Intentions and Inspirations

Family Photo Friday

2011-05-20T08:54:00.000-04:00

Something a little different this week, since we're off our regular posting schedule. Enjoying a dinner of some broccoli soup, good bread, garden asparagus, and foraged morels.

Sign of Spring - Fiddleheads

2011-05-04T23:07:00.000-04:00

Foraged spring greens are always a delight, but I especially like learning to identify new plants. Fiddleheads are a new one for me, and with the help of The Forager's Harvest, my new favorite wild edibles guide, Dan and I were able to correctly identify, harvest and prepare them. We were also on the lookout for ramps (wild leeks) but did not find any on our hike today, so will continue looking

Photo Friday

2011-04-22T16:38:00.000-04:00

A mother-daughter project. We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. On Eating Skate -- and an Impressively Quick Reply

2011-04-19T14:26:00.000-04:00

Wanted to add this...because by the time I finished writing and posting the previous entry, this response was in my inbox. Incredible! Dear Ms. Heller: Thank you for your inquiry regarding skate fish. This is the response I received from our Director of Purchasing. "We source Winter Skate, not one of the species mentioned...this species is not endangered and is fished by permit only with a

Eating A Skate May Be A Mistake

2011-04-19T14:16:00.000-04:00

I had a lovely time with my friend Susan touring around the Mid-Hudson Valley last weekend. We walked the trail around the Vanderbilt Mansion and got to sit out on the rocks by the Hudson River during the few cool but sunny hours. Later, when it rained, we toured the insides of the Mansion as well as the home of FDR. Susan and I also met up with my college roommate Barbara who lives in the area.

On Absolutism

2011-04-13T20:15:00.000-04:00

I recently ate lunch at one of the Chinese buffets in town. When I told a new acquaintance where I was going to eat, he was extremely surprised. I write, think, and talk a lot about sustainability and living my beliefs. I have worked hard to reduce the negative impact I have on our planet, and to increase the positive impact I have in my own community. I am working on growing and preserving more

Has Spring Sprung?

2011-04-11T21:21:00.000-04:00

Maple syruping is done -- great season. Over 7 gallons. The lilacs are budding and the crocuses are out. The stone house is surviving. Spring is in the air.

Tips for Working from Home

2011-04-06T21:17:00.000-04:00

Although I'm currently unemployed, I "work" on many different projects. The most pressing one right now is a business plan that I am writing, and I have been finding it extremely easy to be distracted by other things. That said, I have also gotten a tremendous amount done so I thought I'd share some of my strategies for staying focused. 1. Get out of the house Yes, it's true. My number one tip

Traveling in March

2011-04-06T07:53:00.002-04:00

Those of you who read The Dream Year blog (thedreamyear.blogspot.com) know that Alan and I like to travel -- we enjoy being outdoors, hiking, and CA is one of our favorite places to do that and more. So even though we had terrible weather (I admit that it wasn't as bad as at home but still...it rained every day!). We had wonderful connecting times with old friends and family and stayed in

Inspired by Zen Habits

2011-04-02T19:11:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have seen Leo Babauta's blog zen habits listed in the sidebar (under Currently Inspired By). I've had it listed there for a while, but haven't written about why I find it inspiring. The blog is very simple, even stark. White with black text, no images, no ads, no lists, boxes, or sidebars. He writes about mindfulness, productivity, and minimalism, and many of the posts are

Photo Friday

2011-04-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

Meditation Practice - The Basics

2011-03-28T16:45:00.000-04:00

The #1 biggest misconception about meditation practice is that it involves clearing the mind of thought, like you sit down and pull some kind of meditation emergency brake. Or at the very least, if you can’t stop thought altogether, you should at least have only peaceful, positive thoughts. Susan Piver There are many ways to meditate, many schools that teach different techniques, and certainly a

Photo Friday

2011-03-25T08:02:00.013-04:00

A mother-daughter project.We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meditation Inspiration - more Gail Straub

2011-03-24T22:53:00.000-04:00

In a previous post, I mentioned Gail Straub's book Circle of Compassion. I am still finding myself inspired by the short meditations and gentle reminders throughout this little gem of a book. I don't spend a lot of time in the car, but usually when I am in the car alone, I listen to news or music. Today, I decided on silence. This evening I was leafing through Gail's book, and this page caught

Book Review - Through A Narrow Window

2011-03-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

When our family traveled in Eastern Europe in the early 1990's, our Prague pen-pals took us to the Jewish Cemetery and the Jewish Museum. In the small museum was a powerful exhibit of art made by children in concentration camps. The impact has never left me and I have always questioned how such artwork could have been made under the circumstances and how it was preserved. I chose to review

