Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

(because you do not have cookies 🤭😁)

Making Moon Water

Ancient Craft & Occultism

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By KB

Introduction

Welcome back everyone! Since we've covered an introduction to Lunar phases, I figured it'd be a great time to have a quick lesson on moon water! In this lesson, we're going to talk about what exactly moon water is, different methods of making it, and how we can use it in our craft! Let's get to it. ♡

What Is Moon Water?

Humans have revered the moon and all of the lunar energy it offers since ancient times. Numerous religions and activities place a significant emphasis on the moon. The moon is viewed by many of these religions as a goddess-like figure that is crucial to human existence. These beliefs and behaviors frequently use the moon as a guide or energy conduit. Moon water is frequently used in witchcraft, Wicca, and other spiritual disciplines. The idea of moon water actually dates back to the early to mid 1800s and is associated with witchcraft. Moon water is simply water that has absorbed the energy of the moon by being exposed to it for an extended amount of time.

How To Make Moon Water

Many moon water recipes found online suggest placing a container of water outside in the moonlight. Even though that is undoubtedly a component of the standard recipe and a precise description of the magic's external, visible shape, creating moon water takes a little more than simply pouring some water outside. Any good moon water must be carefully crafted; while the moon and all it represents provide the majority of the blend's power, it is the witch who must weave the threads that eventually unite these energies to make it all possible. You must tell the moon where to direct its energy, and you must tell the water where to locate the energy's absorbent medium. In the absence of that, all you have is some water that has been left outside. You must actively participate in the creation of moon water if you want it to be as successful as possible.

Fill a non-plastic container with water to start. Some recipes specify that water must be procured from a natural source. While water taken straight from a natural source, such rain or a lake, will have a stronger intrinsic "charge" and a more distinct magickal imprint, it may also include bacteria, parasites, organic or chemical pollutants, and it might also be contaminated. Drinking water, such as purified spring water or even regular tap water, is a more practical and convenient option for some workings because it is widely available and creates a secure and drinkable potion foundation. The type of water that is suitable for your recipe will depend on how you plan to use the moon water.

Bring the water container outside, put it close to a window, a wall outside, or a high position inside your house. The water can be heated, cooled, or left at room temperature. Spend some time contemplating the moon and focusing on the purposes you have for your moonwater. Will the water to absorb as much moonlight as it can by visualizing it literally opening to the energy of the moon. Directly invite and ask the lunar energies to enter the water by focusing your heart on the lunar essences you want to add to your concoction. It could be beneficial to picture energy connecting threads running from your body to the moon and from the moon into the water in your container. Imagine the water's internal structure truly altering, its vibrations rising as it takes in and harmonizes with the moon's energy flow. As you call on the moonlight to illuminate the water and assert your witchcraft by telling it what it should become, have faith in your instincts and your links to nature.

Any lunar working will benefit from a simple moon water, which will also strengthen any spells cast to advance healing, foster love, increase psychic power, or foster creativity. Moonlight, water, and the witch herself are the only necessary components of a moon water. If you'd like, you can add stones or plants that more directly reflect your aspirations, but be careful not to include anything poisonous to a potion that you want to consume or apply topically to your body. Witchcraft frequently involves the use of toxic herbs, and many common stones can leach toxins into moonwater.

Ways To Use Moon Water

Moon water is both a blank canvas and a carefully crafted work of wonder. It can be modified with additional components to fit any particular magical aim you may have, used as a base for other potions to increase their magical potency, or used as a spell all by itself. The moon's phases can also be used to make moonwater with various properties. With the exception of abstaining from ingesting any harmful substances and avoiding contact with potentially irritating substances, there are no restrictions on how you can utilize moon water. Here are only a few suggestions.

Anoint your ritual spaces & tools before a magical working

Use it in cleaning to bring in certain energies

Use it to cast a circle

Use it in glamor magic by washing your face and hair with it

Freeze in ice cubes for quick elixirs

Use for scrying

Dip your paintbrushes in them to add enchantment to your art

Drink it & cook with it

Water your plants with it

This is another project I have going in LotRO: the cosmetic appearance these bows share used to be fairly common, but many loot tables have been reworked and these seem to be the only two that are theoretically still obtainable. And. I want it. Very badly.

I believe that I once had the Deadly Defender’s bow on my first character, but I wasn’t interested in cosmetics at the time and discarded it, but the memories are fuzzy so I can’t be certain. Additionally, I have no idea where I would have gotten it, since I didn’t do any group stuff at the time and given that it is bind on acquire but not a quest reward or barter item, I can only imagine that one gets it out of an instance chest somewhere between level 40-42. Stat-wise, it is identical to the Carved Lebethron Bow, the crafted bow of the same level, with the one exception that this item’s durability is tough while the crafted bow’s is normal. Indeed, stat-wise this weapon is entirely useless anymore, since a critted Carved Lebethron Bow is much better and critting recipes is a matter of ten tasks these days. It seems that when the game was new, this was quite a nice find, however, as I found a reference to it in the patch notes from February 2008, where it is described as a “rare weapon” that was likely meant to be somewhat of a prize for level 40 characters entering the endgame. While the loot tables have been altered quite a lot, many other items on this list are still available (and actively being used on some of my alts).

I have a lot less information about the Ashwood Recurve Bow, though my suspicion is that if it is anywhere to be found, it would be from the Isengard instances, as it is significantly better than the Bow of the Rider, a min-level 75 crafted bow that comes from Theodred’s Riders rep traders, but not as good as the Great River Bow, a min-level 75 crafted bow that comes from Men of Stangard rep traders. However I have never gotten anything except armor from those instances, and my personal belief is that this bow only still exists in the game’s files to be used in the character creation screen, where it is the default bow a hunter character will hold while you customize them, displayed along with other level 75 cosmetic gear available in the greater Dunland area. Part of the reason I believe this is because of the -10% Fire-arrow Miss Chance stat: as far as I can tell “Fire-arrow” is not currently a skill for any class in this game, and it would be an odd buff to add to the fire oil consumable which is class-locked to hunters and wardens, especially given that this consumable does not seem to increase one’s chances of missing. Some monster play characters have a skill called “Flaming Arrow,” but I can’t imagine a level 75 item being associated with the Ettenmoors. It seems to me that this is a reference to a deprecated skill, but this item was not updated to reflect that and therefore is no longer available for player use.

So all my hopes are hung on the Deadly Defender’s Bow, and all my hopes are aimed at instance reward chests. These loot tables have been altered, but not reworked entirely before level 50; unfortunately I’ve noticed a trend of not finding very interesting loot in these chests if one is playing through the instances overlevel, so I’ve been working on leveling a hunter to level 40 to run through instances on-level in hopes of acquiring it. This item is not referenced on the wiki (which is unsurprising; their database on non-quest reward items is understandably a bit thin) but I did locate a page someone made for it on lotrobuild.com. Unfortunately I’m unable to tell how old this page is (and therefore how long ago someone else had the item). But I do think it’s convincing evidence that it is still acquirable in-game.

I have, very occasionally, gotten bind on acquire rare gear as a normal drop from non-level scaling Vol. I instances such as Garth Agarwen and the Angmar endgame instances, and to be entirely honest the Deadly Defender’s Bow seems more in line with that sort of gear than what I get from a regular instance reward chest; the obvious problem, however, is the fact that there are no level 40 non-level scaling instances. I have gotten up to level 38 gear from Garth Agarwen, once, but never any lower than 50 from Angmar stuff. Part of me hopes that it may be available as a rare drop from a non-world instance, but that seems unlikely at best.

That’s where I’m at in the search right now. But if anyone else knows anything about where to find either of these bows (or other bows that share their appearance) please, please, please let me know!

The Magical Recipe

In the enchanting town of Dubai,  a vibrant city in the United Arab Emirates, Rising from the desert, it boasts iconic skyscrapers, including the magnificent Burj Khalifa. A hub of luxury, Dubai dazzles with opulent hotels, world-class shopping malls, and stunning man-made islands. there stood a quaint online cake shop called " GDO Gifts" Its delectable cakes were renowned throughout the community, and people couldn't resist their tempting flavors and exquisite designs.

Whispers of a magical recipe soon spread like wildfire among the townsfolk. Legend had it that the shop's owner had discovered a secret ingredient that imbued the cakes with an enchanting touch. It was said that those who indulged in these mystical creations would experience extraordinary moments of joy and good fortune.

Word of the magical cakes reached Emma, a young woman yearning for a change in her monotonous life. With a touch of skepticism but a glimmer of hope, she ordered a cake from "GDO Gifts". Little did she know that this decision would forever alter the course of her existence.

As Emma eagerly awaited her cake's arrival, the sun cast a warm glow upon the town. The delivery arrived precisely at noon, and upon opening the box, a sweet aroma filled her senses. She took a cautious bite, savoring the rich flavors that danced on her tongue.

Moments after indulging in the magical cake, Emma found herself surrounded by a burst of vibrant colors and a wave of happiness. Suddenly, an opportunity presented itself: she stumbled upon a job advertisement that perfectly matched her dreams. Encouraged by the magical cake's effect, Emma decided to take a leap of faith and applied for the position.

News of Emma's remarkable stroke of luck quickly spread throughout the town. Excitement grew, and the townsfolk flocked to GDO Gifts, hoping to experience their own dose of magic. Each cake they devoured opened new doors, forged unexpected friendships, and brought serendipitous encounters into their lives.

As the demand for the magical cakes soared, the Shop owner found herself working tirelessly to fulfill orders. The town's atmosphere became infused with joy, as people's dreams and aspirations took flight. The cakes became a symbol of hope and a catalyst for change in the lives of those who partook in their magic.

One evening, a young boy named Oliver arrived at the shop with a handwritten note. The message, written by his ailing grandmother, expressed heartfelt gratitude for the happiness and renewed sense of purpose the cakes had brought into her life. She wished to personally thank for her extraordinary creations.

Touched by the note, the GDO Gifts executive decided to organize a grand celebration, inviting all the customers who had experienced the magic of her cakes. The townsfolk gathered in the town square, their hearts brimming with gratitude and love. GDO Gifts baker stood before them, sharing her secret ingredient: it was not a mere ingredient but rather the love and passion she poured into every cake baked.

As the townspeople savored the last crumbs of their magical cakes, they realized that the true magic lay within themselves. The cakes had served as a catalyst, awakening their dormant dreams and desires. Inspired by their newfound purpose, they embarked on a journey to spread joy and love throughout the town, creating a ripple effect that touched the lives of everyone they encountered.

And so, in the magical town of UAE, the legacy of GDO Gifts and its enchanted cakes lived on, reminding all who tasted them that a sprinkle of love and a dash of belief can truly make life extraordinary.

New Pellet Frying Line for Food Processing Industry

Kiron Food Handling Innovations, India’s driving food hardware assembling, and food handling organization has as of late sent off a Pellet Frying Line with Pre-Fryer for the developing bites and food handling industry. This progressive item is created for Fryums-Pellet Tidbits, Namkeen fixings like Sabudana, Vatana, and different items that require double stage Broiling. The twofold wall fryer with lowers Fryer having Direct (with heat recuperation framework) and Backhanded oil warming choices brings about eco-friendly Broiling while at the same time adding Pre-Searing to existing Fryers brings about expanded creation limit, better item development, and crunchiness.

Key Highlights

Line limit begins from 300 kg onwards.

Line offering incorporates a Pre-searing segment that conveys better item extension.

Framework dealing with an extensive variety of pellet shapes utilizing an exceptionally effective searing interaction.

Roundabout warming utilizing an intensity exchanger/Direct Ga burner-based oil warming framework

Broiling entice and Maintenance time control — change contingent upon the kind of pellets.

Ceaseless oil filtration through the drum channel

Coordinated clean set up (CIP) framework

HMI-PLC control for recipe the executives, shortcoming analysis and straightforwardness in activity

The item’s USP lies in full control on Searing boundaries and least space prerequisite. The line limit of the Pellet Searing Line with Pre-Fryer begins from 300kg/hr onwards till 1000kg/hr. Pre-Warmer innovation assists with eliminating the dampness of crude pellets at lower entice. The machine is inbuilt with a framework that is equipped for taking care of an extensive variety of pellet shapes utilizing a profoundly proficient broiling process.

