}i{ The Butterfly Girl }i{ Saving The Monarch Butterfly

The Butterfly Girl -- Saving the Monarch Butterfly: The Butterfly Girl (aka Aislyn Woodcock -- my eldest 8-year-old daughter) adores and is passionate about the Monarch Butterfly. So much so, she did two presentations on the topic: one at Brownies, for her "Tell It" Badge in front of her entire troupe and the other at her grade 3/4 split class at school. Aislyn did most of the research, by reading books about butterflies, focusing on the Monarch Butterfly. She also surfed the internet, but found reading books was a lot easier and more enjoyable. Her teacher, M. Boutilier recorded her school presentation with his iPhone. The audio was not that great, so I edited it, to what it is now, but I still recommend you listen to it with earphones/buds though, as it still isn't that great. I want to brag a bit: Not many adults, never mind 8-year-old children, have the courage to do this. What is even more amazing is she wants to start a club here in Regina, educating people about the Monarch Butterfly. Another piece of bragging I want to do is she went into Brownies this year, for the first time. (She was in dance previously). Though this is her first year, she has two badge sashes of Brownie Badges. By the end of Brownies this year, she will have earned all the regular badges in her Brownie book, plus a special interest badge. Because of her age, she is going into guides in the fall. She already has plans to earn each Girl Guide badge she possibly can earn. She wants to continue all the way through the Guiding program and beyond. Though she is only eight, (for now anyway), she has decided she wants to become a lepidopterologist, focusing on butterflies, specializing on the Monarch Butterfly. Below is the text of her presentation, if you want to read and follow along: I love butterflies because they are cool and look pretty. There are many neat things about butterflies. The butterfly is called papillon in French and mariposa in Spanish. Butterflies have overlapping, different colours of scales on their wings. If butterflies get too cold or wet, they cannot fly. Butterflies have been around since the dinosaurs. I really like monarch butterflies because of their orange and black wing pattern. There are rare white monarch butterflies too. One female can lay 400 eggs but only one egg per leaf. Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed. Milkweed is poisonous to birds and animals. Birds can get sick from eating monarch caterpillars and adult monarch butterflies. Some animals eat the monarch butterfly like orioles, grosbeaks, jays, mice, fire ants, and spiders. Viceroy butterflies have colouring like the monarch butterfly to make animals think they taste bad too. Caterpillars eat the eggshell right after it hatches. Caterpillars live for 2 weeks. Caterpillars shed their skin when they get bigger, as many as five times. The chrysalis stage lasts for about 10 to 14 days. Its special gold beading goes half way around. When the adult butterfly comes out, it has to wait for its wings to stiffen before it can fly. Butterflies use a proboscis to drink nectar from flowers. Monarchs fly to Mexico for the winter because they cannot live in the cold and snow. Monarchs can fly across the Atlantic Ocean. People spray herbicides on milkweed and cut it down because it smells bad or because they think it is a weed. This is bad because it is the only thing monarch caterpillars eat until they emerge from their chrysalis. If you spray pesticides, the monarch caterpillar and butterfly would die. Monarch butterflies sleep on trees and use them for shelter. Millions and millions of monarch butterflies gather around each other on these trees to keep warm. If too many trees are cut down, monarch butterflies will freeze to death because they won't have enough trees to keep them warm. I want to help save the monarch butterfly. You can help too, by planting milkweed and other flowers for food and shelter. The flowers have to be in direct sunlight to help the butterflies warm up and stay warm. Put up a sign saying that your garden is a butterfly habitat. Do not use chemicals that could hurt the butterflies, caterpillars or the plants they need to live on. If you want to see butterflies, do not harm the caterpillars. Do not catch butterflies, if they lose too many scales they cannot fly. Do not cut down trees where butterflies go in the winter. If you see a tag on a monarch butterfly, contact Monarch Watch so they can know how far it has travelled. How can we save the Monarch Butterfly? By spreading the word and taking action, we can take this beautiful creature off the endangered species list. Easy steps, like planting Monarch attracting plants, like milkweed, are just the start of how each of us can help. Teaching everyone you know about it is also a great step, but we need help from people around the world, if the Monarch Butterfly is to survive at all! Each and every one of us has the power to help save the Monarch Butterfly! Even you!

