“The greatest danger to our future is apathy.”

― Jane Goodall

Give Me Peace On Earth

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5 things that made me happy this week

1. Using the rain barrel with the hose to water the garden for the first time - gravity fed, it works perfectly:



2. Conversation at a luncheon in Naples:

Woman 1: "You have no idea until you're 70 how young your 70s really are. Truly... It's incredible!!!"
Woman 2: "How would you know?"
Woman 1: "I'm 72!"

3. Evening walks through the village with a friend

4. Chocolate vegan ice cream (made with coconut milk) + roasted almonds + fresh raspberry sauce

5. Opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympics in London!!!


***Update: On August 2, 2012 they won 2 Olympic gold medals!!!***

the farther one travels, the less one knows

"By having the money we found that money wasn’t the answer. Because we had lots of material things that people spend their entire life to try and get. We managed to get them at quite an early age, and it was good, really, because we learned that that wasn’t it. We still lacked something and that thing sometimes is the thing that religion is trying to give people."

- George Harrison, from George Harrison: Living in the Material World (HBO documentary by Martin Scorsese - a good watch!) during part of his description about why he pursued enlightenment in India & Indian music

Beatles - "The Inner Light"
(lyrics reference the Tao Te Ching)

picture a bright blue ball just spinning free... dizzy with possibilities...

Hoping to hear Bob Weir sing this tonight!


"Throwing Stones" - the Grateful Dead 

(Words by John Perry Barlow; music by Bob Weir)

Picture a bright blue ball, just spinning, spinnin' free,
Dizzy with eternity.
Paint it with a skin of sky,
Brush in some clouds and sea,
Call it home for you and me.

A peaceful place - or so it looks from space,
A closer look reveals the human race.
Full of hope, full of grace
Is the human face,
But afraid we may lay our home to waste.

There's a fear down here we can't forget.
Hasn't got a name just yet.
Always awake, always around,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Now watch as the ball revolves
And the nighttime falls.
Again the hunt begins,
Again the bloodwind calls.
By and by again, the morning sun will rise,
But the darkness never goes
From some men's eyes.
It strolls the sidewalks and it rolls the streets,
Staking turf, dividing up meat.
Nightmare spook, piece of heat,
It's you and me.
You and me.

Click flash blade in ghetto night,
Rudie's looking for a fight.
Rat cat alley, roll them bones.
Need that cash to feed that jones.
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Commissars and pin-stripe bosses
Roll the dice.
Any way they fall,
Guess who gets to pay the price.
Money green or proletarian gray,
Selling guns instead of food today.

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Heartless powers try to tell us
What to think.
If the spirit's sleeping,
Then the flesh is ink
History's page, it is thusly carved in stone.
The future's here, we are it, we are on our own...

If the game is lost,
Then we're all the same.
No one left to place or take the blame.
We can leave this place an empty stone
Or this shining ball of blue we can call our home.

So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
And the politicians throwin' stones,
Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Shipping powders back and forth
Singing black goes south and white comes north.
In a whole world full of petty wars
Singing I got mine and you got yours.
And the current fashion sets the pace,
Lose your step, fall out of grace.
And the radical, he rant and rage,
Singing someone's got to turn the page.
And the rich man in his summer home,
Singing just leave well enough alone.
But his pants are down, his cover's blown...

And the politicians throwing stones,
So the kids they dance
And shake their bones,
'Cuz it's all too clear we're on our own.

Singing ashes, ashes, all fall down.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down.

Picture a bright blue ball,
Just spinning, spinnin', free.
Dizzy with the possibilities.

Home Sweet Home

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October, 2011.

watching this over & over...

Watched Melancholia last night, about the end of the world when a rogue planet collides with Earth -- powerful film-making!
This is the intense final scene (so um, warning: spoiler alert) - gets me in the chest every time I watch it:

(music by composer Richard Wagner)

Random gems from YouTube:



^^^^^Description: "The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world's most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010." www.haydenplanetarium.org/universe/





^^^^^Same era as "Boardwalk Empire" :)

"Nonna (Grandma) Lina" coasting down a lovely sloping Italian hill... (random find)

cute & mysterious faces

I seem to be into a "Frenchie" theme lately...

wow

detail of "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park" mural (1947) by Diego Rivera

it's all too much

some days this is the way summer makes me feel...

...all the world is birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much
(and how cool that this imagery was created in pre-computer animation days!)

dedicated to brave people in space, whatever they're doing right now

In honor of today's last shuttle launch -

(couldn't find any YouTubes yet of the amazing imagery from the NASA camera showing the live "view out the rear window" of our glowing blue planet in the distance as the shuttle gained speed - can't imagine what it feels like for the astronauts! - total envy - awesome!) (a little bit of a sad day too... sucks when we can't afford science, eh?)

p.s. go see the Red Elvises live in concert if you ever have the opportunity! :D

I want to go to there:

the Swiss Alps!
via