October 31st

 Samhain, which some know as Halloween and others as All Hallows' Eve, is the 31st of October. It is based on ancient traditions. So, what do people do at Samhain?

 

In the Druid tradition, Samhain celebrates the dead with a festival on October 31 a fire, and a time of communion with the other side. Today, pagans often hold music and dance celebrations. It was in a friend's blog where I first learned of doing altars ahead of time with photos and objects from the beloved, who had gone on. Supposedly it's a day when the two sides are very close for communicating. I say supposedly as I've never felt anything special nor have I done an altar though.

My dad recalled the tricks part of trick or treat when the young men would lift Model T cars up on roofs. For me, trick or treat just meant my dad driving us into town where sidewalks let my brother and I go from house to house for candy, which we divided up with our parents when we were back home. We had no kids coming to our end of the road home with only a gravel road for access. 

We've always had black cats, which some consider part of Halloween, but they definitely don't bring bad luck.  

When we moved to this farm, the community had stopped kids going trick or treating and instead had a party in the country school's gymnasium with games and candy. Many adults came to watch. It was one of the things that rural living offered to build community. 

I had the celebration in only one of my Oregon historicals, Love Waits, and thought I'd include a snippet here, as the family gathered for a celebration that the hero, Jed, recalled from his youth in the South. Jed was the hero in the book ahead of this one; but the family comes together for the last one in the series (last for now anyway).

 

 **************

“I appreciate ya opening yore home to an old-timer like me,” St. Louis said.

“It’s no favor,” Jed said. “I knew that this place needed a family. I didn’t expect Raine to bring them all to me, but she did.” He grinned. “And wisdom from those who’ve lived a few years, that is of much value in my eyes.”

“Not much how a lot sees it,” St. Louis said with that probing look Rand had seen before in his eyes.

“It’s how those in my family did,” Jed drawled. “And how I do.”

Amy went to get the children, who returned with large eyes. Rand watched as Jed taught them how to bob for apples and then play the traditional games. They were excited but clearly most eager for the ghost story that had been promised before bedtime.

“I hope they will sleep well after it,” Martha said from where she had cuddled against Adam. Sleeping by the fireplace were the two dogs.

“If they don’t,” Loraine said tweaking Jed’s cheek, “we know who to blame.”

“I heard these stories as a small one,” the tall southerner drawled as he rose and began to lower the lamps until the room was barely lit. The moon outside was rising but it was a crescent that provided little light.

“The stories I was told come from the swamps and cypress forests of Georgia and the home of Two-Toed Tom.” He moved around the room as he described a home where many generations had lived and where a ghost was determined to keep for himself.

“Do any of you know what a ghost looks like?” he asked with a smile as he scanned over the children.

“Ugly?” Rufus suggested.

“Like you maybe,” Eli added with a grin as he gave his nephew a light punch on his arm. Rufus responded with a giggle.

“For those who have seen ghosts… or claimed they did,” Jed said, “they don’t agree. And most folks don’t see them at all. They just see what they do when they break something or make noises intended to scare people.”

His story took the side of the ghost. He created sympathy of the poor ghost who only wanted to keep his home from intruders. Rand saw it took the fear from it but not the excitement as the children listened with rapt attention. With the ghost’s great disappointment in failing to scare anyone, the sorrow all fell upon the poor trapped ghost failing in his assigned task.

“And then one brave little girl confronted the ghost and made him show himself.”

“Oh yeah, like it would be a girl,” Rufus protested with a low growl.

“Did the ghost hurt her?” Laura asked, ignoring her brother’s insult as she cuddled her little sister to her. Jessica had from the beginning sought comfort on Belle’s lap.

“No, he was glad she saw him. He felt less lonely when she asked him what he needed. She told him they would not be scared; so he should do all that he needed to be happy. ‘I just want someone to hear my story,’ the ghost cried.

