One Hundredth Anniversary March 8th of International Woman's Day

That's me, with my good ole Lady Liberty crown on. It just sort of evolved that way, as I see exercising one's freedom of speech as a way of giving breath to an aspect of what liberty is all about. The red striped fabric, you see in the photo below, is not an American flag, it's a bit of a modern art designed banner, that our friend, decided was way to big to continue to hold. I just needed to mention that for certain, as we eventually decided to place it elsewhere, as it does, in a folded position look very closely like our flag, & we were taught that our flag should never touch the ground, with liberty & justice for all.

Here you see our small group with two or there of our group's members not able to join us late this afternoon on the corner. About one in a half years ago, for twelve months of the year, we stood together on this corner, no matter the weather. After approximately two years of our standing together demonstrating for peace, we more or less decided our time could be spent creatively in other venues working on this issue. Today, because it was the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day, it was decided to reunite once again, for the cause.

In the foremost of our minds, it is the Innocents, & the Troops that concern us, as we stand for this truth, & in so doing, we support this country, we love.

My day started out this morning by attending a meeting in town. After the meeting I headed out to Manchester, to get some errands done, but not without first stopping at my favorite retro restaurant, for a soft serve vanilla. What a luxury a small vanilla cone can be, as I had quite the day ahead.

At Guido's the waitresses wait on the customers while they go about on roller skates. So 50's, & a fun spot. Paige is the gal in the black, & Gina is the gal in the blue.

It was a wonderful day. It's not like I went or did anything extraordinary, it was just that the ordinary certainly held extraordinary meaning.....

I started off the day by attending an Economic & Development meeting in my town. There were approximately ten men sitting at the table, with the Chairman sitting in the middle, & our First Selectman sitting at the head. There was a guest presenter from the neighboring town, that is still in the midst of a battle in the courts, as to whether or not a Wall Mart is going to be a real thing for them. The debate has split, their town in half, with a lot of bad festering feelings, to be settled, ultimately by one of the higher courts.

I attended the meeting today, wearing two hats, one as a private citizen, & the other as part of our aquifer subcommittee, of our town's Conservation Commission. When I was asked towards the end of the meeting if I had anything to say, after sincerely complementing the Economic & Development Commission for doing a good job, I had a plain & simple question to ask, regarding our town considering selling approximately two acres of town owned land to a local water company. I was told that "yes", it was true, what I had read, & that they were considering this option. I kept my reply short, & commented that use of water from an aquifer is not unheard of & is certainly a suitable thing, if that is what is needed for the town, but to sell these precious acres is not something I as a citizen would want. Aquifer protection truly is the next big thing in the 21st century. The last words that I shared was to, "go slowly, & to be conservative".

Yes, ladies & gentleman, that is how I began my chapter of this, the 100th Anniversary of International Woman's Day. I was thankful, & am thankful, for if this were one hundred years ago, would I have even had, had the right to vote? To own property? Never mind speaking my mind as a member of a town's commission. Did commissions even exist one hundred years ago? That I couldn't say, but there were thinking & advisory groups back even then, of that we can be sure.

Above is a light array, of what the day brought. I hope yours was lovely as well, as we keep on moving forward, working on the important issues at hand. To be asleep at the wheel in this century is not the way to travel to, "infinity & beyond..."

{A 3/10/11 post script; We may have been pinked, but remained brilliantly strong in our actions, thoughts & deed to help "heal the world".}

For further information on International Woman's Day, let's give this link a try-

www.internationalwomansday.com

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© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

CHAKA KHAN I'M EVERY WOMAN For International Woman's Day 2011

For International Woman's Day 2011, enjoy the day. Mother Lightning's Peace Garden will return, as we have special plans for March 8th, & we'll be back to tell you all about it.

Dedicated to Our Peaceful Loving Men, One Stitch at A Time on the Eve of International Woman's Day

Dedicated to Our Peaceful Loving Men, One Stitch at Time

on the eve of International Woman's Day 2011

we've sung our song

and entered life

we know we've lived through

many strife

you are the christian

I'm the jew

it's taught us basics

what to do

of honesty

respect for all

though Eve it's said

had caused the fall

but we do know that story told

was of a time

ancients ago

and we'll believe

what nature tells

to care for all

and do it well

respect all persons

great and small

to live a life

and heed the call

for truthful kindness

takes some work

but worth it so

it's no man's joke

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When this poem was written on 3/1/11, I had my husband in mind, but ultimately of course it became about, anyone of us, no matter our background, faith, or non. No matter, it matters.

Today for the very first time, ever I sat & did some quilting with the women of the community of which my family & I have lived for some twenty seven years. The quilt we were working on is to be raffled off as a fund raiser in 2013. It is being made as a commemorative project, for in 2013 our town, will then be, 300 years old. It felt really special to add a stitch in time, literally is what we were all doing this morning. There were five of us women sewing from the the handcrafted quilting rack. The imense effort this group of creatively gifted women, have been putting into this beautiful project reminded me, when I came home, that poems, are nothing more than thought/words, stitched together too.

