If only my writing were as free-flowing as my thinking
when I’m driving in my car,
or sitting on the toilet;
Then my writing would be as free as the conversations I have with loved ones and friends;
We start on a subject… which leads to another… which leads to the next.. and so on… and so on;
Like a voyage around the world, following a mindmap of thoughts;
until we return to our original destination.
feeling fully voiced and understood…
… then we exhale and have a cigarette.
Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers,
Ere the sorrow comes with years ?
They are leaning their young heads [without] their mothers, —
And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows ;
The young birds are chirping in the nest ;
The young fawns are playing with the shadows ;
The young flowers are blowing toward the west—
But the young, young children, O my brothers,
They are weeping bitterly !
They are weeping in the playtime of the others,
In the country of the free.
Posted in Community, Spiritual
Tagged cages, children, christianity, immigration, trump
My mother was one of the most exquisite and talented seamstresses I have ever known. I grew up in a home where every variety of sewing-pattern and fabric were strewn all around our home, as were various sewing projects at various stages of completion. She sewed cheerleading uniforms for squads, dance costumes for my dance school, and LOTS of baby items for the local shops in the area. It was those sorts of baby items with smocking and lace and LOTS of technical detail. Many ladies sewed back in those days, but my mom’s workmanship blew them all out of the water. Looking back at her talent, I’d even say she was gifted.
One day she decided to open a shop. And given her talent, it made absolute perfect sense. So my daddy bought her a little building, and fixed it all up very nice on the inside, complete with shelves to display her handiwork, and an old vintage cash register that they had from a previous business. He painted the outside of the building and even made a sign for her new business. She was so proud of her new shop, and lovingly filled it with all of the beautiful items she had created, but had not yet sold. She even found a supplier for odds and ends that any mother would find useful. And then she waited…
She let all of the family know about her new venture. “Are you going to advertise?” they would ask. “No,” she replied, “the best advertising is word of mouth.” And she waited some more…
She let all of her friends know. “You might try a listing in the Yellow Pages,” they suggested. “Nope,” she shook her head, “the best advertising is word of mouth.” And she continued to wait…
Yet, as exquisite as her workmanship was, and as gorgeous as my dad made that shop look, not a single item ever sold out of that beautiful boutique.
What happened to that sacred “Word of Mouth” advertising? Why didn’t it work?
Tagged advertising, Business, networking, word of mouth
I will keep it updated with my current readings, as well as past readings, and links for you to find, and enjoy, these great works as well.
Current Reading: The Upanishads, translated by Eknath Easwaran
This book is from a three-part series that Easwaran compiled around 1987, which also includes The Bhagavad Gita and The Dhammapada. What a gifted author! So many times you find translations like these, so rife with western interpretation, you’re left to wonder if you’re really getting the intended meaning.
From the inside-rear of the book cover…
“Easwaran (1920-1999) brings to this volume a rare combination of credentials: knowledge of Sanskrit, an intuitive understanding of his Hindu legacy, and a mastery of English. He was chairman of the English department at a major Indian university when he came to the United States on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959.
A gifted teacher who lived for many years in the West, Easwaran explains the concepts underlying the classics of Indian spirituality in fresh, authoritative, and profoundly simple ways.”
The Bhagavid Gita
The Dhammapada
Great Books of the Western World
(this page will be continually edited)
Posted in Education, Spiritual
Tagged Education, greatbooks, intellectual, intelligent, literature, reading, spirituality
Who am I?
~ self discovery – of all that I am; and all that I am not; my abilities and my limitations; my own internal good and evil
Who am I… in relation to others?
~ discovering others; relationships; allies; enemies; things that unite us; things that divide us; good and evil in others; boundaries
Who am I… in relation to the universe?
~ discovering our world and how we fit into it, and what role we should play in it.
Posted in Community, Health, Relationships, Spiritual
Tagged atheism, buddhism, christian, christianity, humanism, jewish, muslim, secular, spirituality
Writing + Time = Blog
Blog + (-)Time = (-)Writing
Blog + (-)Writing = Time spent on other crap
I know… it doesn’t add up…
Posted in Uncategorized
Well I’m back in Avon, and I couldn’t be more excited! I have sold Avon on and off since I was 19 years old, and have never experienced such a successful start as I am this time around. And when I was getting my hair done the other day, I asked my stylist, “So has your business slowed since the recession?”. Her answer stunned me. “No actually, we are the busiest we have ever been.” Who knew that the beauty industry would be a recession-proof business?
