Another lapse in posting - was away from internet for a while in there!
1. Awesome beaded earrings by my artist friend "Peaceful Frog" - aka Carrie, she's chosen to name her new jewelry business by her Nisga'a name. She'll have tables of her wares coming up at a school in North Van as well as the National Aboriginal Day celebration, June 21, 2016 at Trout Lake park in East Vancouver. These are a lot of work and made from quality beads, I picked up a pair of turtles and wolves, the pic doesn't do them justice though and these pieces have great vibes like their creator!
2. Researching Fatty Liver. On the topic of learning more about health and nutrition, fatty liver was something I never really heard of but apparently it's super common. More reason to love your liver by detoxing from alcohol and other toxic foods and eating more bitter plants. Here are a few links.
Do you have the protruding belly? It may not be fat, it may be your liver. youtube video by Dr. Eric Berg
How to reverse a fatty liver. youtube video by Dr. Eric Berg
Heavy teens run risk of severe liver damage. NBC news article
House call: Do you have a fatty liver? youtube video by Dr. Mark Hyman
With my ongoing obsession with Candida I wondered if there could be a link between the two. Why not:
Candida, Gallbladder and Fatty Liver Disease. youtube video by Candida Crusher
Further more fatty liver doesn't just happen in obese or alcoholic people, here's a description of Non alcoholic fatty liver disease as described on youtube by Dr. Robert Brown
On the bright side the liver is the only internal organ that can regenerate itself.
3. Yellow split peas. They have lots of health benefits as described in this livestrong article, in particular pea protein is high in branch chain amino acids as described in this Shape article.
4. Love Spirits vs Denial Spirits - Origins of "Good and Evil" - stealing of soul energies. youtube video by Tobias Lars
5. Natural treatment and causes of PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) fibroids and cysts. youtube video by Montrealhealthygirl.
6. "They Live" 1988 movie directed by John Carpenter based on a short story by Ray Nelson. This is awesome, about a guy who finds sunglasses that allows him to see through the masks of humans who are actually controlling aliens. If this story has any truth in it, it could explain so much! Never seen this before but heard about it via this video list by deep diving youtuber Infinite Waters - aka Ralph Smart: 10 Films that will make you question everything!
Well I slipped into a bit of a mid winter time warp the past few weeks, so this will be a long list!
1. Movies on Canadian Netflix: Tesla: Master of Lightning, Girl On a Bicycle, Pump: the movie and True Story
2. Inspiring Youtube videos about older people:
86 Year Old Gymnast and here's a bit more about her: World's Oldest Gymnast - Guinness World Records
Arizona Man,110 years old, credits long life and health to 5 foods
121 Years Young: Man born in 19th century oldest on earth? (from Russia)
102 year old woman talks about her diet life and religion
3. This lecture on youtube about water fasting: Dr. Alan Goldhamer, "Fasting can save your life"
last month I decided to do a 24 hour fast, which turned into a 7 day water fast after a lot of research and mentoring from a friend that used to water fast 7 - 10 days, twice a year, decades ago. Her current naturopath however is of the opinion that the earth is so toxic it's best not to water fast for more than a day, and juice fasting with herbs is better plan to support detox.
There is a lot of information about water fasting, both the pros and cons, as well as personal stories available online of both positive and negative experiences for water fasts of various lengths. Here's a pro-fasting page: "prolonged therapeutic fasting can resolve many health problems"
For me, it felt like a good thing to do but I wouldn't recommend it as I think everyone should do whatever feels right for them and do their own research first. I doubt I'd have fasted as long as I did if I lived alone, or if we don't happen to live in the country on a very good well. Also I was largely not eating most of the foods that could trigger detox reactions, for a few weeks before (eg, I'd already cut out sugar, caffeine, wheat and most animal products and processed foods). Someone going straight from a 'normal' diet to water fasting could feel pretty awful. I was advised that the refeeding process is also important and a person should take their time - I started off with watered down fresh juices and moved on to homemade vegetable broth and salads. I saw one person on youtube was excited to end a 5 day water fast with a trip to their favourite fast food restaurant - probably not a good idea!
