tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78927431049386997252024-02-18T19:46:23.999-08:00a room of my ownLeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-39201194125508600732012-09-25T14:16:00.000-07:002012-09-25T14:16:32.511-07:00A Vast Confusion, Lawrence Ferlinghetti<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Long long I lay in the sands</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Sounds of trains in the surf</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">in subways of the sea</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And an even greater undersound</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">of a vast confusion in the universe</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a rumbling and a roaring</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">as of some enormous creature turning</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">under sea and earth</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a billion sotto voices murmuring</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a vast muttering</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a swelling stuttering</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">in ocean's speakers</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">world's voice-box heard with ear to sand</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a shocked echoing</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">a shocking shouting</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">of all life's voices lost in night</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And the tape of it</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">someow running backwards now</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">through the Moog Synthesizer of time</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Chaos unscrambled</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">back to the first</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">harmonies</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And the first light </span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-50612657937376858352012-03-06T22:40:00.000-08:002012-03-06T22:40:29.235-08:00Gotye. Seriously.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8UVNT4wvIGY" width="560"></iframe>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-59475436522112345772012-02-28T11:26:00.000-08:002012-02-28T11:26:26.220-08:00Robert Frost, on Lent<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast In a field I looked into going past, And the ground almost covered smooth in snow,</span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">But a few weeds and stubble showing last.</div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">The woods around it have it - it is theirs. All animals are smothered in their lairs. I am too absent-spirited to count;</span><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">The loneliness includes me unawares.</div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">And lonely as it is, that loneliness Will be more lonely ere it will be less - A blanker whiteness of benighted snow</span><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">WIth no expression, nothing to express.</div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars - on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home</span><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 8px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;">To scare myself with my own desert places.</div>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-90791963110193175312012-02-22T09:25:00.003-08:002012-02-22T09:27:38.064-08:00water under the boat<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">When I first started this blog, years ago, I posted this poem:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Water in the boat is the ruin of the boat,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">but water under the boat is its support.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Since Solomon cast the desire for wealth out from his heart,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">he didn't call himself by any name but "poor."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">The stoppered jar, though in rough water,</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">floated because of its empty heart.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">When the wind of poverty is in anyone,</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">she floats in peace on the waters of the world.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">Every year that I am preparing for Lent, I think of this line: "water in the boat is the ruin of the boat, but water under the boat is its support." Lent is, at its core, an emptying of oneself, a letting go of our tight grip on all that we (perceive to) control. Ash Wednesday ultimately reminds us that we have no control, the words spoken during the service of the ashes by Christians all over the world are these: "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">This year during Lent I am seeking not to tighten my grip on control, but to let go of it a bit, to remind myself of where I really stand; who I really am. I will be both sacrificing and adding. Giving up to make space. Emptying to fill. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">St. Catherine of Sienna wrote this: </span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">"Wisdom is so kind and wise</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">that wherever you may look </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">you can learn something about God. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">Why would not the omnipresent teach that way?"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 20px;">Even in the wilderness of Lent, may we find God in every corner. </span></span></div>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-88676039212801592012011-11-24T10:30:00.000-08:002011-11-24T10:30:53.602-08:00More AJP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I started a blog for AJP, in hopes that he would begin posting his work for all his adoring fans. He quickly shut the idea down, however, because he doesn't want a<span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><i style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">blog </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">but favours instead the idea of a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> </span><i style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">website. </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"> So, hopefully, one day soon AJP will have a functional website to show off his art. In the meantime, remember this? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">The Labyrinthine Heart </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-lZOaRrwGQ-4tkal__ph9Nu0LJFjMeWAI_1pf73X21nN81Z9P-kUIfC1JCwutmHyNVSWJNDJ1lYhqf5S8rqJbbVKvUu65pL2upVuK0EVf1IfbgkYAsQHPqMPK-supP7eAmKbYjv7WCY/s1600/IMG_5055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-lZOaRrwGQ-4tkal__ph9Nu0LJFjMeWAI_1pf73X21nN81Z9P-kUIfC1JCwutmHyNVSWJNDJ1lYhqf5S8rqJbbVKvUu65pL2upVuK0EVf1IfbgkYAsQHPqMPK-supP7eAmKbYjv7WCY/s320/IMG_5055.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgK8aRva7eg7kqO0_BdgqxGpVNkTez9in54qBAnnW3SE3p2FKxOdnW42_fp5Nr7asJkeyEgwXrbyhKWWBvrb8m27mXicDMDNEqBcCSJlVtEVQk7OHqI7YRhCoI82lGm-pHUBzyygSdBM/s1600/IMG_5056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgK8aRva7eg7kqO0_BdgqxGpVNkTez9in54qBAnnW3SE3p2FKxOdnW42_fp5Nr7asJkeyEgwXrbyhKWWBvrb8m27mXicDMDNEqBcCSJlVtEVQk7OHqI7YRhCoI82lGm-pHUBzyygSdBM/s320/IMG_5056.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-73371575561577007182011-11-08T12:20:00.000-08:002011-11-08T12:20:53.808-08:00AJP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvDA6XcJbXyFPpaHE59xXHe_vyGEJvgmrpsx_R7bffv9gPMblT5rGRqERMH-dIxDwc6hI5HflXFQz3iwKWeTdoYBRKsLMZrxGHySRWqzHkmHMMhs9JZPsLXRtAOcpu5wT6Wnvxpy19AQ/s1600/DSC_0058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCvDA6XcJbXyFPpaHE59xXHe_vyGEJvgmrpsx_R7bffv9gPMblT5rGRqERMH-dIxDwc6hI5HflXFQz3iwKWeTdoYBRKsLMZrxGHySRWqzHkmHMMhs9JZPsLXRtAOcpu5wT6Wnvxpy19AQ/s320/DSC_0058.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I am in love with AJP's (almost completed) tapestry. I can't wait for him to bring it home so we can put it on the wall!LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-81957493658511036772011-11-04T11:37:00.001-07:002011-11-04T11:43:54.905-07:00Spencer FordI love my friend Spencer's music, I think he's got an amazing voice and is an all around brilliant musician. He played a few of my favourite songs (Gold, Into the Mystic) at AJP and my's wedding and I think his music will always have a special place in my heart. He's just made a new album that everyone should buy, and you can get it here: <a href="http://spencerford.bandcamp.com/">http://spencerford.bandcamp.com/</a>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-42160082576316469572011-10-12T13:57:00.000-07:002011-10-12T13:57:18.953-07:00After an 8km run and 40 minutes on my bike I am feeling more like myself again. Small changes.<br />
<br />
Be healthy.LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-16372425205422697172011-10-11T14:42:00.000-07:002011-10-11T14:43:26.969-07:00This is how I feel after such a terrible eating weekend:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_owIzps4hWvBRoyU55BnBr0RdrefMODZ97toUxMkWWGEL53yQgIaHqEDgFixbLkqpE2t2n-rayhnydeUbTO7RjkGA2gruoPDkNCX6stR1VzJRc2awu6udMOUsyHGZ6dycbWwIPYsE00E/s1600/vegan-drama.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_owIzps4hWvBRoyU55BnBr0RdrefMODZ97toUxMkWWGEL53yQgIaHqEDgFixbLkqpE2t2n-rayhnydeUbTO7RjkGA2gruoPDkNCX6stR1VzJRc2awu6udMOUsyHGZ6dycbWwIPYsE00E/s320/vegan-drama.