I'm picking up the pieces of a laboured week...losses and re-evaluations all round, but the week will end kicking!

This beautiful piece, led me to write my simple verse below.

Please enjoy both, together..one is mine the other my inspiration...they join in my thoughts and deepest feeling;

Contorted Conditions Ep 8

You can 'see' it in the song before us
and 'feel' it all within lyrics thus
in but one distinct minute we attune
to the world turning-away from all it did impugn
in dual axis of night and day
azoic dawn paving Appain Way-
northward journey, roots forever stretch
from summer scena to autumn's first sketch
a fatherland arms the backbone of resection
in the mother city embedded in mouille emancipation
from the eloquence of parental resemblance
blood's hereditary rhetoric at a glance.

written by lauren6.

The forest, all the music, hidden by life, surrounded by silence, given to light...this animation was inspired, in it's undergrowth, rising to a canopy of thoughts, within which 4 seasons of action may be witnessed, the growth, the pain, come rain or shine, by season's end, still very much life, if not dorment.

It's all around, and nowhere to be seen, what remains of the day, much remains as yet unseen; maybe just the dream, a precursor of events, that came and went, or awaiting such a time...

All, in seven minutes, we came, to be viewers, and leave, as the leaves, very much part of the season.

-ed
21h00, 29/09/06

My dear uncle Jean-Paul has passed-away, his life taken suddenly in the north of France, he died while walking a Picardie lane, alone, and found but an hour later, too late, for his heart and liver, which both failed.

One last drink he managed, no lunch was eaten, or reached, and before 65 he has been taken away from these lands.

The news, received by a phone call, reached us this evening, with my mother bringing it solemnly to me.

He was an artist, a traveller, very much a reveller, and lived life his way, with kindness and more gentility than I've seen in many men. Yet he was bad tempered too, which never came across in his artworks.

He was too giving, with free spirit generosity flowed, and conversation too. Humour and song, dance and parties were his forte.

He taught me Normandie, and how to eat mussels, the art of bread and cheese at the best time, before mid afternoon takes the beauty off a baguette's taste.

He was a part of France to me, and now, tonight, my French link has been greatly weakened.

Alas, now, he is no more.
God bless you Uncle Jean-Paul, you are forever remembered...

We will always love you,
Ed & family
xx

Death--the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.
Walter Scott

A beautiful song, lyrics...as Nelly says, "all I can do is try"...

All I know
Is everything is not as it's sold
but the more I grow the less I know
And I have lived so many lives
Though I'm not old
And the more I see, the less I grow
The fewer the seeds the more I sow

Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try
Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try

I wish I hadn't seen all of the realness
And all the real people are really not real at all
The more I learn the more I cry
As I say goodbye to the way of life
I thought I had designed for me

Then I see you standing there
Wanting more from me
And all I can do is try
Then I see you standing there
I'm all I'll ever be
But all I can do is try
Try

All of the moments that already passed
We'll try to go back and make them last
All of the things we want each other to be
We never will be
And that's wonderful, and that's life
And that's you, baby
This is me, baby
And we are, we are, we are, we are
Free
In our love
We are free in our love

25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Now

Green tea has increasingly become a very popular drink worldwide because of its immensely powerful health benefits. It is extraordinarily amazing what green tea can do for your health. And if you're NOT drinking 3 to 4 cups of green tea today, you're definitely NOT doing your health a big favor.

Here Are The 25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Right Now:

1. Green Tea and Cancer

Green tea helps reduce the risk of cancer. The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E. This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer.

2. Green Tea and Heart Disease

Green tea helps prevent heart disease and stroke by lowering the level of cholesterol. Even after the heart attack, it prevents cell deaths and speeds up the recovery of heart cells.

3. Green Tea and Anti-Aging

Green tea contains antioxidant known as polyphenols which fight against free radicals. What this means it helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity.

4. Green Tea and Weight Loss

Green tea helps with your body weight loss. Green tea burns fat and boosts your metabolism rate naturally. It can help you burn up to 70 calories in just one day. That translates to 7 pounds in one year.

5. Green Tea and Skin

Antioxidant in green tea protects the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, which cause wrinkling and skin aging. Green tea also helps fight against skin cancer.

6. Green Tea and Arthritis

Green tea can help prevent and reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. Green tea has benefit for your health as it protects the cartilage by blocking the enzyme that destroys cartilage.

7. Green Tea and Bones

The very key to this is high fluoride content found in green tea. It helps keep your bones strong. If you drink green tea every day, this will help you preserve your bone density.

8. Green Tea and Cholesterol

Green tea can help lower cholesterol level. It also improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, by reducing bad cholesterol level.