The best thing about my fast was that I discovered I have issues with Candida albicans overgrowth, good to know, this was something I'd heard of but never given much thought to before. Everyone has candida in their guts as part of their cohort of 'bad' gut parasites to break down food, it's a fungus, the problem is when people eat too much food that feeds Candida such that it gets out of control... pretty sure I did this over Christmas, and I'm going to blame it on cheese and popcorn though maybe too many mandarins and dates wasn't smart either. Apparently Candida overgrowth is common and could potentially be a precursor to other health conditions.
4. This cartoon about Candida, I linked this last year but here it is again because it's great:
The American Parasite - Candida (the hidden epidemic)
5. This hour and 20 minute long youtube video, which has a conspiracy theoryesque title but the first hour of which is actually a great documentary that appears to be from the 1970s: okay I googled it, it was made in 1974: "World without cancer - written and narrated by G. Edward Griffin."
This documentary points out that all other chronic metabolic diseases have been found to be caused by nutrient deficiencies, eg, Scurvy is caused by vitamin C shortage but it took hundreds of years for people to accept this. The film submits that cancer could likewise be caused by a shortage of B17, something found in places like apple and apricot seeds as well as berries... I've started eating the seeds in my apples as well as eating our stash of frozen whole currants from the garden. Anyhow super interesting, so is the last 20 minutes which is more sensationalized but makes some interesting points.
6. More about the potential link between fungus, including fungi other than Candida, and cancer. I see this gets dismissed as quackery a lot, but it sounds plausible to me.
This youtube video: Is it Fungus or is it Cancer? Doug Kaufmann - Know the cause
This page fungus and cancer - it's selling a product but has interesting information.
7. There's a lot of varying advice on how to deal with Candida overgrowth online, but I find this New Zealand naturopathic doctor's "Candida Crusher" youtube channel to be quite good.
Some vegans maintain that Candida overgrowth is actually caused by too much fat in the diet,
eg this page: How to beat Candida understanding the real issue
and this youtube video: How I cured my chronic Candida - after 7 years!
that makes sense too.
I like this vitality massage youtube video as well "The Real Cure For Candida! Truth Revealed!" which is a bit 'out there' but points out that curing Candida overgrowth is about lifestyle as well as diet - this is also something mentioned a lot on the Candida Crusher channel. Plus this guy reminds me a bit of the lead singer of Mother Mother.
8. Max Igan - Our Psychopathic Society, March 2, 2012, youtube video episode of 'surviving the matrix' oh oh oh here I go listing stuff about psychopathy again.. oh well then. feels like a timely topic with the Jian Ghomeshi trial on which is likely disturbing people all over. here's a good page: Getting over the psychopath: cultivating indifference
9. This life regenerator youtube daikon radish salad recipe "how to remove mucus from your body" looks so good but I'm really into grapefruits lately so would probably swap that for the orange.
10. Some law of attraction youtube brainwashing videos:
Everything is always working out for me - Abraham - Esther Hicks
How to Change Your Beliefs to Change Your Life (Your Story) - Infinite Waters
How to Change a Belief - Teal Swan
11. Finally a couple of great interviews with Tom Montalk discussing the alien agenda.
Ep. 8 Tom Montalk Hidden Alien Influence (Part 3)
Radio 3Fourteen - Tom Montalk - Alien Agendas, The Physics of Reality & Etheric Energy
12. all my new commercial glazes and underglazes - big thanks to the downsizing moving couple who let us take away the hundreds of bottles of glazes and clay slips in their basement; some of these glazes are vintage, with cool things like crystals, so I'll be doing 100% sculptural work for awhile when I start working on clay stuff again this spring.
1. The AWOLNATION Megalithic Symphony CD box set. Wow, possibly my favourite thing ever. Includes lots of great re-mixes, a patch and surf wax comb/bottle opener.
