paradise ali

George Carlin died yesterday.  He was such a brilliant comedian.  I got this in an email a while back.  It was written by George Carlin after his wife passed away and shows a different side of him.  It is poignant and eloquent and brought me to tears when I first read it. 

A Message by George Carlin:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

I was so sure that my oldest would be having a girl this time.  I almost got some pink yarn to crochet something.  (I didn’t know what I was going to make.  Just something pink, I guess!) 

It’s a good thing I didn’t.  You guessed it!  The ultrasound shows that baby has a "package"!  He’s a boy!  I could tell that my daughter was a little bit disappointed.  She had on the same look I did  when the doctor told us my last one was yet another girl.  I just hugged her.  She knows that the main thing is that baby is healthy.  They certainly won’t love a little boy any less than a little girl.  It’s just a shock since everyone, except my grandson and my youngest, thought baby was a girl. 

The first harvest of bush beans!  Sweet enough to eat raw but I’m planning to cook them up with SPAM!  I also want to save some for beef stew.  Eventually, I’d like to plant the whole bed in bush beans.

Things I learned from the experiment in no particular order:

• I need more patience
• MyFolia.com is an excellent free gardening resource to journal , make friends all over the world and keep track of seeds, transplants, gardens supplies and wishlists
• it’s not as cheap or easy as I originally thought but it is still very worthwhile to garden
• the cage needs to stay because, even after there’s enough growth to save it from being used as a lovely bathroom for cats, the Cardinals will try to steal the young beans and take the tops off the other plants
• the rapid growth of the beans is infinitely more exciting to me than the kids
• next time, I want to grow the lettuce hydroponically cause they take up too much space
• despite the square foot gardening promise of "no fertilizer necessary," chicken manure made a huge difference when the leaves started to look pale
• it is fulfilling to grow my own food and bake my own bread
• I’d like to get some bantam hens for eggs and manure (plus they’re really cute)
• the carrot seedlings taste like carrots and (insert drumroll here)
• I want to slowly turn my whole yard into food production space!

That’s not a surprise, is it?

The bush beans I planted in April are flowering and we’ve got little bean pods!  I doubt the cats will try to use the garden for their own personal hygiene at this point since the plants are big enough.  It feels strange to have the protective cage off but it sure makes watering easier.

Found an inspiring little clip of a man who turned all of his yard into edible planting space.  He has raised beds in the front yard, side yard, back yard and driveway.  He and his adult kids eat well and sell the excess to local restaurants.  He believes that his family is recession proof because of their gardens and frugal lifestyle.  They even make their own bio-diesel from used cooking oil they get from local eateries. 

With the ridiculous price of gas and transportation, the price of just about everything we use is skyrocketing.  I really like the idea of growing my own food.  In addition to the veggies, I hope to someday have a few bantam chickens for eggs.  (I doubt that even my meat eaters would actually want to eat the chickens after raising them!)  We currently have a compost bin and I hope to also start a vermiculture set up soon. 

Hawai`i is way too dependent on the import of oil and other necessities.   Sad when you think that we have the perfect place for farming and aquaculture.  We also have almost ideal conditions for solar, wind power, hydro and wave power, bio-diesel and even stinky geothermal. 

I’m a pack rat.  I hesitate to throw things away because "I might need it someday." 

I have almost half a closet full of evil plastic grocery bags.

It’s been coming to this for quite a while.  I am running out of space in the small hall closet and it is becoming increasing difficult to squish my vacuum cleaner and supplies in there without conking myself on the head and starting a small avalanche. 

With my rather large family, I can easily fill ten shopping bags per trip if there’s a good sale and I’m not careful.  We recycle the bags as trash can liners and rubbish bags.  I try to go "bagless" if possible and use my pretty, purple Chico Bags.  Still, the accumulation of bags in the closet is staggering.  What can I do with all these evil grocery bags?

The internet to the rescue!  There’s a site called My Recycled Bags.com and it has all sorts of ideas for turning the bags into nice looking purses, totes, wristlets, pot scrubbers, rugs and such.  The author cuts the bags into strips and ties them together to form "plarn."  Plastic yarn.  She then crochets the plarn into her fabulous creations.  Even better, this lovely lady "Cindy" or "RecycleCindy" shares her patterns for free!  How eco-consciously cool is that?! 

