Grave Faces IX

Time has turned a mass produced painted statue of the Holy Mother into an extraordinary image of endurance.

 

She might not open her eyes and shake her fist at Heaven shouting, "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" like Scarlet O'Hara in Gone With the Wind

but she will persevere.

As women have done all through history.

 

 

I've taken her picture before, but when I came across this angel a few days ago I was once again was struck by her delicate beauty.

But how strong the angels are.

To remain immobile, praying for all eternity.

 

 

There is something jaunty about this young fellow.

He's all decked out in a bright ribbon and he's playing a happy song.

I hear him playing the old Shaker hymn, "I Am the Lord of the Dance".

 

Dance, dance, wherever you may be
I am the lord of the dance, said he
And I lead you all, wherever you may be
And I lead you all in the dance, said he.

This is not an angel.

It is a little girl.

She is smiling to herself remembering some happy moment that she shared with the person whose grave she is tending.

In a moment she will lean down and place the roses by the headstone.

No grief here, just love.

As soon as I spotted this tiny angel I reached down to brush the weeds away and as you can see from the look on her face I woke her up.

 

 

 

Grief doesn't appear to be something that goes away. 

Even after we've trained our minds to think of other things, there's a layer of sorrow beneath the surface of every thought, every action. 

 

But like the tiny angel above I feel as if I am waking up after a difficult year.

 

I'll leave you with this version of "Lord of the Dance".
 

 

 

 

 

The Ghosts of 1812 Walk Among Us

 

 

Some people believe that when a traumatic event happens

it sends ripples into time

the way a stone dropped into water

sends ripples in all directions.

 

They believe that is why some people know about a future event

before it happens and

why other people see ghosts from the past.

 

 

 

 

 

War is a traumatic event.

It certainly rocked Niagara 200 years ago.

And maybe it's because 2012 is the bicentennial of the War of 1812

that so many spirits of the people

who lived though it

and are buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery in St. Catharines, 

have been walking  lately.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Last night someone reported seeing a journalist

from the 1912 St. Catharines Daily Standard

interviewing a local militia man from 1812.

 

Others insist the journalist was talking to an officer.

 

I personally witnessed a woman in a mob hat 

holding up her lantern and peering at the names on each tombstone.

 

I listened to her tell stories of the cruel

war and occupation of Niagara

from a woman's perspective

 

and I saw a boy,

actually the youngest person to serve in the War of 1812

sleeping under a tree.


Such stories of 1812 he told when he was awakened!

Everyone who was in the cemetery last night

was astonished by these unusual goings on.

The spirits however, 

being Canadian,

politely bade us farewell at the cemetery gates.


But they promised they'll be back!





 And you can see them on the

Victoria Lawn Cemetery
Guided Spirit Walk

Sept. 8.  5 and 7 pm
Sept. 14,  7pm
Sept. 15, 5 and 7 pm

by registration only

905-984-8880 (St. Catharines Museum)
$8 per person

Related articles

• Old Fort Niagara: War of 1812 Encampment
• Maritime Museum to show War of 1812 documentary

Farewell to a Blogger

Turkish Muslim woman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The blogging world just lost an intriguing young female American Muslim blogger.

She's hung up her keyboard.

But before I comment about her work - a few words about where I stand on spiritual issues.

My personal belief is that we can't possibly understand the Creator/Creatrix.

But because we are human it helps us make sense of things by hanging human attributes onto the ineffable.

That which existed before time began.

Something first identified solely as female, then as male for perhaps the last 6,000 years.

 

Although a Christian, I love the pagan Goddess worship that is now emerging, especially among women.

To me it is part of the divine plan to right some historic wrongs.

Slow in coming maybe, but nevertheless change is afoot in western culture.

 

I have a harder time, although I know it is not fair, accepting religions that insist that the Spirit has only male characteristics. 

But I do follow some women who are traditional Christians and I was following the young woman who is a practising Muslim.

