Music has always been the form of art that moves me most, and most especially when I am listening to it played live.

I've been very blessed in my life to have been in relationships with several musicians, which meant that I had the opportunity to sit in on jams and practices where I would write as they played.  There's something wonderful about the way that Spirit flows in and through the music (and the musicians) that has always inspired and uplifted me. 

I believe that music has a unifying quality - no matter who you are or who you are with, music has the ability to transcend differences and remind us that at the core, we are all ONE.

Attending live music events - either with a group of friends or alone - is still one of my favorite things to do!

Paradoxically, I feel the most self-confident when I'm getting out of my own way and allowing Spirit's creativity to flow through me. 

It's those times that I feel as though what I'm doing is profitable on all levels and I feel infused with a sense of satisfaction, fulfillment, and a wonderful detachment from the outcome of my work.

If I were an angel I'd want to be a Bliss Angel just like my friend Lorraine Faehndrich, who abundantly sprinkles her love and joy out into the world through her creation of Blisscals...she is truly an angel who reminds us all in a such beautiful and uplifting way to live in the moment, and remember that "All Is Well."

Greetings,

Since the 1970's, I have been an advocate of women's rights and have worked to have the U.S. Equal Rights Amendment passed. It is still alive--needing 3 states to ratify it. The originator of the Equal Rights Amendment was Alice Paul. Here in the U.S. we have a crucial election coming up. If you are eligible, please cast your vote for whomever you feel is best for the job. I am realizing that for a change that we want, it must begin at the local level - or the grassroots level. It takes strength and courage for a woman to run for a political office, however a group of women in 1917 paved the way. Please read the following:  Bettye Johnson

How Women Got To Vote
A short history lesson on the privilege of voting...

