WHOLLY WATER

The Magnificent contradiction of God.
    Whatever your belief, experience of God is,.. this is my experience. I have known this in daily mundane life, and in deepest sacred gleanings of meditation.

We are each a Body,
Each of our bodies has parts, organs, bones and such.
Each of those parts is made up of tissues.
Each of those tissues is made up of cells.
Each of those cells is made up of parts, mitochondria, nucleus, membrane, chromosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, and more.

Each of those parts is made up of molecules, and our own personal self is imprinted on our DNA molecules, what a miracle of un-randomness.

Molecules are made up of atoms.
Atoms are made up of sub-atomic particles… protons, electrons, neutrons…
Beyond that my mind is dizzy… quarks, neutrinos, muons.. barely comprehendible.. photons and waves, string theory, vibrations of potential,… the mind of God

A microcosm pretty magnificent indeed.

We live in a dwelling if we are lucky, maybe a neighborhood, in a city or town, in a province, or state, in a country.
There are 196 countries in our world, plus more cultures, and many Religions that recognize God differently.
The world, our earth, is one of some tiny planets revolving around a great Sun-Star. Our Sun-Star is relatively small compared to others in our galaxy, a speck of dust swirling in a sea of millions of potential life producing star-planet systems. All with possible understandings of the Divine that we have not even fathomed.

The galaxy is yet another speck of dust in amazing amounts of galaxy clusters moving through the universe.
And all to move through an endless universe… the magnificent mind of the Divine creator is this Macrocosm’s source.

There are barely understood dimensions outside our own. And there is the realm outside of the space time continuum. Magnificent indeed.

BUT, the absolutely Magnificent thing about God, to my belief, is that this same great unlimited Mind of the Divine, all knowing, omnipotent, omnipresent,

With all that..

Can yet be personally, lovingly interested, and intimately involved in my little life’s
issues. This man’s human mind can never comprehend the Glory of this
Grace.
Awe, indeed any word, will never suffice the hint of recognition of
the Magnificence God.

Night of the Broken Glass

On this night November 9,1938. Hitler’s Germany saw a coordinated nationwide attack and arrest of some 25,000 to 30,000 Jews, 91 were killed that night alone, some 2000 synagogues were destroyed and tens of thousands of homes and businesses ransacked and. The start of the greatest genocide in history.


There is an increasing rigid intolerance of Islamic people, homosexuals, and others who don’t fit certain people’s ideas of the perfect “American Christian” mold. This intolerance is found in certain groups in this country gaining momentum in politics.

Have we come so far? Or are we taking steps backwards? Let us remember the lessons of history and pray.

WHOLLY WATER

Oh God, I am lost and afraid and need to speak with you


What is it my child?

I want to be worthy of you but I know that I am not.

So you KNOW this, what is it you think you know my child?

There is a part of me I have tried to change and keep hidden from myself and others, to no avail… I am an abomination for sure, I cannot change this and I finally come to you, and humbly ask that you take my life, and free me from this horrible part of me.

What is this my child you speak of?

I cannot say it my Lord, I can not speak it, it is so awful.

What do you think I AM my child? You think I am some person on the street that does not know every part of your soul? I know what troubles you. I want you also to know it. And while you are at it know this … that I ,… YES I… did this to you. I created every part of you, for who you are is needed in this world.

I don’t understand my God…why?

Do not ask God why. But know I have reasons for you to be as you are, you are glorious in my sight, exactly as I created you. You are struggling, but not from my truth but from humanity’s imperfect ideas of what should be.
I AM so glad you finally came to me and asked so that you now will listen to me. I had an ever so precious idea once, the more I thought of it the more I loved it, the more I saw it could be such a divine presence in this universe. I finally created this idea and it was YOU. Your life was my gift to you, please do not ask me to take it back. Live to be the vision I saw you to be, resplendent in grace and honor. Walk past those who will not see... to those who will see you as the amazing idea I had, for it is my desire that others witness your greatness, it is part of my design.

 God!  I am at a loss for words, how can I live up to this?

 You have been living up to this and more.. for a very long time. YOU are as YOU are,    just as I AM that I AM,  for a child can not be something other than it's parent.
           P.S. I love you



 happy sunday,
 blessings, M. Pierre

HELLO AGAIN

I've been away from my blog for a good bit of time here. Personal issues and health being all better now I hope to get back to regular writing. Well as the upcoming election is upon us, I am not surprisingly drawn back to posting my opinions and ideas. All I do want to say for now though is, VOTE VOTE VOTE...I did early voting and the man infront of me while we waited only a short time, mentioned it was an important election... he was sort of feeling out my side of the coin.. eventually the conversation came to that we were both Democrat...yea!
  THIS IS AN IMPORTANT ELECTION, as pendulems swing so the conservative reaction to Obamas election has swung... BUT OMG.. WHAT A REACTION. there are alot of scary people out there trying to undermine all that is liberal, even all that makes sense. They're whole motive is control at any cost. I was reading and looking at pictures of the "Restore the Sanity" march. I was gratified to see the mall absolutely covered with people.
  PLEASE, all of you who are of reasonable, sane, minds, get out and VOTE. and encourage others to do the same. I doubt my little blog will reach but a few people, but this is my part.. and exponentially if each one tells two friend, and they tell two friends.. well you get the idea. In Honest truth I have been Praying each night and morning for our nation and the outcome of this election. To swing too far to the conservatives this time would not be like it was under Bush, no as horrible as that was it would be much worse if thes tea-baggers, ahem.. I mean tea party people get any power, ..heaven help our country.
  There is a pop culture prophesy going around that says the world will end in 2012. It's just so much hogwash, and based on a lot of misunderstanding of Mayan Culture, and other factors..  However it made me think. 2012 is a presidential election year. One of the signs in the rally I saw was "Democrat Mother's give your children milk so they can grow strong backbones" the point being.. that the Democrats will tend to rest on their laurals when ahead..DON'T. I could well see the END of true American liberty and values in 2012, if the Tea -Party candidates get any control. They are angry, they are tribal, they are liars or at best ignorant. they are Dangerous Misgiuded Hitlers in the making. Yes I will admit that fear mongering is what these Tea Party folks do so well, and yes I am doing some of the same thing here,.. to get democrats and liberals like their conservatives and republicans out to vote in number.
  ..so again I say.. VOTE VOTE VOTE. Don't be complacent, the Nazis are marching down the street with their pitchforks. And if you think there is not evil afoot here, you need to look again at this clear and present danger.Veritas...
  M. Pierre

