Spring in my part of the world.

 

Part of the reason I have been reluctant to post my opinions regarding recent political action in my country, the US, is that people read here from around the world. Are they interested in political issues from other countries? Maybe they are, since the US often can influence problems for other nations. I don't really know, which is why I have looked for perspective on what readers like to read.

Personally, I read political blogs and sometimes get angry at what I read as I think the opinions are very biased. I don't generally comment there what I think as I feel-- well, it's their blog. Not everyone wants a conversation.

On the other hand, I do enjoy hearing what others think, even when it irks me. I do not believe we all need to agree. Sometimes when we see things differently, we just agree to disagree.

When we vote in a government election, we often don't particularly like the outcome, but respect for it is part of living in a Republic, which elects  representatives to make important decisions. If we don't like the outcome, work harder next time to see someone we would prefer.

Recently when I was watching a podcast interview, which was mostly liberal, I was surprised when the guest, a black rapper, said something I thought was very astute. He was being pressured to say he'd vote for the interviewer's choice. He refused and would not say for whom he would vote and instead said he votes policy over person. I really like that as I've often said I vote issues (sometimes believing what I should not have) and I have to balance the most important ones to me as I am not a "one issue" voter.

Calling myself an independent voter (unaffiliated in some states), I never agree with all of one side of the partisan divide completely. I have strong opinions but they just don't all totally fit into either political party. I try to read a variety of opinions on what I consider important as again reading only one side seems unlikely to know enough about what should be done. Some call that wishy-washy. but I see it as logical. Reading a differing viewpoint won't automatically change my mind but it at least lets me understand good people can see things differently based on many reasons.

Anyway, I hope I continue to have readers from around the world. I think that is healthy as we are not enemies or all friends. We are humans with often the same needs but different ways of getting there.

Seeking Perspective

  first sunset of spring

 

The perspective I am seeking is for this blog. When I began blogging, readers commented. I made friends that way. Currently whether the blog gets 500 readers or 50 and both can happen as well as thousand or more, few comments happen. 

There are possible reasons for that. Some have let me know that they tried to comment, and it was rejected. I also know that others come in from phones where making comments might be more difficult. Some may simply have no interest in commenting. Whatever the case, it has been hard for me to know what people want or do not want in this blog. 

If I wrote a mainly journal type blog, I would feel the negative should be along with the positive. I do not but enjoy reading those types of blogs, like online diaries (which I am sure leave out a lot). 

My blog is about ideas, which are my ideas, but I think about many things that are around the world for their impact. I have tried to keep that mostly positive. We have enough that depresses us without my adding it here.

When I do that, however, it leaves out a LOT of what I think, my ideas about what is happening in the world and in my own country. Might be that I am wrong,and others would like to hear my take on what I have read- even when it's depressing.

 

As a possible way to figure this out, Ranch Boss (who does all my techie stuff) learned how to put a like/dislike button on this blog. It has to be along side due to the way blogger works, and it is set at the top of the column.

What I would appreciate is if those who come here would read the current post and then go back up and click like or dislike. I will not know who you are as we kept this simple without email addresses, after all, why would I want that? I wouldn't email anyone whether they liked that I wrote or did not.

So, for those who don't like to comment would simply click on their preference for that day's blog, it would help me. It can be done again the next time a reader comes, and I will keep track of preferences as my way of seeking perspective as a writer. I might still write things that have proven unpopular, but at least I'll know *s*

gifts for the season

 by Rain Trueax

Image from Stencil

One of the sharing things we like during the holidays is give or exchange gifts. As part of that tradition, I put some of my Christmas oriented eBooks on sale in Amazon. The sale lasts until the New Year. Now, 99¢ isn't exactly free to the reader, but it virtually is to the writer. As Amazon takes most of the price (70% + their normal nominal charge). We like to do it with the hope some new reader will find a book they'd never tried and maybe find some holiday cheer. 

The poster shows the five books on sale. Four of them are novellas, two historicals (which are books 5 and 8 in the Arizona Dreaming series) and two contemporaries; but this year, we have a fifth, which is a full length novel (Book 2 in Arizona Dreaming). All stand alone but often have secondary characters from earlier books.

 

While Christmas is not central to The Marshal's Lady, it is important in the development of relationships. As a father, Marshal Cordell O'Brian, who has been kept from his daughter, is trying to finally establish a connection with 9-year old Grace as she is sent to him in Tucson. Will she ever accept him as her father?

