Crone Daze - A poem for your dear friends.

Hi dear friends and followers. Today in this poem I take you on a journey that can be either fantasy or reality, depending on your perspective reality and fantasy. A dream or reality?

Crone Daze

As I grew older I became a crone,

my sister and I, we are living alone.

My life's in the woods with my herbs and roots,

and from berries of all kinds I make preserves to eat.

They are August sunshine on a raw day in March.

My home is baskets of yarn and gardening tools,

old poems I have read and written, tied into bundles.

My old red hood is in a bottom drawer, 

under wooly socks and cozy nightshirts.

"When I grow old," I used to say,

I'll be sunning myself in my chair in the yard,

while I take a wee nap. And now I do, and get lulled asleep

while listening by day to chipmunks, birds and crickets,

and at evening to the coyote, the owl, and the fox.

And if I am really still, if I really listen well,

I just may hear the sound of my children's voices.

When the time comes, I will know the dark form

who comes to call at the edge of the woods;

the familiar dark form of a gentleman friend,

who asks for wine and poetry

and a place to lie for a while to rest.

His eyes glow a ruby red in the darkness;

he lies upon my sofa while I go out again,

to sit under the stars, where it is more productive.

I thought it better to be nice to Father Time,

than it was to try to fight fight him a losing fight. 

Being kind to yourself is being kind to all about you, I thought,

including Father Time. But fighting time is a losing fight.

Then I'll be the one who pounces first.

The storm came suddenly; the lightning flashed

illuminating the yard and forest like day.

The crone continued rocking in her old rocking chair,

oblivious to the storm brewing all around her.

She sat rocking and stitching, knit and purl.

A new pair of socks was in the works

for Marylou, the youngest of her grandchildren.

As the rain pelted down on the veranda roof,

the crone's stitches slipped and she drifted away,

into a peaceful sleep, she slid.

She dreamed she was floating among the clouds,

looking down upon the forest she so dearly loved,

as the storm grew, her hands relaxed,

and her knitting work fell to the veranda floor.

Away it blew, on the fresh western gale!

Then appeared the shadowy gentleman of poems and wine

whose ruby eyes burned ever the brighter.

Warm summer rain caressed her face, 

refreshing the visage of many summers seen.

She dreamed, so she thought, 

that she flew down to the forest floor,

from the storm clouds above.

The little ones of the forest awaited her there.

Here there was golden sunlight,

the singing of birds among the tree tops

as the squirrels chattered and crickets chirped!

Next came the little ones, the forest faie.

In ones and twos they came, a troupe to assemble,

from the forest green, with their tiny golden lanterns alight.

They danced and they pranced around grandmother, 

to her delight.

She arose from her seat to dance and prance 

with the little ones, in the golden light of their tiny lanterns,

casting shadows upon the trees all around. 

"Grandmother," one of the little ones spoke,

"We wish to welcome you to the Nether World,

the land in between where you were and where you are going.

The little fairy raised his hands and clapped them.

And that was when Grandmother awakened.

She found herself lying upon the mossy ground,

under the great pines of a strange yet familiar forest.

Sitting up she stretched and noticed 

something was different about her back.

She felt, and to her amazement she found,

long, slim gossamer wings 

where shoulder blades once were.

"These wings are to fly? Then I shall give it a try!"

And by willing to fly and flapping her wings

she was able to do the most marvelous things.

She once again flew in the sky so blue.

back to her home in the forest she flew.

Her cabin was still and quiet, untouched.

The father time had left. He was not to be found.

With the reality of a dream and the help of the faie

She had pounced first and defeated father time!

Her love shone too brightly for his shadow to remain.

Something else had changed, as all about her sparkled

in such a way as she had such she had never seen before. 

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week. 

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

Chumash Creation Myths

Hi dear friends and followers.

Today we look at some of the myths and legends of the Chumash People, some of the original residents of the southern California coast. Their area of influence ran from near the city of Santa Barbara in the north to its southern limit near the city of Long Beach on today's maps. Modern place names with Chumash origins include Malibu, Lompoc, Ojai, Pismo Beach, Point Mugu, Port Hueneme, Piru, Lake Castaic, Saticoy, and Simi Valley.

The Chumash have inhabited the region for about 13,000 years. Their name means "bead maker" or "seashell gatherer." And gatherers they were.

