Around the Way: Branches and Buildings

reaching branches

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. ” ―Andrew Wyeth.

 

An apt quote for a New Year, when potential sits quietly underneath natures' surface, dormant and slumbering for a time. Blessings to your and yours in 2013, from my heart to yours. ―Marie Doucette

 

Samsara

http://barakasamsara.com/

I'm a sucker for gorgeous pictorial movies, though I prefer visual content over pointlessly pretentious art-house flicks that play with the audience's senses of boredom or horror, like Eraserhead* or Koyaanisqatsi*. There's not enough pot, booze, or combined substances on the planet to make those movies palatable to me. *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eraserhead *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi

You know by now that I have a bent for human spirituality, with their common universal themes of faith and enduring hope. This movie has our glorious, colorful world at it's best and worst, typically with a juxtaposition of natural formations and sacred spaces versus man made machinations of failure.The directors do a beautiful job linking together modern alienation with a brutally cruel factory farming system (that's rough but necessary, how we mercilessly slaughter living creatures for our consumption), veal pen office environments that strip us of choice and humanity by creating a false sense of lonesomeness and territoriality, sexual loneliness coupled with a crippling angst, expressed in sad, slow images of dehumanized sex workers grinding en masse followed by clips of rows of blow up dolls for simulated copulation in a world that's overabundant with our species; these harmful, wasteful things that take us farther away from the cleansing beauty of water and light than we should be. We need to remove this horrible distance to reclaim a world that's ours by birthright.

It's old school film making; just a few artists with a real 60mm film camera, traveling the world in a quest to capture who we are, with no compromises or shortcuts. Check it out, and be riveted. 

Street Art: Church Mural

community mural

Picture Window: Clouds Build

clouds build over new york at sunset

Around the Way: Yellow Lights

stoplight at sunset

Around the Way: Sunset for the Holidays

Seasonal sunset

A very Merry Christmas to you.

Around the Way: Holiday Season

Corner of Third

At Home: Warmth and Cheer

Christmas time at 3rd Street

This year is a low key Christmas for me for many reasons, so it has become one that I can celebrate without all the hype and merchandise. I see it as a great opportunity for reflection and expression. The theme is very simple: trees, lights, and The Nativity. I have a small African sculpture of the scene carved out of salt sitting underneath this tree, a gift I got from my mom from UNICEF, and a 3D paper assemblage sits atop one of the bookcases. 

The second tree is on the mantle, next to the t.v. In my bedroom, I have a wise man riding on a camel, another gift , this one given to me by my stepmother. I couldn't help but notice my decor is remarkably similar to my church's, though on a much humbler and smaller scale. After so many years of kowtowing to others peoples' ideas about the holidays, ones that were always forced upon me, I also couldn't help but notice that this years' decorations feel the most authentic to me and my ideas about Christmas. 

They bring me a sense of peace and calm I had yet to feel around the holidays, and for that first, I am truly grateful. It's important to feel that connection. How will you celebrate this year in a way that feels true to you?

 

Sharing

berry bush

Yesterday I "shadowed" one of the wonderful ladies in my parish who volunteers as a teacher for the children's services in the back of our church, while the adult congregation hears the more sophisticated sermon from the priest up front. It's a time to introduce basic concepts that are central to our faith. I chose the group who have yet to receive the sacrament we call Communion*. That age is a good fit for me as a writer and illustrator of picture books, books made to facilitate a child's development from the pictorial to more text literate.

*http://mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-first-communion.html

It was the Third Sunday of Advent, a time spent in preparation for Christmas, or Christ's birth, though it's not an exact calendar match. Roman Catholicism derives its' timetables from pagan holidays and their seasons, easing the conversion from polytheism. As such, our holidays take much from traditional and ancient concepts of the earth's rotation around the sun. The Wise Men of yore found Our Savior through navigating the North Star* across the sky, a star bright in the winter. *http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/polaris-the-present-day-north-star

The overwhelming commercialization of our holiday is something I've written about before, and it is a good point to repeat, but something else caught my attention. The children's curriculum focused primarily on John, a follower who became known as St. John the Baptist, for blessing converts through water purification, common to many religions of the world, as his custom was derived from Judaism. He was often confused with The Messiah, because he gave sermons of great impact to the crowds who gathered for baptism.

