A Goddess Myth for Gay Pride Week

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 There was a time when the Wind was all that existed.

The Wind did not think, the wind only 'was'.

In the emptiness of nothing the Wind birthed time

and time begat mass and mass begat the universe

and the Earth.

 

The Wind blew across the dark waters of Earth and

land formed and became green.

 

People appeared and the people named the Wind

"Goddess"  and they worshipped Her.

And She became strong and full of Wisdom.

 

The Goddess cared for the earth

and her daughters and sons. 

She found great joy in all of creation. 

 

But one day men came who took the Wind

and remade it in their own warlike image.

 

The Wind became Yahweh the angry,

jealous God. 

 

It forgot its joy in creation.

In birthing.

In its love for daughters of

the earth.

 

For thousands of years the Earth was

convulsed by wars and poisoned by greed.

 

Until it lay dying.

 

Then a cry went up from the people

and was lifted on the wind.

 

And the Wind remembered.

Who She was.

Who She is.

 

Blessed be.

 

***

 

You'll find Her wherever an injustice to

the Earth and it's people is being righted.

She is with the women's movement,

the labour movement, the struggle for civil

rights.

She is with the 99%, the Idle No More movement

and the environmentalists.

 And today she is with the LGBTQ community.

Congratulations to all my gay and lesbian family and friends.

Enjoy your day!

Sisters Under Sail

Flynn and I were up early this morning. 

 

We knew the tall ships had arrived early in St. Catharines and we

 

wanted to get to Port Dalhousie before the crowds.

 

 

As we parked the spy car in the Royal Canadian Legion parking

 

lot we got our first glimpse of the ships.

The crews were already getting ready for the day.

Here are a few crew members of The Unicorn

 

out of Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. 

They are here as a part of the War of 1812

 

celebrations of 200 years of peace

 

with our American neighbo(u)rs.



We stopped to talk to some of them.

 

I was a bit shocked to realize I was talking to the captain who is my size.

 

I guess I thought sea faring captains would be

 

like maybe 8 feet tall, weigh 300 pounds and have tattoos.

 

 

I swear if the captain had been wearing the big pirate hat like I told her

 

she should wear I would have ripped it off her head and taken command

 

of the ship right then and there!

 

 

Every woman should have the chance to sail the seven seas!

 

Regardless of her age and decrepitness!! 

 

 

(I can hear you all cheering in agreement)

 

 

 

 

Anyway, as of the mo, until I get

 

this little age thing sorted out

 

I'm not qualified

 

but if you know anyone Canadian or American

 

who is qualified here's the info:

 

 

And send me a post card, will ya?

sigh





***

It Ain't Your Mother's Newspaper

One of the more interesting struggles to watch in this

post-modern age has been the plight of our local small

city newspapers.

 How can you roll with wireless punches when you are

a paper based industry?

 

How can you serve a small city fairly when you are owned

by a conglomerate that sets a rigid political framework

within which you must work?

 

As a long time newspaper junkie I'm an interested observer. 

And what I observed was that although the irritating one-sided

right wing columnists are still there a lot of other things I used to

enjoy in the St. Catharines Standard are not. 

 So a few weeks ago I was actually thinking of cancelling

my subscription.

 

But then I began to notice a change. 

 

The headlines are now about local issues and people. 

A few national and international stories are buried

inside.

 

I wasn't sure about it at first.

 

But I'm beginning to see the St. Catharines Standard's

cost cutting efforts as a big plus.

 

Suddenly the message is:

 

Local issues matter.

Local issues are important.

 

It's a small twist in newspaper attitude but it may

be the right twist. 

I like it.

 

And I'm keeping my subscription.



***

Related articles

• Why I Still Read the Newspaper...with RELISH!

Better Red Than Dead???

 

This is a Russian Tampon commercial.

 

There's a joke in here somewhere about it being better

to be dead than red but I was laughing too hard to think of it.

 

 

 

 

 

Revealed at last! Why Laura Secord Walked

**

It's the 200th anniversary of Laura Secord's famous walk
through American lines to warn Lieutenant FitzGibbon of
the impending attack!!

My friend Jane and I decided to follow Laura's trail. 

We've been friends since we were 8 years old and we are
both descended from people who lived through the turbulent
War of 1812 and the occupation of Niagara.

