Passover on the High Seas

Here's a bit of rollickin' good piratical fun

to celebrate Passover (March 27 to April 4)!

The Jewish a cappella group Six13 has joined 

the sea shanty bandwagon to sing a few

well-known sailing songs (with altered lyrics)

to celebrate the holiday and freedom! 

Love the kippah-yarmulke-eye-patches and 

spork-hand-prosthesis, LOL!

March Full Moon Altar: Ixchel

Halfway between the Spring Equinox and Easter, this month's full moon altar honours the Mayan Goddess Ixchel, represented here in her Maiden Aspect as the Goddess of Fertility. She's obviously great pals with her Rabbit buddy and of course, rabbits are powerful symbols of Fertility, Spring and the Divine Feminine in many cultures. Two Lindt chocolate bunnies pay homage to the Goddess and present her with an offering of Lindt chocolate eggs. The altar cloth is a tea towel which my sister gave me.

The Mayan civilization flourished 2500-3000 years ago in Mexico and Central America before both the Aztecs and the Spanish Conquest. I obtained this reproduction statue of Ixchel years ago from Sacred Source, the online website which sells ancient deity imagery.

Ixchel's name means "Lady Rainbow" or "Rainbow Woman" which is why I keep a rainbow necklace around her neck. (Actually, it's a golf stroke counter that I got at a lesbian Texas Scramble golf tournament back in the days when I still pretended to golf.) 

And, just in case you're wondering, yes, those chocolate bunnies will feature in a Special Communion Ritual on Easter weekend to be attended by My Rare One and me, LOL!

[Photo © Debra She Who Seeks, March 2021]

The Cannonball Tree

In 2013 when My Rare One and I visited Quebec City, we splurged on a ride in a horse-drawn calèche through the streets of the Old City. The tour also went just outside the city's historic stone walls to Battlefields Park, a long, manicured green space now used for sports, relaxation, outdoor concerts and festivals.

However, this green space on top of the steep Quebec escarpment is better known in military history as the Plains of Abraham. It was here that France lost its colony of French Canada to the British following a surprise attack and brief battle in 1759.

Back through the Old City gate, our carriage driver stopped by a particular tree and showed us how it had grown right over a cannonball fired during that famous battle, which had landed inside the city walls. We ooh-ed and aah-ed like good tourists but secretly had our doubts. Does that tree look 250 years old to you?

A CBC news story recently caught my eye about how the old Cannonball Tree, now largely dead, had to be uprooted and removed from the city sidewalk this month where it had subsisted for so many years. The Canadian Armed Forces oversaw extraction of the cannonball, in the unlikely event that it was still live ordnance.

Closer inspection showed that it was not a cannonball at all, but an old-fashioned bomb that originally would have required ignition via a fuse.

On the basis of an old photo of a nearby street, an historian speculated that this (and other) de-activated bombs had been deliberately affixed along the way as wheel guards to protect homes from passing carriages. In time, a tree grew over one of them and voilà! A folk legend was born!

Farewell, Cannonball Tree! I'm glad we got to see you when we did.

[Photos #1-4 © Debra She Who Seeks, June 2013; Photo #5 © Radio-Canada, 2021; Photo #6 is from the Internet; Photo #7 © La Collection Gino Gariépy, 1908]

"The Wellerpossum"

Well, that viral sea shanty "The Wellerman" 

has been given new life again! 

(See my previous post here)

But this time the video stars

the world's cutest possum --

And, just like before, another 

random person on the internet

felt inspired to participate and 

complete the lyrics for it --

Possums have not received this much

attention since the glory days 

of Red Green and his

Possum Lodge Oath and Man's Prayer!

Spring Equinox: Crocus Memories

Today is the Spring Equinox so hooray, Winter is officially over! 

The first flower to emerge after a long winter on the Canadian prairies is the crocus. Indigenous people called it "the ears of the earth," believing that the crocus blooms so early in order to listen for the arrival of Spring.

The crocus is the official floral emblem of the Province of Manitoba where I grew up. Fifty/sixty years ago when I was a kid, it was still possible to find little patches of wild crocuses growing in rural areas. But they were rare and it was always a special treat to see them.

