The Revolution of Beauty

You Ain't So Tough

2012-02-14T15:59:00.017-05:00

With all the love and revolution speak of 2011, I would be amiss to not note something of some type of significance on this 2012 Valentine's Day.

We all know the glow that that special kind of love can put into our skin working to enhance the natural beauty that we all inherently hold within. However, the advice that I would seem to be handing out on this day is more focused on the unrequited heart and hurts of a love lost.

Now I know it may seem dreary and perhaps a little harsh, much like the very hounds of hell have dug their teeth into the sinew of your poor weeping heart but there is hope! I hear you and I realize the hope thing can be really over done. Nonetheless, you must believe that at times we cannot know why our hearts seem to jump about of seemingly their own will while pulled by the chaos of lust and an altogether lack of rationale. However, this is where one must have faith in the most wonderful partnership between that which is seen and that which is not. It can at times appear to be a never ending battle between that of the higher and lower self. This is the spirit of our Apollo and Dionysus continuing to play their games behind the red velvet curtains on the play of life.

Peace or at least resilience and a belief that the one to hold your heart without any damage to your being may lie just ahead, can be found in the reconciliation of this higher and lower self. This being the guidance of the universe in union with the pangs of the heart. Trust that your unrequited love was there for a reason but move onwards to forage for new land, as you have learned much but do not deserve to wither away without receiving the blessing of Cupid's arrow. There is an arrow just for you but we must walk away from that which does not serve and support our natural beauty, health or heart.

On this day of hearts, if you are with the person that you have found deserving to hold your heart, then rejoice! If you are not, then do not fear, allow your heart to wallow in self-pity or shy away but truly take the time to tell your heart that it is loved and it is the most awesome, bodacious, ultra sweet heart out there!

It is a whole new year of love ahead! This could be really exciting, so stay strong and stay beautiful. Much love and all that good stuff from BEE 23 Natural Beauty Products http://www.bee23.ca/!

You Make Me Smile

2012-02-03T13:17:00.004-05:00

"I used the Hotty Balm on my son and daughter's sensitive skin. They both have eczema. He had a bad breakout and I didn't want to use cortisone. He is only three. I used the Hotty Balm and he loved the feeling of it on his skin. It is the only thing that didn't sting and it cleared it up within a short time. Really happy about the product."

- Kelli Mlckovsky, Toronto, ON

Fire It Up

2012-02-03T08:34:00.000-05:00

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

- Steve Jobs

Inside and Out

2012-02-02T14:06:00.007-05:00

"I stopped by the BEE 23 kiosk at the Dryden Arts and Crafts Show, and decided to try the sample pack. Unsure of how my face would react to the Hotty Balm (because usually most anything makes me break out), I tried it tentatively. Not only have I not broken out, but the balm actually seems to speed the healing of existing skin issues! I'm sold and I will be ordering a full Hotty Balm this weekend!"

- Laura-Lee Pernsky, Dryden, ON

Our Hotty Balm is a light facial balm created by the natural fusion of timeless plant essences, herbs, nut and vegetable oils in a Shea Butter and Beeswax base. Just warm the balm in your fingers and apply to naturally soothe, protect and rejuvenate your skin! Check out our very hot Hotty Balm http://w.mawebcenters.com/bee23/ecommerce/bee-23-hotty-balm-bee-23-baume-bombe.html because "We all want to stay Hotties naturally!"

Face to Face

2012-01-25T22:25:00.007-05:00

In response to several questions in regards to similar issues, I am going to answer this last email request in forum so that it may be of assistance to others.

Dear Queen Bee:

I feel very intrigued by what you say, and am truly interested in attempting to live a more additive-conscious lifestyle. It may seem a big request, but I was wondering if you wouldn't mind being someone I could ask questions and get advice from to start this? I'm quite tired of having acne, and think that perhaps a very natural, chemical free approach may work.

Firstly, I'd like to know what you recommend using to wash make-up off? I wear a bit every day, and only have face washes with additives and many unpronounceable ingredients.

Amie

First and foremost, our skin is a vast and deep science with our needs and reactions being very specific to each individual. However, the more I learn it would seem more often than not the simpler is the better. This is not to suggest that the simple is not complex. It merely implies that an element such as Extra Virgin Olive Oil as a natural resource holds all the many complexities that are skin requires and can readily use in a very simple and accessible form.

It is good practice when trying something new that you only try one new tip each day, so that you can see how your skin reacts. The more sensitive your skin can make finding the balance between products a journey in itself. However, it would seem again and again that the rule of thumb appears to be less is more!

I have also noticed time and time again that when I ask someone with beautiful skin what they use, the answer is always nothing or just water. So there must be something that these women know that is not generally being prescribed to the populace at large. This is not suggesting there are not those without valid skin problems but we need to know where to start and what to rule out.

In the majority of cases we are born with our own inherent natural beauty, these being all the wonderful elements and complexities that make up the molecular structure of our skin. Unfortunately, it would seem at the very moment of conception our little cells are plagued with advertised products that will assist and enhance this natural beauty so that we can be all that more beautiful. When in reality these products will act to either trick, alter or strip your skin of the natural beauty that it already possesses. Products with synthetic chemicals and toxic contaminants dry out and damage our skin. This often ends up leaving our skin tight or creating more oil than what is required.

In cleansing specifically, soap products with synthetic chemicals and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate are terrible for your skin. You must also look for products without phthalates, or parabens or "fragrance" in the ingredients list. Fragrance, perfume or parfume are chemicals and are often phthalates in disguise. They are very bad for your skin. If a product is naturally scented with essential oils, then the type of oil utilized will often be on the ingredient list with an INCI code such as, Rose (Rosa Damascena) Oil.

Both Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES) and its close relative Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS) are commonly used in many soaps, shampoos, detergents, toothpastes and other products that we expect to lather and create a foam. Both chemicals are very effective foaming agents, chemically known as surfactants.

Unfortunately, both sodium laureth sulfate and its cousin are also very dangerous, highly irritating chemicals. Far from giving "healthy shining hair" and "beautiful skin", soaps and shampoos containing sodium laureth sulfate can lead to direct damage to the hair follicle, skin damage, permanent eye damage in children and even liver toxicity. Surfactants can be found in floor cleaners, engine degreasers, car wash detergents and many other products that you would not ever think of putting on your face.

Another aspect of many off the shelf products are synthetic preservatives, such as Parabens. Parabens are a class of chemicals widely used as preservatives by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. These compounds, and their salts, are used primarily for their bactericidal and fungicidal properties. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, spray tanning solution, makeup, and toothpaste. They are also used as food additives.

Parabens are cheap to use and have been in the market for a very long time as they have proven to be more effective than many of their natural alternatives, such as grapefruit seed extract (GSE). However, links between Parabens and a heightened amount of estrogen in women which in turn has the potential to create breast cancer tumors is becoming much more pronounced in mainstream research and the media community.

