Lake Texoma Revisited

Well. I finally remembered to pick up the photos of Father's Day and the trip Jenn and I took to Lake Texoma. It stayed sort of cloudy and comfortable the whole time.
Wish we were still there.

Archery turned out to be a lot more fun then we would have imagined. We're taking about talking some classes.

Below is Goddess Jenn the Huntress. Doesn't she look cool?

Thoughts That Follow Solstice

Solstice has had me thinking about the ancient past. The contrast between how so much remains the same while life itself is so different. The solstice and other events of nature have always been here as long as there has been life on earth. Yet the lives we humans live today bears very little resemblence to those of our most distant ancestors. Below is a poem I wrote a few years ago after reading an article about the lives of various groups of ancient women.

Womanhouse

(Our female ancestors first built
Themselves and their families
Round shaped shelters.
-Faith Wilding-)

Dwellings, round and earthen,
sheltering wombs
spun of reeds and grass,

houses of thread and time
built by ancient mothers as
sacred spaces. . .
protective environments.

Single rooms,
life supporting chambers,
vaginal and warm,
somewhere between inner and outer,
between public and private.

A woman space,
wisely woven from love and duty,
encircling the rituals of daily life.

© 1998 Betty Becquart Sanders

Welcome SUMMER !!!

Happy Solstice to All !!!
Summer arrived this morning at 7:26. I slept through it, of course, but it happened just the same.

Solstice and Equinox

Long before the dawn of any of the modern Judeo-Christian-Islamic faiths, rituals followed a more simplistic path. Guided by the natural cycle of birth-life-death-and-renewal, the ancients marked their seasons by celebrating each phase of the wheel of life. Both male and female principals were honored, God and Goddess, and each was given honor as the sun and moon entwined in their cosmic dance.

The festivals that mark the change of season—winter, spring, summer and fall—have been transposed to our modern world. This site explores their meanings and how the old ways of honoring these times have been assimilated into our rituals of passage today.

The Summer Solstice
With the warmth of the season caressing the land, the celebration of the Summer Solstice brings forth a truly joyous recognition that we can now enjoy the fruits of our labors in the past season. It is not surprising that this same spirit of pleasure and fun had carried over into our modern-day recognition of this, the longest day of the year.

Falling this year on June 21st (7:26 a.m. EST), the Summer Solstice is a time of light and of fire. It is a time to reflect upon the growth of the season: the seeds that were planted in the earth and the seeds planted in our souls. It is a time of cleansing and renewal. It is a time of love and growth as well.

The Summer Solstice and Honeymoons
The moon of Midsummer is, in pagan tradition, called the "Honey Moon" from the mead made of fermented honey drunk after the many marriage ceremonies held on the Summer Solstice.

Links to instructions for making Meade:
http://www.meadmadecomplicated.org/
http://www.rlc.dcccd.edu/mathsci/reynolds
/micro/lab_manual/food.html
http://winemakermag.com/feature/231.html
http://sca_brew.homestead.com/files/recipes/Crystal_2.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

Love Poem

Loving Being

There are only two choices.
We are either fearing being
or we are loving being.

If you aren't loving being,
it's really quite easy to fix: become a loving being.
If you don't know how to become a loving being,
hang out with loving beings who are loving being.
You'll catch on!

© 1998 Bob Boyle

Update and Profound Thoughts

Had a GREAT weekend.
Texoma lodge was really run down and we were very disappointed in it but we managed to have a good time anyway. In addition to the reading, writing, sketching, etc. we drove to Gainsville to do some shopping, won $55 gambling at a local casino, and spent Saturday evening playing pool and sitting on our porch sipping wine, smelling the rain and watching water droplets fall into the pool and on the leaves. The weather was overcast and cool the whole weekend and felt wonderful. We also took a class in archery. Let me tell you, I think Jenn and I have finally found "our sport". We are not the most athletic types, but we even stayed outside doing it when it started to sprinkle.

Last night Jenn and I met with some friends in Edmond to celebrate solstice. What a lot of fun. We made those little flower wreaths for our hair and spiral danced around a tree, singing and chanting. What a great end to a wonderful weekend.