THE FEMININE SIDE OF GOD

I've been thinking...yeah, ok... see the smoke lol..
 but Actually. I want to examine a feminine aspect of the Divine not usually discussed in this western Christian side of the globe. I'm still having health problems, still feeling uncomfortable, wanting the Dr.s to find the cause, but a little scared if they do. My dear mother has been gone from my life and this world for 31 years and 11 days. not to say she isn't still here to me in many ways, but I feel ...still ...her absense.
   I remember as a child of three or four, sitting in her lap in the rocking chair, held in her arms as she talked to me and rocked me to sleep. Total protection, security, and a respite from my woes were there for me. I WAS SAFE, if only for a time, it was long enough to rest and recharge.
 What if I use this as a meditation? What if I use this as an imprinted memory, while thinking of God as the same consoling nurturing Mother? What if I turn to God with the same confidence of protection? Is this prayer, or transference?
 I think it has to be prayer. For nothing so pure and beautiful could be anything but.
   and here is my prayer:
      God, rock me to sleep, for I am weary and frightened, and know not where to turn. I need you to hold me until it's all OK again......and God do the same for my loved ones when they need you.

   blessings to you all,     ... M. Pierre

THE IMAGE OF...

I've been having a discussion with some folks, about Images, and Symbols for the Divine in an online spiritual discussion forum. Most everyone there is respectful of others different faiths. We are there to share not debate. A woman was talking about a copy of painting she had of Jesus in her office, and how his eyes looked sad. Well that started something.
     And well,.. this is my blog so here I do not have to be so respectful. this is my place to really let off steam when I want to.

   Some pompous condescending bag of wind posted a picture of George harrison next to her painting and pointed out to all of us ignorant dummies that it looked like Jesus too, and we really do not know what Jesus looked like, as there are no references ever made to refer to him. all we have is some silly artists imagination... and the ten commandments says not to worship graven images. And that he only honors his Inner God, without any images needed, infact no one should ever have any image of God or any person said to be Divine as we will just become polythiests worshiping golden calves as such. BLA BLA BLA BLA BLA.
 Well as this man is obviously so spiritually superior to all of us, im surprised he's not floating around somewhere. The debate bantered back and forth.

  I cannot keep my mouth shut, especially when someone else is being attacked unjustly.  I pointed out that early artists did have a description of Jesus in apocraphal writings and they also used the image of the shroud of turin as a basis for their portraits, as both were very similar. and that is where we get the common image used for Jesus throughout art history. But the point is not that it's an accurate likeness but that many use the image for a symbol. And many while not worshiping  these symbols still use them as a vehicle. Others made the point of how they thought images and symbols are useful to them.

 Get this answer of his..."I guess it's difficult for you people to let go of fairy tales, fake shrouds, pointless writings the Church wont even recognize. Still so many can't recognize the God within and need the Man made images of OZ and wont realize, it's a man behind the curtain, just a man playing God." no lie this is the shit he spewed. What a colossal arrogant fucker.

  If I stay in this group I will no doubt run across this kind of donkey again. Though it asks people to be respectful, there are always THOSE, who have to show their ass where faith is concerned. You know the type who know everything about God, and hense their cup is full and finished and they have no need, no room to learn anything more..I learned this working for the Church years ago. So should I quit the group, as people like this disturb my serenity? Or should I not let them have power over me? I either will have to come vent here or learn to let it go, I'm not to good at letting it go, especially when he was jumping all over some dear lady who was just trying to make a point about a painting she found beautiful and inspirational.

  Now that I have vented. I do feel sorry for those who cannot see the wonder in sacred art and symbol, and how symbol, image, mythology and allegory tell so much more than words alone can say. Heck all the major religions of the world have used this. So throughout this article and now here at the end i have included some beautiful Sacred (un-graven) Images from all the stupid unenlightened people of this earth.

Blessings, M. Pierre

WHOLLY WATER

Psalm 23



I have come through the darkness to find God has a banquet for me,
I find myself blessed and my cup runs over.
For goodness is with me here at home for all of my life.

My cup is not filled from the outside but overflows from within

MY DAY WITH AUNT CHIN part 10

Something very Grand indeed presented itself to my imagination. And it would be easy to draw. The Port Arthur “Rainbow” Bridge, was just about the grandest thing I had ever seen. This bridge is something we would travel almost every summer to go to another of my uncle’s houses. Lawrence was one of Gus’s and my father’s brothers and he and his wife lived in a small town in southeast Texas just near the Louisiana border, and you had to go over the bridge to get to their town from the interstate. You could see the bridge from the side as it was approached from that highway, then you would turn south on a smaller highway and go over it to get there.

This is no ordinary bridge by any idea. As a child it was scary, and very exciting, beautiful and of course Grand! And to be honest if you are ever in this area, …go over the bridge, as it is still all those things. It is the highest bridge I think I’ve ever seen still to this day. It rises nearly 200 feet above the water level, they say,… to let the tallest ship made, go under it in order to reach the Beaumont/Orange ship yards (which, by the way, my father once worked in those ship yards as a ships mechanic long before I was born).

As you drive this bridge you go up a steep incline and get higher and higher, higher and higher, and yet higher into the sky. At the top is an amazing view of Sabine lake (practically a bay), ships, and boats of all sorts are on one side, and on the other, in the distance you can see Beaumont up the Neches river.

And so… I began to try and capture this wonderful structure on the butcher paper with the same excitement and gusto I felt every time we passed over it. I used pencils and pens (both black and blue ink) and red colored pencils, and with fervor I created. Time flashed past me, the creative effort took me to a cosmic place of wonder… and before I knew it Chin and Gus were coming inside from all their hot work outside.

“MON DIEU” they both exclaimed as they entered. I thought it was from the heat outside until they both descended upon me. “Did you draw this?” Gus said almost accusingly. And he and Chin seemed to be looking around for some mystery artist who had run in and done my drawing then vaporized. They looked at each other and said some stuff in French. I heard my father’s name in there.

I was still a little unsure if I had done something wrong or if they liked my drawing when Aunt Chin bent over and kissed my cheek. “I didn’t know that my Pitou original would look so spectacular t-man.”

“You like it?” I started to ask and explain “it’s the…”

“Port Arthur Bridge!!” they both interjected

I was astonished they both knew what it was… but then my mind hit on the fact that they had probably both traveled the bridge many a time as they lived closer to Uncle Lawrence than we did, and yet I was happily surprised that their recognizing it meant I drew it well enough.

“Well you said GRAND.” I added

“Grand indeed,” Uncle Gus praised, “ Dass (that’s) one fine piece of art-werk. You know you git dat from you daddy yeah.” Something I did truly know, my father’s paintings always adorned out living and dining rooms. Something I didn’t know was that years later when I was almost a teen, and the last time I ever visited Chin and Gus’s house, my 6 year old’s drawing would be adorning their living room in one of Gus’s carved frames, with a tiny lettered card labeled “Pitou Original”. Possibly the most gratified I’ve ever felt was then knowing that I had given something to these two very dear people, that they had appreciated and drew joy from.