What you want to look for on product labelling is:

No Phthalates, Parabens or Sulfates

No artificial colors or fragrances

All natural preservative system

It is reported that one of Cleopatra’s natural beauty secrets involved the use an AHA homemade facial mask and baths made of milk. AHAs are found in a number of foods including milk, sugar, lemon juice, pineapple, vinegar, and tomatoes. An AHA type homemade facial cleanser is also helpful for oil complexion because it helps clear and unclog pores and blackheads.

I will offer up one cleanser that can be made at home for acne and breakouts using pineapple juice which has anti-inflammatory properties along with enzymes like bromelain which help digest dead protein.

This facial can really help clear and unclog pores:

Mix 3 tablespoons of pineapple juice along with 1-2 tablespoon of sugar or baking soda – enough to make a paste – and scrub the face and neck.

A mask can also be used for an overnight spot treatment pimple removal.

Always test a recipe in a small area first. Even a home-made face wash for acne prone complexion can cause irritation so be gentle and test first.

A good book I recently found with a lot of information is Crunchy Betty’s Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin http://www.crunchybetty.com/buy-the-book. Food on Your Face for Acne and Oily Skin discusses how to use the oil-cleansing method to get rid of your acne and tame your oily skin, the best methods to remove makeup while using all-natural ingredients, which oils are perfect for moisturizing acne and oily skin and much more. I would recommend the read.

It is also important to not over wash the skin. I only use a simple natural honey oatmeal soap if anything at all. Often you can just use water with nothing else. It is important for the skin to find its own natural balance of oils.

This was the first answer to a list of several questions to come. I will be back with more from the trail, so stay tuned, stay real and stay beautiful!

Pin It

Wannabe

2012-01-25T18:04:00.001-05:00

This is Jonnypance from The World of Jon www.theworldofjon.webnode.com/ in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Peace and Love from our hood to yours. Much love from BEE 23 http://www.bee23.ca/ and the gang!

Victory Day

2012-01-23T23:02:00.022-05:00

The reason I have so much fortitude has much to do with assessing the situation of which we all play a part very early on. I was unexpectedly reminded of an event the other evening that thoroughly speaks to our current environmental tasks, responsibilities and literal failures as a species in general.

It was a green conference that I had attended in the beginnings of this BEE 23 Natural Beauty Products http://bee23.ca/ adventure. It was quite a good event with influential speakers, organizations and educational institutions present.

As green vendors, we were lined up along the outside of the venue and in the middle was the seating area. At the front of the room was the stage and podium.

This event for me was amazing. The student body was excited to speak with me. I had all of the ladies from the coffee vestibules over to express their interest and to ask questions in regards to issues that they had not even thought of until this event. I will admit my little booth sparked a lot of interest. I discussed everything from the contaminants in our products and environmental concerns to their own personal worries in regards to how poor governing value systems and a lack of stewardship had intimately hurt them in their own lives.

Primarily, I knew my easy rapport with the populace that walked through the venue had to do much with the fact that the majority of the student body, college employees and women were not able to initially attach to the booths with the solar panels or wind mills. My product was small, fun and something relative to their daily lives. I am able to put a tangible object in their hand that acts as a bridge for my ideals and company core value set to their own personal issues and immediate environment.

Secondly, much of what was being discussed by the speakers was not necessarily of interest or grasped by the general populace. Although incredibly pertinent and important to other speakers, organizations and institutional participants, much of the graphs, forecasts and promises by several energy providers were not even glanced at by those moving about the room.

There were a few moments that brought the reality of the dynamics of the party that I had entered into a very clear light for me.

The first was the many gentlemen in suits that took up probably the first to the seventh rows back. I have nothing against a good suit. However, I laughed to myself of the inanity of what we were really faced with when there was a child who ran through the audience and squealed with glee at the colours on the screen. The mother quickly corralled the small toddler in but not before a few of the gentlemen turned to directly stare at mother and child in the most pathetic scolding manner that it turned my stomach.

So you think you are going to put forth viable solutions and somehow you are going to hold what is an open public green conference in a scholastic institution and there is not going to be any children involved!?

This is the foundation of how the table has been handled for way too long. Anything that causes distraction or further consideration such as the elderly, children, and minorities are continually not included in the majority of the decision making.

I believe if the CEO of a diaper company had had their child or grandchild in the room crawling across the table when deciding to put highly toxic chemicals in the product that was offered by their company and was under the impression that their own would be wearing this product, then I do not think the same type of choices could as easily be made.

The other very significant encounter I had that weekend was with several of the directors of our present energy companies and organizations.

Apparently my little table caused a bit of stir. My spiel on sustainable business and envisioning a future that incorporated the health of our communities had been the first clip on a radio program that had covered the event ahead of many of the company representatives. I did not realize this until the end of the conference but I then understood why a few of the gentlemen had been so abrupt earlier on with me in regards to media coverage.

I was also asked to "shush" for the presenter talking at the front, when I had paid a decent amount for a table to sell my product from. I do not know what I was suppose to do? Turn people away with questions and money in their hands. This does not sound like good business practice if you ask me. People are purposefully coming over to speak with me and holding money in hand to buy my product but I have to wait another hour and a half for this man at the front of the room to stop talking prior to me taking their money.

Hmmmm, I wonder what the man at the front would have done with someone handing him money and if the tables were turned. Would he say, "Oh no I couldn't possibly, the little lady at the front is speaking her truth and I don't want to interrupt her."

I think not.

One of these most wonderful and supportive gentlemen even came over to bellow out with a big belly laugh, "I don't want any of your beeswax!"

I looked at him straight because apparently he had not met me before and I said, "Well you better get out of the way because there are those behind you who do!"

He did not know what to say, so he let out a light chuckle and walked away.

After the conference had come to a completion, several of the participants were meeting at a restaurant and I was invited by one of the members of the college environmental group to come along. When I walked in, many of the company and organizational representatives that I had had the pleasure of interacting with were standing in a group just ahead of the table with the college students.

I walked up the steps and one of the gentlemen grabbed my attention. What he said was not, "Hey it was great that you got radio coverage," or "It was really nice that there were so many that came to your booth and that were interested in these environmental concerns," or even, "Thanks for being the entertainment for those that didn't know what we were talking about."

Oh no, what he said was, "I couldn't believe that you had kids when I was told, I figured you looked like you must be no more than twenty-two or something!"

I am a woman and if someone thinks I look twenty-two who am I to argue but really nothing on what was apparently quite substantial that had come out of my mouth and had warranted initial coverage on the radio program ahead of himself or perhaps for my simple support of the event in the first place.

I looked at the very handsome woman in a square shouldered jacket and skirt standing next to the gentleman. I also looked at an individual that I had always seen as on this little activist team and who was of my age. He just looked past me pretending he did not hear what was said. I smiled and said, "Enjoy!"

I was pretty sure that the table with the students behind them looked a lot more interesting and inviting anyhow.

