Wikipedia Trails: Garuda: Serpent-Eating Kite Bird to Globster (And Exploding Whales)

13th Century Cham sculpture of Garuda

as he devours a serpent

Garuda

From the readings of the Ramayan this week, I discovered what a Garuda was: the Vahana, or vehicle, of Lord Vishnu whose reach goes all throughout SE Asia, being depicted in nearly every country, often times even in the flags and governmental agencies (including the special forces of the Indian Air Force.) He is likened to a kit bird or an eagle, and is well-known for his serpent eating abilities. People often wear talisman  of him in order to guard themselves against a snakebite. Browsing through the different depictions of him throughout different countries and ages, I was drawn to the Cham sculptures of him.

Art of Champa

When I followed the trail to the Cham wikipedia page, it led me straight to the Art of Champa page. This was beginning to all sound a bit more familiar, and as I read, it confirmed that Champa was a SE Asian empire that flourished around Vietnam, including them being linked with the Khmer, people of Java and the Die Viet. I enjoyed the art on this page, but a lot of it depicts Indian mythological subject matter, namely the motif of the makara sea-monster. 

Goddess Ganga aboard her Vahana, Makara

Makara

This was the most fun as the first image I saw was Goddess Ganga aboard a Makara. Goddess Ganga is who sparked some creativity in me earlier in the week, I spent some time researching her further and took notes on her hoping to write about her later. So this is rounding out my ideas for that storytelling idea later, perfect! The images on this page were also incredible, including a lot of Makaras in architecture, as it is good luck to keep them around doorways and entrances and be rain spouts or gargoyles and water fountains. However, explaining how Makaras might have been based in fact led me to the next series of trails. 

Cryptozoologist and Trunko

Cryptozoologists (excuse, me what? Oh, the people who identify and describe beings from folklore.) associate Makaras with Trunko, a beached sea-creature that turned into a whole event with its own single-word moniker in South Africa in 1924. Reports vary, but apparently Trunko possessed snowy white fur, an elephant trunk, a lobster-like tail, and a carcass without any blood. Further investigation by scientist led them to believe it was a Globster. 

The St. Augustine Monster, St. Augustine Florida, 1896.

Globster

A Globster is an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shore of an oceanic coastline. They lack bones an other unrecognizable structures, which creates confusion in its identity. This has historically led to "monsters" being found in various locations around the globe and reported on with sensational headlines. Giant and colossal squid that have decomposed frequently explain most globsters, however a significant number of them have also had tissue analyzed to determine that they were in fact decomposing sperm whales. Globsters, cryptozoologists believe, were perhaps the origins of several mythological sea creatures. 

This led me to search for a video I recall watching once, of a pour soul puncturing the belly of a rotting, decomposing sperm whale whose belly had puffed up to an enormous height, towering far above the man, due to the pressure build up of rotting organs. The man carved with a long sharp edge extended on a handle, clothed in a full outfit of foul weather gear slowly, slowly, slowly carving..... Until it exploded, guts, organs, intestine blowing out sideways and covering the man in a disgusting and wretched manner. It was a great video. 

Reading Notes: PDE Ramayana Part B

 The Demon Marichi and Ravana Full Size Image

Ravana, Nine Heads and One Donkey Head

This week, I've been working my way through Part B of the readings of the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana. In this section, Sita falls for the devilish devices of Marichi and Ravana to lure her away from Rama and Lashkmana so that she may be captured!

It's been settling to dig down into the meat and bones of it all, and I'm finally feeling oriented a bit, after spending too many hours last week following every wikipedia link to orient myself to the mythological creatures and locations. Although, I will digress and admit, that this week, my favorite external Wikipedia Link click and find has been Garuda, the vahana (mount) of Lord Vishnu, of which Rama is an incarnation, of whom the readings have been focused on this week. The fascinating thing was how many different countries he is found in -- practically all over SE Asia! This bird is just fascinating to read about, I mean just look at him!

