History - A Story of Life

The other day I watched a program on Armenia .
They always put these programs on, to teach about genocide.
They showed Christmas trees planted by different countries
recognizing that indeed a genocide took place there.

Unlike with Hitler, who made it rather clear what he was doing with and to the Jews,
Armenia warred with the Turks and I am not sure if any Turkish leader stood up to declare that all Armenians in the world, had to be annihilated off the face of the earth.

Turkey, to my knowledge, was not aiming at world control like Hitler was.
Armenians were Christians and lived in Eastern Turkey and Western Russia and they were friends with Russia which disturbed the Turks. So the Turks, wanting an all Muslim country, gathered them up and murdered them.
The young people are being taught by survivors, that it is important to keep your own land and heritage if for nothing else than posterity but then they bring in the word genocide.
Genocide is an ugly word.

When I asked my Dad about the war and where he came from, he said what ever happened to me, has nothing to do with you, You are Canadian. This is your country. So if I was to learn anything, it had to come from other people and history books. After meeting other ethnic kids, and seeing how they shook over subjects dealing with the countries their parents came from, I have to say thanks to my parents. They did not put a stone on my back. Their country, would never be mine. That land, I could never call mine, any more than the people living there, would accept me anyway.To them I am a foreigner and I will never understand what they understand.
I may have a certain heritage but my land, is the one I live in.
This land raised me, fed me,
employed me, took care of me and raised my children. If I had to make a choice as to which land I'd fight for, it would be for my Canada.

Did Kruschev try to genocide his own people in Ukraine by taking all their wheat away leaving them to starve to death? In the papers they wrote it up as Ukrainian Famine.
The end result would have been the same.Kruschev was Ukrainian.

If we are to compare this to the number of Russian men/boys who were sent to fight with basically picks and shovels, against well equipped German troops and were not allowed to be taken prisoner without being called a traitor and killed or sent to Siberia sentenced to hard labor if they went home after the war, one could say Russia was genociding its' own people.

Of course this was not the case. Russia gave orders to her soldiers, to give the last breath to save the Motherland, from the Germans. Saying it this way, put it in a different light.
The Turks might have been given the same order under the threat of spreading Armenian Christianity. Their Quran specifically teaches all non muslims must die. In the end, there can only be one for peace to reign.

Throughout history, whole armies were felled in great battles.
Do we attach genocide to them as well?
This would include a lot of nations, not just Jews and Armenians.

So countries understand the pain in Armenia but there seems to be a bit of a problem to call this what happened in Armenia an actual genocide.It was ugly unacceptable, ruthless and typical behavior to be expected of a Muslim in the face of a Christian. It was A message to all, not to live in their countries unless you are Muslim.

When I watched this program on Armenia, I saw the plaques in front of trees as acts of kindness so people could heal. I still have to question the term Genocide because I don't feel this is a term that should be thrown around.

And it got me to thinking .
What if the so called Quiet Revolution, started by Liberal Jean Lessard and refined by Renee Levesque in Quebec, was overtaken by the English speaking people?

Political books were written claiming the Quebecois were the White Niggers of America, over this French/ English issue, and if the English rounded up all the nationalists, would the Quebecois claim genocide? This is basically what they were saying to the people and to the world, that if we don;t allow them to speak Quebecois, they were a dead group of people.

It never sat well with me, that my French neighbor, who lived the same way I did if not better,
could relate himself to the slavery that took place in US, in Quebec.

If the English fought and won, again, would the Quebecois have disappeared?

"Quebecois" is relatively a new term for French Canadians born in Quebec. If you went any where in the world, you would not find a "Quebecois" in history past 200 years or so, except Quebec. lol

Instead 700,000 English speaking people quietly left Quebec and the tetes carre who stayed, are always invited politely to leave. They are replaced by new French speaking immigrants, who have no idea, that they will be asked to leave next. and so.....the Quiet Revolution. lol

If the Quebecois won and did an ethnic cleansing because they want Quebec for the true Quebecois, not immigrants, what would this be called then?
Would the White Niggers of America be then associated with genociding other ethnic people if they didn't leave Quebec of their own volition?

The Quebecois are different from the French in France. In fact, French people in France, do not call the Quebecois people, French, because of the dialect. Every French teacher from France that we had, always told us what we had in Quebec, was not French lol So why were we learning it to survive in Quebec?
I have to admit, I loved the French language, from France.

We had one beautiful, young French teacher teaching us and one day after Christmas, we heard she went skiing and got into a fatal car accident coming home from the Laurentians. All the kids were devastated. She made learning French fun and we just couldn't believe she ended her life this way, so far away from home.

Of course General De Gaulle would have liked Quebec to separate because of old wounds between France and England and he can surely be blamed for sparking this language trouble in Quebec by coming as a guest and screaming at the top of his lungs : VIVE LE QUEBEC LIBRE!
Rather evil and sly of him . :)

This began a whole new era in Quebec which also was interesting to experience and live through.
We grew and learned a lot about life and people from this social experience.
Every one ignored the Catholic Religion which was the real cause, keeping people down and uneducated.
Even today. I went home to visit my parents, and this woman saw me and walked into their house like it belonged to her, to ask me if I visited Toronto. I was going to call the police because obviously she was deranged and could one day even be dangerous but then I decided not to begin a scandal in My Dad's house. She had no weapons but she could have .
This means, speaking French will never be enough for the Quebecois. You were not a Leduc or Brebuf, or Letourneau. These are Quebec names coming from way back when it all began here in Quebec.

In some ways, this behavior resembles what's going on with Islam today and in the past.

People lay blame on everything and everyone except the real causes that create the effects, ending in war and death and it's funny because land belongs to no one. We buy it but it can be expropriated any time by the country. Land belongs to no one. In fact in Belize where they grow cacao, the people don't want to own land. They want the government to buy it off of them saying we pay taxes and then are told what to do on it.lol I thought, hmmmm.
This person probably never went past grade 6 but speaks quite intelligently.
Why do we pay 1,000,000 dollars for homes today? They are not worth the price. They say we pay for the land. Even if there is no demand they put the prices up. Well, give the land back to Canada and Canada will employ you, to take care of your place of residence.
It's a job right there computers can't do. You pay rent, and the rest of the money is yours to do as you want. Today even waitress jobs are being eliminated. Computers take the orders and you also pay the machine at the table. Servers only serve, clean tables and are now denied a tip since they don't have to socialize with the customer.

This was a summer I spent glued to the radio listening to the Pat Burns Program discussing our Quebec problem with the people of Quebec and boy did it get hot!! No one knew who Pat Burns was because he would have been shot for discussing the French issues in Quebec. He sure did a lot of yelling .

Today, we see French speaking immigrants, who replaced the exiting English speaking people, are living well in Quebec, becoming MP's etc..... and everything looks fine on the surface because Quebec belongs to Canada.

But History has shown that it always pays to be careful and to
BEWARE the Radical element,( unless you have a ruthless dictator).

Radicals do the stepping stone routine. They always have a hidden agenda. They gain power being nice and then to do the other things, people who elect and help them, know nothing about.

Stalin ( killed 7 million and suppressed 50 million). He was a nice guy.
Hitler, Alexander the Great, were also nice guys.
Renee Levesque learned a lot from Nazi Germany, etc..
Nice guy. lol They changed Dorchester Street to Renee Levesque Str.to honor him.

And Islams Quran's teaching is similar to Hitlers' ,
except they want every person converted to Muslim or turned into slaves or worse if they can get away with it according to the Quran. In a way this makes Armenias' Claim valid but it doesn't just stop at Armenians. This was an active act, to aid in eradicating Christians from the face of the earth. Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Athiests , communists etc.....lol
So is this view considered genocide if it applies to religions and not to actual ethnic people themselves?

These are discrepancies no one discusses.

Was the Genocide on Armenians against a "people or against a religion"?
The genocide claimed against the Jews was against the people as a whole by Hitler.
He didn't care if they were blonde with blue eyes or changed their religion. It was Jewish blood and it had to be eliminated off the face of the planet as if they were aliens, who landed here and a full scale war ensued to get them off the planet. No one knew the Slavs were next on his list in his mission to create an Aryan race.

In Quebec they changed the license plates from la belle province to je me souviens.
Hardly amicable to drive a car with such a license plate considering what they are implying with it. It's political and hardly speaks for our province. We have nicer things to remember.

Che Guevera said: Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel.

