Earth Mama's Green Sus Blog

Signs of Spring!

2011-03-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Daffodils are crawling out of the ground—even the ones we forgot we'd planted.

One of the SWEETEST (pun intended) signs of spring is the renewed activity of bees buzzing in and out of the hive. They are draining the feeder of sugar water as they wait for the nectar to appear.

I've seen several articles printed on lawn care recently and they could have been (and probably were) written by the commercial lawn chemical industry. This is just a little reminder that dandelions and clover are NOT the enemy. Clover makes a lovely kind of lawn and does not have to be mowed as frequently. And the bees love clover.
So, let's get as many lawns off drugs as possible this year.
The bird, the bees, the flowers and the trees (hmmmmm, sounds like a song...oh, it IS a song) will say thank you.

PS. Yes, you can eat those unsprayed dandelion greens. They are good for you! And the wild turkeys are back...ah, spring! Yes, that's a turkey displaying his fan in photo. I'll try to get closer next time.

Nice press!

2011-03-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just got this lovely attention from environmental activists with Spirit—

http://www.quakerearthcare.org/Publications/BeFriendingCreation/BFCCurrentIssue/BFCpage01.htm

I'm on page 1,2 and 8.

Thanks for all the support I get from QEW!

Good Reading

2010-11-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

GOOD READS: This is the best time of year to curl up with a good book, and my stack has been piling up with volumes I can’t wait to read. Right now I am enjoying Judy Cannato’s Field of Compassion—How the New Cosmology is Transforming Spiritual Life. Judy is a brilliant, brave and amazing woman who understands things like quantum physics better than anyone I know and combines that interest with deep spirituality and the New Universe Story. I feel honored that she often uses my music in her workshops and presentation. I am inspired to write new songs as I read her work. She is a recent recipient of the Sacred Universe Award, and reminds me with every page of the hope, promise and love of the Universe!

I am big fans of journalist Amy Goodman’s work— her radio and TV broadcasts “Democracy NOW,” (www.democracynow.org) her books and interviews, and her courageous investigative journalism into war crimes, big media, food safety and more. I happened to be on the same “running-very-late” train as Ms. Goodman, to Washington DC to hear her speak at a recent Green Festival. So I got to help! For an hour or more I was Amy Goodman’s road assistant, carrying, researching the morning papers, dashing from train to cab, running thru the convention center where she took off her coat and brushed her hair as she stepped to the podium to speak extemporaneously for an hour. Brilliantly. Touching on every pressing issue of the day, reminding us constantly that each cholera victim in Haiti, each victim of torture detailed in the Wiki-leaks documents, and each citizen denied healthcare coverage based on a pre-existing condition is a PERSON, not a statistic.
I am reading her newest book Breaking the Sound Barrier and I am reminded why Bill Moyers, Willie Nelson, Arianna Huffington and so many others tout her work. She gives me courage.

Preserving the Bounty

2010-07-28T07:48:00.000-07:00

"When the tomatoes are ripe, everything else can wait."
The garden becomes my schedule keeper at the this time of year. I may have had plans today, but when there a finally enough ripe strawberries, THAT is the day one must make strawberry freezer jam. When the cukes are the perfect size, THAT is the time "put up" my darlin's favorite hot dog relish to enjoy for the next year.

So, everything else is taking a back seat to attending to the harvest. Yesterday I began drying some herbs that were prolific this year. Why not try drying some parsley and chives when I have it in abundance. I can transfer skills from other things I have dried, do a little research and learn how to do this!

Every food item that I can grow, preserve in some safe and healthy way prevents the use of packaging, transport and my concern about where it came from and what chemicals were used. Reduce, reuse and recycle. What a good mantra to repeat!

Enjoy the delicious bounty!

Going Greener for Musicians

2010-03-05T18:50:00.000-08:00

Joyce (Earth Mama®) Rouse checking Magnificent Healing Cd's from new energy efficient manufacturing process.

There is a revolution happening in every facet of life. Some people call it the “New Green Economy,” or “Sustainability”. Others refer to it as “The Race to Save the Planet.” Whatever phrase on behalf of Earth’s best interest you choose, its clear that in the music world as in any segment of life, culture or work, we have vast choices every day. Often we are so used to doing something one way that we don’t see the growing number of healthier choices available.