I read this article on Bonyari's Blog and found it facinating. What do you think? Are there gender differences in friendships? Are women more backstabbing. At first I was a little insulted by it, but the more I think about it.....

Genders in Friendship and Backstabbing

I happened to watch a news program a few days ago. There were 2 authors talking about a book they wrote on genders and friendship, I think. It's supposed to be a general knowledge that men's friendship is activity-based, and women's friendship is affection-based (besides other common factors such as ages, education, class, social status...) Well, this is new to me since I never thought of it this way. A quick check on the friends database confirms this gender difference for me. My friends tend to be in groups that have little or nothing to do with each other. I have a group of friends that I went to school with. Most of us are physics, electrical engineers. We took the same classes. And the friendship was formed and grew through classroom activities. Then I have another group of friends who are Vietnamese. There's only one thing we share in common, our origin. I share my times between these groups of friends. I don't do every single activities with a group. My friends are activity-based, with only a few exceptional great close friends.

Women have a different type of friendship, I think. You ladies have partners in crimes, bestest of friends, twins... and you do every single thing together. Shopping, eating out, gawking at hot/cute guys, complaining about what an insentitive jerk your bf is, crying to each other in breakups...

I guess this is why we've seen more backstabbing in women than men. You know each other so damn well. And when a friend betrays, every little dirty details of your life will be revealed to the world. And that's not to mention the vengence. Man, it creeps me out thinking about how evil someone so innocent can turn over night.

Thinking about this now, I don't feel so bad that I never had someone that I can call best-friend. Don't get me wrong, I do have a few great friends who I trust and share my private life with. But even these, the friendship is not in the way you ladies call your bestfriend. I'd rather have a peace of mind than having a friend stabbing my back.

Running Away from Home

Jenn is getting off a little early today and we are running away from home.

Actually, we are going to spend the weekend at lake Texoma sitting on our keesters, reading, writing, sketching, and having an otherwise great time. Everyone go post a story from the photo on Rinda's Blog so I'll have some great reading when I get back. (bottom of the post for Friday June 9th)

I probably won't check in again until Monday. Speak of me kindly, think of me often, and don't have any fun until I get back.

Stubborn Ounces

Twice in One Week! Holy Cow!!

I read this poem years ago and loved it. Saved it. Kept it on my bulletin board for a long time. And then one day, it disappeared. I didn't know how and I didn't know where it went. I'd thought I'd read it in the church newsletter so I spent one afternoon recently going through the archives of all the newsletters since 1980. Then while wading through the dark abyss of the backroom McGee closet looking for wedding memoribilia (specifically our vows), I pulled open a drawer and GREAT SCOTT there it was.

I am going to share it on my blog, partly because some of you might like it, but mostly so I'll have it printed somewhere where I won't lose it again.
Life is Good.

“Stubborn Ounces”
(To One Who Doubts the Worth of
Doing Anything If You Can’t Do Everything)
By Bonaro W. Overstreet

You say the Little efforts that I make
will do no good: they never will prevail
to tip the hovering scale
where Justice hangs in balance.

I don’t think
I ever thought they would.
But I am prejudiced beyond debate
in favor of my right to choose which side
shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight.

FOUND IT !!!!! Mystery Solved.

Holy Cow!!!

We took apart 2 houses looking for the ring. Then this morning, after Jenn got up, Ben set down next to her and in a somber tone said, "We've got a problelm. Mom's wedding ring is gone." In a casual offhand manner Jenn said, "I've got it."

Ben woke me up (which he seldom does on a weekend - not that I sleep in a lot or anything) to give me the news. I'd even gone to bed last night telling my brain to find the ring in my dreams. I drifted off to sleep visualizing in as much detail as possible all the places I had been yesterday.

It turns out, Jenn left for her date last night about 15 minutes after we left for Yukon to have dinner and game night with friends. Before leaving she had gone into the bathroom and saw my ring laying on the counter where I had taken it off to put on lotion. Worried it might get lost or go down the drain, she put it in her room on the jewelry box to protect it. Since she was home and asleep by the time we got in, we didn't talk with her till this morning.

