The Story of the Monkey Who Tried To Make A Living Selling Banappelopeholders - Chapter Two

Note instead of spreading chapters of this story throughout my blog the whole story has been moved to this post: The Story Of The Monkey Who Tried To Make A Living Selling Banappelopeholders

This Week's Favourite Things! April 21 - 27th, 2014

 1. The music of Don Ross, fingerstyle guitar virtuoso, which I felt lucky to see at the Boscawen Inn in Lunenburg this week.  The Inn is a nice venue too.

2. Sculpture.  Taking my sculptures outside for photo shoots has made me feel smitten with sculpting again, though I'm still glad for the break especially since I still have tendonitis. I've realized that sculptures can't be illegally copied or downloaded, making it an art form that's rather impervious to piracy.  Hmm.

3.  Happy Sushi, awesome all-you-can-eat Sushi Restaurant on Lacewood Drive, Clayton Park area of Halifax.  We eat here lots, the lower mainland of BC is full of this type of restaurant so it's so nice to have this one in Halifax.  Everything is always tasty and fresh, and the service is great.

4. "Mad About the Boy" by Helen Fielding, Just about done reading this 3rd sequel to "Bridget Jones Diary.  I read so many scathing reviews of  this book by hostile English ladies that I decided I couldn't wait for the paperback version to come out.  It was a good, entertaining entertaining read IMO and as a big fan of the first two books I was pleased Ms. Fielding wrote a third.  Must be intimidating to try to follow up something that was a such a smash hit... which reminds me of 

5.  Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner  This book was written for musicians but I think is good reading for any creatives, I read it years ago but will again soon.

The Story of the Monkey Who Tried To Make A Living Selling Banappelopeholders - Chapter One

Note instead of spreading chapters of this story throughout my blog as I write them, the whole story has been moved to this post: The Story Of The Monkey Who Tried To Make A Living Selling Banappelopeholders

Sandcastles - a poem

Sandcastles

by Susan Paczek

This morning all of us went to the beach 

To build a sandcastle or two or three each 

Some of us just built a simple one 

To leave more time to bask in the sun 

Others worked all day at such a frantic pace
They had no chance to enjoy their finished space 

Someone made others build a fortress with a moat
That was guarded by soldiers in a power boat 

Two young lovers built themselves a sand nest 

Adorned with stones and shells they liked the best 

Another couple argued endlessly
About where each window and door would be

One free spirit ignored advice and critique
And built a tower so stunning and unique

Someone could not seem to get even one built 

But kicked over others without any guilt 

Another managed to steal a couple’s sand 

To ruin the dream house that they had planned 

A few people worked together with skills to share 

And built the most beautiful castles seen anywhere 

We built and played until the end of the day 

When high tide came and washed everything away

Lucy and the Snake - a poem

Lucy And The Snake 

by Susan Paczek

 

There was a girl named Lucy 

She had never seen a snake 

So she pitied one who said he

Found that friends were hard to make

“I don’t know why no one likes me” 

He sniffed, lying there in a coil 

Lucy said “People can be silly” 

As she lifted him from the soil 

She draped him over her shoulders 

Though she was wearing a boa 

People greeted them with cold stares 

And whispered “Look! A snake, ooh ah!”

Her friends said “What are you doing!?” 

“Snakes are bad news, you'll get bitten”
She said “But I find his rattle soothing.
Just look in his eyes, you'll be smitten”

Lucy and the snake hung out a lot 

Til one day on a café’s deck 

The snake was startled by a gunshot 

And pumped venom into Lucy’s neck

The snake looked on coldly as Lucy went gray 
Thinking, "I am what I am, I cannot help it" 
And said to the crowd as he slithered away 
 “If you play with snakes expect to get bit”

This Week's Favourite Things! April 14th - April 20th, 2014

 1.  "Tropic to Tropic Plants" located in a backyard in South Delta BC. I was in BC visiting family and was lucky to stumble across this place, which is owned by a fellow who has been interested in tropical plants since he was a teenager.  Here I picked up my next 2 favourite things of the week:

2. Mulberry trees.  Ray, owner of the above mentioned business only gets about 100 of these trees every four years from a supplier in the states, I scooped up the shortest four to package up to take home with me.  He ships them across Canada.  So excited! I've only ever tried dried white mulberries from Bulk Barn but they were very tasty.

