Blue Monday Bunday

We are sad to have woken up this morning to find that our friend all the way round the world in Nottingham, England, the lovely and lordly Hugo, lagomorph partner of Dutchie girl Miss Eve, has passed from this physical plane. 

Wrapped in angels

Snowy Hugo

Winks his ruby eye

We wave our paws

And whisper through our tears

"Until we meet again"

Year of the Ox Proofings

Been working on the Year of the Ox print. Actually this is the second one, I started over having had a bit of a slip with the big chisel. I took the accident as an opportunity to re-design the whole thing. The first image here is a proof of the re-design, it's OK but I don't really see anything in it that would keep people from throwing it away. It's just a bit flat and maybe even a bit boring after a minute or two.

This is four blocks and four impressions.

Mr. Ox got a makeover with some carving and fancy printing techniques. Somewhat jazzier, though the moon is not quite round, I think I can fix that. Hmm, just a bit more carving here and there and maybe this Ox will be ready to fly!

Here I carved away the green that was inside the Ox, added some flecks and did Bokashi (gradation printing) on the mountains and the top of the sky. Four blocks and six impressions.

.......And to All a Good Night

Rose photo dates from early Summer, I took it thinking that it would be nice to remind me of warmth, light and flowers sometime in mid Winter.

Have just listened to part of an NPR program that informs us  Christmas was singlehandedly popularized by Charles Dickens. Before "A Christmas Carol" it was a sort of minor holiday; the power of the word and of some clever ad men is awesome. But do not think that I am such a terrible curmudgeon regarding this season. Just today I have been cleaning house with holiday cheerfulness, accompanied by rabbits thumping behind the sofa. Only the restocking of a new bunvention with three kinds of hay has soothed injured feelings. As far as spiritual inspiration, for me this time of year seems to call for Lord Buckley's "The Nazz" and you can hear it here. 

Don't eat with your mouth full, share your food, may all buns have good appetites and plenty of greens.

Special get well soon wishes to our bunfriends in Nottingham, Hugo and Miss Eve

May all our Blogosphere friends and buns stay warm, be happy and dig infinity.

Monday Bunday; Art Project

"This is not a treat induced pose, I am naturally cute."

PJ from here asked me to make her a custom mat using sloppy seconds. Tyler sure hopes she likes it, and so do I because it's going out today. 

Happy Bunday all.

Monday Bunday; Book Review

The top is quite tasty, but will it make me grow taller?

The Spots bought a book at the local bookstore. It was of reasonable price because it was a "remainder". What we used to called in the record business an "over pressing", which means it didn't sell so well at the original list price. This book has a catchy title, so it was purchased. It is comprised of Chinese sayings mostly from that 6th century BC classic,  The Art of War. 

Could we learn something from this book, or could it learn something from us?

The first part of the book goes through the sayings and elaborates on them. For example the favorite saying "A clever rabbit has three hiding places" is further explained thusly, "The world is full of hunters and each hunter brings danger. The hunted have their hiding places, but the hunter knows them too. That is why it is necessary to fool the hunter and offer him an empty hiding place while you have secretly prepared another place of safety." 

I think I can hide use it to hide behind  (not quite, Sydney)

The second part of the book offers an A-Z of everyday situations and relevant stratagems. Success is just a quote away. Under  C we find Conscience and one of the situations reads "I have a bad conscience and want to feel better." Here the advice is to  "scold the goat because the milk is sour" or in other words if you have made a mistake and want to avoid punishment shift the blame to someone else. 

This is an excellent hiding place, I sure can't see you......

Hmm, but then wouldn't you just find bad because you'd caused a possibly innocent person to be unfairly blamed ? Well, the book doesn't quite all fit together, but it is a good introduction to some classic Chinese sayings such as: A good horse runs by itself:  Learn from the teacher and the tinker: Let the meal cook slowly: (and finally) Make everyone happy.

We Are Pleased With Ourselves

Tyler and Sydney are pleased to announce that they have been featured on another blog, that of  Junk Style Diva and you can see it by clicking HERE. And check out the rest of her blog while you are there.

The Bus Was Late

Pay no attention to the rabbit behind the curtain.

