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mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Season of the Witch

August 26, 2014 — 1 Comment

When September sends kids back to school everyone starts to prepare for winter holidays.  I was at the grocery store yesterday and saw the entire seasonal section ready for Halloween.  It is still August but the candy, the costumes, and all the yard decorations are on display to get us in the mood.  Americans spend about 7 billion dollars annually on Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation.  More money is spent on adult consumes than on children’s costumes.  The season that begins Nov 1 and runs through Dec 16, known as the holiday shopping season results in 52 billion dollars in spending.  You might say that the slow warm up in both celebration time and money spent on Halloween is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the spending year.  People get very wound up with lists and crafts and party planners as New Years finally approaches.  The typical diet/fitness regime begins on January 1, along with new credit card redemption plans.  The remorse about over spending and over eating lasts about a month until Super Bowl time.

Fall is a natural time to store things and preserve them for winter.  Our ancestors endured heavy hardship if they did not prepare and store enough food for the winter months.  Harvest was a time of joy and celebration (perhaps not exactly like modern Day of the Dead) when neighbors came together and gave thanks for the crops they had grown.  They had to be mindful to keep enough and share enough to make it as community through the cold months.  Today we let the food banks worry about feeding society.  We follow an unnatural cycle of spending just when we should be doing some saving for future needs.  I suggest a few changes we can make to give the earth a better holiday season:

  • Buy locally made and locally grown products
  • Think twice before buying anything made out of plastic
  • Find crafty DIY ways to decorate with up cycled or recycled items
  • Teach your kids to give of themselves to those who need help
  • Limit the junk food treats as a central holiday theme
  • Don’t ask a single person if they’re ready for the holidays
pumpkin spice

pumpkin spice

glitter pumpkins

glitter pumpkins

Knowing Neighbors is Good for Your Health

August 21, 2014 — 3 Comments

Our community in midtown Tucson started using the Nextdoor app six months ago.   We now have 7% of our households in the area enrolled and communicating. This is a real change for us since few of the residents knew many other people in the vicinity. We still have more recruitment to do, but it is pretty easy and natural to grow the membership once the site gets started.  This startup from San Francisco was started in 2010 by techies to meet a need that seemed obvious to them.  Social media has made it possible to be in touch with folks around the world, but statistics showed that local communication was grinding to a halt.  A third of Canadians and half of Americans did not know the name of a single neighbor.  If you live here this should not shock you. Close knit communities are a distant memory for America.  Gangs, vandalism, and drug related crime have a chance to thrive when nobody knows each other.  Tagging and theft become a regular part of life when the entire population is isolated from each other.  Nobody wins.

Nextdoor is a private way for neighbors to connect and start to improve social fabric of a place.  Crime and safety is one of the topics frequently discussed.  Like our counterparts across the nation I think it has been shocking to start to learn about how much crime is going on constantly all around us.  Eventually, when we have more membership, I am sure it will become more difficult to commit crime without being busted by neighbors with cameras.  We all look forward to that day since our cops are neither responsive nor communicative.  People do complain about lack of law enforcement, but that will have no effect on the situation.  Some angry citizens feel that owning many guns will protect them and their property, but I think this is a fallacy.  One of the most common items stolen in break-ins is a gun.  Heavily armed communities are not safer than those with a healthy respect for private property and a strong social fabric.  They may be more dangerous and are probably depressed about what they perceive as a need to be heavily armed at home.

Here are a few good reasons to start using Nextdoor in your neighborhood:

  • You meet interesting people
  • You find out there is crime going on around you all the time to which you were oblivious
  • You have a chance to form special interest groups such as garden, pet lovers, or book clubs
  • You have a place to ask for recommendations when you need work done
  • You have a place to ask for help finding a lost pet
  • You can advertise your yard sales and services to a very local audience
  • You can organize events and parties for social fun in your vicinity

I hope you will join us in creating safer more appealing neighborhoods through communication. Use this link to go directly to the Nextdoor site for more information and to join.

 

Ancestral Karma

August 16, 2014 — 4 Comments

Padmasambhava

Padmasambhava

The following quote from the famous Dr Carl Jung explains the unconscious inheritance of unsolved and unanswered mysteries from our ancestors.  My intense study of all the branches of my family tree that still bear data leads me to conclude that Dr. Jung was onto something. There are certainly themes that run in families, if not a shared fate.  We have more than our immediate family to thank for the belief system we have been handed.  The religious, cultural, and sociological forces that inspired our ancestors to take action and undertake dangerous missions and travels have not evaporated into thin air. They are passed on as attitudes if not as law.

