Tuesday, January 17, 2017
The Ladies With The Blue Hair - Janet Lane Walters
About 70 years ago, I was 10 years old and I noticed the lady across the street had blue hair. This puzzled me and I wondered why. She was a lady who had a gardener to care for her yard. When she went places, a man drove a shiny car to take her places. She didn't ride the streetcar or the train that stopped not far from where we lived. How did her hair become blue? This fascinated me and I believed that to become a lady one had to have hair this color.
Then one morning I noticed my mother added this blue stuff to the white clothes she was washing. Was this the answer? I imagined this was the source of the hair.
Then I began to see other women with blue hair. These were also women who wore nice clothes, had nice jewelry and arrived at church wearing hats and gloves. Perhaps this was the answer. Maybe blue hair ran in their families. My grandmother had gray hair but hers wasn't blue.
This puzzled me for years. Then I met my husband and mentioned the ladies with the blue hair. He nodded. He had noticed blue hair on some women where he lived. He also had no idea how their hair became blue. He did say they were ladies and wore nice clothes and were women of importance in his town.
Aha, I thought. He finished medical school and we moved to a large town in Western Pennsylvania, not that far from where we had grown up. I joined the Women's Medical Wives group and I noticed there were women with blue hair. They always wore hats and gloves to the meetings. Maybe, just maybe I had found the answer. They were ladies and maybe I could become one.
Now, I was a jeans kind of person but I did have a pair of gloves, or thought I had. I went to the meeting in my jeans and a velvet tunic top. I wore my fancy boots bought when we lived in Texas but I could only find one glove. An elbow one left from some party I'd had to attend. I went to the meeting and walked in. To add to the looks I always received since I had no intention of wearing a little black dress, pearls, a hat and gloves, I pulled off the glove.
"I couldn't find the other," I announced.
I did not ever discover how all those years ago those ladies had learned how to blue their gray hair. But that led to other outrageous actions - like how I celebrated my 35th birthday. Perhaps I'll tell you that tale some day.
Oh, by the way, I now have a streak of blue in my hair. Not a lot but then I'm not a lady.
Monday, January 16, 2017
Cleaning house
The Twisted Climb by J.C. Kavanagh |
Is your house getting cleaner as you get older?
If no, scroll to the next sub-heading.
If yes, keep reading.
I've noticed that every year, maybe even every month, my house stays cleaner for longer periods of time. Truly. The older I get, the cleaner my house.
Until recently.
I used to tell myself, "There's no dust here because I live in the country."
I used to tell myself, "The bathroom sinks stay shiny for ages."
I used to tell my friends that my house stays clean all by itself. "There's an anti-dirt / anti-dust fairy in my home." Weren't they great friends for just nodding their heads. No eye-rolling or cuckoo motions.
Until, as I said before, recently.
I was having dinner with my partner, Ian, and extolling the unending virtues of our house-cleaning fairy.
He quietly asked, "Are you talking about the fairy that's collecting dust bunnies in your bathroom?"
Whaaaat?
He was very calm about his question. Or was it a proclamation? I hurried to my bathroom, pulling Ian behind me. The dark green marble tile looked like it always does. I turned around inquiringly and Ian pointed to a corner, beside the Jacuzzi tub. I squinted and peered. "Nice marble, though the colour is a bit dated."
He sighed and handed me my reading glasses. "Now have a look."
"Alright," I said and perched them on my nose. I cast my eyes toward the offending corner.
Good Lord in heaven above. There were dust bunnies the size of cats and they had given birth to baby bunnies all over the floor!
What happened?
I looked at my sink. Were those eyebrow hairs behind the faucet, collecting on the white porcelain? Good Lord in heaven above. Yes.
Wasn't the sink shiny and clean? Well, kind of. More like shine-spot-here and shine-spot-there.
Now I was angry. That no-good house-cleaning fairy done gone and run off with a no-good lazy-butt dirt fairy.
Or not.
"What happened?" I asked my other half. "And why didn't you tell me?"
Ian just grinned. "I like it when you can't see the dust. I'm not going to tell you it's there.... you'll make me clean, too."
That was cheeky but quite true. Never has there been a more vacuum-loving, bathroom-cleaning and dust-free fanatic, than me.
Until recently.
Oh those eyes, they ain't what they used to be.
Next sub-heading
If you skipped to here, you missed a funny story and really, you should go back to the beginning.
My other half, Ian.
He's a good bloke - won't see dust - will feed birds.
|
Book signings in Ontario!
Come see me at the Chapters store in Square One, Mississauga on Saturday, January 28. Or, drop by for a visit at the Chapters store in Newmarket on Saturday, February 11.I'm also part of two 'Meet the Author' events for the Angus and Caledon libraries in February and during the children's school break in March. I'm looking forward to sharing with the kids just how I 'dream' up most of my stories.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a wee chuckle or two at the expense of me ol' eyeballs. Cheers!
Joanie
aka J.C. Kavanagh
The Twisted Climb
A novel for teens, young adults and adults young at heart.
Email: author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com
www.Facebook.com/J.C.Kavanagh
Amazon.ca/author/jckavanagh
Twitter @JCKavanagh1
Sunday, January 15, 2017
The Origins of Tree Hugging
Painting of the massacre of Bishnois in 1730 |
The term tree-hugger in North America is generally used in a pejorative sense, to refer to a wolly-headed, idealistic hippie who is not connected to “reality.”
