Eight maids? Who else is milking who and for what?

       

Yes we’re “Milking” This Song

On the 8th day… we’ve “got milk.”  

Well since about mid-October retailers have been milking this holiday season.  That’s about when we started hearing about how supply chain issues were going to create problems  with Christmas shopping this year.  Well it would appear that the ghost of retail future didn’t quite get it right as there have been plenty of gadgets, games, and googled gifts to go around.  Shelves haven’t become empty and shoppers in general haven’t started saying…”well Christmas  isn’t really about the gifts anyway.”  

So retailers milked the supply chain to encourage early buying… which there is no need for… big shock…add them to the naughty list!

Also add them to the list of people using fear to drive public attitudes and behaviors.  

You see when seeking peace and joy… it doesn’t appear starting with things we should be afraid of is a big winner.  No kids or adults. Add to their Santa list  “Santa please bring me something to be afraid of this year.”  Who makes a resolution for the New Year that says … I will try to be scared of. Some more things so that I can have a better year in 2022?  

Who else milks te  fear weaponry in our lives… and how can we take  some of the power of this fear away?  Love  seems to be an answer and boy wasn’t the symbolic gift of a child and a savior/teacher  a sign of love rather than a sign of fear?  Just a thought?

Now.. if you are giving the cows with the maids  milking this year… that’s a fortune…. Have you seen the cost of hamburger?  Oh and speaking of prices… at one time  a bank tracked the cost of the gifts given over the twelve days of Christmas  (I’ve seem an estimate of $41,000+) given the cumulative nature of the gifts).  It would appear true love is expensive and it’s barely 50 days till we’re buying  more for Valentine’s Day.  

Okay back to peace and joy and milk…. Milk comes in handy as we have to put some out for Santa and in a lot of the baking projects we have during the holiday season …not to mention the ocean of hot chocolate we guzzle down.  

These days we don’t need as many maids to do the milking as we have soy milk and almond milk…. How do you milk an almond let alone a bean pod?  So maybe the joy comes from knowing  we are keeping some actual human beings employed?  Actually perhaps  it is a symbolic nod  to supporting farm workers and women which we need to do more of for certain.  Is this a stretch?  Yes… then again wsn’t it a stretch for starting Black Friday levels of fear in Mid-October?  You see maybe we  will come to realize that the gift of our company and our attention to others. If really what Christmas is about…. Let’s quit milking fear  shall we?  Let’s milk the time we spend together for all it’s worth instead of worrying about the things that will or won’t be on the shelves or in the cybersale… Spend a moment or two. In October  thinking about stories we can share during the holidays or take a minute to dig out the hand made or old ornaments and milk all the memories they bring.  —-

Oh we will return to ladies dancing  in the next entry…however.. today marks the anniversary of “A Christmas Carl” and that deserves  a “special” post of it’s own… so maybe there will be a couple posts  in quick  order… No supply chain issues here!

 

How do you wrap some ugly ducklings?

 Here are some words about 13 more Birds

Now  the tune is portraying 

geese that are laying 

And next  there is saying 

How the swans are conveying 

While your true love is praying 

All these birds are  obeying

 For the food who’ll be paying?

If these birds are all staying?

So yep we are up to 23 birds for gifts and that has to create quite an obligation.  How often when we commit to work with others to seek peace or joy do we purposefully or accidentally attach obligations and guilt or other unanticipated  burdens.  When we praise  a student

S ability how often to we package that with an expectation  that this ability becomes an occupation?  How often do we provide  applause for things we approve of regardless of whether  someone needs our acceptance in other areas of life?  

Do we understand or work to understand  what our gifts mean  to us and what holding those gifts will mean for others.  Come on how many of us have smiled while thinking ‘what am I going to do with this present?” 

It seems that part of seeking peace has to do with gaining wisdom about what things mean to others and working toward this in an intentional way seems to increase the odds of that happening.  Also experimenting with experiences and ideas seems to move the sharing. And congruence process forward faster than assuming and or fearing.  Joy  comes to some degree when we truly understand each other and can give each other  the gifts and tools  or support needed to help each other find our glow or our best functioning selves.  Am I saying that I doubt 23 birds accomplish this… yep probably… it seems that these gifts  are loud and symbolic but maybe not meaningful to the person who must live with them  long term…. And if that’s what  you want to give so be it.  