That moment was one of those perfect ones that stick in your memory. They sat and watched me finish the picture. I didn’t usually like to be watched when I drew but I made an exception for them. Gus encouraged me to come up with an artsy way to sign my drawing at the bottom, and Chin wrote on the back in pencil who, when, why, and a title of what, and had me sign the back with my full name, which I hadn’t even really learned cursive yet, but I did something to try and look sophisticated. Then she had Gus take down the clock by the table and they taped my drawing there. I was prouder than punch has ever been. What does that saying even mean anyway?

I had a mini flashback of the prize pies on the table… but now they were in front of my drawing. Chin and I were at the Fair again with blue ribbons on her pies and my drawing, her in her red dress, and me all dressed up in a shorts suit (do little boys even have such things as shorts suits now?) and we were smiling and people were clapping at out accomplishments. Being a middle child in a family of five children it was nice to be the apple of someone’s eye for a change.



My very fantastic “day” was winding down from here though I didn’t really know it. Chin pulled out a left over ham and we made ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch.

“Do you have any potato chips?” I asked

“I surely do.” Chin answered and went to the little pantry fetching a bag. She put a handful of chips on each of our plates by our sandwiches. “Good suggestion Mon pette.”

I proceeded to do something I’ve always done with ham and cheese sandwiches. I don’t know why or where I got this idea, but I still do it today. I opened up my sandwich and layered the chips into the sandwich. This is a wonderful crunchy addition to any ham and cheese, that I highly recommend. My mom used to always pack me chips in a little plastic bag, along with ham and cheese in my lunch so I could do this and have them fresh and crunchy.

Both Chin and Gus watched me in wonder as I “chipped” my sandwich and took the first crunchy wonderful cold bite. It was then I really realized they were so interested in what I was doing. I don’t know what Gus said to Chin in French with a little giggle, but they both followed suit and added chips to their sandwich. Something no one else in my family ever even tried.

I watched as they took their first bite, excited and confident that they would see the wonder of this taste combination. And they did!

“My, My, My, mon tit-man,” Gus said half in French and English “ces’t une bonne chose (sest une bone shows)” I phrase I knew meant “this is a GOOD thing”

Ok now I was on cloud 11.5. having them appreciate and share in my ham sandwich yumm secret was all this kid could ask for to make me feel special, important, noticed, validated, all the above… Little do adults know how such simple things can give a kid a shot of confidence and self esteem that may last a lifetime.



We sat back talking and cooling off and enjoying our ham cheese and chip sandwiches, accompanied by iced tea. Then Gus turned to me and asked two questions.

“First, t-man, you want to help me rearrange da fans and turn on da air conditioning to start cooling dis house down for our company.” I got the impression they didn’t always use the AC unless it was really hot or company was there. “And second….. hows bout a nap for dis afta’noon. I knows Chin done wore your skinny little butt off already dis day.”

I had to honestly admit that both sounded great, but I looked to Aunt Chin for validation. “My man gess up b’fore the sun each day and does the garden ann more, while I sleep, then he naps in the afta’noon and gits out’a my way so’s I can cook annn sush. I thin pitou, you done a man’s day a’ work ann should nap too if you want.”

All I needed to make this an “oh so fine a day” was to rest for a bit now in cool air. Gus and I moved box fans to doorways, shut windows, turned on the AC, rearranged some furniture to make a flow through, and ended up in their bedroom with one oscillating big fan, an ottoman fan at the base of the bed, and a box fan pushing AC air through the hall to this room from the living room. This in southern Louisiana this is a dream of cool air to sooth the savage breast, or beast… whatever…

Gus laid on one side of their big bed on his back with his arms folded on his chest. I followed the same on the other side…. Ahhhhh comfort and coolness, such simple but wonderful blessings.

I was drifting when Uncle Gus said a few last minute things to me. “ Tell God, t-man, someting you are tankful for before you fall asleep. Always do dis.”

“I’m thankful I got to stay with yall today” I said

“You done have to tell me ow’loud cher, juss remember to tell God every time you be falling asleep. Is good for da soul.” Gus continued, “But to tell God ann you…I’m tankful too.. you stay wid us toiday.” Sometime after that I vaguely remember turning on my side and falling asleep in a such a peaceful way it should be bottled and sold.

**

JUST STUFF

Forgive me if anyone has been looking for the Aunt Chin story ...continued. It will be here soon, the conclusion in 2 or 3 parts, or anything else I blog about on a regular basis. Iv'e  been under the weather with health issues yet again. And iv'e been neglecting the blog from shear lack of stamina...
  I did see today a great article that got me a little excited. In response to the "Tea Party" (which you can easily see how I feel about them by my blog articles) an new progressive organization has been formed called "ONE NATION"... yea! If anyone has the time to find their website, please send me a link, I haven't been able to find them. What I read sounds like I'm all in favor, but I want to know more. The tea party in my opinion is a very vocal, very harmful, very ignorant, minority... so V.Vocal, H.Harmful, I.Ignorant, M. Minority. here to refered to as VHIM needs to be counter-pointed by a new voice, of what I hope to be Reason. I hope the One Nation group will be a place for media to hear from the rest of us (O.One , N.Nation..= ON!  as in the good old days right ON!) ..namely The Majority who elected Obama because we were tired of the crap we were being forcebily spoon fed before by the bush administration, and the ultra conservatives.
 So that's where I am at today. Prayers for my health will not be un-appreciated. I'm honestly having a bit of a hard time here.
 Blessings, M.Pierre

INDEPENDENCE DAY

HAPPY JULY 4TH!

MAY WE ALWAYS REMEMBER
 THAT THIS IS A NATION OF
  LIBERTY, JUSTICE,
 AND BLESSINGS,
   FOR ALL.

WHOLLY WATER

   Divine Blessings on our nation,
     This truth should be self evident:
        That all men and women are created
               EQUAL.

NEW FRIEND'S BLOG

Hey,
  I have a friend who has started a new blog. Her and her mom were our closest and very dearest neighbors while my children were growing up. Now she's grown with her family and enjoying Motherhood. If you like natural things, creativity, gardening, cooking, and can relate to the woes and joys of raising children, I think you will like what she has to offer. BTW, I don't know if she realizes, that to me, her Mom is one of the most admirable people I've ever met, and I'm sure she's following the footsteps. Check out "Mamahood" ..link to the left.

