The Little Mermaid Original story illustrations by Charles Santore

In the real Hans Christian Andersen story written 150 years ago in Denmark, (in this edition illustrated amazingly by Charles Santore, I especially love the hair), the mermaids did not have souls. Mermaids live for hundreds of years, but then die without immortality as humans did. The story is not just a quest for love, but for a soul. If the Prince falls in love with her, she also gains a soul and life after death. When she trades in her voice to the evil sea witch (a hideous creature) for legs, she also suffers excruciating pain when she uses them.

Illustrations for the original Little Mermaid by Charles Santore. Ariel consults with the sea witch.

When she finds the prince and his court, she cannot speak, but her eyes communicate her heart. Also at one point she dances "as noone has ever danced before". The Prince and he become friends, but in the end he falls for another woman. Ironically, if he had known who saved him, he wanted only that person, but she could never speak to tell him. Upon his wedding day, she would instead die, as per her bargain with the sea witch-- changed into foam upon the sea. As the dawn of the morning light comes, and her death, her sisters arrive. They had cut off their hair and given it to the witch to allow her to return into mermaid form and live out her life. But she actually refuses, so sorrowful is she to see the person she loves with another that she gives in to death-- but there is reprieve. The sun looks down kindly upon her so she doesn't feel the pain of death- and she turns into an angel.

"She saw the bright sun, and above were floating hundreds of transparent, beautiful creatures. She could still catch a glimpse of the ship's white sails, and of the red clouds in the sky, across the swarms of these lovely beings. Their language was melody, but too ethereal to be heard by human ears, just as no human eye can discern their forms. Though they had no wings, their lightness poised them in the air. The little mermaid saw that she had a body like theirs, which kept rising higher and higher from out of the foam.

'Where am I?' she asked, and her voice sounded like that of her companions--so ethereal that no earthly music could give an adequate idea of its sweetness.

'Among the daughters of the air!..."

Treating Ammonia Build-up in Re-usable Cloth Nappies --Don't Give Up, Gain Skill

Troy as a baby, modelling cloth reusable nappies for local provider Snazzipants.

Ok, so I use cloth nappies on my child. Lucan just turned 3 though, he only uses them at night. I guess since he is pretty much toilet trained, I just stopped being as careful about sanitizing them-- and lately those things have started to reek of ammonia! Also, the built-up ammonia in the nappies caused some nappy rash on my son's skin recently --it's due to the soap buildup as well, that can occur if you're not looking after them well enough-- which just caused my husband to get frustrated with me that I wasn't using "proper" nappies.

People haven't always had disposables, and something I have observed is that in modern culture we are so spoiled we are unwilling to let our children suffer the slightest bit. It just doesn't make sense to ruin the earth so we can reach that high level of perfection, not give our children the slightest mark-- but ruin the environment totally for future children. I think that if people knew that they were making that decision, that tradeoff, I don't think that they still still would. So 1) it's not the end of the world. 2) cloth nappies require something called "skill". (Many of us have forgotten what that is.) It's that thing that allows us to use far less of a resource, as we use it with care, intention and, well skill.

With skill, one is actually meant to keep those things clear of ammonia build-up! I didn't give up, I looked up my online resources, and reminded myself of how to rid the nappies of the chemical buildup-- from a local nappy provider, "Snazzipants", who have a good website FAQ.

To summarize their advice, do extra rinses as the soap buildup provides something for the ammonia to stick to. Do regular oxygen soaks (called "Napisan" here), but not bleach as that is too harsh for babies' skin. If they do get unbalanced, you can soak them in baking soda. (And from other research I have done, alternate washing them with vinegar as well.)

In their words, from http://www.snazzipants.co.nz/

"How do I wash Snazzipants nappies?

You will quickly work out a wash routine that suits, and I'm not going to prescribe one here. If it works for you, and your baby's butt is happy, then stick with it. However, there are a few tips I've picked up through my nappy obsession so far, so I thought I'd share.

You may like to use a nappy soak such as Napisan, but it is not imperative to use every time. These products do eat away at the fibres and thus make your nappies wear out faster if you use them daily, but some people find this system easy, and that's fine too. If you are concerned about the use of such products on the environment, you can clean nappies using ordinary washing detergent, but there are some things to remember.

• Too much detergent can cause a build up on nappies (especially microfleece). Some babies have such delicate skin that it reacts to residual detergent. Use a little less rather than more.




• If you get a detergent build up, it might cause your nappies to smell. Ironic I know, but try washing them on hot and see if you get suds. If you do, use less detergent.




• Do an extra rinse at the end. This will help stop build up and remove any residue that may irritate your baby's skin.




