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Virgin of Guadalupe Day
December 12, 2012
New Mexico celebrates 12 Dec
The village of Tortugas near Las Cruces, NM takes the 12 December very seriously. The fiesta and pilgrimage to the Virgin of Guadalupe is the main event of the year in the town close to the border. The Piro and Tigua traditions are honored in this village.
Dances 12 Dec.
Procession
Virgin of Guadalupe Surfin Safari
December 11, 2012
mosaic on underpass
I was lucky enough to see the surfing virgin in person during her brief stay on an underpass in Encintas, CA. She was perfect there, just a few blocks from Moonlight Beach. She was removed and I think she went to LA to a collection. There was a great uproar to save the art work, but alas she was taken from the site. Tomorrow is the 12 Dec, Virgin of Guadalupe day. I know all her fans at the beach wish she still had a shrine they could see every day in Encinitas.
Surfing Virg
During the protest the Kook at Cardiff was dressed in her image to show solidarity. If you enjoy costuming and are not familiar with the Kook, you can check his calendar here.
Kook 2013
Grand Holiday Spa Down
December 11, 2012
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If you could go back in time to any place and time where would you time travel? I know I would go straight to Bad Ragaz (via Zurich) to party like it is Christmas. I would attend the tree lighting choral evening and giant buffet offered by the Grand Hotels Bad Ragaz. There is nothing like it anywhere.
Lobby Grand Hotels
lights of Bad Ragaz
buffet for the whole town
choir for the whole town
Let’s party
Festive in Bad Ragaz
the Christmas tree
downtown Tamina Gorge
Sonia, Bademeister
I would go back to the day before the beautiful people redesigned the spa, when bads were bads, and bademeisters were bad ass.
Sonia on the job
Stroll to Hotel William Penn
December 10, 2012
Hotel William Penn in downtown Pittsburgh has a gingerbread house of the hotel in the lobby..I had a really wonderful buffet breakfast there after a stroll of the town.
stone carving Pittsburgh
goth church
Lobby William Penn
William Penn
hotel in gingerbread
bridge
growing art
Mission Inn Riverside
December 10, 2012
Mission Inn courtyard
- Riverside, CA
interior spiral stairs
The first time I saw the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA I thought it was a mission. I learned it is a landmark hotel now owned by the city to preserve the unique architectural wonder. I visited for a breakfast in the dining room and a look around the place. It is classy.
balcony views of courtyard
Pool at Mission Inn
outdoor arches
sidewalk singer at Mission Inn
fantastic architecture
palms downtown Riverside
fountain garden
Riverside,CA Mission Inn
John Jenkins, London to Boston
December 10, 2012
Jenkins COA
My 10th great grandfather, John Jenkins sailed at age 26 on the “Defence” of London, from London the last of July 1635 and arrived at Boston October 8, 1635 with about 100 other passengers, according to Edward Bostock, master. That is a seriously long voyage.
John Jenkins (1609 – 1684)
is my 10th great grandfather
Daughter of John
Son of Mehitable
Son of Isaac
Daughter of Eleazer
Daughter of Sarah
Daughter of Mercy
Son of Martha
Son of Abner
Son of Daniel Rowland
Son of Jason A
Son of Ernest Abner
I am the daughter of Richard Arden
What is normally found in the search for family history is probate records, documents, bibles, and census records. Every once in a while you come across a written piece about your ancestor. This one is not designated to a specific publication. It is unusual because it gives you a picture of his physical presence as well as his philosophy. I love the Longfellow at the end.
John was a man of about 5 ft. 10 in. in height, slim build and weighing about 155 lbs. His face was widest at the eyebrows and became narrower at the chin. His forehead was moderately high. He had a long, slender neck. Mentally, he was a conservative. One who took time to think over a plan or proposition before coming to a decision. He had a great, retentive memory and was a Liberal in religion. He was a Liberal when it took raw courage to proclaim it. His voice was pitched higher than the average person and did not carry far.
He was a student in the very limited area of his time and what he read, he understood. This conclusion must be sound because of the very large number of his descendants who have made outstanding records as students and as teachers. And the many who became competant in the legal and medical professions. He must have been very capable and worth while pioneer: one of that class of persons whom Longfellow had in mind when he wrote, “And departing, leave behind us,…Footprints on the sand of time.”
Christmas Customs in Colonial America
December 9, 2012
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This gives us the history of the celebration of Christmas.
I have had several of you ask me about how true are the wreath decorations of Colonial Williamsburg. So true to form, I did some research to confirm their authenticity. In my research I came across some interesting information on customs and traditions of Christmas within the colonial period.
