The Insanity of DUI with Marijuana

After passing through a narrow margin of votes in Colorado in 2013, recreational marijuana use was legalized after January first in 2014. Washington State also passed the same legislation by voting that year which was not as surprising but equally as infuriating for anyone who is concerned about the when and where of use and by whom. With stiff federal regulations still in effect one has to wonder how it could have passed. Nevertheless, it’s there and the general public will have to deal with it even though regulations are still in strict reinforcement along with taxation.

     Those regulations on who can sell, tax revenues and amounts that are dispensed are hardly assuaging to a public more concerned about what our safety will be on the roads, working around and with heavy machinery to say nothing of health- mental or physical. If you are not concerned about what someone else does to themselves or to others under the influence of marijuana then maybe I should introduce you to what it actually does to people who insist on smoking weed and driving. That’s hair-raising enough isn’t it? Considering the rise in fatalities on U.S. roadways and highways everyone should consider introducing a bill that makes it illegal for all purposes throughout the States.

     Ahem! Marijuana’s known effects include altered consciousness, perceptual distortions, drowsiness, impaired memory and impaired coordination. Those hallucinogenic effects would obviously seriously affect and impair your ability to drive correctly- and way off the charts!

     By Colorado law, drivers are assumed to be impaired if their blood test shows a level of THC- the active hallucinogenic constituent in marijuana- of 5 or more nanograms per milliliter. There is a great deal of debate on how much marijuana a person needs to inhale or ingest before he or she is impaired. There are many variables, including THC’s level of concentration as well as individual biological reactive and susceptible differences in the user which impact the drug’s effects. It will be different from one person to the next in the usual way- i.e. height, weight, age, allergies, etc. Research has been limited and development of impairment testing equipment is in infancy. As a result, at the present time there is no roadside device that law enforcement can use to measure marijuana impairment. However, one thing is certain. Driving under the influence of marijuana, much more than driving under the influence of alcohol, can be dangerous- to put it mildly.

     In the mean time, here is a run down on the regulations which remain in effect and should be duly noted. Here are five of which I know about and are important to keep in mind for everyone:

     1. Selling marijuana without a license remains illegal. Purchasing marijuana from someone who does not have license to sell it is also illegal.

     2. Selling or giving marijuana to someone under 21 is illegal and a serious crime with stiffer penalties than before it was passed.

     3. Marijuana cannot be smoked or consumed ‘openly and publicly’- on public streets, parks or buildings. Its use is limited to your home or privately owned and occupied buildings.

     4. Marijuana purchased in Colorado cannot legally be taken out-of-state to sell or for any other reason. 

     5. Operating a motor vehicle while impaired is illegal and prosecutable.

     The next time someone asks you to sign a petition to pass marijuana use in your state, keep all of what I’ve told you in mind. Do the responsible thing for all of us. Just say, “No.” 

Stay Safe,

Information Superhighway Collasped Today

     Does that made-up headline jar your senses and seem a bit odd? I’m sure you think you’ll never see such a headline in a newspaper, leave alone ever look at a newspaper again. The truth is always a bit more strange than we care to believe but all this hype about what smartphones have replaced is not only NOT happening, it basically never will in a society that is savvy enough to know anything contingent upon a continuous energy source will fail and miserably. This will happen when you most need the energy source for something even more important, ironically. (Those things would be cooking food, keeping warm or cool, doing laundry, having controlled temperature water sources, getting news by T.V. or radio and short-wave radio. Oh, the irony!) My advice is: don’t throw away your battery operated light sources and keep at least one landline jack along with a phone that doesn’t need electricity to operate which you can plug into the landline jack. Remember, in a long power outage you won’t be able to use wall outlets to charge up your cell phone. If you don’t understand why, presently, you will when there is a massive or rolling power out in your city. Did I mention that you might want to keep some oil lamps and candles available as well? How’s that for an ancient energy source?

