knowledge

Wisdom’s Inspiration – Quotes

/ Penny L Howe / 2 Comments

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Many of us never tire of reading and repeating famous quotes.

Quotes are inspirational, regardless of subject matter, but bottom line, the main reason we love famous quotes is because of nuggets of wisdom buried within the quoter’s words.

We absorb these quotes because at subliminal levels we feel a sense of purpose or well-being, perhaps love, happiness, hope, awareness, understanding, determination, sacrifice, illumination and yes maybe even the feeling that we’re in touch with – wisdom of the ages.

A wisdom we believe to be true and frequently are determined to incorporate into our own mindset…

Therefore there will always be room in our minds or our hearts for quotes:

“He wrapped himself in quotation as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperiors.” ~ Rudyard Kipling

♡

I hope you’re having a happy and fulfilling weekend. I wish you well.

With affection,
Penny

Time Out for Art ~ Curiosity and little girls

/ Penny L Howe / 55 Comments

Curious by Penny L Howe, 2013

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There was a little girl who just had to know,
about every little thing, everywhere she’d go!
Girls need to understand things
the Why, the How, the Who,
little girls are curious – it’s just what we do!
*
Growing up to be mysterious
or so it seems to men.
The truth is we stay curious,
the What, the Where, the When!
*
living life and loving
the things we do the best,
Well, and staying curious
for knowledge is our quest!
My case I therefore rest!
*

“Go Girls!”

~ Penny L Howe, 2013

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Today is Thursday so it’s Time Out for Art over at Zebra Designs and Destinations! I drew a curious little girl and wrote a poem to go with it! I hope you enjoy, thank you!

~ Penny

penny

An aspect of being … a human being!

/ Penny L Howe / 28 Comments

contemplationIs it not fascinating that we, human beings, are gifted from birth with so many working processes and capabilities. Attributes (sensory, mental, physical and spiritual) enabling us to embrace, with a wonderful fullness, the miraculous mystery of life itself.

Instead, many human beings chose to view life (at a distance) making judgement calls through the limiting lens of insecurity and fear.

They see life’s inconsequentialities (now that’s a substantial word isn’t it, especially when it means something so very simple – “that which lacks importance”), but they/we leap upon these trivialities making of them meanings of importance, building upon our (and others) manufactured fears instead of nurturing truths that lay within and all around.

But there you have it, the nature of the human “being”. Are weexploring programmed to think so negatively, or has some portion of our “flight or fight” survival mechanism morphed it’s way into this state of being/existence.

I, for one find this a most undesirable trait and “state of existence” to live within.

May I recommend and strongly encourage you to consider a move – from this “state” of being to new territory. One that includes the richness of all that life has to offer. It’s out there, this vast unexplored (for many) territory of being. Yours for the asking, yours for the believing, yours for the doing.

Do not allow your mind to be “house bound” as the result of fears and misconceptions. Open yourself up and live. That is what life is all about, after all! But its still up to you to determine the aspect of your being, your choice – as always!

… In closing, beautiful and enabling words from a woman born without the attributes almost all of us take for granted; vision, hearing and for many years speech, yet she managed to overcome her adversities and indeed fully explored the richness of life itself. If she can do this, why can’t we?

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all” ~ Helen Keller

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~ Penny

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The Facts of A Cat … think on that!

/ Penny L Howe / 28 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMy Guys

My Guys, whom I’ve mentioned before, Franky and Jonny (5 years old now – I’ve had them since they were 4 weeks old, bottle fed them for a couple weeks, so they see me as their mommy) are big boys!

Franky weighs more than 20 lbs. Jonny almost 30 lbs. They can be …um very interactive and like to help out in a very ‘cat like’ way. Here they are “helping” me write a post about them.

franky wanting attention

This is Franky keeping my seat warm while Jonny spell checks for me. Unfortunately they tend to occupy a lot of space when they are being helpful!IMAG2012

They finally got bored with the whole thing (as cats will of course) and ended up hanging out on one part of the table (next photo below).

For their size both cats (who are obviously part Coon Cat) are incredible gentle and non-aggressive. They are playful and love to tease (terrorize) the family’s Pomeranian by acting like velociraptors and slowing sneaking up on him from different directions.

At my bedtime they can become quite territorial and I usually end up pinned to the bed in one position wedged in between the two of them and of course their purring is more like a rumbling. Kind of soothing in a different sort of way. They are loving and gentle though, so they stay my guys!

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Emma’s picture of one of them (love it!).

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More about cats:

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Franky and Jonny love snow!

Once again, ten year old Emma has a connoisseurship when it comes to knowing cats. She lives, breaths and if she could would eat like a cat so, she has read and studied about them (apart from constantly drawing new cat characters for her future videos) so she was nice enough to share (from one of her numerous cat books) these interesting factoids:

~ Cats have been domestic for about 4,000 years. Thank you Egyptians!