Their plank canoes allowed them to catch large salt water fish, like swordfish, a trophy using current technology. They also gathered clams, abalone and mussels as well as hunted for seals and sea otters. Deer, rabbits, and birds were hunted but this was more prevalent with those Chumash living in the interior of the territory. All of them gathered nuts, especially the acorns of the live oaks which were plentiful in the area.

Concerning their cosmogony, the Chumash saw the universe as having been made by one maker and kept in-order by many of the maker's helpers.

Chumash Creation Myths

In addition to the commonly shared belief in a Great Spirit which created the universe and everything in it, the Chumash believed the world was divided in three layers on three floating disks; the Sky World, the Middle World (where they lived), and the Water World.

They believed Sky World was supported by the Great Eagle who always remained in the same place, only occasionally stretching its wings, which caused the phases of the moon and lunar eclipses.

The Middle World was believed held in place by a giant serpent which would sometimes move, causing earthquakes.

They believed the Water World to be made from the urine of the many frogs who lived in it.

The Sun God is believed to have carried a torch made of tightly rolled bark which he used to illuminate the world. He creates the night sky by whipping the sparks off his torch. By day, the Sun sits in a hole in the ground which was created for him by the Spider Woman.
The Chumash had specific representations for each of the four seasons.

Winter was represented by the color white, the Eagle, a symbol of man's strength and pride, and the Bear, representing Mother Earth. Winter was also indicated by the North, from which the cold winds blew. For the Chumash, winter also meant renewal, as they celebrated Winter Solstice and the beginning of the new year.

Summer was represented by the color blue, as in the ocean's waves, and by the Owl, a creature of wisdom and intelligence, and the Snake, which pressed its belly against Mother Earth, showing its sensitivity. The summer was indicated by the South, from which the warm ocean breeze blew.

Spring was represented by the color yellow, and by the Hawk, believed to have brought back the sun on its tail, and by the Deer, which symbolized life, for every part of the animal was used by the Chumash as food and clothing. Spring came from the East, as this is where one would see the sunrise.

Fall was represented by the color red, and by the Dolphin; the sea-dwelling brother of the Chumash, and by the Raven, who served as messenger. The Fall was indicated by the West, for it is there one can see the sunset.

The Chumash myth tells of a great deluge which engulfed the earth, taking with it all living things save for the Spotted Woodpecker, the nephew of Kaqunupenawa, the Sun God.

Spotted Woodpecker survived the flood by perching itself atop the tallest tree in the world, but as he saw the water rise all the way to his feet, he cried out for his uncle's help. "Save me, I'm drowning!" he cried.

The Sun God's daughters heard him and told Kaqunupenawa that his nephew was dying of cold and hunger. The Sun God lowered his torch, the one he used to light the world and create the stars, and he warmed the Spotted Woodpecker with its heat. He then tossed two acorns in the water at his feet, so that he would be able to pick them up and eat them. The Sun God fed more acorns to the Spotted Woodpecker, which now explains why they are its favorite food.

After the flood, the Sun God, Morning Star, the Moon, and the Great Eagle were discussing the creation of new people to populate the earth with the Sky Coyote, trying to decide on their appearance. The Great Eagle and the Sky Coyote argued whether the humans should have hands like the the Sky Coyote's, who believed that the new people should be made in his image. 

He won the argument, and the next day, all gathered around a white rock so that Sky Coyote could press his hand into it to make his hand print, but the Lizard, who had been a silent observer at the proceedings leapt forward and pressed his own hand onto the rock. Lizard escaped the furious Sky Coyote, and the Sun and the Eagle approved of the hand print and this is why human hands are somewhat shaped like the Lizard's.

The first people were created from the seeds planted on Limuw (Santa Cruz Island) by Hutash, the Earth Goddess. Hutash was married to the Sky Snake (The Milky Way), who made lightning with his tongue and gave the people their first fire. The people kept the fire burning to stay warm and cook their food. Since the people were getting more comfortable, their population grew until the Island became too crowded.

They also made so much noise that Hutash could not get any sleep, so she decided it was time to allow some of the people to cross over to the mainland. Hutash made Wishtoyo, a Rainbow Bridge which extended from the tallest peak of the Island to the tallest inland mountain near Carpinteria. She told the people to cross carefully, and to never look down, but some did, and fell off the Rainbow Bridge and into the ocean, where they were turned into dolphins by Hutash to prevent them from drowning. This is why the Chumash Indians consider the dolphins to be their brothers. The Chumash honor Hutash every September with a great Harvest Festival named after her.

