To extend the swimming season after summer has come and gone, many people are turning to swimming pool warmers. A heater is outstanding to hold, peculiarly with colder days. If you’ve considered about buying a heater for your pool, there are probably a lot of things you’ve found Wandering.

If you have a pool heater, you are able adapt the temperature of your pool water at almost any level you’re comfortable with. The advocated temperature for a pool is 78 degrees, although virtually all the people have their water just a bit colder prefer to 80 degrees. The choice is yours, because you cannot really go wrong with either of them.

During the year, the sun is your pool water is so hot for a somewhat short opportunity. When summertime ends and begin to cool things around, your heater are able help you, swimming a long moment. If you live in the north, you are able actually double your swimming season. People who live in warmer climates, like Arizona and California are able actually triple the amount of swimming with a heater with their pool.

Even If you are able get a swimming pool with heating, you should still invest in a swimming pool is also included. A cover are able help protect against the loss of heat from the pool to let Harding, the heat of the water in the cup, rather than them out. The fact is that a good coverage that many of the insulation are able actually reduce the amount of heat loss you experience with your water.

There are a few different types of warmers available, although expiration LP Gas Fired warmers Gas seems to be the virtually all the common. heaters, as these are simply buying the cheapest, and also the cheapest to run over opportunity. In still a way to heat your pool, and it is common in the areas that you are not able to buy gas-fired heaters. Others resolve pools, run off electricity. Electricity is a great way to warm your pool, even though it easy are able be expensive and virtually all the of the time properly into account.

Last but not least, it is the solar pool heater. Solar heaters Could strong as the ideal way to heat a pool for a bit, simply because it utilizes the sun to heat, to help save money. Although it Might sound as the ideal way to heat a pool, it’s actually quite a bit Disadvantages, Whether you compare it to other types of heaters. You will discover an error when you go to buy one – you’ll see that they cost nearly half the height of your pool!

Even though solar powered warmers healthy best, they are, in fact, not. To the best of a solar heating system you need to make large electrical modifications that are able cost quite a lot of money. The alterations deliver the water from the pool of solar panels, which in turn heat the water. At One Time you’ve finished a solar-powered heating confirm you are invested thousands in their possession – are what makes it something that you really should try to avoid.

In the world of pool warmers, gas fired warmers remain the best and the virtually all the cost-effective white heat up a swimming pool. The warmers are able be found locally, or via the Internet. It costs you buy a lot of money, and they are very user friendly. Even if you are new to pool warmers – you will not hold problems with your new Gas-Fired Pool Heater.
Additional Resources
Different Components of 3D Modeling
http://hubpages.com/hub/ChildrensSleepingBagsQuest
Providing You with a Healthy and Fit Body
Toddler Sleeping Bag

Even though swimming pools are often but when the enjoyment, exercise and relaxation on a hot day, they are also a good way to improve the value of your house. If you ‘ve thought selling your home or just enhancing the value, a swimming pool may very well be a wise investment.

There are no reason pools are a great way to supplement the value of your home. They cost a lot of money, although they come in a variety of sheep and his, and they also give you the versatility. You can choose to have a shallow end for children, and those known to swim, then lay in a deep end on the other side for diving boards and lap swimming.

Higher ground swimming pool, on the other hand, are much cheaper if they require a deck and privacy fencing for those who want their privacy and. Having a deck around the pool is elevated to increase the value of your home as well. Although higher ground pools are not so deep, they are great fun on a hot day, or just check and splash with your family and friends.

Instead of a pool, you can also use a hot tub. Hot Tools cost a lot of money, although they are a great way to relax themselves. Hot Tools, over the years are already known to increase the value of the property. You can relax in a heated whirlpool with the other half, or only allow your kids in the tub with water, not heated.

Even if a whirlpool is a great investment that most people choose, you are looking for value for their homes to add, go into the ground swimming pool. There are no reason pools cost the most money, adding instant value to your home. If you plan to install in the ground pool, you should all be charged in the situation in the vicinity, as this will affect the value. Normally, working in ground pools, the best and bring the greatest benefit when it is installed behind your house, surrounded with a fence going around them.

