yahoo blog

Let me try that again. My other blog is at http://ca.360.yahoo.com/marcail69

Hope that works.

Gordon Lightfoot-Song for a Winter's Night

Here's one of my favorite Lightfoot songs. I didn't get it attached properly to the previous blog. Enjoy

Away Too Long

I guess I better back back in the swing of writing this blog. The 2006 Christmas holidays are now a pleasant memory. Most are back to work. I am recovering nicely from a reduction mammoplasty. I have another month before I can resume all my preoperative activities, but I am able to get out of the house and enjoy the very mild winter we are having here in Niagara.

I went for a photo excursion to capture some of winter's beauty. The day was overcast, but the temperature was balmy at 1 degree celsius. Here are some of the places I stopped upon the way.

Peach trees hibernating

Niagara River at Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada

Families sledding at a clearing in the woods of the Niagara Escarpment.

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I want this blog to focus on writing. Either my scribbles or writing craft notes. You can join me at http://ca.360.yahoo.com/marcail69/ to join me in other areas of interest such as art, music and film. There are some writing challenges on that blog as well. I have an interesting group of friends there who like to share and explore together. I'd love to see you visit me there as well.

Enough slacking. It's time to honour SNOW. A poem is in order. I'll post one soon.

Calgary, Alberta

Another stop in our November tour was Calgary, Alberta-- the home of The Calgary Stampede and my Hubbie's Cousin Sandie.

Sandie and her hubbie Larry allowed us to use their home as our base of operations. We all went to Kamloops together and after we returned to Calgary, we tripped over to Banff which is about an hour as the crow flies. You can add another half-hour if you take the scenic drive.

The folks of Calgary are known for their hospitality. But, heehaw was it ever cold when we visited. (-20 to -24C) We loved the company though we were happy to head south to Las Vegas and warm our bones.

Banff, Alberta

This is the view from my window at the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta.

Hubbie Doug and I passed a most agreeable two days here after Vimy's Birthday. Put this on your "must-do" vacation lists. The majestic Rocky Mountains have God's hand written all over them. What bliss to curl up by the fire with your lover and look out on nature's splendour.

I wasn't writin' but I sure have memories. The plot thickens.

The Birthday Girl

Here's a nice photo of Vimy Alexander on her 90th birthday.

We plan to attend the 90th birthday of her husband, Clarence, in July.

It was wonderful to listen to the stories of this couple. Life has changed a lot over the 90 years they've lived. Amazing.

Aurora Borealis over Kamloops, British Columbia

aurora over kamloops
Originally uploaded by Spatial Mongrel.

Here is a nice shot of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) over Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada.

We attended my hubbie's Aunt Vimy's 90th birthday in Kamloops. I'll find a pic of Vimy to post. Vimy was named by her father to commemorate the WW1 Battle of Vimy Ridge in France where many Canadian soldiers gave their lives. This battle was said to be a defining moment in Canadian nationality.

Another Bellagio Fountain Spectacle

Bellagio HOTEL Las Vegas fountain show

Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas water fountain show America song. Las Vegas Nevada. November 2006. View from Las Vegas avenue.

NaNoWriMo update

Thanks to everyone who cheered me on. Sadly, I didn't achieve the goal. At the outset my odds of finishing weren't great, but the challenge was worthwhile. I was diverted mid month by diversional travel which I will never regret. Despite my intentions I never found the round tuit.

I am tempted to give myself another 15 days after the holidays. My last word count was 14,888. I'm happy with it. Congratulations to those who achieved the 50K goal and to all who gave it a shot. I loved the process and the strange twists that occur in the plot when you allow the process to flow freely. I recommend you try it.

This is a photo of one lovely gentleman (my Father-in-Law) who provided me with a lovely distraction 10-11 November when we honoured veterans on Rembrance day.

Over the next couple of days, I'll show you more photos of my other non-writing activities. It was a hectic month.

National Novel Writing Month - Content

National Novel Writing Month - Content

NaNoWriMo

This blog will lay silent while I participate in NaNoWriMo.

If you are participating my userid is marcail69 on the NaNo boards. I'll be lurking there.

