The Inquisitive Skink

2012-01-08T16:25:00.001-05:00

2011-11-08T17:25:00.000-05:00

2011-10-23T14:09:00.001-04:00

Why we are so pissed off........

2011-10-17T18:58:00.002-04:00

I don't know why so many in the media are too dense to understand why people are so pissed off and deciding to occupy Wall Street. It is very simple. The banking industry has been playing craps with our money and a fixed roll of dice.

Our own government provides documentation of the unfairness of our system.The CIA World Fact Book is a wonderful compendium of information. They publish an index that measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. According to our government's own figures, the United States is more unequal a society than either Tunisia or Egypt.

(When you read the chart, remember that the bigger the GINI index the more unequal a country's income distribution).

Somehow, the news people "get" the frustrations of the people in the streets of Egypt but want to hold their heads in the sand about the frustration driving protests here.I avoid tv news now....it just makes me want to stick pins into voodoo dolls.

Some more depressing figures.....

The 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.

The top 1 percent of Americans possess more wealth than the entire bottom 90 percent.

In the Bush expansion from 2002 to 2007, 6 5 percent of economic gains went to the richest 1 percent.

We have allowed the mis-regulated financial system lead us toward catastrophe. And adding insult to injury, today it is reported that Citigroup Earnings Rise 74% to $3.8 Billion!

At this point I'm ready for Dylan Ratigan to run for president.....at least he is in tune. Watch this video:

God, religon.....taboo stuff

2011-10-17T04:38:00.000-04:00

I do not believe in supernatural miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures,the trinity,etc. In that manner I line up with many of the deists that helped found our country (Jefferson, Washington, etc.).

I admit the possibility of a god while also admitting the possibility of no god. I see no reason for people to think that god would have to be the creator of all things. Why couldn't there be a god that did not create the world, but is instead a force or energy shared between people and the world....or simply put, part of the world?

I exposed my children to multiple religious views. I also used modern day parables and personal life stories to teach much about life. One story, or perhaps it should be called a question, that I had posed to my children when they were growing up is this:

If you were walking down the street and a person came up to you and said that you had to believe what they believed in and that if you didn't do so they would pour a can of gasoline on you and light a match...... well what would you do?

And if you then said you believed what they believed .......would that really be belief? Would it truly be your belief? Would it be a memory that started so young it felt like your idea?

I would ask questions like: if this is how someone tries to get you to believe their religion, what do you feel about that? Does it make you understand them more?....do you want to love and cherish their beliefs?........are they accepted as your boss or leader or teacher because that is what you want or because they have power over you? What is terrorism? Is this a form of terrorism?

These discussions would be gentle and interesting and different with each child. I taught my children to think for themselves and let them create their own belief systems. I raised my children to be caring people. My kids grew up with terrorism in the headlines. I would discuss terrorism with them and pointed out its more subtle forms. They know that I feel it is a perverse form of child abuse to teach small children to be afraid of a boiling oil hell in order for them to line up with their parent's religion. Who, how and why else is anyone ever allowed to terrorize children like that with permission from a civil society? My children knew terrorism was being associated with the Muslim religion........they also knew this often unrecognized association with the Christian religion.

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My twenty year old cat

2011-10-07T22:35:00.000-04:00

My cat Daisy......I often called her Daisy Crabby Cat......She stayed on my lap sleeping most of the day yesterday and passed away today. She was my oldest daughters kitty.....so many memories get tied up in a peat that you have had for twenty years. I will see her ghost (in my mind) for many days to come, I am sure.

haiku

2011-09-22T11:08:00.000-04:00

memories of soft sweet earth
a constant thrumming
trees backlit by morning moon

I love morning glories

2011-09-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

I needed a laugh and this is where I found it...

2011-06-17T19:20:00.000-04:00

This brought back memories! This is definitely not politically correct but I can't imagine a parent not feeling this at some point. I never used profanities much....but I felt them at times!

Coffee Cake!

2011-06-07T11:19:00.000-04:00

Food Works For Middle Way House is offering delicious coffee cakes! We have discovered that everyone's idea of a perfect coffee cake is different. You have those who want the yeasted bread type of cake and the others that prefer the quick bread type. Charlotte Zietlow, famous in Bloomington for many great reasons including her critical role in getting Food Works off the ground, has provided us with her favorite recipe and that has now become our stand by recipe. Feel free to call us and order a coffee cake the day prior.....and if you have your own recipe you want to share, we can do that too! (812) 219-9525.......P.S......I am planning a coffee cake recipe contest in the future!

A Poem sent to me by a friend.....

2011-05-26T17:23:00.001-04:00

Please Call Me by My True Names
By Thich Nhat Hanh

(1929 - )

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow --
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

family update

2011-05-23T15:15:00.002-04:00

My daughter was on a flight circling the Minneapolis airport yesterday when the tornado struck there. The tornado thankfully missed her apartment by three miles.

The Almost Finished Bloomington Rail Trail Walkway Bridge

2011-02-28T15:43:00.001-05:00

Vagina Pops

2011-01-28T13:43:00.000-05:00

We have been busy finishing a 450 vagina pop order in the kitchen today. All for a good cause of course.....the sale of them will benefit Middle Way House.

