Happy Holidays

Karen and I will be very busy with many activities for the next four weeks.

Each day we pack up boxes of our belongings for storage in an 8 'x 40' metal storage unit at a nearby storage facility.  We are making some progress in emptying and cleaning up our home in preparation for a sale of our home.

We have some travel plans and a train trip planned.

We will spend some time with family and friends over the holiday season.  

As of today, there have been 886,446 page views of this blog.  Last month, there were 25,695 page views of this blog.  Hopefully, readers will find something in this blog in 2017 that they find interesting, useful, or uplifting.  

Something borrowed?  Saturnalia?   Christmas?   New Year?  Winter Solstice?  

Yuletide Celebrations

Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide. By Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling. Translated from the German by Katja Lueders and Rafael Lorenzo. Rochester, Vermont, Inner Traditions, 2006. Index, bibliography, 213 pages. ISBN: 1594770921. VSCL. 


My very best wishes to all my readers.  
May good health, prosperity, peace, and contentment be yours.  
Enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.
Happy New Year!

Reading and Resting

I've been struggling a bit with a cold the past few days.  The usual: fatigue, coughing, chest congestion, feeling down ... familiar problems to millions.  

I bundle up, stay warm, rest, drink plenty of warm fluids, take mild medicines, and slowly recuperate. Karen is a wonderful helpmate- understanding, providing remedies, and encouragement.  

While resting quietly, I have been reading books on the history of science, evolutionary biology, and a biography of Charles Darwin (1809-1882).  These books will keep me fascinated and busy for a few months.  

"The History of Science" by Stephen F. Mason.  Collier, 1956.

"The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of the Species."  By Charles Darwin.  Annotated by James  T. Costa.  Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 2009.  Indices, references, biographies, appendices, 537 pages.  ISBN: 9780674032811.  

"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins.  

"Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist" by Adrian Desmond and James Moore.  Norton, 1994, 868 pages.  The Darwin biography was detailed, comprehensive, historically fascinating, and very interesting to me.  Life in London, and Down House, from 1840-1880, is well documented in this book.  

Property for Sale in Red Bluff, California

Karen retired in June of 2014.  I retired in June of 2016.

Karen and I have decided to sell our home in Red Bluff and move to Vancouver, Washington.  

This is well maintained 1909 square foot house, with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a large office area, and large screened back porch.  There are extensive gardens, beautiful landscaping, an orchard, and 5 acres of land.  There are two 125' wells and 2 ponds on the property.   

Here is a detailed webpage on this house and property.Here is the current Zillow listing.

Holiday Cheer

Last night, Karen and I listened to some Christmas music, enjoyed a cocktail with our delicious beef stew dinner, and chatted about the good old times we had during many a winter holiday season.  Wonderful memories of fun times with family and friends!  

This year is somewhat different.  We both are now fully retired and unemployed.  Since we are selling our home, we are very busy with packing, storing, and home improvements.  

We are now into the cold and wet season here in Red Bluff, and all the wild grasses are now green in California.  Enjoying the autumn colors.  We have plans for a train trip to Vancouver, Washington.  


Winter Solstice and Yule Celebrations

One Old Druid's Final Journey

"Reclaim Santa Claus as a Pagan Godform. Today's Santa is a folk figure with multicultural roots. He embodies characteristics of Saturn (Roman agricultural god), Cronos (Greek god, also known as Father Time), the Holly King (Celtic god of the dying year), Father Ice/Grandfather Frost (Russian winter god), Thor (Norse sky god who rides the sky in a chariot drawn by goats), Odin/Wotan (Scandinavian/Teutonic All-Father who rides the sky on an eight-legged horse), Frey (Norse fertility god), and the Tomte (a Norse Land Spirit known for giving gifts to children at this time of year). Santa's reindeer can be viewed as forms of Herne, the Celtic Horned God. Decorate your home with Santa images that reflect His Pagan heritage.    Honor the Goddess as Great Mother. Place Pagan Mother Goddess images around your home. You may also want to include one with a Sun child, such as Isis with Horus. Pagan Goddess forms traditionally linked with this time of year include Tonantzin (Native Mexican corn mother), Holda (Teutonic earth goddess of good fortune), Bona Dea (Roman women's goddess of abundance and prophecy), Ops (Roman goddess of plenty), Au Set/Isis (Egyptian/multicultural All Goddess whose worship continued in Christian times under the name Mary), Lucina/St. Lucy (Roman/Swedish goddess/saint of light), and Befana (Italian Witch who gives gifts to children at this season)."
-   Selena Fox, Celebrating the Winter Solstice     

Playing For Its Own Sake

"Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play."-   Henri Matisse  

Play: Quotes, Sayings and Poetry

Play: It is an an activity which proceeds within certain limits of time and space, in a visible order, according to rules freely accepted, and outside the sphere of necessity or material utility.  The play-mood is one of rapture and enthusiasm, and is sacred or festive in accordance with the occasion.  A feeling of exaltation and tension accompanies the action."
-  Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens

"In rare moments of deep play, we can lay aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may unfold."
- Diane Ackerman in Deep Play

Deep Play  By Diane Ackerman.  New York, Random House, 1999.  Index, 235 pages.  ISBN: 0679448799.  

