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March 31, 2004
Baby "Jeep!"
I hear all kinds of comments about my newly-rounded shape, but one of the most common seems to be, "Is it twins???"
NO! Thank the gods that it isn't twins!!!
I was at the accountants having our taxes done, and he asked me if twins ran in my family. I told him that they did (my grandmother was a twin) but that the ultrasound showed just one normal-looking baby boy.
"You never know," he answered, "A twin could be hiding behind the other one!"
I say that instead of calling the baby "Derek" we should call him "Jeep" because "There's Only One!"*
Brian replied to my suggestion by adding that we could call him Conor, since "There can be only one!"#
*"There's Only One" is one of the Jeep brand advertising slogans.
# "There can be only one" immortal Highlander. (Hopefully, not my son!)
Posted by Jessica at 11:50 AM | Comments (4)
March 29, 2004
Real-Life Pregnancy Stories
Not for the faint of heart!
I never thought that pregnancy would have this much of an effect on my physical body. In fact, I never thought much about pregnancy at all! For 36 years, I hadn't really given too much attention to creating a family. But then I married Brian, and we hoped to have a child "someday, before I turned 40."
Well, that "someday" happened pretty quickly. Only six months into our marriage (and just in time for my 37th birthday), I discovered that baby Derek was on his way.
First of all, I discovered that pregnancy is not for the faint of heart!
I recommend that all potential mothers-to-be read the excellent book, "What to Expect When You're Expecting." Believe me, you won't believe some of the things you should be expecting!
Fortunately, some friends of ours gave us a copy of this book. What an eye-opener! I had heard all of the tales about morning sickness (most people never had it as severely as I did) but I hadn't heard about the acid reflux, the sore and achy joints, the inability to breathe because there is a baby actually filling up a lot of space that formerly was used by lungs to expand with air!
So now, I waddle along at a fraction of my normal speed, gasping for breath with every step!
Oh, and did I mention the fact that one has to visit the rest room very frequently because the baby actually sits on top of one's bladder? In my case, he actually kicks me in the bladder quite often (he's an active little guy! I think he'll be great at martial arts when he gets older.)
So, if you are at all contemplating having a baby, read the book! If I hadn't read the book before I started having the normal symptoms of pregnancy, I would surely have thought that my body was falling apart!
Posted by Jessica at 02:17 PM | Comments (3)
March 24, 2004
Invasion of the Backyard Dinosaurs
These dinos are owned by my friend, Kathleen. Roar!
I have a great fondness for dinosaurs and frogs (for some reason.) My father gave me a whole set of Starlux dinosaurs when I was very young, and they are still my favorite dinos around. I also have several frogs/toads dating back to my extreme youth. I still have a stuffed frog that I carried around almost as much as my Bozo the clown.
I hope my baby will like dinosaurs, then I can have an excuse to buy lots more of the plastic reptiles!
Posted by Jessica at 03:44 PM | Comments (1)
March 17, 2004
Hartland Arabian
This 11" Regal/Superb Hartland Plastics Arab in palomino is set to arrive at my stable soon! (He was found on eBay.)
These 11" molds by Hartland Plastics were produced in the last few years of the 1960s, right before the company was sold to Strombecker. (Strombecker continued to briefly produce some of the 11" horses for a couple of years, at a decrease in quality, before ceasing production altogether. The molds were not made again until Stevens produced them in the 1980's.)
Today, the molds are available once more through a company known as Hartland Collectibles (no relation to the company known as "Hartland Collectables" from the late 80s, which produced some of the finest Hartlands since Hartland Plastics.)
Confusing, isn't it?
This particular Arab is a palomino, and he's set to join my alabaster, buckskin and dusky bay versions of himself in my model horse stables.
The 11" molds (Quarter Horse, Arabian and Saddlebred) are extremely chunky-looking representations of their breeds. This is in contrast to the smaller Hartland molds, which were slender and willowy. The 11" molds are hearty and earthbound, while the 9" and 7" models frolic spritely and airborn ("Thou shalt fly without wings!")
