Josef Achrer Rybářova žena – 1987 oil painting
BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING
” FISHERMAN’S WIFE” 1987
(verso states ” Rybářova žena” )
BY JOSEF ACHRER
(Chairman of the Artists society in Prague)
CZECH ARTIST
This particular piece is from his early exhibition in Rakovnik in Czech Republic in 90s. We managed to contact the artist to confirm the authenticity of this piece. The life story of this painting was later on described on his personal website
Inscription/ attribution : YES right corner ACHRER III 87
UNFRAMED 80cm x 50cm
READY TO HANG
Vintage frame, with some very minor signs of age and wear .
Mummy’s Beat – baby comforter – crowdfunding campaign Indiegogo
Mummy’s Beat – baby comforter – crowdfunding campaign Indiegogo
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mummy-s-beat/x/9980274
Mummy´s ♥ Beat is a new and innovative interactive baby comforter that records and plays back the special and unique mothers heart beat, which baby’s complex brain has memorized whilst in the womb by the 25th week when their auditory system is already fully developed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tugdgYfBvBk
Mummy´s ♥ Beat provides a selection of natural and relaxing sounds including white noises which can be mixed with the unique mothers heart beat, enabling the creation of a customized sound to suit baby.
Mummy´s ♥ Beat is a fantastic tool for the ever busy parent who has a plethora of responsibilities to juggle in an increasingly demanding working environment, or for a noise sensitive baby who will not settle or fall asleep easily.
http://mummysbeat.wix.com/mummysbeat 
HIGHLY COMPETITIVE LADIES and I
“I’m highly competitive” she said with pride…
“I know” I responded… and at that moment I realized that she has no idea how destructive and ostracizing her competitive behavior actually is.
It has been a couple of years since I had this small chat with someone I knew through work, but I still think about it. One of those moments that stuck in ones mind. Yes she was highly competitive. And we all knew it.
She never missed the opportunity to please the director, reporting on others on a daily basis, claiming her achievements at any given opportunity, often discrediting others and claiming their achievements as hers, praising other staff very rarely and if so, then only with a slight reminder that they are doing well because of her leadership. Its certainly bares all the hallmarks of an insecurity complex , as other peoples achievements were perceived as threats to ones position. She was smart, actually very sharp and hardworking, I would say a workaholic, but her staff often felt discouraged by the manic approach to working with often unrealistic expectations. There was not much connection between her and her colleagues as she never took the time to found out who they are and what makes them tick, just basic human contact.
It wasn’t just work one was competing at. Also with her siblings there seemed to be some sort of rivalry. Whose husband earns more, who is more fashionable , who seems to look younger and who’s children are prettier, attending better school and dating richer boyfriends etc. Money, social status and beauty meant a big deal. 
I spent some time thinking if being a bit passive when it comes to competition is a bad thing. Don’t take me wrong, I do like to achieve and I do have high goals. I just don’t believe in the hard work and reward pattern, but in the doing what you love and reaping the rewards from it approach. Competitive group sports were never my cup of tea either, as I child I left volleyball for canoe kayaking and never looked back. I made some life long friendships at the water and I think it is partially due to the nature of the sport, where you rely on each other. If you don’t want to capsize every often, the two of you sharing one canoe, must cooperate.
I look at my body for example, which is a multitude of cells, each with its own assignment but all cooperating to keep the whole alive .
Competitiveness has been promoted as a normal human trait but is it really beneficial when each has their own role? Having said that, in this paradigm you can’t exist without being competitive, but some take it far too seriously. Basically when it takes over your life and you behave like a never satisfied hunter, then maybe it is the time to stop and contemplate. The usual: “competitiveness is my second nature” may be just an excuse to hide something. Maybe ones background, origin, upbringing or anything what could be a possible trigger for this sort of behaviour.
I just wonder if we really knew ourself, and I mean truly knew who we are and were really comfortable with it, if there would be the need for comparing, which I think is the main factor leading to competitiveness. The fact that we compare ourselves with others is the reason that we often feel something is missing in our lives and that if we get what the other person has, we may be happier…. 
Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen) :-)
I love the lyrics and these are my favorite parts of the song:
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can
Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it
It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good
Be nice to your siblings, they’re your best link to your past
And the people most likely to stick with you in the future
Understand that friends come and go
but a precious few, who should hold on
Travel
Don’t expect anyone else to support you
Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse
But you never know when either one might run out
Be careful whose advice you buy but be patient with those who supply it
Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past
From the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
And recycling it for more than it’s worth
The full version of the song with lyrics can be found here:
Wicked Stepmother
I’m a stepmother to my partners first child, Aaliyah. But for her I’m Pavla and she is Aaliyah for me as we never treated each other as steps. We are two human beings who happened to meet through one man. The word “Stepmother” has always had a negative connotation to it, what with the likes of Cinderella and her terrible upbringing, stories that leave an indelible mark in most of our psyche. So I never even thought about Aaliyah calling me anything else other than by my name Pavla but for a while it was Kess.
