Merlyn Fuller's Blog: www.merlynmischief.blogspot.com, page 2
January 21, 2015
Road Warrior Tales
Leaving friends and saying goodbyes is never easy, even if you know you love each other and want to be together again in the future. Harry & I said our goodbyes to Dre & Max, Aidan, Donna, and Jay & Abby on Monday morning and we set out on Rt. 41 North to head home the long drive out of Florida. I posted my Angels each holding to a side of the car, one riding on the roof and another hovering under the belly of our carriage. Their wings outstretched and their strong, protective hands holding us safely, their eyes on the lookout for us along the way.
By the way, if you’ve never driven Florida, it’s a freaking LONG state. It’s almost as tedious long as Virginia with its’ up and down hills. We decided to forgo the mountains the last few times and brave Washington D.C. traffic instead for a shorter and less hilly route. But at least we had blue skies and palm trees to enjoy for awhile longer as we headed north.
I even found some Cheladas at a "Flying J" to bring back to my friend Russ Tarby. Cheladas are that weird drink that I wrote about blogs ago (clamato juice and beer. I know. It sounded horrendous. But Russ entreats me that it's "quite refreshing on a hot day" so I'm bringing back 3 tall boys and we'll try it. I'm brave like dat. :)
All was well until we reached 295 past Jacksonville, almost out of the state. A traffic jam of EPIC proportions. We sat in the left lane of 4 lanes of traffic, wedged in between tractor trailers, and creeped along for 2 hours. At one point we had gone a mile in one hour. But we kept ourselves amused playing “Sing a jingle” for the entire time. (Any famous sales jingle or slogan was fair game. :)
FINALLY, the line of cars to Kingdom Come was allowed to break free of the pack and we all enjoyed being able to MOVE at a normal speed. Well, some of us moved at a normal speed. Other drivers were just plain ASSHOLES. There is something akin to convicts being held in prison and just getting let out on a crime spree when aggressive drivers are pent up in a traffic snarl for too long get loose. Harry is a VERY good driver. He is defensive and is always on the lookout being on the offense. He drove above the speed limit, within reason (i.e. cop approved fast but not insane fast). After all, our wondrous Suburu has 236,000 miles on her. She’s had her SECOND head gasket job this last October and well, we don’t fuck with pushing her too hard. We want to get home in one piece.
There were how’ere, some folks who didn’t care how THEY got home as they were driving now on the Highway to Hell (insert ear worm here).
One guy pulled up next to us, with his left arm held out the window with his bird finger stiff and strong, pointed at us, passed us on the right, cut over 2 lanes in front of us closely, and CONTINUED giving the high flying salute for about 5 minutes down the road in front of us.
I’m sure his mother was proud of him.
The worst one in my opinion though is “the mean truck driver.” Yah, an asshole truck driver with an attitude, barreling down the road, on your ass, squeezing you against the guardrails and flashing high beams at EVERYONE is a danger to society. But then again, I try to think about who these people are. Maybe that fuck finger guy missed his flight at the airport stuck in traffic or had a fight with his girlfriend on his phone while stressed and stuck in traffic. (Harry is sure that guy DOESN’T have a girlfriend, but desperately needs one. God Save her) . Maybe that tractor trailer driver is now horrendously late and is now on penalty or got weighed. We can only hope its’ something like that and not that they are that aggressive and mean spirited all the time.
Road Rage isn't a pretty thing. It makes even beautiful people ugly.
We’ve been around some really angry, hateful people on this trip…aggressive drivers who constantly shout at the road, hate the other drivers and seem to blame everyone but themselves. It’s their funeral. I’m only hoping that they don’t take the rest of us out with them on the way. So much for Southern Graciousness, eh?
We pressed on. We got a room for the night in a Microtel and then got gas and breakfast in the morning. We like Waffle Houses. Some folks call them “Awful Houses” but we truly like the food. The hash browns are awesome and can be done any way you like them. I love them with onions, peppers and mushrooms. The waitress this morning was a plain lady. We almost thought she was “slow” at first when we were ordering. But no, she was just deliberate. When Harry started chatting with her about the weather, she came alive and well…this lady was actually a walking encyclopedia of Southern knowledge! What did we learn?
Well, if you can just imagine all the following the way it was stated….read the following in a heavy Southern drawl:
“We here are the Palmetto State. I wondered why so I went and Googled it and I found out that in wars the Palm tree bounces cannonballs off! In the war, Fort Sumter actually sunk some ships when the palm trees there receieved the blows, they would bend and send the cannonballs right back where they came from.”
“The term “High-Falootin’ comes from Mississippi River Boats who would have 2 levels of decks. The rich folks would stand up on the top deck by the smokestacks (the FLUTE) and so the poor folks on the lower decks would look up at the elite up top and call them folks, “high flutein” which then became “High Falootin.”
“The term “Riff Raff” was also coined then because the poor folks would use rafts sometimes and a stick or paddle called a “riff”. Thus if you used this mode of transportation you would be called “Riff Raft.” Which then dropped the “t” over time.”
“The term “y’all” is actually not for one but for describing many people. It’s short for Irish “Ye All”. They just dropped the “e” over time and it became “y’all.” To this I made her laugh. I said, “I thought the term “All Y’all” was the plural form for many down here. JShe looked at me, blankly at first, then laughed her head off.
It’s been a good trip over all. I've crocheted a lot, I've even practiced my mandolin for hours (to the delight of drivers next to us :) while Harry drove and we sang together while I played. I've read some of a couple of books a couple of my friends have written, and we've played the jingle game a lot. We have had the radio off the entire time, no cds, but we have sang a lot of classic Rock and trad tunes while we drive.
We are safe here this morn, in a Microtel in Hagerstown, MD. There is a storm coming in and we made as many miles we could yesterday to get beyond Washington and its traffic before rush hour this morning. The last straw was another accident on the exit right after we got off here. Just in the nick of time.We head for home this day, hopefully racing ahead of a snowstorm coming in this morning in PA.
We can’t wait to see our doggy boy, Monty Joe, and his best buddy and our house sitter,Nick and to actually be in our own beds this night.
Anon!
January 19, 2015
Catching my breath~
Hey Ho Mischievites!
I wanted to have a minute to sit down and catch you all up about our trip so far, but really haven't had a chance till now. It's 7am and I will have my first cup of coffee soon. I'm sitting in the lovely living room of Dre & Max Rousseau on a huge wrap around couch filled with other morning people having their coffee. Dre, Max, their son Aidan, Abby Michaels and Harry are next to me, Donna Davenport across from me. We are having conversations about our dreams and catching up on our weekend.
When I left you last we had played a gig at The Celtic Ray Irish Pub. It was great! The next night we played at The Fort Myers Unitarian Universalist Church and had dinner with them and we were able to play a lot of music of an eclectic spiritual bent and I enjoyed it very much! They enjoyed us as well. One of the absolute best things about this particular church is the social element of it. The space they have there is beautiful, for sure. They have great spaces for sitting, meditating, and for worship and also for friendship. I gave myself a most wonderful moment last night. As Harry was setting up the sound system at the Fort Myers UU Church in anticipation of our music set, I took the time to go check out the church. I wandered around the outside veranda and quad where there were rooms all around the garden in the center. There was one room where a fiddle lesson was going on with a teacher and a couple of young students learning to play a jig. The next room contained a men's study group who were all older men gathered and chatting friendly and intently. The next room was full of folks commenting on a seeming board meeting. There also seemed to be a Pastor's meeting going on in another....a women's group in another. All was wonderful to see this active alive social place on a Tuesday night! Our UU is very small for a congregation, but this made me very happy to see this beautiful large space so alive and fun and connected. The last stop for me before I went to work to sing was to find the sanctuary. The door was open. I went in and just sat in one of the pews and check out the space and meditated. A man came in and smiled at me, got something he was looking for and left. He said hi and I said, "what a beautiful sanctuary." He said, "yes it is indeed" and he left me to my thoughts.
It's good to take a moment for yourself and to ground before you give to others.
Here is one of the church's spaces here....with fans and an open air meeting place.
I love this space for a program too! How awesome is THIS????
A very comfy place under the sky for a service, methinks!
They even have a fire pit for some circle work!
There is a garden in the quad that is in the center of the property that is completely wild and wonderful...
Abby and I watched this little gekko for awhile....see him on the rock?
Some of these daytime pics are of the following day when we went back with Jay and Abby and found the labyrinth that the church had made in the wild wood lot on the church's property. It was a lovely meditative time together.
Orb. :)
Deep breath. RELAAAAAXXXX....
Walking in the woods together...
Exploring the grounds....
Enjoying my best buddy on a beautiful day
Cuties....
Loving this day together....so enjoyable and a break from stress in the sunshine...
And let's have some pics of the buddy boys, Harry and Jay now....
A little mischief.... :)
OK, maybe a LOT of Mischief :)
I made a major lasagna pan and also some Caramel Pretzel Bark (which I have named "crack"...and with good reason....) MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....it was so nice of Dre to let me take over her kitchen for awhile!
The weekend at the faire was wonderful! Harry and I played with lots of other musicians: Will the Fiddler, Jason of "Jig to the Milestone", Darien of Empty Hats, Jay and Abby of The Harper & The Minstrel, The Harpies. We also played extra for a Medieval Feast on Saturday night.
It was such a lovely fair, faire day.....
Look at that BLUE SKY!
Palm trees!
So gorgeous!
A nice candid shot of my handsome friends Braze and Jay,,,
And I asked Harry to take a pic of my new necklace and earrings set.
But he didn't get my earrings in the pic for some reason. :)
It was also a real treat to have our northern Mischievites Lorie & Chris Finger come down for the faire! It felt like home with a rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar" with her and Ravyn and also an impromptu Garbaholics meeting!
Purple ladies! :)
Purple stripey socks!
Purples!
Whiskey in the Jar!
Mischievite Wenches!
Some more faire pics
We played THE MOST AMAZING version of "Our Mother the Mountain" with Jay & Abby for our finale for the pubsing. It was the best one EVER.
Here is a LINK for one of the versions we played, (thank you Max for catching it!)
Would you like to hear us?
CLICK HERE to hear "Our Mother the Mountain" with Merry Mischief and The Harper & The Minstrel
Home back at our home away from home here in Cape Coral we ate, drank and were merry and enjoy the folks here on our last evening, snuggling, laughing and chatting.
Here's a pic that just makes me happy. It's Dre and Max's backyard.
I'm very proud of the work that Harry & I did these last few weeks here and I am very blessed to have such happy, fun, and kind, loving friends here!
We are so happy to work for this faire. They have done so well in the community here, and they have top shelf entertainment and are damn nice to work for!
The Florida area has been fabulous and a real treat and a tonic to me a sun craving Central New Yorker.
This weather is like a TONIC to me!
What a relief to get away from the freezing cold and dreary skies of my homeland right now.
We will be packing up the jingles, garb and the Suburu to start heading back north today. I will be sad to leave the sunshine and all my dear friends but am very grateful for the work...
and I miss my doggy Joe....so Wagons Ho!
I wanted to have a minute to sit down and catch you all up about our trip so far, but really haven't had a chance till now. It's 7am and I will have my first cup of coffee soon. I'm sitting in the lovely living room of Dre & Max Rousseau on a huge wrap around couch filled with other morning people having their coffee. Dre, Max, their son Aidan, Abby Michaels and Harry are next to me, Donna Davenport across from me. We are having conversations about our dreams and catching up on our weekend.
When I left you last we had played a gig at The Celtic Ray Irish Pub. It was great! The next night we played at The Fort Myers Unitarian Universalist Church and had dinner with them and we were able to play a lot of music of an eclectic spiritual bent and I enjoyed it very much! They enjoyed us as well. One of the absolute best things about this particular church is the social element of it. The space they have there is beautiful, for sure. They have great spaces for sitting, meditating, and for worship and also for friendship. I gave myself a most wonderful moment last night. As Harry was setting up the sound system at the Fort Myers UU Church in anticipation of our music set, I took the time to go check out the church. I wandered around the outside veranda and quad where there were rooms all around the garden in the center. There was one room where a fiddle lesson was going on with a teacher and a couple of young students learning to play a jig. The next room contained a men's study group who were all older men gathered and chatting friendly and intently. The next room was full of folks commenting on a seeming board meeting. There also seemed to be a Pastor's meeting going on in another....a women's group in another. All was wonderful to see this active alive social place on a Tuesday night! Our UU is very small for a congregation, but this made me very happy to see this beautiful large space so alive and fun and connected. The last stop for me before I went to work to sing was to find the sanctuary. The door was open. I went in and just sat in one of the pews and check out the space and meditated. A man came in and smiled at me, got something he was looking for and left. He said hi and I said, "what a beautiful sanctuary." He said, "yes it is indeed" and he left me to my thoughts.