“I feel very strongly that I am under the influence of things or
questions which were left incomplete and unanswered by my
parents and grandparents and more distant ancestors. It often seems
as if there were an impersonal karma within a family which is
passed on from parents to children. It has always seemed to me
that I had to answer questions which fate had posed to my
forefathers, and which had not yet been answered, or as if I had to
complete, or perhaps continue, things which previous ages had left
unfinished.”~ Dr. Carl Jung , Memories, Dreams, Reflections

I wonder why my addition to my family fortune and mindset will be.  History changes the perception of everything, but when we learn about our ancestors we are instantly on their side, no matter what they were doing.  With few very crazy exceptions I find I am sympathetic with all of my relations in history because I would not be alive if it had not for their ability to survive.  I admire their adventurous natures, and am embarrassed by slaveholding, war mongering, and some elite royal behaviors of my people as they managed to survive.  I identify with them and their struggles, trying to imagine myself alive in much more primitive conditions.  I wonder how I would have managed in heavily religious times, or times of extreme violence and conflict.  Trauma as well as enlightenment is inherited.  Distrust as well as confidence is passed down to the next generation.  Self image as well as ethics are part of the ethical will we are given.  Our national identity contains within it preferences and prejudices that last for many generations.  Can you think of belief systems you have that you never questioned?  Have you ever wondered if the thoughts  in the minds of your family members before your birth have influenced your thinking?  How do you explain the collective consciousness?

Spiritual Crisis

August 14, 2014 — 3 Comments

What is a spiritual crisis? They are all over the biblical stories and the parables we are taught about heroes.  Some power that is not explained in the regular time bound reality has an influence on the character. Through hardship, or magic, or stressful change the hero, or the hero people,  become stronger than the force that had power over them.  There must be a zillion versions of this in video gaming.  Comic superhero figures and stories are based on supernatural battles in altered states with magical super powers thrown into the mix.  We see our religion and entertainment in terms of spiritual crisis pending or resolving, or causing trauma.  Why do we think of our everyday world as void of spiritual energy?  What makes us draw a line between reality and spirit?  Why do we think only shamans or monks have obligations to the spirit world?  Just as prayer and meditation will not repair the roof, tar and roofing tiles alone will not restore peace and security inside a home that has been bombed.  Everyone has both an earthly reality to tend and a higher meaning to life.

Looking at world events as evolving from a spiritual rather than  scientific or political causes might change the way we act and react.  Our own souls have certain obligations or tasks that coincide with the talents we have been given.  It is time to find right livelihood and spend our time and energy uplifting those who need help and who are seeking spiritual guidance.  At the end of life, no matter how and when that comes, we will not be concerned about how many insignificant tasks we have completed or how many hours we put on the clock doing busy work.  We will wonder if we have done what we have the talent to do, and if we have contributed the gift that was ours to create.  Much ado is being made about the suicide of Robin Williams this week.  Without diagnosing him or making light of all the circumstances (which I don’t know) I see this incident as a crisis of spirit, like the wars around the world.  It makes me sad, but I view it as a call for profound change.  We need to shift our outlook, about 2 octaves higher.

Right to Bear Video Camera

August 12, 2014 — 4 Comments

I have recently watched footage from 1968 in a museum exhibit which included the Democratic convention in Chicago and other riots. As I see St Louis now drenched in violence over the shooting of another unarmed teenager of color I have a deja vu feeling. The riots of Watts and Detroit in the 60s were about the same issues we face today.  When the narrator speaks in the black and white footage shot 46 years ago he reveals the culture of the broadcast universe at the time.  Today news footage flashes across twitter at the speed of digital finger snapping, allowing a more complete story to emerge instantly.  The new cameraperson is the bystander who is ready to capture what happens with a phone.  The new commentary is done live on the scene by everyone.  The facts come out quicker and opinions are shouted  out on Youtube before you can say network newscast.  People have the facts caught on camera and distributed throughout the world before you can say Jessie Jackson.  Justice must now take into account the fact that everyone is now a reporter and every phone is an official source of news.  The editorial department has swelled to include anyone who has an opinion and chooses to voice it.  Do you think this democratic version of news reporting will be a remedy for social injustice?  Have you ever whipped out your phone to record evidence as something happened in front of you? Do you think we will know the truth and the truth will us us free, or do so many versions of the truth make the world more contentious?  What does the camera toting public change?  Do you feel safer now?

