mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

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Tapas Fusion in Tucson

June 15, 2013 — 2 Comments

We are happy to have a tapas restaurant in our neighborhood.  Tapas Fusion is our new favorite place to go for food and cocktail adventure.  We had brunch there last Sunday with good results, so we returned yesterday for happy hour.  Firey Friday features flambé drink specials.  I tried one, and then had a pisco sour, both new to me.

It was a blast. The crew, including the friendly owner Mary Bellin, make you feel welcome.  The happy hour pricing and the all you can eat tapas menu has something for everyone.  I am vegetarian, and Bob is not, so we each ordered small dishes until we were full.  The cuisine has many layers of flavor, with creative garnishes and fresh sauces making each dish pop.  The flavorful variety gives your tastebuds a lot of intrigue for the size of the plates and the total of the bill.  We are huge fans, and will return to try more of the menu.  Mary has a generous frequent diner offer, and she doubles the points on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. For summer the restaurant will be closed on Mondays. She offers the all you can eat tapas menu every day, and it includes a lot of choices.  Additional menu items are available a la carte.  So far, we liked everything we ordered…a lot!!

Cancer and the Lymphatic System

June 15, 2013 — 3 Comments

People who undergo cancer treatments or surgery often suffer from permanent damage to the lymphatic system. There is a process they can use, combined with movement, to restore the flow of lymph by sending it through new pathways. Justine Robbins has many years of experience working with cancer patients as a lymphatic drainage therapist. She wishes more people had more knowledge, especially those who have cancer and lymphoma. It is very common to overlook this gentle treatment while the patient suffers great pain from swelling. Justine explains why this simple technique can provide relief and healing for many who do not know it exists.  Supportive Care for Healing at the U of A Cancer Center offers this treatment at a very reasonable price.

Lymph and Your Health

June 14, 2013 — 2 Comments

I go regularly to Justine Robbins for lymph drainage treatments. I look at it as boosting my immune system. This little known activity in the body is essential for good health. Understanding how the lymph nodes are connected and what they do might illustrate why this treatment can make a big difference in overall your wellbeing and resiliency. In Europe it is more common to find this kind of therapy because there is generally more knowledge available on the benefits. I am so lucky and happy to have access to supportive care for healing and Justine.

Nunta, Sun Goddess of the Cherokee

June 14, 2013 — 1 Comment

sunflowers

sunflowers

Nunta, the Cherokee goddess of the sun and health has power to bring healing or illness.  Remedy is remembering in her world.  Health emanates from the same source as pain.  Adversaries carry strong medicine, and sometimes must be faced in order to be free of an affliction. Willingness to meet an adversary for the purpose of healing sounds like fairy tale of fear and loathing.  The struggle is full of possible outcomes, including death.  Intuitively our bodies know which ones of our patterns is the most harmful.  Allowing an accumulation of foggy emotional distraction to cover the truth only leads to more complicated side effects.  The enemy of your good health is denial.  Nunta is the bright sunlight of awareness illuminating the medicine you need to remember.

  • Stop doing the things that make you unhappy
  • Start doing the things that make you happy
  • Remember the difference

Your personal happiness is unique and known only to you.  Taking a big dose of your own medicine is a step towards wholeness and health.

James Sweet of Warwick, Kent, RI

June 13, 2013 — 5 Comments

While studying my tree I noticed that one of the branches had some discrepancies.  The Sweet family of Rhode Island is a favorite of mine now that I have visited the state.  Consulting family written documents, my suspicions were confirmed that I had the wrong Sweet in the wrong spot.  I was sad because I had become attached to these people who would no longer be related to me, which itself is a ridiculous thought.  Now I have spent time to repair the error, and with a bit of luck I did get back to the correct ancestor in just 3 generations. I had listed his brother John in this generation, an erroneous idea I found in other profiles on ancestry.com.  Lucky for me, I do have family written references on this part of my fam.   My new, revised 8th great grandfather is from a Sweet family of famous physicians known as the bonesetters.  They carried on for generations in this capacity. I am now just as happy with the doctors as I was with the fancy politicians I gave up in the process. I have also been informed about Rhode Island history, which is fascinating.