    

Two weeks ago, starting on September tenth, an ongoing problem with the National Weather Service’s web site cropped up again right in the middle of a peak in the hurricane season in the Atlantic. This downtime continued for numerous days while the IT team that works for NWS tried to fix what should have received major updates and infrastructure rebuilding to the system many years ago. Until and unless these issues are fixed with a brand new re-routing web site this could happen again and in the same dire situation of need. This is where alternative sources kick in and support or take over vital information for the public, in general.

     Several times I’ve seen a list like the following, either on the internet or in print, telling us that all of the following have been replaced by smart (cell)phones:

     Mail                                             Alarm Clocks                             Phone booths (boxes)

     Video rentals                                Maps                                         DVDs

     Cameras                                      Translators

     Landline phones                           Cassette Tapes                           LPs

     Banks                                          CDs

     Cookbooks                                 Books                               

     Television                                    Magazines

     Dictionaries                                  Radio

     Libraries                                      Clocks

     Stereos                                        Calendars

     Newspapers                                Desktop Computers                    Notebooks/Laptops

    

     Take a good long look at that list and ask yourself what you have given up. Have you really thrown all that out? Personally, there isn’t a single thing on that list that I don’t continue to use, in addition to the smart phone which I think of as only a back up to my life. The smart phone is there when I am away and can’t get to those things. Shall I expound on the reason why I haven’t given any of it up?

     Let’s start with everything in print. With personal mail, such as a letter, even though e-mails are quicker and possibly more reliable in getting to the intended destination, there’s still no replacement for a hand-written letter from a friend who has sent you a couple of her favorite recipes, photos of the grandkids and some mementoes you’d long forgotten about. You can pull it out at will, later when you’re relaxing- maybe nodding off to sleep- and you can take one last long look at the extras and know that she would’ve never even thought to send those things as attachments. Plus, somehow, it is just more personal than a brief e-mail that looks like all your other e-mails. Newspapers, magazines, books, cookbooks, dictionaries (regular and dual-language), maps and calendars are still more convenient then looking for that information on a cell phone. The information sources on them may be more reliable and relevant, too, than anything you’re going to find on the internet. They don’t challenge your eyesight, either. Newspapers often have bits and slices of info you won’t find on the internet because there’s nobody on the internet quite as clever as a newspaper reporter. The internet reporters repeat themselves too much and they often are asked to shorten their articles to fit. Newspapers don’t do that anymore. They’ve learned. They’re also on the internet just in case so they’ve adapted better than any other media you can mention including T.V.

    

I don’t know how anyone else feels about knowing the time but I’m always on a schedule and I write everything down because, well- I’m a writer! Ba-da-bing ! It’s true that most cell phones are on atomic time so the preciseness of the information is infallible but for those like me who haven’t yet had their cell phone fused to their hand permanently I still feel the need to have the time handy on my wrist or elsewhere. I don’t want anyone calling me on my wristwatch either, thanks!

     I think GPS devices are just grand and am certainly glad we have

that on cell phones now but I collect maps- sometimes, the older the better because I am a map collector (read: historical maps turn me on!) I have been known to study maps for hours at a time. If you really get into it you’ll know what I’m talking about- I love a map!

    

Video rentals died a long time ago. Cell phones didn’t replace them- YouTube and Google did a fine job more than a decade ago when desktops still ruled the planet and cell phones have just come along for the ride. Netflix annihilated the physical stores and video purchases from thirty years ago are playable if you still have a videotape or DVD player that still works. Most of the latter can be had as handheld devices themselves and also can be taken anywhere which won’t create an annoyance. This is a more complex issue so we’ll move on.

     Television is here to stay. TVs are not just sitting in our houses collecting dust. We still buy them and we still have shows that we want to see every week and/or every day at the same time of day. I have a personal belief that nothing is ever going to replace a T.V. in our living rooms for that matter. It has more to do with sitting or laying down and vegging out, true- but T.V. is here to stay.

    

Calendars have been personal statement constituents for longer than I’ve been alive. You can write notes on them, with any kind of writing apparatus, such as trash day, dental appointments or events. What do you think pin-up girls were plastered all over? Businesses advertised with their yearly calendars, including banks which I still go to with actual cash to put in my accounts. There’s nothing virtual about that or some of my work for that matter!