MY DAY WITH AUNT CHIN part 9

Sometimes you get a feeling, that nagging duty feeling, the feeling of being drawn back to a task that while necessary, was something your interest had passed on, but needed to be finished to get on to better things. This left me plodding along behind Chin back to the hens.


They were drained now so the next thing was the feathering.


We went to the shop and as instructed Gus had the kettles boiling. He and Chin carried them out to pour into two large buckets, one slightly larger than the other. Gus maneuvered the wash tub of blood waste away and stationed the smaller bucket under the baking hens.


Chin had gotten two full front aprons we put on, they were stained with all manner of what I did not know. She managed to adjust mine for my small stature.


Then to the feathering…Chin plunged a hen into the bucket and hanging it on the nail began to pull the larger feathers off the wings and tails. She let me help a bit here and there. Then we repeated it with hen #2. She let the feathers land in the water, “so as not to make a mess.” Then we both took turns plunging and feathering all the smaller feathers into the larger bucket. When the hens were about naked we washed them off with the hose and hung them back on the nails.


“Now for the feathers,” Chin added. We took what seamed a good amount of time ladling the smaller feathers out of the bucket and onto the screen box and covering it with the other screen to dry out for use later.


Two things they used a great deal in southern Louisiana, for stuffing things like pillows and mattresses were chicken feathers, and Spanish moss respectively. My mother used to tell us a story of how they once were washing out their pillow and mattress covers, a biannual job, for re-stuffing with fresh feathers and moss. And for three or four months or so you would have plump pillows and full mattresses that you could just sink into, in time they would become flat. This particular year as they were throwing out the old feathers, they found some of them sewn together in an x with black and red thread. This meant a hex had been put on your household, especially the person’s pillow it came from. But they didn’t know who’s as they had already dumped all the pillows out.


The people had old ways and old beliefs, and her mother was very alarmed. Being a poor widow, she got help from relatives and found a way (beg and borrow) to pay some ugly old man 50piastre (fifty dollars) which was a fortune in those days, to come make good gris gris (gree, gree) by throwing a pouch under the porch and spiting all over the top of the it. My mom, though young at the time, was appalled at the waste of money on superstition.


Going back to the chickens though, soon we had them cleaned up fairly well. Chin then shaved the pin feathers with the long skinny knife. “Any is left we will burn off inside later.” She explained.


After we rinsed the hens again with the hose Chin got out the wire and using the end like a needle sewed and tied up the anus area of each chicken. ‘Oh my God’ was all I could think, ‘what in the world is she doing that for?’ but I kept it to myself and didn’t question. Then she took the pink sharp little knife and cut a triangle around the place she just tied up. She cut a base of the triangle along the inside of the tail (the tail is called in Cajun the croupier, but pronounced croupiyon) which I found out later first meant the person riding behind the rider on a horse, or on the tail end, before it was a gambling attendant. Anyway the cut was along the inside base of the croupier and like a triangle up either side meeting just above the sewn closed place.

Then pulling the wires all of the innards came out in one blob, to be dropped into the blood waste tub. All except that is the gizzards which she snatched up in her hand before they fell in.


“We save the gizzards you see from the stomach and guts.” She snipped of the line of innards tube, and the gizzards were placed in a little bowl.


“Smells king of stinky.” I observed


“Yes it does but not so much as if I hadn’t tied their butts closed.”


I don’t know why this struck me so but I exploded into laughter. The phrase “tied their butts closed” sounded somehow so funny to me that I couldn’t stop giggling “tied their butts closed” I howled. Aunt chin didn’t see the humor at first but my giggling was contagious and soon we were both belly laughing soo hard that Gus came to see what the deal was.


“Why are you laughing at?” he came out and asked


“Tied their butts closed.” I spurted out. It took Gus a moment at the French explaining from Chin to catch on to the reason for my laughter. We all had a good guffaw. And even later in the house I heard Chin and Gus in another room laughing, and speaking French except the phrase “tied their butts closed” they had gotten the idea of my childish laughable comedy of it all.


After that incident all tension melted away and I saw the hens as food we were preparing now, without any trepidation of the animals they recently were.


Next chin cleavered the heads and sent them to the waste bin, as well as loosening the tubes that led to the guts, the crop, windpipe and such got cut off, the esophagus veins and such were pushed through, holding the neck she ran her fingers in down the neck cavity loosening the other vital organs to come out the bottom. We saved the livers and hearts and added them to the gizzards and removed the necks to keep. Then she ran the hose through the inside of them.


Lastly she cut off the feet just at the leg joint and she set them off to the side. Then she cut open and cleaned out the gizzards showing me the little rocks and such. She took the yellow skin off the feet and snipped the nails and she cut off the pointless end of the wing.


“Why are you saving the feet and wings?” I asked. I knew what the livers hearts and gizzards were for.

“Well I’m goin to add them to the backs I cut from the fryers and boil up some chicken stock…broth,” Chin explained. “unless you want them feet for a lucky ju ju?”


“Naww…” I pshawed, giggling


“Don’t laugh.” She added, “Some folks take it serious and it seams to work for them.”


“You can just boil them, thanks anyways.” I said. I could just picture my mom’s face if I wanted to bring home some chicken feet for luck. And I could picture them being pitched out the window of the car on the way home, as she would be mumbling something about ugly old men spitting on the porch, and fifty dollar superstitions.

Lastly, another washing and the two hens were placed in the rectangular pan looking as though we just bought them at the store.


“So my sweet, thas all there is. Whad’ya think?” Chin looked over for my evaluation.


“I’m glad I helped and watched.” I told her. “ It really wasn’t bad.”


“And you got to see chicken butts get tied closed!” Chin burst into laughter again, and I along with her.


“What do we do with all this stuff now?” I motioned mostly to the waste tub.


“Well that’s what husbands are for.” She chortled. “Actually we gonna take our hens, and that bowl of goodies inside and finish clean up, then I will be back out here for the mess. But I do believe you will be startin some artwork for me eh?”


“OK.” I agreed excitedly. Chin took the tray of chickens and asked me to bring the bowl of ‘goodies’. Off we marched like a parade with an offering back to the house. I realized it was really beginning to get hot outside, especially with the apron on. Looking down at what I was carrying I felt like a hoodoo apprentice, with a bowl of chicken feet , necks, hearts, livers, gizzards and wing tips.


Inside we set everything down and took off our aprons. The fan felt good. I could see Chin was sweating too, as she took our aprons off to the laundry. I was instructed to go start washing my hands “from the elbows down” in the bathroom sink. Chin joined me in a moment and did the same.


As we returned to the kitchen we both sat down to fan and cool off. I had to run and get my fan from the living room. “You want some ice-coffee?” Aunt Chin asked. Not sure what she meant I was about to ask but she saw my expression and volunteered more information. “Just like ice-tea, only coffee.”


