Great Wheat Free Gluten Free Websites

I am asked by so many people, what blog is the greatest? What website for managing my Wheat Free Gluten free diet? What recipes are tried and true and won't make me gag?

This is the ultimate quest for myself as well, so I have paid attention to this in a big way. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do and I would embrace it as a professional if I didn't have to stand for hours over a stove or countertop. My goal is to make something truly gourmet and tasty and unique in quick time. I don't mind the stages to go through as long as it doesn't steal from my day. Below are listed the sites I am enchanted with.

http://heatherstrang.com/blog/wheat-free/ She deals with sugar free, dairy free in a good way.

http://nuchiafoods.com/recipes/Videos are great. Very informative.

http://www.elanaspantry.com/ A favorite of my San Francisco friend.

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

http://www.ifood.tv/network/wheat_free_cooking/recipes Videos!

http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/diet/gluten-free.asp Great Index of Gourmet recipes.



For you enthusiasts on measuring carefully:


1 Cup Wheat Flour Equals:
•Amaranth - 1 cup
•Bean Flour - 1 cup
•Corn Flour- 1 cup
•Cornmeal - ¾ cup
•Millet Flour - 1 cup
•Nuts (finely ground- almond, hazel nut)- ½ cup
•Oat Flour - 1 1/3 cup
•Potato Flour - 5/8 cup
•Potato Starch - ¾ cup
•Quinoa Flour - 1 cup
•Rice Flour (White/Brown)- 7/8 cup
•Sorghum Flour - 1 cup
•Soy Flour - ¾ cup
•Sweet Rice Flour - 7/8 cup
•Tapioca Flour/Starch - 1 cup
•Teff Flour - 7/8 cup


Read more: http://bakingdesserts.suite101.com/article.cfm/wheatfree_glutenfree_baking#ixzz0Y6iuxT6L


“Corn starch has the same “thickening power” as arrowroot, potato starch and tapioca, and you should substitute the same amount. Corn starch has twice the “thickening power” of flour, so it’s necessary to use only half as much. Example: If recipe calls for 1/4 cup of flour, use just 2 tablespoons corn starch. (Retrieved from the Argo website).”

NOODLES WITH PEANUT SAUCEServes 2

Look for gluten-free tamari soy sauce as stores such as Whole Foods. This recipe can be halved or doubled easily,

6 ounces gluten-free spaghetti
2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons Asian toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons wheat-free tamari sauce, such as San-J Organic Tamari
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
2 garlic cloves, minced
Pinch red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons finely sliced green onions, dark green leaves discarded

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, add the pasta, and cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 7 minutes. Taste test often as brands differ.

Meanwhile, in a nonstick skillet (or a microwave), combine the peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, chicken broth, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. Heat very gently without boiling, and mix well — the peanut butter will melt into the sauce. Turn off the heat. Add the pasta, and toss together. Divide between 2 heated bowls, and top with the green onions.
This is from Jacqueline Mallorca, the gluten free expert. ( wrote two books )



Okay, to adopt a wheat free gluten free lifestyle, changes must be made. But change is good if the exchange is equitable in taste. It may not look like a four star bakery or eating establishment but if the taste is equal to what you close to expect of a food, then half the battle is won. Personally, the image must appeal to me. So I strive to accomplish a recipe that is worthy of a picture.

My choice of pie crust is Authentic Foods because it is made with almond flour, so delicate and tasty and great to handle and bake with. My choice of flour is Pamela's which never fails. Occasionally I will use 2/3 of the Pamela's and then some of the Authentic Foods Sweet Rice Flour ( not much ) and some sorghum flour, all added for sweetness and richness. My choice of sugar is brown rice syrup, organic agave, sometimes organic maple syrup and my new find, Z-sweet erthyritol ( Stevia ).

I have adhered to a wheat free gluten free diet for over two years now and I am conscious of how this has contributed to my overall health. I put together a mish mash of WFGF recipes in a cookbook for our patients in the office and since, have been able to take any recipe and modify it to my liking. This is the gold. To be able to create something worthy and safe for eating from the usual gourmet delicious basically sinful recipe.