Perhaps of the best element, when contrasted and different frameworks, is the low support part. Aside from this, it has a coordinated clean set up (CIP) framework which involves computerized frameworks used to clean the inside surfaces of the Fryer.

Mr. Sirjan Kochhar, Kiron Food Handling Innovations, said, “We are happy to report the send off of our new item called Pellet Broiling Line with Pre-Fryer. This searing line is planned by our accomplished experts involving current innovation and the best quality parts in adherence with industry quality standards. The gave broiling line is checked against different quality measures in order to guarantee its quality. The items can be altered to meet the fluctuated necessities for our clients.”

Continuously growing innovatively progressed items that take care of the interest of the food handling section, this Pellet Searing Line with Pre-Fryer from Kiron Food Handling Advancements is produced using the most superior quality Hardened Steel which offers cleanliness and item security all through the broiling system.

Kiron Food Handling Advancements is devoted to giving answers for the necessities of the food handling organizations in India. With the send off of this line, the assembling hardware brand plans to improve item producing administrations inside the food handling industry. It will promote upscale the food handling class with its advanced plan and cutting edge innovative highlights.

About Kiron Food Handling Advances

Kanchan Metals is the main complete arrangements supplier of the need of food handling organizations in India. The venture produces nibble food handling gear as well as accomplices with eminent Global hardware makers to give quality hardware and after-deals administration of the best quality for Indian as well as worldwide business sectors.

Always wanted to do one of these, and now I have. :D 8 years of improvement, wow! I’m also really bad at picking things so I don’t know if I picked the ones that best represent my progress, but eh. I did some edits, but the original base for this can still be found here. Extended thoughts about each year below, it’s a lot! Here’s to bigger and better things in 2019 (please ;_;)

2010: I started drawing digitally in 2006, though regrettably I didn’t save any of the art I did back then. 2010 was when I joined DeviantART, and thus when I started uploading art online. I had frequented DA well before that though (from about 2007 I think), and influence from the artists I followed are pretty evident. A few notable ones were ShaloneSK, Fourth-Star (now SeaSaltShrimp), and thazumi, all primarily dragon artists. Though none of my traditional art is showcased here, this was still a time when I did it often, usually via doodles in class when I was bored. The digital art you see here was made with my first tablet, a Wacom Graphire 3, and Photoshop Elements 3 that came with it. I had little knowledge of file quality, layering, colouring, and other mainstays in using Photoshop properly. Humble beginnings are these! My art education at this point was limited at best, but art was always something I did in my spare time. And like all of the art years leading up to 2010, I drew almost entirely dragons. Aside from practicing foxes for a story I had at the time, I wasn’t interested in drawing much else. I didn’t draw people at all until college, but we’ll get to that. 2011: Christmas 2010 / New Year’s 2011 marked the time I got Photoshop CS5, a version of PS I still use today. For a while I was obsessed with the idea of PS’s Pen Tool, as I saw it could give me much cleaner line art than what I could achieve on my own. I was finally able to test that when getting CS5, and while it worked well for the time, I soon learned the tenets of line weight and tapering, something I would have to practice myself. Up to this point all of my lines were either shaky or fabricated via the Pen Tool, and it shows. This was also a year of trying to mimic Fourth-Star’s dynamic perspective...without any knowledge of how it actually worked. Not a lot of improvement happened here outside of that. 2012: This was the year I bought my Bamboo Create tablet, something I still use with my laptop nowadays. I remember trying it out at my friend’s house before I bought my own, and really loving how I was able to do the line tapering without the pen tool. It still took a lot more practice, but looking back now it was easy to see I was on the way to making line art one of my art’s strongest qualities; something that stays true today. I find it ironic that line art used to be one of the weakest aspects of my digital art, but I suppose that speaks to how far I’ve come. I did more fanart this year, oddly enough. I’d always done it before but I guess I felt shy about sharing it. Notable fandoms were Danny Phantom and Sonic. I didn’t grow up with either, but ended up liking them both a lot, and would doodle them as much as my dragons. 2013: I graduated high school and started my first year of art college, specifically Art Fundamentals at Sheridan College. At this point, everyone I knew pointed to that school (and only that school) for anything related to what I wanted to do; if it wasn’t fine art, go to Sheridan. So I went into college with a bit of tunnel vision at first, but I knew from the start that I would be gunning for animation. Not to animate specifically, but to do character design / concept art for animation. I would learn later on what having this tunnel vision would mean for me, but we’ll get to that later too. This is about the point where more expansion of design and subject matter occurs, albeit slowly. The art featured here doesn’t include my schoolwork, but the much needed increase of anatomy, structure drawing and other college level art courses started me on a path to better things. I still had a long way to go though, and Fundies could only do so much. Unlike most people I actually got decent practice from it given my limited art background, but I still can’t say it was at peak efficiency. This was the first year I actually started drawing people, and it certainly didn’t come without its growing pains.

2014: Surprising no one, I didn’t get into Sheridan after my first year, though that didn’t stop me from being disappointed at the time. I took what was effectively the second year of Fundies, called Visual and Creative Arts (VCA). This was the year that sparked my interest in graphic / logo design, an interesting turn of events all things considered, and that would stick with me a lot more than I expected. This year also featured a few smatterings of character designs, or more specifically design sheets with multiple views, costumes, etc. Character design was a required segment of the animation portfolio, so this is likely what spurred my practice in it, aside from my pre-existing interest. That does not mean I knew how to rotate a character though, yikes! At this point I’d gotten pretty good at clean line art in Photoshop with my current tablet, as well as the merits of high quality imagery. There was a lot of purple in this year and 2015, though that’s nothing really new for me.

2015: This was easily the busiest (and most path altering) year. Second semester of VCA happened during this time, but also what would be new beginnings for me. If I didn’t get into Sheridan animation, I had a choice to make for a plan B: Either stay at Sheridan for VCA Year 3 and try again for animation, or try to get into animation at another school. My buddy Amelia then dropped Seneca’s name in one of my elective classes, and I had no idea how much of a fateful conversation that would be. She mentioned it was considered a second to or even better than Sheridan, and that at least provided a clearer answer for me. A lot of trepidation followed: I didn’t get into Sheridan animation for the third time, and thus applied to Seneca (and a few other places). I was pretty scared of being a first year again at a new school with new people, and while my art definitely reflected the time I spent at Sheridan, I had no confidence in it being good enough for a portfolio given my track record. But low and behold, I got in! I was on my way to a three year rollercoaster of all-nighters, amazing ride-or-die classmates, and relentless, rigorous training. The art from this year does reflect this, both in quantity and quality of uploads, though in more of a “transition period” kind of way. This was the year I really started to draw human characters, most notably with the creation of my first comic project: Starglass Zodiac. This was the first time I had a story idea with a primarily human cast, much less a comic idea, though the designs for them didn’t start appearing in my uploads until the following year. As you might expect I didn’t have a lot of confidence in drawing people. Ironically, my first year of animation taught me all the skills I initially needed for the portfolios!

2016: When I mentioned a path altering year for 2015, I was referring specifically to the path in my art education. 2016 was a path altering year for everything else, and a polarizing one at that. 2016 was a year that was kind to no one, and while the details of what happened to me are not really relevant to this post, there’s no denying what effect it had behind the scenes. This was the year that I fully realized I’d developed symptoms of depression, and with my increasing anxiety to match, this didn’t (and still doesn’t) go so well. I don’t think that’s really reflected in my art, however. Regardless of my mental state, the outside view of my art still features the colourful characters that they always had. By this point I was in my finishing first year / starting second year, and this was easily the best time for me. My time to shine, if you will, at least when it came to character design class. We had an overarching story project that was perfect for SGZ, so I used that time to develop the characters. The double-edged sword of troubled times is my escapism is cranked to 11, so this was probably the year that spurred the most story ideas out of me. This year (and part of the next) started both Id Pariah and Feather Knights. I got my iPad Pro for Christmas this year too, and that proved to be a game changer in the amount of art I could make. I was already used to the Cintiqs at my school, and I was lucky to finally have a screen tablet of my own. 2017: The end of my second year and the beginning of my third and final year of animation. Classes split, streams chosen and a world of missed opportunities began. I didn’t do a lot of art at the beginning of the year, aside from the beginning of my Feather Knights stuff. On top of that, my college had a 5-week long teacher’s strike that literally no one wanted to be a part of, effectively derailing all hope for a good semester. Attempting to do a short film project with this happening was a recipe for disaster. During this strike was the start of my first month long challenge though: Huevember. It was an uncertain time, and most of us were not compelled to get much school work done. Completing Huevember did feel like an accomplishment though, as I was actually able to keep up with it even when school started again. I’d say this art year focused a lot on colour for this reason. What art I was able to complete outside of my schoolwork saw a lot of expansion in that area. In all honesty 2016-2018 tends to blend together for me, for better or worse. 2018: My graduating year. The strike did its damage to my final semester too, but ultimately I survived. Despite completing 5 years of college, my path became the most unclear. Third year taught me a lot of things about myself and how I approach art, but most were not positive revelations. The expectations set out for me are ones that I cannot achieve. However, I have more time than ever to do art, making this year the most art I’ve made to date. I also participated in Inktober, which reminded me how far I’ve come as an artist, despite not doing traditional art for what felt like a century. My illustrative work for Inktober ended up being some of my best art this year, and the prompts made me get creative in more ways than one. The dark cloud hanging over my head has not disappeared since 2016 however, and the toll that has taken shows more everyday. As far as my art was concerned I did more of what I loved, mostly in the form of character sheets and designs. It’s all I can do, for now. 2019, I have one thing to say: Don’t you DARE.

Monk Paths

Way of the Kensai

“Monks of the Way of the Kensei train relentlessly with their weapons, to the point where the weapon becomes an extension of the body. Founded on a mastery of sword fighting, the tradition has expanded to include many different weapons. A kensei sees a weapon in much the same way a calligrapher or painter regards a pen or brush. Whatever the weapon, the kensei views it as a tool used to express the beauty and precision of the martial arts. That such mastery makes a kensei a peerless warrior is but a side effect of intense devotion, practice, and study.” - Xanathar

Monks from this tradition receive hemalurgic limb replacements (the replacement or advancement of body parts with weapons or tools) called Guerdons. They are almost like practical trophies and are earned by accomplishing great achievements. The monks present their achievement to a council who decide if a guerdon was earned, and if so, what it should be. To outsiders, it may appear alien and horrific. These monks believe that the body can be improved, and there is honor in receiving these violent gifts.

Monks are assigned “years of construction” where they leave the temple to accomplish feats and improve themselves. The number of years they are assigned is decided by a council, though the monk is able to petition for less or more time. Most guerdons are earned in years of construction, but they can be earned in the temple too. Since these gifts enhance abilities a monk has shown prowess in, monks of this order can become hyper-specialized. (This is DM discretion)

Examples of potential Guerdons:

Navigating a ship full of refugees through a violent storm, and in return the monk received a magical compass set into their arm.

The Monk “saw through” political intrigue and foiled an assassination attempt, so they earned a magical eye to replace their own.

A Monk becomes renowned for their prowess at transcribing old works, so their finger is replaced by a calligraphy pen.

Way of the Sun Soul

“Monks of the Way of the Sun Soul learn to channel their life energy into searing bolts of light. They teach that meditation can unlock the ability to unleash the indomitable light shed by the soul of every living creature.” - From Xanathar

Beach dwelling tiny-home hippies. They are headed by an enigmatic central figure named Euphoric who they unequivocally adore (read, cult leader). Their leader is famously silent. They (he) will occasionally hold “gazing sessions” where they make meaningful eye contact with the worshippers that attend. Other than that, they haven’t made a public appearance in years, and in this void their followers are free to project whatever ideology they want to on their leader. This works in their leader’s favor because, if you actually cornered them to have a conversation you’d find that they are relatively immature and shallow. There are some books that the leader wrote years ago but they sort of aren’t talked about. The group is largely controlled by Euphoric’s “assistant” Bliss Delight. They try to appear publicly as Euphoric’s assistant at most, but they are absolutely the brains behind the operation.

