Shuffling The Tarot

All tarot reading begin with a good shuffle. Some might argue that clearing and cleansing the deck by some method would or should always be the first step to any tarot reading. If you've been allowing other people to handle your deck I would agree. My habit is to clear the deck of outside energies at the end of a reading session before I put the cards away. I prefer to not allow any outside influences to surround my decks, even in a resting state. 

 However, if you are reading for yourself with a tarot deck no one else has touched you might want to skip the clearing step. Some readers feel that the information in a reading is enhanced by the culmulative effects of personal energy built up over a period of time. Eventually you may begin to notice what can only be called energy-sludge on your cards. When this occurs, your intuitive understanding of the symbols may become clouded. The cards may begin to feel sluggish as you shuffle. If your readings become significantly difficult to understand, it's time to clear your cards. 

Others feel that starting a reading with a clean slate is the only way to go. There is no right or wrong, so feel free to go with what feels right to you. 

The method of shuffling the cards is also an individual choice. Your first thought about shuffling the Tarot may be to handle them just like playing cards, shuffling with two hands and letting the cards intermingle as they drop to the table.  I don't recommend this style of shuffle. It does mix the cards well but it also tends to damage the cards by bending them in the middle with each shuffle. Tarot decks can be expensive and I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my money on different decks rather than replacing ones I already own!   Many tarot decks are larger than regular playing cards and this makes them difficult to handle with this type of shuffling.

Another way of mixing the cards is to just let them fall randomly on the table. Then with both hands simply move them all over, scrambling and mixing as you go. Pretend you're six years old and you'll  do it perfectly! The more you move the cards, the better the mix. This method takes a pretty large table and can be slow, requiring several minutes of mixing before you get a sense of completion.  I'm not a fan of this method; my mind tends to wander too much. 

What works best for me is to square up the deck with the back of the cards to me. I hold the cards along the horizontal or long side and I randomly divide the deck between my two hands. Then I begin intermingling the cards by cutting the cards into themselves. I'll do this several times, with varying numbers of cards at a time. I usually close my eyes, focus on the issues at hand or the person that is my client as I mix and cut several times.  You may prefer to hold the cards with the tops or short side and cut in that way, from top to bottom. 

Until recently, I've cut right to left because I am right handed. Lately I've reversed that, moving left to right and I think I will stay with this method. I believe that my shuffling with my non-dominant hand I'm connecting more strongly with my intuition than my logical senses.  If a card falls out as I'm shuffling, I set it aside and will use it as an additional card to clarify a reading. 

Many tarot readers, especially beginners, prefer to not have any reversed or upside down cards in their readings. If you want to ensure all your cards stay upright, go through the deck before you shuffle and orient all the cards in the upright position. Be consistent in the up/down or right/left method as you shuffle. 

If you want to create reversed cards in your deck, simply turn an occasional cut 180 degrees as you shuffle. 

As you've probably guessed, there are many ways to shuffle your cards. You're free to even invent your own! Do what is comfortable for you and leaves you with a well mixed deck.

The Star-

The Star is a serene, peaceful card filled with hope and wellbeing. As I look at the imagery, I feel a calmness that evolves into a long, deep sigh of ahhhhhh.....at last. Some of my earliest memories are of looking up into the night sky and loving the stars. One of my most vivid visual memories is of seeing the expanse of the Milky Way on an autumn evening in the Wyoming night.  Pondering the stars and the vastness of the universe always made me wonder about my own place in time, past, present and future. All those feelings come flooding back to me when I draw the Star.

Classically, the Star represents hopefulness and, if one has been involved in a difficult period, moving forward into a more beneficial time. The Star is a positive card of giving and receiving, inspiration and illuminating insights.  It suggests a quiet place to find your emotional center and balance your emotions. There is no sense of urgency at all in this card. The woman is unclothed, exposing her true self with no shame. Notice that she has one foot in the water and yet she is firmly still on land. The water represents emotions, feelings, creativity and inspiration.  The land keeps her grounded in the real world, where she knows she must remain engaged and not forget her purpose. She's practical but stills listens to her inner spirit.