I have a particular fondness for the 11" Arab. Stocky as he is, he usually has a very kind eye, and that's an important trait in my model horse stable!
Posted by Jessica at 04:58 PM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2004
Misty at Augusta Creek
This is a photo of one of my favourite mounts at Augusta Creek Stables, where I took lessons for years. This photo of me and Misty was taken in 1987 or 1988.
Augusta Creek was also the home of the local Hunt Club, so there were lots of cross country trails for riding. They hosted several eventing and dressage shows, and just plain horse shows. It was a fun place to be and a great place to ride.
Some of my other mounts were Salty (who had been the trainer's first horse, and was very old, but in great condition), Gentleman, Sneakers, Gladiator and Zev. Zev was another of my personal favourites, he was a chestnut gelding. He would refuse at jumps unless his rider was quite diligent.
Gladiator was a roan gelding who would rush his jumps to the point of being dangerous. He always ended up in a lather, and had difficulty calming down after a lesson. He later ended up at the dressage barn of the trainer's sister-in-law, where I also took lessons and boarded my horse Traveller, and the next time I saw him, Gladiator was extremely mannerly and quiet. I actually got on and rode him over a few jumps, and I couldn't believe the change in him.
Needless to say, my eventing trainer had quite a different personal riding style than my dressage trainer, and they achieved completely different results with the exact same horse!
Posted by Jessica at 03:07 PM | Comments (4)
March 15, 2004
Interfaith Ministers
Here are some of my friends in the Interfaith Ministries group. I wrote a lovely ordination service for those of us not already ordained, then was unable to be there for the actual service because I was so ill!
Pictured are (back row, left to right:) Rev. Jennifer, Rev. Sandy, Rev. Patti, and Rev. Carol. Pictured (bottom row, left to right:) Rev. Gladys and Rev. Cathy.
We are all capable of functioning as inter-faith ministers, and come from Christian, Wiccan and Jewish backgrounds.
I believe this photo is from Jennifer's collection. Thanks for sharing it, Jennifer!
In our services, we are able to draw on the religious traditions of many faiths, as we feel that all faiths have positive teachings that should be shared with humanity.
Posted by Jessica at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)
March 12, 2004
Magick
True stories about magick, and some random thoughts about it.
What is "magick?"
As a concept far removed from "magic," which has become associated with sleight-of-hand and parlour tricks, magick is a real, everyday occurance.
What does it mean, and how does it work?
I can't really speak for anyone other than myself, and my own experiences with it. I can say that to me, magick appears to be a directed prayer. I am not a scientist, so I can give only a non-scientific interpretation of how the directed prayer works.
First of all, the concept or thought of the need or the reason for the prayer must be conscious to the mind of the magick worker. It must have a concrete, solid thought form in the magickian's mind.
The magickian must then acknowledge his or her connection with the Deity, in whatever name he or she can relate to, in order to relate the request.
The magick prayer will have beneficial effects, as long as it is phrased correctly in positive terms and as if it has already been accomplished. (Spirit tends to have difficulty with the human concept of linear time, and works best when prayer is acknowledged as having already come to pass.)
I checked back through some of my directed prayers from years past, and I found some wonderful things had come to pass. One of the best ones was a directed prayer from about four years ago that outlined where I wanted my life to go in the future. I specified that I wanted to find the perfect husband for me, get married, move out of the area where I was living into a nicer area where the raising of a family would be possible, and finally, have a child before I was forty.
Needless to say, all of these things came to pass, even though I had no idea at the time how they would come to pass! I had not even met my future husband, yet.
An important aspect to any magick working is acting in accordance with the prayer. For example, someone who is working magick to quit smoking should stop buying cigarettes!
