Women of Note Concert

Come one come all to the concert of Women of Note here in Winnipeg on Sunday, May 5.  We are performing a variety of songs including ABBA, a song from Zambia, a song written in Mexico called Oye, beautiful French tune by Faure and Rutter, the very difficult piece Laudate Dominum by Hovland, one of Eric Whitacre's lullaby's set to music, spiritual Heaven Bound Train, and finally the interesting and progressive song Past Life Melodies by Sarah Hopkins.  You will have the chance to listen and sing along as an audience member.  Come and have some fun this Sunday!

I, Mona Lisa

I, Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Several years ago I gave this book to my mother as a Christmas gift.  This holiday season while visiting family I saw it on the bookshelf and decided to read it myself.  It was chosen because my mother is a musician and a lover of art.  Having lived in Europe as a pre-teen, I have memories of my mother taking me around to well known art galleries, showing me well known works of art, and whispering in my ear or sharing with me the reasons why a particular painting was so famous, or controversial, or cutting edge for its time.  This book is staged around the famous painting Mona Lisa, which I saw first when my parents took me to the Louvre during the four years we lived in Belgium.  Paris and France is only a short skip away from Belgium.  The narrator is none other than Mona Lisa, and Kalogridis has written a fast paced, intriguing historical fiction account about the time period in which Da Vinci painted this piece of art, the woman in the frame, and her life surrounded by a mix if loving, creepy, controlling, concerned, self-serving and mysterious people.  A time period during which a women's servants could be her best friends, Kalogridis teaches the reader that there are secrets hidden within generations, but the secrets will always come to light.


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Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping

Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping by Elisabeth Eaves
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Somewhere behind my desire to be both a reporter and a stripper lay an impulse to conceal.  Stripping - in competition with acting and espionage - is the ultimate job for someone who's instinct is to present different facades of who she might be.  There is nothing more illusory than a woman pretending to be a sexual fantasy for money." - p. 5

This book was on the wrong shelf when I entered a university library about a year ago.  It has been reminding me it is there waiting to be read for many months and I decided to pick it up over the holiday season.  It was on the apartment shelf as a classmate, during my first year of my Master's degree, announced in class one day that she was completing a PhD about women, their bodies and stripping because she stripped to pay her way through her bachelor's degree several years earlier.  I work hard to be an open person and I easily delight in meeting people whose lives are vastly different than mine and who are willing to share their stories of their life experience.  This book was perfect after I had spent several hours talking with my classmate to begin to build a healthier and more realistic perspective of stripping, the why, who, for what reasons, etc.

"I learned that no one is neutral about female bodies.  If they aren't sex objects used to sell every conceivable good, they are political objects, causing bitter debate on how to manage their fecundity.  And where not sexual or political, they are imbued with society's ideals with fears, turned into Miss Liberties, Virgin Mary's, and Wicked Witches.  Everyone had an opinion on what to do about female bodies, and sometimes it feels as if the only people who get in trouble for holding such opinions are young women themselves.  Some of us, though, have to live in them, and we each get by in our own way." - p. 6-7

Eaves explains how she first became involved in stripping and we meet several of her colleagues, who become friends, and their work as strippers, what purpose is serves in various lives, for some the cycle of dependence that is created in this industry, and the rules of safety that are continuously broken by purchasers and strippers alike.  Eaves teaches the reader that every woman had a line that she has drawn about the sexual work she is willing to perform, and sees many women move and bend this line under pressure from others and due to economic circumstances.

"And I was tempted to see sex work as more of a symptom of social illness than a cause.  The sex biz was nothing more that a sophisticated arbitrage operation, dealing in morals rather than financial instruments...At some point women had become artificially divided into two types - the good and the childbearing ones, carefully trained to disdain sex so that they wouldn't stray, and a separate, pro-sex class.  The second group were despised and disparaged so that the good women wouldn't want to join them.  One group of women ended up with respect but no freedom, and the other with freedom but no respect.  But economics abhors a vacuum, and the whore class...rushed in to fill the chasm between men's actual desires and the social structure that they, with women, had built.  I don't think the divide between the two types of women would go away until all the girls were raised to be free, responsible and unashamed of sex.  And until society had bridged the sex-ed gap - porn for boys and religion and romance for girls - there would always be Lusty Ladies [the stripper club Eaves worked at]." -. p. 138-139

A book that was telling and a strong mixture of social and political commentary shaken together with the lives of women and how their work infiltrates all aspects of their lives.  Give it a read!


