Mom and life changes

The pics a little blurry.. I just took it from Randy (my brother's) facebook page (uploaded from his iphone).. Its me with my Mom outside the hospital. My Mom had a stroke almost 2 weeks ago and I have been here in Moncton, NB (east coast of Canada), since the day after she was admitted.  Its considered a 'major' stroke but fortunately she is not paralyzed on the right side as can often happen - the stroke was on the left side of her brain. Mom has had a history of high blood pressure which she has been keeping under control through the years.. the raw diet helped it a lot when we started 8-9 years ago and so she continued eating raw throughout the years.. but it still was fairly high. She was born with a congenital hole in her heart and had open heart surgery about 20 years ago. just to give some history and to understand that this was a lifelong health concern.

Mom's amazing. She continues to be my spiritual guru through this and stays positive, despite not being able to communicate a lot. We are working on the alphabet and numbers and colors.. how can an artist not know her colors?.. she had had enough of me this afternoon when I walked her past this painting that I always go through the colors with her on.. its a big painting of abstractish flowers.. as we approached it  she said ' oh no, not that painting!!' lol I let her off the hook.. she worked hard today, and she hasnt even officially started her therapy sessions yet.

I was soo happy that she got into intensive rehab - they often only take people under 65 and Mom is 72.. but shes been very independent, living in a big house - same house that I grew up in with her 'wildish' but incredibly loveable dog (personality++) and her 16 year old granddaughter.. driving everywhere, teaching 3 sets of art classes, about to go for her 3rd gold bar on her black belt(maybe I shouldnt say that, she wouldn't, incredibly modest - but I think thats the way, when you get your black belt..humility is also taught.. but hey, I'm her daughter and proud) & mom is an artists artist.. like, she can stay up all night painting, very passionate about it ..its her life and what she loves most.. and so I am here to help her get it back.

I am moving back to NB to live here with her. James is coming and Zoey my cat ..the house is up for sale. My things are all being packed as I type by him (James) and friends and will be on a moving truck in days. Isn't it wild how life can change... expect the unexpected. go figure.. and now to sort it all out.

One thing I know is that its not an option but to be here with my Mom! Honestly, its like an honor for me.

Raw - Mom is amazing.. my guru once again - she is completely raw in the hospital. The dietitian wasn't sure what to do with her. and we worked it out. I make green smoothies everyday and bring those and salads. crackers etc to her. One day stuffed dehydrated marinated mushrooms and tomatoes with an herb coating.. salsa, guacamole.. today it was Indian food, complete with a coconut chai drink. Mom has her own gourmet raw chef here ; )  I made a list of everything she was having for awhile for the dietician.. her smoothie alone was a job to decipher I'm sure for her with all the herbs, superfoods, gojis, maca, blue green algae, medicinal mushrooms etc etc mixed in.. I got the green light and have fridge space to keep her going.  Everyday is a picnic there.. even the nurses come over to check out what we're having.
But life is busy, her dog is raw also and that was an adjustment to get used to taking out a dog 3x a day and making his food.. but I have it down. Its a full day but its flowing, speaking of which, bedtime.

ps. I should have my camera back in a week or so when my things all get here. I hardly brought anything, only a small suitcase so I wouldnt have to check anything on the plane. I had no idea how things were going to play out when I left Toronto, or that I wouldnt be going back. life changes.. gotta flow with it. We just keep doing our best!! peace.

psps. Moms website - http://www.joangregory.ca/

Life - black mud, Spanish, ducks and raw foods ...and lemon water

ok, this is probably a super-crazy picture to come back with after 2 months away. 2 months!! wow, where does time go? (gotta love that question!!) and what have I been up to?? or better asked is probably - What have you been up to?? Ah, but I can only answer for me.

I have been really into my Spanish in my spare time.. and that probably accounts mostly for my lack of blogging. It's been really awesome and enriching, in a different way from raw foods.. like exercising the brain muscles. & now it feels really great that I can understand radio and tv from Spain and Latin America.. and forget that its another language and just have to look words up now and then. But then again I'm having a good day.. there are ups and downs with learning.. I still have moments when I listen to something Spanish and am totally clued out, but for the most part I get along fine.