All the awards, hand shaking and lip service is not going to save this planet. We are decimating anything that is good and worth living for. It simply is not even a logical long term business strategy. Do I want to wake up and stretch my hands up into a poisonous smog filled sky to then take my child down to the local tar sands to go fishing in contaminated water? Not so much!

I know the economy is important but by the very observation of these types of dynamics at what I felt was such an important event and truly exemplary of the attitude in regards to representation of the current players, I cannot see how the things that are being done right now are being done with any intelligence or forethought. If this is how we treat one another I say phewy! That's right a big ol' phewy!

I must add that what I have for the most part experienced over the last few years in the general populace has not been like this and in the rare occasion I keep on trekking right over it. However, considering these were "the" decision makers for this current decade in our part of the world right now, I got a very good insight on what our planet is truly up against.

This is why I do not take myself too seriously. This is why it does not really matter to me when someone says, "I don't want any of your beeswax!"

And this is why I am not wearing a square shouldered suit to fit in. It does not matter the jacket I put on. If this type of ideology that scorns the screams of a child during a conference that is supposed to be about them is what is leading the nations, then it does not matter if I am discussing nuclear waste in pom poms and five inch heels. The message is not going to get across nor are the concerns ever going to be addressed in a way that will have any type of progressive impact on our global community.

This was the very point where I realized I will do what I want and how I want because trying to do anything the way it has already been done has not worked out so well for us anyhow. And ultimately you are either in or you are out and it would not matter if I was wearing football gear, somehow I do not think I am in nor do I want to be if this is the current climate of thought.

Nope, the whole darn global sand box will be dug up and destroyed. Unfortunately for us as a species and from what I understand intergalactic travel is still yet not available, we will be sitting in a really ugly not fun playground. I've been a northern Ontario bush worker and I love when it comes down to the, "Oh she can't handle a little joking."

And then there is the real dodging any responsibility by stating, “Oh be careful of that one, she’s one of them feminists. You can’t say anything and she gets all offensive like."

No, just pretty much when there is noticeable idiocy I cannot seem to hold my tongue. I suppose I see it as a spade for a spade and I have no problem calling a bluff. I also do not really care anymore how the other party will handle any of my objections because when you see this kind of thing you realize it does not make a difference whether you say something or not. However, I have decided that personally I get a lot more satisfaction in saying something and since I would like me less if I did not say anything, I need to because I do not have to live with any of them but I do have to live with me.

I would suggest for the future lets think time, place and consideration for those of us that are able to actually reach the masses because those are also ultimately your voters.

On that note, see you out on the trail. Much love, respect and all that good stuff your way!

Feather, Fur & Fin

2012-01-23T09:41:00.008-05:00

I have a new space at the Thunder Bay Country Market http://www.thunderbaycountrymarket.com/ upstairs in The Dorothy Dove Building in between The Caribbean Kitchen and Dennis Zeka-Jones Sculpting. And yes there is a blank wall and a single table out front at present BUT we get to paint and I can turn this space into anything that I want. Well that is within some limitations of course! I am so excited.

I also picked up my new pinny that was embroidered at ABC Embroidery http://www.abcembroider.com/ in Thunder Bay, ON and oh my gosh with the new space and the new pinny something has crystallized and is ready to bloom. Eureka I cry out! The apple just fell from the tree and into my lap.

One very memorable part of my Saturday was a little boy who came up to me at the market after sophisticatedly testing all my products in a seven year old kind of way and he said, "I like your stuff. And I really like the pitch of your voice and the way you talk. This is for you."

He handed me a white and blue chocolate tooth brush. He then said, "I'm hoping to lose a tooth this week so I can buy your lip balm next week."

I replied, "Well we do take currencies of all kinds including tooth fairy money. However, perhaps we could look at a trade for chocolate."

I handed him the The Mint B47 all natural Lip Balm http://w.mawebcenters.com/bee23/ecommerce/bee-23-lip-balm-three-pack.html that he had been pondering.

I may be creating somewhat of a monster but after such a charming act of chocolate giving I couldn't let him go away empty handed. This is ultimately the upcoming target market in terms of looking at a long term investment in the legacy of a company!

As well, when we put the camera in the child's hands it is truly wonderful to see their angle of perspective on the world. This is a picture by Nonija Rutledge of one our market vendors, Sarah of Zlingara, with a fellow market friend. I wear a flower piece by Sarah with my daily BEE 23 http://www.bee23.ca/ attire. You need to check out her wares that would impress the most discerning of feather, fur and fin in Mother Nature's court.

Beautiful

2012-01-17T09:26:00.009-05:00

Good friends come together at the Thunder Bay Country Market. BEE 23 Natural Beauty Products http://www.bee23.ca/ can be found upstairs in The Dorothy Dove Building.

There are moments during the day that I stand only present in that one space where when I put aside angst for the future, expectation for self-accomplishment and obligatory duty, that I truly feel well with my world.

Helen Leaf Black from Dragonseed Fine Art Jewellery and Showcase www.dragonseedcave.com with Jonathon Epp from True Silvers www.truesilvers.etsy.com sharing a game of chess.

Frank, a Thunder Bay Country Market http://www.thunderbaycountrymarket.com/ regular and talented writer, enjoys a coffee from the The Great Northwest Coffee Company http://www.thunderbaycountrymarket.com/index.php?pid=84. I realize my flash is terrible but this is a really cheap camera that I bought to replace the good one simply so I could take some type of pictures.

Joyce Seppala from Joyce Seppela Designs www.joyceseppaladesigns.com and I are garnished in our goddess attire. I love being at the market but when traffic is at all ever slow it is a dangerous place for me to be! I may have been wandering about the week prior and fell in love with one of her belts that has a full pocket behind to carry any accessories for a night of running through brush and briar.

I have come to observe that for myself going to the market has now become a time not only to work but to be within an element that is sustaining to my greater self. It offers a place of growth but also one where the parts of me that I like have the space to exercise themselves. I sincerely enjoy the characters, the freedom of expression in the production of wares and the coming together of community. I suppose this follows suit with my answer to the definition of what I thought beautiful was from a past entry:

In regards to the question asked in past blog entries as to what I was doing besides offering my product to a community, I realize now that it was this energy of connection that I saw. It was the reaction between beings whether they be human, animal or plant in a state of reciprocal engagement that I found so intriguing and beautiful. This is what beautiful is.

- October 11, 2011, We Are Enough

I Like Birds

2012-01-13T11:16:00.013-05:00

In every turn we are asked to pledge our support to corporation, global worldviews, religious ideals, secular beliefs and political platforms. I have decided that I pledge my support to the soil beneath my feet, the air that I breath and the spirit that moves flawlessly throughout it all.

In this moment in time, I believe it is necessary that we learn to nourish and support this particular experience which is one of a material environment. I kind of look at it as in my experience, that if you do not learn to take care of the car that you currently drive, then the likelihood of you getting another even better simply does not seem to happen.

