Time for a neck rub darling

I read a little factoid from which we all could benefit.

Researchers at Brigham Young University in Utah selected two groups of married women between the ages of 20 and 39 to take part in a study on the effects of touch as a healing tool.

One group was given half-hour massages ( primarily covering the head, neck and forehead) by their spouses three times a week. The women who received the massage produced close to twice the level of the hormone oxytocin as the control group who didn't receive massages. Oxytocin reduces stress indicators in the blood and lowers blood pressure. It also promotes bonding between partners. The bonus was that the men in the study who received massages from their wives experienced the same results as the women. The study covered 34 couples and was lead by biochemist Daniel Simmons.

I believe that many people have experienced the benefits loving touch but it is a landmark to show that blood chemistry and other physical responses demonstrate that our insincts are accurate.

Good and evil grow up together and are bound in an equilibrium that cannot be sundered. The most we can do is try to tilt the equilibrium toward the good.

Eric Hoffer, philosopher/author (1902-1983)

Well deer, its luxury living this year

Deer heart, wish you were here.....

The frequent summer rains have made the trees, grasses and other vegetation on our acreage exceptionally lush this year.

One young deer in particular comes often to dine off our bounty.

She is completely unafraid of our presence. In fact, I think she often comes just to pose for Rob, our in-house photographer. Her coat is as sleek as I have ever seen on a deer in the wild. She looks almost groomed.

Well, one little drink won't hurt

One of the great privileges of living where we do, is the close contact we have with nature. There is something very special about having a wild animal, be it deer or squirrel, come up to the deck to greet us when we have our evening glass of wine.

To encourage these creatures, we keep the about two thirds of the property in wild grass. We also have more than 100 trees and shrubs to provide food and shelter. At certain times of the year we are visited by flocks of migrating birds and of course, we have our special birdie buddies who stay with us year round.

At night we are sung to sleep by the coyotes.

We are truly blessed.


Out for an evening stroll

Prayer Flight

I read today about a group of 50 rabbis and Kabbalah mystics who have taken spiritual action to protect Israel from the devastating effects of the h1n1 virus. The holy men circled Israel in a chartered plane offering prayers for the abolishing illness. An integral part of the ceremony was the blowing of ram's horns (shofar) seven times. It is said that shofars were first used by the Jews to bring down the walls of Jericho for centuries the horns have been used to make high moments in the Judaic life such as introducing the arrival of the new year, signalling the Shabbat which is the Jewish holy day and ending the fast at Yom Kippur.

I was awed by the faith of these religious people that they would re-enact an ancient battle tactic as described in the Torah to fight a tiny enemy that destroys from within one's self and believe that in marking this ritual, God would stop the progress of the disease.

I wonder though, if their prayers would truly please the creator of all things when the scope of the prayer seemed to focus on only one small nation in a threatened world. I am making this assumption because the three previous prayer flights were very precisely calculated: to protect Israel from invasion by the Nazi's in 1948, the second to prevent action against the country during the Gulf war and the third to avert a wave of terrorist attacks in 1996.

Perhaps I am a petty theologian but it seems to me that a chorus of universal prayer blanketing our world would be more pleasing the creator that the prayers so many offer that are so focused on the self.