Not in the teacup

May 31, 2019

During the times in my life when I have worked as a journalist — either as a newspaper reporter and as a freelance writer– I believe I have done a fair number of good things for the people in the communities on which I focused.

Smashing my dilapidated old station wagon through the window of a thrift shop on Salt Spring Island was not one of them.

But if I am to fill out as much of the story as me as a writer in this blog (as well as me as a psychic) then I have to include the following blurb that appeared under the photo of the aforementioned window smashing in the Gulf Islands Driftwood:

Not in the teacup

Driftwood reporter Tanya Lester’s car gave a new meaning to the term “window dressing” last Wednesday when it rolled down the hill and smashed into The Thrift Shop window. Lester’s friends at the island’s metaphysical shop, Treasured Spirit, where she reads teacups, saw the accident in a different light.

Many people are “crashing” as 1999 draws to a close before their lives shift into the New (Age) Millennium. Despite The Thrift Shop window’s plywood replacement, the store still picked up the Readers’ Choice award in the Driftwood’s annual Light-up decorating contest.

–END–

Tanya Lester, BA and master tea leaf reader, has been doing tea leaf readings, tarot readings, psychic channelings, medium ship and gypsy card reading for over  21 years. She is also a reiki master and a fulltime housesitter. For more information on her unusual career to her web: teareading.wordpress.com   To book an appointment with her or to arrange a housesit  text/call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea leaf reader at festival

May 9, 2019

To be part of a larger group of people who have passions related to my tea leaf reading is always an absolute blast for me.

They can be healers, advocates of health, metaphysical shops, other psychics or those who love the pleasure of drinking a good cup of tea.

Gulf Islands Driftwood

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Islanders in Focus: Tea leaf reader at festival

Tanya Lester sees value in childcare fundraiser

Master tea leaf reader Tanya Lester has been invited to lecture and do readings at the second annual Victoria Tea Festival (VTF)…

The Salt Spring-based tea leaf reader will read from her book manuscript called Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader from 12 noon to 1pm in the Colwood Room at the VTF site in the Victoria Conference Centre…

Lester and Ceri Willott, her assistant who hails from Protection Island, will be doing tea leaf readings in the exhibitors’ area…

Besides lectures and workshops, the event will include tea tasting and sampling food made from tea.

VTF proceeds go to Camosun College Child Care Services, which operates five licensed centres at the two Victoria campuses…

–END–

Tanya continues to do tea leaf readings, tarot, psychic channelling, mediumship and gypsy card readings. She is also a reiki master and a fulltime (almost) housesitter. To find out more about her unsual career, go to web: teareading.wordpress.com  To book a reading, a long distance reiki treatment or a housesit, text/email Tanya at 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

Besides Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Tanya has also authored Friends I Never Knew, Dreams & Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes.  Some or all of these titles are available in public libraries, in the Legislative Library of Manitoba or for purchase from the author or amazon.ca

To read more blog posts in this blog of eclectic themes and genres, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com

 

Disturbing

May 1, 2019

It is usually not deemed professional for a journalist to write a Letter to the Editor. In my case, though, sometimes when, as an activist, and when I am not working as a journalist, something rattles me enough I do write a Letter to the Editor.

Rules, after all, are sometimes made to be broken. The following is a rare Letter to the Editor that I wrote:

The Gulf Islands Driftwood

November 30, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Disturbing

by Tanya Lester

I am glad that the local election is over. I hope most people got through it relatively unscathed.

Something happened to me that I find disconcerting. At the Trust-CRD all-candidates debate at ArtSpring, I turned to the person next to me and asked if I could be excused– there were four people to get by — so I could get up to the microphone to ask a question about affordable housing.

She said to me, “You can’t just jump up there.” She was a big woman and was determined not to let me by.

I was stunned into inactivity for a moment, as I cannot remember ever being blocked from getting up and speaking in a public place.

Freedom of expression is something I have taken for granted, I guess. By that time, several people , including someone asking about incorporation from the group that would like a municipality, had got up to the microphone. I realized that the woman who was blocking my path was part of this group as well.

I again asked to be excused so I could get up and this time she let me by. However, I probably had to wait an hour longer than I would have otherwise in the line to the microphone.

