Highway Shrines

When I was a breezy wild teenager I took a summer road trip to Canada with my guitar-playing boyfriend. We hitch-hiked around the back roads of Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario, all the while playing chords from Leonard Cohen songs, and I was left with a lifelong love for and fascination with little highway shrines.

Fast forward to my husband's and my 25th anniversary five years ago, when we travelled Ireland in a rental car (Irish steering wheel on "wrong" side, driving on "wrong" side of road!)on a pilgrimage/vacation that included St. Kevin's monastery at Glendalough and St. Brighid's Abbey at Kildare, and anumbe rof lovely highway shrines. So, happy Feast of Saint Francis, and may every day be for you a highway shrine on the long road back to Heaven.

"Everything Is OK"

Fantastic. I cannot express how good this video is. I congratulate these men on the way they have chosen to get that message out there. In the United States, you would have been tazed within 5 minutes of trying to hug the cops. You'd have watched them shove a gun in your face and wrestle you to the ground.

Beneath thy compassion we take refuge, O Theotokos; despise not our supplications in time of trouble, but deliver us from dangers, O only pure and blessed one.

Philippine Man Loses His Life Saving Others

Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life.
~ Elizabeth Goudge (1900 - 1984)

Creator, Saviour, Life-Giver. The Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Ghost ~ once again, the Holy Trinity shows its Saviour aspect in the person of one Muelmar Magallanes, a very brave young man, only 18 years old, who saved more than 30 people before perishing saving the last ones, a mother and infant.

God bless his soul, and forgive him all his sins, and bring him to a place of refreshment and light, where there is no pain, suffering nor sorrow, but Life everlasting.

From The Age (AU)
QUOTE Standing next to his coffin, Mr Magallanes' parents paid tribute to their son.
"He always had a good heart," said his father, Samuel.
"We had already been saved. But he decided to go back one last time for the girl."
His mother, Maria Luz, wept as she described her son as incredibly brave.
"He saved so many people, but ended up not being able to save himself." UNQUOTE

Permaculture and You

So far my only notable experiment in permaculture has been a spouse-sabotaged disaster: I planted Jerusalem Artichokes, which came back and were fruitful and multiplied over several years, but my dear husband thought looked "ratty". They eventually fell prey to his prejudice against their appearance, to my deep sorrow and frustration. I was tempted to split the sheets over it. To me they look like lovely tall sunflowers, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? We do have a tiny pear tree and a wee baby plum tree in the backyard, which have survived several Nebraska winters and should be about ready top fruit next year, if they survive this winter which Farmer's Almanac is predicting shall be unusually cold.

Here's a really good read on perhaps the most important thing any of us can do to help ourselves, our neighbors and the earth.

From oftwominds.com by Noah Cicero

QUOTE This is why Permaculture is a revolution. It is people working together to bring back agriculture to the normal people. The group dynamic has been lost during three hundred years of industry and capitalism. But we can regain it. We can regain a sense of unity, of control over our lives.
There is an alternative resource, it is YOU! YOU are the alternative resource that can produce your own food. And if all YOU, view yourself as a person that can produce YOUR food, and create YOUR own world. Then you have a collection of YOUs, which make a group. Which make a TEAM. And what do you have then? UNITY.
The problem isn't Peak Oil or inflation or The Republicans or The Democrats or the big oil companies or Saudi Arabia. The problem is that YOU think you can't do it. YOU think you can't do it because all your life people have been telling you to listen to the television for answers, to listen to politicians for answers, to listen to advertising for what to buy and where to go. YOU can tell yourself what to do.
Get out there. Stop constantly reading Peak Oil articles being paranoid, stop being angry about oil companies or Republicans. YOU don't need them. Take control of the situation. Google your city and the word permaculture or grow or garden. Find those people, join them if you know how to garden, learn from them if you don't. Figure out what grows best and can be preserved through the winter. Stop planting stupid ornamental trees and grow some fruit trees in your yard. Instead of letting your kids play video games all day. Get their asses up and have them help you work on the garden. UNQUOTE

Good advice.

LINKS

Lincoln Green Scene

Community Crops

Transition U.S.

Prayer and Fasting

You might have noticed posts being a bit fewer lately. I am paring back some on constant immersion in the news, praying and doing a bit of fasting. Too much information, as they say, and little constructive to be done about it save, reduce, re-use, recycle, go green and pray a lot. Go to Divine Liturgy as often as possible (or if you are not Catholic, attend you faith's intercessory prayer services and other worship services), go to confession and love your family. It's time to get back to the basics. I haven't given up the news utterly, just trying to not be a news junkie all the time. So overwhelming. Constant news is like wading hip-deep in pig manure. I mean, Paul Craig Roberts is right, but all I can do about it is live my life. The jackels and whores of Wall Street and the control-freak porkos of D.C., both right and left, cannot/will not be changed. They're a lost cause IMHO.