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's days like this that make me realize how much I take out my emotions on my body. It's a constant battle. I'm bracing myself for detox week. I just went a little bat sh** this weekend with eating and not exercising. I haven't missed a work out for like 2+ months, and this weekend I missed every workout, completely intentionally. The good news is, I've decided that I'll be a most-of-the-time vegan, but I won't freak out if/when I eat meat/animal products. That's what this weekend taught me: I <i>can</i> eat meat and still sleep at night. It also reminded me of how awful I feel, physically, mentally, and emotionally when I'm careless. And, it reminded me of the long journey that my path to health is going to be: I've been battling massive guilt for the decisions I made over the past few days and as I've been doing this I've been wishing for freedom from this guilt - it's like a sickness that I will never be cured of. Oy. It's been a long two years and I still have so. far. to. go. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Be healthy. </div>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-38218531657889288142011-10-01T11:24:00.000-07:002011-10-01T11:24:52.847-07:00I am loving the length of men's pants these days. <div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3EUevmQliidYgqLQ0_xHpiPrfY4m7BGLsj7n1LAXXB1FWHAHeer-6JwdO5SpTku5hAh0OVpEL7aZEzOPpQ0w4E70RIiaImdeIRFeWs1DIab8Tu87gIW76hd_oS0H14GC-NSPraoO0qI/s1600/ryan-gosling-style-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ3EUevmQliidYgqLQ0_xHpiPrfY4m7BGLsj7n1LAXXB1FWHAHeer-6JwdO5SpTku5hAh0OVpEL7aZEzOPpQ0w4E70RIiaImdeIRFeWs1DIab8Tu87gIW76hd_oS0H14GC-NSPraoO0qI/s320/ryan-gosling-style-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmAv7k-DlHvVU27kE-FxgU9jORuWdgCp7YUU9Zv4WQ_1K30jOXPE4LqXPij5_o715jG93T78OVGdPYWcXT4lk4QBDncQ2PaqSuwbmPk3PyXnhAJaHI56AyQgorEmMCSS8yiHqeuxSbNHY/s1600/pant2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmAv7k-DlHvVU27kE-FxgU9jORuWdgCp7YUU9Zv4WQ_1K30jOXPE4LqXPij5_o715jG93T78OVGdPYWcXT4lk4QBDncQ2PaqSuwbmPk3PyXnhAJaHI56AyQgorEmMCSS8yiHqeuxSbNHY/s320/pant2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div><br />
</div></div></div>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-27713459177909853032011-09-28T13:20:00.001-07:002011-09-28T13:20:49.723-07:00VEGANI have fallen off the blogging bandwagon almost completely. However, lately I've noticed how much I love to read others blogs, and how encouraged I am by the blogs that talk honestly about things that I'm interested in: food, weight loss, vocation, spirituality, art, design. The list could go on. So in the spirit of not wanting to only take and never give, I am returning to my blog; to give back to the blogosphere that which I have personally found enriching.<br />
<br />
I've made a great deal of life changes recently, the biggest being that I've decided to become a vegan (for a month). Here's my story:<br />
<br />
<b>Flirting:</b> After reading a couple of books and watching some films on the issue I made the decision to try it out for a month (September 10 - October 10). The decision is pretty much a result of two main factors: firstly, the meat/animal product industry at large (notwithstanding organic "happy" farms) is incredibly damaging to our earth and I simply don't want to be a part of what it's doing; rather, I simply <i>can't with a good conscience</i> be a part of what it's doing to our planet. Secondly, though there are numerous theories about whether or not meat and other animal products are good for our health, there does seem to be more evidence that points to it being more damaging than healthy for our bodies. If I can get everything I need, nutritionally-speaking, from a plant-based diet then why wouldn't I? Especially if in doing so I am also doing my small part to make the environmental footprint of the meat industry smaller. It just makes sense. <br />
<br />
<b>The process: </b>This has been quite the ride. The first week of giving up animal products was <b>the worst. </b>Luckily, I was forewarned that the first week or two of becoming vegan can be full of some pretty nasty symptoms as your body is cleaning itself out of the crap that it's been fed for so long. In my case I was eating yogourt every day and at least some kind of animal protein every day (typically eggs and/or fish, but still...) So, I really didn't think the cleansing process would be that bad for me. I was wrong.<b> </b>My physical problems were not terrible: some nausea, appetite loss, and a couple bouts of the big D. It was the emotional/mental journey that was the worst, it was the emotional/mental process <b>that I never, ever want to go through again! </b>In my journal during that week are a lot of bad words, a lot of fighting with AJP, general and seething grumpiness, anxiety throughout the day and even worse at night, and this crazy mixture of boredom/restlessness that led me to drive everyone who lives in my house CRAZY. I went through about a week of this. I also had pretty much given up refined sugar and flour at the same time, which was something I had already long been going without, but never truly cut out of my life. This could have been a part of the crazy. <br />
<br />
<b>At present: </b>I feel amazing. I have never felt so light and healthy and whole and full of energy in my entire life. <br />
<br />
