In Someday Always Comes, Tessa Price mentions Stretch Armstrong. Do you remember him? I do. We had one. I sure wish I’d known enough to keep it.
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Letter To Ganymede
*This is in memory of my Familiar, Ganymede. We spent more than 14 years together. This is not a poem meant to be proper or contain rhyme or reason. It’s for her and she’ll understand.*
LETTER TO GANYMEDE
Dear Ganymede, Princess of princes, moon to the Gods
The most precious Soul to ever leave me reeling in
A seemingly unending grief
Wondering in my own beliefs
Diamond-like eyes sparkling sage
Oh how my oddities you never seemed to see
I am an outrage, an anomaly
Disturbing in my humanity
Happy I used to be
That first time you met me
Lost is my spirit now
As I spiraled low
But stand by me you did
No matter how black
My soul reflected
Death of a girl
Bitter old woman is near
My own life I feared
You gave me reasons to fly
When I really just wanted to die
Razor in hand
Road rage is real
Cutting reality out of my heart
Looking at you killed that deadly art
You gave me a thousand motives
To live and laugh
All having to do with you
Now I have nothing
You replaced all
All men
All children
All life abroad
How can I go on
When I have nothing
Gone is the gold
Gone is the bright
Water of the moon stopped stirring
Gently flowing back through space
Zeus called his beloved prince away
Back to Olympus to stay
Copyright 2014 Wanda S. Paryla
********
Happy Valentine’s Day
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY TO ALL MY READERS WHO ARE IN LOVE WITH LOVE, IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE, OR EVEN IN LOVE WITH THEMSELVES. THERE ARE SO MANY REASONS (OTHER THAN JUST WHAT CUPID CAN DO TO) TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY. SO IF YOU ARE SINGLE, DON’T LET BEING SINGLE OR ALONE GET YOU DOWN.
HERE’S ONE PIECE OF TRUTH ABOUT MYSELF THAT I WILL SHARE WITH YOU. I’VE GOTTEN ABOUT FIVE (5) VALENTINE’S GIFTS IN MY LIFE FROM A BOYFRIEND OR A GUY I WAS DATING. I’VE HAD VERY FEW LONG RELATIONSHIPS. I’M 44 & STILL WAITING ON MY PRINCE CHARMING, MY MAN, MY GUY, MY BABE, MY COUNTERPART TO SHOW UP. MAYBE HE NEVER WILL.
SOME OF MY FAMILY SAY IT’S BECAUSE I’M TOO PICKY WHEN IT COMES TO MEN. MAYBE. BUT THAT’S THE POINT. I HAVE THE CHOICE AND I CHOSE BEING ALONE AS OPPOSED TO SETTLING FOR THE SAKE OF NOT BEING SINGLE. I’VE ALWAYS BEEN MARRIAGE MINDED, AND IN MY DREAMY MIND MARRIAGE WAS MEANT TO LAST. PLUS, ONE CAN BE ALONE AND STILL BE TOGETHER WITH ANOTHER.
THE BEST VALENTINE’S DAY GIFTS I’VE EVER GOTTEN CAME FROM ME. 😉
CHEERS!
Throwback Thursday
And, here’s one to move us on the eve of Valentine’s Day… (from 1980)
Throwback Thursday
Since it’s the “month of love,” how about one of my favorite romantic films from the 80s? Oh yes, from 1987 in fact. It takes a simple mind to forget how great Patrick Swayze was (& looked) in this film. In his honor, I must say…a great actor gone too soon.
Out Like a Lion…In Like a Lion?…Huh?
Huh?…Yep. 2013 roared out, and 2014 roared in! Great Gatsby!
Greetings my wonderful readers and fellow writers.
I hope this latest blog about not much at all finds you as well as the flowery words that fall from the mouths of fairy-tale princesses, or as soft as those that cascade from the mouths of babes.
Okay, enough of that. Yes, I’m sure you realize that my regularly scheduled posts have fallen off the face of the earth. Oh boy! Last year ended and the New Year started … both with a big roar. Well, I was hoping for a good 2014, but so far…not so good.
Just to keep you up to date, and not thinking that I am slacking in my postings. I got a terrible Flu the week before Christmas and missed a few days of work. Which was worrying to me since I just started the job the last day of September. Then the weather turned sour, then even more sour, then the hustle and bustle of the holidays… Next thing I know on January 2 my brother took my mother to the emergency room where she then moved on to a hospital stay during the worst freeze in the last 20+ years, including miserable snow storms.