Monks of this tradition are focused on their connection to the universe and to each other. They regularly meditate (solo and group meditations) on the cosmos and the way that, they feel, all living things are connected. Through this regular, focused meditation they unlock a power within themselves, unleashed as beams of sunlight.

Way of the Drunken Master

Long ago, a lone adventurer set out on the back of his young dragon turtle, seeking fulfillment in life through the creation of beer. Every year he would return to his home with his discoveries, convincing more and more people to come with him in his search. As the years passed, his dragon turtle became larger. Eventually she was so big that an island monastery was built atop her. Here, you can find the advancement and creation of the many different beers discovered throughout the years. Using the traveling island as a way to simulate drunkenness, young monks practice their skills stumbling around the island as it moves through storms and harsh waves, eventually learning to fight while consuming their prized beer. Through this training the Way of the Drunken Master pursues a form of tranquility with the perfect beer.

A rift exists between the Way of the Drunken Master and the Way of the Open Hand. In the continuous search for the best way to brew beer, the Drunken Masters perfected their techniques again and again. Each brew they create is better than the one before. This intrigues the Way of the Open Hand, as they always seek the best. This is where the problem occurs: the Way of the Drunken Master does not wish to share in the creation of the best beer. They have devoted their very existence to the cause of creating something perfect. The Way of the Open Hand simply wishes it to be given to them as if they deserve it or are entitled to it. The Drunken Masters believe in earning the hard way. More so, they believe that struggle creates beauty. There are skirmishes between these two factions often. The Drunken Masters have also been infiltrated by members of the Open Hand on occasion who pretend to stumble in a stupor, hoping to find their way to the brewery so that they can pilfer a recipe.

Way of the Shadow

The way of the shadow is heavily tied to the Umbral Winds. Their power over this natural energy allows them to step through the darkness of the world. Manipulating the dormant energy within all things, the way of the shadow is able to step into and out of one shadow into another. They have a strong dislike for the hundred oaths, they find them restrictive and unnecessary. To the Way of the Shadow, the hundred oaths limit the potential of growth. With the power gained through the Umbral Winds, the world remains in balance. The Umbral Winds whisper to these monks, directing and teaching them how to manipulate this energy. The Umbral Wind influences the monks, teaching them to fight and control their Ki using the dark energy of the world. The world is chaos; The winds are influenced through chaos. Through the Umbral Wind the Way of the Shadow find balance in all things.

Monks that hear the whispers of the Umbral wind are reclusive. There isn’t a concrete order or a figurehead. They are almost like feral cats, comfortable with detachment and confident in darkness. When monks of this tradition meet, sometimes they will group. Sometimes they will clash instinctively. Encountering a shadow monk is often unremarkable: a glint in the darkness or a feeling of unease at a shadowed alleyway before it passes. .

Way of the Elements

Monks of the Elements have the power to terraform. They wish to make a utopian planet someday. For now, they study our planet in order to learn the best possible ways of improvement. They are at odds with druid circles because of the the difference in how they view the natural world. In the eyes of the Monk of the Elements, nature is imperfect, and so it must be remade through the teachings and alterations from the Way of the Elements. Monks of the Elements have a tediously democratic system. A building can’t be built without extensive debates and multiple rounds of voting about the color the building will be painted. They view it as perfect society, but outsiders largely see it as needless. It also slows down their planet-building dreams substantially. There are so many things to vote on, so many factors that have to be decided upon, that it is difficult to imagine them ever finishing their plans. The Way of the Elements is taught within a small extremely well-planned city called Relojera. The growth of Relojera has been slow, but each addition has been exactly placed after long thorough arguments and discussions. Advancement within the Way of the Elements is difficult, as only members who have made contributions to the world which are accepted by a majority of the Way are promoted. After extensive reviews of their profiles and qualifications, once a month a handful of new trainees are accept to join the Way of the Elements

Way of the Open Hand

Travelling boat caravans, the Way of the Open Hand move from place to place seeking to consume/experience the best things in life as a way of reaching self actualization. Monks of the Open Hand (who refer to themselves as “curators”) will hear of interesting islands in the middle of nowhere. These locales have unique foods or clothing that the entire caravan will flock to and ultimately assimilate into their fleet.. Caring for and maintaining the fleet is vital. It’s a living metaphor for the importance of maintaining your body and mind.

Their “temples” or Reliquaries are massive, exquisite central ships that are expertly maintained. The Reliquary ships are roughly between 440 and 538 feet long by 210 feet wide. Each has nine masts on its deck, rigged with square sails that could be adjusted in series to maximize efficiency in different wind conditions. Along with these colossal ships, they have smaller faster ones used for quick travel and the movement of curators. The eight-masted ships, called Repositories, are about 2/3 the size of the Reliquaries, measuring approximately 340 feet by 138 feet. As indicated by the name, the Repositories carry sought after belongings and tribute goods. Seven-masted Sepulcher or tomb ships carry the fallen of the Open Hand. Sepulcher are about 257 feet by 115 feet in size. Finally, the small, five-masted warships or Feretory, each about 165 feet long, are designed to be maneuverable in battle.

The ships are loosely connected by long strips of brilliant cloth that act as highways or zip lines so that monks of this order can travel from boat to boat. They have to navigate expertly, keeping the ships in toe to avoid damaging or tangling. Their fleets move in tandem, nodding with the waves like an intricately woven blanket on top of the water. During combat, the Feretory ships (which are always kept on the perimeter of the fleet) are cut loose and are allowed to engage in direct combat while the rest of the fleet remains close to their Repository ships, keeping them safe. If a ship that is tied to the fleet begins to go down, it will literally drag the rest of the ships down with it. Because of this, a damaged ship has to be detached and left to sink. This mindset is echoed throughout the Open Hand tradition: if part of a whole is imperfect, it degrades the whole. Weak links are not accepted.

Needless to say, when they arrive at an island, seeking out the best music or woodwork or wine, they are incredibly intimidating and awe-inspiring. It’s no wonder many people are easily manipulated into supplying their most perfect, most treasured items to the curators of the Open Hand.

organizations and people

suresh kumar

yashas shetty

whofeedsblr

rewilding

5) suresh kumar farm - re-wilding - indian english garden, chakota, etc. //

experience ((the wild garden ))

today, i've been thinking about the internet and all its knowledge systems - there is much that the internet doesn't contain. it does not contain so many stories, the ability to generate respect and mindfulness for one's surroundings, to help one better be in touch with reality -- but at the same time it can connect one to others trying to do the same.

The raintree - I never knew how dividied people were about it.

those blogspot blogs - so many people had/have one. and the articles still pop up now when you look for hyper niche information - particularly during this project, when i look for information on places - flora and fauna - and general nature, food, and life related information on bangalore! a blog that someone started out of their own interest to share a part of their lives - carve out their own space on the internet. and it differs from instagram, or facebook - it really does. while super useful for sharing what youre up to - you dont really get to sit and share long form content about your life. and i wonder if that has reduced ones capacity to then read about these happenings in someone elses life. it's only now, when so much of the information i am looking for (related to experiencing places in and around bangalore - treks, markets, spaces of nature, etc. + food + flora and fauna, lakes, edible weeds + bangalore nostalgia) happens to be on blogs. an unofficial networked document of the city that is coming together with google searches. the way we gather information on the internet, so disparate yet all coming together - which is why a resource bank for the project is important.

we learn on the internet by gathering all this information from all over - sources from youtube videos to blogs to even comments (which can be very useful!) to forums and niche old websites.. and they become a psychogeography of place on the internet. we then synthesize it together to create our own understanding which we can then share, i think. and it all has such a personality...

i think this research combined with actively going out of my way to engage with people in the real world is really building a sort of image in my head. i think what i am trying to do is express that image in a project, and using all these tools from people abroad etc etc to express it in a very bioregional local way - a sort of 'back to the land' for the internet. it's astounding to see the amount of videos for things like making henna or flower garlanding or gardening -- anything you want to learn, and there is a video. it wasnt always this way wasnt it? i remember that there were so many western videos you had to shuffle through. at any rate, one part of the project is documenting my creations and what im learning in a bioregional way -- by creating a sort of alter ego and making an internet personality/blogger type.

what kind of personality can i give my alter ego? she'll be allowed to say and do a lot more than i can, i think. but she still lives in my body and experiences what i experience. she is a curious scientist of the world - she is the child forever in me. she picks up things and runs with them. she is playful and mindful.

speaking of mindful, i am back in bellandur and i havent been doing much sense mapping. i havent done much sense mapping at all. im not sure what im scared of... well, im going to hear the birds and smell the dust and feel the dust and hear the construction and taste the rose apple see the kind of boxy room i live in, in an apartment .. where all the noises echo louder and loom off further into the distance.. as well as make their way here. what is the difference from yelahanka, with the trees? covering me with their canopies? what about suresh's farm - further from the hubbubububub.

symbols.. hmm.. the home garden tulsi. a tincture or tonic water. a weed popping out of a pavement. two birds playing. construction sounds. far off construction red light. dust. colours... faded blue, grey, white, green, red. crushing. the act of it. the sound. the sound of simmering. the sound of ticking and an oven. chopping. plucking. leaves rustling. crushing in your fingers and smelling.

scent of tulsi and basil as i rub it and it makes me less anxious and less nauseous and very calm and minty. henna and its bittery herbal smell. the tonic waters.. sweet basil, a bit anise like. and lemon, no citrus just sweet lime leaf. malabar spinach and a stain like blood. royal purple blood. the sweet pannir of a rose apple,, a delicate. treat. what if i added rose petal? rose water? a gingery affair, spicy.. floating suspended in water. a bug. i like how they call it that. how long till it comes alive? lemon and fenugreek and black tea in henna - the goopy mixture, ready to go on my hair. soapy - the leaves. clay like - the powder. visually.. the leaves go sop and lose their green on so much boiling. on pounding. the malabar spinach goes POP. there are greens and a pumpkin. visually, i feel satisfied by the rainbow today. purple malabar. indigo.. uh.. i suppose the malabar satisfiesx that. green.. the tulsi, the aloe, thee lemongrass, the basil, the ajwain, the betel leaf.. the spinach greens.. the henna. wow. a lot of green. taste.. well all of it tasted nice. chewing a tulsi and betel leaf. yum. yellow.. lemon and panir. orange hmm. papaya? carrot. red.. hibiscus. a curry leaf.

well, anyway. i got a lot out of my head today. i shall have to spend some time organziing and planning tomorrow. i am a in a little bit of a 'do mode' flow. tomorrow morning, i will wake up by 7.. meditate. hear birds. sense check in. go for a walk to soul kere lake. sense map/check. come back. drink herbal tea. plan - covid test, things to buy and do today, places nearby to go (if any) - make a trip outside (wrap up by 12 hopefully)

lab work today -- hopefully 12-4 and later at night, with time for research (new media, blogs, projects related to tools, etc.) and some checkin in - sense journaling, symbolism, relfection, artistic expression. evening. we henna.

documentation of research for these recipes! going through comments, that only comment from soemwhere who has the same question as yours.. bringing that back to my regional level and answering it here.

at an experience leve.. suresh kumar. i am astounded by someone like him, and i wonder if i can ever be someone like that. i feel like such a privileged city girl around him, in awe of everything, dumb and stupid. but this is not true right? idk. he is a very cool man and i love how friendly he is which is required to work at such a community level. how can i imbibe that level of community gathering and effort? it is by dedication to your work but also a level of genuine respect for everyone around you. i wager that i dont have that respect? for myself? maybe? i dont know. no, and for others either. because there is competition - what is it he said. i gained my confidence through my work. there is no other way. holy shit. there is no other way. i must gain my confidence through my work. just do a lot of it. and be as open and genuine as i can to others. work on EneErgIes. no? somewhere, i know there is something that drives me to do things. and even if it might be 'shit'.. i think i have a vision, perhaps.

there are things to plan.. tomorrow, i will spend an hour just 'starting'. i suppose. blog posts be damned. i suppose as the idea comes, make a tumblr draft and let it sit with a quick note and memory. tomorrow is also a making day. so is saturday. saturday evening i plan the next week, and finish what i 'started'. and sunday i make teasers with whatever content i have right now. no time to build new content. just enough for swati and co to get a gist of what im about. and dont share everything. keep a few teases.

think i really want to do a clay texture map tomorrow. and also work on the animation. and childhood. and topography. Oh! spring equinox celebration meal as well. and chill climate weather bengal oo roo. and nostalgia mapping. def some mapping. animist... POV.. herbalism and energy and nature of plants. the ability to stain. to scent. to taste. my experience of the plant.. and what is the plant experience of me? to crush and chew and nibble. but my reality isnt a plants reality. i dont know if it 'hurts'. it exists differently. it exists. i exist.

i want some jasmine flowers definitely to make some jasmine hydrosol..

need to read some diance ackerman, and some animism / that camden art festival thing before i sleep. some

todays kitchen mapped out

Potions| Friday. June 15th, 2018| Lesson Three: Arthropods as Ingredients

Perhaps to many of your chagrin, one of the most common phyla of animals used in our Potions is the phylum Arthropoda, or the arthropods. Insects(for example beetles or cockroaches), arachnids (spiders), and crustaceans (crabs or lobsters) are all examples of specific classes that make up the arthropods. Now although many of the ingredients we use from this phylum are simply mundane or magical, there are an overwhelming number of creatures that display transitional qualities. There is also a remarkable variance in the effects that these creatures can have on a Potion, from being vital to certain Potions for heart health to increasing vitality and energy. 