My advice? To be patient with yourself. Strive to create taste you can live with and explore all the blogs and recipes that are tried and true. You may be surprised and stop feeling deprived.

Metals Creating Auto Immune

As a nutritional practice, we target one of the greatest killers of health on this planet. Most patients hold onto Metals in their body organs, metals that were absorbed from a myriad of places. I will touch on a few.

Mercury, the big elephant in the living room, has been ranted about via vaccine discussions. But did you know that Mercury resides in pesticides ( in soil, in products, especially your regular spraying professional outside the house ), in hemmorrhoid relieving products, water based paint, soft contact lens solutions, broken thermometers, the NEW squirrley looking lightbulbs, fungicides and in the olden days, merthiolate. Mercury is toxic to all cell membranes and suppresses the immune system. In the brain it creates a firewall between neurons thus shutting down the needed synapse. Areas of the body found: brain, nervous system, kidney, appetite and pain centers as well. Mercury can be handed down through generations; the only feasible account of why babies are tested positive even if not given a vaccine.

Aluminum is found naturally in the Earth's crust, atmospheric dust and even in drinking water. We find it in pickles, baking powder ( always buy the aluminum free), pastries, maraschino cherries, non-dairy creamers, table salt ( not sea salt ), processed cheeses, all antacids, aluminum cookware, aluminum treated white flour, aluminum foil, tobacco smoke, artificial colorings and pesticides.

It interferes with normal body functions and contributes to Alzheimer's, Parkinsons, Lou Gehrigs diseases and dialysis dementia. Areas of the body found: bones, stomach and brain.

Lead is a toxic environmental pollutant. There is airborne lead ( gasoline additives and industrial pollution), lead based paint, newsprint ( now I know why I sneezed and coughed when I read the paper and have since stopped the delivery ), colored ads, hair dyes and rinses, bone meal supplements, dolomite, soft coal, leaded glass, pewter, improperly glazed pottery or dinnerware, batteries, cigarette smoke, pesticides, fertilizers, certain cosmetics, rubber toys, dirt near garages,parks or empty lots of old factories. ( watch out for kids putting dirt and dust in their mouths!) Lead attacks the bones, liver, kidneys, heart, pancreas, brain and nervous system.

Nickel mines have been closed down in many cities because of its ill effects. It can be found in jewelry, dental prosthetic devices ( the newer ones carry 60-80% nickel), tobacco smoke, orthodontic appliances, auto/truck exhaust, superphosphate fertilizers, nickel cadmium batteries, hydrogenated fats and oils, acid foods like tomatoes cooked in stainless steel cookware.

Nickel can target the point of exposure,( i.e. contact dermatitis and gingivitis) skin and lungs.

Cadmium has always been a concern and you can find many items containing the metal with warning signs. I remember my watercolor instructor who was President of the Valley Watercolor Society, telling me that she had to stop painting with oils because she was routinely hospitalized, as it affected her lungs. She switched to watercolor. You find Cadmium in the air, in food and water. It is in industrial waste, rubber tires, welding, paint, auto exhaust, cigarette smoke, white flour, white rice, seafood, rubber carpet backings,sewage sludge.

Just for one minute think about the Earth homes created in the Southwest. The walls were made of clay, water, rubber tires and aluminum cans. Dennis Weaver built such a home in Ouray, Colorado on the side of a mountain. He died an early death. Just saying . . .

Cadmium inhibits many enzymes, nutrients and metabolic reactions. It increases blood pressure, creates kidney and liver damage, anemia, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and osteoporosis. Found in lungs, liver, kidneys, heart, blood vessels, brain, in people with loss of smells and appetite.

Much of what I listed affects memory, hemoglobin, learning ( creating disabilities ), contributes to headaches, anxiety, depression, loose teeth, abdominal problems, and tremors.

Is this not enough to investigate what you are exposed to? If you conduct your life with the cavalier ideology of oh well, its in everything, so I have to die of something then your wishes will be fulfilled. If you become pro-active and go green and carefully choose what you use as a product, what you allow your body to absorb, then you can fulfill more of an optimally healthy lifestyle. We are all masters of our ship ( the body ).