It's good to take a moment for yourself and to ground before you give to others.
Here is one of the church's spaces here....with fans and an open air meeting place.
I love this space for a program too! How awesome is THIS????
A very comfy place under the sky for a service, methinks!
They even have a fire pit for some circle work!
There is a garden in the quad that is in the center of the property that is completely wild and wonderful...
Abby and I watched this little gekko for awhile....see him on the rock?
Some of these daytime pics are of the following day when we went back with Jay and Abby and found the labyrinth that the church had made in the wild wood lot on the church's property. It was a lovely meditative time together.Orb. :)
Deep breath. RELAAAAAXXXX....
Walking in the woods together...
Exploring the grounds....
Enjoying my best buddy on a beautiful day
Cuties....
Loving this day together....so enjoyable and a break from stress in the sunshine...
And let's have some pics of the buddy boys, Harry and Jay now....
A little mischief.... :)
OK, maybe a LOT of Mischief :)
I made a major lasagna pan and also some Caramel Pretzel Bark (which I have named "crack"...and with good reason....) MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.....it was so nice of Dre to let me take over her kitchen for awhile!
The weekend at the faire was wonderful! Harry and I played with lots of other musicians: Will the Fiddler, Jason of "Jig to the Milestone", Darien of Empty Hats, Jay and Abby of The Harper & The Minstrel, The Harpies. We also played extra for a Medieval Feast on Saturday night.
It was such a lovely fair, faire day.....
Look at that BLUE SKY!
Palm trees!
So gorgeous!
A nice candid shot of my handsome friends Braze and Jay,,,
And I asked Harry to take a pic of my new necklace and earrings set. But he didn't get my earrings in the pic for some reason. :)
It was also a real treat to have our northern Mischievites Lorie & Chris Finger come down for the faire! It felt like home with a rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar" with her and Ravyn and also an impromptu Garbaholics meeting!
Purple ladies! :)
Purple stripey socks!
Purples!
Whiskey in the Jar!
Mischievite Wenches!
Some more faire pics
We played THE MOST AMAZING version of "Our Mother the Mountain" with Jay & Abby for our finale for the pubsing. It was the best one EVER.
Here is a LINK for one of the versions we played, (thank you Max for catching it!)
Would you like to hear us?
CLICK HERE to hear "Our Mother the Mountain" with Merry Mischief and The Harper & The Minstrel
Home back at our home away from home here in Cape Coral we ate, drank and were merry and enjoy the folks here on our last evening, snuggling, laughing and chatting.
Here's a pic that just makes me happy. It's Dre and Max's backyard.
I'm very proud of the work that Harry & I did these last few weeks here and I am very blessed to have such happy, fun, and kind, loving friends here!
We are so happy to work for this faire. They have done so well in the community here, and they have top shelf entertainment and are damn nice to work for!
The Florida area has been fabulous and a real treat and a tonic to me a sun craving Central New Yorker.
This weather is like a TONIC to me!
What a relief to get away from the freezing cold and dreary skies of my homeland right now.
We will be packing up the jingles, garb and the Suburu to start heading back north today. I will be sad to leave the sunshine and all my dear friends but am very grateful for the work...
and I miss my doggy Joe....so Wagons Ho!
January 14, 2015
A Universal Faire Time!
Hey Ho~
I have a bit of a breather in the action down here and so I thought I'd blog while the blogging is good and catch you all up to date.
Fort Myers Medieval Faire was this last weekend and we have 4 shows a day (3 of which are at the pub :) with the days being 9am-6:30pm.
Had a nice surprise of seeing the lovely Barby Holder here! We miss you Barby!!!
Some mischief with my buddy Jay admiring my "top shelf" bodice and capturing in on his camera for posterity's sake :)
And here is that pic he took :)
It's really lovely here for faire....
But what's the bright thing in the sky????
Oh yah...SUNSHINE. :)
Harry and Jay Michaels got up at 5am and went to the faire site to do some music for a couple of the TV stations for publicity interviews. Abby & I got there at a more reasonable hour and helped a bit for the last 9am slot. Channel 4 & 10 down here I think on "WINK" station.
Some faire friends and pics for you to enjoy....
Our favorite lovely "horny" pub wench :)
Our guitars are having fun....
Dre and Max!
Harry and I played with Heather of the Harpies...
Such a lovely rendition of Nonesuch and Greensleeves we played!
Our best buds, Jay & Abby of The Harper & The Minstrel sounded wondrous as usual...
The faire was great fun, and the weather was perfect for faire on Saturday with a beauteous 75 degree day. Sunday was warmer, 83 or so, with an afternoon shower which caused some "premature evacuation" of some of the mundanes, but otherwise a wondrous day! It is so much fun to work it (even with drunk patrons occasionally "loving Merlyn too much", climbing up on stage uninvited and singing loud off key in her ear on stage :) But he was just loving Merry Mischief, so how can we blame him??
Wailing Wench and Rogue!
Great hanging out with our friends Dre & Max here in Cape Coral with friends The Harper & The Minstrel and singing with them several times on both of our stages!
Monday saw us bugging out around 7am with Donna Davenport and heading to Orlando for our planned adventure of going back to Universal.
First up, found Harry hanging 10....
I ran into my long time teenage crush of Shaggy and his Mystery Van.... along with his buddy, Scooby Doo!
I told Shaggy, "Dude! I've had such a crush on you for SOOO long!"
He looked at Scooby and said,
"I saw her first, man!" which made my day!!
And Harry of course, LOVED Shaggy's Chevy Van...the Mystery Machine!
Donna got a squeeze too!
Then we yelled hello to Elwood and Jake as they cruised by....
Then onward we went straight way (after a pint at an Irish Pub),
(which reminded us of a certain song.... :)
after avoiding a stray Transformer or two...
and we zombie shuffled into a fun Beetlejuice "Monsters of Rock" show
And I also caught a fish my dad would've been proud of :)
and saving Donna from almost certain death!
Then we caught the Knight Bus and went to Diagon Alley!
It was so much fun! I bought a Severus Snape interactive wand and we had fun playing with the intermittent places to do "magic" (turning on lights, unlocking doors, making an umbrella "rain").
Saw the Guardian Dragon on top of Gringots breathe fire!
Went on the Gringots ride and was appropriately scared and amused. (I'm not a big roller coaster ride fanatic, but I did have fun in between times when my eyes were shut and I was hanging on for dear life!)
Got some lunch in Diagon Alley....
Hagrid let me take his bike for a spin....Harry was a little concerned about my driving, but I had fun!
Shopped in the bookstores...
I VERY much enjoyed Diagon Alley and all the shops! It started raining so we had a HOT Butter Beer. Mmmmm! (will be making them with a kick soon :) and then we went to the train station and boarded at 9 & 3/4 and rode it over to Hogsmeade and had a Feast which made the rain go away (at least while we were eating!)
Got back to Donna's in Gulfport and got warm and into dry clothes and started our new addiction of watching the "Outlander" series with her. Slept well...finally...(it's been hard for me on the road, as usual, to sleep well)
Yesterday, it was another day of travel and performance and we played at The Celtic Ray Public House in Punta Gorda for 3 hours. The folks were grand, the food awesome and we had a blast playing from 6-9pm in the evening.
Today finds me a bit exhausted, so I am having a bit of a slug day, lounging and watching another Outlander episode or 3...gearing up to play tonight at the Fort Myers Unitarian Universalist Church here at 7pm.
I hope you liked the pics! We are having a fun and busy time of it. On this Thursday we will have our first "day off" since Jan. 5th when we left home, without having to travel, work, or adventure.
Looking forward to every minute of this trip and it's been so fun!
One more weekend of faire coming up and more adventures soon!
Stay warm up home and give my Monty Joe Doggy a scratch for me!
I have a bit of a breather in the action down here and so I thought I'd blog while the blogging is good and catch you all up to date.
Fort Myers Medieval Faire was this last weekend and we have 4 shows a day (3 of which are at the pub :) with the days being 9am-6:30pm.
Had a nice surprise of seeing the lovely Barby Holder here! We miss you Barby!!!
Some mischief with my buddy Jay admiring my "top shelf" bodice and capturing in on his camera for posterity's sake :)
And here is that pic he took :)
It's really lovely here for faire....
But what's the bright thing in the sky????
Oh yah...SUNSHINE. :)
Harry and Jay Michaels got up at 5am and went to the faire site to do some music for a couple of the TV stations for publicity interviews. Abby & I got there at a more reasonable hour and helped a bit for the last 9am slot. Channel 4 & 10 down here I think on "WINK" station.
Some faire friends and pics for you to enjoy....
Our favorite lovely "horny" pub wench :)
Our guitars are having fun....
Dre and Max!
Harry and I played with Heather of the Harpies...
Such a lovely rendition of Nonesuch and Greensleeves we played!
Our best buds, Jay & Abby of The Harper & The Minstrel sounded wondrous as usual...
The faire was great fun, and the weather was perfect for faire on Saturday with a beauteous 75 degree day. Sunday was warmer, 83 or so, with an afternoon shower which caused some "premature evacuation" of some of the mundanes, but otherwise a wondrous day! It is so much fun to work it (even with drunk patrons occasionally "loving Merlyn too much", climbing up on stage uninvited and singing loud off key in her ear on stage :) But he was just loving Merry Mischief, so how can we blame him??
Wailing Wench and Rogue!
Great hanging out with our friends Dre & Max here in Cape Coral with friends The Harper & The Minstrel and singing with them several times on both of our stages!
Monday saw us bugging out around 7am with Donna Davenport and heading to Orlando for our planned adventure of going back to Universal.
First up, found Harry hanging 10....
I ran into my long time teenage crush of Shaggy and his Mystery Van.... along with his buddy, Scooby Doo!
I told Shaggy, "Dude! I've had such a crush on you for SOOO long!"
He looked at Scooby and said,
"I saw her first, man!" which made my day!!
And Harry of course, LOVED Shaggy's Chevy Van...the Mystery Machine!
Donna got a squeeze too!
Then we yelled hello to Elwood and Jake as they cruised by....
Then onward we went straight way (after a pint at an Irish Pub),(which reminded us of a certain song.... :)
after avoiding a stray Transformer or two... 
and we zombie shuffled into a fun Beetlejuice "Monsters of Rock" show
And I also caught a fish my dad would've been proud of :)
and saving Donna from almost certain death!
Then we caught the Knight Bus and went to Diagon Alley!
It was so much fun! I bought a Severus Snape interactive wand and we had fun playing with the intermittent places to do "magic" (turning on lights, unlocking doors, making an umbrella "rain").
Saw the Guardian Dragon on top of Gringots breathe fire!
Went on the Gringots ride and was appropriately scared and amused. (I'm not a big roller coaster ride fanatic, but I did have fun in between times when my eyes were shut and I was hanging on for dear life!)
Got some lunch in Diagon Alley....
Hagrid let me take his bike for a spin....Harry was a little concerned about my driving, but I had fun!
Shopped in the bookstores...
I VERY much enjoyed Diagon Alley and all the shops! It started raining so we had a HOT Butter Beer. Mmmmm! (will be making them with a kick soon :) and then we went to the train station and boarded at 9 & 3/4 and rode it over to Hogsmeade and had a Feast which made the rain go away (at least while we were eating!)
Got back to Donna's in Gulfport and got warm and into dry clothes and started our new addiction of watching the "Outlander" series with her. Slept well...finally...(it's been hard for me on the road, as usual, to sleep well)
Yesterday, it was another day of travel and performance and we played at The Celtic Ray Public House in Punta Gorda for 3 hours. The folks were grand, the food awesome and we had a blast playing from 6-9pm in the evening.
Today finds me a bit exhausted, so I am having a bit of a slug day, lounging and watching another Outlander episode or 3...gearing up to play tonight at the Fort Myers Unitarian Universalist Church here at 7pm.