9. Green Tea and Obesity

Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells. If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you'll be obese.

10. Green Tea and Diabetes

Green tea improves lipid and glucose metabolisms, prevents sharp increases in blood sugar level, and balances your metabolism rate.

11. Green Tea and Alzheimer's

Green tea helps boost your memory. And although there's no cure for Alzheimer's, it helps slow the process of reduced acetylcholine in the brain, which leads to Alzheimer's.

12. Green Tea and Parkinson's

Antioxidants in green tea helps prevent against cell damage in the brain, which could cause Parkinson's. People drinking green tea also are less likely to progress with Parkinson's.

13. Green Tea and Liver Disease

Green tea helps prevent transplant failure in people with liver failure. Researches showed that green tea destroys harmful free radicals in fatty livers.

14. Green Tea and High Blood Pressure

Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure. Drinking green tea helps keep your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.

15. Green Tea and Food Poisoning

Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

16. Green Tea and Blood Sugar

Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.

17. Green Tea and Immunity

Polyphenols and flavenoids found in green tea help boost your immune system, making your health stronger in fighting against infections.

18. Green Tea and Cold and Flu

Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu. Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

19. Green Tea and Asthma

Theophylline in green tea relaxes the muscles which support the bronchial tubes, reducing the severity of asthma.

20. Green Tea and Ear Infection

Green tea helps with ear infection problem. For natural ear cleaning, soak a cutton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

21. Green Tea and Herpes

Green tea increases the effectiveness of topical interferon treatment of herpes. First green tea compress is applied, and then let the skin dry before the interferon treatment.

22. Green Tea and Tooth Decay

Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases. It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.

23. Green Tea and Stress

L-theanine, which is a kind of amino acids in green tea, can help relieve stress and anxiety

24. Green Tea and Allergies

EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies. So, if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.

25. Green Tea and HIV

Scientists in Japan have found that EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells. What this means is that green tea can help stop the HIV virus from spreading.

Popular 70's food brands are making a comeback on the grocery shelves.

Spam, Cinzano and Smash have all been rebranded to appeal to 30 to 45-year-olds, according to trade magazine The Grocer.

The kitsch revival draws on the nostalgia value of the products, many of which are old favourites for thousands of consumers.

Other seventies favourites which are staging a comeback include the aftershave Brut and white wine Blue Nun.

Fox's Confectionery has also joined the kitsch revival with new-style packaging for its Poppets sweets range.

The Grocer's senior drinks reporter Sonya Hook said: "Many of the brands enjoying a revival are doing so because manufacturers have recognised that trends are cyclical and there's a gap in the market for old favourites.

"Moreover, there's an opportunity to improve on those old favourites - whether by enhancing the product itself or its image."

What were your favourites from the 70's?
I was knee-high to a grasshopper back then~~!!

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind;
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet;
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them;
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true;
To think only the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best;
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own;
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future;

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile;
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others;
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear; and too happy to permit the presence of trouble;
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds;

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

C.D. Larson
Your Forces and How to Use Them
LM Fowler & Co., Ltd., England

I'm waiting, wondering, by window's scene
of a traffic stream, searching where the day's already been
awaiting the image flow, beneath yellowing lime
conceding to autumn, yet we feel conatus summertime
the causewayed seasons in equal celebration
a juncture of land and sea meeting beauty's constellation
where elements rage, calm follows like a seagull
after a trawler weathered a storm against it's hull
or a lighthouse zooming help to this stranded soul
when menacing tides heaved beyond control
your beaming guidance felt with a splash of love
-my wish upon the shooting star I dream of...

written by lauren6

U2: Sometime's you can't make it on your own

Tough, you think you've got the stuff
You're telling me and anyone
You're hard enough

You don't have to put up a fight
You don't have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

We fight all the time
You and I...that's alright
We're the same soul
I don't need...I don't need to hear you say
That if we weren't so alike
You'd like me a whole lot more

Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don't have to go it alone
And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you when I don't pick up the phone
Sometimes you can't make it on your own

I know that we don't talk
I'm sick of it all
Can - you - hear - me - when - I -
Sing, you're the reason I sing
You're the reason why the opera is in me...

Where are we now?
I've got to let you know
A house still doesn't make a home
Don't leave me here alone...

And it's you when I look in the mirror
And it's you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
Sometimes you can't make it
The best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can't make it on your own.

père, je t'aime, je t'aime...

Parents

A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the tree top, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow... He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him.

Time went by...

The little boy grew up, and he no longer played around the tree everyday. One day, the boy came back to the tree with a sad look on his face.

"Come and play with me," the tree asked the boy.

"I am no longer a kid, I don't play around trees anymore." The boy replied, "I want toys. I need money to buy them."