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Holiday Concert with Women of Note

After one year in Winnipeg, I joined a choir.  It is my second year with them.  We are a 70 voice women's choir, with a 25 voice smaller chamber group within.  We have our holiday concert on December 2 at Westminster church in Winnipeg.  Start time is 3 PM (not indicated on the poster, oops!)  Last year I had one friend come.  This year more friends have purchased tickets.  As a group it turns out we have sold almost 500 tickets for our concert and we are going to print more.  Thank goodness our concert hall can handle about 900 people.  Come and get in the Christmas and holiday mood while listening to our fantastic voices.

The first half of our concert includes Christmas songs and other works.  The second half of our concert is a small string orchestra, soloists and the choir all singing Vivaldi's Gloria.  I had never heard the piece before singing it with this choir and I consider classical music something I was raised on.  Glad my repertoire and knowledge of this type of music continues to grow.  I do enjoy singing Vivaldi (Handel on the other hand.....)

Here is a Vivaldi sample:



Come and listen to us sing and pay attention to the low notes because Alto 2's rock the musical basement!

Summer 2012: Pirate Invasion!

This is my sister-in-law Cheri.

These are the types of cakes Cheri dreams up and creates.

A pirate ship arriving from a water land of cupcakes to a desert land of 'sand' cupcakes on which the pirates will fight with the skeleton crew who have a treasure.  Yep.  She makes the fabulous creations and then we, her grateful family-in-law, have the audacity to eat them.  Truly they should be encased on glass and put on display in a museum.  Instead, we eat them.  We (un)grateful lot.

The pirate ship is made from rice-crispie treats wrapped in moulded tootsie roll.  The masts are cookies.  

The water and sand are cupcakes with delicious icing and candies on them.  The desert has icing which is them dipped on pulverized graham crackers.  So yummy!

In addition to the cake she made cross-bone cookies...because they are so simple to create (?).

The skeletons guarding their treasure

'Come get us and our treasure pirates!'

The pirates descend in a ship to advance towards the booty.

Prepared to fight!

Who will win?!?

This summer I confessed to Cheri that I have a fantastic business idea.  She is going to make cakes like these and I am going to sell them.  Thusly she and my brother must stay together always, and she needs to make cakes faster...or we can hire minions to create the cakes while she dreams them up.  Either way my plan will take some convincing and she just laughed every time I mentioned our new joint venture.  There is some work and convincing yet to be done.  Wish us luck with our booty!

Summer 2012: Chinese Brush Painting

My mother is talented.

 Yes.  This talented.

My father Greg bragging to us about my mother Wyona's painting skills.

This summer it was decided that we were all going to sit down and try our hands at Chinese Brush Painting.  Now you may wonder where in the world a caucasian Canadian family would learn the skills of an ancient art form from a country on the other side of the world.  This is a good question.  My mother.  When my father obtained his job as Canadian Trade Commissioner with the Foreign Service we began traveling.  First to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then on to Manila, Philippines.  While we were abroad we had hired house help which left my stay-at-home mother with some time to pursue other pursuits.  One she chose was Chinese Brush Painting whose art influence obviously extended beyond the borders of China, and at which my mother excelled.  While she was a teacher, and while I taught, she would show her and my students the basics.

Wyona demonstrating the fine art of bamboo painting

One always starts with bamboo and after several months the new learner is allowed to progress to roses.  Since time was limited (the summer was coming to a close), we had a 15 minute bamboo lesson, followed by a 15 minute rose lesson.  We practiced for several hours and some of us faired pretty well, creating almost realistic foliage.

Zach doing very well with bamboo stalks

One of the main pieces of information that Wyona always tells the learner is that this type of painting is single stroke with diluted paint.  You make one stroke, them move on.  You do not go over your work again and again, bad, naughty.  The depth of the painting comes from the variations in hues of the paint through the single strokes, from dark to medium to light colour contrasts.  Two essential art details.

Needed: water, paint, a place to dilute colours

Sabrina showing us the seriousness of art and bamboo

Alicia focusing on her roses

Then there were those of us who may need a few more summers to get to the Chinese painting part, yet enjoyable images were still created.

Chinese-Canadian-American rainbow?

