visions of hallucinations!

i've read a number of books on the para normal.  tale after tale of people's  real experiences with the dead, with their own near-death, trips out of body, religious or ecstatic visions and visitors. 

in some the point is to convince us these things happen, and that they are quite common.  sometimes the conclusion is they must therefore be real.

in some, it's just part of someone's story, like Hildegarde of Bingham's visions and revelations, taking at face-value that they are from god.

and i read Mary Roach's "Spook" -- her scientific investigation into ghosts and after-death experiences.  lots to laugh about and be amazed by, but no final answers to be found.

i just finished Oliver Sacks' "Hallucinations" which covers some of the same territory from a neurological point of view, appropriately not considering any other possible explanation.  he begins with simple hallucinations in some blind people (Charles Bonnet syndrome), easily understood as the brain's reaction to loss of vision. then he leads us on further into various phenomenon not so clearly explained neurologically, but then goes on to explain them now that we are primed to hear such views.

so he tells of patients with ecstatic religious visions, hearing of celestial voices, seeing deceased loved ones, having out of body experiences, and gives us the details of how the brain is bringing all this about. he ends with the neurological explanation for the not uncommon feeling of a presence, that we are not alone, in a helping way or in a threatening way, and he surmises that this leads humans to the idea of god.

round and round we humans go trying to understand our experiences and our brains, using our experiences and our brains -- each expert feeling a different part of the elephant. (you know the elephant story i'm sure). my conclusion so far...it's all hallucination!

syrup & eggs

march 22 signs of spring on main street!

fresh eggs - the hens are back at work! & sap buckets - this year's maple syrup on the way!

 and a gorgeous blue spring sky for the morning.

 

  
later in the afternoon, snow fell to brighten the muddy spots.

emergency in the snow

local emergency volunteers get a call that a grandfather, snowmobiling with his grandson out in the middle of nowhere, turned around and realized his grandson was not behind him!

he retraced his path, but didn't find the boy.  he rode on to the nearest town and called 911 for help.

dozens of people show up in response, as word spreads of the lost child.
their snowmobiles comb the area for this kid.
it was the event of the year!

one smart rescuer decides to go back to the parking area the pair started out from, and discovers the boy, waiting in the car. 

turns out the boy is 18, not a child as people had imagined, and driving his own snowmobile!  
when grandpa got too far ahead, grandson turned around and drove back to the car to wait for his return.

no doubt there's plenty of grumbling, but given the happy outcome, i'm sure a good time was had by all!

Sunny with patches of brown and snowing

well now it rhymes. does that make it a poem?

what is spring up to?
unpacking her bag?
hey, wait -- that's not spring!
it's old jack frost in drag.

see, he's wrapped her blue skies
over his frosty suit
just as soon as she catches him,
he'll get the boot!

redwings!

got out of the car at 10:30 and right in front of me, i heard the first redwinged blackbird of spring! probably on his way further north.

sunny with patches of brown

out the window i stare hard at Spring - is she unpacking?
or living from a suitcase??
the birds will know.
oh wait! hahaha!
it isn't Spring at all!
it's Jack Frost in drag
what jokers they are!.

well then go ahead and panic

happy birthday to Doug Adams.
oh no! you're still dead. :(
just pour me some old janx spirit

“Oh don’t give me no more of that Old Janx Spirit
No, don’t you give me no more of that Old Janx Spirit
For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die
Won’t you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit”

feeding the mammals through the winter

keeping chickens continues to gain in popularity.  by now i am not at all surprised and less and less distraught over someone's story of how all their chickens were killed/stolen/eaten by some predator (in one case, the family dog).  you don't see many chickens past egg-laying age.

a few weeks ago during a neighborhood party chicken conversation, someone was listing with great interest the things that had gotten their chickens over the past couple of years -- ermines or minks, fishers, weasels, owls, hawks, coyotes, bobcats, and mostly, the mama fox who lives and raises her families nearby.

and then it dawned on me -- keeping chickens can be a lot like keeping a bird feeder -- it's a small mammal feeder!  it helps the animals we love so much make it through the winter, and provides wildlife spotting opportunities for the owners.  i do believe many chicken owners love the fox and her kits even more than they do their chickens, especially once they are over the stage of naming the chicks.

sock dolls

a friend of mine collected some discarded sewing machines, and started an afternoon sewing class for children.  boys and girls came and loved it!  
she was looking for project ideas and i remembered i used to make dolls out of old socks, trying to invent new kinds.
i found a few i still had, and she took them to her class. two of the kids decided to make merfolk (a mermaid and a merman)  
wish i had a picture of the ones the kids made...here are some of mine...

keeping warm before dawn

early morning cat caught on the stove! 
i've never seen him with burnt paws...how does he know when the fire has burned down enough and the stove cooled enough to warm his tum but not hurt?  i often find him here mornings.