"Sorry, I don't have money...but you can pick all my apples and sell them so you will have money."

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy didn't come back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy returned and the tree was so excited.
"Come and play with me," the tree said.
"I don't have time to play. I have to work for my family.

We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?"
"Sorry, I don't have a house, but you can chop off my branches to build your house."

So the boy cut all the branches off the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the boy didn't come back afterward. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the boy returned and the tree was delighted.
"Come and play with me!" the tree said.
"I am sad and getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?"
"Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy."

So the boy cut the tree truck to make a boat. He went sailing and didn't come back for a long time.

Finally, the boy returned after he had been gone for so many years. "Sorry, my boy. But I don't have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you..." the tree said.

"I don't have teeth to bite," the boy replied.
"No more trunk for you to climb on."

"I am too old for that now" the boy said. "I really can't give you anything ... the only thing left is my dying roots," the tree said with sadness.

"I don't need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years," the boy replied.

"Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest.

Come sit down with me and rest." The boy sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.......

...but the same can be true, of children's love and sacrifice for their parents too...

This is brilliant!!!
I remember hearing this in the stands of Carrow Road, 1981...and what a classic pop song, from the brilliantly titled album, "From The Tea Rooms Of Mars...To The Hell Holes Of Uranus" @.@

...perfect UK pop...

Landscape are a British band best known for their 1981 hits, "Einstein A Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". Formed in 1974, they toured constantly during the mid- to late-1970s, playing rock, punk and jazz venues and releasing two instrumental EPs on their own Event Horizon label. They began experimenting with computer-programmed music and electronic drums in the late 1970s making records in the emerging genres of electronic dance music and synthpop.

Landscape comprised: Richard James Burgess, Christopher Heaton, Andy Pask, Peter Thoms and John Walters

Richard James Burgess produced Shock and the first two albums by Spandau Ballet while still in Landscape. He went on to produce recordings by Five Star, King, Adam Ant, America and many others, and wrote the book The Art of Record Production.

John Walters (aka John L Walters) went on to produce records by Swans Way, Kissing the Pink, Twelfth Night, The Mike Gibbs Orchestra and Mark Springer. He co-founded Unknown Public in 1992.

Andy Pask co-wrote the theme for long-running British TV series The Bill.

-from wikipedia.

A certain someone gave me the idea to post this, another song I like very much. (Ok, it was P*!!)

No lyrics needed, it's all in the title!!

I gave you everything, more than I've got
now my lesson is tied within surgeon's knot
from childhood grown, my calls unanswered
to 30's moan, sentiment's very own hansard

From a day, given to the year of each decade
ever-faithful follower, helper unswayed
respect never blue, belief in you, ever-true
dedication and combat, hereditary deja vu

I gave you everything, everything I've got
nerves, fibres, my time in life...the lot
my blood had one last wish; one last call-
one minute of your time, that was all.

---
père, je t'aime

written by lauren6

During another nerve-wracked night I tuned-in to the World Service and heard all about the ancient dogs of Peru...the Chiribaya shepherds, who could claim to be an original breed...

LIMA, Peru -- Even in ancient Peru, it seems dogs were a man's best friend. Peruvian investigators have discovered a pre-Columbian culture of dog lovers who built pet cemeteries and buried their pets with warm blankets and even treats for the afterlife.

"They are dogs that were thanked and recognized for their social and familial contribution," anthropologist Sonia Guillen said. "These dogs were not sacrificed."

Since 1993, researchers have unearthed 82 dog tombs in pet cemetery plots, laid alongside human mummy tombs of the Chiribaya people in the fertile Osmore River valley, 540 miles southeast of Lima. The Chiribaya were farmers who lived from A.D. 900 to 1350 before the rise of Peru's Inca Empire.

"We have found that in all the cemeteries, always, in between the human tombs there are others dedicated to the dogs, full-grown and puppies," said Guillen, who specializes in the study of mummies. "They have their own grave and in some cases they are buried with blankets and food."

Guillen, director of the Centro Mallqui, the Bioanthropology Foundation of Peru, said the dogs are known as Chiribaya shepherds for their herding abilities.

She and her team are trying to prove the Chiribaya dogs have Peruvian descendants that can be classified as an original South American breed.

"This shepherd is still among us," she said. "We have found very similar animals with the same characteristics in Peru's southern valleys and we are starting investigations to determine if we are dealing with a Peruvian dog."

But some dog experts expressed caution.

Ermanno Maniero, who in 1985 achieved international recognition of the Peruvian hairless as a distinct breed that evolved over more than 2000 years from Asian ancestors brought across the Bering Strait, said Peru is full of breeds that arrived in recent centuries.