But tree-hugging has a
long history, as a way of protecting the environment, as a protest against
political exploitation and as an expression of cultural and spiritual values.
In 1730, the King of
Jodhpur, a desert-like region in the North-West of India in the state of
Rajasthan, required wood for the construction of a new palace. He ordered his
soldiers to collect wood from a region where Bishnois, a rural people, lived.
One of the Bishnois, a woman named Amrita
devi, could not bear to witness the destruction of
both her faith and the village's sacred trees. In an expression of non-violent
resistance, she hugged a tree, and encouraged others to do so too, proclaiming:
“A chopped head is cheaper than a felled tree.”
As each villager
hugged a tree, refusing to let go, they were beheaded by the soldiers. It is
said that 363 Bishnoi villagers were killed in the name of their sacred forest.
When the King was informed about
this atrocity he rushed to the village and apologized, ordering the soldiers to
cease logging operations.
In 1973, the
mountainous Himalayan region of India was the scene of another widespread
episode of tree-hugging. Called the Chipko (stick) movement, it went on to
become a rallying point for many environmental movements all around the world.
In many parts of the developing world, parcels of forests were, and still are,
being sold off to companies for clear-cutting. As with the Bishnois, the Chipko
movement had many female leaders. At
first, several small confrontations between villagers and loggers from
companies happened.
But the flash point
occurred in January 1974, when the government announced anther auction. This
incited the villagers, who decided to protest against the actions of the
government by hugging the trees. On March 25, 1974, the day the lumbermen were
to cut the trees, the men were diverted by state government and contractors
to a fictional compensation payment site, while back home labourers arrived by
the truckload to start logging operations.
Chipko women defending trees |
A local girl, on
seeing them, rushed to inform Gaura Devi, the head of the village’s women’s
association Gaura Devi led 27 of the village women to the site and confronted
the loggers. When all talking failed, and the loggers started to shout and
abuse the women, threatening them with guns, the women resorted to hugging the
trees to stop them from being felled. This went on into late hours. The women
kept an all-night vigil guarding their trees from the cutters until a few of them
relented and left the village. The next day, when the men and leaders returned,
the news of the movement spread to neighboring districts and more people joined
in. Eventually, only after a four-day stand-off, the contractors left.
The news soon reached
the state capital, where the state Chief Minister eventually ruled in favour
of the villagers. This became a turning point in the history of eco-development
struggles in the region and around the world, and from here, tree-hugging
spread to other areas around the world, including North America.
While tree-hugging is
seen as an ecological movement in the west, the roots are actually spiritual.
The Bishnois are followers of the
Guru Jambeshwar Bhagavan, born in 1451, who taught twenty-nine principles which
emphasized cleanliness, truthfulness, devotion to God and compassion for all
living things, including trees and animals. Their beliefs have led to a remarkable
community. Bishnoi carpenters never cut trees--they wait for trees to die on
their own or fall down during storms. They dig small ponds in their fields and fill them with water for wildlife during the arid summer months. Even if their standing crop
is eaten by deer herds, no Bishnoi ever chases a deer away. They are
great protectors of wildlife and consider it a great pride to be able to die
saving trees or animals. Unsurprisingly, Bishnoi areas are oases of trees, wildlife
and water in an otherwise forbidding landscape.
A Bishnoi girl |
"We
would willingly go hungry to feed the animals," says Bana Ram, in an
interview with Anupama Bhattacharya[i]. "We believe in the
co-existence of life. Our guru said that those who die saving
innocent animals or trees will go to heaven. For us, animals are the avatars of
divinity."
"Our guru forbade
us to get addicted, be it smoking, tobacco chewing, drugs or alcohol. Even tea
is considered a vice," says Teja Ram.
"What
makes me proud," says Bana Ram, "is that the next generation is even
more committed to nature than we are." As if on cue, a little boy who
can hardly keep pace as we walk around the village, tugs at my sleeve and says:
"I'll never let anybody kill these animals."
Living amidst the barren wastelands interspersed with khejri and babool trees, the Bishnois are a proud race. "We don't get any help from the government and don't want any," says Johra Ram. "Any change in the world has to begin within the society. All this talk about nature and wildlife protection would be more effective if each individual was to believe in the earth as a living, breathing entity and fight for its survival the way we do."
Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper - A Novel" published by Books We Love, Ltd.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
Deadly Undertaking Click here to purchase ‘Tis the season of the year when the transformation occurs from the darkness of winter to th...
-
I tied my manuscript up in an electronic bow and sent the final version off to BWL Publishing. Let me tell you, there were days during...
-
Goodbye winter. Hello spring. Another round of setting clocks ahead is behind us as well as all the rant on social media about why we co...
-
The cover of the Ontario offering for the Canadian Historical Mysteries Collection from BWL Publishing to be released November 2024 To fin...
-
Sometimes I wonder how much one person’s voice can actually help when “fighting the good fight” against what seems like ...
-
AVAILABLE HERE I have a cousin in Australia who loves to travel. She and her husband are currently in Vietnam, and the photographs she share...
-
Happy Belated Birthday, Dear Wolfgang! 261 years young & still delighting audiences... http://www.bookswelove.net/autho...
-
Click here for purchase options for this award-winning series. https://www.bookswelove.net/kavanagh-j-c/ In last month's blog, I told ...
-
Click here to purchase. Winner of Best Historical for 2023 How do I make a German officer during WWII sympathetic? I make him a real pers...
-
Please click this link for author and book information Last month I visited the Canadian War Museu...