I love this...

From Yoko Ono in 2008:

http://100acorns.blogspot.com/2008/09/revelations.html

Bless you for your anger.
For it is a sign of rising energy.
Direct not to your family, waste not on your enemy.
Transform the energy to versatility
And it will bring you prosperity.

Bless you for your sorrow
For it is a sign of vulnerability.
Share not with your family, direct not to yourself.
Transform the energy to sympathy
And it will bring you love.

Bless you for your greed
For it is a sign of great capacity.
Direct not to your family. Direct not to the world.
Transform the energy to giving.
Give as much as you wish to take,
And you will receive satisfaction.

Bless you for your jealousy
For it is a sign of empathy
Direct not to your family, direct not to your friends.
Transform the energy to admiration
And what you admire
Will become part of your life

Bless you for your fear
For it is a sign of wisdom.
Do not hold yourself in fear.
Transform the energy to flexibility
And you will be free
From what you fear.

Bless you for your search of direction
For it is a sign of aspiration.
Transform the energy to receptivity
And the direction will come to you.

Bless you for the times you see evil.
Evil is energy mishandled and it feeds on your support.
Feed not and it will self-destruct.
Shed light and it will cease to be.

Bless you for the times you feel no love.
Open your heart to life anyway
and in time you will find
love in you.

Bless you, bless you, bless you.
Bless you for what you are.
You are a sea of goodness, a sea of love.
Count your blessings every day for they are your protection
Which stands between you and what you wish not.
Count your curses and they will be a wall
Which stands between you and what you wish.

The world has all that you need
And you have the power
to attract what you wish.
Wish for health, wish for joy.
Remember you are loved.

Sleeping in the Forest by Mary Oliver

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think I post poems & quotes from Mary Oliver more often than any other poet...I can't help it though, she seems to write in the same way my heart and head takes in and digests things and feelings but being a good poet, does it in a coherent, graceful way...

"I have not withdrawn into despair,
I did not go mad in gathering honey,
I did not go mad,
I did not go mad,
I did not go mad."
~Hoda al-Namai



"If you're after getting the honey
Then you don't go killing all the bees"
~Joe Strummer

The Office Garden

Dear Da asked how does my work garden grow? Et, voila ~ here are some photos:

Wee marigold flower - this is just blooming now for some odd reason - next to it is borage (which sadly never bloomed) & mint which I just cut down so it's regrowing
















Asparagus ferns

Basil - needs to be repotted so that it will flourish but I was lazy and never did it
















Nasturtium
















Big monstrous alien plant that will surely eat me alive one day!!! IT HAS ARMS!!!

(and yes Chuck & Joyce, that is a photo of you two on my desk - feel flattered -it's the one where a co-worker once asked "why do you have a picture of Anthony Quinn on your desk, do you know him? HA!)

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, & demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long & its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people & grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food & for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one & no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools & robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep & pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song & die like a hero going home.” — Tecumseh

Ways to Endure a Weekend Flu Bug

1. Watching Airplane followed by the sequel & mustering the strength to giggle (and wishing Vron was here to giggle with me)

2. Pumpernickel toast - it's all I've had to eat but yum. Thank gawd I went to the market on Friday before I was struck down (my my, she gets a little dramatic when she falls ill with the vapours, doesn't she?)

3. My Famous Magical Ginger Honey Lemon Cinnamon Tea: made me sweat like crazy but it broke my fever and soothed my nausea

4. Smelling like a garden despite feeling & looking U-G-L-Y: violet lotion + tuberose & lemon verbena oil + green tea/ pomegranate oil in my hair

5. Reading "Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea" - you know I read it in her voice in my head!

6. Constant napping followed by 10 hours of sleeping like a log with weird very bizarre dreams

7. Project Runway marathons. If I had a fairy godfather, I think I would like it to be just like Tim Gunn

“Don’t despair too much if you see beautiful things destroyed, if you see them perish. Because the best things are always growing in secret.” — Ben Okri

(yes, it's my thumb, my Barbie pink nail polish, my kitchen counter, my chocolate foil wrapper sculpted into a heart, my fun with iPhone photo apps!)

The Boss: "from now on, I'm going to call you Snooki and I want to be referred to as The Situation"

Me (fake sad face and tears): "but I don't want to be a Snooki..."

Creepy Kiki Smith Exhibit Photos

I loved this exhibit SO much, I was about to leave when I went and walked through it a third time:

Free Will Astrology September 14, 2010

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The Latin motto "Dulcius ex aspiris" means "Sweetness out of difficulty." It has a different meaning from "relief after difficulty" or "character-building from difficulty." It suggests a scenario in which a challenging experience leads not just to a successful outcome, but also to a delicious, soothing harmony that would not have been possible without the difficulty. This is what I foresee coming for you, Libra.