Author Archives: Cyndi Lenz

Save the Date: Awake the State

Save January 12,2016 for Florida Awake the State. This year the Treasure Coast will have our very  own “Awake the State” group at 4 PM. The Meeting place will be the River Warrior Lodge.

Thank you to Mary Westcott Higgins, candidate for State Representative for District 82 for bringing “Awake the State” to the Treasure Coast.

Facebook Page for Treasure Coast Awake the State

Facebook Page for Awake the State Florida

 

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“We will rally on the bridge to “Awake the State”  the first day of Legislative Session. We will “Awake the State” with signs addressing our concerns. Then, we will have snacks and drinks at the Lodge.”

Awake The State is an organic, grassroots movement of everyday Floridians fighting to protect and restore our middle class.

This is a non partisan event.

From the “Awake the State” website.

“Gov. Rick Scott and his extreme allies in the Legislature have launched an all-out assault on Florida’s middle class. They’ve put our public schools in danger, harmed the quality of health care Floridians receive, and cost our communities thousands their jobs.

Floridians are fed up with their governor and legislative leaders insisting on extreme, regressive policies that hurt hard working Floridians. Enough is enough.

It’s time to Awake The State and urge our state legislators to end the war on our middle class and instead work to protect and restore our middle class by investing in our future.”

We are being assaulted by all sides by the very people who were elected to protect us.

From the Awake the state website

Commonly Asked Questions

What is Awake the State and how did it begin?
Ever since Gov. Scott and legislative leaders announced their plans to cut thousands of jobs, raise taxes on middle class Floridians and make the deepest cuts to education in history, people from all across the state have been looking for a way to voice their opposition.

Progress Florida, Florida Watch Action and America Votes joined together to provide a platform for everyday Floridians to make their voices heard. In 2011, Awake the State started as a Facebook page that quickly grew to thousands strong who organized rallies in cities all across the state of Florida on March 8th, the opening day of the legislative session.

Who is behind it?
Awake the State is made up of Floridians from every walk of life including educators, healthcare workers, police and firefighters, advocates for consumers, middle class families and more.

So please join in so we can all make a difference.

 

 

 

 

Versatile Blogger Award

Debbie over at Debbiemlewis nominated me for

versatile-blogger

 

Thank you Debbie!

Lately I found  that wordpress is my safe haven. I place I go when Facebook and Twitter and even my email is too much to take. This is one place where everyone seems to be  thoughtful about what is going on in the world.

I do write about a lot of things. It depends on whats going on or what information I think needs to get out there.

One of the best blogpost I wrote lately was over Thanksgiving and shared on Treasure Coast.com. It was a simple list of places to get free meals on Thanksgiving. I was so happy to see many people googling this and checking the list. I hope you all got something good to eat.

For the Versatile Blogger Nomination, I was asked to talk about 7 random facts about myself.  I do not like talking about myself but here goes.

  1. When I was young I was in drama class for years. I played Hodel, the 2nd eldest daughter, in Fiddler on the Roof. Pretty Amazing. I love music but I can’t sing. It’s so brutal that when my son was born and I would sing him a song he would beg me to stop.
    Hodel becomes intrigued with the radical, young student,
    Perchik. She eventually leaves Anatevka to join him in
    Siberia where he is imprisoned for his reform activities.
    Hodel sings a haunting solo as she says goodbye to
    her father at the train station.
    This is not me but here is the song.

2. I lived in Cambridge, Mass for a long time. I worked at the Cambridge Hotel as a singing waitress (again how did I get these gigs). We were doing a Gershwin Review. Walter Cronkite stayed there at the time to interview Daniel Ellsberg about the Pentagon Papers.

3. I was also part of a MIME TROUP at the time.

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4.  I love nothing better then silently listening to an interesting story sitting behind my camera.

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5. When I go home to Boston I must visit  the swan boats.

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6. I won an award from our local public tv in Miami for being the “Most Prolific Vlogger.” In others words I create a lot of content.

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7. When I watch big news story’s I’m casting in my mind who can play the particular characters in the made for tv movie.

