how to measure one's success....

...or better said when do you know that you've reached some level of satisfaction in your life...is the idea that nags me for some days now.
Well I don't really know about others, but they all seem to measure their accomplishments in how much money they're making, how many super cars they have, how many women, how many pairs of shoes, etc.
I, on the other hand, would like to measure my success in this life by how much I've left behind, especially on how many books I will have written, with my name on them. As I grew up in a home where books were the ultimate authority and were and still are sacred, you may imagine why I will feel like I've left something behind if I manage to write a few and publish them...
There are so many talented people out there that we might think anyone can write a book, but in fact it takes more time, determination and strong will than I would like to admit. I have the skills to do it, but the rest of attributes are harder to find...especially when I'm being sidetracked by other activities.
I'm getting there though, and one day my family and friends will be proud for all the support and encouragements they've given me through time.
Speaking of family and friends, I think that much of one's accomplishment can be measured in that; and one's character is also measured in fiends; the more you have the more your compass points in the right direction.
Now you might say that you only have few real friends, but I am here talking about the real ones, which help and will get help in return, the ones that are there with a shoulder to cry on and not the ones you meet every day for a coffee. Real friends are the ones you don't speak with for months in a row, and then, when you do meet, it's like you've never lost contact. They know you and you know them, they respect and love you and you respect and love them in return; without questioning, without rewards, no strings attached, except for those of two compatible hearts.
I was surprised many times in my short life to see that there are people who don't really have friends, I wonder where do they get their support, their reassurance, their warmth? ok, Family is family, but don't you ever need another opinion, even if at times it contradicts everything you believed in?

I feel accomplished with little things, like a new book on my shelf, a new funny face one of my nieces makes, the quiet and serenity my cats brings, the satisfaction of picking your own vegetables and knowing you planted, tended and will eat them too,

as well as the quiet and peace my motor gives me on times like this beautiful sunset...

the way all falls into place on a quiet afternoon, the smell of good food

and tomato soup in particular, the perfume of ripe fruit...the satisfaction of spending the money I made from writing, as little as they come, the 30 minutes of lunch break at work during a crazy work day... when I get to eat my goodies...

 and read a few lines from a nice book... my friends' laughs around the table after a good dinner that I've cooked and they ate, thanking me for the food at the end...

I know much of my accomplishments come from food, so there is one good reason why I started this blog-journal. Food is a crucial part of my life, my social compass, my health provider and my success measurement unit.
Just thinking that there are so many persons out there who suffer from lack of food, whole countries who eat less in a month than my family does in a week; and that without thinking about water or any other simple needs; makes my skin crawl and makes me respect my food more, as it is a sacred and crucial aspect.

Then I think of all the persons who are not well informed, get sick from their food and their doctors don't really tell them exactly what is good or bad, that it makes me angry, but there is so little you can do for a person who's been eating meat all his or her life and can't restrain from food that makes him or her sick...as habit is a nasty obstacle to overcome...and then there are the ones that pure and simply refuse to acknowledge the fact that much of the food we find in supermarkets is plastic, and not only kills them, but also the world around them....but the story about plastic is another one....which I will tell you about at another time....

I have no idea how others really measure their success, but there it is, my simple and straightforward truth....my success comes from the acknowledgement that animal flesh is not the food I want to eat; and this so more since I will soon be 1 year old in my vegan diet...but most of all from the peace of mind I got once I took this decision.
Being vegan is not a trend, not a pride matter and surely not something everyone will understand, being vegan is a way of life which implies many more steps, which gets you to the place where you realize that you're not yet there, that apart from not eating animals you have to protect them, protect the environment and leave a legacy to our future generations...and oh so much more!
But again, that will be the subject of many posts to come.... as I'm still just at the beginning of the path...

Still, there is a question always in my mind, nagging me, only made stronger by the studies I take....making me more and more scared every day...

If trees could talk, what would they whisper to us?

Is there another world out there?

Sometimes I feel like I belong somewhere else, sometimes I feel like I'm right where I am meant to be...but all the time I see and observe the people around me. Some are happy, some make me sad, some are stressed out and nervous, and some are serene and smile all the time. what do the ones smiling know that the others don't? Do some just immerse themselves in their every day problems and forget how to live? Amaizingly, I observe all these things because I recognize the feelings; the happy as well as the sad ones. Been there, done that, I could say it many many times...