<b>The final decision</b>: Stay Tuned. I have no idea what I'll do after October 10th, I genuinely don't. Though the above provides me with resounding reason to keep on keeping on as a vegan, there are just so many things I love that are. not. vegan. The thought of never eating creme brulee again is just slightly overwhelming. The thought of never eating butter again makes me wonder about the point of being alive (if I can never enjoy bruschetta on a perfectly buttered and toasted baguette what's the point of living??!) so I just have to take it a day at a time. Today I can go without creme brulee. Today I can go without butter. And today I feel great. That's all I know. I also know I never want to go through that week from hell <b>ever again. </b><br />
<br />
<b>My biggest influences: </b>Skinny Bitch (Rory Freedman & Kim Barnouin), The Kind Diet (Alicia Silverstone), Food INC.<br />
<br />
Thoughts?LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-10188754930373471352011-09-22T18:48:00.000-07:002011-09-22T18:48:48.574-07:00Looks like I'm recommitting to this blog. Stay Tuned, folks.LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-8382254521165169592010-01-25T14:18:00.000-08:002011-04-26T14:22:15.649-07:00faces<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">I've been thinking a bit about that little ezra pound poem lately: "the apparition of these faces in a crowd; petals on a wet, black bough" I really like what he has to say about that poem:<br />
<br />
"Three years ago in Paris I got out of a "metro" train at La Concorde, and saw suddenly a beautiful face, and then another and another, and then a beautiful child’s face, and then another beautiful woman, and I tried all that day to find words for what this had meant to me, and I could not find any words that seemed to me worthy, or as lovely as that sudden emotion. And that evening, as I went home along the Rue Raynouard, I was still trying and I found, suddenly, the expression. I do not mean that I found words, but there came an equation . . . not in speech, but in little splotches of colour. It was just that - a "pattern," or hardly a pattern, if by "pattern" you mean something with a "repeat" in it. But it was a word, the beginning, for me, of a language in colour. I do not mean that I was unfamiliar with the kindergarten stories about colours being like tones in music. I think that sort of thing is nonsense. If you try to make notes permanently correspond with particular colours, it is like tying narrow meanings to symbols.<br />
<br />
That evening, in the Rue Raynouard, I realized quite vividly that if I were a painter, or if I had, often, that kind of emotion, of even if I had the energy to get paints and brushes and keep at it, I might found a new school of painting that would speak only by arrangements in colour.<br />
<br />
And so, when I came to read Kandinsky’s chapter on the language of form and colour, I found little that was new to me. I only felt that someone else understood what I understood, and had written it out very clearly. It seems quite natural to me that an artist should have just as much pleasure in an arrangement of planes or in a pattern of figures, as in painting portraits of fine ladies, or in portraying the Mother of God as the symbolists bid us.<br />
<br />
When I find people ridiculing the new arts, or making fun of the clumsy odd terms that we use in trying to talk of them amongst ourselves; when they laugh at our talking about the "ice-block quality" in Picasso, I think it is only because they do not know what thought is like, and they are familiar only with argument and gibe and opinion. That is to say, they can only enjoy what they have been brought up to consider enjoyable, or what some essayist has talked about in mellifluous phrases. They think only "the shells of thought," as de Gourmont calls them; the thoughts that have been already thought out by others<br />
<br />
Any mind that is worth calling a mind must have needs beyond the existing categories of language, just as a painter must have pigments or shades more numerous than the existing names of the colours."<br />
<br />
--<br />
<br />
I like this for many reasons, but right now I like to think about Pound at La Concorde looking at all those french faces. I like that because the city is a difficult place to experience apparition, and I'm growing a bit weary. This weekend a group of friends and I read a bit of annie dillard, where she talks about a new way of seeing and how you cannot force yourself to see anything, you can only put yourself in the path of things worth seeing. I think what she's saying is one cannot force these apparitions, these moments wherein we begin to feel life. I agree</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-87011960402299881572009-09-07T14:20:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:21:36.702-07:00Denise Levertov<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">To lie back under the tallest<br />
oldest trees. How far the stems<br />
rise, rise<br />
before ribs of shelter<br />
open!<br />
<br />
To live in the mercy of God. The complete<br />
sentence too adequate, has no give.<br />
Awe, not comfort. Stone, elbows of<br />
stony wood beneath lenient<br />
moss bed.<br />
<br />
And awe suddenly<br />
passing beyond itself. Becomes<br />