 In the distance, there are mountains ; suggesting that this is the calm following great exertion, either by accomplishment or endurance of what has brought her to this oasis. Or we could view the mountains as being still in her future, tasks she must still face, lessons yet to be learned. If we take this point of view, then perhaps her momentary peaceful respite is in fact an act of marshalling her resources before she forges on.

However you interpret the Star, it's important to know that this is a Major Arcana card and it must be respected for it's inherent wisdom and importance. The Star is a positive indication that you are on the right path. There is still much to be done and the Star will help guide you forward. It's a card of believing that dreams can come true. Stay true to yourself, listen to the whisperings of your heart and know that you can fulfill your highest hopes. Trust in your intuition. Trust in yourself.

Seven of Cups

Comparing the same card in two or more different tarot decks can help you gain insights into its meaning in the reading and for you personally. The two 7 of Cups cards I'm sharing today are vastly different in their illustrations, colors and symbols. Neither is better than the other. One is not more right than the other. Both capture the classic concepts of the Sevens, of the suite of Cups and specifically the 7 of Cups. Both are merely different shadings of the message. Which do you prefer?
 

The traditional Rider Waite view of the 7 of Cups is clearly about choices. They're emotionally loaded choices, take a close look at what each chalice is holding. The man seems bewildered or perhaps we've just caught him in the instant before he reaches out to for one cup over the other. I think he's not at all sure what he's going to too, the fact that the cups all sit on a turbulent gray cloud speaks to me of mental confusion, many sleepless nights worrying about the gravity of the decisions.  He seems to be connecting with the center chalice, notice the vibrant red halo...that could indicate a clear choice that he should make, one that might lead him to his true destiny, but the clouds may be obscuring his view. It may also be be telling us that there is an energetic connection being made here, he's being pulled toward this choice but because whatever is within the chalice is cloaked, he's too worried about the unknown to decide. Either way, there's a clear message of confusion here. 

Our other card is from The Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Losche. This is a

contemporary reinterpretation of the Rider Waite. The images here are familiar, there are chalices and choices but there is a much stronger feeling of distress and confusion here for me. The man appears to have become quite overcome by the weight of what he must decide. We're left to decide for ourselves if he is praying for guidance or is he completely exhausted and collapsed under the pressures of his life. Notice at the top of this card are many softly shaded people, scenes and symbols. These could represent his memories of the past, things he wishes he might do over. They might be nightmares that have left him shattered and unable to move forward.  They might represent emotional torment, pain and betrayal that he's suppressed and now realizes must be dealt with because, clearly as Dr. Phil might say, If you keep doing what you've been doing, you will continue to get the same results and how's that working for you? Apparently not well. 

I think these two cards are especially helpful to understanding the emotional turmoil of the 7 of Cups when studied together. Clearly choices must be made. Trying to do too much or have it all isn't serving anyone's highest good and spreading yourself too thin leaves you with nothing at all but thoughts of what might have been. Woulda Coulda Shoulda.... maybe not such a good way to live. 

The traditional thoughts on the meaning of this card include:wishful thinking, disillusionment, choices to be made, chaos, inner turmoil, not seeing reality clearly, inaction, paralyzation and to that I'd add abdicating your personal power. 

If this is where you find yourself, as many of us often do from time to time, it's time to examine your heart. Listen to the whispers of your soul. It's time to make a choice.

Yoda In My Tarot Deck

 There's been plenty of daily drama lately in my life, both personally and professionally. Some people might find that stimulating. Not me. I find it exhausting and overwhelming. It tends to paralyze me and I become mired in the stickiness of it all. My brain goes numb and I pretty much become a zombie on autopilot.  I've been feeling that way for a long time.  