Right at that time my new job went in to mandatory overtime, and since I work with them through an employment agency (until they hire me permanently, if they do) and I was afraid to miss too much work. My normally 45-minute drive at rush hour turned into 1 hour 20 minutes on many days and I was tired just from driving. My mother’s routine gallbladder removal turned into a major surgery where they removed over a foot of her colon as well.
Well, in the meantime, my feline daughter, Ganymede, who has been with me in this life since 1999 turned very ill, having seizures and such. Although given about 3-5 days to live, she is still kicking around…though not kicking as high as previously. I know she is in end stage kidney disease despite she once again deceived the veterinarians. I know her time is nearing to cross the Rainbow Bridge back to Bast in the Summerlands. I know it might sound crude to some, but I have been shopping for my cat’s ornate urn where she will rest peacefully until I decide what I shall do with her remains long term, such as scatter them, or inter the urn someplace peaceful.
I know these thoughts seem morbid to some, but Ganymede is an important part of my life and I have always treated her as such. She is not just an animal to me, but she was there when I prayed, there when I cried and laughed, she moved from state-to-state with me several times, and comforted me when I was sick. I owe her more than she owes me as we sit and wonder as the clock ticks.
As for my mother, she is doing much better and recuperating well. She’s one tough cookie, that mom of mine. She is at home now, this past Sunday marked a week, and she must still take it easy and rest. Rest, a word my mother never liked to hear and still doesn’t. But she must. So far everything looks good and without a doubt, when this mean-ass weather blows away and the tulips peek their heads up through the snow and cold, my mother will be back riding the busses and meeting her lady friends at McDonald’s for coffee, and she’ll be back to her exercise classes in no time at all.
So that’s just what’s been going on in my life. Between the long work hours, the bad weather, and the terrible drives home, I haven’t been able to keep up with my usual posts and schedule my Wordless Wednesdays or my Throwback Thursdays, this week including. But I will be back on my regularly scheduled programming for next week.
Until then, did you read the latest review for Someday Always Comes? Check out here on my blog. It’s the post prior to this one where I reblogged the review. You can also see it on Amazon and Goodreads by Emily at Cactus Wren Review.
Here’s the link to it here on my blog – https://wandasparyla.com/2014/01/20/someday-always-comes-by-wanda-s-paryla/
Thank you all for reading. I appreciate that you take the time to visit my blog.
Blessed Yule/Winter Solstice To You! (Recipes too)
SUNSET PRAYER (A Sunset Prayer for Yule)
by Patti Wigington About.com
“The longest night has come once more,
the sun has set, and darkness fallen.
The trees are bare, the earth asleep,
and the skies are cold and black.
Yet tonight we rejoice, in this longest night,
embracing the darkness that enfolds us.
We welcome the night and all that it holds,
as the light of the stars shines down.”
BLESSED YULE/WINTER SOLSTICE to all my Brothers & Sisters who celebrate and honor this date.
As some of my readers know, I honor Yule/Winter Solstice in my spirituality. I was raised a Catholic, and thanks to them, Mary, Mother of God, brought the Goddess archetypes into my life, heralding in first the practice of Wicca, then Witchcraft. I am a Pagan for the most part, celebrating with multiple god(dess)-types. In other words, I am polytheistic. (I hope this doesn’t chase off any readers…it doesn’t change who I was before you read this.)
I also recognize Christmas for what it means to others in the world and the myths and lore behind it as well. But honestly, for myself, I celebrate it from the commercial perspective with my family as it is tradition among my siblings, parents and myself. But for my own spiritual purposes, I celebrate Yule. I still celebrate with my family, having dinner and opening gifts, and I have spent a lonely Christmas Eve at a Catholic mass communing with Mary. I believe in all religions and every spirituality. May you honor what you honor, celebrate what you celebrate, pray to whom you pray…Do as ye will, an’ it harm none. Blessed Be.
For anyone interested in learning more…
Please visit http://wicca.com/celtic/akasha/yule.htm for info on Winter Solstice – Yule Lore
OR..DailyWicca for information on Yule Lore and Yule’s origins.
http://dailywicca.com/2011/11/19/yule-lore-2/
YULE/WINTER SOLSTICE RECIPES:
RETURNING-SUN SPICED BREAD
(creator unknown)
1 1/4 cup flour
1/8 cup poppyseeds
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup raisins, plain or golden
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter/margarine
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 cup Karo golden corn syrup
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 tbs. milk
1 large egg, beaten
1 tsp. mixed spices**
**Equal parts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Sift the flour, soda, and baking powder into a non-metal bowl. Add the mixed spice and ginger. Next add the brown sugar and raisins. Mix. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and the syrup over a low heat, then pour liquid into the well in the middle of the flour mixture. Add the beaten egg and the milk, and mix very well. Pour into a well greased 2-lb loaf pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes. This bread can be made the night before as it improves with age. Makes 8-10 servings.