James Sweet (1622 – 1695)
is my 8th great-grandfather
Benoni Sweet (1663 – 1751)
son of James Sweet
Dr. James Sweet (1686 – 1751)
son of Benoni Sweet
Thomas Sweet (1732 – 1813)
son of Dr. James Sweet
Thomas Sweet (1759 – 1844)
son of Thomas Sweet
Valentine Sweet (1791 – 1858)
son of Thomas Sweet
Sarah LaVina Sweet (1840 – 1923)
daughter of Valentine Sweet
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Sarah LaVina Sweet
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

The second son of JOHN & MARY SWEET, James Sweet came with his parents to America in 1632. He worked at a grist mill with his step-father, Ezekiel Holliman. He was an inhabitant of Warwick in 1648, Commissioner in 1653/1658/1659, freeman in 1655, juryman in 1656 and lived at the estate of the late William Congdon at the foot of Ridge Hill. He married MARY GREENE, daughter of JOHN GREENE & JOANE (TATTERSOL) GREENE, about 1654 in Providence, RI. On Sept. 30, 1660, he sold to Thomas Greene, the lot he had received from the town of Warwick along with meadow land. Later, the family moved to Prudence Island in Portsmouth Twp. about four miles soutwest of Bristol in 1664 being one of the first families to live on the island from 1664 to about 1685. Several family members are buried in the old family burying ground in the center of the island.On November 8, 1686, he deeded his land in Providence that he had inherited from his father to eldlest son, Philip of Prudence Island. On the same date, he deeded to son, Benoni, certain land in Mashiantatack, and to son, James of Prudence Island, Valentine of Kingstown, and Samuel & Mary Sweet living with their parents, land in Mashiantatack. In 1695, James deposed and gave his age as 73. He died at age 93 years.All the “bone-setter” family lines originate with James Sweet and his wife, Mary, who learned the art of bone-setting from her surgeon father, JOHN GREENE. James Sweet & his brother, John Sweet were interpreters to the Indians for first settlers and their names can be found on early Indian deeds. James Sweet signed with his mark.

Transformational Groups and Language

June 13, 2013 — 1 Comment

I am in a chat group with some people who have been to est training or the Landmark Forum, but I have not done that. I enjoy their point of view, but am amused by much of the jargon. Recently somebody in that group asked if others had alienated others with special transformational language. I had to laugh and think of what my own transformational groups and languages have been:

  • childhood neighbors
  • early childhood school friends
  • summer camp buddies
  • petroleum camp amigos from Venezuela
  • high school choir and drama students
  • hippies
  • spa bunnies
  • swimmers
  • vegetarians
  • Swiss

There are sub groups,but these are the majors.  I have recently been united with my early childhood neighbors and school friends, one of whom went to summer camp with me.  I have also gotten in touch with many old friends and neighbors who lived in San Tomé, Venezuela in the early 1960’s.  This mostly bilingual group has a language and a culture that is unique.  I am not in contact with any high school or college friends, but a small group with whom I worked in a theater company in Cherokee, NC in 1968 has been drawn together through social media.  The hippies, spa bunnies, swimmers, and vegetarians all switch places and morph into the current culture.  I know a few of each group from the past.  I stay in touch with Swiss friends, although I have not visited for a few years now.

The language, slang, and meaning of these transformational groups imprint on us as individuals, and as a collective groupthink.  We share memories that fit together like jigsaw puzzles.  In the last month I have been amazed to learn some of the things my elementary classmates remember about me, and what I know about them.  The past plays back like a very funny movie, missing lots of dialog and motive.  What seemed insignificant is memorable, and what was important at the time has lost   significance. We do have a thread of common language, and some common ideas.  Although we may no longer be a group who hangs out in real life, we somehow are still transforming each other. Even learning about the death of some of our old comrades shakes the foundation of mortality, the ultimate transformation.

Red Rover with Big Brother

June 12, 2013 — 1 Comment

post industrial reflection

post industrial reflection

We are pretending that the data analysts of the world are geeks and, therefore, benign. How silly can we be? My own father jumped from slide rule to mainframe computer just to get bigger data. The rest of his life was consumed by the opportunity to get more and bigger data. He taught petroleum engineering students how to analyze big data to manage oil fields. He was recruited by IBM in the late 1950’s to be a believer.  Data was the future and the future was bigger data.

