Wabi Sabi

What is Wabi Sabi?

Google the term and you will find many different ideals to the meaning.  Basically it is a Japanese way of life. It is not easy to translate. Finding so many different thoughts to the term! I love the quote from Wikipedia:


"[Wabi-sabi] nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."

Lately I have been seeing Wabi Sabi in the finding love context. But I have looking for info  that states the meaning is to find beauty in imperfection.  A few sites are the monks tea party type, that are teaching the simple way of life.  Slow down and enjoy: ″wisdom in natural simplicity". Or for art the idea of beauty in natural flaws.  To the idea of living a simple zen life.

A zen life? Isn't that a song? Sounds like it doesn't it? But I hear that and thing yea that would be nice in this day and age living a zen life would be a welcome change...  Not having deadlines, snow storms, or fanatic calls from family and friends dealing with crisis. maybe I am zen, talking to the person to help them find the answer, or just to have a ear to say OMG that sucks... and having someone say I am sorry to hear you are having a crappy week...

Wabi Sabi Love... I have told the girls to not try to find Mr. Perfect or Mr. Right, find Mr. I can live with the flaws..... You can't change him just as he can't change you.  Find  We are ourselves together and we work.

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be,” Lao-Tzu.

But I find the art to find beauty in imperfection.  Cracked vases are as beautiful as new.  That broken candle holder that I got from the Salvation Army store is beautiful even without the chain that the previous owner  might have hung it.  Even keeping the two links add more interest to the piece that sits on the end table I have been looking for something interesting to place there for months....

My favorite incense burner is a old sugar dish that I love the shape of but has a crack.  Even after the creamer broke I couldn't throw it away.  I turned the crack to the wall. I took a picture of it and the crack wasn't even noticeable on the picture! So it took a picture of my wizard.  Poor man was knocked over lost his point of his cap and got a couple chips of his base but I love this piece too much to throw away.

Or finding beauty in nature like the zen gardens. I love drift wood.  Don't know why.  Just do. It's beauty and the way the water made the marks maybe. I think there is power in the beauty of driftwood and have a few pieces in my house as decoration.  Plus of course plants are natural beauty to bring in the home, right now in the middle of winter my plants have died.  I not sure that buying more would be a good idea.  The shock of taking them into 20 degree weather would kill them anyway, so I will wait til spring........

Guess I am (was) wabi sabi before it was cool...

SOPA and PIPA

Two bills before Congress, Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House.    Blacked out words???  Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA. Blacked out words??? Many believe that these acts will cause even more loss of business and make it even harder to do business online. Plus might not even shut down the piracy sites anyway.... You see this would be blacked out for a reason.  If they didn't like it...

Many sites where blacked out today. Sending people to sigh the petition to tell congress and the senate to vote no on PIPA and SOPA...  You see this would be blacked out for a reason.  If they didn't like it...

This is  Blacked out words???
OMG 
OMg I just read that SOPA has crashed the senate site!

Found on Facebook:
█████████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ███ ████████. ███████████ ████ ████ . █████████████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██. ███████████ ██████ everything ███ █████ is ██ ████ fine ████ ███ █ ██████ trust █████ ███████ ███ your █████ ████ government. *This post has been found in violation of H.R. 3261, S.O.P.A and has been removed.


 

The tale of Two Yards

We got some snow last night and this morning.  It's suppose to stop before tonight.  That's fine I work tonight and just hate driving in the white stuff at night.  When I went to get my mail this morning I saw this wonderful picture to the right.  Ok the road doesn't look great but it doesn't look to bad for a snowy day. I have heard the trucks all night and day......  The front yard like very little dusting, maybe a inch or so... Not having a area news station because of money we get our news from Cleveland and many times they have it all wrong.  Like the day I got to work a half and hour early because of a report of 6 to 10 inches in the area I worked and they had very little snow.  Oh well better early then late!

I go to look out the back door thinking oh yea I won't have to much to shovel I can just use the broom.  Then was NOTHING on the front porch... I see the left picture.  It looks like around 6 inches back there! Oh  my compost pile needs some more food cause it shouldn't even have snow on it... Good and bad I guess I am wasting less food... but need something to start the compost pile cooking... Yea what I didn't see is this fun is from the wind.  Right around the corner was a drift that was twice as much..... So I get the shovel and start to shovel.  OMG why did the wind decide that the perfect place for all the snow was in front of the gate and my drive-way.  Correction half my drive-way.  The part nearest the house had about two feet of snow and the other half none..... a light speckled dusting... well guess it is better than the whole driveway with a foot of snow!