source: bing images

I see all of these detached, from my own and personal bubble, where there are many problems, but where there are also many things to be grateful for, and these latter make all the hard work worth while.
We've all got problems, but if we could just listen around us for a little bit, stop the misery train in its tracks, we could really see that many of them are actually just so big as we make them. But there's a catch, as always. Do not let yourself be wrongly influenced by the world outside, because it will only make you feel worse. Go, have a walk in the woods, listen to what the trees have to say, climb a mountain or a hill, stay on the grass by a stream and clearly think your problems through. The solution will come to you, because you already had it, but were too polluted by the noise around you to be able to grasp it.
And yes, there are people out there, like from another world, who think everything is in their power, who care nothing for a stray dog or cat, who think sheep and cows and chickens are actually living for their sole role as our feeding material; and I mean material in its most cruel and de- personalizing  kind of way.
And then there's hobbits like me, who open their eyes more every day, break from the system, start growing things and decide to change every single day. That's why sometimes I feel like I'm in another world from many of the people I know. Slowly, timidly, I give them little bits of information, I let them see how I discovered this thing or that can be done in a more harmless way, and the people who matter to me start changing bit by bit.
Those who mock my ways do not scare and do not hurt me, I do not envy them for any of their numerous possessions, I do not long to have what they have, I just keep on going my own way. And as through my way I respect everything around me, so do I respect them and their choices, do not judge them, as we are all free to choose.

And yet again, I sit and wonder....
If trees could talk, what would they whisper to us?

As if I needed a reminder...

I stumbled upon this interesting site today...

we animals

... talk about a picture meaning more than a thousand words...

source: http://www.weanimals.org

good bye dairy products, eggs and zoos....

And here's another site I love following...

Edgar's Mission

These are just a few of the reasons why I decided not to eat animals anymore...and this is the reason I state each and every time someone asks the inevitable question "Why don't you eat meat anymore?"...my answer, straight from the heart, is, "I decided to no longer eat animals, that's why."
I understand that many don't see, and really don't want to see the ugly side of meat eating...I understand totally, it is disturbing, unnerving, sickening, so we all refuse to acknowledge things that hurt us and make us feel bad or uncomfortable. But I have an advantage: if I'm not consuming it any more, I feel like a better person and feel lighter, don't have so many health problems and feel good on the whole, like in a "Mens sana in corpore sano" kind of way..
I also understand why people don't like recycling...it can be bothering, having all those extra recycling trash cans, and here in Romania you can choose to do it or not unfortunately, leaving it up to the individual's civic sense of duty so to speak. If recycling is hard, I imagine how reducing the impact on the environment can be; so speaking about carbon footprint is in vain. I'm just starting on this path, trying to reduce waste as much as possible. I guess this is the normal step after going on my vegetarian path...
Even if I'm just at the beginning of this winding road, and so far I'm crazed by the sound of tap water running, eat local produce as much as possible for half a reason (my desire to find healthy food and help local producers) to which I need to add the impact made by transported/packed/belonging to international industry mammoths all sorts of products; I'm encouraged by the abundance of information I can find on the Internet about substitute solutions I never even dreamed existed.

In another order of ideas, I've been wondering...

If trees could speak, what would they whisper to us?

let's enjoy the Sun...

...and everything it brings us. Let's dedicate this week to being grateful for everyone and everything we have in our lives, without thinking about our regrets! Let's each get out in the sun, let his warm rays caress our face, feel as our vision behind our eyelids turns red and stop only when we start seeing spots! Let it invade our face and our hearts!
This is the sunflower I plated on my balcony, and I dedicate it to all of us sun lovers and happy dwellers of this beautiful Earth!

We are so blessed to be alive, to have people and beautiful places around us, to love and be loved! We have people, animals and plants around us that love to love and be loved! We are so much luckier than we ever will perceive!

credits: tumblr

Let's just be grateful for all that was, all that is and all that will be!

an ordinary day in the life of a hobbit...

While writing this, I'm at my desk in my office, so yes, hobbits do have desk jobs, suitable for their talkative, but less action-prone personalities...
Just watched about six John Deere combines passing by our headquarters, and they are a joy to watch, although they are the symbol of industrialization of agriculture. I can't help it, I  just love tractors, combines and all those green beautiful machines...

credits: www.deere.com

...they all look like huge toys to me...It might be because my father used to own a tractor back in the days, and sometimes let me "drive" it...which means I would sit in his lap and take over the wheel (I was way too short to reach for the pedals...).
Returning to our days, I'm saddened by some of my flowers...my bacony used to look like this:

..but there was so much rain this past month that my beautiful petunias:

...look now like this:

they practically have no more leaves! some how now started to grow and the poor things still have most of their flowers, so I wonder how they survived...I even thought about giving them some growth chemicals...I'm desperate! especially since I have no other place to hang them, my balcony is full...
That's a sunflower up front...I wonder if there will be some result from it...I actually have 2.
Like a true witch, I've planted sage...although late enough...but my little grass has come to life:

and gets along with my producing tomato:

I already have ripe tomatoes:

which I will be eating this weekend.They are extremely scented, and I'm sure they'll taste heavenly.I've waited desperately for my rosemary to come to life, I've even planted them 2 times, but only got this shy result after a long time:

which led me to thinking that the seeds were bad. I have beautiful edible flowers which I didn'ty have the heart to eat:

and I got some eggplants from my friend, wondering if I will see any produce, since they have flowered:

 before risking to bore you to death..I would like to add that my kale tastes delicious and I have planted little plants in every nook available:

That being said, I dream myself away, in some forest high in the mountains, just me the trees and the birds, and maybe a good book...a hammock and some lemonade...