a form of comfort.<br />
Becomes the steady<br />
air you glide on, arms<br />
stretched like the wings of flying foxes.<br />
To hear the multiple silence<br />
of trees, the rainy<br />
forest depths of their listening.<br />
<br />
To float, upheld,<br />
as salt water<br />
would hold you,<br />
once you dared.<br />
<br />
To live in the mercy of God.<br />
<br />
To feel vibrate the enraptured<br />
<br />
waterfall flinging itself<br />
unabating down and down<br />
to clenched fists of rock.<br />
Swiftness of plunge,<br />
hour after year after century,<br />
O or Ah<br />
uninterrupted, voice<br />
many-stranded.<br />
To breathe<br />
spray. The smoke of it.<br />
Arcs<br />
of steelwhite foam, glissades<br />
of fugitive jade barely perceptible. Such passion—<br />
rage or joy?<br />
Thus, not mild, not temperate,<br />
God’s love for the world. Vast<br />
flood of mercy<br />
flung on resistance.</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-68162915317605759652009-08-04T14:22:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:23:25.432-07:00[may it be so]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">"but you take pleasure in the faces<br />
of those who know they thirst."<br />
<br />
-R</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-17681318969386742772009-04-06T14:23:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:24:16.405-07:00For Palm Sunday<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">There on the road<br />
where many have gone out to meet you –<br />
we now go.<br />
<br />
Our eyes will widen when we realize this road<br />
will see you through your suffering.<br />
We are incomplete.<br />
And it is as though you have resurrected<br />
the ashes and turned them into palms (not<br />
the other way around, like we do<br />
these days);<br />
now we wave them at you,<br />
now we celebrate our redemption (and oh, how green!)<br />
You are the Restorer,<br />
and we, the restored.<br />
<br />
I can feel your favour: it streams through<br />
as chlorophyll – bringing me into being;<br />
like something lush, and vibrant, and new each morning.<br />
It streams through as blood running<br />
from heart to vein;<br />
you help me to breathe.<br />
<br />
Now we breathe you,<br />
Sensing you most acutely in<br />
that which gives us life.<br />
<br />
Now we lay ourselves<br />
down on the road before you.<br />
<br />
Will you be lifted by our submission?</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-6388412097392637052008-10-30T14:24:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:25:45.648-07:00changed<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following Your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please You does in fact please You. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that, if I do this, You will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust You always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone." </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">-Merton</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-31702570944562810712008-10-18T14:25:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:26:30.404-07:00Canadian Poetry<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Strong images evoked - poets arising<br />
out of wheat fields<br />
with the words of the French echoing around;<br />
poets with salt in their eyebrows,<br />
blown in from the east-coast wind.<br />
Poets as products<br />
of the indigenous, dark-skinned,<br />
smooth-tongued people who bore this earth before us.<br />
Verses, lines, and words come: a result of<br />
the melodious language and the manner in which they sight the landscape, in<br />
reverence, adoration, affection, intimacy.<br />
<br />
They are our mothers.<br />
<br />
We, their children.</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-52814882566535261032008-07-02T14:26:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:27:42.145-07:00[awe]<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">You are mystery and majesty<br />
and a lone tree on a hill.<br />
Restorer of imagination and impulse,<br />
and Restrainer of this depth of feeling<br />
that I deserve not to feel;<br />
Your goodness: ever, inexplicably upon me.<br />
There is a sky, above, enduring<br />
that will always sing: "glory!"</span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7892743104938699725.post-88794847788142227782008-04-20T14:27:00.000-07:002011-04-26T14:29:06.266-07:00empty heart<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Water in the boat is the ruin of the boat,<br />
but water under the boat is its support.<br />
Since Solomon cast the desire for wealth out from his heart,<br />
he didn't call himself by any name but "poor."<br />
The stoppered jar, though in rough water,<br />
floated because of its empty heart.<br />
When the wind of poverty is in anyone,<br />
she floats in peace on the waters of the world.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Mathnawi I</i></span>LeslieAJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05990998777237727468noreply@blogger.com0