Balinese Garuda, original by Okkisafire 

Back to the meat and bones of Ramayana Readings, Part B, however:

1. We start with some melancholy. How sad it is that Rama and Bharata agree, "Neither Bharata nor I can recall or change the commands of Dasharatha." Rama must be exiled, but sweetly, Bharata gives Rama golden sandals upon his feet, then takes those sandals back to ceremoniously rule during Rama's forest exile.
2. We Meet Sages of the Forest: 
1. Viradha: Two broken arms, can't be killed by battle blows, so the brothers cleverly cast him into a pit and bury him -- and he attains heaven.
2. Agastya: One of the most famous Rishis, gives Rama a bow that whose arrow will always meet its mark, and a golden saber. I specifically like how they give friendship and rest to Sita, Rama's "friendless and homeless wife." He sends them to make a hermitage in Panchavati's forest: a garden of five banyan trees in the Dandakaranya forest, "The Jungle of Punishment" forests, which spreads across modern day Uttar Pradesh/Jharkhand to Maharastra.
3. Friends and Foes:
1. Shurpanakha, sexy seductress whose nose and ears get cut off by Lakshamana
2. Ravana, Shurpanakha's brother and main antagonist of this series. Interesting to Notes: He has ten heads and twnety arms (The images of this were highlights of the week, by far), resides in the golden palace of Lanka, which is now called Sri Lanka (And, WikiTrail find -- Sri is another name for Lakshmi!)
3. Golden Deers: the golden deers in Hindu myth imagery has always confused me, and we finally learn in this section that deers can often be shapeshifting forms of devilish rakshasas. Particularly in this section, it is the demond Marichi who turns into a saphire-horned golden deer with a rainbow tail to entice Sita's heart to have him. 
4. Sugriva: Monkey King, who will help Rama and Lakshmana kill Ravana. 

As the readings come to a close, the last morsel leaves me with immense hope and excitement... a Monkey King?! Aaahhhh, yeah, we're finally getting close to Hanuman time! I will here proclaim my love and fondness of Hanuman, and show you the temple that solidified that fondness. 

Giant Hanuman Statue and Temple in Delhi.

Finally, a few questions I'm left pondering.

• Rama seems to be getting many gifts in his exiled life, so it's not actually turning out all that bad for him. However, why does he have to keep going deeper, deeper, deeper into the forest?
• I could write a story from Sita's perspective about getting captured by Viradha and meeting Agastya, including how tired and weary she is from continually traveling in the forest and never knowing when the next battle will come. Little does she know, that lurking around the next corner is a rakshasi waiting to seduce her husband! Does she trust Rama to remain faithful to her, as she has remained faithful to him in their wedding vows, even through exile into the forest?

Famous Last Words: Hit The Ground Running

This week seemed to go fairly well: I stayed ahead in most of my classes, was on top of homework assignments, and didn't have any major hiccups in getting babysitters organized and getting myself to class. The difficulty was with this class.... I find myself putting in nearly double the suggested time for each post required for the Orientation Week! I kept clicking over to interesting side jaunts in the large Wiki World, and, well, everything just took so much longer! This was most likely compounded by the fact that:

1. I was intimidated to create a blog
2. I was intimidated to have a blog
3. I was intimidated to keep making posts to a blog

But, I did it! Tech-savvy-less me be damned, I got started! Somehow, I managed to also stay on top of the assignments, though Wednesday was a little hairy. Now that we're settling into the reading schedules, I am enjoying it so much more. I can do reading, I know reading, reading is my home. Making blog posts about the reading? I'm not yet in the comfort zone with that, but I am getting there. 

Resolutions:

1. Work Ahead as much as possible!
2. Make more memes! These are fun. :)

Still from Sita Sings the Blues

I'm looking forward to watching Sita Sings the Blues later on in this course, as the style of it immediately draws me in. Which reminds me, that for now, I'm excited to be flying through the Ramayana. I've not actually read through the Ramayana or the Mahabharata (for shame!), and I am incredibly excited to be able to mark those down as read after this semester is over. I just want to take a minute to point out how incredibly soothing it is to listen to the readings through Sound Cloud.... simply click, and hear the words pour over you, relax, and say "Aaaaahhhhhh...." It's such a good way to go through the course (so far!)