• If you have a frontloader be sure that you use the 60 degree water setting (no hotter or you may damage the PUL) on a long cycle. Front loaders use less water than top loaders, so you need to be quite sure your nappies are being cleaned and rinsed thoroughly. (I'm not a fan of frontloaders - always use the special frontloader powder and give your nappies the occasional Napisan soak if they start smelling odd!)




• Soap based products like Lux are notorius for causing build up on nappies, and are no good for covers. Avoid them like the plague!




• Hot water will help sanitise your nappies, as will the hot dryer and sunshine. Sunshine is FANTASTIC for killing bugs and removing stains.




• I would use an antibacterial nappy soak if baby has an upset tummy, and after vaccinations. Hygiene at these times is super important.




• If you use a nappy soak you don't need to wash with a detergent. Read the instructions!! Using too many different cleaners means they can react and causes rashes. Keep your routine simple.




• If your nappies start to get a bit whiffy add a couple of capfuls of Dettol Fresh to the wash cycle once in a while. It will immediately freshen them up. Alternatively you can try a soak in baking soda.




• If you have nappies that are constructed from man-made fibres (aios and pockets with microfibre inserts) you will need to hot wash them to keep them clean.




• Don't use chlorine bleach (like Janola). It is far too harsh and apart from ruining your nappies it will give your baby a very sore bottom!




• Don't use fabric softner!! It will coat the fibres of your nappies and make them less absorbent. It also may cause rashes on a sensitive baby.




• Nappies shouldn't smell when they come out of the dryer, off the line, or get a fresh wee in them. If they do you need to give them a soak for a couple of hours in something with sodium percarbonate as the active ingredient - Napisan, or a similar nappy soak. This is sometimes referred to as oxygen bleach. Older babies' overnight nappies may need this treatment more frequently, otherwise every few weeks should be enough to keep your nappies smelling sweet as a daisy :)

You'll know if your nappies are clean because they whiff if they're not!! If you start to get whiffy nappies give them a soak in oxygen bleach or add some Dettol Fresh once in a while and it should clear right up. Man-made fibres hold smells more than natural fibres, so do hot wash all-in-ones, pockets and microfibre inserts regularly."

P.S. Stand up for all your "green" behaviour. I know it can seem a drag to your family, your children and partner, compared to what others are doing, but that's obviously because we are first to be aware of this. Keep connected with some others who also understand to support you.

Genesis the documentary (2004)

This documentary had important seeds of wisdom which I want to condense and share, for those with less time. I wrote down all the subtitles in a few areas, not all of the subtitles, just the most meaningful parts - they are in the same order as they appeared in the documentary. The headings are my headings. Screenshots are all from Genesis.

Words: Claude Nuridsany, and Marie Pérennou
Narrator: Sotigui Kouyate, as ancient storyteller



INSIDE & OUT

Matter attempted a new way of existing
that resists the devastating power of Time:
tiny closed-in, self-contained bubbles
created the notion of inside and out,
like so many hermetic worlds,
tinier than grains of sand.
These were the first offspring of Life.




UNDERSTANDING LIFE

If you add a drop of milk to water
for a moment you will see regular shapes appear
that seem to be alive.
But this is not life.
The shapes gradually break up
And chaos prevails.
Even smoke can create shapes.
They vanish as quickly as they are born.





Life is a form that endures.
A form fighting against time.
A form that continues despite the universal law
that drives all organized things towards disorder and chaos.
Stranger still: a shape that remains the same
whereas the matter it is made of is constantly renewed.
My tongue, my lips which speak to you now
have constantly renewed their cells since my life began.
Every hour of every day billions of them die
and are replaced in my body.
Yet I am still me
like a river remains a river even though fresh water runs in its bed.
We are not beings of matter.
We are forms irrigated by matter,
living rivers that snake their way through time.

Life is a vortex that sustains its own motion, over and over again.





HOME TERRITORY

The world is a great labyrinth
full of mysteries and perils.
Lost in this vastness,
Each living being raises an invisible barrier around itself.
Inside this magic circle,
in this familiar space
in which it knows every corner,
it feels safe.





ON LOVE

1 + 1 = 3.
Yes, life has an interesting way of counting.
That is how it has spawned masses, and fabricated multitudes.
But, before making 3, one must unite with one.
Like two magnets, these islands of form unite and merge into one another.
And so, love was born.




We are all born of love.
Born of this rule in the game of life that declares it takes two entities to produce a third.
Each of us possesses only half of what is required to create another.
There is only one way to attract the second half: to seduce it.
Seduction is a power that operates at a distance.
Like the attraction of bodies.
It's a beckoning -- overpowering, insistent.
Never has a beauty put up with an impatient suitor.
In love, the shortest path, is always the most sinuous.