This is my pledge based on what I have read, listened to and observed. It is the only one that makes plausible sense both within that which is conceivable and in that which is not. Let the chips fall where they may! If I am to lend my voice to anything at all, then it will be to that of our environmental nature, to all the life that it supports and that are not able to speak for themselves:

I pledge allegiance to the earth and to the flora, the fauna and the human life that it supports, one planet indivisible, with safe air, water and soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace and love for all.

~Author unknown

Woman Driving, Man Sleeping

2012-01-13T10:15:00.001-05:00

I support Dr. Katherine Hayhoe http://www.katharinehayhoe.com/!

Katharine Hayhoe is now a figure of some fame and controversy in the United States, for her sin is that she is an evangelical Christian who is also a climate scientist trying to convince skeptics that climate change is for real. This article can be found at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canadian-climate-scientist-finds-fame-hate-mail-in-us/article2297802/?utm_medium=Feeds%3A+RSS%2FAtom&utm_source=National&utm_content=2297802

Truly, the facts do not care from which end of the table one comes! It is your daily duty to speak from your heart no matter which forum, institution, job or status you hold. This is what gives strength to those that are in the midst of such a process.

Last Time We Spoke

2012-01-13T10:01:00.002-05:00

I found this blog entry at the Alexfiles http://www.alexfiles.com/cannot-vs-can-not/#respond and I think it is great. Especially in consideration of my small issue with spelling and grammar, as well as my inherent need to bring passion to issues surrounding our planet and the nuclear power industry:

Cannot vs. Can Not

There is a grammatical misunderstanding common to many U.S. Americans, largely because we learned about grammar in the either/or terms of right vs. wrong. Here’s the misunderstanding: can not or cannot? My public school teachers said can not was the correct form, and that cannot was a corruption. A friend of mine from a previous generation was taught the opposite. Her son, much better at using the language than either of us, said both were right, but usage depended on context.

Here’s the explanation: If I can not do something, then I can also do it. I can not write these words if I choose (and you may think I shouldn’t), but I also can, and am, writing them. What I cannot do is know who will read them, or what they will think. I can imagine such things, but I’m limited by my experience and perceptions. So this is the rule: if you either could or could not do something, then you use two words, because you can leave out the second word if you so choose. If you could not do something no matter how much you desired or tried, then you use one word, cannot. There is no other option.

Sometimes both are true. Witness:

I cannot change the world.
I can not change the world.

It’s true, I cannot change the world. What I mean, and what many mean when they say or think this to themselves, is that the world’s problems are too big for any one person, or group of people, to take on. Poverty, sickness, hatred, love, weather, earthquakes, political and religious differences—these are inevitable conditions. Even Jesus said, “the poor you will have with you always,” and, “Let the dead bury the dead.”

It’s also true that I can change the world. I, and every other person on the planet, can make a difference. We can give to the poor, and try to cure ourselves of the sickness of wealth (more on that later). We can be courteous, we can provide emotional (listening) or physical (assisting) or financial (donating) help to others, we can feed and help and forgive each other. (More about forgiveness later, too.) We can take in an abandoned dog or cat and give it love. We can plant a garden. We can put in a day’s work and know we earned our pay, and someone, hopefully, was the better for it. We can not cut off someone in traffic. We can dedicate our lives to healing. We can dedicate our lives to loving our family and community. We can respect the differences of others. In other words, what we can do, we can do.

Grammar is the tool we use to communicate and should be taught as such. Our bodies, our minds, and our voices are the tools we have to interact with our universe. We must use them while we live; we cannot evade using them except through death or dire injury. In this sense we cannot not change the world. And now, while the world suffers on every level, from the sky to the deeps of the sea, from humans to tiny coral polyps, we can make what time we have count.

Don’t berate yourself for previous behavior. Don’t congratulate yourself, either. Just take the next opportunity to make a difference to the next person, and help make what we cannot change bearable.

29 December, 2003

A Daisy Through Concrete

2012-01-13T09:49:00.006-05:00

Soooo, my first blog entry of the 2012 New Year and in the aftermath of finishing my 365 blog entry marathon. Did I bring in the New Year dancing for the sea, sky and soil and for the future of all the children that deserve the chance to do a better job than what has been done before them? I sure did and I even danced to the rising sun.

Was the experience over the last 365 blog entries "epic"!? Well I'm still standing or at the very least crawling in an upright position. I am sure it was epic in ways that will lay the foundation for greater things yet to be achieved and in personal levels that one simply cannot relay. There will be much to write about using my blog entries as a framework.

Am I back for more!? It would seem that the barbed wire that has wrapped itself about my blogging soul only tightens as I struggle to find release, so as I often do I will seek a place of calm in an attempt to allow that which is not conducive to my positive progression to fall aside. This will allow that which is good for me to do its work upon my hand.

In the affairs of business, the Thunder Bay Country Market has resumed and I have booked my table at the 2012 Green Living Show in Toronto, ON. Has my general, "I'm so excited!" attitude been decimated in the quest to walk forward on such a road. No, not really. There are those of us that are just wired this way.

I really believe there is value and an amazing amount of energy to gain in speaking from the heart because it is in this place that you have already risen to and achieved the destination point that one is seeking. That is why when in the action of doing so, we can feel so enthused and full of life potential even if you haven't moved anywhere or gained anything at all. I can't help myself, every time I say these things that I truly believe in I have this feeling of Kevin O'Leary gagging. I mean that was if he actually ever read this little blog of mine.

So, as I have stated before onwards and forwards! I may not put the same amount of energy into this blog because I have chosen another writing exercise by which I will commit myself to the affairs of love and revolution. However, I will be sure to touch base about BEE 23 Natural Beauty Product events http://www.bee23.ca/, continue to introduce you to festival and trade show culture and update small thoughts about this social entrepreneurial journey of mine.

My latest adventure worth noting was a trip to George Guenther's blacksmith and goldsmith shop The Village Smith, where I tried on some battle gear to take on Nuclear Waste Selection here in Northwestern Ontario. Well, not really but in a parallel world perhaps!

I'll Stand By You

2011-12-29T22:54:00.037-05:00

Well this is it, my last entry for this 365 entry blog marathon saga and suitably it comes just prior to New Year's Eve and the beginning of 2012. If I could only write everything that I really wanted to but then perhaps that is a story yet to come. However, there are only a few points of summary besides my virtual date with Freddie Mercury that I would care to cover since the onset of this quest.

Firstly, we can know that love is the eternal double edged sword for which faith is the only guide to the side that gives life.

Am I still a hopeless romantic!? I suppose so. A very blunt, no frills, practical and call a spade a spade romantic but yet, I still believe that we may all be called by the spirit of love even if we know not from which direction. However, if you are a hopeless romantic, then you may also believe that it could be the very rivers, trees and mountains themselves that call your name to become more fully alive for the benefit of all. I also do believe that even in the case that such a spirit of love is attempted to be used maliciously that true love conquers all, whether that be the love for ourselves, our children, friends, pets or planet.

Secondly, do not allow for any other to tell you who you are, why you do what you do or be your guide of principle. Hear what you are told and take support where necessary but it is in this jungle of human souls that it is only in your own heart of hearts that you must look to find the light from which will bring you through the forest to the other side.