The trek started out at Laura's homestead. 

This was where she and her husband overheard the American
officers discussing the attack.

Laura's husband had been wounded in the battle of Queenston
Heights and could barely hobble so they decided Laura would
have to warn FitzGibbon who was camped about 30 km away.

Uh oh.

We noticed Yankee tents are set up on Laura's yard. 

Niagara is occupied!



We set out on the trail.

When Laura started out right about here she would have
been fairly safe.

The danger came after curfew when she would have been shot
if she had been captured.

It was a hot muggy day, much like the day 200 years ago.

The trail is very lush because of all of the rain.

Laura would likely have had an eye out for snakes but
the last rattler was seen in these parts in the 1940s
so we didn't  have that problem.

Our greatest worry is the fearsome tick!

Getting up and down the Niagara Escarpment couldn't have been easy
for a woman in a long dress, flimsy shoes and no map or signs to show
the way.

Here I am using a rope to come down a steep incline.



***

This is the point where I lost my camera.  Missing a whole bunch of shots
here, especially when we met up with Isabel, our old school mate, who was
posted at one of the check points.  The next few shots are from my cell phone.
Fortunately someone found it and I got it back at the end of the day.
***

Holy cow!  (Laura Secord joke intended)


WE MADE IT!

These two descendants of some of the men who actually
fought there met us just outside DeCou House.

That's when I discovered the real reason Laura Secord went
to DeCou House.

Be still my beating heart!!

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon met all of us and thanked us for coming to warn them
of the attack.

I was 200 years too late but jeesh!  He was worth the wait!

And this is how we ended our journey through time.

With Laura Secord ice cream!

Related articles

• Laura Secord's Bravery & Self-Sacrifice!

A Bite of History

200 years ago Niagara was occupied by American troops.

And they weren't happy camper-occupiers either.
 

Most were farm boys doing their stint in the militia

and not happy to be away from mom and home

AND in a foreign land.

 

And the Canadians weren't happy about being occupied.

So the whole thing made for some nasty business.

 

But out of  the smoke of battle a heroine arose

and this week the people of Niagara are honouring

her!

 

Saturday is the 200th anniversary of Laura

Secord's walk through enemy lines to warn

Lieutenant Fitzgibbon  of the impending attack

by the Americans. 

You can read about her here.

 

I'm going to be retracing her route with an awful

lot of other people on Saturday and I thought I'd

take this opportunity to show off my swag bag.

 

Okay, forget the bag - I really wanted to show you

the big fricken Laura Secord chocolate bar that was

in the bag!!!!  (Black rectangle, bottom left).

I know, I know. 

Laura didn't have a chocolate bar to give her energy

on her long trek through a wilderness filled with

rattlesnakes, bears and enemies.

 

But hey, I won't either!

 

I already ate it.

 

 

 

I'd Rather Live in Paraguay

Justin Trudeau at the 2006 Liberal leadership convention. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Anybody catch Doug, (Geezeronline), Jamison's post this week

about the group of  impoverished kids in Paraguay who are

making extraordinary music with recycled junk? 

 

I found my own tears forming when tears welled up in the eyes

of a 15 year old girl as she spoke about how grateful she was to

her parents and how much she loved them.

 

If you missed it you can watch it here.

 

Okay.  Here's my second question.  

 

Anybody catch the news that Justin Trudeau is going to pay back

the charity that paid him $20 000 to be a guest speaker? 

The charity lost money on the deal and it was hurt feelings all

around I guess.

 

But I don't get it.

 

How is it that Justin Trudeau would charge a charity $20 000

and what kind of a charity would have that kind of money lying

around earmarked 'guest speakers'?

 

I guess $20 000 is small change in the world of celebrity guest

speakers and large high profile 1st world charities. 

 

 

Jeesh.  

 

Something is very, very wrong with our society.

Parking Lot Rage

As I nosed the spy car into a parking spot at the grocery

store yesterday I noticed that the man parked in the

adjoined space ahead of me was getting into his car.

 

"Oh good," I thought, "I'll be able to pull ahead! 

No worries about backing up and squashing somebody

when I leave."

 

Our cars were sitting bumper to bumper so I kept

my hands on the steering wheel and peered at him

intently.