The bus was late so we missed Monday Bunday. In the mornings I often sit in the kitchen to warm up and drink tea. Sometimes I will hear tremendous crashings from the living (rabbit) room, as if they had suddenly sprouted uncontrollable wings and were bouncing off walls and windows. When I push through the door all is quiet. One morning after just such a commotion I found Tyler hiding behind a towel that covers fire wood and Sydney in a box that some nutritional supplements arrived in. Of course the event had to be documented. I thought I might use Sydney's picture as a Christmas/Solstice card, but I use it now to thank everyone who dropped by in last post and left kind, sweet and supportive comments. THANK YOU. Rabbits rule and we are cooking up some ideas for prints and such in the rabboratory.

Fragile bunns for peace, we will thank for treats and snacks.

Something to Be Learned

I was asked to make as a donation to benefit the Waldorf School, some sauerkraut. I carved and printed labels too. Here are the pints waiting for their ride.

I like to think there is something to be learned from a fiasco. Maybe fiasco isn't the right word, since that implies crazy mix ups, possibly some ironic humor, or a badly dramatic situation. So maybe my experience at the Winterfest was just flat bad. I had thought I was being cleaver by sharing a table with someone who has many connections in the community, this I was sure would bring some buyers my way. Unfortunately my half table was ill positioned and it seemed to me nothing could be done about it, so I didn't complain. We were outside and the table shape was an L, with the toe of the L against a wall. My part was the foot of the L. As far as real estate goes this was certainly a fine and private place, but almost hidden by the display trees of my table mate. The area where my potential customers might be standing and merrily looking through charming prints was encroached upon the chairs of my neighbor, although I made a point of telling them that I needed to maintain a clear access to my area. I made some signage and put my most fetching print on the wall, hoping Hugo and Miss Eve would reel in the buyers. Action was minimal. People, who I know, seemed not to recognize me behind the table, or thought I had some hand in making the misshapen, but  popular felt creations of my table mate. It is not as if I didn't sell a thing, I did sell 2 prints and 11 mini pics. I may live in a rabbit centered universe, but rabbits, it would appear are not universally popular. Yes, this is a shocking realization. One little girl wouldn't even look at the bunnies, even though urged by her grandmother, because  she was a "dog person". Lessons learned: 1-get your own table. 2-educate the public on how these prints are made. Everything is so instant and accessible it takes some knowledge to appreciate "Slow Art". I had made  slide show to this end, but couldn't show it because there wasn't power available. 3-Maybe offer a few non-rabbit prints (ouch). 4-Boyfriend urges me to add that I mustn't let myself be pushed around.

Close-up of sauerkraut. Labels attached with rubber bands from the New York Times.

Printing and Prepping

2 From Nottingham (one color way)

This Saturday I take my prints to an arts and crafts fair; I have half a table a the Santa Cruz Waldorf Winterfest. These last two weeks or so I have been consumed with printing new color combos of 2 From Nottingham (that would be Hugo and Miss Eve to most of my readers). 

And another color way with added bokashi (7 colors)

I've also been making things out of my sloppy seconds prints (quality control claims a certain number of works). To this end I made some, um, some, well I don't really know what they are. Cut out reject  rabbit heads are decoupaged on leftover mat board which is three and quarter by four inches and the top is laced with some ribbon to make for hanging. 

Desperate attempts to use up not so great prints and leftover mat board bits.

They could be appropriately used as tree decorations, pictures for a doll's house, an elf's yurt (you didn't know elves lived in yurts did you?) or a teddy bear's study. I think it is good to have something cheaply priced for kids, I'll sell these for maybe 3 bucks even though that in no way reflects the amount of work that went into them. OTOH they aren't perfect, if they were the corners would be rounded and the holes would have grommets. 

I made 22 of these and probably spent 4-5 hours doing it, so silly.

Since I don't have any Moku Hanga bizness cards I banged out a few of those using blanks, the rest of the chopped up prints and some decoupage. Since I used the heads for in my first print reincarnation project this left me with a lot of bunny butts for the cards. Oh well, I see no need to take myself too terribly seriously, not when looking at the big picture. What's wrong with a bunny butt anyway????? 

All parts of the bunny are attractive and socially appropriate. 