.
We met when she was about two and half years old and its hard to believe that she is going to be eleven this year. To be honest, being a so called stepmother is not always easy, but I was very lucky as Aaliyah is a calm, polite and talented young girl. It could be very different. And although we have built a good relationship within the years I wouldn’t recommend this “stepmother job” to everyone. There are so many factors to consider when starting a relationship with a person who already has a child.
Straight from the beginning whats supposed to be the sweetest part of your new relationship, may be very different from dating a single man/woman. The weekends “together” you will be looking forward to cuddles on the sofa watching romantic movies, but the reality is weekends are usually the only days your new partner actually gets to see his/her child. Things won’t be ever just about you, there will be always a little person which will need as much attention as yourself. In the beginning this is not a problem because you are so much in love and everything his is also yours, everything he loves you love as well….
Yes…,yes… you are OK with that. So then get also ready for tons of text messages or phone calls from his ex partner who also happens to be the most important person in the life of your partners child…the mother. She will forever be linked to your new relationship, she will always be part of it. It will never be just the two of you. She will have more power to control your life than you could ever imagine. And there will be nothing you can do about it. She will be the one telling you when to pick up and drop off the child, and you will soon find out that these times will never fit in with your wonderfully made plans. She won’t trust you. Lets face it, you wouldn’t trust a complete stranger spending time with your child without your presence either. No matter what you will try to do to impress her, it will never be enough. It can’t be. You can’t replace a mother, and you shouldn’t even try. By the way she most likely doesnt want you to be better than she is in the first place 🙂
And you don’t want to end up being nobody’s “ever trying to please” slave or even worse a competitor.
The best way is just to go with the flow. If your partner is really worth the hassle, you will need to work on your ego. A lot. There will be times you will wish you could say something, times you may and will cry over something, times you may get annoyed with the child’s behavior or something they said but also times you will feel that everything is great. It is an ongoing process, all of you will be learning to live and exist together. This will at the end enrich you. And the reword is nice as well. One day your partners child will hopefully recall some memories, something you have done together and she or he remembers it as a wonderful time. What else could you wish for. (Apart of having your own children with your partner as well of course :-))
One thing I am certain of from this experience is that you cant buy childrens affection. Material gifts and money are spent and can never build a real relationship, fun fairs and organized fun are often not cherished memories. What we found was the quality of time getting to know each other learning and growing together and spontaneity allows for a fruitful and hopefully long lasting relationship. Relationships are like seasons, they fluctuate… this is good as people change and with that should come progress. After all what is a life without beautiful memories.
This is Aaliyah’s very first video. She is cooking simple tomato soup, using her own organic ingredients.
Aaliyah’s easy tomato soup, anti – cancer super food, simple kids cooking recipes
Why I didn’t vaccinate my children
Why I didn’t vaccinate my children…To vaccinate or not to vaccinate: that is the question…
Whether to follow what we’ve been told for years or whether to question and spend time researching in order to arrive at conclusions that enable you to make the correct choices…
Endometriosis – cause unknown, Autism – cause unknown, Sudden cot death – cause unknown
These answers always bothered me. Cause unknown? Really….. these days? With all the time and money spent in scientific research and the advancement in technology some of these questions surely should have answers?
After years of working with young adults with autism and hearing very similar stories from their parents I started to see certain patterns and similarities emerge. I had numerous autism training within the last decade delivered by many experts. Some of these professionals were strongly against the idea of autism, asthma, epilepsy or eczema being linked to vaccinations, some were less confident about the safety of vaccines.
When I finally became pregnant after 7 years of trying (at the end with the help of traditional Chinese medicine) I became more open to new ideas and approaches. I started to question. And by that I mean I started to question completely everything. I spent the whole nine months of my pregnancy studying and trying to find out all information pro and against vaccinations without prejudice. 
I was reading everything objectively, trying to find data backed up by proper scientific studies. The more I read the less comfortable I felt with exposing my newborn to anything I couldn’t verify was 100% safe. When she was born I told myself that I will postpone all the jabs until she grew bigger and stronger. But as she was growing I continued my studies every night and I was getting more confident in my decision.
Now two and half years later I know that neither of my two children will be getting any jabs at all. To many this might look like rebellious stance, I am not part of any anti vaccination groups or get involved in the often heated debates about the issue, I am just acting in the best interests of my children by arming myself with information to enable me to make the correct choices. The knowledge I’ve gained within the years of research is quite wide. When I talk to health visitors, whose job it is in most cases to be pro vaccination, I often keep quiet and just say thank you at the end of our meetings. I have taken this stance as whenever I tried questioning things in more depth I never got satisfactory answers.
The procedure was always the same:” You should keep up to date with your child immunization. If you don’t, your child is at risk.”
And then we spoke about the safety of vaccines. So I would ask:
1. If vaccinations are safe, why are a number of vaccines been removed from the market?
2. All vaccines are loaded with chemicals and preservatives, can you name any of the ingredients in any of them, that you are encouraging me to permit exposure to my child?
