What my Mom used to say:

[Burnt Hill]

Mom said when you manifest your own spirituality, spirituality will manifest itself. For me the blessed pottery balls are manifest spirituality. How did that line go? Maybe we need to fight the unknowable with the unknown? no that wasnt it, something like it though. Any way she also said to stand up to the bullies, and they will consume themselves, nah thats not what she said, but something like it. Anyways trying to explain my recent approach here, which has strayed from my original intent when joining the discussions. I owe all of you an apology for escalating a private battle with a moderator to such heights. The poll was silly, I should have brought my concerns straight to Jeff. I still think the post that got fire-pitted had some merits if we could all have discussed it rationally, but it certainly had the potential to disrupt things here. Anyways, onward and upward, through the fog.

[pitcairn]

hey burnt

you know, I went back and reread the "post that started it all," IIRC, which was about the unsettling experience you had in the Finger Lakes National Park

and I continued rereading the beginnings of that thread, and for the life of me, I can't find anything ... suspicious or "off" about your story or its presentation

maybe I'm missing something critical , but I actually found your story very interesting, and as I mentioned before, particularly compelling cos I have a good mental picture, and many years experience, of the Finger Lakes region

for anyone who has never been there, it's hard to convey the quality of the place and the rich history of the extraordinary to be found there

I have a very soft spot for that corner of the world, and so I feel very sorry that your storytelling got so sidetracked

I would like to know more if you are of a mind to tell more

thanks

[marykmusic]

Whay my mom used to say is, "If you can't say somethng nice, don't say anything at all." Didn't work, though, except for herself.

Now, turning 80 today, she is the kindest person around. And absolutely refuses to dwell on negativity. Our orgonite things? "Thank you, dear." Of course, she doesn't believe anything special about that kind of thing; we simply don't discuss chemtrails and such with her.

We just let her live her life as a retired schoolteacher, and enjoy the fact that she's still around and doing fine.

Oh-- and now she says, "This, too, shall pass." --MaryK

[Trifecta]

BH, get over your ego, many have had threads squashed and been accused, it is a hard way to communicate when you cannot see the whites of ones eyes. and just these little emoticons for expression.

Move on man, learn something and contribute, dont get stuck on one thread, its itch, gotta scratch it....you may turn septic lol

[Burnt Hill]

thanks pitcairn, i touched on the subject a little more in the chemtrails over the finger lakes post. And intend to post again with some Seneca Indian stories. And Mary, thank you for your words, always uplifting. After I read Osculum Inflames post - i read yours again and I am better.(i know, thats his style, but..) anyway, forget about that crush- I am certainly in love with you now!

[marykmusic]

Burnt Hill, the first thing I did was tell Dragon. I know, you told me not to... but what's not to love?

Let's keep this thread going on the Mom thing.

Here was a shining moment for me: the day my daughter Lena told me, "Mom, I couldn't have handled being a mother myself if you hadn't raised me the way you did."

Precocious Lena. My brother Don taught her to drive at 12 years old, stick shift and all. She literally declared war on me when she turned 14, dropped out of school (twice) to major in MTV. I just kept on keeping on, doing what I had to do as a single mother to keep my family together, including her two little brothers. And my mom was supportive through all this. This link is for my admittedly country-western-style song, "Raise a Lady." http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=141724&songID=1005475 Lena has a great life now with her interesting and funny husband and a precocious little boy who calls his Granma on the phone. And an old Corvette. Of course, they haven't driven it in several months because the kid lost the keys...

Oh-- and being a grandmother is ever so much cooler than being a struggling single mom! --MaryK

[Burnt Hill]

Way back in the mid 70's, my Grandmother came upstate from Brooklyn for her first visit to us here in the Finger Lakes. I was very excited to take her out back to see this huge oak tree we have, now she was about 65 at the time and we traversed through briars and burdocks, mud and leaf litter. and it was hot, getting to the tree was anti-climatic for her and me. It was a miserable trip back to the house, and I felt she just didnt get it, and maybe I didnt either. Grandma died about 10 years ago, My Mom at her side, Grandma was telling quite a few interesting stories at this time, and she told my mom-"tell Joseph, not to worry, I really liked the tree". Mom didnt know what she meant -but it meant the world to me!

[blanc]

"two wrongs don't make a right"
used to shut up the agrieved one saying he/she started it (in punishing 2 for fighting)

[sunny]

maryk, I can so totally relate to your mother-daughter dynamic. Drama Queen Eden sorely tested my ever-loving patience, but it won out in the end and we are best friends now. I could not be more proud of her if I tried.

Oh-- and being a grandmother is ever so much cooler than being a struggling single mom! --MaryK

Being a grandma has taught me what it's like to feel unabashed adoration, something everyone should experience at least once in a lifetime.