I found out yesterday at Lena's birthday party that Ingmar Bergman had died . He was 89 .

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/31/europe/EU-GEN-Sweden-Mourns-Bergman.php

The first Ingmar Bergman film that I saw was " The Virgin Spring "; a black and white film ( – a Best Foreign Language Oscar winner from 1960 directed by Ingmar Bergman ) and I saw it in France , I can't remember now if it was dubbed or not as The French usually dub films . Anyway it was a long time ago 1971 or 1972 . I remember being totally bowled over and making lots and lots of notes. I wonder if I still have them. I bet they were really profound observation .....ahemmmmm .. it felt like that at the time.

The story of The Virgin Spring :

" The Virgin Spring begins with Karin and Ingeri being sent on a journey to church by their mother (Birgitta Valberg) and father (von Sydow), who are very strict Christians. Ingeri is jealous of all the attention lavished on the spoilt but innocent Karin and tricks her naïve stepsister into continuing the journey to church alone. Karin soon meets two herdsmen (Axel Düberg and Tor Isedal) and a boy (Ove Porath), and offers to share a meal with them. However, events quickly take a horrific turn as the two herdsmen, watched by the boy, viciously rape and murder her. The herdsmen and the boy flee the scene and are later shown being given food and shelter by Karin's father at his home. At this point, the father does not yet know about Karin's fate and the herdsmen are unaware that the girl was his daughter. However, the mother soon discovers that the herdsmen have her daughter's blood-stained clothes in their possession, and when the father is told of this, he exacts a terrible revenge."

In a recorded interview on TV this evening, I heard Ingmar Bergman talking about his life and work. " Scenes from a Marriage " were based on his own experience.He'd fallen in love with a girl called Gunnel and was planning to leave his wife and 4 children to go and live with her in Paris. So , he travels down to Gothenburg from Stockholm . without taking his coat off he goes to his wife who is bed, sits on the bed tells her everything and then goes off to Paris. During the interview he shows a picture of Gunnel and admits that he could have handled things a lot better. *sighs* Regrets . A burden carried for over 20 years.

It is interesting that when a film director dies, his works live on for a long long time.

I think my favourite film was " Fanny and Alexander ".

Blessings to the soul of Ingmar Bergman. May his ghost join the other ghosts haunt Dramaten. the main theatre in Stockholm . I think I'll go there to leave a message in the Condolences Book which is there until Friday this week.

What shall I write ?

These babies are very much like the ones that I gave Lena for her birthday The two halves fit exactly over each other to form a hollow rock ball.

I "programmed " these babies with magical intentions for Lena to find her "other half ". Full moon energies are powerful. An added birthday bonus

Geodes (Greek geoides, "earthlike") are geological rock formations which occur in sedimentary and certain volcanic rocks. they are , volcanic bubbles. Geodes are essentially rock cavities or vugs with internal crystal formations or concentric banding. The exterior of the most common geodes is generally limestone or a related rock, while the interior contains quartz crystals and/or chalcedony deposits. Other geodes are completely filled with crystal, being solid all the way through. These types of geodes are called nodulules.

Healing and magical properties

Spiritual and Healing Properties of the Geode:

Each one (geode) holds special energy.
They can hold just about anything.
Crystals can be placed in the cavity top recharge
An " intention " symbolically can held by them.
The act as a reminder that two halves make a whole
Geodes are excellent for clearing a room of negativity.
They promote harmony and productivity which makes them great for meeting rooms or the entrance to a home.
These are great stones for meditation.
They often contain information for a specific person

Other qualities :

Fertility, Childbirth, Meditation, Freedom of Spirit, Psychic Ability, Dreams, Astral Travel

That's not a love bite on my neck !

It's a mosquito bite

Chance would be a fine thing

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070731/thl-uk-britain-cannabis-b2e59e8.html

" One cannabis joint as bad as five cigarettes "

Is it true ? How do we know that this is true ? Everyday we are told things by the authoririties who back things up with statistics , reports , so called facts and figures. These are people who claim to know what is good for us; people who have their own agenda and reasons for telling us these things.