In Canada, we have no cruel leaders so what do the French Nationals really want?

Right now we can drive from coast to coast without borders.
Canadians are truly blessed.

Will we be left one day, with only memories of this as well?

We are only travelers and land belongs to no one.
Every one should be able to enjoy this planet amicably without hate.

And as for Armenia, the Turks will never admit to the true reasons behind what they did.
They will hide it as they always did behind, not being allowed to discuss Muhhammad and there will always be a question as to if indeed, this was a real genocide that took place there.

Genocide means to do an act of violence to eliminate a group of people. In war, revolutions etc... people die but it's never a genocide. Never total annihilation but then I haven't studied small tribes with religions which may have already been annihilated.

As far as I can see or understand, Hitler did not succeed in his genocide mission either.
He performed horrendous, unspeakable acts on a people, but he did not eliminate the Jews.
Now I will have both Jews and Armenians mad at me lol

I am a person who doesn't like secrets. If you have to keep a secret,then it must be because it's offensive to someone . It's nice to be a free person, to be able to walk tall, be free to make your own decisions about life, discuss your beliefs,dress how you want and not be challenged by things which really do not matter in life.Of course some laws need to exist to keep order and the aim is to always grow to become better , smarter people.
Something to think about .
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I was a very happy man. My wonderful girlfriend and I had been
dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married. There was
only one little thing bothering me...It was her beautiful younger sister.

My prospective sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very tight mini
skirts, and generally was bra-less. She would regularly bend down
when she was near me, and I always got more than a nice view. It had
to be deliberate because she never did it when she was near anyone else.

One day her 'little' sister called and asked me to come over to
check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she
whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she
couldn't overcome. She told me that she wanted me just once before I
got married and committed my life to her sister.

Well, I was in total shock and couldn't say a word.

She said, 'I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want one
last wild fling, just come up and get me.'

I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs.
I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline straight
to the front door. I opened the door, and headed straight towards my car.

Lord... And behold, my entire future family was standing outside,
all clapping!

With tears in his eyes, my father-in-law hugged me and said, 'We are
very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn't ask for
a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family.'

And the moral of this story is: Always keep your condoms in your car.


Have a good one :)

Gone Fishin Ain't Sure for What

It took me a while but I finally learned how to water ski and my Dad would take me on long rides while my Mom watched to make sure I didn't fall.I jumped over waves and even did the one ski ride.
Sometimes the motor would get tangled in weeds and slow down.
I didn't want to fall, so did the worst possible thing a person could do.
I collected the rope until the boat picked up speed again and then slowly dropped it.
This way I didn't have to sink into the water.

I knew better than to collect the rope so it would tangle around me and always made sure to be very careful but when you are not supposed to do something, you shouldn't do it.

One day as I was collecting the rope, the boat jerked the rope out of my hand and my hand tangled in it and I fell.
My Dad immediately stopped the engine but the boat was still coasting.

The rope pulled up and the water pulled me down. I thought my arm was going to be ripped out of my shoulder socket.

Luckily the boat stopped before that happened.

My Dad called out to see if I was ok and being stubborn, not wanting a lecture about rope collecting lol ....I said Ya.Fine! lol

So he revved up the boat and put it in gear again to go.
My arm hurt so badly I couldn't use it so I used my left hand and just pretended to hold the rope with my right to rise up out of the water.lol

Thank fully I did my ride and when my Dad swerved the boat around to shore, I was able to let the rope go and coast in to the wharf on my skiis to sit on it.
If you did things right, you'd leave dry and come in dry. lol

My shoulder hurt a few days and then got better but now I knew not to collect the rope to look like a hero. lol
There is never such a thing as control.

The family loved fishing. So one day my Mom got into the boat with the tackle box and rods. We just put the boat in and forgot to insert the plug under the motor, which we take out to empty any excess water that might be in it. The boat was always cleaned after each use and washed out with clean water and drained once we pull it out onto the trailer.

As my Dad went to get the other stuff, the boat began to sink. My Mom did not know how to swim. Instead of getting out of the boat, she stood there like a true captain, who goes down with the ship. lol
When my Dad saw her, she was already knee deep in the boat at the motor end, holding all her stuff high up in the air.
We laughed at her later and told her what if it was deep? Did you not think you could drown? Her answer was, the thought never crossed her mind.

My Dad said this was the mark of a true sports man. My Mom was extremely happy to know she was a hero for saving the tackle box and fishing rods. lol
Not that they were ever in trouble to begin with.

Not long ago in BC, we had such an incident where the ferry boat was sinking, and the crew jumped off the ship first, leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. lol This is unheard of and truly disgraceful since they know where all the safety equipment is.
Most people escaped but
One older couple was missing and upon investigation, it seems the ship went off course because the crew was high on pot and some apparently having sex , they were not looking where they were going.
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Our family liked to cast and before starting, each took a spot on the boat further away from the other so as to keep it safe.
The hook I had was three pronged, attached to this red and white striped oval metal piece.
These were good to catch pike but other fish liked them as well. They twirled well and shone to attract attention.

I turned to look behind me to make sure it was safe, put the rod back and as I was bringing my arm forward to cast, my Mother decided to stand up.

The hook really caught her good.
One prong went into the crease behind the ear where it attaches to the head and the other sewed the lobe in and out.
My Mom grabbed her ear and I was devastated when I saw what I did.
I thought she was going to be deaf.

My Dad rushed to shore,jumped out of the boat, into the car and in less than a minute they were off to the hospital with this new pierced earring hanging from her ear, leaving me behind with the boat.
With a deep sinking feeling of guilt, I put everything away and went home.
I sat and waited and waited and waited.
They left at 2 pm and now
it was midnight and they were still not back.

With each passing minute I was feeling worse and worse
And then I saw lights coming and they were back.
I ran outside and my Mom said my Dad wanted to stay home in the city but she knew I'd be worried so they came back, after a little rest.
I sighed a sigh of relief.

They had to cut into the crease of the ear to pull that part of the hook out and stitch it but the other side, which sewed up the ear lobe, they just cut off the hooky part to take out.
After her tetanus shot she was allowed to leave.
Needless to say, I lost my taste for fishing after that.
I never went again.

I kept thinking:
What if it had been her eye or if I Ripped her cheek open.She would have been scarred for life.
My Mom had beautiful skin and she always took such good care of herself.

Then I thought about how the fish must feel. Until now, I was sure they had no feelings cause they had no nerve endings but now I wasn't so sure.

I know when we cut off a cat fish head, it didn't stop it from biting nor did it stop the body from jumping on the skillet a full two minutes before it stopped.
We'd give it a stick to bite and it would really clamp down on it.

These fish grow to 8 feet and have been known to grab rabbits, ducks and even kids off the shore.
We have a Nessie in these waters, so who knew what else we had and here we are fishing not knowing really how these creatures feel.

My Dad never said a word but his face said it all.
I guess he didn't want to start talking cause he didn't trust himself to say the right things but I knew he was mad and he already probably got an earful from my Mom telling him it was a mistake.

The next day we talked and I asked her why she got up?
I checked before casting and I was already half way doing it when she got up without looking.

You should check on what other people are doing before getting up in a boat.
At this point, there was no way to stop it from happening.

To this day I still feel bad but she was a good sport and a hero cause she never uttered a word.
There wasn't a peep coming out of her through the whole ordeal.

Again we had a story and something to laugh about later about my Mother. lol
It wasn't funny except for the fact she did something we were taught not to do.

Our car License Bureau says: There is no such thing as an accident.
Hello!.........They've attached new meanings to what an accident is???
An accident is caused by misjudgement. People are human. They make mistakes.
Machines have no brain. They make no judgement decisions at all so they too make mistakes if changes they are not programmed for take place.Machines hiccup as do computers.
In fact if you have a hacker or a person feeding it false info, machines like computers, can create a catastrophe.

There is always a wise guy somewhere trying to play with your brain.
No matter how prepared you are, shit happens.

------------------------Central Station Copenhagen Symphony Orchestra ---------



Have a good one.
:)

Indian Summer.

This was the best picture I could find.

The end of summer - Aug Sept Oct. we celebrate the gathering of the crops.
The colors of the landscape change as everything bursts into the final stages of life
in all its' glory.
All the leaves burn in yellows reds and orange as they fall softly to the ground. You tread on streets covered by a leafy carpet fit for a king.

