Joined
June 22, 2007
JOINED
Heart beat of man pounding - yet unheard joined becomes the beat of a nation.
Words of man written - yet unread joined becomes a proclamation.
Sounds of man spoken - yet unheard joined becomes a production .
Lines of man drawn - yet unrecognized joined becomes an illustration.
Beings of man humming - yet forgotten joined becomes a celebration.
Patterns of man created - yet invisible joined becomes a new universe.
Joined we become recognized.
Susan “Sue” Bacon Trumpfheller is an author, teacher, researcher and coach. Sue works with her clients to use subtle energies to create their supportive environments. You can contact her at http://www.ecoentrepreneur.org
Creative Christmas Gifts
June 21, 2007
Christmas is always the time of year we consider to be the best opportunity to give something special to someone and show how much we appreciate him or her. The mall is full of wonderful, shiny and delicious gifts and the Internet offers countless items that we can send to someone without ever seeing the product in person. But sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be the perfect idea for one or two individuals. That’s probably when you need to become creative with your Christmas gift ideas.
Purchase a small pine tree. It can be living (usually costs around $6.00 for a small potted one it a nursery) or an artificial one. Consider who the gift is intended for when deciding which type of pine to purchase. Decorate the tree appropriately for the intended recipient. If there is an individual who loves a certain type of dog, decorate the tree with that type of dog as the focus. If they don’t have a particular interest that you feel you can decorate around, hand make your own ornaments and use them to hang on the tree. Present this very personal gift to make a special memory for someone.
Spruce Up Your Pages with Scrapbooking Embellishments
June 20, 2007
Having this nagging doubt that you may upstage your precious photos or clutter your pages with scrapbooking embellishments?
One moment you’re just so tempted to paste the embellishment onto your page, and the next moment you’re questioning yourself, “Should I? Should I not?" You even wonder if you’re just trying to force that simply irresistible page accent onto your page to satisfy your craving for? more embellishments.
Well, you’re in good company. I still remember the first time I encountered packets and packets of wondrous embellishments. My eyes sparkled with enthusiasm, and my heart fluttered in excitement and the truth was, I simply can’t decide. What a rush!
So for anyone who loves scrapbooking embellishments, we have to learn some balancing acts and avoid falling into the trap of overwhelming the pages with loads of such page accents.
Here’s some tips for you to consider when you’re holding that simply irresistible piece of embellishment in your hand, and pausing for that momentous decision.
TIPS:
- If it distracts people from your photos, you might be better off saving that piece of embellishment for another page. Let’s remind ourselves that photos form the essence of scrapbooking, not embellishments.
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Web
June 19, 2007
I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them. The probability of that obviously is very low but laws of probability have often been known to falter at the crucial test of reality. For example, there is a statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they’d eventually comes up with the complete works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we now know this isn’t true.
One foggy winter morning, I went walking into the marshy lands of Keoladeo National Park, a protected reserve frequented by birds from all over the place. I went looking for pelicans, ducks, herons and the coveted Siberian cranes. It was very early in the morning, I was hoping to be the proverbial early bird and catch the worm, which, for me, ironically enough, were the breakfast hunting birds themselves. The fog was heavy and it was a long wait. So my bored mind wandered down insignificant thought patterns and my eyes no longer being guided by any conscious thought went on to wander on their own. So technically speaking it wasn’t me who discovered these spider webs, it was my vagabond eyes. But they quickly caught the fascination of my idle mind as well.
Where Do Great Ideas Come From?
June 19, 2007
At a Photo Club meeting I attended recently, the President made a comment on another meeting he had attended, where someone in the audience asked the presenter where to find good subjects to photograph. The presenter in question started giving specifics instead of identifying the core issues in question, Attitude and Perspective.
Clients often ask me the same question about ideas, "Where or how does one come up with a good idea for a business or service, for a new product to develop or a theme for an ad?" Oddly enough, the answer is the same; it depends on your attitude and perspective because inspiration is everywhere. Everywhere around you, there are clues to great ideas but you have to be receptive to see or hear them. Once you are open to really listening and observing, you tend to notice things you weren’t aware of in the past. It’s sometimes uncomfortable to look at the world around you and respond to it differently than others do, but it can be very rewarding.
Is the world around you a place of abundance and opportunity or a difficult barren place? Do you think of life as a constant struggle or an adventure?
