10 Spices That Heal: Cancer, Diabetes, and More. Wow, cumin, ginger, basil, garlic, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, tumeric, thyme, sounds like the spice mix I use in my soups..  I wrote in Sunday’s post that I love making soups and sometimes make more than one a day.  I used to cook big giant pots of soup, since that was how I recall my grandmother doing it.  Then I’d eat the soup at every meal for a week or more.  It only just in the last few years occurred to me to make small mini-soups instead.  That way I get the pleasure of choosing and chopping and cooking more often, and make just small one-pint or one-quart soups. I enjoy cooking now that my diet consists of mostly fresh vegetables.  I enjoy finding new flavor combinations, especially in soups.  Like Sunday, if I think about it (or glance at my daily food journal), I really ate all day long.  Of course, I was eating salads and watery soups, but it was basically a day of fun food preparation and feasting.  They just weren’t heavy or fatty foods.  Also, I figure it’s healthier to spend half of my kitchen time in food prep rather than in eating, since I’ll spend the same amount of time doing it, no matter what. Continue reading →

NOTE:  See here for Link to updated info on this matter

Breaking news, an Inside Account This is from Philadelphia Speculative Fiction Examiner Cassandra Yorgey. Remember this is just one person’s account, based on whoever she spoke with.  And each person she spoke with gave just one person’s truth, just how one person saw the situation. I initially wrote that I was not sure this writer’s account is true, and said she had so much in her article that was not true and that she clearly had it in for Ray. As I read more and more of her writing this morning, my mind has changed somewhat. I don’t agree with everything she writes but she has valid points and I believe she’s somewhat objective.  I no longer think she has it in for Ray.

Cassandra Yorgey describes herself as a speculative fiction enthusiast. I don’t say that to diminish her authority for writing what she writes, I simply never heard the term before.  I commented on one of her articles:  I just discovered your pages about James Ray n am enjoying your writing. I may not agree with everything you say but you make me think n see things from another angle. In the past 17 years I’ve published Florida’s new age magazine, Horizons, n I’ve seen lots of people get wrapped up in this guru n that; even smart people, even knowledgeable, informed people. Folks are so ready for change n deliverance from their boring n routine lives that they gladly place their trust in whoever has the most compelling spiel. They want to die to their old selves n be re-born again. It’s not that they’re willing to risk their lives for it, it’s that they haven’t seriously contemplated the consequences of their choices. They frantically go from one guru to another, one workshop to the next, waiting for someone to magically make it all better. They don’t take much time for critical thought or inner work. Then they attract situations they resonate in “vibrational” harmony with and don’t know why.

and she emailed me:

Thanks for helping continue the discussion of the sweat lodge tragedy. One factual correction I need to alert you to is that my article is not just one person’s view. I spoke with multiple sources to write my article. It is true that my opinion is all over it though, I did try to make clear where my thoughts differ from fact.

Many have pointed out that I am a speculative fiction enthusiast, and that is absolutely true. I realize it’s odd that I am covering the James Ray story but it is not as unrelated as it first appears. In addition to my examiner column I am also writing a young adult fantasy set in a wilderness program. During the resesarch for my book I came across a lot of information that ties into this case. My latest interview is with an expert who ran a program that has many overlaps to James Ray’s spiritual warrior retreat and takes a look at the both the mental and physical safeguards that are necessary, as well as an explanation of one aspect of James Rays technique. Thanks again for contributing to the discussion, Cassandra Yorgey

I finished final layout on the November Horizons Magazine last night and then went to bed at a reasonable hour, 9:00pm.  Of course, that meant I’d be up at midnight, 3 hours later and I was.  I gotta bless menopause for making my sleep consistent: three hours from start to finish, no matter what.  I love being up in the middle of the night.  It’s quiet, and I love the quiet.  In fact, because of the quiet factor I think it may be hard for me to ever share space with a mate. My cousin has been a roommate for most of this year and, for the most part, he keeps to himself, writing code or whatever it is he does.  He watches movies, headphones on at his laptop, so I don’t often have to deal with hearing his tv or radio. It’s an ideal situation, if I must share space: everyone being self contained and not space-invading each other. Continue reading →

A very cool video – Validation – is worth the 16 minute watch.  Validation is an award winning, comedic fable about the importance of acknowledgment and validation. It shows the magic of looking for the best in people. Validation has played at 34 film festivals worldwide and won 17 awards. I want to be like that guy. He knows that just a few words of validation takes just a moment and can make someone’s day.  Always offer hope, for some it’s all they get.  I thought today how true that is.  People are who you make them think you think they are.

I’m one of those who talks to other people standing in lines.  I always have a comment to anyone my elder.  Just today in the market I was next to a grandmotherly 80-something and she apologized for being so slow getting her green beans.  I joked that I knew what she was up to, taking all the good ones.  Her face crinkled into a big smile and I asked how she was going to cook them.  I had the best time listening to her tell me some of her favorite recipes.  She remarked several times about it being hard to cook for one and I told her I liked it because that meant less cleanup.  And that left more time to play in the garden and think happy thoughts and go to the market and pick out all the best green beans. We had the best visit and would say “you again!” when we’d pass in the next aisle.

My morning was made better by listening to her.  I saw her as someone who likely had something to teach me and I was right.  It seemed as though she may not get often asked for advice.

She will see herself a little more through my eyes at least for a few days.  I hope it makes her smile.  It did me.

We all need a little validation.

PS.  Two hours after making this post, and a week after writing it, I open Alan Cohen’s article for the November Horizons, and it talks about the film!

Synchronicity!

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Caught up in the spin

I woke up this morning realizing I had not written a blog post yet. I usually write it the evening before.  I was so busy yesterday doing final layout for the November Horizons Magazine that I worked through the evening and then just went to bed.  As I came in here this morning, nothing came to me to write about, however I knew that, as usual, as soon as I sat at the keyboard, something would come to me.  It didn’t.  So I opened an email from a friend.  I’d ask him how he was doing and he responded, “I guess I’m OK. Are you picking up something? I’m not aware of it. You know, the top that wobbles as it spins may just be aware of the spin, not the wobble.  I admit I’m not taking the best care of myself. I’ve done a couple of classes with X, and I’m still going out with Y. Any of these things could signal something is out of balance, but still I’m choosing to do them. I thought that was an insightful observation.

Continue reading →

Ignorant comment of the hour by Paula Deen: “Is he from this country?”  Paula Deen had a bit of a freak out last week on the set of the “Today Show” after an NBC staffer accidentally walked into the shot and hid behind a kitchen island.  “Oh my goodness, can you all see? What is he doing in here? Does he work here?” Deen asked Al Roker as she prepared her Nutty Orange Coffee Cake to promote the New York City Wine & Food Festival. “He doesn’t have a gun does he? Should we pull out our knives?” Roker laughed along with Deen, although it became a bit awkward after he asked her what she was making.  “Nervous. That’s what we’re making — nerves, nervous,” she said. “Is he from this country?”  To say that the staffer, an olive skinned, Mediterrean looking gentleman, was embarrassed is an understatement.  Had he been blonde haired and blue eyed, there would have been no drama and no story.  And a joke is a joke but that was just ignorant and offensive. Continue reading →