I'm emotionally exhausted.

I've Lost my Wedding Ring

We were getting ready to leave a friends house tonight and I looked down and my wedding ring was gone. (It had belonged to my great grandmother.) After 25 years of marriage, I looked down and it wasn't there. I'm really depressed. We didn't find it after searching their house, or our house. I was all over the place today. A dress shop in Edmond twice, Barnes & Noble, Sams Club, Walking for 2-3 blocks in downtown Edmond, and I ate a a cafe. It could be anywhere. I'm sick, really sick. Ben said, if we don't find it, he will have another one made, but it won't be the same. How could I lose it and not know it? This is terrible.

Mike Barker's Writing Exercises

Today I'm sharing one of my favorite sites for writing exercises. http://web.mit.edu/mbarker/www/exercises/exercises.html

GTG. I'll finish this post later.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

The Good:
I found a dress and I have 3/4 of the invitations addressed.


The Bad:
The storm this morning knocked out power at the university. We were without electricity and lights until 10 a.m.. When I arrived they had the sliding doors to the buildings propped open to provide some circulation. When I left this afternoon we were still without airconditioning. (It was the upper 80s today) and I still had no computer connection. I received a call from the Parks Dept and the PO# I faxed them to reserve a pavillion for a picnic in September was not received at their end last week so they were canceling our reservation. I refaxed and they still didn't get it. I put it in an envelope and mailed it. I am now wishing I had driven across town and given it to them. (It would have gotten me out of the hot building) The class I teach starts tomorrow and I still don't have the access code for the Prentice Hall website for instructors so I can download powerpoints, etc. Except for finding the dress it has been a very frustrating day. I'm beginning to think I'm not as patient as I thought I was.


The Ugly:
Todd left a message on our machine. It sounds like my computer is DEAD!!! Something about the mother board and not being able to install the basic software after several attempts. (Sad face and much crying, whailing and gnashing of teeth in OKC. My computer was my friend.)

Oh well, at least I found my dress.

In Deep "Do" and Sinking Fast

OMG. I'm getting married!!! In 5 weeks!!!!

Okay. Not really married. And not that we've been living in wanton sin all these years. (LOL, at least not in legal terms) But there isn't really a good word to call it.

Ben and I have been together 25 years as of Friday, July 7th. We are "renewing our vows", except that sounds like they expired. We are "getting married again" except that sounds like we got divorced. "Reaffirming our vows" sounds like we slipped down the slippery slope of forgetfulness and now have to remind ourselves. This issue of what it actually is we are doing has become a big issue. In truth we know what we are doing, but words are tricky little boogers.

I'm in a panic. Okay?

I mean, I'm a writer not a party planner. So far I have reserved the church and the minister. Yesterday I went to Sam's, made my invitations, and had them printed off. That's it!!!

FIVE weeks! And no dress, cake, balloons, food, band/dj, flowers, photographer, consideration of what kind of small ceremony to have. Not only am I not good at this kind of thing, I actually really suck at it. I'm in such trouble.

Sheila and Ammanda have offered to help me find a dress. But when? I have so much shit to do! How did this sneak up on me like this?

Everyone write down 1st UU Church in Oklahoma City, July 7th, 7 p.m. That way, if I don't get around to mailing invitations, those of you who can actually make it will know where to come.

I think we've finally settled on "25th Wedding Anniversary Celebration" and are making it more like a big party than a fancy formal thing. Think of me often for the next few weeks. I have no idea what I'm doing.

A Book - Emily Dickinson

He ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!....

Emily Dickinson, A Book

The Branch Weighed 6,500+ lbs

(Update from my brother)






The crain that lifted the tree trunk off my house had a scale on it - showing how much weight it was lifting....

The tree was cut back from what was laying all over the roof of the garage to the point on the edge of the roof (picture below)

That 10-12 foot section from the edge of my roof...to the main tree it split off from. That section alone weighed 3,400 lbs.

The whole length of tree branch was in the 6,500 to 7,000 lb range, all laying ON my garage