Reference map

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week. 

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

THE VISIT TO THE DEAD

Hi dear friends and followers. Today we visit the legends of the Yokut People.

When I see a place that has a multitude of Native Peoples like California does, I always look for myths and legends from more than one group. Generally I research tribes whose names have become well-known, like the Apache or the Iroquois, or people who, according to the maps I have, control relatively large portions of territory. And so it is with the Yokut People. They held sway over a good chunk of land in central California.

The Yokut People were tall and bronze-skinned, with black hair. They lived in settlements of about 500 residents each, usually near the water. They were hunters and gatherers, living well off the land that provided them with more than sufficient food. Most travel was done by boat, thus facilitating trade and marriages between residents of different villages. Their homes were huts with a wooden frame that was covered tule, a reed that is plentiful in the area.

Today's legend deals with a man who loved his wife quite dearly, even to the point of following her into the underworld after her death. It was written down in a book published in 1907 by one A.L. Kroeber and to the best of my knowledge is long past copyright protection. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did researching it. 

"Making a dance" of "having a dance" is mentioned in many Native American legends. Dancing in this sense is not a social thing done for enjoyment. It is how prayers were sent forth to their Supreme Being. It was also one of the intersections of the supernatural with the daily life of a mortal being.

Tachi refers to Yokuts from a specific tribe within the Yokut People.

THE VISIT TO THE DEAD
A Tachi had a fine wife who died and was buried. Her husband went to her grave and dug a hole near it. There he stayed watching, not eating, using only tobacco. After two nights he saw that she came up, brushed the earth off herself, and started to go to the island of the dead.

The man tried to seize her but could not hold her. She went southeast and he followed her. Whenever he tried to hold her she escaped. He kept trying to seize her, however, and delayed her. At daybreak she stopped. He stayed there, but could not see her. When it began to be dark the woman got up again and went on. She turned westward and crossed Tulare Lake (or its inlet). At daybreak the man again tried to seize her but could not hold her. She stayed in that place during the day. The man remained in the same place, but again he could not see her.

There was a good trail there, and he could see the footprints of his dead friends and relatives. In the evening his wife got up again and went on. They came to a river which flows westward toward San Luis Obispo, the river of the Tulamni (the description fits the Santa Maria, but the Tulamni are in the Tulare drainage, on and about Buena Vista lake). There the man caught up with his wife and there they stayed all day. He still had had nothing to eat.

In the evening she went on again, now northward. Then somewhere to the west of the Tachi country he caught up with her once more and they spent the day there. In the evening the woman got up and they went on northward, across the San Joaquin river, to the north or east of it.

Again he overtook his wife. Then she said: "What are you going to do? I am nothing now. How can you get my body back? Do you think you shall be able to do it?" He said: "I think so." She said: "I think not. I am going to a different kind of a place now." From daybreak on that man stayed there. In the evening the woman started once more and went down along the river, but he overtook her again. She did not talk to him. Then they stayed all day, and at night went on again.

Now they were close to the island of the dead. It was joined to the land by a rising and falling bridge called ch'eleli. Under this bridge a river ran swiftly. The dead passed over this. When they were on the bridge, a bird suddenly fluttered up beside them and frightened them. Many fell off into the river, where they turned into fish. 

Now the chief of the dead said: "Somebody has come." They told him: "There are two. One of them is alive; he stinks." The chief said: "Do not let him cross." 

When the woman came on the island, he asked her: "You have a companion?" and she told him: "Yes, my husband." He asked her: "Is he coming here?" She said: "I do not know. He is alive." They asked the man: "Do you want to come to this country?" He said: "Yes." Then they told him: "Wait. I will see the chief." They told the chief: "He says that he wants to come to this country. We think he does not tell the truth." "Well, let him come across."
Now they intended to frighten him off the bridge. They said: "Come on. The chief says you can cross." Then the bird (kacha) flew up and tried to scare him, but did not make him fall off the bridge into the water. So they brought him before the chief. The chief said: "This is a bad country. You should not have come. We have only your wife's soul (ilit). She has left her bones with her body. I do not think we can give her back to you."