“’Let it be me,’ she said as she then sat and listened as he told her of his life, how he had come to be where he was. After she heard it all, he smiled and vanished, never to be seen again.”

“He should have killed someone,” Rufus suggested. “What kind of ghost is that?”

“Killing isn’t good,” Jeremy disagreed. His face grew somber. “I wonder if my mother is a ghost.”

“This is the time when the other side is very close to us,” said Jed. “It is a time to ask for stories, ours or those from the other side.”

“Now?” The little boy’s expression grew worried.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Loraine asked as she nudged Jed’s shoulder.

“Of course, because we are all here to be together and make it not scary. What is your mother’s name, Jeremy?”

Rand had little belief in another side and wondered if Jed did. The boy looked uneasy as he considered the request. “My father never told me. And I was pretty little when she left.”

“What did she look like?” Belle asked tenderly brushing the hair back from Jessica’s forehead.

“Like my sister. She had red hair. It was curly and pretty. She was beautiful.”

Rand wondered if he could get more information on the missing mother when he got back to the fort. More likely, it would take his next trip to The Dalles and the telegraph to get to those who might have such records for the Foresters.

“Where did you live, Jer?” Rand asked remembering the preferred nickname.

“Virginia and then California.”

“Well, let’s see if any ghosts want to talk to us,” Jed said as he took a seat at the dark end of the room.

“Being scared does not seem a good idea before bed,” Loraine again reminded him.

“It’s not scary to talk to the other side,” Jed corrected her. “They are like my story not scary. They just want us to listen.”

“You sound like you believe in ghosts,” Adam said with a skeptical tone.

“Of course. I am a southerner,” Jed said with a smile. “Now let’s just listen and when we listen, whatever we hear, we will tell each other. Deal?”

Rand had no real belief in anything, certainly not that his mother might try to reach out to him from across a mysterious divide. Still he didn’t try to ruin Jed’s celebration of Samhain. He glanced again at Belle as she comforted the little girl. She would make a loving mother. That thought gave him no pleasure. If she was pregnant, it was clear she would shut him away from their baby.

It was his own damned fault for making love to her before he had the right. If he could have, he’d have kicked himself. He ruined it for them both. Twice maybe. How would their life have been if they had married when she had wanted when she was so young?

He had been right back then though. He knew it. If she was rejecting him now, likely she would have eventually left him. What could the military offer a woman like her that she could not find better with another? He would work to be a friend to her, to support her as best he could for as long as he lived. He would do likewise for any child if one happened to be on its way.

When no one reported any sightings of ghosts, Jed brought out his guitar. “Some of these were African folk songs that I grew up hearing.”

Jed’s voice was on pitch, deep and soulful. He brought intensity and a deep meaning to each song. He concluded with one that Rand had heard during the war—Aura Lee. A song of a man in love with a golden haired woman. It might have been Belle.

Finally, Jed stopped and said, “When we sleep tonight, remember your dreams. In the morning be sure we all share them.” With that, the children were taken off to bed by Belle and Amy. Loraine, responding to the wail from their baby, left to feed him and then go to their own bedchamber. “I should also head for bed, Martha said. “Heaven likely is feeling very deserted. “She pulled on Adam’s arm to head for their cabin.

With only Josh, Matt, Toddy, St. Louis, and Rand there, Jed lit a cigar and poured whiskey for those so inclined. Rand was. “When I came north, I saw folks didn’t celebrate Samhain. I missed that until I finally had a family here.”

“I grew up in Virginia,” Rand said, “but never heard of it.”

“We’ll probably have a few children crying tonight,” Matt said with a laugh. “And I spent some of my childhood in Georgia but heard of it but never had the family do anything like this. Of course, I didn’t exactly have a family sort of family back then.”

“It’s not a bad thing to be aware of the other side,” St. Louis said, and Toddy nodded approval. “The other side can be on our side.”