This is the most beautiful time of the whole year. Indian summer.
In the city I would take my bike and head on out to the back river.
The roads were beautiful as we had maple trees on both sides of the street.
Once the bike was laid against some stones, I would jump from stone to stone searching for a good place to turn over smaller stones under which cray fish hid. The place was full of them.

Once I almost stepped on a black snake that looked like a long piece of wood. Thankfully it slithered away and I was stunned at how quickly it could disappear into a nearby bush. Who said you need legs to walk? lol

Recession lobster

I'd pick up each cray fish to examine how large they were. Some were small and others were a good 3 1/2 inches.

You then had a choice to either follow the river along the Rivieres des Prairies shore line or follow a winding road, Blvd Gouin, to Belmont Park. This was an amusement park Ernest Gaudreau and three shareholders opened up in 1923 full of fun rides, popcorn, cotton candy and the best roller coaster.There was always the smell of fries with lots of salt and vinegar. It smelled so good you couldn't resist buying some. Even the beaches had an RV that came every day filling the air with smells of hot dogs and those great smelling fries.People couldn't get enough and there was always a long line up.

Every kid loves the lights and the music from the rides. Mine was the carrousel because of all the horses. I was no different from any kid.I loved it.My Dad would take us there once a year and needless to say, we looked forward to it.

Sometimes I'd do a bad thing and follow the road to Belmont Park on my bike. It was a beautiful ride but the street had lots of cars and I should not have done that but kids are kids.
I was so sad when they finally closed it down. I envied the people who lived nearby and could watch the lights from the parc every night. Belmont
was replaced by a bigger and better La Ronde at Expo 67.

In the country,
My Dad used to get long logs and pile them high to make a huge bonfire for us to enjoy and every year it was quite a spectacle to behold.

We would sit around the fire with neighbors and family listening to it crackle all night, hoping it would last forever. We'd sit to watch the last embers die in the morning dew. The kids would bring their sleeping bags and the grown ups talked ate and laughed into the long hours of the night until they could no longer keep their eyes open. My Dad would bring out his guitar.
There is something hypnotic about fire.
You can sit and stare into it without ever getting bored.It burnt your face to rosy red and as we poked long sticks with marshmallows and hot dogs into it, it didn't take us long to turn into coal mine munchkins.
You loved the fire and it made you want to embrace it.

It was here, on one of these occasions, my girl cousin twisted her chair and fell right into it with her long blonde hair.
My Dad was quick to grasp her arm and jerk her out before the fire could
singe her hair or catch her clothing on fire.
She was so lucky. He was soooo quick.
But like I said .....kids are unpredictable.
She was no different than I was, wanting to sit very close to the fire.

The town would also put on its' own bonfire and had large metal barrels they filled with water to boil fresh corn from a local field. We had lots of corn fields but no one knew which were for the cows and which for the people lol
The corn was delicious, sweet with huge yellow kernels every farmer could be very proud of.Tents were put up for games to be played. The kids had the most fun while the adults walked around, watched the fire and ate the corn. If you wanted, you could buy tickets for a pig roast.
It was a nice way to say good bye till next year, to the summer.

After the leaves fell my Dad would collect them and put them into his garden which he then tilled for winter.He would collect other peoples bags too and they would wonder what it was he was doing until they saw. They never thought about doing this. It was at this time we also paid attention to the farmer who flew a plane over head, spraying the corn.

We all had wells to drink from and I noticed my Mom got sick with Parkenson's and the neighbor had died from a brain tumor. I thought would be interesting to read up on it and found many people who got Parkinsons lived in farming communities. My Dad and I had arguments because he said they had the best water and I was wasting my money but I always used bought water.
Who knows if the spring it came from was any better or worse than what we had.
I began paying attention even to things what dentists did, like putting in mercury fillings and forcing kids to take xrays so they could find tiny cavities to fill which probably they could fix just by brushing more. They still made holes for tiny cavities.
Putting so many fillings into teeth guarantees them more work when the fillings fall out and then the tooth has to be replaced sooner than later. You're talking big bucks.
When people complain, they don't like it, but people should complain and ask more questions.

Gods' healthy gifts however, are thrown away instead of recycled and used on your own property, keeping it enriched and beautiful.
Recycling is not a new idea.lol

In the city, my Dad put up a fence in the front yard so kids wouldn't run on our grass.
So instead, they began to grab the fence and pull on it and still walk on our grass.
One day he brought a trailer full of cow manure and covered the front lawn.
Our yard stunk to high heaven lol
All the kids blocked their noses and began crossing the street passing our house.lol
It was fun to watch their expressions lol I still laugh remembering.
In this way, he got them used to walking across the street and they stopped pulling our fence down.
My Dad was a funny man.

My parents always had a good crop of vegetables and what they didn't can, bottle and freeze they gave away to neighbors and to me. I'd have my own stock of things I never had to buy in winter.
I sure miss that today every time I have to pay 9 dollars for 4 zuccini. That's high way robbery.We used to buy a bushel for 9 bucks. Then the bushels began to get smaller and smaller until they brown bagged it lol Then they would say a price for each piece and
Now they don't bother at all. They sell by weight.
I wouldn't mind, ok yes I do mind cause the prices are not good prices, but sometimes you come home and find the vegetables rotten inside.
Like potatoes for example.
You can't see inside what is going on.
4.99 a 10 lb bag and half you throw away. Some you try to cut and its very hard, not like a normal potato.
Then they wonder why people don't eat much fruit and vegetables. lol
Many times people don't buy everything so the products wilt. They pour more water on them to pump them up but as soon as they are brought home, they wilt faster.

Indian summer was also a time when my Mom would constantly tell me not to sit on the ground.
She said the cold ground is not good for your kidneys .
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The Iroquois had a Creation story that went like this:

In the beginning, in the Sky World, a pregnant wife asked her husband to fetch the delicacies she craved, the bark of a root of the Great Tree in the middle of the Sky World. None were permitted to touch it.

Giving in to her whims he scraped away soil to bare the root of the Tree, to find a hole . The woman peered into it and fell through. The birds tried to catch her to break the fall she fell and great Sea Turtle received her on his back.

On the Sea Turtle's back, she planted bits of the roots and plants she had brought from the Sky World. As she planted and prayed, she created the Earth that we know as Turtle Island.

The woman then had a daughter, who became impregnated by the West Wind. While in the womb, the daughter's unborn twins began to quarrel about how they should emerge.

The left-handed twin refused to be born in the usual way. Instead, he forced himself out of his mother's left armpit, killing her. The newborn twins then buried their mother, who became Corn Mother, a source of corn, beans and squash, the Three Sisters of the Iroquois. From her heart grew sacred tobacco, used to send messages and thanks to the Sky World.

The two brothers continued to compete with each other as they created the animals and plants, and in the process, represented different ways of living.

The Right-Handed Twin created the beautiful hills, lakes, blossoms, gentle creatures while the Left-Handed Twin, the jagged cliffs and whirlpools, thorns and predators.

The Right-Handed Twin was always truthful, reasonable, goodhearted, and "straight-arrow" while the Left-Handed Twin lied, fought, rebelled and made "crooked" choices.

Because Right-Handed Twin created human beings, he is known as "Our Creator," and "The Master of Life." But Left-Handed Twin helped, and invented rituals of sorcery and healing. The world they built included both cooperation and competition, loving kindness and aggression.

After they finished their creations, the continued to compete - by gambling, playing lacross, and fighting with clubs.

One day, grasping a deer antler,the Right-handed Twin finally prevailed, and killed his brother, throwing the body of Left-Handed Twin over the edge of the earth. As a result,the Right-Handed Twin rules day and the Sky-World and Left-Handed Twin prevails over night and the lower world.

Grandmother Skywoman was furious that Right-Handed Twin murdered his brother, and accused him of wrongdoing. Angry, and believing that grandmother had always favored the Left- Handed Twin, he cut off her head and threw it up toward the sky, where it became the Moon. Then he threw her body into the ocean, where it became all the fish of the sea.

The Iroquois believe that both Left-Handed Twin and Right- Handed Twin are necessary for the world to be in balance. During festivals, day activities honor Right-Handed Twin, and night activities such as feasting, singing and dancing honor Left-Handed Twin. This tension and struggle for balance between the two brothers and principles of life is incorporated into Iroquois festivals and cycles of life.