Invasive Species, Rhus Lancea

August 8, 2014 — 7 Comments

Invasive botanical species are like untended social problems. If they are ignored they will take over and eliminate the native species because they are powerful and destructive.  Rhus Lancea is an invasive species that is taking over midtown Tucson.  It was brought here as a landscape plant, but quickly got out of control.  It is a relative of poison ivy, and causes some people to have serious allergic reactions, either respiratory or as a skin rash.  It spreads by producing abundant seeds as well as by spreading underground by suckers.  If there is irrigation water, rhus lancea will be very likely to sprout and grow, taking nutrients and moisture from the native or landscape plants.  Since it develops such a network underground the tree is very difficult to kill.  Cutting it down will not kill it, but will encourage spreading through the roots.  It is like a street gang, very undesirable and hard to eliminate.

I have been thinking about how these invasive plants are like crime.  If everyone ignores crime like tagging, vandalism, and gang activity it sucks the nutrients and value out of the neighborhood.  If drug dealing and other crimes are tolerated they blend into the scene making the whole place less valuable and less safe.  With no awareness, or worse, willful blindness to criminal and anti social activity we can only expect the environment to fill with undesirable behaviors.  We have a vivid illustration of this right outside my front door.  We pay landscaping company to kill our landscaping plants and waste large amounts of water each day.  We (the owners of shares of our HOA)  have just paid to have what was described as a dying mesquite tree removed from our sidewalk.  Since it is not dying and is a rhus lancea, we have paid these gardeners to encourage the growth of all of the children of the tree, that have been left in place.  The stump will probably grow back again too.  If actions we take are based on ignorance we will not arrive at a better situation.  Can you think of situations like this that remind you of government?  Working against our own interests seems to be so common these days.

Reverse Culture Shock, Being Home

August 2, 2014 — 2 Comments

Travel is exciting and broadens the mind. I love to go, but I love to come home even more. When I compare my ease and comfort at home with life on the road, even at wonderful places, I am always pleased that I live where I do.  My midtown location makes it simple and fast for me to shop for anything I want.  I am surrounded with very high quality body workers and Chinese Medicine practitioners.  My esthetician is the best in the world, and her practice is just blocks from my home.  I miss my pool and giant jacuzzi when I travel because it is private and rarely used by anyone but me.  I go in the morning during the summer and have the water all to myself every day.  I do like the pools at my health club, the Tucson Racquet Club, in the winter months because they are heated and next to a steam room.  This time of year (August) nothing pleases me more than to walk around the corner and have hours with the private pool all to myself.  I have never been anyplace else where this is true.

I am happy to be back in my kitchen.  Dining and tasting all over town has its merits, but whipping up anything you want to eat because you can is better.  I am a good cook, and have brought some of the flavor ideas home with me that I learned in my neighborhood of East Austin. I met more than one great craft cocktail maker who have given me new ideas for shrubs, punches, and custom soda drinks.  I tasted some pickled veggies that made sandwiches pop, and are very easy to prepare and keep on hand in the fridge.  I was served the best mac and cheese which was baked in the same black cast iron pans I use at home to bake bread.  I will knock off the black bean, jicama, avocado, romaine salad from El Chilito and it will be as if I never had to leave Manor Rd.

The University of Arizona students will come flooding back into town, but there are fewer of them than at University of Texas.  While I was on holiday the new tram opened downtown which will make our transportation system much fancier and desirable.  The students will now be able to tram all over downtown to drink, then tram back home without getting behind the wheel.  This new attraction will be fun for us also.  We plan to ride down to check out some of the new businesses along the tram line very soon.  There is still plenty to discover right here in Tucson.  I am shocked at how much I love my hometown.