When I'm really entrenched in the ooze, I reach for my tarot cards. Before today I couldn't have said that, but my laser focused daughter pointed this out to me with all the delicacy she could muster. She was right. This is what I do. Always.  And true to form, that's just what I did yesterday. It's been a very long time since I shuffled a deck. But it's like riding a bicycle and my hands remembered what to do even if my brain wasn't fully tuned in yet.

I shuffled the cards with this question in mind: What is causing me to feel stuck in my life? I suppose I shouldn't have been at all surprised that the first card I've drawn for myself in about five years should be the 8 of Swords.  Eight is "my" number. Check.  Swords is about air and action. It's also about what going on in your head; how you use or don't use your intelligence. Swords are also about making decisions. Uh, yeah, check. 

Take a look at the card. What you see is a forlorn woman, eyes covered, arms bound. She's standing in the mud surrounded by swords. Far behind her is the security of home. We can't tell if she's on her own by circumstance or choice, but it doesn't seem to matter. She's trapped and feeling powerless.  

Indecision, confusion and fear are the main messages to me with the Eight of Swords. It's passive, she stands alone, frightened, overwhelmed and surely she's wondering how the heck she got in this situation. Things weren't suppose to be this way. Cut off from everything, there is nothingness.  Does that mean that maybe she's had a hand in either becoming or staying a prisoner? Has the nothingness implied by the sensory deprivation of being blindfolded and bound actually become a comfortable cocoon for her? 

Because she's so absorbed with her thoughts, she's not even noticing that there is a space between the sword where she might escape. Despite the sadness of the Eight of Swords, it's important to remember that there are always choices. She could struggle against the bindings and free herself. Then she could remove the blindfold and see her options....see the possibility of carefully stepping between the swords that are trapping her. It's not easy, but something could be and must be done. 

So what's the answer to my question? What's behind my malaise?  Tarot doesn't always tell a pretty  story, but it's always telling the lesson you most need to hear. It's a pretty big smack in the head... good lord woman, get out of your head! Stop thinking about limitations. Make a decision. Take an action. Any action is better than inaction. 

It's like Yoda says, "Do or Do not. There is no try."

Marsland

Unless you're a part of my family circle, I'd bet you a quarter that you've never heard of Marsland, much less know where it is. So you might imagine my surprise when during an insomnia induced fit of late night random Googling, I found myself at this page on ghost towns. Even more surprising, I found myself looking at a photo of my own great grandparent's home.

  My great grandparents were James Mundy Tollman and Flora Caroline Maika. They built this home in 1912 of cement blocks made on site. This was their second home in Marsland, the first being on a homestead nearby.  This photo was taken just after its completion and the farm eventually expanded to include a large barn, cattle pets, a smoke house, an ice house, huge garden area, silo, and hog pen.  A family letter written by one of the children, James Perry Tollman, written in his retirement details life in Marsland and on the family farm in vivid memories. One of the amusing comments is that the neighbors were always stopping by to check on the building progress and they were quite perplexed by the modern bathroom that was being installed...apparently one of the first in the county...especially since there was a perfectly good two holer not far from the kitchen door!

Marsland is located in western Nebraska in Dawes County. It's pretty remote. In its heyday, the population was about 800, according the the Nebraska Historical Society virtual Nebraska. The nearest large town is Chadron. Today, Marsland is just a shadow of itself, perhaps deserving of the ghost town designation to the outside world. 

Not for me, a woman who hears the whispers of long gone ancestors. And apparently not for the Nebraska Historical Society; shortly after seeing the house on the ghost town site, I came across it again while doing genealogical research on a Tollman aunt. The Nebraska Historical Society has done an excellent job incorporating the internet with their holdings and I found the house listed in a survey of historic buildings in Nebraska. It was not identified, just shown as an unknown home.  So I contacted them offering details should they be interested. 

A very enthusiastic response followed the next day and I've sent them several photos and other bits of family information to help them document and preserve this part of Nebraska history.  The Tollman family has deep roots in Nebraska and although it is scattered across the USA today, family reunions are still held in western Nebraska and always include a stop at the old house.