Photo Friday

2011-03-18T11:24:00.001-04:00

A mother-daughter project.We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inspired by MLK

2011-03-16T22:44:00.000-04:00

“We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Monday's Musings - More About Meditation

2011-03-14T12:39:00.001-04:00

Meditation and I have been long-term acquaintances. During the 1970s some of my friends and colleagues studied Transcendental Meditation(TM). I was too busy being busy then and thought that politics and personal growth were not good bed-mates. I was also turned off by the fact that TM charged people for their secret mantras, phrases to be repeated while they meditated. I have changed my

Photo Friday

2011-03-11T15:23:00.000-05:00

A mother-daughter project.We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travel Books

2011-03-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about travel-related reading recently, due to being asked to participate in a travel-themed book club and also a friend's recent post on facebook listing his favorite travel narratives and requesting suggestions. His list of books included Blue Highways, The Great Railway Bazaar, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Travels with Charley, and Walden. The suggestions I made

Monday's Forecast

2011-03-07T06:26:00.002-05:00

Yesterday morning there was no snow on this picnic table (right outside our back door) and it was raining. Overnight we have gotten 12 - 15 inches and still coming. It had warmed enough that it seemed like Maple Syrup season had begun ( the period of cold nights and warm days that start the sap running) and Alan had collected approximately 45 gallons of sap and started it boiling on the

Photo Friday

2011-02-25T21:08:00.000-05:00

Inspired by... Barely Balanced

2011-02-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

When we were in Florida, we attended a renaissance festival at which we saw the group Barely Balanced perform. Advertised as featuring sharp knives and stupid humans, my favorite parts were the acrobatics and juggling. Dan's family purchased a DVD of their show which also included some basic how-to's and now Dan and I are practicing for our own show! Well, not really, but we are working on one

Monday's Inspiration - Penny Colman

2011-02-21T12:09:00.000-05:00

To everyone who has fought and who is fighting and who will fight for the rights of women everywhere. I'm reading Penny Colman's new book, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: A Friendship That Changed the World (to be released in May). I appreciate the dedication (quoted above) and Penny certainly fits the description herself. Through her writings she preserves the memories and

Winter Feast for the Soul Update

2011-02-19T17:32:00.000-05:00

With only a few days left of Winter Feast for the Soul (a 40 day commitment to spiritual practice), I thought I'd share how it's been going for me. When I committed to the Winter Feast, I did not anticipate being sick, attending a conference, and being out of town for two weeks during the 40 days. If I had anticipated those things, I probably would not have committed to it. It was definitely

Photo Friday (Saturday Edition)

2011-02-19T16:33:00.000-05:00

A mother-daughter project.We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday's Musings - Back Home

2011-02-14T14:43:00.000-05:00

Just returned from vacation. Wonderful to spend time with family and friends in FL. Warm, so warm, and when it wasn't, it was still sunny. One night it was as cold as it is here now, around 40 degrees, but here it is grey and windy. Better, I hear, than the minus fifteen that happened here while we were gone. Very nice to get a break from winter weather. Alan and I met up with Rebecca and Dan

Inspired by... Dali

2011-02-11T14:16:00.000-05:00

We recently visited the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL. I thought I was familiar with his work before, but I was amazed and inspired to see the tremendous depth and breadth of his work and creativity. He worked in many different media, styles, and sizes, collaborated with other artists, writers, and creative thinkers, and refused to be boxed in to one category. The museum itself was newly

Photo Friday

2011-02-11T13:30:00.001-05:00

A mother-daughter project.We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday's Musing - Memoirs

2011-02-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking a lot about memoir recently...primarily because I am participating in a couple of writer's groups that focus on memoir. It wasn't necessarily my first choice topic...but the new writing instructor, Bob Comenole, at RiverRead Bookstore in Binghamton started his writing class series with Memoir Writing. A number of us who took that class have also continued in his advanced

Photo Friday

2011-02-04T19:03:00.000-05:00

Garden Inspiration and Resources

2011-02-02T15:01:00.000-05:00

Since this is the time of year when I am dreaming of and planning for the gardening season to come, I thought I'd share some of my new and old favorite gardening resources with you. Photo from You Grow Girl Books/Magazines Eliot Coleman's The Winter Harvest Handbook, Four-Season Harvest, and The New Organic Grower John Jeavons' The Sustainable Vegetable Garden or How to Grow More Vegetables and

