Category: SOUL

When I mention the Red Lion Inn to my friend, and suggest she join us on a future getaway there, she tells me it would probably just make her sad. Even though her John has been over four years gone, it’s a place she has said would just flood her with memories of him and the loss, and I agree, I imagine it would. I’d like to think I know how I’d feel, but we can’t ever really know until we’re in it. We can only imagine. So in the meantime, until I’m in that place, I like to think “what if?” about her mate…what if his spirit hangs out there, waiting for her, hoping she’ll revisit for the happy memories, and stay for a spell, to join him in the liminal space between the two worlds? I’ve been to that place. The Dreamtime. Seen my mother there, my aunts, a beloved great-uncle, dear friends. There are places we go, places we’ve been, that hold this enchantment. Red Lion is one of those places. It is haunted there, you know, at that old inn. The landscape around it is alive with ghosts. I believe by many ghosts, some happy, some sad. Perhaps there are others like John, who wait for their lovers to return and join them for occasional trysts dancing together between the realms. I’m telling you, it’s magic out there, and when it’s my turn to haunt or be haunted, I’m returning to the fourth floor, with its dusky stillness, where I can feel the moonlight as we glide along its beams and dance between the stars–

Gray, foggy days are ripe for watching film noir classics like “The Conspirators” and “Three Strangers.” I’ve learned that the best way to find many long-forgotten or buried-in-the-archives movies is to search by an actor’s name. Want some pre-code Hollywood before censorship took hold? When, dare I say it on Instagram, oh my God (!) is that the flash of a nipple on a nubile female breast? Yeegads!!! But I digress — if you’re looking for pre-code, I suggest you start with Norma Shearer, a Canadian actress in several films from that era. For my film noir hunt, inspired by a love for Casablanca, I searched for works that included Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre which led me to several possibilities. The list of old movies and early Hollywood, pre-talkie, pre-code is more vast than you might imagine.

Groundhog Day, Imbolc, New Moon, St. Brigid’s Day, the Lunar New Year of the Tiger, Candlemas — celebrations featuring animals, goddesses, candles, fire and light, promises of spring, new growth, and the calendar wheel turning as the earth and all her beings turn with it. Throughout the year, there are so many opportunities for new beginnings, rebirth, fresh starts, and restarts — from new moons and old moons, fire festivals, feast and high holy days, holidays and sometimes just the simple turn of a calendar page.

Do you ever close your eyes when you need to feel like you’re in a different place, and you actually manage to take yourself there? You KNOW you’re in that place because not only are you in your mind with it, but it is in your body with you. My friend Donald used to talk about astral projection and I’m beginning to think he was on to something. When you know a place so well, like you know a well-beloved, you quiet your mind, and go within, and I swear Donald’s astral projection can take you there.

Postcard Series VII releases on Sunday. Upon reflection, I found the last series a bit so-so with too many swimsuit images, so this one will be more in keeping with what I have in mind for the collection. If you’re interested and not vetted yet, it’s a good time to do so. The releases are always limited to 10 patrons and/or 10 days. Also, while I welcome feedback, please keep in mind that approval can be revoked at any time if I cease to feel comfortable with you. Thanks for understanding and thank you for supporting this avocation. As always, a bonus is included for regular patrons with your fourth purchase and subsequent purchases afterwards.

The longer I get in the tooth, the more I realize I don’t want to be a “coulda woulda shoulda.” I’ve always believed in “better late than never” though, so trying to to figure out what that looks like for me. Much as it sounds admirable to live and have lived a life with no regrets, I am not sure how many of those folks really exist, I do know that I am not among them. There’s many things I don’t regret, and a few that — eh, if I’m being honest, I do — but as long as I still have breath I want to consider one of my “coulda would shouldas” that can become my “better late than never.” How about you, can one of your “coulda woulda shouldas” become your “better late than never”?

Nothing like starting fresh with a new month in a new week and on a Monday no less. Today’s All Saint’s Day, tomorrow’s All Souls Day and once again I am reminded of how Christianity co-opted so many wonderful pagan holidays, so it can take some digging to learn more about the roots of these celebrations. It’s lovely to celebrate them regardless, yet I do appreciate being mindful of the different origins of holiday celebrations around the world. A couple of guides whose work I have found insightful on this topic are @jenncampus_author and @teachingwithcorazon Happy November! May it be all you hope it to be.

I have another Postcard series due to release this week, a couple swimsuit photos (this swimsuit shown here) and one “naked as a J-bird.” One thing leads to another and I wondered where that expression came from. I mean “naked as a jay bird?” Are they really naked? So, as I am wont to do, I googled it, whereas once upon a time I would have gone to the reference section at the library. J-bird is short for jailbird, a term from the 1920’s and 30’s in America. When the imprisoned people were brought in from the bus, and given their kit, they were made to walk naked from one end of the prison to another, and this became known as “naked as a j-bird — or jaybird.” It wasn’t unique to America though actually, because the British especially loved to humiliate Irish prisoners in a similar fashion. It’s interesting the meaning we’ll find behind seemingly harmless and “innocent” expressions when we dig deep enough. All this just to announce my next postcard series, but what can I say? Learn something new every day and when I do, I like to share it.