Living in Italy

The time in Italy is nearing it's end and it was a mixed bag of personal matters and external influences. When we first arrived the choice of fruit in the supermarket wasn't all that great, but as the summer neared the variety expanded. I love the things that appear on the shelves, apricots so small that they are barely bigger than a large cherry, and so, so tasty. A cactus fruit of which I still don't know the name, the range of tomatoes (some so sweet you feel like they are fruit), the misshapen and large peppers, the boxes of small mildly spicy peppers, the way that mushrooms here are sold with roots still attached, keeping them fresher... everything feels more alive and more natural here than in the general supermarkets back in England.

I miss the choice of vegan friendly products that I know from London and in limited range also in Liverpool. Ultimately nothing beats the organic supermarket in San Francisco. But when I think of the foods that I have had the opportunity to eat in the past year, the mango and mini bananas in Thailand, the freshness of the vegetables and fruit from the markets there, the amazing range of delicious oranges in San Francisco, the coffees, the vegetables here, the nuts there, the dates in San Francisco, the coconuts, the melons... Each place has had a richness to offer. It is hard to select the best place for food. I think San Francisco allowed for the widest variety in diet, while Italy strikes me as probably the most natural and the freshest and in season, yet frustrating when the season is taking it's time to arrive.

If it was for food where would I live?
My vote would actually be with San Francisco - IF I could be certain that GMO products could be completely avoided. Unfortunately GM is such a huge business you just can't tell for certain if it will be possible to evade them entirely. Just think of groundwater affected and one way or another I can not imagine that one can get away from GM if one lived in America. What do you think?

From the outer journeys back to the inner ones / Rebooting life, starting as fresh and as nutritious as possible

I have just experienced renewed problems with my joints, with my left bog toe joint being inflamed and swollen, painful even when I don't step on it. Is it arthritis? So I want to track my foods and their cost and the logistics of being on a limited diet for the next weeks. This comes just as I am about to set off for Italy to teach English for a couple of months.

This means that I won't have my Omega 8004 juicer with me or my citrus press, But I think I will buy a citrus press, it is just so handy to speed squeeze lemons and limes and with this inflammation the alkalizing effect of these citrus fruits will really be helpful. I will be without my little library of useful books that I usually like to consult when I feel out of sorts.

It is really worrying that my joints flared up again, but not surprising. I have just spent 5 weeks in the most polluted environment that I have ever voluntarily subjected myself to. Each breath was a reminder of what toxins taste like. Never will I ever allow my body to be subjected to smog. I should have drawn my conclusions and left but the reasons for staying are for another blog post.

For now I just wanted to announce that some of my joints are in pain and that I want to do this properly this time. 'This' being a real adaptation of diet and lifestyle, with clarity and precision. This time I would like to get behind the curtains to learn why exactly my body is so weak. Is the food I eat becoming poorer in quality or is my immune system losing strength? Probably it is a combined matter, but while I know this makes me sound like a nut, I need to get to the bottom of this and source food that maintains a high nutrient content to support my body, which is clearly overladen with the negative environmental impact of the smog filled city that I have just spent 5 weeks in.

Points that I would like to keep an eye on
- cost / how to finance a healthy lifestyle
- nutrient content
- noticeable benefits
- how to choose healthy while not at home (in transit, in commute, on a journey)
- discipline / is it difficult to have the discipline to chose what my body needs to heal and stay healthy?
- discipline / general lifestyle changes, are they going to be hard to maintain? Will I manage to self-practice Yoga several times a week and remember to find the focus to meditate? (When I know how supportive these practices are to my body!)

- does all this have to become my life or can it be a supporting element in my life?
- do I have to give up life content to make time and room for complicated food sourcing and preparing strategies?

I am starting a video blog to keep track of myself and how it will all work. It is far from professional, but if you would like to check in then you can do it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb9rxo5RVa8

this is just some of me:

English & German

Languages spoken & written

Photography & Film
Artist & Scenographer
Yoga & Traditional Thai Massage
Crafts & Treasures
Adventures & Nests
Blueberries and Coffee
Mango and Papaya
Vibrant Foods

favorite breakfast:

favorite breakfast: , a photo by Birgit Deubner on Flickr.

I am fantasizing about this delicious breakfast.. yum..

Rice idly with tomato sambar and coconut chutney.. oh it has been too long since
I last had this at 7am in the morning, just as the cafe opens it's doors..

