'lost' by david wagoner

this poem really resonated with me recently:

'lost'
by david wagoner

stand still. the trees ahead and bushes beside you
are not lost. wherever you are is called here,
and you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
must ask permission to know it and be known.
the forest breathes. listen. it answers,
i have made this place around you.
if you leave it, you may come back again, saying here.
no two trees are the same to raven.
no two branches are the same to wren.
if what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
you are surely lost. stand still. the forest knows
where you are. you must let it find you.

from Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems by david wagoner (1999) which can be found here.

prince caspian

Walt Disney Pictures

i don't think after this movie {just came out here}, the actor who plays prince caspian, ben barnes will ever be able to have a 'normal' life again. think what happened to orlando bloom after the lord of the rings and it will be very much the same as tweens and girls everywhere will have their hearts a flutter for their new prince.

besides the whole thing about prince caspian being a total cutie, the movie fails to disappoint. you never notice that its just over two hours long and i found myself not wanting it to end which is always a plus. it has a bit of everything- romance, action, great music of characters that manage to wedge a way into your hearts.

this movie has inspired me to finally to pick up the narnia books as i've never read them before. i'm doing it a bit out of order and starting w/'the voyage of the dawn treader' first {its the next one to come out in 2010} and then finishing off the rest of them when i can. in the mean time, i'm actually really looking forward to switching off and dreaming of faraway lands & talking animals.

communing with nature: one cup at a time

recipe

ingredients

-4-6 handfuls of brightly colored twigs, nuts or weird woodsy looking things and a few flowers to make it pretty.

{you can either venture out into the woods yourself or if you frankly can't be bothered order them from your local friendly herbalist}

directions

step 1: put everything in a pot making sure that you take time to breathe deeply to take in the glorious aroma of nature.



step 2: soak for 3-5 minutes to make your twigs & branches as mushy as possible.
step 3: bring to boil & simmer for 40 minutes till it looks like soup & strain/drain off liquid.

yummy!

step 4: boil again {heck why not?} & strain/drain off liquid.
step 5: ignore partner who by this time is laughing their head off.
step 6: keep refrigerated till needed, drink twice a day {re-heated} and have something close by {like chocolate} to drown the taste.
step 7: do a nice table setting to make everything seem fabulous {denial is a great thing}.

strange woodsy stuff turns into a cup of tea!

serves 1, in 4-5 weeks time you'll either feel better/amazing or start growing chest hair.

Vision Board

james and i were so inspired recently by an episode of oprah that we decided we would do our own 'vision' board. its full of our hopes, goals and aspirations and what we want our life to consist of & to work towards. we've hung it up in our kitchen as inspiration and to remind us to think positive and to never give up on our dreams. they say if you think it, it will come.

anyway, if you double click on the picture you may be able to see it better as my camera wouldn't cooperate with me today.

intro to acupuncture

as some of you know earlier this year i had surgery. to explain--i've been dealing with a wide array of 'girlie issues' and horrible pain for nearly a year and a half and the surgery was merely a diagnostic procedure to try to figure out what's wrong. i've been to so many doctors and had so many tests done and yet still no answers even now. i've been feeling a bit like a guinea pig and if the eight vials of blood taken from me for tests just this week are any indication of things to come, i think answers may take a while.

i am ok with this because i've decided to turn to complementary health to supplement what i'm doing/will be doing with traditional doctors. a month or so back my gp {regular family doctor} recommended that i try acupuncture to help w/the pain, my auntie gail had suggested chinese herbalists a while back and i had seen doctor oz on oprah praising alternative medicine {including acupuncture} on oprah as well. after all these recommendations i figured heck why not try it. it may not work at all, but at this point i've got to be open to all options.

well anyway, i had my first appointment this week. i was given 3 bags of herbs to boil and drink and that will probably taste like @$*! but hopefully may do me some good. i then had about 20-30 needles stuck in me to start treatment. the actual needle part i was quite nervous about cause i really hate needles. the first one hurt slightly but then after that i was totally cool with it. she left the needles in about 20 minutes and then lit what looked like a cigar under my feet to warm the points. you get the strangest tingling sensations throughout your body and in the end i felt pretty darn relaxed. the only other weird thing for me was seeing that many needles sticking out of my stomach. i think maybe from now on i'll keep my eyes closed.

i have to admit part of me during the experience felt like i had visited a shaman or some voodoo doctor, but i did feel really good afterwards. i do know that more and more people now are turning to alternative therapies and acupuncture is becoming more and more respected as a treatment in the medical field. anyway-we'll see if i notice any benefits in about 4-6 weeks and i'll report back!

{image from here}

trust issues

{bowl can be found here}

so-i'm having serious trust issues lately. no its not with james, but little old me. trusting that things will work out in the many areas of my life at the moment that seem so consistently chaotic & unsettled. trusting myself to embrace each day in its uncertainty and trusting that when you give up this 'resistance' everything generally falls into place. maybe i'm addicted to fear and resistance because its safe-i don't know. i think part of me is i guess because this is what i've known for so long. what i do know for sure though is that i'm going to do the best i can each day to overcome my lack of trust in the unknown. who know's- i may begin to discover how much fun this lack of knowing really can be.

the present moment

1. living in the present tense, 2. presence, 3. . 6 studies from magog down . pt.5 - the presence of clouds ., 4. 32 / 52: your gift

i have been reading deepak chopra's book, "the seven spiritual laws of success" recently and this passage really resonated with me and i thought the photos were fitting with it too:

"if you stop fighting and resisting-
you will fully experience the present, which is a gift.
someone once told me,
"the past is history, the future is a mystery,
and this moment is a gift.
that is why this moment is called
'the present'."

wolfman in greenwich

aghhh! how i wish i had a camera this morning. james and i went for a glorious 5 1/2 mile run this morning through blackheath and greenwich park and when we got to the park, we found ourselves immersed in huge film crews, lighting and sets. apparently 'the wolfman' with benicio del toro & anthony hopkins is currently being filmed in greenwich and have been since march. funny how you can not even know what's going on in your own neighborhood eh? anyway, the top part of the park has completely been taken over with cables, lighting and other wide array of things. it was slightly annoying to see the beautiful grass dug up and how the squirrels seem so confused because of it. however, there's signs everywhere though assuring that absolutely everything would be put back to its proper place. so a bit of excitement in our backyard you could say! the only bad thing is because i didn't have a camera with me i unfortunately have absolutely no pictures of anything. if you are really curious though i found this blog which has all the juicy bits complete with loads of pics {be sure to scroll down most of the page}. anyway, after today i may just ensure i take a camera with me everywhere!!

new discovery

Joseph Pilates at age 77- (Photo taken from borderpilates.com)

i've recently discovered in the last few weeks a lovely exercise called pilates. i know its been like around forever, but i'm slow to catch on what can i say? anyway-it has a lot of the same movements from yoga, but it really, really strengthens your core muscles {those pesky abs}. i've been seriously hurting in muscles that i never knew existed after just a few classes and i've heard it will just suck the fat off of you. no worries i'm not leaving yoga behind as its my favorite but i've now adopted both {as well as doing running & weights too *sigh*}. i'm hoping that this combo of everything plus my uber healthy diet will eventually loose this last 40-50 lbs on me that just seems to be cemented on. if not, well i'll cross that bridge when i come to it i guess.