All of this information is very real. We have had the ability to test heavy metals and actually trace to where in the organ it is most prominent.

Getting wise to what surrounds us, what we ingest and inhale may make you look like a obsessive compulsive over-protective person, but why not? Aren't you worth it? Isn't this the prelude to perfect health?

Some ideas:

Roll up your windows on the road and freeways, especially around trucks.
Choose watercolor over oil paints for your creative art.
Choose cosmetics that are found safe.
Be careful choosing vintage jewelry and pewter items just because they look cool.
Buy safe toys for your children.
If you must hair dye, get samples from your stylist and be checked for how it affects your liver. Look at the ingredients.
Don't smoke or be around it.
Don't have your house sprayed for insects. We never have. If we see red ants, we use cayenne pepper on the ant hills. There are plenty of safe natural organic fertilizers that you can use. Go out of your way to look for it.
Use parchment paper instead of aluminum foil when baking.
Go green in using cleaning supplies and laundry cleaners. We do!

Take special interest in the health of you and your family now. Don't wait until it is cool to do so. It may be too late then.

Update on our Winter Garden

It was only a month or so ago when we planted for the winter. At that time, the heat wave was still lingering. Now that it is November,a cold front has hit us and the vegies are growing beautifully. We planted six beets, two red romaine ( one didn't make it with the winds), two buttercrunch lettuce, six spinach which are growing nicely, a whole box of sugar peas growing in leaps and bounds up the trellis already, four arugula which is prolific, four red onions, six heirloom deer tongue lettuce which are my personal favorite and four red leaf ( red sail lettuce ). No pests, no insects and not much water needed.

I step out there in the garden and pull the lower leaves of lettuce for salad almost every night we are home. Its buttery, peppery, fresh.

I have one empty earth box left that we may either plant carrots and radishes and scallion seeds or kale or swiss chard. The nights get down to 37 degrees now mid November and I worry about freeze. Maybe I need to cover the kids with shade cloth.

A Celestial Child

She almost didn't come halfway through the gestation. A growth almost her size that resided in her mother's uterus crowded her space. The Doctors at Cedars Sinai would hover around the Intensive care bed while the beeps and whistles of machines and the hysterical cries of her mother filled the silence. Her amniotic fluid was diminishing. How could she survive? But she did through an act of God.

Nika Annabella came into our world on October 16, 1996. Her spikey hair and her wide open smile enchanted every one she gazed upon. From that moment, she touched us in immeasurable ways. Her mother, my baby sister, carried her alone, a treasured backpack during the course of her struggling years as an actress and dance instructor. She took up residence with my parents. The first two years of her life, Nika created a warm glow in the hearts of her grandparents and her grandmama. Nika became the center core of their daily illuminations. Her laughter, her antics, her beaming love became the glue for the senior members of our family; the soft place they would fall into.

As Nika grew, her personality flowered but never strayed from the core elements of compassion, sweetness, ( never disingenuous), smartness beyond her years, and a teasing humor that satisfies. She built her nest of strength around her family, her love of music ( piano and vocals ), her agility in dance, performance and theater at such a young age. Early on, gymnastics called to her. The advent of inner discipline came into her being. She devoted herself, solidly practicing as would an Olympic enthusiast, without parental urging, to reach a level of expertise. During this trial of honing the craft of sport agility, she engaged in the love of academics. A string of A's followed her many courses of advanced study. Science and math were not her only forte'. She balanced it all with the arts and languages. I remember one day around the family table she spoke Russian to me.

I think the finest hour ( and there are many ) was her drive to be the angel to those either less fortunate in mind, body or spirit, or to show a kinder way to those who tried to harm her with insults. I am talking about a child from age four or five when she consciously seemed aware of her imprint on society, to her present age of 13 years. In all my 62 years of life, in all my travels, I have not found one person who has measured up to her inner peace that exudes like a Tibetan monk, her consistent demonstration of love in all adverse moments, her sage philosophy compressed in her small child mind that chooses to see the better, the wiser, the more reasonable, the more logically sane approach to any situation. Does it boggle my mind? Oh yeah.