So  you an see what an ordinary day in my life looks like: dreaming away, dreaming about good food/drink, a good book and a lot of quiet, worrying about my crops and writing about every little thing...nothing very exciting or very brave...just an ordinary simple life....:)

Wishing you a great green weekend!

Summer bliss...

There's something abut Summer that just makes me want to lay down, slow down, appreciate life more and love myself more. It's not the heat, since I am lucky to live in a cool place, it's just the sweetness of the birds singing in the small wood next to my block, the sun that goes to sleep late, the moon that is so big and wonderful each night, the breezy nights and the nice afternoon motorcycle rides; all these make me love more. And not just love myself, but love in general. I feel the love from the sun, it calms me, makes me radiate it...
I do believe that the most important aspect in our everyday life is nutrition. If we don't eat properly, we are grumpy and depressed, lifeless and exposed to disease. It's exactly for that reason that summer can heal us in and out, from the brain to the body, with its abundance of goodies. I strongly believe that a sun kissed fruit, freshly picked, can induce us a state of happiness and love.
Although I haven't written here in a while, I bet you can already understand that my belief about food hasn't changed. Indeed, I'm still a vegan, if not a full raw-vegan, at least 80% of my diet is still made up of fresh fruit and greens, and all this due to the lovely summer which provides everything I need.
And yes, I feel great, haven't lost or gained weight, it wasn't necessarily my intention; but as I've stated from the beginning, my energy level was low. Gradually, as my body started to cleanse from all those year of meat eating, my energy grew, just like so many before me stated it. My hair and nails are great, although I switched to almond, soya and rice milk without a sweat; as I've noticed for some years now that pasteurized milk gave me stomach aches.
I've been making smoothies every morning and that kept me and my boyfriend flu free all winter, although he's not a vegan at all. With the fruit abundance this season I don't even bother to make juice out of them, especially if they are from trustworthy sources. A salad like this

 is also a rare and too fancy thing, as I like to bite from my fruit, but I do them for my boyfriend, trying to make him eat more fruits.
I planted a lot of vegetables this year, I am proud to have had such activities, which I've missed for so many years, I even grow tomatoes on my balcony:

with little to no expenses, as I've received the little plants from a friend and I've recycled plastic 5 liter water bottles.

 So I'm going to eat my own grown tomatoes, after such a long time...

I read a lot on different subjects, love trees more than ever and love to go camping, which we've done a couple of times, and will do again, being the bikers that we are. My primary love remains reading on a blanket under a tree, my motor close.
I've even taken my nieces on a small field trip on foot, climbed a few rocks and once we got to the top, we spread our blanket, read our books and eaten our sandwiches which we've made ourselves.

We were pretty up out there, with cotton candy clouds, fresh crisp air, and it felt awesome!
There's something about laying with your face towards the sky, knowing that for a good piece of earth around, you are the closest to the sky, yet with your back against the secure earth;

it's some sort of happy dizziness you feel, that makes your head light.  I wish to inspire more of the reading love to my sweet nieces; I want them to see how cool it is to read and love nature.

I'll also try to inspire my sister to give up meat and sweets, but it's hard to do that while we're in different cities. I'll make some raw cookies next Friday, when I'm going to visit them.
Nature is so beautiful and I love having small pieces of wonder on my balcony, like this cucumber:

 It's amazing and beautifully strange that one little seed could give birth to such beauty. I'm stil at wonder of how complex nature is. Here are some other plant pots I've made from plastic bottles; I got the idea from a picture I saw on the Internet and then I've put one of these in every free corner of my little terrace facing the wonderful small wood.

I really feel blessed to live in this place, even if it is in a big and noisy city, this living and breathing barrier keeps it all away from my little green sanctuary.
These being said, I am proud to admit that I'm a vegan treehugger and grass worshiper, and all green inspires me to love:

May the green love which nature used to make all around us help us find the right path and heal all our wounds!

It's a fact!!

May we all have a wonderful week, full of green energy and sunshine, on the inside and out!