Martin Luther, Grounding, This Little Light of Mine...

His parents wanted him to become a lawyer but Martin Luther, in order to seek God, became an Augustinian monk, but eventually became disillusioned with the Catholic church. On today's date in 1517, his 95 Theses attacked the Catholic Church for selling "indulgences" to absolve sin. The 95 Theses (click to read a former post at Thistle Cove Farm blog) have two central beliefs: the Bible is the authority and salvation is obtained by faith alone and not by works. This sparked the Protestant Reformation, divided the Catholic church and forever changed "religion". If you're of the Protestant faith, you have Martin Luther to thank. Additionally, he wrote many hymns and one of my favorite is A Mighty Fortress Is Our God .

This Autumn has been glorious! Even though we're in dire need of rain, the colors are saturated against brilliant blue skies.

Sunday afternoon, Sam alerted me there were strangers on our road! How dare they! Sam is such a comical little feller; he's a good guard dog but will stay in our driveway while he's barking, barking, barking. When I acknowledge him and told him it was all right, he calmed down; all the while, Sadie is right beside me, making sure no one gets close.

A few years ago, I crocheted (is that right...crochet or crocheted???) this rug which is used in the bathroom. Every so often it needs to be washed, then hung over the gate so it can dry. It's not the best job ever done but it brings me pleasure, and, yes, even joy, when I both see and use it.

Warm, sunny days are taken advantage of by doing a bit of grounding. I wrote about it here and Wellness Mama writes about it here. She goes into scientific jargon while I basically say, "Here I am, it works." The book is Pushing Up Daisies, an Agatha Raisin mystery by M.C.Beaton...LUV this series and the made for television series, here. Heck, I LUV the Hamish MacBeth series as well!

I love where I live but one huge drawback, for me anyway, is the lack of thrift stores. A recent thrift visit found these lovelies...the little green pitcher, with lid, is used to hold cream for coffee and the little butter dish perfectly holds one of my half pound blocks of home churned butter.

I'm not sure of the original intent, but this cut glass vessel will now be used as a water pitcher. As a wedding gift, Dave and I received a Waterford pitcher and this little jewel looks like it will work wonderfully well alongside. (Gee, how do you like that onomatopoeia thing I got going? or is it? It's "alliteration", thanks to Mags for the correction...at Late Dark Thirty last night, I knew onomatopoeia wasn't correct, but couldn't sus out what was correct.) (The Lassie movie poster, background, showcases my farm, center, just under the word Lassie...woohoo!)

This little light of mine makes my heart beat quickly. I'm so glad my 'old granny' taste is out of fashion so folks will take things like this sweet, sweet lamp to thrift and consignment stores where God allows me to find and purchase.

The upper globe can be turned on or

the lower globe can be used as a rather bright night light, or

both upper and lower globes lit here.

Do you know Mags of Fraise Lachrymose blog, here? Last month, it was my pleasure to visit Mags, in Ireland! and she's begun blogging about the visit. I'm working on a Irish travelogue and, God willing and the creek don't rise, will soon have photos and verbiage posted. In the meantime, visit Mags for the first of her four parts...enjoy!

Sara, Sweet Magnolia Farm, recently commented, "Sandra, you live a beautiful life..." and it caught me by surprise. My life is centered on food, shelter, clothing with enough excitement like travel thrown in for good measure and I'm always surprised when people like it as well. Like Pam R. who wrote, "I just love your style of writing, the words and phrases. You have such a way with words!"

Sara and Pam, thank you so much and thank you all who read my natterings and give the gift of your time to comment! I do love my life, my animals, my farm and even though Dave is missed, dreadfully, the light at the end of the tunnel is light and not an oncoming train. I work terrifically hard, keeping it all going but I always...always!...take time to sit and bask in the beauty surrounding me. I have never taken my life, nor where I live, for granted and am well aware of the blessings and gifts God has given me.

Bless you all for the gift of your time in reading and the gift of your comment...bless you all!

Ponder this ~ "I have learned that my strengths are a result of my weaknesses, my success is due to my failure, and my style is directly related to my limitations.
   I have discovered that after all those years of musical instruction, after all that practice to be perfect, after all that hard work trying to compose the right notes, I am gifted with the knack of hitting exactly the wrong notes at precisely the right time.
   This is the secret of originality. Think about it...Only you can commit a colossal blunder in your own exquisite style. This is what makes you unique. But when you are faced with solving the problem, this is what makes you inventive."
~ Billy Joel ~ 

I'm Grounded!

Twice this month I've run across articles that speak to being grounded, as in, grounded to the earth and thus, the energy from the earth. Some natural type e-zines speak to this and say grounding, aka earthing, helps one live a healthier life. (Note, that is not healthy life! grrrr)

The concept of grounding was "developed" by Clint Ober but, let's face it, people have been going barefoot since the Garden of Eden. These days, there are a lot of folks who think of going barefoot as "germy" but I disagree as long as one dodges the pitfalls to be found on a farm smile. I also don't think there's any new age factor because I believe going barefoot is yet another of God's gifts to us. For me to not take advantage of His gift is to deny myself fabulous benefits whether I understand or not.

Apparently, any part of your skin, the body's largest organ, can connect but the most potent part is in the middle of the ball of the foot. Acupuncturists know this as Kidney 1 (K1) the gushing or bubbling spring. This well-know point connects to all acupuncture meridians and thus to every part of the body. I have experienced walking around and, somehow, hitting on a sensitive part of my foot bottom, with the impact being felt throughout my body. WOW!

A transfer of free electrons is made from the Earth into the body when one is grounded. Free electrons, as you know, might very well be the most potent antioxidants known. When the free electrons encounter free radicals in your tissues, those free radicals are electrically neutralized. Electrons are negative, free radicals are positive and cancel each other out. This article on Dr. Mercola's site explains it far better and in depth than can I and Dr. Weil's site has more to say. Dr. Weil also explains there's a major commercial component to a lot of other sites...something I find highly amusing as his site has a large commercial component of folks trying to separate me from my money. 

Some articles say the perfect location for barefootin' (earthing) is at the beach, either in the water or close to the water. Water is a great conductor and our bodies contain, mostly, water so an excellent connection is achieved. If you're not at the beach, a grassy area, covered with dew, is second best. It's said concrete is a good conductor if it hasn't been sealed or painted. Other materials -wood, shoe soles, asphalt- aren't good at all as electrons are prevented from passing through. 

In the shoulder months, I go barefoot a lot and love it. Going barefoot on the farm presents a special set of challenges...all kinds of thistles, burdock, rusty old nails and, worst of all from a yuck standpoint...horse, cattle, sheep and dog manure. Still, I do it because I love the feel of my body connected to the earth. I've been know to have a lie down in the yard, dogs, cats and Carly wandering over to give a nudge and sniff, just to feel the outrageous luxury of feeling connected to God's creation. When I close my eyes and am quite still, I imagine I can feel the earth spinning on its axis. Delicious! 

In the photo, I'm standing in my yard, grass wet with rain, staring down at my "passionate pink" toes. I'm also laughing at myself; I rarely paint my toenails, hardly ever my fingernails, because I've got this negative thing going against formaldehyde, DBP, which is banned in the EU but not the USA, and tolune. 

There ya have it! Going barefoot is good for what ails you; it speeds up tissue repair, causes beneficial changes in heart rates, causes decreased levels of inflammation, can help ease muscle pain and more. Best of all...it's free so...race you to the beach!

Blessings ~ barefootin' ~ grounding ~ earthing ~ nature ~