 The old house may not last forever, but it sure feels great to have helped it become a part of Nebraska history.

The Cookie Factory

Just some of what's been keeping me busy these days. We have eldery neighbors and single moms I'm going to surprise.

Little Holiday Joys

Winter holidays are about the warmth of memories. These little china musician angels are among the fondest of my childhood. Carefully stored for most of their lives, they'd appear magically to herald the holiday season. I remember them often being arranged on a small gate-leg table with fancy turned legs adding to its charm. The candles were always old fashioned bayberry because according to ancient tradition ~

A bayberry candle burned to the socket, will bring joy to the heart and gold to the pocket.

In retrospect, I think maybe Mom must have been buying imitation bayberry. Eventually a house fire took most of our family mementos. Sad yes, but thanks to eBay, but not tragic. With a little patience and good fortune, I've discovered that joy can indeed be purchased quite reasonably and the sweetness of memories is not diminished if a little gold leaped from my pocket to another.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Happy Thanksgiving, Family and Friends. We all seem to take stock at Thanksgiving and I've read gratitude lists with everything on them from a warm place to sleep, food to eat, an Xbox and even TiVo. And they're all good. I think its ok to be grateful for the luxury of material things you enjoy.

For me, it's not important what you may be thankful for or about, it is that you actually are in living in the moment long enough to be in a state of thankfulness.

Tonight as I reflect, I am thankful that I live in a country where blithering idiots can speak their mind and I can ignore them.

I am thankful for my bills because they remind me on trying days that I have my dream job that allows me to pay those bills.

I am thankful for the sounds of The Viking's C-Pap and the snoring. One day I may not hear them.

I'm thankful for the challenges life has presented me and that I wasn't behind the barn door when resourcefulness was being handed out.

I'm thankful for the luxury of introspection.

I'm thankful for the amazing strength of friendships discovered in unexpected places.

And, ok... I'm also grateful for TiVo, chocolate, chai latte for my Keurig, men who wink and the Internet. I'm just as shallow as everyone else.

In my email today I got a one liner that says it beautifully:

Thanksgiving is good; Thanks living is better.

Mother Natures Finery

In New England, Mother Nature rails agains the encroaching winter like a fiesty, willful teenager. She dresses in her flamboyant, firey reds and dazzling oranges as though she is defiantly daring winter to rob her of her finery.

Ultimately, she knows she will be donning her gray and white robes but she won't give in silently, she wants you to remember her in brazen splendor.

Fall in New England reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara dressing up in grand style sewn from her mama's green velvet drapes, masquerading as the once elegant lady she was, preparing to ask for help from the Yankees. Tara may be a thousand miles away from New Hampshire, but for me, that's fall in New England.

Here in Texas, Mother Nature shows us a different aspect of her glory. Like a grand old Victorian lady who cherishes her memories of younger, wilder days but knows there is nothing to gain by challenging the inevitable, she presents a maturity earned by experience. No less beautiful, but tempered.



She dresses herself in deep mossy greens, coppery russets and butterscotchy golden hues as she prepares to meet the winter. Grasses turn a soft faded honey as they prepare to rest. Gracefully, she accepts her subtley colored brown cloak. She wears it lightly.




I heard it said recently that no one would ever come to Texas for the beauty of the fall foliage.

Beauty, I believe, is where you find it.

Great Grandma Flora and the Green Monster

This post is a response to the Ancestors Ball Blog Party.

We're approaching the holiday season, beginning now with our modernized holiday of Halloween. It's roots are much different, being the time of rememberence of our ancestors and the loved ones we've lost. In the very olden days, this was a special, spirit filled time when the veil between our world and the spirit grew thin and we could feel each other's presences more clearly.

