Cat Stevens -- Where do the children play?

I just discovered Cat Steven's song, Where do the children play? and I got shivers, while working on the computer. Buy it on itunes, or wherever. (Our credit card is linked to itunes, so we can explore and find a song or two of various artists we come across. I don't even have an ipod, but itunes is great.) Music is really important.

I feel artists pick up, and channel messages bigger than them.

Here are the words, as I want to really listen to them. But just listen to it k.

Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can't get off.

Oh, I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
'til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?
I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?
As a mother, all I do is herd my children beside and away from roads. They can't run free outside because of roads (or developed space). So I really understand this. I also realize by my instincts, how much they need to be running around in a country wild setting, outdoors, in the grass and trees. Because there isn't that space.

It's about our culture's belief that we have come to a great place in our culture, but actually, what do we lose? I challenge this assumption. What we lose when we develop everything is of far greater value. Freedom, wildness, birds...forts...being somewhere outside ourselves.

(Another amazing song of Cat Steven's is of course Father and Son.)

P.S. Also check out Ben Harper's Better Way.

Just an observation

Just making banana cake today, and a stick blender, I was thinking about how much skill has travelled. We used to have to be very skilled users of simpler tools, and now the skill has shifted towards the makers of the tools. It's the same with movies, every area of our society-- watching a movie is very easy, and requires less imagination and participation from the watcher, but so much creativity and effort from the makers. I feel it all the time, driving around, watching my body weaken, and the bodies of others that are unhealthy at various degrees. We need exercise, and to feel proud of ourselves. People always dream of what they aren't getting enough of, wish for something different than they are experiencing. Island people want long for city life, English people want to experience tribal life. At this point in my modern, intensive-resource wasteful life, I wish for more effort and skill and pride.

A Farm Through Time

I have wanted to blog about A farm through time for some time, illustrated by Eric Thomas, written by Angela Wilkes. I finally found this treasure again and scanned it in.

All the images are small "details", as I can't show the wide pages of the book here.

800
The book is meant to be about farming and how it has changed over time, but it has a very strong gleam of meaning about sustainable living. The book shows the same spot over the centuries, so you can see at a moment what took ages to experience. Some things are clearer at that speed as well. The first stage is "Clearing the land", 800 (England). We clear away forest to grow crops, and the forest provides building materials, fuel and many other things. We grow food on a farm surrounded by woodland. People rent land from a lord, who owns everything.

1000
In the next stage, "Two hundred years later, the country looks much the same, but there are fewer trees." You can see stands of trees everywhere, and cleared areas. The lord cuts down trees at will to use. It's really interesting how they make their clothes from flax (linen) and sheep's wool and cook on a fire in the house. Lots of skilled work to do and everyone is working together.


"The farmer's wife spins the wool into coarse thread on a spindle, then weaves the thread into fabric on a big loom. The woollen fabric will make warm clothes and blankets. The girl is winding flax onto a distaff, ready to spin into fine linen thread. Underclothes are often made of linen as it is less scratchy than wool.

"Inside the house, a fire burns brightly on the stone hearth. The farmer's wife bakes flat loaves of bread for the family on the hot hearthstones. Meat and thick, filling soups are boiled in the pot hanging over the fire."



1200
A few hundred years later, the men repair hawthorn hedges that line the fields, they've been there for hundreds of years but need to be reworked and repaired.

"The men are warm despite the bitter cold. Their homespun tunics and leggings are made from coarsely woven wool, held together with leather thongs. They wear stout leather boots and felt hats to keep their heads warm, and around their waists they carry leather flasks of ale for refreshment."

1300A new house is being built by the farmer, but unfortunately, "In the countryside beyond, most of the woodland has been cut down, but a few mature trees still grow in the hedgerows." So, what was once woodland remains in the cracks and grooves of the land.

Just that. A little gleam, the farmer becomes quite prosperous, the pages follow with illustrations of dairy farming, making cheese (in a press) and so on. Later with a soul-less flutter there is the tractor sitting there on the lonely farm and no more people. No community drinking ale and fixing the hedgerows!

Well, this is the way of life that our current way life is based upon. Just notice the trees.

Ian Beck's crosshatching technique

Illustrator Ian Beck from London, "Shaking the Dreamland Tree" page (from the book of rhymes Ride a Cock-Horse):

In his work, I love the cross-hatching technique. On this page, both the imagination and craft were good-- it's great. Look how he shows the light falling on the tree.

