Bonsai 101

I have been meaning to make a bonsai tree for ever.

Today is the day.

You will see how easy it is to cross one thing of your bucket list in less then an hour.

One pot, one rock and some copper wire.

A tree or two that always wanted to grow-up to be bonsais.

A book small enough to be read while having morning tea.

Sand, gravel and fertilizer (very important according to my savant book).

Take the dirt off the roots and figure out a good arrangement for your trees.

Put gravel and rock in pot. Mix potting soil, sand and fertilizer.

Voila!

Now water carefully every 2 to 3 days for 10 years and you have got yourself a bonsai.

The coper wire ? It's used for shaping but is was not needed since these two neglected trees already have a very nice shape.

Now take a look at your bucket list and kick something off of it!

Mom's Birthday Party

It was a great party. The pizza and cake were delicious.


Between Judd and Mom, I'm not sure who won the competition to blow the most candles.

I have alot more pictures.

Climate change

Wonderful 50's

Whether you are waiting to retire, sailing your life away, blogging away your days or going and/or went through too much in life, you still manage to smile.
:)

A few pics from February

C'était merveilleux de faire un "road trip" avec Irène et de visiter la famille. J'ai pas de photos de la super visite chez GIl et Yvon, ni de la visite chez Maman, car je les ai prises avec un autre appareil.

Pirate

Well they say that sometimes we have sympathy pain.  Well, my daughter's partner Dave I think tried this.  He went snowboarding a few weeks ago, and he fell hard.  He broke an ankle and sprained the other one with a possible hairline fracture.  We went to visit on the weekend and his mobility is limited.  He has two leg supports, a walker and crutches.  When I saw him I thought of poor Brian who is suffering at the moment with all his contraptions all over his home.
I sent a picture to his parents since they live pretty far and don't like to travel in the winter.  His mother was happy to see him standing, but she said he looks like a pirate because she could not see his other leg.  The picture is not very clear, but I thought I would share it.   Dave should be on his two feet in a few months, but the skiing season is over for him.

Breathe out, 1 2 3 4 5 6

It is no secret that breathing is good for you, really.

But did you know it can help you loose weight, fight depression, prevent heart attacks, and more.

That’s right, everything from dyslexia to dementia can be helped by breathing out and breathing in to the rhythm of your heart beat.

We’ve all heard of monks in MRI machines showing the scientific world the positive effects of meditation on the brain.

Turns out breathing is what offers real benefits to the body and brain.

Meditation without breathing to the rhythm of your heart beat gives only mediocre results.

Meditation is stopping your monkey brain. Putting your brain in neutral for a while. Thinking of nothing.

Meditation can also be active. Focusing on one person or even and sending positive vibes. This has been know to help plants grow!

Doing either forms of meditation while breathing to the rhythm of your heart beat will help the mind and body rebuild and heal. That is what monks do.

Here is a 5 minute youtube video that guides you to breath following the rhythm of your heart.

http://youtu.be/zM2gq8kYKyE

At first you may notice that you can easily breath out to the beat of 5 seconds but you run out of room in your lungs to breath in for 5 seconds.

If you empty your lungs fully, you will have lots of room to breath in. Keep at it.

Monks breath to the beat of 8 not 5 like in the video. Once you get to the beat of 6 you’ll be on your way there.

After a few tries you will be able to do this in a grocery store line-up, a traffic jam, a boring party, a busy airport, even on the couch in front of your favorite TV show.

So. Relax, enjoy. 

Don’t forget to breathe.