Turn off the TV. Turn on some music everyone in the room can hear, not just you in your earbuds. Grow some tomatoes and peppers and okra. Make something pretty for someone.

~~

Today's Feast Day is the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, also known as Virgin By The Sea, reminding us all that England was once a Catholic country.

QUOTE Our Lady of Walsingham is known as "The Virgin by the Sea." The medieval ballad told that she helps mariners in distress. The Anglican pilgrim hostel displays the name Stella Maris, Star of the Sea. This is one of Mary's more ancient titles. Walsingham, just a few miles from the Norfolk coast, is a sanctuary of prayer and healing, a metaphor of salvation from storm and shipwreck, offering calm waters and safe harbor to all in trouble. UNQUOTE

Stella Maris, pray for us.

~~~

Health and Welfare Blog

Here's an interesting read for you, and an ever more interesting blog, Hartke Is Online which I just swerved into. With categories that read:

Become the Best Friend of a Local Farmer
Big Government is the Problem
Catholic Spirituality
Funny Stuff
Get Well Naturally–Blow Off Pharma Drugs
Heroes of Sustainable Agriculture
Successful Homemaking
Uncategorized
Whole and Natural Foods

I am intrigued. Any site that has Catholic Spirituality next to Funny Stuff followed by Blow Off Pharma Drugs has my attention tuit suite.
~~~

What Does Burning Man Mean?

I have never been to Burning Man, but based on my experiences at powwows, Renaissance Faires, Irish Festivals and even a few rock concerts, I'm willing to hazard a guess about what it means: I think it may be the careful experimental feeling-out, shaping, test-driving, trying out of a new way to do human society.

The three or four thousand year old model of imperialism, genocides, wars and unsustainable resource gobbling is losing its luster, even for those in its vanguard. Whistleblowers from the very top levels of military, government, intelligence and corporate boardrooms are increasing in number every year. More and more people are shredding their credit cards, putting in a vegetable garden, reducing, reusing and recycling, eliminating or radically shortening their commute, getting off the TV drug and rediscovering spirituality.

Why not bring Burning Man into the plaza of every town and city in America? Let art, spirituality and freedom heal us.

Be sure to click over and read it all.
From Huffington Post by Jay Michelson
QUOTE In the transcendence of ordinary distinctions, peak experiences such as those encouraged at Burning Man give a glimpse of the ultimate, the infinite. It may seem absurd to suggest that Burning Man is a mystical event. But then, if it's just a big party, why is there a temple in the middle of it? UNQUOTE
~~~

Hey, You Have A Body & It Wants To Move

I am slicing and dicing my way through a long to-do list before I head for work so, perversely perhaps, I thought maybe folks would like to shake their moneymaker a bit instead of just reading.

Stand up.

Step. Away. From. The. Keyboard.

Everybody dance now!!

Avoiding Slave-Made Products Checklist

Most consumers in the world market would not choose to purchase goods known to be produced by exploited children or forced (slave) laborers ­ at any price. This is a huge problem.

Please click on over to The Distributist Review and download the PDF to take with you when you go shopping. More reasons to Buy Local.

~~~

Five Things Cities Can Learn From Burning Man

One of my bucket list goals is to someday go to Burning Man. Here's a nice vid from TIME magazine online about this year's unique festival in the desert, with its flowering counterculture and its amazing art, and the burning of the 40 foot tall guy...complete with fireworks...drums...and love.

Oh Freedom

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

~ Robert A. Heinlein

***

"The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees, except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don't mind admitting it. They worship money and power and death. " - Hunter S. Thompson

***

The real question is this: When are we going to rise up against our government and the criminal cartel that owns it? - Joe Bageant

***

You can read the most recent Bageant rant here. Great stuff.

