Category: November Challenge

HB, Prince Charles !!

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, November Challenge, November Writing ChallengeLeave a comment

When I was 10 years old I saw a picture in the newspaper of Prince Charles…he was attending Gordonstoun, and I think he was wearing a kilt..  Nonetheless, I immediately fell in crush.  It seemed clear to me that the Royal Family needed an American to add some colour..(way ahead of my time).  I started a scrapbook, combing the magazines and newspapers for more pictures,  reading and writing up bios on every member of the Windsors.  I can still tell you, from memory, that his full name is Charles Philip Arthur George, that he is the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, the blahdy blah of blah, etc.

During the summer of my 11th year (1964) I wrote him a letter and asked him to be my pen pal.  I wrote lots of letters back then, but this one my Dad thought was so funny.  In it, I lied about my age and told him I was 12 !!!   While I was visiting Grandmother, he mailed the letter without my knowing.  A few months later I received a letter, on Buckingham Palace stationery, from the Queen’s Lady-in-Waiting, expaining to me that the Prince would not be able to correspond with me.  I still have the letter and scrapbook here somewhere.  I was so excited!  A few years later I discovered Real Boys, but always kept a keen interest in Charles.

Anyone who knew me back then was aware of my crush and I planned to go to England as soon as I was old enough. (unfortunately, that did not happen and I still haven’t visited)

Anyway, after the whole Di thing, I have been steadfastly defending him.  I think he accidentally married a young lady who had serious mental health problems, ignoring his heart and being faithful to his “position” as the future King.  Everything good about the Princes William and Harry has been attributed in the press to their mother, and I’m not going to try to malign her mothering.  However, Prince Charles started the Prince’s Trust way before he married her and has always been a true “working” royal.  His relationship with his sons appears to be strong, proven because they make fun of him like any adult child does, and also because they give him a lot of credit for the people they are today.

I still follow the Royals very closely.  BBC has been showing a lovely documentary that finally gives Charles his just desserts.  He and Camilla share loving looks and it’s quite clear they are still very much in love with each other after all these years.  I approve…but always did want him to be happy, since it didn’t work out between the two of us.

Dear Prince Charles,

Today is your birthday #70.  Geez, PC, we have grown old together…

Love, Peace, and Happy Birthday Wishes…

From your Loyal Fangirl…

Dance like nobody’s looking…

Peace

P.S.  I wrote about this in 2012…  if you are counting…

challenges, challenges

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, Autumn at Sonnystone Acres, November Challenge, November Writing Challenge, Reading Challenge2 Comments

Every January I sign up with the Goodreads book challenge and Every November and December I find myself frantically reading books to meet the goal.  I was up until very early doing “easy” reading, stories that are sort of romantic mysteries.  I have searched for Kindle singles and have hope that I can get these last 6 –yes, six– books read.   I read from a kindle or a nook, mostly, but since I need to catch up quickly, I’m heading over to the library to find some nice mystery series that will keep me interested…or that’s the plan, anyway.

We didn’t get any snow, though I understand that the State was on alert for flurries.  The rosebushes are ready for anything, though…check it out…

We’re doing some experimenting in the conservatory.  When the sun is up, the temps stay about 10degrees above the outside.  At night, there is little difference between inside and out, so with lows in the 20’s, I want to add some heat.  We have a couple of space heaters for now, but I don’t want to see my electric bill go crazy, so we’re thinking a kerosene heater would be nice.  So far, everything is doing real well out there…

Those low temps bit the leaves right off the trees that were so beautiful just day-before-yesterday…

It feels like a day to make some soup and curl up with a book, or two…  I hope you are warm and cozy this lovely Sunday…

Peace

 

Days of the Dead

On By Jo Mayne CaseyIn 2018, November Challenge1 Comment

Way back, several thousand years ago, there was a civilization in Mexico we know mostly as Aztecs and Toltecs.  To their way of thinking, death was just another phase on the continuum of life and it was disrespectful to mourn the dead.  The dead were still part of the community, their spirits kept alive in the memories of their families and it was on Dia de los Muertos that they temporarily returned to earth.

The tradition survived all these years and has morphed into a 3-day festival in Mexico. I saw pictures of the colorful altars in the cemeteries, adorned with marigolds and family pictures. The parades and celebrations seemed like mardi gras to me, only with a theme of skulls and skeletons.

It wasn’t until I watched the Disney movie “Coco” that I really sat up and listened.

Brief synopsis of the movie Coco, blatantly copied from IMDB:  Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.

According to the movie, you can’t cross back over to earth—you can never again see your loved ones–if you are forgotten. When you are completely forgotten you finally dissolve, disappear, die.  Miguel’s great-great-grandmother tore his great-great-grandfather’s face out of the picture, so he was nearly forgotten, and fading quickly.  Miguel’s trip to the Land of the Dead is filled with music and lush with colors.  There is a scary part and the ending made me cry, but the music made it happy-cry.  (by the way, Coco is his great-grandmother)  (watch the movie)

So, maybe it’s all true.  Maybe there is a time when the veil between the living and the dead thins out and our ancestors are able to visit with us.

I know I’m full of dead people right now, thanks to my genealogy project.  I am lucky enough to remember 2 great-grandmothers who lived until I was 18.  What do you really know about your great-grandmother, though?  I listened to the stories and tried to ask questions when I realized there soon would be no one to ask.  Family histories are notoriously unreliable, if they exist at all,  and I’m finding more questions than I am answers. I stare at the fading pictures of their young faces and wonder.  The census, records of birth, death, marriage, baptism are an outline, but I want to color it in with a flesh and blood human that Lived a Life worth remembering.

The catholic church co-opted the Days of the Dead, turning them into All Saints Day, when you pray for the honest-to-god-saints-in-heaven (like they need it) and All Souls Day, when you pay-to-pray for the rest of the church people who are in purgatory.  The rest of the dead are in hell.   What a bunch of killjoys…

I much prefer to celebrate our Ancestors, showing respect for their lives, and welcoming them with Peace, Love, Food, and lots of Flowers when the veil thins.  I like to think of them living in the colorful Land of the Dead, biding time until I join them in their dancing and singing.  (of course, I believe in Ancient Aliens, too, so what do I know?)

I know this much:  Life is short and Death is long.

So get out there and Be Alive while you still can…and don’t forget to remember the Grateful Dead…

Peace