     Libraries aren’t going away and neither are human translators, our mammoth stereos with concert amplified speakers or clever alarm clocks, either. Our libraries have adapted so well that children flock to not only play video games with their friends on the computers but they also look at and read the books that line the shelves and think it’s cool. Hallelujah!  

     Cameras. Everyone has one on their cell phones or they are really out of it. I must admit that I’ve found many uses for them in myriad situations. Professional photographers, however, still love their cameras and insist that they get superior shots to any one out there with a cell phone camera. I tend to believe and encourage them because of my work on castles. I’d much rather get my sources with people who can photograph something as mammoth as a castle and come up with something that can be manipulated to look sharp and crystal clear- no matter the size. Castles don’t take selfies, you know!

     I think I have made my point and look forward to many years of all these wonderful resources we’ve enjoyed for so long. Remember, all these things are meant to enhance our lives, not take them over. It is up to us to decide what is more important and who is more important. Choose life over virtual- I guarantee that you’ll feel more grateful and happy, when all is said and done.

Happily,

The Castle Lady

The Praying Hands

     Many people have seen this symbol and know it as the Praying Hands. If you were brought up in a religious household you will have been taught that these hands are a depiction of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. However, the actual story behind this art, which was rendered by Albrecht Durer, a Nuremberg, Germany inhabitant who executed all mediums of art, is more amazing than what is currently known among most people who readily recognize it.

     This amazingly enduring art comes all the way back from the 15^th century when two brothers, Albrecht and Albert Durer lived with their parents and no less than sixteen other siblings in a village nearby to Nuremberg. They both wanted to pursue art as a career but knew that their family could not afford for both of them to study their chosen profession although equally talented. The decision was made that only one son could be sent off to school which meant that the other would have to do heavy labor of some sort to support the schooling. Both clearly had the aptitude to go so they decided to toss a coin and choosing heads or tails would be the deciding factor for their fates. The winner would pursue his art while the other brother would labor in the mines. Albrecht won the coin toss and the rest of the story is heart-wrenching but also inspiring.

     Albrecht’s work created an immediate sensation in Germany and he began to garner large fees for his art. As was originally agreed, after four years of studies and success Albrecht told his brother that it was now his turn to study and learn his art and Albrecht would now work in the mines. His brother’s response was, “No. I cannot go. Look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once and my arthritis is so bad, I can barely raise a glass much less make delicate lines on canvas. No brother… for me, it is too late.”

Albrecht's self portrait

   

 

At first this made Albrecht sad. To know that his success had destroyed his brother’s future in art was almost too much for him to bear. To pay homage to Albert for all he had sacrificed, Albrecht painstakingly drew his brother’s crippled hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called this powerful drawing Hands but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love ‘The Praying Hands.’

     This true story of sacrifice and gratitude is a testament and a reminder to all people that no one ever makes it alone.

Thank you heavenly Father for restoration and healing,

You are the God who sees us and

You keep Your promise to always be by our side.

We praise You and You alone.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen!

(at 19)

The Castle Lady

Is Anybody Above the Law?

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship

with thee,

which frameth mischief by a law?

     Psalm 94:20




If this man who works out of the White House at the Oval Office is within the law then who is out of order?

It's time to take a good look at what has been going on since he took office and ask ourselves if we should tolerate his version of being a president of the U.S.

Oh, Say...

Do you know the words to America the Beautiful? Here they are:

                     http://evelynsrockpages.blogspot.com (for Renee Fleming's version)

O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties, Above the fruited plain!

America! America! God shed his grace on thee, 
And crowned thy good with brotherhood, 
From sea to shining sea!

2 
O beautiful for pilgrim feet, Whose stern, impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat across the wilderness!

 
America! America! God shed his grace on thee, 
And crowned thy good with brotherhood, 
From sea to shining sea!