Review: Swami to England = English to Calcutta

Sister Nivedita

Week 1 was a good week! I clicked on too many links, found myself chasing happy rabbit trails through the Wikipedia-shire, and became gape-jawed with Sister Nivedita's story. In the late 1800's, she met a swami-ji and followed him to India.... what?! I thought that was a modern, groupy thing that we now hear about current gurus being accused of: encouraging young female followers to come to India and learn from their Ashrams. I guess it has been happening for a lot longer than I was giving it credit! (I am no way intending to disparage those who choose this path, I only refer to it jokingly in that I thought this was a recent phenomenon, akin to musical band groupies.) She clearly devoted the rest of her life to India, including opening and running a school for girls. Her books are still relative today, proving her worth as a writer. So, I have bookmarked Nivedita's Kali the Mother reading option for later on this fall, and I have been looking at every reading from the Public Domain Edition of the Ramayana to see if she was the author of that post. Fun find!

Plus, an Event on Campus: I have a professor who encourages his students to attend the LGBTQ Ally training each semester to that we may become allies and resources on campus. Once the 3 hour training offered to students and faculty is completed, we receive buttons and shirt to wear around campus to encourage those in the LGBTQ community and become informed peers ourselves. This semester it finally works with my schedule to attend. I'll be attending the Wednesday, September 21st training, and if anyone from this class attends the same session, I'd love to meet them! Registration fills up, so I would recommend registering early if anyone is interested in attending.

LGBTQ Ally at OU

Reading Notes: Ramayana Part A

Goddess Ganga of the River Ganges

This week as I began to read the Public Domain Ramayana, I was struck by the story of how the goddess Ganga came down from the heavens. Others before had tried for 30 thousand year reigns to bring her down from the heavens, but had failed. With the help of Shiva, after severe and strict austerities, Bhagiratha was finally able to bring her down. Shiva, thwarting her arrogant thought that she would tumble down majestically to the earth and straight on Shiva's head, caught her up in his long hair, causing her to twist and turn and stay in his tangles for a while. Bhagiratha began new, fresh austerities to Shiva, and it was then that he finally allowed her to tumble down to earth. She had many tributaries, and finally reached the Ocean, then crossing into the underworld, where she cleansed the ashes of Bhagiratha's dead family, allowing them to finally ascend to heaven.

This tale absolutely fascinates me! For one, I have visited the river Ganga and watched thousands of people dip themselves in the holy water, light candles to send down river, and to burn their dead family members and then sprinkle the ashes into the waters. It's also a bit terrifying, as today it is incredibly polluted, including dead bodies from families who wish their relatives to reach heaven, but who cannot afford the funeral pyre that is customary for burning them to ash first.

My thoughts on changing up this story and turning it into my own first started with Shiva's long and tangly hair. However, I may ponder this a bit more, and explore her crossing through the Ocean and into the underworld, as I absolutely love the mythological ideas intertwined with the idea of the Ocean.

I also would like to include Indra: lord of Svargaloka, or a level of Heaven in Hinduism. Deva of rain and thunderstorms, wields lightning thunderbolt, rides on a white elephant, He holds up the sky, releases Ushas (dawn) from the Vala cave and slays Vrtra.

The idea that the Dawn is released from a cave each morning is magnificent to me, and it sheds light on all of the rituals I witnessed my old landlady in India, who would perform to the dawn sunlight every morning. 

Ramayana story reference: Bhagiratha and Ganga, from The Great Indian Epics by John Campbell Oman (1894).

Image Information: Goddess Ganga, titled "She Who Is Of Good Fortune." (1815) Himachal Pradesh, India. Opaque watercolor on golden paper. Binney Collection of the San Diego Museum of Art

Growth Mindset

Not Yet Mindset

• "Process Praise creates kids who are resilient, and are brilliant." -Carol Dweck

Process Praise. This is a loosely foreign concept to me, but one that I immediately appreciate. I had never heard of Carol Dweck and her Growth Mindset until I watched a few videos in which she speaks about the Growth Mindset, but I jotted down a few quotes that struck a chord with me:

• "Basic Human Right for all children to live in places that create that growth, to live in places filled with yet."

