I love singing old fashion songs to my grandchildren.  This one (I Bought Me a Cat)  was Gracie's favourite this trip. 

Not much. Not "stuff".  It will all end up in the landfill or turn to dust.
 impermanence rules!

I am giving "stuff" away daily so I don't have to dust it, wash it, move it, store it, pack it.
I actually had an expensive bar of soap that was 35 years old.  I opened it  yesterday and used it for my bath.  It was Klorane Rosemary and assorted herbs for combination skin.  I haven't had combination skin for at least 25 years. It was 1973 when I bought it with my first paycheque after my husband left me.  I made $125/week and spent $7.00 for this bar of soap as some big statement of something.  I giggle about it now.

The books are going too and the clothes from eras past. Some things I treasured that belonged to my mom and dad, some of my lovely wedding gifts - Moorcroft vase, Japanese tea set, mean nothing to my kids.  These are my memories, not theirs.
So my friends who admire anything, get it.  This is what my grandmother did.  Anything you admired in her house, she would give it to you.  I remember going home with a new frying pan, a Wiley Coyote hand puppet, and marshmallow cookies because I made some favourable remark about each thing she showed me.

I am saving myself from clutter and from my children saying, "what was Mom thinking keeping all this old stuff/junk".

Life is unfolding and All is Well - ADJUST!
Some assembly required.  DO try this at home!

Indian Scientists -  J. C. Bose --He was a genius!  We don't hear enough about all the brilliant Indian scientists.  He gave away the Bose Radio technology. 

---

Beyond Contemporary Comprehension

Do plants have feelings? Do they suffer pain like us? Can their feelings be detected, or even ‘measured’?


Jagdish Chandra Bose, a distinguished Indian scientist, announced his discovery to an astonished world in 1900. At an international conference of physicists in Paris, and later in England, Bose proved plants respond to pain and suffering much like humans, even when the plants are cut or transplanted. To prove his theory, Bose invented an instrument called the Resonate Recorder that was so sensitive it could record the subtlest of changes inside a plant. Using his theory and experiments as a basis, Bose moved to boldly challenge the blurred line between living things and non-living things. He demonstrated that even so-called non-living things like metals respond to different stimuli. The only things lacking were sensitive instruments to empirically record those responses, and an open-mind to think the seemingly impossible. The genius within Bose quickly created these instruments which are even today considered a marvel of technology. But even hundred years after his research and experiments, our minds perhaps fail to comprehend the insights and significance of his work.


History proves here was a man more than a century ahead of his time. Yet a few among his peers in the international community of scientists greatly admired his work. They acknowledged only an Indian mind could have come up with this kind of insight, and that this discovery could revolutionize scientific thinking itself.


Born on 30th November, 1858, in Mymensingh, Bengal, Jagdish Chandra Bose was fascinated by the world and its phenomena around him from a very early age. His father, a deputy collector in British-ruled India, deliberately sent him to a Bengali school to instill a love for Indian values and life in young Jagdish. He was later sent to a hostel in an English school in Calcutta. After his graduation from Sr. Xavier’s College in Calcutta, Bose left for England in 1880 for further studies. In 1884, Bose took his B.A degree in the natural sciences with Physics, Chemistry, and Botany, from Cambridge, and simultaneously a B.Sc degree from the University of London.


On his return, Bose became the officiating Professor of Physics at the prestigious Presidency College in Calcutta in 1885. Unfortunately, British India discriminated against non-white teachers, and offered him only two-thirds the salary. The unhappy Bose devised a noble way of protesting: he continued teaching with dedication for three years, but refused to collect his salary. Finally, his protest had its impact. A common payscale was introduced and he received his pending dues as well.


Setting up a lab with his own money, Bose kept experimenting, especially in electromagnetic waves. In 1895, in front of a packed audience he sent radio waves that traveled through a wall to ring an electric bell 75 feet away. In one stroke, he ushered in the world of wireless as we know it. Two years later, the Italian scientist Marconi based his wireless on the work of Bose, for which Marconi was later conferred with the Nobel Prize. Sure, Bose could have patented his work, won the Nobel prize instead, and made millions with his inventions. An educated man, Bose knew about patents and the commercial implications of his work. But beyond his knowledge, he carried a wisdom that few in today’s greed-driven and money-obsessed world can appreciate. In May 1901, Bose wrote to his friend, the famed Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore: “...the proprietor of a reputed telegraph company...came himself with a Patent form in hand...He proposed to take half of the profit and finance the business in the bargain. This multi-millionaire came to me abegging. My friend, I wish you could see that terrible attachment for gain in this country, that all engaging lucre, that lust for money and more money. Once caught in that trap there would have been no way out for me."


