Blame Sheeps...

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read. Well, the bold isn't showing so I'll use PURPLE for the books I've read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read. I'll use GREEN for what I intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE. I'll use RED for the books I love.
4) Reprint this list in your own Blog so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

And *I* would add..

101. The Armageddon Trilogy - Robert Rankin
102. The Brentford Octology - Robert Rankin
103. The Plague - Albert Camus (Best Book Ever - my OWN PERSONAL FAVORITE. You leave me ONE book to read on that desert island, I'm picking THIS one)
104. The First Man - Albert Camus
105. The Stranger - Albert Camus
106. Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
107. Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
108. Time Enough for Love - Robert Heinlein
109. The Dark Tower series - Stephen King ("He was a gunslinger.." "Say you true?" "He was.")
110. Alma Mater - Rita Mae Brown
111. High Hearts - Rita Mae Brown
112. Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley
113. Why I Am Not A Christian - Bertrand Russell
114. The White Goddess - Robert Graves

Hugs,
Alysoun

R.I.P. George Carlin

What a terrible way to greet the dawn....George Carlin died yesterday at the age of 71, from heart failure.

I *owned* copies of both "Class Clown" and "Operation: Foole," his best LPs from the '70's. He was the first host of the first episode of "Saturday Night Live," and a puncturer of everyone's ego balloons - an equal opportunity curmudgeon. His 7 words you can never say on television ended up spurring a United States Supreme Court decision that made it far less likely that you would get your station fined for broadcasting anything else other than Whitebread Content. (At least until Janet Jackson's Nipple of Doom). The 7 words? Shit, piss, cunt, fuck, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits. In the original routine, Mr. Carlin advised that these were the words that would "lose the war for the Allies."

The Beloved Spouse and I mourn him today, and he will be missed.

Just for you George: Goodnight, motherfucker. Say hello to Lenny for us.

Hugs,
Alysoun

Knights and Hot Nights

So, Hatboy is now SIR Hatboy, a condition that does yea verily rocketh. The event itself was fabulous and fun, and exceedingly HOT. And by HOT I mean that this Miami native was actually moved to not LIKE the heat anymore.

Here in Trimaris, we are spoiled rotten, what with our temperature-controlled cabins and lack of many events, if any at all, during the Summer months. These things are not true of Hatboy's kingdom. While the event site was beautiful and as I said, the event was WAY fun, staying in an un-airconditioned cabin in the South during a heatwave is NOT fun. But, since HB and (full credit to Marius for ripping this off) Mrs. HB are among my Nearest and Dearest, We Endured and Prevailed, for Their sake.

So, when the heat wave forced the residents of the county wherein the event site was located to all turn on the AC to negative 11, it blew the power grid.

No power on site. Five minutes into feast, with 80 people in the hall dressed in several layers of fabric; and many lovely, well-cooked dishes awaiting, BAM! It really WAS 1453...only 1453 in equatorial New Guinea. But, the crew prevailed and we ate much good food, actually GLAD, for ONCE, that same good food was NOT served to us piping hot.

Now, the water (and therefore, toilets/showers/sinks) on the site is controlled by electric pumps, which meant we risked not having water, or at least, not DRINKABLE waterlater. So, now we had no hope of future water, since we wished to preserve the water we had for Emergencies.

The weaker bailed like rats off a sinking ship....it looked like an Emergency Evacuation Order had been pronounced.

So, about 3 hours later, when the power came back on, and the sound of several hundred fans being turned on at once and a thousand toilets flushing in unison lent a certain, peculiarly Southern music to the air, the site was significantly less populated, but the remaining numbers were at least enthused to be there.

The Party commenced, and moi and Mrs. HB (thanks again Marius) spent many lovely hours talking ourselves hoarse, and also torturing HB in manners befitting his elevated status.

Ah we few, we happy few, to have been there in the glazing heat on St. Hatboy's Day....

------

After the event, I stopped by Mr. & Mrs. Sheepy Turtle's, just to say hi and gossip. They look fabulous. Impy was loving and the house is coming along.

----


Hugs,
Alysoun

Old Friends with New Titles and New Old Friends

So, where to start, where to start.

A very dear friend, we'll call him Hatboy, will accept the accolade of knighthood this weekend, to the very great delight of well....everybody :) The true sign that this honor is LONG overdue is that MOST people, when told of the impending honor, said "But I thought he WAS a knight." well DUH, as HB himself would say...