I am most honored to be this sweet person's godmother, who held her cuddly body over a baptismal font ( which I poured water from the River Jordan into )and prayed over her spiritual life which had already taken hold visibly.

Each day she pours her love into all of us, tightly wrapping her arms around us with a vastness of deep love perhaps none of us can know the depth of, and with that uncondtional love she helps us regrow a new heart.

This is the celestial child of the Universe who has yet to show us of what she is made of but the preface of this story has us all hooked. The Chapters of her life have yet to be realized. Nika will continue to perform, as a grand dame, an old soul, a messenger of God with angelic wings ( of which metaphorically says, rise up over your troubled life and see the brightness of tomorrow!)

It does not surprise that Nika has wanted to follow the path of healing since she was young enough to say the words." I want to be a Doctor, maybe a children's Doctor". The future is a promise land for this beautiful one. Happy 13th Birthday Nikster you have made our world so complete!

What is Shifting?

Cycles. And I don't mean bicycles. We are influenced by what is shifting and we think we are losing our minds.

Take the Moon and the Sun. It has been noted that if we drew a straight line from the Moon through the Earth to the Sun we can be assured that the Moon and Sun's forces are in harmony; working together. But when the Moon and Sun are at right angles to each other with respect to the Earth then the forces are in contradiction. Tides are the result of how the Triad is working. We have cycles that affect our bodies, our weather, our financial markets, how we develop a habit or how long it takes to break the habit, how we manage our circadian rhythms especially in travel or disruptive events of our lives. We see cycles in how our hair grows and animal habitat and trees and plants. Politics, economics, war, earthquakes and volcanoes. Cycles occur in many third world countries in relation to floods or monsoons.

Haven't we heard all our lives that History repeats itself? What are we in a never ending tunnel of repetition? How do we stop the madness as a world?

Maybe it is simply a learning tool so we can discern order, chaos, patterns. Maybe it is a way to evaluate balance; the rise and the fall, the cause and effect. Maybe it is a way to see synchronicity because certain times cycles do that. Do all cycles run in a circle and return to their original starting point? Many say no. That cycles do not always repeat, but are not always isolated either. They are influenced by other cycles.

Well, I will leave that study in the hands of the expert forecasters and economic analysts. My point is on higher ground.

Are we the perpetrators of the shifting and cyclic trends or are we just the observers?

On a small scale I know people who are bent on self-fulfilled prophecies. They dream it, wish it and manifest it, good or bad. Because everything ultimately is subconscious. I guess that depends on your original mind construct.

What is important really? I would vote on shifting consciousness, magnetic shifts, shifting of priorites, and on a humorous note, staying clear of shifty people.

Earthbox Gardening

Gardening is in my blood. I had a grandfather who amassed acres of land turning it into farmland in South Plainfield, NJ and I grew up running through fields of vegetables, and fruit orchards from the time I was four years old. We ate fresh gagoots (zucchini) that grew like baseball bats and corn shooting up to tower above fences. The Italian immigrants harvested huge barrels of tomatoes that my grandmother cooked down in the garage to make sauce she canned for the rest of the year. Think of the fragrances that were carried by the summer winds. Peppers, eggplants, watermelons. I'm sure there was more, but my child like mind was fascinated by climbing trees for the luscious apples. In winter, the pumpkins and the skating with our slippery galoshes across an icy pond. Nothing but pasture land enveloped our small village of ranch homes and farmland.

Those were the days when you could catch fireflies on a summer night in a jar and let them free after watching them glow. Those were the days picking concord grapes from the vine,squeezing the tough purple skins and slurping them into my mouth. I relished watching my grandfather pick snails up from the ground he would cook in his stew. The word babaluche stuck in my head although the correct terminology is Lumache. Perhaps it was his Sicilian dialect. I had no idea how he prepared them in some kind of tomato sauce, but I acknowledge the affinity for snails followed me all my adult life. Mostly smothered in garlic buttery sauce. The Greeks and the French make sure their seal is broken, and they are boiled in salted water for 20 minutes, then that water is changed several times until the green slime is lost. Finally cooked, it is covered with wine in a bowl until used in stews.