I thought that the best (and most simple) concept of the day was that of sharing. How many of us get cold, hastily bought gifts of gaudy plastic baubles or horrible clothes, that are banished to the backs of our closets and of no use? We all have, and they only serve as sad reminders that the giver is someone not even well-acquainted enough with us to know what we want or need, a dusty relic of the kind of spiritual poverty that pervades so many people's lives.

Take this from the Gospel of Luke, paraphrased for children, that preaches a message of love instead: “Be generous and kind and always ready to share whatever you have with others. Be honest and fair and be happy with what you have.”

From that basic idea, we can derive an easy set of actions for kids to do with their parents, ideas about spreading a love that sustains when that toy breaks two days after Christmas. 

- give what we can to local charities, 

- bring a card or gift to someone who lives alone, 

- give outgrown toys to a local nursery school or child's home in the neighborhood. 

Donate, and give, give, give. That's the stuff that survives for ages. Blessings to you during this week!

A Green Kind of Clean

Cancer has run rampant through my family, a group known for their overall good health and robust nature. On my maternal side, there's serious longevity passed down through the women, who often live until their late 90's. But recently, minor cancers have been cropping up: first with my aunts, then my mother, a finally with my father. A more serious and life-threatening Stage Four lymphatic cancer attacked my paternal cousin, who ultimately won her long, hard battle, though not without knowing she would develop ancillary cancers as the result of her very aggressive treatments. She fought those and won, too. None of them smoke, drink, or eat to excess.

When our lifespans should be increasing, and they slowly are, isn't it natural for diseases to crop up among the aged? I used to think that, but my cousin was in her 50's at the time of her diagnosis, as was one of my aunts. So then, what is it? I remain convinced it is from the combined toxins we are constantly exposed to through the products we use and consume. A co-worker, her father a leading geneticist, told me the theory I proposed was essentially the same as her father's, a man who ran a famous lab with big, moneyed grants: cancer is the result of environment combined with genetics.

What then can we do to rule out environmental causes? Be very, very careful with the items we bring into our households. It's unfortunate that most "green" products remain more expensive than the cheaper chemical laden products we grew up with. We're also a nation on the go, used to quick, easy fixes. But, that cleaner that works so well for you carries a hefty price tag by compromising your health.

I started using green cleaners years ago, when I could afford them. The problem is, they just aren't that effective. I'm also no stranger to the recession, so I went back to using cheap cleaners laden with Sodium Lauryl Sulfate*. In of itself it may not be harmful, but more research needs to be done about how daily usage of common products interact with each other in our bodies, causing gene mutations. Since these products have been altered chemically in a lab, do we really know how that soapy bath product combines with the chemical you just washed the tub with? Probably not well, and the skin is a porous layer that opens upon immersion into warm water. * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_lauryl_sulfate.

I've been researching readily available green products for cleaning and beauty for awhile, especially those that are less costly and effective: http://www.mariedoucette.blogspot.com/2012/11/green-on-cheap.html. The experiments continue, and the very old tub in the bathroom was ripe for it. Years and layers of soap scum became immune to commercial cleansers anyway, forcing me to improvise. I'd been using baking soda as a hair rinse. Why not as a cleanser?

Buh-bye tenacious soap scum!

I was amazed at the results. It stripped away tough clinging soap scum like the most expensive, fume-laden, cough-inducing product you've ever used, and with very little elbow grease. I just used a sponge, no abrasive pad or anything like that, and it actually came away with a couple of swipes. Fantastic! Not the cleanser you buy, but the baking soda we've had in our kitchens all this time and overlooked. Give it a go. It's a $1.00 a box for something that works and isn't bad for you. How often does that happen? Not often enough, in my book.  Happy Cleaning to you!

Me, in the bathroom. Glamorous, right?

Around the Way: Livingston Street

Around the Way: Goodbye to Autumn

Free Tibet!

Yesterday I saw a "Free Tibet!" demonstration in midtown. It was a great reminder for me that many people of the world are still fighting for autonomy and freedom of religion, while we can enjoy these freedoms here in the States, especially during the holiday season. 

I don't often go to the Times Square district (too many tourists), so I found this devotion to faith and homeland a refreshing change from the usual overwhelming commercialism that bombards the senses from every direction.

I was trying to find a street address for my errand, so I crisscrossed the protesters twice. The first time I passed them by, a demonstrator handed me the flyer you see pictured above. It reminded me of the famous album cover for Rage Against the Machine that shows a monk burning himself to death in protest. Such passion and pain!

About a block later, an African-American New Yorker dressed as a security guard looked at me, smiled, and gave me the "Power to the People" fist. I immediately smiled back. Exactly.

