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?

Back in April, I wrote about my gardening goals.  The string beans I planted didn’t take but I did plant bush beans a few days later.  They started flowering last week and the pretty purple flowers fell off and revealed these guys. 

Took this close up photo on Sunday from between the plants looking upward.  I’m so excited!  The growth difference between the morning and the evening is phenomenal.  We should have a nice bunch of green beans soon.  Now, if we could just grow SPAM it would be perfect!  Just joking. 

Well, not really. 

Easy Spam and Green Beans

1 can Spam
2 or 3 cups fresh green beans
pepper to taste
garlic or garlic powder to taste
1 tsp oil or margarine

Wash beans thoroughly.  Slice into diagonal strips or other small sized pieces.  Dice the SPAM (or cut into strips, if you prefer).  Saute SPAM in oil or margarine in hot pan until heated through or when edges are slightly brown. Add sliced green beans, heat through. Sprinkle with pepper, toss together. Best served hot.

I’m setting up a Technorati Profile with this post.  I’m just checking out different services and exploring.  I resisted Twitter and didn’t “get it” until I gave it a spin so who knows?  I ♥ Twitter.  Maybe I’ll like other sites as well. 

Please leave me a comment if you have any favorites you’d like to recommend.

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. 

Everyday, but especially today, on this Memorial Day, we honor our brave military and the sacrifices they and their families made.  May the coming year bring back to us those who are in harm’s way and may we have the opportunity to embrace the peace for which so many gave their lives.

Our Gift to the Fallen
© 2007 Charlie Gragg

For each soldier that has fallen so that many may stand
We honor their spirit as they pass to God’s hand
For without their sacrifice we would live forever in fear
We pray for their loved ones and provide a salute and a tear
God help us heal the wounds of hate and the misery of war
That is our gift to our fallen heroes that are amongst us no more.

"God help us heal the wounds of hate and the misery of war."  I love our soldiers but I don’t support war.  I wish our leaders would choose a different way.

Beautiful, powerful photos by Joe Philipson of Philipson Photography.  The photos above are from his Flickr photostream.   Some rights reserved.

A so called church group came to Hawaii to say that "God hates Hawaii" supposedly because they believe "Hawaii tolerates homosexuality and adultery."  I’m not even going to type their name.  They are the same "church" that owns and operates hate sites on the net and pickets the funerals of gays.  They also protest at the services for our military killed in action in Iraq because they claim that God is punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality.  Per Wikipedia, the group expresses

. . . condemnation of homosexuality, Roman Catholics, Muslims and Jews, as well as populations it believes are supporting the aforementioned groups, including Chinese^[4], Swedes, Canadians, Irish, British, Mexicans and Americans.

Heh! So I guess Hawaii is in very good company!

The group, itself, is not worth mentioning.  What is worth mentioning is Pastor Wayne’s smiling response in this article and accompanying video from KITV.

We all know that people can say what they want to, whether it’s true or not.  One of the things about our country is it gives people the right to be deceived, if they want to. But we all know in the Bible, first John, it says ‘God is love’ and, in him, there is no hate.

Amen!

To the group members:  Enjoy your stay in the islands, thank you for contributing your money to our economy and, of course, Aloha!

Added–Linkmeister also has a take on this situation here.

Feeling much better today. Check this out! This is the most incredible art thing I’ve seen in a long while–