I find this kind of intimidation really scary and it certainly does nothing to win me over to the incorporation group.

I know people are frustrated and angry on both sides of this issue, but the sun really will continue to rise and set on Salt Spring no matter what happens. Let’s not be abusive.

Tanya Lester

Ganges

–END–

Tanya Lester has worked as a psychic counsellor to over two decades now. In her ‘toolbox’ is tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, mediumship and gypsy card reading. She is also a reiki master and fulltime housesitter. For more about her unsual career, go to her website at teareading.wordpress.com   To book a reading, reiki session or discuss a housesit, text/call her at 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

To read more posts on this blog of eclectic topics and genres, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com or tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes. Search for them in public libraries, amazon.ca, in the Legislative Library of Manitoba or contact Tanya directly.

 

 

 

Equal Times

April 27, 2019

A nice portion of the following column is about the Rural Reporters’ Association that those working in rural Saskatchewan as journalists were involved in the early 1980s. I had fogotten about it although I do remember Eric who I had a nice– though short– relationship with and Jeff Rosen who was a friend and now a Friend on Facebook.

I think this kind of association is one that would still be appreciated even today by journalists living in places isolated from the big city centres.

I also love the idea of doing an article on the grandparents with the most grandchildren in the Gravelbourg area. I do not recall anyone coming forward, however. I will tell you what, though, if anyone out there has a large brood of grandchildren, please let me know and I will write a story about it for Facebook.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the following:

Gravelbourg Gazette

February 2, 1983

Equal Times

by Tanya Lester

Journalists are a funny breed of people. We are often taught or learn or told to be competitive. The idea, especially for journalists on larger newspapers, radio stations and television stations, is to get the ‘hot’ news story first.

Sometimes this is fine. If Woodward and Bernstein had let other journalists know that they were working on the President Nixon Watergate scandal, they never would have become so famous.

And from a news point of view, if other journalists had found out about the story before Woodward and Bernstein were ready to publish it, the story would have come out before all the facts were gathered. This would have given Nixon and his aids time to arrange cover-up and possibly Woodward and Bernstein could have even been brought to court for libel.

But let’s get back to reality here. Reporting in small town Saskatchewan is a long way from reporting in big city Washington, D.C. Often journalist working in a small town are the sole reporters on their newspapers. Story ideas, whether ‘hot’ news or human interest, can be difficult to find.

This is why myself and a number of other rural reporters have got together to form a rural reporters’ association. One of the aims of the association is to serve as a vehicle for reporters to exchange story ideas.

For example, when I wrote the story about the federal government constituency boundary changes, I worked on it with some help from a radio news reporter in Swift Current. Having met him through the association, he phoned to get some information about what the Member of Parliament in this area thought about the changes. I was able to give him the MP’s Ottawa phone number.

In exchange, he was able to tell me who the present MP in the Swift Current area is as this was important to my story because the proposed changes would mean Gravelbourg would be part of the new Swift Current -Assiniboia riding. We also exchanged details concerning what the government bureaucrats involved in making the changes were saying to the press.

These are small details but you would be surprised how much less time it takes to write a story when a reporter can work with another journalist on it.

This story also ended up in the Borderland Reporter as it had implications for readers in the Coronach area. Since then, Jeff Rosen, who is the editor of that paper and also a member of the Rural Reporters’ Association, has run stories of mine including one on MLA Allan Engel’s opinions on the Power Plant and CPR rail line closure hearing as well as another story of the increase of students enrolled in French Immersion programs, Both those stories pertained to his readership area just as much as they had to our newspaper readers.

Of course, it hasn’t been a one-way street . Jeff’s stories have sometimes been run in the Gazette and some of the stories that he gets from me are changed, and run with my and his byline, so they will better relate to his readers. I’ve got a lot of story ideas from him, too.

Often I also get my articles ideas from Gazette readers as well. Some of you will drop around to the office with names of people to interview. Often these lead to some nice ‘human interest’ stories.

Then, there are the story ideas I get from people I am interviewing as the subject of another story. Recently, Norma Dreger, who also used to work on a small newspaper, gave me several story idea when I was over at her house inteviewing her for last week’s Beta Sigma Phi article.

I hope to use a few of Norma’s ideas over the next coup[e of months. One, I want to use in the very near future, if I can get your help in supplying me with information.