In the evening they danced. It was a round dance and they shouted. The chief said to the man: "Look at your wife in the middle of the crowd. To-morrow you will see no one."

Now the man stayed there three days. Then the chief said to some of the people: "Bring that woman. her husband wants to talk to her." They brought the woman to him. He asked her: ''Is this your husband?" She said: "Yes." He asked her: "Do you think you will go back to him?" She said: "I do not think so. What do you wish?" The chief said: "I think not. You must stay here. You cannot go back. You are worthless now." Then He said to the man: "Do you want to sleep with your wife?" He said: "Yes, for a while. I want to sleep with her and talk with her." Then he was allowed to sleep with her that night and they talked together.

At daybreak the woman was vanished and he was sleeping next to a fallen oak. The chief said to him: "Get up. It is late." He opened his eyes and saw an oak instead of his wife. The chief said: "You see that we cannot make your wife as she was. She is no good now. It is best that you go back. You have a good country there." But the man said: "No, I will stay." The chief told him: "No, do not. Come back here whenever you like, but go back now." Nevertheless the man stayed there six days. Then he said: "I am going back." yourself. Then after six days emerge and make a dance."

 

Now the man returned. He told his parents: "Make me a small house. In six days I will come out and dance." Now he stayed there five days. Then his friends began to know that he had come back. "Our relative has come back," they all said.
Now the man was in too much of a hurry. 

After five days he came out. In the evening he began to dance and danced all night, telling what he saw. In the morning, when he had stopped dancing, he went to bathe. Then a rattlesnake bit him. He died. So he went back to the island. He is there now. It is through him that the people know how it is there.
Every two days the island becomes full. Then the chief gathers the people. "You must swim," he says. The people stop dancing and bathe. Then the bird frightens them, and some turn to fish, and some to ducks; only a few come out of the water again as people. In this way room is made when the island is too full. The name of the chief there is Kandjidji.

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week. 

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

Man-Made Ditches that Predate Amazon Rainforest

I have found this very interesting news article I wish to share with you, Man-Made Ditches that Predate Amazon Rainforest

Here's an article about ditches carved in places on the floor of the Amazon rainforest that were there long before the area had become a rainforest. I found this interesting because of other large designs that were carved into the high desert of Nazca, Peru, like this stylized hummingbird.

Both the Nazca images and the Amazon lines appear to be man-made, carved into the terrain, and best seen from the air. Here is just a bit about the Amazon ditches. A link to the article follows. Thank you for visiting!


The Mysterious Man-Made Ditches that Predate Amazon Rainforest

A recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that a series of mysterious lines and geometric shapes carved into the Amazonian landscape were created thousands of years ago before the rainforest even existed, according to a report in Discovery News. The purpose of the massive earthworks and who created them remains unknown, and scientists are beginning to realise just how much there still is to learn about 

the prehistoric cultures of the Amazon and life before the arrival of Europeans.

Read more click link below

 http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/mysterious-man-made-ditches-predate-amazon-rainforest-001833#sthash.X9HRi6Oa.dpuf

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿

KEEPING IT REAL by FRIZZY LIZZY

Hi dear friends and followers, this is Saturday, Frizzy Lizzy Day 

KEEPING IT REAL by FRIZZY LIZZY

Really, Teresa, I'm not at all surprised to hear that. Sometimes a boss is just a pain-in-the-ass at best and a pain-in-the-ass at worst!

Am I happy that I am retired? Sure, I am, and I would not go beck into the workforce for a million dollars but I don't think that I would sell back my experiences on the job for two million. If I had to do it all over again there are a few things that I might do differently but the whole thing was a lot of fun, now that I look back on it.

I was in the same line of work for a little over 30 years, Teresa. What did I do? I started out counting nuts and bolts in a storeroom and went up the ladder, retiring as a senior person in the contracts and purchasing field. I went back to school and earned my degrees and I loved what I did and that made it lots of fun.

When I was really young I recall looking for a job where I was living at the time. It was mainly a farming area with a few small factories in the neighborhood. I had tried my hand at seling insurance and real estate there but selling just was not me.

