Thursday, August 19, 2010

I Ain't Greened Nuthin' Yet!

I am in awe of the people who built this.

Here is a video describing their successful experiment turning a crappy, disused swimming pool into an urban permaculture site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMkmgolAj6o&feature=player_embedded

I'm not about to do what they did with their pool. My pool is in good shape and used often. Beside, I'm a little too gentrified to live with a yard that looks like that, and I think Jon might leave me if I tried. But still, I am amazed by their ability to think outside the box. Or perhaps, inside the pool.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

My Thinking Place?

On the advice of a few friends, I read The Happiness Project, a best-selling book about one woman's efforts to make her life more fulfilling. Although the author goes out of her way to say that the book is not meant to be prescriptive, and is not an exact road map for others to follow, it's hard not to consider how some of her methods would apply to me. For example, a friend of hers, taking the "follow your bliss" concept to an unusual place, asked her "What do you think about when you're on the toilet?" the point was that if your thoughts drift in one particular direction whenever you have a quiet private moment, you should probably spend more than your toilet time on that subject.

I wasn't aware that I thought of much of anything while on the toilet. So I checked. In the week since I have finished the book, I have consistently had only two classes of thoughts while using the facilities.

1. Geez, I really need to sweep this floor.
2. Aaaah, that's better.

I don't really see a life path there. Maybe I am doing it wrong?