Scientists trace the beginning of the phylum  Arthropoda to sometime during what is called the Cambrian Explosionsometime between 570 and 530 million years ago. During this time, fossil evidence suggests an emergence of the major lineages of most life currently found on Earth. The species that appeared during this era were aquatic and most were relatively small in size. The compositions of these creatures are also typically simplistic. Major observable traits of arthropods - which can even be found in these early forms of life - include:

bilateral symmetry: if you cut them down the center from head to     tail, the left side would be a mirror image of the right

paired appendages: an even number of legs, claws, wings, or other     appendages that are paired

segmented composition

a hard exoskeleton:     this is typically made of a hard substance called chitin that     they shed throughout their lives as they grow

An example of one of these early arthropods, which of course predates Witches and Wizards and therefore has no known use in Potions, is the Sanctacaris, which exemplifies all of the physical attributes listed above.

The Sanctacaris’ name translates to mean “saintly crab,” and it is considered to be an ancestor to arthropods such as spiders and scorpions. Again, as the only evidence we have of these early arthropods is fossil evidence, it is impossible to say which of these creatures (if any) possessed elemental magic in any form, or whether living creatures did not yet possess magical ability. It is unlikely, owing to their simple composition, that they possessed any powerful magic. However, as our own understanding of the derivation of magic remains so scarce, it is impossible to say with absolute certainty.

Cockroaches

It is important to note that the name cockroach does not refer to a single species, but rather a group of insects that consists of over 4,600 species. The most commonly recognized species are the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) and the Oriental cockroach or waterbug (Blatta orientalis). Termites also belong to this same order of insect, and are in fact cockroaches that adapted to ingest wood. The earliest fossils from this order date back to between 354 and 295 million years ago, and evidence has been found of the modern cockroach living over 100 million years ago. Cockroaches survived the famous mass extinction of the dinosaurs, and for this longevity, it is often suggested that cockroaches are among the hardiest creatures on the planet.

Despite the negative connotation many current societies have with the cockroach, Healers all over the world have been using the insect in mundane remedies and magical Potions for over one thousand years. There is record of their magical medicinal use from Rome to Egypt to as far as China and Southeast Asia. As recently as the 19th century, Healers in New Orleans, Louisiana, where the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy is still often stretched just a little bit, used cockroach tea for medicinal purposes when treating both Magical and Non-Magical clients.

In the Magical world, the American cockroach is a valuable transitional ingredient in certain Potions that help treat and manage heart disease and other pulmonary issues. The Pacifying Potion, often used to treat trauma and anxiety attacks, also utilizes the magical properties of cockroaches in order to slow the heartbeat and calm pulmonary distress without causing drowsiness or other soporific effects. While the treat known as Cockroach Clusters is often mocked and used in pranking friends and relatives, it is thought that these sweets were initially created as a nutritious, more heart-healthy magical snack.

For Witches and Wizards who prefer to keep and harvest their own ingredients, the American cockroach is probably one of the easiest to maintain. Although it is possible to purchase cockroaches at your local apothecary, some Potioneers and Healers will keep a small colony in their home or Potions closet. The American cockroach is omnivorous, or capable of eating both meat and vegetables, and has been known to eat everything from glue to rotting vegetables to cheese, spoiled meat, and bread. They have been known to go up to a month without food, although this is not recommended or at all ethical if you are keeping your own colony of cockroaches.

Butterflies

For the purpose of this lesson, we are only talking about true butterflies, in contrast to skippers or moth-butterflies. Butterflies are certainly held in higher romantic esteem than cockroaches, and have long endured in Magical and Non-Magical culture as symbols of rebirth or continuity of the soul. This is greatly owing to their transition from caterpillar to butterfly.

One detail that is interesting to note is that lacewing flies, an important ingredient in the Polyjuice Potion undergo a transformation from larva to grown adult through the creation of a silk cocoon, which they use to protect themselves similarly as they transition to adulthood. It is thought that this transformative ability may have some latent magical quality to it that is integral to this Potion, with which the consumer undergoes a temporary transformation of appearance. However, lacewing flies are of a different order than butterflies, so the direct genetic connection is not as strong as between butterflies and moths, for example.

Wizards use both caterpillars and butterflies in Potions, interestingly for different purposes. Caterpillars are very useful in Potions and concoctions that shrink or eliminate blemishes, such as the Tolipan Blemish Blitzer. This may indicate that the magic they possess is somehow related to their immaturity and the fact that they are not yet fully adult. Caterpillars are also used in Potions that help to regrow hair as well as finger and toenails. These Potions are often consumed orally as well as applied to the region where hair or nail growth is desired. It is interesting that their potential for metamorphosis does not manifest in latent magical uses and qualities. In the creation of very early Potions similar to Polyjuice Potion, many Potioneers experimented with caterpillars, thinking that the potential to transition from caterpillar to butterfly would yield positive results in a Potion. However, to this day they have not been successful in creating a Potion to this effect.

Potioneers often use butterflies, meanwhile, particularly butterfly wings, in certain Potions that cause hallucinationsand a trancelike state. Some Magical beings claim that this trance helps them communicate more effectively with the Afterlife, although this has never been conclusively proven. What is known is that the magic within butterfly wings are capable of altering chemicals in the brain enough to create a temporary though intense magical hallucinatory state. Consuming Potions with butterfly wings can be dangerous, however: incorrect dosages or improper recipes can cause a permanent catatonic state or a permanent psychological break from reality

Arachnids

The class Arachnida is composed of arthropods that include the scorpion, spiders, ticks, and mites. Arachnids all have eight jointed legs, and almost all currently in existence are terrestrial, or live on land. 

While spiders are known to be venomous, one interesting thing to note about spider venom is that the toxins within the venom vary spider to spider. This variation causes certain spider venom to harm living creatures differently than another species’ venom. For example, the funnel-web spider of Australia’s venom has one toxin in its venom so specific, the only things harmed by it are humans, baby rats, monkeys, and fruit flies. Even adult rats are not impacted by this chemical: only the infant and immature rats. There are also spiders that, while their venom may not be immediately fatal to humans, have toxins that cause tissues to dissolve and break down after the bite has been administered.

One of the most common phobias among both Non-Magical and Magical beings is what is known as Arachnophobia, or the fear of spiders and creatures that resemble spiders. Studies have shown that up to 50% of women and 10% of men show signs of at least mild phobic responses to spiders. When considering the above information about spider venom, it may not be an entirely irrational fear at all: some hypothesize that this phobia developed as an early survival mechanism for humans, given the fatality of many spider bites even to fully adult humans.

In the Magical world, Potioneers and Healers mostly use spiders of the suborder Araneomorphae when brewing Potions. These are the typical, smaller spiders one usually sees in the home, in contrast to the Mygalomorphae, which includes tarantulas. Those of this suborder have fangs that point directly at one another, in contrast to tarantulas, whose fangs point more downwards. These spiders are typically used in Confidence Potions, although they are not an ingredient in Felix Felicis or other Luck Potions. Spiders are also used in their more mundane state to enhance certain magical poisons, though interestingly, they are also often used in the antidotes to those same poisons. One interesting thing to note about this is that spiders are not necessarily immune to their own venom, which means that it is not a magical transference of immunity when spiders are used in these antidotes.

Revision 1

~This essay required for us to step out of our own bodies and completely change our target audience. Altering the essay to speak to eight year olds did not sound like a daunting task, but a lot of thought had to go into this essay regarding what information is pertinent information and how much is too much. I also had to constantly ask myself what does an eight year old in this society know. Luckily, my topic allowed for a lot of room for a lot of added ideas. ~

Mental Health and the Black Community

Mental health is quite literally the state of your brain and how it is affecting your whole body. It is a measure of all the chemicals that are essential for your brain to work correctly. Although it would not seem like it, the brain is made up of millions of little particles, called cells, that are important in every single word you say. You do not automatically know the answer to a question when a teacher asks the class; all parts of your brain work together to help you pull out that one piece of information from your brain. It is necessary for every movement, thought, and interaction throughout the day.

When the chemicals in your brain do not exist in the perfect ratios needed to make , it creates a whole lot of problems. Chemical imbalances means that there are either too much or too little of a certain chemical, which help transmit signals within the brain. Some mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression are caused by these imbalances.

Mental illness is a collection of all the conditions that affect your mood, behavior, and thoughts. These illnesses can range from eating disorders to anxiety, but with all of these illnesses, treating them is different with every person. It is not like a common cold where the same cough syrup can cure everyone. Doctors prescribe different medications and forms of therapy for every patient.

Also, just because you are getting help does not mean that it will help. Think of how chefs perfect recipes.

First, they gather all their ingredients needed for their creation. Doctors do the same by asking questions to gather all the information needed to make an informed decision on what it is a patient has. Chefs then go on to add each ingredient in specific amounts. Doctors can prescribe medications in different amounts to each patient. These medications vary very much from patient to patient. The same patient might even need that medication in a different strength if what the doctor first told them to take does not affect them positively. This brings us to the next step. When a chef taste their creation, and decided that something is off, they can restart the whole recipe or keep adding ingredients until it is perfect. With a mental illness, doctors can try a mix of different medications and different forms of treatment until the patient feels that there is a positive change in their life.

There is no real cure to mental illnesses. Any person who is diagnosed, has to live with it for the rest of their life. They can find coping mechanisms and find new treatment options, but it is forever a battle. There is so much that humans still do not know about the brain. Because everyone is different, it is hard to assume how a certain treatment option will affect someone. Having an illness such as depression, where most of the treatment options include taking some kind of medication, can feel as it is holding you back from many things in life. Because it is caused by chemical imbalances, the medications are made from a number of different ingredients that are meant to reverse these imbalances. The same way that the imbalances affect the body in many severe ways, trying to fix it with manufactured chemicals will also cause changes. Many users of antidepressant medication still feel all the symptoms, but it is almost as if it is turned down. Most medications do not fix the illness, but muffle its effects, as if you hold your hand to a speaker to cover the noise coming out. It is still there, just quieter.

Talking about mental health is seen as unimportant in many black communities. Your parents and school have probably not spoke to you guys about, but it is very important because having a mental illness can alter the course of your life.