All you need to do is open the instruction leaflet inside the box of every dose of vaccine…
Lets just name a few: MSG, antifreeze, phenol, formaldehyde (cancer causing and used to embalm), aluminum (associated with alzheimer’s disease and seizures), glycerin (toxic to the kidney, liver, can cause lung damage, gastrointestinal damage and death), lead, cadmium, sulfates, antibiotics, acetone , thimerosol (more toxic than mercury, a preservative still used in many vaccines, not easily eliminated, can cause severe neurological damage as well as other life threatening autoimmune disease).
I just couldn’t imagine injecting any of this stuff directly into my child’s body.
Starting in the 1980’s autism was at a rate of 1 in 10,000 children and a new survey for 2013 revealed 1 in 50 children are being diagnosed with autism………well, that’s what I would call an epidemic.
According to the CDC(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the number of vaccines that are given to children has increased more than three times in the last 29 years. 
So I didn’t vaccinate because:
- I didn’t find any long term studies of the effects of vaccines. Also a lack of studies on the effect of multiple vaccines.
- Because I want them to build natural immunity
- They are both exclusively breastfed so they get as much antibodies into their system naturally
- I think it´s crazy that everyone constantly tells me how they will not be able to go to school if they are not vaccinated. I have to do extensive research on the pros and cons to vaccinate or not to. It is not just a light decision that I made over night.
At this moment I can just say that both of my children are healthy. My daughter was at the doctors surgery only once when she was 5 months. Non of my two children ever had a single tablet of paracetamol or any pharmaceutical medication. It doesn’t mean they don’t get the occasional cold with runny noses and the cough, but with natural remedies their recovery period is much faster. My daughter can have 39°C in the evening and waking up completely fine the next day after I’m getting ready to take her to doctor in the morning if she doesn’t get better.
This post is not to evoke a debate, because I believe debates are like magnetic polarities, one end will never meet with the other end. My intention is for people to seek verification for any information we receive…
Yes, I’m spoilt
I’m spoilt and I know it, yes I know I shouldn’t get upset about trivial things, but I still do. Especially when something is not working as it should do. Everytime I see photographs of children and people from countries where there is immense suffering and for various reasons struggle to get the basic facilities which we take for granted, at these moments I have a sense of guilt about my privileged position, and always promise myself not to get worked up again…. And then history repeats itself.
1. Buying few things in a small local shop, finding out that they take cash only, annoying the people in the queue and staff behind the till, smiling and explaining that I will just pop out and get the money from the cash point across the road is already bad enough. But finding out the cash point being temporarily OUT OF ORDER is sticking a knife in a wound.
2. Queuing patiently in a petrol station, waiting for the lady in front of me perusing the aisles for her grocery shopping before paying for her petrol. After what seems like an eternity she returns, patiently unloads her groceries, and on finally moving, find out that the diesel pump I need has a massive yellow sign saying SORRY OUT OF ORDER.
3. Being desperate for the toilet and finding out the only available public facilities are locked usually without an apologetic sign so you get to the door thinking you are about to experience your much awaited relief and progress is halted by a locked door.
4. Having no signal or flat battery on my mobile when I really need it doesn’t need any more comments. Just frustrating.
5. Elevator out of order when out with both of the children and a pram. Yes I’m the parent who you do see from time to time accessing upper floors on the escalator with the pram.
6. Tin opener slipping around the top of the can. That is madness. Are they ever going to make proper tin openers again like the ones in old times? You know the one your mum used to have, just few turns and all its done. No need for knives to be involved, fingers being cut etc?
7. Shower which cant be adjusted or have insufficient water pressure. Images of a pleasant showering of powerful warm water and instead leaving the bathroom with a mixture of burned patches and goose skin from the hot and cold encounter or assault. Alternatively being left with no water due to bad pressure whilst the shampoo you have just put on is burning your eyes as you are trying to open them slightly so you can adjust the water tap.
However there are a few things I don’t mind to be out of order. One of them is the money swallowing parking machines. Having them OUT OF ORDER is a real triumph at times considering the prices of parking in some towns can be extortionate. I do question the whole concept of paying to park when you are bring trade to a business district.
I’m spoilt.
28 Day Fertility Diet
28 Day Fertility Diet is my response to hundreds of letters requesting specific and more detailed information about my personal diet which led me to successful pregnancy and overcoming my infertility ( due to endometriosis).
28 Day Fertility Diet is a cook book with dishes for each phase of the cycle – Follicular Phase, Ovulation, Luteal Phase, Menstruation
Different phases of the cycle require a woman’s body to produce different hormones and go through separate processes, so to maximize the chances of conceiving, it is paramount to eat foods that are advantageous to each phase.
I also adjusted some recipes for meat lovers so it is not all vegetarian.
Hope you will enjoy it 🙂
You can get it completely free on Amazon Kindle on Tuesday 08/04/2014
Life, food, babies, pregnancy, fertility 