For instance,

attrneys.cached

 

Peter Gallagher
Raza Jaffrey

 

Here are my nominees

Me in the Middle

Defining Ways

Having an affair

Uma’s healthy bites

 

Happy Birthday Bette Midler singalong

Happy Birthday Bette Midler singalong.

I came across this lovely video and it seemed like a lovely gift to all of us.

Here the lyric’s if you want to sing a long.

“From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It’s the voice of hope, it’s the voice of peace,
it’s the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They’re the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.

From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
what all this fighting is for.

From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
And it’s the hope of hopes, it’s the love of loves,
it’s the heart of every man.

It’s the hope of hopes, it’s the love of loves.
This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance.
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance.”

 

 

Thankful for my Liebster Award

Liebster

Thank you Debbie M Lewis for the nomination for Liebster Award! This is my first one.

Debbie is a nurse practitioner  who has changed her life and has become a business coach. She helps others get healthy and feel good about themselves through self development and good nutrition. I just spent the last half hour looking at her blog. It’s very well written and informative. You should go spend some time there.

Here is information about the Liebster Award. The idea of the award is to recognize and promote new up and coming blogs of a good standard with less than 200 followers (on WordPress).

Here are the questions:

1.How and where do you write?

I try to write in the morning but usually it starts off in the morning and I finish up after work. I drive a lot from patient to patient so I have lots of time to think about what I am going to say. I have a lot of interruptions from  Barney my dog and Meme my cat but I decided I would rather have them here interrupting all the time then not.

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2.What is your favorite color and why?

Red is my most favorite color. It’s dramatic. Toenails should be red. Red is the color of energy, passion and action. Red is the color of the root chakra.

Red is the color of the life force. It is the color of blood and the first color we come into contact when we are born.

Red means energy and our connection with the Earth and carries the promise of survival.

Red is a color of action. It moves us, awakens us, and guides us towards change.  The color of revolution, movement, and progress.

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3.Do you have a favorite quote? If so, what is it?

My favorite quote is “Intention is everything.”

I do say this a lot to people to get them to move:

“If you don’t use it you’ll loose it.” Then we all have a good laugh about l0osing our minds.

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4.What’s the most inspiring book you have ever read?

My absolutely favorite book is “The Art of Racing in the Rain.” by Garth Stein. This book changed my life. I wrote about it here in a blogpost called “Intention is everything.”

home_book

 

5.What music do you listen to if you need cheering up?

The Blues. I love the Blues.

 

6.What time of the year is your favorite and why?   I love the fall in New England. I have memories of crisp days and autumn leaves and sweaters. In Florida I like any day is 70 or below.

 

7.Name the best place you have ever visited.

I spent a year on a kibbutz Ein Harod in Israel. Life changing experience where I learned to live in the world that was around me and be a part of it.

It is located in the Jezreel Vally. It was near Mt Gilboa

“In the Bible, King Saul, Israel’s first King, led a charge against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 28:4). The battle ends with the king falling on his own sword and Saul’s sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Melchishua being killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:1-4). David, who hears about the tragedy after the battle, curses the mountain: “Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of choice fruits; for there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil”.

 

8.Has a particular experience shaped the way you think?

A few things. My visit to Israel was like the first wave of really understanding how important it is to be part of the world not matter what.

Making an effort during my divorce to create a new and better life was the second.

The third is becoming a grandmother. I feel like everything I fight for has to be for the next seven generations. We must leave these children a future.

9.  How do you like to spend your free time? 

I spend a lot of time reading and researching what I am going to write. Taking Photos is one of my most favorite things.

10.In what way is this Christmas going to be special for you?

I’m Jewish and I was hoping to have some kind of Hanukkah with my kids and my grandson but due to time constraints that’s not going to happen. I will however be spending Christmas Eve with them and their family in Sarasota.  I’m really looking forward to their family traditions.

I usually work on Christmas and have for years.  I wanted to make sure that the other nurse’s had the day off. I’ve worked for the last 6. This year I want to spend with my kids and my grandson and other family.

11.My blog is about faith and learning more about God. What does faith mean to you?

Faith means just that. Knowing that everything as crazy as it gets is as it should be. Some times there’s a reason for the mishugas.

Here is my about me page. Yes it needs work! It’s on my list of things to do.

Here are my nominees for the Liebster award.