I've been spending almost all my free time recently working with my sister on our family trees. Ancestry has been important in our families and we're lucky because both sets of grandparents had research that we've been able to work with. Unfortunately, enough of it has been discovered to be inaccurate that now it's left to us, my sister and I, with the advantages the Internet provides researchers, to straighten things out.

No matter many names and dates I find, I still wonder what their daily lives were like. Especially the women. We think women today shoulder most of the burden of homemaking and childrearing. I shudder to imagine my great,great grandmothers' lives. I wonder a lot about the meals they prepared. I have this fantasy that one day a handwritten recipe book belonging to one of my great grandmothers or aunts will appear on Ebay and I'll win it.

This is my great grandmother, Flora. She taught school before she married. She may have been a bit unusual in her day, not because she was a teacher but because she did not marry until she was 28 years old. I met her when I was five. Photos preserved the day, but I wish I could remember it. The black and white photo is her on that day, aged 85.

A few recipes and family traditions have survived through my mother's family. One of them most of us wish would have never begun, yet in reality it is very likely the most important of them all because it ties generations together across time.

Jello has been popular since its introduction in the early 1900's. But it wasn't until 1930 and the introduction of the lime flavor that this ghastly tradition began. Although I don't really know when Flora began making this "treat", our family history, as passed to us by my mother, is that the dreaded green jello salad was made as a special treat for visiting family. What made it special....prepare yourselves.... marachino cherries ...ok, not so bad..... American cheese bits.....getting worse...and OLIVES!

Mom would make this "treat" every Thanksgiving and Christmas, lovingly bringing it to the table each holiday with the story of her grandma making it and loving it as a child. (I think they had not yet discovered real food at that time.) As you can imagine, children in the late 1960's weren't nearly as enamored of lime jello "salad" as a child in the 1940's obviously was!

I grew up thinking this was a distinctly Flora Tollman creation. Recently, I have discovered how completely wrong I was. It seems as though someone in the corporate Jello kitchens decided that through the war years, lime would be the perfect vehicle to enable homemakers to use up bits and pieces of their non-rationed foods to perk up their meals. How ingenious.

Jello concoctions became almost patriotic, in their own way, and certainly allowed Mom to give the family a little treat. I also think they musth have had lower expectations back then about what qualified as a treat.

So that explains the beginning of the very strange combination of ingredients. But it doesn't explain why Jello kept at it through the 50's and 60's!

So now I know truthfully, my great-grandmother wasn't just being frugal, she probably was considered downright fashionable to be serving a weirdly colored jiggling mass of suspended bits of artificially colored food. Cool.

What I also know now is something more profound. My mother, who is in her late 70's, continues to make this, even though she is the only one who eats it. Really, she only has a couple of bites and is done with it. But that's not why she makes it. She makes it and brings it to the table in order to suddenly become transformed into a six year old little girl, thrilled to be having dinner at her elegant grandmother's formal table. When my mother sees the glistening greenness, I believe she sees the shining eyes of her grandmother and for an instant, feels the sense of belonging, security and love that you only get when a heartstring is tied.

And I leave you now, Wendelynn, daughter of Jolene, who is the daughter of Clara, who is the daughter of Flora who is the daughter of Fredericka. In this season of remembering our ancestors, I hope you'll find something that ties your heartstrings too.

Waiting for the Witching Hour

Spooky Things

Spooky things are beginning to appear in my home. It's been quite a while since I did anything crafty but this idea was just not to be ignored!

Of course, not having gotten my fingers messy with glue and paint for quite a while required a trip to Michaels to buy absolutely everything I needed. It must be against some cosmic law to not have any craft supplies, but sadly, that was the case. So the moment of inspiration was put on hold and off I went to Michaels.

I hate shopping. Really, I do. But if I have to shop, Micheals is the place to go. I had not been in one for about 4 years and I have to admit, it was overwhelming at first. And then just a little dissapointing as I discovered that although there must be hundreds of thousands of items in the store, there was not as much true variety as I would have liked. I guess the days of smaller individual companies are long gone. All Hail Martha Stewart. Apparently, It's A Good Thing. Honestly, I'm not bashing Martha. I'm a fan, especially of her Halloween ideas. But I like diversity more.