Remember that the installation of a ground pool will take quite a long time. It also includes is Digging in your garden, what you want to select a place for it were nothing runs under the ground. If your contractor will hatch in your property before installing the pool, he goes about things with you. Once the pool is installed and everything is doing in sequence, you can evaluate your home and see what is the value. Validate his valley – you can easily find how to add much value a pool you surprised to go home.

Swimming pools are extremely popular these days, the province as one of the best investments you make for your home and your family. If you can live in an area that is known for its warm climate, a swimming pool, an ideal way to cool off. You can have friends over at your pool, have fun, or use it to your children, how to teach swimming. Although many people prefer a swimming pool in the soil, higher ground pool is just as good – if not better.

Higher ground swimming pools are for three reasons – safety, installation and maintenance known. All types of swimming pools can get a chore, as you do to get it on a daily basis and provide clean that you have the correct balance of chemicals in the water. You have to keep an eye on the temperature as well, and hold objects such as Lives of the water.

Higher Ground pools are easier to manage, for the simple reason that his eyes Higher Ground. There are no reason pools are, deep down, so that debris can easily get to it, and how these animals, cats, squirrels and even an easy access to it. Higher Ground Pools on the other side are a bit higher up and make it difficult for animals and debris to gain access to water. Those of you looking for a pool that requires less maintenance – should look to a higher ground swimming pool.

Higher Ground pools are also safer for children. Children can easily fall into the ground pools, for the simple fact that they are low to the ground. With an elevated pool, children climb up a ladder before they can get into the water. This can make it difficult for children to win, Access, that is exactly what you want. If you have small children in your house, you can expect on a higher ground pool that provides a sense of security.

Not as in-ground pools, elevated swimming pools are much easier to install, as you yourself can do. You can choose a professional, if you want, although higher ground pools are as easy to install that anyone can do. With the types of pools, it is not Digging in your garden or other related hazards. Everything you need to do is cleaning off an area of your property for the cup, then put on everything. It is usually only lasted a few minutes to add your pool, which makes it a very efficient manner in time of housing a swimming pool.

Higher costs for ground pools are also effective as well. Most of the higher ground pools cost nearly 1 / 4 the cost of a swimming pool in town, so they are also payable for those on a tight budget. There is several South to choose from, from the smallest and cheapest in the greatest. Even if you get a large model, prices are still very affordable. The way you can enjoy your whole family a cup in the summer without having to break in this process.

With an elevated swimming pool, you can spend time with your family, no home life. Even if it functions and maintenance involved with a pool, it is worth it. If you have a large swimming pool, you can be sure that a higher ground pool is well worth the time – and money.

The Idea Forms

Looking around bungie.net and its Optimatch Playlist Forums, I began to see certain requests for maps being mentioned, among them “put a warthog on High Ground” and “a hornet/banshee on Construct”. This was what actually first piqued my interest in creating what was and is to be a series of maps forged, balanced, and play-tested for a refreshing new look at some of the old maps of Halo 3’s Matchmaking. High Ground seemed like an interesting map to toy with, seeing as it is a well working map already, but with some changes, could become much different but still play well.

Initial Ideas

At first, the main point was to squeeze a warthog into High Ground. In fact, I had done this once before – my first experience with forging was messing around on High Ground and trying to put a Gauss Warthog on here… Of course, being a newbie to Halo, Matchmaking, and any sense of balanced gameplay, I loaded the map with power weapons. Now, though, with some experience under my belt, along with quite a few readings of weapon theory and thoughts about map balance, I began on this, starting with a push of the X button to spawn a Warthog into the bottom base of High Ground.

Someone on the Optimatch Forums had pointed out that keeping the Spartan Laser on the map would obliterate any chances of the Warthog scoring more than one kill per spawn, so basically this set off a chain of events leading to what is now Ground Hog. I think the ideas went something like this…

Warthog = No Spartan Laser

No Spartan Laser = Power weapon needed for top base.