Mondays Musings -- Meditation

2011-01-31T06:29:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Rebecca and I wrote that we were participating in Winter Feast, a 40-day worldwide meditation practice. Although the Feast asks for people to commit 40 minutes a day every day of the time period, I tried to commit to a more realistic expectation -- 20 minutes of meditation at least 4 days a week. I am proud to say that I have sat every day since the beginning, today being

Photo Friday

2011-01-28T16:35:00.001-05:00

What I Do, Part 2 - Food Not Bombs

2011-01-27T17:26:00.000-05:00

Read my first post on what I do (an overview) here. Over the next few months, I intend to write more about the specifics of some of my current projects and interests, as well as more generally about what it means to be a Scanner. I've already mentioned a few of the ways I try to live my beliefs... including eating locally, growing my own food, and dumpster diving. Some of these changes mostly

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

2011-01-24T12:47:00.000-05:00

Winter Is Certainly Here and I have a tendency to complain about it.And when I recently posted on Facebook that it was minus 8 degrees Saturday morning, I certainly got a lot of responses. Well, it was minus 20 this morning!! I am not a winter person. I don’t like going outdoors when the temperature is in the single digits and less so when it is in the negative zone. Most of the year I don’

Meditation Tool - Meditation Timer

2011-01-19T21:29:00.000-05:00

I always appreciate tools that make my meditation practice easier in some way. I often use my digital watch as a timer when I meditate, but it takes a little while to set, especially if I don't meditate for the same period of time each day. The electronic beep ending my session is also a bit unpleasant. Recently I have been using a very helpful tool my dad passed along in lieu of the watch timer

Winter Feast for the Soul 2011

2011-01-17T11:04:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you may know that both of us participated in Winter Feast for the Soul 2010, a 40-day commitment to spiritual practice inspired by a line from a Rumi poem: "What nine months does for the embryo, forty early mornings will do for your growing awareness." The recommended commitment is for 40 minutes of spiritual practice each day for 40

Photo Friday

2011-01-14T16:30:00.000-05:00

A new mother-daughter project. We both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B. R.

Winter Flavors

2011-01-12T22:23:00.000-05:00

It's a challenge to eat local this time of year and still have a well-rounded diet. Tonight I made a lentil stew with homegrown garlic, onions, and carrots in it. That's typical of my winter diet - mixing local fresh and stored produce with bulk staples. I often find myself getting bored with staples though, and when I happen upon recipes that put a new twist on old ingredients, it makes me very

Monday's Inspiration - Young Adult Fiction

2011-01-10T10:51:00.131-05:00

I've recently been reading some novels that are designated "young adult" fiction. As the times have changed, of course, so has the content of books directed at 14-21 year-old readers. We, who grew up on The Catcher in the Rye and initially wondered if Judy Blume's books were appropriate for our children, may be out of touch with the styles and issues that are now the young-adult book norm. In

Photo Friday

2011-01-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

A new mother-daughter project. We will both post a photo every Friday - no description, just a moment from the week we want to capture and remember. Inspired by SouleMama's {this moment} and 3191 (blog and book). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B. R.

One Little Word

2011-01-05T19:44:00.000-05:00

I too am participating in One Little Word, a year-long online class which uses monthly creative prompts centered around a chosen word. I hope it will serve as a reminder to revisit my vision and intentions throughout this year. See my mom's post about the class here. The word I have chosen for 2011 is "breath." "Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two

What to Expect From Our Blog 2011

2011-01-04T15:19:00.000-05:00

As we enter the new year, we've been plotting and planning for the year to come, including setting some intentions for how this blog will develop in the coming year. We wanted to share them with you. What you can expect to see here in 2011: Minimum of one text post from each of us weekly (Barbara will post Mondays and Rebecca on Wednesdays) plus more as inspiration strikes us Photo Fridays - a

Monday's Inspiration - Online Art Classes

2011-01-03T07:12:00.002-05:00

Wandering around the internet I continue to find incredible inspiration and resources. A wordy person like me might want to shake up her perspective and add a visual aspect to her work.One of the ways to do this is to create a Visual Journal.The art supply company Strathmore is offering some free online Visual Journaling workshops.Check them out. Of course, I've signed up for all three of their

What I Do

2010-12-28T10:10:00.001-05:00

I've always hated the question "What do you do?" It seems like the answer people are looking for is something simple, something they can use to quickly categorize me - administrative assistant, sex educator, retail salesperson - but that's never the answer I want to give. Sometimes I just say "It's complicated..." and wait for their response. Recently I've taken to saying things like "I'm

Monday's Inspiration – December 27

2010-12-27T08:24:00.000-05:00

A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow. From my own personal experience, it can be a catalyst for enriching your life. -- Ali EdwardsSome people recommend choosing a theme for a new year. I find that inspirational. The theme should be succinct. What is my focus, my intention for the year

Winter Greens!