~ Cats have a method of marking their territories and  their caretakers whom they clearer consider theirs as well by using scent glands located on the forehead, side of jaw, paws, and tail.

Franky and Jonny playing "king of the mountain"

Franky and Jonny playing “king of the mountain”

~ Kittens are born blind and deaf. These senses develop four to fourteen days after birth.

~ A layer of tissue in the eyes of a cat “called the tapetum lucidum” reflects light a second time through the cat’s retina. This permits the cat to see in one-sixth the amount of light required by humans.

~ A cat’s ears can rotate 180 degrees “independently” of each other.

~ There is an olfactory organ in the roof of a cat’s mouth “the Jacobson’s organ”. It is a small pouch. A cat parts its mouth and raises its head to savor scents.

~ Cats have over 100 vocal cords. This compares to one pair in humans. But cats will only make those “meow” sounds at humans and other non-cats.

~ Cats walk by moving both right feet and then both left feet. Most four-legged mammals walk by moving theOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA front right with the back left followed by the front left with the back right. Giraffes and camels are the only other mammals to walk like cats.

~ The nose of a cat has a ridged pattern, unique to each cat just like a human fingerprint.

~ And this last one I discovered thru Google which I did not share with Emma: The female starts the mating ritual with an evocative smell and call.

She then rolls playfully in front of her potential mate “or several mates” who will fight over her. When the mating is finished, she moves to attack the male, who leaps away quickly. I found that last part particularly interesting lol!

As the photo of my guys above shows, Franky and Jonny slept together until they were just simply too big to do so (they were about 2 years old). In these final photos below, They really did try to make it work anyway,

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 this was actually their last time of sleeping together in a cat bed, It is hilarious and kinda sad too! Hope you enjoyed this post all about my Guys and Cats!

Thanks for stopping by,

~ Penny

penny l howe

Humanity, Spirituality, Science – *Never the twain …?

/ Penny L Howe / 28 Comments

The Dalai Lama

If I were to tell you that I had met a brilliant man who has explored specific areas of science over the years – subatomic physics, cosmology and biology including neuroscience and psychology – you would be wondering what famous scientist I was referring to.

The Dalai Lama is no scientist and yet he has studied each of these specific areas of science because he believes that “spirituality and science are complementary if different investigative approaches with the same goal of seeking the truth” These words are his words not mine taken from a direct quote from his book  “The Universe In a Single Atom” – The Convergence of Science and Spirituality. 

Prior to meeting him (very very briefly) a few years ago, I would not have believed it. And yet it is what he believes. One area of interest is with the workings of the human brain and when I met him in Washington D.C. he was, later on that week, meeting with a group of scientists to discuss this same topic.

He believes that in today’s world true modernization lies through the introduction of modern education which at the essence is knowledge of science and technology. To that end he has encouraged even monastic colleges to include science into their curriculum.

He believes very strongly that there is a close connection between our conceptual understanding of the world, our vision of human existence and its potential, and the ethical values that guide our behavior.

Further he believes that when science is motivated by a quest for understanding that seeks to lead us to better things and happiness then the partnership between science and spirituality is a good thing.

In the closing of his book he states “May each of us, as a member of the human family, respond to the moral obligation to make this collaboration possible. This is my heartfelt plea.”

If The Dalai Lama, one of the most educated and spiritually wise men on the planet, believes this to be true – who am I to doubt?

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Thank you for visiting me today, may your tomorrows be filled with a thirst for knowledge towards the well-being of our human family ~ Penny

*And the partial quote in the title of today’s post is from Rudyard Kipling in his Barrack-room ballads, 1892: “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” The word Twain derives from the Old English twegen meaning two.

Awww … and Reading Inspiration too!

/ Penny L Howe / 34 Comments

Reading – the foundation to learn upon!

I love this picture!

Reading words became my learning foundation when I was 4 years old. I had difficulty hearing as a child so I was taught to read early (actually my mother taught all of us to read early, she felt it was important.).

My imagination happily took flight when I would get lost inside the the story of a book and when not reading I would daydream and imagine all sorts of wonderful things as a child.

Reading books is a very good thing for children. Based on my own personal experience I cannot encourage you enough to encourage children to read books. There are electronic formats now, in abundance.

And these are good too. They can be used to further encourage children to use, write and read words. Word power is the thing.

The more words a child knows the more he/she is able to learn.

Education is the key to a better future. Word knowledge is the main foundation for education.

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Share, be involved and encourage children to read. This is Good!

This is very good!

Always!

~

A Child Reading ~ Our Future!