AND, two OTHER very dear friends, obvious gluttons for punishment, are once again Prince and Princess of Trimaris. YAY!!! Alas, real-world considerations will keep me from being as active this reign as I was the last one, but hey...Cool People on the Throne is *always* a good thing.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!! LAST BUT WAY SO NOT LEAST!!!!!!

The Sheep and the Turtle got MARRIED. AND I GOT TO PERFORM THE CEREMONY!!! YAYAYAYAYA!!!
S & T are, quite simply, and with NO exaggeration or Southern politeness, two of the very finest people on the planet. When I grow up, I want to be just like them. Only with less cat issues :)

Old Friends, New Titles, All Fabulous!

AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I FINALLY got to meet Marius AND for a brief tiny moment, Mrs. Marius, at the Sheep/Turtle wedding. It was truly fabulous to meet him "live" and to toast the memory of She Who Will Never Be Forgotten. After about the third toast to the Happy Couple, I realized that Marius and I have met before, around a campfire, about a THOUSAND years ago and spent a lovely amount of time commiserating about *other* people. So, I am lucky to have found a new old friend.

All in all, I have to call May and June wonderfully cool.


Hugs all around,
Alysoun

Been awhile, and since last we spoke, I can confirm that magic works and dreams come true.

Aftermath

The smell of you on my wrap
is the smell of us on your face,
wrapped in memories of
the delight that placed it there.

Its soft folds still hold
the warmth of your body in the night.

From then and forever I stay wrapped
in the memory;
and your warmth,
and the aura of joy.

OK - *I* named the Poem...and the ones that followed

I don't write isolated poems - they come in waves....

These three are not, I don't think, the end of this one....but Chastity could indeed be the end of it:

Velocity OR Location

Heisenberg has ruined our souls,
decry the lovers, whose hearts
are breaking at the
interval of time and motion.

Waiting the eternal wait of the
not-yet until the fractions of
pain and patience convert
to whole numbers
and they can Stop and
notice they have finally
been consumated into
the rational equations of delight.

Love is Newtonian in need,
Einsteinian in practice.

And in that Space between titans...
Heisenberg will kick you into pulp.

-----
A Death In The Forest

You are killing me
with your smile; and your eyes
that will hold me and touch me
when your arms cannot;

Your mouth that will kiss me
then leave me to wander
alone in the dark,
Bleeding pain into the grass.

We share a great passion and such
A passion you have for me...
I know it and I see it.

With your eyes and your smile
and your voice you say it.

But in the crowding woods....

beyond a day gone wrong from kindness,
So little of it was allowed expression
So precious sparing shards of it were freed...

that all my rending tears spent the night
Flooding my heart in despair,
and still could not wash you out of it.

So I am stuck here
nailed to my own desire,
left with the certainty
that you love me deeply and truly.

But not madly enough
To have thrown out reason and manners and
Brought me into your bed In the forest
and Loved me out loud.

You were happy with the whispering truth...
and I prayed to hear your shouting.

Shout for me. Shout for me louder!
I am deafened from the heartache.

---

Chastity

How odd a thing
and so rare in our shared
experience that
even the word causes us pause...

but not like the work asks you to pause...

but the Pause of knowing thay
we must but talk
must not walk
down the road in
gentle maddening darkness.

Gently maddening each other
to acts of such unreasoning
and wild magic unchaste in
small deeds as we are denied
a greater and more lasting blasphemy.

So, instead, we are chaste under the trees
and tell each other how unjust such a
construct can be to two whose only
prior experience of the condition
was to pity those in its thrall.

And Chastity bends her head to listen
as we plot her inevitable demise
and sighs for despair
over these not-children but Priests
of delight,
who nonetheless play with matches
in a dry forest of forbearance

And care not at all for the burnt
or for the dead
But only that Chastity Herself
should abandon us as lost
And seek worship instead
from a more placid and arid flock.

And we will We defy Her later
in a place of Our own choosing
and leave Her silently gazing
at Her sister Aphrodite,
who gleefully pipes us away

And into damper, more welcoming
and forgiving woods,
where Chastity herself learns
Forbearance and does not
bring Herself to touch Her hem
to the path burnt black by the heat
She has denied us this day,

but that We have lit
on the Altar of a more gentle
and loving Goddess.



-----

that's all for now.

hugs,
Alysoun

Name That Poem

Hello - real post later.....

Heisenberg was a hack, shout the lovers
Whose hearts break at the
interval of time
before motion converts the numbers to
Whole figures.

Love is Newtonian in need,
Einsteinian in practice.

Heisenberg can kiss my ass.

