Ryan emailed me this video today.
I said, “Oh, I love this song.”
Ryan (surprised): “You’ve heard it before?”
I was raised on John Prine and Bob Dylan.
Bryan Adams* ain’t got nothing on this love song! So for all you oddball couples out there, this song is for you.
And just for the heck of it, another great Iris Dement song.
*I have to admit that I am huge sucker for Bryan Adams’ love songs–I can’t help it, I came of age in the 90s.
Two things getting lots of coverage in the local news is the alleged espionage case and the “roller coaster” weather. One day it’s 5°C, the next -15°C, followed by 5°C again. Maybe that’s why I had an unusual sighting yesterday.
I was out for a walk when I saw a falling leaf. It fell in that familiar, undulating pattern as it was carried gently down by the wind to be gracefully placed upon the snowy ditch beside me.
Only it wasn’t a leaf.
It was a little brown bat.
It’s odd enough to see a bat during daylight hours, but in the middle of January . . . now that was odd! Bats hibernate in the winter, living off of stored body fat.
Getting this close to a bat allowed me to see how thin their wings are—truly amazing— when not stretched, the wings look like shrivelled lettuce. I didn’t know what to do; was it hurt? I couldn’t tell. The bat laid there for a minute or so, it’s little body heaving with each breath, its mouth opening and closing. I waited and hoped. Finally, the bat took off, flying in a zig zag pattern, as bats do, away from my watchful and concerned eye. I am happy to report that the bat’s flight was strong, easing my worry for its health.
Little brown bats are having a hard time these days. Current estimates of 6.7 million bats in North America have been killed by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that attacks bats when they are hibernating in caves (1). And it’s here in Nova Scotia, too (2). The disease is spread by contact, but the good news is scientists believe that affected bats can be saved if they are removed from hibernation and provided food and warmth (1). The disease thrives in cold caves; it’s the bats’ version of Boogey Man, only this one is real.
If you find live or dead bats affected with white-nose syndrome (signs include a white fungus growth around the nose—see picture below), you must inform your local wildlife agency or Dept. of Natural Resources. Cavers are being asked to abide cave closures and advisories, and to stay clear of all caves that are home to large populations of hibernating bats of any species (3).
Source: batconservation.org
Bats are attracted to wildflower gardens as a food source. If you have no qualms about putting out bird houses, why not include some for bats, too. Leave dead and dying trees in your nearby woods to provide shelter for the bats (3). I don’t understand why some people are so insistent on clearing out dead trees on their properties. Dead and dying trees provide shelter and abundant food for many species of mammals, insects, and birds.
I like bats. One of my blissful childhood memories includes bats. I still enjoy going outside at night to watch bats fly around my home, catching glimpses under the moonlight. If I position myself just so in bed, I can look out the window and watch for that well-known black shape to fly by.
Aside from the wonder bats can inspire (or fear, if you’re that kind of person), bats are incredibly valuable to the agriculture industry—a value worth $22.9 billion a year just from their bug-eating ways (1). Of course, we humans benefit from the bats’ diet, too. It’s unfair to complain about the mosquitoes and bats.
So let’s pray together that this undervalued, underappreciated, tiny creature survives.
Sources:
2. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2011/05/11/ns-brown-bats-fungus.html
3. http://www.batconservation.org/drupal/white-nose?gclid=COCottGm2q0CFYbe4AodzTXBkg
This is my first year putting out winter birdfeeders. One more reason to work from home (I can see the feeders from the kitchen table where I usually work). Ever wonder how the birds stay warm during the winter? Gary explains the mechanics in this post. Grizz is starting to see some activity at his feeders, too.
My little guy is feeding as I write this post!
You looking at me?Ok, ok, I guess I'll stop and pose for you.
If I could hire Philip Carr-Gomm to read me bedtime stories to lull me to sleep, I would. Philip Carr-Gomm’s has that kind of voice—a voice that has wisdom built-in and has an amazing ability to comfort. Listening to his voice makes me think about the merits of becoming a Druid—that’s how powerful his voice is for me (however, there is no religious persuasion in the meditations).
