise Pollution Here

i was looking for a way to heal from exposure to noise pollution....
the noise pollution causes mental fog, and tires my sense of hearing.
This heaven on earth i discovered recently ....the photos of which I will attach below ......just so you can catch a glimpse of how you can use a gentle walk in God's creation... to heal yourself or your loved ones.

Fungus growing in creamy shades of white on dead fallen logs..

How can anyone not want to walk slowly through this golden canopy.........

sky high cedar grove

a Cedar grove is growing....high up to the sky.....us suburban folks are accustomed to cedar hedges.....but rarely have i ever glimpsed cedar trees growing quite this high.......

sometimes moss grows furry......

Kaffe Fasset would have loved to knit a design based on the pale blue lichens on this rock....

Can't  you picture a rabbit wanting to take a wee nap atop this mossy boulder?

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Dancing with the Butterflies

Monarchs don't come around often enough....and when they do...it's a pop of brilliant orange red...framed in blackest of black.

Days like this do the body good, freshen the mind and spirit..
.and give a sun kissed glow to the cheeks.

When one takes the time to really look
at God's creation....we begin to see more than
we did before. We begin to see not 100 shades of green.....but rather...burnt umbers, golds, greys, dusty browns and rusts. Canada's terrain is not flashy...but the whole color spectrum is there...if you're ready to
spend the time to discover each new hue.

The Incredibly Simple...Bring Raw Beauty

Permit me to share some of our local flora...gathered as we stroll through Simcoe county Ontario, Canada.
Most of the names of these native plants I learned as a kid. If perhaps I have labelled them incorrectly...plz do speakup and let me know.
Peace,
c.

Milk weeds were so much fun to collect when we were kids...when you opened up a ripe milk weed, the seeds inside look like a brown scaled fish....and flew on silky wisps when you tossed them in the wind.

I pray that our beautiful humble and intelligent bumble bee population in Ontario are making a rapid comeback. 

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What is the Premise of Reading and Understanding Scripture?

When one has a rather philosophical bent, it helps to understand the "why" behind commonly expected behaviors.

                         For example, in Christian circles it is commonly expected                                                        ( although less so in certain denominations)

that the members become familiar with the words contained within a book called "The Holy Bible".

There are many different versions and translations on the market of "The Holy Bible", but all of the copies of the bible have much more in common with one another than the verses they differ on.

So....back to my point. Why do christian people study, memorize and voraciously read the bible?

One answer is this major premise:

By understanding the entirety of the Holy Bible, we assume that we will be better prepared mentally and spiritually and in all other ways to understand the other parts of life and the worlds around us.

I must say that this premise does ring true for me. Bible study does seem to make humans "smarter"   "wiser" and more "skillful" in how we problem solve.

Do you agree?

Looking forward to your comments and thoughts,

Peace,

c.

biblegateway

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essence of fulfillment?

Soo ...I'm watching a cheffy show "Chef's Table" on Netflix and this particular episode.... it's the story of  Christina Tosi, the creator of "Crack Pie".

She was speaking about how she started her little Milk bar bakery beside Momfuku ( as David Chang's colleague) and the satisfaction she had finally found after more than a decade in the basements of restaurants in New York City.

She grinned as she said " I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".

What a magical sentence.

Let me say it again ....and again.


" I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".


" I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".


" I finally had something that was mine that I had figured out ".



Isn't that the essence of fulfillment? Of knowing you've achieved something on your own terms.... in your own version of what it means to be creative?

Not every idea is a winner...not every effort is rewarded...but
those who don't give up on those hunches, those creative nudges lead the way.. They find "quoi"...they find the  juice of life, that we creatives live for....to make something fresh and unknown. 

Then and only then, once we have firmly planted our feet in that unknown space and let others in to spy on us....that is when they begin to take the time to applaud and appreciate that new "thing" or "idea" or "cause" we have created from the dust....that ever present earth we find in our hands. At last, we feel at peace. we feel joy.


I am a fan of the late Wangari Maathai....whose passion for the mysterious circle of life between trees and water created a movement. One can not boil it down to simple facts.
When someone is passionate about what they need. Wangari needed trees. Wangari needed to protect what she loved . In her passion to protect what she loved, she took us along....to kneel by a stream and understand why it was the trees that brought the water, and the frogs and the well being. She helped us take a brief glimpse of that mysterious circle. She made us pause to dig a hole and plant something....anything.


what is it that you can help us understand? What is it that you understand better than your family and neighbors. Maybe it bears repeating. Maybe we need to hear you too.

Peace,
C.,


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Stock Market Shows

I was watching Consuelo Mack's Wealth Track and it was an older episode from March which featured fund manager David Giroux.

David Giroux shared some of his strategies for maintaining a prospering fund.
One of his tips was this:

Writing covered calls on low volatility dividend stocks.
He also name dropped some of his fave stocks such as
 Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE: BDX)

as well as Fiserv Inc  (Nasdaq: FISV)

.

I am curious as to how other humans watch shows like this.
Do individual investors have any business at all listening to advice from someone who manages millions/billions of mutual fund money, supported by 200 global analysts?