2. The Tobias Lars Youtube Channel. Lots of great videos here, eg.
Narcissists and Sociopaths as teachers yes, sneaking in a narcissism video after deciding not to blog about this, this one is great though
Galactic Farming of Humans
Soul Agreements - soul choices (the unseen role)
3. Youtube videos illustrating that the 'added iron' in many processed products containing grains may actually be from iron filings, perhaps from industrial waste
Heavy Metal Cereal
and another demonstration of metal filings in cereal
And here's a Natural News article by Mike Adams about it:
Wheaties Cereal Found to Contain So Many Metal Fragments They Can Be Levitated With Magnets
4. Using baking soda in detox baths. I read about this in a Dr. Mark Hyman book (I think) where detox baths were recommended as part of a detox diet . There are a few articles online about the benefits of baking soda in baths, eg Detox Bath & Baking Soda from Livestrong, and this wikiHow on how to take a detox bath is pretty informative too. The baking soda can be combined with epsom salts, sea salts, essential oils and even peppermint tea for detoxing through the skin.
1. Sudoku. This was the week I got into playing this for the first time, which ended in my pulling all the puzzles I could find out of our stack of Chronicle Heralds and finding this website where you can play online for free.
2. Ocean by Sue Goyette. This is a great book of poetry by a prize winning Halifax poet. The poems are hearty and packed with complex metaphors such that I can tell it's a book to be read over and over. The book itself is beautiful, published by Gaspereau Press, with wonderful textures. I think every ocean front or ocean view home in Nova Scotia ought to have a copy. I had the pleasure of receiving this book, as well as Outskirts, which I'm still reading and awesome so far, from the author as part trade for some stoneware bear figurines.
3. Commissions and trades. Now that Christmas is long past I figure it's ok to post these pics.
Here are the herds of standing up black bears that I made to trade with Sue Goyette. I didn't know she was a famous poet when she contacted me so that was a nice surprise! She asked for 5 so I made 8 in case a few didn't turn out. Good thing too - since they all narrowly escaped getting wrecked in the bisque firing by a large exploding crow bowl. I had nestled them around that bowl thinking that since it was long dry, it would provide good habitat for bears. Not sure why it blew up, but am glad the bears survived unscathed.
Sue and I met at the Halifax Shopping Centre because I liked the thought of pedaling my art there. She picked out the ones that suited their recipients best. It was fun and such a nice exchange of energy that I'm keeping one of the bears too.
The bears are inspired by the front cover of her latest book, The Brief Reincarnation of a Girl, also published by Gaspereau Press. Sue was out of tradeable copies of this book unfortunately. Lexicon Books in Lunenburg has it in stock though.
In the same firing, my last of 2015, were 3 ornaments that were requested by artist friend Helen Opie: a black cat, an orange cat, and a colourful frog. These will be in trade for one of her juicy pear paintings. Helen trades lots of cards and paintings for lots of things such as meat from a local farmer. Up with the barter system!
I haven't
done a lot of commissions in the past but now that I feel more confident about
my sculpting abilities, I'm very open to considering future requests for both
commissions and trades for all sorts of things or professional services.
4. Slaughterhouse 5 or the Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut. Been re-reading this, it's one of my favourite books ever. Here's a link I found with the entire book online. Where he's dead I figure he won't mind that I shared this. I do have a copy somewhere.
As an aside my father loaded bombs aka "cookies" onto Lancaster bombers, for the Polish airforce in England, which fell on Kurt Vonnegut's head in the firing bombing of Dresden, the main topic of the book. My father was 20. Kurt Vonnegut was 23. So it goes.
5. The Vancouver Song by Tim Sars. This song was getting liked and shared like crazy on Facebook, so it's good to see it's now on youtube.
Tim is a baritone saxophone player and leader of Vancouver's Carnival Band - I used to play tenor saxophone with these people 2003 - 2005, it changed my life. According to Tim's Facebook post he wrote this song in 20 minutes, inspired by some bitterness at the housing bubble in Vancouver which has made housing ridiculously unaffordable for most people.
It's not just hippies that struggle with the bubble, but all sorts of professionals as well. I read the Vancouver Sun online quite a bit and it seems almost everyday there's been a headline about the Vancouver area's superhot real estate market, fueled largely by foreign investment.
"The Koots" = The Kootenays, a mountain range in BC containing towns such as Nelson, popular with hippies. Nice to see young Tim grown up and looking like his musical dad, Ross Barrett.
