This is interesting -- a website with information about treating plants with homeopathic remedies, amongst other things. The plants are strengthened so that they aren't susceptible to insects and disease, rather than using pesticides and other toxic sprays for the disease. If you register, you will find a complete materia medica and repertory for plants. What a good idea!
Yesterday was a lot more exciting than I had expected! We had a pretty good earthquake around noon. At first they reported it as a 5.8, and then it got downgraded to a 5.4, but it felt stronger than that to me. This is how my brother's clean and shiny black car looked when we got back to it:
At first he thought it was paint, because of the splatter effect and the way it was dripping down onto the bumper. Then he realized that it was birds. I guess the earthquake scared the you-know-what out of them, too!
My car broke down yesterday, fortunately when I was really close to home after having driven to Long Beach. How lucky is that? It's in the shop, and won't be ready until Wednesday night, so I'm without a car until then. Being without a car in Los Angeles is difficult, because we don't have very good public transportation. Today I'm going to attempt to take a bus to Malibu for an appointment, but I have to walk a couple of miles just to get to the bus stop. Or else take two other buses to get there. I think it's faster to walk. It's good though -- it's forces me to exercise, which I'm usually reluctant to do!
Isn't this a great-looking tree? I found it at The Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia, and I took the picture using a fisheye lens with plastic wrap over it to obscure the image.
This is one of my pet peeves -- people who park inches from my bumper on the street. It doesn't happen to be my car this time, but it has been plenty of times, and it ticks me off. How do they expect me to get out? Doesn't it seem like they're asking to be hit? It's not like there's a lack of parking space and they have to squeeze in tight. I just don't get it.
Are you familiar with Debra Lynn Dadd's website? She's an expert on food, chemical, and environmental sensitivities, and also writes about how to live "green." Her free e-newsletters are full of good information, and you can search her archives for information about everything from electromagnetic fields to table linens.
This is a great resource for everyone who is dealing with sensitivities and anyone pursuing a green lifestyle.
I'm getting a lot of mileage out of the volunteer sunflowers in my backyard! Which is good because I'm still catching up after my trip to Albuquerque. Look at how different this one looks now that it's fully open.
And look at how different it is from the other one in the yard.
Does this look comfortable? And yet this is one of Luci's favorite places to sleep -- on top of the flat bed scanner with her head on the slide scanner. She seems to prefer the scanners over the other peripherals.
I just got back from a four-day homeopathy seminar in Albuquerque. This was the view from my room, and this was the only picture I took while I was there. I didn't see much of Albuquerque because the days in class were long, and I was exhausted afterwards. It's strange to travel that far and not even see the town!
I think that's the uptown mall across the street from the hotel, but I'm not entirely sure. We got quite a bit of lightening, thunder and rain while I was there, which is unusual for this time of year.
Isn't this butterfly beautiful? I thought it was unusual because of it's lack of bright colors. It looks like a Monarch with the oranges and yellows. It's hanging out in the front yard on the Boston ferns.
Are you familiar with the I Can Has Cheezburger website of LOL cats? I'm a cat fanatic, so I check it several times a day. It's quite funny, and good for those days when you're struggling to find something to smile about.
There was a mother possum and her baby on the patio this morning eating the cat kibble. Aren't they cute? Unfortunately after I took this picture they headed into the studio, where they seem to be living behind some paintings stacked against the wall.
Graffiti etched into the dirt on a wall -- what a good idea! So much easier to clean up than the spray paint variety, and I like the concept of impermanence.
I have a volunteer sunflower in the backyard that is just beginning to bloom. They are such interesting flowers, maybe because of their enormous size and intricate geometry.
I'm reading a really good book on pathology so I can understand various diseases, their conventional treatments, and how to go about treating them holistically. It's titled The Clinical Medicine Guide: A Holistic Perspective by Dr. Stephen Gascoigne. I wanted to share these few paragraphs with you about the difference between conventional medicine and holistic medicine.
Symptoms, therefore, mean different things to different practitioners. Conventional doctors see symptoms as being caused by a disease -- an inherently existent entity that can be discovered by the doctor. Removal of the disease leads to cessation of the symptoms. The emphasis is on the physical nature of disease and symptoms. They are considered to be negative, unpleasant, and to be removed if health is to be achieved. Health is the absence of symptoms and this is a conventional practitioner's definition of cure.
In holistic medicine, symptoms are the result of an internal imbalance. The symptoms are a direct manifestation of the inner energetic state. They point directly to the state of Qi and Blood as understood by Chinese medicine. The holistic practitioner views symptoms as positive and helpful. They are pointing to the inner imbalance and are an opportunity for self-awareness and to regain balance.
In any situation, homeostatic mechanisms try to maintain health -- otherwise we would all die from an acute illness such as the common cold or influenza. Symptoms are the body's best attempt at self-healing. They are only severe and deep when there is no other option. If the symptom is removed without balancing the inner energetic disharmony it leads to further imbalance of Qi and Blood. If the symptoms disappear because they were not allowed to be expressed then the energetic imbalance has been suppressed either to a deeper physical level, to the emotional or to the mental level. This is the concept of suppression. This is potentially extremely dangerous and is one of the reasons why conventional medical treatment is often followed by other, more severe disease. Conventionally, these are either seen as unrelated episodes of ill health or called side-effects. From an energetic viewpoint they are the direct results of suppressive treatment.
If the symptoms disappear because the energetic imbalance has been rectified then true cure is the result. This is the aim of holistic methods of treatment. The holistic practitioner views symptoms as positive and helpful. They point to the inner imbalance and provide an opportunity to regain balance and develop greater self-awareness.
Interesting stuff, huh? I never realized until recently that prescription drugs and surgery are suppressive. I knew that prescription drugs were unhealthy, but I didn't know about the whole concept of suppression.
Yikes! I watched a documentary last night titled "Everything's Cool," and now I'm all wrapped up in the global warming crisis again.
It makes me feel sad, scared and helpless, and I really can't afford to go around feeling that way all the time. I've already made lots of changes in my life to defuse global warming, but it doesn't feel like enough. And then there's the frustration that our government isn't doing much to turn it around, if anything. I feel like I'm on a sinking ship, and it's not a good feeling.
Meet Dr. Luc. He's my homeopathic doctor. His full name is Luc De Schepper, but everyone calls him Dr. Luc. He's brilliant, and I want his job. He inspired me to start studying homeopathy, and I'm hoping to practice it myself one day. I'm taking a four-day advanced homeopathy class with Dr. Luc in Albuquerque next week. Unfortunately homeopathy is the most difficult healing modality to learn, but also the most successful in treating many types of problems.
You can read more about Dr. Luc, homeopathy, and his Pacific Palisades practice on his website.
This is one of the most beautiful geraniums I have ever seen. It's a scented geranium, and the leaves smell like cinnamon. I planted it on Cinnamon's grave -- one of my cats who died two years ago. Cinnamon liked to eat flowers, so I think she would approve of the choice.
This is Cinnamon, one of the sweetest cats I have ever known.
Welcome to my life. I'm starting off with Alex, the feral cat who lives in my backyard. She's been hanging around here for almost two years now, and she has made an amazing transformation. In the beginning I couldn't get within twenty feet of her, and now she lets me pet her, although she's still very cautious. Alex is an inspiration to me. I admire her ability to learn to trust.
You can see videos of her on YouTube here, here and here.
I am an artist, living and working in the Los Angeles area. I consider myself to be part "mad scientist," because I'm interested in observing the effects of combining unorthodox materials and manipulating paint in unusual ways.
