Harvest Cat

It seems the Apocalypse has occurred. According to my system, out of the normally 23 networks available in my space none are available. None? Really! Well how the bloody hell is Pandora still playing?

Big dude, white cover-alls, gas mask… kind of sexy in a Mad Max kind of way or street art demo or impending apocalypse.  Random I know but not something you see every day. I carry my camera at all times (almost) and the time I have not got it great photo shoots present themselves. So…. Murphy!!!!

When I was in living in Cali there were drivers, tourists and the other people. The other people have made their way east and are now in Texas. How can I tell? Their driving skills or lack thereof; they are neither defensive driving nor offensive driving but more of a timid terror yet I have every right to be here and I have diplomatic immunity careless approach to others in vehicles around them. Son-in-law Chris, you know what I speak of, you have photographed such drivers while in Cali. Yes, I do realize they could just be new to driving and are still a bit insecure. My suggestion to these people; if in doubt pull off the road do not drive 3 miles per hour while you figure it out and then make a right turn from the far left lane while someone has changed lanes behind you to pass you so they can do the posted speed limit of 30. This being said I have been in their shoes in Ciudad Acuña where alto does not really mean stop it means dodge the children with their gum, the 4 nuns, the horchata cart and the donkey to get to the cantina. Nobody but Americans stop at the alto signs in Mexico, and once you do stop you will be there a long while because nobody else stops.

After being perplexed I got down to figuring out what happened to the Butterfly and why I had no networks. We shall call it F2 challenges. Resolved.

So, did Keller Dover get rescued from the cavernous hole in the ground or did he bleed to death right there 15 feet from Detective Loki? How far away did the crazy aunt drive his truck that the police never saw it? Did they find it the next day? My brain played with the ending for hours.

Black Cats and Halloween. In Latvia the god of Harvest, Rungis embodies a black cat. It is said that finding a black cat in your barn means you will have a prosperous harvest. To the farm folk in this country black cats are good luck .

In Scotland a strange black cat on your porch brings prosperity.

One popular tale from British feline lore illustrates the thinking of the day. In Lincolnshire in the 1560s, a father and his son were frightened one moonless night when a small creature darted across their path into a crawl space. Hurling stones into the opening, they saw an injured black cat scurry out and limp into the adjacent home of a woman suspected by the town of being a witch. Next day, the father and son encountered the woman on the street. Her face was bruised, her arm bandaged. And she now walked with a limp. From that day on in Lincolnshire, all black cats were suspected of being witches in night disguise. The lore persisted. The notion of witches transforming themselves into black cats in order to prowl streets unobserved became a central belief in America during the Salem witch hunts. Thus, an animal once looked on with approbation became a creature dreaded and despised.

”One cannot catch a black cat in a dark room.” Chinese proverb

Hallowmas

Dear fellow ghost hunter,

You are looking for information on a white man aged 62 named Robert Griggs who died in 1850. Adding a fact sheet from an 1870 census listing Robert Griggs as a 34 year black man is …uh….. not helpful. Did you even look at the census before you threw it up there? Have you ever read one of the census reports? They are very interesting not to mention enlightening. Try it!!

I find odd names at times hunting these ghosts and I just came upon King James born in 1797. James James. The husband of my 3^rd great aunt is Jesse James, no, different Jesse, calm down, Commodore Baker and his daughter Missouri Bell Baker. Here is one that is in my family Glorvina. Glorvina O’Dowd is a character in William Makepeace Thackeray book Vanity Fair which was written in 1847.

 My first Glorvina was born in 1836. Yes, I said first there is another one in 1870. There could be more I have not tracked down every 4cousin 2x removed yet.  It originates from Latin the word for Glory.  I could have been Agnes Glorvina people; sounds very Victorian, as if I could have been a character in a Jane Austin novel.

All Hallows Eve is about here! I will explain it simply. November 1^st is All Saints Day or as it is also known All Hallows; the day all Saints are celebrated, those that are known such as St. Catherine and those least known such as St. Leonard. According to some Christian religions every Christian is a Saint so the day is for celebrating all people. All Saints Day is actually day 2 of Hallowmas. It is a National Holiday in most countries where the population is mostly Catholic. November 1^st as a date to celebrate Saints has been in use since the days of Charlemagne (742 -814 AD).  

