Thursday

I don't remember quite how long we've been doing this, whether it's been two and a half or three years, now, but a small group of friends have been coming to my house most Thursdays to engage in a sort of meditative process for purposes of spiritual growth and of building the bridge between the worlds. Every week takes some dedication, especially when two of the attendees live, maybe, thirty, forty miles away. We often take off for a few weeks in the late summer when one of the attendees goes up north to visit her family, so we have recently reconvened.
Yes, it takes some dedication to come every week. Our attendance has grown and diminished over time,  eventually settling on the current four (including myself), and our evenings are usually interesting. Sometimes (often) someone queries our non-physical advisors as to what is it that we should be doing. This question came up again tonight. My thought nearly always is, "Remain willing," as in keep showing up and "don't quit five minutes before the miracle," as some of my friends might say. But tonight when the question came up, almost immediately someone suggested, what if we go to meeting every other week, instead of every week.
Now, I must say, it is amazing that we have been meeting as long as we have. There are some who didn't think we'd last as long as six months, so we've already blown expectations. And, to be honest, there have been times that I thought, gee, if everyone wanted to call the whole thing off, I'd be okay with that. It's at my house, so I have that responsibility. But now that someone has said, "What if we cut back to every other week," (and we are vey clear about which weeks we'd be "on" and which weeks we'd be "off,") I find myself thinking this might be the beginning of the end. I can't help but wonder, if we're meeting every other week, how long will it be until people find themselves busy on "our" week, and then dribble off to nothing. I mean, a business that doesn't keep regular hours doesn't seem to stay in business vey well. We're not a restaurant or a nail salon, but I think it won't be that long before people start getting mixed up about when they're supposed to be here, and when they're not. I will be surprised if we're still meeting by January first. So we'll see. I'd love to be wrong about this. We'll just have to see.

Meanwhile, I'll try not to be such a stranger to this blog. I know, "promises, promises!" Maybe we'll see about that, too. I just realized the last time I posted here in No, Really was in October of 2016, nearly two years ago! And that was the only post of that year! Okay, well, I'll try to do better.

ATLRD

Annie The Little Red Dog (aka ATLRD) is a pretty good pup most the time these days. When she was younger, though, she would express her displeasure at not being INCLUDED IN EVERYTHING by chewing stuff up. Stuff that wasn't hers to chew up, particularly if I had handled it - things like bedspreads, rugs, socks, house shoes, personal items of underwear one might find in a laundry basket (before they've been washed, ew!), a shawl I had JUST knitted, a pair of bamboo knitting needles (shredded!), another shawl I was knittING, empty cups, straws and tissues from the trash, any kind of wrappers from the trash, pens and pencils. Markers. Crayons. Notebooks.

 

This activity taught me to get heavy trashcans with well-fitting lids and foot pedals to open them, and to keep my laundry confined or washed, and to keep anything I didn't want eaten off the floor and out of reach.

 

She has done quite a bit better, the older she gets. It's been a good while since I returned home to find a little trail of whatever chewed up on the floor. 

 

Today, though. (Heavy sigh)

 

This was yardman day. I always "lock her up" on yardman day. She loves men, so she's about as like as not to go out to see them, and then wander out the open gate. She sees free air, she's off and running until SHE decides to come back, so on Yardman day, I block the doggie door so she can't get out, because I also have things to do on Wednesday mornings. 

 

I guess today I was gone a little "too" long. No tissues, dirty laundry, or knitting projects in the middle of the floor, though. No, this time it was in the front bedroom. A little box that'd had crayons in it was laying on the floor, with an empty red crayon wrapper laying next to it - along with red, green, blue, and yellow crayon CRUMBS on the floor surrounding it. No trace of the other crayons, just the crumbs.

 

She didn't follow me in there, but was still in the house, so I started in with the dreaded, "WHAT IS THIS?" Man, she DISAPPEARED. She totally knows what "WHAT IS THIS?" means, and she does not like to hear it. She always looks like she'd 'bout rather take a beating than hear "WHAT IS THIS?" She put herself in time-out. 

 

I hope they were tasty, those crayons. She's gonna be pooping bright wax confetti for the next couple days! And now I'll be sure ALL the bedroom doors are closed when I leave the house.