Critical thinking.
Discerment.
Is it so ?

On reading this article , my intuition says " hang on now ... not everything is as it seems. My gut feeling tells me to be critical. Is it so ? Is it so ?

Thank you Neil. Through your posts and alternative ways of looking at things being fed to us by the media, I am starting to be more discerning, and more critical.

Is it so ? Is it so ? Is it so ?

I ate a lot of cakes yesterday. Far more than I would normally eat and today I feel ashamed that I subjected my body to this sugar bomb. Totally unnecessary says my inner critic.

I feel bad.Shame . Guilt, Remorse. Regret.

Why ?

I had the first bun because I wanted to and it was good. BUT the rest was for social reasons. Eating to fit in. When everyone else is praising yumminess and scoffing the sweet sugery pastries and cakes it's hard NOT to get carried away by it all,

Judgement.

During this morning's meditation of stillness , stilling thoughts, focus on breathing and breath, this question arose :

What is worse - is it the junk food I choose to ingest OR is the junky shameful guilty thoughts that I have about ingesting what I consider to be harmful or unhealthy to my body ?

I know the power of thoughts to create.Consider, then, the impact of judgement.

What is the impact of our judgements ?

“There are three kinds of violence: one, through
our deeds; two, through our words; and three,
through our thoughts. …The root of all violence is
in the world of thoughts, and that is why training
the mind is so important.”

-- Eknath Easwaran

Got back from Lena's island a couple of hours ago.Showered, squeeky clean , still wrapped in towel , realise now It's a mistake to switch on the computer. Of course ...it means getting lost in blogland reading and commenting on blogs

It was Lena's birthday so we , GUnilla , Jill and I went out to help her celebrate I called in at Gunilla's on the way as Jill was coming later.

Found Gunilla sitting outside on the terrace in bright sunshine with Hans , from Switzerland who'd just dropped by. Then Gunilla's Janne came home from the hairdressers , looking very dashing. Janne and Hans apparently are good friends and were planning to go to some jazz club while Gunilla and I were at Lena's.

Lena's ex hubby came to pick us up in the boat. Anxious moments for me climbing in and out of boats It's a wonder I don't fall in. Still , everyone was so very patient and helpful so I didn't fall in

A whole crowd of relatives were already there. Tons of cakes and gallons of tea and coffee. I felt quite sick after a delicious cinammon and cardemon bun, carrot cake and a tiny symbolic bit of lemon meringue cake .I can't eat lots of sweet things. Others were scoffing away like crazy.hehe

Then the relatives left and we gathered on the terrace for drinks and then dinner.
It was nealy midnight when I got home
Feeling eyes close as I type....off to bed I go ..... hope you are enjoying you evening / sleep ...... *gone * xx

The full moon was so beautiful last night that I moonbathed all night because when I leave the blinds open , the moon comes in through the window.

Rude awakening 6:30 This morning to the sound of dustbin men collecting and emptying the bins. Tossed around in bed for a while trying to dream and finally decided to get up.

Dream An personal trainer was showing me how to do an excercise it involved lying on my back on a bench near the wall and pressing against that wall and doing sit ups ! It worked in the dream . I was so supple and bening forward to touch my toes without the slightest effort or difficulty . Easy peasy . Ahh the world of dreams !!

It's Lena's birthday today so Gunilla and I are going out to her island this afternoon. I've painted a card and will buy her present in town. She's got everything so it will be something symbolic. I'm thinking a quartz crystal or stone.

There is some kiss we want with

our whole lives, the touch of

spirit on the body. Seawater

begs the pearl to break its shell.

And the lily, how passionately

it needs some wild darling! At

night, I open the window and ask

the moon to come and press its

face against mine. Breathe into

me. Close the language- door and

open the love window. The moon

won't use the door, only the window.

