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Introduction Text Health issues are the pits. I am so very, very grateful to all the folks that have been working with me to put my punies in the poky. I am grateful for all friends and loved ones who have stood by me when I was sucking hind tit for ridiculously extended periods of time. Nothing makes me happier than focusing on gratitude. For you, gentle reader, I am most grateful indeed. I borrowed my username from the "Just So Stories", by Rudyard Kipling. The Elephant's Child, my favorite of the collection, must be read aloud to fully appreciate how delightful, how deliciously extravagant it is in terms of hypnotic phrasing, melodic malapropisms and oleaginous onomatopoeia. The Elephant's Child, ever filled with "satiable curtiosity", "is an annoying creature, who goes around constantly asking What-Why-When-How-Where-Who questions. He gets obsessed by one such question (What does the Crocodile have for dinner?) and sets off on a quest to find the answer, nearly gets killed in the process, and returns with a quite unexpected benefit: this is How The Elephant Got His Trunk. If the Elephant's Child actually learns anything valuable from the experience, this is largely thanks to the intervention of the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake who (apart from saving his life) asks grounded questions like 'Try this' and 'Don't you think' and 'How do you feel'." .... an alternate yet equally appropriate username for me would be "Runs With Scissors." I joined SparkPeople on October 10, 2012 after it was suggested to me by my physician because my LDL cholesterol had risen into the nosebleed numbers. I am 65 and have a family history of atherosclerosis, heart disease, severe arthritis, Parkinson's, diabetes, and so forth... all in all a pretty inauspicious gene puddle. I have bounced back and forth between buff and buffalo for 30 years. My acerbic wit is an e-liability, but getting my tongue out of my cheek would require repeated major surgeries, so bear with me - I will try to behave. In my gallery is a picture of my abandoned garden cart loaded with more privet than I could haul - I posted it because it echoes the way I have been viewing my life in general. Mine is a story of learning to take difficult challenges in smaller bites.

I want to deep six the cholesterol. Not smoking (quit date, Dec. 1, 2012) is still a conscious activity, as opposed to a fait accompli. I want to be in good physical shape so I can wander up and down the mountains I call home with a pack full of art materials on my back and enough water - for as long as I want to, whenever I want to. I want to be able to sing while I work. I want to be able and available when folks need a hand. I am no longer a smoker, as of Nov. 28, 2012. My cholesterol is down 50 points so far. I need to drag the LDL number down a lot more and exercise that HDL number up to the ceiling. I developed gallstones (thanks to statins and high cholesterol). Had the gall bladder removed in December '13 - boy, do I feel better!

I play Tai Chi regularly. I track my meals every day, sleep 8 hours every night and I drink oceans of water. I go outside to cut down and pull up privet a lot. A whole lot. I also enjoy Nicole's short exercise videos aimed at helping me to improve specific areas of my neglected physique.

Professional artist is how I fill in the OCCUPATION blank on applications. There are a few examples of my work in my photos. I am also an amateur naturalist (which means I didn't study natural history formally -like in college or grad. school.) I have never been particularly interested in botanical and/or zoological nomenclature - if I need that info I can look it up - plus, I like to hang out with old timer herb and root people (many of whom never learned to read or write) and they won't have much to do with folks from the University. I will never be retire... for every reason in the world. I live in an intentional community that stewards an 1100 acre Land Trust. We grow and sell organic vegetables, eggs, lamb and chicken, We also import, roast and sell organic Fair Trade coffee beans from around the globe. I have always loved dancing - contra, swing, belly, you name it... but inner ear problems terminated my twirling... but the cosmos compensated. For the past 1

" The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice." Ghandi

Add a Link To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness. Bertrand Russell
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