Based on the five elements, each meditation gently guides you to connect with Mother Nature’s relaxing energies with simple breath awareness and nature-based visualizations. I usually don’t like guided visualization exercises, the descriptions are often too new agey or too complicated, but Philip Carr-Gomm keeps it simple with basic descriptions so you can focus more on the breath and sensations in the body, with his most “complex” visualization occurring in the Fire meditation. My favourite meditation is the one that combines all the elements. It reminds me of yoga nidra because it starts with the breath and scanning of the body to send you to a deep, relaxed state—indeed, sometimes it’s too relaxing and I have to be careful not to fall asleep.
At around 20 minutes each in length, they are easy to fit in you day. And when it’s just too cold or you otherwise can’t get outside, these meditations will help you to connect with nature and find your centre. Once you are familiar with the exercises, leave the technology behind and go find a real oak tree to lie under. Now if only I could find a fluffy cloud to carry me away to a secluded mountain top.
Purchase from CD Baby.
(Random photos from the “archives.” The Blue Jay picture was taken after the snow picture.
Well, here we are, day three of the New Year, 2012. I can’t say I’ve had the best holiday this time around, but trying to remain positive and hopeful. This year I am reminded of how fragile we are and grateful for the gifts of health—mind, body, and soul—and “praying” for those close to me who are not so lucky.
For the last two years I’ve created a mantra to carry with me throughout the year. Since I can’t remember what my mantra was for 2011, I’m not going to bother with one this year! Oh, I have goals, some superficial like dropping the extra five pounds I’ve gained since Halloween candy hit the stores, some career-based like gaining more useful skills for virtual employment. In October I signed a contract with a company I am eager to work with, but it is project-based and my first project hasn’t even started yet! So I’ve realized I need to establish a good foundation of clients. Of course a major goal of mine is still to live in France for about three months. Financially, I am not even close to being able to do this, but I have a lot of patience and I hope to get to a point work-wise where I will be able to travel and make enough money working virtually.
Chase Night from Unbridled Existence writes in his New Year’s post about why New Year’s resolutions rarely work—they go against our natural rhythms, duh! saying “Why on earth would you attempt to turn over a new leaf when all of the actual leaves are dead?” Makes sense to me, but we humans don’t always like to take our cues from nature.
Manuel from In Space We Trust, urges us not to wait until the New Year. We should have started yesterday, or whenever it was you first had the idea. Waiting for the New Year is an excuse allowing fear to keep you from starting.
Raam Dev wrote an interesting post that puts the concept of time into perspective. Did you know it is the year 2554 in the Thai calendar and 2004 in the Ethiopian calendar?
The thing about my goals and resolutions is that they were already in progress, inching along slowly. I am always learning; my natural weight always fluctuates around those five pounds; I am always changing and adapting. Maybe I won’t make it to France this year, but it will be 2012 again someday, somewhere!
So Happy New Year!
No photos, the rice pudding didn’t last long enough! Rice pudding is one of our favorite winter treats. We enjoy it by the blazing fire while watching Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (a Christmas tradition)–our favorite is the one with the little devils (full episode here).
Best Creamy Rice Pudding
Dessert, Food, Holiday Baking, Recipes, Winter | 
1 Comment »
In the last few weeks, something strange has been occurring during my yoga practice. I think this is partly because my asana practice has slowed down considerably—it is often very gentle and slow moving with lots of breathing space between postures. I may have planned to do a vinyasa sequence, but I never get there because I’ve just spent the last 10 minutes in child’s pose. I have begun to experience vivid, spontaneous visualizations, especially in forward folds or seated positions. I wish I had the skill to paint them! Sometimes the images are triggered by something the teacher said, other times they come out of nowhere. For example, one strong image came during child’s pose. I had an image of the outline of my body in the pose inside a bright, dark yellow yolk and I could feel the fluids—like I was really inside—it was comforting and I didn’t want to come out of the pose.