The choices you make as long as they ring true to you will ultimately lay the strongest path because it has been designed especially for you by you. I am happy with my choices, as I have become more fully me. Although the strife of our human existence is not without presence, I can feel the strength of my own conviction run through the sinew of my soul ever the stronger.

We cannot know what each day will bring. This is what can be the most thrilling and scary yet life sustaining. Life is a road with which you can know that there will be a new possibility around each corner, especially if you choose to view each day as the potential for something pleasurably unexpected. This becomes all the more attainable when we attempt to see every character in our day in a rejuvenated light, as if they each have something special to share and teach us from one day into the next.

I had an experience today that made me think that perhaps our world would be a better place if we walked about with signs that gave those we came into contact with a better understanding of who we are instantly. The signs could say, "survived a civil war," "lost children and family in flood," "single mom of three and husband is at war," "recovering drug addict but I overcame," "genius and is at this moment thinking that you are stupid to participate in this society," "medical doctor but can't practice in this country," "cancer survivor," "human rights activist and won the case," "doctor but I'm a drug addict because I can't handle the hours," "chasing dream but dieing father required care," "rather be free than sell my soul to corporate machine," "engineer student," "first disabled person to work in this company," "I read to elderly on weekends," "writing my first novel," "terminal disease," "my child is dieing," "two post-secondary degrees and third part-time job." The list could go on.

We must always remember to start with the person first. This means warranted that you are in a generally safe situation, there is no reason why you would not treat everyone initially with respect and care. It was during my time in Assam that I was taught that each guest was treated with honour because you could not know if it was in fact God who had come to your door to be fed. In a sense depending on your worldview, we are all a part of something very special and carry within each of us a spark of that great light that gave life in the beginning whether that be in a scientific or spiritual perspective.

Thirdly, our children are still our most valuable resource. Invest in them, nurture and nourish them and your garden will stay forever plentiful. Everything revolves in a circle where there is no beginning and no end. Therefore, if you forget to feed the hand that needs you now, you will not be fed when you are in need later in whatever form this presents itself. The moment the child is forgotten and not provided with clean water, soil and air to grow and play in, any greatness that is built on such a foundation will surely find demise.

The type of structure that forgets the child has been built at the expense of all else around it and there is no storm breaker that remains to protect the foundation from the winds of time. Truly, it becomes a source of great effort that is literally for nothing. It is only material which is always ultimately crushed and lost in time. When you protect and nourish the child, the idea of the foundation will live on long after our physical items have become dust and debris.

Similarly to the mind and body connection in regards to our own personal health, we as a society are only as healthy as the body of our planet.

My mother was given a coffee cup once that had a picture of a chicken who was being pulled down by a bunch of turkeys and it said, "Don't let the turkeys get you down!"

So don't let the turkeys get you down! Even if you feel like no one is listening and the oceans are being turned into a toxic nuclear sewage system to feed the out of control consumption machine and your soul is simply an item to be placed upon a auction block, continue to stand tall for what you know is right and beautiful. If we are destined to fall, then at least we will fall with grace as our cushion.

If I felt at all through this web of airwaves that my own personal small message could get through to someone or something that could do anything, then I would say that we are on our hands and knees praying for our salvation that can only come from our own hand. That we are beating our chests and standing united arm in arm through the mountains to the rain forests and into the ghettos, that the children are crying in the streets with mutated bodies and broken spirits, fires are burning to send smoke signals from the wings of eagles to the heavens above, the people are screaming and pleading from the islands to be saved from the imminent rising waters and the animals are coming forth from the depths of forest and sea to look us in the eye to tell us of our stupidity and inanity. Is it not possible that you could find it in your own heart of hearts to stop this destruction for the love of all that makes us who we are as beings!?

As we go into the New Year, I will be taking this eve of a new beginning to dance and I will dance as you should to for the sea, the sky and the soil. Dance for your life and the life of those around you, human and non-human alike. And dance for the children who deserve to have a chance to do a better job than what has been done before them. They have been handed a very difficult and burdensome cross to bear and one that I feel those who have had the ability to sway our society over time should feel deeply ashamed for. Nonetheless, life is a road that we cannot know what may be around the corner. So ride forth and endeavour always for greatness. Greatness that is in being and soul rather than that of mere material.

All my very best and we will meet again in the New Year! Much love. So without much further ado here is Freddie Mercury as I stated I would post from a past blog entry upon my completion of this little writing marathon of mine. I do not think I should get in trouble. I mean I have been pretty good with the whole youtube thing:

Wind Up

2011-12-26T15:22:00.016-05:00

It is our true hope from BEE 23 Natural Beauty Products http://www.bee23.ca/ that your holidays are filled with beauty, wonder and delight, even if only in micro bits between any unpleasant family discourse that may also be a part of the joy in your holiday season.

The dynamics of family can at times act to bring the movements of a populace into greater clarity. The micro and macro are in a continual relationship regardless of immediate association or not. What I can see in regards to social and economic upheaval in our current times has much to do with the means by which we converse and deliver our inner value system amongst one another.

The reason I believe that such an extreme anger and retaliation was not able to be initially clarified by such a large body of the people involved in many of the worldwide "occupy" groups, thus allowing the players holding the card with the crown of affluence to continue to prod such groups claiming blind innocence, has much to do with the way this elite are able to play the global game.

Educated skills and inherited knowledge in regards to tactical capability allows for such a party holding the majority of the cards to inflict what I would call a paper cut on another while establishing themselves in a power over relationship with their counterpart.

Experience would tell us that the pain of a paper cut can be excruciating for the size and often hurt more than a greater wound. In receiving a huge blow, the body has inherent means by which to often send itself into shock in order to save itself from the pain incorporated with the blow. Furthermore, such a wound may be lethal but it is immediately noticeable and able to be treated directly because there is no denying existence or location.

In the case of a paper cut, the reaction is often to the extent that it is just a paper cut and there is no treatment except to heal over time. However, if many paper cuts are delivered time and time again, not only is it painful and a source of torment but it is a very real hurt that cannot necessarily be made responsible in the same way that a large open wound can be blamed for such pain and threat to the body.

I would argue that the pain inflicted by a certain portion of the elite on our global community is much like a practiced, deliberate and timely paper cut on society over and over again that cannot be initially blamed for such a source of discomfort or threat. It allows for the party that has inflicted the wound to turn around and plead a lack of responsibility for such a small slight on that of the other. Nonetheless, the anger that has been created by holding power over by this means has ultimately created a much deeper and more severe wound that far surpasses the outer layer of the skin.

Truly, many in the community experiencing the pain of their affluent and ruling class are brought up not knowing that perhaps they should be wearing armour at all or that protecting oneself in a way that is considered civil and worthy of interest is a necessary tool that must be learned from childhood if one wants to see well-being for their community.