When our seven family members made the exodus from the east coast to California, in the cramped Ford station wagon with the wood panels, many of us old enough to realize, felt a profound sadness. As if we lost some part of our spirit once living among nature never to be revitalized. It was held in memory but never forgotten. Consequently, my father planted a patch of garden vegetables and most certaintly, Italian herbs.

Now, as an older adult, I weep for the lack of interest in gardening in our young generation. Putting hands into the soil is like being touched by Mother Creation. How can you not be changed in some profound way?

We found property eight years ago in the canyons. A developer had cleared part of a mountain that could have, may have, contained elements not found in most areas. I thought at the time, well, Gold was discovered just miles from here before Sutters Mill. Could there be gold in them thar hills? After the building of the house and the clearing away of debris, I answered myself. No. Just rotten clay soil that killed four of my trees that I planted and numerous vegetables. Frustration took hold and I almost gave up with the added problem of critters coming down into the canyon. I felt violated even though I wanted so badly to be part of the environment.

My husband and son gave me a gift. They spent a day under a summer sun on the other side of the iron fencing digging a tightly woven chicken wire fence that would most certaintly prevent anything, including possums and rabbits, from entering our yard, save the birds. The thirty foot extreme drop on the other side of the fence was too annoying to coyotes. For the first time, our bushes were not munched on and our flowers thrived.

Soil still being unusable, we invested in Earthboxes. We secured eight, followed the directions and planted away. We have six massive tomato plants, two eggplant plants, six various cucumber plants, six various pepper plants, four zucchini plants and we are enjoying at long last, a clean, easy to manage garden. My mind is already twirling with ideas for the winter garden. I hope to have several boxes devoted to lettuce. I am looking forward to kale, chard, broccoli, peas, cauliflower, spinach and more. This is the most ideal pest free manner of gardening and it brings forth abundance, continually. Just when I am thinking well, looks like the zucchini is done, bata bing, another two or three shoots become a surprise to my eyes. Do I recommend this type of gardening to everyone? oh yeah.

A Most Extraordinary Gentleman

My Italian Father is 90.5 years old. He lives decades past many of the seniors in his retired community or in our convoluted ancestral family. His parents, Guiseppe and Isabelle emerged from the seacoast of Bari, the second largest city in Southern Italy. In olden times, Bari was controlled by the Greeks and then the Romans. Guiseppe left this plane long before I was born and Isabelle who could only master some broken English, continued to live in her humble brownstone apartment in Utica, New York for some decades longer. To describe her as a sweet and tender woman would not be justified enough.

My Dad, Frank, was one of three sons and grew up on the fighting streets of New York selling newspapers to earn a small income "to help the family out". They were a poor family with immigrant roots and learned how to survive in the worst of times. It was commonplace to hear stories of the long walks in the snow and the inability to have some of the simple comforts but Dad endured all of it. It was no wonder that he joined the Army and came home with a Purple Heart. He served in North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, France and Germany. Before all that, he was stationed in Pearl Harbor for three years and here is a story for the record. Before the attack, as life would have it, his Father became ill and he went home to be with him for a while. If he had been in Pearl Harbor when the Japanese bombs hit, his famous line to me was, YOU, my daughter, would not have been born. So, it appears, the grandfather I never met, saved the day and allowed my Father to choose another window of survival.

My Dad met Mom in French class in New York, after he returned from the War and irritated the hell out of her because his version of French was street French. The light of heaven descended on their love, as no one will question, they are soul mates. They married in a glorious wedding and had six kids, batta bing.

However, the purpose of this tribute to Dad is multifaceted. He is probably the most mellow, loving, generous, forgiving, compassionate man I know. He worked all his life seriously long hours to provide parochial schooling for his six children, to tithe to his Church, to make sure enough food was on our groaning table, to take care of his Mom and brothers back home, to sustain us all in a small ranch home, to build a large swimming pool and then care for my grandmother in many ways, who lived on our property for 30 years. Dad always found a way to buy each of us kids a used car and then to take care of all the repairs. His devotion to sports be it coaching, critiquing or opinionating with his two boys was unsurpassed. Not a week or weekend would fly by that he didn't sit on some bleacher and if not, the game was on the television. "Frank!" My Mother would yell, "Shut the TV, food is on the table!" He had mastered watching a game without sound between slurps of pasta, his other major love.