Hallow -  To respect or honor greatly; revere. So just as Christmas Eve is the evening before Christmas, Hallows Eve, Halloween is the evening before All Hallows Day. This is day 1 of Hallowmas.

It is believed that the veil that separates this life from the afterlife is very fine and thin and on Halloween the spirits of the departed may slip through into this world. To keep these wandering souls from re-entering a body masks and costumes are worn to confuse the spirits and disguise the families. 

In Portugal children go door to door and beg for treats which usually consist of tiny cakes, nuts and pomegranates.

Day 3 of Hallowmas is known as all Souls Day. It is to celebrate those who have been called home by GOD. It is a day for remembering the dead and flowers and candles are left at gravesites. 

This day has been celebrated since the 13^th century. In some countries a tradition known as Souling is popular. Children and the poor will go to the homes of the wealthy and beg for food. These children were expected and a tradition has grown from it where a treat known as Soulcakes are baked and given to the children as well as money, fruit and other treats. Ale is given to adults who accompany the children.  They often chant this rhyme, "A Soul-cake, a soul-cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake." In exchange for the treats the children and adults would say a prayer for the departed of the household. The Soulcakes were often called Souls and eating one release a soul from purgatory.

Processionals are often formed in graveyards along with a priest who will bless the grave-sites as they proceed through the graves.

Now you know it is not just one night of revelry it is a long tradition of 3 days of celebration.

Enjoy!!

Disturbed Corgi

I pushed the call button for the elevator to come down. It arrived and the doors opened, reminding me of the doors inside the Starship Enterprise. I could almost hear the “whoosh” as they swept open, the ping, and hum of the ship as we zipped through space. I was not greeted by a crew member in a red shirt which is usually a good sign. 

No Lieutenant or Captain. No, there inside the elevator stood a retired General and his trusty companion, a dog. Not just any dog, not a Golden or a Labrador. Not a Dachshund or a Beagle. Standing beside the man was a Corgi. Now to me a Corgi looks like a large dog that has had its legs cut off. It appears to be the size of a Lab until it stands up. 

This dog, named Angel looks at me with a wide mouthed smile and a happy gleam in her eyes. I greet her and the gentleman and she is grinning as I say she is beautiful. Then as I am giving a halfhearted attempt to stop myself and failing I ask if someone has stolen her legs and tail. The man laughs, “No they are bred to look like that. She is a Corgi.” Meanwhile the dog, Angel is glaring at me. I swear! Her grin is gone and her happy expression has melted into a hostile one. She is looking at me as if to say “really?? Really?? Peasant you just said that??” I laugh, “She is a cutie”, and Angel is still glaring back at me with hostility. Fortunately the elevator glides to a halt and I get off. Good night! I swear the dog had understood exactly what I had said. It was freaky.

So I am listening to the radio, the DJ is telling the producer and co-DJ  how he was at the gym doing his workout when he sees a guy come in carrying a pizza. They chat on and create several different scenarios for the pizza man. He was a delivery guy. He was going to eat it before he worked out so he had energy. He was going to eat it after his workout as a reward. He was not going to eat it he was just using it as motivation.  He brought it to distract the other gym-rats so he could get on the machines and not have to wait. There were several other ideas all a bit creative but they all focused on the guy being selfish. The pizza was for him, about him, involved him. My first thought was the guy brought in the pizza for the employees. Maybe it was a staff member’s birthday and they were having a birthday lunch. Maybe they reached 500 fans on facebook and were having a celebration.  

While it was entertaining, it disturbed me. Why did 2 other people not think about it being something good and positive?  Why could the guy not have brought it to share?  Do I live in some fantasyland bubble of kindness where people really do love others more than themselves? 

I am off to solicit sponsor-ships for the Gala. Wish me luck! Do any of you wish to sponsor the duet from the San Antonio Symphony who will be playing throughout dinner? Or perhaps the lounge area for those not wanting to play in the casino area?