As you grow up, you become more aware of your surroundings and the effect that everything has on you.  As someone who has dealt with mental health before, I too felt apprehensive about seeking help when I was younger. Fundamentally, this all stemmed from the common quotes such as“just pray on it” or “that’s just the devil talking”. When parents, family members, or trusted loved ones say things like this, it can make you feel as they do not care. It is partially not their fault. They are only saying to you what they were taught to be seen as normal. This can leave you feeling like you have no one to turn to. That mentality can form a cycle of despair, which is why it is more important than ever to correctly treat mental illnesses. Now is a better time than ever, and this generation is luckier than most. The attitude that having a mental illness is just weak and not a real issue is almost nonexistent now. All kinds of people all over the world are having open conversations about mental illnesses and their treatment. The brain is not an exact science and it is harder than most things to study. Scientist and doctors learn new things everyday about the brain that can help to future develop new and better  forms of treatment.

In the article, African American Mental Health by the National Alliance on Mental Health, it states that “approximately 30% of African American adults with mental illness receive treatment each year, compared to the U.S. average of 43%”. This is simply because, compared to other racial demographics, black people are discouraged from seeking help, as their peers will see them as weak or godless.

Continuously, black people are constantly being  misdiagnosed from having a mental illness when they do seek help. This is from the visious discrimination and racism that is still vibrant within the health industry. It stems from America’s racially charged history, which put all black people at an unfair disadvantage in almost anything in life.

Another aspect of this stigma is birthed from the extreme spirituality of the black community. Older generations of black people were conditioned to always rely on God to save them from their troubles, before they were even allowed to think of getting help. From the book Researching Black Communities: A Methodological Guide, “A formal surgeon general noted a lack of evidence on outcomes of care for African Americans receiving mental health treatment” ( Snowden-225).  This further proves the racism when it comes to healthcare for blacks in America. This wouldn’t be such a dire issue if it didn’t bleed into the newer generations of black people. We have the help, technology, and support that the other generations didn’t have the luxury to have. In this instance, it makes sense that older black adults turned to God, because religion was their only escape. It is truly not their fault that they were taught to always pull it together and act as though all is right in the world

When I was younger dealing with abnormal adolescent issues, my parents would say over and over, “let God do the work” or “therapists are for white people”. Now that I’m older and have sought help, I’m grateful that I had support from my family and friends, they are relieved to see me seeing the brighter side to life. However, other young black women and men do not have the same support system as I.

Some additional steps that should be taken within the community is that we as a collective need to come together and realize that we suffer from illnesses that cannot be taken away in a snap by God, or by praying, or by anything other than sitting down and talking through our problems with a professional. I personally have no idea why seeking help is such a rarity within our community, it’s effectively killing our women and men in dangerous ways. I view this issue as almost never getting resolved. An attribute as to why as in the media, we see countless white males shooting up schools, deeming them as “crazy and troubled”. I don’t think the older generations of the black community would want to be “viewed” in that type of light, so they see young black women and men struggling mentally and end up rejecting them. It’s a very wretched but valid correlation, we’re too proud of a race to admit that as a collective, we are plagued by mental illness by at least 20% more than any other race, stated by ADAA (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).

In conclusion, the black community has a very significant issue that needs to be rectified. We could easily take the steps to de-stigmatize mental illness in African Americans if we just stopped holding onto our collective pride as a race as being strong willed and resolved, and look at the facts screaming in our faces.

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What They Left Behind: Legacies of the Recently Departed

A mind-altering poem. A transcendent song that stays with you forever. Movies that shook your belly or blew your mind. Recipes that rearranged your taste buds.

Obituaries in The New York Times give account of the creations left behind by their subjects, and reading about them can be an exercise in the discovery of marvelous things, or at least a reminder of them. Here is a sampling:

A Photograph

Only one person was allowed to carry a camera in Oak Ridge, Tenn., during World War II: Ed Westcott. Along with him, the city was home to the enrichment of uranium as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. Mr. Westcott was designated the official photographer of that top-secret city, and he chronicled the lives of the people who lived there and the work they did in helping to give birth to the atomic age.

A Film Career

The core of the legacy left by the Swedish actress Bibi Andersson lies in 13 movies by Ingmar Bergman. While she had a long career on stage and screen, she was most notably part of the informal repertory group that Bergman cast for much of his work. It included Liv Ullman, Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin and Erland Josephson.

Among the films featuring Ms. Andersson were “Smiles of a Summer’s Night” (1955), “The Seventh Seal” (1957), “Wild Strawberries” (1957) and “Scenes From a Marriage” (1974). One of her favorite roles, and the one that established her as a great actress, was in Bergman’s “Persona” (1966). As Anita Gates wrote in her obituary of Ms. Andersson, “She played a sensible nurse with reading glasses and a sunny exterior who reveals herself to be both talkative and troubled,” in contrast to the silent breakdown-suffering actress portrayed by Liv Ullmann.

A Sculpture

Claude Lalanne was a French sculptor, designer and jewelry maker who was inspired by the natural world, especially as it existed in her garden at her home in Ury, France, south of Paris. Of her signature works, called “Choupattes,” she said: “I had taken a mold of a cabbage and just wondered what it would look like with legs. The moment I saw it, it felt right. It had emotion.”

A Poem

Stanley Plumly was a poet inspired by the spirit of Keats. That predecessor was the subject of many of Mr. Plumly’s poems as well as biographical essays. In all, he wrote 11 books of verse, in which his subject matter encompassed a poor rural childhood, an alcoholic father, the polio epidemic of his youth and the natural world. Loss and memory of a past life infuse these opening lines of his moving poem “Dutch Elm,” from the 2017 collection “Against Sunset:”

I miss the elms, their “crowns of airy dreams,”

as Virgil calls them, their towering cathedral branching

spread into a ceiling above the lonely sidewalks of Ohio

where the first elm deaths were reported in America.

The poet Stanley Plumly in an undated photograph. He used rich language imbued with precise syntax in 11 volumes of poetry.CreditElizabeth Stevenson

That Voice

The actress Georgia Engel memorably played Georgette Franklin, the sweet-tempered helpmeet of Ted Baxter, the bombastic newsman on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” She also had roles on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Betty White Show” and “Hot in Cleveland.” Along with adept comedic timing, she brought a distinctively wispy, sweet-toned voice that one critic said sounded “like an angel has just sniffed some helium.”

Best WordPress Recipe Blog Themes | Templified

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Best WordPress Recipe Blog Themes

Food blogs are all the rage, whether you’re a chef or you cook at home, cuisine is a big market.  So having a perfect theme that is built specifically for food blogging is incredibly important.  Whether it’s recipes, restaurant reviews, articles about cooking techniques and products, reviews of world cuisine.  No matter what it is, if it’s about food, one of these themes can help grow your website.  Recipe blogs are growing more and more popular every day, with tons of new sites popping up, you’ll need a website that has the features and design to stand out from the rest of the competition.  That’s what this list of themes is all about.  We’ve found the very best themes around for creating an engaging and professional site for your recipes.

Unich

Unich is an awesome Pinterest style personal blog theme that has several features that make it ideal for recipe blogs.  One in particular, the Food and Recipe Maker plugin.  That also offers a comments rating system, which can be a fun and interactive way to connect with your readers.  The masonry style and infinite scrolling make this kind of theme great for content rich websites.  Unich is optimized for page load speeds, it’s easy to set up and easy to customize.  Unich has unlimited colors and the theme customization options are extensive.

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iCook

Whether you’re a professional chef, an entrepreneur in the food industry, or simply a food fanatic, you’ll love the new iCook WordPress theme. This multi-purpose theme allows you to share your lip-smacking recipes and products to the world with its variety of unique features. These include the responsive design which makes the layout adjust to all types of screen sizes and devices, the custom shortcodes for recipes, the personalized backgrounds, and the custom-made logos and icons. While recipe blogs these days may be a dime a dozen, iCook will help you make sure that yours really stands out. It does that by providing visitors with a visual experience they can almost taste. iCook was fashioned so that upon dropping by your homepage, blog viewers instantly get lured in by the large images of your mouthwatering masterpieces. This theme also displays your most popular recipes according to the number of views.

iCook’s recipe gallery includes filter function. This way, you can group your recipes according to breakfast, main meals, appetizers, desserts, etc. iCook allows you to list down ingredients effortlessly as well. Successful bloggers understand that interacting with followers contributes greatly to the popularity of a website. Upon checking your recipes, virtual guests can easily leave comments subject to your approval. At the same time, your followers can conveniently use the share buttons to spread your culinary creations across various social media sites. If you want your blog and your brand to be well-known across the blogosphere, you have to be extra responsive to messages. Likewise, if you’re running a brick-and-mortar store, you have to make sure that potential clients can locate it without difficulty. Thankfully, these are what the Google map and the friendly AJAX form in the Contacts page are for. The iCook WordPress theme is all about helping you and your brand carve a name in the food industry.

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Food Blog

Here it is, the one you’ve been waiting for.  Food Blog!  This theme is great for reviewing or promoting recipes, reviewing food carts or restaurants…anything food related, really.  Food blog is a dynamic and attractive food blog theme…that kind of sounds dumb to say.  I swear, I’m not keyword stuffing.

But it’s true!  This theme requires zero ability to code to create a great looking result.  Crafted with culinary bloggers in mind, this template makes it easy to promote recipe books, show off your recipes and more with a responsive, clean layout that’s attention getting and fun.  Video posts for those awesome .gif recipe tutorials?  There are standard posts too, of course.  Masonry and list layouts and a ton more.  This theme really brings the spice.

Everybody eats, so why not join the party and start your very own food blog website today?

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Boundly

This elegant premium blog theme can be properly utilized for almost any style or type of blogging site you might need, including a nice food or recipe blog. With a sophisticated design and a wide array of amenities, it would work perfectly as a stylish clothing site, a news magazine or maybe a personal blogging page. With a wonderful, functional arrangement and a wide array of abilities to make writing a blog easy. In the event you’re not a WordPress coding specialist, it’s still possible to alter this WP theme to provide it with the functions you want your web blog to have. Your viewers will enjoy the style and features of your site, the straight forward navigation, the fashionable and high quality layout, the clear CSS and HTML, the simple arrangement and a great deal more.

WordPress is easily the most popular blogging and CMS platform around, given that it’s so easy to utilize, it’s tremendously flexible and it includes quite a few beneficial functions. There exists a lot you can modify with every single blog theme, so it really is vital to go for a professional looking design which offers the options that you desire. A well built theme helps you draw in your readers and with a great WordPress blog theme, the code is thoroughly clean so your website loads up quickly which may help you rank better on Google or Yahoo. This premium blog theme has everything you could need create a magnificent, professional blog on just about any topic like travel, restaurants, web applications, corporate, your personal blog, clothing and plenty more.

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Bold

For a great looking food blog and recipe blog theme, Bold, which was created by Organic Themes, is a fantastic choice.  This theme has plenty going for it.  A completely unique style, WooCommerce compatibility, responsive design and a ton of flexibility.  The Seed Framework, which is what all Organic Themes are based on, allows this template to be easy to customize.  With Bold, you can fine tune the look and feel of your website using all of the customization options at your disposal.  There are a ton of food blogs out there and you want to compete with the biggest, most popular food blogging sites, right?  Well, you’ll need a theme that’s the perfect fit for recipes, food related news and more.  That’s where Bold really shines, it presents your content in a fun and daring way that commands attention from your readers.

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Divine Pro

Here’s a wonderful theme for food bloggers called Divine Pro.  This theme is a Genesis Framework child theme, so you get all the positive benefits of using the Genesis framework to build your site.  That means your pages will load up incredibly fast, they look perfect on any sort of device, no matter what size or shape.  You’ll see the SEO benefits too, since your site will load up incredibly fast and this theme works perfectly with all the most popular SEO plugins too.  There are plenty of customization options available to you and you’ll find them quite easy to implement as well.  For food blogs, recipe blogs and even restaurant reviews sites, this theme could be just what you’re looking for.

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Salt & Pepper

This is Salt & Pepper, created by Tesla Themes, and it’s a wonderful food blog theme for WordPress.  With Salt & Pepper, you’ll find it simple to set up and maintain a professional and full-featured food blogging site, with plenty of features to keep readers engaged, like a recipe filter, bright and attractive images, a clean layout, simple and clear-cut navigation and more.  Salt & Pepper makes it easy to add to the basic design with all sorts of customizations too, which helps to make for an awesome user experience.  Change up colors, fonts, add your logo and so much more.