-- -- --

hugs,
Alysoun

I Am Alive, But Keith Is Still Dead

Keith John Moon, Auugust 23, 1947 - September 7, 1978.

Too damned young. On the one hand, it would have been SO sweet to see what kind of drumming he'd be doing NOW, and how it would have saved portions of Pete's soul to have Keith NOT die.

On the other hand, it was impossible to see Keith as an old man. We are talking about the guy who used to run errands in his town dressed us Queen Victoria. About whom NO stories were exaggerated because it was IMPOSSIBLE to exaggerate them beyond their already exaggerated reality. "Larger Than Life" does not being to cover how Keith lived, how he played, how he played with all of us. My 12 year old was listening to "Substitute" with me the other day and asked just how many drummers were on the track.

One, baby...just one.....

I missed him then, I miss him now....everytime I hear the drum riffs and sometimes just because it's September.

Luciano Pavarotti is also dead. The man had the Most Passionate Tenor.....his technical skill was also top-notch but no more so than his best contemporaries. What set il Signore apart was the same quality that made Maria Callas, whose technical skill was NOT that great, the Most Passionate and loved Soprano of HER time - EMOTION you could TASTE on the notes.

Don't believe me? Go pick up a Turandot recording, dating back maybe 20 years, when he was at his PEAK. Fast forward to Nessum Dorma.

Die happy...

And say hi to Keith for me and tell him I still love him. And then ask Mr. Pavarotti to sing for you both, with maybe Dame Joan on backup. :)

Hugs,
Alysoun

LOOK, I've Been BUSY, OK???

Good morning and Happy August everyone....

Since last we spoke, the Spawn have been sent to and returned from their Grandparents, the Spouse and I have refinanced the house, I've lost 5 pounds and the lawn looks like a jungle.

I have also become Quite Addicted to the following online game, KnightFight.

If you sign up under me, Lady Batte le Orange, I get money! YAY!
sign up here youknowyouwantto
http://world5.knightfight.co.uk/?ac=vid&vid=115249282

The Great Remodeling of 2007 will begin in November. Darling Man and I need a larger house, say an additional 1000 sq feet and at least one more bedroom, extra closets and a sewing room.

Property values being what they are, we could not afford to BUY one, so we are building it instead..and since only REALLY Crazy People (as opposed to the charmingly crazy Y.T. is) take roofs off houses in Florida during Hurricane Season.......it is only the Holiday Season that will get pooped.

But, at the end of it, I have a new master bedroom, a sewing room with a cutting table and dress dummy, and the ability to not have to stay awake until the Children shut up :)

I leave you with one word of advice:

Lock up your pets before you bake cheesecakes.

Film at 11...

Hugs,
Alysoun

Keith Olberman Just Saved Our Republic...
Were YOU Listening?

Dears - a moment of serious. President Bush commuted Scoote Libby's sentence and proved that the Constitution is this administration's personal toilet paper.

No one has yet, loudly enough, called this president to task ENOUGH for his blatant attacks on all that MAKES us Americans.

Until now. Keith Olberman from msnbc Excoriated this president and administration in ways they have long deserved but never really gotten.

go to msnbc, youtube and search, or go to www.mariuscorner.blogspot.com and see the clip. If I got the address wrong, you can go to www.steelwool.blogspot.com and link to Marius from there.

It should be required viewing for every American.

*I* am going to write Mr. Olberman a love letter - for BEING a REAL patriot, a TRUE journalist and making me less afraid, just a bit, for the future of my beloved country.

Hugs,
Alysoun

Oh YES - I forgot about the Frogs!!

So anyway - The Spouse and I have recently put the Great Financial Disaster of 2006 behind us. Now, in order to get through same, we of course Prioritized Our Spending, which meant catching up on the bills, paying for Spawns' medicines, eating regularly, etc. etc.

Which placed the Pool fairly low on the aforementioned Priorities List....

Which therefore allowed the aforemention Pool to become the Great Amphibian Resort and Wildlife Refuge.

Basically, the Pool was a dark green, healthy and vibrant POND, home to several varieties of frogs and toads, and fished in by falcons and herons.

Sounds idyllic, doesn't it???

Keep thinking that while imagining what a backyard FILLED TO THE BRIM with happy, breeding frogs and toads SOUNDS like...at 2 in the MORNING, EVERY 2 in the Morning.

So, the Spouse, having been Woken Up Once Too Often, anounces that the Frogs Must Die and he finally has the Money To Make It Happen.

