Being Seen

• The autumnal light out my window.
• An unexciting/unappealing walk through my neighborhood made beautiful by the presence and conversation of a friend.
• Being seen/known. My friend told my niece she was beautiful and then added, "Tammy won't like that. You're smart too. But I told my boy he was beautiful too, because he was." This was not the first time this friend has known what I would think without my speaking a word. And though I certainly would not have been upset in this instance, the fact that she knew this thought too would cross my mind is a gift.
• Cracking myself up as I turned my niece back and forth to music as if she were in a music. (I knew how she was going to move, but the expressions that would accompany the movements kept surprising.)
• Almost giving up on a book because I wasn't that into it, but not having something better to read at the moment it redeemed itself tonight, partially because of the sweet simple romances that have cropped up inside.
  

Market Instability

• On the October 25th The Story, episode, it said that the "winner effect" could explain financial market instability and that hormones have an enormous influence on the behavior of traders - a testosterone feedback loop. "It is entirely possible that bubbles are a young male phenomenon, and if that's the case the way to stabilize the market is, you might call it endocrine diversity on the trading floor, which would mean having more women and older men, because they have very different physiologies and hormones than young males." John Coates (former trader now neuroscience researcher)
• Wow. I've heard a lot of postulating on improving the "market," but this is the first time I actually thought someone had some original and practical ideas!
  
• The second half of The Story was about 6 members of an isolated tribe in Papua New Guinea visiting England. I clicked on the link to the documentary and there went my evening, in a unexpected fascinating way.
• "Why are there more money houses than spirit houses?" asked the chief in England.
• Why are you doing this, leaving the house every day and not seeing the people you really care about? - another paraphrased question.
  

Happy Food Day

• The brave parents (and others) in this video who are standing up for kids who are bullied. This teen committed suicide last month after incessant teasing about being gay.

• The website where I found that video. I was listening to The Story and it mentioned a neuroscientist who is working on a book about intuition. Interesting! So I clicked on her website and after the briefest of readings, I am grateful for the work she is doing.

• The breakfast I was looking forward to eating today - yogurt (full-fat), oats, chopped apple, walnuts and raisins. Yum! I started eating this last week because I ran out of cereal and had to come up with something else. Part of the reason it's exciting is my successful reintroduction to apples...usually at this time of year I'm bummed because it will be a long time before I see fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines etc. Yeah it's apple and pear season, but it just doesn't live up. However this year I've eaten very few, if any, plain apples in the last six months, so now I'm actually excited about them again.

• Fresh a movie I watched this evening (about our food), which showed both the sad/depressing parts AND the rockin farmers who are doing things differently. I am a pretty frugal person, except when it comes to food. At times I almost feel apologetic about how much I will spend, despite knowing cheap food is expensive too - we just aren't paying. For example, yesterday I spent $7 on just the spinach for a recipe I made today. I could have modified the recipe or made something else when I realized the price, but with a bit of guilt I bought it. After walking out of the movie today I yelled, "I spent $7 on just the spinach in the meal I made today and I am proud of it!"
  

• And a quote which ties my gratitudes together, "mother nature likes diversity in the materials she creates."
  

Flying Turtle Flower

• Today's mandala (draw a circle, set a timer for 20 minutes, doodle - then name it) - Flying Turtle Flower
  
• Getting my friend and his child to create mandalas with me.
• "They smile, otherwise they fall into the waters of confusion," the child describing the images on her mandala.
• Returning a CD to the library...looking for something to read...not finding anything...seeing a friend of a friend...asking her for a suggestion - My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  
• Laughing while a baby in mid-air peered around the doorway to the room I was in.
  

• I went to my favorite Fall colors spot yesterday, a small stand of maples near where I live. Usually the leaves that have fallen to the ground are a mix of orange and pink and yellow and red. This year as soon as they left the tree they turned brown... Similarly I was enjoying my Fall harvest on the raspberry bush until the other day when the berries were the opposite of succulent. So for these reasons, I am grateful today that we received a good rain.

• When my sister-in-law and I came home from yoga my brother was washing diapers.
• A Prairie Home Companion is taking their show to Europe. Cool.
• I got this big book of Bob Dylan songs from the library that I've been slowly working through. I'm on p. 260 now. I skip the songs that are obviously too hard for me, but some days it is good motivation to play a little.
  
• This message that was sent to me today, "Begin by romancing yourself. Love yourself is you wish to be loved. Cultivate your friendships and be open to romance."
  

Southeast Minnesota