Jan
5th
Archive for the Food for Health category
Dec
24th
The Symbols of the Christmas Story
It is 12:01 am on the 24th of December 2011. Please let me share these thoughts from Christmas 2009 and wish you the deepest celebration of all that is beautiful and light!
Reading time: 10 minutes + -
Christmas has a way of shining a Klieg light on life. Where’s the promised joy? Where is the peace? We can blame commercialism. We can blame religiosity. We can blame the market, the kids, our job. But it isn’t Christmas that is wrong. Read more…
Nov
30th
The truth about 2012 – Part II
In my last piece, Love like There is No Tomorrow, I said there was a big truth and a little truth about 2012 and neither mattered. This piece is about the big truth – the truth about our planet – our very mother of existence – the Earth herself. And what doesn’t matter about that?
Well, this: The Earth is about 5 billion years old. In cosmic years that may be teens or young adult – or even middle aged, but however you look at it, chances are she’ll keep spinning through space long after December 21, 2012 – or well into ‘stardates’. Whether we are having a happy ride on her back or not is quite another matter.
Mother Earth
Last week, I had the pleasure of visiting the Mayan Exhibit and the Dinosaurs at the ROM with my step daughter and her young children. There it was – all laid out – clear evidence of giant reptiles, eggs and all. Downstairs there was clear evidence of a culture – civilized and Read more…
Nov
27th
The truth about 2012.
There is a big truth about 2012 and there is a little truth about 2012 and they are both the same: It Does Not Matter!
The other day, I was chatting with a woman who is an industrial psychologist. That means she goes into large working environments – in this case corporate or industrial – and assesses every person from plant sweeper to Chair. In-depth psychological analysis combined with years of experience and intuitive skill allows this professional to advise on the best way to bring each individual to their optimum level of potential within the business entity for the greater good of the whole.
2012 Mayan Calendar
At any rate, she shared that a prevailing concern for many was the spectre of 2012 – and the end of the world. I was really surprised by that. I thought the whole Mayan Calendar thing was more in the realm of New Age and that the infiltration into popular consciousness Read more…
Nov
16th
Left unchecked – they cause a plague.
My sons live in a very cool apartment – 1600 square feet – huge with two bedrooms, high ceilings, a big kitchen and a great address – if you are up and coming musicians. The only thing is it is over a restaurant – which is great if you like to party after hours – but not so good if you’d rather not deal with mice and various other nefarious creatures from time to time – notwithstanding the landlord’s claims to the contrary!
But mice are little and innocuous and kinda cute when they skitter as the lights go on. And if you’ve been raised to love nature in its wholeness you kind of have an aversion to snapping their little necks in a trap set with cheese (or peanut butter for the more savvy).
cute mouse
My sons were loathe to kill the little things so I told them a story. Years ago when their dad and I lived on a farm in Port Hope we had a similar challenge. It was a magnificent stone house – one of five by Scottish brothers who had immigrated in the late 1800′s. One day we saw a little mouse sprint under the cupboards into the back Read more…
Jul
23rd
On the lip of a volcano I found my perspective.
The sunsets in Oia turned out to be such a magnetic pull. No matter our busy late afternoon schedule – beach in the heat near the clear and glorious tepid rolling waves or napping in the cool of our little cave, we would freshen up and set out to find a new vantage for the setting sun each evening. Alternately, we found rooftop cafe, a perch on the wall of the ancient steps to the beach, a seat on the low smooth wall overlooking the cliff, or from the winding walkways where we watched the final decent through the still spokes of a windmill.
Windmill at Sunset Oia Santorini
Each evening we joined the throngs standing at the highest point of the caldera on the crumbling wall of the fortress ruins, spilling over walls onto rooftops, and packing the cafes that described their sunset view advantage. Camera ready, we would wait patiently for time to move and the sun to descend into its glory. Each day was the same. The gentle rolling Read more…
Jul
13th
I believe in people!
This past week we have seen and experienced some spectacular views. We have taken hundreds of photos – each one capturing a dab of colour of the rich visual tapestry that is Greece. Emerald and ultramarine of the sea, fuschia and magenta of the bougainvillaea that spills abundantly over whitewashed walls. Red rocks, blue doors, black sands.
But last evening we witnessed something more extraordinary that lifted my heart in a way I will try to explain. The Oia sunset. If you picture a bass clef of sheet music with a cluster of dots in front rather than behind you would have a stylized image of the island of Santorini. Oia is at the top as the upper curve drops and curls slightly inward.
Oia, pronounced ‘ee-ya’ is on the highest point of the island and is apparently the sunset capital of the world. At the height of the searing sun, we had arrived in Oia and followed a tall young man who hefted our bag on his shoulder. Knee high walls of whitewashed plaster are all that separates the walker from the drop. All the while, is the breathtaking view of Read more…
Mar
7th
Current strategies fail to eradicate the infestation of the
Asian Long-horned Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer.
Why is this proven, environmentally responsible solution not being used?
Interview with Ray Morand
My guest today is Ray Morand who is with Verdant Technologies. Our discussion concerns the rampant infestation of our urban tree communities and rural forests caused by the Emerald Ash Borer and Asian Long-horned Beetle.
Any one who knows me knows some of my best friends are trees. I love trees. Not only for the obvious health benefits – they are the lungs of the earth – but because trees are a balm to us all, particularly those who live in our frenetic and hurried urban environments.
I had heard of the invasion of the Emerald Ash Borer and Asian Long-horned Beetle, but until recently was unaware of the extent of threat these foreign invaders posed. I have passed the signs on 400 highway for years showing the silhouette of the beetle and warning about taking wood beyond the boundaries. Not much is heard anymore so I assumed no news was good news. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Read more…
May
29th
How dark is it inside a cow’s stomach?
When I was little we summered at the cottage – a log cabin on top of a granite rock. When we would come home late in the evening from some event we would feel our way up the sloping granite, one footfall at a time, following the bouncing beam of a flashlight.
The whip-poor-wills and crickets would be raucous and the stars sparkling overhead. I would cling to my dad’s hand and he would declare: “It’s as dark as the inside of a cow’s stomach!” I used to think that was a riot – but I don’t just now.
It’s a quarter to three in the morning. Son #2 is watching Chinatown – his dad’s all time favourite movie. Son #1 is making ginger and lemon tea to soothe his strep throat. Last night they auditioned for a record label and will soon fulfill their heart’s desire as musicians. They are on their way. In exactly one month from now we won’t be chatting in the kitchen in the middle of the night – we won’t be here at all. Where we will be has yet to be determined.
May
19th
The Intrinsic Nature of Business
What do free range chickens, Jack Russell terriers and the colour beige have to do with the intrinsic nature of business? Well, this: Every aspect and particle of the universe – animal, mineral,or vegetable – even man made – has a nature of its own – characteristics of behaviour.
This morning, pre-coffee, my Sweetheart and I were talking about the move to the new house. We got kidding about how the stand-alone screened room would make an excellent chicken coop and we could create our fortune breeding free range chicks. I told S that we used to have free range chickens – Rhode Island Reds – the whole wheat of chickens, if you will, on our farm when we first moved to King City. The problem with free range is that weasels are also free range and it is their nature to ‘ferret’ out chickens and tear their little throats out. Read more…
