Kids ability to delay gratification predicts success in life. Kids need to learn to say no to themselves - use self-discipline.

Awe -inspiring!  Shows what  is possible by being organized and inspiring volunteers to participate in this challenge.   They cleaned up the whole country in just 5 hours!!!

Answering this question.

New Yorker cartoon:

Two Zen monks in robes and shaved heads, one young, one old, sitting side by side cross-legged on the floor. The younger one is looking somewhat quizzically at the older one, who is turned toward him and saying:

"Nothing happens next. This is it."

From Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn, in the chapter "This Is It":

So far, Everything has happened in my life.  Who knows what's coming next? not me....

What a great idea! foraging for the fruit in the city.  This made me think of Martha's oranges in Arizona.  When my friends visted a friend in Arizona, they were shocked to see oranges and grapefruits just lying on the ground under overladen trees.  They actually went and asked the neighbour if they could pick some of the fruit off the ground.  They did let these Canadian seniors gleefully harvest some of the fruit. We usually pay about $.50 to $1 per orange.

Besides the rise urban gardening,  more and more families are planting  vegetable gardens in their back yards.  The great surprise is that the kids are more interested than adults in watching and maintaining the gardens. Everyone loves the taste of fresh picked food they grow themselves.  I remember my grandkids checking daily on the 3 strawberries in a patio container.  They were so thrilled the day the 3 berries were ripe enough to pick and eat.

 READ THE WHOLE NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/dining/10Fruit.html


Article from http://www.dailygood.org/
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Just me not paying attention, mind drifting, imagining stuff, making up scenarios that will never happen, making assumptions....
instead of paying attention to the fine details of what I am doing Right Now - washing the dishes, the bubbles, the warmth of the water, the smell of blue Dawn,  the speck of egg still stuck to the frying pan, the bird singing outside. I'm squinting, how beautiful the colour of my Assam tea is in the clear glass cup. 

Be here now.  Be someplace else later.
 Is that so complicated?” 

~~~Zen Judaism:  For You, A Little Enlightenment  - David M. Bader

I don't give up. 
I might give in.
I re-invent

My paternal grandparents were from what is now Belarus.  My grandfather Mikhail  was Russian and my grandmother, Elana Polish.  Evidently, my grandma was very desirable - she drove a horse- driven beer wagon.  He met her on one of her deliveries. They came to Canada in early 1900's.

.  My grandmother was a kitchen maid for some rich people.  My grandfather was a military man in the Dragoons in what at that time was the Austro-Hugarian Empire.  He was quite dashing in his uniform.  The rich people had a son in the Hussars too.  When my grandfather  was invited to dinner and spotted my grandmother, Anna, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  She said she had had lots of suitors because she WAS so beautiful.  My maternal grandparents were from what is now Ukraine.

I urge everyone to find out their family history NOW..  Your children and grandchildren will want to know - some of them will.  Ask you grandparents about their lives, and their parents' lives.  Right now my 90 yr. old aunt is still wanting to know her grandmother's maiden name.  One of my cousins may travel to Belarus to find the church records in a small town called Malech. 

Yep, because a compliment is a gift and there  has to be a receiver to make it complete.  I accept graciously without making a big fuss or making the giver feel uncomfortable about what they said to me.

Photo credits:  (Google images) ""I support compliments" by Lexnger