Priscilla Wesley, the woman he is attracted to, but knows it'll never work out, has taken Grace under her wing and now is trying to teach them both about the joys of a holiday neither has really known.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Snippet from The Marshal's Lady, as Cord takes on a new responsibility to the laughter of his deputy.

“You’re doing what?” Rafe asked with a laugh.

“You heard me and don’t bother making jokes.”

“No jokes but come on. Geronimo is supposedly signing a peace treaty soon, but he hasn’t yet. There are always renegade bands just looking for easy pickings.”

“I am not easy pickings.”

“Give me a chance to adjust to this.” Rafe chuckled again and leaned back on two legs of his chair. “You are going out Old Spanish Trail then up in the Rincons to cut a Christmas tree?”

“What? You heathens don’t cut trees?” Cord asked finding an old scarf to wrap around his neck and cover his ears if it got too cold. Where the desert floor wasn’t too bad in December, if he had to go above four thousand feet, there’d likely be snow. As he remembered it, there was a slot canyon where pines grew of the right size. It’s where he’d head, hoping he could avoid going higher.

“When we cut a tree, it’s to build a home. Hell, we even revere flowers as sacred. A tree oughta be more so.” His smile said he took none of it seriously.

“Well it’ll be decorated up real pretty until it gets cut up and burned in a fire. That seems special to me.”

“Want me to go with you?”

“For what, to laugh? No, I want you to stay here and keep an eye on the town. Sheriff Adams is out of sight again, most likely drunk in the backroom of a bar somewhere or maybe in one of the girls’ rooms. Whatever the case and wherever he is, he’s not answering to anything.”

“No surprise in that. Why doesn’t the damn town get rid of him?”

Cord shrugged as he buttoned his coat. Outside the drizzle was cold. Any direction he went, this wasn’t going to be much fun. Usually when he got stuck with such hunts they were to go after a bad guy. Who’d have figured it’d be to chop down a six or seven foot pine tree.

“All right, I’ll do it, but I’d rather ride into the mountains and let you stay here and look after town,” Rafe protested one last time.

“And have you feel you had damaged some ancestor’s special something? Not a chance.”

“We could both go.”

“I told you why we won’t.”

“Are they picking up Evans today?”

“Supposedly but that was supposedly yesterday too.”

“I gotta admit I’m glad your girlfriend got Ben off the hook.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, not my friend, and yes, I am too. Judge Emerson was still chuckling as he delivered the orders.”

“She has a way about her.”

“The kicker was she’s hiring Ben, which will work fine so long as he doesn’t drink.”

“James’ll keep an eye on him. He likes James. He likes Miss Wesley even more.”

“Hopefully it’ll work out for them all.” He had a few reservations mostly connected to his jaw, which had almost gone back to normal, but still hurt when he bit down wrong on something. 

“Well watch out up there. See you tonight.”

Links in Amazon for eReaders:

 The Marshal's Lady-- https://www.amazon.com/Tucson-Moon-OBrians-Arizona-Historicals-ebook/dp/B00GYL9DVQ

The two historical novellas both have older heroines. They have given up on love but has love given up on them: 

Rose's Gift--  https://www.amazon.com/Roses-Gift-Arizona-OBrians-Book-ebook/dp/B00T13IID8/

Frederica's Outlaw -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MYXKWAG

 And then come the contemporary novellas, both with Christmas rather prominent. 

In A Montana Christmas, the heroine (from an earlier full length novel, From Here to There, has it mind that a ranch Christmas is a time to heal her husband's family rifts. Or will it only create more pressure?-- https://www.amazon.com/Montana-Christmas-Rain-Trueax-ebook/dp/B00AOU0IQ2

In Diana's Journey, a retired teacher is facing a change in her life. With so many lost memories, Christmas is the last time she wants to think about. Can it prove healing for her in a small southern Utah community? -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5IA26Y

moon thoughts

by Rain Trueax

April 6th and the setting of the Pink Moon. 

With my interest in full moons, I found two meanings for this moon. The first was that it's for the pink phlox and early bloomers. The second was it meant rebirth. Since Sunday is Easter, a time of resurrection for Christians, that's a good meaning. The time of rebirth. however, isn't always good. It means death first.

I have mentioned before that I am on Facebook. Currently, it's a good place for me. I like connecting with people there and sharing parts of my life. If someone asks an opinion type question, even on a topic I generally avoid, I will answer with my thoughts on it. BUT if it's peppered with insulting terms, if it's from someone I have considered a friend, I quit reading with the first of them and hide the post. If it's a 'friend' there that I don't know, I snooze them for a month and then unfollow if the nasty words are still there.