 

He yawned, leaned an arm out the window and gazed

blankly off to the side, avoiding my gaze.

 

"Oh rats," I thought, "He's waiting for somebody,

probably his wife is in the store getting her groceries." 

 

I sighed in resignation thinking of all the flattened

bodies I'd be leaving in my wake when I left and

I turned the spy car off. 

 

The minute I shut my car down he smiled and

backed out.

So I shot his back wheels out.

The female police officer who arrived shortly after

complimented me on my restraint and gave him a

ticket for being a public nuisance.

 

:D

 

 

 

 

 

Erotica or Notica - SECRET

Prezerwatywa, z angielskiej wiki (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There was a time when I didn't read a book

if a woman was raped and killed on the first

page. 

It was a time when the "sex+women=violence"

conundrum squatted in our literary collective

unconscious like a  malignant tumour   

and the only way to fight back was as a

consumer.

 I suppose when you look at it in that light

SECRET by L. Marie Adeline is a step forward.

 

The plot revolves around Cassie, thirty-five,

abused wife, newly widowed who has been dead

from the neck down for over 5 years. 

She meets up with a beautiful older woman who

becomes her mentor and facilitates her

sexual reawakening.

 

The plot is better than the book.

 

It is classified as feminist erotica because

Cassie develops the power to accept or reject

each experience as it comes along.

 

The men are lean and hard and understand the

word 'no'.

 

They also use condoms, which kind of puzzles me.

I mean I don't know about you, but in my fantasies

nobody stops to fiddle with a condom.

 

Anyway.

 

Like I said in my last blog, this is not a genre I'm

familiar with, so if you think I know not of what

I speak, you are probably right. 

However I thought the writing style was about

as sophisticated as that of Louis Lamour, (cowboy

books - another genre I tried once). 

And quite frankly it is a relief to get back to

A Red Herring Without Mustard* by Alan Bradley.


Conclusion:  I paid $11 to download it to my ipad. 
I would have felt totally ripped off if I'd paid for the book.  

A let down.

 

 

*Second in a series.  14 year old motherless girl

genius in a demented, impoverished British aristocratic

family solves murder myteries.  First book: The Sweetness

at the bottom of the Pie.

Of Chickpeas and Erotica

What is it with me and chickpeas?

I love the darn little critters. 

And when they come all dressed in

spinach welllllll I feel just like Cassie

in SECRET* by L. Marie Adeline every

time  she accepts a new 'experience'.

 

Naughty girl.

 

Anyway I was all aflutter when I spotted

the following recipe for Chickpea and Spinach

Masala in the St. Catharines Standard the

other day.

 

(It was in a food column Rita Demontis and she

credits the recipe to Vegetables Please by

Carolyn Humphries.)

 

Holy good feeling in your tummy,

Batgirl!

 

This is one tasty treat and even for a

kitchen klutz comme moi, easy to prepare!

 

Chickpea and Spinach Masala

2 tsp (30 ml) vegetable oil

2 large onions chopped

1 large garlic clove crushed

1 tsp (5 ml) each ground cumin, coriander

 

¼ tsp (1 ml) ground cloves

 

½ tsp (2 ml) chili pepper

 

14 oz (400 ml) vegetable stock

 

1 tsp (5 ml) granulated sugar

 

3 tomatoes cut into wedges

 

¼ cup (60 ml) plain yoghurt

 

1 tbsp (15 ml) snipped chives to garnish

 

Heat veggie oil in a pan, add onions and stir

fry for 2 minutes.  Add garlic and all spices and

fry for 30 seconds more.  Pour in stock and

stir inn remaining ingredients except for spinach

and tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Bring to boil, stir, partially cover and simmer

for 15 minutes.  Stir in spinach until it begins to

wilt then add tomatoes and cook 5 minutes

until spinach is tender and everything is bathed

in sauce.  Spoon masala  into bowls, top each

with a spoonful of yoghurt and sprinkle with chives.

 

 

So good!

 

 

*Erotica is a new genre for me.  I listened to

some women talking about this book on CBC

the other day.  I think they called it 'erotica for

feminists'.  I just couldn't resist that!  I'm planning

to blog about it when I finish.

 

I may have to reread it a few times

though. 

 

Just to make sure I haven't

missed anything.