Bike hauling

This is a great idea for those bikers who need to haul things….and kids…and surf boards

Madsen Bikes—these are serious hauling bikes!

What would you do?

In May 2008, a 98 year-old Polish lady named Irena Sendler died.

During WWII, she got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist but she had an ulterior motive. She KNEW of the Nazi’s plans for the Jews. Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and, in the back of her truck, she had a burlap sack for the larger children. She had a dog in the back of the truck that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the noise of the children. She managed to smuggle out and save 2,500 children before she was caught; the Nazis broke both her legs and her arms and beat her severely.

Irena kept a record of the names of all the children that she smuggled out which she kept in a glass jar buried under a tree in her back yard. After the War, she tried to locate any parents that had survived and reunited the families. Most, of course, had been gassed, but she helped those children to be placed into foster family homes or adopted.
In 2007, Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize but was not selected. Al Gore won.

The courageous heart of Irena Sendler Hallmark Hall of Fame 2009 TV movie

And this clip

An unmistakable trait

An unmistakable trait

from The Universe

Experience the Validity

We should not merely expend all our energy collecting pieces of information, but make an effort to experience their validity through insight in our daily life.

- Geshe Rabten, in Advice From a Spiritual Friend

Damn Proust

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.”
– Marcel Proust

And discovering it we are. We can’t help it. People tested like never before–all together and very alone. I think about national challenges we’ve faced in the past—WWII, Vietnam. Wars that tested our strength but brought us together regardless on which side of the fence you landed (Vietnam). Today’s wars feels out of our control–someone else making decisions for who knows what. Resigned, apathetic–we are realizing what governments gone wild can and will do. And we sit watching our reality shows, waiting fr the season to end. Feeling out of control and very much like the country on the playground that nobody wants to play with anymore.

What of this war? THESE wars….

In many ways it feels like we fight our own war psychologically, altho we are in the economic war all together. It’s hard to miss. We all know multiple people who have lost their jobs the past year or so–some still looking for work. We take care of ourselves because when a storm is brewing there only so many people that fit into the storm cellar, right? RIGHT? Hmmmm. We sit in our offices like cattle in a pen, hoping we are not next up the ramp. We put our lives and dreams on hold and head down, forge ahead day to day, sometime hour to hour, coming up for a breath and remembering, for me—as I sit by the lake watching my dog lick the breeze, what it used to be like when things felt simplier. I smell cut grass in the wind, hear the mmmrrrrr of the motor, and think how much of my life I had before me, as I smelled that same cut grass as a 7 year old. Wondering what will I be. What WILL I be.

I sit here today asking the same question, feeling an urgency from so many directions. For a moment I feel so much is not in my hands…so many turns…major life events…. resting on the decisions and good will of others, and I am paralyzed….for a moment…..for a MOMENT. I think I will smell grass more, and sit against a tree and think about what I want to be when I grow up.

Be kind to someone today. Look them in the eyes and let them know it’s ok to be unsure and scared. Let them know they are not alone. Call your friends and make time for them.

Dream on

Dreams create their own pathways, if you don’t try to force things.
Taking action summons miracles, whether you recognize them or not.

And, one, it’s never too late in the day for breakfast.
Dream on, wild thing        —The Universe

Bunny Block

©Kate Pabst 2009

Art-a-Whirl this weekend!

Kate Pabst Mixed Media

Art-A-Whirl
the largest 3-day Open Studio Art Crawl in the Midwest, is located in the heart of the NE Mpls Arts District  and it’s all going on this weekend.
Make a date or bring your friends and visit me and 75+ other artists at the CASKET ARTS BUILDINGS!

mt studio is located in the Casket Arts Building 17th and Jefferson, NE Minneapolis

STUDIO #304

http://katepabst.wordpress.com

Friday, May 15th 5-10pm (I will be there 3-5:30)
Saturday, May 16th Noon-8pm (I will be there till 6)
Sunday, May 17th Noon -5pm (I will be there all day)

Visit www.casketarts.com for directions.
Visit www.nemaa.org for more AAW information.

http://casketartsbuilding.wordpress.com/
http://www.katepabst.com
http://reallygreatstuff.wordpress.com

please note—-I will be in my studio -Saturday noon-7pm and all day Sunday. I will be in my studio Friday 3pm-5:30 only.

Kate Pabst Mixed Media // Studio 304 Casket Arts Building

Racing in The Rain