• Make Challenge the New Comfort Zone
•  Teachers need to give good feedback, give challenging problems. 

Is Intelligence Fixed or Can It Be Developed?

• Effort is a Bad thing? If you have Ability, you shouldn't need effort. It's one of the worst beliefs that ANYONE can have. 
• Effort is Actually what Activates your ability
• How praise affects students:
• "Praise harms children by putting them into a fixed mindset and turns them off to challenging learning."
• Intelligence Praise VS Process Praise -- Process praise creates kids who are more confident and more willing to take on challenges! They are praised for the struggle and the process rather than for how easily or quickly they completed the task.

Explore Together

• Mother's who praise their babies between 1-3 years of age predicted their mindset 5 years later.
• Convey to Children a New Value System: "Who had a fabulous Struggle today?" 
• If a child does something quickly and easily, say "OH, I am sorry I wasted you're time. Let's do something challenging, let's do something that you can learn from."

I particularly took note of the process praise that mothers give during the first 1-3 years of a child's life.... I have a ten month old who is standing and cruising, though hasn't yet attempted to walk. I will definitely be employing the process praise as he grows and continues to learn, as it is my husband and I's deepest desire to create a family that loves to learn. 

YET and NOT YET

Let's ensure that we are encouraging our kids, encouraging each other and encouraging our self to take the mental frame set of accomplishment not as Easy or Hard, but as "Haven't Learnt Yet" or "I have yet to master this task, this ability."

Growth Mindset Meme

And finally, I've included a little reminder about fostering creativity -- most difficult to me is reminding myself to rest and have enough energy to explore and tinker! 

As I reflect back on my own early childhood learning, and even into my young formative adult years, I realize that I often struggled with a fixed growth mindset: I loved to thrive and achieve more than those around me, but if I suspected that I might fail, I would run away. It's as I have gotten older, failed, and allowed myself to fail that I have come to embrace the challenge, the failure, and even more importantly, the attempt. I am excited to explore more of the Growth Mindest challenges this fall as a continuing reminder in grace for myself and the importance of the process.

Starting The Semester

Dream Work Space

My home office space is not nearly as clean as this image... Although, I certainly wish that it was! We just moved into a new home this summer, and unfortunately, the office has become the room where the yet-to-be-unpacked boxes are being stored. *Sigh* Luckily, however, once I sit down at my desk, my back is to the boxes and I can get to work. 

While I am certainly not a pro at organization, I do appreciate learning tips from others on how they keep their mind and their spaces clear. I appreciated the Organization assignment we worked through, and cleaned up my Bookmarks bar and Bookmarks folder yesterday, even before this assignment was given! I definitely added a Word Count Tool  to my browser bar to speed up the writing process, and while there, I found a fun languages tool to help sprinkle in new words to help me learn Arabic.. or refresh my Hindi or Spanish. Mind the Word is the one that I chose. I'm curious to play around with it. 

Ultimately, the most comforting organizational tools in my arsenal are these:

• Get folders, notebooks, scribble pads and syllabus organized all together into their own sections
• Organize research: Create a Bookmark folder for research and useful websites
• Have Calendar, Label Calendar, Check, re-Check Calendar, Obey Calendar, L-O-V-E Calendar

Live for the Calendar. It really is the best tip I can give, and the only way I can know and organize all the moving parts in my life! Mine happens to be a dry erase marker board for the current month as well as my Google Calendar for events further out in the future. Goodluck to everyone getting organized!