Making the plarn is easy enough.  My challenge is remembering how to crochet.  My grandmother taught attention deficit me to crochet and do embroidery (Okay, okay, she tried to teach me!) when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade and I actually crocheted a hot pink poncho some time thereabouts.  I attempted a baby blanket when I was in my 20’s and didn’t finish it. 

So here I am.  My goal is to cut a bunch of plarn and crochet something out of it.  I hope to make a bag but may start with something smaller and do baby steps.  I’m sure I can find a "How to Crochet" vid somewhere to help refresh my memory.  Either way, I’m making room in my closet and easing my eco-guilt. 

After all, I can’t just throw them away!  What if I need them later?!

Okay, I know I’m not the only one that does this.  I really like to look at other people’s houses, yards and garages.  Not in a peeping Tom or stalker way but as I drive by, sometimes I catch a little glimpse into the lives of the people who live there and it’s interesting.  There are families sitting around the dinner table laughing and enjoying what I imagine to be a fantastic meal, Tata patiently pulling weeds one by one out of an immaculate front yard, six custom Harley Davidsons all lined up in the driveway, huge garden filled with colorful petunias, Sponge Bob on a  big flat panel TV, fishing poles and huge ice chests in the garage, homemade picnic tables and benches underneath a double wide tarp, big trampoline with an enclosure, hunting dogs in kennels next to pickup trucks — the nice list could go on without end. 

Every now and then, though?  I like to hear my neighbors yelling at their children to clean their rooms or see a dining table piled with papers or boxes stacked in the garage threatening to overflow into the driveway or an overgrown jungle of a yard or a rusty roof or a house painted an off color.  Why?  Purely selfish reasons!  I like to see that other people also love their children but sometimes want to hug their offspring really, really hard . . . around the neck. Other folks have problems with clutter.  We’re not the only ones who need to save money to replace the roof.  Someone else out there picked the perfect paint sample in the store only to find out that it looks 10 times brighter on the house than in the store, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging anyone or taking joy in the misfortune of others or sending out bad vibes.  I guess what fuels my voyeurism is I want to remind myself of the good things that I already have and that are to come in the future and to also have the assurance that we’re all only human.  I’m not the best or the worst or the only one to take missteps and make mistakes.  We all do.  It’s a common experience.

I signed up with the user name “paradiseali” for a Twitter account a little over a month ago just to check it out and see what the buzz was about.  I started out following a few Hawai`i people that I remember from back in the day and it just expanded from there. 

And guess what?!  People tweet about family, what they’re eating, about traffic and weather and surf, share cute things about their children and pets, confess that their house or office is a mess, that they unclogged a toilet, where to go for KC Drive Inn waffle hot dogs or sushi or Hawaiian food and then some. Sometimes these tweets are linked to audio/video clips, pictures, books, event sign ups, and all sorts of juicy online tidbits. 

The best part is . . . I get a peek into other people’s houses/yards/offices/cars/lives without getting into my car and taking out a loan to cover the price of gas! 

April 2, 2008 And here she/he is! This was taken at about 10 weeks. Ultrasound technology sure has improved since my childbearing days. Not that those days are ancient history or anything. What a difference a decade makes.

April 1, 2008 We’re having another grandbaby in November! He/she will be my oldest daughter’s second child. I think “Zeta” is a girl. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a baby in the house. Lots of babyproofing to do but we’ve got time. My daughter is doing well, no morning sickness. Yay for her!

“Earth Hour shows that, together, our small actions can make a difference in the fight against climate change. By turning out the lights for one hour on March 29, individuals, businesses and communities across the world will demonstrate our collective concern about climate change and signal our willingness to do something about it.”   EarthHour

Google’s page is black today “as a gesture to raise awareness of a worldwide energy conservation effort called Earth Hour.” 

Honolulu, Hawai`i is signed up to participate, as are many companies.  It’s a symbol and celebration of our commitment to each do our part in reducing the carbon footprint on a daily basis.  Save yourself some money while saving the planet.  My family will participate at home and I’ll be at a friend’s party turning off the lights there!  It’ll be fun!

Please join me and millions of others around the world in turning off the lights tonight between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.