Thanks for stopping by today

~ Penny

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Going Bananas

/ Penny L Howe / 75 Comments

Aha! Gotcha, this isn’t what the title suggests at all, or actually this is precisely what the title suggests. It is a blog about the fruit – Banana.  This is a fun and health post about one of my favorite fruits – the common ordinary everyday banana. Hopefully you will leave here today with a little more knowledge about a very simple yummy and delicious fruit.

That yellow thing you peel and eat, the banana, is a fruit. Here in America we eat more bananas than apples and oranges combined. In some parts of the world, bananas keep millions of people alive.

Although extremely popular, the banana is mysterious; nobody knows how they evolved or from where they originated. Cultural lore suggests that in ancient translations of the Bible, the “apple” consumed by Eve is actually a banana. Entire Central American nations have been said to rise and fall over the banana.

To me, the saddest thing about the banana of today is whether it will survive. As the result of commercial enterprise the (Cavandish) banana with its very own specific reproductive system, is a genetic duplicate of the next, and therefore all are susceptible to the same blights. Today’s yellow banana is increasingly threatened and there is as yet no cure.

In the past year, scientists began focusing on the banana varieties still found in nature. Wild bananas can still reproduce by seeds and are constantly confronted with fungi. It is the hope of researchers to discover resistance genes that can be transferred to the now seedless varieties.

When it comes to nutrition, Bananas reign.  They are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber – A source of energy. They contain iron, which helps those suffering from anemia. Iron stimulates the growth of hemoglobin in the body. Bananas contain potassium; reducing high blood pressure and preventing bone loss by lessening the damage done by foods containing high levels of sodium/salts (found in the typical modern American diet). Vitamin B6 also helps to balance blood-glucose levels, reducing mood swings often associated with PMS.

Bananas are excellent for those suffering with ulcers, as they can help lower gastric juice levels and build a protective coating in the stomach and in reducing heartburn symptoms.
Bananas contain tryptophan, serotonin and norepinephrine, which can lessen depression and also help a person to relax. The B vitamins found in bananas help calm and soothe the nervous system, vitamin B6 in particular which can reduce the symptoms of irritability and sleeplessness. Bananas are an excellent first choice for solid food for infants, as they are easily digestible and non-allergic.

Bananas also help to lessen cravings for sugar and other unhealthy sweet snacks. They are helpful in preventing age-related macular degeneration and strokes. Even the peels serve a few useful purposes. They make a great fertilizer in the garden, especially for roses. Bury a few peels near the bush, and the peels will normally cause the roses to thrive. Pimples can be dried out naturally by rubbing the inside of the banana peel on the affected area on the skin.

I snapped this photograph looking down inside before removing the ice cream!

As for myself, I love bananas. They are the first item that goes into my fruit smoothies. I also use them as creatively as possible in other dishes. Recently I happened upon something new and different – Banana Ice Cream, truly unique because the only ingredient in the ice cream is the banana, nothing else. I think it’s one of the few foods that one can make ice cream without having to add any other ingredients.

HOW TO MAKE BANANA ICE CREAM!

I tried this for myself. Save up those bananas that are beginning to be not quite but almost too ripe to eat. Peel the banana, cut into small bite size pieces, place on a tray and freeze for a few hours.

Remove from the tray and place the banana pieces in a powerful blender or mixer. And blend. Add only a few pieces at a time. This does take a while.

There is enough fat in the banana and water that has been frozen in the bananas along with the natural sugar that by blending it long enough you end up with “Banana Ice Cream”.

If you love bananas you’ll love this healthy treat! The taste is so incredibly ice cold creamy and yummy it really is banana ice cream!

Hope everyone enjoyed my post today If you love bananas try the ice cream. It is delicious!

Have a happy, healthy day today, Penny

Presuming to know

/ Penny L Howe / 22 Comments

.At every stage of our lives we gather information, process our thoughts and gain experience.

And as each further development occurs we presume to know what we didn’t know before.

After numerous years of living, we presume to know many things. We become educated, very knowledgeable and often streetwise through our many experiences. We presume what others know or don’t know. And we presume we have all the answers.

I thought about all of this morning.  About presuming to know.

And I came to the sudden realization – on the day I begin with presuming to know nothing, that will be the day that I might actually begin to know.

Yes, this most beautiful spider web, glistening with dewdrops from the early morning is being shown again.

I just couldn’t help myself. It is so gloriously compelling and natural. I keep thinking about it. It was an accident that I saw it at all. When we talk about spiders we don’t ever find anything nice to say about them. More likely creative ways to get rid of them and their cobwebs.

But mother nature in her wisdom create’s a spider’s web into a thing of beauty. So once again I’m presenting, for all to see, the original art work of a spider and mother nature – close up and personal!

Also today in closing here I would like to extend a very warm and special thank you to all of those who came, liked and commented on Jack’s first post. He is very happy. I am very appreciative. There will be more Jack and Emma Posts in the near future, please watch for them. Thanks again, have a wonderful day.