My parents and all their petroleum friends around the world distinguished themselves by the mass quantities of alcohol they consumed. They liked Ike, war, cars, and cocktails. I never saw them as particularly in touch with reality. They were, in their day, the big science data mangers trusted to produce energy for the planet. They were distinctly reckless, especially my father.  He adored fracking and exploding stuff of all kinds.  In his 60’s he became a reckless hot air balloonist, risking the lives of many to get his kicks.  I am not saying they were evil..not at all. They were lots of fun, and popular for their party antics.  What I am saying is that humans handle the data, and I suspect each person attracted to this kind of power (of geekiness and arcane knowledge) of wanting to pervert the universe.  I see the greatest generation as having used science to do much damage.  I think the Boomers will not be remembered so well in data history either.  Control of politics and data has turned into a giant Red Rover dare.  Protecting all the various digital borders is now impossible, so cyberinfo is a volatile hacking paradise.

Now there is so much data nobody has any idea how to manage it, let alone isolate the people ethical enough to handle it.  This whole idea and verbiage of leak is indicative of the problem.  We now have such a complex web of data moving non stop that leaks of all kinds are inevitable.  People will now devote their lives and fortunes to creating and finding leaks of important data.  The data came from Pandora’s box, but it is much too big to be contained now.  We let it all out, then we dare Big Brother to come over.  I witnessed first hand the people who conquered the oil fields with data and science.  They suffered from intense ignorance.  We do too.  It is not the tool, but the user,who makes the decisions, who has the power to change the outcome. I am not so worried about NSA wasting time analyzing my data as I am about all misdirected data studies everywhere. This data smuggling and whistle blowing has only just begun, gentle reader.  We have a tangled web of growing data to interpret, store and hide.

What is a Milagro?

June 10, 2013 — 2 Comments

Milagro means miracle, and it also means a specific symbol used to make an offering.  Offerings have meaning in the context in which they were made.  Churches around the world have tokens left in hope, remembrance, or gratitude.  In Ted DeGrazia’s Virgin of Guadalupe chapel people have left these symbols for many years.  The oldest chapel I have seen like this has many offerings from sailors that include hats.  It is in Cap D’Antibes, France.  The chapel of Notre Dame de Garoupe is enchanting as well as historic. In Tucson we also have shrines known as El Tiradito and the Virgin shrine at San Javier del Bac Mission:

An offering can be made in nature, in a chapel, or in a garden.  Altars exist in every form.  The meaning is in the heart of the person making the offering. Milagros express hope, faith, and dedication. They tell the history of people’s aspirations, tragedies, and triumphs. The spirit of the place is reflected in the objects left on the altar.  The altar assumes a collective consciousness by making space for all the offerings and their symbolic powers.  It becomes an archive of religion.

Plimouth Grist Mill

June 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

One of the most fascinating displays maintained by Plimouth Plantation is the grist mill.  A recent  acquisition, the mill grinds corn to show visitors how water powered mills made life possible in the colonies. Because the space is intimate the employees can be very helpful and informative.  I learned a lot from my brief visit, and was given some good references to lean more. They employees are very well trained and seem to enjoy working with the visiting public.

Spying with Servers

June 8, 2013 — 4 Comments

When we receive the news that servers are being used to analyze our communication there is no reason to be shocked. A wire tap by any other name would smell as foul.  The purpose of big data is big analysis.  If you think technology is virtuous, or if you think it is inherently evil you are missing the point. Every advance in technology has been tried and often improved by spies.  Think of all the magic of James Bond and his low tech super powers.  Does espionage happen because honorable people want to learn more about the activities of their neighbors?  Certainly not.  Defense includes what is classified as intelligence.  If the US declares a war on anything ( drugs, terror, etc) they ride the interstate commerce laws right up into everyone’s business. Our government protects Monsanto and their ilk without batting an eye, because that is the power that is reigning at the moment.

In the spy game everyone wants the coolest and most able spies, but that can’t be possible for every country.  Some will have current tech, and others will rely on ancient systems of corruption to procure data.  Propaganda supports spying as protection of the population.  It is more likely to be protection of a certain status quo. Politics, cartoons, and reality do overlap, gentle readers.