Los Dias de Los Meurtos Nov1 -Nov2 Pics

Los Dias de Los Meurtos Nov1 -Nov2

Los Dias de Los Muertos (1-2 Nov) is a time for remembering friends, family and ancestors. At first glance, Day of the Dead decorations, colored paper garlands, little skeletons performing daily tasks and sugar skulls inscribed with names remind visitors of Halloween.

This holiday is a perfect example of the complex heritage of the Mexican people. The beliefs of today's Mexican are based on the complicated blended cultures of his ancestors, the Aztec and Maya and Spanish invaders, layered with Catholicism.

The Aztec, Mayan and other indigenous traditions have enriched the Mexican's attitude about death. They believe that souls continue to exist after death, resting placidly in Mictlan, the land of the dead, not for judgment or resurrection; but for the day each year when they could return home to visit their loved ones.

People die three deaths. The first death is when our bodies cease to function; when our hearts no longer beat of their own accord, when our gaze no longer has depth or weight, when the space we occupy slowly loses its meaning. The second death comes when the body is lowered into the ground, returned to mother earth, out of sight.
The third death, the most definitive death, is when there is no one left alive to remember us.

Many families honor their ancestors and dead with home altars, laden with harvest fruits, traditional bread with crossed bones on dough on top, all to greet the spirits as they return to the home for 24 hours each year.

The act of preparing an altar by placing photographs, flowers, candles, favorite foods and drink of the loved one provides a special time to remember, and to transform grief into acceptance. The living invite the spirits of the family to return home for a few hours of laughter, tears and memories.

Some families prepare the altar of offerings at the family grave site, lighting a candle for each dead one, remembering the names, and placing flowers or coronas (wreaths) at the cemetery. Many stay to visit, eat, drink and pray while they keep a vigil during the night. All night, throughout the cemetery there is a grand family reunion of huge extended families, alive and dead, as one by one, through stories, memories and dreams, the dead return. On this night, those who wait realize the importance of living to be well remembered, working to be well respected and loving to be well missed.

The hand crafted skeletons, Calaveras are funny and friendly rather than frightening or spooky. They represent the beloved dead ones, their occupations and hobbies. As they are placed on the altar, the delightful skeleton figures bring back fond memories and cause the grieving ones to smile. The figures with the smells of favorite foods, help the spirits find the right house.

While most altars are laden with the favorite foods, sweets, drinks, and harvest fruits of each family spirit, even the most basic altar includes these basic needs:
• WATER to quench the thirst and for purification
• SALT to season the food and for purification
• BREAD to represent the food needed for survival

Halloween Tale: Soul Cakes

SOUL CAKES
By Marcail (Hallowe’en 2006)


The flickering candles bring your face in and out of focus on the walls about the room. Your anger is etched in the hard lines of your mouth and in the twitching of your left eye. When I think you’re banished, I catch of glimpse of you crouching in the corner. My rosary slides faster through my fingers in pace with my keening prayer.The others seemed not to notice. Their evil laughs punctuate the stories of past visitations by the ancestors as told by the older folks. It’s All Hallow’s Eve. We have gathered to guide the souls back to visit their earthly home. A bottle of wine is uncorked on the table to refresh them. Little "soul cakes," Barmbrack, wait to be discovered by the living and the dead. We wait as midnight approaches to eat and learn our fate for the year.

I fear my secret will be revealed. That they will attack like a pack of wolves. I have prayed nightly since your dispatch that you’ll not find the way back. Others, it seems, have the ear of God. I sense your presence getting stronger as the time approaches. Your Da fiddles and taps his foot and I am transported to our wedding night. The night they gave me to you. I hear the fiddle and the dancing getting louder and more frenetic as you pound into my folds and bite and tear at my flesh. I see my spirit depart my body. I’m never the same, but I took back the soul you stole from me that night.

I’d do the deed again. I pray harder that you never return to defile me with your loathsome spirit. Your Ma's soul cakes are said to be the most powerful. They’ve brought you back, so there must be some truth in the rumour. To me, her baking fails to nourish. Her offerings are as meager and as mean-spirited as her family. I’m trapped in her bosom -- smothering. I tried to return to the orphanage where she, who is the miserly cook, found me. It was not my fate. The Mother Superior claimed I was bound to my new family. The seed was planted.

