Posted on

an oprah show on hoarding

Alicia recorded an Oprah show about hoarding, and we watched it when I was in Raleigh. I wasn’t expecting it to be as interesting as it was. What was I thinking? If it’s on Oprah it’s interesting. This is the story of a couple; the woman is the hoarder, although her husband had a touch of hoarding in him, too. An organizational expert, Peter Walsh, went to the couple’s 3,000 square foot house with “a team of 6 professionals” to begin the process of removing the 75 tons of accumulated stuff. Peter said black mold was found “which can cause a variety of health problems.” Needless to say, watching the cleanup process was rather shocking, and the intereaction between the couple and Peter was interesting. I had no idea things could get so out of control in the life of a hoarder. www.oprah.com
Peter Walsh wrote a book, IT’S ALL TOO MUCH. He seems to be a compassionate, kind, and understanding person. And from the way he handled the 75 tons of stuff, it must be a good book. www.orgjunkie.com

Not long after the show I saw a book at a friend’s house titled LILLIAN TOO’S 168 WAYS TO DECLUTTER YOUR HOME. I copied a little part of it. Perhaps you’ll find it informative, especially if you’re a hoarder or know someone who is. I saw this on page 50-51: “Many people leave unpaid bills, unfiled letters, faxes, and other documents unattended to for weeks and even months. This sort of paper clutter languishing on desk tops, tables, and shelves, at home or at work, can be the source of much worry. The effect is subliminal, impinging on the subconscious mind and activating worry cells that may lead to migraines, stress, and tension. The physical body can be affected and so can the spirit.”
www.lillian-too.com

Whew! It was a good show.

Posted on

gabriel cousens and diabetes….

If you have diabetes, or know anyone who does, run to the nearest news stand and pick up the November/December issue of Spirituality&Health Magazine. Gabriel Cousens, M.D. and Helen Ross, M.D. “cured” people in a 30-day retreat using raw foods. They did this at the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Patagonia, Arizona, a place having an excellent reputation – a place and person (Gabriel Cousens) David Wolfe highly recommends. Page 58 of the magazine says “. . . results of this diet were stunning: . . . . ” and “It’s not just diabetes,” says Dr. Cousens, “Everything went back to normal.” People rediscovered their happiness. www.spiritualityhealth.com and www.treeoflife.nu This is not an isolated case. The article goes on to say that he has “supervised the reversal of diabetes in dozens of patients, . . . .”

If, through the years, I hadn’t read of Gabriel Cousens and his solid reputation, I’d hesitate to post this. I’ve great faith in the raw food lifestyle, and know from first-hand experience the power of raw foods. There are people who have distain for this way of eating, but it’s like everything else in life, we make choices and sometimes we are very satisfied with the choices and at other times they’re simply not for us. Listening to opinions without having first-hand experience, however, hardly gives us the taste of the experience. When we first begin to change the way it’s always been for us, it’s tough going. The thrill is looking back to where we once were and thinking how ridiculous we were not to have seen how the choices we made were bringing us down. That’s the thrill, along with all the amazing things that occur in the process of getting to a better place.

The above information on diabetes is part of an article by Matthew Kenney, titled, The Chef Who Perfected Un-Cooking How this superstar chef became a devotee of raw veggies. Matthew Kenney is the creator of more than a dozen restaurants around the country. . . ” He trained in Italian kitchens, and went to the French Culinary Institute. His restaurant company “collapsed” after 11 September 200l,” and it was during this time of picking up the pieces and concentrating on getting “my mind and body back into good condition,” that he was introduced to a raw food restaurant. And you know what happened after that.