Craft supplies are more expensive now than I remember. Basically all I needed was paint, glue, brushes, Mod Podge, ribbon and embellishments. I didn't expect to spend as much as I might have for dinner out. Oh, I needed blocks too.

Boy, did I need blocks. The tallest of the set are 4 inches. The shortest are 2 1/2 inches. Kudos to Lowes for not charging me a cut fee for each of the individual cuts it took to turn a 10 foot 2x4 into three sets of multisized blocks. I think the guy at the saw was happy to see me leave the store.

These little cuties are simply clay, peralized paint and microglitter. They're more goofy than spooky, but they'll do. I rather like their goofy eyes.


These Jack-O-Latern lights are from Target this year. They remind me of vintage paper lanterns. They're made of some type of silky papery polyester I think, but they look great. They weren't so great to put together. The globe shape is held open with a wire armiture that you install on your own. It's tricky at best. I broke two of them while carefully trying to insert the frame into the shade without tearing it.
Love how they look!

What I Have Learned This Year About Myself

Having spent several thousand dollars this year on medical care, I have learned:
I have asthma, not blood clots.
My heart is in good shape even with a murmur and irregular heartbeat.
My lungs are great.
My highly acidic stomach can be tamed with the right meds.
My blood pressure even pre-surgery is normal. ( They want to know how I do that!)
I'm good till my next 100,000 mile checkup.
If you have anxiety and insomnia, get a new boss.

And most importantly, if you are a coffee drinker, my local hospital very nicely puts a caffeine shot in your IV.

TiVo Rules

I knew it was a doomed relationship from the start. One look at the antiquated interface and it really was just a matter of time. But, I'm no quitter ; I'd promised to try it out at least a month but I never promised to keep quiet about the growing pains with this new relationship. In truth, he was as dissappointed with the Charter DVR as I was only he was willing to suffer in silence. I'm not so good at keeping my feelings to myself.

He said he'd called them to cancel our service, forcing us to welcome Chater's puny DVR with open arms. Honestly, I think his intentions were pure but the Viking was ill prepared to resist the siren songs of a well seasoned TiVo CSR who was determined to not lose an account. Free service. No shipping. Incredible discounts on upgrading our equipment.

He was strong and resisted. He really did. He even ended the call with the service cancelled.

Then he tried to find a show he wanted to watch in the upcoming week. He couldn't. He's not a technological idiot, but he couldn't do this most basic function of a DVR. I was even more useless.

Two days later, our shiny new Premier TiVo box arrived. They hadn't told us that free shipping meant 2 day service! Chalk up another win for amazing service. TiVo rocks.

They say love is better the second time around. I don't know about that but TiVo sure is!

Chowder Time

This is the weekend of the biggest event of the year in my home town of Ledyard, Connecticut. The 65th annual "agricultural" fair. I haven't been in more than 35 years, but I always think about it the weekend following Labor Day. When I was a girl, it was the first place mothers felt safe letting their young teen daughters wander alone with friends. They probably shouldn't have even in the late 60's early 70's.. older guys hit on us and tried to take us for rides on the Ferris wheel.

I found this geat photo of the fair at the official Ledyard Fair website. I hope no one gets upset that I'm borrowing it. The midway was much like it is today at traveling carnivals that come into small towns for a weekend these days. The beckoning lights, the barkers, tinny music crackling out of bad speakers. And the games... where you could win your mother cheap sparkling cut crystal dishes for only pennies; if you were lucky enough to get your penny to land and stay inside the dish.

By morning's light you'd realize that you could have bought her the same little bowl in the dime store for fifty cents but under those twinkling magical lights, they were the most delicate crystal in the world. Who cared if it cost almost your whole allowance and buying one would have been cheaper. The feeling of satisfaction as you accepted your prize could never be bought in Bastian's.

