It WAS Thanksgiving... And now it's...

....almost Winter Solstice/Equinox/Yule/Christmas. :)

Please go here for more! :) Cool site! :)

http://www.candlegrove.com/yule.html

Yule means "feast".
Or maybe"wheel".

However, some who have studied the linguistics tell me that the association of "Yule" with "wheel" (a fond belief you will find in many places, since the words are nearly identical) is a myth. The roots of the two words have about as much similarity in Scandinavian languages as in English. According to one theory, the root word for Yule came from the aboriginal Scandinavians, and has always meant only one thing: the festival at the Winter Solstice. The word for wheel came from the Indo-Europeans who migrated to Scandinavia around 3800 BC (although they didn't even begin to use wheels until about 2500 BC!) The debate points out how ancient the word is.

For ancient Germanic and Celtic people, the impulse to celebrate solstice was the same as for their neighbors to the south -- a celebration of the cycle of nature and a reaffirmation of the continuation of life. But the style and substance of their celebrations took very different shape.

It isn't hard to figure out why.

These northern cultures survived a colder, darker winter for one thing. And they were just as likely to be herders and hunters as farmers.

It's cold, it's dark many more hours than light, and snows cover the fields where your herds might forage. What is there to do but make a delight of necessity, with a great slaughter and feasting?

And what better time to do it than at the point that marks the return of the sun's light and warmth?

My Blood Runs RED and Cold....And Hot!

THIS POST IS NOT A Panty-twist to ANY Non- Red Indian American Native!!!

When October arrives each year, there begins to be the talk of a vacation day for Columbus Day.... November brings Thanksgiving.

Okay now, here's the Rub. I am so  chigger-bit by so many issues  regarding the FIRST PEOPLES to the New World I could just tear out what's left  of my hair (steroids yanno) The Spanish, under a blood thirsty, gold thieving PIRATE( I know, don't go there) came and raped the Americas(it wasn't the Americas then :) ) and killed off it's Native cultures faster than a dose of epsom salts can make ya get rid of your dinner.

 Leif Erickson and Eric the Red and all the other Viking based fellas got here even EARLIER! Yup, they did. and they tried, in the farther north to make a go of it, New(FOUND)land, Iceland Vinland, etc. But they too wanted to live as European and make the Natives peoples into caricatures

 of themselves by modernizing them. WTF?  

And last but never least....The &^%%# Pilgrims had to get into the Act....Yep, cool idea, go and practice your own form of religion and culture. Okay. But DON'T convert the HEATHENS!!!! They don't NEED to be converted any more!

The first Thanksgiving was undoubtedly a scary and sad affair. White folks croaking all over the place because the had no idea how to live and subsist in a new land..They had no squash, beans, pumpkins, roots, nut, berries, and were getting ill at alarming rates most probably from the decidedly different climate and vermin present. Starvation was rearing up. The Indigeous folks meanwhile showed, taught, shared and were humane the best I can figure.

None of that matters. Beginning with the very first broken treaty between the Europeans and ALL indigenous peoples they  got double Effed and left to bleed and bleed and bleed that Good Red NEW world Blood into the ground from the Atlantic to the Pacific. From the Arctic to the faaaaarthest bottom of South America. Their own Heritage was that of wanderers and searchers, from Asia, from Europe in the Sooo long ago...but they displaced no one, they ended no one else's cultures. They burned no books or codices, they destroyed no gods, and no temples, they traded and shared among themselves. Surely they had turf and mates wars... no duh! But the thing is, in the end, thousands of years later, they are still getting slapped in the face with The Pilgrims Thanksgiving and Columbus Day with a passing glance at the token lil indian braves and maidens setting the old picnic table for the ones they were 'serving'.