If you can hit the record button on Garage Band, you can release a CD. But did you know that you can eliminate the shrink wrap and the jewel case with a variety of recycled paper packaging choices? And that you can request all soy-based ink, which is not made from petroleum?

Many printers will not mention the choice of recycled paper unless you ask for it, but you and your PR team can build a beautiful promo package using gorgeous 100 percent recycled paper stock for every piece. Look for a printer who is certified to use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) paper. They will include a small logo of FSC on your print piece so that your savvy listeners will know that you are caring for the planet as you make great music!

* A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without jeopardizing the prospects of future generations. — Lester Brown, World Watch Institute

First, Let's Stop the Stupid Stuff (or Blowin'in the Wind)

2010-03-02T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Virginia House of Delegates once again struck a blow to clotheslines, (were they all strung out on something?) refusing to stop community associations from banning them in neighborhoods. The State Senate passed it, but the House bill died from the dreaded disease, “party lines,” in committee. I’ll let you guess which party is opposed to air drying your clothes in your own backyard. Oddly enough, it might just be the same one that is always howling about too much regulation.

I have now been clothes-dryer-free for 7 years. I have extra space in my laundry room. The hanging damp clothes add humidity to dry winter air. I use less whitening agent because I let the summer sun do the bleaching. The clothes smell great and the towels are crunchy, so they really dry your skin instead of just pushing the wet around. (I once lived in a neighborhood in Tennessee where clotheslines were banned, but I moved before I could be arrested or test it in the courts.) I am free, free, free of another energy hog appliance.

What in blazes are they thinking in Richmond...(and Brentwood)? Can they not connect two dots?

We live in a season of great change on Earth. Climate disruption is triggering water shortages and flooding, glacial melting and deforestation, ocean changes and unusual species migration. That is Massive Climate Disruption (MCD) caused by CO2 production from burning of fossil fuels. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to see that the MORE conservation of gas and electricity by NOT running those dryers, means LESS CO2, and a MORE stable climate.

Or can it be that SOMEONE thinks that what you hang in your own backyard is his business? Or could it be that Party Line holds more sway than Clothes Line?
Please send alarm clocks to Richmond (or YOUR state capital) and tell the boys to wake up!

OY-VAY.

Climate Change action: First, let’s stop the stupid stuff, like banning solar clothes dryers.

resource songs:
“Less is More” from Around the World with Earth Mama CD
“Habitat” from Under the Rainbow CD by Earth Mama
“Energy” tango from Around the World with Earth Mama CD
“They Were Right” from Love Large CD by Earth Mama

songs at www.earthmama.org or www.itunes.com/earthmama

Mother Nature Calls the Shots

2010-02-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

Mother Nature Calls the Shots

Another 4-5 inches of snow predicted today. I’m getting used to this. And, truth be told, loving it. We are getting out, down our half mile long, steep, curvy driveway about once a week to the grocery store. It’s getting back UP the drive that presents a challenge.

Not being able to jump in the car and go, on a whim or to a scheduled event has its advantages. I’m making my way through stacks of magazines and newspaper articles I just never had time to tackle. I finished sewing warm window quilts (moveable insulation) and hung them on all our north windows, immediately keeping the house more comfortable. I’m working on photo albums that have been sitting in boxes for too long. I wrote a whole song in uninterrupted, record time at the piano. I’m loving it.

Yup, we have to carry in loads of wood to keep the wood furnace going, shovel off the patio when the drain pipes are iced up. But I am here and grounded. Fortunate indeed, that we have not lost electric power since before Christmas. (My heart goes out to those thousands still without power.) It’s not a big deal when we run out of milk or the right kind of flour or mushrooms. We can find something else to substitute for it in whatever is cooking. Sweetie Pie made the most wonderful lasagna, even after we discovered several of the key ingredients gone AWOL. Whole wheat fettucini noodles worked just fine and were a whole lot easier to install.