Have a good one :)

Story Fever

John Masefield wrote 46 poems and this poem - Sea Fever - is my favorite of all time
I received a book from my Aunt for a Birthday called Stories to Remember.
This book took you to all parts of the world so you'd have a small glimpse as well as an introduction to mythologies like Hercules holding up the sky and Pandora.
I still have this book and treasure it.
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I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

Since then I've been introduced to many fables, stories and myths and it made my world for me.

People lived exciting lives all over the world. There were many mysteries in the world, many excursions one could take to explore, to understand, what it is we were really born for?One must live many life times to experience everything.

The world really is a stage, full of magic and miracles, sadness and joy, Danger, evil and goodness. One could literally burst from all the knowledge one could grasp and learn from it and yet still die totally stupid and ignorant.

As I read the stories, I wanted more.It is easy to become a drifter, a collector of stories, a collector of minds and memories.It is easy to see why the wise men would follow a star not knowing where it would lead .

And then, when the myths and stories come to life..... well.... then it becomes mind blowing.

Here in BC the aboriginals believe in the crow as a carrier of their ancestors' spirit.It is almost taboo to kill such birds and we see so many of them.They leer at you and make you feel most unwelcome as if we are not supposed to be here.

Pirates on the other hand had the same beliefs and superstitions when it came to rats and the albatross.If rats left the ship, they took it as a bad omen . Rats also knew about sickness before people did.The albatross was associated with both good and bad luck at sea.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote a poem called The Rime of the ancient Mariner where both sides of the albatross can be seen. The albatross was a good omen if seen in dense snowy fog. It was said to be the restless soul of a dead sailor, so if one killed such a bird, it would be tied to his neck and the sailor would be tied to the main mast until the storm was over, without food or water.

At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God’s name.
It ate the food it ne’er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!
Why look’st thou so?’--With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work ’em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

Other myths included:

The Kraken, in Iceland and Norway were giant squids which took ships down

Gryndilows in England - were water demons who would drag children into the water.
People told their kids about them so they wouldn't swim in cold water

Ceto, a Greek invention, was a sea monster with a husband and children consisting of gorgons, sea nymphs, medusas.
She became all sea monsters.

Ashrays were translucent creatures resembling sea ghosts, in Scotland.
They melt in light so you only see them under water at night.

Chessie is a sea monster found in Virginia and Maryland. She's a serpant like creature with scales
and flippers . There is one in Lochness and Lake Champlain as well.

Kappas are from Japan and they have monkey like features with long noses and yellowish skin. They lure children into the water so they could drink their blood.
They lose power if their heads get filled with water and then loses it.

Blue men in minch from around shiant islands near scotland . They had blue skins and swam around ships conjuring storms to wreck them Some call them fallen angels or mermen. They have a leader and to save your ship you had to solves their riddles and rhymes and have the last word.

Bäckahästen had to do with a brook horse in Scandinavia
Anyone who found her near a river in foggy weather and rode her would be drowned

Bunyips come from Australia and are found by swamps creeks and waterholes. They eat humans
and have flippers walrus tuskshorse tails. They also spread disease in the water.

Charon is the mythical ferryman who takes you to the underworld through the river of woe, Acheron. Only the souls of people buried with a coin in their mouths was taken I guess to pay their way lol No souls ever left because the three headed hell hound, Cerberus, guarded the exit

Dragon Kings exist in China. They are made up of 4 dragons ruling over 4 seas.
They were shape shifters living in crystal palaces guarded by crabs and shrimps.

Fosse grim comes from
Scandinavian mythology. He is a water spirit that played enchanted songs on the violin, luring women and children to drown in lakes and streams. Some stories speak of him as harmless only entertaining men, women and children with songs. According to myth Fosse grim fell in love with a human but couldn't stay because he had to be near water.


Jengu
These were water spirits in mythology of the Sawa, an ethnic group in Cameroon . The resembled merpeople - gap-toothed, with long, woolly hair. These spirits act as an intermediate between the living and the spiritual world, could cure disease, and played an important role in some tribal rites, for example when a child entered adulthood.

With so many mythological dangers in the oceans and seas, one wonders why men would ever sail into them but they do and sometimes the spirits favor men and sometimes they don't.
Men like to race and beat the devil. lol
Men like to live on the edge and it is because of these kind of people full of spirit, searching for answers, people have so much to entertain them with, learn and progress.


Have a great day :)

Be Life So Humble

Once in a while we had storms on the Richelieu.
Great lightning storms.

My otherwise fearless dog, would shake when he heard the loud thunder
He and my Mom would sit down by the living room door and wait for things to calm down.
Once a lightning bolt hit my Dad's outside antenna and went straight into the TV.
My parents always shut down the electricity in storms like this.

It was not uncommon to see rain on one side of the street and none on the other or walk up the road and have the rain slowly following you lol
Some people a few streets away were flooded with rain and we wouldn't get a drop.

For trolling my Dad put on a small motor with a long neck and a small propeller.
I got stuck in huge waves trying to get back home and the propeller seemed more out of the water than in.
It took me a while to get to shore and frightened me little bit because I never thought river water could get so high. These waves were higher than anything a passing boat made and those could be quite high too. They are fun to race through with a powerful engine but with a trolling motor, it was a losing battle.

I thought, this is more than enough for me to handle. I don't think I'd make a good fisherman out 200 miles from shore in the ocean.
It's no fun being a mermaid in water like that lol
You can't dream anymore with the prospect of being washed over board by those type of waves or even sunk. Nature's power is over whelming and a humbling experience.
I began devising how I would build an unsinkable boat, something that could be thrashed around and survive the deadliest storm. I came up with a submarine with sails killing two birds with one stone.
Now that would resolve all my problems lol

With my husband, pulling a boat in distress to a marina, in BC, in White Rock, we had a similar experience but without the rain. My youngest feared nothing but my oldest sat with bulging eyes as the waves became higher than our boat but they rolled and so our boat was able to go up and down on them as did the boat we hauled. There was enough pull there to snap the back of our boat right off and leave us all splashing in stormy waters, so we went real slow.

What we feared was the rope breaking from all the weight we were pulling and a piece of metal flying into someones' head, but we had no choice, because first of all it's the law and second of all the other boat would crash into rocks if it was not helped. We had to steer in the middle of the inlet to keep away from being taken in by the waves. It took us a long while to get it to safety and we also ran out of gas endangering ourselves. lol
People were shocked but we told them we were pulling a long time and our tank was full when we started.

Other smaller boats went in front of us to try to cut the waves and rescued us by giving us some gas for the final few feet we had to pull.
People are good in times of crisis.
That family was so upset they would lose their boat too so it made us feel good to do something nice for someone and for everything to turn out well.

This little expedition, wasn't exactly like going on a wild Parc Safari excursion but it was exciting and better than going on rides in Disneyland cause it was the real thing but then you expect this in an ocean , not on a river which can become equally as dangerous.

Then there were killer whales swimming in the area.

Before this happened, I decided to take a dip off the boat. The water looked so inviting. Soft like velvet and warm. The calm before the storm. Nick saw me and jumped in after me.
He was little, around 2 and even if he was a foot away from my hand, which he was, I couldn't reach him and it would have been easy to lose him in the 200 feet of water, that was below me. He was lying face down and I had to turn him over but he was never afraid. He could have been a nice tid bit for those whales. lol

Thankfully he had a life jacket on and he didn't slip from it.
He scared me half to death. Kids have no fear.

I hugged him so hard thinking about the close call I almost had.
Then we saw the clouds and thought we better hurry back.
It wasn't far and we had plenty of time but then this boat we had to rescue happened.

Needless to say we had an exciting day that day and made new memories on a wider frontier.
lol
We have to thank Poseidon and Neptune for being kind in our hour of need.

Have a good Day ! :)

My Life on the Richelieu River

http://www.historiclakes.org/canada/fort_lennox.htm

I call the Richelieu River as my River. I feel like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer here .

Although I never saw any paddle steam ships like they had along the Mississippi River, I did see huge ships go by our country house and then for some reason they stopped. With the aid of a few canals they connected the Champlain with the Hudson and you could go by boat all the way to New York and going the other way up the Richelieu you'd get into the St Lawrence and out into the ocean through the Lachine Rapid Canals.

I spent an awful lot of time growing up there, exploring, diving, fishing .
From the bottom shot of Fort Montgomery, (You see it on a little peninsula looking arm sticking out, on the left hand side,) you could see how wide the river was. It was here the river opened up into Lake Champlain.