Well adding it all up the true love has given 29 items already… that had ought to be plenty…but no… there are more to come.  After what we’ve received so far… even in 1780 what might. We be anticipating next?  Come to think about it…isn’t  it odd how after receiving  some gifts we start to expect  certain types of things from certain people…. Maybe next year we  could suspend these expectations or even ask to share. An unexpected experience… like say… asking someone to attend a candle making class with you or reading a couple of books together so that you can discuss  something  other than the price of hamburger.   Maybe you could ask someone  what their favorite mom candy  is and make them a ice cream treat based on that?  Maybe  you could find out what kind of music or artists. People like and try to create something in that style.  Imagine  one of your friends sending  you a video of them lip syncing Bonnie Tyler “living in a powder keg and giving off sparks?”

In short do what we can to invite  someone to share our meanings with or without sharing  things or let’s try hard  to make sure what we give doesn’t come with strings… well unless it’s a kite, shoes, or a guitar :)

For now… have fun with with the goose eggs and the swans that look cool but are relatively snarky  and nasty birds.   It’s time for us to be. Moooooving  along …oh yes I’m milking this for all it’s worth.  

Does it matter if you have rings when you don’t know how to shine?

 On the “Fifth” Day of Christmas

Well.. after a tree and a makeshift flock of birds your true love finally delivers!  Not  one —not two—not three—no…five count ‘em…gold rings!  Well that’s sweet and shows  some level of commitment  however  this true love might have gone for less gold and a shop vac given there’s more birds coming.  Then again this was all started. In the late 1700’s so… formula 4 not 409 may have been as useful.  

Enough about the birds and their deposits… let’s talk rings… and seeking peace and joy.  

Let’s take a conventional view of what rings symbolize—unity and commitment.  Well in seeking peace and joy there is often  a need to consider unity.  This unity is not  necessarily  with a political philosophy or a religion.  Unity. Might be where what you believe is connected to what you do and that creates a low disturbance  mentality—peace?  This unity might be with a single person or a small group of friends where all or almost all your thoughts and feelings seem connected and appreciated.  Note… they don’t have to be the same… the rings. Can be linked without  being welded together.  

Then there is the “gold” property of the rings.  So you are getting or giving. Something of value to another which can be a joyful experience.  Now let’s pause a second and ask a question.  How do you. Tell a gold ring from a steel one in the dark?  The answer …. You can’t  so maybe the joy  you could get from the gold ring depends upon the light that can be shined upon it from an outside source….so if you want  your rings to shine or you want the rings you offer others to shine you might  imagine that joy comes from trying to produce a positive energy source capable of reaching others or at the very least reflecting  the glow of another.  In short choose to be the candle or the mirror if you want to see the gold and feel the joy in this (or most) gifts.  

In the next entry we’re going to feature two more sets of birds so that we don’t fly by the  holiday before  we hit the delightful dozen plateau.  There are some other Christmas mysteries  to be addressed as well… like what  all goes in Christmas pie besides. A plumb  and do you have to eat them sitting in a corner or  can you plop down on the couch while you’re binge watching that kid whine about getting  a BB gun?  

Oh well for today  remember that unity comes in a lot of forms and a ring is a good symbol for that.  Also in order to know something  is golden you often have to have someone else’s light shining on it or you have. To bring your own light  to the party and shine.  

With that… shine on  till tomorrow.  

Is your calling plan really for the birds

When a Tree if More. Than a tree

This episode. Is an interview withJames Patrick Boen who has recently launched “Lo! A Tilted Tree

Found on amazon (see link below). He explains the meaning and his motives  and gives thanks to folks who have helped him bring this work to fruition.Lo! A Tilted Tree https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MF8DNK2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_H8FQWCTXZYV4N8SRZ2NG 

Check out this episode!

Christmas nuggets?

 THREE FRENCH HENS?  OR WOULD WE RATHER HAVE WINGS?  

On the 3rd  Day of Christmas my true love gave to me …

Well We already have a tree and 3 birds so how about making it a half dozen?  

Now we’re not talking regular feathered friends these are French Hens.  They weigh in at somewhere between 10 and 13 pounds on average and totaled up probably come in at a price tag of about $50 give or take.   So this part of the Christmas treasure isn’t to be sneezed at.  On the other hand it would appear the Americans have changed their tune when it comes  to this barnyard staple.  Recent data  indicate that we would rather have little bits of chicken than the whole bird.  

