Wednesday, October 29, 2008

A Support Thread For All Who Suffer From Election Stress








This picture is about volunteers in Costa Rica (click to see the baby). They have worked a month to help an endangered turtle species to get enough eggs to hatch and to make sure that the baby turtles make that dangerous trip from the nesting sites into the ocean. Here's one of the very last baby turtles desperately racing for the big win.


I will add more pictures as I find them.












The last picture by NTodd, taken around Halloween last year.
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Cranberry Election Cake

This is a coffee cake. If you make it now it will actually taste better on Tuesday night.

Ingredients:

4.5 dl of flour
3 dl brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp baking soda
2 dl mashed cranberries (canned ones are fine)
2 eggs
2 dl cream
1 dl melted butter

dl=desiliter, tsp=teaspoon

What to do:
1. Heat the oven to 325 Fahrenheit. Butter and flour a cake pan that takes about two liters of batter. Melt the butter. Beat the eggs together in a small bowl or cup.
2. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Add to the dry ingredients the cranberries, eggs, cream and melted butter. Stir until the batter is even.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and put it into the oven.
5. Bake for an hour. Test with a fork after fifty minutes.
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Other stuff to do:

1. Go out for a brisk walk (or run if you run). Pay attention to nature around you if there is any. In any case, put your mind first in your feet and really feel them. Feel the earth below them. Then put your mind in your head. Feel the sky above it. Then put your mind in your belly. Feel your body, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. It's all one.

2. If you can't take a break long enough to exercise, do this: Have a quick check-through of your body, starting at the bottom of your head and going down to your toeses. Anything feeling tight? Anything feeling achy or painful? Are you clamping your teeth together? Are your shoulders trying to rise to your ears? Let them all relax. Give them permission if that's what they need but don't boss them. Just be aware of the tightness, because that can be enough to make it release. Get up for a second and shake your arms and legs and your whole body if you can. Take a few deep breaths and walk around a little, focusing on earth, sky and your middle.

3. Take a hot shower. Let the water wash away tension and fatigue and aches. If you are not in a place where you can take an actual shower, take an imaginary one. I use warm summer rain for this. I try to feel it gently falling on me, first my head, then my neck, shoulders, torso arms, pelvis, legs and feet. It refreshes and takes away all the stuff I don't need right at that moment.