Salt & Pepper is a wonderful recipe blog theme from Tesla Themes.  This is the ultimate theme for sharing the secrets to your culinary success.  Considering how popular recipe blog sites are, it’s critical to have an attractive and professionally designed theme like this one.  Salt & Pepper has a recipe filter built right in, making it simple to share cooking tips and techniques with your visitors.  With fresh code, responsive design and a lot of SEO optimization, Salt & Pepper could be a real powerhouse for creating an outstanding recipe site.

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Brunch Pro

Brunch Pro is a popular, delicious and nutritious theme for food bloggers.  With Brunch Pro, you get a simple, cleancut, crystal clear and easy to manage website for food, recipes and more.  Lifestyle blogs like food or cooking blogs are very popular right now.  With Brunch pro, you can easily switch between any of the 8 well designed, well crafted layouts, you can add featured images and custom headers, translate your website into multiple languages, add features, customize colors and fonts.  There’s nothing you can’t do with this theme.

If you want to check out another great theme that’s very similar to Brunch Pro, have a look at Foodie Pro, which is what Brunch Pro is based on.

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Carbone

This is Carbone, from CSSIgniter, and it’s a fantastic WordPress theme for any food related website.  I think that with a simple, elegant theme like Carbone, you can craft incredible sites that perfectly showcase food, drinks, recipes and other hospitality industry content.  For those who may be beginners with WordPress, Carbone is a wonderful theme to get started with.  It’s easy to use, easy to customize and it’s perfectly adaptable to any situation.  With addons and plugins, you can extend Carbone’s functionality in nearly any direction you choose.

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Ad-Sense

Ad-Sense is a powerful magazine theme, I think you’re going to dig it.  It’s got a ton of various options that make it easy to blog about whatever you want and to monetize your site with Ad-Sense or the advertising network of your choice.  This is the recipe blog example, but there are several others that are just as great looking and just as powerful.  Some of the best features about this theme that make it the most powerful Ad-Sense ready theme around, awesome ad management, advanced advertising placement, ad blocker detection and content locking for readers who are using an ad blocker.  That means everyone will see your advertising, no matter what.  For recipe bloggers, that makes a lot of sense.  MyThemeShop offers great support and documentation to all of their themes, so you won’t get bogged down trying to solve some minor technical problem.

For those who blog about food, beverages and recipes, AdSense is a great way to monetize your website.  That’s what this theme, Ad-Sense, is all about.  With multiple advertising placement areas and a finely tuned, strongly engineered layout, you can maximize the eyes on all of your content and also maximize the click through rate on all of your ads.  Pretty slick set up if you ask me.  Ad-Sense is by MyThemeShop, one of the best makers of great online magazine themes and this one is no exception.  It even detects ad blockers like Adblock Plus, 1Blocker, NoScript, Ghostery and Privacy Badger, which means your site’s content can be locked if users try to browse your content with one of those ad blockers enabled.  All that means your content will get more clicks and that means more revenue.  You can hide single post content too and there’s a whole lot more that this theme has going for it.  I highly recommend this for any WordPress recipe blog site.

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SuperFood

This theme is called Superfood, an organic food store and health food web template, exclusively available on ThemeForest.  With Superfood, which was created by Power Elite Author Elated Themes, you get an attractive template that’s full of great features, while remaining ultimately flexible.  The possibilities are endless with Superfood.  Bakeries, food blogs, cafés and restaurants could all benefit from this beautiful theme.  WooCommerce is fully supported, there are a dozen premade home pages, the admin panel is well appointed and easy enough for even beginners to use.  There are tons of shortcodes so you can easily add functions like image galleries, framed sliders, animations, masonry layouts, products and plenty more.  So, that’s the basics of this vibrant, colorful and modern theme.  How would you use a theme like Superfood?  I think the possibilities are basically endless.

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Capella

This is Cappella and it has only one thing in mind, to help you create a fantastic website for your restaurant establishment.  To help save energy and time, you might want to pick a WordPress theme which is previously been made, with wonderful features to help save you time and energy, so that you can devote additional effort maintaining your organization.  In the event you don’t have the time or capabilities required to generate and take care of your own site, you may want to select a first-class restaurant theme to assist you in saving you precious time.  Sometimes it seems that there is not enough time in the day to grow business for your establishment, which is the reason it can be a great idea to pick a template that’s already had the bugs worked out of it.

Cappella does it all, from fast casual, fast food or fine dining, taco stands, regional or ethnic foods such as Hungarian or Indian, coffee houses or noodle shops may all make the most use of a good looking and user friendly WordPress restaurant theme.  A wonderful looking WordPress restaurant theme like Cappella could be perfect for food carts or food trucks, cafes, cultural or ethnic foods such as sushi or Indian, fast food, fine dining or fast casual or pubs are a great way to help your culinary business stay ahead of the competitors.  There’s no limit to what you can do with Cappella.

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Foodie Pro

Foodie Pro is all about grubbing out.  With a layout and style that’s anything but fancy, Foodie Pro is one of the very best food blog themes out there for the WordPress platform.  Foodie Pro makes it easy to present your content in a stylish, svelte, sleek and attractive way.  Foodie Pro has a minimalist style out of the box but there are loads of customization features that help make it flexible enough for any food and beverage related site.  Recipe blogging themes like Foodie Pro, any kind of blog for that matter, can really benefit from the wide range of features that all Genesis Framework themes offer.  Not just the epic responsiveness, but also the fact that your site will be completely and utterly secure during every update of WordPress and Genesis itself.  That’s the power of a great child theme for WordPress.  There’s also a ton of documentation and tutorials that come with Genesis, so you’ll be able to get started fast.  Foodie Pro also allows you to sell products on your site, which is pretty cool.  Got a cookbook?  Hey, why not try to move some products?  It’s fun!

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Aperitive

Aperitive is here and it’s a great recipe blog theme.  I absolutely love the split screen layout, presenting your images on one side with your content, in this case delicious and nutritious recipes, on the right hand side.  Simple and minimal, but stylish and with it’s own voice, Aperitive is a great theme for recipe blogs.  You could go with a free plugin like WP Ultimate Recipe, which works well.  I think it looks perfect when paired with a simple theme like Aperitive.  WP Ultimate Recipe is user friendly, attractive and allows you to use short codes to insert recipes anywhere you want them to be inserted, in any post, widgetized area or wherever you’d like.  Add ingredients, a tutorial, photos and more, even add a recipe index to any page or post.  Or, you could opt for a premium recipe plugin like Recipe Box.  With Aperitive, you’ll get a theme that’s perfectly built for food blogs and recipe sharing, and it’s going to be an SEO monster too, Aperitive loads fast and works with all the major SEO plugins.  I really can’t recommend this theme enough.

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Palila

Palila is a WordPress blog theme that might be precisely what you’re looking for, if you want a simple, compact and fashionable blend of features and sleek design.  An awesome WordPress blog theme like Palila will help you build a following and it makes it possible to provide great looking content that truly grabs the reader’s attention.  Palila has what it takes to give the perfect frame and structure to your content, accenting it perfectly with a simple yet beautiful form.  Palila says it wants to make your blogging experience as smooth as possible and with the vast array of user friendly options, the simple construction of this theme and the fun and open layout, I’d say it’s working pretty well.

There are custom widgets for social networks, an ‘about me’ widget, Facebook page widget and Twitter widget too.  Place social media links at the top or bottom of every post and page, places Adsense ads anywhere you prefer in this fully responsive theme.  It’s going to look great no matter where you place them.  Half a dozen post formats help make your blog really fun and flexible, there’s support for all the Google fonts you could want, so your typography will look incredible.  All that and more make Palila a wonderful fit as a viral magazine and blogging theme.

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Children of BFFH, Entry 11

 “Momma!” I exclaimed, running to her and hugging her gently.  Momma Emma wasn’t exactly fragile, but she wasn’t terribly strong physically either.  If she removed her enhancement suit, I’d have to be really careful.

 “Sorry for the long wait, Sweetie.  Ready to see Grandma?” she asked as she brushed her fingers through my hair.

 “Yes, but… Mind fixing a couple things?” I asked, trying to give her my best smile.

 She rolled her eyes and smirked.  Then she kicked aside some snow to expose the grass underneath.  At her touch, the grass was instantly vibrant, and I could feel her connecting to all of the plants as roots grew to touch roots throughout the area.  “Were you going to play a trick on me again?” she questioned, smiling at me.

 “Maaaybe.” I admitted.

 “Okay, so what is that?” she questioned, pointing toward the area where I left what remained of the bad guy’s clothes.

 “Well, there was this bad guy who came after me!” I started excitedly.

 She held up a finger for me to stop.  “You didn’t hurt him too bad, did you?”

 “No!  I almost had to save his life, but that was because his heart has a condition.  I was actually going to fix it for him.  Sadly, I overdid my calming spell, and he stopped being in any immediate danger.  I’m sure it would’ve worked though!” I insisted, thinking through my plan again.

 “No doubt.  Where is he now?” she questioned.

 I shrugged but said, “Calamity arrived and took him away!  I was going to help get evidence on him, but Marvelous Max beat me to it.  Still, I was able to help Calamity, Momma!”

 She smiled and said, “That’s great news, Sweetie.  Mind telling me what those used to be before you completely altered them?”

 “Cotton.  They’re not even cotton-ish now?” I asked in surprise.  I still thought they were cotton-ish.

 “Where did you find… wait.  You attacked him with his own clothes?” she questioned.

 “Umm… yeah.” I admitted, knowing what was coming next already.

 “Since this was someone bad enough for Calamity to take him, you get a pass this time, but there were sooo many more options in this park that I’d expect you to leave anyone else fully clothed, Little Miss Trouble.” she warned, still smiling a little.

 The once-cotton was now reverted to a seed, which was really cool considering it had started as clothing.  One day, I’d learn to do that just like Momma.

 I nodded quickly, not wanting to ruin my free pass.  “I’ll be careful, Momma.  I really will.  He was drawing a knife, and I kinda just reacted.”

 “Was he scared?” she asked.

 Remembering his face, I giggled.  “You bet!”

 “Can’t be mad at you for scaring bad guys, now can I.” she told me.  “Come along, Sweetie.”

 Momma’s Beetle was the cutest car at home.  The exterior was a vibrant pink, and the interior was black with pink highlights on the seats and dash.  As I’ve grown, she allowed me to add my own touches, like the seed deployment system!  We had seed guns designed by the quadruplets, with a little help from Poppa Jarod, that could launch ten different types of seeds with awesome precision.  A little touch of magic, and we’d have weapons even in the areas were plants were scarce.

 The lovely vine patterns throughout the black of the upholstery had been altered numerous times as I grew, since I was getting better and better at art.  Dea was still the best at the little details, but I really wasn’t bad these days.  Momma Mila never minded printing and installing updated versions for me, and Momma Emma liked the softness of freshly-installed upholstery.

 “I already warned Grandma that we’re running a little late.” stated Momma Mila when I hopped in the back.

 “Thank you, Momma!” I replied.  “Did you tell the Boss how well I did?”

 She nodded, smiling at me.  “Very well done, but he still doesn’t want you out on patrol yet.  You’ll have to be patient.”

 I frowned but didn’t argue.  The Boss had explained his reasons plenty of times already.  Arguing with him only got me somewhere when I had loads of evidence to support my case, just like a court as he frequently pointed out.

 Momma Mila had one of her bodies in the driver’s seat, pretending to drive.  Well, she was driving, but probably not with the body.  Switching back and forth was too seamless to really tell.  Momma Mila controlled thousands of taxis as well as numerous company and personal vehicles.  She was amazing at multitasking, often being more of a secretary than Grandma Death.

 Around Momma Emma and most of the others, I had to use Grandma Death’s other name—Grandma Aaliyah—because she wanted to surprise certain people, such as Momma Emma, but Grandma Death was the coolest.  Well, maybe tied with the Boss, but she didn’t lecture me so much.  She was wicked smart and constantly encouraged me to experiment with how things were done.  She even helped me talk the Boss down a couple times when I accidentally put people in danger, upsetting him.  Luckily, he didn’t mind so much when I only put myself in danger, even explaining why the others were upset about it.

