1. people who are inordinately fond of sheep as companions.
2. sheep who are inordinately companionable.
This time the music comes first. Music to read about sheeps & sheeples by, by Johann Sebastian Bach. Enjoy.
Conni Tögel has a Facebook fan page that doesn’t do her work justice. I found her work at the Sheep and Wool Festival this past summer. Sunlight, that does her work justice. Her birthday is one day, and a few years, after mine. Just sayin’.
belly dance by conni tögel
Lisa Rotter volunteers at the farm with me and even though she works with the horses, she sneaks in to visit the sheeps…making her, yes,a sheeple.
photo courtesy of lisa rotter
Elise sells her art in Union Square and most of it seems to be faith inspired. You can see more of her work on her blog, painting glory. She’s saved. I’m not. But I love her sheeps…
stewart-dwelling securely, forever by elise
Another Union Square artist, I couldn’t resist buying this piece by Larry Carlson. Larry’s work has a touch of the acid flashback. His flickrstream is all farmy/sheepy/outdoory acid, which I love. For out of this world aliens implanted something in my head when I was sleeping trippy, you want to look here.
sheepy by larry carlson
I want to live here, in Joanna Murphy’s paintings. If not this one, with these four particular sheep, any one of her Hyzer Hill series will do. They’re big and they’re lush and you can walk right in to any one of them, sit down in the field and a sheep will come up and nuzzle at your neck.
four sheep by joanna murphy
Laverne was a beauty queen and blue ribbon winner when she was just a mere lamb. To me, she will always be the picture of elegance and refinement. Even with straw sticking out of her thick curly locks.
laverne by me
People, who are sheeple, are the luckiest people I know. (Had to, had to say it. Simply could not leave it unsaid.)
Day 1: Sunday: Consumption : Live a fuller happier life by buying less
Carrying a personal trash bag around at my uncle’s wake for one day, just one day, helped me realize how much I use and discard without even thinking. We’re talking things, not people. My days of using and discarding people mindlessly are pretty much behind me and now I miss them when they leave.
Day 2: Monday: Trash : Find out if wasting less improves your life
Baristas are used to the personal hot cup, but try asking for a muffin with no bag, no plate and no napkin, thank you. Terminally hip servers get struck flummoxed, Starbuckeroos need it repeated. And then repeated again for clarification. The family thinks you’re nuts when you pull out your own plate and cup at the after funeral brunch. But, it did get me extra good do-bee discounts in a few places. The downside? The extra weight, bulk & clutter of carrying my own water (no more plastic bottles of designer water), hot cup, utensils, tupperware and napkin is a bit annoying. I wonder if I can trade the good karma for a chiropractic adjustment.
Day 3: Tuesday: Transportation : Burn calories, not fossil fuels
Luckily, the funeral and all that family stuff is over. When it comes to days that only include the five boroughs, I generally leave the car in the garage anyway, using public transportation or my own two left feets. Unless I oversleep. Or it rains. Or I have to go to Brooklyn, because, really, there is no good way to get to Brooklyn from the borough of Q. Okay, not as many good do-bee points on this one as I thought I’d get.
Day 4: Wednesday: Food : Healthy eating can also lessen your foodprint
A few months ago I started on the eating locally/shopping seasonally kick, so should have been a breeze. Except I’ve been cheating by using up what was already in the house and allowing myself to keep special treats like canned smoked trout from Trader Joes, and basic necessities like Trident Sugarless Bubble Gum. That’s not going to change. The way a chicken will run around with its head cut off, I will still be chewing Trident Sugarless Bubblegum when they find my cold, dead body somewhere, whenever that happens to be.
Day 5: Thursday: Energy : Replace kilowatts with ingenuity, explore no-energy alternatives
My bedroom faces east and I don’t have curtains, so I get up with the sun. Breakfast by natural, rather than artificial, light was, well, gentle is the only word I can come up with. I’ve been “ghost energy” busting by unplugging appliances like toasters & blenders instead of simply turning them off. Today’s initiative took stock of the rest of the apartment. I gave up real TV, aka cable, years ago and if I watch one DVD a week, it’s a lot. The stereo, DVD/VCR and TV are all plugged into a powerstrip, which I turned off.
Day 6: Friday: Water : Soak up the personal benefits of using less water I knew going in that water was going to be my personal Waterloo. I dream about long hot showers, crave long hot baths, even when I’m in them. It’s all about crawling back into the womb, I’m sure, but if I’m not willing to give that up (and I’m not), where can I make changes?
Well, there’s what I was already doing to justify the long hot showers: The whole “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” movement and not running the water while I brush my teeth. That stuff is easy when you live alone.
