Of stinging nettle, pineapple cores, seedless grapes and men

'To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle" George Orwell

I woke up this morning and was thinking about all the things that happened yesterday. It's kind of an empty atmosphere there now, after Chocosol left on the weekend. I came in & it was sooo quiet & put on some music to fill it up a bit. But then I got the feeling, like you do after a big clean up - kind of like a zen moment, when you can look and appreciate eveything individually. Each person who came, each bit of information and thing they brought was like a gift.

Every day is like a birthday party.
I was thinking of the Gebo rune , it looks like this: X ..it is the rune of exchange and I always think of it like a gift. But Randy told me before that it always has to be returned, in one way or another. It took me awhile to get this concept. I like the idea of giving without anything having to be returned..but he said it doesn't happen that way. Everything needs to balance out & be returned. But the gifts are not only material.. but often and more often they can be an exchange of knowledge.. even a Thanks is a gift. yk?

some of the gifts I received yesterday:
- I learned that the middle part of the pineapple is the best part. Whitney told me this first, that AAron told her hes studying nutrition.. and I said 'Oh I don't think so, thats probably an old wives tale to get you to eat the middle part.' but then in comes Simon & says 'hey, did you know the middle part is the best part' (I was cutting it out) He said that that is where the bromelain is found ( I knew this enzyme came from pineapples & papayas - but not where it was found in them) He said that they dry & powder the middle part to make digestive enzymes.
& all this time I had been throwing it away!

- Simon had a big bag of stinging nettle that his Mom brought him. & I had been thinking about it. A lady came in the day before looking for it, and other very nutritious weeds & herbs..but I didn't know much about stinging nettle or where to find it. So then Simon comes in with a huge bag of it for us to juice. He said he completely cured his allergies with this stuff. I wore gloves at first but then took them off to experience the sting.. it wasn't bad & Simon says its really good for you when you get stung anyway. (Hmm.. that sounds familiar! - yes, I am thinking of you John.. and my meditation group - in case you ever read this - I miss you ! Hugs! : )

- Jay cam in & told me how much Sly & Tony loved their sandwiches. I packed up a loaf of bread (raw, of course) & sunflower pate & sprouts & even our lemon-ginger-date dressing for them, I was thinking Sly would need food for the trip home to Jamaica. & Jay said they ate it almost all Fri eve. loved it! : ) & Jay, I have to repeat, I liked this "It takes Amazing to know Amazing" I appreciated the journey in to visit.

-Horace came in & I got to ask him about guava seeds - yes, you eat it all & they are amazing for you. We talked about seeds. It's amazing how everyone wants seedless fruit these days. The seed is where all the nutrients are. Even before I went raw, when I was taking all those supplements from the health food store.. one of the last to go was grape seed - cause I knew it was making such a big difference. But really you can just eat grapes with seeds in them. When you think about it the seed is the whole food..the whole fruit & the whole plant.. it contains everything in it.. all the nutrients. & not only 1 plant but thousands and thousands of plants.. the progression of all of life of the plant, every generation is in that seed.. its endless. when the fruit is gone , it's gone..but the seed can go on forever & ever. Sometimes the most obvious things are right in front of us, right under our noses and we don't even see them.

all these things and so many, so many more.. each & every day!
Love Life!