http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/ The Guide to Marijuana on the Internet If we unite as one voice, we will be heard! en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:02:54 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.yahooka.com/forum/images/ca_evo2_green/misc/rss.jpg http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/ http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/320-you-have-within-you.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:44:42 GMT My wife left this page marked in book of Rumi's poems

A BASKET OF FRESH BREAD
translated by Professors Coleman Barks

The Prophet Muhammad (Bbuh) said,
‘There is no better companion
on this way than what you do. Your actions will be
your best friend, or if you’re cruel and selfish,
your actions will be a poisonous snake
that lives in your grave.’

But tell me,
Can you do the good work without a teacher?
Can you even know what it is without the presence
of a Master? Notice how the lowest livelihood
requires some instruction.

First comes knowledge,
Then the doing of the job, And much later,
perhaps after you’re dead, something grows
from what you’ve done.

Look for help and guidance
in whatever craft you’re learning. Look for a generous teacher, one who has absorbed the tradition he’s in.

Look for pearls in oyster shells.
Learn technical skill from a craftsman.

Whenever you meet genuine spiritual teachers,
Be gentle and polite and fair with them.
Ask them questions, and be eager
for answers. Never condescend.

If a master tanner wears an old, threadbare smock, That doesn’t diminish his mastery.

If a fine blacksmith works at the bellows
in a patched apron, it doesn’t affect how he bends the iron.

Strip away your pride, And put on humble clothes.

If you want to learn theory,
Talk with theoreticians. That way is oral.

When you learn a craft, practice it.
That learning comes through the hands.

If you want Dervishhood, spiritual poverty,
and emptiness, you must be friends with a sheikh.

Talking about it; reading books, and doing practices don’t help. Soul receives from soul that knowing.

The mystery of spiritual emptiness
may be living in a pilgrim’s heart, and yet
the knowing of it may not yet be his.

Wait for the illuminating openness,
As though your chest were filling with light,
As when God said: ‘Did We not expand you?’ … (Quran 94:1)

Don’t look for it outside yourself.
You are the source of milk. Don’t milk others!

There is a milk fountain inside you.
Don’t walk around with an empty bucket.

You have a channel into the ocean, and yet
You ask for water from a little pool.

Beg for that love expansion. Meditate only
On THAT. The Quran says:
‘And He is with you’ …. (57:4).

There is a basket of fresh bread on your head,
And yet you go door to door asking for crusts.

Knock on your inner door. No other.
Sloshing knee-deep in fresh riverwater, yet
You keep wanting a drink from other people’s waterbags.

Water is everywhere around you, but you see only barriers that keep you from water.

The horse is beneath the rider’s thighs, and still
he asks: ‘Where’s my horse?’

Right there, under you!
Yes, this is a horse, but where’s the horse?’

‘Can’t you see?’
‘Yes, I can see, but whoever saw such a horse?’

Mad with thirst, he can’t drink from the stream
running so close by his face. He’s like a pearl
on the deep bottom, wondering, inside his shell,
Where’s the ocean?

His mental questionings form the barrier. His physical eyesight bandages his knowing. Self-consciousness
plugs his ears.

Stay bewildered in God,
And only that.

Those of you who are scattered,
Simplify your worrying lives. There is ONE
Righteousness: Water the fruit trees,
and don’t water the thorns. Be generous
to what nurtures the spirit and God’s luminous
reason-light. Don’t honour what causes
dysentery and knotted-up tumors.

Don’t feed both sides of yourself equally.
The spirit and the body carry different loads
And require different attentions.

Too often we put saddlebags on Jesus and let the donkey run loose in the pasture.

Don’t make the body do what the spirit does best, and don’t put a big load on the spirit that the body could carry easily. ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/320-you-have-within-you.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/smoke-queen/318-hiya-stranger.html Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:03:42 GMT Holy crap!
Yahooka, it's been so long!!

Miss you mucho.
Smoking more-o :P

Loving life.

xoXox









]]> smoke.queen http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/smoke-queen/318-hiya-stranger.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/317-herea-bear-therea-bear.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:39:52 GMT Today after hang some clothes on the the line.
I thought I'd take a nap outside, so divine.
When all of a sudden I heard such a clatter.
I opened my eyes to see what was the matter.
It wasn't a man, in a bright red suit.
It was this little dude looking for some loot!

I sat very still and didn't move a muscle.
From 20ft away he stood, he didn't want to tussle.
He sniff the compost and got what he wanted.
Took one look at me and just grunted.
Walking across the yard further away.
I grabbed by camera phone, it seemed ok.

He walked to the table and we looked at each other.
I stood up and said take it easy there brother.
He turned to the woods and was on his way.
And I thought, that just made my day.

]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/317-herea-bear-therea-bear.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/316-sweet-music.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:38:21 GMT These songs are so beautiful my heart swells. The first, touches me deeply, and I've included more from the same.

I feel longing and lifted at the same time with these songs. Remembering and Hope for the future. These are songs that I would want to be played for my family when I die and my ashes are carried off to some overlook of a favourite valley, brook or star gazing spot, in which I love to sit in gratitude for all the people I've known, places I've seen and wonderment in which I lived at this amazing place we call home, in the Milky Way.

Please enjoy them my friends and let them carry you too. Sit and stare for a while or close your eyes. It's hard to not feel like I'm floating through the days of my past and hopeful future.

YouTube - Yundi Li plays Chopin Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2
YouTube - Lang Lang [Piano] - Nocturne No.8 In D Flat Op.27 No.2: Video
YouTube - Chopin, Nocturne, opus 27 #2, solo piano ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/316-sweet-music.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/315-nagarjuna.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:37:18 GMT A nice intro I wanted to share.

YouTube - Nagarjuna: "Founder " of Mahayana Buddhism ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/315-nagarjuna.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/314-forgive-us-our-debts-we-have-forgiven-our-debtors.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:35:46 GMT So that is the line from the Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:12

A story:

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked ,"Lord how many times share I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?

