Gratefulness

Hello Everyone,

Back in 1992, I read a wonderful book by Fritjof Capra and David Steindl-Rast. i pulled it down off my bookcase this week after receiving the website below. i'm finding that the book is still a very good read. The book and the short video below just happened to tap into how i have been feeling all week. Thanksgiving was last weekend, but gratitude should be a daily practice. Our lovely Earth gives us so much. Look at the weather we've been having, the colours that surround us, the birds gathering, the open fields full of wild flowers and interesting weeds, ladybugs and preying mantis gathering on the south side of buildings and the ever-changing sky. i hope you'll click onto this site and give it a listen.

http://www.gratefulness.org/brotherdavid/a-good-day.htm

This Week's Suggestion:

The trees are in full colour and the leaves are falling. Stop and just breathe in the beauty of the trees around you. Spend a moment leaning up against a tree, touch its bark and notice how its bark differs from the various trees nearby. Bend down and pick up at least five different kinds of leaves. Note the structure, colour, texture, and thickness of each of the five leaves. Can you name the tree that each leaf comes from? What trees are your neighbours?

Getting To Know Our Neighbours:

Squirrels are found on all continents except Australia. In Canada, the squirrel family includes marmots, prairie dogs, chipmunks, sugar gliders and the red, black and grey squirrels to mention only a few. In captivity, squirrels can live for fifteen to twenty years, but in the wild, they survive for only about a year, dying from disease, malnutrition, predators, cars, and people. Did you know that millions of trees get planted by forgetful squirrels, that squirrels can climb trees faster than they can run along the ground and that they cannot contract or carry the rabies virus? They use their tails for balance and also communicate with them.

A Fact or Two:

The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)) 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population. 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population. 1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 5000 deaths a day.
The average European uses 200 litres of water every day. North Americans use 400 litres.

The demand for our most valuable natural resource—drinking water—continues to grow. While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold.
97.5% of Earth's water is saltwater. If the world's water fitted into a bucket, only one teaspoonful would be drinkable.

What Can I Do?

Don't leave the tap running when washing your teeth. Instead turn it on just when you need to rinse, or use a small glass or cup filled with water to rinse.
Only run the dishwasher and clothes washer when they are fully loaded.
Defrost frozen food in the refrigerator or in the microwave instead of running water over it.
When washing dishes by hand, use two basins - one for washing and one for rinsing rather than let the water run.
Use a broom, rather than a hose, to clean sidewalks and driveways.
Repair dripping faucets and leaky toilets. Dripping faucets can waste about 2,000 gallons of water each year. Leaky toilets can waste as much as 200 gallons each day.
Replace regular shower heads for water savering shower heads. Replace old toilets for the new water saving ones or put water dams in the tanks of the older toilets.

We'll not only be saving water, but we'll be saving money on our water bills.

Media:

Internet: http://www.wateraid.org/ and http://www.drinktap.org/

DVD: David Attenborough's, Planet Earth (To fall in love, this is a must)

Books: Belonging to the Universe by Fritjof Capra and David Steindl-Rast

Last Week's Suggestion:

I hope you took the time to look up into the sky this past week. Did you enjoy the many changing moods of the sky? Did you see the full moon? Have you been watching it wane as it moves across the sky from east to northwest ?
There are three types of cirrus clouds: cirrus, cirrostratus and cirrocumulus. Cirrus clouds are more than 5 kilometres above Earth and are made of ice crystals.

True cirrus or horsetails/mare tails are pure white and wispy. They indicate fine weather or that a warm front is moving in.

When cirrus clouds gradually thicken and grow into cirrostratus clouds, a thin milky veil over the sky, wind and rain most probably will follow.

Cirrocumulus clouds or mackerel sky (called because the gathered clouds look like fish scales) generally mean that dry, fair weather will be around for several days. The name for the October Moon is generally known as the Hunter's Moon,

OKAY - ENOUGH! I'm having too much fun. And the more I discover about our Mother Earth, the more I am falling in love with her, so full of mystery, beauty and and generosity is she. Thus, gratitude is a natural response.

Hoping you are enjoying this and discoving new things about yourself as you re-discover our Mother Earth. There will be more next week.
Take care,
maureen