His fascination with history, reading, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum movies, golf, growing his vegetable garden and his friends who shared the bleacher bench, was the highlight of his life. His religious devotion and love of God is extraordinary. You would find him picking up a book on any spiritual subject often to soothe his soul.

Dad traveled to Europe many times with Mom, I think we counted 13 trips to Europe, many to Italy alone and he would often say to me, I could die a happy man just sitting at the edge of Lake Como with a glass a wine in my hand and a plate of vongole.

His wisdom stays with us and his humor, witty and dry and most hilarious and joyous. No this is not a confused man about his priorities or a man without memories and appreciation for life and his family. His life is more fragile these days, tearful over the most emotional events, soaking up the essence of what is most important, what is most gratifying. Above all,he is my hero and my inspiration for living a life of stewardship and dedication to purpose. Ah! Salute' Daddy!

A Son for All Seasons

When he was seven years old, our son told us his real name was Ancontowasa. He drew some ancient symbol that could have spearheaded his destiny; likened to an imprimatur on a warrior's shield. He was not especially surrounded by the Native Tribe realm nor did he migrate to one particular religious thought. He did draw many other pictures including his affection for the name and it provided deep comfort.

The manner of expression and feeling about his name followed him all his life. There were times he would label his music demo with it, other times some genius abstract or otherworldly piece of art. Later in life he alluded that it codified some part of his essence, his multi-dimensional self. There was never any doubt or fear; rather an embracing.

The strength of his mind allowed him to heal himself of the usual childhood afflictions, one horrific accident where he was hit by a car at the delicate age of 13, and later, his penchant for using an imagined blue light towards any part of his body, i.e. knee surgery, and once, a deep gash in his foot falling off a trampoline at the Burning Man Festival. In all cases, sutures were required and in all cases, pain medication was replaced by his healing technique.

He is a Son for all Seasons by which I mean, however the wind blows he welcomes it. We are all usually fragile human beings. How often do we encounter ones that are not? My son is stalwart. When he was not quite into his twenties he asked the Universe, God, his guardians, his higher self, to not ever fall into the clutches of fear. Abject fear. The kind that paralyzes you and takes you down the forbidden paths of desperation. He saw in his early twenties a vision of his life in a sequential pattern. So far, fourteen years later, it has been pretty true to form. His instincts match mine. We are telepathic and symbiotic in nature. The umbilical cord was never cut it seems. Intuitively he masters his life. If it creates a lesson, he learns profoundly and laughs at himself. People that know him, want to be him. At the risk of sounding smotherly or egoic, he is the gentle giant that will lead people out of their funks ( darkness ).

The colorful art he creates is whimsical and cavernous, tunnels beneath our secret selves thus showing us the true mirrors of what we feel and must know. He excelled in college past the earmark of whatever he attempted. Pottery instructors would warn him of his risky attempts at creation, yea, he manifested the impossible. Musicians would stand in awe at his rapid fire music and guitar playing, a renaissance man without formal training. A bit of a prodigy, they would muse. When he directed or wrote a play or took on insurmountable feats by celebrity artists it seemed to not phase him at the ripe old age of 21. When he scripts screenplays and designs a masterful production plan, it comes from a place he knows not of. To him, he is led. He listens to his inner voice and has been known to get out of bed in the middle of the night, drive to Hollywood, sit on the curb and talk to a homeless man and then walk into a coffee house to meet a man who would later become a brother-friend in music. You have to ask yourself, who is this man?

He is my son who has a destiny very real to his conscious self. He prefers to not call attention to its grandness but rather envelope it into his positivity. He sees the world as it should be. He carries the inner knowing of yes, what can happen and then what must happen to set it right again. Occasionally he will watch the news events and most often, he walks away from it. He reads only uplifting works. He admires those that have come before him. Children know his energy and migrate to his softness. Women want to have him all for their own. Family members find him amusing and entertaining. Friends know he is the safe place they can fall without judgment or advisement unless he senses they are in a danger zone. Co-workers do not know his secret angle of distributing his charisma. He is the honest one. The fall down hilarious one with impersonations complete with dialect. He is the one that can take something damn serious and make it light and funny so you will always see the light cast on it in a different way.

