O Christmas tree...

... O Christmas tree!
How are thy leaves so verdant!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How are thy leaves so verdant!
Not only in the summertime,
But even in winter is thy prime.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How are thy leaves so verdant!
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
Much pleasure doth thou bring me!  

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!
Du grünst nicht nur
  zur Sommerzeit,
Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit.
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum,
wie treu sind deine Blätter!

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!"

~   Christmas Carol, O Tannenbaum 

Do they know...

it's Christmas?

It's Thanksgiving Eve in America and...

... I was about to post the "May none of your real feelings slip out at Thanksgiving Dinner" meme here, but will save it.  Maybe next year.

Pretty Autumn leaves are quite nice and will do.

Oh, I'm thankful enough for the usual things, like most Americans.  This year, however, my mood is a little less buoyant and I'm not so apt to go on and on about all the good stuff in my life.  I could, but I guess I'm not going to right now.

The good stuff is there, and I'm not complaining.  There's been just enough difficulty and discouragement for a long enough time to wear me down and take the edge off, if you know what I mean.

Sorry.  No Pollyanna today.

Perhaps this should be a "for what am I grateful in spite of all the hellacious stress and bewilderment I've endured, for crying out loud" sort of post.  It's not.

I'm well aware that some people have it really truly bad and don't complain, even in the worst of times and have endured (gods, I hate that word) way more than I have, truth be told.

Far be it from me to point out how crappy some people treat others and the manipulative bullshit some of us endure from time to time.  And it would be totally inappropriate to mention that the comments and criticisms from the bigots and slanderers are becoming less and less welcome in the lives of those who frankly are above all that, tyvm.

Anyway, my mood is mixed and I'm in a sort of "between" place these days.  Not unusual, for the modern Pagan, which I am.  Those between places are exactly where we're meant to be, right over there, between the negative and positive paths that meander off into that vagueness, around the bend.
I'm going to sit right down on this imaginary rock and think about what might come next.  I might just get out my Good Stuff List and read it over.  Maybe I'll even add to it before I tuck it away until next year.

If I don't toss it.

Happy Thanksgiving, America.

Season's Greetings, rest of the world.

Shawn
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PS.  (Dec 4, 2014)  Serves me right for being cranky when I blogged this bit.  We ended up having what I'd call *The Best Thanksgiving Ever* this year.  Cheers!

Season's Greetings....

When I'm queen...

...every community on the planet is going to have shared garden space for exchange of produce, tree-lined streets with flags flying and hemp and cottonwood plantations will be everywhere possible.

Marijuana will be legal, every home will sport a front porch and have a rain barrel if they want it, backyard gardens with lots of flowers for butterflies and bees and yards with balls and dogs and shade trees, vertical gardens, mushroom-growing indoor kits and picnic-friendly parks with band stands and free croquet for all.

It will be lovely.

(repeated from a frivolous Facebook comment)

Shawn
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Because of our dear friends who don't mind that we just happen to be hetero....

Here!!

We love you!!

Shawn & SGTex
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Not amused....

Wondering...

...if it would be a good thing to start over on that book collection.

After all, shouldn't every home have a library?

When I think of all the hardback treasures that were left behind in the Pacific Northwest when I moved to Texas, it makes me imagine a room filled with bookshelves filled with beautiful, artistically bound volumes of beautiful, artistically written words.

On the other hand, a beautiful, quiet office totally dedicated to that which would continue to inspire my favorite author (who just happens to be my husband) is an even better idea, isn't it?!

Better stay tuned...

Shawn
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Hahaha!!!

We don't have to tell you that...

Simply put...

SGTex speaks out about gun control....

My response to one of those "luckily, a passerby happened to be armed" stories, because I believe in gun control but think good gun control would be consistent with some qualified "good citizens" permitted to possess and carry loaded weapons:

I believe the sensible corollary to sane gun control is an armed public, i.e., many "law abiding" carrying and able to act as lay peacekeepers. Why can't 2nd-amendment zealots see that a gun-control agenda, even a leftist one, does not entail disarming good people. You could have an armed public and many a fortuitous "passerby was carrying" story and still go forward with strong laws attempting to restrict some weapons and modes of ammunition, stringent clearance requirements for purchase of same, and much stepped-up regulation such as licensing and registration, even inspections by public safety officers to be sure gun owners are properly storing and keeping their piece or arsenal. Then maybe there would be measurable curtailment of the shooting folks in movies thing, and ghouls coming to slaughter first-graders. But in this we liberals are the sensible ones, with the right wing clearly the ones getting wild-eyed and unreasonable.