This story idea appeals to me because often people who don’t have a special hobby or profession or who are not involved in politics never have an article written about them even though they may have a very interesting story to tell. It’s just that its difficult for me to find them.

So, the story idea is this: I want to interview, take a photograph, and write a story about the grandparents, or grandfather or grandmother who has the most grandchildren.

This is what I want you to do: either send me or phone me with the name or names of the grandparent(s) who you might think has the larger number of grandchildren. It could be you or your parents or someone you know.

Just mail your entry to:————

The grandparent or grandparents should be living within the Gazette readership area which runs about as far north as the Shamrock area, west to the Ponteix area, south to the Mankota area, and east to around Mazenod and Melaval. Anyone who lives within these general boundaries could qualify for the story.

The grandparent or grandparents with the most number of grandchildren will be asked to tell me a little bit about their own lives, their children’s lives, and their grandchildren’s lives for the story.

Please get you entries into me….and the winning grandparents will be interviewed shortly after that with the inclusion of the story in the Gazette to appear a couple of weeks after that date. The grandparents will get enough copies of the that issue of the Gazette to send to their children and grandchildren.

I hope to hear from you with those entries soon!

Next week: Equal Pay in “Equal Times”.

— END–

To read more stories in a variety of genres and on various themes that were written by Tanya Lester over the years, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters and Women Rights/Writes. The first two can be purchased from the author or from from amazon.ca   The last two have copies in the Legislative Library of Manitoba. All of these titles are in some public library systems.

Tanya has now worked for over two decades literally doing readings as a tea leaf reader, tarot reader and also a psychic channeller, medium and gypsy card reader. She is also a reiki master and a fulltime housesitter. To find out more about her unusual career choices, go to her website at: teareading.wordpress.com  To book a reading text/call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

Sahl says : Crow proposals worse

April 8, 2019

Was there ever a time when farmers did not struggle to make ends meet?

Probably not. That is why the Crow rates were certainly a hot topic in the 1980s when I was writing articles for the Gravelbourg Gazette.

The less expensive rates to ship grain were, the more money for the farmer to pay endless bills and maybe even a little to pocket.

If the opposite turned out to be true, then things went from bad to worse for the farmer.

Gravelbourg Gazette

February 9, 1983

Sahl says Crow proposals worse

by Tanya Lester

Transportation Minister Jean-Luc Pepin’s recent proposed changes to the Crow Rate are “worse in some areas” than the Gilson Proposal which the Saskatchewan Wheat Poop opposed for the most part according to Avery Sahl, the Pool’s second vice-president.

“We’ve rejected the whole thing (Mr. Pepin’s proposal) as being unrealistic and unreasonable to grain producers, Mr. Sahl said.

Prior to Mr. Pepin’s announcement, the Pool’s policy had stated a preference to Senator Hazen Argue’s alternate proposal on transportation rates while mostly condemning the Gilson Report.

But on February 1, Mr. Pepin said. “It should be no surprise that we’re going essentially the Gilson way.” Before this announcement was made, many Pool members had hoped its delay meant the federal cabinet was seriously thinking of opting for the Argue proposal.

Mr. Sahl said the Pepin proposal is worse than the Gilson proposal in at least two areas. The Gilson Report stated the government would pick up the difference if inflation pushed transportation rates over a 4.5 per cent increase. Mr. Pepin is proposing an increase of 6 percent for the farmers before the government would subsidize the rates.

Also, the Pepin proposal does not allow freight rate adjustments in relation to fluctuating grain prices. “In the eyes of the farmers, this is absolutely essential,” Mr. Sahl said.

In addition, Mr. Sahl believes the Pepin proposal , if implemented, would be ” a threat to branch lines and rural communities.” For this reason, he feels mayors, town councils, and others interested in maintaining these smaller communities will be joining farm organizations and university professors in lobbying against Mr. Pepin’s proposal for changes in rates.

Rural communities would be “losing large amounts of rural purchasing power” if railway branch lines to their towns are discontinued as the result of Mr. Pepin’s transportation rate wishes, Mr. Sahl said.

Mr. Sahl indicated Mr. Pepin’s proposal would have to be drafted and be passed through three readings in the House of Commons before it would become law.

