A few comments..

One of my friends, who recieves this blog through email, sent me her comments and interpretations, which I felt were just too insightful, thougtful, and just plain good to not share. I have copied the email, which is a blend of my original blog, with her comments in between. Please enjoy, I did.

I also want to invite everyone to please feel free to share your comments on the books we read - I love learning the different lessons/thoughts that different people take away from a book, and I am sure others do as well.

So here are my comments and VK's. :)

If you have never read this book, in a few sentences or less, it is about one man's journey to enlightenment, and a better way of life. He meets this strange guru/mentor/hallucination named Socrates, who teaches him how to become more in touch with his natural self and life lessons , such as living and experiencing the moment for what it is, that there are no ordinary moments, and that there are no accidents. My favorite line/quote is "Only the supremely wise and the ignorant do not alter."

Everything happens for a reason; synchronicity; serendipity; be willing to accept the moments/things that come into your life. Realizing that everything comes to you for a reason. You may not need the experience now, but find that at a later time the experience you have had helps you understand or deal with a different situation.

We all had many questions for each other- is this just Dan's journey, or would this path work for us too? Was Socrates merely the result of a brain touched by the hallucinogenic drugs of the 1960s, or was he really a spiritual ambassador?

Does it matter how or who one is taught by? (Consider the old testament and Moses on the Mount? Or some of the other religous teachings.) Teaching should touch the heart and rings true and do no harm to others -- each person has to judge its value to them. Millman has said that the book is a blend of his experience and some fiction (dramatic license). It was written as teaching to help others find their path.

And really, how did he jump onto the building like that? Alyssa asked if it was possible to really just live in the moment, without a plan for the future or thinking ahead.

Some people think so, but they don't have houses, families and pets - all the responsiblities that tie us to having plans, money, jobs, etc. Our living in the moment san come from accepting and enjoying a beautiful moment in nature (like a sunset or an owl crossing the night-time sky). It comes from the simple things that we tend to take for granted and don't recognize in our lives. It can come from just stepping out on the porch to enjoy the sharpness of the winter air or the sound of snow falling. We don't have the liberty of setting aside our responsiblities, but we do have the choice to take "moments" in our lives and live in them.

I am not sure anyone really answered her or not; I do believe it is possible to live entirely in the present, but I don't think it is necessarily responsible or wise. This makes me think of the story of the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper plays all summer long, and does not prepare for winter, while the ant works hard, storing food for the long cold months to come. When winter finally does arrive, the grasshopper begins to starve to death, and asks the ant for a handout. The ant slams the door in his face, leaving the grasshopper to die.

You would feel sorry for any creature in dire straits. That is the nature of your heart. The grasshopper is going to die anyway, and he has enjoyed and celebrated his life. The ant is playing the odds that he will not be stepped on, eaten or his nest flooded out by a freak storm. The grasshopper if/when he dies will have enjoyed life to its fullest. The working ant hopefully enjoys working, because it has chosen that as its life plan. While neither party is wrong, both could balance their lives more.

I think this is a little uncharitable of the ant personally- sure, the grasshopper should have worked instead of singing and dancing and making fun of the ant, but the ant still could have shown pity to the grasshopper.

This would make you a Democrat or a humanitarian. The ant is a Republican, he says everyone is responsible for themselves and I have no responsibility for others outside of my family. Mind you the ant has a grudge, since he has watched the grasshopper play all summer and he has spent his time working and not enjoying life. And any act of God (or humankind) can take away all that the ant has working for, but nothing can take away the grasshopper's past enjoyment of life.

Maybe this is because Billy and I often compare ourselves to the grasshopper; we like to enjoy ourselves and live for today. Our New Year's Resolution this year actually is to plan at least a little for our future, to become more antlike and less grasshopperesque.

It is all balance. Life is balance.

So, my opinion on that question is obviously still up in the air.

My opinion on the book is that you should read it- if not for the writing style, which was not all that great, read it for the message and to see for yourself what you think. It is a spiritual book, that is supposed to change lives. None of really felt our lives were changed by reading the book, but we were glad we read it.

I think the writing style, while not great prose, did what it was designed to do - get people to read the book. Writing simply, is is gift.

Changing one's life, takes time. If the book only makes you focus for a second on a special moment or has you take the time to enjoy something. that you normally do in a different way. If you look for how life fits together and how lives intertwine in each other then the book has served a purpose.

Way of the Peaceful Warrior..by Dan Millman

December 2009:

The book: Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman

Place: Jill's house

Refreshments: Peppermint Martinis, roasted red pepper and goat cheese pie thing, spinach pie, shrimp, crab dip, little cheescakes, and of course wine. Yum to all.