 

End of a month

 Usually, I don't post about politics, but to me, this is more about culture. We are so divided in the United States. Is there an answer for it? I sure don't know as the issues are seen so differently. Half and half, is how we see things with some states less divided and others more so. As we all vote, we need to really think what issues matter to us-- not allow it all to be partisan but what does the country need.

What can we do individually-- Find other things that matter to us and nature is a good start.

August and some nice storms

 August 12th

This Sturgeon moon is the considered to be fourth supermoon in a row after the Buck moon in July, Strawberry moon in June and Flower moon in May.

 

I haven't had a lot to say lately as our world has been very quiet. Ranch Boss had cataracts removed from both eyes and that takes some time to arrange and then the healing and repeated doctor visits to be sure it's all fine. He is quite happy with the results and now has 20/20 vision in both eyes and no more astigmatism. 

We had a little concern about the process since it does involve an anesthetic, but they don't put the patient to sleep, but just to relax so they can do the work. He found the process fascinating for  how they remove the cataract and the old lens before replacing it with the new one.

The patient has a choice of how far they want to see, and he chose distance with using reading glasses for up close and the computer. He also had a choice on using a laser and paying for that as the basic cataract surgery is covered by Medicare for someone with as bad of vision as he had in the one eye and fuzzy in the other.

Otherwise, not much. I have been wrestling with low blood sugar and may have found a way to help which involves protein bars in the late afternoon. Fingers crossed. (turns out that wasn't the solution. More research needed).

 The monsoons in our area have been mixed for how much rain is involved. we bought a rain gauge and the other night, we had three storms come through, with some scary thunder in one of them and 3/4" fell between the three. 

 We and the cactus are hoping for more rain, but you really never know and often the storms hit places other than us.

 

 

 

from July 1, 2022

We were fortunate for photographs of our Texas Ranger before the second of our monsoons arrived. Fortunate the storm arrived too. This plant is one of the first we bought and planted after buying this home in 1999. It is xeriscape and a big part of why we wanted it. The flowers often dry into interesting shapes for arrangements in the fall. I think this is the most beautiful we have ever seen it.

The video of the monsoon is 36 seconds and the sound well worth having if you watch it. The storm was over us for about 3/4 of an hour and dumped 3/4" of rain in that time. It also blew a lot of those blossoms into the pool.

https://youtu.be/pWwTLh98aVk

Texas Ranger (the bees loved it too)

I didn't really set this up for July 4th though that's how it is turning out for timing. I love my country and do appreciate living here despite all we are going through right now. 

We don't do much to celebrate it although when I was a child, it was one of the family gathering holidays where fireworks were part of the event along with potlucks and cousin time. We used to hold a Roman Candle and pass it around from child to child, then one of the mothers read they had been known to explode. That year it was put in the ground and it did explode...

For us though it is seeing fireworks from others, hearing the bangs which began the night of July 2nd. Maybe the thunder with the monsoon was an even earlier big bang celebration. The desert sure appreciated it!

 

What's Up?

 

Blogging has been difficult for me lately and mostly I don't know why. I have not been active outside and that might be part of it. I also don't know what we did in May other than get Ranch Boss an appointment to get his cataract removed in June. 

 

Nature was our sanctuary (and A/C) for what can be difficult months in Tucson-- humid and hot as we wait for the storms. We got one good one on our property with 3/4" of rain in 20 minutes. Nothing since as the storms pass us by. Where it comes to nature, it's especially wonderful to see the babies born and grow up.

 

For me, I've been dealing with first tinnitus (I'd never had it before) and then Menieres Disease (also ear related). I found an answer for the tinnitus with Lipo Flavonoid, but the other is more complicated and adds dizziness and sometimes nausea to the ear buzz. What's to write about when it comes to negative things like that.

 

June began with a bout of either food poisoning or a summer flu. Whatever it was, it laid me flat for over a week (it was not Covid, based on no fever or cough). I lost some weight, which I doubtless put back on once I began eating again. I've known those with Menieres and theirs  usually went away, after many months, which I am hoping happens as it is limiting with no idea when the dizziness will be a problem.