“Oh, OK.” I wondered if this would be nasty tasting though. Chin took two glasses to the coffee pot and poured each about a third full with left over coffee. Then she took some ice trays out and took them to the sink. She plugged the sink dumped most of them in, but reserved enough to fill each glass. The she refilled the trays and put them back. To our coffee she added sugar a tad of milk and filled them the rest of the way with water, stirring, and returned to sit by me and serve me my first glass of ice-coffee. I tasted it and was surprised, and I’ve been a fan ever since…and this new generation thinks they invented the cold coffee drinks, latte, frappe, whatever.


“You rest here while I finish these hens.” Chin said as she sprung up and went over to the stove. She burned off any little feathers on the burner then washed them again in the open sink. Then tossed them on the ice and filled that sink with water. It was the opposite of the thaw we did earlier in the same sink, now it was rapid cool down. Later we would wrap them in butcher paper label them and take them to the freezer, in a sort of reverse of the steps we took with the earlier hens. I watched her quietly sipping my coffee. The box fan cooled me from behind, the counter fan still blowing sort of reached one side of my face and my peacock, I used to cool the other.


Chin piddled around, sorting the hoodoo goodies, some in a stock pot and others in the frig. Chicken backs I assumed went from the frig to the pot, the fryer parts in buttermilk went to the frig. The pot went to the sink to fill then back to the stove,…I felt like a person watching a tennis match back and forth, Chin was to and fro. washing her hands in the sink, back to the pot with salt and seasonings, and turning on the fire beneath, top on, slightly askew.


Chin sat for a moment, only a moment, sipping her coffee and fanning, and dabbing her head of sweat. “I need to put them pies in the frig prally (probably) now.” Chin felt the bottom of the pans to see how cool they were, then poof!--up again she was in the frig making room and putting the pies away. And bam back down in the seat fanning and drinking a long sip of coffee. We were making small talk that led back around to my art work and… pop, Chin was up again getting a roll of white butcher paper and some scissors. She metered it out and asked me how big a piece I wanted to draw on, then she cut it off trimmed the edges more evenly, wiped the table of condensation moving my coffee, and laid it in front of me. Soon it was joined by a can of pens and pencils “There,” she said, “you’re all set.”


“I don’t know what to draw.” I told her again.


And her response was the same as before “Pick up a pencil and the idea will pop into you head,” but then she added “draw something big and grand.”


As I picked up the pencil, it happened…How did she know?! I thought of the chicken feet and wondered if she had done a little gris gris to me along the way somewhere. Ole Chin had a bit of magic or something ‘cause just as I picked up the pencil something indeed big and very grand popped into my head.


**

GAY PRIDE

It is less than a week until the 41st anniversary of the “Stonewall Riots” in New York City’s Greenwich Village. A marked point for the beginning of the gay rights movement, on June 28, 1969, the homosexual community finally fought government sponsored persecution.


This is also Gay Pride weekend coming up in many cities around the country. And June is national LGBT month. As proclaimed by the president of our country. A lot has changed in the last 41 years. And true a lot still needs to change.

But there is a development in this generation, absolutely unheard of when I was young. I’m speaking about openly gay students in school.

Here is a timely story about a sweet brave young girl who is not willing to pretend she is anything other than her true gay self. And she’s standing up to do it, not in some metropolitan city used to diversity but in a tiny one high school town in Mississippi.

Ceara Sturgis, who is openly gay, has attended school in Wesson Mississippi for all 12 years. She is also an honor student. And she also was completely removed from her senior yearbook. Not only was her picture not shown, but any reference to her name her academic honors, list of graduates… all of it was removed.


I have four children, and If it had been my child, well I could hardly bear to see her crying that way. The complete cruelty of it all is unconscionable
But all in all ..they tried to "remove" her, "erase" her, pretend she did not exist in their school,.. and they succeeded in showing her to the world. Bringing her and her sexuality, and their ugliness OUT for all to see. I have to think that's pretty good karma.
Blessings to you Ceara. May your life be full, and Happy.
Another thing I've noticed with my children and many their friends, to a lot of this younger generation, this gay is thing becomming less of an issue. Yes there are still the sad stories of bullying and cruelty, but there are also stories of young openly gay students in High Schools who are accepted by their peers. That would never have happened in my high school. there's hope if the GROWN UPS would quit polluting the young. It's unfortunately mostly our generations lead, like the fat-assed principal, and school board who commit this bigotry. And Im sure in Wesson Mississippi, these fine citizens still have their white robes and pointed hoods, pressed, and hanging proudly in the back of their closet.
Also "DISHONORABLE MENTOION" another Mississippi town, Itawamba, goes to the trouble to put on a "FAKE" prom for Constance McMillen, her girl friend, and a few other undesirable students, while keeping the true prom for the rest of the school a secret. Good ole Mississippi.

REFLECTION

The power of the ocean,


It stings a good bit when it sprays you in the face.

When you catch sight of your true reflection, in the pool between the rocks, between the breaks…

And you see this old man who you thought outgrew these childish self centered daydreams. And it always happens when you are alone, with no reprieve for at least a confession.

Who do you apologize to, or is it everyone?

When in the splash in the face, you see a certain ugliness reflected from your soul, showing in your features only made worse by age.

WHOLLY WATER

In Honor of Father's Day

Our Father who art in heaven,

Our Mother who art the earth,

I who am born of both of you,

I the child …

God the father,

God the mother,

God the brother,

God the sister,

God the spouse,

God the child,

God the friend,

God the ocean,

God the mountain,

God the sunset,

God the moon,

God the stars,

God the planet,

God the galaxy,

God the universe,

God the all,

We the children,

who look to Our father,

and art in heaven this day

this moment, For we are always

with Our father

who is always with us

MY DAY WITH AUNT CHIN part 8 "chicken demise"

One of the Queen of hearts little playing card soldiers was pulling at my foot. He was the size of an actual playing card but with a great big normal sized hand on my foot. “Pitou.” he shouted and pulled. “Pitou, Pitou,” I opened my eyes to see Aunt Chin pulling my toe trying to wake me up.
“I fell asleep,”  groggily I explained, blinking.

“I see that.”

A thought suddenly roused my mind… “Did you kill the chickens?” I blurted out.

“No Pierre, I tole you I wouldn’t do that. B’sydes you only been sleeping for a few minutes.” She used my full given name instead of Pitou, which made me feel like maybe she was finding my chicken commotion a bit tiresome. That being the case or not, I resolved to quit making a big deal out of it. Plus I was half asleep so some of, …well…actually a lot of the anxiety was gone, even though I had just dreamt about it.