I hope you liked the pics! We are having a fun and busy time of it. On this Thursday we will have our first "day off" since Jan. 5th when we left home, without having to travel, work, or adventure.
Looking forward to every minute of this trip and it's been so fun!
One more weekend of faire coming up and more adventures soon!
Stay warm up home and give my Monty Joe Doggy a scratch for me!
January 8, 2015
Chilly Billy Travels
“How do you spell ‘harrowing’?” asked Harry, as he was texting his brother.“H-a-r-r-o-w-i-n-g” I regurgitated.
We left early on Tuesday morning and it was 11 degrees. Brrrrr!
Too cold to snow…the snow, was crunchy and the roads? Well, they were covered with black ice. Sweet. Over the many years that we’ve been driving to Florida to do the Fort Myers Kiwanis Medieval Faire, we’ve seen our share of shite weather. Merlyn posted Angels on every side of the car and also at the doors to her home and we set off. Thank God that we know how to drive in the snow and ice, and thank God that our faithful old Suburu has “goat feet” and all wheel drive. We saw SO many accidents along the way to the Washington D.C. area. Even police cars and tractor trailers off the road. We were very lucky. But yes, a white knuckle drive for Harry the whole way.
We arrived safe and sound at friend Kathleen’s and after hugs and kisses she brought out bottles of Scotch for a welcome “tasting.” We also slipped and slided our way down an icy hill as we took a winter walk to a wonderful Chinese restaurant for a fabulous dinner for a lot of tea, dumplings and hot and sour soup. Harry and I happily practiced for a couple of hours in Kathleen’s living room and we all sang and had fun. That night, we got some good sleep on an awesome BeautyRest bed and set off again in the morning.
We continued on south and I tell you, it seems that our home winter weather was following us as it was NOT balmy. We got into Georgia and stopped for the night and it was a whopping 45 degrees here!
Got checked into our modest Motel 6 room (they left the light on for us :) It was clean and cheap we were grateful to get off the road for awhile. We then went out to get some dinner at a “Southern Buffet” down the road.
Traveling Tip: When a waitress with a deep Southern drawl asks you if you would like cornbread, TAKE IT. Mmmmmm.
It's a different world in the south you know. This was the bizarre billboard in the parking lot outside the restaurant there.
Christ, you just don’t see that everyday. LOL.
Leaving the restaurant, the roads were dark and not well lit nor marked. It seemed to be a divided highway but without an apparent concrete meridian. We waited for traffic and crossed over in a safe manner…well, that was what we thought we were doing.….but as we were headed back to the motel, we suddenly realized with horror that we were now traveling down the one-way road -ON THE WRONG SIDE FACING ONCOMING TRAFFIC!!!
EEGAD!!! Swiftly using some race car driving techniques, Harry did an instant U-turn hairpin turn and we finally found a way off the fecked up engineered road and got safely back to our abode for the night.
Well, thank you Jesus! (and all the other Gods and Angels that Merlyn invoked) for all the safe travels and BONUS good cornbread.)
We have made it safe and sound to our friend, Ravyn's house in Gulfport in Florida. We look forward to a visit with her this night and some down time tonight.
Off to Fort Myers tomorrow to meet up with our favorite minstrel buds, Jay & Abby (The Harper & The Minstrel) and to see our buds Dre and Max in Cape Coral!
And guess what? They have Sunshine here!
We left early on Tuesday morning and it was 11 degrees. Brrrrr!
Too cold to snow…the snow, was crunchy and the roads? Well, they were covered with black ice. Sweet. Over the many years that we’ve been driving to Florida to do the Fort Myers Kiwanis Medieval Faire, we’ve seen our share of shite weather. Merlyn posted Angels on every side of the car and also at the doors to her home and we set off. Thank God that we know how to drive in the snow and ice, and thank God that our faithful old Suburu has “goat feet” and all wheel drive. We saw SO many accidents along the way to the Washington D.C. area. Even police cars and tractor trailers off the road. We were very lucky. But yes, a white knuckle drive for Harry the whole way.
We arrived safe and sound at friend Kathleen’s and after hugs and kisses she brought out bottles of Scotch for a welcome “tasting.” We also slipped and slided our way down an icy hill as we took a winter walk to a wonderful Chinese restaurant for a fabulous dinner for a lot of tea, dumplings and hot and sour soup. Harry and I happily practiced for a couple of hours in Kathleen’s living room and we all sang and had fun. That night, we got some good sleep on an awesome BeautyRest bed and set off again in the morning.
We continued on south and I tell you, it seems that our home winter weather was following us as it was NOT balmy. We got into Georgia and stopped for the night and it was a whopping 45 degrees here!
Got checked into our modest Motel 6 room (they left the light on for us :) It was clean and cheap we were grateful to get off the road for awhile. We then went out to get some dinner at a “Southern Buffet” down the road.
Traveling Tip: When a waitress with a deep Southern drawl asks you if you would like cornbread, TAKE IT. Mmmmmm.
It's a different world in the south you know. This was the bizarre billboard in the parking lot outside the restaurant there.
Christ, you just don’t see that everyday. LOL.
Leaving the restaurant, the roads were dark and not well lit nor marked. It seemed to be a divided highway but without an apparent concrete meridian. We waited for traffic and crossed over in a safe manner…well, that was what we thought we were doing.….but as we were headed back to the motel, we suddenly realized with horror that we were now traveling down the one-way road -ON THE WRONG SIDE FACING ONCOMING TRAFFIC!!!
EEGAD!!! Swiftly using some race car driving techniques, Harry did an instant U-turn hairpin turn and we finally found a way off the fecked up engineered road and got safely back to our abode for the night.
Well, thank you Jesus! (and all the other Gods and Angels that Merlyn invoked) for all the safe travels and BONUS good cornbread.)
We have made it safe and sound to our friend, Ravyn's house in Gulfport in Florida. We look forward to a visit with her this night and some down time tonight.
Off to Fort Myers tomorrow to meet up with our favorite minstrel buds, Jay & Abby (The Harper & The Minstrel) and to see our buds Dre and Max in Cape Coral!
And guess what? They have Sunshine here!
November 25, 2014
A Real American PRINCESS, Pocahantas!
At this lovely time of Thanksgiving, here at our StoryBook Club, we thought we'd celebrate it by studying the historical tale of "Pocahontas" for the season.
You know, what with all the Pilgrims & American Indians and all.
Oh come on. It's OK to say "American Indian." It really is, because, actually there was a poll done of the native population of peoples in New York State, and the highest percentage of indigenous natives said they preferred "American Indian" to "Native American." (so there).
Anyways, the legend of the 1st Thanksgiving isn't what we've been told. Disney didn't get it right either. But at least the story got out somehow. It's one of the biggest PR blockbusters to raise funding for the Brits to fund the colonists that ever was. So what if it got skewed with the lack of pesky facts.
Like first off....Pocahontas wasn't her real name. It was a nickname meaning "unruly child" or "spoiled brat." Pocahontas WAS an Indian Princess. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan in what is now Virginia. She had an idyllic childhood and when she was ELEVEN, ships came and she met John Smith.
And hey....John Smith was an older man.
Pocahontas was 11, yet SHE ended up saving HIS life. Pocahontas stepped in and risked her own life to save that man.
And John Smith probably wasn't all that nice. Oh sure, he was an organized man, and helped get the Jamestown crew to work and was a pretty good leader...but he probably didn't tell Pocahontas everything.
Pocahontas was also lied to, kidnapped, bartered for, most likely raped and used by her captors, and then when her father wouldn't trade arms for hostages...she was deprived of her culture by her captors and taken to another country to be paraded around like a freak show exhibit at Ringling Brothers.
"Step right up. SEE the INDIAN PRINCESS...A Savage turned Civilized...."
Some people don't know royalty when it bites them in the ass.
She was a true, kind and smart Peace Maker.
If it weren't for Pocahontas, the white settlers would've starved for those first few "Thanksgivings." If they had starved and died...maybe Virginia wouldn't have been a happening thing. Maybe England wouldn't have sent more and more people over here to colonize.
Maybe there wouldn't even BE an AMERICA without Pocahontas!
Yet, she was stripped of her culture, not given any more prestige than an oddity and for years she didn't even have a marker at her burial site in ENGLAND. That's right. One of the greatest women in our history, who fought to make peace in her own land, wasn't even buried here.
And guess what? She only lived to be 21 years old before her life ended (most likely with pneumonia) as she was basically "suffocated" by the English culture and their ways.
No more the free spirited cart wheeling girl of the forest. She died in England, far from her home, dressed in corsets and bonnets and with a "Christian" name of Rebecca Rolfe. Her husband married her for her lands and after he dropped her off in Gravesend, England (a most ominous location for a death, eh?) where this statue stands today.
John Rolfe high tailed it back to the place where he met Pocahontas, to claim her lands by rights as her husband and promptly planted tobacco all over it.
But I thank her for her bravery, her belief that people could be good (even if those she fought for, sold her out...) there are millions of descendants here (including 2 First Ladys) who are related by blood to her.
Pocahontas was a strong willed, brave, Peace Maker and she tried to help two clashing communities come together to live and thrive.
Her story makes me want to learn more about our Native cultures here.
These are a brave race that the white man sold out, used, abused and terrorized and tried to obliterate by decimating their culture and family lives and environments. It only makes me feel more hungry to learn about them, to honor them, to grow in love towards them and our Mother Earth whom they have tried to care for, while greedy men leave oily tracks and wipe out forests.
We have to wake up and learn to be more caring for the Earth and for each other.
Pocahontas LIVES in every man, woman and child who cares about such things.
We honored her last night with learning as much as we could about her stories. Stories fraught with lies, twists, propaganda and spin. But knowing that she was just a girl....who did such amazing things...it gives me hope.
Disney didn't need to concoct a love story between Pocahontas and John Smith. The story didn't need sex to sell it.
It only needed TRUTH to be shown for our own daughters and sons to admire COURAGE.
We ate and drank at our friend Kate's house on this OUR Thanksgiving for StoryBook. We here, are our Chosen Family of members and we dined on delicious American Indian recipes and gifts of the autumn in Kate's new home.
We are grateful. We are so very grateful.
And we thank Pocahontas for reminding us to try to just get along and share what we have too!
Happy Thanksgiving from us here at StoryBook Club!
Next month, is the busy month of Hanukkah and Christmas...so we will be having an outing and going to see the new released December movie:
Blessings to you all.
Aho. (Which is a Native American saying that is similar to "amen".)
You know, what with all the Pilgrims & American Indians and all.
Oh come on. It's OK to say "American Indian." It really is, because, actually there was a poll done of the native population of peoples in New York State, and the highest percentage of indigenous natives said they preferred "American Indian" to "Native American." (so there).
Anyways, the legend of the 1st Thanksgiving isn't what we've been told. Disney didn't get it right either. But at least the story got out somehow. It's one of the biggest PR blockbusters to raise funding for the Brits to fund the colonists that ever was. So what if it got skewed with the lack of pesky facts.
Like first off....Pocahontas wasn't her real name. It was a nickname meaning "unruly child" or "spoiled brat." Pocahontas WAS an Indian Princess. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan in what is now Virginia. She had an idyllic childhood and when she was ELEVEN, ships came and she met John Smith.
And hey....John Smith was an older man.
Pocahontas was 11, yet SHE ended up saving HIS life. Pocahontas stepped in and risked her own life to save that man.
And John Smith probably wasn't all that nice. Oh sure, he was an organized man, and helped get the Jamestown crew to work and was a pretty good leader...but he probably didn't tell Pocahontas everything.Pocahontas was also lied to, kidnapped, bartered for, most likely raped and used by her captors, and then when her father wouldn't trade arms for hostages...she was deprived of her culture by her captors and taken to another country to be paraded around like a freak show exhibit at Ringling Brothers.
"Step right up. SEE the INDIAN PRINCESS...A Savage turned Civilized...."
Some people don't know royalty when it bites them in the ass.
She was a true, kind and smart Peace Maker.
If it weren't for Pocahontas, the white settlers would've starved for those first few "Thanksgivings." If they had starved and died...maybe Virginia wouldn't have been a happening thing. Maybe England wouldn't have sent more and more people over here to colonize.
Maybe there wouldn't even BE an AMERICA without Pocahontas!