 Even the Boss didn’t have an explanation I liked for why Messy was sooo cautious.  She always worried about safety to an insane degree.  Plus, she held herself back so much that she lost to Four and me more often than she won!  One day, I planned to get her to go all out against me, so I could really see how well I’d do.  Her natural magic was even more versatile than my plants, but she couldn’t poof my plants from existence as easily as she could most things due to the potency of creation magic within my plants, which made me an actual opponent for her.  Even heroes needed to fight one another occasionally to see how much they could take.  Auntie Portentia had illustrated the importance of knowing when to call for backup a few times.

 The drive to Grandma Mary’s took nearly forty minutes, but that gave me time to do extra school work through the displays on the back of each seat.  I was also planning my new strategy for the next time I was a leader in battle against the other kids, but those thoughts were often floating around in my head.  Few things were as satisfying as winning against Four and Messy.  I grew distracted for part of the drive as I considered different ways I could’ve handled today’s criminal without turning his clothes into weapons.  If I had known how weak he was in advance, I could have used much slower attacks.

 Grandma’s house was the easiest to spot in her neighborhood.  Tiny when compared with home, her house was the most vibrant I had seen in person.  The siding was vibrant violet with azure shingles and trim.  The fence was more in the orchid range of purple, but there were all sorts of ornaments in the yard.  Lawn gnomes, flamingos, and other critters dotted the entire front!  Momma Emma once told me that the garish nature of the house distracted neighbors from things they’d find really strange, like when she tended the yard.  I didn’t really see how that’d distract people, but I’d surely figure it out eventually.

 “Grandma, we’re here!” I exclaimed after beating my Mommas through the door.  The air smelled of ingredients for our dinner, and my grin widened.

 “Perfect.  I have everything you need to cook us dinner.” she replied from the kitchen.

 Jogging over there, I quickly took in the ingredients.  The vegetables were obviously grown by Momma Emma.  No one else could make everything so perfectly shaped or smell that good.  Shame that the garden in back couldn’t be maintained in winter due to non-magic neighbors.  “Looks great!  Should I start?” I asked, bouncing on my feet.

 “Of course, dear.  Want any help?” she asked, already sitting down.

 I shook my head and took a deep breath as I focused my mind on the recipe.  My cleaning spells prepared my hands as others bound my hair back to keep anything from ruining the food.  Chef Marco expected perfection in the kitchen.  As his student, I couldn’t disgrace him by making a mistake.  Today, we’d be having Marco’s third variation on a Japanese curry, chicken masala crepes with mint sauce, steamed vegetables version seven, and a mango and cardamom syllabub.  Grandma had asked me to make this combination when I told her about it last week.  With the ingredients here, she really was interested!

 As I prepared the food, the adults chatted about work, a couple TV shows, and what I’ve been doing lately.  I had to correct a few things, like when Momma Emma called my victory in the last battle a “near victory”.  Four had admitted defeat.  Momma Mila started acting as my sous-chef ten minutes into my prep work, which made me paranoid that I had made a mistake somewhere, but she assured me that she was just keeping us on schedule, meaning my mistake was in adjusting my speed for the allotted time.

 When I was finally finished and took my first bite, I was certain that Chef Marco would approve, giving me one of his big smiles.  Momma Mila agreed to bring him a taste of each, so he could tell me later.  We were leaving the rest for Grandma, since she really seemed to enjoy it.  Leftovers at the mansion were somewhat of an oddity, since Chef Marco wanted everything at its best when we ate.  Plus, some of the adults really indulged themselves.  Grandma enjoyed hearing about how I caught a criminal today!  After dinner, we played a couple board games.  Cheating at the dice rolls was so tempting after I got unlucky, but I didn’t.  A hero wouldn’t cheat to win without lives on the line.

Things to do with kids in any part of the world

Things to do with your kids in any part of the world: USA, Europe & Beyond

No matter where you are in the world, you don’t need a lot of money or extravagant things to make children happy and have fun. I’m a pure example of this. Here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

Build a tent

Seriously, who buys those pop-up store tents anymore? (I’m not judging, I used to own them lol) When you have a small living space or live out of a suitcase like us, you have the luxury of having All. The. Things. amiright?

So, trust me, kids will much rather build their own tent with extra bedsheets, pillowcases, fabrics and chairs of all sorts.

Have bunk beds? Ohhh those are the best and bring back so many memories! #hello

Make cookies

(at least in my household) kids want IN on whatever you’re doing. Haha, My youngest child will harass my life to ‘help cook’ until I say yes. Obviously, I should be sterner and not give in (what the heck am I teaching her by giving in right? I know. moving on) but in this case, I adore the cuteness of a teeny tiny human with a cupcake for a face, trouting along to beg me to cook. How can I resist? So I now schedule time for the girls to cook. And what’s more fun than mixing, tasting and squishing!

Arts and crafts

This is my inner creative alter ego wanting to pry itself out. I LOVE arts and crafts (don’t be fooled, I’m by no means crafty or good haha) I enjoy it, and I promise if you let go of perfectionism you will too. Honestly, you don’t even need ‘a plan.’ Go to your craft store, i.e., any dollar store, and stock up on anything even remotely crafty, even if you think you won’t use it. Head straight to the stationary section, then head to the home/garden isle, after the tool and auto isle (you need something reasonable to hold all this crap, food aisle (for cheap dry goods. think beans, rice, and oats) and finally the kitchen isle for plastic cups, foil, etc. and those paper plates you’ll need for those maracas.

Make playdough

Why on Gods green earth is playdough SO DAMN EXPENSIVE???!!! Okay, I’m sorry for yelling. #Imdone. I’ve never purchased playdough for the girls because we afford it and when we could, why the heck would I pay that much anyway? And for the bargain shopper mamas reading this before you go on to tell me I can buy them in bulk, on sale, from said dollar store…I wrote above- here are my thoughts: my kids must be one a kind because these boogers go on to ‘make’ me food creations of all types and mix the playdough in all kinds of ways to make colors I didn’t even know existed. (and I’ve tried those cheaper ones and my goodness- NO THANKS) Kids enjoy cooking (see note above) and making messes, it’s a win-win. Plus it’s super easy, all types of recipes available online. So no excuses. (and no it doesn’t take that long. #aintnobodygottimeforthat

Have a Treasure Hunt

This is sooo fun. Honestly, it doesn’t need to be, and it gives you time to just sit down. Ah. You can hide anything from candy, new pencils, notes, etc. (Think the birthday section at a said dollar store) Play dress up we only have girls, and it goes without saying that they enjoy dressing up. (see toy section of any dollar store. do you see a pattern here lol) But I can only guess that boys would enjoy dressing up as well as it is a great pretend/imaginative play. Make pizza Let me start off by saying that if you don’t like pizza, I don’t know we can be friends. Ok just kidding maybe lol I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid but doesn’t like pizza and this is indeed such a versatile and cheap thing to make that there isn’t any excuse for you not to make it and it’s a lot of fun. I grew up pretty poor, and pizza for us consisted of a slice of white wonder bread cheap no-frills pasta sauce and a slice of what was supposed to be cheese. Then we popped it in the oven for a few minutes watching it until the cheese got ever so slightly burned and dug in. Do everyone in your family a favor and make the dough from scratch is pretty simple or you can just buy it one from the store it’s still a lot of fun!

Fly a kite (create a kite)

So self-explanatory and kids love it so go get one and get to your local park already if you don’t have a kite , crafts to the rescue! It is super easy to make, and they work!

Stargaze

This is one of my favorite pastimes, so I feel kind of selfish writing it but our kids loved it, and I think it’s because we are both from big cities in you don’t see stars are often and when you think it’s the one you realize that it’s just a helicopter. Enjoy the little things

Listen to books

Another guilty pleasure here but I’ve posted this love answer my children, and it’s always a good time. There are a few ways you can do this if you’re looking for free options the best way is to download the Overdrive or Libby app and entering your details and library card details, and you get to listen to audiobooks for free. If finances are no burden for you then audible is such an excellent option, and they have pretty much anything you could look for. Except The gruffalo…they don’t have that anymore because Julia Donaldson wants to do stick to print books…ok I digress. Haha. Another more affordable option is the Scribd app. it’s pretty amazing because you pay a small fee of about 5 to 8 books of month, and you get to listen to an unlimited amount books the downside is that you don’t keep it, so it’s kind of like a music subscription you get all the music you want while you’re paying subscriber otherwise you lose all your stuff.

  Read books

Same advice as above^

Make a play

Piggybacking off of the dress up here….our girls could do this all day long. Like seriously. They have. They do.

Keep all and any extra boxes you can get your hands on… The bigger, the better. (Invest in a good x-acto knife) < you’ll need this for the never-ending requests to make doors, windows and “secret exits.”

Build a snowman

If you’re in a climate where it permits this, don’t let the beauty of snow pass by because it’s bitterly cold. Trust me. I understand the struggle. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t last and the memories will.

Park

Does this really need a caption?

Train or bus ride

So, it doesn’t matter if you’re in NYC, London, Paris, or your tiny small town that’s barely making Google maps…if there are buses or trains, use em. Kids love this stuff.

Free workshops

Don’t underestimate your local library. They always have fantastic free workshops going on where all the is required is a simple registration.

Farmers market

This is such a great way to immerse yourself where you are. If you’re traveling like us, this allows you to see and meet new people. Engage in the culture and get fresh produce, food, and knick-knacks.

Make musical instruments

Here I am with the craft stuff again! If you’re like us and travel like it’s your second job, then this is a good one. Music is good for the spirit, and you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to use common household things to make instruments out of.

Have a parade

When you’re done making said instruments^ Be super silly and have a parade! Storm and stomp around the house and have fun. (Be mindful of the hour of course if you live above anyone)

Bubble bath

I can’t quite remember, but there was a time/age where our girls didn’t always get along so well. And the only time where there was a sense of peace was when they were taking baths. Seriously, don’t underestimate the power of simple water, soap and “toys” (I wrote that in quotes because I despise bath toys and much prefer temporary toys like plastic water bottles, used up lemon juice containers, etc)

Birdwatch

Children do mimic what they see. Obviously, this can be a good and bad thing. In this case, it’s alright. Many times throughout the day you can find me lost in thought #heyfellowinfj and wait for it: bird or human watching

The girls love seeing birds up close and analyzing their attributes. Have your kiddos try this!

Make confetti

Kids love to make messes so let them! Grab any old magazines, newspapers, leaflets, flyers, and pieces of scrap paper you no longer need and cut them up. You can simply put them through the shredder (this adds to the fun, but obviously watch out for those little fingers and blades) or cut shapes snowflakes, etc. Then toss them in the air and roll around in it and have a confetti party!

Outdoor sport

One of the joys of many sports is that you can travel with said instruments. Any game that involves a ball can fit in your luggage once deflated. Cricket is super lightweight, and the ball is small. Frisbee is a fantastic choice. It can get tricky with tennis as rackets tend to be heavy and bulky. (But relatively cheap to purchase)

Sidewalk drawing

Chalk is typically cheap anywhere you go and works on almost any sidewalk/balcony! If you have a private area you’re using, bring out the hose, a bucket or a bowl of water to wash away the drawings and begin fresh the next day.

Garden

Nature freedom!

Go to a museum, café, library or bookstore.

To find free museums, type “free museum, city” into your browser of choice….Same with the others.

Fire station

This may differ wherever you go, but in the US, most firefighters are happy to speak to children when they drop by to have a look but do call first to verify! (To avoid disappointment) We’ve never had an issue, but you never know.

Sing & dance

So I almost felt a bit hypocritical writing this one because I loathe doing both in public. Yes, even in front of my own family haha! But, I assure you, if you’re the same way, take it slow and do it scared! You’ll be glad you did. The easiest thing to do is go to YouTube and find some kid dance channels (maybe search for kid choreography) and let the magic happen. We also use a Toca Boca dance app!