I am part Cherokee through my daddy. My Red blood and my Green (;]) Irish blood sometimes have hell-acious fusses. I am striped. I love my Celtic Culture, I love my Native to this Continent culture....but they were Native BEFORE it was America. Injuns is only a sloppy way to say Indians -from India  -NOT! So, Ima say I am Celtoi-Trans Siberian, Bering Straits Me! :)

PLEASE....PLEASE if you know of someone being bullied and made fun of, PLEASE step in and  do the best you can to stop it. Befriend the person who is suffering, try to do what you can to make the bullies understand that they look smaller and smaller in the eyes of those whose respect they are trying to gain by showing off their tuffness. If a person is heavy, too skinny, of a different sexual nature that what you consider normal, if they are poor and must dress badly...What-ever you consider to be 'different' PLEASE be the one that makes a difference in their lives. Save a life, save a PERSON... Thanks you! 
And Be the Best that You CAN BE! :)
Love ya, Kay

Spell? Prayer? Not a Blog for Haters.

I was born and raised as a plain old everyday protestant...which in my family meant we could get up and go to any church we wanted, take a dime forthe collection plate and BE QUIET about it, don't wake anyone up! :) 

My closest brother(Irish Twins we are!) and I would jump up, dress, grab our dimes and haul ass. One Sunday a Mennonite church, one at a Nazarene, one at a Landmark Missionary Baptist, sometimes we would walk all the way downtown (Kokomo, Indiana) to sit beneath the open windows of a Black church just so we could hear the SING Honey!!! We were always mezmerized by that full gospel choir stuff, but we'd never have gone inside uninvited.

I guess the point to all this is this; we were taught A Prayer; "Now I lay me down to sleep!" I hate that prayer's guts, I didn't WANT to die before I woke! Arggggg. Anyhow. Praying most of my life meant "God if you'll do this for me, I promise never to (fill in the blanks) When I got grown, I no longer believed anything in the bible other than that it was a ferocious accounting to a mean and selfish old man. But I did learn to love the Jesus that I understand from it all.The Man, The Healer, the Carer, the Rabble Rouser, the gentle, just and joyous man who loved children, animals and WOMEN! Woo hoo! I learned there are other gods and goddesses.

Masculine + Feminine = Balance...Yin and Yang. I pray to different ones for different things, though, I must say the Christian/Jewish/Islamic god gets short shrift with me. I just can't go there. I perform spells and rituals sometimes and they have the same intents and outcomes as my prayers, it seems to me. And you? How do you interpret Prayer/Spells? Discussion? :)

A Beautiful Woman...

Got to work at my Volunteer job early today! Steroids give back the energy that age robs from you; at least while you're on a course of them. :) 

It was still and quiet on the parking lot, only noise was very sporadic traffic on an almost ALWAYS bumper to bumper street on Montrose in Houston's Arst enclave at the Heights! A squirrel was however, knocking pecans off the old tree there, so I sorta dodged them and helped a student carry in some canvasses etc. 

Helped set up the tables and chairs, made Chai Tea for all, washed brushes, helped the Art Teacher sort paints into their respective color groups to make them WAY easier to find for everyone! :)

I piddled here and there, helping, patting, petting and  mixing paints. LOVING EVERY MINUTE,UNTIL I got in my first wheelchair 'run by'..... LOL.

One of the Students (in his 60's I'd say, and another student about the same age, a woman, got a snit going. Not an unusual combo, btw. They simply clash. And living from a Wheel chair has got to be the absolute PITS on your anger quotient some days! :(

Anyhowzer, my toes(in flipfops...duh on me) on my left foot got crumped. I jumped but was very cool, and said nah, it was okay, no prob. Meantime the two of them are shooting daggers. So I go to sit down for a minute in the quiet lobby and just chill a lil.

I saw one of the prettiest women I have ever seen while just sitting there.

Her hair was pure white, she had to be oh maybe 75,76.And she had a very fair complexion that was wrinkled and lined. 

If you recall Texas' past Woman Governor, Ann Richards, you'll recall she had the WRINKLES honey. And she was damn proud of every one of them and was beautiful BECAUSE she acknowledged them and didn't appear to let them get in her way.. Rightfully so. 