Jesus answered," I tell you not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven is a king who wanted to settle the accounts with his servants. As he began settlement, a man who owned him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he couldn't repay the debt, the master ordered that his wife and children be sold to pay the debt.

The servant fell to his knees before him ' Be patient with me' he begged, ' and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who own him a hundred denarri. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ' Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.

His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him ,' Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'

But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

Then the master called the servant in. ' You wicked servant,' he said,' I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master turned to him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all that he owned.

This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each one of you unless you forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart"

Matthew 18: 21-35



This is a story of mercy and forgiveness. Some of the greatest gifts that we all have in ourselves, if we look deeply with compassion and love. I just wished to share this is with you all. I really don't have a question to pose.

There are many instance of forgiveness in my life, but one that has had a profound impact in my life was forgiving my Father for the way he treated our family growing up. I didn't talk with him for almost 5 years of my life other than once a year when he would call.

One day in the shower, I do most of my best ah ha-ing there, I thought to myself ' I have never held a grudge in my life, other than with this man, so why should I start with my own Father. ?' The realationship had bothered me for years and years, while not talking to him seemed to be the right thing for my pride, it was the wrong thing for my true nature, which is to love. That evening I called my Dad and explained to him kindly why I had chosen not to talk with him for so long, and that I was deeply effected by how he acted in my life and that sometimes in suprising ways it still greatly effected my thought processes. I said that I knew how his homelife was growing up and that he wasn't to the degree his Father before him was and that was commendable, and that his struggles for 'normalicy' must have been more than mine. I understood that those where the tools that he had to raise us with and I am sorry for the hurt child within him, and that I'm sure that he did the best that he could and that I forgave him. I told him my thought process and that I thought today would be a good day to start having a realationship again.

He said that he too had been through the same thing with his Father growing up and this it took years of distance, for him to come to know his Father again. And that he knew in his heart why I hadn't talked to him in so long. That is what hurt his heart the most, is that he had done the same thing his Dad had done, and that was hurt his family and drive them away. I reiterated that I forgave him and I could only imagine that it must be hard to raise kids begining at 22, let alone the challeges that face him personally. He had spent many lonly years wondering about us, and I said that it truely tore me apart as well, staying committed to my pride. And that it had gotten neither of us far.

For me this was the begining of something new with in myself as well. After that time I was much more forgiving to many people in my life, mostly myself, who I was always the hardest on. Having compassion for other can be challenging but cultivating that to yourself is the hardest.

I've done some things I consider crumby in my life and people have forgiven me for that, which I am thankful. This ties into the story for me because once I realized that I had the capacity to forgive something so large in my life, that it became so easy to come to awareness, and have compassion for the reasons that people make mistakes, and they truely deserve forgiveness and all the love and support you can give them. This was my lesson in forgiveness, in realation to the moral of this story.

I'd like to say that my Dad and I had a burgoning new realationship and maybe we have. I have always lived far from my home town as soon as I could, maybe not for healthy reasons, but now its just a life style. I do call my Dad more than I used to and we have alot to talk about now. This Sept I sent him a birthday card of a man standing on the dock of a lake with the sun is coming up. It made me think of him and how he looked after a night of night fishing, and how he looked over that lake in the early morning hours, and how he came alive in the woods and that he tought me that sanctuary it provides for healing. Those truely where good times with my Dad, and I wanted to tell him that there are good memories in my head as well and that he is important to me and that I love him. He said that story I wrote in his card made him feel like the man on the dock looking out on Creation, with hope and love. I don't get to spend alot of time with Dad because of the distance, but I know now that he thinks about me everytime that he goes to the woods or sees a sunset that he has taught me something and given me a gift. That is a small refuge for my Dad to live in, and ultimatly seems to make him feel better about our realationship, or atleast where he stands with me. So now we always talk about our trips and share pictures. He even helped my buy a pair of snow shoes. Lately he has been typing me emails so full of love I couldn't have imagined that it was in my Father's heart, and that truely makes me feel good too.

The moral I guess is that forgiveness is the beging to a realationship, or rekindling. Forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting, it just means setting that aside so you can move on. Trust takes time to get to , but you can't reach that with out taking the first step towards it. And in this story of Jesus, what he is teaching to me is that the Biblical, "ALL POWERFUL GOD"! Even though He doesn't need to, He limits His power to forgive little old me, for the things that I do.

Do I believe in hell and heaven......yes, metaphorically, like a Karma, the consciousness following and arising, good and bad, later, in this life. I have been to both because with out forgiveness life for me was hell. And the new love that arose for that has been a heaven sent on Earth to me and has brought so much peace and furthuring of the love that I know I can give. Because if the "All Powerful" can take time for me, then it's with in me as a part of God to be able to do that for others, and that I am judged and forgiven by my peers ,who also share that same piece of "God", so I am being judged by the same measure that I give out.

Its like when someone says 'I was just as nice to that guy as he was to me' Imagine if you were nicer no matter what. What could come of compassion, that pre-forgiveness that people are doing the best with what they can, or what they have to give, or the consciousness in which they do and don't live. People can only reach the capacity they are aware of, so why not help create a new reality for people by being that truest actualized human you can be. The Christ/Krishna/Buddah-Consciousness is with in you because it is with in God and God is within All, us and them, it is the Dharma, the 'laws' of why the cookie crumbles the way it does.

This is my belief and what I take from the story. I don't believe that God is like its said in the Bible to the literal sense, but the Power of the allagory of God, in this story resonates with as much power as is explained in the literal translation. And I can only reason that if people can think to put this Perfect Idea into words and I can only reason that it IS a good way to live, Do I really care to what degree its true of what God is? I have a realationship with what I feel is union with the universe, so these stories speak to my heart mind and soul.