The Pool second vice-president said the grain company’s delegates will be called together in the near future to discuss the Pool’s plan to action for protesting the Pepin proposal.

“As far as I’m concerned the game isn’t over until the last ball is thrown,” he said.

Mr. Sahl is also District 7 representative to the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Wheat Board.

–END–

To read more posts on this blog of varied stories and other writings on many topics, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes. This books are available in some public library systems especially in Canada. The first two titles can be purchased from the author or from amazon.ca  The last two are in the Legislative Library of Manitoba.

Tanya Lester, BA and master tea leaf reader, has been working as a psychic counsellor specializing in tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, mediumship and gypsy cards for the last couple of decades. She is also a reiki master and a housesitter. To find out more about her unusual career, go to her web: teareading.wordpress.com  To book a reading or to arrange a housesit, text/call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

$25,000 grant for program

February 5, 2019

I don’t think it was until the 1989s that disabled Canadian children and teenagers started to be integrated into the ‘mainstream’ classrooms.

Prior to this they were dumped together into classrooms where one teacher basically tried to teach students with a variety of disabilities which often needed one-on-one teaching attention.

Even prior to that, young people with disabilities never went to school at all.

Having all students, regardless of their disabilities, ‘rub shoulders’ with others in one classroom was definitely viewed as an improvement in going to school for all involved.

Terms, such as ‘differently abled’, began to educate people with the fact that we all have different abilities and disabilities.

The following is a story about the beginning of this kind of integration:

Gravelbourg Gazette

February 9, 1983

$25,000 grant for program

by Tanya Lester

The Shared Services Program taking in four area school divisions have received $25,000 from the former Guiding Light School to purchase materials for handicapped students. It was announced at the Gravelbourg School Board meeting January 31.

Gordon Toth, the Shared Services Program educational psychologist, in a telephone interview, explained the Guiding Light School for handicapped children in Assiniboia had closed its doors due to the trend towards mainstreaming these children into regular schools in the Gravelbourg, Wood River, Borderland, and Assiniboia school divisions. The school was closed with $25,000 left in its board’s bank account.

Mr. Toth said, after approaching the Guiding Light board, it was agreed the money could be used to purchase materials for parent and teacher use in the four school divisions.

The materials which will include special language programs for students with speaking disabilities, aids for children who have slow thinking and learning processes and mathematics programs will be housed in a resource room at the Assiniboia School Division office, Mr. Toth said.

The materials can be borrowed from the resource room by parents and teachers for up to a year at a time, Mr. Toth explained. They will aid children with learning disabilities from a pre-school to teenage level.

On February 18, representatives knowledgeable in the area of special education from the four school divisions will be meeting with Mr. Toth to prepare a “massive” list of the materials to be recommended for ordering. The representatives will include Pat Prefontaine from Gravelbourg, Georgette Gregoire from Wood River, Lynn Lindsay from Assiniboia, and Linda Balyski from Borderland.

After the group decides which materials should be ordered, the list will be presented to the Guiding Light board for approval. Mr. Toth expects all of the $25,000 will be used for purchases as some of the materials will be ordered from the United States, therefore, shipping costs and exchange on the dollar will increase the expenses.

The Shared Services Program for children with handicaps and learning disabilities in the four school divisions was established in September, 1982. At the recent Gravelbourg School Board meeting it was brought to the board’s attention that $7,497 is this school division’s expected contribution to the program for 1983. In 1982, the school division charge for the Shared Services Program was $4,054.

-END-

Tanya has worked as a psychic counsellor for over 2 decades now using tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, mediumship and gypsy card reading as her tools. She is also a reiki master and a fulltime housesitter. For more on her unusual careers, go to her web: teareading.wordpress.com and/or her pages on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Align and Google. To book a reading or arrange a housesit, text/call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes. These books are available in some public library systems or for purchase from the author or from amazon.ca

To read more posts in this blog of wide-ranging genres and themes, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and/or tealeaf56.wordpress.com

 

 

 

Gustafson involved in MP’s anti-metric gas station

February 1, 2019

Canadians started to go metric when I was in high school, I believe, in the late 1970’s. To this day, I am only semi-literate in the metric system.

