plans now to paint a tree on the wall. how exciting. trees are lovely. baltimore is pretty green and we have a roof! i'm going to make a lovely little garden on it.

here's a thought:
"The journey to health, wholeness, sanity, well-being, happiness - is all one. It is all a journey of self-love (or love of God, love of life - love is the key word). As we learn to love ourselves better we naturally tend towards better habits. And sometimes this self-love can come through self-discovery, which can come to us through our search for health, wholeness, sanity, well-being, happiness. If searching is the chicken and self-love is the egg, we can tap in at either point of this endless upward spiral cycle."

nestled in the corner of the fire escape landing, outside my fourth floor window,is a nest. inside the nest are two white eggs. is their mother coming back to them, or have they been forgotten?

from a little inspirational email:

There is a Buddhist Concept - "I do not take more than I need", that gives me great peace. It is a simple way of being. Just contemplating it seems to make one feel lighter, and more free.

today (and yesterday, and this week) my own consumerism has been coming more and more to light. once upon a time i toyed with the idea of getting "leave nothing but footprints" tattooed on my feet. how beautiful would it be if a person could reduce their own consumption to the point of sustainability? this year during Earth Week i watched "no impact man", a film about a man and his family who reduce their impact on the earth dramatically. his transition was anything but peaceful, and being a documentary there was a lot of focus on the drama between him and his wife. still, it made a lovely point.

i have been a consumer this summer. while i have been careful, i have also lost the peace that comes with underindulging myself. a person who has just what they need is so beautiful. there is tension between being in want and having too much. to find the place between those two and rest there...that is lovely.

my nature wants to start making lists here. what can i give up? how can i consume less? that too robs me of peace. to make a peaceful step toward wanting less, needing less, and consuming less will be in itself a challenge. goals and routines aside, i am hoping that this transition time will help me move in that direction.

i will see many of you soon!

so many beautiful things:

please watch this.

Eve Ensler: Embrace your inner girl | Video on TED.com

"bullets are actually hardened tears"...

so you say you want a revolution,

well, we all want to change the world.

i love oakland cafes.

The Queen

You told me that the sun had made you
black. In your face I could see the legacy
of a million queens and I knew that it must have been
our forever bent toward eternal fire that made you.
And when you lifted nine whole fingers,
telling us of your tribe and royal parentage,
both lost somewhere between this benchless park
and insanity, I believed you.
Like a volcano, like Iceland you said,
your last finger, your soul, your life in this city
erupted in to poetry, into rhythm
spoken by the fevered hungry who crouch
beneath liberty's yellow flag
(yellow was the color of your tribe), and sway.
They sway to make the world begin to turn
closer to the sun, burning our skin,
burning our memories of royal heritage until
forgotten you approached a group of strangers,
speaking swift poetry, lost, for want
of a reality that matched your burning dreams.