Yet, she was stripped of her culture, not given any more prestige than an oddity and for years she didn't even have a marker at her burial site in ENGLAND. That's right. One of the greatest women in our history, who fought to make peace in her own land, wasn't even buried here.
And guess what? She only lived to be 21 years old before her life ended (most likely with pneumonia) as she was basically "suffocated" by the English culture and their ways.
No more the free spirited cart wheeling girl of the forest. She died in England, far from her home, dressed in corsets and bonnets and with a "Christian" name of Rebecca Rolfe. Her husband married her for her lands and after he dropped her off in Gravesend, England (a most ominous location for a death, eh?) where this statue stands today.
John Rolfe high tailed it back to the place where he met Pocahontas, to claim her lands by rights as her husband and promptly planted tobacco all over it.
But I thank her for her bravery, her belief that people could be good (even if those she fought for, sold her out...) there are millions of descendants here (including 2 First Ladys) who are related by blood to her.
Pocahontas was a strong willed, brave, Peace Maker and she tried to help two clashing communities come together to live and thrive.
Her story makes me want to learn more about our Native cultures here.
These are a brave race that the white man sold out, used, abused and terrorized and tried to obliterate by decimating their culture and family lives and environments. It only makes me feel more hungry to learn about them, to honor them, to grow in love towards them and our Mother Earth whom they have tried to care for, while greedy men leave oily tracks and wipe out forests.
We have to wake up and learn to be more caring for the Earth and for each other.
Pocahontas LIVES in every man, woman and child who cares about such things.
We honored her last night with learning as much as we could about her stories. Stories fraught with lies, twists, propaganda and spin. But knowing that she was just a girl....who did such amazing things...it gives me hope.
Disney didn't need to concoct a love story between Pocahontas and John Smith. The story didn't need sex to sell it.
It only needed TRUTH to be shown for our own daughters and sons to admire COURAGE.
We ate and drank at our friend Kate's house on this OUR Thanksgiving for StoryBook. We here, are our Chosen Family of members and we dined on delicious American Indian recipes and gifts of the autumn in Kate's new home.
We are grateful. We are so very grateful.
And we thank Pocahontas for reminding us to try to just get along and share what we have too!
Happy Thanksgiving from us here at StoryBook Club!
Next month, is the busy month of Hanukkah and Christmas...so we will be having an outing and going to see the new released December movie:
Blessings to you all.
Aho. (Which is a Native American saying that is similar to "amen".)
September 23, 2014
The Goldilocks Syndrome
So, this little girl peeps in the windows, checks the locks, sees that no one is home, and sneeks into this house. While the owners are out, she eats out of their fridge, lounges on the furniture, breaks a chair, jumps on the beds and crawls in and goes to sleep in one of the comfiest beds.
When the owners come home, they realize that they have been vandalized. Not cool. They follow a trail of evidence around their neat little abode, and are drawn throughout the home with the signs of destruction. They find the intruder.
It is a small dirty girl, who is asleep in one of their beds.
Did I mention that the owners of the house were BEARS?
OK, so they are vegetarian bears, but still.
Would you want your own child to do such a thing? Probably not. We feel empathy for the bears that even though they were good bears, they got taken advantage of. They could've been mean and devoured the little juvenile delinquent (and in the original story, taken the intruder to the local Constable for the reform school)...but they didn't. They gave unconditional love. And they scared the bejeesus out of the child by doing so. And they never saw the child again.
Interesting.
Some scholars have said that this is about "The Goldilocks Syndrome:"
Definition: An extreme sense of entitlement. Expectation of Manna falling from heaven without acknowledgment or gratitude. Named for the ungrateful character in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
It is the way of going through life, wayward, ever searching and always wanting, but never being happy with what you find unless it it "Perfect...or JUST RIGHT...." (as baby bear would say).
That in the searching and finding of the perfect thing for yourself, that the syndrome takes over when we can't stop searching for something perfect in an imperfect world and don't see the perfection in the world you are in, but keep being unsatisfied. Never living in the moment, but always searching....and in doing so....leave a wake or a trail of chaos behind the discoveries.
Was Goldilocks ever happy in the end? We don't know. She ran off to keep searching. But the bears probably just cleaned up the mess that she'd left behind, fixed baby bear's chair, washed their bedding, made some more oatmeal, and learned to lock their doors.
It's a Life Lesson originally intended for youngsters to be more careful in the wide world, a little stranger danger to the children, but it's way more than that as well, for us adults looking at it from the viewpoint of being kind, but also being safe with who you allow entry to your inner space (whether it be residence or heart).
OR
Goldilocks may have also been a homeless person, ate some mushrooms she found in the woods, because she was starving and started tripping on hallucinogens and wandered drunkenly into someones house, as she was exhausted and entered a stranger's house. They probably weren't bears at all, but maybe she was just imagining they were, and when they came home, they freaked her the fuck right out, and she bolted out the window. Being high or drunk, she fell a story out the window and kept running and was never heard from again.
Who knows?
:) It was an interesting night of food too!
There was homebrewed ale (with a hint of honey), wine, meade, bedeviled eggs, biscuits and honey, porridge with all the fixings (fruit, nuts, coconut, honey, brown sugar, milk and almond milk), there was pasta salads, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream cupcakes.
Oatmeal (Porridge) with all the fixings! (bananas, grapes, blueberries, coconut, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, almond milk...)
And there were bears. And a Goldilocks too.
So....just in case the wee little children didn't learn about danger this month...(even though children are not allowed at this Children's Lit Club for Adults :)....
we'll just seek to learn about two magickal and fateful creatures in our mood for Halloween:
Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth.
Nighty nite m'dearies...
Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. :)
When the owners come home, they realize that they have been vandalized. Not cool. They follow a trail of evidence around their neat little abode, and are drawn throughout the home with the signs of destruction. They find the intruder.
It is a small dirty girl, who is asleep in one of their beds.
Did I mention that the owners of the house were BEARS?
OK, so they are vegetarian bears, but still.
Would you want your own child to do such a thing? Probably not. We feel empathy for the bears that even though they were good bears, they got taken advantage of. They could've been mean and devoured the little juvenile delinquent (and in the original story, taken the intruder to the local Constable for the reform school)...but they didn't. They gave unconditional love. And they scared the bejeesus out of the child by doing so. And they never saw the child again.
Interesting.
Some scholars have said that this is about "The Goldilocks Syndrome:"
Definition: An extreme sense of entitlement. Expectation of Manna falling from heaven without acknowledgment or gratitude. Named for the ungrateful character in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
It is the way of going through life, wayward, ever searching and always wanting, but never being happy with what you find unless it it "Perfect...or JUST RIGHT...." (as baby bear would say).That in the searching and finding of the perfect thing for yourself, that the syndrome takes over when we can't stop searching for something perfect in an imperfect world and don't see the perfection in the world you are in, but keep being unsatisfied. Never living in the moment, but always searching....and in doing so....leave a wake or a trail of chaos behind the discoveries.
Was Goldilocks ever happy in the end? We don't know. She ran off to keep searching. But the bears probably just cleaned up the mess that she'd left behind, fixed baby bear's chair, washed their bedding, made some more oatmeal, and learned to lock their doors.
It's a Life Lesson originally intended for youngsters to be more careful in the wide world, a little stranger danger to the children, but it's way more than that as well, for us adults looking at it from the viewpoint of being kind, but also being safe with who you allow entry to your inner space (whether it be residence or heart).
OR
Goldilocks may have also been a homeless person, ate some mushrooms she found in the woods, because she was starving and started tripping on hallucinogens and wandered drunkenly into someones house, as she was exhausted and entered a stranger's house. They probably weren't bears at all, but maybe she was just imagining they were, and when they came home, they freaked her the fuck right out, and she bolted out the window. Being high or drunk, she fell a story out the window and kept running and was never heard from again.
Who knows?
:) It was an interesting night of food too!
There was homebrewed ale (with a hint of honey), wine, meade, bedeviled eggs, biscuits and honey, porridge with all the fixings (fruit, nuts, coconut, honey, brown sugar, milk and almond milk), there was pasta salads, cinnamon rolls, and ice cream cupcakes.
Oatmeal (Porridge) with all the fixings! (bananas, grapes, blueberries, coconut, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, honey, brown sugar, cinnamon, milk, almond milk...)
And there were bears. And a Goldilocks too.
So....just in case the wee little children didn't learn about danger this month...(even though children are not allowed at this Children's Lit Club for Adults :)....
we'll just seek to learn about two magickal and fateful creatures in our mood for Halloween:
Peg Powler and Jenny Greenteeth.
Nighty nite m'dearies...Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite. :)
September 6, 2014
Examining my roots....
This summer has brought many personal eye openers to me. I published a book this spring about my life so far, and I've learned lots about myself....and others...through it.
You can find it anytime Online here:
https://www.createspace.com/4565558
What have I learned?
All sorts of things. Good and bad.
But all in all....good.
Some folks are even more awesome than I thought. Others, well....not so much.
Folks that I thought would've supported my efforts, didn't... at all. That really surprised and saddened me most.
And others, even some who were strangers to me, have been so appreciative and forthcoming with kind words of support and love. This was something that I hoped would happen, and it did. Interesting the good ripples that this book has made in my life and others!
It was a very busy summer, full of gigs, work, and outdoor weather. Not much time for rest and relaxation, but I did manage to contemplate when I could.
On the few days off I did manage to scrounge, I convinced Wayne to take a couple days off too and we went north to see my sister, Dorothy. Some of you have read my book already, so some of the places and pics that I will post here may sound familiar to you because of it.
I love my sister, Dorothy dearly. She is closest to me in age...and ...temperament. I have often felt like the proverbial Ugly Duckling in life when it comes to my family.... like I was a mistaken zygote or a stork misplaced bairn when I was dropped off in my family. While I love my brothers, Rick, Gus, Chris and my sister, Adele, greatly, it's my sister, Dorothy, who is my heart-link to almost being really understood and in sync with a family member. While we have drifted apart and back together, back and forth, over the years, as sisters do, she is the one to whom I gel with when given any amount of time to bond.
So up to my old stomping grounds we went, where I'm originally from. Brownville & Dexter, and my hang out of choice, the 1000 Islands, NY.. While Dorothy and her husband, Dave were working, on a most beautiful August weekday, Wayne and I went up to Cape Vincent to consider taking the familiar ferry to Wolf Island and then over to Kingston, Canada.
We got a bit of a late start on a rare day off....
so we missed the boat.
Literally. :)
But, no worries. Our impromptu plan, changed, as impromptu plans often do, and we contented ourselves with watching the cars depart the ferry, while we ate a lovely lunch on deck and enjoyed some summertime respite...and a couple of cocktails. Irish coffees for me really hit the spot. Besides, if we went to Canada, it wouldn't have given us enough time to do the rest of our evening plans. We punted. We are good at that.
We also watched this man and lady come for lunch at this riverside cafe where we ate. She obviously had untreated Scoliosis and I was sad for her and her pain....but also glad, that even though it was awful to go through at the time, that I had orthotically braced my daughter, Jesse, when she was little so that she would not end up like this....
I wish this lady had had a brace when she was little too.
Onward to more spontaneity, I texted my dear friend, Sarah Smith, who was my best friend all through High School. She and I were in every Art class together then and have been friends for 42 years! WOW. She is such an amazing artist. We went and found her shop in Clayton, NY. It's called "1000 Islands Pottery" and she paints all the ceramics, and her paintings and jewelry can be found here. Just beautiful work, and an amazing lady!
Sarah gave us the tour of the shop and her and John the potter's kilns...
both modern and more primitive kilns.
John was loading the modern one for a fire.
And this one out back, is the old fashioned kind. John gets up and loads the kiln, and then bricks it up brick by brick and starts the fire at 3am. They stoke the fire all day. The chimney top actually glows red when in use.It takes 3 days for the kiln to cook it before they can even start thinking about unbricking the kiln to retrieve the fired clay work.
It is so amazing to see Sarah doing what she loves, what she's always loved to do. Art work.
We adore each other to this day and are glad that we both have continued to follow our individual creative and artistic paths. We have both followed our Muses. <3
Onward to another blast from the past.
We drove back to Brownville and I saw my old homestead. Now, grant you, I haven't been back to see my childhood home for 14 years...the last time I was there was around my mother's funeral in 2000.
I just hadn't had the heart. But I've since written my book, and it has really helped me to deal with so many things that I was totally ready to go see what I could see.