The serious faces of each mini-artist is so perfect

The group is deep concentration with their roses

We did have a great time and learned that you throw away the first 3-45 sketches, even though they may look anywhere from pretty crappy to not too bad.  It is tough to let go of ones art when it has just been completed and a part of ones heart is in it.  Another summer, after more practice, we shall save and frame several pieces.  Only 41 more practices to go.  Until then, we have a semi-professional in our midst guiding our learning and visuals of her work to motivate us.

Keep Shining

While I plaster my blog with videos....here is one a cousin shared with me.  She was able to see Shad in London.  You and I get to enjoy his video and powerful music through YouTube.  Thank you to all the women who have taught me so much.  Keep shining.

Pulse Doing Overtime

Fringe Fest in Winnipeg has been good for me.
This one is for you Trevor.
Thanks.

I Love Jezebel!

For all those people who were disgusted at the type, amount, bizarreness, and uneducated number of rape comments made during the American election, this article is for you and me!

Team Rape Lost Big Last Night

The Right Words

Life is good.
Working on a few academic things: methods section, uploading summer data onto computer, planning the graduate student orientation, and even applying for jobs.
May the gods of employment smile down upon me in great measure.
Enjoying friends and meeting some interesting new people.
Still learning both professionally and personally.

In this midst of all this I listen to music.
This song popped up during this evening in a mix/shuffle.
It is a demure and calming song.
Putting the vision of one's life into perspective.

Thought you might enjoy it too thanks to CBC Radio 2



I had a friend tell me recently that she is really enjoying watching me walk through my life right now, seeing me move through the process of re-creation, deciding what do include in it, and observing the choices I am making.  She made me envious of myself.  Perhaps this is why I keep listening to this song, not because I am in a tearful, sorrowful place, but because I feel content and peaceful, throwing my heart and life out into the ocean and wondering what will be sent back anew and what will simply be new.

Remember:
The paradise you long for it's underneath your feet.
What you runnin' for?
Where've you been?

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates

Porcelain Moon and Pomegranates: A Woman's Trek Through Turkey by Üstün Bilgen-Reinart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Being methodical feels constricting to me so I avoid it and stick with spontaneity.  This includes my selection of reading materials.  I go to the library, head for the travel section, start pulling books off the shelf, judge it by its cover, then synopsis, and keep it in my arms or put it back on the shelf after my discerning judgment :).  Over the past year I have read some wonderful books that have taught me about places I may never visit.  This book, with an unsuspecting cover, an acceptable synopsis, and yet more importantly a travel book written by a women, was left in my arms which was an exceptional choice.

This book was an amazing teaching tool that took me into the depths of thousands of years of history, race relations, conflict, change, and the current lives of many people in Turkey.  Of all the travel books I have read in the past year, this is the most moving one from which I feel like learned enough to be a four month university course that I received for free.  Lucky me!

Perhaps I feel closer to Ustun because she was born in Turkey, moved to Winnipeg, then returned to Turkey as an adult to learn about her culture all over again.  I was born in Calgary, Alberta, but did not live in Canada for any length of time until I was an adult, and I had to learn about my home country year after year when I moved here at the age of eighteen.  As well, I am currently living in Winnipeg.  An interesting coincidence.

This book is for people who want to learn about the deep moving power of travel, history, worship, cultural change, power structures and their influence, the complicated lives of women, goddesses, and to understand how old some parts of the world truly are, all situate in the context of travel, discovery, and making connections between the past and present.  A magnificent read!

I just realized that I will be probably be buying this book.  It is so full of information that I am going to want to come back to it a couple of times just to make sure I hear all of its messages.  Delightful as it stretched my thinking so very far.


The best parts of the book:

But deep inside me there was a division and there was a loss.  There were chambers that had to remain closed.  My Anatolian self was suppressed, my memories of that land - its rhythms, its smells, its temperature, its ancient joys and pains (for what is culture if it is not collective memory that is somehow transmitted through the generations?), the pleasure if my mother tongue - all these lay buried under the psychological layers that formed an efficient, adaptive Canadian self.  p. 14