***
HOT SPICED WASSAIL (non-alcoholic)
(by Akasha Wicca.com)
4 cups cranberry juice
6 cinnamon sticks
5 cups apple cider
1 orange, studded with whole cloves
1 cup water
1 apple, cored and sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
Mix juice, cider, and water in large saucepan or crock pot. Add cinnamon sticks, clove studded orange, and apple slices. Simmer mixture for 4 hours. Serve hot. Makes 12 servings.
***
ANISE TUILES
(from http://www.catanna.com/yulerecipes.htm)
Yields: About 2 1/2 dozen cookies
Work Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour plus 5 to 7 minutes baking time per batch
3 large egg whites
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick), melted
3/4 teaspoon anise extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease large cookie sheet. In large bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg whites, confectioners’ sugar, and flour until blended and smooth. Beat in melted butter, anise extract, and salt.
2. Drop 1 heaping teaspoon mixture onto cookie sheet. Repeat to make 3 more cookies, about 3 inches apart. With small spatula, spread each cookie to a 3-inch round. (Do not place more than 4 on cookie sheet because, after baking, cookies must be shaped quickly before hardening.)
3. Bake cookies 5 to 7 minutes until edges are golden. With pancake turner, quickly remove 1 cookie to wire rack. With hands, gently shape warm cookie to flute edges. Repeat with remaining cookies on cookie sheet. If cookies become too hard to shape, return cookie sheet to oven to soften cookies slightly. Repeat with remaining batter. (Batter will become slightly thicker upon standing.) Store in tightly covered container.
Each cookie: About 40 calories, 1 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 2 g total fat (1 g saturated), 6 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium.
-magickal associations:
-anise – love (it’s also used to flavor wedding cakes!)
-eggs – healing, protection, fertility
-sugar – love
-butter – spirituality
Throwback Thursday
1982 – Is that the year Hershey’s invented the big Kiss? I do not know. But I will admit that Hershey IS my favorite chocolate bar – American or otherwise.
Hershey’s is another company that has put out some of the best commercials over the years. Who can ever forget the tagline “Hershey’s – The great American chocolate bar.” Can those of you over 40 hear that tune in your head? It gave me a tingling feeling inside and it still does. It brings me back to my childhood imaginings of what America was. A warm and strong place where no one could touch me. Throw in a Coke and a Clydesdale and my world was all right; untouchable.
My mom was not too keen on me eating candies. But my dad on the other hand… 😉 Every time I was visiting with him in Chicago and he went grocery shopping on Sundays, he bought me a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Sometimes we went shopping together, sometimes he went alone, but I could always expect that bar of chocolate. I still eat Hershey’s today. I’ll never forget that memory and the connection I felt between us over a chocolate bar. I miss my dad…Happy holidays in the Summerlands.
Throwback Thursday
And another for the season from around 1982. In my early life, as a horse lover, the Anheuser-Busch commercials brought goosebumps. Let’s face it, all their commercials are great!
Do I ever drink any Bud products, you ask? Why yes, yes of course. Did the commercials influence me in that choice? Maybe, maybe not. When I was an “underage” drinker (which I do not condone), I drank Miller Lite (we’re talking the ’80s here!). Now as an adult, I tend to drink Budweiser products. But still, maybe my choice is subliminally influenced by those old Clydesdale commercials.
Throwback Thursday
Befitting to the season…
I think this one’s from Christmas 1980! I loved Coca-cola holiday commercials. I have to admit, they’ve made some of the best over the years. This one brings back so many memories for me of quiet country Christmases and my step-father, Louis, trying to convince me that cows talked on Christmas Eve night around midnight.
It was the first Christmas I spent in Texas. I was in a new home, a new school, and I was more than a bit shy. Homesick, not really. Shy, yes. I had more warmth and security in my home with my mom and step-father than I ever had anywhere else and this commercial brings me back home to the early 80s when there was no cares in the world for me. Or so I remember it.
Back in those days, before Pepsi started burning up the market, a Coca-cola meant a Saturday or a holiday, a dinner out, or a special treat at a friend’s house. It’s something my mother didn’t buy to keep at home, but I loved it none-the-less.
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