Power weapon needed for top base = Why not another sniper? Rockets are against the wall, so they are still an effective weapon. This provides a long-ranged power weapon for top base.

Sniper = No hope for bottom team’s infantry?!

No hope = Switch OS with Camo, Active Camo now spawns at old OS spawn point.

This was when the idea of “need more anti-vehicle weapons” came to my head… I looked around for all the brute shots/power drain on the map.. but realized that they are extremely helpful but barely used.. tried spawning people near the power drain but it leads to a weird opening view.. So I decided to see what a Grav-Hammer could do in the Overshield spawn. As a short-ranged ground weapon, on a pretty long spawn time, it will be a good vehicle defense weapon while not being overpowering. On the topic of being out in the open to the Warthog’s chain gun, I decided to throw in some cover at the top of the underground bunker, as so many deaths there seem to happen simply from being out in the open.

Pictures w/explanation

Here we have 3 objects of interest.. I will write up reasoning behind their placement etc.

1. Active Camo – With a sniper rifle now at the Spartan Laser spawn, the Overshield could be burned with just one or two shots from a good sniper. I decided that Camo would allow for one man to survive just as well as an OS would have worked previously. 180 Sec. Spawn.
2. Short Barrier – Cover was definitely needed here, I cannot count how many times I have killed/been killed on that platform on top of the bunker. Although it wont shield you from a lurker up in the snipe tower, it will prevent shots from raining down from the beach side of things.
3. Warthog – Obviously, this was the main point of the map, to have a warthog in here. I debated on a Gauss Turret, and still might put that in after some play-testing, but decided that the chaingun can do some major damage to shields, and your teammates can pick up the slack with their BR’s. 150 Sec. Spawn (I think… lol should check)

1. Need I point this out? Here we have a thunderous Hammer of Gravity. As I heart it put, “This will turn a Warthog into a flying pig in no time”. On a slightly shorter spawn than the Warthog, further into the game, the spawn times will be offset and controlling it at the right time will become tricky.

1. To start, we have the sniper rifle. With a run-time maximum at 5, and a fairly short respawn timer for a power weapon (120 Sec.), you have a potential for some long-ranged mayhem in here. Don’t worry about this becoming a sniper fight, though; the invisibility along with your AR starts should do some damage to a sniper at close range.
2. What is this? Yeah, just something I thought I would try out. The difference between plasma and human is that human turrets are projectiles – they can hurt a person, but it takes longer to break through their shields. With a plasma turret here, a Warthog driver caught in the open for a little too long can soon find himself redbarred.

Concluding…

There we have Ground Hog, a Halo 3 map forged by Knight Kninja. Well balanced as forged, but I haven’t had time to play-test it yet. Add me GT: knight kninja and we can get a party going and brainstorm some good ideas for a second version etc.

Links Mentioned

Bungie.net

Bungie.net Optimatch Forums

Download Ground Hog

Hoy,28 de Noviembre de 2009,después de varios dias preparandome he conseguido ya mi 5ª medalla en Pokémon Diamante Murkrow Only Run y Pokémon Perla Mono Ground.Esta vez me he enfrentado a Fantina,experta en fantasmas.Dark Eagle lo tuvo bien sencillito pero esta vez los monotipistas han tenido que hacer una estrategia bien compleja.

Disfruten de todo y estén atentos a más videos muy pronto.

*Jakarta Globe, 6 February 2009

A man climbs quietly from a grave and closes a white burial cloth that shrouds a skeleton. The bones are the color of burned earth and in pieces. A maggot scuttles to hide behind the empty eye socket of the skull. After more than 30 years of interment, all that is left of a once middle-aged adult now fits into a small bundle.

A weathered, wooden plaque with jagged edges bears the name the skeleton once answered to.

At Menteng Pulo Public Cemetery in South Jakarta, the air is fresh with the scent of blossoming trees and rich earth. A lone mottled mutt threads cautiously among the graves, its skin matted and reddish from the rain and earth. She sits on top of a grave, observing as 50 gravediggers calmly go about their work. They are not burying the dead but raising them, literally, from their graves.