"We have found similar dogs" to the Chiribaya shepherds, he said. "But it is better to take precautions before confirming the existence of a type of original animal."

Ricardo Fujita, a genetics researcher at Lima's San Martin University, said the physical traits suggests a link between today's' short-snouted, long-haired dogs and their possible Chiribaya ancestors. But the jury is still out.

"We are conducting DNA analysis on the ancient dogs to compare them to the new ones, but it will be months before there are results for a final verdict," he said. Link

If I was happy I'd say so

In the rain, thoughts could go either way
falling to the flood
evading the very needs that can but pray
the prolepsis of clouded storm
he, of glaven vocal dribs and drabs
well-fed beyond my compo-ration
an empty plate of eaten coadjutorship
digested by one without the other
the devitalising misappropriation of funds
three courses to none
I'll sacrifice almost all the food
pass on golden riches
stand aside from gluttony
yet, my spine may regain poise
standing in spurning opposition
to these misbegotten injustices
poisoning the salt of the earth
feeding the bones on oven-ready beds
blood may be spilled, and it's ours
a testament to life and deep pique
our faces have been forgotten
in place of their wage-enabling Riviera escapades
yet each rivulet within us
under nature's replenishing rains
will rise to a septuple torrent
and storm their dehumanising regime!

written by lauren6

This morning, being fired-up, I managed a drawing, in slight trepidation, as my L5 has been hurt so much, but the relief inside me, that I can still manage to draw, is overwhelming.

I drew this with my consultant nearby...almost in defiance, I showed him what I can humbly do, IN SPITE of his edict.
I am still going...still doing what I love, still living, but thanks to my willpower, and my loved ones mindpower.

Alessandro del Piero, a great player, and was one of the best in Europe.

Together with Gigi d'Agostini's music, this is throroughly uplifting...but not for Manchester United fans...hahaha! (Good luck Benfica tomorrow!)

del piero, siete il la cosa migliore!!

Full name Alessandro Del Piero
Date of birth November 9, 1974
Place of birth Conegliano, Italy
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Position Deep-Lying Forward

Professional clubs;

1991-1993 Padova 14games(1goal)

1993- Juventus
482 (194goals)
National team**
1995- Italy 79 (27 goals) [2]

This is another one of my favourite songs, and it has a very positive vibe throughout...so I want to share it too; as I'm not so alone with all your wonderful help, encouragement and hope...thank you, so much!

Please enjoy this, (hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I always do...)

Sash: Just around the hill

What if the world was out of trouble
What if the world was out of pain
Would it be a world thats worth living in
Without anything
Thats worth a sin

What if the world was out of hope
Would you find a place where you belong
You said to yourself that you'd never make it that far
And the mountains too high
The answer is

Just around the hill
Just around the hill
Take a look from the other side
Suddenly you see
There are many ways
Don't go astray
Just walk around
Walk around that hill

What if the world was out of love
And all that we do don't mean a thing
You take a chance
No suffering
No suffering
For anything
You're risking yourself
Do you really want it that way?
The mountains too high
The answer is

Just around the hill
Just around the hill
Take a look from the other side
Suddenly you see
There are many ways
Don't go astray
Just walk around
Walk around that hill
Just around the hill
Take a look from the other side
Suddenly you'll see
There are many ways
To go astray
Just walk around
Walk around that hill
Walk around that hill
Hmmm
Walk around that hill

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.
The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his great fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me the stone."

I'm surrounded yet very much alone
in a world of subtle beats
an opening, a winnow of soothing inward blown
upon the precis of waiting in-line on city streets
when the need is greater than the light
yet hold our horses we must
in pre-administered forcefield so contrite
by minuend obligations of antitrust
overtaking doubts indicating fears
accelerating power the driving force
when the side mirror of trust shatters and disappears
for today's drive-alive there can be no remorse!

written by lauren6
split in two, by consultation madness at hospital.

"Urgent" in hospital terms, I learn today, actually means a wait of three months. And I'm a "lucky one".
Hell is lucky too considering how many top medical people must be working there (here?)!

This is a classic song from 1982...

Japan: Ghosts
UK
Released: 1982
Produced by Japan
Written by David Sylvian

When the room is quiet
The daylight almost gone
It seems there's something I should know
Well I ought to leave but the rain it never stops
And I've no particular place to go

Just when I think I'm winning
When I've broken every door
The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind

Well I'm feeling nervous
Now I find myself alone
The simple life's no longer there
Once I was so sure
Now the doubt inside my mind
Comes and goes but leads nowhere

Just when I think I'm winning
When I've broken every door
The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before
Just when I thought I could not be stopped
When my chance came to be king
The ghosts of my life blew wilder than the wind