I realize I am especially lucky to make this post. This morning I woke up to some stories on NPR -- a nice woman's voice talking about her husband who died in the garage of the World Trade Center; the opening of an opera in San Francisco this weekend, based on the book 'Heart of a Soldier,' which is based on the life of a 60-something-lifetime-soldier-hero-turned-security-guard at the World Trade Center who helped 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees out of the Twin Towers, disobeying orders for everyone to stay in the building, and using one of his strategies to strengthen the inner heart to perform such acts of courage: singing with or to each other as they evacuated. After getting what he thought was everyone out, he went back in just to make sure no one was left, and then he died in the building, leaving the new love of his life behind; the third-- the story of a a new documentary opening in NYC this weekend, following a group of young soldiers in Afghanistan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, one having bombs explode on him 10 times, now back home, diagnosed with TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and recounting the time when he was out with his best friend from the military after coming home and having a another guy say to him over and over again, "Your war is stupid," and getting so upset that he beat the guy up, and then after the fight, fell over into his friend's arms balling and not knowing what to do, but so thankful to have his friend. He said that while recovering from injuries in Army medical facilities still in Afghanistan, he would fake being alright, so that he could be released to be with his friends again; he couldn't stand them going out without him. He'd rather blow-up than have his friends die.
It's amazing the things people go through. Sometimes these stories instantly make me cry. I write this because I'm about to post pictures of nice things. And I just know how lucky I am. I look out the window and see beautiful green everywhere. Everyone has the right to be living in the most life-giving conditions possible. It's our task to create that for ourselves and every being and thing around us. In my sleepy state, after hearing that nice woman's voice, I felt a deep-panging, simple question in my heart: WHY do people kill each other and make such terrible environments. I know the answers of money, power and domination of all forms... but it's still so unbelievable why people want to do that to others.
Okay on that note, I am going to continue onto the thing that made me feel good this morning. First, my favorite tea came in the mail. It's from Kenya. I hope that the earth and people are being taken good care of there.
Second, I realized that in my cupboards I have a lot of things from around this area, that make this place really nice and special. The Catskills are really beautiful, but there are some really depressing people and places. There are also many people who aren't depressing and make these things because they care about that life-giving quality. So I took some pictures, resulting in a little local showcase of some Catskill Mountain goods that are in my cupboard at the moment.
-------------------------------
Neversink Farm eggs
-------------------------------
Catskill Comfort maple syrup
-------------------------------
Catskill Mountains Pure Pollen
-------------------------------
Evans' Farmhouse butter
-------------------------------
Upstate Harvest granola
-------------------------------
nycheese
-------------------------------
Farmer Ground flour
-------------------------------
DanaRay Farm's sauerkraut. Actually from New Jersey
-------------------------------
Hawthorne Valley Farm lacto-fermented dilly beans
-------------------------------
Flour Power Bakery rye bread
-------------------------------
Calkins Creamery cheese
hooray for local products. nothing makes you feel better and homey than some tea and contemplating the simpler things in life.
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeletethis is the best post ever! I love all those things... what is the pollen used for?
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you! So many aww's these days. Pollen: I only know it as an all-around health booster and I think allergy lower'er too. Especially the allergy part. If it's from bees around your area that is. I need to read more about it. Like if it's okay to take the pollen away from the bees. I think they wipe it off before going in the hive... but more research is needed. For me. I also know that you can sprinkle it in anything, as long as those things are neither too hot nor too cold. And I was also told that it can give you a "high" if you take too much at one time. So you start small, with like 3 little kernels at first.
ReplyDelete