Some say they don't like coming to FB for the negativity. What I wrote above is a solution, which I need, as it's important for me right now as a place to connect with those I have gotten to know, where I am interested in how they are doing. The only way I can continue there is to get rid of what upsets me. Maybe it's my generation or how I was raised to be polite, but insulting words don't work for me even if I agree with them-- and once in a while, I might...

I have a thought on the virus, which I will share... read it or not as it works for you. 

Imbolc

by Rain Trueax

For those of us who celebrate a Celtic year, Imbolc (in the Northern Hemisphere from February 1-to the evening of Feb. 2) is the true beginning of spring (It didn't occur to me until last year that it would be celebrated August 1st or 2nd in the Southern Hemisphere as it is a seasonal holiday). It is midway between the Winter Solstice and spring equinox. 

Where I live, it marks the beginning of lambing season although our son, who looks after the livestock while we are in Arizona, had the first lambs weeks ago. Imbolc (you do not pronounce the b) means ewe's milk. Whether on a farm or not, this is the time of stirrings of new life, what might be called the quickening when life comes back from where it's been dormant.

Heading to 2020

by Rain Trueax

sunrise December 18th from Casa Espiritu

The time between Christmas and New Years is a special time for me. Yes, the calendar is a manmade tool, but it can be used. The idea of moving into a new year, especially a new decade, feels important-- even more when it has such a neat sound to it-- 2020. 

This week used to be when I would write goals for the coming year. I did that for years. I was pretty much always having the same goals. I got more organized with them as I'd put them in three categories-- spirit, body, mind. I would think what did I want to do to move myself forward in each area.

seasonal changes

by Rain Trueax

November 29th-- moon setting with the sun from our desert home, Casa Espiritu

How can it already be December with another year nearly gone? Where did this year go? In terms of my writing, I published nothing in 2019. I did write a book but the decision of when

to bring it out kept getting changed. It will be a pre-release, which I'll write more about another time with a firm date set in January 2020-- making it come out before Imbolc, when the story is set. I did not intend to have nothing new for over a year, but it just worked out that way. 

Because of the aftermath of travel, we had debated having a Thanksgiving dinner but ended up doing it with turkey and all the trimmings. This is the holiday season; but after getting the farm ready to leave and then the long drive, I am having to work to get into the mood. 

Samhain

by Rain Trueax

Stores are decorated for a holiday that is a favorite of many people-- Halloween. Some decorate their homes in ghosts and scary objects. Many carve pumpkins to put a candle inside when the night arrives and scary creatures go door to door asking for offerings-- trick or treat. My dad talked about putting Model-T's on roofs as part of the trick end-- an excuse for young hooligans to run around causing mild chaos-- all in fun. The tradition from which this holiday arose goes way back to something only Pagans today may know.

October 31st is the beginning of a new season in the Celtic calendar. Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is in a season of change-- the time of shift between light to dark. It is believed that it is also when we are closest to the other side-- the barriers, between us and what is over there, break down.

This festival is older than Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, which they came out of it, as Christianity did with many pagan traditions.  The ancient Celtic celebrations, Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain, all relate to seasonal changes more than religious ones. They are about a connection to ancient traditions as well as to earth.

This is the season where the harvest has been gathered-- at one time critical to survive the winters. As a way of recognizing its importance, the hearth fires would be allowed to go out. The people would gather with their Druid priests, who began a new fire. They would bring that back to their home to relight their own from the community flame.

Ancient Celts marked Samhain as the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals, taking place at the midpoint between the fall equinox and the winter solstice. The Celts, from where this comes, did believe you could reach the other side but especially during Samhain.

As protection from the other side, offerings were left out for the fairies and for protection from monsters. A shape-shifting creature, Pukah, was of particular concern. The people did not want to be kidnapped and would dress as animals or monsters to fool the other side. Pukah can be spelled different ways. The being could look like animals or humans with ears and tails. They could be beneficial or threatening.

There were other beings to watch out for including a headless woman who chased those who were out at night. The Dullahan could appear as impish creatures or headless men on horses with flame for eyes. See one of those and the person would be soon to die. You know, in mythology, fairies aren't always kind. They can also be scary.

It's not difficult to see how Samhain morphed into All Souls Day and Halloween.