The clock strikes the hour. In unison, we break bread and eat. I see the look of surprise on her face when I pull the gold ring from my soul cake with my teeth. Choking and gasping, all assembled fall on blue faces until a peaceful silence descends. Smiling, I pick up my candle and walk to your corner dispelling the shadows. You are gone. I sit and gaze in the mirror. My fate -- the man assigned to be my second husband looks back. I do not know him, but he has a gentle smile and kind eyes. If it doesn’t work out, I know what I have to do. A minor change of ingredients is all that’s required.

Daylight Saving Time vs Dali Time

THE PERSISTENCE OF MEMORY (Salvador Dali)

The clocks were turned back this morning, for the last time (in my part of the world), the last Sunday in October. Next year, the clocks go back the first Sunday in November to further save energy and go forward the second Sunday in March rather than the first Sunday in April.

The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time (called "Summer Time" in many places in the world) is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening. Countries have different change dates.

If you live near the equator, day and night are nearly the same length (12 hours). But elsewhere on Earth, there is much more daylight in the summer than in the winter. The closer you live to the North or South Pole, the longer the period of daylight in the Summer. Thus, Daylight Saving Time (Summer Time) is usually not helpful in the tropics, and countries near the equator generally do not change their clocks.

My mind turned to works of art that featured time as a theme. Naturally, this piece by Dali entered first. Of course, time is a human construct and therefore subject to interpretation. Just ask my husband about DOUG TIME

Salvador Dali (1904-1989) was a Catalan-Spanish artist best known for his surrealistic works where he created images from dreamscapes. He was deeply influenced by the theories of Freud about the unconscious especially as related to the erotic.

He is perhaps best known for The Persistence of Memory (1931)


One sees the image of the soft melting pocket watch. Dali was moved to include the famous melting- clock imagery after a vision he had following a snack of Camenbert cheese. The painting shows four soft watches, one of which has a fly showing that time flies and another is being devoured by ants that shows decay. This is widely seen as a commentary that time is less rigid than people usually assume.

In the center of the picture, under one of the watches, is a distorted human face in profile. This face, widely understood to be a self-portrait, also appears in Dalí's earlier work "The Great Masturbator." (taken from Wikipedia)

Dalí returned to the time theme of other paintings.

WORD DAY: Mesmerize

MES.MER.IZE

Pronunciation[mez-muh-rahz}

–verb (used with object), -ized, -iz‧ing.


[Origin: 1820–30; MESMER(ISM) + -IZE]

—Related forms


mes‧mer‧i‧za‧tion, noun
mes‧mer‧iz‧er, noun


Synonyms: allure, beguile, bewitch, charm, dazzle, delight, draw, enamour, enchant, enrapture, enslave, ensnare, entertain, enthrall, entrance, fascinate, gratify, grip, hold, hook, hypnotize, infatuate, intrigue, lure, magnetize, mesmerize, please, rope in*, seduce, spellbind, take, vamp, wile, win

Antonyms: disillusion, offend, repel, repulse, turn off


The word derives from the 18-century practise by the Viennese physician called Franz Anton Mesmer who postulated the theory of animal magnetism.

Short Story for Charity- Week Nine

My friend Dazrah hosts a weekly Short Story Competition for Charity. This is my entry for this week.

HEAVEN IS IN MY MIND

(Fiction for Charity by Marcail as sponsored by Dazrah, October 2006)


“Heaven is in my mind. I put it together; construct it like the hells in which I’ve lived out of wishes, prayers, ideas, out of voice, motion, tears…” shed silently and then forever banished. Where the mind flows, so I go. I choose the Light.

It required a paradigm shift. Failure no longer an option.

Now, I summon my angel minions to fight the invader. They scour my body in search of errant cells—sleeper cells—turncoat cells. With lightning speed and deft aim, they hit their target. I see my enemy vaporize.

Sometimes collateral damage ensues and I temporarily succumb to exhaustion and my own body, confused, betrays me and fights the valiant efforts of my angels. This is when my secret heaven is most needed. I retreat and regroup. I lie down in its green pastures after walking defiantly through the Valley of the Shadow.