Along a large strip of land near the Cideng River, 10,600 square meters to be exact, emptied graves with ragged edges line the cemetery. The workers have been commissioned by the city administration to unearth about 3,500 plots to make way for a highway linking Jalan Soepomo and Jalan Rasuna Said.

“Traditionally, you cannot disturb the dead,” sayd Entong, the head gravedigger. “But this is a city that is developing, and they need to expand the road.”

Inside an open grave, Entong breaks up the damp soil with a rusty hoe. His black jeans and feet are encrusted with red earth. He hands the last of the unearthed bones to his assistant to wrap in cloth and take to another burial plot that has been allocated for the exhumed bodies.

“This one was buried in 1962, so there are very few bones left,” Entong says, pointing to the decomposed bundle of bones about the size of an infant.

Entong climbs out of the grave and begins to break the gray headstone with his hoe. Pieces of stone fly around him. He has to remove the name plaque embedded in the stone so it can be placed with the remains for identification. His skin is burnished from the 32 years he has worked outdoors as a gravedigger.

“People call me first when they want to bury someone,” Entong says.

On this overcast morning, no weeping or hushed prayers for the displaced dead are heard, only the thud of hoes hitting the soil. Entong says it has been two months since the excavation of the graves commenced and it is scheduled to end next week.

“At the beginning there were more relatives,” Entong says. “Now it is rare for families to come even though we have informed them we will be digging up the graves. Maybe they have moved. Maybe they can’t bear the process.”

The majority of the graves are Muslim but Entong estimates 800 Buddhist graves will also be uncovered this week.

The remains are being moved to new burial plots further down the road. Unclaimed remains are moved to a cemetery at Kampung Kandang in Cilandak or to Srengseng Sawah Cemetery in South Jakarta, Entong says.

The ground is soft as paste from the ongoing Jakarta showers and he flings it around him as he hoes. An errant and persistent fly flits around his bare feet.

“We take the remains out, wrap them up and then knock down the gravestone,” explains Suroh, a caretaker at Menteng Pulo since the ’70s. Wearing a red shirt, a large mole jutting from his chin, he watches Entong work in the distance.

“I do not cry at anyone’s funeral,” Suroh says. “I am used to them.

“We are here to fix their homes, their final resting place.”

It is noon when Entong rests inside a makeshift wooden hut in the middle of the cemetery. The soiled clothes of the caretakers hang to dry nearby on headstones and from overhanging trees.
A caretaker chugs on a motorcycle down the narrow dirt road that runs through the cemetery, ferrying four white bundles to an ambulance for relocation.

“It is funny. Kaplok, kaplok, kaplok is the sound of the bodies flapping,” says Suroh as he watches.
“We are all the same. In the end we will die,” he adds as he deeply inhales from a clove cigarette.
Under the cool shade of the hut, the men sit in their mud-caked clothes, sipping hot, milky coffee and talk lightheartedly about death. Entong recounts a time when he had to break the legs of a corpse.

“If I didn’t, they wouldn’t fit into the cloth,” he says.

The kain kapan, or burial cloths, are rough pieces of white cloth two meters in length. “These ones cost Rp 12,000 [about $1],” Entong says, pointing to a pile of fabric in a cupboard. “Cheap ones.”

The hush is disturbed by the arrival of Iwan Suwandi and his family. Together with his wife, Suwarti, his sister, sister-in-law and grandson, he has come to rebury his son Rachmad.

“I was shocked to get the notice from the cemetery,” Suwandi says, of being notified of the disinterment. “I found out at Lebaran,” he adds.

A gentle-looking man with glasses and specks of grey through his hair, Suwandi had been ill for the past three months and unable to come to Menteng Pulo earlier.

Wearing a tan fishing hat and checkered shirt, Ali greets Suwandi, whom he knows. The caretaker has been tending Rachmad’s grave since he was buried here four years ago. An old hand, Ali has worked at cemeteries since 1948 and takes care of 100 plots in Menteng Pulo.