This was Jill's pick, and the first book we have read like this in book club. It was a different kind of read for us, but it sparked alot of discussion.

If you have never read this book, in a few sentences or less, it is about one man's journey to enlightenment, and a better way of life. He meets this strange guru/mentor/hallucination named Socrates, who teaches him how to become more in touch with his natural self and life lessons , such as living and experiencing the moment for what it is, that there are no ordinary moments, and that there are no accidents. My favorite line/quote is "Only the supremely wise and the ignorant do not alter."

We all had many questions for each other- is this just Dan's journey, or would this path work for us too? Was Socrates merely the result of a brain touched by the hallucinogenic drugs of the 1960s, or was he really a spiritual ambassador? And really, how did he jump onto the building like that? Alyssa asked if it was possible to really just live in the moment, without a plan for the future or thinking ahead. I am not sure anyone really answered her or not; I do believe it is possible to live entirely in the present, but I don't think it is necessarily responsible or wise. This makes me think of the story of the grasshopper and the ant. The grasshopper plays all summer long, and does not prepare for winter, while the ant works hard, storing food for the long cold months to come. When winter finally does arrive, the grasshopper begins to starve to death, and asks the ant for a handout. The ant slams the door in his face, leaving the grasshopper to die.

I think this is a little uncharitable of the ant personally- sure, the grasshopper should have worked instead of singing and dancing and making fun of the ant, but the ant still could have shown pity to the grasshopper. Maybe this is because Billy and I often compare ourselves to the grasshopper; we like to enjoy ourselves and live for today. Our New Year's Resolution this year actually is to plan at least a little for our future, to become more antlike and less grasshopperesque.

So, my opinion on that question is obviously still up in the air.

My opinion on the book is that you should read it- if not for the writing style, which was not all that great, read it for the message and to see for yourself what you think. It is a spiritual book, that is supposed to change lives. None of really felt our lives were changed by reading the book, but we were glad we read it.

We are reading Stealing Buddha's Dinner for January- this sounds like another very interesting book, and I can't wait to start reading it.

The wee little christmas tree

This year Billy and I had a Christmas Tree conundrum. For the past ten Christmases, we have had a mild mannered, well behaved American Eskimo named Chevis. Sadly, he passed away in April at 15 years of age. To fill our hearts and home in his absence, Billy and I now have one dog, two cats, and a foster cat. These animals are not like Chevis; he would leave things alone, while this trio is curious and strangely hungry.

When we adopted Penny from the pound, she was a scrawny, underweight little English Setter. She also had stomach issues, which took us a while to diagnose. Regular dog food, treats,

everything but her prescription I/D upsets her stomach. When she doesn't feel well, she desperately tries to gnosh on whatever she can find laying around the house. We didn't figure this out right away however, and a week after owning her, we came home to a pile of dog vomit on our bed - complete with fake Christmas tree garland with 1/4 round wire in it. We rushed her to the vet to find she still had a bellyful of wire and tree garland. She had to have an emergency surgery, which she recovered from very well. Can you see where this story is going?

In addition to Penny and her dangerous food choices, we also have two cats under the age of one. Making them kittens still in behavior and temperament. Making them curious, and playful, and slightly experimental.

So Billy and I reviewed our options- a fake tree, which Penny could eat if she felt like it, with ornaments that the cats could knock off and hurt themselves on the ornament hooks, or a real tree, minus ornaments. It looked like the real tree was going to be the winner this year, until I read that most evergreens are toxic to animals. With my crew, I didn't want to take the chance of them ingesting possibly

toxic tree. So Billy and I chose this- a completely all metal, indestructible, table top christmas tree. And it seems to be working out well so far! The animals don't really care about it, it is just another thing to sniff and walk around to them.

We have hopes that next year will be the return of a Christmas tree, but this year, we are happy to have each other, and Penny, Maggie, Miso, and our foster cat, Mouse. Because like they say in How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and I am paraphrasing here, Christmas is not about the ribbons, and bows, and trees, and packages and presents- Christmas doesn't come from a store, but lives in your heart.

The empty page

This is not my usual type of blog - unlike some bloggers I read, I am not as skilled at reviewing books as I am at reading them. But I am going to try.

