One Theory

"If a pen drops from our fingers, or a penny rolls from our grasp, the former of course falls on our new white dress, while the latter nine times out of ten goes directly to the nearest grating, or crack or rat-hole. I aver that it is literally true, if I ever search for a letter or paper it is almost always at the bottom of the rest, while ink-wipers and pens seem to be endowed with more than mere instinct or reason - the manifest genius in concealing themselves.The Indians having observed this have come to the conclusion that it is all the work of certain busy little mischievous goblins, in which I, to a certain extent, agree with them, holding, however, that the dwelling-place of these devilkins is our own brain. It is a fact that if one's ink-wipers get into the habit of hiding all we have to do is deliberately destroy them and get others, or at least watch them carefully, and they will soon be cured of wandering. On the other hand, sacrifices to conciliate and please naturally occur, and the more expensive these are the better they are supposed to be."

Charles Godfrey Leland
Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune Telling
1889

The Most Metal Thing I've Ever Seen

Natural Plant Dyes

Shades Of Orange	Shades Of  Brown
- Alder Bark - (orange) - Bloodroot will give a good orange to reddish orange color. - Sassafras (leaves) - Onion (skin) - orange - Lichen (gold) - Carrot - (roots) orange - Lilac (twigs) - yellow/orange - Barberry (mahonia sp.) yellow orange (with alum) very strong & permanent. Any part of the plant will work. - Giant Coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) Yields bright permanent orange with alum. - Turmeric dyed cloth will turn orange or red if it is dipped in lye. - Pomagrante – with alum anywhere from orange to khaki green. - Butternut - (seed husks) - orange - Eucaluptus - (leaves and bark) beautiful shades of tan, orange and brown.	- Wild plum root will give a reddish or rusty brown. - Oak bark will give a tan or oak color. - Sumac (leaves) - tan - Dandelion (roots) brown - Broom - (bark) - yellow/brown - Walnut (hulls) - deep brown (wear gloves) - Walnut (husks) - deep brown - black - Tea Bags - light brown, tan - White Birch - (inner bark) - brown - Juniper Berries - Fennel - (flowers, leaves) - yellow/brown - Coffee Grinds - Acorns (boiled) - Hollyhock (petals) - Colorado Fir - (bark) - tan - Yellow dock (shades of brown) - Beetroot -Dark Brown With FeSO4 - Maple Trees (Red Leaf Buds) - red-brown color when dried. Found on branches before new leaves appear only present during early spring and throughout fall. - Amur Maple (Acer Ginnala) - black, blue, brown from dried leaves. - Ivy - (twigs) - yellow/brown - Pine Tree Bark - light medium brown. Needs no mordant. - White Maple (bark) - Light brown/ buff - Alum to set - Birch (bark) - Light brown/ buff - Alum to set - St John's Wort (blossom) - brown - Broom Sedge - golden yellow and brown - Coneflower (flowers) - brownish green ; leaves and stems - gold - Goldenrod (shoots ) - deep brown
Shades Of Pink
- Strawberries - Cherries - Raspberries (red) - Roses and Lavender, with a little mint and some lemon juice to activate the alkaloids can make both a brilliant pink dye and a very tasty pink lemonade. - Lichens - A pink, brown, or wine colored dye can be produced from a lichen known as British soldiers. - Camilla -It's a nice pink-magenta. With lemon and salt. - Grand Fir -(bark) pink
Shades Of Blue - Purple	Shades Of  Red
