Soon, though, Very Soon!

Still quite a lot of work to do yet, but compare it to this earlier in the spring…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfCkbe…
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcYXCk…

I have a deep-rooted Dread (yes, with a capital D) regarding society today that I have tried to keep under wraps and dismissed as over-dramatic conspiracy-theory-ish folly.  Then again, I also think that dismissing such things is what got us to this point to begin with.   Thus, the unbalanced mood lately, and inability to focus on the details of things.

Recently, however, I found myself feeling altogether different about the whole topic of the Deepwater Oil disaster.

I was sitting outside last night, trying to visualize my opening ‘circle’ and was struck by a profoundly angry sky.  Physically, it was overcast and warm; a wonderful summery evening to sit outside.

Metaphorically (Etherically? Astrally?  Mentally?  I’m not really shamanic in my practices), it was an oppressive weight crushing me to the grass.   I cried.  Real little-kid-upset tears, at being berated so sternly by the Sky.  I was an ant, helpless and afraid, and scraping my meager scraps of glucose from the blades of grass and gathering dew while dreaming of building a fortress in the sandbox.   It hurt my heart, and cut my spirit.   The oil, it flows, and there’s nothing I could do about it, except be blamed for everything I did to cause it.  I was at fault.  Knowing even a single human being, made it my fault.

Honestly, it was scary as all heck, and something I’d prefer not to repeat again.  If that’s shamanic work, I’m not wont to continue it.  Yet, I think I should.

I should, because after being left feeling raped and shattered, I picked up the shards of Me and went back inside to get a drink of orange juice.  I needed something cold and soothing.   I began to feel Lighter then, and a strange sort of hopeful and bittersweet about the whole situation.

Like lancing a boil to drain the fluid before it infects the surrounding tissue, I felt relief, but not closure.

I’m left today at work with a sense that while there is nothing I can immediately do to affect the oil spill, I should continue to apply energies to the healing of the land.  It’s nature responding to humanity’s greed, and rather than fight upstream against the flow, I need to merely turn into the current and help steer away from the rocks below.

It sounds totally depressing to try typing into words, but I can’t help but feel better that it happened somehow.  Fish will die, coastlines will need cleaning, and a terrible tragedy has been unleashed.  I do not deny this.   I feel bad not feeling worse that it happened, though.

The cynic in me thinks maybe this waste of oil will speed along the endgame, so that it’s not quite as deep a trough we are sliding into? The optimist in me feels conflicted with the caring/feeling person in me that maybe lots of stuff dying will help more stuff stay alive?   (Hiroshima stopped the war, after all)

I’m not sure what I think.   It is almost a sort of Ennui, but more cynical, and resigned at Fate.

But I think a bit differently today than I have been.

Bear with things… it’s a weird river I’m rolling on…

In the course of these events, we cleared out a small cement ‘pit’ approxinately 2 feet deep and 4×5 feet, which is within a few feet of the well. Our guess is this is a trough of some sort from when the well had a hand-pump. Our plan is to use it to grow worms or other compostable critters, since is is moderately self-containing.

As we cleaned out the decades of trash from this pit (which had bits of pipe, broken bottles, barbed wire fragments, and lots of rooty weeds) the kid decided to do a bit of archeology himself with the last few bits of stuff found at the bottom amongst the dirt. Since this past Monday, he has been actively pondering these artifacts and asking the grandparents, his teacher, and random strangers what these clues add up to.

There are NO wrong answers here. (I’ll post the best theories he came up with later this week, and unfortunately, our camera is broke, so no photographic evidence. you’ll have to settle for MS Paint!)

Can you solve the mystery, using these clues?!

Clues:
1) A small glass ‘tiger claw’, (actually: shard of broken window glass) approximately 1 inch in length.

2) One strangely shaped bone, approximately 4.5 inches long (broken scapula? Skull fragment?)

3) A small dark blue, 2-hole button (such as on a shirt)

4) A small length of chain, with fat 1/2 inch links, un-rusted, approx a foot long found buried in the dirt.

5) A very rusty fork, with four straight tines and a simple pattern.  (cheap flatware)  One of the middle tines has 1/4 inch missing from the end.

6) A handful of sandy dirt.

Granted, I couldn’t wear it randomly at my workplace, and the sorts of places I would wear this, makes it seem rather redundant (since I’d wear it at festivals where folks ARE dancing naked in the forests)

Ugh, still recovering from cookie binges,but there are post in-draft form (yep, another teaser post!) about Life The Universe, and Everything.

Also, and Another Thing… speaking of 42, am reading a much happier book currently than my last literary adventure where the world as we knew it died.