I once had a young member of the congregation where I was an associate pastor tell me about her magick-working. She had done a ritual, she said, in order to obtain her perfect car. (As I recall, this was no ordinary vehicle-it was a Porshe!) She was very young, with no educational background or employment history, and she had almost no money. She was still living with her parents.
I asked her what she had done in order to obtain the car.
"Oh," she said, "I told the universe that this was the car I wanted, and I went to where the car was in the night and I wrote my name on it in an inconspicuous spot."
I asked her, "So, what are you doing to obtain the money you need to buy this car? Have you gotten a job?"
"No, I don't want a job!" she said.
"Well, how do you expect to get the car?" I asked.
"That's what the magick is for!" she answered.
Well, as I explained to her then, all the magick in the world isn't going to get you a Porshe if you don't act in accordance. This means, basically, GET A JOB!
It's just common sense.
The universe, Spirit, Deity or whatever you want to call it wants you to be happy. Spirit really wants you to get exactly what you want out of life, as long as it doesn't harm anybody else. However, they want to see some commitment towards your goals. If you set your mind to it, and work towards your goals, as well as doing the magick, then that's when the amazing things start happening in ways you might not possibly have imagined.
Posted by Jessica at 03:35 PM | Comments (1)
March 09, 2004
Smokie and Miss Carmel
Smokie (left) and Miss Carmel are shown here in one of their pastures. This was the second stable that we boarded them at.
Miss Carmel was Smokie's buddy, and she was supposed to be my brother Don's horse, but he was never very interested in horses.
I would occasionally take Carmel out on a ride, but Smokie was my best friend, so I usually spent lots more time with him.
Carmel was a half Arabian, half Quarter Horse mare. One of her pasture mates (not Smokie) had kicked her in a hind tendon shortly after we purchased her, so she was unrideable for a whole season. (You can still see the bump on her left hind tendon in the photo. And this photo was taken about a year after the injury!)
It was nice having two horses, as I could invite friends over to ride. Carmel was in her teens at the time, and was trained well. Unless she was in heat, she was very safe to put novices on.
This particular stable had the rule that if one wanted one's horses turned out during the day, one had to leave their halters on. (This apparently made it easier for the stablehands, who were mostly inexperienced and changed often, to catch them at feeding time.) This meant that the horses wore their halters day and night, inside their stalls and in the pasture. This is not something that I can recommend. It is very unsafe, as horses can catch the halters on fence posts or feed bins or whatever they find in stall or pasture and severely injure or kill themselves. However, the alternative in this case was never having them turned out at all, which would have been unthinkable.
Posted by Jessica at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2004
Return of the Hat!
Yes, it's true, the Hat has returned...read about its adventure exclusively on wasmi.net!
The Hat had its own adventure, although it didn't travel very far. It stayed in one spot, while I travelled around looking for it.
On February 25th, Brian and I went to our favourite pizza place for dinner, accompanied by our two friends, Ryan and Danielle. We had a very good time, although we were all a bit tired as it had been a busy week for all of us.
There is a waitress there who always likes to take charge of our table when we dine there. She jokes around with us quite a bit.
Well, we left there and went on to a coffee shop for awhile. Then, we went back home. It was almost midnight by the time we got to sleep.
The next morning, NO Hat was in its accustomed place, waiting for me. It is very unlike me to misplace belongings, especially one I use every day. I had the day off, so I didn't panic. I called the pizza place, where I was sure the Hat would be hiding.
They checked their Lost and Found Dept. No Hat. I left my phone number just in case.
Later that day, I was running some errands and I drove by the pizza place. I went in to look in person. They checked again, still no Hat. I went so far as to examine the area around the booth where we had eaten dinner the night before, and it wasn't there.
I then checked the coffee shop. No, they didn't find the Hat, either.
Where could the Hat have gone? I was very attached to this particular hat, so I wanted to exhaust all possibilities. I was fairly certain that I'd had the Hat with me on Wednesday night at the pizza place, but Brian didn't remember if I had it then or not. So I checked at the office building where I work, and it wasn't there.
