Month: April 2010

Being Green – ‘Pulchraphilia’

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Friday once again!  The topic for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post is ‘pulchraphilia’.  If you’ve never heard the word ‘pulchraphilia’ before, don’t be surprised.  I’d not heard of it myself until recently.  In truth it’s a made-up word.  Then again, all words have to begin somewhere…  I have no claim to it; the word was invented (as best I can tell) by Jason F. McLennan, CEO of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council, and the creator of the ‘Living Building Challenge’.  The word has two Latin words as its base: ‘pulchra’, meaning ‘beauty’, and ‘philia’, meaning ‘love of’.  Roughly translated then, pulchraphilia would be a love of beauty, just as biophilia is a love of life.  It comes from an article in the Spring 2010 issue of Trim Tab, the e-zine put out by Cascadia. Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – Belief & Inspiration

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

Belief and Inspiration are my topics of choice this week. Starting with the theme of Belief (with more than a mere undertone of Inspiration within it!) , from a web search I found a sweet link to the following :

BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART

Author: Unknown

Believe in your heart that
something wonderful is about to happen.
Love your life.
Believe in your own powers,
and your own potential,
and in your own innate goodness.
Wake every morning
with the awe of just being alive.
Discover each day the magnificent,
awesome beauty in the world.
Explore and embrace life in yourself
and in everyone you see each day.
Reach within to find your own specialness.
Amaze yourself and rouse those around you
to the potential of each new day.
Don’t be afraid to admit
that you are less than perfect;
this is the essence of your humanity.
Let those who love you help you.
Trust enough to be able to take.
Look with hope to the horizon of today,
for today is all we truly have.
Live this day well.
Let a little sun out as well as in.
Create your own rainbows.
Be open to all your possibilities;
all possibilities and Miracles.

Always believe in Miracles.

Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Forgiveness

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

Just the other day I was chatting with an acquaintance who felt she could trust me enough to share some challenges she was having. Normally I steer any such conversations away from the negative or I walk away – in this case, hang up the phone – if I’m unsuccessful in altering the focus to a more positive influence.

For this particular conversation, though, I sensed something of value in hearing this woman out. I’m still not certain if it was for her benefit or mine. The fact that I’m the one writing about it today indicates to me that it was for my own benefit. Part of me hopes that something in our discussion stayed with her and may have helped her in some way. It is not my place to know.

Here is the gist of the chat: Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader:

Well, today is Sunday, April 25, so this is the last official day of ‘Earth Week 2010‘.  Of course, as the adage goes, we should all make every day Earth Day.  We’ve had some fun this week, taking part in several of the various local activities.  On Earth Day itself we stayed close to home but we were at the Earth Day Parade yesterday and at the local Sierra Club’s Earth Fest today.  So, with that in mind we thought we’d make the topic of today’s ‘He Says, She Says‘ post about ‘Earth Day’.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Eating Our Way Through Victoria!

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Welcome, Dear Ones and Gourmands all!

Per the Word Tutor at Answers.com: “To become a gourmand, you must taste food from the very finest restaurants.”

So today, we have tasty treats and tantalizing food temptations with which to taunt you. Our restaurant selections come from two diverse eating establishments in one of Victoria’s neighbouring cities – Esquimalt.

Esquimalt (pronounced Ess-kwi’-malt), the home of Canada’s Pacific Fleet, is just across the blue bridge – merely a hop, skip and a jump (a mere 10 minute drive) – from Victoria. It is well worth a visit – whether to enjoy the landscape, walkways and beauty, to visit the naval base and see the ships, or savour some of the fine cuisine.

The Blue Nile and the Vietnam Garden restaurants are both at the top of my list of delightful and unique places to dine. Appropriate to it’s name, the Vietnam Garden offers fantastic foods from that country and culture. Ken is the owner and host, plus all around man of many talents. He welcomes you, seats you, may take your order and will likely serve at least one of the many courses of your meal – usually the dessert! Yet look around at the walls and you will see amazing art work with gorgeous scenery in vibrant acrylic colours popping out from the canvas – and in a picture or two you may notice a man, woman and young child. That would be Ken, his wife and son – for Ken is the artist of these beautiful and varied pieces. His wife and son can often be seen at the restaurant for it is truly, and proudly, a family business. If you like Vietnamese food, you will thoroughly enjoy the relaxed family atmosphere, the varied menu and the wonderful presentation of fresh foods made to order with flair and flavour!

The Blue Nile is a very different place to dine divinely. Small and intimate, it has a vibrant East African cultural ambiance. It boasts both menu items and a buffet to please every palate. May we suggest you start with mango juice – with an explosion of fresh-off-the-tree taste. For a first visit or new to East African cuisine, we recommend you to start with the buffet – eating your way in small amounts across the wide array of dishes offered – from mild to wild – till you find your favourites.