Posted on

this hm quote for philadelphia

It’s a wonderful day in Philadelphia. I didn’t spend much time looking for an apartment in this city of so much to do. I walk down the street and people actually smile at strangers. Me! I find being next to the train station and hearing the trains pass is all right. I didn’t know until now that the street in front on my building comes alive after midnight. That’s okay. There aren’t many restaurants in this area, but there are a lot of museums and there’s Whole Foods www.wholefoodsmarket.com and Trader Joe’s www.traderjoes.com . The one restaurant that’s nearby is a very good one. It’s called Aya’s Cafe. I don’t prepare hummus because it’s good at Aya’s. I first thought Aya’s was better, but mine’s good just in a different way.! www.ayascafe.net . It takes only a few minutes to walk to Rittenhouse Square Park from where I live. And along the way I pass many shops that entice, lots of cafes that make a delicious cup of cappuccino, small shops that give a warm welcome when a customer enters. I’m going to find out which restaurant prepares the best campari drink www.campari.com . I’ve been drinking campari for a long time, and this I know, some places skimp with the campari and are generous with the club soda. I really like the shoes at Benjamin Lovell www.benjaminlovellshoes.com on 119 S. 18th Street. This is probably not a good thing. It’s still warm enough to absolutely enjoy being outside. Nice!
www.philly.com
www.philadelphia.com
www.library.phila.gov

“Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music – the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.” – Henry Miller

Posted on

a 29/11 on board

My daughter-in-law, Alicia, is a bundle of energy. If you get to play a board game with her, and want to win, you must play as though your life depends on it. Otherwise, you have no chance of winning. Even then, you might have to go defeated. She’s FOCUSED! That said, we (Alicia, Michael, Sebastian and I – Emi had the flu and was immersed in her studies at Columbia, Sumi, Toshi and Sophie were/are in Japan, Yang and Han were understandably tired from working long hours at their business, and Alex was visiting family in Virginia) had an absolutely marvelous holiday week together in Raleigh, even though, alas, we never won a game, not once, nada. Right, Michael?

Alicia said she’s on board for posting on this blog. This will be a real treat as she’s upfront in how she thinks, talks, acts and writes, and will bring everything she knows about a subject, the good and not so good of it, to her postings. We’re a little bit nervous about this, ha ha, just kidding, Alicia. We trust.

Just like Emi, Alicia is a 29/11, which means, among other things, she needs to release lots of creative energy and not keep it within. Exercise is the perfect way of doing this. After reading Dan Millman’s book, The Life You Were Born to Live, danmillman.com she hasn’t stopped exercising. It works, she says.

Michael was a die-hard New Yorker when he went to Raleigh to visit a high school friend. Destiny plays a part in one’s life at times, other words can be used in place of destiny, but, for now, lets stick with destiny, and he met Alicia on the first evening of his visit. Ten years later, New York still holds a place in Michael’s heart, but Raleigh is where he hangs his Yankee cap (if you can wrestle it away from him). And so, a big Korean family from Virginia became part of our family and we became part of theirs when Alicia and Michael married.

Alicia’s mind keeps going, and so her posts will have a whole slew of topics she’ll want to discuss. It’ll be a lot fun and very interesting. Indeed!

Posted on

the taxi driver

This month I traveled from Philadelphia to Raleigh on Southwest Airlines. I didn’t know there’s a train going to the airport (I’ve lots to learn about this city where there’s so much to do and friendly people everywhere ready to give advice), and since my flight was an early Sunday morning one, I decided to flag a taxi. And so a wonderful, witty person slipped into my life for 15 minutes by way of a taxi. He had radiant, happy eyes, a big smile, and was very unlike the last taxi driver who relished talking about the crime in Philadelphia. When just that month you’ve moved to Philadelphia you don’t want to hear about the crime. Yes, you know it exists, but no need to be in a taxi with a driver obsessed with the topic. This last taxi driver from Africa was entirely different. His story was of being misdiagnosed when he went to a doctor, and spending one agonizing week alone worrying about his wife and two young children, before realizing that maybe he should go for a second opinion. A really good idea as the second doctor said nothing was wrong with him. The funny part of the story was what went on inside his head during the week he thought he was dying. He was laughing out loud funny, and that’s the way I got out of the taxi – lol.