3
O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!

 
America! America! God shed his grace on thee, 
And crowned thy good with brotherhood, 
From sea to shining sea!

4
O beautiful for patriot dreams that see beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!


America! America! God shed his grace on thee, 
And crowned thy good with brotherhood, 
From sea to shining sea!

Katherine Lee Bates and

Samuel A. Ward 

songwriters

 

The Castle Lady

To Bee or not to Bee

     Every year before June rolls around our country holds statewide spelling contests with Semantics students in every participating city in the U.S. I found out that this was the 79^th year of Colorado’s participation in the competition. A regional competition was held at D.U.s Sturm Hall back on March 16^th. Only the best spellers of these state contests make it through the preliminaries to compete in Washington, D.C. each year so those who made it to the 94^th annual National Spelling Bee (567 in all) are quite adept in perfect spelling. Four of ours were Maria Ciobanu, Bryson Browning, Cameron Keith from Boulder and Lauren Guo from Arvada. The last two are from suburban Denver and they made it to Washington, D.C. but were eliminated after passing the first round.  

     I’m sure many people think of spelling contests as a superfluous or even superficial intellectual competition and that their time could be better spent but I totally disagree with that opinion, however much it may prevail. Let’s just say that I happen to believe that anyone who understands the importance of great spelling will transfer that love of perfection and conscientious work to their lives in the future.

     To expound on this, great spelling could be eventually transferred to the quest to find a cure for all cancer, and comprehensive programs for gun control, eliminating world hunger and disease prevention. My vision is not grandiose but it is full of hope and possibilities- which are endless. So I feel that the Bee deserves our rapt attention and support.

     On the morning of Thursday, May 30^th almost all of a total twenty rounds had came down to the remaining sixteen 12 to 14 year old kids. The Scripps-Howard Bee is a competition which employs extremely obscure or even foreign language words which have been adopted into the American English language. Some of our idiomatic spellings of English words trip up the average speller in the U.S. so the difficulties are often profound. Our National Spelling competition is open internationally so this year it started with 11 million applicants! Many of the top spellers come from families in which it is possible that English may not be their primary language but it appears that this is not an inhibiting factor to their scholarship. This was the case for last year’s sole winner of the Bee, Karthik Nemmani.

     Having been a Semantics student myself at a time when this course was taken for a period of two years (four semesters) at Junior High level (now Middle School and the Freshman year of High School). I have been a fan of watching these bees for the sheer enjoyment of it, believe it or not. When I was that age and studying the origins of words along with the rest of the Semantics students, we culled our subject directly from the current dictionaries published at the time. I was discouraged away from using the Funk and Wagnall’s and American Heritage Dictionary by my instructor but still prefer them to this day. However, we were encouraged to own as many different types of dictionaries as possible. Availability, especially foreign language dictionaries, was limited. Internet access has made many foreign languages much more easily available. My most recent purchase from the internet was a tiny guide on the Hawaiian language and is very good for showing how easy it is to learn! Promise!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_4XNXu-qDM

      At any rate, I watched the 20^th and last round of the finals this year and the coordinators of the session ran out of time and words! It was scheduled locally, for me, on ESPN and was only supposed to run for two hours and it recorded for another half hour but that was not the end of the competition. It certainly wasn’t time sufficient enough to cover the viewing clear up to the end! Because they also ran out of words that were planned we had a decision which included multiple winners of the Bee. Eight competitors wound up winning the bee, simultaneously, each garnering a trophy and $50,000! As far as I know, this was a first multiple win in its 94 year history!

for more information check out

www.spellingbee.com

 

Baskets, Playoffs and Siblings, O My !

    

The NBA Playoffs have started to seem like a series of marathons to me. The easiest job is sitting and watching them because they normally run so close. This year it has resembled a basketball version of the film Groundhog Day (for all those who have seen it!) with slightly different versions in successive games for those who are actually participating. My sympathy goes to the players who are starting to feel fatigue. Don’t get me wrong, though! I love basketball so it’s quite a wonderful interlude for me. Watching and playing, however, are two totally different things so you’ll have to figure out how to understand what I’m telling you if you are scratching your head and blurting, “Say, whaaa?” Try playing a serious game of basketball yourself some time, then you’ll know.