Call me Nessie

Ok....... I am pretty sure if I were a ghost from 1702 who had lived my life in Wunderfelf Estonia that I could not understand you ghost hunters and you speaking English to me. A ghost from 1691 Norway is not going to come over to you and speak into your EMV or EMP or EMF device just because you ask. Also just a guess but if you gave them a choice such as two taps for no and one for yes you might be able to communicate. You ask in the same breath are you here? Do you want me to go? Here is an idea. 

The ghost of a person from 1711 who does not speak English probably is not going to answer in English, so that voice recording you got that you believe says “get out” probably is a German word more like “Geetut” and is their name; which is the answer to the question you asked 4 seconds ago, if they could in fact understand English. But then your show is not geared toward me is it?  That being said I am enjoying it because of the history you provide about each location. I will have to get over the insults to my intelligence. Unless, I am wrong and the dead attend classes in which they are taught to speak English. You guys are very entertaining and I like each of you. Good pick on the varied personalities. Too bad the show was cancelled.

The light bulb in the lamp on the table beside me was making this terrible high pitched screaming sound and just as I reached up to turn it off it popped and went out. I am awake now and my heart is lying on the floor beating very fast. Hahaha

I am supposed to be at a clients at 10 this morning but at the same time a girlfriend is having a grand re-opening of her business after a month of remodeling. How to be in two places at once… mmmm. I can do this, they are 12 miles apart. Challenge!

After a weekend of ghost hunting I worked my way down from my 7^th great grandfather Samuel Given who was born in 1693 in Antrim Ireland. 

Some legend says that due to religious persecution the Givens family relocated to Ireland from Scotland. However I cannot find the name Given in Scotland. Some claim it was Gibbon prior to the plantation. New place, new name or does Gibbon sound different in Ireland than in Scotland? Some legends claim it is Irish and has been since creation. All I can say is try looking up Given Surname…hahah   He arrived with his wife and 9 children in 1738 in America. Following the children and brothers I have discovered that the men of the family were very involved in Virginia legislature and a fair number were constables, as well as involved in the militia. Agnes I discovered is a family name. I feel very fortunate I have not had to grow up being called Aggie or Nessie.

Can you just hear all through my childhood being called Nessie and being compared to the Loch Ness monster forever? Are you it? Are you related? Is your mother a monster too? Oh yeah… good times!

Must go water the plants on the porch.

Cheers

Tapestry and Truth

Can you guess what facebook post might be mine?

·        * OSU what is wrong with you? Slam those Iowa Wakcos!!

·       *  Can you believe Senator Duh from Dumbasskiss said that?

·      *   I ate spinach Ponchatrain a la toast with Chestnuts so good!!

·        * My elf name is? Sparkle Twinkle Bum

·        * Look my cat is sleeping in a chair!

These are actually 5 very different types of friends I have on facebook. How do I have such diversity?  I would think that I would surround myself with people more like me.  People who held onto similar values, moral ethics, taste in food, music, people with the same sense of fun.  I cherish each of them. They are a quilt, unlike the ones my grandmothers and aunts made. This quilt is made of a variety of texture. Some are good old homespun cotton, but others pieces of this quilt are flannel, burlap, wool, silk, linen, velvet, lace and leather, each gleaming in their own colors.  I like to say my life is a tapestry but on the other side, of what everyone sees, the side where the threads are all a mass of chaos from the weaving of a story, maybe, what is there is actually the quilt.

My mother, GOD love her, blurted out to a man who was paying me a load of compliments including, “she is above all of these things smart.”  Of course she is smart, she is more than smart, she is a genius, I know because I know her IQ my mother says.  Then after he says he wishes all volunteers were as giving. Yeah mother says, she needs to stop and get a job that pays her. Really mom!!! You do not even know this man. The look on his face was shock at her harsh words. Mine look was probably why did I ask her to come with me?  Later as we drive home she wants to know how I know this man.  MOM!!!! I paid him $40 to tell you I was wonderful!! He had explained where he knew me from.  Arghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would have sworn she was drunk, or medicated, but I was too busy laughing at it all.  People will believe my “quirky” personality is inherited. Uh… NO I was the free one on a buy one get one free deal that occurred when my parents decided they wanted to adopt a bouncing baby boy.  TRUTH!!!