Ramayana and Mahabharata Reading Options

The Ramayana and Mahabharata

Rama goes into the river

There seems to be an infinite number of ways to digest the two major stories we will studying this fall, and I had a fun time poking into different corners of the internet to find various versions and offshoots for each of them. I already ordered my R.K. Narayan copy of The Ramayana, however, I am choosing instead to read the Public Domain Editions of The Ramayana. Honestly, Narayan's translation seemed too streamlined and modernized for my liking, and while it perhaps would be easier (faster?) to digest, I would prefer to stick closer to the original languages as possible. I have very briefly studied Sanskrit and am familiar with Hindi, and I find a comfort in oddly worded phrases in English, because I understand the depth that the original language was trying to give to the phrase, even though I could not digest the Ramayana in Hindi or Sanskrit myself. Over the course of a few years in India, I began to understand the undertones of life perspective that was shaped from the framework of the language itself: life happens to you, not you to life. Fate, and the gods, determine more what will happen in a day than you can try to control. Time is a loose concept. From that framework of understanding the difficulties in full, round translations, I'd rather read the bulkier, more awkward, or ancient, sounding English version than the modernized one. Also, a big bonus is that I can listen to it as an audio book -- woo! 

I already own the illustrated Ramayana by Sanjay Patel, however I am not wholly familiar with all of the characters nor am I wholly familiar with the Mahabharata. My time in India was focused mostly on language, culture, and volunteering, with limited internet access and not an overwhelming interest in understanding the Hindu pantheon (though, I kick myself now for having missed out on several opportunities for temple visits). However, visually, I feel comfortable identifying several of the gods. I lived within traveling distance of Rishikesh, and was greeted by Shiva often.

Shiva in Rishikesh 

Shiva in Haridwar

Ganesha easily warms my heart anytime I see him, however, I always held a soft spot for Hanuman, whose giant statue alongside a highway in Delhi never failed to startle me. I'll definitely be reading the graphic novel by Prakash of Sundarkaand: The Triumph of Hanuman and relating this to it!

Hanuman

While I did become accustomed to seeing images of the deities on a regular basis, I didn't pursue interest in their stories to the extent that I should have. I am now very, very excited to do that and to synthesize their stories into a story-weaving-tale of my very own! From the images at the Indian Epics Images Sites, here are a few that I recognized: 

Golden Deer Scene

Narada and Vishnu

I've studied yoga, the Bible, am delving into Arabic and Middle Eastern studies now during my time here at the University of Oklahoma and have visited Hindu and Buddhist temples, including Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. I love mythological type story tales, although I did not take any official myth or folklore classes during my K-12 years (I was forced to read the Hobbit by a friend's father, to whom I am grateful!). I am drawn to epic, creation, and origin sagas as a ways to explain the behaviors and mindsets of myself as well as those around me. I think stories that are passed down from generation to generation help to frame one's perspective of the world and shapes the way one chooses to interact with the world.... Along with the way that language frames the world's interactions. 

Boudhanath Stupa

To round out my understanding of the Ramayana, I am looking forward to chasing down the rabbit trail of Sister Nivedita and her version of the PDE Ramayana, as well as Sita Sings the Blues in easy-to-digest video format! Not to mention, Nina Paley's blog inspired Sanjay Patel and led him to finding the written version of the Ramayana that he illustrated ... and I now own a copy!

StoryBook Favorites

Journal with the Tree of Life depicted on it

(Online source)

Dai Dreaming: A Collection of Birth Stories 

For this StoryBook, I was shocked at how quickly I took to the idea being presented: a young girl in a family of midwives experiencing her first birth and recording it, along with the subsequent births she witnesses and is aid to in her Tree of Life journal. I devoured the introduction page... to the point where I wondered if this was fiction or fact. It's close enough to the truth to be believable.... The frame the information was given to me in was comfortable: a diary, midwifery, childbirth. However, the content of the three births presented was completely new. The layout and design was good in that in was easy to navigate, and I enjoyed the quirk of the font looking nearly handwritten. The introductions to each new story in which the author transitioned from the original meeting with Sashthi to the event she now goes on to describe that involves Shashthi again was superbly written. It was brief, but intimate enough to continue the reality of the scenarios presented. This is by far, one of my favorite to have Storybooks to have come across.