Tomorrow is International Women's Day, & I plan on Standing for Peace, on our designated corner of the world in our community for Tuesday March 8th, as we again, reunite, to stitch together our thoughts in time...

For most, I am not saying all, but most women, & the men, who they have chosen to share their lives together with, stand for peace, each & every day, as they take in & encounter this world, we all so love & cherish.

And so concludes today's addition to the Poetry a Muse In Motion project.

I would like to say a special thank you to the Quilt 300 project coordinators, & fella welcoming stitchers. This quilt in the making that is shown above, is truly a wonderful burst of spring color, to the weary winter eyes.

Please feel free to share this link thepeacegarden.blogspot.com

© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

The Influence of The Lady With The Lamp, Florence Nightngale

My Decade's Time In An Oldest Profession

Time to get up

time to go

time to cook

time for more joe

Time to do hair

time to get dressed

time to go out

left such a mess

Time for report

time to read

time to chart

work up to speed

Time for a band aid

time for a pill

time to clean injuries

stethoscope's drill

Time for injections

time to check throats

time for some cultures

some look the worse

Time for some vitals

time for the phone

time for the IV's

holding our own

Time for emergencies

time for med counts

time to do treatments

workloads can mount

So quickly it's lunchtime

time for some air

time for a med pass

assignment's next care

Decades I worked this

felt it was right

time to make changes

climb to new heights

When I was back home, probably a teen

it's so familiar, common a scene

not much had changed then

dramas galore

my life and their life

opened a door

I then saw it clearly

got it, at last

the past it will orbit

unless we change cast

The dignity we own

don't give it away

as Martin doth taught us

we see truth and pray

And such that I did that

and heeded the call

to write my own story

and not hit the wall

Please lend me a listen

and grant me a page

it feels good to finally

be free from a cage

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The cage I refer to in this poem is describing a mindset, of what was offered to young girls so very long ago & reinforced by many a family for what ever vested interest they may have seen in conditioning their daughters in regards to the very subtle, & not so subtle messages of where a woman's place is & what her value in the world was. For my family it wasn't a whole lot different, as my brothers who were younger than I, were led & encouraged into the professional world that not too many women veered off to in those days, such as the law or finance. Nursing certainly was a good match for me, back in the day, but in all actuality due to the era I was trained in, many of the women I know still bring up aspects of how the long, long effects felt, of how we were trained to allow ourselves to be mistreated, & this eventually conflicted with our healthy evolutions of how we grew to view ourselves within the world. Don't get me wrong nursing is a fine courageous profession, one of the noblest, & most rewarding. The people now, who go into the profession are still primarily women, thankfully they will not have to deal with an antiquated mindset, that many of their fore mothers in the profession had, had to. In past recent decades nursing schools & programs have improved in that regard, for they are primarily on college & university campuses, which certainly does level out the playing field, bringing truly one of the world's oldest professions, equal & in par to any school of study. Thank goodness too, as where would we ever be without the nurses we so love, revere & need, of which I was too amongst this caring sisterhood for fourty plus years. It has been said, "Once a nurse always a nurse." which is the truest of the true.

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So concludes today's addition in the, Poetry a Muse In Motion Project, on this date of Woman's History Month, of which is dedicated to the caring compassionate knowledge, & wisdom of the original lady with the lamp Florence Nightngale.

The two photos shared in today's posting include of course our beloved Florence Nightngale, in an etching. The second is of my then fiance, of my husband & I on the night I graduated from nursing school. I was gazing star ward, ready to go out there, to help heal my patients, to of course do my part, as so many tirelessly continue to do to this very day to help to, heal the world.

Please feel free to share this link thepeacegarden.blogspot.com

© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

In The Hood of The Grandmother Kingdom

What can I say, that could ever capture it, beyond today's title, probably nothing. Yet, in the tradition of which I was raised I'm gonna quviel*, & indulge myself the following garden of thoughts for the day, that it is today....

Being I'm quite true to my sign in the stars of the constellation gemini, & am pretty much typical in that regard. Throw in the unique family I came from, & let me say; as I do believe all of our childhood families are unique. It's what we later on do with it, that further brings aspects of it to light. And why would I be any different, of which I am, & I'm not, if you get what I mean. There is one total mindset that is, 99 & 44/100's % pure that we, the women of the world, who have become mothers, aunts & grandmothers, have in common, & as you can tell I didn't make it a pure 100% , because there are of course exceptions....

No matter where a woman travels in the world, her hometown, or to another side of the globe, when it is shared with one another, that we are mothers, sisters, aunts, & or even grandmothers, grand or great, the fact that anyone of these women would even define her biography this way to one another, which we do, often do, denotes, nurturer, & nurturer by nature's code, is a healer, "a taker-care-of-others individual".

I can't help but wonder if nature had any forethought, in considering the fact, that in the natural nature of; plants & animals this gender distinction to us anyway appears just an, is what it is, but in humans, it was not going to go that way. We as women know this, both historically, & individually, by living a life. Is that why other human cultures in the world would abandon or destroy the female of their own specie, specifically? Or that the modern day, so called civilized cultures, would lock the other half of their specie out of basic human rights. I for one have a child like mind approach to all these things & just plain wonder, why... If one half of a specie has their fair share of their own talents & attributes, then why would the other half, want to limit the full potential, of their "total human specie". Perhaps it is the same answer as to why that same half of the human specie chooses to go to war.