5:13am

Gucci, the poodle that lives at my flat with me is insane. Or he has some sort of eating disorder. He goes to his bowl takes a single nugget of kibble travels about 4 feet from his bowl and either eats it or not. He then goes back over and takes another piece which he hauls off and either eats or does not. I fed him a wee bit ago and now there are at least 30 bits of kibble scattered over a 5x5 foot area of my living room. What the bloody hell is he doing? I removed his bowl so now if he gets hungry he will have to eat from his unwanted selection of food.  Weird!!

Caramel Pumpkin Pie coffee; not bad, but not my favorite which is still Moon Pie, however I have bought every last bag and there is no more, at the store or in my house. It is now just a memory.

Cats woke me this morning. I could hear the garbage trucks hitting every dumpster in a 5 block radius. I believed it was after 6 it was 5:13 when I looked at the clock after turning on some lovely mood enhancing Baroque music, brushing and flossing my teeth, lifting the blinds at the French doors so the cats can ponder the universe. 5:13 and I had my sweats, hiking sandals and hoogie on and was ready for a hike. This meant I had been up since a wee bit before 5. Were the cats starving? No, I had last fed them at 10 the night before and G-Man ate a few nibbles and then followed me around the house in his casual cat way, as though he were supervising the awakening of the home.

 As I stop to launch Pandora he sits behind me and watched. As I moved into the guest room to lift the blinds there he was sitting behind me; same in my room while I changed. As I opened the door after my hike he was sitting right there staring at me. Now that I am settled here writing he is happily eating. Are all my animals psychotic? I alleviate myself of the psycho male creatures in my life and my animals replace them?

Oh, I can hear that!!! No it is not me who has made them crazy. 

Mine Ebenezer

Some Sundays while I ghost hunt I like to listen to Folk Hymns. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing came on and for some reason this line sticks in my brain…

        Here I raise mine Ebenezer;

        hither by thy help I'm come;

        and I hope, by thy good pleasure,

        safely to arrive at home.

Raise mine Ebenezer? Do you think Robert Robinson,

 the man who penned the words to the hymn was a necromancer and Ebenezer was his father or perhaps his son? The hymn was written in 1757 when he was 22. The words are set to an American folk tune known as Nettleton composed by John Wyeth.

Ebenezer * Eben- Ezer in Hebrew it is Even Ha'Ezer which means …stone of help.  Even Ha'Ezer is a location and it is mentioned in the book of Samuel. It is where a battle took place between Israelites and the Philistines.  The location has vanished and has not been seen in modern times.

 The Israelites carried the Ark of the Covenant into this battle in the hopes that they would win by Divine intervention. They lost this battle and the Ark was captured by the Philistines.

Many months pass by before the Israelites enter into battle again with the Philistines. Samuel offers a sacrifice to GOD and the Philistines are defeated.  Samuel erects a stone memorial which is called Even Ha'Ezer….  Ebenezer.

Makes more sense now.

I walked in my first 5k walk on Saturday. It took a little over an hour. I more or less just strolled through it. Some of the diplomats and me, we met up there to support a fellow diplomat for this her fund raiser. It was great fun and since I did not overstress my ankle I was happy to have been there.

Next projects on my horizon are Live Artz for October, the RMCC Gala, and the RMCC Mixer for October, putting a team together for the Pawgrrrita Pour Off and putting together another Live Artz for November.

I had the opportunity to purchase a $4 chair for my desk last week and failed to do so because it was a bit worn. What was I thinking? It sits in a dark corner under a desk? The only time light hits it is when I may on occasion sit there. However, if I had a chair I may sit there more often.

Well, after a holiday yesterday I am sure my in-boxes on my e-mail services are full. Off to do a bit of work.

Cheers

Hashtag Jethro

I just heard a car drive by and diabolical laughter. The kind that occurs right after the bad guy has done something he knows will be discovered and disturb it’s intended victim. Yeah, not good.