I am still very into my raw food thing. I dont think I will ever eat again another way, it just makes too much sense to me. That being said I have had my moments this past year or so when I have only considered myself high-raw (instead of the complete raw I used to be, and very likely will be again) and I've slacked off a few times here and there. I know I feel at my best the more raw I am.. I've just gone through some emotional life stuff in the past few years ..but I'm feeling strong and like a duck.. y'know how they just ruffle their feathers and shake it off and float along again. Oh, to be a duck! ; )

I got very into drinking lemon water in the mornings.. and have been almost living on green smoothies. I made some flax crackers this past week.. and have sprouted buckwheat ones sprinkled with sesame seeds in the dehydrator right now & I made some super-hot salsa today with about 5 kinds of peppers in it. I'm so into hot and spicy foods these days!!  & it turned out so good.

The pic above is because there was a cricket match today between India and Pakistan and I live in Little India and it was so loud walking down the street this afternoon, hundreds of flags everywhere, on cars, people, shops.. the traffic was almost at a stand-still it was so packed. It was very loud and busy and fun to walk through.

Tomorrow morning I am going to go for a black-mud super-steam crazy high vibe morning bright and early, where we do just about every good thing there possibly is you can do for yourself. I went a month or so ago also and took a pic, but it was too dark in the steam room to show you.. but picture candles, essential oils, magic black rocks and cedar boughs everywhere and us covered in black mud..  and the best food ever, after that is. Maybe I'll have pics tomorrow.

& 1 more thing. We're building a new website - yes, all raw foods based, the best foods ever! Tell you more later. xo! Peace and love!!

Superfoods Song

Denise Mari on Alkalinity, Acidity and Thoughts

Ding Ding Love is my Religion

Jack LaLanne

"Anything in life is possible if you make it happen" Jack LaLanne



Jack LaLanne, Fitness and Nutrition Guru, passed away this past Sunday at the age of 96.
His simple message that 'If God didn't make it, People shouldn't eat it' helped to make him an American legend. There are many YouTube videos available from his exercise show. I just got into watching them.. Fun. He has a very straightforward direct approach that you've gotta love him for! Here are a few.. Enjoy!



This is my favorite!

Super Ti

This is a bottle of Tea. I am up to my old tricks again.. and happy to re-realize how wonderful this one is. The tea recipe started with one from David Wolfe -  Chuchuasi bark, Pau D'Arco, Cats Claw - those are typical, Maybe Chanca Piedra .. Everytime I get into making this tea, it changes.. I Love playing with herbs!  This batch had Slippery Elm and Nettle, some Horsetail and Damiana - a happy herb, Hey, its winter in Canada!!

You have to be careful with herbs, its true.. but years ago I spent lots and lots of time studying them and I feel like I have a pretty good feel for them. For myself I am comfortable to go between that and intuitive - in selecting, but I always check it out to make sure before using.

Its kind of like a game for me.. choose a bunch of herbs.. then go look them up (if I don't know) and sense the combined effect. I think I get pretty close. Really it's like medicine though.. so you have to be careful what you combine. I like analyzing ..but really its the intuition that I trust.

So the process is this. Mix handfuls of herbs in a big bowl (after feeling very secure about them & the combination) I kind of intuit the many handfuls and bunches of each.. but then mix them all together well in a big bowl. Then I steep a handful of the mixture in water in a big pot on the stove, its about all I use my stove for, but you dont need to .. if you've given your stove up (the way of the dinosaurs and all.. relics ; ) you can just pour hot water over them in the bowl.. Let steep. Then I fill 1 or 2 glass bottles, dependingon how much I've made, refridgerate and then use this as the 'water' part of my green smoothies.. which consists of at least half of my diet these days. I usually make enough for 4-7 days, so I dont have to make it every day, just pour from the fridge.

Oh, I put Ginger and Goji Berries in also. 

above pic: from a couple days ago.. below: from a year or so ago, like I said old trick. But a good one!!

Kelp Diving

As in Fore-gone days, I'm sharing my adventure with you, this time we're Kelp Diving. 

I was invited a few days ago:

Kelpo Ti!

..We must soon go way down, into the bubbles and the leafy green phantom shadows. Blue green and aquamarine!

The fulgent tidal urges tickle us with surging strands and strings and passing sea bass, and we

breathe calmly and deliberately,  preciously blissing on the pressure of our suits under the surf zone's crystal thickets.

Falls and rises in the bush create a center of neutral bouyancy. Flexible stems can erogenously wind on our legs, so resist urgent struggling and soothe smoothly through the canopy, and finally up into vertical sun ...now.... Keep your flippers together and drink the light.

Race ya!
Emerald forest

Because of the shadows formed by the canopy, the lower part of the undergrowth is thin, it contains many passages and edges.Possibility of interaction between them, as well as predation outside the forest, allows the existence of more than 800 species of organisms.

