Peaceful Daily Blog

To My Daughter-Love Dentina(aka Mom)

Dear Maggie,

 

I am sorry to hear that you might not believe in me any more.  Kids right around your age stop believing in a lot of magical things.  Many adults stop believing in magic all together.

 

What really is a Tooth Fairy?  A Tooth Fairy is a magical feeling that comes to life.  It is the love  and awe that your parents feel as they watch you grow up.  That love turns into me.  I am the bridge between your parents joy over you into the world of possibilities.

 

There are many kids and people out there that will tell you that it is impossible for a feeling to turn into something real.  Well, I will tell you they are wrong.   But as you grow up, you get to decide for yourself what you choose to believe in.  I hope you choose beliefs that make you happy and joyous (no matter how many people tell you  that you are wrong) rather then ones make you sad and hopeless.

 

I am leaving you a little something for your tooth anyway.  I just want you to know that even if you stop believing in Fairies that it is OK because I will always believe in you.

 

Love ,

Dentina

Namaste,

Krissy

Everything But The Carbon Sink

With Earth Day on the mind, I like to think of new ways I can reduce my carbon footprint. Recently I was turned on to an amazing way I can literally reduce my carbon footprint: carbon farming. 

As most of us know, global warming is caused by excess amounts of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, Nature did a pretty good job striking a balance between the release of carbon dioxide (from sources such as volcanic eruptions, fires, decomposition, and so on) and the soil's ability to trap or sequester this atmospheric carbon dioxide.  In essence, our planet cleaned up its own green house emissions by using its soil as a "carbon sponge".  

Two things happened that threw this delicate carbon dioxide balance out of whack. First, people came along and overloaded our atmosphere with massive amounts of carbon dioxide from such sources as fossil fuel-powered automobiles and fossil fuel-burning factories. Second, modern agricultural practices systematically stripped and degraded larger and larger swaths of the earth's soil, leaving it less and less able to sequester carbon dioxide. 

In order to reverse global warming we need to do two things: reduce our carbon emissions AND improve our soils so that they can better sequester our carbon emissions. It's important to point out that lowering emissions does not immediately decrease the amount of atmospheric carbon already out there, it just slows down the amount being poured in. Carbon sequestering, on the other hand, actually removes excess atmospheric carbon right now. Both approaches are essential in mitigating global warming, but only one--carbon sequestering--results in an immediate reduction of greenhouse gases.

Now the good news: carbon sequestering programs are popping up all around us--right here,  right now. Forward-thinking organizations such as Carbon Farmers of America and Carbon Farmers of Australia connect farmers with private and public funds as incentives to increase and improve their soil so that the amount of carbon it retains is maximized. 

And more good news:  you can do something right now to support this vital process.  For $25, you can purchase a "Carbon Sink" through Carbon Farmers of America and a Carbon Farmer will remove one ton of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it in their soil.  Want to take it a step further and neutralize your carbon footprint? Consider donating $600 and 23 tons of carbon dioxide emissions--the average American's carbon dioxide contribution--will be removed from the atmosphere.  

Now that's money well spent!

Happy Earth Day,

Annie

Bee under glass

I was giving the bathroom a real good clean.  The kind you do for Holidays or visitors.  Not a quick swish around the bowl and a glass cleaner wipe, but areal clean.  You know, you are on the floor scrubbing the base molding.

I washed the wooden blinds and  behind them awaited a huge bee.  Maybe it is a wasp or a hornet.  I do not know bugs that well.  It is big, yellow, and had a stinger on it that looks like the scorpion from the Clash of the Titans. 

I ran from the room silently screaming.  No one else was home, so screaming out loud seemed pointless.  I went back in and trapped the offender under a small juice glass. 

Under that glass he didn't seem so scary. Actually, he looked pretty sad.  He had a look of longing to fly free with his wing mates. 

 Now, I could let him go.  But there is a chance he is a carpenter bee and will eat my house leaving me homeless.  There is a chance he is that type of bee I am allergic to and will sting me out of revenge and I will lie helplessly on the floor in shock.  There is even a chance he is a killer bee from africa here to infest the North East and I would be responsible for ruining the habitat of New England.

I suppose I could kill him.  But I just can't.  I mean he has not done anything to me...yet.

I know this seems like such a little thing, but these are the little things that I think shape us into our spiritual selves.  What do we decide in these small everyday moments?  Why do we decide them?  How does it shape our growth into spiritual beings? Are these little decisions made out of love or fear?

So what did I do with that bee?  He still is sitting under that glass in the bathroom waiting for my husband to come home and decide.  So, what did I learn about my spiritual self?  I learned that I need to work on being sure in my decision and know that when it is done from a place of love, rather then fear, it can not be wrong.  Who knows, maybe I will choose before my husbands arrival.

Namaste,

Krissy

What I leaned from n Oak Tree.

 

There is an old oak tree in my front yard.  It has seen more of the block then I have and more then the people before me.  Most likely it has seen more of the block before it even was a block.

 

When that tree started its life there was probably nothing but more trees and massive amounts of squirrels and deer to keep him company.

 

But things move forward, times change.  Since this oaks birth there have come houses and asphalt and even electrically wires.  It is those wires that have probably had the most effect on him.

 

The city has trimmed and hacked and mutilated his branches to keep them clear of the wire ways.  The tree contorts like a pretzel in order to acquiesce to this modern power.  Often branches fall from the tree in rains and light winds because it has been weakened by the Municipal Workman that keep our modern convenience running daily.

 

But yet he stands there day after day.  He is not as symmetric as some of his fellow yard mates but somehow more regal.  This oak's beauty comes from the shape that was formed by change and the shape that was molded by the never give up attitude.  It is a form that is full of acceptance to what is in this moment and the willingness to grow in that suffering.  It is always going up.

 

Thank you oak for teaching me that our struggles and willingness to accept those struggles is what gives us true beauty.  Thank you for reminding me about strength.

 

Namaste,

Krissy  

Easter Eggs: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Easter Egg.

 

They are pretty little orbs of beautiful spring colors lying upon soft green grass.  I imagine they are even more beautiful when using Annie’s wonderful natural dyeing techniques. 

 

But here is the thing:  They stink! Your entire kitchen smells of sulfur.  Then you store them in the fridge and every time you open the door you are slapped in the face with an odor then knocks you back. 

 

Of course you have to make multiple dozens of the oratory offenders to make all the possible color combinations.  So it follows simple logic that after the dyeing you are left with multiple dozens of colored oratory offenders.  And NOBODY wants to eat them.  Sure you make some egg salad but then what?  You try to send them in your kid’s school lunch but they protest because…well…did I mention they smell!  You bake some in Easter bread (which is weird because you have to get the egg out before you cut into the loaf and you are again left with just another hard boiled egg). 

 

Nobody wants to take them home with the other leftovers.  Sure they will take the rolls and cookies but they will not take the eggs.  They never take the eggs.  You could throw them out but then there is the guilt: guilt over the starving child of the world and guilt over ditching your kid’s masterpieces.

 

Clearly that is the hate part of the relationship with the Easter Egg.  And here is the love part:  I love the hardboiled eggs that explode and look like brains while boiling.  I love the cups of liquid color.  I love the little metal egg dipper that makes a fun eyepiece.  More importantly, I love that it brings up memories of my mother, my sister, and I having time together when time was scarce when we were growing up.  I love the  glorious  continuation of  that tradition with my daughter and husband now.  It makes me feel full, rich, and a part of a tradition that seems timeless.

 

So, I guess I can take the stink because they bring the wonderful scent of closeness.

Thanks Easter Eggs.

 

Namaste,

Krissy