Rachmad, Suwandi’s third son, died of liver problems at the age of 24. “I wanted to move him to Bogor but we have no family there,” says Suwandi, who instead asked for his son’s body to be moved nearby within the Menteng Pulo cemetery.

Entong is called upon to dig up the body.

“It is his job to dig. We each have a duty,” explains Suroh, whose own position is caring for the graves, like Ali.

Entong alternates using his hands and the hoe to scoop out the earth. The burial cloth is laid on the ground beside the grave and he begins to place the unearthed chunks of bone on it. Two assistants crouch nearby to lay them out on the burial cloth. Standing above his son’s grave, Suwandi’s face is placid as he calmly inquires about the whereabouts of his son’s skull.

The wooden headstone reads, Rachmad H. bin Iwan Suwandi, etched black upon painted white wood. Slivers of the skeleton’s rib cage are taken out one by one. Entong continues to dig and finds a hipbone. Finally, he finds the skull. Suwandi places his hand over his mouth and lets out a small gasp. The family begins to pray. A sniff escapes Suwandi as he continues to look at Entong in the grave.

“His legs aren’t here yet,” Suwandi says.

Entong clears the mud from his hoe and continues digging.

The air is hushed and the smell of rain is heavy on the breeze. “We forgot to bring an umbrella,” Suwandi says to his wife, who nods agreement. Their 7-year old grandson, dressed in blue, has his hand on his knees and keeps his gaze intently on the open grave. The women look distressed.

When Ali comes over to help wrap the bones, Suwandi asks if the bundle is heavy. Ali says it isn’t. Three men wrap the bundle tightly and hand the bones to Suwandi. With steady steps on the slippery, rain-soaked earth, Suwandi carries his son to a prepared burial site, mouthing a silent prayer.

A little way up the road from where Rachmad was originally buried, a gaping hole six feet deep awaits. The small congregation stops, and Suwandi hands the bundle to a gravedigger as he jumps in the grave. The body is gently returned to him and the gravediggers tell him to open the bundle. “All of it,” says one as the other balls up chunks of soil with his hands. “It is to prop up the body so it does not overturn,” he explains.

Suwandi carefully tucks his son into his resting place and two men start to fill in the grave. An imam in a black velvet skullcap, propping himself up with a multicolored umbrella, asks for the name of the deceased and begins a low chant. Only the boy’s name, Rachmad, rings out as the imam crouches by the grave. All else is quiet save for the sound of hoes hitting the ground.

The mother opens a prayer book, her face partially hidden under her black jilbab as she prays along with the imam. Her grandson stands behind her, holding her arm.

Suwandi straightens his son’s old headstone and turns his palms up to the sky. The imam moves toward him and they pray side by side. The earth atop Rachmad’s new grave is choppy and uneven but Ali explains it will be tidied later. He takes out a clove cigarette, lights it and stands before this new grave he will also care for.

A warm wind blows. From a nearby mosque, the resonant call to prayers rings out, echoed softly by surrounding mosques.

(photos: JG/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

Here are Ways #s 4 and 5 from the last post which promised you 5 Ways to Be More Great-full (Boost Your Gratitude Attitude)…

#4: FAMILY (or couple’s) GRATITUDE BOOK
We just spent a very pleasant hour doing this great art & writing interactive project. So simple and yet so meaningful and fun! Quality family time!

We do not watch television, nor do our children. We are dedicated to parenting consciously and strive to support a vibration of love in our household. Yet, given that my husband and I are both entrepreneurs, with seven businesses between the two of us, and given that our children are still quite young, we know how important and sometimes challenging it can be to come up ideas (not to mention time, energy and materials) for positive family experiences.

I myself am about the least craftsy person you will ever meet and can draw a stick figure on a good day! So believe me when I tell you: Yes, you CAN do this project, and probably with what’s already available in your home. It really ranks high on simple, high on fun, high on memorable, and low on expense. (I can NEVER do those Origami things, puuleeeeeazzze, can we talk?)

Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to do this Family Gratitude Book…but of course so is any day that ends in “y.” Monday, Tuesday…. Enjoy!

Materials:

All you need is:

Some blank paper (we used printer or copy paper, white)

Construction paper

Ribbon or brass brads to secure the book

Markers, pencils, hole punch and/or scissors

Optional: Stickers, stamps, other art supplies, scrapbook, photos

Definitely: A little bit of time and lots of love!

We started by making a brainstormed list of everything we are grateful for. You can do this any way you like; follow your own creative impulses & inspiration. We have four family members, so I decided to color code what we wrote on this collective page or you could just all write and draw without attributing who said/drew what, or make a chart, have sections of the page, etc. The things my 6-year-old called out first were written in yellow, my 10-year-old chose blue, I picked purple and my husband green. We made a color key on the page and wrote and drew various things we are thankful for: Our dog came first, followed by a lovely torrent such as family and friends, food, a good home, music, the Earth, music, health, God, life and so on.

Then I gave each family member a separate page on which to do whatever they like, the only requirement being that whatever is on the page relates to or represents what they are thankful for. We stuck in some more blank pages, so we can add more later as we are inspired.

The kids each got to pick a color for the front and back covers. The older did the words, the younger did the drawings. We punched holes, added brads, all signed the masterpiece and voila! A Family Gratitude Book.

Not only a wonderful way to spend part of our Thanksgiving Day, but a precious keepsake, and, I trust, a new family tradition as well. We will be sharing this book with family all weekend long and inviting them to add to it as well. And of course, it can be done any day! Every day bears its own gifts if we just open the package.

Today we focused mainly on what we are thankful for in our current lives (now), but we could also include wonderful memories (past) and gratitude for all the blessings on the way! (future)

Alternative for Couples: You can also do this as a Couple’s Gratitude Book or Journal, a beautiful way to show appreciation and deepen connection. So few marriages last or are happy, as we all know, and I am blessed to have a deliriously, deLIGHTfully ecstatic marriage, 12 years strong and better every day. One of the reasons is of course, the selection of the right mate; but in order to do so, we had to do the necessary self-healing and inner preparation to bring whole, healthy individuals to the relationship. Much of this work is presented in my book: The Radical Self-Love Workbook. But it is also essential to nurture even the best of relationships, and my husband and I do so daily in many creative ways such as this.

More tips on love and relationships are at

www.LoveandSpirit.org

and at my love blog: loveandspiritblog.wordpress.com.

Whether you do the Gratitude Book as a homemade book like we did today, like a scrapbook or journal, and whether you do it as a family activity or a couple’s relationship-enhancer, it will help you see your life through the eyes of love and gratitude, and bring you even closer with those you love. Enjoy! And I welcome you to send me a comment or email to share your experience.

#5: Honor the 4 Directions and 4 Sacred Elements:

Earth, Air, Fire, Water

You do not have to be Native American to appreciate one of their traditions, which is to honor the Medicine Wheel, facing each of the four directions, thanking each one for their gifts. This is also a tradition in all indigenous cultures including pre-Christian Europe (a.k.a. Wicca, Druidry, paganism, et al.), Africa, Australia, Hawaii and South America.

In fact, if you scratch the surface beneath contemporary religions on any part of the Earth, you will find an ancient shamanic tradition that honors all the directions and all of nature as sacred.

All things follow this cycle of birth, growth, fruition and quietude, whether we are looking at seasons, a lifespan, a day, or a garden. The beauty of Medicine Wheel ceremony and the paradigm itself is that it can be applied to our lives in so many ways.

So how do you honor the directions and elements, to give thanks for what they give to us so generously? Here are a few ideas:

* Altar: Create an altar to each direction or a Medicine Wheel altar encompassing all the directions/elements. This can be in your home or outside. My husband specializes in creating Medicine Wheels as a sacred practice on the land, and has helped others to do this as well.