Woodworking ? Creative, Relaxing and Timeless
June 18, 2007
The title reflects Woodworking as a hobby, not as a vocation. Vocational woodworking is pretty much the opposite of the adjectives in the title because of the intense pressure to produce quickly in order to make it pay the bills. So we’ll stick with the hobby orientation for purposes of this article.
Many people start a project with very little thought. This is okay if you are working from plans, material lists and cutting lists in a woodworking magazine, but when you strike out on your own, this lack of planning often results in a project that becomes very difficult to manage somewhere in the middle, when more wood needs to be added, or, more often, the final piece has to shrink just a little to make do. The project gets less fun as measurement adjustments keep being made to the original plan to keep the modified parts fitting with each other. It’s kind of like playing chess with a saw, anticipating three moves ahead what the measurements are going to have to be because of the one deviation you made three steps ago.
How to Host Thankgiving Dinner and Enjoy it Anyway
June 17, 2007
You’ve been nominated; or perhaps your family has issued a decree; or perhaps it’s simply your turn. No matter what the reason, you’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year. This need not be a burden. In fact is can be a pleasure, given the right planning and organization.
I’ve found that the key to an almost effortless-looking dinner is thinking backward. Start your Thanksgiving planning by visualizing yourself, surrounded by family and friends at the dinner table, then work backward to determine how you got there. Ask yourself which foods took the least amount of preparation, which took the most. Write these things down in a list.
Now refine the list-but only slightly. Which dishes can be prepared the day (or evening) before? Which dishes need to be prepared that day? Which dishes need to be prepared within an hour of dinner?
At this point, you should have at least a vague idea of your plan of attack. So now it’s time to refine the list further. In fact, it’s time to begin to create a schedule. If you expect to serve dinner at 2:00 p.m., for example, and the turkey will take three hours to roast, then half hour to rest before carving, it needs to be in the oven at 10:15 a.m.
Scrapbooking Childrens Favorite Stories
June 16, 2007
Countless memories are built during the formative childhood days. If there’s an excellent means to record them down in some ways, it’ll be scrapbooking.
True, we can’t possibly capture every single event, but we can definitely scrap those more memorable ones onto pages.
If you’ve decided to scrapbook together with your kid, besides guiding them with little prompts on the journaling, you’ll probably need some neat ideas to pull in those best memories.
Here’s various hot-selling “stories” that you and your child can scrapbook about:
A) Story of the Birth of Baby
Kids love to read stories about themselves as babies. Having pages surrounding your child’s birth will make him or her feel how much he or she is wanted by the family.
- Photo of mommy pregnant with the baby.
- Who waited for the birth?
- Who came for the hospital visit?
- Weight, length, doctor, hospital details.
- Feelings of parents about the birth of your child.
- Funny stories that happened.
- Documenting baby milestones.
- What’s your kid’s favorite bedtime stories?
- Photo of your kid’s favorite toys.
Bleed
June 15, 2007
now is not the time to open open that great door again not the time to be more tolerant not the time to play to win
now is not the time for justice evolution mercy choices not the time to pet the puppies yipping with pathetic voices
now is not the time for kindness not the time for compromise not the time for loving blindness not the time to close my eyes
now for one too many people not that i have gained no good heart has sown but flesh is reaping tears to mind and wasted blood
now my inner wolf seeks equals only those whose chords can howl deadly whether lone or social defending young or on the prowl
tell me not that you would die upon the spines of my displeasure live for me and for you will i cherish each cell as if a treasure
put me not inside a cage but roam with me through snow and sun be by my side or breathe my dust for i shall bleed again for none
Niki Lasher Artist, Writer, and Webmatron http://www.kthulah.com
Giving Thanks
June 14, 2007
Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away? What does Thanksgiving mean to you? For many of us it means turkey, dressing, pies and all the other goodies that go along with it. It also means family. But what else does it mean?
There is a child’s prayer that I used to say when I was little that goes:
Thank you for the world so sweet, Thank you for the food we eat, Thank you for the birds that sing, Thank you God for everything.
Do you remember that prayer? So simple and yet when a child says it, there is such complete honesty and trust in it, isn’t there?
We all know that we are supposed to be thankful for the things that God blesses us with. And of course, we are. But sometimes when we are going through through difficult times in our lives, we don’t feel very thankful, do we?
Psalms 116:17 says, “To Thee I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord.”
What does that mean? It means that even in the midst of our fiery trials, we are to give thanks. Tall order sometimes, isn’t it?