Posted on

still on the move

We’re in Philly, and Pauline can’t wait to get her car away from the tow dolly, and put an end to that experience. We learned a valuable lesson, you can’t master backing up with a tow dolly attached to a truck in one day. And we needed a big space for sweeping turns. From Beacon, NY to Philly, Pa, I felt for her every stretch of the way. I wouldn’t want to drive under those circumstances.

Pauline is so eager to rid her car of the tow dolly that she  just about tackles most of the unloading except for the hefty mattress, even though I hired cracker-jack men to do the lifting and moving,  she doesn’t seem to notice them; she’s like a woman possessed. And so the unloading was accomplished in record time.

The movers were nice enough to lead us to the Philly U-Haul office as we followed them with the truck and tow dolly through the streets of Philly – not an easy drive either. Ha! There was no need to rush because, well, it took the employees 30 minutes to figure out how to extricate the car from the tow dolly. That done we brought the truck across the street for inspection and got the clean bill of health for the truck which allowed us to stand in line (for 90 minutes) to finalize things.

We had lots of company waiting in line. One person was at the counter. It seems the manager had upped and quit at some time during the afternoon. Saint Bill, as Pauline called him, was doing his best to keep up, but the line was getting longer and it wasn’t moving very fast. Just as we got to the counter a long over-due employee arrived to help Saint Bill. I got to hand it to him, he never wavered, maintained the same nice demeanor, and did his job under stressful circumstances. Stressful because there were some angry people – screamers – who gave him an earful. Whew!

We went back to my place to think about where to have dinner. We’d not eaten since early morning. It turned out that finding a good place to dine was the easy part of the day. Let the fun begin.

And so be it!

Posted on

about moving

Philadelphia is a welcoming city. And moving there last week was a fun, harrowing and hilarious experience. Toshi, my son-in-law, took an early morning train from Manhattan to a town along the Hudson River to pick up a U-Haul truck and help with the move. He said it was a great ride along the River. I had a few good people helping me. Actually, good isn’t an adequate word, they were clever and came with a sense of humor – much needed qualities when moving without professionals. Professionals couldn’t be used on this trip as there were stops to be made and dates to work around.

Someone who swore up and down that he’d be around to help load never showed. Somehow deep down I sensed that would happen. However, I think it’s good to trust. And, happily, it was for the best because, Toshi, being who he is – always resourceful – found a big, well-muscled fellow working in a nearby shop who was more than eager to help out and make some money. He and Toshi gave it their all and the truck was set to go with everything loaded in it in no time at all. Good call Toshi.

On we rode to the Catskills for additional furnishings, and to meet my cousin Pauline who came from NH to drive a U-Haul to Philly. She’s a brave one. There she waited at the town’s U-Haul office for a tow dolly for her car, while at the country house Toshi and the former country store owner wrestled with a beautiful hefty bed trying to load it onto the U-Haul truck. The former country store owner has a name, but he continues to be called, when he’s not within earshot, the former country store owner. All right! The bed is secured and we’re off to meet Pauline. There’s no phone signal at the country house, and we’ve no way of knowing that Pauline has called three times as she sat watching the friendly, new owners of the U-Haul company trying to get their computer in operation. After they’d entered all of her information, their computer went down. By the time we arrived, they were asking anyone in sight for help in restoring it. There was nothing to do but wait since we needed the tow dolly, and it wasn’t forthcoming until the problem with the computer was solved.

In the meantime, we learned a lot about happenings in Puerto Rico and the Colombia drug cartel from people wandering in and out of the office. And we learned that four months ago someone exchanged the hustle and bustle of owning a restaurant in Manhattan for the ease and enjoyment of owning a restaurant in this little town. Word of mouth (the best kind of advertisement) is sending customers his way. So off we went across the street to the word-of-mouth place. Toshi had heard the reviews and was already there for a quick bite before going off in another direction having somehow materialized a ride for that appointment. It’s amazing how things get accomplished out of sheer necessity. There are always possibilities one never imagines until necessity chimes in.