     The Warriors are dominating the scene again- without Bougie (Cousins) and Kevin Durant, since his injury during game 1 vs Portland Trailblazers- and I am still every bit as much in awe of their playing since the whole GSW phenomenon started a few years ago but I’m beginning to get the old star system fever again and have been noticing some stray talent here and there that is getting more than my attention.

     Before the end of last year and prior to the All Star games in Charlotte I happened to catch a GSW vs Trailblazers game and then again in February prior to the start of the Playoffs and happened to notice that Steph Curry’s brother Seth was in Trailblazers line-up. I noticed a bio on him several years ago in NBA stats on players and seeing the last name and the faint similarities of the facial features wondered if this was a close relative or even a twin. (Remember, fraternal twins can look no more alike than a sibling and are not identical.)                                   

     I wondered about it for quite some time until February 13^th this year when I heard Seth’s name called in the line-up and they mentioned in passing that they were, in fact, brothers (two years apart in age) from the same set of parents. I got very excited because it was a chance to see someone in action that I had only wondered about and they were playing on opposite teams in this game.

     Since Seth seems to be a second stringer (which limits floor time in the NBA) I didn’t see enough criteria to compare between him and his brother but he did toss a couple of awesome three-pointers and after seeing that they appeared rather indifferent to each other I decided to do more research. I found out that their father,Wardell, was also an NBA player from 1986 to 2002 with a decade long career with the Charlotte Hornets and among those who championed the 3-pointer. He took his boys to work with him and the result is two outstanding players in the NBA- each for their own reasons and capabilities.

    

Little did I know back in February that I was actually going to see them playing against each other in the Playoffs in May. I couldn’t have predicted that if I’d had 3-D glasses on! Of course, the previous series against the L.A. Clippers this year was every bit as much a struggle and probably the hardest I’ve ever seen between two teams vying for the championship. What has been touted by many as a stellar performance in the last game of that series belied a bit of the true basketball talent of Danilo Gallinari who played for quite some time with the Denver Nuggets after the Knicks trade. It has been a subject of debate that something was holding him back here in Denver but I won’t say the name of the coach because I think those conjectures are way off base. All I will say is that his abilities are now being utilized to the max and saw a difference in him in the last game (6) which should get him more recognition. Maybe he hated Denver. LOL. Despite all efforts the Warriors marched right past them and all the way back to Coney.

     During other Playoff games I happened to notice James Hardin’s 40 points per game streak along with Russell Westbrook’s also which is reaching out to overtake Wilt Chamberlain’s record of 515 consecutive games of 40 points. Even though these two are not my favorite players for reasons other than their playing ability they are bringing up standards to the NBA which will be a tall order to beat. They deserve kudos for that alone. Zack Collins of the Trailblazers has the ability to reach or even perhaps overreach these stats but his attitude is going to have to improve. If anyone thinks basketball doesn’t require character improvement they should get out while they have a chance. Myers Leonard should get a newly invented Most Popular award. Commentators have noticed his indomitable spirit while playing- I noticed that he just happens to be the best-looking basketball player I have ever seen in my life. ; ) Don’t disgrace the face!

     Speaking of commentators, I have taken to turning off the sound occasionally when I’m watching the Playoffs because of the way they’re talking about the interrelationships between the teams and still promoting the star system mentality. Maybe that worked during Michael Jordan’s heyday but with GSW’s success in using a humble and fair system for all players it’s time that those who analyze the games realize that the game has changed and it started changing way before GSW made a success of it.

     Let me take you back to the night of March second in 2011. The game was between the Denver Nuggets and the Charlotte Bobcats. Carmelo Anthony had been traded to the New York Knicks along with Chauncey Billips so the ‘stars’ were gone. Wilson Chandler had taken on a lead role in a line up that included Nene, Chris ‘Birdman’ Andersen, Ty Lawson and J.R. Smith. All amazing players with their own set of strengths and no weaknesses. The ever present Arron Affalo was there but was taken out in the first quarter when he twisted an ankle, tried to make a comeback but got hurt again in the third quarter when Gerald Henderson plowed into him driving to the basket and finally ended his contribution to the game.