On Saturday, a week and a half since the disappearance, I asked Brian to stop at the pizza place once again, just to check.
"You've checked there twice before, do you think the Hat has suddenly magically appeared there today?" he asked me. However, he stopped by the restaurant.
We went in to ask, and they still didn't seem to have the Hat. It wasn't in their Lost and Found. They took my phone number yet again. However, as we were leaving, I heard the man behind the counter say, "Excuse me, is this your hat?" He was pointing to a shelf above their bar in the next room. On it sat the Hat.
The waitress had placed it there, knowing it was mine, and had been waiting for us to return.
So, aside from smelling like a pub, the Hat has returned unscathed from its adventure.
I now have three hats, and can take turns wearing them. (And, yes, I like all of them!) But this Hat is still my favourite!
I love happy endings!
Posted by Jessica at 01:58 PM | Comments (4)
March 04, 2004
Speaking of Hats...
Our friend, Leanne, took this photo of Brian and I wearing very strange hats at Convocation, a convention we all attended recently.
We had fun goofing around with the hats, but I will be glad to note that neither of these hats are the two that Brian bought for me to replace my missing one! I opted for a more subdued look with my headgear!
Convocation was wonderful. We attended many seminars by a scholar of ancient Norse history, Jane Sibley. She was very informative and interesting, the kind of person who one could listen to for hours. Her specialty was the ancient runes (medieval and earlier.) She could also go on about the magical traditions of the ancient Norse.
We attended other seminars, but those were our favorites. I was sad to miss Jane's Norse energy-raising group session, but it occurred late in the evening, and in my very pregnant state I needed my rest. Emerald, Leanne and Brian all pronounced it top-rate.
I hadn't really known much about the Nordic traditions before these seminars (other than having studied the runes), so I found it quite fascinating.
Posted by Jessica at 02:05 PM | Comments (0)
The Hat
I found this photo of a hat, which is exactly like my old hat, out on the internet.
My brother, being the amusing fellow that he is, suggested putting the hat up on my website. So, here it is: Missing Hat, dark green, repaired in one or two places. Reward for safe return.
If you find the Hat, let me know! :)
p.s. Brian bought me two new hats, so I don't need any more hats. Just the original one!
Posted by Jessica at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2004
Targeno
This is me with Targeno, one of my rescue Arabians. He was seventeen years old, and his owner sold him to me for $400 so that he would have a good home.
It took almost a year for Targeno's coat to recover from its motheaten state. After that, he looked quite healthy. I only owned him for about a year or two.
He was a line-bred Raffles gelding, which was very popular way back when. He had terrible conformation, but a great personality. He was always friendly and eager to please.
He stood about 14.1hh, which was just perfect for me, especially after having to use a mounting block to get onto the 16hh Traveller for so long. Targeno was just my size!
He had a condition which caused the skin and hair around his eyes and face to lose pigment. Apparently, (according to the vet) this was common among Arabs of his bloodlines.
I ended up giving Targeno to a young girl as her first horse. She just loved him! I didn't own a horse for about a year after that, in order to allow my bank account to recover. It didn't recover very long, however, before I found Chizzam and Anna!
Posted by Jessica at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2004
Daddy's World War II Service
Daddy enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1942, when he had just turned eighteen. This photo was taken on November 16, 1945 during Daddy's last month in the Army. (Daddy is on the left!)
According to his military record, Daddy's rank was a Corporal, and he was a military policeman and then an investigator. According to his record, he served overseas in Europe. Mom told me that he was stationed in England. He never saw the front line, but he was one of the many support people that it takes to staff an army during that difficult time. According to Mom, he guarded prisoners of war.
After the war, he settled down in Farmington, where his parents lived. That is when he began dating Mom, and they were married in August of 1949.
Today would have been Mom's 76th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom!
Posted by Jessica at 10:22 AM | Comments (3)