How to make a long-lasting magnetic fishing game with wooden fishing rod

When I was a child our church had these great family fairs where you could "fish" for prizes using a stick with string, tied to a magnet. The fishes had magnets on them too, and were numbered. When you got one, that determined your prize, often old passed down toys which were THE BEST if you are a child. Any material plush toy or object is fascinating and wonderful. When the Kohanga Reo Troy was involved with had a stall at a fair to raise money and needed to think of a few games, I right away knew I wanted to create this game. Then the coordinator bought cheap fishing rods at a $2 shops which only lasted literally 5 minutes, which is very wasteful for the environment. Here are some instructions for how to make long-lasting toy fishing rods that have magnets on the end for picking up toy fishes.

materials

--a dowel rod from the hardware store (or broomstick from a broken broom)

--a piece of sandpaper

--a box of "eye screws" (these are neat, see step 3 for image)

--matches

--cord or string

--a set of chair tips from a hardware store plus round magnets that will fit inside

OR a horseshoe magnet (I found one closed off by a piece of metal across the two ends)

--plastic fishes from a $2 store

MAKE THE FISHING ROD

1. Saw the dowel rod or broomstick into pieces about a half metre long (50 cm).

2. Sand off any rough cut ends of the sticks with rough sandpaper so they won't give anyone a splinter.

3. Hand screw in an eye screw (photo left), which is basically a screw with a loop on the end of the stick, so you can tie a string to the stick. (Or if you have a drill you can drill a hole to pull string through.)

4. I used some black lovely cord from the hardware store that they cut for me from a bit reel, it was nylon (plastic based). After I cut a length a bit longer than the stick and tied it to the loop, I used a lit match to melt the end so it wouldn't fray.

5. If you want to use my original chair tip method, buy chair tips from a hardware store and round magnets that can fit snugly inside. Then cut a small hole in the bottom of the chair tip, and thread the cord through hole (see image below). Glue a round magnet into the cavity of the chair tip overtop the knot, which also seals the knot.

Warning: You can also use horse-shoe magnets sealed off at the end with a piece of metal because some children, if left too long to their own devices, will definitely attempt to pilfer the magnet out of the chair tip...

FISH

You can hand-screw in the eye screws into plastic fishes, and then the magnet on the end of the rod will pick them up-- glue gun around the base of the screw to seal water out OR we have found it's actually really fun to use laundry pegs (the kind with a metal spring) as fish! See how many you can get at once, have them take their catches over to the couch to make it more challenging-- more use of the imagination is better anyways.

Kids really love playing with the fishing rod.

At the Edge of the World-- documentary (2009)

I just saw At the Edge of the World, a documentary about the Sea Shepherd's fight against Japanese whaling. It was as gripping as any show on a dangerous activity. Truly the good guys against the *insert rude word here*. In modern times, the pirates are good, and the people about their offical business in the sea are evil. Every season thousands of whales are killed (will get their stat.) People from all over the world of every background risk their lives to stop/bring attention to whale poaching-- which was banned from the world in 1986. Way to go Japan NOT.

I was just really disappointed that the Japanese would do that. I know it's part of Asian culture that one can take in the power of the animal by eating it/using its essence, but in this case they are destroying that special thing and taking it from the earth. (And apparently their flesh is very polluted now due to human impact anyways.)

Must watch it! It's really good.
 

For those of us who aren't going to jump on the boat and risk ourselves from our families, fear not, we can donate. I am definitely going to as soon as my family can handle the diversion of resources. http://www.seashepherd.org/ 
 

More about commercial whaling and the poor state of whale populations: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/oceans/whaling/

Update October 2012 - since this post I bought my son a tshirt from their organization to support them, and will be going to an Auckland fundraiser (expensive) event soon, to support the cause of protecting whales.   (It just makes me sick that people are still killing them!)

Craft Advice

1. Relaxing music is best. Not as you would think, intense music. I listen to classical music, folk music most of the time. ANYTHING CALM. Let your spirit be calm, not excited.

2. Believe in yourself. Not too much, and not too little. The craftsman's edge is the humbleness, and critical eye, but also you have to believe in magic. Always be aware of how you are feeling-- know your nature-- curb yourself if necessary, urge yourself if necessary! Make a leap.

3. Good enough. Don't be perfectionist, you won't be able to move on. Just do "good enough". You'll get in the flow then, and when you are in a higher flow, will go back and fix easily what you now can, naturally.

4. Listen, listen, all the time. Otherwise, what is the point? I often find myself knowing I should do one thing, and ignoring it for a minute-- but a minute later I change it, as I know I should listen.

5. All the time, you can work on your discipline and patience. If you are about to work, but have to do the dishes first, but feel impatient-- do the dishes! After all, that is how you will work.

It's worth it. After all, what could be better than being the universe's pencil?