--Rumi

They call it " 3½ lbs " here because that is what the brain weighs.

What's the title in the U.K / U.S .. anyone know ?

Stanley Tucci stars in this medical drama about a team of top New York City neurosurgeons who explore the brain – the core of intelligence, the centre of emotion and spirit and the last great medical frontier.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001804/

Stanley Tucci
Birthplace: Peekskill, New York
Birthday: November 11, 1960

He's a Scorpio

This week it's become more obvious that the good doctor surgeon has been hallucinating. I wonder what is going on that brain of his. Three guesses as to what is going ón in Mira's brain

Night night .. early night for once
Happy full moon day !

Subtly nutty ,nutritious , chewy and full of flavour
Mine are encased in a yellow-white husk which, I have found , I can remove skilfully with my teeth and eath just the inside. Fiddly yes , but great while watching T.V. member of the Cucurbitaceae family...... PUMPKIN SEEDS

http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=82

So where's the sun ? It's wild and windy and changeable. A malleable sort of day, methinks. A day is what you make it to be.

Started by reading a bit from " Among the Bohemians " by Virginia Nicholson . The Subtitle is " Experiments in living 1900-1939". It's a book that was given to me by Penny , who has majored in English Literature. For the gourmet of readers. It's in small print too , so I can only eat savour and read in small doses. It is most enjoyable and opens my mind up to areas that I wouldn't ordinarily visit.

A little snippet from page 70

" Few people could recollect quite how many children Sanger was supposed to have got, but here always seemed to be a good many. and they were most shockingly brought up . They were, in their own orbit , known collectively as 'Sangers's Circus' , a nickname earned for them by their wandering existance , their vulgarity,their conspicuous brilliance , the noise they made, and the kind of naphtha-flare genius which illuminated everything they said or did. Their father had given them a good sound musical education and nothing else. They had received no sort of regular education , but the course of their travels had picked up a good deal of mental furniture , and could abuse each other most profanely in the argot of four languages ."

I went on to read about Jean-Jacques Rousseas's ideas on child raising; Nature being the teacher .. of innocence and of children allowed to play naked in the garden, left very much to their own devices with the minimum of adult interference . Rouseau thought that most teaching distorted and denatured the child's inner sense of what was good.

Fascinating . The Bohemian child in me still lives despite well- meaning efforts of my parents to tame her and civilise her.

Oh yes, I know .. you can take these theories to extremes . The children in this book went into town and bought gunpowder to play with and experiment with ... and yes .. there were explosions heard from the garden shed and bits of stuff flying , but miraculously noone was hurt or killed. Proof yet again of the presence of guardian angels, I feel .

Lovely to see Lady Moon again tonight.
Does she look bigger ?

Lucky I caught her as she is hiding behind a cloud at the moment.

I am being very healthy tonight , drinking organic wine.

Organic products here in Sweden are marked with this label

It's actually a very pleasant light and fruity little number with licorice tones

Boring bottle though , best not to look at it while drinking

*cheers*

About KRAV

http://www.krav.se/english.asp

For Neil and for anyone else who might be interested.

http://www.amma.org/

Amma is lovely . Quite an exceptional woman who gives hugging blessings. It is quite amazing simply being in her presence. I have had the good fortune to meet her twice when she was here in Stockholm, a couple of days at a time. Amma would sit on stage and give hugging blessings, hold darhma talks , sing devotional songs and prayers, for hours on end without so much as taking a drink of water. She has amazing energy and is the closest to the personification of the Divine that I have ever met. Bless Amma with love and light and well being. May she continue to be a benefector and holy Mother for many.

http://www.amritapuri.org/

http://www.amritapuri.org/amma/whois.php

It's wild and windy outside. More like autumn than summer. *sighs* ah well ... that was that . Moving on ...
Had a great sleep

Dream last night was a recurring dream of being assigned a new class to teach . Always have difficulty in finding the classroom in the huge school. This time , found the class room , 14a . Pupils had alread left though, but caught them in the afternoon. Got a sense of making progress. They were attentgive and willing to learn. We were cutting out a dress from dark blue brocade fabric. Someone was helping . One of the pupils helped me measure the length of the fabric - 3 yards - enough for a long evening gown without sleeves
We also made some tomato sauce . So . cooking and sewing .. creating, communicating ... not bad encouraging.

Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay.....

Oh I want you, I want you, I want you
On a chair with a dead magazine
In the cave at the tip of the lily
In some hallways where love's never been
On a bed where the moon has been sweating
In a cry filled with footsteps and sand
Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take its broken waist in your hand

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
With its very own breath of brandy and Death
Dragging its tail in the sea

There's a concert hall in Vienna
Where your mouth had a thousand reviews
There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking
They've been sentenced to death by the blues
Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture
With a garland of freshly cut tears?
Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
Take this waltz it's been dying for years

Caught the moon rising tonight.

Dear Lady Moon,
You who control the tides
and waters everywhere,
Send the rains to quench the forest fires please.
Thank you for clean fresh water everywhere.
Enough is enough,
Not too much now.
Safety first , everywhere.
Thank you thank you thank you.
Blessed be.

X

A most exceptional woman, Amma is a personification of the Divine.
I have had the good fortune to meet Amma twice . Being in her presence and receiving her loving blessing hugs was an unforgetable experience. Namasté Amma

Freya .. one for the lads
Freija has many aspects
..

The most approachable of the goddesses. Freyja is the goddess of love, fertility and sexuality. She is also a source of wealth. A mistress of magic, Linked to the feminine mystery and craft of spinning. A great traveller who weeps tears of red gold. She is a guardian of the dead and is entitled to half of those slain on the battlefield.

15: 30 ( 3:30 pm ) and my first post of the day.
It was raining cats and dogs again just now.

Slept ofr nearly 12 hours !!! waking up to pee every 3 or 4 hours and going back to sleep.

Woke around 7 am , to the sound of magpies chattering away loudly outside my window and workmen banging away on the roof

Nose blocked. Congested to the max. Allergy symptoms. Itching inside the ears that can drive you insane !!! Took allergy pills and asthma meds , showered , washed hair and went back to bed.

Drinking sage tea now and massaging finger tips.. and feeling better already.

I ate lots of yummy creamy blue cheese last night .. that may be the cause. Dairy products do tend to clog , don't they ?

Right, that's it for today.

Saw the moon rise , but then it disappeared behind the clouds.

Had a lovely chat with Gunilla back from Italy and two weeks of travelling around. She felt it was too long to be travelling around. One week would have been enough . She's glad to be home again and pottering around doing things you don't have time for when your are working.

Lena's birthday is on Monday . What do you get someone who has everything ?

Something symbolic , says Gunilla

What could that be ? I ask

Mikael also phoned. Ian and Peggy had got off ok Bles them.

The lilies that Lina brought yesterday are filling the room with their heady scent. I lOVE it !

Night night bloggers in Bloland .....
PEACE !

A tape recorder ? says G
and we both burst out laughing.
Wicked

She does talk a lot

Dear friends in Blogland

Have you considered adding one of these subscriber thingies to your blog ?

It is quite painless.

See http://the.blog.co.uk/

Manage your blog subscribers
by vasco @ 07 Feb. 2007 - 19:59:30

" As of today, you can see who subscribed to your blog(s).

This feature is based on the "email-subscription" module which many of you have implemented already. It allows any of your readers to subscribe to your blog simply by entering their emailaddress. They do not need to register and get email updates the moment you´ve posted something fresh on your blog.

On the blog, the module looks something like this:

( diagram )

In case you have not activated the module yet, you can do so in the design wizard. ..... "

I've done it
Blog management

We are all making much too much of all of this. Much too much. Life is supposed to be good. It's supposed to feel fun.

- - Abraham-Hicks