Thanks for reading that all folks. This became rather long, but is a story I wanted to share with you all, about myself, my life and the spiritual gifts that are constantly being revealed to me on my Path to Actualizing my Humaness and the Pure Potentiality of Perfection I carry in me every day. ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/314-forgive-us-our-debts-we-have-forgiven-our-debtors.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/313-thursday-october-16-2008.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:34:28 GMT Thursday October 16 2008 “Man is engrossed in shaping the world, rather than being shaped by it.” – Loren Eisley My first thought is, it is obvious we are shaping the earth, even if infinitely impermanent, but certainly in the present. My second thought is why aren’t we being shaped still? Even if a lot of our “progress” is getting ourselves out of our messes, it’s a mess no less entwined with mother nature, which has been found, after study , to reverse some of our changes we’ve... Thursday October 16 2008

“Man is engrossed in shaping the world, rather than being shaped by it.” – Loren Eisley


My first thought is, it is obvious we are shaping the earth, even if infinitely impermanent, but certainly in the present. My second thought is why aren’t we being shaped still? Even if a lot of our “progress” is getting ourselves out of our messes, it’s a mess no less entwined with mother nature, which has been found, after study , to reverse some of our changes we’ve caused. Perhaps floods, hurricanes, wildfires, being, on one hand “natural”, have occurred more so because of the changes we have caused, and the only natural part being the disrupted forces. On the other hand, maybe those disruptions are Mother Nature trying to wipe out the scourge and reset the balance. And that our “progress” is only fighting the inevitable, and in course hurling the forces into turmoil, thus letting us live out our karma, until it’s appearably altered state destroys us, or perhaps allows us to evolve into a more balance species, one harmonious with the Great Mother,” homo-non-parasitious”.

Understanding how and why in itself isn’t inherently evil and without warrant. However, understanding doesn’t always serve our base human needs to forage for food and obtain safe shelter. Dare I say, this manipulation through understanding, might itself be our natural order. Although understanding for greed and gross manipulation is what has brought us to the place of distortion and imbalance. Knowing why medicine works or coal burns isn’t necessary. If the coal was used sparingly as it rose to the earth’s surface would we need to understand what it does to our atmosphere? Nor would we need to study the adverse side effects of the chemical version of an isolated alkali from a plant had we just used the natural plant in the first place. Why study them? Had we stayed on our simple course we would need to “invent” and patent medicines with side effects such as lymphoma, seizures or nausea. Shamans can pick plants for benefit without the aid of modern scientific tools, how? On top of that these medicines won’t cause other disease and conditions that require MORE medicines with more side effects.

It seems to me that all of the other creatures on this earth bow to the changing forces, perfectly, without pride. I doubt that they “know”, I rather feel that they are merely SOULY engrossed in the process of living and not even considering the way the wheel turns and if they could somehow make the wheel turn better or only to serve the purposes of selfish greed. Their violence is for food or mating. And their hording is to carry their genes forward, needs in accordance with the laws. Their wanderings aren’t for pride or to control others. Pride certainly isn’t the feeling that I get from the pine or the cone. Animals do seem to experience the emotion of loss. Perhaps this loss is only gathered around the fact that something has changed and that there will need to be a new method for the survival of the heard or pack. Maybe it’s just the void of lost energy that they can no longer sense. Ultimately, nothing can be done to turn back the wheel of death, and they accept this as part and parcel of living.

Muktab, it is written. If we could somehow see the way atoms would gravitate into place over the eons, we too would understand that Muktab is true, and things come in their own time as Solomon says. A particle of snow is bound to wind up on a certain area of an avalanche coming down the snowy peaks. The mystery unfathomable is why the snow flake transpired and fell from high, to that exact spot. Does the actual snow flake understand my metaphor and does it even care to ponder it. The speck is here, now, what difference does it make what its place in line it is written to be swept away? Its individual beauty may never be seen, yet it still lawfully falls from the sky.

Saying this, I too must be open to the possibility that the world is, insane as it sounds, on track with its destiny. This time, however, we are seemingly our own comet of destruction. Does the bull frog ponder how hard life is in the shrinking wet lands? Apperably, it continues to feed and shelter itself with what is left, until it adapts, miraculously or is annihilated. Accepting that it’s out of its control, submitting to the rebirth in a niche’ with ample space for all the reborn frogs.

This doesn’t mean it’s not ‘my duty to be responsible for the slowing down or attempting to change the proverbial course of the comet, which may well be humans. Nor does this prospect make me want to stop aiding my fellow beings wants to eat regularly and sleep safely in this changing eco-system of society. The holy society of the wilds holds many lessons for the humble bowing to the forces. When and why the wheel is turned, we’ll not know until we still ourselves in the present and use our intellectual adaptations to walk in the path of those wheels of the universal vehicle, and not to build and drive a better vehicle. In the end our earthly fuel will run empty. We must fill our lives with spiritual cells for power instead. For present human life it seems less about evoltiution physically and more of using all our senses to guide our choices in engaging the universe. A re-awaking evolving our more primal self and blending it with intellect for meeting our true needs to be fed, sheltered, clothed, to have useful activity, self worth, love, to be heard, maybe even understood, to embrace all lives as our own to be part of something in simple words. Of which are all things perceivable and mysteries hidden and unfolding.

“Genius in the porpoise? Has the porpoise ever written a book or spoken a speech....NO! His genius is not declared in his doing nothing to prove it. It is declared in his pyramidical silence.” – Herman Melville.

This was a journal entry of mine, and thought it was more appropiate in the Writer's Forum, but it was a quote in a book that brought out alot of reflection in my head. This one gets cynical at times. Upon reflecting on this entry over Dawali I had an other series of more positive changes over these earlier thoughts.

These were:

1. It is my suffering, my dream, my perception. Don't put my hurt on the world, it's not them putting it on me. I choose, nothing makes me. My suffering is me putting my judgement on their choices, in what I think is negativly effecting the planet. Don't Judge. Don't be cyclical.

2. Because I feel like a lone drop of water, some days, doesn't mean there aren't countless drops unseen altering the coarse of a river. Trying to carve an easier channel to the Inifinate Ocean

3. Maybe I find several other drops to be the ones to quench one person's thirst in the final swallow of a glass of water drank alittle too fast, the ones that bring them mindfullness to their hasty action.