Ecological balance represents survival - the human race can't live without air, land and water,  I knew that in Canada, too.  But it is only here that I begin to discern the relationship between ecological damage and the loss of distant memory.  So many layers of civilizations have lived and died here that I feel as if spirits hover over Anatolia.  But if their traces are destroyed, if no one remembers those who once lived and died here, we are not even going to know what we have lost...I notice that I often turn to women for stories about taboo themes and about the buried past.  It is true that women are the bearers of collective memory?  That questions leads me to the issue of the suppression of female voices, female memories, and female sexuality in Anatolia, and I see another connection that should have been obvious all along: the killing of nature and the suppression of ancient memory are related to the silencing of women's voices.  Perhaps women could have defended the earth of they hadn't been robbed of power thousands of years ago...On this land at the dawn of history, a different vision taped human societies.  An ancient great goddess reigned in Anatolia for thousands of years.  The traces of her worship remain all over this mountain our land...People often feel an urge to understand their own past in order to gain insights into the present.  I feel complicated to delve into Anatolia's past.  A long and loaded human past must affect the people who now live on this land in the same way that a family history going back many generations will affect someone who knows nothing of the secrets bored with those generations.  p. 17

Ustun continues to discover the thousands of years of goddess worship, provides a historical context of terrorism and her idea as to why it exists, describes how one religion is replaced by another as one culture is conquered by another group with a different culture, provides the history of prostitution and it modern day experience, explains killing ones daughter in the name of honour and how this practice is changing (a difficult chapter to read), and how the people of Turkey are rising up against Western multi-national companies as they destroy the landscape of the country, take their money and run away.  What a read!  It won't be the last time I peruse its pages.  So much more to understand and learn in the second and third readings.

Find it and learn from the words on its pages.  



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Gonna Be An Engineer

Cattle research done!
Thesis version two, almost done.
Sharing another video, below.

Last year I took the Smithsonian Folkways: American Roots Collection CD collection out of the library.  What a treat!  So many songs I had never heard but were the backbone of folk music, one of my favourite genres.  There were some really cool songs to listen to, some really weird ones, and one that I need to share with you.  It popped up on my playlist today while working and it makes me smile.

When I hear the lyrics I pretend I am a hippie woman at a Folk Festival with my long hair braided (its never long enough to do that, but hey, let me have my dreams), a daisy chain around my neck, a flowing hippie skirt, and maybe even a tambourine gently beating against my hip.  A woman by the name of Peggy Seeger appears on stage with a simple guitar.  She says hello at the microphone and dedicates this to all the women in the audience and beyond who want more choices in their lives.  Access higher (or well) paying jobs, be acknowledged for their intelligence and gifts, for others to see and thank them for their public contributions to the community, be provided with the space to make healthy choices, and live a full life in and outside their homes.

It is a sassy little ditty.

This is for all my engineering female family and friends out there (all 8 of you), and all the rest of us living better lives due to the work, lyrics, marches, sit-ins, folk festivals and potlucks of the 1960's.

I am now in graduate school due to your work.

Thanks!

Why I Adore Wyona

In my family we do not celebrate Mother's Day, we celebrate Wyona's Day.  As my mother, Wyona has always said that we should not revere, praise, adore, and enjoy our mother's only one day a year but every day of the year.  With this instilled in us as teenagers, we continue to celebrate our altered version of this yearly holiday as a family.

This year my mother was on a cruise in some remote sea or ocean and unreachable.  Family members did send emails with funny stories, witty responses, best memories, and the like.  Wyona thanked us and we each took time to think about the amazing woman that raised seven children while moving all over the world, country to country.  She has survived by pure will as we are all different, unique and challenging (yet so entertaining) as children and now as adults.

As an homage to Wyona I rented a movie last week that reminded me of her.  You see, she is addicted to old time movies.  1940's musicals, dance films of the 1950's, and black and white, silver screen movies of the early 1900's.  When she has time, is sewing or completing small jobs we all have to do to keep life going, she is watching Turner Classic Movies (TCM).  When I am in town I plop on the couch, chat, watch, listen, chat more, watch again.  These movies always have and always will remind me of my amazing mother.

The other day at the library I realized I can rent videos for $1.20 so I grabbed a few.  When I saw, The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), I missed my mum and had to watch it.  From the film education I received from her, I know there are few musical and dance combinations in the world of film like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  It was the perfect choice.

The dance scene of the two of them, he in a tux, she is a flowing white dress, I watched three times.  The plot presents them as a somewhat agreeable married couple known for there stage talent, have split up because Ginger's character wants to try dramatic stage acting rather than the comedy they have repeatedly performed.  They split up as a couple and he woes her back with this Gershwin song and dance number (with a little help from the friend that introduces the scene.)  Such talent, poise, feet movement and ability.  I am grateful to have a mother that has taught me many things, one of which is an appreciation of older entertainment that remains relevant and enjoyable to watch.

