There seem to be a “rash” of pregnant teachers on our campus this year–the first of whom was one of our science teachers, Kelly, whose daughter was born in September. Here she models a bunting I knitted and gifted to her. She’s about 5/6 months old and it appears to fit her perfectly.
Tags:
Baby,
baby clothes,
bunting,
knits,
knitwear
Friday the Beans Boys became gender neutral. Brian took them to the vet in the morning and by mid-afternoon they had lost what they never used.
Part of me is sad–since we humans do “play god” when taking away any creatures right to reproduce. HOWEVER, having said that, I will now become a hypocrite by saying that I also feel that some HUMANS should be spayed or neutered since they should not be allowed to reproduce. . . AT ALL! EVER!
Perhaps, if more humans could not “spawn” but more kitties could, we’d live in a much better, if not more furry, world.
Tags:
Beans Boys,
kitties,
neuter,
Simon & Garfunkel,
snip-snip,
veteranarian
Simon practices his kitty gymnastics. He oozed himself off the footstool and onto the floor.
Tags:
antics,
kitty,
Simon
A bit of yogurt gets the boys racing through the apartment. Heard of an army of one? This is an elephant herd. . . of two.
Tags:
cats,
play
Newspaper crinkles; it is dangerous. Therefore, it must die.
Tags:
newspaper,
proverbs,
wisdom
Simon & Garfunkel have finally reunited! But, wait! What’s wrong? They’re fuzzy and orange!
Yes, Simon (left) and Garfunkel (right) became permanent members of the Carlson-Kegel clan on October 30, 2009.
Although we know they cannot replace our lost friend, Silver, nor Brian’s mother, Charlene, these two Fuzz Rockets have the life-energy we need to get through a very rough year.
They passed their health checks, got their shots and were GPS chipped. The only thing remaining is the old “snip-snip” when they get to be about 6 months old. Their birthdays are August 8, so we’ve got a couple months of safety left.
We’ve been training them for a harness and leash, and they’ve adjusted pretty well, although my current health crisis has prevented us from walking them lately.
This blog is dedicated to their antics, stories and the tales (tails?) they tell.
Tags:
cats,
Fuzz Rockets,
kittens,
orange tabby,
Simon & Garfunkel
Christmas prior to Christ is pagan in practice–a regarding of the dead time of the seasonal cycle and a rejoicing in the hope that comes with Spring. Many Christmas symbols and icons are pagan historically–the yule log, Christmas tree, even stockings. Christ himself is just a re-cycling of The Green Man, The Son, Osiris, Zeus, Dyaus and so on. Nothing is new under the sun. Problems arise when people reject any notion of history within their own faith. Acknowledging a history BEFORE Christianity seems forbidden to most on the Religious Right, and even those on the more liberal-leaning left. Why not embrace the facts of history and incorporate them openly instead of attempting to revise and re-create history to suit a set of power-hungry needs?
I find the entire “War on Christmas” debate asinine. It presumes some kind of “purity” within the Christian religion as if it sprung up as is without its often violent and bloody history and its grabbing at political power by any means available–even subverting pagan symbols in order to make converts.
With a little effort much of this historical information and more can be found in any library or even on-line (although sometimes credibility of sources is an issue). Even the Catholic Church acknowledges much of its pagan “borrowing” during the early years of Christian evolution.
Seems to me, the people who should be the most “offended” are pagans, since it’s their symbols which have been co-opted by the Christians.
All this aside, perhaps the true culprit in this “war on Christmas” isn’t the easy-to-blame face of the “liberal left”, but the corporations, advertisers and media conglomerates that profit immensely from holiday consumer-frenzies. There are certainly just as many Christians who line up at Volde-Mart to get their new big screen plasma TV for the holidays as there are non-Christians, and I know from experience, there are just as many Christians who throw “goodwill toward men” out the window as soon as they are behind the wheel of their SUV at the Costco parking lot.
So, rather than criticizing the motes in everyone else’s eyes, perhaps these people should remove the logs from their own. It isn’t whether or not one can erect a creche on public land that makes one a good Christian–it’s whether or not one can follow the meaning of Christ’s message, and nothing in this debate illustrates brotherly love toward anyone–so much for the “golden rule”.
Unless the purpose of Christmas is upheld by those who find it meaningful, fighting over what to label trees, parades, or whether a town can display a Nativity scene is pointless. These are just words–words that have obviously lost their meaning and significance to the religious groups who fight harder to keep the labels than follow the spirit of the holiday’s message.
I caught about 10 minutes of this “reality” show on CMT called “The World’s Strictest Parents“. Curious, I tuned in. Now, I think I can say without much reservation what a primary problem is with our culture and why we are becoming a third-rate, insulate, brat of a nation doomed for a dark age: lack of good parenting.
What became evident in a matter of minutes, if these host families are to be taken at face value, is that honest and conscientious parenting is now considered “strict”, rather than simply parenting.
Here’s the scenario–two unruly siblings, white trash in attitudes and behaviors (smokers at age 14, bad-ass independent streaks), are sent to a fairly well-to-do white upper middle class family. The parents have two children of similar age themselves.