When it comes to  chicken we love our wings and our nuggets.   Now I’ve looked at a few chickens—French and otherwise—and can’t see the nuggets and yet we eat around 2.3 Billion servings of them a year.  

Now I can recognize the wing and lo and behold our consumption of them is on the rise as we recorded chewing down. A billion servings of them. And maybe as many as 9.2 billion individual wings.  Although the pandemic  brought a temporary halt to this activity, the last recorded  world title/record  wing eater slammed down 501 wings in 30 minutes.  That is nearly 17 wings a minute which is certainly enough to make Buffalo  (and anywhere else) go wild.  

Well so far on our gift parade we are giving  our true love a whole new  perspective  on giving someone the bird and maybe seeking peace and joy requires  a whole new perspective  on gifts and what is to be given.  Maybe being responsible for each other is a gift  that would put us at the top of the pecking order especially if we didn’t look around to see who was ahead and behind us so often.  

Well that’s about all for today as I hear. Other things calling… oh listen closely. It may be more birds… four of them?  

A. K. A Writer Starts a Circle

This episode features A.K. Wilson the driving force behind  the Writers Circle Inc.  www.thewriterscircleinc.wordpress.com 

She wants to explore all writing genres and build a platform  for diverse  writers to share, learn, and grow  with each other.  To understand you must join the circle  on/in its twitter space—be prepared to be amazed, amused, and educated.

Check out this episode!

Follow your own star but watch out for pigeons or turtle doves

 Not One... but Two Turtle Doves

We started this Christmas  Mini-marathon with a partridge in a pear tree noting that it is unlikely, however if we can allow for a group of three kings and a virgin birth... what’s a ground bird in a tree?   Okay I just added  another few Kingsford Brickettes to my eternal resting place... let’s move forward.  

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtle doves and a partridge  in a pear tree.

So first question... does this mean I got another  tree and bird?  If so I now have two trees and four birds.  In any case let’s look just at these doves for a second.

There are about 15 types of dove found in America.  Now this significant category  includes several types of pigeons and so making sure these are turtle doves might be important  if we have any statue-like decor.  

The next question that springs to mind is—are the doves the same or opposite sex?  Why does that matter?  Well it’s important to share whatever gifts you get in life and if these doves can make  baby doves being generous  will be much easier.  

In the seeking peace and joy world it seems like getting gifts from others that are easy to turn around  and give to others creates a world of less anxious choices and so sharing  experiences of peace and joy in a way that allows others to do the same... is like making sure. The doves can go forth and multiply right?  So seek out people and things that allow you to experience peace and joy and yes... create peace and joy with others.  Give the gift of shared meals, music, stories etc.  Give several people in your life the same gift—even a bowling ball—so that in the future  when your friends  learn they all got the same thing it makes a great story.  Although if that group is a set of cousins it pretty much means  the first person gets to open everybody’s gift.  The upside is ...you will have matching shirts no matter where you may roam.  

The point is... pass on the group feelings you can because  being connected is sometimes a source of peace and joy that gets forgotten in commercial holiday land.

To go a little further... maybe  when it’s possible deliver the gift yourself.  I mean let’s return to the three kings... they met up and went on a road trip on some camels through some barren land (you know kind of like Western Iowa or Nebraska west of Omaha.  Imagine  if the song said 

We three kings from the orient are sending an Amazon  gift card that can be redeemed for some Frank Incense, Murr, or swaddling  clothes?  Or what if they had fired up PayPal for a couple nights stay for Mary and Joseph at Uncle Noah’s Donkey B&B?  Well the song just wouldn’t be the same now would it?  

Well my friends to sum up  on this second day of Christmas... it’s good to get gifts that have legs... and wings  so that they can be shared by many.  This includes meals and songs and stories that will be remembered for decades.  It’s okay  to give people gift cards and the like, however, our modern day song writers better get on the stick and  crank out some up to date tunes available  through the iTunes Store.    It was good the wise men had the star because GPS for camel routes is a little sketchy still today and you know guys... we never stop to ask for directions.   And speaking of sketchy... this blog will continue in the near future—until then you’d better go to Pet Smart and get some bird seed... by the way I’ve never understood that term...  after all birds come from eggs  not from seeds unless I really missed too much time. In biology ... 