Interesting how I manage to get by quite well without knowing that much about it. It seldom matters at all to me.

But when the metric system was replacing the imperial system (ie inches, miles, pounds etc.) some people got quite radical in their opposition to its introduction into our country.

The following is an article about what a Conservative member of parliament opposed it for political reasons:

Gravelbourg Gazette

February 8, 1983

Gustafson involved in MP’s anti-metric gas station

by Tanya Lester

Len Gustafson, Member of Parliament (MP) for Assiniboia, is one of 32  Conservative MPs involved in running an Ottawa station which serves gas in gallons rather than litres.

Operating the gas station on the imperial measurement system is a Conservative protest against the Liberal government’s method of enforcing metric conversion. “What we are opposed to is the fact that the government is forcing people to change to metric,” Mr. Gustafson said.

Mr. Gustafson said the Conservative MPs are not advocating a “roll back to gallons” although he pointed out there is some move away from litres and back to gallons in the United States.

The MP believes the government should “let those changes who want to” and allow the country to operate under both measurement methods. He cited a case where a gas station owner in Tribune, Saskatchewan had to close his station, the only one in town, because he could not afford to pay the $2500 to convert the gas pumps. A government inspector had told him it was mandatory to make the change.

Mr. Gustafson felt the Liberal government has reversed its original decision to allow people to make the change to metric on a voluntary basis without bringing their intentions to Parliament where the issue could have been debated.

To operate on both measurement systems in the world market does not pose a problem for large international dealers as to make the conversion between what a number of bushels would work out to in tonnes, for example, can be simply done with a chart, Mr. Gustafson said.

The MP pointed out although the government has compelled grain elevators in the West to change the metric system, when the grain reaches the Lakehead it is still referred to in bushels.

The MPs gas station is located in Carleton, 20 miles from Ottawa, and Mr. Gustafson said they already received $10,000 in donations which would be used in the event that the Liberal government takes them to court for breaking the law. One Winnipeg man who is opposed to the effects the metric switch would have on his lumber business contributed a $1,000 cheque, Mr. Gustafson said.

The treasurer for the MPs court fund is Doug Nell, MP for Moose Jaw riding. In the event that the funds are not needed , the money will be returned to the donor, Mr. Gustafson said.

— END–

To read more posts in this blog of eclectic writings in many themes and topics, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com or tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew. Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes.  These books are available from the author and the first two titles are on sale through amazon.ca

Tanya has worked as a psychic counsellor for over two decades doing tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, gypsy card reading, psychic channelling and mediumship. She is also a reiki master, who instills this energy into her work, and a fulltime housesitter. To book a reading or to arrange a housesit,  text/call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf56.wordpress.com  Her web is at teareading.wordpress.com and her pages are on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google and Align.

 

 

 

Kitchen appliances that can’t find a home?

January 31, 2019

I remember my admiration for Hugh Henry when, back from art school in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the early 1980’s, he set up an ordinary fridge, stove, kitchen table, dining room table with one flap down, garbage can, etc. in a prairie field next to his home village of Shamrock, Saskatchewan.

He was definitely thinking outside ‘the box’ in a way that no doubt shocked some of the locals who thought art could only be a ‘pretty picture’.

The caption I wrote under the photo I took of the kitchen furniture grouping read:

Kitchen appliances that can’t find a home? No. “I suppose you could call it sculpture although I hesitate to put a label on it,” Hugh Henry said. Mr. Henry set up the attention getter in a field just north of Shamrock as part of an Arts and Crafts Exhibit which he co-ordinated in Shamrock… About 30 artists within the RM of Shamrock displayed pottery, ceramics, photographs, collages and other artwork at the Exhibit. The ‘sculpture’ will be on display in the field for the duration of the week.

— END–

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writes. The books with the first two titles can be bought from amazon.ca and the first three titles can be bought from the author. The third title is in the Legislative Library of Manitoba. All four books can be found in some public libraries.

To read more posts in this blog of eclectic genres and topics, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya has worked as a psychic counsellor for many years now. She does tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, gypsy card reading and mediumship. She is also a reiki master– and uses the energy to strengthen her readings– and a housesitter. To book a reading or to arrange a housesit, contact her by text/phone at 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com

Gifts of the wise bestowed on island at gathering in May

January 29, 2019

I had never thought that people could gather to discuss wisdom before I lived on Salt Spring Island, BC.