Picture Window: Patches of sky

Around the Way: 98 and the B63

Street signs on 5th

ONE DAY LEFT!!!

Only one more day to support the best little blog in Brooklyn. 

Go on and give!

http://igg.me/p/284842/x/584476

Around the Way: Iron, Brick, and Stone

Around the Way: Sunflowers

reach up to the sky

$$$ 4 DAYS LEFT FOR FUNDRAISING $$$

Hey, guess what? It's fundraising time again, sponsored through the source for crowds and their funds, Indiegogo. 

It's really easy to do. Click on the link, jump to my campaign, and go go go! The site accepts PayPal and credit cards.

Thanks friends and fans, and keep reading...

eepurl.com/sgxJz

Street Art: Graffiti Town

Fifth Avenue Lot

Picture Window: Small Sunset Clouds

Pink and gold clouds

Around the Way: Clouds Across the Sky

walking down third street

The Berry Tree

The graceful berry tree of 6th Avenue

One of the biggest misconceptions about Northern life is that our landscape "dies" in the winter. This simply not true. Trees lie fallow, like the fields, awaiting their springtime rebirth. Would that we could be so lucky to experience something like that!

Evergreens and firs give us much needed signs of life and color during the long cold dark months. Have you ever seen a holly bush covered in snow with its' red berries capped over with a little hat of snow? It is the essence of Christmas.

Bright orange and red in the afternoon sun

I can already hear ads on the radio hawking expensive "escape" vacations to beach locales because of rainy days and earlier night falls. Ugh, already?! But why? Why live somewhere one detests, spending money on pricey get-aways so that one can endure their surroundings? It seems a bit insane to me and a rather backwards way of enjoying life.

There's nothing cleaner or sweeter to me than air right after a snow, bringing back memories of sledding in the park and hot chocolate. Rather than seeing our landscape as "dead", perhaps those among us who dread snow and cold can learn to look for signs of life during what seems like the most trying times, appreciating the bright cheery red of berry that stands out in beautiful contrast to a pristine white snowfall while out for a walk. Trust me, it's much less crowded in the park during inclement weather. See you there.

Street Art: Euphoria

Livingston Street - Brooklyn, New York.

Funding Time!

We've reached that point again, dear readers, for fundraising. This one is only 10 days long so give, give, give, and let's keep it going. http://igg.me/p/284842?a=5844.

I know it's PBS bad, but this what a shoestring start-up is all about. Give it!

Love Thy Neighbor

 

It's no secret that I get singled out for harassment, whether it's at school, work, or the home, and just as typically, it's a woman. In my last apartment building, the woman on the first floor hated New York. They had been relocated from Philly by her husband's law firm, and she walked around with the bombed out air of someone who had been through a Blitzkrieg, which was weird for gorgeous and affluent brownstone Brooklyn. They lived half a block from one of the most beautiful parks in the world, Prospect Park. But she was pretty in an average way and she had the demeanor of privilege about her, so I knew she'd be trouble in the end.


And so it was. Her bad attitude extended to their dog "Boo", a big surly sheepdog, a total oxymoron for the breed. Soon after I arrived with my Mal "Ted", a couple from Georgia was relocated by the husband's law firm, too. They lived above me. They were young and nice. I often heard loud footsteps during the day, and soon I found out why. She worked as a adoption agent from home, and we became friendly when she knocked on my door one afternoon for a cup of proverbial sugar. They loved my dog and his temperament, but confided in me that the dog downstairs was an "asshole". And so it was.

Before long, the neighbor downstairs called me to say my footsteps were too loud on the staircase. Then she called me to ask if I could pick up Ted's chain when we came back from a walk. Of course it was fine that her and her children woke the building up every morning between 6-7 am with their boisterous sounds, which didn't bother me at all. Privileged. Because she hated where she was, which was odd enough given that they had a beautiful garden apartment in one of the most desired locations in the world, she started lashing out.

If it wasn't "noise" from others, it was garbage pick up. Then the apartment conditions stressed her out. She called us looking to build a coalition of complaints. Did I have a leaky faucet? Did I have this or that or that, trying to suss out unequal attention or injustice that wasn't there. I paid a premium for that apartment and its' location, as did the other tenants lawyers, and we were the first generation to live in this private home, so it was fairly pristine from any sort of live in damages.

