Cocoons and Tadpoles, Butterflies and Frogs

Cocoons and tadpoles...
Butterflies & frogs...
We all change, we all grow...
we all have an impact on the world around us,
much of which we will never see, never know, never understand...
but we gotta believe...
The Butterfly Effect

Just as a passing strangers comment at the bank lingered for days in my mind, infecting me with a silly feel-good sensation...I have to have faith that my silly sensation emitted out and touched someone, somewhere in some positive way.

Sometimes, often in fact, all it takes is a word.
Speaking, in and of itself, is an action.
Every action is preceded by thought, even if momentary.
So, I propose to you, as my mother did to me...
if you have a positive thought... share it.
If you see something nice, smell something good, hear something magical...acknowledge it.
The world can be such a dark place if you keep the blinds pulled down over the windows of your mind...
Let the sunlight in & let your love light out...
Timeless words...

Enjoy the attached music, if you will, let your love light shine and beneath that, find a letter KIVA.ORG offered to forward to people from my address book last week and I thought better to post here for folks to pick and choose whether or not they want to be a recipient. I am lucky to have found it via our Wounded Healer...

....always broke, but never poor. together, we are all as one
and LoVe knows no boundaries...

Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in Tajikistan using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Mutaramhon Valieva in Tajikistan. They still need another $700 to complete their loan request of $925 (you can loan as little as $25!). Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Mutaramhon Valieva too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=101693

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

---------------------------------------------------------
What others are saying about www.Kiva.org: 'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'-- BBC 'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'-- CNN Money 'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'-- The Wall Street Journal 'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'-- Entrepreneur Magazine

Around the World & the Bizarre Boys

They had first names that I once knew, but I couldn't tell you now what they were for the life of me.
They had last names too, but I always knew them as the 'Bizarre Boys.'

For five years, from the time I was three until about eight, they lived across the bumpity-bumpity brick road from us.

We lived on the lake and had a dock. They liked to fish & used our dock.

In their back yard, between the hammock and the shed, they had a rich black worm mound.

I liked to grab an old tin coffee can and dig my dirty little fingers into the cool, dark dirt & pull out worms for them to fish with.

Older than me, they weren't as fascinated by the idea of a worm hill as I was.

I never really liked these boys, and I certainly didn't like a lot of things they thought was funny or some of the things they did...
but I did like that worm hill...
and I loved their hammock.

I knew that if I dug for their worms and gathered enough up in the coffee can for them, that I would get my reward.
I'd climb up on that hammock & sit with my feet dangling....
I would watch and wait.

Before too long, one of the Bizarre brothers would push me before taking off to go fish.
I loved it and almost always squealed for them to push me harder, faster.
And they would.

One day while I was digging in worm mound, they asked me if I wanted to go around the world later on.
I thought of digging a hole right through that worm mound, straight down to China and all the Kimono's and Koi Fish that could come back with me, so I promptly told them 'Yeah...I wanna go around the world!'

Sitting on the hammock a wee bit later, one of the brother's told me lay square in the center & hold on tight.
I smiled and laced my fingers into the side of the hammock, spreading my feet and locking my toes into ropey slots.
His brother joined him and the two of them paced slowly backwards, pulling the hammock with me inside, back and up with them...
so began the first push.

My laughter was matched with theirs as they pushed me faster & harder.
I pulled the sides of the hammock over my face and torso.
I pulled my feet together and dug in deeper with my heels and toes.
I centered my gravity where the earth seemed to want it.

And so I began my trip around the world...
around and around I went...
full-circle.


(Artwork, "Sisters" by Sister Singleton... Counting down the weeks until my sisters and I begin and end our trip around the world with one another...at the beach...may the circle remain unbroken)

The Dirt, the Sun and a Field of Free Wishes

My favorite fresh cut flowers were actually weeds, gathered roadside from a drainage ditch and clumped together in a rusty old tin can from the same ole murky ditch.

Maybe a month or so ago, while walking after dark, I came across a field filled with weeds reaching for the stars....a field of free wishes.
I didn't make any wishes, instead I just took it all in...
Soaking up the magic of the moment...
The next night, they were all gone...
blown away by the wind.
If Mother Nature made any wishes before she blew them, I bet her wishes will all come true.