It was startling. Homes had changed. Or were gone altogether. Sampsons' house...gone. There is a house on our corner, and where the barn was, which were never there before. It felt weird. Kinda the same, but totally like a parallel universe.
Now before I get to my original family home, I must tell you two stories.
One is that in their lifetime (God rest them), my mom and dad, Bernie & Earl Brown, kept their place IMMACULATE. My mom prided herself on her home. It was her pride and joy ....and bane of her existence all in the same breath. She had beautiful flower gardens...and my Pop had a tremendous garden, and working farm...and he faithfully mowed all the lawns and kept up all the old buildings the best he could.
Here is an old photo of my home...
My folks and their children....a long time ago...at our home....way back when....
on our front yard on Reasoner Road. Mom & Pop surrounded by their 6 children in front of the home that they carved out and made lovely over the many years that they lived there.
And we were prolific with our love...and we had children....and Mom & Pop got grandchildren.
(all the grandchildren here, except for Maggie & Shawna had not been born yet...)
And, well, ye never really understand your place in the world...until...like George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life", who wished himself never born...you really don't understand what good ripples a person did in their life, until you see the hole they left when they are gone....
and thusly, you see what it would the world would be like without you.
Here is the way my childhood home looks today....sold after the funeral 14 years ago...
All the maple trees are gone in the front yard.
The snowball bush...gone.
Mom's gardens....not a trace.
The wonderful cedar tree has been gone for years.
The house is now blue, and the roof in need of repair.
Our families spread to the winds.
This was my home.
I have not had the heart to go back until now. 14 years later. It was really bizarre to see something so much a part of your life, so transformed into some other reality.
Mom and Dad were not here.
Here is an old picture I found. I am nursing Shawna and talking to my Pop, while my little renegade Jesse is running around with no clothes on. (you know that stage where kid's can't keep them on, no matter what you do?) and I'm chatting while our doggie is close by.
My dad's old hen house is in the back. A horse pasture is on the right.
Pop's hot bed for starting seedlings is directly under the windows of the hen house. This was where I used to spend hours digging for worms....
There was also another barn to the right of in in days of old.
My mother's beautiful flower gardens to the left of Jesse's tricycle.
Our gnarly old cedar tree to the right in the foreground.
I love this pic. <3
Below is the hen house and how it looks so vastly different today...
so run down....it's glory days forgotten....
BUT the old familiar shingles are still there to force right into my brain that this...
this IS the place I loved.
There was no amazing garden to the left of it, that I could see, that was my dear old Pop's favorite place in the world. There was a large boat on a trailer in the back yard.
The Apple tree was gone...that magickal gnarly old Ent friend of mine with the wormy green apples.
I will take a short sideline trip now to preface this next bit, with another story...one about Heron feathers.
Heron feathers?
YES.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw some roadkill as I was driving, close by my home. It was a very large bird. Every time I drove past the unfortunate soul on the highway, a broken wing full of large feathers would flap up and "wave" to me. It was long dead. But it seemed to be "calling me" as I drove past. I felt bad for the bird and one day, after getting "waved at" one last time, I determined myself to stop and drag the poor thing off the degrading path of destruction and give it some peace. I pulled off the road, grabbed some paper napkins out of the car and approached said bird. Dodging traffic, I said to the bird, "I'm sorry. Please let me get you off this road....and may I have some of your feathers?" I pulled at the "waving wing" that had been calling me. I got a handful of amazing long feathers and I dragged what was left of the carcass off the highway and left it on the swamp grass next to the busy road. Was it a Heron? WHY was a heron hit? Why was it here? I didn't know.
I talked about the incident at our Open Mic party that night and was informed that even having Heron feathers was ILLEGAL. Really? I had never heard of that. "It's a $5000 fine" said my good friend Tim, who was researching it on Google even as we spoke. I showed several folks the feathers. We were pretty sure it was a Heron. Poor thing. The feathers smelled of blood and death. I asked my naturalist friend, Tom, if they were a Heron's feathers and he looked at them and said they were.
It was a Great Blue Heron to be specific. The long wing feathers that had been waving at me, were a dark blue on one side and a pale grey on the other. Magnificent.
But why was it on the road? They don't eat roadkill.
Tom said that sometimes heron fly along the highway straightaway. "Must've been flying low when a car hit it. And Tom backed up the theory of the illegal feathers.
Fuck.
I didn't want to keep them if that was so. I was just intrigued and enamored of its calling to me, with it's beauty and it's Power.
A Great Blue Heron is symbolic of being Self Reflection, Self Reliance, Determination. Assertiveness.
So on another day shortly after I pulled the carcass from the road, I buried those beautiful powerful feathers, in a meaningful location to me and Harry. We said a prayer, a blessing, and laid the remainder of the poor thing to rest. And also, freed myself of the feather problem too.
Now here's where it gets magickally weird.
While I was photographing my mom & dad's old homestead, I snapped a picture next of Pop's "little barn"
which was right across the road from the house.
And just after I snapped this pic...
Something magickal happened.....
All of a sudden....A startled Great Blue HERON flew up from behind it...and took off flying.....
This is where my heart SWELLED.
I had NEVER in all my years living on this property....or being associated with this property...
had EVER seen a heron here.
It was giving me a "thank you" and it was the Life/Death/Life sequence and a nod from Spirit that all was well. I had done the right thing. I had buried my feathers and let it Spirit go back to be set free.
Much like returning home after so many years....in this flash of an instant....it was all so clear to me.
It is as it should be now. It is not the same. No. It is different. Yes.
My folks, and their life MATTERED. And so does mine.
So does YOURS.
You build and it may get destroyed along the way, but it matters. It exists in time and place and memory.
Harry and I went on to visit my tadpole catching crick of my youth...
and the Brown Mansion where I spent a lot of time growing up and playing...
Checked out some info of the property that my parents bought and it's historical significance
Revisited a memory or two of where me and 11 other crazy teenagers filled a VW beetle to capacity...
which is why they probably ended up putting up this sign there
And FYI... I can honestly tell you I never skateboarded here. :)
Wayne and I went on to have a lovely evening out at Dorothy's with her and Dave at the ELKS club. This was the days of the ALS ice water bucket challenge. And seeing how friend Michael had recently died of ALS this summer, the ELKS, all his good friends.... toasted to Michael's memory.....
and then onward to crazy hilarity with the following mischief ....
Dorothy and Dave on the left here....
poised with ice water....
My sister is a riot. :)
Anyways....
all in all....
it's the "Life/Death/Life" cycle over and over.
Don't be afraid or neglect to look at your roots, your pain, your past....
No matter how long or short it takes you to come to your own conclusions.
It is rewarding.
Take as much time as you need to heal.
Your real friends and true heart family are waiting for you when you get here.
Heron says "These things take time. It's alright now. It's all about Self Determination. Self Discovery. Self Reliance. So, fly! Be free!"
Love,
Merlyn
You can find it anytime Online here:
https://www.createspace.com/4565558
What have I learned?All sorts of things. Good and bad.
But all in all....good.
Some folks are even more awesome than I thought. Others, well....not so much.
Folks that I thought would've supported my efforts, didn't... at all. That really surprised and saddened me most.
And others, even some who were strangers to me, have been so appreciative and forthcoming with kind words of support and love. This was something that I hoped would happen, and it did. Interesting the good ripples that this book has made in my life and others!
It was a very busy summer, full of gigs, work, and outdoor weather. Not much time for rest and relaxation, but I did manage to contemplate when I could.
On the few days off I did manage to scrounge, I convinced Wayne to take a couple days off too and we went north to see my sister, Dorothy. Some of you have read my book already, so some of the places and pics that I will post here may sound familiar to you because of it.
I love my sister, Dorothy dearly. She is closest to me in age...and ...temperament. I have often felt like the proverbial Ugly Duckling in life when it comes to my family.... like I was a mistaken zygote or a stork misplaced bairn when I was dropped off in my family. While I love my brothers, Rick, Gus, Chris and my sister, Adele, greatly, it's my sister, Dorothy, who is my heart-link to almost being really understood and in sync with a family member. While we have drifted apart and back together, back and forth, over the years, as sisters do, she is the one to whom I gel with when given any amount of time to bond.
So up to my old stomping grounds we went, where I'm originally from. Brownville & Dexter, and my hang out of choice, the 1000 Islands, NY.. While Dorothy and her husband, Dave were working, on a most beautiful August weekday, Wayne and I went up to Cape Vincent to consider taking the familiar ferry to Wolf Island and then over to Kingston, Canada.
We got a bit of a late start on a rare day off....
so we missed the boat.
Literally. :)
But, no worries. Our impromptu plan, changed, as impromptu plans often do, and we contented ourselves with watching the cars depart the ferry, while we ate a lovely lunch on deck and enjoyed some summertime respite...and a couple of cocktails. Irish coffees for me really hit the spot. Besides, if we went to Canada, it wouldn't have given us enough time to do the rest of our evening plans. We punted. We are good at that.
We also watched this man and lady come for lunch at this riverside cafe where we ate. She obviously had untreated Scoliosis and I was sad for her and her pain....but also glad, that even though it was awful to go through at the time, that I had orthotically braced my daughter, Jesse, when she was little so that she would not end up like this....I wish this lady had had a brace when she was little too.
Onward to more spontaneity, I texted my dear friend, Sarah Smith, who was my best friend all through High School. She and I were in every Art class together then and have been friends for 42 years! WOW. She is such an amazing artist. We went and found her shop in Clayton, NY. It's called "1000 Islands Pottery" and she paints all the ceramics, and her paintings and jewelry can be found here. Just beautiful work, and an amazing lady!
Sarah gave us the tour of the shop and her and John the potter's kilns...both modern and more primitive kilns.
John was loading the modern one for a fire.
And this one out back, is the old fashioned kind. John gets up and loads the kiln, and then bricks it up brick by brick and starts the fire at 3am. They stoke the fire all day. The chimney top actually glows red when in use.It takes 3 days for the kiln to cook it before they can even start thinking about unbricking the kiln to retrieve the fired clay work.It is so amazing to see Sarah doing what she loves, what she's always loved to do. Art work.
We adore each other to this day and are glad that we both have continued to follow our individual creative and artistic paths. We have both followed our Muses. <3Onward to another blast from the past.
We drove back to Brownville and I saw my old homestead. Now, grant you, I haven't been back to see my childhood home for 14 years...the last time I was there was around my mother's funeral in 2000.
I just hadn't had the heart. But I've since written my book, and it has really helped me to deal with so many things that I was totally ready to go see what I could see.
It was startling. Homes had changed. Or were gone altogether. Sampsons' house...gone. There is a house on our corner, and where the barn was, which were never there before. It felt weird. Kinda the same, but totally like a parallel universe.
Now before I get to my original family home, I must tell you two stories. One is that in their lifetime (God rest them), my mom and dad, Bernie & Earl Brown, kept their place IMMACULATE. My mom prided herself on her home. It was her pride and joy ....and bane of her existence all in the same breath. She had beautiful flower gardens...and my Pop had a tremendous garden, and working farm...and he faithfully mowed all the lawns and kept up all the old buildings the best he could.
Here is an old photo of my home...
My folks and their children....a long time ago...at our home....way back when....
on our front yard on Reasoner Road. Mom & Pop surrounded by their 6 children in front of the home that they carved out and made lovely over the many years that they lived there.
And we were prolific with our love...and we had children....and Mom & Pop got grandchildren.(all the grandchildren here, except for Maggie & Shawna had not been born yet...)
And, well, ye never really understand your place in the world...until...like George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life", who wished himself never born...you really don't understand what good ripples a person did in their life, until you see the hole they left when they are gone....
and thusly, you see what it would the world would be like without you.
Here is the way my childhood home looks today....sold after the funeral 14 years ago...
All the maple trees are gone in the front yard.
The snowball bush...gone.
Mom's gardens....not a trace.
The wonderful cedar tree has been gone for years.
The house is now blue, and the roof in need of repair.
Our families spread to the winds.
This was my home.
I have not had the heart to go back until now. 14 years later. It was really bizarre to see something so much a part of your life, so transformed into some other reality.
Mom and Dad were not here.
Here is an old picture I found. I am nursing Shawna and talking to my Pop, while my little renegade Jesse is running around with no clothes on. (you know that stage where kid's can't keep them on, no matter what you do?) and I'm chatting while our doggie is close by.