Often when the body bearing the pain turns to face their assailant they are unable to deliver their feelings or actions in a way that is deliberate, practiced and timely much like the paper cuts they feel upon their own body. Their actions are unpredictable, clumsy and delivered in sheer passion, therefore allowing the assailant to laugh at such an attempt by their counterparts and to once again place blame on the victim for their own inability to act in a respectable manner. This in turn creates support for the notion that such a community must be responsible for their own suffering that they have succumbed to.

Personally, I find sincerity of expression and feeling the most comfortable and enjoyable to be around. When boundaries of deliberate discourse are dropped, then true bonding based on affection, care and understanding are able to be fostered. Although not always perfect, it is at least real. When we live in a state of almost affection I may argue that it is more detrimental to the spirit than either of the alternatives, while sincere reciprocity is the most intoxicating.

In order to save our world we do not need to act in perfection. We must act in sincerity with the knowledge that we are only ever as strong as what we view as our weakest part. In creating real bonds and beautifying the relationships in our own immediate families, friends and communities regardless as to social status, belief system or portfolio, will ensure that such is created in the world and for one another as a whole.

Wishing you beauty, joy and love during the holiday season and into the New Year!

Old King

2011-12-21T09:28:00.014-05:00

This picture can be found at artcountrycanada.com. The moments that bare the most on us throughout our lifetime often do not become apparent until much later if ever. I have always kept a dog. Nonetheless, I know now that this not only has much to do with the companionship and protection that a dog selflessly gives on a daily basis to their human counterpart but it is an affinity to keep my grandfather close.

The many hours spent fishing, snowmobiling and walking in our Northwestern Ontario bush were with him, me and his dog. He loved his dog. My grandfather left too early for me to understand him but not too soon before he was able to impart many significant skills to surviving the wilds.

I guess someone should have told them that I was raised by a French Canadian Sulky Racer. I believe like many from these parts, we are brought up with high stakes born on the back of weather worn charm and a leathery soul.

I learned to ride on a 16 hand hot headed American Saddlebred named Big Shot. I would go into the barn, take the bridle and get into the trough. I then would place the bridle on the horse and climb down his neck and onto his back prior to backing him from the stall and heading out the stable door.

The first horsemanship class that I participated in as a six year old child was in Leadline at our CLE grounds in Thunder Bay, Ontario on this Big Shot. I came second to Todd Farmer. When the judge asked me what the girth was I called it a cinch.

When it came time for the next class my grandfather whom I called Papa, came up against the horse and asked me to lean my ear down towards him. This is what he told me in a thick French Canadian accent:

"When you go in that ring I don't care what that horse of yours is doing. When you pass by the judge you look them straight in the eye and then you smile and wink!"

The next class I rode in with my head held high. As I came around the bend of the ring I looked straight into that judge's eye, I smiled and with the best capabilities I had at my disposal as a six year old child I squeezed the entirety of the left side of my face until I was sure that a small "tink, tink" could be heard by the heavens above.

I left the ring with the first place ribbon in hand and poor little Todd Farmer never knew what had hit him.

Mr. Buckle yelled across the ring to my Papa, "Looks like you're still breeding them."

If you want to ride in the ring with the likes of us, then you had better know your horse well. All my best to you and yours in all your many adventures to come.

Get It And Go

2011-12-20T22:51:00.010-05:00

Life at the market is still all unique and all good! Make sure if you can make it down, then come check us out at the Thunder Bay Country Market http://www.thunderbaycountrymarket.com/ on Saturday the 24th from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for last minute holiday gift ideas. Just see what a little Hotty Balm will do for your natural beauty http://w.mawebcenters.com/bee23/ecommerce/bee-23-hotty-balm-bee-23-baume-bombe.html!

Check out our neighbours at Ostrom Outdoors http://ostromoutdoors.com// for your custom made camping gear for summer and winter, canoe and kayak accessories, maps for Lake Superior and Northwest Ontario and functional outdoor clothing.

This counts as an entry. I have only four more to go and then I am done this endeavour of mine. Oh woe is me what to do for the last entry!? And no help from the CBC! Oh well, I guess it is just Freddie Mercury and I. Not that anyone else is counting but I feel that when this is done I will be able to move forward. I do believe my next entry may be my letter that I wrote to the CBC asking for assistance to add a little bravado to the last entry of this blog marathon. Will that not be humorous!? What is life without adding a little bit of fun.

See you at the market!

In My Dreams

2011-12-20T22:06:00.014-05:00

During my travels as of late I ate at the Greenfare Organic Garden Cafe that is subsequently inside the Waterfront Winery at 415 Fort William Road in Thunder Bay, ON. It would seem if there was a cafe in Thunder Bay that I ate at in my dreams, then it would be this one.

I just had to include this eatery in my blog along with other Thunder Bay business haunts of mine because I really do love this spot.

I ate the Cucumber/Avocado Sandwich which is so good. I really do enjoy eating at this location. The serve your own style of this small cafe always offers food worth eating, enjoyable company, conversation with sustenance and a nice vibe.

If you ever you make it up this way, then check out the Organic Cafe. It is worth the stop!

Step Away

2011-12-19T17:35:00.034-05:00

Nearing to the end of this blog marathon series of 365 entries, I can say that through many of the adventures, trials and tribulations of the last few years I still hold fast to the belief that it is those that have become so jaded and cruelly simplified in life that I feel pity for. Truly, it is those that have lost interest in or view as lesser than the wonders of our here and now, that have weighed most negatively on our planetary health and wellness.

If one must believe, such as in many traditional aboriginal worldviews, that everything in our world possesses a life essence in order to understand the interconnectedness of the health of our natural environment and ourselves, then so be it. This is the only perspective that will save our human race from destroying our planet and in turn who we are as a species. If this is called magical and therefore requires a personality syndrome attached to it, then yet again so be it because it is this ideal that appears to be so much saner than the ever present insanity that one can see in our current industries, institutions and monetary faculties.

If there are Japanese children walking around with Cesium in their shoes and this is considered a rational means by which to conduct global policy, then truly where does the insanity lie? I would argue that there is much to be said about how one tends their garden in this moment and to how the next moment will dictate itself. This would be considered logical discourse.

Furthermore, if it is insane to believe that the non-human world of animals, plants and life around us attempts to communicate in a way that our human senses can hear or feel when we stop to listen, then I would rather be considered insane. In the article The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric by Shelly Carson, Carson states that cognitive disinhibition is apparently the function of taking in too much information that is not required for survival which allows for a creative person to essentially use this "schizotypal" personality in order to create.

I think that how certain faculties of our present scientific and psychological body place a syndrome on any and every such activity is ludicrous given that it would seem that our entire planetary body has been in a state of ignoring every and all information input that is not dictated by a governing body. Our environmental issues and cancer rates are beyond anything that should be neglected. It would seem at the present time that we are actually in a state of non-survival, wherein we have shut off all information input except that which is digitally downloaded to us. Our human society has come to a point where we appear to possess little to no survival instincts at all.