Gluten Free Bread

2011-01-24T19:22:00.004-05:00

We are very happy with our Gluten-Free Olive Oil Bread at the Food Works Kitchen, and we know you will be, too. Many who have tried it prefer it over "regular" bread. It will be available at all of the Bloomingfoods locations starting in February, and it is in the Food Works Market now! Call us at (812) 219-9525 to order for Wednesday pick-up. This is our Gluten free baking day. Each loaf is $5.29 and available fresh, frozen, or frozen par-baked.

My brain is not centered

2010-12-28T23:05:00.000-05:00

some more of my art ......

Digital Art

2010-12-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

I used to create a lot of digital art. It has been a while.....here is my "I'm on holiday break and fooling around piece".....It is one I would like to use as a design on cloth.....if I ever find the time.

An easy way to support Middle Way House

2010-12-03T16:19:00.000-05:00

Hello family, friends, and supporters of Middle Way House,

As many of you know, I work for a wonderful nonprofit organization called Middle Way House. Middle Way House is a domestic abuse shelter here in Bloomington, Indiana. Even though many of you may not be able to support the shelter in any other way, there is a very important grant we could receive with your assistance.

Middle Way is currently in the running to receive a $250,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. In order to receive the grant, however, we need you to vote for our project every day in December.

Voting is easy.

1.) Visit www.refresheverything.com/middlewayhouse

2.) Click the Vote Button. A box will pop up for you to sign in.

3.) Create an account. The first time you register you may have to find your way back to the Middle Way page, but it shouldn't be an issue after that.

4.) You can find us by typing "Middle Way House" in the search box in the upper rght hand corner.

5.) Once on our voting page you can press the "Vote" button for the day.

You can also text "104741" to Pepsi (73774) (standard text messaging rates apply.)

Please remember to vote every day from now through December 31st! Feel free to send this message to all your family and friends -- the more people voting for Middle Way, the greater the chance we have of receiving this much-needed grant.

Thanks so much for your support!

Distorted Chagall

2010-11-23T16:35:00.003-05:00

Several years ago I played around with a Chagall image to use in promotions for Food Work's Valentine Cookie Sale .....here is one of my collage results. We are considering going with the "Share the Love" theme again in 2011. In the past we have also made vagina cookies for the Vagina Monologues held each year at IU.....looks like we may be making chocolate vagina pops this year.....hee! Life is fun. Sometimes. Nothing like making vagina cookies or pops to get a cackle out of the women in the kitchen.

now

2010-11-21T20:36:00.001-05:00

looking upon the moonlit sky
as though never seen before....
clouds wrap a hard heart softly

~donna

Trees

2010-11-13T20:23:00.002-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows how much I require being around trees. I remember when I transferred to Purdue starting the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college. I had started at Hanover College, a very pretty, 650 acre wooded campus but wanted to consider Speech and Hearing so off to Purdue I went. I know it wasn't the only reason I didn't stay there, but back then that campus had almost all of its trees shaved away, the town was ugly concrete, and I truly just couldn't handle the lack of nature in the environment. It cost me money, and set me back a bit in graduation time, but I didn't stay for the fall semester, scrambled to re-enroll at Hanover until I figured out what to do next. I had get back to the trees. I had spent most of my youth walking the woods around my folk's place, hiking at Clifty Falls Park and the State Hospital in Madison. I'm odd. I really need to be around trees. I transferred my junior year to Indiana University in Bloomington, and have been in this area ever since. This is an area where the people tend to honor trees, talk about them, fight for them if need be. I belong around an area like that.

Mark and I have 55 acres of woods. Hiking is something I do almost every day year round, and this is coming from someone who often works ten hour days. The forest and the outdoors are my sanity. They are what ground me.

We have quite a few pieces of stick furniture we have built and one of my favorite plant stands is a beech tree that frankly looks like a mans legs and crotch area. I will try to post a photo later. This entire blog post started because that plant stand came to mind after I saw a page titled 11 Trees That Look Like Genitals. I think they have cheated on one of them....its simply a picture turned upside down. But a few of them are pretty neat.

Following Tracks

2010-11-08T20:35:00.003-05:00

This message has been sent using a phone camera.

Brown County Barn Photo

2010-11-07T10:24:00.004-05:00

On the way home from home(town) I drive on old Helmsburg Rd. A small detour brings one to a set of barns. I've accumulated a lot of barn shots through the years.....plus I live in one. Someday I plan to put all the shots together. I am always thankful to have my phone camera with me.

Hiking in Madison Indiana

2010-10-31T15:28:00.004-04:00

Hiking old railroad cut in Madison, Indiana

I was in Madison to say my last goodbye to someone I have been friends with since I was 14. I pretty much find places to hike or walk wherever I am and hiking brings peace to my mind. I'm from Madison originally. It is a beautiful town. For years I have just walked the river road. This morning I hiked the railroad cut that goes from downtown up to the upper part of Madison. It was pretty, quiet and required mindfulness as you have to pay attention to your step.....lots of loose gravel, uneven and missing rails.

When you hike along the old rail road there are these very steep old steps branching off to the west. I had never followed them before....hadn't even noticed them (I'm lost in thought a lot I guess). They were great exercise.....I climbed them all but had to turn around without completing the trail. I believe they end up at the Madison State Hospital. I have yet to hike the Heritage Trail in Madison, so little time! I will have to do that next visit.

"Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. " ~John Muir

2010-10-21T22:01:00.002-04:00

an evening scene in Bloomington