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Michael Levin's Blog (509)

Visit Peru - with Cesar Dominguez, a Peruvian young man of Honor!

I want to introduce you all to Cesar Dominguez, a Peruvian travel guide that made my visit to Peru a great success! I've just sent Cesar an invitation to join Travelin' Zoo.

Read the rest in the Travelin'… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 20, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Still Life in Pizza

So, here's how it all began. David Beasley and I were solving the world's problems at Maude's coffee here in the Swamp. I stopped to add some soy to Dave's coffee. Looked up and saw this incredible work of art called "Still Life in Baking"

Such a nice thought. And, later I surfed to the local pizza mecca… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 18, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Carraig Dulra - Organics in Ireland

Carraig Dulra is an organic farm in Wicklow, just outside Dublin, Ireland. Zoobird members Mike and Suzie Cahn organize workshops, training and camping at this idyllic setting. We can learn a lot about making a sustainable, organic low profit enterprise work and making a positive impact on the community by taking a look at their website,… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 15, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

A Great Day at the Garden

Yesterday was another beautiful day at the McRorie Community Garden, As you can see in the photo above, the garden isn't all about veggies. There are some patches with beautiful flowers. Click on the photo to see the entire set I took yesterday.

I rode in on my bike around sunset.…

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Added by Michael Levin on May 14, 2009 at 10:11am — No Comments

Training the Mind

All human evil comes from this: a man’s being unable to sit still in a room. – Blaise Pascal

Unless we train it, the very nature of the mind is to keep on hopping from one thing to another, almost at random. The mind can be very usefully employed, but it has to be trained for its job. Too much of the time the mind is engaged in negative thinking, either about others or about ourselves – a destructive occupation. Training the mind means… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 11, 2009 at 10:15am — No Comments

A Great Day at the Garden

This week the McRorie Garden was particularly beautiful. Click the photo above to see a set of shots I took. My tomatoes are growning nicely. A few of the watermelon sprouts I planted are rooting. It's looking good!

How's your spring garden looking?

Added by Michael Levin on May 10, 2009 at 11:36am — No Comments

Home Van Pet Care Project News

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HOME VAN PET CARE PROJECT! In May it will be two years old. This project came about when one of our friends, Diane, came to a support gathering for homeless people with a tiny kitty in her hands. That kitty was part of our first all spayed/neutered cat colony in Tent City – the Tent City Tribe. Diane and her friend James are still our reliable caretakers for that Tribe of nine cats.

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Added by Michael Levin on May 8, 2009 at 11:35am — No Comments

Save Newborn Buffalo From Cruel Hazing

Zoobird Ina Calvano sent me this email:

Dear Friend,

Right now, newborn wild bison -- better known as buffalo -- are

grazing under their mothers' watchful eyes on the lush Horse

Butte peninsula near Yellowstone National Park in Montana.

But on May 15, this pastoral scene could turn ugly if the

government begins hazing the buffalo back into the park with

helicopters, ATVs and horses, as… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 8, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Edible Estates

I just spent a great afternoon with Ron Chandler. He showed my his new digs near McRorie Garden. Ron is a fine example of grassroots composting. I snapped the photo above of Ron pouring his kitchen waste into our compost box at the garden. Wouldn't you know, Anne, a curator of a Flickr (photo social website) group called… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 8, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Who is the True Prince?

A seeker once asked Bayazid: “Who is the true Prince?” “The man who cannot choose,” said Bayazid: “the man for whom God’s choice is the only possible choice.”

– Bayazid al-Bistami

The Lord is extending the gift of immortality to each of us, but we do not reach out to take it because we are holding a few pennies in our hands. I don’t know if you have seen infants in this dilemma; it happens at a particular stage of… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on May 6, 2009 at 5:01am — No Comments

A Fine Day at the Garden

It was, in fact a fine day at the garden! I will add more to this post after dinner. I'll explain the photos in the set. You can get a preview by clicking on the photo of Ku and his faithful bug protected with shirt to repel bugs friend, Salam. Stay tuned!

This, my friends, is how yesterday's collard greens wound up on… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 22, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

Hall of Mirrors

photo by Michael Levin, Pier 60 shop, Clearwater, FL

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

– Mark Twain

Often, when a low mood is coming on, sometimes it is because the mind has started to brood upon itself. The things that formerly seemed exciting now elicit no response. In a sense, we have closed down. A friend can talk to us and we will not hear; we can go to a movie and may… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 18, 2009 at 12:00am — No Comments

New Research on Brain Chemistry

(photo by Pete Korhonen)

Subjects were studied who had been "madly in love" for an average of seven months. Once inside the MRI machine, subjects were shown two photographs, one neutral, the other of their loved one. When each subject looked at his or her loved one, the parts of the brain linked to reward and… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 17, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

The Weekend I Quit Hitchhiking, by Bert Woodall

The taillights of the black Cadillac disappeared and the sudden quiet gave way to an ambient, deafening screeeee. Treefrogs or cicadas in the dark trees resumed a clattering conversation interrupted when the now vanished car pulled off onto the gravel so the driver could, yet again, get out to open his pants...

Read the rest… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 15, 2009 at 6:18pm — No Comments

Rock and Roll Never Forgets

True love grows by sacrifice and the more thoroughly the soul rejects natural satisfaction the stronger and more detached its tenderness becomes. – Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

If somebody is kind to us ninety-nine times and then does one hurtful thing, we are likely to forget the ninety-nine good things and remember the one bad thing. We can watch it happen in ourselves – no matter how absurd we know it is – when our parents or partner or… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 11, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

Blue Moles

They're out of the dark's ragbag, these two

Moles dead in the pebbled rut,

Shapeless as flung gloves, a few feet apart-

Blue suede a dog or fox has chewed.

One, by himself, seemed pitiable enough,

Little victim unearthed by some lsrge creature

From his orbit under the elm root.

The second carcass makes a duel of the affair:

Blind twins bitten by bad nature.

Read the rest… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on April 10, 2009 at 11:57am — No Comments

A Great Day at the Garden!

What's the big smile about? That's Ron Chandler smiling at me at the McRorie Community Garden on the 24th. Ron's been in Asia, as you all may have read on his blog. I've been in the thin air of Crested Butte, CO. You can click on the photo above to see the set.

Here's my… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on March 29, 2009 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments

Coming back to the Garden

I've been out of town a good while now. Just got back. Today, I'll head out to the garden and see how my plants have fared. I hear rumors that it's like armageddon. Spring planting here I come.

I needed a Gibson fix yesterday when I got here but the lib was closed, so I tried Google Books Good thing it's there - not complete books, but enough to take the edge off…

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Added by Michael Levin on March 24, 2009 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

Food for the Heart

Lisa DeLoach gave me a copy of Food for the Heart: The Collected Teachings of Ajahn Chah at the hostel in Portland. She said she'd finished it and liked to pass things like that on. I have enjoyed it ever… Continue

Added by Michael Levin on March 22, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Gators, Jon boats and Kayaks!

Springtime is coming! The snow is melting (not in Florida!). I biked down to Lake Sybelia, here in Maitland, FL yesterday and caught this sunset photo with an iPhone camera. Click on the photo to see more sunsets from this ride and other days...