The Earth is Our Mother

Photo Friday - Guy Fawkes Day

 Dear Reader,

Please be kind to one so ignorant.

I had heard of Guy Fawkes day as a child, but only know it was associated with the bonefires some folks here would light on Halloween night. Apparently a very old tradition, which was quickly dying out. I had been told they were fires symbolic of burning witches. In my child's mind I thought that was a good thing. Bad enough that witches were allowed to roam around on Halloween. Good thing they had the fires to get rid of them. I was very young at the time.

Since Guy Fawkes day was suggested for photo Friday, I decided to learn more about this British holiday. Is it a holiday? Doesn't holiday connotate holy day? It seems Guy Fawkes was considered to be somewhat un-holy, almost devilish. So, perhaps the word is celebration. I can't figure out how this man who was supposed to be the enemy came to have such a permanent and feted place in history. I must be reading it all wrong, and quite oblivious of what it all about.

But, then, I can imagine how others may view some of the festivities held here in America. The real history of Thanksgiving, for example, is very different from what I was taught as a child. The pilgrims did not get together with the natives to have a grand harvest meal in gratitude to God for bringing them together. Columbus day is a ruse, but children still get that day off from school, and banks are closed in observance. A lot of Native-Americans protest that Columbus day should not be recognized at all, as it commemorates the beginning of the loss (rape) of their people and land.

Bonfires are very much celebrated by young people here in the U.S. in a whole different way. It's called Burning Man. It is a week long festival culminating in the burning of the man. It ends the day before Labor Day, another American Holiday which I don't understand.

It is called Burning Man because a 40 foot tall effigy of a man is set on fire with as much pyrotechnics as possible every year. This is a very pagan type of festival and last year had about 40,000 attendees. Those who celebrate go off into the most barren part of the desert, the only land where they can do this without causing havoc to the rest of society.

It is now against the law to have bonfires in most states, burning of leaves or farm field debris, without a license to do so. Permission and knowledge of the burn date is coordinated with the local weather outlook. Sometimes these well planned burn dates go tragically wrong. Weather changes, wind and fires get out of control. Acres and acres of dry brittle brush and trees burn. Wildfires we call them. Forest fires when the true forests are involved.

So, the closest thing I can do to present photos symbolic of Guy Fawkes day is to share a pictures taken at Burning Man Celebration. I hope my extrapolation has not been too extreme.

To Dream the Impossible Dream

It will soon be four years since my father, James Deforest Deane, died at the age of 90. These are the words of his favorite song. These are the words he lived by.

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

Sandra Bracelet Black Onyx with Gold Thread

National Something-or-Other Day/Month

I just learned that November is National Blog Posting Month. The only requirement is that you post every day.

It doesn't look like I will be doing that, since I will need to produce at least 1666 words a day in order to complete 50,000 words in one month through National Writing Novel Month.

According to a family member, yesterday was Paint Your Own Portrait Day. I can't find the link for it, and no, I didn't paint my own portrait, though I have done several stylized ones photoshop.

Tiffany Crochet Jewelry in perodot long beads choker

THE BEGINNING NOVELIST

I created an LOL cat to represent my profile picture on facebook from which I am taking a one month hiatus as I have joined the National Write a Novel Month. I hope to participate, and complete 50,000 words.
Wish me luck!

Family Literacy Month

A few moments ago, I thought about a friend of mine from Junior High School. Wilfred hated his name. But, he sure loved to read. He hated school. But he sure loved to read. He got in trouble a lot at school because he didn't pay attention. Nine times out of ten, he was taking a sneak peak at a comic book or some other reading material in his desk. School was boring for him. Some of his reading was beyond my comprehension. I really admired him. I loved to read too. But, I could not keep up with him. Being so brilliant, it was hard for him to fit in.

I remember one time in class, the teacher gave us an assignment: "If you could have your dearest wish come true, what would it be?" We were supposed to write a fifteen minute composition about it in class and hand it in. Maybe she needed a few minutes of quiet. Maybe we did. Within a few seconds, Wilfred got up, walked to the teacher's desk and put his paper on her desk. He was done. I couldn't believe it. Many pencils in class hung in mid air along with some chins.

The teacher, staring darts at Wilfred, picked up the paper and sarcastically read it out loud. "I wish I could spend the rest of my life just reading!"

A few snickers ensued. Wilfred just sat. Teacher began her tirade. "Wilfred! MY WISH is that you would just spend your time doing your school work and behaving yourself!"