Among the branches can be seen scurrying river crabs, Terpugov, sea bass, groupers and sea ruffs. Predators such as barracuda and yellowtail are patrolling the edges of thickets. In the thickets of kelp can often come across a sea lion or seal, flying like a rocket. At the bottom of the base of live patir, brittle stars, crabs and sea urchins, which feed on fallen leaves.

translated & pics from here

Italian Light Butterflies

During the Milan International Led Light Festival, which ends on Monday, Chiara Lampugnani Design created an installation called Light Butterflies on Paolo Sarpi Street and Canonica Street. If you’re in the area this weekend, check it out.

Inspired by the Butterflies Oasis based in Palestro Street in Milan, the light butterflies by Chiara Lampugnani are an homage to the beauty of nature through the splendor and magic of light. They are a message to the city of Milan to slow down and think about the simple things in life as if through the eyes of a child.

Article from Design-Milk  

A Farmers Story - The Interconnection of Life

Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.

- Anonymous

& now, a Story..

There was a farmer who grew superior quality and award-winning corn.
Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won honour and prizes.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it.
The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.

"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field.
If my neighbors grow inferior, sub-standard and poor quality corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn.
If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbours grow good corn."

The farmer gave a superb insight into the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbour's corn also improves.
So it is in other dimensions! Those who choose to be at harmony must help their neighbours and colleagues to be at peace, those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches.

And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

If we are to grow good quality corn, we must help our neighbors grow good quality corn too..

Happy 2011 - All over the World

The new 2011 tower 'Space Needle', Seattle, USA

Zurich, Switzerland

Champs Elysees, Paris

London, England

Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

Town of Narlai, India

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Tokyo, Japan

Karada, India

Ahmedaban, India

Vienna, Austria

Times Square, Hong Kong, China

Tehran, Iran

Bangalore, India

Manila, Philippines

Karachi, Pakistan

Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany

Beirut. Lebanon

New mexico, USA

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -above and below

Port au Prince, Haiti

Davos, Switzerland

Yangon, Burma (Myanmar)

Waikiki Beach, Honalulu, Hawaii

Edinburg, Scotland

I think if you concentrate and think of extending your energy to hug the whole world, you can do it.  Happy New year to the whole World!
Each and every one of us are 1.
Peace, Joy and Love to all of us in 2011!!

Thanks to fishki.net for photos!

Festive Pizza Tradition

I have gotten into a Holiday tradition.. every year when it gets close to Christmas I have been making an abundance of pizza crusts, about 8 crusts and keeping them in the fridge until its time to eat them.  It started 3 Christmases ago, I was moving to where I live now within a week before Christmas. & the guys who were helping me move were raw, or mostly, or at least into eating raw foods.. So it started with that, thinking if I have this all pre-prepared, it will be easy. & it was. Not to mention that Pizza is great moving food!  Its often tradition when moving to have lots of beer & pizza for the movers, in my case that would be Pizza and Kombucha, or as close as possible.   So that year I had Pizza crusts, Cashew Cheese and a Pizza-Marinara Sauce and the morning of moving day I only had to spread a few crusts with cheese, sauce and toppings and put them in the dehydrator just before the move. It was great.

& Then with the rush of everything else that goes on at Christmas, it was an easy Christmas Eve dinner. And the highlight.  3 years in a row now. 

This year I had a raw potluck to go to between Christmas and New Years and when my friend mentioned me making pizzas, that started it again. ..& I just realized as I finish off the last of the pizzas, that this was the 3rd year in a row. Definitely a tradition starting I think!!

Here is a pic of the pizzas boxed and getting ready to go to the pot luck. They fit in perfectly and it all went great. Maybe I should set up delivery service? ; ) 

Happy Pono New Year!

I have a sign written on the wall in my room that says:

"Everything is Pono (perfect)

until we tell ourselves otherwise"

Warmth in your Igloo, Oil in your Lamp, Peace in your Heart and Seeds in your Jar!

“May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart!” 
Eskimo proverb

& seeds in your jar!!!  This year I started onto this different kind of gift-giving before Christmas. I think I was inspired when my sons girlfriend told me her parents got her & her brother a gift for every day of December. & I thought of the Advent calenders and thought what a great idea.. So I started getting these small things for James and giving him 'advent' gifts (but I know I am totally corrupting the word, need one better)  These gifts I decided should be small unexpected, thoughtful things, not expensive and not required, not even every day, but most days.. like a truffle, or I bought him some dusting gloves (& actually used one! lol), and this one in particular turned out to be very useful.. in fact its already time to go refill it.  I took a bottle that I had and filled it with different seeds. Then gave it to him to shake up and I pour some in our green smoothies every morning.  This addition to the green smoothie makes it stay with you longer.  & the seeds are all so good for you!!