"We may play with and pass on a garden, possessing one is an illusion.
Gardeners must dance with feedback, play with results, turn as they learn.
Some gardeners don't grow old and stop playing; they stop playing and grow old.
Nature's playfulness is a gardener's delight.
A garden is a sporting field, an area for play."
-   Michael P. Garofalo, Pulling Onions


"To play is to listen to the imperative inner force that wants to take form and be acted out without reason. It is the joyful, spontaneous expression of one's self. The inner force materializes the feeling and perception without planning or effort. That is what play is."
-  Michelle Cassou and Stewart Cubley in Life, Paint and Passion


"Play exists for its own sake.  Play is for the moment; it is not hurried, even when the pace is fast and timing seems important. When we play, we also celebrate holy uselessness.  Like the calf frolicking in the meadow, we need no pretense or excuses.  Work is productive; play, in its disinterestedness and self-forgetting, can be fruitful."
-  Margaret Guenther in Toward Holy Ground


Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture  By Johan Huizinga.  Beacon Press, 1971.  240 pages.  ISBN: 978-0807046814.  VSCL. 

Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul  By Stuart Brown, M.D..  Avery Trade, 2010.  240 pages.  ISBN: 978-1583333785. 

Lifelong Vitality

Move Into Life by Anat Baniel
Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality

"1.  Moving with Attention, Wake Up to Life, Mindful Movements
2.  The Learning Switch, Bring in the New, Lifelong learning, Retraining
3.  Subtlety, Experience the Power of Gentleness
4.  Variation, Enjoy Abundant Possibilities
5.  Taking Your Time, Slowing Down, Not Rushing, Luxuriate in the Richness of Feeling 
6.  Enthusiasm, Turn the Small into the Great
7.  Flexible Goals, Make the Impossible Possible  
8.  Imagination and Dreams, Create Your Life
9.  Awareness, Cultivating Mindfulness, Thrive with True Knowledge"

Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality  By Anat Baniel.  New York, Harmony Books, 2009.  Index, bibliography, 306 pages.  ISBN: 9780307395290.  VSCL.  

Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

The Good Life  

Reflections of Autumn Green

Backyard Bounties

The End of Autumn

A beautiful day here in Red Bluff.  Cool and overcast.  Everything wet or damp from the recent rainstorm of last weekend.  

A time for household chores and garden chores.  Less time for reading, thinking, and writing.  

Funerals

Karen and I attended a funeral service last Friday night. A young woman, Chandes Goodin, was killed in a recent automobile accident. She died on her 24th birthday.

The funeral services were traditional Christian rituals, preaching, and songs. I hope their faith helped them in this hard time of shock and sadness. A somber scene.  Many expressions of the hope that they will all meet again in heaven. A tender, sincere, fit and proper remembrance ceremony for Chandes and her family.

We know the family through Kathy and Davis Goodin. They run the wonderful Goodin Nursery on 99W and Flores - a half mile from our home. Karen and Kathy are good friends.

Someday a death will leave you speechless - including your own. 

Death and Dying - Quotations and Thoughts

"Fear no more the heat o' th' sun
Nor the furious winters' rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust."
- Shakespeare


"Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,
And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix forever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock
And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon. The oak
Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mold."
- William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis

The Essential Experiment: You

"The ultimate test of a scientific hypothesis is experiment.  Experiment specifically means that you don't just wait for nature to do something, and passively observe it and see what it correlates with.  You go in there and do something.  You manipulate.  You change something, in a systematic way, and compare the result with a 'control' that lacks the change, or you compare it with a different change."
-  Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, p.66

One way to view your practice of mind-body arts is that you are conducting an experiment with your body-mind.  How does the practice of Tai Chi, Qigong, Yoga, or walking change you, change your attitude, change your mood, change your body, change your feelings.  

Keep a log, a journal, a record of your progress.  Be exacting, precise, factual in your reporting.  Be scientific.  

Quantify your key measurements.  Consistently measure and record your blood pressure, hours of sleep, caloric intake, hours of exercise, etc.  Use some psychological rating scale.  Measure range of motion and flexibility.  Quantify and compare changes over time.  

Change something!  Learn a new Taijiquan form, and articulate what happens. Change the pace of a form you know well.  