Day Three coming soon

13 Days of Christmas…let your Red Nose shine!

 ON THE THIRTEENTH  DAY OF CHRISTMAS?

This blog has  featured a whole stocking full of Christmas  topics and yet…. Readers seem to enjoy each and every one of them so… this season we’re going  for 12 (counting the previous one)  posts with a “Christmas” or Winter Holiday theme.   Yes as the title suggests we’re going for 13 because  in the pre-Amazon days 12 days of gifts might have been enough…but  come on… let’s go for 13! 

Each of these posts will  open with a thought about  the lyrics to that 12-day. Song and go forward from there or sideways or whatever direction  it goes…

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me… A partridge in a Pear Tree?  

So let’s start with the tree.  Pears are a good fruit and preserve well.  You can  eat the fruit off the tree, can it, and ferment it.  You can  use pears to practice  lofty wedge shots with  a dull club and get a good idea of how far a shot will go without. A run because pears  usually  don’t roll or splatter  like apples… 

Now as for.a partridge  being in a tree?  Well Keith would rather be out chasing hippy  chicks or fending them off and Danny wouldn’t be  in a tree due to the fact that climbing  would mean too much physical effort… oh what..not that kind of Partridge?   

Well the odds of you finding a real partridge in a pear tree are pretty small since partridges  are “ground” birds much like chickens, turkeys, and the like.  So if your true love gave you a partridge. In a pear tree it’s either. The sign of a rare gift or it’s a fake…and when you get and give a gift for Christmas  I think it’s pretty easy to tell which  really come from the heart and which  ones are trendy trinkets.  

Seeking Peace and Joy  means giving and receiving  genuine  gifts often of time and creative endeavors that extend beyond. Melting one’s VISA.  

Okay let’s move forward…

Channeling You Inner Rudolph

Then one foggy Christmas Eve… 

Well how often do we judge. Ourselves and others only on a cookie cutter set of “normals” and rarely notice what is extraordinary in us or in others.  How often does it take an unusual set of circumstances before  we are able to understand that differences can present solutions and options that will benefit us or others?  How easy is it to take these differences and hide them on our society’s island of misfit toys (or girls and boys)?  

In terms of seeking peace and joy sometimes more is to be found when we let everyone play in reindeer  games and even alter the rules so that.more skills can be shown during the games.  Expecting red noses to show up and finding ways that these lead to other options expands choices and reduces anxieties thus promoting. Peace rather than judging and the belonging that results just might lead to a shared sense of joy.  Yes we can look for and encourage red noses or we can fear every foggy Christmas  eve.  and stop and think about it… what other reindeer has his or her  own song?  Let your red nose shine!

Only lights on one side really?

 Do we only “light on one side?” 

So it was purely by chance that the strains of Wha hoo wha Hoo  met my ears on this past holiday weekend signaling the start of my favorite —short Christmas  offering.  All versions  of A Christmas carol (except  maybe the Muppet one)  are my very favorite... Sorry Burl Ives and the body shaming song about a red-nose... After all shouldn’t we always look for the red-nose in everyone —-that’s tomorrow or the thenext post.    Now anyway ...

So this Grinch tells Cindy Low that a light only lights on one side.... really?   

How often  is it when  we describe others  do we only describe one side or only look to see the side we  want to light?  How many times do we assume  only one side  of things is worth seeing and worse yet how much joy gets extinguished when we assume things only have two sides lighted or not?  

As far as lights and Christmas go... some other thoughts also could be illuminating.

The wizard of Menlo Park... Thomas Edison is credited with the first holiday light displays.  Well... truth be told—oh let’s not get into truth or we might have to discuss supply chain fear mongering again... Edison constructed  a light show as a promotional event  more so than  wanting to express the joy of the season.  This 1880  event  started a tradition that needed to be started given the fact that hanging lit candles on a drying fir tree in ones home in places where horse drawn fire trucks were the primary emergency squad probably lacked a certain amount of wisdom.  Nonetheless we have gone from a few lights by Edison to some “Griswoldian” displays yielding world records (the data may be dated  but it’s all I could find) ... for instance the most lights on a residential home reached  over.600,000.  Now I don’t know how much it costs to run over a half million lights yet the early light displays cost about 300 dollars  in an era when you could buy a Model T for about 295.  So placed in perspective imagine spending twenty grand on your lights this year?  Okay  so this was a whole house display...what about the most on one tree?  On a marvelous artificial tree a dude from Australia  manages to string 500 thousand mini lights.  Can you imagine. How long it takes to untangle them next year?  Oh am I the only one who swears  we’ll roll them up and store them differently next time?  