Monday Bunday: Bunvention

Hello

Sydney: Hello, we'd like to share our newest bunvention.

Tyler: We constructed it in our rabboratory with the help of our simple assistant.

The Newest Bunvention

Sydney: We tried to convey our wants by chewing on the baseboards, cupboards and doors, and by strewing our hay about like wild animals.

Tyler: So she made us a box with well and firmly held sticks, because that's what we love about chewing on household parts and items; they don't roll around. You can see the side in one of the pictures. A sharp and dangerous implement was used to cut an X, then the stick was shoved in.

Detail

Sydney: These acts required the use of thumbs, that's why we couldn't do it ourselves. 

Tyler: There was still part of the concept missing. Sydney communicated our wants to our very simple assistant. 

Tyler demonstrates use

Sydney: One afternoon she cleaned our boxes while she thought we were asleep. For ten minutes we had no boxes, of course we are usually napping. All the same; outrageous!!!!. I showed my displeasure and let her know that the buninvention needed refinement by peeing on the bottom of the box.

Tyler: She cut off the wet panel, flipped the box over and filled it with hay. Don't you just love it!! We do and like to chew on the sticks in the middle of the night. 

Sydney: Now go make one of your own. And have a great week, where everyday is Bunday.

Sydney also demonstrates

Rabbit Pie

Not a real rabbit pie, of course. Boyfriend used to ask "is everything an art project?". Well, yeah, everything sort of is, isn't that the point? This is one of the pumpkin pies we brought to dinner, the other went home in stomachs. I infused the whipped cream with fresh rosemary, which actually tasted quite good. The pumpkins I used were from our Farmer's Market, carefully chosen; you have to check the stems to be sure they haven't been harvested prematurely. Look for a shrunken dried stem, anything slightly green or moist or moldy won't keep and won't have maximum flavor.  For the crust I used fresh organic butter and organic leaf lard from a pig whose name was "lefty". The flour is white spelt.

Monday Bunday

It had simply been too long, I had to just grab Sydney to clip her nails. The last time it had been nail clipping time I did Tyler first and he, evidently, told Sydney and she went into evasive action. Since she doesn't like to petted, though she likes to be fed treats and she will put her paws on my knees and give me bumps, I decided to play a waiting game. I didn't want to betray her trust, but being a responsible bunny slave carries hard choices, and I grabbed her while she was eating a treat. She got her nails clipped with a minimum of fuss and even got brushed, even though she doesn't show shed lines, the amount of fur that transferred itself to my clothing told another tale. I have to say she is solidly built, round and firmly packed, quite unlike her brother who is light as air and elf-like.

Tyler is easier, he will present for petting and act surprised when lifted, but can settle down. Though both buns wouldn't speak to me for hours. Sydney refused an apres event apple treat, but Tyler gobbled his in my lap. Tyler is pictured as if in jail because he was a bit bad, though I think he is very cleaver. While boyfriend was on the phone in the living room talking to his sister in Maine, Tyler snuck into the study, climbed on a chair, navigated some books, found a four inch segment of unprotected phone cord and CHOMP ! ! ! ! Can't we harness this amazing sixth sense for the greater good ???

Enjoy your week everybun.

Another WAPF Report

Dr. Beverly Rubik holds a Ph.D. in Biophysics from UC Berkeley. Her interest in healing and the energy started when she was in grad school. As a dancer she had developed chronic knee problems, at that time the next step was exploratory surgery, her response was "is there another option?" and someone mentioned that a healer, Dr. Olga Worrel, was coming to Berkeley. Beverly went and Dr. Olga put her hands on Beverly's knees, they felt warm and her knees became quite warm and then the pain was gone. The pain never did return. Was it simply the "biology of belief"? the placebo effect? which is certainly legitimate if it works, if it is lasting, who cares how you get better? Or was there more to it? Some interesting experiments took place using bacteria (presumably immune to the biology of belief) and healers, including the fab Dr. Olga. The bacteria were heat shocked then different healers, mostly Reiki practitioners, would try to keep them from dying. Mostly the bacteria just died. Dr. Olga was able to save some. However if a healer worked on a human then went straight to bacteria, results improved, also healers who were used to working on animals did quite well with the bacteria. There was definitely something going on. 