My dad's old hen house is in the back. A horse pasture is on the right.
Pop's hot bed for starting seedlings is directly under the windows of the hen house. This was where I used to spend hours digging for worms....
There was also another barn to the right of in in days of old.
My mother's beautiful flower gardens to the left of Jesse's tricycle.
Our gnarly old cedar tree to the right in the foreground.
I love this pic. <3
Below is the hen house and how it looks so vastly different today...
so run down....it's glory days forgotten....
BUT the old familiar shingles are still there to force right into my brain that this...
this IS the place I loved.
There was no amazing garden to the left of it, that I could see, that was my dear old Pop's favorite place in the world. There was a large boat on a trailer in the back yard.The Apple tree was gone...that magickal gnarly old Ent friend of mine with the wormy green apples.
I will take a short sideline trip now to preface this next bit, with another story...one about Heron feathers.
Heron feathers?
YES.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw some roadkill as I was driving, close by my home. It was a very large bird. Every time I drove past the unfortunate soul on the highway, a broken wing full of large feathers would flap up and "wave" to me. It was long dead. But it seemed to be "calling me" as I drove past. I felt bad for the bird and one day, after getting "waved at" one last time, I determined myself to stop and drag the poor thing off the degrading path of destruction and give it some peace. I pulled off the road, grabbed some paper napkins out of the car and approached said bird. Dodging traffic, I said to the bird, "I'm sorry. Please let me get you off this road....and may I have some of your feathers?" I pulled at the "waving wing" that had been calling me. I got a handful of amazing long feathers and I dragged what was left of the carcass off the highway and left it on the swamp grass next to the busy road. Was it a Heron? WHY was a heron hit? Why was it here? I didn't know.
I talked about the incident at our Open Mic party that night and was informed that even having Heron feathers was ILLEGAL. Really? I had never heard of that. "It's a $5000 fine" said my good friend Tim, who was researching it on Google even as we spoke. I showed several folks the feathers. We were pretty sure it was a Heron. Poor thing. The feathers smelled of blood and death. I asked my naturalist friend, Tom, if they were a Heron's feathers and he looked at them and said they were.
It was a Great Blue Heron to be specific. The long wing feathers that had been waving at me, were a dark blue on one side and a pale grey on the other. Magnificent.
But why was it on the road? They don't eat roadkill.
Tom said that sometimes heron fly along the highway straightaway. "Must've been flying low when a car hit it. And Tom backed up the theory of the illegal feathers.
Fuck.
I didn't want to keep them if that was so. I was just intrigued and enamored of its calling to me, with it's beauty and it's Power.
A Great Blue Heron is symbolic of being Self Reflection, Self Reliance, Determination. Assertiveness.
So on another day shortly after I pulled the carcass from the road, I buried those beautiful powerful feathers, in a meaningful location to me and Harry. We said a prayer, a blessing, and laid the remainder of the poor thing to rest. And also, freed myself of the feather problem too.
Now here's where it gets magickally weird.
While I was photographing my mom & dad's old homestead, I snapped a picture next of Pop's "little barn"
which was right across the road from the house.
And just after I snapped this pic...
Something magickal happened.....
All of a sudden....A startled Great Blue HERON flew up from behind it...and took off flying.....
This is where my heart SWELLED.I had NEVER in all my years living on this property....or being associated with this property...
had EVER seen a heron here.
It was giving me a "thank you" and it was the Life/Death/Life sequence and a nod from Spirit that all was well. I had done the right thing. I had buried my feathers and let it Spirit go back to be set free.
Much like returning home after so many years....in this flash of an instant....it was all so clear to me.
It is as it should be now. It is not the same. No. It is different. Yes.
My folks, and their life MATTERED. And so does mine.
So does YOURS.
You build and it may get destroyed along the way, but it matters. It exists in time and place and memory.
Harry and I went on to visit my tadpole catching crick of my youth...
and the Brown Mansion where I spent a lot of time growing up and playing...
Checked out some info of the property that my parents bought and it's historical significance
Revisited a memory or two of where me and 11 other crazy teenagers filled a VW beetle to capacity...which is why they probably ended up putting up this sign there
And FYI... I can honestly tell you I never skateboarded here. :)
Wayne and I went on to have a lovely evening out at Dorothy's with her and Dave at the ELKS club. This was the days of the ALS ice water bucket challenge. And seeing how friend Michael had recently died of ALS this summer, the ELKS, all his good friends.... toasted to Michael's memory.....
and then onward to crazy hilarity with the following mischief ....Dorothy and Dave on the left here....
poised with ice water....
My sister is a riot. :)
Anyways....all in all....
it's the "Life/Death/Life" cycle over and over.
Don't be afraid or neglect to look at your roots, your pain, your past....
No matter how long or short it takes you to come to your own conclusions.
It is rewarding.
Take as much time as you need to heal.
Your real friends and true heart family are waiting for you when you get here.
Heron says "These things take time. It's alright now. It's all about Self Determination. Self Discovery. Self Reliance. So, fly! Be free!"
Love,
Merlyn
August 26, 2014
Snow White and the 7 Dwarves
What is in a name?
So many things....this is why we have to be careful when picking our children's names. There may be symbolism, word puns, association to others with no identity for self, and the opportunity for mockery on the playground with some names.
Let's take "Snow White" for instance. We researched this wondrous fairytale at our StoryBook Club (Children's Literature for Adults Only) last night. We found some pretty amazing things.
Snow White was named for her fair skin. "Hair dark as ebony, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood." The fair skinned lass was purity in essence, vulnerable, pale, and kindness in motion. Some philosophers believed it was an Alchemical formula, as lead goes through a process of purifying which requires three stages: blackening, reddening and whitening.
So it is with our lives, spirits and souls as we traverse this world, going through the process of living and ...hopefully...becoming. In this simple (?) children's fairy tale, there are symbols of life, denial, vanity (which could be soul searching awareness if it wasn't so shallow, with the whole mirror thing), friendships, 7 stages of consciousness with the dwarves (body, sensations, emotions, concrete mind and spirituality represented by pure mind, intuition and will), treachery against own self and others, and well...death, and resurrection.
A simple children's tale. Amazing.
There were also symbols of Christianity and Paganism....although, once again, pagans get the bad rap here (Why does the magic person always have to be evil with their Powers?) There is the fight between Good and Evil and yes....even Eve with her poisoned apple.
But when we dug into it, the main character really wasn't Snow White so much...as the Evil Queen. Actually, when we got into it, we found that maybe....just maybe....they were the SAME PERSON thematically.
Proving that we fight our own self more than anyone else.
Evil Queen/Snow White could be the 2 sides of a person. The whole Yin/Yang or the Evil Twin sort of thing.
Snow White was the Evil Queen's alter ego.
(Hey, talk about a name....this royal character never really got a real name....just "Evil Queen"...try living up to THAT moniker...talk about your self fulfilling prophecy!)
So then there is a transformation....
or an Alchemical process of character, if you will, that happens to this person. (Who may be our own self?)
It goes like this:
Evil Queen is on her own. Feels her Power. Gets greedy for more power. Does some self searching, but stops just shy of actual soul searching while looking within (mirror). She only wants what others don't have.
She wants perfection and beauty. So she tries to get it by killing anything that is not as beautiful. (irony. Beauty is as beauty does). By eliminating Snow White (or trying to), the Evil Queen only makes herself more ugly,even casting herself -making herself, an old ugly hag (here goes the morality thing banging here again on witches being ugly and evil ...sigh)
Snow White on the other hand, is beautiful because of her Goodness, helpfulness, hard work ethic, frienships. The more good she does, the more beautiful she becomes. The Evil Queen tries pulling out all the stops and finally tries poisoning Snow White with the apple. (apple has represented knowledge, and also this can be our evil thoughts about ourselves and others which poison us...) Once comatose, Snow White goes into a static state. You seen, once the Evil Queen actually killed the good part of her own self (so to speak), she realized that she wasn't beautiful at all anymore without her Goodness. The coma represents that time of Soul Searching that a person must do, to really see ones' own self. Once the evil thoughts and beliefs about self are dislodged (apple heimlich :) then Snow White LIVES and the Evil Queen DIES.
The rebirth or resurrection to a new and improved self happens when the old ways die....
Mayhaps we are not ALL GOOD...
Nor ...
ALL EVIL...
but we have to make the adjustment to be the best we can be, which includes accepting our lightness and not letting the darkness and negativity take over our lives.
This is a story about Self Growth, and we thank the Evil Queen for showing us this!
She's really not as evil as we thought, but only a part of us that needs pity and understanding.
Some people live to learn...and if they can't learn....they live as an example to others.
Goodness isn't Weakness.
Beauty isn't Cruel.
Goodness can be Strong.
Vanity is just a reflection of a shallow soul.
Mean people never really win. They destroy themselves with every bad thought about someone else....which is only a commentary about how they feel about themselves inside.
Thank you Evil Queen. You show us how NOT to be.
And thank you Snow White. You rocked those dishes and really worked hard!
Our StoryBook Club feasted on Venison Stew (for the hunter...altho' Merlyn made it out of beef :), a most delicious forest salad, wine from the Queen's wine steward, and amazing Apple Bread, Baked Poisoned Apples, and an Apple Crisp (and when those 3 last dishes were put together, I think many of us had a Magickal Moment). SO delish!
Next month, for September, we will take a walk in the woods with
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears!
So many things....this is why we have to be careful when picking our children's names. There may be symbolism, word puns, association to others with no identity for self, and the opportunity for mockery on the playground with some names.
Let's take "Snow White" for instance. We researched this wondrous fairytale at our StoryBook Club (Children's Literature for Adults Only) last night. We found some pretty amazing things.
Snow White was named for her fair skin. "Hair dark as ebony, skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood." The fair skinned lass was purity in essence, vulnerable, pale, and kindness in motion. Some philosophers believed it was an Alchemical formula, as lead goes through a process of purifying which requires three stages: blackening, reddening and whitening.
So it is with our lives, spirits and souls as we traverse this world, going through the process of living and ...hopefully...becoming. In this simple (?) children's fairy tale, there are symbols of life, denial, vanity (which could be soul searching awareness if it wasn't so shallow, with the whole mirror thing), friendships, 7 stages of consciousness with the dwarves (body, sensations, emotions, concrete mind and spirituality represented by pure mind, intuition and will), treachery against own self and others, and well...death, and resurrection.
A simple children's tale. Amazing.
There were also symbols of Christianity and Paganism....although, once again, pagans get the bad rap here (Why does the magic person always have to be evil with their Powers?) There is the fight between Good and Evil and yes....even Eve with her poisoned apple.
But when we dug into it, the main character really wasn't Snow White so much...as the Evil Queen. Actually, when we got into it, we found that maybe....just maybe....they were the SAME PERSON thematically.
Proving that we fight our own self more than anyone else.
Evil Queen/Snow White could be the 2 sides of a person. The whole Yin/Yang or the Evil Twin sort of thing.
Snow White was the Evil Queen's alter ego.
(Hey, talk about a name....this royal character never really got a real name....just "Evil Queen"...try living up to THAT moniker...talk about your self fulfilling prophecy!)
So then there is a transformation....
or an Alchemical process of character, if you will, that happens to this person. (Who may be our own self?)
It goes like this:
Evil Queen is on her own. Feels her Power. Gets greedy for more power. Does some self searching, but stops just shy of actual soul searching while looking within (mirror). She only wants what others don't have.
She wants perfection and beauty. So she tries to get it by killing anything that is not as beautiful. (irony. Beauty is as beauty does). By eliminating Snow White (or trying to), the Evil Queen only makes herself more ugly,even casting herself -making herself, an old ugly hag (here goes the morality thing banging here again on witches being ugly and evil ...sigh)
Snow White on the other hand, is beautiful because of her Goodness, helpfulness, hard work ethic, frienships. The more good she does, the more beautiful she becomes. The Evil Queen tries pulling out all the stops and finally tries poisoning Snow White with the apple. (apple has represented knowledge, and also this can be our evil thoughts about ourselves and others which poison us...) Once comatose, Snow White goes into a static state. You seen, once the Evil Queen actually killed the good part of her own self (so to speak), she realized that she wasn't beautiful at all anymore without her Goodness. The coma represents that time of Soul Searching that a person must do, to really see ones' own self. Once the evil thoughts and beliefs about self are dislodged (apple heimlich :) then Snow White LIVES and the Evil Queen DIES.