We lived on the right hand side. I am sure if you look close enough you will be able to see a tall white silo belonging to Mr McCallum. His is a heritage farm over 100 years old and we lived a bit further up that road.
I used to ride my bike every day to the border and back and then tie my Dad's boat to myself and swim across that river with my dog. We'd only go to the left hand shore and then ride back in the boat. lol. My dog was extremely powerful and lived a great life. One day we came in to the wharf and my Dad was standing there waiting to go out fishing.
I gave him the boat and he got in, started it but the boat wouldn't go. He asked me what I did with the boat and I said nothing. You saw me coming in. He lifted the motor and there was no propeller.
The shear pin broke. I gathered once I stopped the motor and the boat just kept coasting to the wharf, the propeller dropped off.
My Dad told me I better find that propeller cause its expensive to buy so I had to go fishing for it.
I followed the route the boat came in and sure enough there it was.
I was very happy I found it and so was my Dad. He got a new shear pin and we were fine. Good thing it didn't happen in the middle of the river cause that would then be hard to find it.

My Dad being a machinist, made himself another propeller. Gosh he was good at what he did.

Surrounded by farmers fields, it was not surprising they would be full of deer and other rodents and lots of birds. So my parents had a great time in winter entertaining and being entertained by wild life.
Ducks would fly by heading south for winter and the river would be packed with duck hunters.
This was a dangerous time cause sometimes they shot at ducks and bullets would come in through your window. lol
The river was stocked with so much fish that you never had to wait even a minute to catch one or two. Sunfish, pike,perch,rockfish,eel, heck sometimes you'd go to the rail road track bridge and look down at the huge white fish that would lie sleeping there.

Even if you put a hook in front of their mouths they wouldn't bite. It didn't bother us. We'd go there to jump off the bridge lol

Life was good back then for kids. We were free to do all kinds of things.
Campers of course would come and do crazy things once in a while. One person had their head chopped off from what I heard by a propeller. Kids were chasing each other around in two boats and the boat behind couldn't stop in time when one kid fell in. But those of us living there knew the river and were river smart enough to know not to do things like this.

The river was so beautiful to swim in, clean, warm. Life was everywhere from tad poles to schools of tiny fry swimming around in between the tall grasses.
The sun would set through these grasses and rays of sunshine would sneak through them and you'd be down there sitting at the bottom wishing you never had to come up for air and live like a mermaid absorbing all this life energy around you. Sometimes you'd go down 30 feet and this was when I really wanted to scuba dive. In actuality, you never have to go deeper than this cause everything turns gray in color.
People could drink this water and did at least until companies polluted it and now no one eats or drinks anything even though they cleaned it up.
In the winter the river would be full of fishermen cutting holes in the ice. People would ride their ski doos on the frozen ice, I could skate.
Some people put up sails or flew kites on their sleds and let the wind pull them across the shore line. Of course you had to be river smart or end up breaking through the ice into the water. Trick was to stay close to the shore line where it wasn't deep.
Sometimes I would put on my skiis and do cross country through the farmers field where I would come to a quarry. The snow would be bright, the sun hot and the water so tempting.
I'd take my skiis and jacket off and sit there just soaking it all in and then walk back.
The day before I had my first baby we walked through this field to the quarry with my big belly, with my husband and Dad. My Dad was afraid I'd have it in the field. lol
We went home and decided to go for pizza and after the pizza I had to go to the hospital.
My Dad called cause he knew to keep tabs on me at this time and found out where I was. He got my husbands Dad and they both sat at the hospital waiting for the baby to be born. My husband walked in and said you will never believe who is out there. The pressure was on lol

At Christmas and New Years the towns' hotel bars were open for business.
They hired bands and every one would show up to dance. No one cared if they knew you or not.
This was country. We didn't have to drive our car and just walked home in fresh icy air, gazing at a sky full of stars and my river.

The old timers were the greatest people,always smiling, always cheerful.
They had stories to tell like the one about the white fish which had pearls in their brains.
People would catch and kill them for these pearls and throw the bodies away. Now they had hardly any of these fish left they told us. They said at least if they ate them, it would have been a better story. Farming people hated waste.

When my Dad had to drill for water he called an old dowser who always knew where the best water was with his apple stick and he got us two great places to dig and we got great water in both places as opposed to my neighbor who hit sulfur water.

You could always feel there was something special about this place. It had history written all over it and I lived through history like I lived with Swan Lake dreaming about the Iroquois The French and The English fighting big battles. I looked at my place and wondered who walked there before and who died. Who touched this tree? You had plenty of food to let your imagination run wild . lol
Further up the street, close to Fort Lennox, was Charlie's place where he had a monument on his shore line depicting a famous battle that took place. and on the border side, half a mile up our road,was a small house with a big monument as well. We were only allowed to go up to this monument because on the other side you'd be in the USA.

Fort Montgomery

http://www.fortmontgomery.net/

It was here one day that my cousin showed up with his two sisters and a friend.
He asked my Dad to use the boat. My Dad told me to take them out and I said no. lol
I didn't want to get into trouble.
But instead of saying no to my cousin, he forced me to go out in the boat.
So I went and we went to Fort Montgomery since it was closer. I was going to show them the Fort and come home but everyone wanted to stop so we did.
The guys jumped over board to swim. They came up and told us they saw eels and just at that moment came a border patrol boat.
They saw us kids there and asked what we were doing there.
I told him I lived just on the other side and come here all the time but my
cousin automatically said: this isn't my boat and I don't know nothing, I'm from New York.
Both of us were pointing in different directions. lol

My mouth fell open. I could lose a boat and get into huge trouble here.
The border patrol guy looked at my face and understood what was going on.
He had to check because of all the drugs being smuggled in but we were just a bunch of kids with a baby sister cause now my aunt had another baby.
She offered him a "she shell" lol
Well the border guy laid into my cousin and told him if he is from the states he must know the laws better.
He explained we were on the US side and should not come here any more. So I lost my rights now to go to Fort Montgomery, a place I went to for a long long time without any trouble.
I was not happy
Thankfully we had enough life preservers but we didn't have a whistle.
My Dad sold the other boat we had and got a small aluminum Princecraft.
I got no fine and we went home.
But I told my cousin that was a nice class act he did after forcing me to take the boat out trying to make himself sound so innocent like nothing was his fault.
He pretended he knew what he was doing but I was not impressed with his answer.
And he was allowed to go there cause he was American and no I couldn't.
Later I told my Father he was never to make me do things I didn't want again.
He should have taken my cousin out.
I would have just told the patrol man we came to see the fort cause I had visitors and lived across the river and he would have let us go without much discussion. We fished there all the time.
Living between two Forts like this was great!
Now from the net it seems they are selling lots there.

Have a good one. :)

Witness of the Stars

>

http://www.archive.org/stream/witnessofstars00bull#page/n7/mode/2up

Witness of the Stars is a very interesting old book dealing with the origin of the Zodiac, which can be read free on line.
Many people believe in the zodiac without knowing its' origin.
People say there is no God because he never speaks to anyone and there is no evidence of his existence.
This book attempts to answer this dilemma as it was written in the heavens in Astrology and Astronomy .

Astronomy and Astrology were created from the beginning and apparently+ studied by the Babylonians 3,800 before Christ.

They had 70 Creation tablets according to Dr Budge, of the British museum.

The 5th creation tablet spoke of ANU ( the creator) made mansions (celestial houses) of great gods (12 in number). He placed fixed stars in them and the year was arranged by these 12 signs.

Job, which is said to be the oldest book of the Bible, 2000 years before Christ, referenced names such as ASH - great bear; Cesil and Cimah; Orion Pleiades etc...
from them.
Egypts' Astrology also goes back 5,400 BC

One astronomer Eudoxos of Cnidus, in 403BC, wrote on Astronomy. His writings were noticed by the King of Macedonia who asked Aratus the poet to write this work in a poem called the Divine Signs and it is believed Apostle Paul read them.

The poem described the signs and constellations as they were 4000 years before but the thing is
they could not be seen from Tarsus, where Aratus was
so he must have used the ancient zodiac.

The heavens have a slow change taking place in them.
The pole of the heavens recedes 50" every year.
Alpha of the constellation Draco used to be the first polar star but now was found to be in Ursa Minor. The change after calculation, showed that it had to take 5000 years for this change to take place.

The Word Zodiac came from the Hebrew Sodi meaning "A way" path or step.
The earth seems to revolve around the sun one time, every 24 hours.
but the time it takes the stars to do the same, differs by 1/12th part of the whole circle, each month.