I am a married woman, & my husband has never shared the philosophy or views of the wild eyed oppressors, together we raised three sons, who we know don't share those views either. Yet they, along with the rest of us, must make our way in the same world we all inhabit, as those other views are flawed, yet flaunted, & it's seemingly one eruption of worldly challenges after another.

Today we are getting ready to attend our granddaughter's birthday party. She turned seven on, a date that does not exist on this year's calendar, as she was a leap year baby & was born on February 29th. I wish I could tell her that the philosophy of what I just discussed earlier does not exist, but I can't, because it does. She's still young, & has the benefit of a strong loving family, which every child requires & needs to become fortified, & strong in order to enter, what will some day be their adult world. For now we talk, sing, read stories & poems, do crafts together, & decorating peace flags is one of her favorites, as per her request. Will I tell her my views, & share my world. Most definitely, in an age appropriate way, as I want to see her grow up too, in- a garden of hope & possibility, as we do for- All the World's Children.

March continues onward, & is- Woman's History Month & with it I say to my granddaughter, your daughter, & our nieces, & to you & yours, & yours & yours... Happy Birthday, because Today is the first day of the rest of your life..

Yes, this Nana is from that 60's generation, but wouldn't have it any other way, for as a gemini, a little historic drama, goes a long, long way...

"Happy Birthday "J", Nana loves yaz , so very, very much."!

*quviel, from the Yiddish, which is as an overwhelming licence of "bragging rights" due to, in this case, deep seated love, as per in the case of say, grandparents.

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To my mother, grandmothers, mother-in-law, aunts, cousins, sister-in-laws, nieces, daughter-in-law, & friends who have been woven into the sisterhood of my lifetime, these strong & creative women who make up my personal garden of friendship- for those who are no longer with us physically, my never ending timeless love & thank yous, & to those of us, that inhabit, & walk our planet, to this day, thank you for continuing to help to make our world a better place, for all, one person at a time.

Please feel free to share this link thepeacegarden.blogspot.com

© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

Stitching Along The Tracks, of Our Vast Oasis

Gertrude Chandler taught elementary school in Putnam, Ct. way before my time. She wrote the children's book series The Boxcar Children. A collection of her works were last seen at the Smithsonian Institution's gift shop, Washington D.C. Gertrude Chandler, a gifted storyteller & a true inspiration, of whom this posting is dedicated to, & all the women of the world, who have provided us, with a very diverse & compelling history, which of course brings us together once again, in honoring & celebrating Women's History Month worldwide...

Stitching Along The Tracks, of Our Vast Oasis

With Reflections on Woman's History Month-

I don't know why I feel this way

the energy to go and play...

my mind is ageless, yet to do

no ordinary task I stew

so I shall cook one, steep the broth

wash all the veggies, parsnips, chops

of celery, carrots, onions strong

to fortify this winter's song

of changes that the season brings

initiated rooted dreams

such fleeting framed views, windows seem

the piecing of each fiber's seams

to put together this strong cloak

and bring it forth, each stitch and spoke

no superheros in this time

but wisdom and support I find

for stories each we spin and tell

our strong opinions echo well

there's something special in the air

I see it vast and can't compare

we gave up much so long ago

and did what we were told, to tow

it worked out well, I've no regrets

and yet that mold won't pass the test

of keeping persons in their place

domestic history's lost to haste

I'm just one woman bent to tell

our stories

precious

Miriam's well

Thank you Miriam of the time of the "great exodus", as I thank all the women from a time before time to the present, & my "special*friends" who have forever encouraged me in my creations of prose, poetry & art. A very special thank you too, to the dynamic & talented women of the writers group I have now been so honored to be a part of, & to share in, as through you all, my muse has spoken.

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So here we are, the other half of the world's population gender, marching a long, doing our part.... And so concludes today edition of our ongoing-

Poetry a Muse In Motion Project

May peace & justice be with you, in all corners of the world. True this may be an ideal & a dream, & though some dreams are sung as "impossible", we the people of who the month of March is dedicated to, in celebrating our world history, we do know that from a tiny microscopic seed, all dreams are possible.

Please feel free to share this link thepeacegarden.blogspot.com

© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden

Welcome To March, Woman's History Month 2011

Make no mistake, we've got many a story to tell....

I was told way back in the 70's that women made up over 50% of the world population, yet we were then classified a minority. Go figure...

So here we are in the month of March, which has been designated some decades ago as Women's History Month. It certainly is an oxymoron of sorts, this designation of us being a minority, but we're pretty smart & resourceful us "wo man kind", & we still have a zillion or two, of a story to tell, of that I remain forever thankful. For woman not only bear forth all of humanity, & in keeping of most of our natures, we do nurture & care for all of the peoples, of our precious planet earth.

Amen

Please feel free to share this link thepeacegarden.blogspot.com

© Mother Lightning of Mother Lightning's Peace Garden