The rebirth or resurrection to a new and improved self happens when the old ways die....
Mayhaps we are not ALL GOOD...
Nor ...
ALL EVIL...
but we have to make the adjustment to be the best we can be, which includes accepting our lightness and not letting the darkness and negativity take over our lives.
This is a story about Self Growth, and we thank the Evil Queen for showing us this!She's really not as evil as we thought, but only a part of us that needs pity and understanding.
Some people live to learn...and if they can't learn....they live as an example to others.
Goodness isn't Weakness.
Beauty isn't Cruel.
Goodness can be Strong.
Vanity is just a reflection of a shallow soul.
Mean people never really win. They destroy themselves with every bad thought about someone else....which is only a commentary about how they feel about themselves inside.
Thank you Evil Queen. You show us how NOT to be.
And thank you Snow White. You rocked those dishes and really worked hard!
Our StoryBook Club feasted on Venison Stew (for the hunter...altho' Merlyn made it out of beef :), a most delicious forest salad, wine from the Queen's wine steward, and amazing Apple Bread, Baked Poisoned Apples, and an Apple Crisp (and when those 3 last dishes were put together, I think many of us had a Magickal Moment). SO delish!
Next month, for September, we will take a walk in the woods with
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears!
July 28, 2014
Sleeping Beauty
This month's StoryBook Club theme was Sleeping Beauty. We all prepped for it, by going enmasse to see "Maleficent" last month and drinking both before and afterwards. There were 17 of us and it ROCKED.
An earthy experience and a wonderful tale!
Maleficent was excellent! You know, I always inwardly wondered why she was such a bitch. Now I know. Everyone who has an axe to grind, usually has a reason...granted some of the reasons may be twisted reasons for some folks...but it wasn't that she wasn't invited to your damn party for the baby....no....it had roots MUCH deeper than even that.
Like....Betrayal. And yes....maybe even rape.
It's hinted at in Maleficent. It's also more than hinted at in some stories and movies that we adults did find when we researched this "children's story."
Wowsa.
Take this film for instance.
Good God. Talk about creep city. Harry and I watched this, and it was indeed
disturbing
. But then again, I am not into the power angle of sex. It isn't what I like, and it makes me feel icky.
Stories where the heroine is vulnerable is tragically too real sometimes for women. In this story (and I let you research that one, if you are interested), there is a line that someone says to the heroine of the story:
"Your body is your temple."
To which the "Sleeping Beauty" mutters: "Mine isn't."
And if you believe that...then....well...it truly isn't. Women have been lured into complacency, vulnerable relationships or situations that brink on disaster through all of history.
When is it that we "wake up?"
Is it when Prince Charming actually kisses her and she awakens to her perfect world?
Or is it when she wakes up to the reality that she has made for herself?
Interesting dilemma and a decidedly unusual moral for "kids" but really, one that should be told with a bit more Umph than a perfect Disney ending.
And so, Maleficent steps up to the plate, giving her a true reason for her pain, mistrust and seclusion.
At the end, when she and the King are spiraling downward and he is dead upon the ground, Maleficent looks at him with a mixture of love, pity and scoff.
It's like she was saying: "I loved you, you stupid shit. What a waste of my time and you were nothing but bad. Why did I love you? Because I DID. Yet, you wasted it on your anger and power.
You stupid, stupid fuck."
But of course, Maleficent couldn't say that in a Disney movie.
But we know she did...INSIDE her head and her heart.
They weren't a match. He was truly evil.
She was not, but became so, by loving him. Once she dealt with her inner darkness and her true capacity to love, she found her wings again!
(now THERE'S the Happy Ending!)
Maleficent proved that she wasn't a victim. She was victimized. There IS a difference!
We chatted about so much this hot summer evening at Terri's house! About so many themes and subjects and topics! Women's rights, rape, women's roles throughout history.
And we ate amazingly well as we always do!
This is a French folk tale, so there was several kinds of nods to French cuisine this night! Amazing drinks with a kick, fresh salad, stuffed zucchini boats, olives, goat cheese with cranberries and crackers, fresh cherry tomatoes, awesome bread, cream puffs, cheesecake and sorbet!
We LOVE these gatherings of wit, humor, stories and food and friendships!
Next month's theme?
Snow White and the 7 Dwarves!
Let's see ....now where did I put those special apples?
An earthy experience and a wonderful tale!
Maleficent was excellent! You know, I always inwardly wondered why she was such a bitch. Now I know. Everyone who has an axe to grind, usually has a reason...granted some of the reasons may be twisted reasons for some folks...but it wasn't that she wasn't invited to your damn party for the baby....no....it had roots MUCH deeper than even that.
Like....Betrayal. And yes....maybe even rape.
It's hinted at in Maleficent. It's also more than hinted at in some stories and movies that we adults did find when we researched this "children's story."
Wowsa.
Take this film for instance.
Good God. Talk about creep city. Harry and I watched this, and it was indeed
disturbing
. But then again, I am not into the power angle of sex. It isn't what I like, and it makes me feel icky. Stories where the heroine is vulnerable is tragically too real sometimes for women. In this story (and I let you research that one, if you are interested), there is a line that someone says to the heroine of the story:
"Your body is your temple."
To which the "Sleeping Beauty" mutters: "Mine isn't."
And if you believe that...then....well...it truly isn't. Women have been lured into complacency, vulnerable relationships or situations that brink on disaster through all of history.
When is it that we "wake up?"
Is it when Prince Charming actually kisses her and she awakens to her perfect world?
Or is it when she wakes up to the reality that she has made for herself?
Interesting dilemma and a decidedly unusual moral for "kids" but really, one that should be told with a bit more Umph than a perfect Disney ending.
And so, Maleficent steps up to the plate, giving her a true reason for her pain, mistrust and seclusion.
At the end, when she and the King are spiraling downward and he is dead upon the ground, Maleficent looks at him with a mixture of love, pity and scoff.
It's like she was saying: "I loved you, you stupid shit. What a waste of my time and you were nothing but bad. Why did I love you? Because I DID. Yet, you wasted it on your anger and power.
You stupid, stupid fuck."
But of course, Maleficent couldn't say that in a Disney movie.
But we know she did...INSIDE her head and her heart.
They weren't a match. He was truly evil.
She was not, but became so, by loving him. Once she dealt with her inner darkness and her true capacity to love, she found her wings again!
(now THERE'S the Happy Ending!)
Maleficent proved that she wasn't a victim. She was victimized. There IS a difference!
We chatted about so much this hot summer evening at Terri's house! About so many themes and subjects and topics! Women's rights, rape, women's roles throughout history.
And we ate amazingly well as we always do!
This is a French folk tale, so there was several kinds of nods to French cuisine this night! Amazing drinks with a kick, fresh salad, stuffed zucchini boats, olives, goat cheese with cranberries and crackers, fresh cherry tomatoes, awesome bread, cream puffs, cheesecake and sorbet! We LOVE these gatherings of wit, humor, stories and food and friendships!
Next month's theme?
Snow White and the 7 Dwarves!
Let's see ....now where did I put those special apples?
July 8, 2014
Pain Relief....Want some?
The body is an amazing thing. It can run on coffee and fumes sometimes. But after awhile of whipping a dead horse, running on little sleep, nursing wounds from trauma or emotional abuse, or dealing with a bad diet of processed food and and the occasional chemical or alcohol intake...it starts to clog.
With pain or issues and symptoms of disease.
Sound familiar?
But I also believe that the body is resilient and can be fixed, by removing some of the triggers and giving it the opportunity and time and ways to heal. Modern medicine isn't all it's cracked up to be (altho there's nothing as wondrous for triage). Yet, there are other healing modalities besides surgery and prescriptions which more people need to avail themselves of.
I've always believed that light can heal. It's one reason why I choose to tan lightly in the winter time. Living here in Central New York, the winter brings days of 0% sunshine. Really. And I would cry and get depressed. I found if I tanned a little, my mood would be lightened by the pineal gland getting it's due.
In the past 2 months, I've been on a Quest of Health for myself (both inside and out) and I am feeling pretty awesome because of it! I wanted to share with you a few things. Utilizing some really amazing healing modalities is also making great sense to me and helping lots. I wanted to help you too, by giving you all this info as well!
First off...let me tell you that for the last 2 years, I've had a lot of pain.
Like ...
PAIN
Had tests done, and doctor ruled out the heredity curse of me having Rhuematoid Arthritis. Don't get me started on Fibromyalgia. It's a Catch-All diagnosis. While I think it exists...I think that pain like that comes from lots of places.
I've had injuries, surgeries, yes, and hormonal oddities..but also some damaging emotional devastation which can become lodged within our system via the metabolism. Lots of things (including our thoughts) can make us sick. Even PEOPLE can make us sick, and not by spreading germs either: I've been keeping a yearly journal, and I've realized that I would even get sick when I was around a certain one person every time we were in contact. Funny, but now that I have removed him from my life, I haven't been getting sick like that anymore! Well, no, it's not funny....it's pretty appropriate. Our bodies tell us things that are important, and we should LISTEN .
Not being around certain people can be healing...and vice versa...being around some people CAN make you sick! (and fat too).
Let me ask you a couple of questions:
*Have you gained a lot of weight lately? What's behind the emotion that makes you eat? Why do you choose that particular food? (i.e. When we eat something crunchy/salty we usually have some anger. When we feel the need to eat sweet or soft foods, we are usually in need of comfort...etc.)
*Is some area of your body becoming problematic? What does that part of your body say to you? (Funny, but here again, when I didn't want to "see" what was happening with a particular relationship...my eyesight went. Coincidence? I think NOT.)
*Are certain foods making you bloat? (Listen to your belly! Do you cramp up after eating certain foods? Watch your stools. There is a language in what they reveal to you. Investigate what is happening. You don't have to go to an internist to find out about some of this! Research your diet, your emotions, your daytime problems and your nighttime dreams for the answers first! Don't go under the knife if you don't have to!!)
Click this link to a guide to "Stool Nirvana!" :)
But I didn't stop there.
There are LOTS of ways to think of Pain Relief and to HEAL.
I also totally believe also in Metaphysical Healing.
My Health Bible these days is the book: "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay. It makes so much sense to me.
Also this one:
Feeling bloated? Read this book! Gutbliss: A 10-Day Plan to Ban Bloat, Flush Toxins, and Dump Your Digestive Baggage
And for those of you going through Menopause, I would highly recommend this author. She has a lot of books out as she is a Gynecologist focusing particularly on Women's Health issues:
Read this book: "The Wisdom of Menopause" by Christiane Northrup
Over the last year, I too, have written a book, and it prompted me to analyze myself in so many ways. I put myself under a microscope and I learned LOTS. Not only about myself, but about the people around me as well! I've had to tune into what I really want and need in a big way because of it. I've been scrutinizing what (or who) is good and bad for my health, relationships and Spirituality. It has all been a big healer to do it for myself in a comprehensive way.
I'm no stranger to Alternative Medicine and Healings:
I've been seeing a Chiropractor since I was 11 for a neck injury. But for the past couple of years, it has been for some disc degeneration (L4 & L5 to be precise...read: Slipped disc) and for the damage that it has done to my lower back and legs.
I don't want to feel old! I'm not old. 54 isn't old anymore. I'm gonna fight this fecking pain every inch of the way! There is no need for pain in my life. Pain is a punisher. I have no need to punish myself anymore for things or situations I had no control over.
In my last blog, I told you about the Acupuncturist I've been seeing for help with hormonal balance, metabolism, emotional and organ repair. She's awesome and I'm a regular customer and would HIGHLY recommend it to others. (I mean, a healing practice that has been around for 2500 years has to be around for a good reason! It's because it WORKS.)
So, when my regular and wonderful L.M.T. (Licensed Massage Therapist) said that she was getting great results for Pain Management with her new Light Therapy Unit, well, I trust her and so I signed up!
I've had 2 treatments in the past 2 weeks. Frankly, I'm amazed at the results! After a long weekend of grueling weekend of Renaissance faire minstreling, doing shows, tapping my foot jingles while I play constantly, climbing hills, constant drumming and strumming, and doing parades...historically, I am usually pretty banged up come Monday morning.
But today, the Monday after the first opening weekend of a particular hilly inclined faire...
