NASA Image of the Day

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Summer lights

Surely thou art light in summer.
Cicada choruses spring so, that all the leaves of thy season's languid dreaming
Are but shadows; jungle arms, sheltering hushed and heated thought, amidst the haze and glimmer of nightfall's strange, flitting eyes,
And that steady buzz, a premontory music,
For would-be lovers - still mere suggestion: a thought of mist and glimmer,
Close-knit, and trembling, in the dark.
Thou hast seen the glow of fireflies in mine eyes,
Looking skyward, and all the throat glows within the ink, glimpsed, storied flashes of
A hollowed place of kiss and mingle, beating.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Letter from Jack to all Canadians

From: Linda Sanders
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 5:19 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Jack Layton's final letter to all Canadians, dated Saturday, Aug. 20, 2011, two days before he died:

Dear Friends,
Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don’t be discouraged that my own journey hasn’t gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we’ve done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let’s continue to move forward. Let’s demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election.

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada’s Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one – a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world’s environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don’t let them tell you it can’t be done.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,
Jack Layton
by Lesley Ciarula Taylor edited by TORONTO STAR 2:40 PM

Remembering NDP Leader Jack Layton

Jack Layton:

A man who took the Everyman in Everyone....and made them King.

Long live the Hope that we take into Tomorrow, Jack.....and the Kingmaking.

God Bless, and thank you for all you hoped for, all you dreamed for, and all of those same that you kept alive in the hearts of ....Everyone

You will be sadly missed.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

"Phat Quarter Magic" Tip of the Day: Cash for Squares!

A great way to recycle old clothing items which are no longer repairable or "hand-me-downable" - for REAL CASH - is to cut them into very carefully, neatly arranged "Phat Squares".

"Phat Squares" are squares of cloth and material arranged in either colour ranging, or pattern ranging patterns in order to stimulate the creation of a quilt, clothing item, or pieced cloth art, using your careful arrangement of colours and patterns.

They are most often cut into 5"X5" or 6"X6" squares, for quilting projects, and into long strips, when using men's shirt, or blouse material, which require larger pieces.

Smaller fabric art works often use "phat square" collections, in conjunction with cut images, which are then carefully interwoven into the final, sewn fabric project, be it blanket, pillow, jacket, or complex and beautiful, visual fabric cloth multimedia art image, tastefully framed. "Puffy quilt" art can be painstaking and incredibly beautiful.

The best "Phat Square" bundles are tastefully tied with a lovely piece of ribbon, and priced as a purchasable item, with enough squares included to be able to complete an actual piece of work, and, depending upon the richness and complexity of the cloth, and the size of the suggested project, can range in price from $1.99, or less, to up to 15.00 apiece, for velvet, brocade, antique, and rare cloth.....and all from recycled "materials"!

You can use pinking shears (the big zig zag scissors), but always make sure that you measure very accurately and carefully, and that your scissors are VERY sharp, when creating "PHAT SQUARE" project bundles.

It is also a wonderful way to preserve that favourite clothing item which you associate with a loved moment in your life, a treasured and valuable antique piece of cloth just not big enough to make anything on its own, and unique combinations of patterns and colours, put together with an artist's eye, as well as a kind, encouraging heart. For extra "wonderfulness", tie a little label on it, with a suggested project! Everyone needs a little creative encouragement! ....

(i.e. doggie coat, little girl's quilted dress, cover for Grandma's motorcycle (grin), designer quilted evening jacket for that favourite entertainer, a beautiful and dressy, glamourously long "dress vest" for a favourite Auntie, to wear with blouse and skirt, or dress - or something as personal and practical as matching cushions, for the outside patio chairs!

The idea of a homemade gift made from Phat Squares dates back to New Orleans, (among other moments in history) when rich brocade fabrics and garments were often smuggled in, or given to the "Very Special Ladies" in the French Quarter as gifts, by the "well to do", and then made into incredibly beautiful, complex, and unique practical, and wearable objects. The tradition, however, is also rural, and is connected, in unique ways, to the "underground railway" which ran from the cotton plantations of slaves smuggled from Africa and the Far Islands, into Canada. Complex signals and directions were sewn into blankets and items months in advance of plans to smuggle slaves northward, and used to guide the "lookouts", who viewed them by day, using simple clothes and blankets, hanging on the line to dry!

Hidden people then travelled by night, to safety, and freedom in the North, using those same directions, based on painstaking and carefully arranged plans, by very, very good people........Another wonderful and practical piece of "Sewing Magic!"

Quiet comfort, and the ability to make a living in caring, healthy ways will never go out of style....and neither will "Phat Quarters".

Take a look at your closet, and see how much creativity - and cash! - is just waiting for your careful and neat cutting, arranging, bundling and labelling.

God Bless, and Good Luck, should you accept this "Create with Love" mission!

Love,


Madame George xo

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Heart Of a King in Pearl Roundabout

What excellent news, that scholarship, internationally, produces a poet and scholar concerned with the welfare of the very people whose toil produced the concern itself.

What a joy, surely, that "The Heart of a King" would write - with wit and wisdom far beyond her years - of that same heart, in a man who would call Himself One....

Seems a truly high compliment, on both counts - even if there is a little talk of "A compassionate Devil in disguise". He did run a pretty close second.....smile.

Or, in this case, walk....with many, many others, as I recall......he and his Dream.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

RELIEF: A moment with Santa

http://www.cbc.ca/22 minutes/

View, particularly, if you would, "Santa Critch on Parliament Hill."

It's my personal favourite.

Love amongst the Ruins

'If, as Martin Luther King wrote, "a riot is the language of the unheard", a result of "living with the daily ugliness of slum life, educational castration and economic exploitation", then this is Dr King's language rendered as art, and set to music.'

Dan Hancox, u.k guardian.

Quincy Jones said it best, in "Back on the Block."

"Back on the block, heebopa hip hop, soul, rhythm and blues"....
"I'm on the wax, I'm on the stage; I'm on the screen; I'm on the news"....
...."on a magical journey;"...
..."I'm on the scene, just like an attorney." Voices, everywhere: Death?

Nowhere, man.