The Rising

The Rising
by Bruce Springsteen

Can't see nothin' in front of me
Can't see nothin' coming up behind
I make my way through this darkness
I can't feel nothing but this chain that binds me
Lost track of how far I've gone
How far I've gone, how high I've climbed
On my back's a sixty pound stone
On my shoulder a half mile of line

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Left the house this morning
Bells ringing filled the air
Wearin' the cross of my calling
On wheels of fire I come rollin' down here

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

There's spirits above and behind me
Faces gone black, eyes burnin' bright
May their precious blood bind me
Lord, as I stand before your fiery light

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancin' in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of my line

Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life

Come on up for the rising
Come on up, lay your hands in mine
Come on up for the rising
Come on up for the rising tonight

Li,li, li,li,li,li, li,li,li

View from the sticks: Alan Watts on Fear and Existence

ExRanger has posted a video of Alan Watts speaking of life, fear and existence. Fine stuff. Check it out.
View from the sticks: Alan Watts on Fear and Existence

I would like to include this one too, Compassion, with the Dalai Lama, Mohammed Ali and Thomas Merton.

Namaste.

Nervous About Flu? You Are Not Alone.

The managers where I work (5 days a week late afternoons and evenings) have thoughtfully provided a wee bottle of alcohol-based hand gel for every cubicle. We've been enjoined to not share headsets and routers, and have been told that individual boxes of Kleenex are on their way. Makes me a bit nervous since this is the very same management team who didn't even keep soap in the washroom dispensers or alcohol gel in the break room through last winter's cold and flu season. If they're worried it says something.

On the other hand, a lack of swine flu immunization shots has led to some very creative thinking on the part of the public. Take your pick, European berries or duck liver extract. I personally am opting for 8 hours of sleep and a gram of vitamin C every day.

Here's a brief compendium of flu related "old wives's tales" advice, none of which should be construed as actual medical advice but rather as possibly helpful folklore. Pass the orange juice, please. Have fun!

Natural remedies are all the rage as flu fears increase
Flu cures range from a mysterious concoction called "swamp tea," to the exotic, duck liver, to plain old vitamin D. Do they work?
By Nancy Lofholm - The Denver Post

Four Thieves Vinegar

Vitamin D

Chartreuse



Disclaimer: The information in this post and on this website is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. None of the products mentioned in this post or on this website are intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information in this post is not intended to provide personal medical advice, which should be obtained from a medical professional. This information is made available with the understanding that the author and publisher are not providing medical, psychological, or nutritional counseling services on this site. The information on this Web site does not cover all possible uses, actions, precautions, side effects, and interactions. Liability for individual actions or omissions based upon the contents of this site is expressly disclaimed. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the U.S. FDA.

Kansas City Irish Festival

Hello TRT readers! I'm baaack! We spent the Labor Day weekend in Kansas City camped out at the Hyatt with about 80,000 of our best friends. If you haven't ever been to a KC Irish Fest, next year please walk, bike, drive, fly - do whatever it takes to get there.


It is three days of beer, kilts, Irish music (on 3 outdoor and 2 indoor stages no less)from uber-traditional to punk pub, bagpipes, little kids dressed like fairies and the wee folk, meat pies, haggis, funnel cakes, history, geneology, comedy and more. Can't think of a better way to get all tired out.

Pogey is a a pub rock band from Nova Scotia, and about half their songs were rock/sea chanties. Nova Scotia Farewell, Drunken Sailor etc. They were tons of fun and rocked pretty hard. Our other favorite bands there were Vishten (also from eastern Canada). click http://www.vishten.net/ and you can hear them. We bought one of their CD's. And… Cara (we also bought their CD) is from Germany but that doesn’t stop them from making great Irish music! http://www.cara-music.com/english/
and...Hothouse Flowers who utterly rocked. On a sadder note, our condolences to the band, who lost two friends at sea off the west coast of Eire while they were stateside at the festival. The song they sang in Irish Gaelic in memory of their drowned friends moved us to tears. Memory eternal. + + +
~~~
With five stages there is absolutely no way you can hear all the music, so sorry if I left people out.
~~~~

The Good Red Road

I swerved into this (below) on the morning Internet read -

Backstory: My grandfather Emil Lindley came from Nez Perce/Yakama stock, his parents orphaned by Europeans and raised "white" in mission schools, with little or no awareness of their people's history (in part due to a sense of shame at his Native blood from the prevalent racism of the late 1800's early 1900's Pacific Northwest) we have had little or no knowledge of their life. But I know from what glimmers I have (an ancient photograph of a Native family, tipis and a cooking fire marked "Lindley Relatives", an executor of an ancestor's estate named Leon Cloud Rainwater, an aged photo of an ancestor of dusky hue named Mary Turtle; an anecdotal story or two) that my German/Scotch/Irish/Welsh ancestors loved and wed some Native peoples. The inter-generational trauma of erasing the "Indian" from the Indigenous peoples, and also from the "half-breeds" such as my Grandfather, Mom and Aunties and Uncles. Mom was made to be ashamed of her dark skin and her Native heritage, a fact which has brought me sorrow since I first understood it as a young girl.