4. My elements of the body may someday help a tree grow, or be the newly burst fruit of the vine that nourishes a person like myself when they are walking their groceries home. Being part of that relief or that peace of mind to trudge on and be happy with a simple life, as their teeth sink in to my body or to take a rest in the shade of the tree.

These are my reflections. Especially the first one started the turning the other cogs in my head. "Why don't I believe people will stop and help?" my wife asked. ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/313-thursday-october-16-2008.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/312-made-me-want-go-re-read.html Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:24:47 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r364h19dXio http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r364h19dXio ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/312-made-me-want-go-re-read.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/311-two-videos-i-enjoy-find-useful-understanding-my-life.html Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:22:18 GMT The first video has both. The second link is a link to just the second video.

The Tibetan Book of the Dead : A way of life.
Tibetan book of the dead

TBOD: The Great Liberation through Hearing.
Tibetan_Book_of_The_ Dead_-_The_Great_Liberatio n_-_NFB.avi ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/311-two-videos-i-enjoy-find-useful-understanding-my-life.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/309-buddhas-suggestiosn-inquiry.html Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:37:05 GMT 1. Do not rely on just the person but rely on the doctrine.

2. With respect to the doctrine. Do not rely on just the words but rely on the meaning.

3. With respect to to the meaning. Do not rely on just meaning requiring interpretation but rely on meaning that is definitive.

4. With all respect to definitive meaning. Do not reply on just dualistic understanding, but rely on the wisdom of direct perception of the Truth.

"Like gold, upon being scorched, cut and rubbed, My word is to be adopted by monastics and scholars. Upon analyzing it well, not our of respect for me."





Kalama Sutta:

Preface

The instruction of the Kalamas (Kalama Sutta) is justly famous for its encouragement of free inquiry; the spirit of the sutta signifies a teaching that is exempt from fanaticism, bigotry, dogmatism, and intolerance.

The reasonableness of the Dhamma, the Buddha's teaching, is chiefly evident in its welcoming careful examination at all stages of the path to enlightenment. Indeed the whole course of training for wisdom culminating in the purity of the consummate one (the Arhat) is intimately bound up with examination and analysis of things internal: the eye and visible objects, the ear and sounds, the nose and smells, the tongue and tastes, the body and tactile impressions, the mind and ideas.

Thus since all phenomena have to be correctly understood in the field of Dhamma, insight is operative throughout. In this sutta it is active in rejecting the bad and adopting the good way; in the extracts given below in clarifying the basis of knowledge of conditionality and arhatship. Here it may be mentioned that the methods of examination in the Kalama Sutta and in the extracts cited here, have sprung from the knowledge of things as they are and that the tenor of these methods are implied in all straight thinking. Further, as penetration and comprehension, the constituents of wisdom are the result of such thinking, the place of critical examination and analysis in the development of right vision is obvious. Where is the wisdom or vision that can descend, all of a sudden, untouched and uninfluenced by a critical thought?

The Kalama Sutta, which sets forth the principles that should be followed by a seeker of truth, and which contains a standard things are judged by, belongs to a framework of the Dhamma; the four solaces taught in the sutta point out the extent to which the Buddha permits suspense of judgment in matters beyond normal cognition. The solaces show that the reason for a virtuous life does not necessarily depend on belief in rebirth or retribution, but on mental well-being acquired through the overcoming of greed, hate, and delusion.

More than fifty years ago, Moncure D. Conway, the author of "My Pilgrimage to the Wise Men of the East," visited Colombo. He was a friend of Ponnambalam Ramanathan (then Solicitor General of Ceylon), and together with him Conway went to the Vidyodaya Pirivena to learn something of the Buddha's teaching from Hikkaduve Siri Sumangala Nayaka Thera, the founder of the institution. The Nayaka Thera explained to them the principles contained in the Kalama Sutta and at the end of the conversation Ramanathan whispered to Conway: "Is it not strange that you and I, who come from far different religions and regions, should together listen to a sermon from the Buddha in favor of that free thought, that independence of traditional and fashionable doctrines, which is still the vital principle of human development?" - Conway: "Yes, and we with the (Kalama) princes pronounce his doctrines good." ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/309-buddhas-suggestiosn-inquiry.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/308-tales-tails-nova-scotia-2-2.html Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:17:39 GMT Part 2/2 ( said I had 12.5k words. 2500 too many for one blog!) Her folks arrived and went for a walk with us after 15 long hours in that leg of their trip, and we as mentioned went to the pub and danced our asses off after a nice meal, with local beer, provided by Propeller. I had the delightfully hoppy, Bitter, a classic English style beer. After a good nights rest we drove a considerable distance to Fort Louisburg, on the North East corner of Cape Breton. The road there was scenic as... Part 2/2 ( said I had 12.5k words. 2500 too many for one blog!)

Her folks arrived and went for a walk with us after 15 long hours in that leg of their trip, and we as mentioned went to the pub and danced our asses off after a nice meal, with local beer, provided by Propeller. I had the delightfully hoppy, Bitter, a classic English style beer.

After a good nights rest we drove a considerable distance to Fort Louisburg, on the North East corner of Cape Breton. The road there was scenic as we took the coastal route, filled with forests and water ways spattered with fishing villages and boats.

The homes were very simple, looking only to be a two story bungalo style, with a small floor plan. The were in good keep, and really looked like the size of home I could imagine living in, if I decide to grace a bank with a mortgage in my life.

The Fort was more costly than expected, so we toured the museum, which was interupted by a fire drill, so we drove down to the old grave yard on the road and then down to the fort for some pictures.

Across the water was the 3rd version of Canada's first light house and we decided that was in budget for us.