The most annoying part of all this unusual extreme winter—this winter just like I remember them from my childhood, this winter that all the old timers say used to be more the norm—is the people who spout comments mocking the ideas of Global Climate Change, usually with a snide clever attempt to sport their superiority in intelligence to a former Vice President. I look for an opportunity to mention that there is a difference between weather and climate. My step-son quietly responds to them that he is still very concerned about the melting of the polar ice caps.

Makes me wonder, "If ignorance is bliss, how come there aren't more happy people?” (author unknown) No matter how smart we think we are Mother Nature is still in charge.

Blessings and Earthpeace,

Joyce

P.S. And for those of you wondering where God stands in all of this, I think that God and Mother Nature are VERY good friends.

Are You a Chosen One?

2010-02-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Music has great power and potential power in the Green and Sustainability Movements: go ahead hum a few of your favorites....

Not everyone GETS music. Almost everybody likes some form of music or another. But just as I don’t GET football —yes, I can sit and watch a game with friends, mostly follow it, cheer and and be engaged a little, but it does not have the power to MOVE me, and I don’t much care about the stats or the finer points— I have often been struck by the difference between people who GET the power of music to transform and those who simply think of music as kind of a wallpaper for life. I don’t think it is merely a lack of education, but more to do with exposure, genetics, the brain and interpretation, and the sensory system.

Exposure
I have very early memories of the power of music in my life. My mother did all of her housework while singing. Some were popular songs, some were from her high school choir repertoire, some from years of church hymn and choir singing. She knew that vacuuming, peeling potatoes, weeding the garden, stirring the soup, washing dishes, hanging out clothes were all best done when accompanied by music, preferably from within. I also remember sitting on my dad’s knee as he sang You Are My Sunshine and feeling the vibrations of his tones in his chest. Parked in pew #3 on the left side of the aisle and lined up with my four siblings in the Immanuel Lutheran Church every Sunday morning, there was great power in being surrounded by voices singing How Great Thou Art and Holy, Holy, Holy. In third grade I joined our neighborhood 4-H Club and noticed that we sang a few songs at EVERY CLUB MEETING! The following year I got to the Central School where we had Mrs. Precious, the veteran music teacher who at sixty-plus taught music with her whole, spry little body. She reinforced the tenants of 4-H and Sunday School singing: it doesn’t have to be perfect or even pretty, but had better be enthusiastic and most often FUN.

Choosing to Listen
By middle school (well, they used to call it Junior High) I learned to save my money from ironing for Mom, pulling mustard in the oat field and other specialty work, so I could buy carefully chosen LP albums. I listened for hours, over and over in a dark room to Simon and Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence and Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman. Ten years later I would do the same with Peter Tschesnokoff’s Salvation is Created, the music I still consider the greatest piece of choral music ever written. Getting to sing this as part of the soprano section of Iowa State Singers in a concert with the touring Moscow Symphony Orchestra in my junior year of college was and still is a peak experience of my life. While writing this, I listened again to St.Olaf choir’s recording and yet, again got goose bumps several times in its three and one half minute duration of nearly four- octave-span from rumbling bass section to soaring soprano line that shoots to heaven.

Creating
I have a sprinkling of fans and friends who really GET what I am doing. (Thank Goodness I am married to one of them. : >) They write via paper or email and quote some obscure line in one of my songs, telling me how it inspired some ah-ha moment in their life. I feel immense gratitude because when I boil down all the reasons I write, perform and record music, the most basic answer is “to touch people” in a way that only music can.

I know that my music in not really my creation—though I will defend my copyrights to the grave—but some creative force of the Universe that flows through me when I am primed and remember to turn the spigot on. As with all composers and songwriters, my job is to put it all together in a way that only I can, given my unique combination of life history, geography, experience and eccentricities. Give fifty professional songwriters the same song title to write and I guarantee that they will compose fifty very different (some pretty darn good, some not) songs.

Musician Conversation
The years I lived in Nashville, surrounded by the best of the best songwriters, pickers, sound engineers, (who are mostly all fine musicians in their own right, which makes them better engineers at the board), I was immersed in an environment of great musicality everywhere—well, maybe except for most of Top 40 radio. I would hear stunning songs by great writers and singers whose names you would not recognize because there are just so MANY good music makers. Not all can be anointed by radio or internet or Amazon. Some days on breaks in the studio the assembled players would have diagnostic discussions on something like a chord progression, its prior history in country, classical, and Ukrainian folk music, followed by several bad puns, and a story, from when one of them was playing on the road with Some Once Famous Artist. Then back to work coming up with a stunningly brilliant intro on the spot to the recording session. Musician brains are a marvel, and they don’t work like any other. Yes, I understand that there are parallel universes to this in the Jazz, Classical, Opera,
Cabaret, Music Theatre world.