The lady today was being shown around the Art Gallery/School and was strolling along in a liesurely and classy manner. She had on a pale, pale pink blouse and white capris. She looked at me and we smiled and I remarked "Boy, that pink is your color. You are just gorgeous!" Flirty, sassy, sexy woman said back to me "That's why I wear it. I love the compliments!" Now that's the way to do that! Accept a compliment and be gracious and joyous. That made me smile all day.

Now then; if only I could learn to believe that a compliment is real! I'm workin' on it! :)

Let me know if you enjoy one of the

  blogs! :)

Take good care of You, you are always gonna be a wondrous work in progress, man or woman!! 

Love ya, Kay

Never Mix a Woman on Steroids With one Pissed at Getting Old! :)

Whew! What a great day.:)

Woke to the first day of Fall being not too horrible. Coffee on the porch in the shade at 8:00AM, not hot, NOT humid? First clue. Not humid....YET!
I am on steroids for an itchy S C R A T C H Y rash that 6 months of humid heat and stress can cause in a woman over 60 who is not gettin' anywhere with figuring out what she wants to be yet etc.
Plans for the day; Lunch at a Tea room with my best Buddy, Barb who is 80 something and HELL ON WHEELS darlin! She still mows her acre with a riding mower and tells her doctors to "Define REST!"

She has been slowing down a bit the last year. Light, manageable diabetic, glaucoma in one eye, maybe a bit of a heart slowdown. But boy is she pissed about getting old. She wants it to BE SLOW.
"This effing getting old all of a sudden is bullshit!" She said to me on the way to lunch today at "Four Friends Tea Room" in Pearland, Texas. (Nice place, nice people, homey! Great Croissant with Chicken Salad!)
Now then, by noon it was 92º and the humidity was climbing. She felt old and crappy, I felt steroidal and GETTING old and crappy. We cursed every fool on the road. We groused and gritched and raised old ho-billy-hell at the world today. In the car, windows up and and with a really good feeling of saying "To HELL WITH IT!" We cruised to Wally World and dared somebody to get snotty or not have a clue what their department had. We cruised Radio Shack and were very happy to have a sales clerk both pleasant, polite, smiling and knowledgeable! :) She was a Doll! Wonder if Wally World across the street called to warn them there were two old ladies headed their way with a hard on at the world? Could be.

At any rate...we got home without bloodshed to anyone. Full of good food and iced tea (and tiny Demitasses' of hand brewed Spice/Fruit Tea made special at the Tea Room.) The heat was still climbing by 3:30 PM so we both decided our fuss at the world could probably wait till later. We both headed for nice cool air conditioned naps at our houses, and then she was gonna mow again....Damn! That woman makes us all look like little bitty lazy assed goofoffs! :)
See ya later, and take the best care of yourself so you'll last as long as Barb has so far! :)
Love ya'll.
Kay

Humming Birds, Rain and a Cuppa..

Hey ya'll!
What's goin on where you stay? I'm on the Tex-Mex Gulf . lol We had remnant rain all weekend from a tropical storm. That was good though, it was a sweet, nourishing woman rain, a gentle part of the feminine earth watering.
A male rain has made my life miserable more than once down here during Hurricanes and seasonal storms that can put out the fires of Hades given the notion.!
I sat with a book and a cuppa really good French Roast, trying to read but hearing some humming birds around the corner of the porch... Woo hoo. Grabbed the camera and ACTUALLY manipulated a Full minute movie of them diving and darting! And the unedited dumb bell stunt at the end, now to get it on here! :)

This coming Wednesday marks the Fall Equinox...Autumn's factual date. The Moon goes full the next night. So....a Fall Feast/Fest is due, whatcha thinking of? I'm planning hearty breads, Pumpkin or squash soup...ummmmmm oh who knows, how ever many people show up will sort of guide all that! Bring me a Nice thick Port Wine will ya? :)
Take good care of you, no one else will!
Love, Kay

Little Bit 'O Hermine in Texas..