I grew up letting dishes soak in soapy water and not running the water while I scrubbed them. I can do that again, it’s just a habit I’d lost along the way. That’s easy. What surprised me was that while I’m rabid about the businesses hosing down the sidewalks rather than sweeping, I do the same thing. After I finish the dishes, instead of scooping it all up with a sponge, I use the sprayer to clean the sink. Used, past tense. I became aware and stopped that. It’s just a matter of being mindful.
Day 7: Saturday: Giving Back : Pay it forward!
Unfortunately the financial crunch has forced me to cut back on my volunteer work at the farm. That said, I was already riding the service bandwagon. No convincing needed. The road to happiness is paved with service to others.
Day 8: Sunday: Eco Sabbath : Take a break from everything! Don’t use any of your appliances, electronics, motorized transport, or money.
I didn’t get enough sleep last night, got up late, drove into the city & back, had breakfast out and I’m busily typing away by artificial light when I should be asleep. This was not a relaxing sabbath, although while I wasn’t able to shut anything else down, I was finally able to shut myself down with a long bath and a longer, much needed nap.
If this week was a test, I would’ve failed miserably. But good education is about learning, rather than test results and I learned things this week that I think’ll stick. I’ve reduced my household water and energy usage, converted to cloth napkins both in home and out, switched to 100% recycled tissue, stopped buying water in bottles or tea in disposable cups and became more aware of my reliance on fossil fueled transportation.
I’m not changing the whole world or saving an entire forest, but not unlike the starfish story, what I do will make a difference to at least one tree.
Sometimes I just need a warm and cozy corner to chill between hot dates. New York City in the winter is pretty short on warm and cozy corners unless I want to spend cold cash, which I’m short on lately.
I had a list of appointments and things that needed doing. I did thing #1 and had two hours to kill before thing #2. Since I moved to the “outer boroughs” running home between “things” is really out of the realm of the practical. I’d get home, say hello and goodbye to Mr. Crazy Pants in the one breath, and have to turn around and go right back. So, where’s a girl to go in the cold and blustery, when there’s time to kill and no money to burn?
Mr Crazy Pants
When interest rates were..well, when they existed, I moved some money to ING online banking. I’ve been with Apple Bank for over 30 years. They were my local bank when I moved to the East Village in ’79 and I’m both lazy and loyal. But in a world where everyone else is using fingerprint scans instead of time cards and key cards, Apple still has chains, padlocks, secret handshakes and keys hidden under the mat. I put up with the ineptitude out of compassion, loyalty and, yes, laziness. Then they raised their ATM rates.
Are you kidding me? I’m already paying $3 from whatever ATM I use on top of which Apple wants another $2? So it costs me $5 to get my own money? I could go directly to an Apple Bank and not pay anything. Sure, I could if there was an Apple Bank around. There are three in Queens. There are 2.3 MILLION people in over 100 square miles of Queens and only three Apple Banks. None of which are remotely close to me.
I could take the train into the city to get my money – two hours traveling in and back, two subway fares. Or, or I could change banks. I’m lazy, but I’m also cheap. And apparently I’m cheaper than I am lazy.
And I remembered ING, the Orange Bank and all their friendly emails, easy online banking, cuddly marketing. There is an ING Direct Cafe between thing #1 and thing #2. It is very orange. The manager wears an orange sweatshirt. They sell orange pens, lip balm, track suits, backpacks, journals, coffee mugs…the list goes on and on.
It is a bit like walking into a bottle of Tang.
The manager was lovely, explaining everything to me, what I could do and how to do it. I’m not hawking one bank over another. That’s a personal decision. Personally, I’m going to be doing as much of my business as I can with ING and I’d be happy to tell you why, personally (email me @ onlythejodi@gmail.com) but the best part of the whole experience was…
bathroom video
…it was freezing out. I was between thing #1 and thing #2 and found myself in an ING Direct Cafe where you can just head up the orange stairway to heaven and hang out on the couches or in the lovely spherical orange chairs and read. The bathroom beats Starbucks by an orange mile with video embedded in the mirror and new fangled hand dryers. And, after you purchase absolutely anything (and there is a lot to choose from including snacks) you can use their computers for free for 45 minutes.
Free Interwebz.
I got a cup of tea. For a dollar. 50¢ if I bring my own cup. A large tea. Did I want two tea bags for my dollar? Really? Where else in NY can I spend a single dollar for a large beverage and 45 minutes of free internet. A single dollar spent in a warm and cozy cafe to find out that the “other” blog is too racy for public computers. ING, you totally made my day.