Butterflies and bumblebees, hummingbirds and moths, centipedes and frogs, the neighborhood kids and even the squirrels ... we all love to see fresh flowers bloom.

But maybe, just maybe, the dirt and the sun love them the most.

Flowers...
sweet little miraculous reminders to the dirt and the sun,
that they are loved for simply being what they are and simply doing what they do...
I guess, in hindsight, if I could have made a wish it would be...
that we all could learn to live a bit more like the flowers, the dirt and the sun...

I am not what I once was.
Four beers and a few spins on the dance floor to some of the most wonderful blues sounds I have heard live in a good, long time, followed by a hearty breakfast of pecan waffles, scrabbled eggs, hash browns, sausage and too little sleep, too late at night or too early in the morning left me feeling totally drained all day, physically and mentally.
So….this Easter Sunday became something most Sundays are not for me
… a day of rest.
Hope everyone had a beautiful Easter.

The Wounded Healer

Sometimes he calls himself 'The Wounded Healer'...
Wounded, we all are.
Healers, we all have the power to be.
We just gotta believe.
He has gone to Africa now to do what his heart, as a doctor and as a soldier of peace, calls for.
His name is Maithri and if you have not met him yet
please check out his virtual world, The Soaring Impulse,
as it is part of yours and mine
and together we are really all as one...
grains of sand forming the beaches...

He has a link, as do I, to the Hunger Site on his blog.
It is part of the Greater Good Network.
The Home Page is paid for by advertisers and ALL of this revenue goes too support the charity partners.
The Charity Partners include The Hunger Site, The Animal Rescue Site, The Rainforest Site, The Child Health Site, The Breast Cancer Site, Global Girlfriend & The Literacy Site.
Once you enter the home page, you may click on any one of these sites and should you purchase anything, your proceeds will go to that specific arena.
There is a section called 'Gifts that Give More' which is tax deductible in the US and allows you to drop a mere twenty bucks to do something significant like vaccinate 10 shelter dogs for kennel cough or provide a stove for refugees in Darur...the list goes on.
However, this site offers some great products through many different sponsors.
I can't encourage you enough to shop their pages for some awesome win/win deals.
I favor the Hunger Site and love that I am able to buy some awesome gifts and such while also helping provide rice for those in need.
I also encourage you to check out the artisans who make many of the products that are available. It will really make you think twice about buying stuff mass produced in China.
I have to say that I have been most impressed with the quality of the items I have purchased....
and I have bought an array of cool things...
handmade musical instruments, bags, clothing, jewelry and more.
Oh, and the shipping time? Just a couple few days!
In summary, I encourage all of you to check THIS SITE out.
Click on the yellow button that says 'Click here to give...It's Free' and if you want to shop, shop with confidence that it is a win/win/win.
If you don't wanna shop, still open the link & click the yellow button. It pings their site & keeps the advertisers happy to keep on supporting such a wonderful venture. ;) And then, do it again tomorrow...

"We make a living by what we get; We make a life by what we give." - Sir Winston Churchill

'Will Work for Peace' Artwork by Sister Sing

Accidental Peace

Running errands the other day, I dashed into the bank and weaved myself through a brass and leather-corded alleyway, getting in line behind a shiny haired man.
He turned and looked at me. I smiled and he opened his mouth as if to say something, then turned away.
Moments later, the teller called for the next in line and before going any further, he took one step back and whispered over his shoulder to me.
'You smell soooo good.'
I don't wear perfume, but lotions or potions made of jojoba, olive & essential oils. They feel good & any aromas that kick are just a bonus. The scents seem to change with my mood.
Silly me. I basked in this strangers comment & its' method of delivery, for days...
discovering that sometimes what feels good for our skin...
feels good to the spirit...

(Outsider Hippie Art, Accidental Peace, by Sister Sing)

Walk Through Hell

This is just a little something-something found on You Tube. This crazy young lady loves to play the ukulele, and she does so with an adorable passion, although she plays acoustic guitar in this covered ditty...
If you have problems with the word HELL, don't listen. If the word p-e-n-i-s bothers you, might I suggest you get over it momentarily, as she uses it only once... and it's worth it ;)
Music stops at about 3:40
Enjoy.
Peace.
Love.