This Week's Favourite Things! Monday March 16th - Sunday March 22nd 2015

1.  The Movie Case 39.  Yes.  This topped my list a few times earlier this year but what made me think warmly about it this past week is the way that the character played by Rene Zellweger moves forward with fearless determination once she realizes she made a big mistake.  There was no spending a year crying into her pillow about how badly she screwed up.  Instead she tunes into her conscience, comes up with a plan of action and succeeds in putting things right.

2.  President's Choice frozen pitted dark sweet cherries.  They're really good! And this past week included a lot of experimenting with frozen desserts.  Eg.  hand-blended coconut oil + frozen cherries + a frozen banana + some shredded coconut + freezer = sugar free vegan frozen dessert.  I've been trying this with various fruits.  Melting honey, raw cocoa powder, and coconut oil with shredded coconut and pouring over frozen cherries is really good too.

3. the 18 kg bags of black oil sunflower seeds available at Bridgewater Farmer's Co-op (great value) and bird feeding.

Here are a few pics.  Hooray, first time I've posted pics to my blog this year.

First, the chickadees have all been digging these make-shift bird feeders which are just the bottom half of egg cartons crammed into our lilac bush and filled with black oil sunflower seeds.

Downy Woodpecker

A few members of this awesome flock of Mallards that enjoy feeding under the feeders.  The pic isn't the best where I took it through a window. I've counted as many as 22 mourning doves in the same spot.

4.  This post on the top 27 yoga asanas for weight loss

5.  Various youtube videos about cults and the psychology of cult formation.  This got me questioning whether there are parallels between what I experienced, helping someone start a business and cult formation.  For example I gave up all my cash, and worked long hours for free for this person,.   Suppliers of the business are referred to as "Family" in need of the business owners special mentorship.  "Family" gatherings are hosted with punch and proselytizing by the owner.  Combine this with a myriad of controlling rules concocted to benefit the business owner but not the suppliers,  strict, controlling rules to keep creative works all presented the same way, resistance by the owner to taking any direction or constructive criticism to improve the profitability of said business, and the training of more 'volunteers' while somehow there was money for the leader to enjoy duck sandwiches, vodka and to have a personal art collection reframed and ... well... in any case that was a learning experience. 

Here are some videos I found while delving into the topic of cults.  By the way cults are typically headed by individuals lacking a conscience, so along with sociopathy, this perhaps is interesting stuff to be aware of.

The Dangerous Devotion To Cults Documentary

Psychology of Cult Formation - lecture at MIT  I like how at the beginning of this one, the lecturer who used to be a mucky muck for the Moonies, points out that people tend to underestimate the impact of a person's environment on whether they end up in a cult.  This makes me feel better because I was grieving and recovering from a traumatic injury at the time of my... indoctrination...  if that's what it was 

Lecture about Cults by Dr. Margaret Singer

Lastly here's an interesting Psychology Today article with a list of traits of cult leaders

6.  Sculptures!  

I've really been enjoying sculpting again, hooray!  I definitely have a kiln full for when I have safe passage to my kiln shed again.... some day.  Here are a couple pics with just a few of the pieces I've been working on, in the 'greenware' stage.  There are lots more figurines of various sizes, and bowls to photograph yet as tomorrow I'll be done with carving and ready to underglaze.

A group shot, I just love the snow covered trees outside the studio windows

Bunnies!