- Dogwood (bark) - blue - Red cabbage - Woad (first year leaves). Woad gives a pale to mid blue colour depending on the type of fabric and the amount of woad used. - Mulberries (royal purple) - Elderberries (lavender) - Saffron - (petals) blue/green - Grapes (purple) - Blueberries - Cornflower - (petals) blue dye with alum, water - Cherry (roots) - Blackberry (fruit) strong purple - Hyacinth - (flowers) - blue - Japanese indigo (deep blue) - Indigo (leaves) - blue - Red Cedar Root (purple) - Raspberry -(fruit) purple/blue - Red Maple Tree (purple)(inner bark) - Nearly Black Iris - (dark bluish purple) alum mordant - Dogwood - (fruit) greenish-blue - Oregon Grape -(fruit) blue/purple - Purple Iris - blue - Sweetgum (bark) - purple / black - Queen Anne's Lace -	- Elderberry - red - Red leaves will give a reddish brown color I use salt to set the dye. - Sumac (fruit) - light red - Sycamore (bark)- red - Dandelion (root) - Beets - deep red - Bamboo - turkey red - Crab Apple - (bark) - red/yellow - Rose (hips) - Chokecherries - Madder (root) - red - Hibiscus Flowers (dried) - Kool-aid - Canadian Hemlock - (bark) reddish brown - Japanese Yew - (heartwood) - brown dye - Wild ripe Blackberries - Brazilwood - St. John's Wort - (whole plant) soaked in alcohol - red - Bedstraw (root) - red
Shades Of Gray - Black	Shades Of Red - Purple
- Iris (roots) - Sumac (leaves) (Black) - Carob pod (boiled) will give a gray to cotton - Oak galls - makes a good black dye. - Sawthorn Oak - (seed cups) - black - Walnut (hull) - black - Rusty nails & vinegar - set with Alum.	- Pokeweed (berries) - Hibiscus (flowers, dark red or purple ones) - red-purple. - Daylilies (old blooms) - Safflower - (flowers, soaked in alcohol) - red - Logwood (is a good purple but you have to watch it as it dyes quick when the pot is fresh. Also it exhausts fast. We use alum to mordant and using iron can give you logwood gray.) - Huckleberry - lavender (can use it for dye and also for ink.) - Portulaca - (flowers, dried and crushed to a powder) use with a vinegar orsalt mordant, can produce strong magentas, reds, scarlets, oranges and yellows (depending upon the color of the flower) - Beluga Black Lentils - soaked in water overnight .. yield a dark purplish / black water. The color is washfast and lightfast and needs NO MORDANT and it lasts - a beautiful milk chocolate brown (when super thick) ... to a lighter medium brown or light brown when watered down. - Dark Hollyhock (petals) - mauve - Basil - purplish grey
Shades Of Green	Shades Of Peach/Salmon
- Artemisia species provide a range of greens from baby's breath to nettle green. - Artichokes - Tea Tree - (flowers) green/black - Spinach (leaves) - Sorrel (roots) - dark green - Foxglove - (flowers) apple green - Lilac - (flowers) - green - Camellia - (pink, red petals) - green - Snapdragon - (flowers) - green - Black-Eyed Susans - Grass (yellow green) - Pigsweed (entire plant) yellow green - Red Pine (needles) green - Nettle - Broom - (stem) green - Larkspur - green - alum - Plantain Roots - White Ash - (bark) - yellow - Purple Milkweed - (flowers & leaves) - green - Lily-of-the-valley (light green) be careful what you do with the spent dye bath. The plant is toxic so try to avoid pouring it down the drain into the water supply. - Barberry root (wool was dyed a greenish bronze-gold) - Red onion (skin) (a medium green, lighter than forest green) - Yarrow - (flowers) yellow & green shades - Mulga Acacia - (seed pods) - green - Peach - (leaves) yellow/green - Coneflower (flowers) - green - Peppermint - dark kakhi green color - Queen Anne's Lace - pale green - Black-Eyed Susans - bright olive/apple green - Hydrangea (flowers) - alum mordant, added some copper and it came out a beautiful celery green - Chamomile (leaves) - green	- Jewelweed - orange/peach - Broom Flower - Virginia Creeper (all parts); alum mordant; Peach. - Achiote powder (annatto seed - Plum tree (roots) (salmon color on wool with alum) - Weeping Willow (wood & bark) makes a peachy brown (the tannin acts as a mordant) - Virgina Creeper - (fruit) - pink - Balm (blossom) - rose pink