When we returned to the U-Haul office, the two friendly, new owners were under their large desk still working on their computer. From our end it looked as if they were getting nowhere fast. Only thing to remember about this situation is that it won’t last forever. Nothing ever does. Right?

Posted on

celtic tiger starring michael flatley

Have you seen CELTIC TIGER starring Michael Flatley “shot on location in Budapest”? Do you want to be energized and wonderfully entertained? Then you must get the DVD. Seriously! Michael Flatley has brought this art form to a very high level. And all of the dancers are fantastic. I don’t know if you can find anyone more enthusiastic about what he does – maybe as enthusiastic, but not more. And it’s contagious. Go and get the DVD. If you aren’t completely engrossed by it – well, I don’t know what to say. Wait, there’s more. Don’t forget to watch the film TIGER FEET accompanying the DVD. That, too, is really entertaining. www.michaelflatley.com

Posted on

our amazing world

The one thing about life that’s so amazing, among many other things, is that, at any one time, millions upon millions of people are simultaneously living entirely different lives. For instance, the World Series and the fires in California occurred within the same time frame which meant that in one area people were playing ball, and ecstatic fans were happily screaming for their team of choice, while in California some people were living their worst nightmare. That never ceases to boggle my mind. Then there’s the twenty-three year old happy and creative computer geek who has become a multi billionaire and another twenty-three year old feels life is about drudgery and poverty. At the same time, there’s a war being fought, and in another part of the world, the only thing people are thinking about is getting a great tan. It’s fascinating. It’s mysterious. Or is it? Imagine being able to change our own experiences for others by being willing to step away from our comfort zone with trust, confidence and focus, and into the world of exploration and experimentation, with the idea of mastering the way we want to live our life while enjoying and respecting it and never hurting it. Imagine.

Posted on

strangers

Last night I locked myself out of my apartment building. I came back from having dinner with a friend, put my things on a chair, and picked up a bag to place outside for the garbage collection. The interesting part came when I looked in the little Japanese purse I use as a key holder and found only one key – the one to my apartment. Where was the key to the outside door? I looked on the ground. No key. Then I looked at the buzzers and pressed all of them. No answer. I pressed again, for a longer time. Still no answer. I approached the only people on the street. They were nice. One person made a few calls on her cell phone. No Answer. I thanked them and left. It was a nippy night and I was dressed the way people dress when going out for only a few minutes. With arms huddled against my body for warmth I walked to a restaurant to ask for a phone book. My landlady’s number wasn’t listed. A locksmith would make an easy $100 tonight it seemed. When these things happen, one gets a glimpse into a homeless person’s world. Just a glimpse mind you, but the feeling is there. You’re cold, you have no money, no phone, and strangers look very comfortable in their own setting, and it’s strangers you have to depend on.

I wanted to press all those buzzers one more time before calling a locksmith, and so I started walking back to my apartment building. I had to be quick because the restaurants would be all closed soon. Only one person was on the street and he was ahead of me. Something told me to step up my pace. He thought I was stalking him because he kept looking sideways as we all do when we’re not feeling quite secure. I had a feeling about him. And feelings are important. Sure enough he stopped in front of my building. Then I recognized him as painting there only a few weeks ago. “Hello.” I said. ” You’re the painter. Right?” He smiled and said, “Yes.” Very good I thought. I told him my story and asked, “Do you have a key?” Answered prayers! “Yes.” he said. “I don’t have it with me though. I came to put the garbage out and someone’s picking me up.” He said he’d return with the key. We waited 10 minutes. His ride came and I waited another 20 minutes huddled against a store’s doorway for his return.

I realize this is trivial compared to what’s going on in California. However, the hour that I spent on the street at night trying to get strangers to help me, gave me a very, very slight idea of the feelings going through people who’ve been stripped of all possessions and are now dependant on others. We can’t ever underestimate the importance of strangers in our lives. I bet that if we thought about it, strangers have been there for us more times than we realize.

Here’s to all those strangers. Thank you.