IN THE WOMB

Love is what drew me from nothingness.
Then I had two lives.
One in which I lived in my mother’s womb.
The other in which I lived in the great wide world.

From the time I was conceive to the moment I was born,
I lived a condensed version of Genesis.
In the beginning, I was a sea creature.
The water pocket replaced
the primeval sea of the world’s beginning.

At this time when I was no bigger than a bean
I had a striking resemblance with animals.
In that age in which our bodies are slowly conceived and kneaded,
we are all spitting images of one another.
For we are like rivulets of water surging up from the same source.
Like the veins of the same leaf,
the branch of the same tree.
We are members of the same tribe,
The great tribe of the Living.
And so I was part fish and part frog while still living in my mother’s womb,
with gills in my throat
and fins on my sides,
swimming between two seas
in my round, elastic aquarium.





NATURE OF LIFE

Matter moves toward chaos
like the river flows down to the sea.
We, the living, are like canoes
Beating against the currents of time.
We cheat with time.
And time knows only one road, runs down only one slope,
That which leads to decay.






CANNIBALISM OF LIFE

We preserve our living form
by destroying other living beings.
Our existence is always
the consequence of plunder.
For life is cannibalistic.
Life devours life.

How to create a great children's learning DVD from clips on Youtube

I work from home on my computer, and wanted to play for my son all the great classics from Sesame Street and other old favourite learning shows on the television while I worked. (I would play them directly from Youtube in a playlist, but this requires the use of the computer.)

Did you know you can record videos from Youtube, easily, and using a free program? My brother is a computer programmer; he told me about a program called "Any Video Converter".

Google "any video converter" to find the latest program, and download the free version.

Then you find the option in the file menu to download directly from the internet.  You can enter a URL of the Youtube video. It will start converting and dumps them into a folder in your My Documents.

Then, you just dump all the videos onto a DVD using a DVD burner. And there you have it! It's actually very quick and easy, and very fun. And it's fantastic to hear my son singing ABC's while I work!

Double Irony

There is definitely a revolution going on out there, of people finding their instincts and seeking healthier lives. Many of us live lives so much more disconnected from nature than that of our parents and grandparents-- away from skilled resourcefulness, towards a greater use of technology and energy resources instead of using our own energy. Ironically, we still need exercise and to feel skilled, and proud of what we do, etc, so we do funny things like drive to work then go to a gym (which also requires power equipment), and various hobbies. Wouldn't it be better to work less, and dig up the backyard into a garden, cycle to work, and quit the gym?

Photo, left:
Good magazine, Issue4, pg20, NZ

"USA
"Human-powered gym
"Pound the road to nowhere at your gym for long enough and you’ll start to wonder: where do all those watts go? And why can’t they go somewhere useful, like powering this damn treadmill? One gym in Portland, Oregon has decided its members are up to the challenge.

"The Green MicroGym runs on people power, with a bit of solar to keep things going when the human hamsters run out of steam. With ‘team dynamo’ classes and spin bikes, the gym can generate up to 41 percent of its own power. Workouts fuel the gym’s ultra-energy-efficient ceiling fans, TVs, lights and ‘EcoPower’ treadmills.

"The downside: there are no showers at the gym, to keep water and power usage low. Still, we can’t think of better motivation to pedal fast than to keep the fans turning."

The Kon-tiki expedition: by raft across the South Seas, by Thor Heyerdahl.

This book is about a man who sailed across the ocean from South America to here, the South Pacific, on a raft. He and 5 others made the journey to prove that Maori and other Pacific peoples may have travelled from South America long ago, when they only had balsa-wood rafts (stone-age).

It's an amazing adventure, travelling this close to nature, their boat gains pilot fish just like a shark's, flying fish land on their deck every morning which they fry for breakfast, when they are bored they pull sharks backwards out of the water by their sandpapery tails. It's one of those really amazing one-with-nature experiences.

Read it online here, or find it at a library near you if that's easier.

The Kon-tiki expedition: by raft across the South Seas, by Thor Heyerdahl. (1951)

Pass the Energy, Please! Biologist Barbara Shaw McKinney and illustrated by Chad Wallace.

For kids-- this explains about the cycle of life in the food chain. Even I needed to understand this-- we are now so disconnected from this cycle.

"Passing the energy needed to live, is a difficult thing for a creature to give. But a chain unbroken along the way, links life in the woodland from day to day."

How plants make energy from the sun, and the animals eat the plants, and also about carnivores.

Ends on a note of conservation. My kids love this one, it's a favourite (but I do simplify it for the little ones. "Look out weasel. Here comes fox! Look out, fox...)

Pass the Energy, Please! Written by biologist Barbara Shaw McKinney and illustrated by Chad Wallace.