   With this crazy weather where in December and January we have had 50 to 60 degree days I am enjoying not being asked by my co-workers that are not as they put it "buying the whole global  warming BS" where is your global warming now every time it snows or get cold...  Funny they haven't  said a peep...

Off to enjoy some hot chocolate and get ready for work........

  

Dancing the Night or Day away..

             Who needs a fancy machine that helps you lose weigh? Sign up or start  the 100 days of dance .  It was the brain child of Kirstie Alley, you know the woman that lost weigh doing dancing with the stars.  Now I don't watch that show but we all have seen the transformation.  She lost 100 pounds! Granted she did take a herbal supplement. Just for the keeping in shape part, this would be a fun way to stay fit.

I think the key is to just keep active.  I feeling a little boated and trying to keep my metabolism on a even level. I know I will gain some weight after quitting smoking. But I don't want to use that as a excuse to gain too much.  I do feel better but I need to keep it up.  I find that eating healthy helps.  Eating my first in a long time fast food hamburger last night was horrible!  So healthy food for my healthier lifestyle....


         

Burn Baby Burn!

There is talk that Cleveland is getting a new plant that will burn the trash they collect and convert it into electricity. Of course there is a group fighting this saying it not good for the environment. Stated the closed site in Columbus. But the fact is the plant in Columbus burned everything and puffed toxic smoke into the air. This plant they are proposing to build with federal grants will protect the air. As many of the Europe sites are already.

So is burning trash bad? Well Earth 911  states that it is very clean combustion under very controlled conditions. The trash is sometimes burned just to make it a smaller amount. That the trash we produce is so large they need to make it smaller and many times burning some of our trash will help reduce the amount of trash in our landfills. Because burning 1,600 pounds of trash becomes 240 pounds of ash.

PLUS the fact on the same site I learned that Dayton; which is close to Columbus for non-Ohioans, has a plant that burns trash for energy. With no smoke!

 Britain is going to start using trash for energy on the Isle of Wight. Denmark has built what they call waste-to-energy plants. There is over 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people. With plans to build more (or have been built this was written in 2010).    Europe has over 400 waste to energy plants.

I agree that waste free would be the way to go, the end that is  we want to get to.  BUT we are no where near that. Not in the least.  So a trash burning plant that would produce electric is better than nothing.  Maybe even produce heat like in Europe. So if this country already has these sites that burn just to reduce the amount of trash for the land fill why not make them work for us.

I mean we really wanting  the future to look like  in Idiocracy? Really that was a horror story from the eco-friendly view.  Trash piled up everywhere and nothing growing? NOT  my idea of a future I would like to see.

 

Earth Quake...

Yesterday; New years Eve, the area had a 4.0-magnitude earthquake that was centered in Youngstown .  It has been found to be the result of the brine water from fracking into the earth in the area.  SO the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Director says that the fact the company stopped for a few months (sorry can't find the true time online) but it happened and they were not drilling, so it not the fracking that cause it.

  Oh it not the thousands of gallons of brine are being injected into the ground.  The fact that we have fault lines in the area and that they have been pumping this water in the ground for YEARS, so why would it happen now?  they ask.  Wow like really wonder why after years of  thousands of gallons of brine were injected into the ground every day.... it's not the brine; it's just the fault lines... I wonder if they live in the area? Do they want that in their back yard?  Plus have you read the comments on this article? People going on about this being a ecoterrorist propaganda scare piece. Wow just how far do people think we can abuse the earth and not expect a reaction? We have approximately 1,000 wells between Ohio and Pennsylvania.... 1,000 wells plus 1,000 gallons a day. DO the MATH! It equals 11 earthquakes in 2011. Wonder what 2012 will bring? Hopefully a shut down of the brine wells in the area, but then people don't want to believe that it's ecoterrorist propaganda scare.... Still I have to keep my fingers crossed for the fact that the area near my dad's house doesn't start fracking. I thought when I read year ago that the suburbs would become the new "ghetto" and to think trucks driving 24/7 and bright lights on all night... I think that the suburbs where not going to be prime property after that......
Sigh...