Be systematic.  Don't quit.  Persist.  Compare.  

It is time for you to evolve, modify, change, become!!

Thanksgiving Day Celebration

Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

T   hanks for time to be together, turkey, talk, and tangy weather.
H  for harvest stored away, home, and hearth, and holiday.
A  for autumn's frosty art, and abundance in the heart.
N  for neighbors, and November, nice things, new things to remember.
K  for kitchen, kettles' croon, kith and kin expected soon.
S  for sizzles, sights, and sounds, and something special that about.
    That spells THANKS for joy in living and a jolly good Thanksgiving.           
-   Aileen Fisher, All in a Word

"They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty.  For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercising in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion.  All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees).  And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc.  Besides they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.  Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.”
-   William Bradford, 1621 

In 1863, Abraham Lincoln, declared the last Thursday of November to be a National Day of Thanksgiving.

November: Quotations, Saying, Poetry

Months and Seasons

Neo-Pagan Holidays

The first photo shows part of our family in 2012, at our home in Red Bluff, on Thanksgiving Day.

Photos of families enjoying a Thanksgiving Day together.  

Pulling Onions Again

Freedom opens a few doors and closes many more. 
My mind is a sea I cannot see into; I merely skim along its surface.
I think, therefore I am a living person; dead bodies don't display thinking, just stinking.
Sometimes the present alters our interpretation of the past; most often the past surrounds and infects the present. 
Wherever I go, something new becomes me. 
Be careful not to stand up for that which will cause your downfall.    
God may be very smart, but he is a poor communicator.
What ought to be cannot be derived from what is the case, but a reasonable person ought not to ignore what is the case.  
I can admire a few great persons or heroes, but seldom have much desire to try and imitate them. 
Disrespect and contempt for the body is a common trump card for spiritualists; but, our game of life does not use trump cards. 
Nonsense can sometimes improve our sense and senses. 
Prohibitions focus our aim on better choices and actions. 
Don't sell the present short on the promises of "when." 
Most tire from hatefulness; cheerfulness is abiding.
Stubborn facts are loosened up with novelty.
A sure path to the perversion of truth is to make it a belief. 
The act, the deed, the doing are the primary considerations. 
My body gave birth to my mind, is in my mind, and my body-mind thrives in our world of lived experiences. 
Objectivity is a product of our agreements, and an important feature of my imagination. 
R. Buckminster-Fuller once suggested that "God is a verb, not a noun."  Which verb?  Pretending?  Storytelling?  Fantasizing?  Believing?  Indoctrinating?
My consciousness is a vegetable soup, and the water in the soup is what I do. 
Yes, I am just this and that; but, I am also not just that and this. 
Hearing the cat purr when we pet them gently matters far more to us than whether the cat's fur is black, white, or orange. 
If you think you are damned if you do or damned if you don't, your not thinking creatively enough. 
The ten thousand things are more enchanting than the Silent One. 
To lift the mind, move the body.
The road to flourishing needs regular maintenance and repairs.
The present is merely a fleeting moment; we actually unearth our essence in our past and create ourselves in the future.
By decreasing your desires you actually diversify and and increase your pleasures and satisfaction.
Having a poor memory helps a great deal in finding happiness.
A gardener loves the rain; also, for the resting time it brings.
Gardening is but one battle against Chaos.
Our understanding of "enlightenment" varies like living in Paris, Tehran, Kamakura, Pretoria, Beijing, Rio, Nashville, or Portland varies.
Indeed, absolute "truth" is very hard to discover; but, some "truths" are far less substantiated, validated, and supported than others.
There is no 'i' in "team," but there is an 'm' in me, my, and mine.
Clear and kept boundaries help keep us sane.
Seeking truth is not like being lost alone in a pathless land.
Nonsense can sometimes improve our sense and senses.

Pulling Onions: The Quips and Sayings of an Old Gardener.  Over 890 quotes.  By Mike Garofalo

Rainy Day Reflections on Biology

In Red Bluff, the rainy season is from October to May.  Yesterday, and for the next two days, a Pacific storm has arrived from the West to provide a steady rain, a brisk wind, and cooler temperatures.  Over two inches have fallen already at our home.  

The wild grasses are all green, and most deciduous tress have lost over half their leaves.  A lovely time of the year - even more colorful than spring.  

November - Quotes and Poems

I have been reading the fascinating book "The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution" (2010) by Richard Dawkins.  Scientific reasoning, fact finding, predictive powers, logic, confirmed theories, the scientific community, documentation, research, analysis, pure and applied science, testing ... are subjects that always attract my keen attention.  I have read a number of books by Professor Dawkins - a first rate thinker and writer.  He is also an influential contemporary atheist, and I share is views on religion.  

