Sharing Circle

This recipe is from the 1950 Junior League Cookbook of Charleston, SC. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds like just the thing for hot summer days.  It looks easy, too – with only four ingredients!

Ingredients:

1 cup pineapple juice

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2/3 cups sugar

2 cups milk

Mix pineapple juice, lemon juice, and sugar. Chill, then add to milk. Freeze one hour, beat thoroughly, then freeze about 3 hours. Serves 4.  (Mrs. Louis T. Parker/Josephine Walker.)

If you try it, let me know what you think!

I just thought I’d share a few of my favorite quotes about love. Anybody else have some other good ones?

• “Love is everything it’s cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.”~Erica Jong
• “Since feeling is first who pays attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you wholly to be a fool while spring is in the world..”.~ee cummings
• “There is no remedy for love but to love more.”~Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) Journal, July 25, 1839 (more…)

Just thought I’d share this quickly, as some of you might gather a little amusement out of it. Apparently an architect in Austria has decided to paint his entire house–and everything in it, right down to the potted plants– a lovely shade of blue.

He wanted to see what it would be like to live with just one color, apparently. Obviously I can’t put up the photo, or I would, but you can see for yourself here. Apparently his neighbors are not amused. I can’t understand why.

Would you paint your whole home a single color? If so, what color would you choose?

And do you believe the guy when he says he did this just to see what it was like to live with one color?

One of the things I think could be really interesting on this blog if it happens is if/when people felt like sharing some of the specifics of what a typical day in their lives was like. I’m one of those American-born people who has not yet had the opportunity to travel outside the USA…so I am hungry, in particular, to hear more from non-Americans about what a typical day might be like (or week, or whatever you’d like to share.)

But really I’m feeling  a bit interested in anyone’s life who wants to share! (So I’m a bit voyeuristic. Sue me.)

And I wonder if any of my imaginings about people in other countries have any truth to them… (more…)

YUM!

I wanted to quickly share a meal that a lot of people may not have ever had, (particularly most Americans) which my British friends and family taught me about.

Sometimes, particularly in restaurants, this is served with sausage and tomato. It’s inexpensive and surprisingly good, filling, and with plenty of protein. See ingredients and the simple how-to on the flip. (more…)

Water Spirit Missamashoe which is found on the Goulais Bay reservation. (by Craig McKay)

When my husband and I met, one of the things that we talked about was that although neither of us were of the “first peoples” or Native Americans, that we had a tremendous respect for Native Americans and their cultures and ways of seeing the world.

That respect, and admiration, was one of the reasons why this website came into being.

I noticed in the log that people had come here looking for the “seven teachings” which of course, until now, they did not find.

Gaani Aki Inini (Dave Courchene Jr.) is an Ojibway (Anishabe) Elder who shared the following seven teachings with the world on the webpage of the turtle lodge.

Follow me on the flip and you’ll see that this timeless wisdom still offers us a great deal to strive toward today.  (more…)

Share With Us. Everyone Has Something To Offer.

If you’re reading this on your RSS feed, we are very glad to have you along. Even if you never make a post, you are still sharing with our circle, and we appreciate you.  However, I wanted to make a point to let people know that EVERYONE is welcome to post here.  In order to do so you just log in under “Meta,” set up your account, (it takes two seconds!) Check your email and then log in.  You will then see a dashboard and can begin posting–on whatever topic you like and would like to share. Follow on the flip for more information on the Native American tradition that inspired the creation of this site.
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Serene threw out an interesting challenge so here’s my list.

1.) Governments would behave in a transparent way. You know, like the current one promised they would (in the US.)

2.) People would actually take advantage of all the information that is out there on the internet regarding what is happening, what has happened, etc., instead of being self-delusional or delusional a la what the TV news and the newspapers tell them. (more…)

I was recently asked the question “What would the world look like if everyone did everything you wanted them to do?” I was told to make a list of  at least five and no more than seven ways in which the world would be different. The object of the exercise of course is to sort of encapsulate one’s philosophy of life. I thought the question was interesting, so if you follow me on the flip, you’ll see what I came up with. I’d be interested to know what your lists would look like, too.

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Sharing Circle

It is my understanding that in first nation traditions, (Native American and other indigenous peoples) that one of the things they would do is to come together in a sharing circle. A sharing circle is an opportunity to come together and talk about what is on your mind and heart, what you want the community to know, and things of that nature. These sharing circles doubtless brought and kept their communities closer together. In modern mainstream America, one of the things that are said again and again in surveys is that people feel isolated and they feel no sense of community. That is what this website, I think, is about…to give people a chance and space to share their feelings, thoughts, and their knowledge.

But a “sharing circle” was not the only kind of circle that some first nation peoples held.

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