     However, the Nuggets won that night without a single player even coming close to making 40 or even 30 points. They won the game with a 40 point lead with Chandler making 16 points and all the rest had a mere 14 points apiece with a final score of 120-80. You could say that the Nuggets trounced the Bobcats merely because each player was making points in double digits and they were able to take over where before they may have been considered irrelevant to the action of the game. It was the Nuggets highest score of the season starting with an 18 point lead by the second quarter. Chandler and Andersen made their first ten points in the first half. As a result they went into the fourth quarter with their lead into 91-67. This was a blockbuster victory and it just took ordinary players bringing extraordinary effort to the game.

     It is my opinion that this exemplary game be the kind a spectator should always see when they watch NBA games. They’re more exciting and it helps players improve over time. It may be true that it’s more fun to have a hero to save the day but it seems more fitting that each player is a hero in their own right and a better person for the effort.

Play on…

The Castle Lady

Earth Day is Forty-nine

     If you are a stamp collector- I’ve been an avid collector since the age of 12 !- you may believe that Earth Day began in 1999 because it was officially recognized by the U.S. postal service that year when Celebrate the Century pane commemoratives were issued specifically for collectors highlighting the most memorable dates and events of each decade of the 20^th century beginning with the 1990s. That 33 cent Earth Day stamp wasn’t the first commemorative on the subject, however, because another one page set came out before that in 1995 in a series called Kids Care about the Environment. The 1995 stamp for Earth Day shows our big blue marble in space taking a bath and was very popular at that time.

www.mysticstamp.com/Products/United-States/2951/USA

     However, the first Earth Day officially celebrated in America was on April 22, 1970 as the so-called brainchild of Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson. 20,000,000 United States citizens participated in that first event and it was publicized that it was the biggest overall nationwide street demonstration since the end of World War II and has been celebrated, one way or another, since that original date. Those aren’t the only ecological U.S. stamps but they were the most popular.  

     While we’re on the subject, I wanted to make you aware that there are many ways to seriously get involved in earth-conscious efforts toward good ecology and I urge you to get out there and see what you can contribute. Most activities are also lots of fun so you can celebrate like a regular holiday while doing something kind to mother Earth. Set an example- get involved! Make up your own ways to improve our environment. You’ll be glad you did and the Earth will thank you, as well.  

Happy Earth Day !

The Castle Lady

The Light at the End of the World

     

 Near the end of 2018 I lost a good friend- a pen pal and e-mail correspondent- who had lived out her life in Nuremberg, Germany while I (for a large part of my life) have been nearly halfway across the world here in Denver, Colorado. It would probably seem to the world that the two of us had little in common on the surface, but in fact, we did in so many ways! We began our mail correspondence after we were introduced by an international pen pal organization, when we were teenagers. I was sixteen and she was seventeen when we began writing in the first half of 1975- her name was Eva Beran. (In German, both the names Eva and Evelyn are Hebraischer names which means that both are Jewish in origin and have similar meanings.)

      As we wrote to each other through the years even though I had language classes at school she taught me modern German and I learned many words I would’ve never known had it not been for her occasional lessons in her letter along with her news. She received technical school training years before me in secretarial work. I went to Beauty College after graduating from High School for manicuring training at the beginning of 1977. By April I had my diploma and license and was working already, to her amazement. Later, I noticed that she sent letters by typing them at work!

     We had so many common interests. We both were intrigued by and loved animals. I remember receiving a sticker from Germany in one letter which was emblazoned with Ein Herz fuer die Tiere and I knew that she noticed my interest. I collected everything and still do. We exchanged post-cards, stamps, photographs, photos of fashion and fashion models. Magazines were our mode of teaching each other our native tongue. She sent me paperback novels in German which were incredibly helpful for modern usage of German. This was after I told her about my love of writing short stories.