The rocks on this huge cliff very nice stepped down to the Atlantic's edge via the large rocks breaking off cleanly, who know how many eons ago. The gentlemen of the trip dipped they arms into Neptune's deep blue, while the ladies sayed up to, allowing themselves to become a beautiful silhouette, for picture taking, in the late afternoon sun.

After a grocery stop in Sydney we made our way down to the North end of Bras d'Or Lake to a property with the owner's home, as well as 9-10 ridiculously simple looking cabins with a lavish interior.

In the evening after dinner we walked to the waters edge and watch a beaver for some time working away on the water front, and at dark we began to see the stars shine.

Now this day Monday the 21st, one day before my wife's 32nd and 3 days after our 5th married year, we stood and gazed at the stars as they became more pronounced and bagan to twinkle vividly as there was no city lights. The Dipper was a large as the Northern sky and shoot stars kept whizzing past as we looked on. Low and behold the Milky Way began to appear and I began to tell my wife that the last time I saw the beauty of this miraculous being was only 2 weeks after we were married and I was canoeing deep in the Adirondacks, when I was sure I was drunk because there were so many stars I could not focus.

This was the best gift I could have given her. This was our 'paper' anniversary, but instead we got the cosmic dust drifting in our galaxy.

I told her how I felt about the stars and how they allowed to feel the smallness of ourselves in this wide universe, and how deeply fortunate we were together experiencing this life together, for I don't know if we've had many, or will have another together for a long time. I talked for a long time and became very verklempt professing my love for her and our great fortune.

For a long time we gazed. I looked at the ground and said,"It's really cool how well you can see the ground" just as the owners cat walked up she looked down and her gasp scared the living shit out of me :D. She appologized and I said it was okay, that she was very brave to come out in the total dark.

Tuesday morning we made our way to Halifax via Sherbrooke, which WAS NOT the one Stan Rogers sang about to our dismay, and we made ito town for a nice meal with good beer, although, none of us got what we originally wanted on either account. The band played over played covers mostly of Elton John, Tom Petty and other 70's hits from Cat Stevens....bah! Where are the sea songs you fools?!

The next morning her parents left a day early for whatever reason as they usually do, and we took a bus to Halifax after boarding another nite in our hotel. Atleast they left us with plenty of Heiniken, hazah!

The rest of the day we spent walking around the wharfs, eating street veggie meat for lunch and then taking a tour of Alexander Keith's original brewery. The tour guides played there 1800's role and gave us a history of the man and his ales, of which his India Pale Ale is best known. Is it coincidence that two things as English beer, where my genes came from, and India, where my heart resides, are also in a Province where my ancestors immigrated? Probably :D!

We got two mug samples on the tour, of which we both had Stout, only brewed and sold is NS, as I don't think 'his' IPA is really is really to my taste, much too drinkable for the masses and not distinctive at all.

I was chosen to grind the grains in a pestle, which seemed to delite the 'brewer' as I was doing it 'passionatly'.

A cool thing to see was a corner stone where the old wagons, which came for the casks, turned the corner and wore away a stone in the archway.

After the tour we went to 'his' pub and got a nachos and jug deal, which meant the huge plater was almost free. And there was music........One freaking ironic guess what they played....same stuff, different guitar....less gusto :lol:

In the morning we came back to the hostel where I stayed till Friday Morning.

Thursday was a quick trip to the Citadel for a tour and a few pints of Ale across the street.

She went to register for her conference and I hit some used book stores to no avail. After which I looked around some old graveyards as we had before earlier that week and also returned to the public gardens for a stroll.

We ate dinner that nite at a different micro brewery, which has good ales.

And then back to our room to share love once more as we did many times on this trip.

In the morning I departed for BC and the B&B I'll be running for 3 weeks and She rode with me to my stop on the bus.

Northern Nova Scotia I liked alot, and the beers all over were pretty good, micros, however they were pricey. I heard the herbials in the north were those to rival the best and the people were great. Halifax wasn't my instant soul mate, but neither was Vancouver when we moved there. This was part vacation/business/prospecting for moving to Eastern Canada at some point , which I all though seemed well and good, should we go that route.

I woudn't recommend the hostel as my wife had some food stolen there, and the people were hard to deal with. However alot of other people seemed to love it and it was clean and convenient to downtown. People didn't clean up after themselves that much either which is unusual even for scummy hostels, but the price is always right, and I guess that means they have you over a barrel so to speak.

Now begins my time in the North Central part of my favourite place on Earth so far. And a whole new series of things to write about.

I won't be able to smoke till the 9th of Oct, and I'm also considering not drinking till then as well. I will have some coffee, but would like to cut back with that as well and use this time to purify my mind soberly. There is alot of wood to chop and fetch inside, trails to walk, and teaching to listen to and read.

Thanks for reading and all the best. ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/308-tales-tails-nova-scotia-2-2.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/307-tales-tails-nova-scotia-pt1-2.html Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:16:12 GMT (Part 1)

None other than Stan Rogers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJvz5W32bYg

Well before too much time passes I just wanted to write a few things about my Wife and I's trip Nova Scotia.

We got there on Friday morning after an all night flight from BC, and easily found our way around there to a taxi which too us to our hostel for the night. When we arrived, they told us that our booking was messed up and that we would be paying $500 dollars during out stay, which was 4 more days near the end of our trip as well, instead of $64 a night it was $109! F-off to that, we could rent a single room unit for a month. for that. So we promptly told Jimmie exactly what we thought of that and said their fault isn't something we should have to pay double for. And he after some seriousness said that he would work it out and he did, thank the Forces.

The person who helped us with our bags being stored the next day was very unfriendly, however we came to find later that he had great repour with guests there, mostly ladies.

In the morning we arose, and went to the kitchen to have breakfast and realized it was an hour later than we expected.

"Is that the correct time?"
"AYE!" replied the stranger.

Surely we were in New Scotland as it was, and on Atlantic time. Suprise!

We walked our backpacks and asses to the train station to catch a ride to Truro, which was about 2 hours away on the back on the Bay of Funday, which has a 50 ft rise in tide at it peak, something very incrediable to see.