The reason wild crocuses were so rare, both then and even more so now, is that they will grow only on unbroken virgin prairie. Not a lot of that left anymore! Once land is cultivated, the wild crocuses disappear. In my childhood, there were really only two places one might still spot wild crocuses -- occasionally in roadside ditches or on land belonging to the Canadian Pacific Railway. The CPR was the railway which opened the West to settlement in the 1880s and so its landholdings were acquired before extensive cultivation occurred. And of course, railway land was not used for agriculture.

One Spring when I was about 8 years old, my older brother let me tag along with him and his pal who said he knew where there were lots of crocuses. In a circuitous route, we biked out to the edge of town and then hiked up and down gullies and crawled through a barbed wire fence in order to reach "the secret spot."

The secret spot was a hillside on CPR land leading down to a tiny creek. Wild crocuses grew as far as the eye could see, absolutely blanketing the area. With the flowers' muted blossoms and fuzzy stems, it looked like a huge wave of grey-mauve smoke rolling along low to the ground. The sight was breath-taking and I will never forget it. What a privilege it was to have seen it!

My brother and I were never able to find that spot again, of course. Like Brigadoon, the crocus hillside magically appeared to us only once and then disappeared forever!

Time for a New Blog Header!

Over the course of my blog's 12+ years' existence, 

I've only had two blog headers. 

This was the first:

This was the second:

And now, I've got a new third one!

Isn't it great? Squeeeeeee!

This was designed for me by 

Linda of Life and Linda 

who offers blog design and services 

at her site My Fairy Blog Mother.

Highly recommended!

Thanks, Linda!

Happy Irish Heritage Day!

Well, it's time once again to claim

my ancient ancestral Celtic right 

to make fun of the Irish!

Even Her Royal Highness

is an IRISH KITTY today!

Why Introverts Thrive in Lockdown

We introverts don't really mind 

not being able to socialize with many people. 

In fact, that's our preferred mode of existence! 

We are not shy and we do like people, 

but we definitely need to be 

solitary creatures in order 

to recharge our batteries.

If we don't get as much "alone time" as we need,

our energy gets run into the ground.

So introverts are not party-hearty types. 

In fact, parties wear us out 

and can be an ordeal.

You can spot the introvert at a party

by seeing who's hanging around the margins,

letting others be the centre of attention!

That's why having Covid-19 restrict our plans

is not all that much of a hardship for us.

We prefer to stay home anyway!

Extroverts don't understand us.

They try to make us be like them.

Extroverts need to socialize a lot

because that's precisely how 

they recharge their batteries.

But not us! We're the opposite.

Introverts lead inward-focused lives 

and that's just fine by us!

Royal Family MAYHEM!

 

Hello, my adoring minions and sweet stalker-ish fans!

It is I, HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE CAT, 

here once again to

wring my paws in DESPAIR

over the state of my Family.

Yes, THAT Family of which I am a well-loved member.

Alright, so my cousin Betty Windsor HAS always hated me

and tried to exclude me from Family events,

but she is VERY much the exception. 

Everyone else adores, SIMPLY ADORES, me!

Like my darling Harry and his beautiful wife Meghan,

for whom I did some fundraising in the past 

as they broke away from the clutches of the Royal Family.

Their recent, shocking interview with Oprah shows that 

the Royal Family has learned nothing, NOTHING, 

from the UTTER FIASCO that was 

Prince Charles' and Princess Diana's marriage. 

Still NO training or mentorship for young spouses joining the Family.

NO mental or emotional support for coping with Royal Life. 

NO immediate and sharp rebukes of the 

absolutely disgraceful RACISM propagated by the 

British tabloid media against Meghan.

When, OH WHEN, will the Palace LEARN?

I feel for Meghan so much because I. too, 

have often been targeted by those tabloid rags. 

They hate my guts because I am also beautiful and talented. 

There is no low to which they will not sink to harass and bully me!

Those dastardly tabloids even 

QUESTION my Royal Credentials!

Can you imagine? 

Oh, the unspeakable gall of those gutter journalists!

Just look at this LATEST LIBEL against me!

I shall LAWYER UP immediately!!!!!

Yelling at the Cat

Do you know this meme?

It's been going strong 

for a couple of years now,

and I still find it funny!

This sassy feline is 

the new Grumpy Cat!

There's no one this cat won't sass!

Or is there?

FUN FACT: this meme is actually

an ancient archetype cutting across 

time, history and cultures . . . .

The women and cat don't even need to be 

in the meme for it to be funny!

Oh, thought I couldn't work 

superheroes into this post? 

Think again!