      March 25, 1977 marked a rite of passage for Eva that I was never to approach myself, however. Perhaps I felt a little left behind because she had gotten married and had never mentioned dating. We seemed to share on so many other levels that I accepted it as a matter of course and became pleasantly surprised that she had married at the age of nineteen to Hans-Jurgen. She sent a photograph of them with both sets of parents standing behind them on the church steps.

     When I moved out to California three and half years later, I found that writing to pen-pals had become almost a sideline to my new life of autonomy. However, we did write but she was amazed that I had left home and started a new life for myself in California. My letters, which were sent clear up to the time of my going back home to Denver, were filled with wonder about all my possibilities. As for herself, she worked for a bookshop chain at that time and I think she thoroughly enjoyed it. She also wanted to know all about my life in California. 

     After 1999 our communication switched over to e-mails and we stayed connected our new way quite frequently. I started to research castles on the internet by then so my interest in them increased and we started sending photos electronically, back and forth. Some of them were castles she had never seen because they were in Austria. From her I learned about the Romantic Road in Germany which stretches for many miles and is filled with lots of castles- the kind of which people think are a fantasy but are completely authentic!

     When I went on my grand tour of European castles at the very end of August in summer of 2001 I made plans to meet up with her and Hans-Jurgen in Rothenburg and I looked as forward to that meeting as I did in seeing the castles. This wasn’t my first meeting with a pen-pal in Europe but this was definitely profound because by that time I knew that Eva was struggling with a condition which was congenital. In Germany it is referred to medically as CVID and is an autoimmune blood disorder- a gamma globulin deficiency. Even though it can be genetically passed down it is very rare and can show up at any time, internally. I remember at one point the doctors wanted to remove her spleen.

     When we met on Sunday morning (September 9^th, 2001) in the town hall square of Rothenburg, I actually met her husband and new puppy, Sina, first and then Eva. We walked and talked as we strolled through the amazing medieval streets of Rothenburg. This is a walled town of Germany which was preserved and never allowed to be modernized so when you walk through its streets it is literally like stepping back into history. We stopped to eat in a restaurant and talked some more about my tour. Hans Jurgen took a photo of us together. It was almost surreal and I sensed that even Eva and Hans-Jurgen felt that this was a rare moment in our lives. It was only two days later, when I and my tour group arrived in Salzburg, Austria in the early evening. We all turned on our T.V.s before we met at dinner in our hotel and saw the Twin Towers of New York obliterated in smoke and ash. We were all confused about what we’d seen and it was all we talked about at dinner. Our tour guide found a newspaper with a huge photo of the Twin Towers half down and another with Bin Laden’s face on the front page.

     

Eva and Hans-Jurgen reached out the next day by e-mail and later they also drove to Munich to my hotel to see me. My mother actually called them to find out if I was alright and they talked to her at length, I believe. My entire tour group were supposed to fly out, originally, from Munich on Sept 14^th but all our flights were bumped and my flight out wasn’t until a week later when everybody had left by then. Because I was alone, Eva and Hans-Jurgen immediately offered for me to come to be with them in Nuremberg. I was excited at the prospect of getting to see the castle there which is the largest castle citadel in Germany so I, of course, accepted and did make a day trip to be with them there. We sat down to snacks in their home and I was able to sit and talk about 9/11 with them and learned more than I did with my tour group. The German papers were filled with information.

    

We toured the castle grounds high above the city, Albrecht Durer’s house and the Octoberfest was already underway in the center of the city and in front of the Cathedral. In this same plaza they have the longest running Christkindlesmarkt every year and it is the most world famous one of its kind. All of this definitely made up for missing Hohensalzburg Castle back on Wednesday the 12th but I had fun hanging around Mozart’s Geburtshaus that day while whistling his greatest hits. The Salzburgeans were quite amused.