 

Ranch Boss' eye surgery went well so far anyway. It though meant no trip to Oregon for now. He had to make long distance arrangements for the  work he'd have done like getting in the winter hay. If we get the monsoon season  they are promising, September might be the soonest we can go. How expensive will diesel be by then???

 

So, I thought I'd put some photos here from May and June since they are the only good news that I can put out since words aren't so great and politics??? not sure who thinks there is good news there...

I hope some of you will comment (if I have readers left lol); so I can learn how you are doing if you don't have a blog (I did read blogs whenever I felt good enough to do so). As for my books, nada on them but I hope to get back to it. We have been playing with book covers. As you can imagine, with no new books coming out or advertising to speak of, not many readers there either :)

Beltane

 Beltane, May 1, my father's birthday many years ago. Happy Birthday, Daddy.

in our control... maybe.

 

As someone, who has gone through a tough year with the new one looking like it has more obstacles ahead, doing the blog (any writing) has been tough. Then I went looking for the meaning of Invictus (unconquerable) and found it has come from this poem. To date, my experiences have never been as dire as those of Nelson Mandela, who quoted it often. Still I understand the need we all have to be masters of our own lives. There is so much, including those we love, that we cannot control. I want to work on what maybe I can... to some degree.

Invictus  

by English poet William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

 Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

I am the captain of my soul.

Groop

 

No, I didn't misspell that. It was a dream and kind of an odd dream. I had apparently been taking a class. The teacher left us an assignment to write what we thought regarding a word,

Groop

As best, in my dream, I knew when I looked at it, I had never seen such a word. I wasn't sure if looking at a dictionary was okay but I had one on my desk. There was the word and some meanings.

Groop

Water

Life

Well that worked pretty well to give me some ideas on what to write mainly regarding what made life work for us. It was all in long hand and I wrote the things I thought that made life more worthwhile. It was things like nature, animals, and who knows what else I wrote in the dream. I began to wonder if looking in a dictionary for the meaning of the word had been okay. Was I supposed to know the word. I wrote two pages and then needed to fill in some more before I woke. I had no idea what the professor wanted from the assignment but water is life on this planet and then what makes life good was my approach.

After I woke as I laid there I wondered why such an odd dream about an assignment and was I supposed to learn something from a word that doesn't exist.

Have you heard the word Grok-- another word that wasn't real until it appeared in a book? It means how we can connect with someone without words and it's now in the dictionary. I doubt Groop will appear there but it is good to think what makes life good for us.

health and aging

After writing about my fall, my mind was on things I've learned this last year about my health. It's one of those things I don't generally write about but maybe some of what I've learned will help others as a lot of it I hadn't thought of before.

The one still impacting my life is keeping track of my blood sugar. I always thought if I had problems with it, it'd be heading toward diabetes. Not so. I ended up off and on (some thanks to nightshade intolerance before I realized it) going to hypoglycemia. Fortunately, I never went all the way into the dangerous realm, but when I get down to 70, my body reacts to it by unsteadiness and not feeling well. 

How do I keep it from going there-- small meals and carbs... What I had been doing, because I liked it, was eating a good breakfast and lunch around noon and then not eating much from then through the rest of the day. What I do now is breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid afternoon snack and a piece of cheese before bed, which for me tends to be between 6 and 7 since I am up before 4 the next morning. If I watched movies or television, I'd likely stay up later. I do not.

The nightshades have been a huge disappointment and some of them were among my favorite foods, like tomatoes, but worse was what is often snuck into processed foods i.e. paprika. If I eat that, I am in bad shape within a day or two.