So, later that same Saturday morning, he goes off to buy Enough Chlorine and Silver Oxide To Turn The Gulf of Mexico Into An Olympic Pool.....

Now, before YT goes ANY further, it MUST be said that the Spawn and i TRIED to rescue the frogs....really....but they apparently didn't understand that the POINT of all our frantic gesturing and grabbing was to SAVE THEIR FROGGY AND TOADY LITTLE LIVES....

Read on...

So, The Spouse comes home, replaces the filter, dumps in the Chlorine and silver oxide, in the deep end. Well NOW the Amphibian Brain Trust gets the idea and they start POURING out of the shallow end....except for the half dozen that were apaprently RIGHT UNDER where the Spouse was pouring chemicals....not a pretty sight...pale, bloated, dead blobs.....

but wait, there's More!

The next morning was Father's Day...and we awoke to the Lovely Sight and Smell of well over a hundred Frog/Toad CORPSES, floating on the surface of the now pale blue Pool...it looked like someone had placed sheets of bubble wrap over the thing...

As it was Father's Day, who was charged with disposing of the bodies?

Me. *I* got to COLLECT the dead out of the pool (eeew); place the dead in a large couple of buckets (EW), transport them to the closest dump (EW EW EW) and then actually dump them OUT (EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW) and then ride home....

Bleached my SELF after that...

So, the pool is swimmable and the Herons hate us.

Smooches,
Alysoun

I Am Not Dead

I have been busy:

1) Fabio did not win Crown, but Thorstenn and Zephyrine DID, so I still get to Have Much Big Fun Torturing Shiny Hats!

2) The rattlesnake in the garage was safely removed.

3) The Great Remodeling of 2007 has now received its financing.

4) Despite my Obvious Wonderfulness, free linen has NOT been shipped to my house.

5) I tested out as; Indiana Jones and LawfulGood. How on EARTH that happened is officially Anyone's Guess.

6) The Oldest Child is in Martial Arts having the Time of His Life and it has helped his attitude tremendously.

7) The Youngest Child is visiting the Grandparents, which will NOT help his attitude, but *is* no doubt Much Fun for HIM.

More later, I PROMISE.

hugs,
Alysoun

P Is The Word, Or Actually, the Letter (thanks to rg)

So, here is how it goes: RG gave me the letter "P" and I must think of 10 things I like/love/adore/appreicate that start with the letter "P." If YOU want a letter, drop me a line saying you want one!

here we go:

1) Pete Townshend. Guitar player. Reason I still breathe.

2) Peonies. Just always liked the sound of the word. Couldn't pick the actual flower out of a lineup.

3) Particolored cotehardies. I look fabu in them (thanks again, Sheep).

4) Pelicans. Duh.

5) Pralines. Because insulin resistance RULES!

6) Peanut Butter. Because no, it really doesn't. :)

7) Pantage's. Coolest. Club. EVER.

8) Philadelphia. The City AND the Movie AND the song. The city because American history is its main tourist attraction and how cool is THAT. The movie because it was the first one to really explain that AIDS is a disease demanding compassion for its sufferers and NOT a moral judgment demanding our condemnation. The Song because it is beautiful and wistful and poignant without ever being maudlin or mawkish.

9) Punk Rock. 1969-1981. RIP :) For the idea that the band was just which members of the audience brought their guitars to the show.

10) Prince. Dare you to find a BAD song he's written/produced.

hugs,
Alysoun

Rest in Peace....

Wally Schirra, one of the original 7 astronauts ever created, has died at the age of 84. He flew in all three original programs: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It was his flight in Apollo 7 that certified the craft a go for lunar landings.

He, like all those astronauts, was one of my heroes. In a really perfect world, I'd be an astronaut.

I LOVE the space program and even though I live right where they Blast Off, launches never get old and I am giddy on every one of them, watching from the front yard.

When I was a baby, my parents drove to the Cape to watch John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth.

When my sons were babies, I drove THEM to the Cape to watch John Glenn become the first Old Guy to go up in the Shuttle.

The whole IDEA brings tears to my eyes and goose pimples to my skin. I am never prouder to be an American, or a human being, than when we are Go for Launch and the boosters go THWUUUMP and the smoke and the fire and the

SWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSH


and the rumble and the impossibly bright, swift-moving star that disappears into the sky...

And now another star joins the heavens...

God Speed, Sir...

HOORAY HOORAY FOR THE FIRST OF MAY
and
HAPPY NEW YEAR, SCA!!

Greetings, Dear Ones!!