1. Nature Clean all purpose cleaning lotion. Cleaning in the New Year reminded me how great this stuff is, it's Canadian, coconut based with 98.5% natural ingredients. according to the website it's even good for washing pesticides off of produce, though I haven't tried it for that. I got it at the Bridgewater Superstore but it's available at various stores in Canada and the States.
2. This interview with Dr. Isabella Wentz on Healing the Root Causes of Thyroid Disease, on the Chris Beat Cancer youtube channel.
3. Saturnalia. On the list because it's something I'd never heard of before: an ancient Roman festival in December to honour Saturn, Dec 17 - 23. It's also the name of the annual Christmas show at the Slate Gallery in Regina.
4. Some new "conspiracy theories", to me at least, I never really looked into whether the moon landings were faked before but maybe they were. Here are a couple youtube videos. The true history and purpose of Nasa, and Nasa Insider "We lied about everything".
5. A new healthy treat recipe - somewhere at some point I saw a recipe for 'salted caramel oatmeal fudge' that I can't find now, but I altered it anyhow by combining with a date energy ball recipe and ended up making some good bars out of: melted coconut oil, ground walnuts, ground pumpkin seeds, ground coconut, pitted chopped medjool dates, cinnamon, cocoa powder, a bit of honey, and a bunch of raw large flake oatmeal. mixed it all together and pressed into a pan, cut into squares and chilled in the freezer.
Merry Christmas and/or Happy Winter Holiday of your choice!
Big thanks to my venue owners, helpers, and customers for supporting my art practice this year, I appreciate it big time!
The Dart Gallery in Dartmouth is now shut until mid January after an epic moving of the entire gallery to the Historic Properties for the last weekend of the Halifax Lights market.
Jenny Jib in Lunenburg will be open between Christmas and New Years: open Dec 24th, shut on Christmas Day, open the 26th & 27th, shut on the 28th & 29th, then open Dec 30th - January 3rd, before shutting down for a winter break.
On to this week's list.
1. Garlic for toothache. I had a wicked painful toothache this past week and after googling home remedies tried the combo of chewing on garlic slices and 'oil pulling' - swishing oil around in one's mouth, coconut oil in my case. No more toothache! It took 2 or 3 days to be completely pain free, though the pain relief was pretty quick after using garlic, and I really thought I was in for a big dental bill at first.
Here are a couple articles where many others have commented to say that garlic works, and can possibly clear up infections.
First, results from a survey on whether garlic works or not from growyouthful.com
And, this Earth Clinic article: Garlic for Tooth Infection, a natural alternative
2. This Date Energy Ball recipe from Detoxinista. Found this after craving a healthy sweet snack. It's a great basic recipe that makes for tasty treats for the holidays or anytime.
I didn't measure anything, added a few ingredient that weren't in the recipe, and don't have a food processor.
I ground up walnuts and coconut in a coffee grinder - Bulk Barn now has unsulfured coconut in bulk which is very nice, pitted and chopped some medjool dates just with a knife, added melted coconut oil, cinnamon, ground ginger, cocoa powder, vanilla, some gingerbread kahlua, non-gmo rice crispy type cereal, some hulled hemp seeds. Then I smashed everything together with a fork and rolled the mess up into balls to chill in the freezer, separated on random plastic trays though pressing the mixture into silicone baking cups works too.
The result is a really great, quick, easy, vegan, glutenfree, mostly sugar free, rich, filling, healthy sweet snack/holiday treat that requires no baking. The crispy rice cereal gives them a bit of crunch and spreads out the more costly ingredients. An initial batch I made without adding booze - as per the original recipe - was great too and would be completely sugar free as medjool dates are plenty sweet and a lot stickier than the other dates used in baking. I like the dates that come in plastic tubs in the Superstore produce section, and the club pack of walnuts from the baking section.
3. Awen Alive a pair of clay artists living in England making awesome stuff. Here's their Facebook Page. Nice to see there are other artist around that feel compelled to carve cosmic spirals into animal haunches! I googled what "Awen" means, in Welsh tradition it's the inspirational muse of creative types
4. This SifouTV Pottery channel on Youtube. This is the channel of a Greek potter posting nice instructional videos, including some for products I never thought could be ceramic, such as a lemon squeezer.