...Well, yesterday we all woke up to the news that there was a new Tropical Storm(Hermine-Hermeen) out in the Gulf of Mexico already almost on the dang coastine of Mexico and Texas both! What? Where were all the days of tracking and scaring the crap outta newbies to Tropical Storms, Depressions and Hurricanes? Just woke up and there she was!

So, now today, she has already been through Mexico, I'm half afraid to go check damages. We are on what they call the 'dirty' side and are getting varying amounts of rain all around from Galveston, to up North and west of Houston, all the way to San Antone and the Hill Country-Austin. We are getting a blessed break in the summer heat...Thank ya thank ya thank ya!

I hate the huumidity here. Yes, I live here. I would NOT live here if I had my druthers....Not sure where I WOULD live, I don't think I've been there yet! :)

Ya'll have a great day and here's a teaser for ya if you do like the blog and Southern things; I'm gonna scatter scrumptious Recipes here and there in the blog. Pecan Pies, Creme Brulee's, Sweet Tea, Light, light biscuits, ..... :)
Remember this; You are only as precious as you let yourself be, so BE a Treasure to YOU! :)
Love Ya'll.
Kay

Today Was A Good Day To Be Me! :)

Hi ya'll! :)

The new semester at my Volunteer job started today. It's at a placed called Art League Houston....My part of it is called " Healing Arts." www.artleaguehouston.org
They offer free Art Classes to folks with disabilities, chronic Illness, what have you. Many of the students are wheelchair bound for life; Some as a result of MS, some from Cancers, some from strokes, limb loss from Diabetes, well, you get the big picture. I love art, my son in an artist. I am NOT an artist, but I have an artist's heart and soul.
Three years ago I was looking for something to do as a volunteer that would; number one, get me out of the house and into Houston one day a week at least so that I could see my son Gabe and my Dil Sara when possible for cozy little lunches at cool little bistro's in the Artsy area near where they live and work/school etc. Hubby Ron was probably pretty stoked that my yappy self would be outta the house too! :)
I typed in Volunteer Work Houston and happened to see that they needed a Vol go-fer at this place. I was hired(Free pay) instantly, and except for a glitch caused by someone who needs to be nameless, I have been every Friday that I possibly could.
I love the students. The Art Teacher, Emily Sloan who is a stupendously good artist, sculptor/ friend, the administrators, everyone. The joy, the laughter, the tears, the exclamations of pure happy when someone does a picture that they never thought they could EVER do. Wow!
We share tears, fears, fun, music.Art Sales and Galas that feature their art work, I dance with the wheelchair peeps as well as the others who are able..I mean like, we have music on, so sometimes it just gets us all goin' ON! I am totally LOVIN' bein' a gofer!...I clean brushes, run little errands inside the building for the students, mix paints, hug, talk, make coffee that they swear they love and take an extreme amount of satisfaction in loving what I do. :)

I asked them all something today. I'm going to ask you too, reader/friends.
If you could put a Color to the Word JOY, what color would it be? Think of that color for 15 minutes or so; all the things you can think of that are that color that could make you smile, or laugh with joy. Now Laugh, and remember that color when you need a moment of pure joy!
Gotta go and put some accelerator cream on my gills, it's so damned hot and humid I can't breathe. :)


And BTW My Joy Color is Turquoise. Who knew? lol

How Many Gates in Hell? :)

.....Is it ever gonna be safe to step out the door without trepidation and an anxiety attack?
It's September 2nd and still so hot and humid you'd swear by all that's holy to you that you were just now passing the Ninth Gate of Hellfire, still heading in. Whew! Damn! Boy Howdy! I've had enough. Gimme crisp at the beginning of September! :)

....BTW, Ya'll, time to start planning a Fall Feast for October.....Pumpkin Soup hot and buttery, served in the small scooped out little Pumpkin Bowls. A loaf of Herbed Beer bread and a perfect wine...Yummmm O!! :) Set an outdoor table, light candles and go into the starry night with friends and family having a hearty, filling feast, with you as the Queen Bee , of course! :) Samhain and Dia de los Muertos are coming ya know? :)
Catch ya on the flip.
Keep yourself precious to YOU!
Kay