Thursday, 30 October 2014
What If? ~ Jennifer Zang {Poem}
What if…
I stay, pretending I am not crumbling inside? That with each passing day I decide to start loving myself as much as I love you?
What if…
I stay, using the pain as a secret ingredient, creating a concoction, sustaining both of our souls.
While lost in my crafts, I discover a hidden map in the landscape of the photography or a cryptic message between the lines of my erratic writings. The mystery of finding us again is solved.
What if…
I share a soliloquy with friends, portraying our struggles in the eloquence of a fleeting summer rainstorm.
We lean into each other as angry thunder erupts from our souls, holding a space to be heard and loved.
What if…
I know all of this is a maze of lies. Intricately designed twists, blind alleys and turns. I am unable to find the path leading to the outside.
So I stay.
Or rather, some form of me stays. A foreign being with a sealed door to her heart, the light within extinguished. A stranger to both of us.
Somehow you know the way out. Or maybe, the truth is, you never walked on a path with me. You remained on the outside.
I am stuck… with me, this foreign being, this stranger. And a growing collection of, “What if?”
I am running to the past, trying to recapture time. In the darkness, I stumble. Falling to my knees.
I am too tired to stand. Too tired to cry. Too fired to fight.
In the darkness, a soothing sound washes over me. My inner voice gently shares…
What if…
You let go of the questions from the past, the illusion of going back in time to change the outcome.
You quit running, trying to block the pain. Embrace it. Accept it as part of your journey.
What if…
You allow yourself to drop into this moment. Stand in your own truth, even if it feels messy and ugly. Drop the judgment, the fear. Open the door to your heart, inviting in the unknown.
You realize in this moment, in every moment, you are enough. Release the thoughts of inferiority hindering you from moving forward with your life purpose.
What if…
Pain is replaced with the love of forgiveness.
Forgiveness for him.
What if…
Relephant:
She Let Go.
Try Harder or Walk Away: The Decision.
~
~
Love elephant and want to go steady?
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Fragrant pilau rice
Ingredients
- 450g/1lb basmati rice (for a more authentic flavour and texture it is best not to use easy-cook rice; however, it will still work and be very tasty if you do)
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- large knob butter, plus extra to serve
- 4 cardamom pods
- 8 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- pinch saffron threads
- 2 bay leaves
- 600ml/1 pint hot chicken stock, vegetable stock or water
Preparation method
-
To make sure you get lovely fluffy rice, wash it in
several changes of cold water, then leave to soak for about 30 minutes
in fresh cold water. If you don't have time for this, place in a sieve
and wash under the cold tap for a minute or so.
-
Cook the onion in the butter for around 5 minutes
until softened. Add the spices, saffron and bay leaves and cook for a
couple more minutes. The spices will give a wonderful fragrant flavour
to the rice. Add the rice and stir until the grains are coated in the
butter before stirring in the stock or water and salt. Bring to the boil
and then cover with a tight-fitting lid. If the lid isn't very tight,
cover the pan with aluminium foil before putting the lid on. Turn the
heat down low and leave to cook for 10 minutes before turning off the
heat. Don't remove the lid; just leave the rice to continue cooking in
the pan for about 5 minutes until you're ready to serve.
-
The rice should have absorbed all the water and will just need fluffing up with a fork. Add a knob of butter before serving.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
1. You can lower your blood pressure just by petting
33 Awesome Facts About Dogs
http://www.buzzfeed.com/kaelintully/o-yea-o-yea-o-yea-go-dogs-do-your-sweet-thaaang?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Animals+1029&utm_content=Animals+1029+CID_74b8a57844d0b2987eee82f42adacb71&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=33%20Awesome%20Facts%20About%20Dogs
1. You can lower your blood pressure just by petting your pup!
3. The reason dogs curl up is because of an age-old instinct to keep themselves warm and to protect vital organs while they sleep.
6. If you leave your dog a piece of clothing that smells like you, the scent will comfort them and it can help curb their separation anxiety.
7. The basenji is the only breed of dog that can’t bark, but they can yodel!
imgur.com / Via youtube.com
8. When dogs poop, they prefer to do it in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field.
9. If a guy has a dog with him, he’s three times more likely to get a girl’s phone number.
10. Dogs’ sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger thanhumans’.
11. The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog that has six toes on each foot!
14. In a study done by scholars at the University of California, it was found that dogs can get jealous if they see their humans displaying affection toward something or someone else.
16. Bloodhounds are able to trace scents that are over300 hours old.
17. Dogs can be trained to detect changes in the human body — there are even seizure alert dogs that assist patients during the onset of a seizure.
18. There are also diabetic alert dogs who signal their human when they pick up on the special scent that is released when their human’s insulin levels drop.
19. When your dog spins in a circle before settling down to snuggle, it’s because he’s making himself at home! This is a nesting trait carried down from your dog’s wilder ancestors.
20. A German shepherd seeing-eye dog named Orient led his human, Bill Irwin, over the 2,100-mile hike through the Appalachian Trail. Irwin was the first blind man to make the journey.
21. Newfoundlands are excellent swimmers because they have webbed feet.
22. Dalmatian puppies are born completely white and develop their spots over time!
23. A service dog named Kirsch received an honorary master’s degree in mental health counseling for attending all of his owner’s classes.
24. If your dog’s paws smell like corn chips, it’s most likely because dogs only have sweat glands in their feet! That smell is their ~natural~ body odor.
25. Dogs have at least 18 muscles in each ear!
29. The Beatles included a whistle that is only audible to dogs in the song “A Day in the Life.”
33. Whiskers are used as sensing devices; some dogs even use them to see if they’ll be able to fit into small spaces.