Goblin and Gucci at first, had this peaceful détente and over the last few days it has escalated from Goblin just growling anytime Gucci gets near to now, Gucci just stares at Goblin and if G looks at him Gucci growls and moves toward G. Gucci even will spring toward G and growl. G then hisses and howls. This is all indicating that Gucci is trying to move up the animal hierarchy chain. He was on the bottom. 

He passed right over Scarlet with no incident. Now just G stands in his way to being second in command.  Gucci takes up a position right beside me and then challenges G to come near. That is when the aggression starts. If G is on the back of the couch with me sitting there Gucci is very fussy and paces. BOYS!!!! G is not going to back down from his position and I do not think Gucci will stop attempting and nothing I say to either of them will change things. Such is the climate of my little kingdom. It is good to be queen when the animals are all asleep.

I am reading Affliction, an Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novel. Now, Anita is a Necromancer and is usually chasing Vampires and lycanthropes but in this novel she is chasing around zombies. 

What is this fascination in zombies? Zombie movies, zombie TV, zombie novels, zombies for Halloween, I do not get it. I have always been a vampire fan, since I was 12 or so. I even wrote a vampire story in the 8^th grade. I get the attraction to vampire, but I do not get zombie.

My mother is 81. The other night while at her house we were watching Dancing with the Stars when the Willem Defoe, Mercedes commercial comes on and she mutes it so we can talk. Then right in the middle of our chat she says “That was Usher!” What?  “In the commercial that was Usher”. So we keep watching and it airs again. This time she leaves the volume up and sure enough there is Usher in the commercial. Again, my mother is 81, how did she recognize Usher in the 2.6 seconds he appears? Is my mother an Usher groupie? If I said; “Hey mom! I have tickets to see Usher, want to go?” would she say yes?

Mother invited me back tonight because NCIS is going to be on and she has a huge crush on Jethro and she wants to see what happens to DiNozzo now that Ziva is gone. But the most important reason she wants me to spend the evening with her is because of the hashtag.

 Jethro does not know what it is and it will be explained. I explained but she wants to be with Jethro when it gets explained. It is kind of cute watching your mom watch her crush on TV. I remember my dad was crushing on Wonder Woman TV show in the 70s. I thought it was rude. But a widow crushing on Jethro… that is cute! She used to crush on Horatio but then Jethro appeared on a new show and she dropped Horatio like 3 period Spanish.

I have stuff happening today so I must move on…. Enjoy!

Tomato Dream

Good Morning

 I have always had a hard time understanding how someone could sit down and play video games for hours, as in “where did the past 6 hours go?”  Saturday evening I decided to unwind and play a game. I download free trial games from yahoo. You get to play for an hour; there is no fee, no commitment, and no need to win or beat the game. It is just for fun and it is relaxing. So I picked one and downloaded it, but not without some glitches during the process.  I thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of the evening and clicked the start box. 

The game had trouble starting but I persisted. At last I was saving the world from a dark force and re-aligning the seasons or something.  I played and played and it got darker and darker outside. Still the game stayed live so still I continued to save the small world from darkness.  I came to realize that I must have been playing for quite some time but now that I was allowed to play for free I would keep playing until the system errored and shut down.  When I finally became so tired that I had to repeat levels I stopped. It was a little after 3 in the morning. Can you imagine my shock? It was a Twilight Zone moment.  I just did not waste hours in mindless pursuit of Air Knights and Gryphons! 

Today is going to be one of those hit the ground running days. I have to take my car in to have the back-up sensors replaced, confirm all loose ends are tied up for a client’s luncheon tomorrow, Social Media my other 5 clients’, spend 51/2 hours in another client’s office, drive to San Marcos and back, have dinner and spend time with my mother.

I finally bought a vacuum cleaner designed for homes with pets. It worked wonderfully and then not. This is the third one in a year. What the bloody hell is wrong with this flat that it kills vacuum cleaners? My mother had the same vacuum for over 20 years and it never once failed to work.  I am T the Great Vacuum Destroyer!!