There was a plus to this. I've lost 50 lbs over the last couple of years and wear jeans 4 sizes smaller than I did. I think maybe the snacks might help with what my last doctor visit revealed that I was low on sodium. Who thinks that could happen given we are not supposed to eat salt! Some of this might be aging as in 2021, I turned 78. I didn't imagine getting that old as at one time I thought I wouldn't live past 30. So goes my age predictions.

The photo is from a month ago right before we took the tree down. I care less about how I look these days than I do about how I feel and how I can move (walking gracefully is a thing of the past but I am settling for being stable :).

 

falls

There are many things for which elders are told to watch out. Blood pressure, blood sugar, pains, etc. etc. One of them is falling...

Before I was an elder, or whatever you call old folks, I took falls at various times but always about tripping on something, like on a hiking trail or walking up from the fields and my toe catching an uneven edge of the field. Then there was the time I broke my nose falling after I caught my toe on a carpet that was uneven. That one could have been bad since I landed on our bedroom's rock floor. It was scary-- all falls are. But overall, my nose survived and it made me more aware of our Oriental rugs.

The fall that I took the 26th of January didn't involve what I expected and could have been far worse than it was. I had decided to walk out the door to our concrete patio, pick up our small cat from a chair and carry her into the house. I got to the door, put one foot up onto the house when the other foot began to slide. I knew I was falling, but I worried also that I'd hurt the cat I was still carrying. I went down hard, hit my head on the screen door and then the concrete, I laid there a few seconds while I tried to figure out if my fall had crushed the cat. She was long gone. Then, I felt of my head. I had a lump sticking out from my hair... Not good. I got myself to a sitting position, into the house, and crawled to the sofa where I could use it and the coffee table to be sitting there when Ranch Boss got back from the store. He told me that the cat was fine. More or less I thought I was, although I wasn't sure about the meaning of the lump, which quickly went down.

I could go into more details about the next days, but the reason I am writing this is because of what I learned about head injuries, most of which I had wished I hadn't known. You don't need to lose consciousness for a head injury to be serious. You also, don't need to fall a long ways. What matters is what the brain has done as it hits against the skull.

My curiosity about this got into what happened to Natasha Richardson in 2009. She was on a beginner's ski slope, fell, hit her head on hard packed snow, was immediately back up, thought it was nothing. She was wrong and died 3 days later when she was brain dead from what her brain had done against her skull.

The other thing I learned is it can take a month for the worst consequences to show up with some head injuries. The lesson here, might be don't go to the internet for more info as it can be scary. Still, there are some symptoms of serious brain damage which include pain, nausea, unsteadiness, and more if you want to check it out.

We found out why my other foot slid-- loose dirt under the mat by the door. So, the lessons are get the mat away from the door, and do more exercises to have stronger leg muscles (something I knew was a problem at my age due to the lack of long walks).

So, this is here for warnings to others... as well as to quit thinking about what the heck I did that led to what happened.

And so we begin

 

From January and Wild Woman Rising Calendar

Reaching the end of January,  I thought I'd write a bit about calendars. I don't suppose all consider a wall calendar essential with the computer to tell us what date it is. I like them and have bought them for years as a way to inspire myself.

Last year and for many years, mine had the inspiration from Thich Nhat Hanh along with images by various artists like Nicholas Kirsten-Honshin. When I decided to go a different route this year, I had no idea Hanh would die the 22nd of January. I am sure though his calendars will go on with their inspiring thoughts like "The present moment is the only moment that is real. Your most important task is to be here and now and enjoy the present moment."

I thought that maybe having the thoughts by a woman would be good for me. I chose Wild Woman Rising-- Goddess, warrior, healer, rebel-- for this year's. I wanted the inspiration for myself and my writing (which has been in the doldrums). 

This is its inspiring thought for January-- "Practice Tender Fierceness  A sage once said of wild woman: 'She is not fragile like a flower. She is fragile like a bomb.'  It is a sacred charge to hold both our power and tenderness in balance, each deeply reverent of the other. When we speak truth to power, with grace instead of judgment, Wild Woman rises."