It seems that women are taking much better care of themselves than in generations past, and that’s a good thing. Beauty and self-care is no longer viewed as a luxury, but as vital to our well-being. So while the country (and the world) is healing financially, bath and body products are providing quite a morale boost. Not to mention looking great for those up-coming interviews.
And if you’ve been searching for that recession-proof business, look no further… I am just a mouse-click, or phone call away…
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged avon, home business, recession proof, self-employed, work at home
It was wonderful in the beginning…
I wouldn’t have to worry about coordinating schedules for installations of cable lines or boxes, phone lines, or any of the excess bills, or intrusions into my home.
And I could have internet service anywhere! I could meet with my clients and qualify them for thier loans – INSTANTLY – even within the comfort of their own homes.
And the speeds were really fast… at first.
Then, right around the time I was to pay my first bill, my service would crash – about every 5 – 10 minutes. I paid my first bill, and everything was fine again.
“well that was odd, and a bit shitty, but ok” I thought.
Second month happened the same way, except a bit sooner. More crashes 5-10 minutes apart, continually.
I called the company… they did a speed test, then referred me to download software from a different site, as it might be a software problem. (I was using the CD version given to me when I signed my contract)
The crashes only got worse.
Not wanting to think my beloved Verizon would be doing anything amiss, I reasoned that maybe it was my memory that was too low to handle all the work I was doing.
I upgraded my memory – the problems continued. Only now, its continually crashing on me.
Google brought me to a few posts about the capping of bandwidth – a practice becoming more widespread with ISPs. I found out that my service is indeed capped at 5 gigs a month… ok, no biggie, as I think I remember signing some paperwork to that effect. But here’s the kicker – not only do they cap for the month… but they also seem to cap the “rate” at which you use it. If you are uploading or downloading to fast – they shut your ass down!
And a call to their CSR dept confirmed it.
So those client files I need to send or recieve… will make my service crash. Those videos my company uses to keep my training relevent… networking sites like myspace or facebook… even simply checking my email… ALL CRASH MY DAMN INTERNET SERVICE.
Verizon, you have capped yourself into uselessness and worthlessness. And um, no, I will NOT be renewing my contract.
—————————————-
ps. my service crashed twice while composing this post. Thank you wordpress for your auto-save feature!)
The Experience:
I received a number of cookbooks from my maternal grandmother upon her passing. One of them, Joanna Percival’s Classic Recipes, had an entry for “Parma Ham and Melon” that sounded quite intriguing. But what was Parma Ham???
The book was published in 1978 and has all sorts of odd terms that are no longer in use (if they ever were). Castor sugar? Sponge fingers? Single cream?
To assist me in the translations, a quick call to my daughter (who had worked in a couple of restaurants that I would consider “nicer”) got me a little closer to my goal.
“I’ve never heard of it either. Maybe their talking about Prosciutto”
I used the Prosciutto that they sell at Walmart (Daniele brand, I believe) and a very ripe, sweet cantaloupe. The first bite was odd and took some getting used to. Also I think I used too large a piece of cantaloupe and too small a piece of ham. I found that a small, 1 inch cube of melon worked best wrapped with 2 or 3 layers of prosciutto.
I have been eating prosciutto for a couple of years now, but always felt that while VERY flavorful, it was a bit too salty to enjoy by itself. Coupling it with the sweet, cool cantaloupe was amazing. It enhanced the flavors of both while slightly off-setting the saltiness of the ham.
The Recipe:
Melon (cut slices into 1 inch blocks)
Prosciutto (cut one slice in half lengthwise)
Wrap each block 2-3 times. For presentation as appetizers, wrap ham to form a “cone” around each melon piece. Arrange around dish and place extra pieces of ham between melon slices . Decorate with black olives. Enjoy.
Posted in Food
Tagged appetizers, cooking, entertaining, Food, ham, italian, melon, parma, prosciutto
Random Acts of Thought 