Shiva's and Metta's Mother's Sutra

From Mother Courage When i woke today, it was quiet in the house and the skylight was brightening as dawn began. It was hard not to think about Willy Russell's Blood Brothers which we had been to the night before. It was a parable about class and how corrosive it was. Take two children, separated at birth, one to a life of privilege and another condemned to forever slip between the nets, put them in 1970s Britain and see what happens. No one wins. It was actually a condemnation of this inhumane system. Once again i remembered being 20. It was actually very difficult to watch. It was pure Brecht as we left the theatre feeling traumatised and bruised. In many ways, with the wars and inequality, not to mention the economic and environmental devastation which we are having now - far worse than it ever was on a global scale - it didn't feel a million miles away from the world that Brecht was writing in. And i suppose there is nothing like a musical to remind you that you ...

So yesterday, i nearly caved. My hair was VERY greasy and limp and heavy and i thought, i just need to push through this. I had a bath and washed my hair with half baking powder and half warm water. There was no lather and i felt the grease detaching itself from my head. Then i conditioned it with honey, egg and lemon. The result was astonishing. Lovely, light, bouncy, shiny, clean hair with NO SMELL. And  felt fantastic knowing that i was not adding to the planet's burden. So can i recommend this if you are thinking of getting rid of the shampoo? A bristle brush - morning and evening - nice even strokes to circulate the blood and to distribute the natural oils in your hair. To wash - baking powder - half baking powder and half water. Warm water. Soak the scalp and then work at it. Rinse it out. Then condition it with any of the following: Honey Lemon Cider Vinegar Egg yolk When you have rinsed this out as an extra special treat you could also do the final rinse in ...

Ghin and his adoptee To say that Ghin loves moths and butterflies is a complete understatement. He has taken this tortoiseshell under his wing (yes, punny), and is now looking after him. He is being fed everything from apples to vitamin pills and honey. The butterfly does not seem to mind. In fact it seems to be rather enjoying the attention. Don't mind me, i am only a cute little butterfly Ghin and Oisin practise a duet .... I came back out of the kitchen to see the two of them doing this. Ghin was practising and Oisin was playing the accompaniment. It's moments like this that make me think, i'm an ok mom. George gets ready for his closeup. They are undoubtedly stunning in closeup. I sat mesmerised all night looking at this incredible creature.

One of my most favourite Italian painters. The hall table in my mom's house. Quite appropriate, no?

It was a sea of familiar faces and friends.... and other people we did not know of course. This was a flavour of the climate change action now. It was pretty cool.... Lara and her gran Oisin and Ghin having sushi and miso for lunch Amy, Paddy and .... Mick and friends Judith and husband I really enjoyed it. We managed to catch up with a few people - and people we had not seen for ages. And such weather. And i loved it. My pooless hair! No regrets.

Caustic soda - an ingredient in fertilisers, bombs and soaps I know this is very early days yet, but after having done my no poo hair treatment with baking powder and lemon and honey and egg yolk, i feel, my hair feels amazing. The scent of REAL ORGANIC lavender and wild rosemary wafting through my house and head is making think, not only this is fantastic, but also, is everything we have been told about modern life a load of bollocks? Having weaned myself off most commercialised beauty products, the shampoo and conditioners were literally the last to go. I must admit when i read about the pooless treatment i was skeptical, but then i thought, really what have i got to lose? If it works it means that i am now palm oil, chemical and plastic free for hygiene right? (Toothpaste will come next.) So that was really what spurred me on. It is currently quite good so far. Palm oil or sodium laurel sulphate, responsible for the devastation of rain forests worldwide... major ingredie...

Day Four No Poo Hair It began with the wish to not use plastic and palm oil. I just started cutting things out which were over packaged. Which meant drastically reducing any shopping in a supermarket. Those warehouses of food technology whose only interest is prolonging the shelf life of the product and lining the pockets of their shareholders. Yes, even the Co-op. But even back in the day, when i was a fledging feminist, i rejected the standards of beauty which advertising promoted. Naomi Wolf's book, The Beauty Myth, which exposed the nexus between misogyny and violence towards women in mainstream culture, was instrumental. Susan Falaudi's Backlash made me realise that while we were daughters of feminism we were now experiencing patriarchy's fight back. And nowhere was this more clearly done than through pop culture, mass media and consumerism. I hope that the wheel has turned full circle now and with Beyonce proclaiming she is a feminist - although i am still not u...

The archangels I did not plan to have a day of nothingness. Where i just sat or lolled or reclined or lazed all day. I was going to have an industrious day of cleaning the house and of getting things, non-school related, organised. I was going to go to the Camphill Open Day and have a burger there. I was going to... and then i got up in the morning, woken, by Ghin who patted me my face, asking me if i was awake, interrupting a strange dream about advent and after that... it was blogging and face booking and watching Films for Action all the way. Then i went to the Co-op, got a bottle of wine and a steak and apples and some sugar and juice and came home and then flopped a bit more. Watching another Film for Action. But this time it wasn't so interesting. As i was walking to the Co-op, i thought, ah life is so good. The mild autumn sunshine, the loveliness of life... it is amazing to think i was suicidal less than a week ago. I was watching this lovely documentary about Cul...

I promised ma i would put a link to my blog from this one, so here it is... http://holywoodsteinerclassthree2014.blogspot.co.uk On Monday i stayed home and watched, with Oisin, Blade Runner, the Director's Cut, Aeon Flux the film that is nothing like the animation, and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence which is probably the most philosophically demanding anime in existence. In all three the questions - what constitutes life, or more accurately, what constitutes consciousness and are both the same? - was fascinating. I had never watched Blade Runner  before and it was amazing. Oisin found it bewildering and bewildering because it was slow. But one day he will remember feeling nauseous and ill and watching Blade Runner for the first time. What could i say? So much has been written about Blade Runner  that it is impossible for me to add anything more. But i am glad that i did watch it. What does it mean to the human? What does it mean to be a slave? It was set in th...

Blake's Ancient of Days Over the last four days i intermittently succumbed to the vomit bug. Except that i did not vomit - i just felt like vomiting all the time, and i also did what i usually do when i have the flu: I have suicidal/euthanasic tendencies. Pleeeeeeaseeee. Just kill meeeeee..... i say to no one in particular as i roll around the bed feeling sorry for myself. As i get older i have become a terrible patient. Really really bad. I HATE being completely helpless. I hate it that i have a thousand things to do and can't do them. I HATE it... so this was how i was feeling when the flu, of course passed, without me having died, and i realised, i just needed to take it easier. See, i said to myself, you are not going to save the world - you are just gonna have to take it easy and not beat yourself up so much about the things that never get done. Just CHILL. That was this sicknesses lesson. I have had nothing to eat either. This is actually good for me. I felt a l...

Yes, we do milkshake Best milkshake ever! Comes with bee pollen Lasterday we headed to St George's market. This is part of my buy local and less packaging campaign. We refilled the washing up liquid with ecover and got some veg and some sausages. It is funny to think that the market, now the best indoor market in the UK according to the Observer, is now more than ten years old. When i first went there, there were three stalls and some tumbleweed. There was one table to anarchists not buying anything and it was FREEZING. Actually it was like an after thought of the Friday market, which was the REAL market. Where you could buy anything - for very cheap. This was decidedly not the same market. Where you could buy nothing for lots of money. I loved going there anyway because i still could buy everything i needed and also my friends were the one table to anarchists not buying anything. Then it sorta almost shut down. And after it almost shut down, as if it could have sh...