In fact, exasperated by his attitude, Bose’s other friends obtained a patent for him from the US in 1904, but Bose never encashed it. His surprising anti-patent policy is best understood through his humility: Bose firmly believed and proclaimed that his work was not new, that the ancient sages and saints of India knew these undiscovered secrets of nature thousands of years ago and he was merely re-discovering them for himself. Sharing his knowledge so freely was his greatest wealth, his greatest reward.


He set up the Bose Temple of Learning in Calcutta in 1917 which trains international scientists even today. Bose received numerous accolades and recognition through his lifetime. He died on 23 November 1937. But even today he makes news. According to the June 1997 edition of the journal published by the U.S.-based Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE), one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world, installed at the National Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, U.S., was built on a device originally developed by Bose.

I was so moved by this man's story.  He made a decision one day, after seeing two oil tankers collide, to not use any motorized vehicle, and to stop speaking.  He did it for 17 years.  This is such a fabulous story of how his life went by making those decisions.  He has such a calming voice, and such an important message for all of us to consider and put into practice each day.  Hope you enjoy it too. 

The big day was Sunday Nov. 23!  This time Liza did not get lost.  In fact, she arrived early - a huge grin on her beautiful face.  She is like a little doll, so cute and adorable, and sweet, and funny, lovely and loving,  and saucy.  She has a $$$$million dollar smile as you can tell from all her photos.  She had made some fried rice that smelled yummy right at the door, and brought some spring rolls. We got in a little girl talk before Maze arrived.

I hoped he wouldn't get stopped at the border because of the apple pie.  He made it from Buffalo to Niagara Falls, Ontario in record time.  He was struggling with a big brown bag and a big pie box.  Lots of goodies - 2 kinds of fancy sushi, Polish sausages, lucious creamy ice-cream for the pie he had made with his very own  hands.

He looked good - all neat and well-groomed - was that his army training? or his Polish mother telling him always wear clean clothes when you go out.  He looked fashionable, his daughters had given him some serious talking about matching stuff up.  Maze smells really nice - like fresh clean line dried -laundry. 

Liza and Tom snapped lots of photos.  I am going to ask Santa for a digital camera so I can join in the fun.  Why Liza likes to take pics of my bookshelf is a mystery to me, though looking at it right now, it is pretty interesting visually.  She took a picture through the screen of my balcony.  Both Maze and Liza take interesting photos. Liza and I don't like how we look in any photos.  Maze doesn't care how he looks.

We talked about everything - what women talk about with women, yoga, proper breathing (complete breath), pot, sex, what women find physically appealing about men - Liza likes facial hair, I like men with nice hands and forearms.  We didn't ask Tom what he liked.  He did roll up his sleeves to display his arms and told us some macho stuff about men having to have strong arms.  We talked about pot, baking the pie, mentioned Martha, Morningstar and many other  different friends on Gaia, pot, gurus, Catholics, Buddhists, pot, sex, Playboy, whether covergril/centerfol Carol Alt's boobs were real - I said" phoney - they're circular", but maze didn't care if they were real or not.

Maze went into the bathroom and said he wasn't going to put the seat up and  he was going to pee on the seat.  He is such a naughty boy, a real trouble-maker.  I warned him (probably his mother and wife have  too) not to pee on the seat, and to put the seat down, and don't pee on the rim either or if you do, at least have the decency to get some of the old 3-ply there and wipe up your dribbles.  After he left I inspected the complete unit and found he had heeded my warning.   Maze makes up stories about me, so I can make up stuff or exaggerate (sp?) what really happened or was said.

I had arranged the medicine cabinet slightly to give it a more casual look just in case he looked in there.  He said in his blog that he didn't look, but I don't believe him because he lies about stuff in such an adorable way.  If I get to his house ever, I will definitely look in his medicine cabinet, booby-trapped or not.

When I told someone that I had some friends coming to visit me that I had met on-line, they were horrified --"You're going to let STRANGERS into your house!?!?"
With a giant smile on my face, I said "Yep, twice!"  Let's make it a Triple Play.  Pot.

An odd question that implies something in the future, something unattainable now.  I scratched my head a few times.  Why would thankfulness be a future event?  My head hurt thinking, thinking.  No more thinking, this is it. Apply within.

Grace Carole Rose J......, my grandaughter, my Heart's Delight!
 
Of course I think she is quite magical.  Born at home, delivered by her father with instructions from the 911 operator, she came into the world quietly purring, smiling, with highly visible eyebrows.  The midwives & paramedics arrived after her exit and entrance.
 
 She loves to say;
"Do you know my name is Gwace Cawole Wose J.....?
I say, "yes, I know.  Do you know mimi's real name is Carole?" 
She just looks shocked when I say that.  "No, you're mimi!"