So, here we head for a new year, the Year of the Tiger according to Chinese astrology, which will begin February 4th. If though, you follow the Celtic New Year, February 1st is Imbolc, which is ewe's milk. Although we are not at the farm, the first twin lambs have already been born.

 

Winter Solstice

 

In celebration of the Winter Solstice and Christmas, we put some of my books on sale. I’d make them free; but if you have books widely available, you can’t do that. These are only on sale for Amazon eBooks.  “From Here to There” is not about Christmas, but it leads to the one that is and that’s why it got added to the 99¢ sale. Sale will end the 31^st.

 As we prepare to enter a new year, here’s hoping it’ll bring good things to you and the world

The non-Christmas one starts with when a wedding abruptly ends with the bride telling the groom she made a mistake. It travels to Montana where bride and groom, with the help of Montana, ranch living, and an aging uncle learn new things about themselves and life. Part of the story involves a journal of an earlier romance—Hence the title, “From Here to There.” It is a full length book and there is some spice in it.

 “A Montana Christmas”, a novella, picks up the couple a few years later when the wife tells her husband she wants to spend the holiday on the ranch and invite his estranged family. It has quite a section on the Winter Solstice as well as family.

 “Diana’s Journey”, a novella, begins with middle-aged Diana and her dogs starting out for a new life after an unexpected divorce. With even her grandchildren grown, she feels no purpose in Chicago. She isn’t sure where she might. After some travel, she decides Bluff, Utah, is the right place to spend the holidays when she is not feeling at all festive.  Big things can be found in small places.

 

 

Javelina, wild North American pigs, are disliked by some for their tusks and desire to protect their young when a dog, which they see as coyotes, comes along.  Coyotes kill their young. We have a  pair coming past our place now and then with now two babies. Even though they are native to this area, there are rules against feeding them for fear of the harm they can do. Too bad as I enjoy seeing them when they come by but do not try to approach them and do keep my eyes open in case they are around.

Links to the books on sale:

From Here to There -- https://www.amazon.com/From-Here-There-Rain-Trueax-ebook/dp/B006PNS7EC/

 A Montana Christmas -- https://www.amazon.com/Montana-Christmas-Rain-Trueax-ebook/dp/B00AOU0IQ2

 Diana’s Journey -- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5IA26Y

 

What's up

 Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone is having a good Thanksgiving. Lately there has been a push to put down the original reason for the holiday; but if we get past those arguments and concentrate instead on what we can be grateful for, it is a beneficial day whether we are celebrating it as we might wish or doing the best we can for where we are.

I plan to continue with this blog but not on a regular schedule as before. It'll be when something comes along that I want to share-- maybe more often or less. Some might get a bit political but not partisan as our culture is being impacted by the political. We need to think about what is going on and hopefully without attacking others... (fingers crossed).

A quick synopsis of our last month involves travel across the Western United States. We left Oregon in our travel trailer on October 15th, drove through California and straight down through Nevada. Time in Beatty let us see the wild burros as they came through the RV park.

 

We arrived in our Tucson home on the 29th. That was not all driving with several times of spending extra days in RV parks due to weather or RV repairs. Sometimes I just couldn't stand the idea of sitting in the truck the next day. The three cats hated the travel in the cat boxes the most but it was safest. 

With now about the same amount of time here in Tucson, I am still unwinding as anxiety attacks are not made better by time on the highway-- although this one had less scary moments than many in the past. I am still walking like an old lady-- wait, I am an old lady!

Ranch Boss has stayed busy with repairs (the trailer we had left here had been infested by pack rats). He has it all shaped up now (that trailer is going back to Oregon eventually for my brother and his property in Eastern Oregon but not sure when that'll happen).

As you can see, we still have boxes to unpack (photo from yesterday) but we got up the Christmas greens, maybe the lights after Thanksgiving, which will be just the two of us but a turkey with the trimmings.