Things That Go Bump in the Garden

Warm Spring sunshine, a cool breeze and the gentle song of my wind chimes fill the garden with tranquility at the moment. Birds sing and chirp from all the trees and my cat Grey-El has taken to sunning himself on the front step so he can accost me for pets the moment my shoveling takes a pause.
Gardening has become my new labor of love and I look forward to planning each change that I make and watering my new little plants, but there is a dark force working in the shadows. A sinister side to the garden that only emerges when you start poking around in it......

It is the creepy crawlies!!!!!

Okay, so those of you who know me personally may not be shocked by my bug filled nightmares.
It is quite well known that my "I am woman hear me roar" attitude turns into "I am a squeamish little girl" routine the second something flies, jumps, or crawls on me but I didn't realize just how many times I would have to face my fears taking up this new hobby of mine.

So far I have had to slowly make friends with:

• The biggest earth worms known to man:
  Of which I have thousands and which is supposed to be very good for my soil!
• Ugly fat grub things:
  Which I thought were bad so I would use my shovel to chuck them on the path but it turns out that they are good so I now leave them be but the crows who would helpfully eat the grubs are totally pissed and scream bloody murder at me whenever I am outside.
• A nest of ants:
  That thought me very rude when I turned over a random paving stone and in the process destroyed years of tunnels and work.
• And last but not least a freaking black widow spider:
  Who I must admit was (in the 30 seconds I was frozen in place before screaming and running like a gay man being forced into polyester) very striking and quite glamorous to look at.

As my fear of pesticides, insecticides, and most chemicals of a deadly nature is far worse than my fear of the creepy crawlies. I am having to learn to co-exist in my small, green, wondrous, oasis with all the little buddies that were living here before me.

Perhaps this is a lesson that is far greater than just my own learning to garden and over come bug related fears.
Perhaps the real lesson, for me and those of you reading this, is that despite things scaring us because they are different from us they each have a place in this world. They are each a part of our environment and this delicate ecosystem called earth.
Tolerance is a beautiful gift to give our environment, our fellow human beings and our selves. If we learn to give this gift freely than we may be so lucky to receive it in return.

If you are interested in learning about the environment around you and how you can be more tolerant and less harmful to it please check out the Nature Conservancy of Canada's website.

Blessed Be. Love and Light.

The Much-To-Do About Boobs

This ones for the girls....

Have you sat down recently and thought about boobs? Yours or someone Else's?
I find myself this morning wondering how breasts became such a hot topic and how one body part can be related to so many emotions, thoughts, experiences and controversy.

In what seemed like an overnight transformation I went from a flat chested 11 year old girl to a 36C curvaceous 12 going on 20 year old. All of a sudden my mother was having to try and hide me from the leering gazes of 35 year old men. This overnight change in my body didn't just mean that clothes fit differently but it meant EVERYTHING was different.
I became a sexual being in the eyes of other people because my body had changed, and let me tell that at 12 I was no where near ready for it.

The tops that on my friends looked cute and innocent looked sleazy on me. My friends mothers weren't sure I was the kind of girl they wanted hanging out with their daughters and they certainly didn't approve of how their older sons and their husbands were all of a sudden offering to babysit.

Having breasts changed my life the moment they arrived and they continue to play an important role in my life. They let me attract certain lovers but deter others, they prevented me carrying on with certain sports, they have both advanced and hindered career moves at certain times, they have formed a part of my personality and I have both relished and rejected them at different times of my life. Breasts are controversial and those are just my own.

The power of the breast is overwhelming.
It is what nurtures our young, lures our lovers, forms our fashion sense and fosters billion dollar industries from creams, bras, surgeries, magazines, film, and countless others businesses.

No one goes unaffected by boobs.

So why do I bring all of this up? I suppose it is to ask you to be sensitive and to give this over worked body part a bit of a break.
Their is a reason that breast cancer is rampant in our nation and it is more than just the physical nature of our world. It is also the emotional pressure that our commercial driven North American lives force on to this unsuspecting fragile collection of tissue.
As women we criticise our breasts for being too small, to big, too low, too pointy, too, too, too and I think we just need to give them a rest.
Stop judging yours and everyone Else's.
Stop allowing society to tell you something is wrong with them.
Stop forcing them into padded wire contraptions that force them into unnatural shapes.
Let them breath for Goddesses sake!!!!

1 in 27 women will die of breast cancer. This is staggering!!!!!
I say embrace your tits. Their size, shape, and stage in maturity.
Love them for what they are and take great care of your mounds.
Don't forget to check them to ensure good health and perhaps let them see the sun first hand.
www.bcsc.ca

Blessed be, Love and Light

MokSana

For many years now I have dabbled in a little yoga but I have never really dedicated myself to the practice. Recently though, I have been determined to make my practice a more regular event and although I am not quite committed to a daily practice yet I do attend 4-5 times per week.

I have started going to a wonderful studio that not only gives me teachers who provide the instruction and correction I need to stay motivated but the studio it's self has an energy and life that compels me to be there at every chance I get.

The studio is called MokSana and it is located in Victoria's china town in Fan Tan alley.

Yesterday while lying in corpse pose at the end of class I opened my eyes and saw the rain on the skylights above my head, I heard the gull perched on the roof calling out to sea, and I felt the wool blanket I was given to use cocoon my stretched and limber body. "How blessed I am" I thought to be able to spend time embracing my body in this wonderful loft studio with its soft light, warm exposed brick walls and subtle herbal aroma.

Yoga has become a way for me to become acquainted with my body but MokSana has become a way to immerse myself in peace. Thank you for this gift!

Blessed be, Love and Light