The Fall of the Titans, Cornelis van Haarlem

(Image Source)

Titan Tales

The introduction to Titan Tales was quirky, fun and imaginative. A gathering of brothers is occurring as a therapist attempts to aide the brothers in relieving some of the family tensions that have arisen. Great pains have been taken to get all of the brothers together, including letting one out of jail for this meeting. The writing style is relatable and entertaining, and the choice of images was also entertaining. The design is easy to navigate, and the formatting fits with the conversational flow of how the Titans are presented. 

Grani, theViking Boat

(Source)

Sigurd the Sailor

This Storybook was somewhat bland in design, although I did appreciate the text being broken up occasionally with a more interesting image. However, the stark pencil drawing type images for each story were disappointing. I was hoping for more imagery, although I see how those images were likely chosen for their continuity. The content of the stories was completely foreign to me, as I have never heard of Sigurd the Sailor, however, with Sailor being in the title, and my love of sailing, I couldn't pass up checking this Storybook out. I enjoyed the introduction because it read like a a great mythic novel -- you can feel yourself getting sucked in and set up for some great tales to come. Thoroughly enjoyable to read. I especially appreciated that the author noted that this original story and Norse myths of this kind were used as the basis for J.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings. It was an apt placement to note that, as it further drove home the importance and interest of these stories today.

Hello, There! आप कैसे हैं? (aap kaise hain?) ازيك؟ (izzayak?) ¿Cómo estás? How are you?

How are you? I love this question, and I love being able to ask it in a multitude of ways. I’m a learner, and a lover of languages, and those two combined means that I love learning languages! But, the primary purpose of languages is to get to know people, so the primary question is always, How are you doing, other person that I could learn so much about?

But, this is about getting to know me. I’m an American, originally from Oklahoma, though I consider Vermont to be a second home, as I spend a lot of time there with family. I’m a student, pursing an International Security Studies degree from the University of Oklahoma, after a long and windy road to get there. I like long and windy roads, and I’m usually pausing conversation to ask people more detail about how they wound up where they are today. I think it’s important to know a little background of how they came to be here. 

(Myself and My son, Personal Photo, June 2016 at Soda Lake, CA)

My background is that I graduated high school, and jumped out of land-locked Oklahoma, bound for India. I stuck around there, and Nepal, for 2.5 years before voyaging over to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia (though the apartment was in Indonesia, so we were based there). I visited Dubai, Istanbul and Amsterdam along the way, and finally routed my way back to the states. I traversed Guatemala and Mexico for a time, and am currently learning Arabic at OU with the hopes to get to the Middle East eventually. The fascinating thing in all of this, is that no matter where I go, my American name never seems to work: Danielle. It’s masculine, it’s odd, it doesn’t sound right to the ears, they all tell me. Try Dani, or Daniella, or just pick something else close to it, are the suggestions that I get. So, inevitably, my name changes, and I adjust. My most recent name change has been to that of Mama, as I now have a 10 month old son who is an absolute blast. Although, he can’t say my name just yet, so my husband, Jacob, and I just practice it over a hundred times a day with him, it seems.

Personal Photo of our dog, Dax, from Christmas 2013

Rounding out our little Oklahoma home, is our extra needy, 90 lb Velcro dog, a weimaraner named Dax. 

So, AaJao, or come over here! (in Hindi), and explore a little bit about me and tell me a little bit about yourself as well. And, let's enjoy our stories along the way!

Introduction to a Name-Changing Mama

Hello, There! आप कैसे हैं? (aap kaise hain?) ازيك؟ (izzayak?) ¿Cómo estás? How are you?

How are you? I love this question, and I love being able to ask it in a multitude of ways. I’m a learner, and a lover of languages, and those two combined means that I love learning languages! But, the primary purpose of languages is to get to know people, so the primary question is always, How are you doing, other person that I could learn so much about?

But, this is about getting to know me. I’m an American, originally from Oklahoma, though I consider Vermont to be a second home, as I spend a lot of time there with family. I’m a student, pursing an International Security Studies degree from the University of Oklahoma, after a long and windy road to get there. I like long and windy roads, and I’m usually pausing conversation to ask people more detail about how they wound up where they are today. I think it’s important to know a little background of how they came to be here. 