My consciousness was expanded while I lived on the island and the wisdom gathering gave me yet another thing to write about:

Gulf Islands Driftwood

Wednesday, January 26, 2000

Gifts of the wise bestowed on island at gathering in May

by Tanya Lester

A word to the wise: Salt Spring Island will be the site of an international wisdom exchange in May and we have out island’s beauty to think for it.

It was United Church minister Rohana Laing and Janet Wachmann who convinced World Wisdom Project (WWP) organizers in Hawaii last year that Salt Spring is the best place for this year’s annual Community Wisdom Gathering (CWG).

They did so with the help of photographs featuring the island.

“It’s really a community place,” said local CWG planner Bruce Elkin, explaining why the island appealed to WWP members. “It’s not just out in the bush or in the concrete jungle.”

The focal point for the four-day CWG will be the Harbour House Hotel, where there is a “meeting tree” that was traditionally used by First Nations bands in this area.

Chief  Leonard George, one of the three keynote speakers, will introduce guidelines for the approximately 80 people in attendance on how to meet in small groups for talking circles.

“It’s about people trying to figure out how to act more wisely,” Elkin said. “What do we value? How do we reclaim the right to think about that and also act on it? Leaders don’t necessarily act in ways that are wise.”

Elkin said Salt Spring residents who might choose to register for the entire event or pay to attend individual events or speakers will find it beneficial.

“Salt Spring is an evolving community around land use,” he said. “We face the possibility of incorporation. The population of children is growing… We can choose to make these decisions wisely or not so wisely.”

Among the keynote speakers will be local wise woman Linda Kavelin Popov, co-founder of  The Virtues Project, who recently appeared on the Oprah television program and appears in a series called Virtues: A Family Affair now running on Vision TV.

CWG board member George Wachmann added that it is wisdom from grassroots people that

will be sought at the….event which will attract people from Australia, Hawaii, Boston and points in between. There is a CWG somewhere in the world each year.

Included in the event this year will be an ecological art installation on the Salt Spring United Church grounds where an outdoor meditation area will be created and stream restoration will take place. Elkin said this will occur in part because often “most of the good stuff at these gatherings doesn’t happen in formal settings.”

There will be hiking, sailing and island tours, as well as physical and spiritual exercise opportunities.

Dr. Reynold Feldman, rounds out the list of keynote speakers. He will give a free lecture, entitled, “What is Wisdom?”…

Feldman will address the CWG at the official opening ceremony on the Friday of the event.

“We are blessed and cursed to be living in most interesting times,” writes Feldman. “I am convinced that the world we know is dying and being reborn under our very noses. And each one of us, willy nilly, is part of this process. Our only choice is whether to be part of the dying or part of the birthing.”

Besides Feldman, Australian cultural anthropologist Salamah Pope will conduct two workshops. They are titled “An Ancient Cosmology for the New Millennium” and “What does it mean to be ‘Human’?”.

Elkin will conduct an interaction called “The Wisdom of Creating: From Vision into Reality” on Sunday during the CWG…

— END–

To read more posts in this blog of varied genres, themes and subjects, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/ Writes.

Tanya has worked as a psychic counsellor for over two decades. She does tea leaf reading, tarot, psychic channelling, gypsy card reading and mediumship. She is also a reiki master and a fulltime housesitter. Find out more about her unusual career at her web: teareading.wordpress.com and/or her pages at Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google and Align. To book a reading or arrange a housesit, contact Tanya by text/phone at 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf56@gmail.com

 

 

 

Josephine and the Pomegranate…final installment

January 15, 2019

I hope you have been enjoying the reading of this short story as much as I have.  A writer, over time, often forgets what s/he has written.

Here are the final pages:

Josephine and the Pomegranate continued…

…”Either do I.”

… Anyway, so Josephine announced, “That supper was delicious. Now for your next task: you will be given two weeks this time and what you must do is make every woman and child in this co-op a new summer cloak.”

The men groaned.

“Do you want to call it quits?” Josephine asked.

“No way,” Joe said. He had started to miss Josephine an awful lot by then. “Don’t listen to those groans. It was just our stomachs grumbling. With all the cooking we just didn’t seem to have time to eat.”