But, since I couldn't afford a place that had originally been budgeted for two salaries, it was soon time to move. Before I left, the family downstairs was moving back to Philly and the harassed woman I knew finally had a sense of calm about her. Wow. Two whole states she had to move on a lawyer's salary. She later told me that her Great Dane that came into their marriage had to be put down because it was not trust worthy with their first newborn. Perhaps that was the reason for her depression, but at the time it looked like the usual rich housewife ennui and angst.

The first time I saw my next Park Slope apartment, I took it on the spot. It was very old and run down and it needed a lot of repairs, but it had great bone structure. I could turn this out, and the price was better than my previous apartment. Since Ted and I were on our own (well, I'm always pretty much on my own), we had to curb expenses and this 4th floor walk up would have to do. But something wasn't right. There was a still tense quiet in the hallways that I usually felt in nursing homes, with old people behind lace curtains watching me and my dog walk up and down the stairs. It didn't feel like healthy people lived there. I would find out why.

It was aggressive from the start. A woman on the ground floor immediately stepped right up to my face and wanted to know the amount I paid for my rent and why I could "have" a dog. Uh oh. I know this. She turned out to be gay and simply forward, later inviting me to surf with her, and her and her friends soon moved out. Another woman also asked me about my rent and the dog in a way that insinuated my looks "got" me the apartment, by pointedly looking me up and down. I told them how the building manager lived on my old block and knew my former landlord, but that didn't mollify their anger. It never does.

That was nothing compared to what would happen next. As soon as the people downstairs saw me, they tensed up. No "hellos" or greetings of any kind. Huh. Must be Europeans or stressed out newcomers to the city. But the woman seriously worried me, and of course I was right about her, as I always am. She had the bugged out eyes of a either drug addict or someone who was a candidate for a nervous breakdown. There was something very wrong with her and she knew I knew it, because I was aghast at their bad manners every time I saw them in the hallway.

Rather than confront me directly, they waited.  Soon enough, I would come home from a 10-12 hour day to walk my dog, letters started appearing taped to my door. Here we go. "I can hear every word you say", was one creepy line. OK, so now I'm responsible for the buildings 115 year old wood floors. Great. It was again with me and the dog in the hallway, fur on the staircase that the super had to sweep up, or me not waking up fast enough for her. They were building it up quick. Fuck. I needed this place to get back on my feet.

Being the person I am, I bought the people downstairs a noise reducer machine that made ambient sound. Uh uh. It didn't "work" for her. Another note. I should just return it. Huh. Do they know what being a neighbor means? Apparently not. I bought another area rug for the bedroom to help absorb sound. Nope. More notes. The woman was backed by her big Lurch of a husband who stood behind her glaring at me silently and sometimes (even creepier) he had a smile around his mouth as he looked at me. I'm sure that was my fault, too, along with breathing. He was her only source of power, hence this petty passive-aggressive shit.

They were also sensitive complainer types. They routinely harassed the young couple who did building chores like garbage duty and clean up, calling them at 10 in the evening to change a light bulb. Ah. That was it. They hated New York, they didn't belong here, and we were all going to pay the price for their anger. I've been through this before.

It escalated and the notes grew nastier. The manager did nothing, nor did the other tenants. As I've documented before, this drove me to such lengths that I began sleeping in my clothes so I could wake up quicker to prevent coming home from a long day to another letter, or waking up before I was awake myself to tend to him, lest they dare be disturbed. I broke my leg because I was half asleep when I was walking Ted and not paying close attention to him, a fact that I immediately called her up and told her about when I got back to my apartment after walking back from the ER on crutches (my first time). I did it because I heard her whispering behind her door like a coward as I crawled up to the 4th floor, without any neighborly assistance what so ever.

After I had to completely alter my life because of that accident, the woman began appearing in the hallway with a baby. Adoption? They looked fairly old for parents. She never even looked pregnant to me, not that I paid much notice to her or her husband. Maybe their drama was the result of some expensive and complicated IVF process, common to affluent older white people. They constantly had expensive packages mailed to them and they had pick up laundry service, so I knew they could afford another home. Who knows? But I noticed her demeanor was now servile and mincing at the mailboxes, when she used to defiantly ignore me by her husband's side. Aha. Now she was vulnerable, just her and the baby. 

Lucky for her. I would have gotten into it with her, such was the rare amount of anger she instilled in me. Her and her husband remain some of the cruelest, nastiest, selfish, and most self-centered people I've ever met, and that includes the batty neighbor next door who leaves a bathroom light on all night that shines directly into my bedroom. Was the baby loud? She asked me one time when we were in the foyer together. Did I hear them? Yes I did occasionally hear her, I said, but it would never occur to me to complain about a baby crying because they can't help it. Just like dogs.