Well like most modern lights this post has phased through the solid and blinking phases so we need to get to the finale.  

The Grinch reminds us that when we look only at one side it’s probably hiding some of the truth.  The displays of holiday cheers  might just be sellling something that we can’t maintain  or don’t get to the spirit of peace and joy and if we choose to display lights it shouldn’t be to impress others because  if you’re not going  for a million you won’t make the record books.  Therefore  find a few lights that share the beauty of the season and make your heart glow and show a few friends and neighbors that you appreciate a spirit of giving and  forgiving.  .   Otherwise  I’m not sure you should touch your lights with a 39 and a half foot pole.  t7]

Thanks for the Clothes on my Back

 BE THANKFUL FOR THE CLOTHES ON YOUR BACK

So it’s around 10 A.M. on Thanksgiving  Day 2021 and this marks  the 400th anniversary  of this time when the people in charge of this country welcomed some undocumented  immigrants for a grand feast.  How welcoming are we these days?   Well let’s not get into politics and wreck the ravenous spirit of retail and calories that is about to erupt nationwide.  Let’s give thanks…. Oh and if you are not having the best day already then start simple be thankful for the clothes on your back.  

You see the average American is indeed historically rich when it comes to the threads we are owning and wearing.  Four hundred years ago the average American and European owned 3 sets of clothes.  We are likely to wear three sets of clothes today if you count sweats which of course after the turkey, stuffing, potato’s and gravy and pie we will need to comfortably watch parades and football and football and football and did we mention football?  

So yep the average American  female now owns 30 outfits.  No not 30 socks—outfits when less than 300 years ago. And maybe even sooner that was 3.  Now husbands. And boyfriends really had it made because  they only owned 3 choices as well… so there wasn’t any “are you going to wear that?” Chats and “Do I look fat in that?”  Just wasn’t a concern… everybody knew what everyone looked like  in every outfit available.  So there wasn’t  all that fuss about the latest fashion and if people in the same family or village were the same time there. Was considerable clothes swapping.  Anyway enough about clothes… thanksgiving  is also about those parades where Santa Claus comes to town at the end…. Let’s explore a little here shall we?

First, when I was young I marveled at the parades that had the big Bullwinkle  helium ballon being guided through the city.  I did however wonder what would happen if Frank and his 7 friends had an argument  the night before and his pals decided to  all drop their  rope at once when Frank  wasn’t in view like around the corner on a turn?  Up, up, and away for Frank?  

Oh and Santa coming to town that song?  You better. Watch out?  Christmas is supposed to be a holiday about promise and live so why should we watch out.  You better not cry?  What…are we being trained to deal with disappointment and thus  is there an assumption we will all have overblown or inflated expectations?  Well he sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake?  What?  Who is this old guy who is constantly spying on kids?  Isn’t there laws that protect our youth against this sort of thing?  People of a certain faith or faiths believe that a deity  is watching them…now we have to watch out for a jolly old elf doing the same thing?  Only Catholic  nuns should have this kind. Of power not someone who bosses elves around and has a diet of cookies and milk.  

Well… it is time to put the turkey  in the oven and peel some spuds that will mashed and smothered  in butter and sour  cream or maybe  just be formed into a little lake-shaped thing where we can construct a gravy lake that can be smashed releasing a brown stream forming a moat around  the plate.  Oh and no worries about this  gravy getting on things because there will be a new plate for pie…. Be it chocolate, pumpkin, sweet potato or banana cream…there will be pie!

So to sum up… you better watch out and be thankful for the sweats you own along with 20 some extra outfits—all of which you make look great dear—- and let’s see long it is till the Red Man brings a sleigh and the whistle blows….

However most of all….

remember  to welcome  many to your table everyday and give thanks for this journey we call life.  Too soon for nibbling?  I think not…Happy Thanksgiving