Without even stopping to nap, the men went back to the village and started trying to figure out how to make clothes. Two weeks later, their hands raw and bleeding from spindle and needle pricks, the men managed to make it back to the co-op gates with the clothes.

The women and children tried them all on. “Not bad, not bad at all,” the women nodded at each other. “They fit quite well and look quite nice. Just the kind of clothes for travelling.”

“I take it I should go tell them about task number three,” Josephine said and went back to the castle gates.

The men were all sleeping on the grass outside the castle walls. Josephine clapped her hands to wake them. “Okay, men, good job with the cloaks. We are now going to let you into the co-op.”

The men rose to their feet and looked like they were going to stampede into the castle.

“Just hold on,” Josephine raised her hand. “Remember our deal. We said three tasks. Just sit down for a moment and I’ll explain to you what your last task is.”

The men groaned.

“O, do you want to call it quits now?”

“No,” Joe said quickly. “We were only yawning. Still waking up from the twenty winks we just had.”

“Alright. Just checking. So this is the plan: we women decided it’s time to take a holiday. We’ve been working really hard setting up this co-op and all. We’ll be going to the mountains for some rest and relaxation so your final task will be to look after the children and tend the gardens while we’re away. Give us a few hours to get ready for our trip and then we’ll let you in on our way out.”

So while the women are bathing in the hot springs and giving each other massages with olive oil and generally enjoying themselves, the men learned about child care and gardening.

At the end of three weeks, the women reluctantly return…

“Petey looks after us sometimes,” Rosalind says. “We can do what we want because he’s in the bedroom with Merilee most of the time.”

“You weren’t supposed to tell about that,”Aurora says.

“He said, ‘Don’t tell Mom’ “.

… As I was saying, the women reluctantly returned home from their holidays and find their children, the men and their gardens were still all in one piece. So they figured if the men are able to come out alive from this final task then they’ve earned their place in the co-op.

“But remember, you start abusing us and lazing around and you’re out,” Josephine warned.

Now, you remember Josephine’s father, the king, don’t you? Well, because the king is so out of touch with the people it took awhile for the news to reach him about the co-op.

When he did find out about it, he sent his government civil servants to discover what it was that was going on up there. They got into the castle under the guise that they were tourists dropping by to purchase some pottery and vege…

“Tyeanne, how come Josephine didn’t get a castle just for herself?”

“Because she’s a nic epersona dns he would be too lonely in a big castle and what would she do with all those rooms?”

“Tyeanne, if Ted ever wins a million dollars and takes us to live in the castle, you can come stay with us.”

“Thanks.”

“And that guy can come, too.”

“Oh, you mean Mick.”

“Yeah, if you really want him to.”

… In due course, the civil servants reported back to the king on triplicate forms and after setting up a task force on it, the king decided to go visit the co-op castle himself.

So one day, the king got all dressed up in his best brocade gowns and ordered a royal procession together to truck on down to the co-op castle. He made a big commotion with the horn. Josephine responded to the noise by coming out to the castle gate.

“Daughter, is it you?” the king’s mouth dropped open in surprise, for his bureaucrats, not being too bright, hadn’t found out it was the king’s own daughter behind this whole co-op idea.

“Yes, it’s me,” said Josephine, who was not one bit surprised as she had noticed the king’s civil servants snooping around a few days prior. “And quit with the horn blowing. The kids are having their afternoon naps.”

“Well, I want to see what’s going on in your co-op.”

“Fine, but only you,” she said firmly. “You’ll have to leave your procession outside.”

The king entered and his daughter gave hum a tour of the place. “I’m impressed,” he said at last. “I always thought the peasants would revolt if they had enough food in their bellies and were happy with the work they were doing but — although this is hard for me to admit — you have proved me wrong, daughter.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, father.” Josephine said. “This has been a revolt but a peaceful one. Would you like to be part of our revolution?”

“Like the peace march?” Rosalind doesn’t bother to open her eyes.

— END–

Tanya’s books are: Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters and Women Rights/Writes.

Tanya has worked as a psychic counsellor for over two decades now. Her website is: teareading.wordpress.com

To read more posts on this blog, go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com