During the colonial period in Virginia, the Christmas season followed a four week period of Advent. Most Virginians were devout Anglicans and they would have observed a period of fasting, prayers and reflection. They would have read daily from the Book of Common Prayer. Fasting would have been only one full meal, which generally would have been meatless during the day. After the four weeks, they would end with a Christmas meal and the start of the Christmas season.
Did you know that most of New England didn’t celebrate Christmas during the colonial period? Christmas was outlawed in most of New…
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Born Farming
December 9, 2012
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I was a born farmer, entitled to play with everything on my grandparent’s farm. While my parents pitched in to help, I was given free reign of the place. My grandparents, Olga and Ernest Morse lived and farmed in Lincoln, Arkansas at the end of their lives after careers in teaching (my grandmother had a masters in education) and oil well drilling ( my grandfather drilled for oil before the rotary bit was invented). I did not know them before they had the farm, so I always think of them as farmers.
Pam and flowers 1953
Pam and the Fam on the farm
Here is my look in 1960, on Christmas at my grandparents’ farm in Arkansas…very American Gothic in my opinion:
A girl and her farm
Christmas 1960 Pam & Father
I met my cousin Mary in Tulsa a couple of years ago to trace the heritage of our mutual great grandmother. We did not remember that we had met in 1964 at her grandfather’s house in Iowa. Our grandfathers were brothers who followed different paths. They both did migrant labor as very young boys, traveling to work picking corn in Iowa and beyond.
Cousins in Iowa 1964
Uncle Ed sent this postcard to his brother Ernie telling him about Emma.
Uncle Ed goes to harvest
Ed sealed the deal when he married the farmer’s daughter in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Married the farmer’s daughter
My grandfather returned to the Cherokee Strip to marry Olga Scott and drill oil wells, creating two different paths for the future.
Ernest Morse
My grandparents on a double date
My dad and siblings 1933
Navigating Backwards
December 9, 2012
— 4 Comments
sunken treasure of dreamsStudying one’s ancestry one learns history once and for all. Any abstracts become clear when you chart your own pedigree. Any dates memorized come to life when you find out what your own ancestors were doing at those times. I am always a big proponent of being present in the moment, but historical knowledge helps me appreciate the present. The belief in intuition is enhanced when the timeless soul is given room to move. Calendars and clocks are maps of time that match the heavens in a very precise way. The full meaning of the heavens is impossible to capture in a clock. If you can view your life from a higher place time is less relevant than it appears to be in your rear view mirror. Meditation is the path to truth beyond time.
I am all the way a navigator. I have flown many miles in private planes navigating from the air, do very well with driving, or public transportation. Reading maps and finding different kinds of maps has always been a fascination for me. Historical maps and charts of the heavens are of particular interest. I am learning with precision how to navigate backwards by means of the family tree. My study of Sacred Contracts teaches me to align with time in a much broader spiritual sense.
Memory and dreams reconstruct time as well as facts. Often by repeating a story that is highly revised and edited for the ego’s best light we create a strong reality that never existed or has a chance of being true in real time. Our poetic dreamy visions of ourselves and others are the pageant we produce in order to learn our life lessons. Each one of us produces and directs the archetypal dramas in which we live. We act in the dramas of others, as do they in ours, but we only witness tiny segments of other people’s story. In dreams we only see faces we have seen in our waking lives. In dreams we deconstruct and revise the archetypes and their roles in our own big picture.
Looking at the symbolic as well as the scientific meaning of the past I see above and below are forever linked just as the past and the future. They have no meaning without their partners, like the border crossers and the migra. Our lessons are repeated in time, but are not done in a logical worldly sequence. If we believe in divine order it would be wise to honor and make some contact with it. In this way we can avoid swimming against the current , struggling to arrive in a place we have already been. Deep meaning is found by reading the treasure maps in our dreams.
St. Nick and Company
December 7, 2012
— 5 Comments
Shmutzli
Yesterday was St. Nicholas Day, celebrated by many around the world. Santa Lucia and others are identified with the holiday of Christmas. These folk tales are grounded in the old religion of Europe. They make for beautiful images and stories, passed down for generations.
Santa with gifts
Kings of Orient Are
Father Christmas
Winter Spirits
ChristKind
When you factor in that The Virgin of Guadalupe has her day on 12 Dec, then Sta. Lucia on the 13 Dec, Saint’s-a Poppin!!! Get ready to rock and roll with all the winter deities, because here they come. They often have a train associated with them, except for the Virg, who arrives on a surfboard. She will be featured on 12 Dec.
Train to winter
Winter Wonderland
Winter
May the darkest time of the year allow reflection, depth and rebirth in your lives. Merry Solstice!
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