The human body is over 60% water. 

The typical adult human body consists of about 60 trillion cells (6x10^13). 

There are about 60 trillion atoms in a human cell.

Inside the nucleus of each cell are the DNA genetic
codes that govern growth, structure, and reproduction.
As these DNA strands are modified or reshuffled
during millions of reproductive cycles then variations occur over time.

The earthly timeline is measured in hundreds of thousands
of millions of years for these variations to occur
and some to survive and multiply.

Fascinating!
Amazing!
Complex!

[Reprinted from my 11/20/2016 Blog Post.]

Tai Chi and Breathing

"When practicing the First Form, you should not try to control your breathing except when issuing.  Simply breathe naturally through your nose.  When issuing, exhale through the nose as you punch, then abruptly close off the exhalation when your waist terminates your travel.  The closing is instantaneous; your breathing should continue normally immediately afterward."
-  Mark Chen, Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan, p. 90

"Breathing in Taijiquan form practice may follow a pattern, such as to inhale with this movement or exhale with that, but it is not rigid.  A breathing regimen may be helpful to regulate breath, but strict adherence can become a hindrance as one has to adjust readily to a change of tempo.  Breath changes according to the pace and execution of movements.  Naturally, one breathes heavily when short of breath.  But in heavy breathing, the body heaving up and down affects form and internal balance.  Heavy breathing may in natural in the circumstances, but it is not the natural breathing of Taijiquan.  The rationale of natural breathing in Taijiquan practice is for the breath to follow the fangsong relaxation of nurturing qi.  The rule is for breathing to follow the demands of practice, rather than for the practice to be dictated by the demands of a breathing regimen.  In throwing a punch (a fajin), breathing out is natural with the action, sometimes accompanied with a cry of exertion, like a kiai in karate.  So, one breathes out in executing a power action and breathes in to gather energy - xu xi fa hu (inhale in collecting energy and exhale when discharging power.  Also, generally, one inhales in rising and exhales in lowering, and breathes in to open and breathes out to close."
-  C.P. Ong, Taijiquan: Cultivating Inner Strength, p. 259

"The importance of naturalness and spontaneity (zi ran) in breathing cannot be overemphasized.  The Chinese term zi ran literally means "own nature" ― that which occurs by following the rules of its own character.  ...  A common mistake is to put too much emphasis on trying to control the breath during movement.  Left to itself, the body will adjust the breathing to accommodate the activity such as running or swimming, as they put in greater effort, the breath naturally responds to the body's needs. ...  When normal breathing is being employed, the stomach expands as the practitioner inhales and contracts as he exhales.  The breathing method of Taijiquan follows certain principles, such as: inhaling when "closing" or bringing in, and exhaling with "opening" or extending; inhaling when storing or gathering energy, exhaling when emitting energy; inhaling when rising up, exhaling when dropping down.  However, even within these requirements breathing may vary depending upon the circumstance."
-  Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim and David Gaffney, Chen Style Taijiquan: The Source of Taiji Boxing, p.82

When practicing the Laojia Yilu Taijiquan Form, "Keep the mouth closed."
-  Chen Zhenglei, Chen's Tai Chi Old Frame One and Two, p. 111. 

"The basic breathing of Tai Chi Chuan uses the nose only, not the mouth. This differs from the common people who use the nose to inhale and exhale through the mouth. The beginner does not have to concentrate upon this breathing technique, but concentrate instead on the forms for the correct movement and postures. The only requirements for beginners are slow movements, natural breathing, and a relaxation of the entire body.  The beginner should let the breathing be natural and not emphasize the breathing technique.  The details of the intermediate method are: when practicing the forms, one exhales when extending the arm and inhales when withdrawing the arm; one inhales when rising and exhales when sinking; to lift is to inhale, to lower is to exhale; when opening up, one inhales, when closing, one exhales.  When turning the body and in between movements, there should be a "little breathing".  A "little breathing" means taking short breaths quickly and has the quality of relaxation and stoppage.  Generally, breathing is used to lead the movement.  The movement must be coordinated with the breathing.  The body opens up and the chi closes.  The chi opens up and the body closes."
-  Master Chen Yen Ling, Tai Chi Chuan Method Of Breathing and Chi Direction

Breathing for Taijiquan by Byron Grush

Breathing and Taijiquan, Cloud Hands Blog

Breathing in Yoga and Qigong by Mike Garofalo

The Eight Basic Methods of Chen Taijiquan by Master Cheng Jincai

Tai Chi Chuan Method Of Breathing and Chi Direction by Chen Yen Ling

Chen Taijiquan Old Frame First Form (Laojia Yilu)  

Chen Taijiquan

Cloud Hands Taijiquan