These days BR is working with an imaging device called GDV, this device uses the emission of light from the fingers and a software program that utilises various body mapping systems (Korean Hand Acupuncture, Chinese Meridian System, etc...) to produce a  picture of the electro-bio-field of the subject. One could also say "aura". (It is important to note that every indigenous culture in the world has had an "energy" view of life, it has been science that has truncated us from our roots.) A good bio-field is regular and even. Many of BR's experiments have to do with practitioners of a type of Qi Gong called "Wild Goose", which produces quite a nice field. In one quite telling series she showed the scattered uneven field of a beginning practitioner before attending class, then the same person with a lovely even and enhanced field after just one hour of practice. The long term practitioners seemed to maintain their good fields throughout the day. BR is of the opinion that any kind of energy practice, be it Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Yoga, meditation or even Ba Gua   (this was my addition since it is, err, my practice) is good for the field. Her example it is heartening as it shows beginners can benefit immediately. 

Once you can shift the energy then physiology and biology follow; the bio-field is the bridge between the mind and body. A few more items from my notes: Korotov, the developer of GDV, found that there was a burst of light from the body at death, presumably the soul; intuitives have a permeable bio-field; the healers with splotchy bio-fields were healed as they healed their patients; don't forget we are an open system, you've got more microbes in you than human cells; Before and after pics of Qi Gong healers showed an energy build-up then a draining in the liver and colon area from the healer because they were using their own Dan Tian energy; Reiki healing does not deplete the practitioner, (but is not so reliant on the intent of the healer -my addition).

Stuff that messes with your bio-field are electromagnetic fields (cell phones, computers, power lines, electronic devices, that sort of thing). So what can you do, other than start your Tai Chi practice? there is a device that BR likes, there is science behind it and good studies. Q Link is it's name and here is a link to their site. The Q Link uses a crystal oscillator that is in sympathetic resonance to strengthen the bio-field in the presence of stresses. BR shared a case of a woman who was very sensitive to EMFs- when working on a computer she would get fatigue, decreased brain function, tense stiff, headachey. Then she put on a Q Link and went to work on her laptop and her field got better, better from even from her "normal" status.

Next time Iodine and The Thyroid with Dr. David Brownstein.

From the WAPF Conference

And this cabbage became sauerkraut.

Our most excellent local WAPF Chapter leader, Jean Harrah of Deep Roots Ranch wrote she would like to have some highlights of the WAPF Conference and I am happy to oblige. The first talk I attended on the day I went to the conference, which, by the way, was Sunday 11/9/2008, was given by Dr. Joseph Heckman, a soil science prof from Rutgers University. He is very into the energy concepts developed by Wilhelm Reich. According to Reich, energy, life energy, which he named Orgone is a tangible energy. It is increased by eating and breathing and discharged by sex, movement, growth and heat. It is always moving and is attracted to water. It flows from lower to higher concentrations. The more you have to more you get....Without our orgone energy we simply would not be. You can see the accumulation of orgone under the microscope in the form of bions.  These glimmer a special blue called "Orgone Blue". When asked what non-Reichan scientists thought of these visible blue lights Heckman said that you will mostly see them if you are looking for them. He also spoke about muscular armour which is brought about by the repression of emotions and inhibits contact with living things. I guess if you have this armor then you won't see the bions. The more bions an organism has the more cohesive it is and that's good. For example an egg with plenty of bions would have good tone, the yolk would really stand up; it would be cohesive. This would be an egg worth eating. Some other foods high in bions are raw milk, but not pasteurized milk and broth. An audience member pointed out that honey was pretty high as well. Sand is quite high, (though not recommended for ingestion) this could explain why we love to kick off our shoes and walk in it. Green grass, especially spring green grass is high in bions, this it would seem is passed on to raw milk. Organic vegetables have more bions than conventional. Although the analysis of vitamins and minerals of these two may not be so very different, once consumed the result is apparent. Organic food is more vitalizing, whether this is because of the bions or lack of pesticides or both, we are not sure.  What adds bions to the soil for plants to uptake is compost, both as an additive to the soil and as a tea (drink up my little pea plants). As plant matter breaks down into compost it is fermenting, the same as sauerkraut or the rumination of a cow. Although the matter breaks down the bions hang around. You can tell when a plant has plenty of bions and orgone energy it will have a certain turgidity; back to the cohesive concept;  also with a repletion of bions "the habit of the plant develops a personality". I'm not sure where this quote is from, but to me it made a lot of sense, really healthy plants do seem to have a personality, don't you think? Heckman also spoke about some experiments he had done using an orgone accumulator, basically a metal lined box. Plants placed in the box and transplanted later were larger or more productive or lived longer than the control group. An injured cat placed in an orgone blanket (sort of a steel wool comforter) recovered. After he was done Dr. Heckman came and sat a few seats away from me to listen to the next speaker. He was a restless sort of person and a pattern of Irish Setters adorned his tie. 