I suggest you watch it once and keep your eyes on Fred Astaire, then watch it again and keep your eyes on Ginger Rogers.  He is so smooth, and she appears as delicate as a flower and knows when to grab her skirt and give it a flip to get it moving.  Love this musical!  Love these types of movies!

Enjoy the wee scene snippet from the movie!
Love your mum!
Enjoy her every day!

 

Sapphire Bound! Add It!

While I am reading methods books to pump up the research section of my thesis, and I have delved into the thick and hearty text, The Handbook of Qualitative Research by Denzin and Lincoln (Sage Publications, 1994).  This is the big mama of qualitative text books so that I can write a methods section and complete my mixed methods research with some flare and accuracy.  As I have been reading through the first section I came across a quote that caused me to pause and ponder.  Then ponder more.

Viola the quote written by Regina Austin (1989) in her book Sapphire Bound!:

"When was the last time someone told you that your way of approaching problems...was all wrong?  You are too angry, too emotional, too subjective, too pessimistic, too political, too anecdotal and too instinctive?  I never know how to respond to such accusations.  How can I legitimate my way of thinking?  I know that I am not used to flying off the handle, seeing imaginary insults and problems where there are none.  I am not a witch solely by nature, but by circumstances and choice as well.  I suspect that what my critics really want to say is that I am being too self consciously black (brown, yellow, red) and/or female to suit their tastes and should "lighten up" because I am making them feel very uncomfortable, and that is not nice.  And I want them to think that I am nice, don't I or "womanish"?" p. 76-77


I am adding this book to the list of 'To Read' in my mind and on GoodReads.

IT IS MY 40th BIRTHDAY TODAY!!!

Tonia circa 1978

yep

the day has arrived

40 and still living life to the limit

embrace the moments of change

love the new

wave goodbye to an old decade full of changes

enjoy me fitting my own standards

keep living a wonderful life

thanks for having me mum and dad

my siblings are the most amazing people I know

nieces and nephews add to the joy

friends are always a big part of my life

thanks to you all for adding to the joy and contentment 

cheers to me!

Tonia in 2009

The Reddening Path

The Reddening Path by Amanda Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was walking from the University bathroom back to my study carol when this book and another by the same author, Amanda Hale, caught my eye.  After reading the back and flipping through the book, I decided this would be a nice diversion from the non-fiction, travel, walking books that I have been reading for several years now.


Hale intricately creates a narrative that includes 2 separate stories, then 3, then 4, and as a grande finale, links all the stories and characters together.  The breadth of the stories, which range from the 1500's to the 1960's and the 2000's, leaves the reader sleepless, turning pages, wondering what will happen to this list of unique characters.  The stories are set in Guatemala, Toronto, and the Kingdom of Spain shortly after its creation in the late 1400's and into the early 1500's.  Characters from South America's colonial past inspire a young Guatemalan-Canadian, Pamela, to trace her roots and briefly leave her two loving mothers, Hannah and Fern, in Toronto, in order to find her biological mother back in a country which she left after her international adoption.  She travels in body and finds friends, old acquaintances and adventure, but also travels back in time in her mind as she prepares a paper and completes research in order to understand her country of birth.  Her travels take her to meet some interesting people, but her plans take a divergent turn when she attempts to impose her Canadian upbringing on a set of people and in a country that has survived generations of war, torture, and trauma.  Pamela has a wishful, hopeful spirit and teaches the reader that taking chances may provide you with different answers than the ones you had been looking for.  Great read!  


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Falling Backwards

Falling Backwards by Jann Arden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So far Jann is providing the reader with very detailed accounts of her childhood.  I am not sure she is going to make it into the singing career part of her life at this rate as I keep looking at the thickness of the book.  I shall keep you updated.


I have been a fan of Jann Arden's music since the release of her first CD in the early 1990's.  Her music has always helped me process life experiences, realize that life is complicated, and that we all hope to have relationships with people we can rely on.  After receiving this book for Christmas, I devoured it.  As stated above, most of the stories in her book range from childhood to the beginning of her music career and do not extend beyond.  While Jann is open about many funny, personal, serious, hard, interesting and joyful experiences, it appears she still retains private information about other aspects of her life.  It was a great read and would recommend it to fans and strangers alike.