Wilfred got up from his desk and prepared to leave the room. He'd had enough. Teacher had had enough, too. SIT DOWN!

Wilfred proceed up the aisle directly toward her. She proceeded directly down the aisle toward him. She wasn't afraid of this gangly overgrown surly teenager. She actually pushed him backwards. Or tried to, I should say. That was when Wilfred pushed her back. Had the desk of a student not been right there behind her, she would have fallen.

Now, I didn't condone this kind of behavior, and still don't. But, I was shocked. How could he dare to do such a thing? Wilfred showed his total lack of respect for authority, and I lost my respect for Wilfred that day.

Many years later, I learned that Wilfred had committed a crime and gone to prison. Well, what would one expect from a trouble maker? Ironically, Wilfred spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement. He was not stupid. I'm sure he knew how to keep out of solitary confinement, or maybe it was part of making his wish come true. No one to bother him, and spend all his time reading books.

Wilfred was lucky that he had the gift of being able to read. It's too bad he never became a teacher, himself. Can you imagine passing that gift on to others?

Here are a few places where I love to get books at very reasonable prices:

Half

Better World Books

Amazon Bargain Books

Paper Back Swap

This last one, by the way, the books are free. All you have to do is pay for postage, usually less than four dollars.

I'm not sure if any of these ship outside the US. If you have a favorite place where you obtain your books, make a comment to let others know.

Photo Friday - Halloween

HALLOWEEN TRICK OR TREAT

My grand doggie, Martin, an Alaskan Husky dresses up for Halloween.
He doesn't look too happy about it, now, does he?

My daughter and my great grand doggie, Spike, in his Halloween pumpkin costume. Spike just loves to dress up! He's all about style!

My great granddaughter in her ghostly make up and outfit.
It sure makes her look much more scary with those front teeth missing. Little Miss Dracula, shall we say?

My Granddaughter, and great grand daughter in a quiet moment.

Just one more look at Halloween!
This is my old room mate and her cat.
Can you guess why she's not my room mate anymore?

Addenda to Trader Joe's Request

It looks like it is a good thing to make contact and ask for what you want, even if you are addressed as Resident on your snail mail ads. View my posting of October 23, 2009 to see what I am referring to.

I received a personal email back from Trader Joe's today:

We appreciate your request. We will add you to our remove list today.
Please understand that you may receive one last mailing to your address.
We appreciate your patience while we process your request.

Sincerely,
XXX (I've blocked out the name)
Trader Joe's
Customer Relations

WE ARE ALL CONNECTED!

This was put on Youtube October 19 and already has over 334,000 views and 1774 comments. Who says science and spirituality do not mix? This is so inspiring.



I just keep watching this over and over again! I hope your friends will see it to. This is phenomenal

In case you missed it in the introduction the scientists who are "speaking" are the following:

Carl Sagan (I met him once)

Richard Feynman

Neil deGrasse Tyson (I used to have a crush on him)

Bill Nye

Santa's Footprint

Halloween isn't here yet, but of course, everywhere you look you see Christmas for sale.

To the tune of Oh Tannenbaum:

Oh, Christmas lights, Oh Christmas lights
How brightly shine your kilowatts!

I bet the electric company smiles
when they see those miles and miles

Of Christmas lights, those Christmas lights
I wonder what it cost to light you.

This song was created when my son and I were driving through a particularly well lit and gaudy neighborhood. It was just mind boggling to think of what the electric bill would be for each home.

Now I know some folks just GOT to decorate! So, here's a way to do it without being judged by everyone for "wasting energy", a way to do it that will save you a ton of money. You like money, don't you?

Let the Holidays Shine with LED Lights! from Terri Bennett on Vimeo.

Green Footprint

Today I decided to be more conscientious about how I can decrease waste in our lives. I get too many catalogs, magazines, flyers and such in the mail. Then, I have piles of them sitting around because I think I have to at least give them a look before I toss them. But life gets in the way, you know? So today, I started. The first thing I picked from the pile is a 23 page flyer from Trader Joe's, a fine place to shop.

Not seeing an 800 number to call, I went to their website. I found no place to opt out of the flyer. But, found a contact us location where I could fill in a form, which I did so. My heart dropped when I realized that I was not receiving these as addressed to me personally... by name. It was addressed to resident. So my chances of having my request fulfilled are close to nil.

This makes me want to rise up, get everyone together and mail them back all their junk mail. Because that is what it is when it is addressed to "Resident"

On the good side: You can keep up with information from Trader Joes by going to their website. Interestingly, they give the viewer the opportunity to choose between seeing a slower side of their site in case you don't have a fast computer or internet service. There is a faster part of their site that you can choose from if you have a faster computer and internet service.