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? I'm too busy? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.' HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunko night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women.
---Author Unknown
~~~~~~~
Bettye Johnson, Two-time Award Winning Author
"Awakening the Genie Within" now can be purchased on-line at
www.barnesandnoble.com, www.amazon.com, www.magdalenescrolls.com
Blogs:
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http://secretsofthemagdalenescrolls.blogspot.com
http://haveyouevenwondered.blogspot.com

I am LOVING this opportunity to work with no distractions!  It really feels as though my business is coming together and the momentum feels wonderful. 

I 'm so enjoying the writing and joint venture projects that I'm doing, and my intention to do aligned work that uplifts and excites me is being fulfilled in the most serendipitous ways.

Physically I'm feeling fantastic and I'm sleeping exceptionally well.  My sunburn is quickly developing into some nice healthy colour.  Yesterday was another focused, productive day and last evening I packed for our 5-day trip to Northumberland County in England.

We'll be leaving at noon today, and I'm so excited to stay in centuries-old inns and explore castles near the beach!

Carolyn ;-)

Aah, sweet solitude.  David is off on a business trip and Sally was away at work yesterday, so I took every opportunity to sit outside in the garden in the sunshine between client appointments.  And I got a SUNBURN...I look like a freakin' lobster!

It'll be nice to go home with some colour to my skin, though.  Sally arrived home after work with Caffrey's beer (yay!) and we sat in the garden chatting for an hour or so.  Then she went off to work in the garden & I spent some time on the computer.  The study here is beautiful, filled with orchids blooming in intense shades of pink, purple and yellow.

Sally prepared us a delicious dinner of (very) spicy curried chicken & rice noodles, and we stayed up 'til around 11:00pm.   I love this time of year, there was actually still light in the sky when I went to bed!

Carolyn

The weather here has been absolutely spectacular, according to my hosts.  We've been having consistently warm, sunny and breezy days of about 20C, so we're taking full advantage of them.

Yesterday we drove to a Welsh tourist town called Llangollen through the Horseshow Pass for a garden show.  I was surprised at how many of the plants I recognized!  We wandered around for awhile and bought some trees for the garden, and stopped for some delicious hot Welsh Cakes made fresh on the griddle.  (Though the linked recipe calls for mixed peel, I've only had them here with currants, which is good - I'm not fond of mixed peel!)

On the drive back we stopped into Corwen, where I took photos of the statue (by sculptor Colin Spofforth) of Owain Glyndŵr, the last native Welsh person to hold the title Prince of Wales, who instigated the long-running Welsh Revolt against the rule of Henry IV of England in 1400. Although initially successful, the uprising was eventually put down - Glyndŵr was last seen in 1412 and was never captured.  His last years are a mystery. 

We went into a local Corwen pub for a shandy and some interaction with the locals.  This drink, in my experience, is made with lager and ginger ale.  Here's it's made with bitter and lemonade...quite a difference in taste!  The somewhat-inebriated pub owner directly asked me for my exact age, which made for much hilarity in the car on the way home. 

We spent the afternoon in the sunshine and Sally and David finished constructing their henhouse.  After a dinner of sausages, crispy fried potatoes, onions and mushrooms, and fresh salad from the garden dressed with vinaigrette, David left on a business trip for a few days and Sally and I immersed ourselves in Law & Order and Criminal Intent reruns until midnight.

The days are flying by so far and later this week we're going to Washington (for Sally's conference) and then Alnwick and York, returning home on Sunday. 

Carolyn :-)

Day 3 and I'm feeling great!  Had a wonderfully productive workday, made some phone calls I'd been procrastinating on and I'm looking forward to taking a little break over the weekend.

Today I was introduced to mushy peas with the fish & chips we picked up locally for dinner.  The pollack was beautiful - flaky and moist and flavourful.  The chips were dry and stale.  The mushy peas?  Green and swimming...I'll leave the taste to your imagination.  Suffice it to say I was the only one who ate any, and three-quarters of it went into the trash.

After dinner Sally and I took a leisurely drive out to Talacre and walked the beach.  You can see the city of Liverpool as well as the tower at Blackpool from there.  I took some photos at the beach and also on the way home.  After a strong coffee with Bailey's I caught a second wind and decided to spend a few more hours getting caught up on work.

It's been such a pleasure to reconnect with Sally, as I knew it would be.  They are wonderful hosts, and I feel totally at home here (just as I always have with Sally.)  David has a wonderful sense of humour (in addition to his culinary and other talents.)  He is almost finished building a henhouse, as they evidently have two chickens ready for delivery.  It truly is a country life and they are enjoying it to the fullest...and so am I.

Carolyn  :-)

My first full day here!  For breakfast I ate rhubarb yogurt for the first time - yummy combination - and settled into the study to work.  Later in the day I made myself a lunch of fresh wholegrain bread and aged white Welsh cheddar cheese that was tangy & delicious! 

The property & gardens here are quite lovely.  They've worked hard to restore it from it's previously overgrown condition, and there's now a pond and outdoor lighting to accent the wide variety of plants, many in full bloom.  The sweet scents of honeysuckle and roses grace the front entrance, especially in the evening.

Sally's other half is a star in the kitchen, preparing us an appetizer of firm and succulent large black prawns in a tamarind and maple syrup sauce,  served with hot and sweet pickled beets.  He followed that up with a green salad (made with lettuce from their garden) topped with antipasto, baby potatoes (an award-winning variety also from their garden), and thick slices of juicy beefsteak tomato topped with a dressing of hazelnut oil, tomato puree and fines herbs.  The main course was a delicious omelet with small shrimp and asparagus. 

After dinner we met up with some of their friends at the White Horse public house, where I had a velvety smooth, sweet bread and butter pudding accompanied by real cream - even better than my childhood memories.  I am going to need to take up some kind of aerobics pretty soon if I keep up this pace!  The view from our table was a very old church and cemetery...it's truly amazing to feel the history of this place. 

By the time we left the pub was quite full and a solo musician was playing guitar and singing familiar North American pop tunes, which seemed slightly incongruous.  As we exited I stepped out into the street, not realizing it was the roadway (mere feet from the entrance) and I gave some poor driver quite a scare as he veered to miss me.  Note to self:  Be careful leaving pubs, especially after a having a few.

After dessert we drove to the Royal Oak (their regular neighborhood hangout) where I had a tasty pint of Guinness, albeit served rather colder than I was expecting.  The Royal Oak was much quieter; a group of older people sat in an adjacent room playing bridge.  We all chatted about travel, and politics, and upstart colonials (such as Sally and myself) otherwise known as 'foreigners' and 'immigrants.'  I'd already been advised that the Welsh are polite to everyone, and only rude to those they like.  I felt very much included.  :-)

The ride home was quite an adventure.  We took the 'narrow roads', with Sally taking a detour to avoid the extensive roadwork being done to install fibreoptic cable for high speed internet.  These 'roads' are little more than paved laneways winding through the hillsides with houses often just feet away, and rabbits and badgers often crossed our path. There was very little signage and I'm amazed Sally made it back to the main road - even she was lost for awhile!    Someone at the pub told the story last night of a local asking a visitor how they were enjoying their stay so far.  "Well, I don't know," she replied, "I've been driving in the ditch for three weeks!"

Though I slept well, I'm still feeling a little jet-lagged; after my shower today I spritzed some facial moisturizer into my hands and promptly rubbed it into my still-wet hair.  The effects of the sudafed are finally wearing off, and I've switched to non-drowsy loratidine, so I think I'll be feeling much clearer soon. 

The study here is also a library, so I've picked out a few volumes of Welsh stories and poetry to read while I'm not working.  I also want to get the camera sorted out (figure out the zoom settings) and take pictures as I go exploring.  Apparently my hosts are rabid rugby fans, so I'm sure I'll get a chance to take in the action at some point this weekend!

Carolyn  :-)