The train ride was amazing and passed through forest and farmland which there was much of. Leaves were begging to change red and yellow and they dotted the landscape more and more as we went north throughout our trip, although there was ALOT more conifers than I expected.

The Stonehouse Hotel was a pretty each walk from the station and the room was clean and newly renovated, although not laid out with the best usage of space.

We ordered in Chinese food, since we have pretty much been eating on the cheap since we left BC. Man that MSG was bitchin' and gave us the energy to take a walk to the large park with 'Waterfalls' on the eastern edge of town.

Truro is a nice little place that is easy to walk around and the people are stupidly friendly, finding out practically our whole family histories back to Europe and Mexico respectively as we spoke, which was done in a manner that was quite unobtrusive.

Victoria Park , I believe it was, is very pleasent and easy to get around. The waterfalls were pretty.....tiny, but created some nice swimming holes, which I would have obliged if it wasn't 6 at night and growing rather dark.

We walked for a while and talked about how the east was feeling really different to us and that the west really felt like home, which is was to Autumn and I had become accustomed to. Things are very old and established feeling. Including the law, which had signs that say K-9 units patrolled the park, which is only heard on in BC when someone is dead or lost.

We went to the Ale house and had a clear, floral light ale that went down at $5.50 for a 20oz pint. Normal enough.

The next day we woke up, it was Sunday. We called her parents, that were driving up from PA to meet us, as it turns out they were in Maine and didn't realize that they too were going to be an hour later than they expected.

We opted to make our way to Antiganish, about an hour away on a bus, and the home of St. Francis Xavior University.

While we waited for the bus after we again walked down the streets of 10k residence supposedly I say. I got my weekly phone call from Mombo, by Grama, however it was 11 NS time.

"Finally" I announced,"I am ahead of you in time for the first time in this life" Because for the large in part after High School I have been 2-3 hours behind.

I have her a description of our adventure and told her how it was such an interesting town, Halifax, and that is was alot like Boston in my mind, with the phases of construction over the last 250+ yrs of it existence.

I was feeling my Scottish blood alot at this point. My last name is a civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England and can be traced by to Dorset, before the Norman invasion, which is when surnames came into existence in large. However all the last name of relatives names, who I did'nt inherit are all from Scotland and Ireland, due to the pushing out from religion persecution.

The bus ride to Antiganish was really quick and it was a pleasure to see the topography begin to rise we we went.

The bus driver dropped us of at McDonald's as he went for lunch which was nicely situated right next to our lodging.

Across the street was a small pub that had blues till 2am on Sundays, which we headed to later with her parents.

We went for a walk down the clean brightly floraed town and down the main street full of businesses. This place felt oddly like Gettysburg University, a haven in Adams, more redneck than you, County Pennsylvania, next county over from 'home', which has a college of same coloured brick and builing height. However this was a Catholic school, which GU is not.

All the street signs where in English and Gaelic, which my wife knew how to speak at some point in her life. And no French anywhere. ]]> SageTree http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/sagetree/307-tales-tails-nova-scotia-pt1-2.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jsknow/306-marijuana-operations-shut-down.html Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:33:47 GMT Marijuana operations shut down RE: http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=11179371 Is anyone safer because of this? Have we gained anything by defaming these people and saddling them with a criminal arrest record? I’m sure we needed the DEA and the Texas Rangers to assist and help waste thousands of our tax dollars in the process. After all they netted 1 marijuana plant. Did you notice all the scare tactics in this article and the attempt to demonize these people? OHHH my, the plants were... Marijuana operations shut down
RE: http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=11179371

Is anyone safer because of this? Have we gained anything by defaming these people and saddling them with a criminal arrest record? I’m sure we needed the DEA and the Texas Rangers to assist and help waste thousands of our tax dollars in the process. After all they netted 1 marijuana plant. Did you notice all the scare tactics in this article and the attempt to demonize these people? OHHH my, the plants were grown using hydroponics (a farming method that doesn’t require dirt and uses a small water pump to send liquid nutrients to the plants). They had a “carbon dioxide generator”, (you know carbon dioxide… the same substance we breathe out when we exhale… yep sounds very dangerous to me). “Investigators catalogued each and every hydroponics supply including drying racks, dehumidifiers and basic supplies.” Kerss points to the different chemicals . "This is obviously where they're mixing the nutrients to go into the water they're supplying those plants with." … And let’s not forget that about five miles away they found another big time growing operation in a bathroom cabinet. I wonder how many marijuana plants they passed along the five mile ride?

A hydroponics grow lab? Since when is growing plants considered a lab? Does this really sound like “organized criminal activity”?

“Street value of six thousand dollars an ounce”? That’s 96,000 dollars per pound, I wonder where Sheriff Thomas Kerss, who estimated that value has been buying his pot? He should probably shop around for a better deal!

At some point the American voters must wake up and ask “why is marijuana really illegal”? Not one single person in all of recorded history has ever died from ingesting the ingredients in marijuana. Marijuana is almost completely nontoxic. It’s virtually impossible to overdose from marijuana. You most likely have far more deadly chemicals under the sinks in your house and in your garage, yet almost everyone uses those DEADLY chemicals safely with almost no legal restriction at all.

Back to the real question. Why does our government hunt down and punish otherwise completely law abiding citizens and criminalize them over marijuana? Where is the danger to society, families and individuals? Before you start worrying about the dangers to the children please consider the chemicals under your sink and in your garage and remember no one in all of recorded history has ever died from ingesting marijuana.

If you want the real truth it can be summed up in one word: CORRUPTION. Marijuana was made illegal because of corruption and it remains illegal because of corruption. The gateway theory is a farce, most people use tobacco, alcohol, caffeine or some other legal but deadly substance long before they try marijuana. The gateway theory is nothing but another scare tactic. There is a reason 13 states have overridden federal law and allowed their citizens to use marijuana as medicine and 10 others are working on similar legislation. The voters are learning the truth. The big drug companies and others that profit from the illegal status of marijuana contribute an estimated one million dollars per day toward drug war propaganda to keep marijuana illegal. Why do you suppose that is? Have you noticed the warning disclaimers attached to most of the FDA approved drugs you see advertised? Did you notice how many include the possibility of death? Drug companies need to worry, once this nontoxic drug is available to the public, what’s going to happen to the sales of their deadly drugs?