     While I was alone in Munich I took a day trip out by light rail to Nymphenburg Palace on my own and had a blast spending the entire day exploring the vastness of this veritable palace and the Versailles-like grounds on my own. I discovered a building there which was made to look like a crumbling medieval church (Magdaleninklause) and it looked so authentic it fooled me until I looked it up on the internet. Munich’s subway is fantastic- it’s clean and really fast, not too expensive and easy to navigate. I never had to look at a map although they were everywhere. I had all the photos from my trip processed there and had an album full by the time I got home. My time in Munich and with my friends in Nuremberg is among my fondest travel memories.

     When I received the e-mail from Hans Jurgen about Eva’s passing on the 28^th of October last year- the same day that an American tourist from Louisiana stopped a thief trying to steal the Magna Carta at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, England- I was devastated. To me her life was a testament to God’s good will toward all of us. She had passed only two days before that day on the 26^th which was a little over a month past her birthday. I thought of the birthday card I had sent her by regular mail and realized that it was possible that she never saw it.

    

Eva's gravesite

I’ve realized so many things since her passing. One is that we never know when or if we will see the people we care about ever again when we say bye. We really don’t know how long we have in this world. A second realization is that we need for people to know how we feel about them. Closure is not closing the door- it is appreciation for a person or persons being their genuine selves and loving, respecting and accepting it. A third realization is that no matter how long a time we think we have for all the aspects of our life it probably won’t be sufficient. That old saying, “Life is short,” is truer than we think or believe. There really isn’t enough time for everything so you’re going to have to prioritize and make sure that what you’re doing is what you want to do with your time. What are the things about life that are most important to you? What should you let go?

     If you ask yourself these things each day you’ll eventually see your answers start to change. Our mortal lives are finite but eternity will go on. There is really a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel is our life and our friends and family who go before us are at the end of it- just waiting for us to arrive. They pray for us everyday and make petitions to God on our behalf because they invested themselves in us when they walked this world. These people are a part of the light at the end of the world. I am the light of the world…John 8:12

God save us all !

The Castle Lady

Poetic to the Point of Being Psychic?

I have a bit of an odd tale about one of Seamus (pronounced, Shame-us) Heaney's poems, which is the first poem in his book titled Human Chain. My friend in Ireland sent me this book as a gift in November of 2013 and it arrived on November 26th- within the same month that an Aunt of mine-my favorite Aunt, no less!- passed away and a little more than a year after my Mum's passing. 
On the 25th of November, just the day before, I had a weird experience. I had walked into my mother's room at the same time that I suddenly heard what sounded like a waterfall against one of her windows and immediately thought that I was hearing a sudden violent rainstorm but as I looked out the other window I could see that the late afternoon was still sunny and no rain had hit that window. It was dry and clear. 

The sound was deafening for only a moment- like that of wind and rain- and it continued but I suddenly felt the urge to go out and investigate. 
As I came out the side door to my house I saw leaves violently hitting the bricks against the house and then they suddenly quit. I looked around and there were no leaves any where else. I neared the window to get a closer look and found that one leaf had lodged itself into a space between two bricks. I couldn't reconcile the sound I heard with what I saw but I was left to think about this for only a day.
When the book arrived from my friend the next day and I saw that it was poetry I opened it immediately and read the first poem. The following is the poem, titled, 'Had I not been awake'.

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

A wind that rose and whirled until the roof

Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore

And got me up, the whole of me a-patter,

Alive and ticking like an electric fence:

Had I not been awake I would have missed it,

It came and went so unexpectedly

And almost it seemed dangerously,

Returning like an animal to the house,

A courier blast that there and then

Lapsed ordinary. But not ever

After. And not now.

I've always told people that some of my poems are prophetic because my poems written as a teenager were actually outside my scope of experience, at times, and then I would experience what I'd written later. This episode with Seamus' poetry really grabbed my attention and I urge one and all to take a look at his poetry. He passed away in a Dublin hospital in August of that year himself at the age of 74 and is seriously missed as an international poet who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. Please give this man's poetry a look as we all need to listen to our prophets as much now as ever. 

Dihunamb,

The Castle Lady