More about Bees

 

"I dreamt that a bee kept on following me then sat down on my dress I could not shake it off, please what does that mean?"  Hester P.
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Thank you for your question, Hester. 

 

In your dream, a bee has come to you, and won't go away. This seems unsettling, perhaps because you don't know why it came to you, and maybe you're not sure what it might do, so there may be some sense of apprehension or fear. Let me say here that every dream is about the dreamer, and everyone, or every thing in the dream, represents some aspect of the dreamer's self. Dreams are a way that our higher mind tries to communicate with us; as such, dreams are a way for us to learn things, primarily about ourselves,  so that we can be better people and live better, fuller, more effective lives.

In your dream, the bee followed you, then sat on your dress, and you were unable to shake it off.

Garments (your dress) represent how we present ourselves to the world. In your dream, you are wearing a dress, a customary garment for females in many parts of the world. This is about the way that you seek to fit in and be "one of," a member of your community.

Bees represent diligence, going on, moving forward, no matter what. Because of their honey, they represent the sweetness of life, reward for diligence, hard work, and right behavior. They also represent accomplishing the impossible, because their bodies are supposed to be too large for their wings, which should make it impossible for them to fly, and yet they do fly. So the Bee is a symbol of accomplishing that which you put you mind to, even when it seems impossible.   

 

As I mentioned before, bees work every day, no matter what. They go from flower to flower, gathering nectar and pollen, and bring it "home" to the hive and turn it into food for the "family." They are fairly peaceful most of the time, because they have a lot of work to do in order to survive. They are too busy to get involved in a lot of drama that really doesn't have anything to do with them. Yes, they peacefully tend to their own business, but they can be fierce if necessary. When threatened, they will protect themselves and each other - but they really have to mean it if they are going to sting someone, because when a bee stings someone, it loses its stinger, and then it dies, so that is a last resort option. 

So - all of this - diligence, sweetness, reward, hard work, doing the right thing, accomplishing the "impossible," because that is what you are determined to do, behaving peacefully unless threatened, but able to be fierce when necessary - all this is represented to you in the form of a little bee. It sat on your dress and would not be removed.

Since every dream is about the dreamer, and everyone and every thing in the dream represents some aspect of the dreamer, I can tell you that there are parts of you that are like the bee as I just described it. And since it landed on your dress, (which represents how you present yourself to the world) and wouldn't go away, this is a message to encourage you to cultivate and further develop these qualities of the bee in yourself - the qualities of diligence, sweetness, hard work, accepting and partaking of the reward for that hard work, doing the right thing (behaving morally), moving forward, even through adversity or opposition, doing so in as peaceful a manner as possible and avoiding excessive drama (which distracts and is counterproductive), and yet having the ability to stand up for yourself and those you love if that becomes necessary. Focus on these qualities. They already exist within you!

Thank you for sharing your dream with me, Hester. I hope this interpretation has been helpful.

Bees

"I had a dream about tending to a beehive. I was getting the honey. 

Mrs. Vicki, what do you think this could mean?"  Monica K."  
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That sounds like a good dream! Bees ARE very busy, and making honey isn't the only thing they do.

They, of course, are significant pollinators of plants, and are involved in other things too complex to go into here. Honey is a by-product of their efforts, and now that they've been so busy and done all that work, they have a hive full of honey to sustain themselves through the winter, and a little extra to share with their beekeeper. Getting the honey represents reaping or harvesting or retrieving the benefits of all that hard work and activity.

Couple more points to bear in mind: remember that the benefit is the result of a lot of focused, diligent work. The beekeeper must remember to leave some of the honey with the bees so they can survive to work another season. And the work is never over. The bees have to get up every blessed day and do it all over again. They don't even think about it, they just do what's in front of them to do, and they keep doing it. With all this in mind, it's good to remember that every dream is about the dreamer, and everyone in the dream represents some aspect of the dreamer, so you are the beekeeper, who facilitates or makes a way and a place for the bees to live, watching out for them, making sure they're safe so they can continue working. Not only that, but you are also the bees, doing something every day to support your survival and even prosperity, along with the survival and prosperity of your family - doing what's in front of you to do, even if it seems dull and drudgery sometimes (which it's not, really) and even though it may not seem glamorous and spectacular. But if you think about it, what bees do - going from flower to flower, gathering nectar and pollen, bringing it home and turning that into food for the "family," the hive, and working together, and the way they protect themselves, and each other, even to the death if necessary - think about it - that really is extraordinary! And yet it's just another day in the life for the bees - and for you, too!