And truthfully, my hardest, most important lessons in compassion and understanding have come from those women.

So today I was saddened to learn that Cindy, who wrote the blog "Organica", is ending her blogging career.

Up until a few months ago her blog was on my sidebar but as she blogged less and less I tucked it back into my list of people I read infrequently.

 

She wrote about how important her faith is to her.

But she also wrote about intolerance.

And not just our western intolerance. 

She wrote candidly about Muslim intolerance - with us and with each other, particularly women.

I didn't always understand or even approve of her beliefs and practices but what she had to say led me to understand that Islam itself is not a stagnant religion.

Growth and beauty are happening from within and Muslim women are talking to each other about it.

 

But all women need to build bridges to each other.

Christians, Pagans, Atheists, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, Hindus etc. etc.

Our ability to change things may lie in our ability to connect by computers across physically inaccessible boundaries.

I'm sorry she's ended her blogging career but wish her the very best.

Labour Day Memories

Labour Day is the biggest day of the year in my working class home town of Merritton, Ontario, Canada.

Lots of kids, families, trucks and local entertainment.

It's a time to connect with old friends.

 
These aren't old friends.

I actually don't know these people.


But I do know the house. 

I lived in it until I went to university.


Like everybody in Merritton they were having a Labour Day party and didn't mind chatting and showing me what the house looks like now.

It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood.

 
However I really did meet up with some old friends.

This is Tiff and her gorgeous son Nate. 

We  were teaching partners one year, but the family connection is that I went to school in Merritton with her mother-in-law and father-in-law.

As a matter of fact  -  it was while I was babysitting with her mother-in-law that I kissed a boy for the first time!!

And yes we would have been in big trouble if we'd been caught.

This was the best part of the day I think. 

I swear it has been 50 years since I last had french fries and vinegar in a cardboard container on Labour Day.

Talk about heaven!!!

The years seem to have gone by so fast

and I suppose there thousands of Labour Day celebrations around the world every year

but there just can't be one better than the one in your own home town.

Sunday Morning Thoughts on Whoring

A Vindication of the Rights of Whores (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's niece, Krista Ford, recently came under fire for tweeting that women can avoid sexual assault and stay safe by not dressings like whores.

??

It seems to me there are two separate issues in that tweet.

 

The first one is staying safe.

Staying safe involves keeping away from dangerous places, avoiding questionable people, being prepared for emergencies when you are driving in your car, not being alone when walking around at night, etc. etc. 

All the usual unfair stuff.

But staying safe doesn't have anything to do with what you are wearing.

You could be in your glorious bare nakedness

or in your favourite burka,

it wouldn't matter to a rapist.

 

Clothes don't cause rape.

 

The other issue has to do with how women are judged in our society.

The reason whores dress like whores is because they are in the business of selling their bodies not their minds.

Therefore if whoring is not how you put bread on the table then you need to get rid of those low riding shorts.

You know - the ones that show your tat.

Jeesh!

You want people to think that you are a mindless, cheap slut who gets on her knees for a toonie?

***

Related articles

• To avoid sex assault, don't dress 'like a whore': Toronto mayor's niece
• Krista Ford's advice after sex assaults news conference: 'Don't dress like a whore'

Secnarf Speaks from the Great Beyond

 

 

 

Francie:  Secnarf!  Is it really you?

Secnarf: Sort of.  I'm on the other side now.

Francie: Eek.  You mean you joined the Tories??

Secnarf: Hardly.  Everybody here is a Dipper. 

And it happened long before Jack Layton arrived.

Francie: Jack Layton!  You mean you are ...?

Secnarf: Just tell my fans that I'm at that big Rhinoceros Party of Canada Political Convention in the Great Beyond.

Francie:  Gosh, Secnarf, how did it happen? 

Last we heard you were in Ottawa having secret meetings with Justin Trudeau.

If I remember correctly you were thinking of running for the leadership of the Liberal Party.