I am the mother imperfecto. He is the classic generator of joy, be it cooking gourmet with me in our kitchen or slicing and dicing a new movie we saw together, or sharing each others inhuman day. We have it, its gold and beyond blessed, beyond what is true, he is the Son of all Seasons.

Bleep Hitting the Fan

Perhaps these economically oppressed times create more unity than divisiveness. The school of hard knocks has hit everyone I know including moi. But I believe in an outreached hand that serves others, thus serving self. The tribal societies knew how to handle drought and famine. The Amish clans gathered round, villages across the world rely on their seasoned strategies to pick themselves up as a family unit. This is not known well enough in the civilized world; in the United States of America.

I read the Wall Street Journal recently. Detroit Michigan is suffering. 900,000 people and they now have only 4 Starbucks. Dear God, they are forced to make their own coffee! No national grocery chain exists in the city and Borders bookstore is 40 miles away. I won't go into the outrage of crashing employment at 22.8% via the auto industry in Detroit. Thirty percent is on food stamps. These statistics, I've read, are the highest in our United States. Will these people move like caravans out of their home state? Or will they learn to farm and create co-ops? What kind of creativity are they aspiring to in order to offset their calamity? Will they sit and feel hopeless, helpless? What is the plan for these folks? Because all of America looks upon them with great compassion and wonder. How will a new life be created?

I have known many friends who have left their home post and planted themselves near country living in states where rivers and forests still reside. To have the sacred land your backyard playground seems unimaginable to city dwellers, if even to learn how to build, plant, nurture gardens for our birds and bees, for human nutrition. To me, that is returning the trust to Mother Earth, where it should be always given exclusively; not to the corporate collective greed of tearing down nature for more and more housing, roads, strip malls, mega malls.

At least we have control on these issues. There are things threatening the planet we have no control over, like the diminished solar activity which many solar physicists have theorized could be due to the breach in the magnetosphere. Some astronomical societies say their helioseismological equipment registers a jet stream deep inside the sun making it migrate slower. This puzzles them because it has been happening over 2 years. Magnetosphere breach disrupting the coronal holes of the sun? I know, its so hard to look outside of our everyday problems.

Have we entered a new phase of thinking about WHAT we should really think about?

Everything is a circle. Are we returning to our roots? I was raised on a massive farm in New Jersey. I have a deep yen to return to that peace. I was in touch with all of nature. That grounded me. Cell phones, loud pharmaceutical commercials, raging mufflers on the road, long lines to anywhere entertaining, extreme markup on food and necessities, computer addiction and such do not ground me. Was that another life to be reincarnated as the end of the circle? Baby boomers are restless. They basically do not know why until they go to an isolated campsite or a trip on a floating houseboat or a slide down a remote mountain. I used to feel like a bird when I skied at the top of June Mountain. All I could hear was the wind and the shoosh of snow. I remember telling myself, you are one with the mountain as I skied past squirrels in trees.

Am I going to take the dive when the bleep hits my fan? Well, I do know one thing. I will take the @#%& lemons and make lemonade.

Meaningful Lyrics

The Native Americans used to say, "Sound holds this world together". They were referring to the elements of sound, its tone and frequency. I am not a musician, though I would like to be and perhaps will fulfill that before I kiss this planet goodbye, but I do fall into the percentage of the listening public that knows when a certain sound resonates within. I go further. I believe in the lyrical component. What do the words really say and where is the emphasis?

Parents are outraged by certain rap verses and right they are because what changes the internal mindset or construct of a person, child, is the language that accompanies the beat of the drum. Now that we are blessed with internet, lyrics are easily obtained for any song. Youtube watchers can pick out a video that has lyrics flashing across the screen as well. Very cool for us baby boomers who strain to hear "huh? what was that word?" Now its in print because often, lyrics are not in the CD jacket anymore. And why not?