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Jann's Website:  http://jannarden.com/

Kiss the Sunset Pig

Kiss the Sunset Pig by Laurie Gough
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Laurie Gough has a traveling spirit and is constantly moving away from a consistent, scheduled, routine life, always trying to find a place she feels is full of the exotic other.  Through her trip in a jeep named Marcia from Southern Ontario to California, she recounts not only her experiences on the road, but spends several chapters flashing back to her international journey's from years gone by.  At first, I did not enjoy her narrative as Gough's voice included a whining edge no matter her life choices.  As the story progressed, her narrative morphed from 'why me' to a courageous link of travel choices I would be hard pressed to make.  Gough demonstrates a consistent decision to avoid tourist traps in her traveling, instead, making choices to sleep in a cave on the beach for 6 days, sleep in a hollowed out tree for 3 nights, and to brave an unknown countries as she continually arrives with few plans or local contacts.  This type of traveling requires a true free spirit, a drive to understand different life experiences, and a trust in the goodness of human relationships.  In the end a good book which I did enjoy and whose stories have added a few places to visit or avoid in my own travel plans.


Best parts:


"Gazing at the faces of the fashion-conscious teens and the heavy-set parents pushing ice-cream-eating kids in strollers I long to see the face of a true eccentric, someone who doesn't belong.  But in this culture of sameness I can't find anyone like that.  That's something I love about outdoor markets, especially those in the developing world or in big cosmopolitan cities: eccentrics are everywhere.  The North American mall is one of the West's less enlightened ideas for only occasionally does the enclosed mall exude a noisy excitement of a meeting place.  Mainly, instead of being colourful, outlandish, and pulsing with life, malls are sterile; they smell like air freshener rather than ripe fruit, spices and sweat; the music is canned instead of live; and the people inside the malls seem bored, more concerned with buying the latest rend marketed at them than engaging in lively conversation." p. 98


"So there was a spark of light in that trip after all, a single moment asking to be remembered.  I see now that the easy road isn't the road to take to find that spark.  If we really want to find true beauty in their world, the road to find it can be full of ache, wrenching hurdles, heartbreak and potholes.  But it's the road we sometimes need, the one I needed to come across that little girl and her family on that forlorn island after the storm." p. 251  


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Laurie Gough's website:  http://www.lauriegough.com/

Walking the Gobi

Walking the Gobi: A 1,600 Mile-trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair by Helen Thayer


So far I am trying to figure out why anyone would want to walk through a desert.  Barren.  Void.  Empty.  Sandy.  So far I am enjoying the book but as a tourist and a walker I just don't think I would ever make this a life goal as the author has.  I shall keep reading to open my eyes to her perspective.


"The absence of outside distractions caused us to immerse ourselves fully in our environment, which meant that we were ready to respond instantly to any emergency that might rise.  Rather than reading books at night, we used the time to sleep." p. 116


Now that I have read the book I can say that I still don't want to walk to through any desert but I do respect Thayer and her partner Bill as this was an amazing book to read.  The physical challenges, the mind games the desert plays on them, the hospitality of the Mongolians, the craziness of the Chinese border patrol, the idea that one keeps walking and walking and walking even when one's mouth is full of sandy grit.  Incredible story from amazing people!


A poem Thayer left behind in a desert in the centre of a cairn:

Although the harshness of the desert sometimes climbs beyond human endurance, a deep feeling of tranquility floods our senses as we allow ourselves to become part of the earth, wind, sand and dust that surrounds us.  We can never conquer the elements; we can only experience them as a visitor, knowing that after we have passed, the desert will continue its ways both gentle and violent long after we are gone.  It takes time to understand the special freedom that comes when we join hands with Mother Nature and follow her lead.  The increasing weariness and outward struggle is made easier when we are at peace with our surroundings and at one with our Creator.  (p. 179)


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Dead Grandmother's

All my three grandmothers are now dead.

It is harsh but true.

Never met my maternal grandmother.

Lucky enough to have two paternal grandmothers.

Both paternal g's, very different from each other.

Opposite sides of the spectrum.

I am more like the one who birthed and raised my father, Grandma Billy.

None of them are around to provide me with advice anymore.

Don't worry.

In today's day and age, all you need is a good website or blog to replace a loved one.

(I can't believe I am posting that sentence.  Lightning may hit me as I strike the publish key.)

In particular you may enjoy this blog.

A rollicking good time reminding us of the progress society has made over the past few decades.

Advice as my grandmothers, I am sure, would give me if still here to provide it.

HERSTERIA

And enjoy!

Thank the creator after you have picked yourself off the ground 

when the giggles have moved onto laughter, 

the laughter onto guffaws, 

thence on to crying with sobs of hysteria.

Have a box of kleenex at the ready.