There is another culture that celebrates this season. It is called Day of the Dead, and I think it begins the 31st and ends November 2nd in contemporary Mexico and those of Mexican heritage in the US and around the world.  It is believed their Day of the Dead originated from Aztec celebrations possibly 3000 years ago.  For them, this is honoring the dead and goes back to pre-Columbian cultures. Today, it's a blend of Mesoamerican ritual and European religion in the Spanish culture. It mixes with the view that life is cyclical and death is an ever

present part of life.

 So, on the Day of the Dead, with the border down between spirit and 'real' world, the dead awaken and return to feast, drink, dance and play music with their loved ones. The 'living' family treat them as honored guests and leave favorite foods at the graves or on special altars in their homes. This is not to ward off evil. The celebration today is a mix of Spanish Catholic and native Aztec for beliefs and traditions. Those skulls and skeletons had been an important part of All Saints Day festivals in Medieval Europe. They had experienced so much death with the Black Death that decimated communities. No family was untouched in the 1300s. There was a constant reminder that we all must die one day. 

Put that together with Mexico and the Aztec culture who believed life on earth was an illusion-- death was a positive step toward a higher consciousness. For them, skulls were a positive symbol of both death and rebirth. 

To celebrate the Day of the Dead, some paint their faces to look like skeletons. You see this in art for sale in Mexican towns. This tradition has led to the charge of cultural appropriation when those doing it are not of Hispanic or Latino or Mexican heritage (not sure what the right word is today). 

The thing is when you look at how similar traditions for a certain season arise thousands of miles and many years apart-- from very different cultures, you have to ask why. Coincidence? Serendipity? Did one culture see what another was doing and rearranged it to suit its own? Or does it go beyond that to something in nature that claims it for its own?

Whatever the case, and whatever tradition you celebrate, it is a season of change and maybe, just maybe the barrier between us and what is over there is thinner and they can come through-- whoever they are. 

from one to another

 by Rain Trueax

If you've been with me on this blog a long time, you know that since 1999, we have owned a second home in Tucson, Arizona. We have used it less or more depending on the year. To help with its expenses and because sometimes we found it hard to get away, for 5 years or so, we offered it on VRBO as a vacation rental for those with pets. It's never been a good fit for those with allergies as when we are there, we have our cats with us. Snowbirds want it most frequently, which meant if we have gone, it was in the fall or early summers.

We decided in 2017 that we weren't renting it in 2018 because we wanted to do repairs and some remodeling, which required our being there. We kept putting off going until finally it was 2018, and we had to get it together. The farm would be okay without us. We have someone who feeds the cattle and sheep. We arranged to have the wild birds and hummingbirds be fed. We had a house-sitter as well as wonderful neighbors who keep an eye on things (meaning cattle or sheep on the road) when we are not there. 

We had to go, wanted to go, but kept putting off leaving for assorted reasons, some personal and some physical problems with the farm-- including water damage from the water heater (it was the original when the home was built in the '50s and needed replacing) and then another leak destroying the utility room floor. Couldn't leave with Thanksgiving or Christmas, could we?

During most of the fall, we had decided firmly we'd not take our vacation trailer or the two formerly feral cats. It being iffy travel in winter, we wanted to take motels and what motel lets you take four cats??? They could be fed at the farm. They'd be fine there as it's been their home.

Looking at their little faces, as they lounged on the sofa, and that idea flew out the window. They were going, which meant the trailer was going. How that would work was uncertain, with one cat hating another and one cat still spraying despite being neutered a year earlier-- and all of us in a small trailer with no real separations other than the bathroom. It didn't matter. The six of us were going.

During December, I kept plugging away at my book as I put off packing for the time I'd be in a different climate-- although with Tucson, you can get a winter-- not a wet and cold one though like our home in Oregon. I have to admit part of me just didn't want to go, even though it was the best choice for us all.

Finally, the year had ended and we were pushed for a firm timetable for leaving. It would involve days on the road, but we had a destination we loved. The cats would like it too since we fenced the yard to keep them safe from the desert predators-- if not from each other.

These photos are all of our home in the desert, the place we call Casa Espiritu, It always feels like home when we get there-- getting there is, however, always the problem. This time, winter was setting in on the mountains, unknown storms lay ahead, and a travel trailer had to be pulled and parked every night. 

How the trip went will be broken up, since this one already went long. Tomorrow gets into what it involves taking a travel trailer on a trip. Monday will be the trip and how that went with us and the cats!