Commentary: Although I am not a student of Reich, by any means, the whole Orgone concept is quite close to the concept of Qi, though Qi is a bit more complex. It is interesting to note that while developing the Soviet Space Program one of the engineers read the about Riech's Orgone Accumulator and incorporated the concept in Soviet space suits. You read more about the blanket using this technology here. I have used this blanket in my practice for a few years now and it does seem to give some extraordinary results when used with acupuncture needles. Another experiment that the Orgone Accumulator brings to mind is the copper room experiment of Elmer Green, pioneer of bio-feedback. He had read that Tibetan monks mediated in front of copper wall to reach a state of "lucidity". So he built a copper wall and invited  healers and meditators,and a control group to experience it and during this time he measured the voltage emitted from their bodies using an EEG monitor. The control group showed no change in electrical activity, but the healers and meditators had from 6 to 441 volts shooting from their persons. You can read more about this here .

Next post: Healing the Human Bio-field with Dr. Beverly Rubik

Rabbit Centered Universe

There is no denying that I live in a rabbit centered universe and that despite rather feeble efforts on my part this is, for all intents and purposes, a rabbit blog. I had actually started it years ago as a Chinese Medicine blog because one of my trade papers said blogging was a great way to keep in contact with patients between visits and to get new patients. It was not so in my case. This past Sunday I attended the Weston A. Price Conference  and could write short and concise pieces about Heart Rate Variance, Energetic Coherence,  Iodine and Health, Healing the Bio- field and Subtle Energies in the Soil, but I choose to write about a rabbit. For a while now I have been tired of my silly avatar that shows me peering out from behind my beloved camera. Naturally I thought about replacing it with a rabbit, but it didn't seem fair to choose one over the other and it seemed like the icon space would be crowded if I used both. Good heavens such knotty problems. Yesterday morning I saw Tyler in front of the blue stretching mat in the living room, the sun coming in from the window behind turning the mat silver. "That's nice." I thought and continued on through the room. Later I returned and he was still there. Possibly enamored with fantasies of being the Rabbit in the Moon, sparked by the shining mat or simply waiting to have his picture taken, I wasn't sure.  I could readily indulge him with the latter. After a few pictures he figured his work was done and he moved on to other important rabbit tasks. Dutifully I changed my avatar, curiously this went almost too smoothly, from getting the photos into iPhoto to finishing the switch it was under five minutes...............

"I'm waiting, you cannot resist me."

"Took you long enough, I'm off to see if Sydney has something good to chew. You get on that computer and set your avatar right."

"What a good looking fellow I am."

Moku Hanga Lagomorph ID

Can you identify the bunny couple in this print????

Monday Bunday

I think I can say that all bunny slaves love to watch their rabbits eat. Not only is a good appetite a sign of health, but rabbits just seem to love to eat and can do so with a delightful vigor.

I wish I could have sound included with this photo.

One of Tyler and Sydney's foods is fresh picked Chicory leaves straight from the garden, only seconds from being plucked from the plant. These are greeted with great excitement and sometimes a bink or two.

Tyler has to open his eyes very wide in order to make room for the leaf in his little bunny mouth.

It is a wild sport eating these big greens, almost larger than the buns themselves (especially in Tyler's case). When Sydney first came to live here she wanted her food in small pieces and just wouldn't go after a single large leaf in it's more or less natural state. Now she can keep up with her brother without a thought.

Sydney says "The last bit is easy when you can brace the stalk on the floor."