If your food is proven to be toxic and then you do not care because that is just the way it is, I would love someone to tell me how this is a sane or rational position to take. As a populace you are told not to take notice, so then you open the bottle of poison and drink it because you are told that to believe otherwise is a mental syndrome. In this type of society it would appear that to think or question is considered a mental illness in general. In taking this argument further I believe it would bring us to what are truly terrifying realities of how we currently conduct business at large. What is wrong with our world? I thought is was the act of the mentally disturbed to defecate in one's room and then proceed to walk through it!? Where are our hearts and minds? Is the planet Earth the Sleeping Beauty of the stars?

We cannot ask the cruel person not to be cruel. The variables that create this behaviour are many. What I can say is that an act of cruelty must come forth not only from the emotional disassociation with others based on once again many reasons such as the single minded belief in an act for the greater good or a superior ideal of oneself outside of the community of others but there must also be an inherent distaste for oneself at the core value of the belief system. Otherwise, cruelty is not possible.

The idea that we are all of one another and seek to be kind not only for survival but for the heightened feeling of euphoria that is associated with kindness is negated in the act of cruelty. The only endeavour of the person that cannot condone the act of cruelty is to continue to be benign in one's own actions. This may seem to be action without power but I would argue that to be benign in the face of cruelty takes much practice, fortitude and perseverance.

So keep on truckin'. You do not have to be anything except who you are in order to have value in the world. We are enough and there is beauty everywhere to behold.

Some people act kind

Some people act cruel

Some people act blind

When they see the golden rule

- Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Kings and Queens, Step Away

Call Me Rose

2011-12-15T15:13:00.021-05:00

I really do not know why I find the things that I do so interesting. I suppose it is the perspective we choose to take on the world around us. Just like I thought it was really interesting to take a picture of the Zellers sales girl. I could not put it on my blog because it did not turn out well and I would hurt me if I posted it even though she said I could. Oh well!

She was really kind and then we both lamented over perhaps the idealistic loss of a Canadian chain store in that location for one that has the picture of being an outside member. If this is really such I wouldn't know anyhow but I did carry the satisfaction of shopping if not local than at Zellers on my way into town. If this was just pure idealism with no substance, then so be it. I still had some sense of satisfaction in the act.

The reason I was chatting and taking pictures of the Zellers sales girl is because we were testing out my camera. I dropped my previous digital card into a glass of water and I required a new one. This is why there are no pictures from my last Saturday at The Thunder Bay Country Market http://www.thunderbaycountrymarket.com/ which was great.

I am simply going to pass this along because of my disclosed past interest. The information on winter tires that I was given from a Thunder Bay Autosport Club http://www.iceracingthunderbay.com/ member who has become an awesome BEE 23 Natural Beauty Products http://www.bee23.ca/ shopper with his very sweet partner, is that for the ice racing they all use the Bridgestone Blizzaks. On the other hand, I have also been told that TOYO Tires use crushed walnut shells. Could our "T Bay" boys be seasoned but also environmental after all!?

With my sincere interest and delight in some of the small things or occurrences in life, I sometimes feel like I must be a tourist on my own planet. I wonder what would happen if we all pretended for one day that we actually were not from this place and we had just arrived. What would we think of our planet? Would we look at this space differently? Would we change the way we do things? Would we expect others to change the way they do things?

I would probably have the same feeling as when I return home after a crazy week of running in and out the door and my house looks like it is on a return vacation from Tornado Valley. You feel like there is absolutely no way out. It is a hopeless mess and there is no time to get it all done prior to your company arriving.

Nonetheless, I do know from experience that even with the most disparaging of messes you must simply roll up your sleeves and start in one corner. Little by little with conscientious effort the heap turns into a pile and then a spot and then like magic it is all cleaned up.

I am not much of a consumer and I tend to buy on a need only basis but I had had this thought while I was putting on my new very good boots that I said were a goal for me to attain this year.

Each time I put my feet into these boots I feel like anything is possible. Perhaps they may not be every fashionistas wish but for here in The Bay, they are absolutely perfect. Waterproof with a liner and I think they are hot.

I ultimately ended up choosing the Sorel's Cate the Greats instead of the Joan of Arctics. Are those not absolutely great names!? There have been incredibly inspiring and deeply devastating events and global choices that have happened during this year of 2011 but on a trivial level, this for me will be the year that I finally bought good boots for myself.

I have my boots on! Is it time to saddle up!? Where is my horse? See you on the front lines. Much love.

I Feel It All

2011-12-14T09:27:00.007-05:00

I now have eight more entries to the anticipated finish of this blog marathon. How come the games we play with our self can be the most challenging. It is similar to when you play a game of pool by yourself and it doesn't go well. It just feels even worse than when you lose to the hand of another. Well, that statement was painted all over by a hand with a Freudian brush.

When we wish not to speak of love, revolution or focus on the task at hand, where does one turn. I could speak of the perseverance of the female gender. This is not ever to suggest that men or male orientated characteristics are lesser than because I truly believe that our communities can only experience sustainable health and strength once value and worth is found in the inherent strengths of every being regardless of gender. However, one can know that it has been witnessed over time that for the most part the fortitude, endurance and resourcefulness that a woman will find in order to carry on for the sake of her child or a child is something that must come from a place of infinite depth and beauty.

This is also in the knowing that even during times of confusion, strife and indecision, when we make choices that in the grander perspective not only look to our own personal survival but to the ability for our children to thrive will ultimately be the best choices. It is the ability to continue to walk forth, through these trials even when the hurts of the heart or body ask us to turn back, that will ensure our eventual victory.

Hence, if this small writing task has become symbolic to me of the ensured accomplishment in my future endeavours, then I will not turn back even in the shadow of humiliation and I will finish. And perhaps one could say in light of the butterfly effect it may be this quality of the mother that will carry our global communities through love, revolution and when we choose not to focus on the task at hand.

Country House

2011-12-12T13:47:00.038-05:00

I thought that I too would share a turkey story in celebration of Stuart McLean's Christmas Turkey Tradition from the Vinyl Cafe http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/ heard on CBC Radio in Canada. I swiped this picture from Tom Allen's CBCR2Shift twitter feed.

It was the life of a turkey believe it or not that taught me as a young child that there is always a multidimensional capacity to the character of one person. It is the journey of this particular turkey that asked me to step back from the one dimensional caricature of either the villain or the hero into a knowing that all is not always what it seems to be.

When I was growing up there was an unsuspecting family that intertwined itself into our own. The matriarchs being of very differing elements as well as the patriarchs. In one of these matriarchal households there is a vignette of a woman holding the vacuum nozzle up as a pretend microphone while blaring Supertramp and The Beach Boys with children twisting on an exercise disk in the living room using kitchen utensils as drum sticks. While in yet another household down the road there is yet another woman of this destined partnership, cleaning up behind the cleaning woman with Air Supply and Neil Diamond filling the hallways of old family photos with children dispersed on the outside of the home in yet another daily adventure to find the secret garden.