Chinese New Year is on the doorstep

Liverpool Chinese New Year, a photo by Birgit Deubner on Flickr.

Another opportunity to remember how fleeting time is. It seems a little like yesterday when it was the first day of the year, when we might have thought about making time to take stock and refresh our plans for the time ahead.. and then you blink and a month went by. 

In comes the Chinese New Year. Another chance to celebrate the constant passing and constant arriving of time.This photograph is quite old, 7 years ago. If I just think of all that came and went in those years... So much that I could not have imagined. Such a variety of experiences.. I was stalked, I loved, I lost, I fought for my career, I won some I lost some.

I didn't know then that in the same year I would make my way to far away places, or that I would begin this blog, even. Within a year from taking this photograph I started a new life, found courage, lost treasures, heard the Dalai Lama speak, while I was surrounded by 100's of Tibetan monks, was touched by Pattabhi Jois and the (at the time) stern teaching of Sharath his grandson, as much as I was touched by his smile when I finally 'got it'.. I met dawn and dusk in Cambodia and opened my eyes to the world and my Self. I understood so much and misunderstood more. I found lessons to chew on for life. ... So much happened. And I didn't write about it yet. We should catch up one day and exchange stories.

These past 7 years have been intense. This february I may take the opportunity to begin to shed that skin of story.. That skin of life. It is time to continue to grow and once in a while we need a new skin to do it in. Like the huge ghecko I once watched climb out of his skin, still looking bewildered by the change (or my camera lens). When I think back to all these people and experiences that passed through my life in these past 7 years I feel incredibly enriched and incredibly confident that there is little reason why the coming 7 years shouldn't be just as survivable and quite possibly even amazing! The pains I felt and grew out of, emotional pains, body pains, growing pains... 

Maybe I can tell you about some of these skins and cocoons I built and shed. 

I feel courageous to leap ahead into the future today.

Coffee and amazing orange juice at the friendly Progressive Grounds Cafe in San Francisco

Coffee and amazing orange juice at the friendly Progressive Grounds Cafe in San Francisco, a photo by Birgit Deubner on Flickr.

Oh yum!

I crocheted these heart ornaments for my Etsy shop Over7seas. x

Happy St. Nicolaus Day

Happy St. Nicolaus Day, a photo by Birgit Deubner on Flickr.

Advent Calendar..
I sewed these bags by hand.. I will never sew again if I can help it. I learnt the hard way that I find sewing by hand intensely unpleasant. (One off items are ok, but not 24 Advent Calendar bags)

I love you so sincerely ..

I love you so sincerely .., a photo by Birgit Deubner on Flickr.

I took this as San Francisco declaring it's love to me!

apologies for the long silence

Apologies for the absence. I have been having problems with Blogger and it's way of organizing photographs, which caused hours of frustrating and unsuccessful shuffling of images.. THEN I learnt that I had reached my image capacity only to be extended once I pay an annual sum of money.. SInce I have no regular visitors that I know of I am not sure this is worth it.. I used to host images on Flickr, set them to private there but publish them here. This is also no longer possible due to changes in permissions on Flickr. Overall a pain.. I was going to give up Blogspot, but I love the friendly format (minus the absolute nightmare of organizing photographs). For now I will keep my blogs, but I am looking around for alternatives.. Wordpress is not quite my thing either, I have active blogs there but the layout is limited and a bit sterile.. I would love your tips.
(woman with a blog habit and an infinite number of images..)

P.s. do please check my tab: 90 Days in San Francisco. There will be a return link to this blog (my Home Blog) on the top of the page. mercie and see you over on the other side of the Atlantic.. 

Golden Gate Bridge tamed by my fingers

http://90daysinsf.blogspot.com/

When small and Large change roles / Golden Gate Bridge tamed by my fingers

This journey is starting to feel increasingly real... I have just purchased my travel insurance.

So another beginning is just around the corner..
Soon I shall touch Golden Gate Bridge and cycle from Mission to Dolores Park for a morning Yoga Practice. (Oh how optimistic.. will I really do this in the foggy, chilly San Francisco, still sleepy pre-sunrise, mornings? - well.. Why not? But I may look out for some thermals to help the internal fires firing up on the way to the park. Curiously I can already picture the post practice juice in the nearby Cafe so much easier than the practice itself, now why would that be..??)

Then what about middles and endings? Well I will save this for another more reflective time. Until soon my new friends. Stay warm or cool depending on where you are.