(Myself and My son, Personal Photo, June 2016 at Soda Lake, CA)

My background is that I graduated high school, and jumped out of land-locked Oklahoma, bound for India. I stuck around there, and Nepal, for 2.5 years before voyaging over to Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia (though the apartment was in Indonesia, so we were based there). I visited Dubai, Istanbul and Amsterdam along the way, and finally routed my way back to the states. I traversed Guatemala and Mexico for a time, and am currently learning Arabic at OU with the hopes to get to the Middle East eventually. The fascinating thing in all of this, is that no matter where I go, my American name never seems to work: Danielle. It’s masculine, it’s odd, it doesn’t sound right to the ears, they all tell me. Try Dani, or Daniella, or just pick something else close to it, are the suggestions that I get. So, inevitably, my name changes, and I adjust. My most recent name change has been to that of Mama, as I now have a 10 month old son who is an absolute blast. Although, he can’t say my name just yet, so my husband, Jacob, and I just practice it over a hundred times a day with him, it seems.

Personal Photo of our dog, Dax, from Christmas 2012

Rounding out our little Oklahoma home, is our extra needy, 90 lb Velcro dog, a weimaraner named Dax. 

So, AaJao, or come over here! (in Hindi), and explore a little bit about me and tell me a little bit about yourself as well. And, let's enjoy our stories along the way!

Story: The Moon Man Who Burnt His Mouth

Consular Observations

The Man in the Moon,

Came tumbling down,

And ask'd his way to Norwich,

He went by the South,

And burnt his mouth,

supping cold pease-porridge.

(Traditional Nursery Rhyme)

The man in the moon,

Came tumbling down,

The man in the moon, came tumbling down. He stretched his long legs, he yawned his large mouth, arched his back and stretched out his lanky arms up, up, up above his head creating a full cat stretch to shake off the jolts and bumps he acquired from his fall.

It isn’t often that he tumbles down from the moon, to visit his large earth friend. The bumpy ride down joltingly reminds him why he stays up in his moon home for such long stretches at a time. It ‘tis a good moon home, no doubt. He’s got his secret caves of cheese about a quarter day’s walk from his cottage, and it’s a pleasant trip each time he goes to resupply his pantry full of it. The skipping up and down in lower gravity is much more melodic and pleasant than this earth plod he must do here.

“Well, let’s get on with it, and see what treasures I can find,” he whispers to himself, with a twinkle in his eye. Having sufficiently stretched out and shaken off the journey that plopped him in the middle of his favorite isle, he commences his plod.

And ask’d his way to Norwich,

He went by the south,

He likes to go following the last celestial trail markers he can find in this early light, aiming southward as he goes. It’s different, for him, as the experience from his moon home is usually east to west across this earth globe, so he decidedly travels north or south each time he arrives for an earth jaunt. He happened upon a small little field mouse, and having learnt a little of the squeak language from his mouse friends on the moon, who migrated there for the abundance of cheese, he quietly asks, “Excuse me, good Mr. Mouse, which way tis it to Norwich?” After a squeaky little exchange, he believes himself to be heading in the right direction. He tips his hat to bid him adieu, and journeys until he finds himself a quaint, slanting little cottage. “Why, a home like my very own!” he exclaims as he crosses the rolling hill meadow before him to gets to an entrance.

And burnt his mouth

With supping cold pease-porridge.