Well, does Y.T. have LOADS to celebrate today! First, it is Beltane, May Day, the actual first day of Summer (Hey! if 6/21 is the FIRST day of Summer WHY do they call it Midsummer's Day???? Trust me on this). In the Witch Wheel of the Year, this is THE holiday for merriment, delight, sensuality and the celebration of sun, life and sex.

Generally, it's a tossup for me if THIS day or Samhain (Halloween) is more fun. Right now, I pick TODAY!!!


In MORE celebratory news, the Society for Creative Anachronism turns 42 years old today - this is New Year's Day, AS XLII.

Who knew??? A bunch of college kids get together to do some research into medieval fighting techniques and BAM! I'm a peer....LOL

ANyway, that is all....more later :)

Hugs,
Alysoun

More April Wierdness and a First Amendment Victory

Well, dears.....THIS weekend the Hardest Working Hot Water Heater in show business shuffled off its mortal coil and dumped about 50 gallons of water into YT's garage.
Darling Spouse broke this news to YT by gently shaking our shoulder while we slept to anounce that we would NOT need to be spending the morning doing laundry. Man should go to work for a PR agency.

(sigh)

However, the NEW Hardest Working Hot Water Hearter (NHWHW) has been successfully installed and All Has Been Cleansed, including the 4,298,438 loads of laundry.

And in other news, the Veterans' Administration, apparently having finally UNDERSTOOD the words used in the First Amendment, settled its lawsuit with the families of Wiccan soldiers and has decided that, you know what? Witches are People Too and when they DIE in the SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY, *their* faith should also comfort them and their families in that death.

Henceforth, the graves of witches who die in the service of their country will bear the pentacle, as the graves of Christian soldiers bear the cross, Jewish soldiers the Star of David, Moslem soldiers the star and sickle, etc. The settlement further gives the VA 14 days to comply with all outstanding requests and get those pentacles on the headstones of the pagan patriots who fought for a country that until NOW, didn't think their religion was worthy of the same respect given others. And, by the way, that list of OTHERS includes close to 4 dozen symbols of various world faiths including ones so obscure that they make Wicca look as big as the Catholic church. The pentacle was being specifically excluded because of the Current Administration.

The Bush Administration filed an amicus curiae brief in this suit contesting the notion that the First Amendment covered Wicca. It argued that the pentacle would be a "divisive" symbol and wasn't really representative of a "real" religion. By the way, their argument was wholly untenable and also neglected to mention the 7 US Supreme Court decisions finding that Wicca is ABSOLUTELY a religion like any other....

Times like these I really do understand the feelings of people who are running around wearing the T-shirt that states: "1-20-09: Our National Nightmare Will End."

How DARE *any* president tell *any* faith community that it doesn't count? If a Wiccan president all of a sudden decided that the cross should not be allowed on soldiers' graves...there would be one HECK of an outcry (and such would be more than justified and I would be FIRST IN LINE yelling at the White House).

Anyway, the Constitution won out over the petty-mindedness of the ignorant and is stronger now than it was yesterday. ALL faiths prosper when NO faith is relegated to the back of the bus.

Hugs,
Alysoun

The Sheep Asks Deeply

1. What are three things you would change about Trimaris, and why?
- The capricious nature of the awards system; too often, it appears as though they are done using a dartboard and blindfold, rather than being related to who actually accomplishes things. Feelings get hurt and even those of us with decades in can be seen picking our jaws up off the floor. Although we try to hide that reaction, because NO ONE'S feelings should be hurt just because some has a doubt.
- That thing we sometimes do where you can move here from another kingdom in 1996 and in 2006, we JUST begin to stop referring to you as being "from Calontir/Caid/the East." When I moved to Atlantia in June of 1998, at my FIRST shire meeting, I was introduced NOT as Alysoun from Trimaris, but as "This is our newest Atlantian, Alysoun, who used to live in Trimaris. But, she's Atlantian now." And i was TREATED like that, from Day One. THAT is what I would like us to do.
- Our seeming inability to accept that not EVERYONE was raised in Florida and therefore, does not have our genetic cultural cues. Too often, we shorthand conversations because we don't NEED to explain everything. Which is all well and good, until someone doesn't get it...THEN we tend to STARE at them like they had brain surgery, when Courtesy SHOULD prompt us to Explain Ourselves.


