Tag Archive for activity

Beware those Doggy Eyebrows

June 18, 2019 Comments Off on Beware those Doggy Eyebrows

Come on, now, dog-lovers. We all know that our furry friends manipulate us. Now science has proven it. It seems that dogs can move their eyebrows whenever they want to, making their eyes bigger and reaching into our hearts (really a hormonal reaction). In fact, they move their eyebrows more often when making eye contact with humans than they do when engaging in their all-time favorite activity–eating. They know it gets to us, and they have a deep need for eye contact with humans, a need that wolves, their relatives, don’t have.

Read about the study done by a team at University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Centre, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, titled The Science of Puppy Dog Eyes.

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I’m Feeling Earthy

April 22, 2019 Comments Off on I’m Feeling Earthy

April is a very earthy month, with Earth Day (today) and National Arbor Day (Friday the 26th).  PLUS, we’re in the midst of the season of renewed life, Easter.  It’s a marvelous time to think about what we can do for our home, the Earth.  No room in your yard for another tree?  In my area we have Our City Forest—you probably have such an organization in your area, too.  Sign up with them to help with planting projects in your city.  Stroll along the banks of a local river, lake, or pond, carrying tools to pick up trash.  Spend time around your home, building a birdhouse, creating a habitat in that unused corner of the yard, or planting non-thirsty plants.  Take your family to an Earth Day event, or follow up on an eco-activity you learned when attending one.  This month, begin a new habit: at least once a day get out of the house and smell the roses and the fresh air, listen to bird-songs, feel cool clean lake water on your toes, bite into a mouth-pleasing, messy orange, watch cloud-swans glide through clear, blue skies.  Then, determine to keep all these available for future generations.

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Maybe Our Lent Should Be Changed

February 14, 2018 Comments Off on Maybe Our Lent Should Be Changed

Many people observe Lent.  It’s a great shot in the rump for our weight-control, which is what many of us use it for.  We give up sweets and snacks, hoping to reduce our body-weight.  This year, let’s concentrate on reducing a different kind of weight in our world, the damaging heaviness of violence, shown in unkindness, hostility, cruelty, disrespect, and selfishness.  The Institute for Peace and Justice has developed a “Pledge of Nonviolence” we can adopt as an individual, family, or group of any sort.  With it, we promise to 1) respect self and others, 2) communicate better, 3) listen, 4) forgive, 5) respect nature, 6) play creatively, and 7) be courageous. All are perfect Lenten activities.  Then, when people ask that old question, “What did you give up for Lent?” you can answer, “I gave up being a cause of violence in my world.”

 

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How About “Earth Month”?

April 22, 2014 Comments Off on How About “Earth Month”?

April is a very earthy month, with Earth Day (today) and National Arbor Day (Friday the 25th).  PLUS, we’re in the midst of the season of renewed life, Easter.  It’s a marvelous time to think about what we can do for our home, the Earth.  No room in your yard for another tree?  In my area we have Our City Forest—you probably have such an organization in your area, too.  Sign up with them to help with planting projects in your city.  Stroll along the banks of a local river, lake, or pond, carrying tools to pick up trash.  Spend time around your home, building a birdhouse, creating a habitat in that unused corner of the yard, or planting non-thirsty plants.  Take your family to an Earth Day event, or follow up on an eco-activity you learned at one.  This month, begin a new habit: at least once a day get out of the house and smell the roses and the fresh air, listen to birdsongs, feel cool clean lake water on your toes, bite into a mouth-pleasing, messy orange, watch cloud-swans glide through clear, blue skies.  Then, determine to keep all these available for future generations.

 

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