And if you (like Mike and I) are a true coffee connoisseur, you’ll be wanting to  complete your meal with a fabulous cup of Bunna – Ethiopian hand roasted and ground coffee served in a traditional jebena (pot).

Bon Appetit!

Marcia

Being Green – Connections

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hi Folks:

Happy Friday!  Happy Earth Day, +1!  Actually, as the saying goes, “Make Every Day Earth Day“.  I saw an ad for a T-shirt once that said, “Love Your Mother.  Good Planets Are Hard to Find.“  It looked something like this:

Continue Reading →

Poetry Corner – Totally, Poetically Sound

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

Recently I read a wonderfully crazy poem  – a love poem – beautifully crafted and very unique. WoW! I’ve seen poems with weird rhyming patterns, but this one has to take the first prize on the bizarre scale. (This great poem is inset at the end of this post for your enjoyment and perusal.)

With a verbal reading of any poem, the sound of it is essential to add impact, flavour, and mood, plus it enhances the writer’s intent. Most often odd yet rhyming patterns are found in children’s poetry, such as that written by the famous Dr. Seuss. Born Theodor Seuss Geisel, Dr. Seuss used specific rhyming techniques to get the sounds he was seeking: such styles as anapestic, amphibractic, or trochaic tetrameter. These fancy terms certainly required that I research their definition and effect (not to mention their pronunciation!). Here’s the simple and fun version from Wikipedia: Continue Reading →

Marcia’s Meanderings – Writer’s Block?

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello Dear Ones!

Ever have a day when your mind wanders when you should be focusing? I’ve been sitting here at the computer for a few hours now. Rather than writing this post, I’ve been playing scrabble games with my sisters on Facebook. When I had done all 23 games we share and with none left to do, I added new games. When I tired of that, I went to websites I’ve not looked at for a while.  When all of those had been checked with nothing found there to inspire me as to any specific topic to write here, I went on to something else.  Between all these different ‘things’ I was doing, I’d check back in to see if I had received any new e-mails and tweets.

What I wanted to do was to find something cool to discuss here in my Marcia’s Meanderings. Something creative and uplifting for your enjoyment or your consideration at least. Because this is a creative exercise/endeavour for me, I thought maybe writing some micropoetry for Twitter would help liven up my creative juices. I couldn’t even come up with a single haiku or senryu (definition & some of my own examples) or tanka (example) or even a basic four line poem! Now that is very rare for me! Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Posted on by — Leave a reply

Hello, Dear Reader!

If this is your first visit to our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ posts and pages, then briefly what we do is pick a topic each week and write about it individually.  Neither of us reads what the other has written until we’re both finished with what we have to say.  Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we go off in completely different directions.  All of that is encouraged in our home!  For us the start of this idea goes back a number of years, but we’ll leave that for another time.

Our topic today is ‘Transformation‘.  The idea for this comes from a section of a TV show a few months back that was talking about the monarch butterfly migration.  A great book on this is Sue Halpern’s ‘Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.’  In eastern North America every fall, these tiny winged insects fly hundreds or thousands of kilometres to live in several different areas in northern Mexico.  They overwinter there and begin heading north in the spring, laying eggs and then passing on, so that the butterflies that return to eastern Canada for example are several generations removed from the ones that began their flight south the previous year.  Still, somehow those great-grandchildren all begin to turn south in the fall and head to the same locations as their ancestors.  A hero’s journey indeed.

There is perhaps a more incredible journey before this, however, as egg hatches out to become larva (caterpillar), and caterpillar transforms into butterfly.  The same process happens with those caterpillars that become moths.  Spinning itself into a chrysalis (or cocoon), the caterpillar literally liquefies itself, breaking down into base components before reassembling itself into an entirely new form.  Dormant structures such as wings are created, and parts like the caterpillar’s extensive digestive system are given up to different purposes.

As humans we don’t undergo any such physical transformations in our lives, but many of us do undergo intense spiritual transformations that are no less remarkable.  This is what we wanted to talk about today.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View

Being Green – How Green Can We Be?

Posted on by — 2 Comments ↓

Hi Folks:

Well, next Monday marks the beginning of what is now ‘Earth Week’.  Forty years ago Earth Day began in the US, largely due to the efforts of US Senator Gaylord Nelson.  Forty years ago being an ‘environmentalist’ was generally looked down on, a title bestowed upon those radical hippie types with whom ‘normal’ people did not want to associate.  How times have changed, and for the good of all of us, too!  Daily Planet for example is hosting ‘Be Kind to Earth Week’ on Discovery Channel, but if you’ve signed up for the Biomimicry Institute’s Great TV Rebellion of 2010, you won’t be watching television, electing to go outside more instead.

The title for this week’s ‘Being Green‘ post comes from a Twitter hashtag – #howgreencanweb from @eight bottles – people are invited to post ideas and methods for being greener with this tag attached.  How green can we be?  It’s an interesting question.  Note the question is not, “How green should we be?” because today the general answer is that we should all strive to be as green as possible.  Continue Reading →