I went into this one factory where they were making the bodies for those big garbage trucks, you know, the ones that pick-up a container off the ground and dump it into the top of the truck. That's right, a dumpster. Any way, I was pretty desperate and I was open to any job that I could get my hands on. Sweeping floors sounded good to me.

The plant manager interviewed me and it felt positive. I wrote a thank-you letter in the hopes of getting a call but I heard nothing, so I went back to the plant. I tried to see the manager but his secretary was an effective gatekeeper. She would not let me in or give me an appointment to see him. He happened to hear me outside of his office and he asked me in.

It was then that he told me that he could have hired me to clean truck bodies with a steel brush to prepare them for painting, but that such work would bore me to death. (He was right.) He also told me that he had a job in mind for me and that I would be hearing from him. I thanked him and went home to wait by the phone.

A few weeks later I was their brand-new, just-hired Inventory Control Technician, part of the manufacturing team at Dempster Dumpster Systems! I was working in a plant that made everything "Dumpster," from little containers to huge trailers, and trucks that loaded from the top and back. If it looked like garbage, it went into a Dempster Dumpster!

A few weeks after I started my new "boss" arrived. He was a really nice guy, a fellow from Tennessee by the name of Carl. When it came to keeping a factory supplied, he was an expert, and we needed one of those because our production line was running out of something and shutting down almost every day. He was also as skinny as six o'clock and the guys on the factory floor called him "Zipper" because if he stood sideways and stuck his tongue out - you got it, Teresa, he would look like a zipper! Regardless of the razzing he took he was real gentleman and I liked working with him.

So between us we took a storeroom that was like a department store with no cash register because no one had been taking care of it and turned it into a place where the production managers could depend upon finding the parts needed to keep their lines moving.

It was a lot of fun to me! I learned about hydraulic hoses and fittings, paints and coatings, electrical supplies, raw steel, automotive parts, wire and cable, and fasteners. All of that knowledge prepared me for a promotion on that job to assistant buyer! And that was even more fun!

Now I knew most of the people in the plant. We were friends or neighbors to some degree, and the guys on the production floor were all younger than me. How old was I? I was about 26 and they were not too long out of high school, but I knew their families. All of us were a little crazy because we were still close to that magic age of "indestructible 21."

I remember taking my bologna and cheese sandwich and potato chips out to the break area to have lunch with the rest of the guys.

One day they were playing a game. Have you ever heard of "Name that tune?" It was a popular game on TV at the time. It's a game where you take or make a dare to name a tune in as few notes as possible. It might start with one player saying that he or she can name a tune in 6 notes. The other says that they can name it in 5 notes. Then it goes to 4 notes and so on down until one of the players dares the other to "Name that tune!" How about playing it with "Eat that sandwich?" Yup, someone tried to eat that sandwich in 1 bite! After that I ate lunch in my office.

I learned a lot about plant safety and what I wouldn't do if I was running power tools. I always wore a hardhat and safety glasses when I was on the production floor or in the machine shop, and I urged those I saw to be careful, too.

Some took it to heart, especially if they had been out partying the night before. They punched-in to work and as long as they didn't get injured on the job they were OK but the output of the machine shop suffered and I wondered why. Then I stumbled on why.

There was a piece of culvert pipe behind the machine shop. It was a bit over a meter wide and someone had placed a pallet inside of it. On that pallet there was a mattress and sleeping bag, and the workers suffering from a hangover would go in there and sleep it off while still on the clock!

I never reported it because I thought it was pretty funny but they knew that I knew and the output of the machine shop stayed steady after that.

Perhaps some of the fun came because I did what was not expected of me to do as an assistant buyer.

We went through a lot of band saw blades in the machine shop. I studied what was happening and went shopping for a better blade. I found one that was more expensive but would last twice as long. After I did cost/benefit analysis and presented it to Carl, he approved buying the new blades. And from that point on he stopped reviewing my purchases and trusted what I did.

No, Teresa, not all of my jobs were as much fun. That one didn't stay fun for too long. I was there for about two years and just before Christmas I got a letter that the plant was closing and I was laid off. That was a real bummer. But it's safe to say that I learned from that job that it was possible for me to truly enjoy my work, and most of the time after that, I did.

Have I ever worked for a horse's ass? You bet I have, more than once! Let me tell you about one...

Thank you very much again, dear friends, for visiting my blog. Please share your thoughts with us, if you will. have a great Week.

✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