(These days there is plenty to bring down any music creator’s dreams. What with people making CD copies of whatever they like and passing them to friends, internet piracy and illegal downloads, producing a sustaining income stream from music is getting harder and harder, except for the likes of Beyonce, Bono, and Black Eyed Peas. Now with programs like Garage Band, musicians who could never have dreamed of recording a CD can do so in their spare time, duplicate it and declare themselves both an artist and a record company. Some of the resulting recordings are great. Some are awful. But who am I to judge? Music is such a personal thing.)

In my work booking my shows for Helping Heal the Planet One Song at a Time—which can be called concerts, showcases, school assemblies or Music and Conversation,—I sometimes have to explain why music is so important. Can’t do it. People either GET the power of music in any movement or venture or they don’t. No amount of explaining how the affective domain of the brain works in influencing cognition and action, no reminder that they know their ABC’s because they learned them by singing them, (and probably still sing them occasionally when looking up something in the dictionary or phone book). Imagine the Civil Rights movement without the power of We Shall Overcome, Christianity without Amazing Grace, elementary school without Yankee Doodle. I can’t, but some can.

So, if you happen to be one who is moved, tortured, lifted up, or inspired by melody, harmony, lyric, rhythm, or a really sweet string arrangement, count your blessings. You are one of the chosen ones. Not only do you have ears, a sense of timing and pitch, but the molecules, enzymes and synapses in your brain are arranged in a way that coalesce the components of sound into the majestic tones of the Universe, the first of which vibrated with the Big Blossom over fourteen billion years ago. You are blessed. God is Great. And She loves music.

Get yourself a little inspiration now!

To hear and purchase Earth Mama® (Joyce Rouse) songs about the Big Blossom
and the New Story of the Universe:
Listen to (I Come From a) Fireball at:
Earth Mama — Eco Music Therapy For Our Planet
http://www.earthmama.org/hearundertherainbow.php

or a gentler telling, Mystery
http://www.earthmama.org/heargrassroots.php

Earth Mama’s latest music can be found at
http://www.earthmama.org/hearpayattention.php

Or at www.iTunes.com/earthmama

Do you REALLY listen to music? Care to share examples of what moves you?
Please comment below

Greenwich Village Green

2010-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

You would have to be in a coma not to see all the green initiatives sprouting out everywhere these days. Recycle bins in unexpected places, reminders not to use plastic bags, restaurants encouraging tap, instead of bottled water. The list goes on.

I have heard a few notable experts remark that “all the easy things have been done” adding that the significant planet-saving we do from here on in will be difficult, expensive and complicated. WRONG. Every day I see some creative new re-use or innovative reduction or recycling tricks. What follows is my favorite from this week.

In Greenwich Village, (on the island of Manhattan, between the majestic Hudson River and the rich mysterious Atlantic Ocean— container for and home of the warm Gulf Stream waters and cold water cod), there are lovely little streets that run between the major big avenues. The Avenues have subway stations, many-laned corners with multiple traffic light and pedestrian direction combinations, and the other, usual city street stuff, i.e. trash (and recycle!) bins, Starbucks, newspaper machines, street people, honking horns, frantic-paced taxis, and a conspicuous absence of trees or shrubbery. Running to and away from the Big Daddy Avenues at inconsistent acute and obtuse angles are quiet little streets with names like Christopher, Barrow, and Cornelia. These are quieter with apartment buildings or shops or tiny trattorias and cafes. Many of them are lined with small trees in their own little square yard—literally a “square yard”— surrounded by brick or wrought iron.