Our fair food in those days was distinctly New England. A uniquely Ledyard version of clam chowder, clam fritters (3 for 25 cents), Italian sausage sandwiches and grinders. Most years, it would be chilly at night by mid September and the steam coming from your bowl of chowder warmed you and carried the fragrance straight into your soul. The chowder tent was discretely set up just far enough from the animals for polite society yet close enough to the tractor and horse pulls that the men would let their women and families linger to enjoy the soup.

I credit that chowder for my lifelong love of soup and my personal mission to recreate the wonderful chowder in my memory. I've developled into a pretty good soup maker, thanks to the fair.

It may still be 90 degrees at midnight here in Texas where I live now, but I think it's time for chowder and fritters for dinner.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

TiVo, I really miss you. I mean I really,really,really miss you. The Charter DVR may be $500 a year cheaper but it will surely never win my heart as you did. No alpha search. No easy to read program synopsis. No suggestions of programs I'd never find on my own but end up loving. A display that is an immediate throwback to Pong and monotone green on black video CRT sceens. It's about as bare and utilitarian as somethign as advanced as a DVR could get.

Charter should be ashamed of itself.

Most importantly, no more cute little dancing TiVo icon.

Stargazing

Why Fireworks on the Fourth of July?

I've often wondered about the tradition on fireworks on the 4th of July. Our founding fathers (and mothers) would be pleased to know that we still love the flash of light and resounding noise of fireworks. John Adams had this mind as the way to commerate of this nation's independence. He wrote to his wife, Abigail on July 3,1776:

The day will be most memorable in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…bonfires and illuminations (fireworks) from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

So apparently even in 1776, people were setting off fireworks even before the Declaration was signed. I didn't know this until I finally decided to solve this mystery for myself. Almost everyone knows that fireworks originated in China, along with gunpowder. The Chinese took to using them primarily for the protective nature of the loud noise they made, to mark important events; births, deaths, marriages and the New Year. The loud noise would frighten away the evil spirits, protecting the celebrant.

Fireworks appreared on the European continent in the 13th century, most likely carried home by the early Crusaders. Fireworks became an element of religious festivals and of course, public entertainments. I mean, who doesn't thrill at fireworks. Even today they delight us, mesmerising us for a few seconds where we are instantly transported back into our childhoods.

The first recorded fireworks show in England was to celebrate the wedding of Henry VII in 1487. Subsequent monarchs had fireworks displays to mark their coronations, marriages ( wow...Henry VIII must have used up the nation's supplies!), military victories and birthdays. Queen Elizabeth I even had a court position, "Fire Master of England", she loved them so much.

Early English immigrants to the lands that eventually became the United States brought the fireworks tradition with them. Black powder with it's furiously boiling heavy smoke and loud retort was commonly found element of celebrations. Fireworks continued as a firmly established part of major celebrations in America. The first celebration of our independence was in 1777, six years before we had actually won that freedom.

We Americans have always been an optimistic lot.

In my family, we celebrate a birthday on this day too. The spirit, perseverance and dedication symbolized by Independence Day has been in her nature from the beginning. Coincidence? Probably not.

Happy Independence Day!

Words and More Words

I must admit I love words. When the first Magnetic Poetry set came out I was in heaven. I immediately got a couple of sets, a magnetic easel and then even a magnetic calendar designed for the little word bits. It was a match made in heaven. I think I may have run across a kindred soul yesterday. The entire tuck was covered in lovely little word bits! There were a few random sentences, most of which I don't think I'd really want to repeat, but very creative.

This morning, I'm wishing I'd have hung out to meet the owner of this beauty. The truck and words were so clean, this must have been a recent wild hair because everyone else's vehicles in Texas are covered with dust and pollen.

The Viking thinks it's a good thing that my vehicle is mostly plastic. It made me smile. Click the images if you want to read the words.

Spring in Texas

Spring Throws a Wild Party in Texas!