Despite the effort, or perhaps because of it, garden Chicory appears to be their favorite food. Tyler's tongue tells that truth.

Nom, nom, nom.

The Burning Skull

Due to inclement weather the burning skull 

was taken into the house.

Tyler and Sydney discussed what ought to be done. 

Sydney found some greens that someone seemed to have 

left for her pleasure, strewn about beneath the burning skull. 

Tyler went, more or less, straight for the jugular. 

Later Tyler tried to curry favor with the flamboyant 

interloper by telling it Sydney's secret name. 

No impression was made.

Ghost Story

It is all true, quite true. Although I have a gift for improvisational fiction, for facile prevarication, for utterly believable out and out lying, this story is quite true. 

Once we arrived at the beach I had thought everything would go smoothly, though the sense of urgency was still strong. The box was sealed with a sticker unlike any I had ever encountered, no tearing with my meager finger nails would lift it's edges, I attacked it with my car keys. My son stood somewhat idly by, toying with the camera. At last I got the box open, challenged by a thick plastic bag I tried to open this in a less crude fashion, but ended up breaking into it again with my keys. Having already removed shoes, I  started toward the sea, bag in hand. "Do you want to......?" I asked my son. He shook his head and took a step back "I'll just do pictures, thanks." I hadn't really expected him to participate, but it seemed the right thing to at least ask. 

Cold Pacific Ocean swirling my ankles, the sun just diving below the horizon, I plunged my hand into the bag that held my mother's ashes. I hadn't expected to feel little bits of bone. I had thought the ashes would be soft, almost inviting, like the finest of campfire ashes. These had bits of bone and some of those bits were not so small, some were larger than a thumb nail and oddly triangular. Perturbed, but undaunted, I sowed handful after handful into the tide. Looking over to my right I saw a dark shape bobbing in the tide quite near the shore. "Great" I thought "a dead seal." I continued to keep an eye on it and was relieved to see it was, in fact, a live seal. Curious it being so close to shore. I began to think of the mythic Celtic Selkie . 'Perhaps the Selkie has come to claim back one of it's own, ' I thought playfully. "Do you see the seal ?" I called to my son, pointing. I couldn't hear his reply. She would have wanted there to be a seal, waiting for her, I'm quite sure of it. She loved the sea in all it's myriad of forms and moods.

When I was planning her memorial the officiant, a charming female Rabbi from New York City, assured me that memorials were for the living, that the dead were not going to reach out of the grave and grab you if it wasn't just right. I wasn't so sure. I saw my mother's hand jiggling reality. Why else would, at the last moment, this particular Rabbi be called in ? We were having a non-denominational service, but my mother loved Jewish people and always talked about her Jewish friends and she grew up in NYC, really identified with that city. She would enjoy this.  If she wasn't hanging around, how come I kept getting great parking places ? I kept my doubts to myself and made plans according to what I thought she would like. Despite the words of the Rabbi, the dead do reach out and grab you from the grave, especially if they want to be put into their grave, sort to speak.  Three days before I waded into the ocean I had woken up with a start in the middle of the night feeling like there was something wrong. Next night I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like there was something I had to do,  just had to do. Then last night I had woken up thinking there was something seriously wrong with me. I thought maybe I was having a heart attack, except I could feel no pain and my pulse seemed normal. I wasn't hot, so, no, it wasn't a hot flash. The only impression I had was that there was a circular area of heat that wasn't hot on my chest. I wondered if I was just flat out dying, and maybe this was what it felt like to die. Suddenly without the use of algebra or any sort of higher math it all added up and I realized it was time to let loose my mother's ashes. The next morning I glanced at my calendar and found that it was the Autumnal Equinox, an important and auspicious day astrologically.  I counted back and found that it had been almost exactly 9 months to the day since she had passed. Was this some sort of reverse gestation? I don't know, I'm just reporting the facts. 

Mother peacefully united with the Pacific,  we headed home, wrapped in the dark.

 "Thanks for coming with me."

 "Hmm, yup."

 "Did you see the seal." 

"Nah, I didn't, are you sure there was one." 

"Yeah, but I'm not sure it was a regular seal." 

Happy Halloween, Samhain, Dias Des Muertes, remember it is the time when the veils between the worlds are the thinnest..........