Shades Of Yellow/Wheat

- Bay leaves - yellow - Barberry (bark) - yellow - Crocus - yellow - Fustic - yellow - Saffron (stigmas) - yellow - set with Alum. - Safflower (flowers, soaked in water) - yellow - Sassafras (bark)- yellow - Syrian Rue (glows under black light) - Red Clover (whole blossom, leaves and stem) alum mordant - gold - Yellow cone flower (whole flower head); chrome mordant; Brass to Greeney-Brass. - Onion (skins) - set with Alum. - Alfalfa (seeds) - yellow - Marigold (blossoms) - yellow - Willow (leaves) - Queen Anne's Lace - Heather - (plant) - yellow - St. John's Wort - (flowers & leaves) - gold/yellow - Burdock - Celery (leaves) - Golden Rod (flowers) - Sumac (bark) - The inner pith of Sumac branches can produce a super bright yellow color. - Weld (bright yellow) - Old man's beard lichen - yellow/brown/orange shades - Oregon-grape roots - yellow - Cameleon plant (golden) - Mimosa - (flowers) yellow - Dandelion flower - Osage Orange also known as Bois d'arc or hedgeapple (heartwood, inner bark, wood, shavings or sawdust) (pale yellow) - Daffodil flower heads (after they have died); alum mordant - Mullen (leaf and root) pale yellow. *careful, because the little fuzzy hairs can make one itchy! - Hickory leaves (yellow) if plenty of leaves are boiled and salt added. - Tea ( ecru color) - Yellow, Curly, Bitter, or Butter Dock (despite various leaf shapes, all have a bright yellow taproot) gives you a yellow/flesh color. - White mulberry tree (bark) Cream color onto white or off-white wool. Alum mordant. - Paprika -pale yellow - light orange) - Peach (leaves) - yellow - Beetroot (yellow) (alum & K2Cr2O7) - Turmeric (spice) --bright yellow - Oxallis (wood sorrels) (flowers) - the one with the yellow flowers. Use the flower heads, some stem ok. It is nearly fluorescent yellow, and quite colorfast on alum mordanted wool. If the oxalis flowers are fermented or if a small dash of cloudy ammonia is added to the dyebath (made alkaline) the fluorescent yellow becomes fluorescent orange. Usually I do this as an after-bath, once I have the initial colour. Useful for shifting the dye shade, and some good surprises in store! - Dahlia Flowers (Red, yellow, orange flowers) make a lovely yellow to orange dye for wool. - Mulga Acacia -(flowers) - yellow - Sunflowers - (flowers) - yellow - Dyer's Greenwood (shoots) - yellow - Tansy (tops) - yellow - Yarrow - yellow and gold Complacently stolen from http://www.pioneerthinking.com/crafts/crafts-basics/naturaldyes.html

The Slowest Way to Make $5

Synchronicity: an apparently meaningful coincidence in time of two or more similar or identical events that are causally unrelated
If you think you are prone to synchronicity, try this experiment.
You will never get rich doing this. You do have to practice humility in high degree and have a reckless sense of optimism.
If you don't believe it will work, it won't. Don't even bother. Pet a dog or salt slugs for 30 minutes a day instead.

Cultivate a burning desire for $5.
Leave aside 30 minutes a day, preferably 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night.
DO NOT PLAN TO MISS A DAY for at least four weeks. This is key.
Begin the 2/4 breathing meditation.
For 15 minutes, meditate, surrounding yourself in a "gold" aura.
(This, in itself, is a beautiful and rewarding feeling.)
For 5 minutes, visualize the $5 bill. Picture it in your pocket. Picture yourself being happy that you've found it. Realize it as much as you can. You must be utterly confident that you will have this $5 in your possession.
Do not imagine yourself finding it, or the exact circumstances of it's arrival, but the finding itself.
If the trick hasn't paid off within a month, you must revise your technique. Maybe you are still secretly doubting it will work. You have to foolishly believe in order to receive.

This technique, when harnessed, is perfect for finding parking spaces.

A Short Lesson in 2/4 Meditation

Relax

Empty your lungs

Breathe in to the count of four - filling your lungs completely

Hold your breath for two counts

Breathe out to the count of four - emptying your lungs completely

Hold out for two

Breathe in to the count of four - filling your lungs completely

15 minutes a day of focusing on nothing but your breath is a practice that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Astrological Aphrodisiacs

Aries: chestnuts, cinnamon, pepper
Taurus: grapes, saffron, sage
Gemini: carrots, endive, fennel
Cancer: basil, garlic, peppermint
Leo: almond, celery seed, cloves
Virgo: apples, hops, thyme
Libra: figs, marjoram, parsley
Scorpio: ginger, mustard, onions
Sagittarius: cherries, nutmeg, sesame seed
Capricorn: caraway, dates, wintergreen
Aquarius: bananas, rye, dill
Pisces: coriander, mint, oranges

Sex and Magic by David Farren
1975

Petit Gourmet

Having a pet rat is a lot like having a tiny puppy with thumbs.

Their little hands are fully capable of getting into anything - Luna has been caught opening containers of expensive cheese, pulling craft supplies out to make a glittery nest,

and after she kept trying to drink tea out of my glass, I gave her a little bowl.

She drank it all, scooping it into her mouth with cupped paws.

Luna was going to be snake food, but ended up being my pet instead. I will usually let her eat a portion of my own food - rats love anything that humans do, and since she was "dead on arrival",  I don't feel bad giving her portions of my rich food as a treat in addition to her rat food. She loves me for it.

Avoid feeding rats chocolate and lots of anything that would give you gas, because it will slay your mini friend. Luna's favorite foods are rice, beans, avocados, bananas, prunes and steamed broccoli.

If she had the choice, I am pretty sure she would eat croissants and sugar cereal all day.