Generally the yard is bare dirt or perhaps a little chipped mulch or a ground cover such as a vinca. Along the streets I visited last week, I found that many of those square yards were lush with greenery, the evergreen kind—fir, pine, hemlock. It appeared that wreathes, roping, and small branches had taken on a new life as natural winter protection surrounding the planted dormant landscape trees. And no petrol-fueled power tool had been fired up to grind it to mulch. Imagine that—skipping the whole “collect the Christmas trees, haul them away, pulverize them to spreadable form then redistribute for landscaping material!" What a great way to shrink a neighborhood carbon footprint.

So, was this an organized city initiative, a neighborhood project or just someone’s personal beautification project? I have no clue. But it brightened my day to walk along and find holiday greenery exhibiting one more life of use, adorning the next generation of trees along grey winter sidewalks.

No, all the easy actions have not yet been taken. And we need every little innovative energy saver, as well as all the big changes that will require Herculean effort, courageous leadership and a few well-place miracles to get to sustainability. May the forest be with you!

The Man Who Precycles Christmas Trees

2010-01-07T05:27:00.000-08:00

We ran into our friend, Joe, Christmas week and he pointed out the beautiful big decorated (no lights, just outdoor ornaments, garlands and a big star) in the field in front of his house.
We asked him if he had cut down a real, live tree for this display and he told us a wonderful story of how he PRE-cycles and reuses trees every year:

Joe has lots of friends and family here, most of whom have houses and yards. He keeps track of folks he knows who have evergreen trees that have outgrown their backyards, or need to be removed for a building project, or must sacrifice their space for some other use. Then come December he performs careful tree removal for them and has a beautiful fresh Christmas tree in his front yard/field. It is a tradition that has gone on 8 or 9 years now. He has trees lined up for the next 2 years and is certain that there will be more after that. Of course, as with most conservation efforts, it takes forethought and some advanced planning. But it gives the tree that must be removed one last flash of attention and glory. And is a joyful reminder of this season to all who pass by, as well as a model and example of careful use of resources for those who know the story.

What things might I precycle or reuse in the coming year? There are new examples showing up every day!

Good Grass Roots Idea

2009-12-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

This is something anyone can do—and the impact could be huge:

My friend LaRa recently send me a copy of this great letter she had sent to Wal-Mart executives. My sister pointed out that it also needs to be sent to Sears, Best Buy and anyone else selling electronics. Please feel free to personalize and make this your own. Thank you LaRa for sharing this and for all you are doing to stop mountaintop removal and other gross indignities to the planet.

*PLEASE join in this campaign with LaRa and contact Walmart regarding this gross waste of energy. Please send this email far and wide.
Thank you.

Take talking points from the letter below.
Mailing Address Below
Phone # 1-479-273-4000 - leave message for Mr. Walton
FAX: 1-479- 273-4329
website: walmartstores.com
(Could not get an email address.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - -

Walmart Senior Management December 7, 2009
Walmart Board of Directors
Attention: S. Robson Walton
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Dear Mr. Walton,

The staff of your stores has been very willing to reach out to the local communities to assist with worthwhile projects. Thank you. Here I want to challenge you to a project that covers six southeastern states as well as all of the areas where your 8,150 Walmart stores are located.

Are you aware that the demand for coal to create electricity has resulted in blasting the tops off of over 500 mountains and covered 2,000 miles of stream with toxic soil in the states of VA, W.VA, KY, TN, OH and PA? The blasting goes on daily and whole communities, animal life, and vegetation are being destroyed as I write to you.

So how does this relate to Walmart? In the last two weeks I have visited three Walmart stores in three different states to find that there are 30 to 40 TV’s turned on 24/7 in each store.
Multiply that by 8,150 stores; that is enough electricity to serve a whole community.

PLEASE CONSIDER LIMITING THE NUMBER OF TV’S THAT ARE EMPOWERED IN EACH WALMART STORE!

On your website under walmartstores.com you state,”Sustainability- Our aspirational goals are being supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, creating zero waste and selling products that sustain people and the environment.”

This is a grand challenge for you to work toward these goals and bring forth renewed resolutions and solutions for 2010 to waste less electrical energy and save the mountains and the people and the communities of Appalachia as well as other communities where your stores are located around the globe.

I plan to follow up on the results of this request in 2010 and I plan to send this letter to people who share these concerns with me.