I got an automated email back saying they got my message. Will let you know if I hear back from them in person.

******
Just called the 800 number for a catalog I get for some fantastic clothes, but I never buy from them. It's called Territory Ahead. They were really nice when I asked to be removed from the mailing list. I was told I will probably still receive one more mailing after this as they print up their mailing addresses and catalogs ahead of time.

******

Now, I am thinking. Do I take these magazines and catalogs to the doctor's office? Or shall I just dump them in my own paper recycling bin?

******

I have called Brylane Home and asked to be take off their mailing list. I have purchased a lot of stuff from them. But, why plug up the environment with catalogs. I can go online anytime. There were so many numbers that were offered first to push, but I didn't push any of them because they were for returns and so on, and I knew I would probably just getting a recording. So I waited. Finally one choice was "all other calls", then were a lot more number choices to choose from. Finally, "to speak with a customer service representative press#" and I'm not telling what that number is, because I don't want to confuse the issue. You have to listen and go through all the choices before you get there. It won't work to jump ahead. Once I spoke to a representative it took only a few seconds, and I was warned to wait through a few more mailings before they would be able to stop. In the meantime, while I was sitting there, I decided that all catalogs, no matter how useful they might be to someone else, I will put directly into the recycle bin and let them go off into whatever world they go to. I wonder where that is?

******
The person who took my call at Land's End was the first to ask my why I wanted to discontinue receiving my catalogs. I told him I wanted to reduce my carbon footprint, and he proceeded to tell me that Land's End supports that considerably. In fact, so much that they have made major changes in the way they do things right there. For example. In the past workers had copies of the catalogs at their desks to refer to. Now, they only use their computers. Also they changed the set up of the office space and were able to divide it in half, thus using less electricity to light the place. What really thrilled me was when he told me they have a vegetable garden outside!!!

Photo Friday

I was raised in Niagara Falls, New York... the honeymoon city. A definite change of the seasons can be observed, and autumn was my favorite. We used to collect the best specimens close them into a book to flatten and dry them, and slip them into a pot of paraffin wax to preserve them. That way we could have autumn all winter. But, they did make a splendid display when thrown into the fireplace on a cold winter evening. One at a time, of course.

Now I live 3,000 miles away on the coast of California, near the Monterey Bay. Autumn here is a plethora of seasonal incongruities.The lemon tree in my back yard is dripping with fruit. Lemonade anyone?

Due to the lack of sugar maples, oaks and other kinds of deciduous trees that require very low temperatures this time of year, the bright flaming colors of autumn change from a verdant green to brown overnight, sometimes remaining on the bows through winter. Then other trees, like the California Oak and the Red Madrone keep their leaves all year round. the only brightly colored leaves I can observe, are on display in stores. Buy now, before winter gets here! Only 25% off!!!

Palm trees are much more abundant in Southern California, but they still manage to survive further north. They get a little ragged this time of year, but they do not drop their leaves... er, fronds? As the years go by the lowest level of fronds will dry out and lay down upon the trunk. If they are not trimmed. They can get many layers of dead fronds which harbor hosts of birds and their ecosystems. This picture shows a close up of a palm tree with it's fruit, or I should say nuts, as they fall on the ground like acorns and have the same nutty hard appearance as acorns. In the springtime, the tree flowers heavily, but are not noticed unless you look "between the lines".

It doesn't rain all summer long, so things can get pretty dry, fields and hillsides all appear to be a gold velvet if observed from a distance, if you are further inland. However since I am coastal, there is usually sufficient moisture in the fog to keep things a bit greener locally. Still, compared to some coastal areas, we cannot keep our yards or gardens green without watering through the summer unless we have native plants growing. At this time of year I am able to have autumn Japanese chrysanthemums as well as spring bulbs beginning to pop up. Definitely not autumn in New York.

We just had our very first, and early, rain of the season. The fall of 1980 I moved here and was surprised when I went down to the beach the day after a storm.


All the branches and logs that had dried, broken or burned from up in the mountains the summer before had washed down the creeks and rivers ending up out in the ocean and then were washed back to shore.


I expected to see driftwood, but not mountains of it! And I never expected to see the primeval drive of the human need to create something out of it all.


I've seen drawings of the Native Americans who once lived in this region. Their wickiups (homes) strongly resemble the "art" that today's local California natives create.

my Bonnie