Two recurring visualizations occur during seated, cross legged positions: sometimes I see a glowing blue hue encircling me—like the blue halo that can be seen around Earth from space (maybe I am surrounded by atmospheric gases, hehe). The other visual is of numerous lines of colourful energy (?) emanating from the crown of my head, arching downward and returning through my pelvic centre. Sometimes there are dots placed throughout the lines, like connect the dots. Sometimes I see a line “detach” from one end and continue out into the space around me! It is very weird, my brain does not usually work this way and I am a little bit embarrassed to admit this.
Alex Gray Mirrors - Spiritual Engery System
Does anyone else experience this? Can you tell me about it?
Last week I turned 30. I am still the “the kid” in the group as one of our older friends pointed out in my birthday card. Another friend who thinks I’m perpetually stuck in my twenties had a moment of panic, “If Grace is in her thirties, what does that mean for the rest of us?!” I don’t want to grow up either, but I’m glad my student loans are finally paid off!
One of my dearest friends, C, visited me on my actual birthday for a hike. We ventured off the “beaten path” so I can’t say how many km we walked, but we were gone for 4 hours.
Our mini adventure started on the Aspotogan trail on the East Chester end (right before the turn off for Blandford).
C remembered Castle Rock, so we decided to try to find it, taking the first logging road on the right, but the trail was overgrown and seemed to end, so we turned back, not wanting to get lost. However, it did give me a chance to take this photo of coyote scat (we also saw bear scat, but I already have lots of pictures of bear scat from around my house so no pictures of that).
Coyote scat. Can you see the claw?
Then we took another detour to one my favourite spots by the river. It is a emerald green moss-covered sanctuary. No pictures will do it justice. We ate lunch here, listening to the river, and marvelled at a spinning “fairy cake” with tiny spiders for sprinkles. (C is the one talking about it being “the perfect cake-like formation” and I’m the one looking for and talking about blurry spiders. We have not lost our child-like wonder!)
Back on the main trail, as we neared the lake, I watched out for Bufflehead ducks. We saw two, a male and female.
Look closely, see those two white specks in the back? Those are the two Buffleheads. All zoom in attempts resulted in blurry photographs.
Further along we came to another logging road and decided to see if that would take us to the trail leading to Castle Rock. *It did! After a long, enjoyable, uphill climb through the woods (well marked with colourful ribbons), we eventually stood in front of the mammoth granite rock. Of course it ended up taking less than two minutes to scale it, but I did further rip the crotch of my old jeans during the climb (we didn’t choose the hardest part to climb because we’re not stupid—we didn’t tell anyone that we were going to Castle Rock because we didn’t know we’d end up there!).
Once atop, we took in the impressive views.
We got back to car just as the sun began its descent from the sky.
This hike is now on my visitor tour list. So when are you coming?
*Apparently we took the harder trail to the rock, the first road was the easy route.
Hiking, Natural Contemplation, Nova Scotia, Seasons, Trails, Uncategorized, Wildlife | 6 Comments »
Read my article on elephant journal.
The Difference Between Self-Compassion and Self-Esteem
Please share it if you like it!
I wanted to write a quick post to share the recipe for the delicous salad I made today. I just “threw it” together, so no measurements, just use your noggin to figure it out!
Spinach and Endive Salad with Goat Cheese and Candied Walnuts
baby spinach
1 endive per person
candied walnuts (the more the better)
soft, ripe, and creamy goat cheese (again, the more the better!)
Asian Miracle Dressing (write this dressing down and save it!)
If you think this salad is too fattening with all the nuts, cheese, and dressing, just take a look at this photo for minute:
I think Ryan showed me this picture so he wouldn’t be served two vegetarian dinners in a row (“but we had eggs and bacon for breakfast!” I argued), and to think that this summer he wanted to try a vegan diet–it did not last long. (Having said that, my lifestyle is probably closer to Gillian’s, minus the colon cleansing.)
Home Life, Recipes, Salad, Salad Dressings, Vegetables | 2 Comments »