* Cherokee Dance of Life – You would need to learn this in person from someone who has learned it, oral tradition. This is an incredible moving meditation to all 4 directions, peoples, and elements which also honors Mother Earth and Father Sky, balances their energies as sacred partners in our hearts, and helps us give away the gifts of Spirit that are our special medicine to share with the world through our right work and service. Occasionally my husband and I share this Dance with our community. If you live near Sacramento, and would like to experience this dance, let us know so we can invite you. Or perhaps Spirit will guide you to another teacher of this beautiful tradition.

* Drum, chant, play flute to each direction

* Give offerings such as cornmeal, tobacco or sage smoke to each direction

* Speak aloud from your heart to each direction and give thanks

* Sweat lodge

* Vision quest

If you do either sweat lodge or vision quest, please do so with the guidance of a Native elder to be sure you do it properly and safely.

* Journal or journey (shamanic meditation) to discover what power animals comprise your personal Medicine Wheel of your own energy field. I love to lead these meditations when I am called to do so. Honoring your own inner Medicine Wheel supports a strong aura and keeps you connected to your spirit guides, if this resonates for you.

Associations with Each Direction

Depending on which culture or even which tribe you consult, there are somewhat different associations with the directions, colors, elements and meanings, the medicine or power that direction helps us receive and embody. The one I am most familiar with follows but this is not dogma, merely a summary of what I have found to be the more universal associations. Follow your own heart and work with any spiritual practice in the way that resonates for your own heart and inner truth.

While I have a small amount of native blood, I was adopted and was not raised in that tradition. I discovered shamanism after my initiation and spiritual awakening 15 years ago. I do not claim to be a tribal elder or teacher of any one tradition. I am an interfaith minister, meditation teacher, hypnotherapist, energy healer and intuitive life coach. I have been on the path of Spirit, studying, practicing and sharing healing and wisdom teachings from many cultures for several decades, so I offer here a simplified summary as a starting point for your discovery journey. You would do well to study more in depth with a local teacher steeped in the particular tradition that calls to your spirit, and of course feel free to research further on the Web, in books, classes, and listen to your own inner guidance. I always say the best way to pray, do ceremony or ritual is the way that feels best to you, with harm to none, of course. But we do need to honor the specific traditions so they are not all diluted through multiculturalism.

From the East we have the yellow people (Asia) and the gift of Air, Brother Wind, clarity of vision, inspiration, the new day, new beginnings, establishment of purpose and intention, and springtime.

From South, we receive the wisdom of the black people (Africa), Fire. The tools, strength, perseverance and energy to follow through and manifest, midday/ noon, summer, also humor and passion, innocence and trust.

The West gives us the culture of the Red people (such as Native Americans), the setting sun, Water, emotions, the fall season, self-evaluation toward completion, looks-within time, peace, rest and healing.

And the North represents the White (European) people and all their cultural gift. The sacred mountain, winter, midnight, time to slow down, go within and be still to receive guidance for what comes next. Completion, what you keep from the past cycle and all that you have accomplished and learned. It is also associated with the Spirit and wisdom.

Note: You can also honor the other 3 directions: Earth (below), Sky (above) and Center (within).

I hope you enjoyed these five creative ways to give thanks and I wish you abundant blessings on your journey!

Finally, in the spirit of Sufi mystic poet Rumi, I invite you to kiss the ground. Blow kisses to the sky. Bow to everything. Everything is sacred.

With Love,

Sage

More resources for your path, including free special reports on abundance, love, transformational classes, soul and energy healing sessions, intuitive readings, matchmaking and more are at:

www.LoveandSpirit.org

Taylor@LoveandSpirit.org

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

- Rumi

an excavator bucket and a truck at exploration field

an excavator bucket and a truck at exploration field blue,bucket,bulldozer,digger,dipper,dozer,dredge,earth,earthmover,excavate,excavation,excavator,grader,ground,industrial,loader,machine,machinery,mining,mover,scoop,sky,transport,transportation,truck,vehicle,workplace,yellow

The work described in this poster was conducted as part of a Master’s thesis project for the UCLA/Getty Conservation Program and presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of North American Graduate Programs in Conservation (ANAGPIC), Buffalo State College, April 24-25, 2009.