Two guest kids are given simple chores–cleaning their rooms, dusting, vacuuming a hallway–not unreasonable requests, much of what I was expected to do as a teen. Yet, these two brats–since that is what they behaved as–simply glazed over these chores, did a half-assed job of them, and then went out for a smoke. The older sib, a girl, made some comment about not liking to be told what to do, and the boy simply came across as a kid allowed to run amok at home without any real parameters. Of course, the host parents inspected the work and expressed disappointment (“came down on them” in the teen vernacular). The mother smelled the cigarette smoke on the girl and the two parents convened a meeting whereby they confronted the two about the smoking. The girl admitted her guilt, but the boy lied. When they had the boy empty his pockets to find additional cigarettes, a lighter was also found, which he refused to give up at their request.
The parents then searched the kids’ rooms and found additional cigarettes. Of course, both kids were belligerent about the situation–the boy refused to give up the lighter even if it meant sitting on the couch 24 hours. (Would you have taken him out to the shed? I would.)
I don’t know how the rest turned out–there was a cut to commercial and I turned off the TV. But, what I saw was enough to confirm my thought that if these parents are considered “strict” by television’s standards, and if “normal” parents are less so (deductive reasoning: since unruly kids were going to the “stricter” household), then this culture is really on its last legs. Parents need to be parents. This doesn’t mean beating the kids or having them do inappropriate or dangerous tasks. Kids are not ready-made slaves. However, a child should be expected to contribute to the household, just as taxpayers and citizens contribute to the government and culture at large. It’s an every expanding civics lesson, starting at home and reaching out globally. No wonder we are become a nation full of greedy, self-absorbed ignoramuses whose only concerns are that the government not “take away their medicare” but don’t bother them with that “socialized medicine”.
Although I’m not one to profess in a religious up-bringing, by far I think I must have more in common with parents who take an active role in their children’s lives, in whatever positive form, than those who would rather go to the casinos and bars and let the brats tend to themselves. What kind of parents will the white trashies become? The cycle will perpetuate exponentially.
More disconcerting in some ways was the subtext of the show–the unspoken admission or belief that “normal” parents are not strict and that somehow these particular parents are stricter than most. It’s as though real parenting has become something exotic and spectacular rather than common place. Is this show presuming that the majority of parents do not set parameters and restrictions on their growing children? Is this an assumption made by the television creators and producers or is this something so endemic in our cultural mind-set that such assumptions are merely absorbed as “normal”?
Considering this was aired on Country Music Television, one could presume that those in charge of programming will be more conservative in their outlook. Perhaps, they wanted to make a commentary on the “liberal” lifestyle, revealing their own stereotypes about what makes a “good” family and “good” parenting. Yet, be that as it may, they still used the superlative “strictest” in the shows title. Calling the show “Good Parenting”, or “Normal Parents” would have revealed a greater bias. Instead they present these parents as “strictest”, three times more strict than “normal” parents. So, even these programmers and producers must view such parents as outside the norm.
Going to the
website for the show, I do find that there is a degree of self-selection involved in who gets chosen to be the parents. The application inquires whether parents believe they can demonstrate the “right way” to raise teens. Teens are challenged to “live somewhere else” if they believe their own parents are too strict or unreasonable. Yet, the final choice, I imagine, would be up to the shows producers and funders. Of course, they will select those they believe to be “strictest” based on their own understanding of parenting and what they might consider strict. This does leave quite a bit to subjectivity.
Admittedly I viewed only 10 minutes of this show. I doubt I’ll view any more of it since “reality” shows often lack much realism simply because the camera changes everything. Like the anthropologist in the field, the natives’ behaviors will necessarily be altered by the presence of the anomaly. In this case, the camera and crew. Of course, this would indicate that perhaps much of what I viewed in 10 minutes lacked any credibility whatsoever. Yet, by simply presenting this as somehow indicative of “strictest” parenting, the program creates a “standard” whereby viewers can gauge their own abilities to parent. Even if this show is complete fictitious, because it is “sold” as reality-based, those who view it will receive a certain amount of subliminal comparative messaging. The show depicts a subjective expectation regarding parenting, whether true or false, that leans toward an assumption that parents are typically un-/less involved with their children as compared to the “strictest” parents who are “overly” involved (by this standard). Again, we end up with real parenting relegated to the exotic and strange rather to the norm. And, it seems to set up a situation in which would-be parents may feel compelled to judge themselves based on what they could interpret as “too strict” or “harsh”.
Why not just have a show on parenting and save everyone the confusion? Oh, yeah. Not exciting or dramatic enough.
So, I had this dream today which referenced another dream I had forgotten in which I was a child with a sister (younger) and we were hunted by two groups of people, neither looking out for our best interest, but one definitely worse than the other. The worst of the two was headed by a man who had shadowy features, someone I’ve not been clear on, and who had “minions” who wanted to harm us, if not outright kill us. The second group was more of an organization, a corporation or government–”officials”–who wanted me in particular to “walk in the dreams” of the former man and discover what he was plotting. Somehow, various dreams I’ve had previously merged since I was dreaming not only the first dream, which was me as I am attempting to wake up for class this morning, but me remembering a dream I had forgotten involving these two groups AND THEN the vision/dream that I walked into of this man.