3. Pawpaw trees. I had no idea PawPaws could grow in Canada but apparently they can. In fact I only ever read about them once as a kid in a Louis L'amour western novel that my dad had.  Now I have 5 small trees of four different varieties, very excited to start a small pawpaw plantation as they sound really delicious though we'll likely have to figure out how to pollinate them by hand.

4. The four cherry trees we planted last year.  The deer have left them alone so far, they have lots of buds and are growing... pretty excited this bodes well for the other trees that will be joining them in the field.

5. Storenvy.com  I found out about this website via Laura Carter Art on Twitter (@LauraCarterArt).  It appears to be a completely free way to build an online store.  So this is my new project; my blog now has an "Art for Sale" page but there are still tonnes of pieces to photograph and upload.  It's gardening time so this might take me awhile but I'm excited about giving online art sales a try.

This Week's Favourite Things! April 7 - April 13, 2014

1.  "Rewilding Vancouver" on now through Sept 1 at the Vancouver Museum.

2. "Feeding Frenzy - land grabs, price spikes and the world food crisis" great book by Paul McMahon

3. Galiano Island Books - awesome store!

4. The paintings of awesome Galiano Island painter Rachael Peters

The Little Howler Monkey Who Ran For President - a poem

The Little Howler Monkey Who Ran For President

by Susan Paczek 

In the forest over there

Swinging merrily from a tree
Always smiling, always laughing
Was a little howler monkey

The humans in her forest
Weren’t doing very well
Some thought if she’d be president
That would be rather swell

“Be your president?” she laughed
“Well I guess I could
I suppose I have a platform
That could be rather good”

So the Monkey Party was formed
A campaign manager was found
Her platform was written down
And swiftly passed around

At the rallies she said “Listen up!” 
“And take heed of my advice
My Monkey Party has ideas
Which you might find very nice

I think we all should take more naps
And work at jobs much less
Everyone would have less stuff
But would also have less stress

Let’s all spend more time outdoors
And more time playing in fresh air
Grateful for nature’s beauty
That surrounds us everywhere

We’ll care more for friends and family
And be conscious of our actions
While clearing mindless consumption
Addictions and distractions

We’ll be more efficient with our time
And stop wasting our resources
Until we’ve healed all the land
And repaired our water courses

Let’s all eat more things from plants
Like leaves and berries and roots
And seeds and nuts and tubers
Pods, flowers, shoots and fruits

Any animals that help
Feed our community
Will be treated with kindness
Instead of cruelty

We’ll eat when we are hungry
And when we’re not we’ll fast
Spoiled stockpiles, needless shortages
Will be a thing of the past

We will need less hospitals
Because our health will be so good
As we make sure we’re all relaxed
And eating nutritious food

We’ll realize we’re all connected
No one is better than anyone else
Anything I do to you
I am doing to myself

We’ll cross the palace walls
Built around each miser’s soul
Knowing that at the centre of excess
Could be a heart that has a hole

We’ll show respect and love
To the sickest and deluded
Until everyone in the forest
Knows that they’re included

More people will use their talents
Or seek higher education
All will be able to chase their dreams
Whatever their situation

We’ll recognize that money is just paper
And see it as a useful tool
It will no longer be a weapon
A few tricksters can use to fool

Bankers and investors will stop
Pricing things arbitrarily
So we’ll curb excessive payments
On everything that should be free

With less value put on things
There’ll be less to hoard and store
So we can get rid of our military
As we get rid of war

As all of these changes
Affect everyone in the land
We’ll have more time for sports and leisure
And for making things by hand

We’ll all sing songs of love
To drown out messages of fear
We’ll tune into The Positive Channel
Until it is all we want to hear” 

The little howler monkey
Won her race by a landslide
Her first act as president
Was to invite everyone outside

Her followers all climbed up
Into one enormous tree
Where they laughed and ate leaves
Into the evening, happily

Then they slept a solid sleep
Through the dark still night
And when the morning came
Nobody wanted to fight

So to celebrate
That the darkness was done
Everybody formed a chorus
And howled loudly at the sun