So if the circle is divided into 12 parts, the sun appears to move through each one of them, 1 time per mo. and the path is called ecliptic.

The signs always stayed the same beginning with Aries, proving common origin from one source.

Israel used them to depict 12 tribes with each one ensign of their fathers' house.
The ancient start pictures, show 12 signs with three constellations each , making a total of 46

The Sphinx has a head of a woman and the body of a lion and the word itself means " together".

So two ends of the Zodiac had to meet to make a circle and shows where the heavens begin and end.
So we see the heavens begin with Virgo and end with Leo.

Now the book shows and explains each zodiac sign with its' three constellations and the meanings derived from each one showing the way, thus proving that God does speak to us from the heavens if we know how to read what he is saying. and what we are just discovering today, was already known by the Egyptians and Babylonians long before Christ was born. So no one could have told the story after the birth of Jesus because it was foretold long before.


Some say this book is Satanic and confuses Christianity probably because it deals with the zodiac but I found it interesting. We have to understand, people believed the world was flat in those days. lol
Whether it is true or not remains to be seen but it is a mind expanding read and fun if you like to read your horoscope. lol

It also gives you an idea of how the Zodiac we know, is designed to speak to us.


http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Witness_of_the_Stars.html?id=j9lE5e30fSEC

Have a good one !

:)


The book is found on line and can be read for free.

.

What did the astronaut cook for lunch?

A: An unidentified frying object.
-----------------------------------
One day there was a big lady swimming in the ocean by the beach . Sudenly , she noticed that she had lost her top. She thought that no one would notice if she covered herself with her arms and walked over to her towel.

So she went, and nobody seemed to notice her as she approached her towel. Then a little girl went up to her and said, "Hey,excuse me !"

"What ?"asked the startled lady.

"If you're going to drown those puppies, can you let me have the one with the cute little brown nose."
----------------------------------------
What do you call an overweight ET ? (extra terrestrial)
An extra cholesterol !

The President was awakened one night by an urgent call from the Pentagon. "Mr. President," said the four-star general, barely able to contain himself, "there's good news & bad news." "Oh, no," muttered the President, "Well, let me have the bad news first." "The bad news, sir, is that we've been invaded by creatures from another planet." "Gosh, and the good news?" "The good news, sir, is that they eat reporters and pee oil."

Bend Over

Spanking made me remember a lot of things.
First of all, spanking is not beating.
You spank to teach a lesson and so it has to be with forethought and the child has to know he has to bend over to take his punishment. Schools also had this and you had to know if you did bad and they gave you chances to stop but you didn't, you had to wait in front of the Principals' office until he came out with the ruler.

The waiting is worse than the punishment. lol That's why my Dad always made me wait till we got home because the anticipation of a spanking was worse than the spank.

My Dads' Dad never spanked but many times I heard my Dad say I wish he did spank because he'd go on and on and on and on and he'd make him more angry and very nervous.
One day he told him :
Just hit me why don't you and get it over with so I can go? lol Then my Grand father again would begin with the lectures and again he'd sit with his blood pressure rising. But he sat. He respected his Dad and sat. Today kids don't sit.

My Grand mother used to take a towel and twist it and she'd chase my Dad around the table. The towel would untwist and then she would hit his sister with it.
My Dad complained and said : How come you are hitting me with a twisted towel and her with an untwisted one. She would pretend to spit from anger and walk away. My Dad and his sister always remembered their spanks and laughed.

My Husbands' parents would grab an ankle and the kids would scream from fear but then the screams turned into laughter because instead of hitting the bottom of the feet they would hit themselves. The point was made and tears turned into giggles and screams.

I spanked once in a while but very seldom. There is no point to spank if learning doesn't take place.
Sometimes you have to if nothing else works.

As for me, I grew up and took Shotokan Karate. My muscles became hard as rock.
One day my Dad got angry with me and I said to him, do you want to spank me? Here!

I gave him my bum and he gave it a hard wallop but I felt nothing.
He, on the other hand, hurt his hand and I saw him slowly put it down so I would not see.

But he was proud of me. I grew up strong and sure of myself.
I didn't commit suicide over stupid problems, I was never bullied.
I took my knocks. I was also smart to avoid being knocked.
I respected people, didn't swear or take drugs and showed kindness to the old the weak and less fortunate. It is funny, but all our names in my Family mean Defender of men and that's what we are.

Kids learned from pressure. It's not like an adult learning because a kid always had parents to fall back on to give support.

Today we have a whiner society. Every time something happens... Oh,we need to pass a law.
So things get ugly and people get ugly and laws get ugly.
No one wins.

We passed anti spanking laws because some parents were abusing their kids. Abuse is never a good thing to do but that's different from spanking. If you need to give a child a good spank, that's a different story.
A spank is not for your benefit but for the childs'.
Kids went to school to squeal on the parents so the school gets them into trouble as payback for saying no at home. Today the schools ignore these kids because they themselves can't handle them.
Some just can't be handled. So today they drug them. They destroy their brain cells.
But our parents spanked us and we corrected our behavior without drugs.

I much prefer I do it myself, than to have my arrogant kid go out into the street and get shot or beaten or killed by a police man. That would be abuse.
Today the police fear the public and when they shoot, they shoot to kill and they don't care how old you are.
Then the public complains and I say...... it's too late.

ex You want rights to be a prostitute knowing you will be in danger.
Where were the parents to help you change your decision before you ended in a ditch?
Now you are dead and passing laws isn't going to change that.
Killing your killer isn't going to change that.

When your kid was small did you teach him?
Did he accept authority?
Did he take drugs?
Did he go to school or play hooky?
Did he bully ?
How did he handle bullying?
Did he do chores?
Was your child temperamental or easy going?

We all had the same problems growing up as the kids do today but we were tougher kids as a result of being taught respect and accepting authority.

Today they speak of children committing suicide.
Why?
I couldn't take the bullying!
They write on face book about me.
They laugh at me at school.

We were taught how to handle such situations. Our minds were working all the time.
We'd sit and wait for an opportunity for the bully to make a mistake and usually he does and then the jokes' on him... and the bully becomes the bullied.

The bully gets his just rewards and this is what a powerful mind does.
A powerful mind is not afraid of a spanking any more than it is afraid of bullying
or anything else. A powerful mind walks through life proud.
A powerful mind, when he falls down, gets up and walks again.

Laws do not fix life problems. You have a life problem, you have to learn to be strong and fix it yourself.
Once you learn to do this, you become an adult.
You become a man.
lol
I have to ask looking at our society today, how many people can call themselves men?

:) Have a Good One
Rudyard Kipling If

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

To Spank or Not to Spank That Is the Question.

Today people frown on spanking and you see kids sitting on Ritalin instead.
I prefer spanking to drugs anytime.
Even at school, teachers and principals were allowed to punish.
Our school usually used a ruler on hands.

My Mom's sponsor that paid for the boat trip across the ocean to Halifax was this Jewish family . She had to baby sit and do the housecleaning and cooking for them for a year, as a live in.
Being young, she knew nothing about any of those things and the Mom of the house had to teach her many things, how to set the table, how to clean silver, how to do the washing, etc....
The family had a boy and a girl.
My Mom said when they did something bad the Father would give them two choices.
Either they got a spanking or they had to stay in their rooms a week.
She said the girl took her spanking and then went to do her normal things but the boy was a chicken and stayed in his room a week lol.

My Mom found spankings amusing because her own Dad sat at the table with a wooden spoon.
When the kids misbehaved they got spooned on the forehead lol
It can be intimidating if you are alone but with a group all getting the same thing...... it becomes fun.
Thank fully she said she was the oldest and when the war began she wasn't around much.