Love. Happiness. Spiritual Growth

Love is Within

At level 500 which is reached my 4% of the population is the capacity for actual love. At 500 love takes on a different experiential reality. Its not the emotion of love.  When people talk about love they're talking about an emotion  that which goes from this to that, I love you, You love me, and therefore it can be lost. That person can stop loving you and if that person is the source of your happiness now you're gonna be quite desperate and of course love relationships that go downhill  y'know often result in suicide and homicide in other words that can cause quite a violent reaction. So one is always vulnerable so to be in love in that sense then your putting your happiness outside of yourself. As you get to the 500s now the source of happiness is not outside yourself but comes from within, so love calibrated at level 500 now changes into a way of being in the world. Spiritual love is a way of being, its the way you are within the world, what you are to the world, its now beyond emotion. It doesnt depend on emotion and its independent of the world, if the other person loves you so much the better and if they dont you continue to love them anyway. So I love my kitty no matter what and if my kitty suddenly stops loving me thats the kittys loss because I'll still love the kitty  y'know and he'll get out of his bad mood. So, we become that which sort of nutures life.The energy field of somebody in the 500's now begins to radiate out and support life.

Happiness is Within

The best way to handle a prayer for a Ford is to surrender your desire for a Ford.
Why did you want the Ford? Because you think that happiness is something outside of yourself. If I have the new Ford then I will feel successful and then I will feel happy so all desires then have  associated with them the unconscious belief system that they will bring us happiness  but that makes us very dependent on the external world and so our happiness is always vulnerable and therefore we live in fear all the time because if the source of happiness is outside of yourself your always in a weakened possibly victim position. If the source of happiness then is self fulfillment within oneself then no one can take it away from you.

Divinity is Within

So people say how can I grow spiritually. Do I have to go somewhere? Do I have to get a guru? Do I have to join a meditation group? Do I have to recite mantras or what? No you dont have to do that at all. Its so simple that its overlooked all the time. Its a decision to be loving and kind towards all of life including your own at all times no matter what. To be forgiving, to be gentle, to be that which is supportive of live so that becomes not what you do, but what you are. You become that which supports life, supports all endeavors, it encourages those who need encouragement and it becomes the energy of life itself so it becomes almost like the manifestation of the divine mother as well as the divine father, so its the merging of the two y'see. That which is nurturing at the same time that which is demanding of excellence.

These are exerpts from 'The Highest Level of Enlightenment' cd's by Dr David R Hawkins

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!

I have been having an incredible Christmas and want to share some of it here. Often with Days, Years, Events, Holidays.. I get themes happening.. this Christmas my Main theme seemed to be that it wasnt about the day itself that was important, but what the person had done and been all year through that was important.. the gifts (although I got amazing gifts!!) definitely seemed to take back stage. It was so fun opening them with the group of people around me and there were lots.. but it just was no not really about the presents to me, it was all about being with these people and how important they were to me.. and the Love of course. But so many times it came up how someone had given someone a small gift, a token, as they do so much all through the year.. esp my Mom, who has spent a phenomenal amount of time at the hospital and taking care of people. But really its all about the love.. Everything!!! Its all about the love!

Be the One

Be the one who smiles with your spirit and warms the heart of others.
Be the one who lovingly commits random acts of kindness.
Be the one who feeds parking meters anonymously.
Be the one who listens, really listens to someone in need while
Holding the energy of love and knowing they can do it.
Be the one that feeds a hungry person.
Be the one who embraces the angels and shines their
Love around the world.
Be the one who knows they are loved, they are love and
They are lovable.

Be the one who allows the magic and wonder of the season to
Follow you throughout the year.

this was written by Susan Gregg, mom sends me the greatest inspiration all the time. & I have been thinking that I really should come and post more of it here. Cause it always makes me feel so good.

So Shine on the Love, and keep the Magic alive!!!

..and I have to run, cause my daughter just came back.. and I want to go hang ; ) But I will be back.. cause I have to tell you about my presents, or at least very quickly.. I got a new camera!!!!! I am so happy!! & this incredible book of inspiration I want to share. Definitely blog material.. I think someone very influential wants me to stay here writing!!! & I always feel happy when I do it, so  Be back Soon!!! Merry Christmas!!!! xo