The Shrub Queen

Libra Lionheart

The Turtle Way

Overlooked Nature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Famous Syrians You May Know

My original relatives came from Mesopotania and then went to Canaan if you go all the way back. America is a place where people have come from all over. Until now.

Our US media seems perfectly happy to spread the hate. But they don’t speak for us.

Here is a good article from the Washington Post.

“All of the other suspects in the Paris attacks appear to have been European citizens. In fact, large numbers of citizens from France, Britain and other Western nations have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight, suggesting that the problem is not so much those coming from over there but those who are already here”

Here is a list of a few  famous Syrian people or of Syrian decent  that you might know.

Paul Anka

Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario to Camelia (née Tannis) and Andrew Emile “Andy” Anka, Sr., who owned a restaurant called the Locanda.[2] His parents were both Antiochian Orthodox Christians. Anka’s father was Syrian, his mother was Lebanese “from the town of Kfarmishki, in Lebanon.

Shannon Elizabeth

Shannon Elizabeth Fadal (born September 7, 1973),[1] known professionally as Shannon Elizabeth, is an American actress and former fashion model. Elizabeth is well known for her roles in comedy films such as American Pie, Scary Movie and Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. She is also known for her work in horror films such as Thirteen Ghosts, Cursed, and Night of the Demons. She became widely known as a sex symbol for her role in the 1999 comedy film American Pie.

Jerry Seinfeld

Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalmen Seinfeld (1918–1985), was born to a Jewish immigrant from Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. His mother, Betty (née Hosni; born 1914) is of Syrian Jewish descent; her parents Selim and Salha Hosn were from Aleppo

 

Paula Abdul

Abdul was born in San Fernando, California, to Jewish parents. Abdul’s father, Harry Abdul, was born into the Syrian Jewish community in Aleppo, Syria, was raised in Brazil, and subsequently immigrated to the United States.[6] Her mother, the concert pianist Lorraine M. (née Rykiss), grew up in one of the two Jewish families in Minnedosa, Manitoba in Canada, and has Ashkenazi Jewish ancestors from Ukraine.

Syrian Americans

Syrian Americans are Americans of Syrian descent or background. Syrian Americans may be members of a number of differing ethnicities, including Arabs, Armenians, Arameans, Assyrians, Syrian Jews, Kurds, Syrian Turkmens and Circassians. It is believed that the first significant wave of Syrian immigrants to arrive in the United States was in 1880.[3] Many of the earliest Syrian Americans settled in New York City, Boston, and Detroit. Immigration from Syria to the United States suffered a long hiatus after the United States Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, which restricted immigration. More than 40 years later, the Immigration Act of 1965, abolished the quotas and immigration from Syria to the United States saw a surge. An estimated 64,600 Syrians emigrated to the United States between 1961 and 2000

F.Murry Abraham

Abraham was born as Murray Abraham on October 24, 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Frederick Abraham, an auto mechanic, and his wife Josephine (née Stello), a housewife.[3][4] His father was Assyrian[5] and emigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church.[3] His mother, one of 14 children, was Italian American, and the daughter of an immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania

Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs’s biological father, Abdulfattah “John” Jandali (b. 1931), was born into a Muslim household and grew up in Homs, Syria.[9] Jandali is the son of a self-made millionaire who did not go to college and a mother who was a traditional housewife.[9] While an undergraduate at the American University of Beirut, he was a student activist and spent time in jail for his political activities.[9] Although Jandali initially wanted to study law, he eventually decided to study economics and political science.[9] He pursued a PhD in the latter subject at the University of Wisconsin, where he met Joanne Carole Schieble, a Catholic of Swiss and German descent, who grew up on a farm in Wisconsin.

 

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. ” Steve Jobs

Please feel free to add anyone I forgot.

My Martin County: Ground Floor Farm

My Martin County: Ground Floor Farm

This is where I went on my Black Friday.

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Ground Floor Farm is our local urban farm. In 2014 they raised over 20,000 with a kick starter campaign with 144 backers.

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Share a hug!

This is the Martin County I love. People with wonderful ideas interact with the community. Together the community is nurtured. We become a better place. Together.