I'm tired, but I'm not crippled. And hey, I'm all for that! YAY!!!
OK, so what is Low Level Light Therapy like and why would I want to try it?
Well, the FDA has been recommending it. It's called In light Wellness Systems.
The double blind studies and the results of years of use are pretty conclusive.
And it's got a lot of good reviews from folks and Veterinarians are even using it on animals with awesome results!
In Light Wellness Systems LED animation - Click here~
Click here to see it used on pets by Veterinarians!
My massage therapist told me to put on special protective eyewear, and then she encircled a band of lights around my head, on my back, torso, and on my troublesome ankle (I either have a bone spur, some nerve/ligament damage or a hairline fracture in it. It can be excruitiating out of the blue!)
Then she turns on the machine and my brain is flooded with brilliant white light. My blindfolded and protected eyes do adjust and I relax into the moment. While the lights beam good light into my cells, it does its job of reducing inflammation, kills bad bacteria and infections, removes swelling and promotes healing and regeneration of muscle and ligament. It's a very pleasant experience. I chat with my therapist and visit for the 20 minutes of the Light Therapy, while she does Hand and Foot Massage or Reflexology on me...and all the while, the lights do their good shiny thing.
It's amazing, but I am definitely feeling better!
Oh, I have to tell you that I'm also doing my part to remove pain, by removing some Food Triggers from my lifestyle and diet, like I've never done before.
Since the middle of May, I've removed sugar, sugary desserts and drinks, cow dairy, breads, cakes/cookies. It's been now 8 weeks without these things in my diet.
Not only am I feeling MUCH improved, but some folks at faire this weekend were wowed, and said that I "looked beautiful" and "You just glow!"
I HAVE been feeling better inside and out. The bloat is gone. So is the heartburn. The pain is receding....slow but sure!
Acupuncture is helping with my metabolism and emotional Chi and getting me more in balance than I've ever been.
Chiropractic adjustments 2x a month (I was going 1x a week or more when I was in excrutiating pain before) keeps me in the right stance and gets my discs moving instead of fusing.
Light Therapy is killing the source of pain and inflammation inside my cells.
My improved and more real food diet (fruit, veggies, grains, seeds, lean proteins of meat, fish and nuts, goat cheese, lots of water) is eliminating my personal detractors of health which are hard for me to digest, process or whacked my metabolism and emotions. I mean, if I really think about it....whenever I have had emotional drama in the past, I almost ALWAYS was eating sugar, dairy, breads and hard alcohol. It was a toxic diet for me, and I reacted violently to it.
Harry even said that even tho' I'm not eating certain things (nor am I buying them.. if he wants them, he buys them...), he's been eating less of these things and feeling better because of it.
*I do eat Goat cheese and Feta.
*I have had an occasional bowl of Gluten free pasta to feed my tomato sauce addiction (but usually I have it on cooked rice, millet or quinoa). And crackers that are mostly rice are fine.
*I have had some Stevia in my Smoothies, but usually have chosen to do without it and just get used to the fruit being a sweet treat in itself.
*I do have some Red Wine, and a wee bit of Vodka doesn't seem to bother me (altho, I think the tonic that I love with it, doesn't make me feel the best). But No whiskey for me. I realize that it gives me heartburn. A rare beer in the heat of the day is nice. But I don't drink like I used to. (But then again, I have removed some Drama Kings and Queens out of my life...and thusly, I don't feel the need to drink like I used to either. :)
Now, without those bad triggers, and getting the health help I need at a structural and internal level to process and mend the damage that our western way of life told me how to live by...
I am feeling better than I've felt in several years.
(FYI~ My blood pressure reading this morning was a whopping 95/63 and I'm NOT on any BP meds :)
I wish you the same and share for your health in kind~
So be well, my friends!
Slainte'!
With pain or issues and symptoms of disease.
Sound familiar?
But I also believe that the body is resilient and can be fixed, by removing some of the triggers and giving it the opportunity and time and ways to heal. Modern medicine isn't all it's cracked up to be (altho there's nothing as wondrous for triage). Yet, there are other healing modalities besides surgery and prescriptions which more people need to avail themselves of.
I've always believed that light can heal. It's one reason why I choose to tan lightly in the winter time. Living here in Central New York, the winter brings days of 0% sunshine. Really. And I would cry and get depressed. I found if I tanned a little, my mood would be lightened by the pineal gland getting it's due.
In the past 2 months, I've been on a Quest of Health for myself (both inside and out) and I am feeling pretty awesome because of it! I wanted to share with you a few things. Utilizing some really amazing healing modalities is also making great sense to me and helping lots. I wanted to help you too, by giving you all this info as well!
First off...let me tell you that for the last 2 years, I've had a lot of pain.
Like ...
PAIN
Had tests done, and doctor ruled out the heredity curse of me having Rhuematoid Arthritis. Don't get me started on Fibromyalgia. It's a Catch-All diagnosis. While I think it exists...I think that pain like that comes from lots of places.
I've had injuries, surgeries, yes, and hormonal oddities..but also some damaging emotional devastation which can become lodged within our system via the metabolism. Lots of things (including our thoughts) can make us sick. Even PEOPLE can make us sick, and not by spreading germs either: I've been keeping a yearly journal, and I've realized that I would even get sick when I was around a certain one person every time we were in contact. Funny, but now that I have removed him from my life, I haven't been getting sick like that anymore! Well, no, it's not funny....it's pretty appropriate. Our bodies tell us things that are important, and we should LISTEN .
Not being around certain people can be healing...and vice versa...being around some people CAN make you sick! (and fat too).
Let me ask you a couple of questions:
*Have you gained a lot of weight lately? What's behind the emotion that makes you eat? Why do you choose that particular food? (i.e. When we eat something crunchy/salty we usually have some anger. When we feel the need to eat sweet or soft foods, we are usually in need of comfort...etc.)
*Is some area of your body becoming problematic? What does that part of your body say to you? (Funny, but here again, when I didn't want to "see" what was happening with a particular relationship...my eyesight went. Coincidence? I think NOT.)
*Are certain foods making you bloat? (Listen to your belly! Do you cramp up after eating certain foods? Watch your stools. There is a language in what they reveal to you. Investigate what is happening. You don't have to go to an internist to find out about some of this! Research your diet, your emotions, your daytime problems and your nighttime dreams for the answers first! Don't go under the knife if you don't have to!!)
Click this link to a guide to "Stool Nirvana!" :)
But I didn't stop there.
There are LOTS of ways to think of Pain Relief and to HEAL.
I also totally believe also in Metaphysical Healing.
My Health Bible these days is the book: "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise Hay. It makes so much sense to me.
Also this one:
Feeling bloated? Read this book! Gutbliss: A 10-Day Plan to Ban Bloat, Flush Toxins, and Dump Your Digestive Baggage
And for those of you going through Menopause, I would highly recommend this author. She has a lot of books out as she is a Gynecologist focusing particularly on Women's Health issues:
Read this book: "The Wisdom of Menopause" by Christiane Northrup
Over the last year, I too, have written a book, and it prompted me to analyze myself in so many ways. I put myself under a microscope and I learned LOTS. Not only about myself, but about the people around me as well! I've had to tune into what I really want and need in a big way because of it. I've been scrutinizing what (or who) is good and bad for my health, relationships and Spirituality. It has all been a big healer to do it for myself in a comprehensive way.
I'm no stranger to Alternative Medicine and Healings:
I've been seeing a Chiropractor since I was 11 for a neck injury. But for the past couple of years, it has been for some disc degeneration (L4 & L5 to be precise...read: Slipped disc) and for the damage that it has done to my lower back and legs.
I don't want to feel old! I'm not old. 54 isn't old anymore. I'm gonna fight this fecking pain every inch of the way! There is no need for pain in my life. Pain is a punisher. I have no need to punish myself anymore for things or situations I had no control over.
In my last blog, I told you about the Acupuncturist I've been seeing for help with hormonal balance, metabolism, emotional and organ repair. She's awesome and I'm a regular customer and would HIGHLY recommend it to others. (I mean, a healing practice that has been around for 2500 years has to be around for a good reason! It's because it WORKS.)
So, when my regular and wonderful L.M.T. (Licensed Massage Therapist) said that she was getting great results for Pain Management with her new Light Therapy Unit, well, I trust her and so I signed up!
I've had 2 treatments in the past 2 weeks. Frankly, I'm amazed at the results! After a long weekend of grueling weekend of Renaissance faire minstreling, doing shows, tapping my foot jingles while I play constantly, climbing hills, constant drumming and strumming, and doing parades...historically, I am usually pretty banged up come Monday morning.
But today, the Monday after the first opening weekend of a particular hilly inclined faire...
I'm tired, but I'm not crippled. And hey, I'm all for that! YAY!!!
OK, so what is Low Level Light Therapy like and why would I want to try it?
Well, the FDA has been recommending it. It's called In light Wellness Systems.
The double blind studies and the results of years of use are pretty conclusive.
And it's got a lot of good reviews from folks and Veterinarians are even using it on animals with awesome results!
In Light Wellness Systems LED animation - Click here~
Click here to see it used on pets by Veterinarians!
My massage therapist told me to put on special protective eyewear, and then she encircled a band of lights around my head, on my back, torso, and on my troublesome ankle (I either have a bone spur, some nerve/ligament damage or a hairline fracture in it. It can be excruitiating out of the blue!)
Then she turns on the machine and my brain is flooded with brilliant white light. My blindfolded and protected eyes do adjust and I relax into the moment. While the lights beam good light into my cells, it does its job of reducing inflammation, kills bad bacteria and infections, removes swelling and promotes healing and regeneration of muscle and ligament. It's a very pleasant experience. I chat with my therapist and visit for the 20 minutes of the Light Therapy, while she does Hand and Foot Massage or Reflexology on me...and all the while, the lights do their good shiny thing.
It's amazing, but I am definitely feeling better!
Oh, I have to tell you that I'm also doing my part to remove pain, by removing some Food Triggers from my lifestyle and diet, like I've never done before.
Since the middle of May, I've removed sugar, sugary desserts and drinks, cow dairy, breads, cakes/cookies. It's been now 8 weeks without these things in my diet.
Not only am I feeling MUCH improved, but some folks at faire this weekend were wowed, and said that I "looked beautiful" and "You just glow!"
I HAVE been feeling better inside and out. The bloat is gone. So is the heartburn. The pain is receding....slow but sure!
Acupuncture is helping with my metabolism and emotional Chi and getting me more in balance than I've ever been.
Chiropractic adjustments 2x a month (I was going 1x a week or more when I was in excrutiating pain before) keeps me in the right stance and gets my discs moving instead of fusing.
Light Therapy is killing the source of pain and inflammation inside my cells.
My improved and more real food diet (fruit, veggies, grains, seeds, lean proteins of meat, fish and nuts, goat cheese, lots of water) is eliminating my personal detractors of health which are hard for me to digest, process or whacked my metabolism and emotions. I mean, if I really think about it....whenever I have had emotional drama in the past, I almost ALWAYS was eating sugar, dairy, breads and hard alcohol. It was a toxic diet for me, and I reacted violently to it.
Harry even said that even tho' I'm not eating certain things (nor am I buying them.. if he wants them, he buys them...), he's been eating less of these things and feeling better because of it.
*I do eat Goat cheese and Feta.
*I have had an occasional bowl of Gluten free pasta to feed my tomato sauce addiction (but usually I have it on cooked rice, millet or quinoa). And crackers that are mostly rice are fine.
*I have had some Stevia in my Smoothies, but usually have chosen to do without it and just get used to the fruit being a sweet treat in itself.
*I do have some Red Wine, and a wee bit of Vodka doesn't seem to bother me (altho, I think the tonic that I love with it, doesn't make me feel the best). But No whiskey for me. I realize that it gives me heartburn. A rare beer in the heat of the day is nice. But I don't drink like I used to. (But then again, I have removed some Drama Kings and Queens out of my life...and thusly, I don't feel the need to drink like I used to either. :)
Now, without those bad triggers, and getting the health help I need at a structural and internal level to process and mend the damage that our western way of life told me how to live by...
I am feeling better than I've felt in several years.
(FYI~ My blood pressure reading this morning was a whopping 95/63 and I'm NOT on any BP meds :)
I wish you the same and share for your health in kind~
So be well, my friends!
Slainte'!