I sat up rubbing my face. “C’mon bebe,” she beckoned, “I could use your help hanging out the laundry.”

I was slow to wake and my mind was all over the place. “Are the pies finished?” I asked trying to picture the finished peach pie with the lemon.

“Yes they are, and coolin on the table.”

I looked in the direction of the kitchen and yawned. “Can I keep my peacock fan?” I asked

“Yes, sweet.” Chin was giggling at me again, “I gave that to you.”

Her giggling made me feel better and more awake. I hopped off the couch and started to follow her lead to the laundry room. At the steps down to the garage room I stopped and sat to stretch a minute, while Chin took out the wash and put it into a the large wicker basket.

“You wanna stretch?” Chin asked. I nodded “Her (here) cher, this is somthin my PaPA used to do for me when I was juss woke up.” She took me by the wrists and held me up high as she could, hanging from my wrists. “Now, juss hang loose and get all the stretching out.” Which I did and it felt great. I wish I had a giant person around now as an adult to hang me by my wrists when I can’t seem to stretch enough upon awakening.

After the hanging, (I ponder now what chiropractors might say about this treatment, is it good for the spine or bad for the wrists) Chin went to the big basket, hoisted it up, and I followed her out the garage/basement/laundry room door to the side of the house where there was a clothesline. It took a while for us to shake out the sheets and table clothes and hang them on the line. I also was handing her clothes pins. When we were done she asked me if I wanted to play “laundry tag.”

“I don’t know. I guess.” I had no idea what this game was.

Chin explained, “Well, I will go to the end of the line her and close my eyes and count to ten. You have to hide somewhere in the laundry. Then I catch you. But I can’t go under the sheets, that’s cheating, I have to run to the end and go back in the row that I juss saw you feet in, but you can run too and keep changin rows at the ends. You can’t go under the laundry either tho’. Sheets on the line is the best thing for this game.”

Why had I never heard of this game? “LETS DO IT!” I exclaimed. We had total fun while we played two times. First she was it, and outsmarted me by being observant and surprising me at the end of a row. So she won. Next I was it, and won just because I was smaller and faster, or possibly ‘cause she let me win. Humm, laundry tag, see what electric clothes dryers have taken from us.

We were laughing when Chin got quiet and with a sterrn cock of her head reminded me of our next task at hand. With a small amount of trepidation I agreed and was ready. The short nap seemed to have taken much of my dread away. Still I thought … ‘let’s do this, … this chicken killing thing, before I change my mind.’

I really didn’t know what to expect, and I didn’t know how totally unexpected it would all be.

We went back into the garage room and she explained to me that we would need a few supplies. There was a little laundry basket in the corner, a smaller replica of the one we just used. “We need that.” she pointed out. Then she got a stack of rags and old towels and some aprons out of a cabinet and put them into the basket. Off we marched through the house and into the kitchen where she, opening a cabinet there, asked me to get the big rectangular pan from the bottom and carry it out for her. She also grabbed an old plastic bowl. As we exited I could smell the peach pie and tried to glance back at the table to see it…but we were busy and Chin wasn’t waiting for anything.

Out the back door we went to the gate and through the fairy-tale village to the garden shed. There we stopped for a smaller metal pan with a few items in it. It seemed sort of like a surgeon’s tray. There was a pink handled little stout sharp paring knife, the sister of the turquoise one she had inside, only dingier. In addition was a big cleaver (oh my) joined by some wire cutters, another very long thin knife, some twine, some wire, and a wide slotted ladle.

We took these things around the chicken run to a place on the other side of the coop. there was a little wooden bench/table, a wooden rack, with nails for hanging things, some buckets and a galvanized wash tub and some screen bottomed wide boxes, made of 2 by 4 frames. We set our stuff down and went to Uncle Gus’s shop.

“Well it’s the tyme.” Chin announced. Gus looked up from his work.

“So you tink you got de bravery to do dis eh?” he addressed me.

“Don’t mess with our child her (here),” she said hugging my shoulder, then added some words to him in French. Chin was on a mission, no nonsense. She went over to the side of the room to a big double hotplate. Removing two of the biggest tea kettles I’ve ever seen, the spotted porcelain camping kind, she motioned for me to follow. “We need to take these out to the hose.” Chin placed one of them in my hand. We went out and filled them from the hose and carried them back to the shop. This was a heavy load for a six-and-three- quarter year old child. Chin put them on the hotplate, “We will need hot water for later.” She explained.

“For pulling out the feathers?” I asked, having remembered this from a time before.

“Yes,” Chin answered looking a little surprised, “So you do know somethin about some of this.” I was happy at the seaming confidence she felt with me now. I was also happy that the fear of this whole thing had not yet returned since my nap and tag. Chin asked Gus to turn on the hotplates “In ‘bout an hour.”

“Well then,” Chin paused a good while, “it’s tyme.” She said again

The anxiety raised a notch, well, many notches. Gus clasped my shoulders slightly giving me a squeeze and said something in French to me that I didn’t understand or try to.

Out Chin and I went to the chicken run. She was being a bit stern and serious about it all. I wasn’t sure if this was as usual …or for my benefit. Chin explained that the laundry basket was to catch the hens easily, so she emptied it and grabbed it. Then she pointed them out. “See those two ones, the bigger is the red one and then that fat white one. They is older than the rest and not laying eggs nomore, so it’s time they got to be bakin hens, not fryin, ones like we thawed. No sense keeping them alive and feedin ‘em until they is too tough to eat.” I understood this …and was intrigued.

“Why can’t you fry them?” I asked

“Good question cher, you want to learn eh?… these hens is as I said already too tough to fry. You need young ones for that.” Chin paused then continued to explain, “Sometymes you raise a few not to lay but just for eatin, and kill’em young to be fryers. Sometymes you just get some hens, that just aint lay-ers, we call them pullets when they are young. I don’t raise the chicks, thass a huge amount a’ trouble an this aint no chicken farm.”

“Like your daddy had?” I threw in.

“Uncle Gus tell you that?”

“Yeah, he said you grew up with knowin about chickens.”

“Guess thass so…anyways sometimes you get pullet hens that just aint lay-ers and my-as-well eat them, get use from them, kill’em young and make fryers. Sometymes they isn’t even a hen at all, especailly if you buy them too young and cheep without lookin good first, which I’ll admit I do from time to time if I don’t got a lot of piastre, so then you can got a young rooster by mistake, and never have more than one rooster in your hen house, so kill’em young and make a fryer.” I didn’t know all this stuff and was enthralled with learning it.