From

“Co-founders Micah Hartman, Michael Meier, and Jackie Vitale together conceived Ground Floor Farm as a space that combines food, art, and civic engagement in ways that benefit and help strengthen our community. Ground Floor Farm is part of a hometown renaissance, in which individuals focus their energy and creativity on the places they come from and through which the importance of a vibrant community center is reclaimed and revitalized.

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We accomplish this by growing and producing delicious food on a small urban farm and giving others the tools and resources to do so themselves; by showing that productive agriculture can take place in small spaces in urban centers and that it can be economically sustainable; by providing the space and resources for others to use their talents, skills, and interests to engage their community; and by curating an exciting and diverse program of cultural and social events that engage the hearts and minds of this community.”

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This is the Martin County we want!

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Next week they will have an event called DSC_0002

Make.Share.Do. is a weekend skill-sharing conference exploring homesteading, self-reliance and interdependence.

Highlights

Saturday, December 5th WORKSHOPS

20 one-hour workshops, taught by experts from around the state on topics including:

rain water harvesting, meditation, power tools, sprouts, herbalism, bike maintenance, seed saving, gardening, soap making, and more.

There will be a Seed Swap all day

5-9 Night Market

Dinner from Fruits and Roots, Crust Vegan Pizza Kitchen and other local food producers.

Sunday, Dec 6 all day

Hands on intensives. Explore fermentation, herbalism, vegetable productions, beekeeping and brewing beer.

For more info on the summit, the farm and an upcoming schedule

http://www.groundfloorfarm.com/makesharedo/

to connect on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groundfloorfarm

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to take a moment to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. If you do not celebrate I just wish you a wonderful day filled with good wishes.

Here is the original Alice’s restaurant which has been part of my Thanksgiving no matter where I’ve been for many years.

The story of Thanksgiving may be a fable but here is story that will stand the test of time sung by one of our favorite and beloved storytellers Arlo Guthrie.

 

The True Story Of Thanksgiving

click on the link above for the whole story written by

“The first Thanksgiving Day did occur in the year 1637, but it was nothing like our Thanksgiving today. On that day the Massachusetts Colony Governor, John Winthrop, proclaimed such a “Thanksgiving” to celebrate the safe return of a band of heavily armed hunters, all colonial volunteers. They had just returned from their journey to what is now Mystic, Connecticut where they massacred 700 Pequot Indians. Seven hundred Indians – men, women and children – all murdered.

The Pilgrims in Plymouth had a hard time for the first couple of years. While nature was no friend, their troubles were mostly their own doing. Poor planning was their downfall. These mostly city dwelling Europeans failed to include among them persons with the skills needed in settling the North American wilderness. Having reached the forests and fields of Massachusetts they turned out to be pathetic hunters and incompetent butchers. With game everywhere, they went hungry. First, they couldn’t catch and kill it. Then they couldn’t cut it up, prepare it, preserve it and create a storehouse for those days when fresh supplies would run low. To compensate for their shortage of essential protein they turned to their European ways and their Christian culture. They instituted a series of religious observances. They could not hunt or farm well, but they seemed skilled at praying.

They developed a taste for something both religious and useful. They called it a Day of Fasting. Without food it seemed like a good idea. From necessity, that single Day became multiple Days. As food supplies dwindled the Days of Fasting came in bunches. Each of these episodes was eventually and thankfully followed by a meal. Appropriately enough, the Puritans credited God for this good fortune. They referred to the fact they were allowed to eat again as a “Thanksgiving.” And they wrote it down. Thus, the first mention of the word – “Thanksgiving.” Let there be no mistake here. On that first Thanksgiving there was no turkey, no corn, no cranberries, no stuffing. And no dessert. Those fortunate Pilgrims were lucky to get a piece of fish and a potato. All things considered, it was a Thanksgiving feast.

Did the Pilgrims share their Thanksgiving meal with the local Indians, the Wampanoag and Pequot? No. That never happened. That is, until its inclusion in the “Thanksgiving Story” in 1890.”

A total bummer.

Which is why my favorite story about Thanksgiving is Alice’s Restaurant.

There is nothing we can do about history but there is everything we can about the moment we are in and the present. So lets make it a good one world wide from this “Thanksgiving Day” on.

Namaste!