Here I sing, dance and laugh. I thumb my nose at Death. I party with my loved ones and my friends. We are positivism embodied. Sunbeams and moonbeams of the Great Source.
The Great I Am. I’m through the Looking Glass in the land of endless possibilities and contradictions.

The Stooges visit with trade secrets of irony, sarcasm and satire. The Marx Brothers tell amusing anecdotes while Harpo plucks at my heart strings. Lucy ‘splains my situation to Desi and though the story sounds wacky coming from her lips, it makes sense here and love wins in the end. Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George break all the rules to steal a bowl of healing broth from The Soup Nazi’s kitchen. The story of the quest for the bowl levitates me. I giggle and float on clouds of mirth like Mary’s poppins. Just a spoonful of sugar… la la la la la.

Mozart plays so I may waltz with my man. Tchaikovsky tickles the ivories as the Swan Queen pirouettes. Louis Armstrong trumpets as the Saints march in. All the while, Irish dancers stomp on the pesky straggling invader cells as they try to creep in like spiders seeking my life’s juice. We play, sing and dance to crescendo in praise of life’s sanctity and beauty.

All my champions-- like chessmen-- move, countermove, check and checkmate. I am winning. We are legion.

Septet Poem

The challenge this week, courtesy bartzturkeymom, was to write a septet about an inanimate object giving it human qualities. The Septet is a poem, containing seven lines. The French word Sept can be found in it, which means seven. The Septet doesn’t have to rhyme and can be about any subject. This is how the Septet is built up:

Line 1: 3 syllables
Line 2: 5 syllables
Line 3: 7 syllables
Line 4: 9 syllables
Line 5: 7 syllables
Line 6: 5 syllables
Line 7: 3 syllables






THE SECRETS OF MY HANDBAG
by Marcail



My handbag

mouth shut or open

speaks volumes, whispers myself,

compartmentalizes my stuff

multitasks without effort

and never tries to

fight my shoes.

Brothers and Sisters

BROTHERS AND SISTERS by Coldplay



“Brothers & Sisters" was the first single ever released in English by alternative music band, Coldplay. A newer version of "Brothers & Sisters" appears on the “Trouble” single.



My elder brother visited this weekend with his wife. I have a younger brother as well as two younger sisters. In honor of my brother’s visit, I devote this blog to the topic of BROTHERS.

A brother is a male sibling. A sibling is a male or female who shares at least one parent with the person being referenced. This is usually taken to mean that the two people are genetically very close, though it is not always necessarily the case, ie. adoption.

In most societies throughout the world, siblings will usually grow up in the same household. This closeness is marked with the development of strong emotional associations between them. However, closeness may not always develop in sibling relationships, particularly between those with an age difference of five years or more.

In Islam, those who are breastfed by a woman other than their biological mother become siblings to the biological children of that woman provided that they are less than 2 years old and have been breastfed five times or more by that woman. According to the shariah these siblings are not allowed to marry each other.

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We took my brother and his wife around our town on a wine tasting tour. There are over seventy wineries in our area.

We went to view Niagara Falls. It was rainy day, so we viewed them from the bar at The Keg restaurant in the Embassy Suites Hotel.



We also went to the Butterfly Conservatory.




A butterfly conservatory is specifically intended for the breeding and display of butterflies. They fly freely around and may land on you if you ressemble a flower. Many species of butterflies are found inside the tropical greenhouse that also houses butterfly eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides, and specific plants that are favored by each species. It's exciting to watch the butterflies emerge from their pupae.

If you go to a butterfly conservatory, wear a light floral perfume, and wear bright-colored or bright-white clothing, to encourage them to land upon you, but never touch a butterfly. Butterflies are attracted to a bright Hawaiian print shirt for the same reason they are attracted to flowers, but your touch will cause damage to their sensitive wings because of the oils in our skin and their easily-damage scales.

Adult butterflies live only one to two weeks, on average, during which time they must produce a new generation. Some species like the familiar Monarch butterfly, however, can live as long as six months in the wild.

We had a pleasant evening at home dining and catching up. We braved the cold autumn temperatures and took a midnight swim in the pool. Thank God for pool heaters. Visit your family while you still have the opportunity.