We’re installing 900 new prison beds and hiring 150 new correction officers every two weeks in the US. We spend 69 billion tax dollars per year on the failed drug war. We have more people behind bars than any other nation on earth here in the “land of the free”. Almost half of all drug arrests are for marijuana. Does this really sound like good policy to you? If not, then it’s time for every voter to stand up and say enough is enough, we’re tired of being unjustly and unreasonably persecuted and lied to by our government!

Do yourself a favor and learn the truth about marijuana and those that profit from its prohibition. The year alcohol prohibition ended violent crime fell by 65%. Marijuana prohibition turns this virtually harmless weed into a valuable illegal commodity on the black market and therefore creates a violent, illegal, hugely high profit, untaxed, criminal enterprise that will not exist once we the voters put our feet down and legalize marijuana. The exact same thing happened when we prohibited alcohol.

Learn the TRUTH here:
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/...juana-illegal/
http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill...05/hempdex.htm
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/90295/ ]]> jsknow http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jsknow/306-marijuana-operations-shut-down.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jsknow/303-medical-marijuana-florida.html Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:59:43 GMT MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN FLORIDA Download petition here: PUFMM A Political Comittee (http://www.pufmm.com) This petition is sponsored by People United For Medical Marijuana. A recommendation from a licensed Florida medical physician will be required. Medical doctors being restricted from recommending any remedy to patients that’s been proven safe and effective should outrage everyone. Such a restriction should only be allowed in the case of extreme danger to citizens or society. This... MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN FLORIDA
Download petition here: PUFMM A Political Comittee

This petition is sponsored by People United For Medical Marijuana. A recommendation from a licensed Florida medical physician will be required.

Medical doctors being restricted from recommending any remedy to patients that’s been proven safe and effective should outrage everyone. Such a restriction should only be allowed in the case of extreme danger to citizens or society. This certainly is not the case with marijuana.

In all of recorded history there has never been a single death from the ingredients in marijuana. In 1988, after reviewing all evidence brought forth in a lawsuit against the government's prohibition of medical marijuana, the DEA's own administrative law judge (Judge Francis Young) wrote: "The evidence in this record clearly shows that marijuana has been accepted as capable of relieving the distress of great numbers of very ill people, and doing so with safety under medical supervision. It would be unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious for the Drug Enforcement Administration to continue to stand between those sufferers and the benefits of this substance in light of the evidence".

Judge Young added: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. In strict medical terms, marijuana is safer than many foods we commonly consume."

Thirteen States have enacted laws permitting patients the right to use this safe and effective remedy and several others are actively working on similar legislation. The deadline to collect enough signatures to get this measure on the 2010 Florida ballot is February 1, 2010. The signatures are valid for four years. In the event this issue does not make the 2010 ballot, signatures will continue being collected toward this issue appearing on the 2012 ballot.

No law, no amount of corporate or government propaganda, nothing, should prohibit the right of a doctor to recommend a safe, effective, inexpensive remedy to a patient. Take a look at the issues in this well documented biography called “Run From The Cure”. You really should watch all seven video clips. Here’s the link:
YouTube - RUN FROM THE CURE - The Rick Simpson Story (Part 1 of 7)

If you or a loved one was sick what would you do to help yourself or your loved one? There is no excuse for any law that makes using a safe and effective remedy a criminal offence. Take a few moments and forward this information to all the registered voters you know in Florida.

That’s the way I see it, what do you think?

Download petition here: PUFMM A Political Comittee

More information about drug laws and proposed changes:
Using Internet Explorer web browser: Just Say Know to The Drug War
With All Other Browsers: Just Say Know to The Drug War ]]> jsknow http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jsknow/303-medical-marijuana-florida.html http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jimmycube/301-eulogy-2000-2008-jimmy-cube-long-ass-read.html Wed, 26 Aug 2009 19:10:17 GMT As I should I will start by saying sorry to all those who I offended, aka "shit on" during those 8 years. I clearly was loosing it slowly and life changing events, drug addiction and the eventual drug psychosis that followed really dint help the situation very much.

I of course can’t justify all my wrongs here. Hurting other people is hard to justify in real life let alone the need to hurt people hundreds or thousands of miles away, people that I have never met or ever will, people who for the most part, have been very kind to me, people who are a lot like I was and currently am. Most of it I really don’t remember anyways so that makes it all the more futile.

Instead I will try to explain why I acted the way I did, why I was who I was and what I was trying to achieve. This isn’t all for other people to read but also for me to "get the demons out" as it were. A type of self examination to learn about myself and face what I dint like about myself and learn why.

“Down the rabbit hole we go”. Like many people when I first smoked weed and found out that it dint kill me I felt that I had been lied too by society as a whole and if they lied about that, what else had they lied about? So began my illustrious/pitiful drug career and when I say a career I mean it. I strait up dedicated my life to drugs. I did everything I could as soon as I could and of course, as much as I could, which would latter lead to my downfall. If I wasn’t doing various drugs I was writing about them, making zines about them, writing faqs, guides, trip reports and art dedicated to or done on various chemicals. I literally still have 2 file cabinets filled with folders of just my drawings I did on drugs. Some are kewl, some not so much. I managed to keep this life style going through high school and college with relative ease. Many times my reputation or constant saturation of my college or school with my drug zines would gain me access to the stashes of various friends or “people in the know”. Thus feeding the beast that was inside me with a general ease. It was some what manageable. Sure, it no doubt cost me some points on exams and various concerned looks from family members but hard drugs were mostly saved for weekends so it never had a chance to get out of hand.