Nonetheless, this friendship began prior to the house full of old photos from a small blue cabin called the Sugar Shack, wherein a young family sought refuge during a forced migration from the shores of Georgian Bay. In the necessity of requiring a babysitter, the Air Supply matriarch found herself at the doorstep of the Supertramp matriarch. This working relationship turned into one where the Air Supply family would show up on a Friday night with pajamas in hand and leave the following day or the next after a warm bath and hearts full of good tunes and shared stories. Through our children, and I have also come to discover that through our animals, the most unlikely relationships can be borne.

Needless to say the patriarch of the Supertramp union was the portrait of a man who valued his brawn and skill with a bow and arrow. I spent many hours, fishing rod in hand, in a boat with this particular patriarch. So much so that at one of my own special events, I passed on three Rapalas to this older gentleman with a crowd as my witness in lieu of the many that had been lost at sea under my own hand.

It was an ongoing joke as to how even at the tender age of five, I would open the tackle box like it was a treasure chest and pick through the many specks of copper, silver and gold to find what I thought was the greatest of jewels to put on the end of my fishing line. Unfortunately for the owner of the tackle box it was for the most part one of the more treasured jewels chosen and he had the more unfortunate incapability to negate me of my choices. It is also even more of an unfortunate circumstance for this particular patriarch that for a many of summers well into my adolescence and hence forth that I had the very unfortunate capability to snag my line in over 300 feet of open water.

As a child I figured I knew what to expect of this patriarchal figure. However, the year that George the turkey arrived my whole perspective of this portrait of a patriarch changed. And yes, the turkey's name was George. I can not make this kind of stuff up.

The Supertramp patriarch decided that buying a turkey for Thanksgiving was absolutely ludicrous when he could grow his own. Any man worth his spit and with the means should be growing his own turkey for Thanksgiving!

So that spring Mr. Supertramp went off to the market to get his own turkey that could be raised alongside the chickens and Thumper the purebred floppy eared rabbit who thought it was a chicken. Thumper was a character in her own right. She would hop around the hen house finding her spot amidst the nests of fellow chickens and rush along with the flock to peck at bits of feed thrown out onto the ground in the morning.

Well wouldn't you know it, George the turkey got on very well in his new community. Mr. Supertramp would go out often to admire the size and beauty of George's plumage. Mr. Air Supply would come by the yard and comment on Mr. Supertramp's plump poultry. Nonetheless, this particular turkey was truly becoming a favourite of the hen house. George and Thumper began to eat on a regular basis together following one another about through the hen house yard and the coup. Thumper even gave up her hen house nest to find shelter side by side with George in a mound of straw off to one corner of the coup.

Spring turned into summer and of course summer into autumn.

As children we all waited pensively for the date that we knew George would have to willingly serve his duty to the farm. Even as children who were raised to understand that this was the natural cycle of farm life, we could not help but feel that perhaps we should put up some type of argument in order to spare Thumper's comrade.

We would debate the issue and I believe there was some minor protesting that we as children brought forth into the Supertramp kitchen. However, whether it was weakness or a case for nurture versus nature we relented to George being served up as the Thanksgiving meal.

The time came that George would have to go to the chopping block. We kind of walked through the day peering over at Mr. Supertramp now and then to see if he had retrieved George the turkey from the hen house yard.

The morning moved into noon and noon into late afternoon and then to our surprise dusk gave way to dark.

As if we couldn't believe it, we ran out to the hen house to observe George still moving about side by side with Thumper pecking at bits of twigs and insects on the ground. What had happened we thought!? However, not one of us wished to ask in fear that we may remind Mr. Supertramp that the Thanksgiving turkey was still in the hen house yard.

Thanksgiving arrived and as the Air Supply family drove into the Supertramp yard, we could see the colourful plumage of George who was very much alive and well.

We walked into the Supertramp house. It was Mr. Air Supply who broke the silence with a mocking statement, "So where is the Thanksgiving turkey!?"

Mrs. Supertramp stated, "We are having Chinese this year."

Mr. Supertramp claimed, "George needs another year to mature. I think next year he will be ready for Thanksgiving supper."

A few years passed after this occasion that as children we wondered if this would be the year that George would be required to serve his duty to the farm and feast. However, after the fifth year we knew that George and Thumper would grow old and gray together undisturbed in the hen house yard until George's meat would just be too old and grisly for the purpose of our Thanksgiving meal.

Although Mr. Supertramp fell victim to the friendly chiding of Mr. Air Supply as each Thanksgiving passed, it is this event that had given me a deeper understanding for Mr. Supertramp above and beyond his general musings that were befit for only the truest and most strong of patriarchal hunters.

I learned that no matter how long you spend in the boat with another you must never out rule the ability for the villain or hero to surprise. Hope springs eternal!

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;

Man never Is, but always To be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

Imagine

2011-12-08T09:52:00.012-05:00

I believe that biodiversity and in a sense expression of self is ultimately necessary for the over all survival of an entity. One world and one country to me is not the loss of self, size of business, cultural expression or currency but the ability to co-exist simultaneously in tolerance with differing community bodies.

A monopoly lays open to the one viral infiltration that it cannot be continuously preparing for. The allowance for many of variant sizes and character creates a more resistant naturally incorporated safety net and community defense in the case of an unforeseen infiltration of any type of variable whether it be bacteria, the waves of economic change or the impact of insect variation on crop life. It is the ignorant, presumptuous and inept ideal of a psychopathic lunatic to want everything and to own everything. This will indubitably be this particular leviathan's undoing and hence therefore the undoing of all that ever were to depend on the stability of such a overindulgent body.

The variances of a species allows for a greater body of knowledge, instinct and fortitude from which to draw from during times of strife and rigor. However, it is the respect for each part whether it be forte or soft and the capacity for each to seek existence in respect of the greater whole with the ability to organize as a large body that creates a symphonic harmony of multilayered notes and rhythms that is a greater masterpiece than any one note played alone.

Although at moments this can be a daunting task full of frustration and angst, it is without doubt the only worthy and most significant universal quest in all of the many stars that one can see. There is no more spectacular act to witness than to watch the culmination of all of the many parts move as one.

Possibly, given the situation the most dramatic act we can capture is the slow and steady footsteps forward against the winds of change. When the love for our children surpasses that of momentary joy or grief, perhaps then we may truly accomplish salient things.

All my best as I join you in slow and steady steps through any arduous parts of this day into the next.

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

- John Lennon, Imagine

Black Sheep

2011-12-07T09:09:00.008-05:00

In this case leave it to the kids to tell the parents how to clean the bedroom. Thank goodness Canada has some type of rationale showing up in Durban, South Africa. This may save some face for Canada after all. Good job! Go Team Canada. I believe it is time to bench our first line of defense and go back to the drafts!

If I ever must have the experience of being arrested, then I would want it to be with Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/. And if I ever was to have a celebrity crush, then it would be Amy Goodman!

Most Girls

2011-12-06T18:10:00.001-05:00