“Now we catch one, cher.” Chin suddenly told me. She was speaking softly. We went into the run by the gate. “I want you to mind this gate. Open it and close it as I need without letting out any of my girls OK?” I got my assignment and was ready. Chin went to the brood of hens and suddenly slapped the basket over one the big red hen. Then she reached under the basket and had grabbed the hen by her feet. This was a difficult task for her as she did it with out getting down on the ground but with just bending over, and straightening up to stand I could see was hard on her back…only this time there was hardly an audible groan. I understood that this was now a QUIET time and restrained my galloping mouth. Chin picked her hen up and carried her asking me quietly to open the gate for us and close the gate behind us. The laundry basket was left in the yard. We went to the place she had shown me… the chicken killing place I figured you could call it.

I watched expectantly and quietly, but my heart was beating rapidly and loud. Damn tell tale, I hoped she couldn’t hear it. I was truly frightened at this point, but putting up a brave front. And I think hiding the fact well that I was trembling a tiny bit.

Chin carried the hen to the little bench and set it down never letting go of its feet. Then she had one hand on its back seaming to sooth it as it stopped trying to flap its wings and settled down. “Pitou,” she cooed, “can you please open up one of those towels on the bench next to me here.” I got a towel and laid it out on the remaining end of the bench.

“Like this?” I whispered.

“Perrrfecttt.” Chin answered in a cooing whisper.

The most amazing thing came next. Chin was stroking the hens back and it was calmed down a great deal, then she turned her hand palm up to stroke. The other hand was still holding the hen’s feet. She gently slipped her hand up the hens back opening her fingers in the middle with two fingers on either side as she continued to where her fingers were on either side of the chicken’s head.
  Snap, it was over.
  Chin had quickly grabbed the chicken by the neck, letting go of the feet and flipped the body down and the head forward and back breaking the chicken’s neck. And just as quickly in the same motion she laid the flapping body in the towel and wrapped it around the hen to hold it still. “Ummmmmm.” she said slowly looking away, with one hand holding the chicken’s body restrained in the towel “Thank you sweet, you been a good hen… given us good eggs… and I think we will enjoy you deliciousness” She kept her hand in place until the chicken’s body stopped twitching and the legs stopped moving.

There was something Chin had just done… just a little action… that I realized as I got much older, made me see death differently. When she spoke the words to the hen after its demise, she didn’t look at the chicken’s body in the towel, she looked out and up. What ever you may think of animal souls or spirits, the hen’s body now was just a body to Chin, its essence was moving elsewhere. Well at my age I have had to say good bye to many a loved one who has passed on, and this perspective of death and the body, has always been with me sinced

I was so astonished to this day it has,… well, prompted me write a story about Aunt Chin. She looked at me when it was over and all I could respond with was a solemn, quiet, long, “Wooowwww.” Chin had a slight respectful smile on her face. It was like she wanted to say to me... “you got it” and I wanted to say back… “ yes, I get it.” Chin also explained that by holding them in the towel, you didn’t get broken wings and sometimes legs from a thrashing around dead hen, which was not only violent but unnecessary.

“Leaving them to just run around, well you couillon (stupid) if you do that. ‘specially if you chop the head off ‘cause ever-thing is bloody mess after that”



Hen number one lay in her towel not moving now and we repeated everything for hen number two. When it was all done, Chin looked to me and said, “Now you see, no bloody mess, no running around dying chickens…it’s just no need for all that.”

At that moment I hugged Aunt Chin’s neck without reservation. A flood of relief and pent up anxiety and emotion came out. I felt sort of like crying or laughing… or… but it wasn’t the bad feeling I had expected, but a sense that I had shared a solemn moment with her and indeed I had. These hens as she said were “her girls” but the cycles of life are things farm people just do and accept

“We still have some not so pleasant things left to do you know, cher.” She added

“I know …like cleaning a fish.” I noted, “and feathering them hens.” Aunt Chin’s eyebrows raised on her face which nodding to me as if to show me that I knew more than she gave me credit for.

We moved on. She took the hose and asked me to turn it on, to which she rinsed her hands and the chickens off some. Then she tied each hen’s feet together and hung them over the wash tub upside down, by the twined feet. Pink paring knife in hand she instructed me that I might want to turn my head. I started to for a moment but curious to see I turned back around as she was putting the knife into the second hens beak and cutting something (the juggler vein) from the inside the hen’s mouth, to which the hens started draining blood into the wash tub. Chin did not let me linger very long looking at this. She rinsed her hands again and turned to me, “Now we leave for a bit” she explained taking me by the hand and leading my back towards the house.

We went in and both washed our hands in the kitchen sink . All the dishes we had dirtied earlier were drying in the drain board. The counters were wiped down clean, and cleared except for the two large bowls again. The blue one still contained flour, the pink one had a towel over it. I picked up the towel and peaked in not sure of what I was seeing. Chin clarified. “That’s those two fryers cut up and soakin in buttermilk, and finishin thawin juss a bit.” The oven was off and the box fan was again blowing into the kitchen. Honky-tonk music was still playing on the radio. I looked around and on the table were displayed two prize pies cooling. I could just see the blue ribbons sitting in front of them, and Aunt Chin dressed with her red dress and top knot hair, with her hands clasped at her bosom, state-fair-fan in one of them, bowing and smiling to the applauding crowd.

“Hey litta’ Pete,” no one had ever called me that before and I kind’a liked it. “what’s say we pick some vegetables for supper.” That sounded splendid to me.

“What vegetables are we going to pick.” I came back with.

“I think that should be your department to decide,…” she said eliciting a puzzled expression from me. “you will be the decider of our vegetable menu for supper.” Suddenly I had a responsibility.

“What do you have growing?” I asked.

“You been to the grocery store, yeah.” She offered braggadociosly, ‘Well that’s about what we got in the garden.” I eyed her with a bit of doubt and she grabbed up the basket we had used for the fruit which had been set on the sideboard. “C’mon… you’ll---see.”

I couldn’t wait to see, and we were on our way to the veggie garden on the left side of the back property. In no time we were there. It was all fenced in and had a sketch of a flat stone path leading up to it. Chin opened the gate and we entered. A fragrant shrub right next to the gate bushwhacked my nose with delight as we both brushed against it when we entered.

“You see now… well you smell now anyways… this is the best of all the herbs I toles you about, but it gets so much bigger than the uthers so is planted here.” I cocked my head in question.

“You know,…,” though I didn’t, “they say ‘always plant rosemary by the garden gate’ …know why they say that!!”

I wasn’t following all of this but I did vaguely remember that little saying.

Aunt Chin explained, “You always plant rosemary by the garden gate because you will brush agin it when you enter the garden. And juss like now you can’t help but be smellin it like running your hand on the uthers.” True enough this smelt wonderful, and made me feel …well…hungry.

