Renaissance Woman

Hello to the person who reads my blog from Russia. Thanks for tuning in regularly. I'm happy to have you along. I don't think I know anyone who lives in Russia, so it's nice to think that you enjoy my blog enough to check in once in a while. I'd like to know who you are ... if you're willing to tell me. I'm curious about who may be interested in what I have to say ... and why.

I do a lot of thinking - about the world, about myself, about how I fit into the world. And I've realized that I absolutely LOVE to learn. But not just about history or science, although those thrill me, too ... I love to learn about how I fit into the world. This is where I get my passion for life, even when I'm not feeling terrific. I love to realize something about myself ..... like realizing that I love to realize something about myself. It's like the main purpose of my life is to get reacquainted with me. And the world. Because I become thrilled when I learn something new about the world, too. As a continuation of that, I assume that other people are the same, and I like to share my realizations - because I like to hear about theirs, too (it often sets off a realization in me) - and so ... THE BLOG! (read like THE BLOB! --- because it's funny). My blog is really like a diary. And maybe it would be better to keep all this crap to myself. But it seems right to write ...

I'm experimenting a little with growing food plants indoors. I started in the fall after a few tomato plants just started coming up on their own in August. So I brought them indoors. I also brought my basil (which was tiny and about 3 inches tall) inside in pots. And see what they did: Peas aren't doing too well - just not enough light, but they have produced a few (with help from a paintbrush to pollinate ): Here are some of the tomatoes (which also need pollination help): And, for Marie, here is one of the garlic bulbils that I planted. I planted 15 of them, and 2 are coming up. Not huge, but growing. Not a HUGE success, but fun nonetheless, and I didn't have to watch perfectly good plants freeze. Wonder what I could do with a real greenhouse.

I'm starting to wonder if this blog is just a way of being completely self-absorbed. So I may take a break for a few days. Well, it's Christmas anyhow, so there is other stuff going on, but I think I need to stop writing about the things I'm thinking and experiencing - at least for a little while. I will, however, see if I can write about some of the things I'm doing around here. That might be fun and maybe you guys might like a bit of a change. Feedback helps me know if you're enjoying it, though, so please feel free to comment here or on Facebook. Seems, though, that people who read blogs are hesitant to comment. I ponder why ... But I won't write about it. :)

Funny what you find out. The woman I had problems with at the library ... turns out she had run out of her medication the day she tore into me. It makes sense to think that two emotionally unstable people would, perhaps, react badly to each other (I'm only assuming she is taking drugs for an emotional issue). After that she took a few days off because she was "sick". I always forget to think that other people also have their own issues - I'm too busy trying to figure my own out, I guess, and am usually more than ready to take the responsibility for the conflict on myself. This same situation has happened to me in the past. When I was quite young (17-18), I worked at a museum and the woman who was in charge of us was a little volatile at times. Well, one day she tore a strip off of me. Turns out that she had missed her medication as well and took it out on me. In the earlier instance, I don't remember the woman apologizing to me personally, and it certainly didn...

It's been an interesting couple of months. As I've mentioned a few times, September and October were the best "mood months" I've had in years. Attributed, in my mind at least, to not consuming sugar. Then I started work at the Wetaskiwin Library, and because of reduced time to: exercise; take care of things that I felt needed to be done; go to my yoga classes; etc., I started to feel crappy, over-react to things, and generally just not be my new normal, balanced self. Originally, I decided to take on this job because an extra $400 per month would be helpful, I'd get out of the house and see people, make new friends, etc. And it sounded like a good idea. In retrospect, for whatever reasons, it's affecting my health - both physical and mental. So it is not worth it. So I started thinking ... what is more important to me than the $12/hr that I was making at the Library? And that led to thinking: What is more important than money or the things it can buy? Of ...

I hate to jinx it, but after a week of doing my regular exercise, and not eating even the "sugar free" cookies, I am feeling SO much better. Funny how following my own advice actually helps. Hmmm. Maybe I should do that more often. Thank you God (and my own common sense) for helping me to feel better - because this is much improved from last week. So on this snowy Friday night, feeling calm and happy (again, thank you God), I sit here and think of all of you who regularly read my blog. I can't tell you how appreciative I am that you are interested enough in what I have to say that you click on my link and read my posts. I truly feel blessed. Most of the people who read this are my friends. And I feel blessed for that, too. Thank you. Thank you also for all the positive comments - written and spoken - about the blog, about my writing and just in support of me and my life. Positive feedback is important to me. And in this case it gives me the confidence I need to follow oth...

In regards to mood, it's been a less than stellar 6 weeks. And this past week was probably worse than those before. And at times like this - when I felt so good for September and October - I wonder "Why, God"? If I listen closely enough and pay attention, I usually get an answer. Existenitally, the answer is: "so you can appreciate the good times when they come, help teach through your experience, and understand and be open to others' experience." Physically, the answer is: "because you've been doing something you aren't enjoying (read: aren't supposed to be doing), because you've been neglecting your exercise, yoga and nutrition, and because you haven't had enough time to yourself." I'll go into a little more detail. For the past 6 weeks or so, I've spent 10 hours per week at the Wetaskiwin Library, and on a schedule that split my days up pretty well: 11-2 Mondays and Thursday, 1-5 Saturdays. I also work at the Millet L...

I was in Peace River last week. For those of you who don't know, Peace River is a small community (little over 6,000 people) in Northern Alberta. I figure where we live is northern (just south of Edmonton), but P.R. is truly north! It was a great trip. Thanks to L for taking me with her. Anyhow, it was a cool little community. Lots of community spirit and the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else. We had some great Chinese Food at TJ's, and we also ate a couple of meals at a place called the Java Domain. The Java Domain stuck out to me because it was obvious to me almost immediately that they are trying to use less plastic in their operations. The first thing I noticed were the pressed-cardboard takeaway containers, not styrofoam (they DO exist!!). Then I noticed that they actually had china plates to eat off of, and metal flatware. The only single-use plastic I saw were jam and peanut butter containers - and they are probably necessary due to health regulations (alt...

It've had an oddly trying and blessed morning. I was up North helping out on a project with my friend L. She kindly found me a flight that got me home in time for Noel to be on the road to Calgary today. So after a long but great day yesterday learning about P.R. history and the people who live there, we got up at 5:45 this morning and drove to the airport. It had just started to snow. So my first angel today is L - for getting me a flight that got me home in time to facilitate Noel's trip to Calgary. The airport I was at is small, but functional and nicely done when it was built in 1984. I was there a little under an hour before the flight. Yeah, small airports don't require the hour beforehand arrival time. It was a half hour until the pilot checked us in (yes, that's what I said, the pilot checked us in). The boarding pass was a laminated pink piece of paper that was handed to us and there was no security clearance. I was able to take my full water bottle on the pla...

As I mentioned on Facebook , I recently read "An Illustrated Short History of Progress" by Ronald Wright (all quotes are from the paperback edition, House of Anansi press 2008). An acquaintance of mine put it into my hand and told me to read it. And I'm so very glad he did. It is an excellent book and really makes one think. In general, he's talking about cultural collapse. And talking about where we are now. Let's face it, every culture collapses - well, he argues that some don't, but I would argue that just because people are still living where a big culture once was doesn't mean it didn't collapse. And ours will at some point, too. But don't worry, it usually happens slowly. And not likely within one lifetime. There's little one person can do to alter the course of history, but I find it quite interesting to look back at it and see what we can learn about ourselves. In particular, I was struck by the story of Easter Island - a small (64 squa...