Okay so I haven't posted in a couple days because I'm working on several posts concurrently instead of focusing on one *grin*. So many things want to come out at the same time and I don't want to lose any of the pieces.

So as a stipend to tide everyone over, here is a link to my pictures that I've posted online from Dragoncon 2005

A child trusts their parents absolutely and without reservation until such a time as abuse of such devotion pushes a developing mind towards the path of cynicism and bitterness.



Which is not to say that an agile young mind may be able to utilize such challenges for growth and development opportunities. I still occasionally give my mother some grief over an event that happened when I was a young child of approximately 7 or 8. At that point we had a small farm with a handful of livestock to provide a cheaper source of meats and eggs, etc. (We were financially challenged *grin*)

One of my assigned chores was to collect the eggs. Upon my seeing my reluctance to fulfill my obligation my mother made this historic pronouncement "Don't worry. The chickens won't hurt you."

Now let me share some observations with you if you are not intimately familiar with chickens, especially from the perspective of someone who is barely over three feet tall. Chickens are mean, spiteful, ugly demons from the seventh layer of the abyss. They are armed with sharp beaks, sharp claws, spurs on their legs, and will not hesitate to smack you around with their wings if they get really riled, which is extremely easy to do.

So there I am standing outside the pen, in a staring contest with a rooster who was eager to draw blood to satisfy his dark lord's demand for child sacrifice, engaged in a contest of wills for which I was highly unprepared. In a fit of frustration I grabbed the garden hose, you know the kind that has the metal gun like attachment that keeps the water under pressure as let loose a blast against my smug oppressor.

Light dawns in the darkness.

I open the door to the coop carefully and immediately start laying down suppression fire and chase the evil minions out through the flap that separates the coop from the yard in which they are penned in. Battle calls ring out as the hordes try to rally and over take me but superior firepower (er, waterpower *grin*) is mine and I quickly dominate the field all except for one lone partisan who stands (or sits rather) her ground and won't be budged from her place despite considerable direct pressure to be moved. Battle weary I nodded to her and acknowledged her determination as legendary and lowered my weapon after quickly locking the latch that would prevent those who fled the field of battle from re-entering the coop.

Quickly in case the foul fowl had some ability to translocate through time and space or otherwise bypass the latched portal, I gathered the eggs of all except the valiant amazon and left the field with my spoils. Weary and exhilarated both, I placed the golden treasures within the fridge and went back outside to run in the woods with my dog without mentioning my adventure to my parents.


Until much, much later in life… Now I take great joy in embarrassing my mother by telling people the story of how she tried to tell this poor little kid that chickens are peaceful and non violent animals. Though I do have to point something out, my mother had managed to keep from having spoken a lie, though not from what she said especially since she has acknowledged what she said was a falsehood, but by my creative problem solving efforts. After all, the prophecy came true, the chickens did not hurt me.

Merry meet again

As I was growing up there was always polish jokes being told amongst the members of my extended family on my mothers side, sometimes intricate, usually simple and straight forward, but always driving home the point that people of polish descent have their own unique way of dealing with problems and situations.

As time went on I tended not to think about it at all until such a time as I happened to be visiting from out of state riding around with one of my uncles on our way over to pick up another uncle to get the day started and begin whatever project or event we had planned for the day. It was fairly early in the day and there was a nice light rain that promised to keep the temperature down for the rest of the day. We turned the corner and it took me a few moments to realize what I was seeing… My uncle… on a ladder… painting the house… In the rain!!!

At the time I set it aside and didn't say a thing, but after returning home I made a point of sharing this amusing anecdote with my mother and some of my friends. If I remember properly my comment to my mother started with, "I know we're polish, but…"

A year or so later my mother made the pilgrimage to visit our relatives and was sitting around the table with several of her siblings and their spouses when she shared the tale of how her son was telling everyone he knew that all the stories about polish people were true because he had seen his uncle painting the outside of his house in the rain. According to my mother's report the uncle in question only rolled his eyes a bit and looked sidelong at his wife.


This is actually a long convoluted lead in to explain why when my truck wouldn't even attempt to crank last week the problem was solved with repeated application of a hammer under the hood.

There are some words that I wish to share that have meaning no matter what path you may be happening to walk right now. I am not the originator of these agreements, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was already incorporating these tenets in my path.

and for sake of full disclosure I have copied the following from another site to make my life easier instead of typing the information from the book.

agreement 1

Be impeccable with your word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

agreement 2

Don’t take anything personally - Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

agreement 3

Don’t make assumptions - Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

agreement 4

Always do your best - Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

If one wishes to find this wisdom somewhere other than here read “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. I highly recommend it.

For many years I have let my muse lay dormant. At a particular point in my (past), while I was screaming into the darkness to be heard over the deafening sounds of chaos, I paused in a moment of reflection and actually listened to the cacophony that I railed against. To my surprise I realized that the discordant sound was actually all of the multitude of other voices crying out into the darkness trying desperately to be heard. This revelation shocked me as I understood the reason that it felt that I was alone in facing down the darkness, was because that everyone else was busy with the same battle against the Black Fear.

I swallowed my pride and no longer added my voice to the din that seemed to make the darkness so much more oppressive and began to walk in silence along the long circuitous road that lay before me. Many long years have I walked, most times alone though occasionally with others sharing light, hope and love, through darkness and light and back again along the path I find before me.

I have passed though a point on my journey where I need to send forth my (thoughts/energy) into the outer realms. I have no agendas with my postings other than to share a mirror of a moment from my path. Those who happen to examine these shards that I share are free to agree or disagree, love or hate, or have any kind of opinion that they may have about what I share here. For these are moments from my path and there is room for all varied paths in the great circle of spirit that we are all a part of.

So here I go, following the twists and turns of my path as it leads to the center and out again, speaking again into the darkness. There will be moments of deep introspection as well as flitting whimsey, even moments exploring the dark places all extremes of which are encompassed in the fullness of my life experience. So I acknowledge all of those who share these moments with me.

Namaste'