Thank you most sincerely for your action on this very important world project.

Martha LaRa Gibson
2098 Chestnut Grove
Mouth of Wilson, VA 24363
Email: larag@localnet.com
Phone: 276-579-4374*

Simplicity, Santa and Small Towns

2009-12-22T13:35:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday morning was busy. I dashed into the post office for mail then on the way back to my office I was pulled unexpectedly to our little public library. I was looking for a book on Claude Monet, but it could have waited. Something kept directing me to the library. So I went, found my Monet book and a video. As I was checking out I saw Santa Claus, just about to make his appearance at the pre-school story hour in the children’s section.

He looked rather like one of the town cops in a Santa suit. He was fabulous. Right on cue, he BECAME Santa and strutted jolly style to center stage (or chair). He chatted with a crowd of about 40 kids and parents, There was music and fun, crafts and treats,
decorations and a sizzle of holiday joy. Then the children took turns sitting on his lap and he TALKED with each of them about Christmas, life, family, food. He may have even asked them what they hoped for under the tree on Christmas morning, but that was not the focus.

There were no professional photographers selling photos of the Santa visit. No long lines of harried impatient shoppers, children with candy cane induced fits, just a big circle where kids waited politely until the Santa lap was empty and the spirit moved them to join the relaxed fun. It made my week and re-oriented me to the Community Christmas Spirit.

I couldn’t help contrast it with the typical Santa mall experience. You see, the closest mall or big shopping center is about an hour and a half away from us here in the mountains. Getting there is a big deal, not a three-time-a-week experience as was common for most kids from the suburb in which I used to live.
Some of these kids have never been to the Mall Santa event. They don’t even know that this is an opportunity for commerce. And promoting plastic toys. Yet. Don’t get me wrong— I know there are some wonderful, dedicated, caring professional Santas out there. But this is one more reminder of the value of community and how we nurture our children. For me, that is easier to find in a small town.

Simple Living is a good solid step toward a sustainable lifestyle. My mantra is carved in a rock given to me as a Christmas gift a while back: Simplify
It's easier to simplify going forward. It's tough to go back and simplify major choices you have already committed to—home or car purchase, how we raise our children, investments. But we have small choices every day, so just “keep on simplifying.”

So thank you small town libraries, for the amazing events you plan. Thank you librarians for the way-more-hours-than-you-get-paid-for. Thank you volunteer town, church and association Santas who keep the fun and spirit in Christmas by sharing the experience minus the stuff, simply.

Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.

PS. Wythe-Grayson Regional Library in Independence, VA is staffed by angels. Please ask your representatives to keep libraries open and fully staffed!

Winning Wounded Women Warriors

2009-12-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

On the Winter Solstice I had a day of forced centering. It was sublime. I was snowed in and one of the necessary high priority needs was to shovel a path to the wood pile. Thich Na Hahn reminds us in many of his writing about the value of toil. It frees up the brain (while the body and muscles are otherwise engaged) to just BE, and be Mindful. I found it energizing to let my brain just BE while I shoveled heavy wet snow. Mindfulness led me to gratitude—for many things, but I would like to share one special item from the long list.

I have heard from four women friends this season (close in heart, but distant by miles) about their recoveries from cancer—diagnosis and treatment within the last two years. Each of them is doing exceptionally well. Exceptionally well is relative here, depending on YOUR outlook. Exceptionally well for me is about their making this experience their own, using their personal power to work within whatever healing/treatment system they have chosen, to embrace the experience. Each has boldly stepped forward and made choices base on the Inner Wise Woman they have become.

They have each used their own extraordinary creativity, spiritual depth, personal power, and lifetime of expertise in some field to find their own path to healing. I noticed that each of them went into a period of seclusion, limiting their communication from even closest friends, to summon all energy and focus for conducting the orchestra of their recovery. I liken it to them choosing a Winter Solstice of their own timing, going deep into the rich darkness of Earth Time to dream and prepare for their respective treatment plans. I am grateful for the stunning symphony of recovery that each is living. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Snow—lots of it— kept me from attending a Winter Solstice Yoga experience I had been looking forward to, but I imagine that part of the evening was spent in Warrior pose. I was there in spirit, as were my four brave friends.