A Walk in the Park: Autumn 2012

I wanted to say "goodbye" to fall with one of my favorite past times, a walk in Prospect Park. Here are some of the highlights from that time. Enjoy.

Sidewalk Leaves

 

I love walking through leaves, smelling their scent and listening to the rustling sound. Go on! Try it! Savor this afternoon. Winter may come tomorrow, but the light and the crisp autumn air is perfect today.  What are you waiting for?

Green on the Cheap $

Living well shouldn't be the sole domain of the wealthiest among us. Most of the cheap goods offered to the American public are filled with ingredients that are not fit for consumption, like partially hydrogenated soybean oil, a insoluble fat that does not break down: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat. The same is true for the products we use to clean our home and those we use as part of our daily hygiene. I check labels for the items I buy, and I noticed a direct correlation between the cheapest products on the shelf (or on sale) and the amount of low cost but toxic items used to create them. 

I was at the grocery store register checking out items while the young cashier talked to the bagger about her arm. I noticed a big bandage and asked her what happened. She said she got a bad chemical burn from a popular oven cleaner, the kind that causes you to breathe in harmful fumes, too. We had a brief chat about healthy, green products vs. ones that work well and their price points. It's not an easy problem to solve, but we have to give it a good go.

What's a "green" girl on a budget to do? Search and do research! First on my list was a balm for my lips that's necessary during the winter months of dry heat and cold air. But, I wanted something better than petrolatum products. I know drillers discovered the viscous substance lining the pipes that pumped the rigs as a by-product of the friction from it. Are we supposed to use that on our bodies and lips, though? I'm not sure, and as someone who uses a humidifier to combat hard-to-treat hand eczema too, I had to find a solution I could afford.

I found this lip balm at a drug store chain for the bargain price of $1.67 that has a mere six ingredients listed, all natural. No mineral oil or petroleum. Score! It's been working well so far: http://www.blistex.com/products/simple-and-sensitive. Since the no-foam organic conditioning cleanser I use for my hair comes with a hefty price tag of about $16.00 for a small plastic bottle, I needed another solution for that and fast. Low and behold, an internet search turned up the simplest and cheapest solution yet. The humble baking soda, a kitchen staple that's about $1.00 a box. I mix it in with some water and it works just fine. You'll have to adjust the amount of spoonfuls you use based on how oily or dry your hair is, but it's been working thus far: http://www.wikihow.com/Wash-Your-Hair-Without-Shampoo.

Next up are the pricey and largely ineffective anti-perspirants. I have a high core temperature and a high metabolic rate that's boosted continually by my level of activities, so I need something that works and doing without just won't do. Most of the ones I've tried create an even worse smell when I bathe the next day, also staining my shirts and leaving marks on clothing. Blech. An internet search turned up an easy blend of corn starch and baking soda that I mixed in a little jar and keep in my bathroom. I've been using it for days with no irritation to my skin, no mess on my clothes, and no weird skunky smell that I usually get from commercial products. Consider me a convert. I dip a cotton ball into the powdery mix and pat my underarms with it. Problem solved: http://frugalliving.about.com/od/beautyhealthcare/qt/Deodorant.htm.

Now onto moisturizers, also costly and also highly ineffective against my eczema. Why not go natural for that, too? And I did. I poured some good old olive oil into a teacup that sits on a small table, and there's my moisturizer. After a few a days of that and running the humidifier, the eczema on my hands mostly cleared up, though there are still some dry patches. I've been using it all over as an emollient that's been fine so far, though my skin remains somewhat itchy, which it would anyway. I'm just glad I don't have to absorb chemicals into my skin anymore. I am convinced that all these combines toxins we use daily without thought build up in our systems to cause cancer. http://www.livestrong.com/article/283887-pure-olive-oil-as-a-body-moisturizer/.

So. These are the healthy tricks on the cheap I've found so far, but I have a lot more road to cover. I also want to tackle home cleaning. I hate commercial cleaning stuff that causes me to choke when I use it in the bathroom. You know, on the tub that I then bathe in. That can't be good. I've got a mix for hydrogen peroxide and baking soda that I plan to use after my next trip to the store. I'm also looking into the cleaning properties of white vinegar, which can also be used as a hair rinse. I'll let you know how it goes. Stay safe out there this week, and stay informed. Remember, knowledge is power.