Through those years I had one constant. That of course was my now wife Lain. She was and still is my partner in crime, my “other half”, my best friend, the only person who could tell me “no”. During these years Lain shared my passion for drugs but obviously did not have what ever my brain has that doesn’t know when to stop. She had the control I dint, the compassion I lacked and the ability to say “no”. She some how managed to keep me “in line” with out ever seeming like she intentionally was. When college ended her and I both had are degrees and were ready to tackle the world together but then something unexpected happened.

About a week or two out of college I became paralyzed. Now, I am not going to go into that very deeply because it’s been discussed to death already. I will just say it was bad time for the both of us and really did some major damage to my self esteem. Lain staid by my side through out and honestly I don’t know how she managed to do so but I have learned that she is quite the lil warrior at heart. Although I place her on pedestal she still manages to shatter my expectations of her capabilities. Now, in an attempt to keep this whole thing on track I will keep the praise of my wife to a few paragraphs instead of a few pages.

This is ware things truly became “interesting” and by that I mean “fucked up”. I am lucky in terms of illness because I am in the 5% percent who recover mobility from it. That doesn’t mean I dint have significant problems both physically and more so mentally from the whole ordeal and thus introduced to the world of a true addict by my Drs and specialists. The fact that I had chronic pain, severe depression and a chronic illness made me the perfect time bomb and prescription drugs lit the fuse. I was put on a steady increase of opiates, benzos, muscle relaxers, anti depressants, and classes of drug I don’t even know to this day. While this is happening my specialists were telling me I had “a few years” to live and I literally was watching myself go from a 160lb slightly chubby guy to a 115lb skeleton. When all you feel is pain, all you hear is death and all you see is yourself wasting away your mind does very strange things.

In the storm of all this confusion and general turmoil I got my wife pregnant and we had our daughter Lilith. When most people have a child they throw away their “childish ways” and take on the responsibility of having a family and a child who depends on you. Being the provider and general example of what is considered right to your children. For me though it was quite different at the time. To keep it short and sweet I really hated myself then and felt I was a major strain or bother to all those around me. Generally I felt the people I truly loved would be better off with out me. So, I fuckin left Lain and Lilith and ran off with a heroin dealer I was introduced to by a “friend” of mine.

Oh, I am sure you remember her to my dismay lol. She had a face only a mother could love and that dint even hold true because she was adopted but what she did have was a ton of free heroin and at that time it was my crutch for completely avoiding everything I felt physically and mentally/emotionally. I just did heroic amounts of H and hoped for a quick and easy ending to my life but luckily it never came. Eventually we ended up doing all of our own stash of course *which truly was a huge amount of drug because she was funded by divorced out of state parents who happened to be quite well off it took us a better part of a year and a half to do all of it & left me in drug induced psychosis which I don’t have the words to adequately describe*. When I was forced to get off heroin because every dollar was spent, every bridge was burned and all other paths were fortified I became slightly more clear headed and it dint take long for me to realize I had truly gotten myself into a far worse situation than the one I had left. It began to sink in that even though I tried with all my might I had indeed began to out live my what my Drs had said was my life expectancy and do things that they said I would never do. Once again I had the realization that “the people in charge” had no idea what they were talking about much like when I had first smoked weed and realized the “establishment” was also clueless.

So began the slow crawl out of the gutter so to speak. Then, Lain and Lilith were in a car crash that almost killed them both. Once again all my plans went to complete shit. My world fuckin turned upside down on me and I know what you’re going to say “wtf is he talking about? He left them so how could he act like he loved them so much?” Well, I do have a reply to that and I am not expecting anyone else to really understand this line of thinking but it is truly what I felt at the time. I left them because I loved them. I really thought they would be better off with out me at the time and they actually were. Lain had moved with Lilith to another state and they were doing fine until Lain failed a pop drug test for weed and lost her job because of it and then moved back home to be with her mother. Getting back to the point though the first few days after the car crash I just hit the fent harder than ever. Lain came too pretty quick but she was badly injured and had a shattered orbital socket which took a few surguries to fix. Lilith was in far worse shape and was in a coma for what seemed like forever. I began to literally stay at the hospital with Lain and Lilith day and night. There wasn’t a lot I could do for Lilith, just hold her hand and kiss her head and pray to every god I ever had known to make her better. I could how ever help Lain by just staying with her and talking to her and letter her know that she still meant the world to me and when things got bad I would always be there for her like I had promised in my youth. Thankfully (cant find words to express how thankful I really am), they both came out of the whole thing fine and eventually ended up suing the other driver who hit them for quite a large sum of money because he was drunk and on the meth.

The car crash was a big turning point for me obviously. I got rid of the heroin chick quickly and after some convincing I was able to prove to Lain that I at least realized what I needed to do to improve my life and all that remained was to actually do it. So in yet another stroke of divine luck I was given another chance with Lain and my daughter. Eventually after much trial and failure I was able to get myself off of all recreation use of narcotics, mainly fentanyl and xanax. Mind you what just took a few sentences to say took a few years to actually complete fully.

Eventually I got a good paying job, quit all recreation drug use except weed, shrooms and E *Lain and I were both candy kids so the E kinda is like having our teen years back* got another degree, (thank you gov for paying my entire way) built a big ass house, manned up and became the father my daughter needs and went about living my life as though I indeed do have medical problems but that doesn’t mean I cant live a full and enjoyable life and still manage to take care of my daughter and wife and do good things to actively participate in society while knowing I can never recreationally do drugs like I used too.

It all really seems like a dream when I think back to the past, just the amount of bad decisions is really staggering to me at this point but it is what happened and I am just thankful that I ended up ware I am today. So, there you have it. I don’t know what it all means or if it helps anybody but I feel better having said it and congrats if u actually read the whole thing

much love ]]> Jimmycube http://www.yahooka.com/forum/blogs/jimmycube/301-eulogy-2000-2008-jimmy-cube-long-ass-read.html