kumquat vision

seeing kumquat

kumquat vision from kathleen on Vimeo.

read between the vines

this'll be part of a film one day.

roman curtains from kathleen on Vimeo.

lupinus

today i harvested lupins, which solves the case of the mystery beans i consumed in rome. they taste kinda cheesy, in a weird salty way. anyway, turns out when they bloom the flowers are quite beautiful, and look kind of like foxgloves in their color and structure. the latin name, lupinus, means wolf in latin (lupo in italian), and according to my friend wikipedia this is because (1) they grow like crazy and "ravage" the land, and (2) the beans are fit only for the consumption of wolves. i happen to disagree on that second point, they're plenty fit for my belly.

rudy an' bo

the sweetest, smartest pups in town. love 'em to pieces.

yesterday i wanted to take the dogs out for a walk after dinner, but only rudy, the portuguese mountain dog, was to be found (in his usual cool corner of the kitchen). after a brief look around for bo, i decided to start walking without him, with rudy following close behind me. at a certain point however, rudy refused to continue walking and just stopped in his tracks looking at me like, "but where's bo? we can't go without bo," so we turned back towards the house, me asking if anyone's seen bo around, but he's nowhere to be found. "alright, rudski, it's up to you buddy, you gotta call bowie." we stand around for a bit, then rudy starts his husky rumbling bark bark barking out into the valley, letting his call echo around the retreat. about a minute later my little smiling bowie comes bounding out of nowhere, and then the three of us go for our walk. aren't they just the cleverest?

Semen

Semen is Latin

for a dormant, fertilized,

plant ovum -

a seed. 

Men's ejaculate

is chemically more akin

to plant pollen.

See,

it is really

more accurate 

to call it

mammal pollen.

To call it semen

is to thrust 

an insanity

deep inside our culture:

that men plow women 

and plant their seed

when, in fact,

what they are doing

is pollinating

flowers.

Now.

Doesn't that change everything between us?

-Stephen Harrod Buhner, The Secret Teachings of Plants

An orchestra made up of all the same instruments would be very dull.

Get into tune, find your own note, and sound it loud and clear, for you are part of the vast orchestra of life. You have your own specific part to play, so do not try to play anyone else's part. Seek and find your own and stick to it. When you learn to do it, all will be very, very well with you. It is those souls who seek to play someone else's note who will find themselves out of harmony with the whole. Never try to be like anyone else or do what someone else is doing. I do not want you all to be identical, like peas in a pod. I need you all different with your own gifts and qualities. An orchestra made up of all the same instruments would be very dull. The more instruments there are blended together in perfect harmony in the orchestra, the richer and more wonderful the sound which comes forth.

-Eileen Caddy, Opening Doors Within