Secnarf (sighs):  Yes I was going to call the new party the Progressive Resolute Erudite Persons Occupying Safe Territory Party.

When I combined it with the Rhinoceros Party it would have become the P.R.E.P.O.S.T.EROS PARTY of Canada.

It looked like I was on my way to the top.

But then Bev Oda pushed me into the Rideau Canal.

Francie: That's terrible.

Secnarf: I know. I never got to finish my orange juice.

Francie:  Well I'm sorry to get such terrible news.

Orange juice is just so expensive.

Secnarf:  And so political!

Oh, well I'm off to Quebec.

The provincial election is next week and I'm planning to present the new Rhinoceros Party of Canada platform.

 

We promise to solve the language issue by making everyone speak and write in Cree.

 

We also promise to solve the $16 per glass of orange juice for travelling Canadian politicians problem by annexing the state of Florida and making it our 11th province. 

 

Francie:  Well I'm not sure the Americans won't notice that Florida is missing but it's worth a try I guess.

 

But anyway, Secnarf, I thought you said you were... well, dead.

 

Secnarf:  Hey, I've been in Toronto all week.

 

. 

 

Remember folks:

 

Vote Secnarf

the only politician who looks like a former Cabinet Minister.

Shop Till You ...Win a BBQ?

Corner Grocery Store (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The most irritating commercials on television these days advertise lotteries.

They never show people who win 50 million dollars giving some of it to charity or going off to work with the poor in Haiti.  They show selfish people having picnics on mountain tops or on an endless set of holidays wondering where they should go next.

And that is because lotteries are a form of taxation and the government doesn't care about your soul.

 

So cultivating my usual 'holier than thou' persona I have made a point of not buying lottery tickets. (Thin pinched nose in air.)

However, I do occasionally buy tickets on other things if the money is for a good cause and I like the item being sold.  (Cars for Hospice Niagara, Quilts to raise money by church ladies for various causes.)

I never win but I never feel my money is wasted either.

 

 

So I was über surprised to learn that I had won a $700 BBQ this week from the grocery store where I usually shop.

 

This isn't the first time I've won something from this grocery store.

 

I finally figured out that it is my shopping habits that increase my odds of winning. 

 

Like most people I have a card that they swipe each time that I make a purchase. 

 

Each time I do that I accumulate points that I can redeem for free food somewhere down the line if the world economy doesn't collapse and civilization as we know it doesn't end.

 

But I'm not and never have been a weekly shopper.  I go every day or two for a few things.

And each time I dutifully hand over my card to be swiped.

 

And evidently the grocery store throws the card numbers in a hat and has random draws.

 

Jeesh. 

 

My number must go into the hat a bizzillion times.

 

The point of this longish blog, my hungry friends, is that you may want to change your shopping habits.

 

 

 

 

And by the way, anybody want to buy a BBQ?

 

 

Butterbrains And the Puzzle

Puzzled

flip flops (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

This puzzle turned up on my face book wall yesterday.



Put your thinking caps on, class!



Scroll down for the clues and the answer. 

But you'll kick yourself if you use them!





2 + 2 = fish

3 + 3 = eight

7 + 7 = diamond






































First clue:

Think geometry

















Second clue:

Think of the symols as shapes not numbers










Third clue

It's flipping easy!











Answer:

You didn't really think I'd tell you, did you?

Holy Mother Russia

 

 

It isn't the image of the three members of the punk band Pussy Riot smirking in the prisoners' box in the Russian Courtroom that sticks with me.

Anyone who has spent time in a classroom has seen bravado before.

 

It's an image that I didn't see.

An image so powerful that when I read about it, it took my breath away.

 

CBC news reported that in protest of the harsh punishment  

and the role the Russian Orthodox Church played in the whole fiasco,

a woman took a chain saw to a Christian cross that stood atop a hill

that overlooks Kiev.

Ishtar!

 

 

***