Being Jewish, this family she lived with was not allowed things like pork but for my Mother they provided her with bacon, kolbasa's and other tid bits they knew she would like.
She was extremely skinny but ate a lot and they always wondered where she put it all.lol

One day they were expecting guests and my Mom was told to bake the turkey.
Simple enough. She took the turkey , stuffed it into a dish and put it into the oven.
Come dinner time, the table was set and the guests seated and she served it for carving. This was when they found out that she did not clean it out inside. lol It still had all its organs .The whole dinner was spoiled. lol
So this was when cooking lessons were in order for my Mom.
She learned all kind of Jewish cooking . She liked that family because they were good to her.
So when she got married she cooked some of what she learned from them. Our family knew things like gifilte fish, mozza balls, cheese knishes lol These were good compared to the stew one woman made at our House.
My parents let this Rumanian couple a room for a few weeks till they got a place of their own to live.
They had a boy but he was in a private school and never came home but he did have a train set which I found in their closet. I put it together and played with it. It was a great train so I made sure to put it away before the couple came home.lol

One day this woman cooked this stew for my lunch . She put so much pepper I couldn't eat it and I began to cry. She was going to force me to eat it and even to beat me but thankfully, my Mom walked into the kitchen and told me I didn't have to eat it. I ran out of the kitchen so fast .
When they finally left I was happy lol

On the whole our neighborhood was great, very cosmopolitan. We had Italian families along with French Canadians English Polish Ukrainian, Black and when they all got together they began having moon shine competitions.One started it and then every one wanted to get into it.

Every one had their own little still at home and once a brew was made to taste, they went to each others houses for a sample. On week ends in winter, with 4 foot snow piles outside, parties were frequent at our house. lol
My parents did this for a few years and thought they better stop because you can't drink every week. My Dad was not a drinker He would have a few shots and then go take a nap. lol
But other people would not know when and things could get quite rowdy as discussions got into politics.
As kids we'd get together and discuss what our parents said and did at home.
One Italian family had a grown up son. He came home one day from university with a very long beard. His Dad didn't like it. My friend said her brother used to tease his Dad by sitting and putting his beard into the spaghetti sauce when he ate. Her Dad would fly into a frenzy and everyone at the table laughed as he chased him out of the house. lol

When we first built our house, the neighbor had a little boy my age, Carmenuch. He stood on his balcony with a bottle of chocolate milk and I stood on mine with my normal milk and we'd stand and point at each other talking jibberish.
Then I went out side and so did he and we would wet our underwear. I thought I would take mine off so my Mom wouldn't yell at me but she yelled at me anyway lol I was running around without clothes.I wouldn't listen so eventually I got a spanking for that. lol

One day Carmenuches' big brother came out and picked up a rock and threw it at me for no reason. I ran but it hit me in the back of the head. My Mother tried to find out who did it because there was a lot of blood but all I could tell her through my tears that it was it was a big boy and he ran away. I still have an indentation in my skull at that spot.
When we grew up this big boy, whose name I now knew as Dominic, wanted to marry me but I remembered the rock he threw at my head lol so this wasn't going to happen. He was an honors student in physics and quite a good looker with tons of girls after him.

My Dad didn't like to hear me crying all the time when I got bullied. When I went to school I was not a very small girl and quite athletic like my Dad. I was a good kid. When kids got bullied they'd come to me and hide behind my back and the bullies would look in my face and back away. It must have been because I never showed fear.

But one boy, Bobbie, would sneak up, in grade one, and push me from behind. I'd lose my balance and fall and tear my leotards. I came home one day like this then another day and my parents became very annoyed.
My Dad said if I did not stop him and stand up for myself, he would spank me. The next day I was petrified to come home again with torn stockings lol So he took me to the boys' Mother and showed her my legs. Bobbie got the spanking of his life that day.lol
I learned that I was allowed to stand up for myself because we were not allowed to fight at school. We'd get a ruler on the hands or a suspension.

Carmenuch had other big brothers and one sister who they married off at 15. The poor girl had baby after baby and by the time she was 23 she looked 55. The doctor told her she couldn't have any more, but being Catholic they didn't practice birth control, so she got pregnant again and almost died. The family was very upset with her husband but she refused to have an abortion so when the baby was born the doctors decided they would tie her tubes so she had no more babies.
She had no say in the matter. She had no say anywhere , not at home, not in her marriage and not with the doctor. I watched and thought, this will never happen to me.

I liked this family though. They were Italian and the Mom and Dad did not look like they had much schooling but the Mom was extremely smart.
She did lace piecework at home, always had a huge pot of spaghetti and a pot full of sauce on the stove and they grew huge dandelions, tomatoes and cucumbers for salad in the back yard.

Once when her oldest boy got into a major fight with his cousin. He came home with a torn ear.
Well this woman took out her needle and thread and began to sew it up. He was yelling and each time he yelled, she swatted him on the head and winked at me with a smile, while probably cursing at him in Italian saying: tapotsanachee lol.

This boy always fought with his cousin(, the one with the long beard and the spaghetti sauce). lol Once they began a fight and my Dad saw them.
He came out and said:
Boy, you call this a fight? You guys hate each other so much.
Why don't you just finish it?
He took out two 2 x 4's and pretended to check them out and to hand one to each of the boys saying: Now here.... with this you can do the job good and finish it once and for all. Just give each other a good bash on the head and it will be over. May the best man win. Lol

The two guys looked at him then at each other, turned and went home lol They thought my Dad was crazy and my Dad began to laugh. We never saw them fight anymore after that. He knew they wouldn't take the 2x4's.

The family also had an old beat up cat. He was a very nice cat but very scarred from all the fights he was in. He got very old and stiff, sorta like my Tatty became in old age. He always came for a pat but you didn't know where to pat him because of the scars.

My Dad brought home many cats but they seemed to disappear. We thought someone was eating cats in the neighborhood.
I also had baby rabbits.
Once I decided to take my favorite white bunny and drop him off the balcony to see if he would land on his feet, like the cats do. It was an experiment and it failed because the poor bunny broke its' back. I screamed and my Mom came running and she was so sad. She said
What did you do? I was crying cause my favorite white bunny was dying. I never expected that to happen but it was just a tiny thing so the fall must have been too high for it.

My heart always ached for animals when they were hurt. One day the same neighbors went to the market and brought home a black lamb. They left it tied by the legs on the balcony and I heard it bleating.
I came running and knew what was going to happen to it and became quite upset. I contemplated on stealing it but I had no place to hide it lol
So the poor thing disappeared and that was the last we saw of it.

Things were quite free in those days.
Dogs ran on the streets and we lost many dogs to rabies, including my own.
But going to school was fun cause a female dog would be in heat and she'd run into the school yard followed by many male dogs. These dogs would ignore kids but they would get into dog fights and this always made our day to watch lol
Someone eventually had to be called to round them up.

But we also had people who took very good care of their dogs. One old couple had an old gray terrier they named Nipper. He'd always come out to bark at you and they'd laugh and say be careful. You see, his name is Nipper. Why do you think he got that name ?.But he was too old to do any fighting or biting. lol

Another family had this small Chihuahua. He'd come running out at you into the middle of the street wagging his tail, looking as if he was smiling at you and being so friendly, just to get close enough to bite you lol Now his name should have been Nipper.lol

And then my next door neighbor had a female Boxer and she was my favorite. Her name was Tawny. Tawny and I spent a great deal of time together. The neighbors were an older couple and they saw I loved dogs so they let me take her for daily walks. Other kids came to ask them to do the same thing but they always said no so I was touched that they trusted me with their dog. In the morning on garbage day you would take the garbage out and hear this heavy breathing behind you. It always scared you thinking it was some pervert and then you'd turn and it was Tawny wagging her stumpy tail. She was a darling dog and you'd hug and kiss her and tell her how naughty she was scaring you this way.lol

One day I came to take her for a walk but she was gone. She was replaced by a black Doberman
who didn't look very friendly. I asked where Tawny was and the neighbor said her policeman son took it and gave her this one. I took this dog for a walk but he was not one to be told what to do. He'd give you a wicked look as if to say: Watch it. So he took me for a walk instead of the other way around.
I brought him home very carefully and handed him back to the lady and never went back to walk it again. But then.......lo and behold.....there was Tawny again.

We both jumped for joy to see each other and what a reunion we had. The lady told me she told her son to take the Doberman back because she was afraid of him as well. Things went back to normal.
One day Tawny had a litter of cute pups.
They offered my Dad a pup for 75 dollars and my Dad said no. I was disappointed and so were the couple because they said that was a cheap price for this dog and they really wanted me to have one since they saw how much I loved Tawny.
My Dad didn't believe in spending money on animals He always got them for free. I had problems with him when it came to cats and dogs. He liked to see animals run free and I knew they had to be tied. He'd have cats and always lose them once they began fighting with other cats but mine I neutered so they were home buddies.