Or is it simply a matter of trying to stay current with the lingo and refreshing our minds with the issues that confront all investors, penny pinchers, and big wigs combined?

Do you feel that institutional investors have anything at all in common with small time retail investors? Or is there an uncrossable chasm that separates the two?

Looking forward to reading your opinions in the comments below.
Peace,
C.

By the way, if you want to sample some of Consuelo Mack's Wealth Track shows, you can visit their
website : https://wealthtrack.com/how-david-giroux-delivers-stock-market-performance-with-much-less-risk/



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Seth Godin

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I was listening yet again...yes, I replay this podcast over and over again.. to Tim Ferriss' interview of the thoughtful Mr. Seth Godin. I  noted again his comment about what he does
when he starts to blog in his fave blogging host/template called "Typepad". He even describes the monthly fee he pays to keep his typepad blog running.
Seth went into a few deets of his secret to keeping his writing flowing saying when he opens up that blogging site he said

"I know what my brain needs to feel like" and then he gets his writing on.

He may write several blog posts and keep them as drafts but does not publish everything he writes. He writes until he feels that he has completed his task and then chooses the best of the bunch to publish to his blog.

Have you ever read Seth Godin's blog? check it out here: Seth Godin  .....it won't be a waste of your valuable time.

Late is ALWAYS better than never.

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So, this is me, living the dream, maybe not a big deal for you....but for a mom of four with a million responsibilities, it is literally heaven on earth.
So, what is this dream I am walking in today...my tan feet barely touching the ground?

Just doin what Tim Ferriss and a million other entrepreneurs do almost every day...sitting in a coffee shop with free wifi, sipping on a dark roast with steamed soy typing on a wee lap top.
Such a very big deal? Should I just get over it already? Well, in my sheepish defense, it IS a really big beal....because on this today, this very rare occasion, I am 100% alone, elle est solo....ALL by myself. Capish? No kids or hubby in tow. Secondly, this is my very own lap top. Not the fastest or the latest model, but it works and I'm bloggin at mock speed.

When you're a mom, other people's computers seem to take priority. So...it is with a rather fiendish delight that I walked into this shop with my lap top under my arm. This is a first for me. Hmmm, maybe next I'll have to shop for a little dog that fits in my purse.. A bit too Hilton-esque?

Maybe your dreams do not include creative writing at Starbucks, but hey, for today I am the dark roast blogging queen. Gonna relish it, bad grammar an' all.

Whoop...props to me... having a good hair day, and my fave shirt was with the clean laundry. I got the window seat and have an exquisite view of a crab apple tree in full blossom....voila the attached pic. My muscled fingers even figured out how to attach said pic to this blog.

Perhaps a decade late, but Late is ALWAYS better than never.
Turns out I've been ahead of the curve on the gluten free band wagon. Who knew?
You win some......and those days are the best.

May your dreams never die until you are ready to dismiss them by choice.
..completely satisfied and fulfilled.

Peace,
Carla.

Press Zero

To divest oneself of humanity may be more efficient...clean even.

Slick and sleek.

But what are we trying to prove? That we never need to hear a human voice? Never need another human being to help or serve us?

i am tired of self serve...gas stations and self scans at the grocery stores and department stores.
I am tired of choosing all my own options. I want to hear a friendly suggestion from a helpful polite
salesperson. I don't want to bag my own groceries. I don't want to count my own change.

I don't want to access the "automated" telephone system I can by pressing 5.

Sometimes I want to deal with someone like myself.... a messy imperfect human with imperfect scores. That's who I want to sell me something and punch in my sale into some kind of cash register. That is who I want to pump my gas or do my taxes. I was not born entirely by my own effort. My Mom had a lot to do with it, as well as some deft doctor and probably more than one nurse. We can not deliver ourselves into this world. We need each other. We always have and always will.
Needing other humans is not a character flaw.

So sometimes, I will not choose the automated efficient and speedy slick route. I will choose the slow and friendly route without robots and machines, and let another messy human serve me kindly. And yes, I will still press Zero.

Peace,
C.


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Do not blog to be heard

Do not blog to be heard...but to hear.

Do not blog to show this to all...but rather to be able to see things differently.

Blog to give yourself an ear to hear yourself and your Maker, swinging gently on the swing of life.

This is a great Tree.

Knowledge is a gift of God. Knowledge is not locked within any book, but sometimes hidden in one.

 The appreciation of it comes deep from within the heart of a humble man.

Kindness and gentleness are the apt caretakers of those who love wisdom...who seek to uncover knowledge yet unknown.

Walk gently yes, but always with accuracy and deft of purpose, a waiting heart receives them.

peace,
C.




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the Poetry of Money

It is often in the throws of poverty, that one begs of God for money.

But God is sometimes silent, when he wants us to stand alone, to think things through in quietness

and humility within the hunger for wisdom and accurate knowledge.

God did not make money. Money is a man made item.

Therefore mastery over money, while inspired and empowered by God's Holy Spirit, is not done by

shedding oneself of one's humanity, but rather by embracing it.


=-====
To embrace the simple faculties that allow one to align with abundance .

To permit oneself to be made useful, to be paid for one's usefulness.