History and Conflict

July 30, 2014 — 4 Comments

 

I spend a lot of time studying history, usually by learning about my own ancestry. The knowledge of my own family in different time periods has really helped me to get a better understanding of significant events and political movements. I began with some curiosity about how my own parents developed their ideas and culture, and now I can’t stop. I guess I don’t think about my own place in history, but a visit to the University I attended when I was 17 has given me both flash backs and chills. The anti-war movement and what was known as the free speech movement were obvious choices for me as a teen. I disagreed with all forms of violence, and my parents not only practiced violence in their personal lives, but firmly believed that military might and hatred were American privileges. I see now that my own reaction to their way of thinking not only changed my life, but changed history.

Now we find ourselves in a highly militaristic and war torn world.  Racism has not disappeared, but has gone underground. Poverty and lack of education and health care are in about the same situation as the 1950’s.  The effects of the laws, the programs, and the ideals that lifted America to a better place have virtually vanished into thin air.  We have more descent about politics then I have seen in my lifetime.  Our people are addicted to debt and squandering resources mindlessly.  Greed has replaced most other motives, and corporations can buy any government they want.  I will not form any philosophy around this decay and lowering of standards for the greater good because it has been happening since the dawn of time.  Our recurrent situation, fighting in wars in foreign lands for no logical purpose is no different from the Crusades, or the devastation of Native America.  Power may not beget evil, but the cycles of  tragedy follow the cycles of power.  We can only analyze the past after time has passed and those cycles become clear.  In my youth I thought that ending the Vietnam War would end all wars.  I have to wonder if this feeling also has occurred in young people forever.  The idea that when we finally have power we will change the world to make it better for everyone could not possibly have been originated by hippies.  I am sure there have always been those who wanted to give peace a chance. Things have to hit bottom before they bounce, just like real estate.  I can only hope that bottom is once again in sight, and that the end of my life will resemble the beginning, with an attitude of hope and conviction that we can do better.

 

French Legation Museum, Austin

July 23, 2014 — 7 Comments

There is only one foreign diplomatic residence in the United States outside of Washington, DC. It was the home of the French government’s embassy to the Republic of Texas.  The Republic only existed between 1836 and 1846.  The city of Austin was a town of about 800 people, including slaves.  The French wanted to trade with the Republic because they built ships and wanted the wood in Texas.  They believed the Texans, with a long shoreline, needed ships. They also thought the people on the frontier would buy French wine.  They sent a young man in the diplomatic corps from Washington, DC to Galveston to do a study to determine the feasibility of setting up a relationship with Texas.  This man was Alphonse DuBois.  He came back with  glowing report, and landed the job of charge d’affaires to the Republic of Texas for himself.   His diplomatic skills, or his ability to adjust to life on the frontier, were lacking.  He bought a giant piece of land above the town and built a grand Creole style home for himself.  He got into a serious altercation with a local about some pigs who broke into his corn.  This became the Pig War, and was the downfall of Mr DuBois.  He left for New Orleans, supposedly for his health, but when he returned to Austin Sam Houston was carrying on most of the Republic’s business in Travis County.  His career was never the same after that.  He was eventually recalled to France.

A visit to the French Legation Museum is well worth the time.  The guided tour, which is done very professionally, is only $5, which hardly pays for the air conditioning while you are there.  On the second and fourth Sundays of the month real French people show up to play pantenque and have a potluck.  The public is invited to participate.  The park’s outdoor spaces are open to the public.  They have an agreement with a group of sculptors who maintain a high quality display of local artists’ work on the grounds.  It is a very special place to visit. The front porch has a protected view of the capital building, which is pretty sweet.  Nobody can build anything that blocks the view.

German Free School in Austin

July 19, 2014 — 3 Comments

Many Germans were settlers in Texas. I noticed in the Oakwood Cemetery lots of headstones noting birthplaces in Germany or Prussia, and some were inscribed in the German language.  As I was walking downtown Austin on a Saturday I passed a sign for the German Free School.  I was curious to see kids at play in the courtyard.  I asked a lady next to the gate if there was a museum in the building.  She was very friendly but on duty with the kids who come on the weekends to learn German.  She directed me to another adult upstairs who took me on a quick tour while the kids were still on play break.  It is small, but very well preserved.  When there are no other events taking place they rent it out for weddings and parties.  It would be a very elegant place for any affair.  The library is full of books in German or about Germany, and a wonderful collection of antiques gives the full impression of German artistic flair.  Ornate carved furniture, that must be priceless, fills the main room.  The courtyard is also very well designed with nice statuary.  I want to show the gentle readers what I saw on my lucky personal tour of this historic landmark.  Achtung Baby!