I gave him one such cat and he was stuck to them like glue. Every where they went. the cat walked alongside like a dog. He stayed with them 18 years and they couldn't stop talking about what a great cat he was and how they lucked out with this cat. lol But they kept forgetting he was neutered. lol

Well to end on a spanking note, my Mom once thought she would please her husband and paint the dining room. She took out a can of paint, a roller and went for it.
She was so pleased and proud of herself and couldn't wait for my Dad to come home to show him.

Well he came home alright. But she did not get the compliments she wanted.
He grabbed his head aghast at what she had done. She used too much paint and it was all streaking down the wall. By now it was almost all dry as well.

He started screaming and she started crying. He grabbed sand paper and immediately began to scrape the paint before it got too hard to come off. He worked the whole night scraping while my Mom sat sniffling. lol

Boy that sure was a story they laughed at later. My Dad would hug her and shake his head laughing at what she had done and my Mom kept saying how he hurt her feelings cause she worked so hard to please him and instead, got a yelling of a lifetime.

I'd sit and watch the two of them thinking, if ever two people were meant for each other, those two were.
They were love birds till the end.

Have a good one :)

Dollar Down Dollar a Week.

In the 50's what we call abuse today was prevalent. The idea was spare the rod spoil the child.
However no one complained cause every one had their turn lol
Kids were not wooses like they are today, always complaining.
Spanking was a way of life and I am not sure it was a bad thing.

No kid ever got damaged from a spanking and it wasn't like what they did to people in hospitals.
I got spanked and all my friends got spanked. We'd see big guys with beards get chased by their little Fathers with a stick but not one ever laid a hand to their parent. Kids were good kids in those days and we all grew up to be good family people.

My Dad was strict but he was also the life spirit in our house.
My Mom was meticulous about cleanliness as she was a surgical nurse before coming to Canada. During the war she saw lots of blood and in the camps the doctors made it her job to help them. If she did not give them the right instruments she'd get slapped, so she learned quickly, but her nature was against blood so when she'd see it she would get dizzy and almost faint. I'd always laugh and ask: Mom, what kind of nurse were you? and she'd give me a sour look lol

But her floors were clean enough to eat from and she would always complain if we did something to dirty them. She ironed and especially loved to hang her clothes outside in winter so they came in a little damp cause they were frozen, but so fresh smelling and the rest of the drying they did on hangers before being ironed. We did the same with the Carpet in winter. We'd take it out into the snow and throw snow on it and then broom it off on both sides and then bring it back in. The carpet would always look great. This was a great job for kids to do and I enjoyed it a lot. Who said cleaning sucks. lol
I never remember using chemicals on it. People get sick because of these chemicals. In our house we only used Parissienne Javel.

I was not exposed to dance or ballet or piano but I was exposed to other things. My Mom handled story telling, reading and writing. My Dad played the guitar and my Mom and would sing. We both had good singing voices.
She was very critical about the writing and it had to be perfect. How many times I'd be in tears because I didn't do a letter the way she wanted it.
But eventually I got smart and told her my hand writing was better than hers and she'd laugh cause then I would tell her to write the way she wanted me to. lol
Pressure always made you look for solutions to your problems and made you of stronger mind than people who have things done for them, problems solved for them.

I had my own bike which I had to keep spotless and I took great pride in it. My Mom would always check at night to make sure I slept but she slept in the early morning and I had plenty of time before school to take off on my bike and she never knew. Mornings were so nice especially in the fall.

My Dad was a hands on man, very athletic and liked to do everything himself. He loved cars and would tinker with them and I would be at his side. I loved the smell of oil and gas and grease. His cars had lots of chrome and white tires and I would love to help him polish cause driving a spiffy car was special. I asked him one day to teach me about motors but he refused and told me to keep my hands clean and be a lady.

I had animals like rabbits ducks kittens and dogs. He'd take me to the farm to see horses and tell me about how he worked on one for a year, to pay his sponsor for his boat ride across the ocean.
He had two huge draft horses to till the land with and he said they were the nicest animals but the farmer beat them and they feared him . If they saw him coming they'd go nuts. He said one day he brought them into the barn and didn't see the farmer coming but the horses did and they almost killed him trying to get away. The farmer was always drunk and not very nice.
The horses broke the supporting beam to the barn and it collapsed. He said it was a very thick beam.

After this episode my Dad went and complained to the farmers' brother, also a farmer and this one was a good guy, so he took him away to work for him and my Dad sighed a sigh of relief.
He said he was given a truck to drive and this guy was a well to do farmer as well as a good family man and he lent money to people because of hard times.

Every week he would make his rounds to see what he could collect back, a dollar here, a dollar there. People were honest and paid back what they could so his pocket was always full of money.lol
Then they would come home and he'd ask my Dad if he ever ate steak. My Dad said yes he did. The farmer said not like this one and then he'd take a huge thick steak and flip it a few times over a hot skillet and served it to him.
Those were lean times when steak was not that accessible so my Dad said he ate it with him with such delight. After this He always made steak at home with the same delight this farmer served him his first Canadian steak.
After that first year paying off the sposor was done, my Dad and his Dad carried two jobs to help save money. Every one worked.
My aunt and grand mother at a sewing factory and the guys in a garage and then later in huge companies like Canadian Vickers and Canada Air as machinists. European people were hired quickly because everyone knew they knew their jobs and were quite educated.

Before long they bought a lot and built a house. My Dad got married and then bought his own lot and began building his own house and I was born into this constructive time.

In between they grew gardens, pickled winter preserves. We'd go berry picking. He taught me about mushrooms. We'd go in the fall around 4:30 am into farmers woods to collect them.
The woods had rich black soil and I so enjoyed foraging with him through them. We'd come home with bags full which we had to dump right away and clean in salty water to get any little worm that might have crawled in, out.
My Mom would take over and wash them, cook them and then pickle them. They made their own shredded salted cabbage, and pickled guerkins as well as tomatoes and jams. We'd go apple picking and she made apple sauce and put that away for winter.We had rhubarb she also cooked and canned.
One time we went apple picking and my Dad found a wounded hawk. He brought it out of the woods and we saw one of the claws was frozen shut and it could in no way be opened. Seems it was shot by a hunter. So we took it home and my Mom laid out one room wall to wall with newspaper.
The bird ate a whole fresh turkey and behaved itself. We let it walk freely in the room. When he had to go, he'd lift his tail and shoot and we never knew how he did it, but he always found a tiny spot that was not covered with paper for the thing to fall on. So we had to clean it up quickly.
My Mom never got mad. Everyone was so impressed with this bird because he never missed a shot lol.
Well after three -four days and one turkey he was strong enough to let go and so we took him outside and he flew away but not before thanking us.
You think animals don't understand but they do. He flew in a circle came back and gave us a look to say thanks, before disappearing into the horizon.
Summers I spent swimming and helping to paint stairs, pulling weeds, reading. I had a great thirst for books for they were my window to the world.
These are things kids don't do today. Later on we built a second floor to our house and this I partook in. Our area was zoned for bungalows but then duplexes began to spring up so we had to upgrade so to speak.
My Dad gave me a job to clean the old bricks from the front of the house we took off and we used them for the side. The front got brand new white stones which were quite beautiful. Later he got another lot to build a country house and we spent every spare moment with hammer and nails. I learned what team work was like, with my Dad.
We'd work till noon and then went fishing and water skiing. Those days were my favorite days. I'd love to take the boat out. He got it second hand from a retired newspaper man. It had a siren and a 75 horsepower motor and you could even sleep in it. We tried it a few nights for the fun of it and slept in the middle of the river surrounded by bull frogs. It was great!
Then in the early dawn we'd catch fish for break fast and head on to my friends' camping ground to cook them.
My Dad loved camping so he got an axle from the junk yard and he welded himself a metal box frame. Before we knew it we had a fold out camping trailer. Then he got some canvas and sewed a tent to go over it. He got foam to make mattresses with. We had the best time with this trailer before we got the lot and he decided he liked the area enough to settle into a country house.

When we went home I used the trailer as my tree house in the back yard. It was my special place to go to play in.
Of course we had friends come over. My neighbor was always a princess and when we played dress up she would go into her dream land pretending. My dream was I was an amazon woman. I lived in a forest surrounded by danger and my friends were lions. Sorta like Tarzan, I had my own island and if anyone needed rescuing I was there to provide them secretly, with safety food and warmth. The trick was to never to be found out. lol

My aunt spent her money on clothes and parties and my Dad spent his, dollar down dollar a week on nails lol
Everything was a learning experience for my Mom and I and it was a good healthy life.

:)