SGTex, Native Texan, SGI Buddhist Hippie

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No, we do not agree...

...with those who are voicing their angry opinons and demonstrating their hatefulness at the undocumented, hopeful immigrants coming to our southern borders these days.

It occurs to me that some people from other parts of the planet might see all of this on the news and be shaking their heads at it all.

Really, you must wonder what is really going on here and imagine what people really feel.  Can we believe what we're shown on the news or what we see on television or hear on the radio?  Probably only some of it.

What it is, is a big crying shame.

My husband and I feel like those who are yelling and screaming and banging the US flags on the buses and shouting angry words and making ugly scenes on our southern borders need to just basically shut up and go home.   Seriously.

We don't want our laws to be broken and we don't believe that everyone should get a free ride or just have the blessings of living in the USA just handed to them....

....any more than what benefits were handed to our own ancestors who came to these shores and were given a decent life here on this continent all those many years ago....at the expense of the honorable, beautiful indigenous people who had been here for ages.

Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Shawn
****

Independence Day 2014....

....for Raju, this precious elephant soul, seen here being cared for at long last.  Raju was captured as a baby 50 years ago and held by 20-some different owners, the last of which was a drug-addicted fiend who beat and mistreated him, keeping him in chains while he begged.



A year to the day this project to help him started, he has been rescued at last by Wildlife SOS heroes with the help of conservationists with a court order by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, he is now safe from abuse. When he saw that he was going to be released from his chains the tears ran down his face and he cried, along with those who were rescuing him from the hell he'd been living.


We are so glad to have had a small part in facilitating his release and will continue to send what support we can to make his life more comfortable, now that he is in good hands and getting medical care and in a loving environment.


Be blest, Raju. Rest and be restored.


Shawn & SGTex

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Our number is 9...

...and 9 years ago, across 2000-something miles, we came together.

It was June of 2005 and those 'little electrons' were flying.

We realized that we

Love Each Other

In spite of the bad stuff and because of the good stuff, here it is 9 years later and we still do.

In spite of our differences and our similarities.

Because of our differences and our similarities.

And 9 years ago he composed A Sketch of Verse For Shawn.

"And so it goes forever, unfolding, always becoming/creating
The two that are not two, ever interrelating..."

So, here we are.

It's another Happy I Love You Day, SGTex.

Shawn
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Ruffles over Finland...

...which is my way of saying "Happy Father's Day" to my Finnish Daddy, because he'd like that.  He encouraged his girly to be frilly.

Haha!

Shawn
****

It's Memorial Day in America....

...and I have no idea why I picked this to share, but here it is.

Shawn
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Today is International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia

Hail, Gaia....

So, I needed to blog and we were talking about wedding cakes...

....and a friend paid me a lovely compliment. My reply was to describe our wedding cake and how it came to be, back in 2010 at our Bluebonnet wedding (the one where we actually invited people).


Our cake topper was a china Claddagh with an inscription that fit our philosophy. When we went to look at cake ideas it just freaked out the cake designer when I didn't do all the talking. Noel was a major part of the deal, lol. When we decided the style we wanted and flavor/frosting (red velvet/butter cream with crystallized rain droplets), we showed her an example of how the flowers should look (bloomed-out roses) and I told her there needed to be 9. When she asked how they should be placed, I told her "however you want, as you're the artist." She obviously hadn't ever been given that much leeway and looked at me like I was nuts, lol. I didn't turn all "Bridezilla" until the cake was 15 minutes late, by my determination. Never mind we were having near hurricane weather and it was pouring and blowing a gale outside. The gals that delivered the cake just looked at me and laughed and laughed....

Shawn

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