Crazy. The odd part has yet to come.
So, somehow, I am recalling the second layer dream–of me as a child with a younger sister–and that somehow I walk other people’s dreams and she somehow facilitates this. I am trying to recall a vision of this shadowman which will somehow enable me to know how to “defeat” or thwart his plans. He is in a church-like area–with a semi-circular dias with short columns fencing it off. Atop these columns are holders, brass perhaps, shaped like open crowns. Each holder is about 9 inches in diameter and holds an particularly shaped object made of silver, gold or some other fine metal–filigree surrounding a highly polished stone of some sort. In my dream-walk, I am seeing though his eyes and somehow know that whatever he picks up will be then placed in it’s “proper” location, and that somehow the word(s) he utters will be connected with this action. He/I pick up a silver hexagonal shaped silver artifact, somewhat flattened so as not to be perfectly 3-D. It is filigree on the inside holding up a inch-diameter or so sapphire-blue spherical stone, highly polished and glowing. He/I speak the word “Raptu” and he starts to turn toward the back as if to go to where this artifact should be placed for something to occur.
I never get there completely since I wake up.
Now, this is the first time that I’ve dreamt a word that I can remember upon waking and I was curious about it. So going on-line I first did a Google search on “raaptu” and “raptu”. Turns out that “rapture” was the word Google suggested, which was something I thought also. I ran across the word in various odd forms, but landed on the Latin classic
De Raptu Prosperpinae by Claudian. Knowing enough about classical mythology, I deduced that “raptu” must have something to do with “rape”. I finally found several Latin-English dictionaries that define “raptu” as the following: “seize, thief, ravish, rape”. Interestingly, the word “rapture” is etymologically derived from “raptu”, since it is “to seize”.
Considering the context of the dream, it would seem to me that the “rapture”, if I might posit an interpretation, may not be the great who-ha the Christian community would like to believe it is. Considering that the root of “rapture” is “to seize” with the undertone of “rape” and “ravish”, it would seem to me that this “RAPTURE” is not meant to be very pleasant–if indeed it is to occur in a literal manner. One is being “seized” out of a twisted desire, not for one’s own good–for salvation.
Another thought I’ve had associates this “raptu” with “seize” in a forceful manner, or to perhaps to “be seized” by something. Lately, with these right-wing nutzos going off at congressional townhalls, and with the hate-filled speeches coming from the right punditry (all the accusations of Obama as Hitler crap), I wonder whether this “raptu” might signify that such individuals are “seized” by their own hatred or anger. They have, in essence, become possessed by their fears and bigotry to a point that they can no longer contain the illusion of self-control. The question remains, who is this shadow-man who incites them? My first thought was Samael, aka, Ialdabaoth, aka, Yahweh–the twisted Archon progeny of Sophia from the Gnostic creation mythos. But, who embodies such a creature? One who wishes to enslaved the world? (Dick Cheney does come to mind, but even he is too much in the limelight.)
Whatever it might be, I’m curious and intrigued at several features of my evolving dreams:
- I’m dreaming layers–recalling dreams previously forgotten within other dreams which seem to jog my memory within another dream
- I am able to access or walk within other “people’s” dreams, perhaps a remote viewing of sorts, and merge with them to discover their thoughts, words, actions
- I am now able to recite and remember spoken words, to the point in which I awaken. I have read words in dreams before, but only now have I recalled even one such word accessed through the dream-state
I am more convinced than ever that dreams are not just some random replay of the days events, or even deep-seated emotions surfacing (although in many cases they could be). These kinds of dreams feel much different, must more vivid, conscious and real–sometimes more so than physical “reality”. I’m forming the opinion that such types of dreams may be, in fact, either higher states of awareness/consciousness which are translated into terms I can “comprehend” in my physical state, or that perhaps, they are actual visitations to alternate “universes” or “dimensions”. Einstein himself suggested that there could be an infinite number of universes and dimensions, which means one cannot dismiss that we haven’t begun to scratch the surface of accessing them (if we actually acknowledge them). Life is much to complex to simply rely on the lowest form of physicality to pursue its evolutionary call.
More on this as it happens.
Tags:
dreams,
dreams within dreams,
raptu,
rapture,
seize,
shadowman,
visions
This doe was one of several out in the field on Rosario property. We saw a herd of them daily as they fed on the clover and would literally take food from people’s hands. This particular doe might have thought Brian’s tripod a tasty morsel. Or, perhaps, she wanted to take up a bit of photography of her own.
I have always found fascinating the “lost” evidences of human invention left out in nature as both a sign of our passing, and that Nature, left to Her devices, will eventually reclaim all humanity claims pride for.
This particular delivery truck was at one end of a rather large garden, fenced off and left. By the looks of it, I am doubtful the beast can run. It will likely remain there for eternity, as so much of humanity’s trash does.
There seem to be a “rash” of pregnant teachers on our campus this year–the first of whom was one of our science teachers, Kelly, whose daughter was born in September. Here she models a bunting I knitted and gifted to her. She’s about 5/6 months old and it appears to fit her perfectly.
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