The Bottle of Wine Book Club is a year old now, and picking up steam. It started when I read The Jane Austen Book Club, and thought how fun would that be? I had always wanted to read all of Jane Austen's books, and what a great way to read them, with my friends. Well, this didn't quite pan out as I had thought. After our first one, and a meeting of just me, Chrissy and Kelly, we moved on to free choice of books of whoever is hosting the meeting. It has also evolved beyond the vegetable tray and hummus I served at the first meeting as well - we now serve meals to our guests, and wine, always wine. I wish I could remember all the books we have read in the past year together - the ones that stand out in my mind are Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Almost Moon, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Problem with Murmur Lee, Me Talk Pretty One Day, A Confederacy of Dunces, and Sense and Sensibility. We have also had some great meals; cucumber sandwiches and gazpacho soup, salmon, spinach pie, mini quiches, fancy desserts, mediterranean stew, great cheeses from Hirts' in Detroit. As for wine, lately we have been drinking alot of what we call Detroit Wine, which is really wine from the California Wine Grape Company in Detroit.

Now there are seven of us, all volunteers of the Wyandotte Animal Shelter, and we have more planned than just reading books in the year ahead. We are always up to something new and different! Looking into 2010, we are discussing a book club getaway somewhere, and sponsoring a needy child together, as well as a full year of good books, in addition to all of our animal rescue work, which we always discuss after the book. We just can't help it.

Looking for good, honest food

I have been a vegetarian for more years than I remember. I have always had an off and on flirtation with vegetarianism my whole life- when I was kid, I hated red meat, and would not eat hamburgers or steak too often. I would eat chicken, and bacon, but that was almost the extent of my meat consumption. When I got older, a freshman in high school, I read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and that caused me to become a vegetarian, for a short while anyway. It was hard to do on my own at that age, since I was dependent on my parent's choices most of the time, and being a vegetarian at that point in time was not as wide spread as it is now becoming. I danced around it again in college, but then finally made the leap for good when I moved out of my house and into my own place. Billy is not a vegetarian; but he does not eat meat at home very often, as I will not purchase it or make it. If he chooses to make it for himself, that is one thing, but when I make dinner it is meatless.

I knew this would be a tough decision- you get comments on it from everyone all the time- the same comments about "Well, I can't live without meat", and "Humans are supposed to eat meat," and so on. Most of the time it is from people who have very unhealthy eating habits, and won't even look at a vegetable or a piece of fruit at all, much less eat one. Which I don't understand either. But I feel good about my choice, although everyone feels they can comment on it all the time for some reason. I am not usually a preachy vegetarian either; I try to respect other people's choices, and wish they would do the same.

Eating today is not the same as eating 25 years ago; food is a major industry, and is not the image of pastoral wholesomeness as people may believe. I just watched the movie Food Inc, and while I would like to do more reading on the issues, most of the facts presented I have read before, in various places. Some of the things I learned were entirely new - such as the Monsanto Machine, that owns the patent on soybean seeds. That blew my mind - and left me feeling like there is nothing out there that I can eat anymore! Monsanto owning the patent on their genetically modified soybeans means that farmers can't save seeds from harvest to harvest; if one farmer does not use the Monsanto bean, but the neighboring farm does, and a breeze blows the Monsanto seed onto the first farmers land, he can be held responsible and prosecuted for using their seed without permission, essentially breaking their patent. 85% of the soybeans used in the US are these Monsanto beans, which are Round Up ready, meaning that they can be doused in Round Up, and they won't die. Which is disgusting as well. I had stopped drinking dairy because of the way cows are treated; now I feel I can't even drink soymilk, or consume soy products. I have been using Stonyfield Organic yogurt, which is an organic option, from grass fed cows, not corn fed. So at least I can continue eating this, which I eat every day! It astounds me that even the food we eat has become big business. I of course knew about all the growth hormones given to cows, about livestock being fed corn, when their digestive systems are not made to digest corn, forcing the farmers to give the animals chemicals to allow them to digest the corn, the inhumane treatment of all animals, the strange chickens that grow twice as large in half the time a normal chicken does- all reasons I stopped eating meat. But to learn that about soybeans has motivated me to go the extra step that I have been playing at, to commit to eating locally, seasonally, and organically.

The movie made a good point- they said that every time we shop for food, we are casting a vote. I want my vote to show that I want food grown naturally, without being chemically treated, or genetically modified. I want food I can trust. I felt sorry for the farmer, who seemed all but forced to comply with these big companies, or lose money or worse, their reputations.

I am going to seriously commit to shopping our farmers market, and making sure that I am buying locally grown food that is in season. I am going to start canning and storing food that I have canned- I want to know where my food comes from, and that it is natural, healthy, good for me, and not a science project.

You can read about the issues at http://www.foodincmovie.com/about-the-issues.php. To be fair, here is the link to Monsanto's rebuttal to the movie- http://www.monsanto.com/pdf/foodinc_media_notes.pdf. Do some research of your own too, don't just take these sites word for it; I am going to do some more reading, but I am sure that what I will learn will support my new commitment to wholesome, natural food, grown and marketed honestly.