A Little Blogging Break

I'm basically taking August off for a little R&R and travel. I will still post my August Full Moon Altar contribution later this month, but that's about it. I'll be back to regular blogging in September!

NSFW, You Say?

Oh yes, I know what YOU PEOPLE

REALLY LIKE in a blog post.

You're not fooling ANYONE.

The GUTTER is precisely where

you, me and everyone else 

all WANT to be!

No matter how PRIM and PROPER

we may PRETEND we are!

We are always ready

to POUNCE on anything

the least bit SALACIOUS.

We can see SEXUAL INNUENDO

anywhere, if we TRY hard enough!

Of course, SOME sexual humour

JUST WRITES ITSELF!

SORRY, folks,

that's ALL for NOW,

you SEX FIENDS!

New Edmonton Football Team Name AT LAST!

I've bitched on this blog for years about the inappropriate "indigenous mascot" team name of my city's Canadian Football League club, the Edmonton Eskimoes. The team used every stupid, illogical argument in the book to resist changing it, but last summer it finally bowed to public pressure and dropped the old name. Now, after a full year of rumination and public surveys, here (at last!) is our new team name --

I like this new name because:

(1) elk are very common wildlife in this area so there's a real connection to our location; 

(2) apparently back in the mists of time (1922) when the Edmonton team was part of a rugby-football league, the team actually was briefly named the Elks before changing it, so there is some historical precedent and tradition attached to the new name;

(3) it is compatible with keeping the team's traditional colours of green and gold; and

(3) it allows retention of the traditional "Double EE" logo that fans love and are familiar with.

What I really love, though, is the NEW team logo! It is simple, clear and stylized. And the elk's mean little eye makes it look intimidating and badass! 

I've already bought a t-shirt with the new logo to show support for the team and its name change! Also, the team needs all the money it can get right now because the cancellation of last year's season due to the pandemic almost bankrupted it. Not to be too cynical, but I suspect the prospect of selling a full line of all-new branded merchandise to its fans may have been another factor which encouraged the team to finally change its name. But I'm okay with that as a reward to the team and I hope sales skyrocket!

It's Mangia Mangia Time!

July Full Moon Altar: Nike

July's full moon altar honours the Greek goddess Nike, aka Winged Victory. The delayed Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics start today, so she is the fitting deity of the moment! Nike stands amidst scattered gold, silver and bronze stars, a golden laurel wreath, and the sacred flame burning in a Grecian urn.

In one hand, Nike holds a laurel wreath of victory, the prize which all desire. But her other two symbols sound cautionary notes. Her wings imply that "victory is fleeting" -- do not expect it to last forever. The owl in Nike's other hand warns that victory must be tempered with wisdom -- success must not breed hubris.

My Nike statue is a reproduction of an ancient Etruscan statue which I bought about 20 years ago in West Edmonton Mall. WEM used to have a wonderful American store there called The Museum Company which sold quality museum replicas of art, jewelry, etc. However, the store disappeared after only a few years, alas. The lovely gold laurel wreath of victory is a souvenir purchased in Athens by My Rare One a couple of years ago, which she graciously loaned me for this altar. The little porcelain art deco grecian urn was a find I made about 30 years ago in a rural Manitoba barn stuffed full to bursting with antiques, collectibles and just plain old junk.

[First photo © Debra She Who Seeks, July 2021; second photo is from the internet.]

St. Albert United Church Labyrinth

As I said in my last post about labyrinths, I'm trying to find a suitable outdoor labyrinth in or near Edmonton to serve as my new spot for walking meditation. Last week, I checked out this one in St. Albert, which is a small city just outside Edmonton.

Nice to see from the little Pride flag on its church sign that this is an "affirming" United Church which welcomes the LGBTQ+ community.

Other helpful signage enabled me to find the labyrinth at the back of the rather large church.

The labyrinth entrance is marked by two "peace poles" and flower boxes full of pansies and johnny-jump-ups. The labyrinth is in a quiet spot surrounded by huge trees providing some welcome partial shade on a hot, sunny day.

The peace poles were once painted in bright, colourful images by the kids of the Sunday School, but their current faded state tells me this labyrinth was constructed quite a while ago.

The labyrinth is a classic 11-circuit Chartres model. The circuit walls are composed of counter-sunk bricks for ease of mowing.

I found the labyrinth difficult to use for two reasons: (1) the circuit paths are quite narrow and (2) the earthen-coloured bricks are hard to see against the dry, scrubby grass. The complex twists and turns of the circuit walls would be much clearer if the bricks were painted white, but that requires a lot of upkeep.

The centre of the labyrinth is marked by a large granite rock, which is very common in prairie labyrinths. I had a little sit-down here when I finally reached the centre. An 11-circuit labyrinth involves a lot of walking!

It's a nice enough labyrinth and I'm glad I checked it out, but this won't become my "go to" spot because of the difficulties in its use mentioned above.

So the search continues!

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, July 2021]

Little Things Hurt The Most

Earlier this month, Jenn of Coffee on the Porch with Me wrote about stubbing and breaking one of her baby toes (click here to read her post). YOUCH!

This reminded me of my own painful experience in this area. Thirty-five years ago, I broke a baby toe one morning while stumbling around still half asleep and stubbing my bare foot against my full, heavy briefcase sitting on the floor.

It hurt so much I couldn't even SWEAR. I just stood there, bent over in incredible pain, my mouth silently opening and closing like a goddamn fish.

Broken baby toes can't really be set or fixed by doctors. So I followed the time-honoured procedure of simply taping it to my other toes, wearing tight, supportive shoes and limping around until it healed (which took forever). Even now, decades later, it still occasionally aches from arthritis due to that ancient breakage.

That was the end of my going barefoot at home, too. Since then, I always wear sturdy slippers to protect my toes against occasional, but inevitable, incidents of stubbing.