“Smelling this helps you want to cook good things from your garden.” She explained and I totally understood though I had never cooked anything. “It’s the Virgin Mary’s herb you know.”

“Virgin Mary?” I looked up at Aunt Chin.

“Well it makes little blue flowers, in the spring and fall too sometimes. They aren’t exactly roses but we say they are, and that’s Virgin Mary’s color you know...blue, plus it smells like heaven…sooo… roses for Mary, it’s called rosemary.”

‘AHHH’ I thought, and brushed my hand across it again, smelling my hand, this was much nicer than the onions, (chives) but just like them it made you think of good tasting food.

Their garden, which I was told that Uncle Gus mostly tended, was everything she had bragged it was. Between sodden sawdust paths were practically weedless rows and beds of all variety. Some plants like the corn with lima beans growing up the stalks, and the okra, tomatoes, and others, were planted in the ground. Other shorter plants like squash cucumbers and melons and rows of various greens, turnip, radish, and carrot tops were in 12 inch high wooden boxed beds. Green beans crawled along the fence, with half-vineing pea plants just below them. And at the very end of the center path, looking like the altar place in this garden church, a white lattice arbor laden with grapes arched over a gate leading over to the chicken place. You just needed a little linen covered table, with a loaf of bread and a communion cup under the grapes to make it complete. I almost felt the need to genuflect.

“Ok baby, whad’ya think we should eat with supper?” I looked around not knowing where to start. “What does your family like?” I was walking by the tomato and okra plants and on the other side were rows of greens.

“I like tomatoes picked fresh and sliced with salt and pepper on them.”

I was still perusing the place.

“So do I.” Chin agreed, “So tomatoes…” she was picking some nice big red ones.

“My parents like okra, and well,… we kids do too if you can cook it not slimy.” I added.

“I can do that. What about fried okra?” that sounded real good to me and I nodded enthusiastically.

“Irene likes green beans, but she likes to just eat them raw off the fence.” I told her how my sister had at times angered my mom by eating up all the green beans before they got picked.

“Do yall like’em cooked?” Chin giggled.

“Do you got mayonnaise to put on them?” I asked.

“I do indeed got my’nase, a big new jar”

“My mom makes the mayonnaise special with pepper.”

“Pepper my’nase, humm sounds good. I shall have to have her show me when they get back. So its green beans, then, some raw for Irene. And special pepper my’nase to put on the cooked ones” She twittered.

“I thought we decided fried okra.” I returned

“Well do both, maybe somebody doesn’t like the okra.” Chin concluded.

We went over to the fence and picked green beans. I noticed some of my green beans looked brighter green and were short and fat. “What’s wrong with these green beans?” I asked showing them to Aunt Chin.

“Well sir, nothin if you’re lookin for peas. Those aint green beans.”

“Uh oh.” I mumbled.

“Not a problem, I’ll add them peas to some I have in the frig already picked. Just pick the darker ones that’s higher hangin right on the fence, these are the green beans….do you like raw green beans too?”

“Not so much.”

“Did you ever try a raw pea pod?” I shook my head no. “Let’s see here we need some small ones.” Chin was bent down looking for immature pea pods. She had about three picked an a second. And offering me one, she also popped one in her mouth. Bite down silly it’s good.” I did crunch into it, mm crisp and wet, sweet and green tasting.

“It’s almost, it’s like salad.” I said smiling

Chin suddenly had an idea. “You know,…pick a bunch of these small ones, the peas, and I will concentrate on the green beans,” I was looking at her questioningly, “You’ll see it will be good!”

After the green beans we went back over to the okra. “We should have sleeves and gloves for this.” She paused looking at the huge plants, they were a lot taller than me, well i think taller than her as well, and filled with okra pods pointing up to the sky, and they still had many pretty blossoms on them. Okra plants make lovely large white five petaled, cup shaped flowers, with a dark purple center. Sort of like a rose of Sharon ornamental shrub. “Well t-man we will just do our best with these itchy bushes. I’ll snip the okras and let them fall, and you pick them up from below, ok?” which is just what we did. Chin with some little clippers snipped off the right sized pods and I gathered them from below. Still, however we got itchy arms and hands from the fuzzy plants.

“So now what other yellow vegetable do we pick?” I realized years later that they all must have read the same healthy menu cook book, ‘cause every dinner my mom ever served, and this supper of Chin’s, and my other Aunts too…each meal had a meat, a starch, (rice or potatoes or macaroni/pasta) a green vegetable, and a yellow vegetable. I remember my mom telling me that they (green and yellow) had different nutrients needed at your evening meal. And habits die hard, though I’m not sure this is a bad habit. I still feel I need a meat, starch, and two vegetables yellow and green, plus a dessert to “help your food go down”, at every good supper.

Regardless we decided on yellow squash… which I did not really like when all boiled to death, and told her so but at supper that night Aunt Chin braised them slightly with browned onions, sprinkled with seasoned bread crumbs, instead of boiling them to death. And I found that tasty.

From the vegetable garden we went to the “cool shed”. We dropped off a few veggies and got a few others, and Aunt Chin showed me how it worked. The “hutte froi” definitely had a draft sucking into the door and top windows and out the top, and it was I bet a good 15-20 degrees cooler in there.

From there we went back to the kitchen and washed our hands and the veggies. We set them aside and sat for a short fan break waving our paper fans.

“Well are you ready to go finish cleanin out those chickens so we can get to havin some lunch?” Chin proposed.

Lunch sounded great so off we went to return to the chicken task at hand.



**

WHOLLY WATER

It doesn’t always follow that the ugly little caterpillar will make it long enough to become the butterfly. Sometimes she’s told. “Ewww, you are green, you’re ugly,” or he’s told, “You crawl around eating ravenous all day. You’re a little monster.” Some can pick themselves up to the challenge, but others not. Life and souls are fragile, and easily damaged.


Some caterpillars lose their way and end up struggling inching along in barren spaces with no green food around, only to dry out in the sun or be squashed by some larger creature. Some need to be nudged along to a shady green glen, so they can eat and withdrawal into a cocoon to become their true self. The caterpillar needs to believe it can be beautiful, for it to become so. It needs to believe it can be healthy for it to become so. It needs to believe it can soar for it to do so.


All God’s creatures are we. Am I in touch with my own divinity? Am I the angel that nudges the caterpillar along to a green place, who see’s its beauty so it can see itself? Am I denying my own divinity? Am I a bitter blamer of others and hating the caterpillar’s ugliness and grossness, or worse just squashing it? Or am I the ignorant little caterpillar scraping along for a better existence, wanting to believe and doubting and fearing all at the same time? Dare I try? Dare I hang myself out there on a limb? What karma will my actions weave?