To remember what works and shed what doesn't.


To lather...rinse and repeat once one has grasped something that functions in the material world.

Stop trying to escape the grit, the sandy shell in which is hid billions.

It is through the humility of dust and dirt and grime that grand fortunes are made.

A gold treasure from a shipwreck from long ago, is unearthed from deep chilly depths, covered with

hundreds of years of crumbled sea shells tossed to and fro in the currents. So much sand... and

intimidation. Such patience is required.

It is simply the one who digs who finds the treasure....

the one who digs.

Peace,
C.

The Book of Jeremiah (KJV) read by Alexander Scourby

I don't know if you like old school things like I do....but I happen to recall listening to recordings in my car many years ago...listening to the bible being read aloud back to me by this gent "Alexander Scourby".
Once you hear the bible read aloud by someone it seems to stick strongly in your memory.

Did you know that some other very interesting folks have recorded audio versions of the bible?
Folks such as:

Johnny Cash

James Early Jones

Denzel Washington and Others Recorded this Audio Bible Experience

It impresses me when folks make it a priority to celebrate their christian heritage and work so diligently to make the bible more accessible in audio form to humanity. I'd like to thank Youtube for helping in this effort as well, to keep the bible free and accessible to as many humans as possible forever.

Peace,
Carla.






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Basic Human Wage?

There is a work among us humans...a force or persuasion which dictates that there must be a better way for folks to have enough money to live on without being forced or expected to do jobs they hate.

I don't recall really the name of this movement, but it sounds something like this:
a "basic human wage" which we would merely receive because we are human. No other requirement...just our humanity.

I was watching some kind of film about UFO's and aliens on Netflix today and the film spoke about how much of Nikola Tesla's work has been forever lost because for the simple reason that he was in financial straits once he died, and those who were owed money took his stuff....lots of very valuable research and writings and discoveries. All that valuable stuff that those people took from his "estate"
was stuff that could have been useful for humanity.

Money issues rob people of more than just their dignity....it can steal the very gifts that they are trying to give to humankind.

What would you give to the earth or humanity if money was no option?
What would you sing?
What would you create?
What would you give?

I pray that money will never be an obstacle in your life and that you will always have enough money to fulfill God's beautiful will for the incredible gift of life that is yours, in Jesus's Name . Amen.

Peace,
Carla.

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There's a Battle for Good Information

In my nerdier days...ok ok....I've never quite shook off that wonderfully geeky tendency of mine.
Truth be told...I love information...but only accurate information.

One would have assumed that with the net and tv and smart phones, that we would be getting bombarded with all manner of top notch quality data at our fingertips.

But it appears that good quality information is at a higher cost now than ever before.
If you want  good information from a newspaper, you need to pay for a high priced subscription, which may or may not be available for home delivery.

Why does everyone hate paper so much???
 Or is it just a conspiracy to keep good data out of the hands of the every day man or woman like me?

When I try to get good reads from CNN.com or CTV.ca  I see lots of photos and click bait.
What am I .....10 years old? I still visit these sites hoping that someday I will be able to read a thoughtful two page essay on the current state of affairs, and again and again I find myself clicking on links to view the latest pop culture crap and yet another trendy way we can lose weight in 30 days without trying.

Nope I'm ready for the real McCoy, the real news....not that I really understood the whole
"fake news" phenomenon.

Perhaps the real difference between "fake news" and "real news" is merely the price that we are willing to pay. The free websites propagate fake news because that is all they can afford to publish. They don't necessarily want to pay fact checkers to verify each story before they run it, because the news blurbs flow at lightening speed. They don't want to publish anything too shocking about the big wigs because they don't want to get sued. So they stick with beige. Beige fake news click bait. Who has time for checking facts and accuracy, when folks just want to "feel" like they are " in the know"? and few can tell the difference between a real honest story and a frilly fluffy piece of nonsense?

I must admit that we as a society are partially to blame. Perhaps we never should have cancelled our old fashioned "throw it at the front door" style of newspaper subscriptions. Maybe we never should have preferred glimpsing briefly at flashy colorful headlines with two paragraph pseudo stories.

We should have preferred the thoughtful "takes a while to learn to understand it" style of journalistic meat instead of the visual cupcake. We should have been willing to pay a higher price for the higher value now put on all things "paper".

The switch to all things digital is leaving a bigger gap between the haves and the have nots. The haves pay for the right to access good data. The rest of humanity...the "have nots" click feverishly to  access the free garbage been poured out on the free websites...and we are reaping the
mental starvation from eating this low quality mental fast food.

Maybe they should figure out how to print newspapers on bamboo pulp paper or rice paper....maybe it could become trendy again to disseminate the same data to all of our front doors ....with the same high quality, high level of thinking style journalism. And those who can't digest the real stuff, can just go watch cartoons.

Hmmmm..

Peace,
C.




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Sorry to hear that He is gone...

Sorry to hear that Avicii is passed on...what an artist.
Thank you Tim Bergling for giving us such exuberant joie de vivre in your music. It was contagious.
All we can say is thank you, and thank you God for allowing him to blossom ever so briefly in our little world.
Peace,
C.,



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