How to heal this sick culture? How to undo the devastation of the tribal ways? In them may lie our healing.

QUOTE Observing a prisoner exchange between the Iroquois and the French in upper New York in 1699, Cadwallader Colden is blunt: “ notwithstanding the French Commissioners took all the Pains possible to carry Home the French, that were Prisoners with the Five Nations, and they had full Liberty from the Indians, few of them could be persuaded to return. “Nor, he has to admit, is this merely a reflection on the quality of French colonial life, “for the English had as much Difficulty” in persuading their redeemed to come home, despite what Colden would claim were the obvious superiority of English ways:

No Arguments, no Intreaties, nor Tears of their Friends and Relations, could persuade many of them to leave their new Indian Friends and Acquaintance; several of them that were by the Caressings of their Relations persuaded to come Home, in a little Time grew tired of our Manner of living, and run away again to the Indians, and ended their Days with them. On the other Hand, Indian Children have been carefully educated among the English, cloathed and taught, yet, I think, there is not one Instance, that any of these, after they had Liberty to go among their own People, and were come to Age, would remain with the English, but returned to their own Nations, and became as fond of the Indian Manner of Life as those that knew nothing of a civilized Manner of Living. And, he concludes, what he says of this particular prisoner exchange “has been found true on many other Occasions.”

Benjamin Franklin was even more pointed: When an Indian child is raised in white civilization, he remarks, the civilizing somehow does not stick, and at the first opportunity he will go back to his red relations, from whence there is no hope whatever of redeeming him. But when white persons of either sex have been taken prisoners young by the Indians, and have lived a while among them, tho’ ransomed by their Friends, and treated with all imaginable tenderness to prevail with them to stay among the English, yet in a Short time they become disgusted with our manner of life, and the care and pains that are necessary to support it, and take the first good Opportunity of escaping again into the Woods, from whence there is no reclaiming them.

There was always the great woods, and the life to be lived within it was, Crevecoeur admits, “singularly captivating,” perhaps even superior to that so boasted of by the transplanted Europeans. For, as many knew to their rueful amazement, “thousands of Europeans are 'Indians', and we have no examples of even one of those aborigines having from choice become 'Europeans!' ” UNQUOTE



Frederick Turner: Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the Wilderness (1980)
John Zerzan: Against Civilization - Readings and Reflections (1999)

Farmer's Almanac Says It's Going to get COLD

Makes sense to me: I can't remember the last time I needed a blanket on my bed the last 2 weeks of August. It's global climate change, kiddos, and not necessarily always warmer. From GRIT Magazine.

QUOTE Just when I was hoping for a mild fall and an easy, down-on-the-farm winter, the hot off the press 2010 Farmers’ Almanac shows up on my desk, heralding frigid winter weather for my part of the world. In 2010 Farmers’ Almanac Managing Editor Sandi Duncan’s words, we should expect an “ice cold sandwich” when winter finally settles in. I wonder just when it will settle in, down here in Kansas. Judging by this week’s highs, I think it might be sooner, rather than later. UNQUOTE
~~~

Pedal Power

The picture above shows the rig I have been using this summer to get groceries and haul other oversize packages that normally would be hard to transport on a bicycle. The trailer is a B.O.B ibex model that is very well built, has suspension built in and will haul 75 pounds. It also has a large, tough, waterproof bag that is included so you can haul things in rainy weather. It is very rare for me to go on any errands around town using anything other than a bicycle and having the trailer gives me more opportunities to ride and leave the car at home.

A Perfect Day

Believe me when I say that the weather here is utterly perfect this morning. The birds are singing and industriously feeding their highly vocal youngsters, the sun is shining through clear, fragrant air. The neighbor's old dog is smiling nonstop, as though she knows a deep secret to the attainment of bliss, although she is somewhat shamefully chained up in her owner's yard. (They have a fence which was taken down a year ago for some construction work, which is inexplicably still piled up next to the house.)

I am making a chicken oregano pasta for lunch and thinking about the Havelock Farmer's Market tomorrow afternoon, and about how much more satifying it is to shop face-to-face with the people who grow/make one's foods. Viva farmer's markets! Viva "Buy Fresh, Buy Local"! Viva Slow Food!

Lincoln, Nebraska Farmer's Markets


Italy, Farmer's Market