The Fowler Museum at UCLA houses a collection of Japanese polychrome wooden masks. A pair of these masks, identified as “honomen” (gift or dedication mask), was attributed to the same maker based on their stylistic similarities. The museum records stated that the masks were dated to the 18-19th century and made in the style found in the Kyūshū region of Japan. However, neither the pairing nor provenance of the masks was supported by any textual or technical evidence.

The poster presented here summarizes the preliminary results from a comparative technical investigation on the Fowler masks, as a part of the research to answer the questions regarding the masks’ provenance and their paired attribution. Analytical techniques such as wood characterization, polarized light microscopy (PLM), x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), x ray diffraction (XRD), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) and micro-chemical analysis using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM-EDX) were used to determine the masks’ material composition and methods of manufacture. The analytical results, combined with studies on the masks’ context of use and iconographic origins, provided material evidence that the masks were manufactured in close association with one another, although there was no firm evidence to establish that they were indeed manufactured by the same hand. Furthermore, identifying vitreous pigments on one of the masks pushed the mask’s estimated date of manufacture to 19th-20th century. This finding also added knowledge to a class of pigment not widely used in the Japanese palette until modern times.

Built upon the analytical understanding of the Fowler masks’ material composition and present condition, the research project concluded with a conservation treatment to improve the long-term stability of the polychrome. The most urgent treatment priorities were stabilizing the fragile matte paint surface and locally reinforcing the structural defects on the masks. Due to time constraints, consolidation of the paint was performed only on the red mask. Major structural defects on both masks were reinforced by filling the cavities in the wood with a light-weight and mechanically-reversible fill made of rolled-up Japanese paper, capped with a light-weight putty made from Acryloid B-72 bulked with glass microballoons for a better seal. The fill was then inpainted with Liquitex acrylic emulsion paint to reduce the color contrast between the fill and the wood.

Joy came to me.  I said, Now?  But yes is joy’s only word.  The wind says yes.  The earth says yes.  Even the distant sea says yes.  Under the waves the many armed yes, which clutches everything says, Yes.  Then two yeses meet when a shipwreck drowns.  Here, on dry land or here, in the trees, the singing yeses desire flight.  Joy lies on the ground.  It is a seed.  Now it unfolds on my tongue.  I listen for the rain.  Its pattering says, yes, yes, yes.  And joy came to me, and I was ready for its word.  When I was a boy, there were no end of noes.  But now my body floods with yeses even to the noes.

The U.S. dollar continued its slide Monday and gold touched another record high.

The greenback started falling after Federal Reserve official James Bullard said the central bank should continue to buy mortgage-backed securities after the program is supposed to expire in March. That would continue to keep interest rates low.

Gold was closing in on $1,200 an ounce Monday.(CBC)

The U.S. dollar traded lower against six other major currencies. The Canadian dollar rose 1.22 cents to 94.70 cents US in morning trade.

Commodities ? which are priced in U.S. dollars? also moved higher.

Commodities were also boosted by improved hopes of economic recovery on word of an increase in existing U.S. homes sales. Purchases rose 10.1 per cent in October to a 6.1-million annual rate ? the highest level since February 2007 ? partly because of a tax credit aimed at first-time buyers, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median sales price decreased 7.1 per cent.

Gold soared to a record.

December bullion futures gained $24.40 during the morning to reach $1,171.20 an ounce in New York. The metal was helped, too, by word from Russia’s central bank that it increased its gold holdings last month by half a million ounces to 19.5 million ounces.

Crude oil ?Canada’s largest export? rose with the December contract adding $1.97 to trade at $79.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The move up in commodities helped the Toronto stock market, with its many mining and energy stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index gained 130.6 points to 11,709.9 in morning trade.

Canadian dollar slidesDollar General may go public next week