Happiness is a Choice

It is easy to see the good in others when you look for it!

The same way, regular Physical exercise improves your body, regular mental exercise improves how you see and engage your world and the people and places within it. The process is amazingly simple. It just takes is 11 minutes every day: Find a comfortable and peaceful place, free of and from distractions. (If needed, get the children occupied, or at a friend’s house or a baby sitter’s house). If you are at work, find a stress free area that you can use, but it is best to do this outside of work for best results. If you love the outdoors, that is one of the best places to do this, weather pending of course.

Once you have found the perfect spot, prepare it so you can relax quickly and easily. Possibly adorn it with candles, incense, and light, quiet, background music. Sit in a comfortable position, ether on a chair, a cushion, or a nice piece of Earth you find enjoyable. Place your hands in front of you, palms facing a few inches apart, slightly cupped, and a thumbs distance from the centre of your chest, directly in line with your heart. Close your eyes and visualize the person you love, cradled inside the space between your hands. Think of them at their happiest, see them bathed in rays of sunlight, and see them at their very best. Do this for 11 minutes, every day. It helps if you do this at the same time of day, every day. It also helps if you have some kind of reminder system in place too. One of the all-time best reminder systems is to get your spouse doing this too, at the same time as you, but in another area than yours. (Under a different tree, or in a different room of the house for example). That way, when one forgets, the other is more likely to remember and remind the other. Do this for 40 days. If you miss a day, start over at day one.

Here is an example: Sit down as explained above, and think about how your spouse makes you happy. Picture her or him on a boat or peacefully asleep or laughing with his or her face light up with joy. Picture your spouse happy and content. Also picture your spouse happily completing chores, but do not judge this vision.

Most likely, you had a good marriage to start with, but as the years went by, the negative outlook increased, but with this meditation exorcize, the small traces of impatience or judgment you may have brought to your relationship will be replaced with positive patience and nonjudgmental thoughts. Soon, you will no longer care about the small, insignificant negative details that currently drive you crazy and, you will have a heightened sense of joy when you see your spouse after work. Repeatedly picture your spouse at their best, and soon you will respond to that best self accordingly. Remember how grateful you were to be married to your spouse in the beginning and carry that forward to your present. Be grateful you even know that person. The more goodness you see the more goodness they will show you in turn.

It takes 40 days to request a change within yourself, 80 days to form a new pattern, and 120 days to seal your intention, and make it a subconscious habit. It is easy enough to find fault with people, but it is just as easy to see their radiance if you look for it. You may not change your spouse, but you will change yourself for the better, and in doing that, your eyes will be open to what had been there all along.

Here is another related exorcize once the above has been set as an unconscious habit: Meditate on your own greatness for 11 minutes a day for 120 days. You WILL be amazed with yourself, guaranteed!

Once you have completed both above meditations, then pick a project, or habit you would like to achieve or change, and meditate on that. You soon will be able to find ways to achieve any goal you set your sights to. It will open your mind to new unlimited possibilities, and ways to achieve them. You must realize nothing is accomplished without action. Meditation is not just sitting, doing nothing. It is preparing yourself for success. Preparation is action!

Gordian Knot Theory

How feasible is this theory on creating a Gordian Knot?

1. Separate two ends of one long length of rope to its individual strands (About 20cm from each end), and braid the two ends together, making a seamless, never-ending loop.
2. With a second rope, separate the strands and weave half of these around the first loop, braiding the ends together, with the first loop.
•     Do this several more times to get an increasingly thick rope/loop, but still thin enough to manipulate.
3. “Tie” the long thick rope/loop into a “mess” of knots, carefully concealing the braided ends, deep within the “mess of knots”.

Will this make an untieable knot? Explain how you would make an untieable (Gordian) Knot