He peered in the window, he peered in the door, he peered through the peephole and he hurried around the side of the house in search of some way to get in. All the while he was rounding the house about and about, the lady of the cottage was preparing her morning meal just before she went to hang out the laundry to dry. “I’ll just set out the laundry, then I’ll warm my pease-porridge on the stove, head into town to check on Mrs. Waitsworth, gather a few berries on the way bake and begin on my blackbird pies,” she ticked off her list to herself.  Just as soon as she was out the back door towards the clothesline, the man in the moon found a way in: the side kitchen window was open to let the cool morning breeze in. Tumble, tumble, tumble, the moon man fell through the window, only catching himself before he crashed into the tables and chairs. Following his sniffer, he stood up, and up, and up (the full extent of his lanky legs and arms having stretched out from the low gravity of the moon), and bending back down at the waist, found the scent that beckoned him. Grabbing the wooden spoon left in the pease-porridge pot, he scooped up a large spoonful and brought it to his mouth. “OW, OW, OW, OW, OW” he cried like a hurt dog yelping out. “That is too HOT!” he exclaimed, spitting out the pease-porridge. While the taste and texture was delightful, though the awful green color he wished could have been somehow a different hue, even at room temperature, it was simply significantly warmer than anything he ate in the cold ice box that was his moon home. “Blasted, I’ve burnt my tongue!” he moaned, hoping for something colder to soothe it with.

It was just as he folded his long legs underneath him to sit down and pout that the lady of the cottage came back in from hanging her laundry. “Wha…, Wha… Wha…. Who?” She stammered, surprised at the appearance of a strange, unusually proportioned man on her kitchen floor. “M’am, I’ve burnt my mouth,” the moon man managed out in a whine. “Burnt? Burnt your mouth? On COLD pease-porridge?!” the lady laughed, and gathering her stern tone back to her, “Then don’t go supping other people’s spoons if it ain’t to your liking!” 

Tales from The Nursery Rhyme Book 

Author’s Note

 I was drawn to The Nursery Rhyme Book, by Andrew Lang, as I have a ten month old that we read lots of nursery rhymes to. Since a lot of these rhymes are running around in my head all day long, it's hard not to incorporate them: mice eating cheese on the moon, the dish ran away with the spoon They’re short and sweet, and entertaining enough for the adults but the rhyming seems to keep our son’s attention. I was immediately drawn in by the image accompanying this book, as the book itself was published in 1897. I took the short rhyme that was presented, and decided to elaborate, incorporating both an air of the 1800’s in with some sci-fi, space flairs to my version of the story. Tsk, Tsk, for being upset for eating someone else’s pease-porridge!

Favorite Places : Then and Now

I have a difficult time narrowing down favorites places, as a rule, but, I am often asked this question and I frequently only respond after a socially unacceptable amount of time... there are simply too many places to name a favorite! But, alas, I have decided to categorize my answer to being asked this question this time to two time frames: Then and Now. 

Then: Mumbai (Bombay), India

Mumbai, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus)

Photo By Arian Zwegers 

Taxis of India

Photo By Jonathon E. Shaw

I lived in Mumbai, India for not quite a year and it was my first step into the other-worldly experience that is India. After traveling all over that country, and living in other Indian cities as well, Mumbai is the place that absolutely captured my heart. Vibrant, fast, youthful, exotic, festive, the perfect melding of east meets west, truly the embodiment of the #yolo mentality, in my opinion. The reason it claims the top spot in the 'Then' category when so many others offer compelling reasons as well, is because it also represents comfort. I was my most comfortable in Mumbai. The routine of traveling every week to this terminus, to "downtown" to see friends, have lunch, catch a movie, get away from the work we were doing during the week comforts me. It was my favorite place, for the chaos and the routine, for the western elements mixed in with the modern Indian elements, and my deepest friendships to come out of India came from Mumbai. 

Now: Lake Hefner, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Wednesday Night, End of Sailboat Races

Lake Hefner

Personal Photo July 2014

I now live in Oklahoma City, and while I could choose from many other places I have traveled in my 'current' life, I choose Lake Hefner for a few reasons. Primarily: Sailing. I love to sail and I jump at nearly every opportunity that presents itself to get out on a sailboat. I learned to sail on this lake and I now make a point to get out there twice a week, sometimes more. The reason I keep going out again and again is that the racing quenches my thirst for sport, and for competition. It also satiates my social side, as most boats must be sailed by a crew. The one I crew for, a J24, uses a 5 person crew, so there's great camaraderie there. My favorite place anywhere in the world is outside, and this outdoor space offers everything one could want: wind, water, sun, beauty, calm, excitement, competition, camaraderie and sport. Perfection.

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