2010-12-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

My dad and I have been experimenting with extending our growing/eating season for fresh veggies. Most of the information we have used comes from Eliot Coleman's excellent books, including The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses and Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long. A page from

Monday's Inspiration - Dec 20

2010-12-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

Reading online, clicking links, finding sites that aggregate -- that have done the work for me, to find diverse resources that I can peruse for education and entertainment especially online resources that I might not have found by myself. A waste of time?? Yes, certainly sometime. And I can be a couch-computer-surfer in the same stereotypic way as a TV couch-potato. But this is fun... Here are

Monday's Inspiration - Dec 13

2010-12-13T10:19:00.000-05:00

I am inspired by...reflecting on the past year and thinking about hopes and goals for the new one approaching. And I like pithy questions or writing prompts to help me. In that vein, have you heard about reverb10? Via email or their website, there are daily end-of-the-year writing prompts. Simple questions that you can pass on by or stop and muse for awhile. Here is how they describe

Local Cheese Showdown!

2010-12-10T14:11:00.000-05:00

At Thanksgiving, we had a local cheese showdown - three NY cheeses vs. three Wisconsin cheeses (local to a visiting relative) plus homemade crackers and local apple slices. And the winner of the showdown is... All of us! (Because we all got to eat a bunch of really delicious cheese.) The crowd favorite was the 15-year-old cheddar (WI). I was a big fan of the aged raw milk cheddar which tasted

TV and Movie Diet

2010-12-07T21:20:00.000-05:00

I just finished a one month TV and movie diet. Originally I was going to do a fast (as in no TV or movies for one month) but that seemed unrealistic, so I set some conditions - it's OK to watch TV or movies with other people (so if it has some sort of social component) or if I am feeling sick. I took advantage of these exceptions a few times, going out to the movies with friends once, and

Monday's Inspiration

2010-12-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

I love lists and I like reading about what others find inspirational....so here's today's choice. Written by a man from India - isn't the internet a great connector? And check out the last one on the list -- follow the link -- it IS funny. What do you find inspiring? What shakes you out of the winter doldrums? ***************************************** Life isn't always hunky dory. No matter how

Winter Feast for the Soul - will you be meditating in 2011?

2010-12-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

Rebecca and I are women of many projects...we are what Barbara Sher has termed Scanners (a topic we will be writing more about in the coming months). Both of us also like to look ahead...to plan projects and at times commit ourselves to challenges and to join larger efforts for inspiration and community. One of our mutual interests is meditation and cultivating a sitting practice. Last year we

What are you doing in the New Year?- Winter Feast for the Soul

2010-12-04T14:53:00.000-05:00

OUR GOALSTo create an annual worldwide period of spiritual practice for people of all faiths to come together in prayer and meditation. To support people around the world in finding inner peace in their lives through the creation of a daily spiritual practice. To recognize that every person and every group is entitled to their own unique form of expression of these goals and is encouraged to

I love my IPAD but....

2010-11-30T09:46:00.000-05:00

I am tech ambivalent...I love my tech toys and at times yearn to evolve into The TechnoCrone... I'd be similar to a number of writers of financial blogs and columns, the ones who tell you how bad off they have been and how they have overcame the obstacles to now have a fortune....I will tell you all the amusing and not-so-amusing anecdotes about troubles loading my cellphone or about when I

Inspired by...

2010-11-08T14:24:00.000-05:00

the fall foliage, and the interaction between natural and man-made objects. What inspires you to take your camera out?

Volunteer Work – Around the World

2010-11-08T11:08:00.000-05:00

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my chosen activities and the worth of them – to me and to the world. I feel blessed with right livelihood – my work as a psychotherapist allows be to connect and help a variety of people and to continue to learn from my clients. But after turning 60, I became antsy to do “something more.” Simply, to be helping on a larger scale, expanding my world and

Meditation Inspiration - Gail Straub

2010-11-06T22:25:00.001-04:00

In Circle of Compassion: Meditations for Caring - For the Self and the World, Gail Straub writes: Constant busyness is a form of violence.I acknowledge that too much busyness steals mycapacity for compassion toward both myself and others. Overextending myself is sometimes tempting... there is so much important work to be done. What I tend to forget is that when I don't take the time to care for

Defeated by Mini-Vampires

2010-10-30T13:35:00.000-04:00