Awesome dream! Think of these things, especially when you're at your wits' end. I hope it will help revive you, the way honey revives the bees and adds pleasure to our lives.

Dwarf Planets

I recently received this photo of Dwarf Planets. I was familiar with some of the names, and the idea that they represented  ancient mythological deities and, as such, carried special meaning. This made me curious about the others, so I looked them up. Here is what I discovered:

Ceres is the Roman goddess of agriculture.

Vesta is the hearth goddess.

Pallas is the Greek Titan god of warcraft.

Hygiea is the Greek goddess of health.

Eris is the goddess personification of strife and discord.

Dysnomia is a daughter of Eris. Her name means “Lawlessness,” and is also the name of a disorder wherein one has difficulty remembering words or names.

Pluto is a god of the underworld.

Charon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls across the river Styx.

Makemake is the Rapa Nui creator of humanity and god of fertility.

Haumea is the Hawiian goddess of childbirth.

Namaka is a daughter of Haumea and is the Hawaiian goddess of the sea.

Hi’iaka is a daughter of Haumea and is the patron goddess of the Big Island of Hawaii.

Sedna is the Inuit goddess of the sea, believed to live at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Orcus is an Italic/Roman god of the underworld and punisher of broken oaths.

Quaor (pronounced “Kwawar”) is a Tongva creator god.

Varuna is a Hindu god of water and the celestial ocean, and of the law of the underworld.

Vanth (a moon of Orcus) is a winged Etruscan psychopomp who guides the souls of the departed to the underworld.

Jupiter's moons are named after his lovers.

Saturn's moons are named after fellow Titans.

Kuiper Belt objects are named after mythological deities, with preference given to creator deities.

A Psychopomp is a creature or entity that assists in the transition between this life and the beyond. Some specialize in bringing new lives forth here, and some specialize in guiding the newly departed to the next realm.  When guiding the departed, Psychopomps do not judge, they merely guide.

Vette Redux for '62

A guest post by Kent Bowers

Here is a project that I started in 1963. I believe you can easily see what I had in mind. 

Here's a photograph of a 1962 Corvette. Note that 1962 is the key year that I was targeting.

Here is a photograph of a 1963 Stingray.

Now, let's take one step back and look at a 1960 Corvette. 





So, it is easy to see the transition from the curvy Corvette of the 1950's to the sharper and crisper lines of the classic stingray of the 1960s.


Here is my project car.

This is the 1962 Corvette with the translation being exactly turned around. The sharper and more angular lines of the stingray are used on the front of the car while retaining the curvy lines on the rear.

The years have not been kind to the little plastic car. The tires have flattened and the canopy is yellowed with age. All the glue has released its grip and all the parts are somewhat warped. It doesn't fit together quite right and nothing holds it together. I found it in an old stationary box up on the shelf. The box was still about half full of blank paper. When I picked it up the chassis fell out from under the body and the interior tumbled out.

I remember that my friend Tom Braley had a Vacuform machine. I carved out the shape of the canopy from Balsa wood. The machine heated a sheet of plastic and then pumped all the air out so that it fit perfectly. We could re-create or fabricate plastic parts to suit our desire.

Another interesting feature of this car that I had completely forgotten is the engine. This is a supercharged 409 with four, two-barrel carbs. This car would not have been fast… It would've been terrifyingly fast.

    

So, there she sits; up on the shelf, over a half a century later. An alternate view for one nine six two.

Panther City

A rivalry has existed between Dallas and Fort Worth, maybe since Cain and Abel days. 

Long time ago, a Dallas newspaper reported that Fort Worth was so dull that a panther was seen napping in the street, in the middle of the day. They took to calling Fort Worth "Panther City," initially as a jab. But the would-be insult backfired - the people of Fort Worth decided not to be insulted, and, instead took the moniker in good cheer. This is why you'll see Panther symbols and references to "Panther" this and "Panther" that in matters Fort Worth. 

This amazing statue of a Panther was carved of stone a good many years ago in honor of Fort Worth's Spirit Animal. It stands in a fountain park next to the flatiron building downtown. There is also another one in a courtyard grove across the street from the courthouse. Amazing place, Fort Worth