Learn a language

After a certain amount of time traveling (it’s been years for us) your kiddos will grow to love languages. Naturally, as humans, especially little humans, we love communicating. And there’s no better way than completely immersing yourself into another one’s culture: language and all.

I realize this specifies toddlers in the heading. However, these activities can be easily adapted and enjoyed by older children as well. My kiddos are in the 10 and under range (as an example.)

What do you do for family fun? Tell me below!

The post Things to do with kids in any part of the world appeared first on Darling Steps.

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13 Non-Traditional Small Business Tips

Owning and running a small business can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be daunting and overwhelming. When we jumped into this adventure we didn't have anyone close to us for advisement who is in business for themselves nor did we have a mentor. Certainly there are many lessons that will be specific to you, your location and/or your industry. They are things you’ll likely earn along the way or that you can get awareness of by joining groups (facebook, local chamber, etc.), reading books or trade magazines, or speaking with others in the same field. There are also a number of lessons that can be learned from other entrepreneurs. That is what I will be sharing today. These aren’t the “buy a small business guide and read chapter to chapter” tips, rather, these are the “I’ve been in the trenches and learned a few things” tips. I hope you find them helpful! 1. Be Very Specific With Your Goals

I have 1 year, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year goals. Basically, I’ve taken my 10 year goals and broken them down into smaller chunks. All goals are revisited (and revised if needed) annually. Goals should be incredibly specific in order for you to see them, feel them, and work toward reaching them. For instance, instead of stating that you would like to increase your sales going into the new year, you should assign a percentage or a specific dollar amount. Instead of writing that you would like to gain more traffic to your site, again, set percentages or numbers and the timeframe. With revenue goals, take an annual goal and break it down into chunks of whatever makes the most sense for your type of business (quarterly, monthly, quantity of products, etc.). This way it’s easier to identify quickly if changes need to be made, and you have the time to make them so you have the opportunity to achieve your annual goal. 2. Delegate Where Possible

This can be difficult as many times delegation comes with a cost. It may be a financial cost and/or the cost of someone else getting knowledge of different aspects of your business. The idea is to delegate the smaller stuff , if possible, so that you can focus on the larger pieces of your business. 3. Keep Your Overhead Low

I call this the “peace of mind” tip…….keeping your overhead intentionally low allows you choices. You have more options with your pricing (less overhead to factor in) and you have more options of reinvestment back into your business. 4. Keep Your Day Job For Longer Than You Would Like

In order to make every effort to build a solid foundation, you must be able to reinvest into your business until that foundation is built. If you are taking an income from your business that significantly decreases the amount available for reinvestment. It’s by no means impossible, just more difficult. If you look for stories of business failure you will find many instances where people “jumped” too soon. They were “discovered” – had a magazine feature, a television mention, etc. where their business went from crickets to the Thanksgiving Day parade all in the blink of an eye. They left their day job thinking they’d finally “made it”, only to find the parade re-routed within months to a competitor or the next big thing. That’s not to say you can’t figure out how to sustain some of the traffic you’re suddenly hit with. But it’s all in the planning and building of a solid foundation for your business and not assuming that kind of traffic will sustain without much effort on your part. 5. Don’t Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket

This one scares me. I’m working very hard this coming year to ensure we are not doing exactly this. We currently receive over 50% of our annual sales from one source. Before you high-five me please understand that this is what worries me. If that source were to go away tomorrow, so would half (HALF) of our sales. That would be a huge step backward for us and we can’t afford (mentally or financially) to do that. So, this is one huge (costly) initiative for us in 2018. 6. Pick Your Opportunities Carefully

This is a hard one if you’re just starting out. Initially it’s hard to say “no” when an opportunity comes-a-knockin’. It’s incredibly difficult to turn away work, money, advertising, or any other opportunity. But the reality is this. There are an unlimited number of opportunities that exist in the world and not all of them are right for you or right for your business. Think about each of them very carefully. It’s ok to say “no”. It’s very easy for others to judge and think you’ve lost your mind for turning down an opportunity, but if it doesn’t help you achieve your goals and/or isn’t right in some other way, then say “no”. 7. Embrace Feedback

All constructive feedback is valuable. This is not to say that you should make a business decision for change based on all feedback, but it’s absolutely valuable to listen. Some examples from our own business: Our body butter has been incredibly popular. There are 2 keys to using it: 1. Use a dab (not a dollop), and 2. Give it about 5-8 minutes to soak in once you’ve stopped rubbing it in. We’ve had customers either not follow the 2 keys and/or not appreciate the fact that it takes 5-8 minutes. I get it – we are busy people! Instead of altering the butter recipe, we formulated another product, body milk. It’s more like a traditional lotion (but a whole lot more moisturizing) and soaks in immediately. It was our response to the feedback. When I first formulated our natural deodorant I used bentonite clay as one of the active ingredients. Feedback from customers was that although it worked fantastically they were put off by the green tinge the clay left. We listened to the feedback and immediately changed the formula so that the green tinge was no longer. 8. Know Your Numbers

If you’re not a numbers person, they can be incredibly boring (they are to me) but you must know them. It’s the only way to appropriately set financial goals and it’s the backbone of any Company. What are your true product costs? Which product(s) has the highest profit margin? Which has the lowest? What is your customer acquisition cost? How much does it cost to make each of your products (hourly cost)? etc. Not everything should be metric-driven but numbers should be the foundation of your business and, therefore, business decisions. 9. Find Out What Your Customers Need

If you’re selling a product or a service it’s imperative to know what your customer base is looking for. You can get a lot of information, as noted above, via feedback. You can also go about it in a more formal way and ask that customers fill out a survey. 10. Don’t Let Failure Result In Failure

We all have failure at some point in our life. It’s inevitable. But it doesn’t have to live as “failure”. Small failures are a GREAT way to learn and readjust our sails. Allowing ourselves to learn from our mistakes and therefore build better processes, formulate more effective products, or change up our marketing are all very effective ways to use what could be deemed a “failure”. 11. Tell Your Brand’s Story

How do you set yourself apart from the faceless, nameless corporate brand that is compared to your products? Tell your story. Tell your customers who you are, why you’re in business and what sets you and your company apart from others. Part of making this easy is the creation of a website. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, there are many free sites that use drag and drop templates and will take a couple of hours to set up. 12. Make Sure You Have A Business And Not A Hobby

It’s ok to have a hobby, but not if you’re trying to make it a business. The idea of a business is to be able to make enough income to support yourself and/or your household. It’s to replace working for another company. Make sure that the product or service you are selling has the potential of being an actual business. For example, let’s say you love knitting widgets. Everyone tells you that you should sell these hand-knitted widgets. So, you spend a couple of months creating them.  Once they are made you need to put a price on them. The price needs to cover, at the very least, your material expense but ideally your time as well. Then you need enough margin to factor in marketing, website, transportation and show costs, etsy fees, credit card fees, etc. If you look at your widget and realize it costs you $8.00 to make and there’s no way anyone would pay over $10.00 for it, this is a hobby. This is something you could do in your spare time and sell during the holidays for extra cash, but this is not something you would be able to grow into an actual business. You need to be very honest with yourself when you’re trying to determine what to do with things you are passionate about. 13. Think Like A Customer

It’s important to try and always keep this perspective. You will never ever (ever) please everyone. It just won’t happen. But, you should be able to identify who your target client is and please that person. That person and their anticipated needs will remain your focus for your business. As a result of this focus, you will please many many people.

Other posts you may find useful:

10 Tips For Selling At Craft Shows & Farmer's Markets

How To Sell At A Farmer's Market, Part 1

How To Sell At A Farmer's Market, Part 2

10 Tips For Starting A Home-Based Business

25 Ways To Make Money On The Homestead

13 Non-Traditional Small Business Tips was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

SCANNING… RECOGNIZED…

welcome [ AHN JIHYE ], aka [ EDEN ].

DATE OF BIRTH/AGE: August 22, 1997. 19.

ALLIANCE: Sidekicks.

SPECIES: Human.

ABILITIES:

magic the ability to use magical forces to varying degrees

spell casting the ability to cast spells. jihye can cast spells, an action that allows her to magically alter reality to varying extents. it is often a series of words that take effect when spoken, though certain spells are able to be cast merely by thinking, with gestures, with magical objects, or through a ritual of some sort.

healing aura the ability to project an aura of healing and mending energies. she can focus the energies she emits from herself towards those injured to have their physical wounds healed.

potion creation the ability to create beverages that can result in magical effects. jihye can create substances with magical properties such as enhancing physical and mental abilities, healing, granting powers, chancing shape, or bewitching someone depending on the kind of potion that is made.

ecomancy also known as nature magic, the ability to call upon the forces of nature through magic

fauna magic the ability to perform animal-related magic. jihye can use magical spells to control the animals, transform herself or others into animals, mimic animal traits, and summon animal or their spirits. additionally, she can communicate with animals, borrow their senses, possess them, and otherwise use animals as extensions of herself by rendering them as her familiars.

chloromancy the ability to utilize magic involving plants. she is able use a form of magic that allows her to cast magical spells dealing with plants, creating, shaping, and manipulating plants like wood, vines, plants, moss, and parts of the plants such as leaves, seeds, fruits, and flowers. jihye typically uses this power for defense and support by growing plants from the ground to form into shielding structures or by utilizing plant chemicals in her potions to heal people and the like for a wide range of effects.

WEAKNESSES:

there is always a price with magic. always. and it will be paid, one way or another. the price can range from something as insignificant as the magical energy required to activate jihye’s own magic, a part of her sanity, or even something devastating like her own life … or worse.

magic is balance this essentially means that the benefits it provides will result in consequences to equally offset it.

be safe and sound magic obviously drains jihye’s stamina or inner mana to cast spells and he like. naturally, stronger magic puts a much greater strain on her being and requires much concentration, focus, and mental strength. thus, she is required to take sufficient rests to ensure that her magical energy isn’t permanently depleted.

unpredictability is key magic is unpredictable, especially if one gets too creative or is interrupted in a crucial moment or incorrectly pronounces a spell. results range from amusing to annoying to apocalyptic if she’s not too careful.

the ancestors know best without the knowledge or proper skill, the intended use of a spell can create unpredictable or potentially dangerous results. this is the reason why witches are known to rely heavily on spell books and such because very rarely are knew spells introduced into the community, especially since her bloodline is unable to use spells that are beyond their imagination.

it isn’t so simple jihye needs to perform certain actions or fulfill specific conditions in order to use magic, ranging from specific words or phrases, certain movements, materials that must be consumed or even extensive rituals. at this point in time, she is completely unable to perform magic with just thought.

this is equality her healing aura requires giving the wounded her own magical energy to heal faster and more efficiently, and depending on severe the injuries may be, the act may render jihye “magicless” if she gives more than the other should receive.

brewing for one jihye’s potions exist only in a liquid form and cannot be mixed with any other substances for if they are, then their potency can decrease or be skewed dramatically. moreover, potions follow a strict recipe and can ask for outrageous materials like a human heart or eyeball, and then when finished being brewed, the full portion of a potion must be consumed entirely for effects to appear.

welcome to the jungle in regards to her ecomancy, she can only manipulate what already exists. for example, she may summon a bear but cannot conjure one from thin air herself, and the same applies with plant-life—this is why jihye usually carries around a bag of seeds and dirt to ensure that she can sprout plants whenever and wherever possible.

a dog-eat-dog world likewise, she has an assembly of animal familiars at her disposal that she can summon at any time from any place. she usually has one familiar beside her at all times, however, she does not have constant surveillance of her other creatures as they continue to thrive in nature without her. so if they die in the wild, she loses control of them entirely and must return to the initial place where she connected herself to them in order to find a new familiar.

SPECIAL SKILL: ecomancy. jihye’s affinity for nature is what sets her bloodline apart from the multitude of witches out there in the world.

STATISTIC CHART:

strength one of ten (2/20)

agility one of ten (3/20)

endurance one of ten (5/20)

intelligence one of ten (8/20)

teamwork one of ten (3/20)

skill progression one of ten (9/20)

ORIGINS: Accessing Information…