Just for fun I will list some of my favorite lyrics, and sorry you will have to just hum the tune of the song. Stop and Stare by One Republic: "Stop and stare, I think I'm moving but I go nowhere, yeah I know that everyone gets scared, but I've become what I can't be, Stop and Stare, you start to wonder why you're here not there and you'd give anything to get whats fair, but fair ain't what you really need, oh you don't need." Our kids trying to grow older may be pushed to think this way. Its a window into the soul of that kind of kid.

Praying for Time by George Michael: I must admit I also enjoyed the Carrie Underwood rendition on American Idol. "These are the days of the open hand, they will not be the last, Look around now, These are the days of the beggars and the choosers, This is the year of the hungry man, whose place is in the past, hand in hand with ignorance and legitimate excuses, the rich declare themselves poor and most of us are not sure, if we have too much but we'll take our chances cause God stopped keeping score . . ." Wow, well that packed it in didn't it? It finished with " Its hard to love, there's so much hate, hanging onto hope, when there is no hope to speak of and wounded skies above say its much too late." And to think this song was composed long before we experienced the downshaft of economy in our nation/world.

Remember Into the West by Annie Lennox (credit roll Lord of the Rings )? "What can you see, on the horizon, why do the white gulls call? Across the sea, a pale moon rises, the ships have come to carry you home. Dawn will turn to silver glass, a light on the water, all souls pass, into the west." Okay, this is a 3 hankie song. Sometimes I feel it was written to memorialize a soul making its transition to the next world.

There is a new one now that stirs the soul. A Note To God by Charise. She didn't compose it but her mighty voice is startling. " Give us the strength to make it through, help us find love cause love is overdue, and it looks like we haven't got a clue. Need some help from you, grant us the faith to carry on, give us hope when it seems all hope is gone, cause it seems like so much is going wrong, on this road we're on." Whew! I guarantee whoever hears this will be stopped. The momentum it creates rocks the inside of your chest wall. I sit back and think about lyrics that are the cause and eruption of what resonates as truth within my heart. I think it is a way for us to re-think our living and believing. I bow before any musical composer or singer who can translate this language of the soul to the people of this world. I think the most unfair experience is to be deaf. The deaf community is exempt from the beauty of song. How is their world held together?

Change Your Mind, Change The World

One of the important risks we take in life is expressing ourselves in print; a greeting card, a discussion forum, a script or a book, a school essay, the Q and A of the local newspaper's editorial column, a letter to someone we love ( or hate ), a poster or sign, a journal or diary we keep in our drawer, or an internet blog. There is where I will begin.

Why blog? Why not? We all have something to say or spit saliva about. But for those who think not, it may not necessarily be the end of the journey. Musicians express through chords. Singers express through song. Painters through art. Sculptors through sculpting. I just may be the person who has always thought that writing evokes emotion that feels more lasting and complete. A way to sum up our thoughts in a more concrete way that is ours, not shared or copied or capitalized on.

Beginning with the idea of changing your mind captures the essence of progression and growth and its exactly the surprise we can give ourselves that ignites our flame. Whatever that flame is.

Here is the interesting thing most people may not know about mind. It is not part of the brain which resides in the confines of the skull in the human frame that receives and sends messages. Mind is quantum and exists where only quantum can exist; outside the human body, in the electrical field. Wow. Now that puts a whole new slant on things. Could it be that mind can access the knowledge of the cosmos? Could it be that mind could possess the particles of all healing as it resides in the grid of light? Wow again.

I learned something about the DNA. We were all taught that DNA is in the nucleus of the cell. It is the protein making ( synthesizing ) machine of our bodies. Here is where it becomes fascinating. By drawing transcendentally on the Quantum Potential residing in the electrical field ( black hole, white hole) through the idea of perception/belief, we can change how the cell membrane changes shape and how the DNA will respond. Read the book THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF by Dr. Bruce Lipton and further, VIRUS OF THE MIND by Richard Brodie.Bottom line, what you believe changes your mind and changes how you perceive something. All translates to health and how the cells respond.

Do I believe by changing an energy frequency changes the world? I do. Each particle washes over many particles that are privy to our touch, our vision, our exhanges. One thread of many interweaving in the giant grid.