2. What are the qualities that our friends inspire in you - how do they influence you to be a better person?
- Honesty, committment, integrity, loyalty. Basically, the day I get mistaken for Wintson Churchill during the Battle of Britain at the SAME TIME as I get mistaken for Dalai Lama, I can die. It's a constant striving, so expect to have me around for generations :)

3. If you could go back and change something in your life (and possibly change your life path as a consequence) - would you?
- Wow. This is really really tempting, but No. While the road has been hard, I actually LIKE me, and I believe that I am the result of the life I have led before. Well, I WOULD have taken better care of my teeth.


4. What do you think is your worst quality? What is your best quality?
-Worst: My occasionally too-short temper.
- Best: I keep my promises.



5. By a twist of fate, you are in the position to make a choice thatwill save the life of either one family member or 50 strangers. Whichdo you choose and why?
- MAN!!!!! I HATE this question. Honestly, I would probably save the family member, then spend (I am being serious) the rest of my life being eaten up with guilt. If I had elected to do the TRULY noble action, which would be to save the 50 strangers, I would spend the rest of my short life working out a suicide plan and implementing it. It's because of my sons - I KNOW I could not sacrifice either of them.


Sweating now is,
Alysoun

Three Posts In One Day - Alert the Media!

So, sorry for the delay and now the bombardment, but These Things Happen, dearies, they do indeed.

Coronation went off beautifully and now Dead Martin and Islay are Duke Martin and Duchess Islay and Ardion and Lisa are King and Queen! Richard, one of YT's Darling Boys, is truly now no longer her Boy, but her Peer, as in their last Moments On Earth M&A elevated him to the Order of the Pelican. Muahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Much of the Southern Consortium were in attendance to "help" and those that weren't there will simply have to learn to live with disappointment.

April is the wierdest month for Yours Truly, SCA activity comes to a halt as Boys I Birthed reach the Anniversaries of Their Births and Parents Descend.

My Last Week:

4/13/07 (the Irony is Not Lost Upon Us): The Spouse calls to advise that we Should Not Panic but Son #1 has called to say that there is a LARGE BLACK SNAKE (LBS) loose in the house and Son #1 is perched on the sofa arm. I must now of course CALL the AGING PARENTS who are MOMENTS from arriving at the House of Slither and WARN them of this. Done.
Son #1 calls US to advise that the LBS is now OUT of the house, Grandparents are IN and all is well.

4/14/07: Purchasing Much Goodies for Son #1's birthday.

4/15/07: Wind, Driving Rain, Lightning. Son #1's birthday is off to Major Great Start as a bolt of lightning strikes the large maple tree in YT's front yard, causing it to FALL ONTO PARENTS' CAR, taking out the rear glass and leaving various and sundry Dents. No human injuries. Later, Fun Cake and Dinner for Son #1 who loves his Presents.

4/16/07: I arrive Home to find that the remains of the maple have been removed. Apparently, Spouse neglected to tell me that he had Made The Arrangements. We discuss what kind of tree with which we want to replace the maple. I reply, "Anything but LIVE OAK."

4/18/07: 7 FOOT TALL LIVE OAK delivered to house. YT goes to fencing practice. For a very, very, very very, very, very LONG time.

I PROMISE no more weeks-long gap in posts.

Much hugs,
Alysoun

I FORGOT!!!!

If YOU want to do the questions, here's how:

- Leave me a comment saying "interview me!"
- I will respond by e-mailing you five questions. I get to pick them, and you have to answer them all.
- You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
- You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post (WHOOPSIES!!!!)
- When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.

Internet Meme, Longer Update Later

Thanks to Runnergirl for the Following Getting to Knowish Me;

5 Questions:

RG: What made you choose to go into the legal field?

YT: It was an accident, really. I started life as a reporter, discovered I really didn't want to do it, so managed a book store for a few years. Then I decided retail bit the Yea Verily Big One. A friend at the time suggested that I apply to be a legal secretary at the State Attorney's Office. I did, got hired, and now 22 years later, I am the management paralegal at a law firm I love.

RG: Who is your oldest friend? (not age, silly)

YT: Roy and Teri - met both in 1974 and still know them.

RG: If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would buy?

YT: I would not buy anything *first*. I would pay off all my family's short term consumer debt, fully fund the retirement accounts and college funds for the Boys. THEN, I would buy an entirely new fencing kit from Darkwood Armory, far too much fabric, viking brooches and assorted bling, trips to the UK and of course some SERIOUS cars. Then.....iPods all around!

RG: If you had super powers, what would they be?

YT: Aside from the ones I already have? Samantha's Magic Nose Twitch from "Bewitched."

RG: Obligatory Blog Question: What is the most important thing you have leanred from blogging?

YT: That, rather than spellcheck, what we REALLY need is "context check."