*cough* Ahem, back to work…
See you all probably next year!

Nettle tagged me for this:
What religions do you find most interesting apart from your own? Would you pick one of the major world religions? Say Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism or Judaism? Or would you pick something more obscure, like Wicca or Taosim or Rastafarianism or Gnosticism? Would you pick irreligion, say Atheism or Agnosticism? Or if you’re not Christian, would you say Christianity?

To participate, state your own religion (or irreligion) as your first preference, state the other religions that interest you most as your second and third preferences, then pass onto five others. If you’re feeling brave, say why they interest you.

My answers to follow.

I figured I’d post a cliff-hanger to help keep readers coming back since I also have been horridly net-dark lately. This has been a good thing. Stuff got Done(tm).

While I recover and re-focus, here’s some holiday song lyrics to put you in the mood.    Not sure if it’s the mood youwant, after trying to say them out loud, but take it for what it’s worth. 

Oer yw’r gwr sy’n methu caru,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Hen fynyddoedd annwyl Cymru,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Iddo ef a’u câr gynhesaf
Ffa la la la la la la,
Gwyia llawen flwyddyn nesaf,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.

2. I’r helbulus oer yw’r biliau,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Sydd yn dyfod yn y gwyliau,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Gwrando bregeth mewn un pennill,
Ffa la la la la la la.
Byth na waria fwy na’th ennill,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.

3. Oer yw’r eira ar Eryri,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Er fod gwrthban gwlanen arni,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.
Oer yw’r bobol na ofalan’,
Ffa la la la la la la.
Gwrdd â’i gilydd ar Nos Galan,
Ffa la la la la, la la la la.

Nothing – seriously people, there’s not a whole lot of stuff I really NEED right now.   And we are trying to reduce the amount of stuff we have cluttering up the house already.    But if you insist on something beyond a holiday card (which is more than enough), here are some suggestions….

Card game “Set”
http://www.setgame.com/set/index.html

SPORE – PC game   (not the expansion, not the Heroes combat game, just plain old SPORE)
http://www.spore.com/
http://eastore.ea.com/store/ea/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/ThemeID.1252400&productID=91619200?intcmp=eaint47

And Another Thing – (Book 6 in the Hitchhiker’s Trilogy)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Another_Thing…_%28novel%29
http://www.6of3.com/

Dinner and a movie.   Preferably something awesome like Sushi.   or Tai.

Nothing.

Febreeze Flameless Luminary (green tea citrus, or any scent really as I plan to re-cycle the shades using essential oils or card-stock that Doug and I paint on for customized awesomeness)
http://www.febreze.com/en_US/producttype/febreze_home_collection_luminary.do
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=220795&catid=63435&aid=337953&aparam=febreze_home_collection_&CAWELAID=360460440

Nothing.

Gift card for Kohls, or other clothing store, since I’m going to need new jeans by spring time. 
Gift cert for heirloom seeds – choose your favorite company.
This way, my family will enjoy your gift all summer long and for potentially years to come!

Nothing.

Did I mention nothing yet?   *grin*

Happy Holidays!!

As a foil to my Mornings suck, musing, here’s a cheery one for you. 

In general, I have long maintained that my perfect “work shift” is 4pm-midnight, with the option to sleep in until around 10:00am.  If left to my own devices in one of those sleep-study caves, this is generally the time-frame Iwould gravitate to with my schedule.   I feel most productive just around dinner time, and early evening.

The quiet of the evening, with darkness settling in like a comfortable blanket of non-light, helping to focus my attentions and remove distractions of daily life.  That is zen to me.   Lamplight or candlelight with the soft glow of a monitor is comforting.

Yet soon, within a month or so, I will be adjusting to a completely different sleep cycle.   I had a taste of it these past two weeks.   4am-noon.  Blech!

I understand, intellectually, the concept of waking with hte sun bringing a promise to a new day, and all that.  I admit I’ve heard the “whole day before you” inspirations.  But I found I still don’t like it.

Mornings are when everything bustles up, revs into gear, and starts moving.  The birds sing, Life Happens, and folks start their day.    With this new shift, those things mean I’m halfway through and get to go home soon.

If I want to spend any time with my family on this new shift, I try to stay awake until dinner time, to join in on board games, book reading, and such.    I’m finding that this also means I get around 5 hours of good sleep, and taking a short nap from 1-3pm just makes me over-tired and washed out during dinner.

So if this blog starts to ramble a bit or sound slightly incoherent in January, blame early mornings.

I plan to. 

I’ll take the sunsets any day. [pun intended]