I was sleeping soundly and dreaming that I was at a job interview and had brought with me tomatoes when I heard seagulls and the ocean and violins. My alarm, I never got to eat them but, they are a happy omen and symbolize coming success and contentment. The woman granting the interview thought they were for her and refused them as she pulled out a sandwich and ate it.  I was relieved because I wanted them. They were in a parfait style of to-go cup and chopped into bite-size pieces and cold.  Now that I think about it, the woman was prissy, dismissive, obviously did not want to conduct an interview and seemed resentful. She was wearing a nondescript dark grey suit with a darker grey blouse all of which had no frills or embellishment. She represents “marking time”, a period of nothing, waiting, something to keep me from or occupied until it is time to eat the tomatoes. Something I have to get through first. This is a premonition dream. Interesting.

Have an amazing day!

Irish Exit Strategy

Once upon a time I was at a trade show with some co-workers when out of the blue one of them turned to me and in a very hateful voice told me to “shut up”.

 Since we were not having a serious conversation and I do not even recall that I had said anything but was about to this outburst made no sense to me. But once she started she continued to tell me to shut up. That my problem was I did not listen, I just chatted about nothing; I made no sense, no one cared about what I said that I had a long list of problems. (Yeah, my only real problem was that I thought she was a nice person).  First of all she hardly knew me. Second we were talking about ….bloody hell I do not even know but my comment apparently enraged her. 

I retell this because yesterday, another female told me to shut up. We were in a meeting and I started to share my thoughts and bam “you need to shut up we will do this” or something along those lines. Uhm…. Shut up?? I actually clamped my teeth down onto my lips and bit. My enthusiasm for this project left on the bus to Fresno. The lack of respect I felt she did not have for me became very apparent. She does not know me either.

My mother asked me last night while we were at dinner if I get lonely. My company which I enjoy or mingle with mean spirited muggles. I will take my company. Just for the record, the only person that should probably tell me to shut up is Mary because I jabber to her all day.

I came in from my morning hike and locked the door behind me. Fed Gucci, made my tea and scone, did some follow up on a project. Later I got up to go outside to water the plants on the porch when the security lock on my door just spun around clockwise without releasing the bolt. I spun it around the other direction and still the bolt did not release. 

Neither would the door open. I was trapped in my own house. As I was formulating an egress plan the thought occurred to me that what if someone had manipulated it to break and intended to entrap me. I picked up Ivan my trusty weapon and went through my house like a well-trained TV cop. 

There was no one hiding in any of the closets, or showers or under the beds. Gucci followed me from room to room snooping around wherever I looked. When we had cleared the flat he looked up at me as if to say “well that was fun what next, a car chase?” As I realized I now had to add 15 minutes to my exit strategy I rethought the skirt I would wear because now I was going to be crawling out of a window to get out of my house. I opened the window, lifted out the screen and set my packpack, purse and dog crate out on the porch. Lifted Gucci out and as I was about to crawl through Gucci spied two burglars (at least Gucci thought so) getting into their vehicle.

 He took off after them barking and growling and snapping. The woman screamed, the man kicked at him, I was yelling his name and he was running back toward to me as the man kicked and Gucci turned and went after him. I yelled again and Gucci came running. My desire to sneak out of the house through a window that I was going to have to leave unlocked yet closed was busted. These people were directly in front of the window and if they had been paying attention would have seen me crawl out the window.  Damn!! I leash Gucci to the front door handle, carry all my stuff to the car and as I turn around to come back to shut the window my friendly neighborhood maintenance guy drives by and asks me how I am doing. Well… I go on to explain the door challenge and he crawls in my window takes the lock apart, opens the front door and then crawls back out of the window. I am speechless. He grins and shrugs as he says “you must exit a building the same way you enter.” Is this a superstition I wonder? Like shoes on the bed and black cats crossing the path or my favorite the person who unsheathes the blade must sheath it.

Found it. It is an Irish tradition. According to this old Irish tradition the entrance and exit have to be the same door, otherwise you’ll have bad luck. Never leave a house by a different door from that by which you entered it; it is "carrying away the good luck of the place."

I have to get busy. I have a meeting and I left my phone at mother’s house last night and I need to retrieve it.

Enjoy