Hope, Joy...Financial Woe?

Thank goodness, there are very few times in my life when I can look back and say my family forgot their holiday spirit. We are not the Lampoons or the Family down the block that use 2,000,000 Christmas lights to cover the house with holiday cheer. We are usually the family who waits to mid-December before putting up a string of lights down the fence, around the bay window and up the banister of the back steps. We are the family who must schedule the tree pick up because we are all running 3 separate ways, but we are also the family that always trims the tree together. Unfortunately this year, the house seems to be covered with a haze of the Scrooges and Ba humbugs. Its been a hard year financially for all of us, but it seems that is all anyone can think about. Sorrow becomes me, because I can't figure out a way to pull them from the depths of despair to hot cocoa and cookies. I've come out with an idea. That is truly revolutionary, well...at least in my family. The idea...to have a Christmas with no presents. I want to invite our entire family for a meal, coffee, a yule log and some festive music. At this Christmas party the only gift to be exchanged will be Christmas cards, kind words, hugs, kisses and smiles. I'm tired of feeling as though the world has been turned upside down because of gifts. What do you think Masters and Geniuses of Cyberspace? Do you find this idea invigorating and enlivening for the true Christmas season or do you find it a drag?

Tis The Season For Thought...

Have any of you watched the American sitcom Golden Girls? It's what the younger generation refers to as an old show. (Golden Girls: re-runs on daytime and late night TV) Tonight I watched an episode. It really made me think. The episode was about the girls going to a homeless center to look for a lottery ticket. Disturbingly, it really made me think about how much we ignore the needy. IN the USA we think of homelessness as a problem that is at the root of it a personal problem. Our answer is to prescribe 'pull yourself up by your boot straps' or occasional charity. Really, How dare we sleep in our warm houses every night and shrug off helping those who need it. The least we could to is give our time in volunteering or donating money for shelters, medicines, hosing, job training, life enrichment programs. The majority of homeless in the US is Mentally ill and Veterans of the armed forces. How dare we turn our backs on them? During this holiday season...give more than just one glance when you see a chance to help. No matter how small the act, everything counts. A warm blanket, a cup of coffee, a few cents or just a small smile, Give dignity and respect to all. You think your so different, that just in one minute you could be sharing their circumstances. We are all fellow servants on the journey of life.

Little Gems From Mistland

Winter Wonderland! Natural Symmetry? Perfected Asymmetry?
I love these very simple, yet very complex distinct snowflakes. Each one is different, like a fingerprint. How many fingers does Jack Frost have? This is my tribute to an amazing man. Mr. Wilson Bentley. On January 15, 1885, at the age of 19 years,Bentley took the world's first photomicrograph of a snow crystal.
Bentley had an irrevocable love of snow. He wrote:
"they came from that mysterious and then but little known cloud and mistland above, so seldom entered. How unique their place of origin and how strange it seemed, and indeed seems yet, that solid crystals in such immense quantities should form unsupported, up above, within the thin gas we call air, and come to us from on high. What worlds of mystery, truly how much of mystery enshrouded their origin and life history and manner and habits of growth. There seemed to be a delightful and gem-bestrewn realm of nature awaiting exploration and discovery and sure to richly reward the investigator. So I marveled not only at the exquisite loveliness of form and interior of these peerless gems from cloudland, but equally so at their almost universal habit of assuming the hexagonal form and dividing into six. What magic was there in the rule of six that made them conform so rigidly to its laws to divide into six and made these crystals from mistland conform so rigidly to its mandate?"
("Marvel of the Snow Gems" (1910), Technical World Magazine, 13, 24-27. By Wilson A. Bentley)
http://www.bentley.sciencebuff.org/BentleyWritings.htm
Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

Let the Clover and the Harp Ring supreme!

Listen...............................................This is the sound of a deep breath after 3 take home finals. Only one more to go! History 313 at 11 am, Irish History. Let me just pass it! Let luck be on my side.....Let my essays ring passion and mightiness like these words of a forlorn patriot:
"Lend me your ears. So that I might do justice to the patriots and the politicians who gave Eire her freedom. Let the Irish blood split not be in vain, but for future generation to remember her cries. Long Live Eireann...Long Live Peace....Long Live the memories of Micheal Collins and Eammon DeValera"

Prince Charming...?

I've been tagged by a fellow blogger Mr. Stark Files to open up on a what I believe my ideal guy would be...but boy is that like opening a can of worms. I could say he would be tall dark and handsome...but truly that is much more my idea of an ideal chocolate bar. My ideal man really has no physical profile. I am much more the emotional, intellectual type. Appearance always has been and will be of very small consequence to me. I do appreciate someone who dresses for the occasion whatever it might be...and cares about himself. Really that's all that matters in the appearance section...although I use to have a thing for long hair...those adolescent days are behind me....When ever a friend asks me what my ideal guy is I always wonder if their is a recipe? I haven't met him yet, so I don't know. I am attracted to men who care about the actions they do and present to the world. That converse in more than four letter words, that care about what goes on in the world and look in depth at politics, life and the norm. Who questions absolute conformity, but enjoys the striaght and narrow. They must be critical, thoughtful, well read, and love to talk. He has to love to talk....and not about video games, but about what really counts: himself, the world...etc. I don't want a guy that views a relationship out of bed more important than in it. Mostly, I am looking for a man willing to spend his life as my partner, who will involve me in his with goals and dreams as well as care about mine. With a large helping of integrity, humor and true character and a dash of sarcasm.
So if your out there...Look me up!
p.s. Someone who doesn't mind an opinionated female would be helpful.

Honey, you belong in the kitchen with a baby on your hip....

I will not allow double standards, stereotypes, or backward thinking exist in my world any longer. I am sick and tired of being seen as an incapable female. To any man or woman out there who believes women should be mothers and daughters and allow the Patriarchy to rule the world...THE TIME WHEN THAT EXISTED IS OVER...GET OVER IT! I am a woman and I am just as capable as any man. I am sorry for who this might offend, but I can't stand the thought that women are only equal to men part of the time. My Mother and Sister just finished explaining to me how a woman could not be president due to the fact that they are "emotionally unstable" What are they saying? How can they say that? So I am less than a man and can not ever be president, a CEO, a international leader...I will always be subordinate and ruled over by men because women were made different and think with their hearts? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I will not be defined by the fact that I am able to bear children...that fact doesn't change my intelligence, level of stability, logical or critical thinking ability or incapacitate me as a human being. It drives me insane that in the world of today...under my roof...there are intelligent women who are okay with saying they deserve less pay...deserve less respect. HOW?.....I can't go on....I better stop now...PLEASE....Look around and Listen to reason, Women are Equal and not just on paper, I am not less stable than a man, I have the ability to lead, live and think at the same level as any man! Understand, I am not man bashing...I am simply stating that there are several successful woman that lead countries such as The president of Finland, Bhutto from Pakistan, Madeline Albright, Janet Reno, Margaret Thatcher....and many more...they served their countries as well as any man. Women and Men share the same abilities one is not the stronger sex. Men and Women are different nature vs. nurture...but the differences are not so big that it should serve to force a label of "emotionally unstable."

Celebrate!

Celebrate as often and as much as possible. Do so with love, joy, sadness in times that are tough, in times of excess. Do so with a heart overpowering with emotion or with a heart hardened by the daily grind. Many cultures around the world have parties where they give away everything they have such as the Potlatch of numerous Northeastern tribes and Aleutians and Inuit. You give until it hurts and then you give more. I wonder if any body in America would be willing to throw a birthday party and instead of getting gifts they give gifts to their mother, father, friends and family for coming. I say start a new custom...give a reverse party!