A Sweet cure~

"Because there is so little water in honey, microorganisms that encounter honey die as the water in them is removed by osmosis. In addition, as honey is diluted with water, a chemical reaction between glucose, water, and oxygen produces small amounts of hydrogen peroxide and gluconic acid. The slow release of hydrogen peroxide makes honey a mild antiseptic. The acidity of honey also reduces the number of organisms that can live in it. "


The other morning I was watching my bees, as I usually do for a little while everyday, and I observed several of them removing a dead comerade from the hive.   Three or four of them rolled and wiggled the deceased out to the front of the hive, and two of them (somehow) carried her body to the ground.  One bee remained with the body of the dead bee, feeling her and walking over her...performing a last rites of one sort or another(?), and then she returned to the hive.   I imagine this is something that happens quite often, due to the short life span of my little buzzing neighbors.  (I wouldn't exactly call them "friends", nor should I say they are "mine"...because bees belong to no-one but their Queen.)

Worker Bees die in the summer about every 21 to 30 days, however, this is the same amount of time (21 days) it takes for incubation.  Worker bees are all female and do all of the work in the hive.  The Drones are male and only live to mate with a Queen, and he dies soon after. 

A honey bee has a single purpose in life:  To reproduce the colony.   Everything they do, from gathering nectar and pollen, making honey, building honey comb, to laying eggs, and removing their dead...it's all for the survial of the next generation.

Is this the purpose of all lesser, or non domesticated, creatures?

I use the term "non domesticated" because I was thinking of my cats, who are both fixed, and care nothing for creating a new generation of themselves.  They only want their favorite food and to be petted...and to sleep in a comfy spot on my deck chair.
However, I have seen my cats chase bugs and butterflies for sport.  Obviously they aren't hungry- they are having fun.   The same can be said of dogs, dolphins, horses, and even bears.   Though I hardly consider a bear to be a creature that can be domesticated.

I guess this train of thought comes from my own inner longing of wanting to be sure I've found my purpose, and that I am pursuing it.   I think humans generally have more than one purpose.   I think our purpose, or callings, change over time.   I know they do.   My 20's and 30's were spent caring for my children.  My 40's are very different.  At 30, with a 6 and 4 yr old, I could scarcely imagine being away from my family for a weekend, much less a week or a month.   At 40- (and beyond, I hope) this is not out of the question, and is at times a wonderful reality.

All that being said though, this morning, as I marveled at the honey bees in my back yard, I felt a little twinge of longing...
Of longing to know my purpose before it unfolds on the horizon.  Of seeing the productivity of bees, and the lounging of my cats, and knowing I was somewhere in between those 2 lifestyles.    Recognizing the beauty of my life and being thankful for what I have, yet feeling certain there is much more for me to do...

Relations and relationships...

I suppose we all have people close to us who have hurt us...
Friends, or family...

One of those people played on me today. Someone who has hurt me like no-one else ever has.

I can honestly say that in the whole world- there is only one person I've come very close
to hating. And even now- I will only say that I don't "hate" her- because I know that hate is wrong.

More importantly- Hate is destructive to ME- not to her. She could not care less how I feel about her.

So- she calls...and of course she leaves a message for T- she wouldn't dream of calling for me.
I have sworn that I will not EVER knowingly go any place where she is present. NEVER.

I'll probably miss a funeral for an important family member because of her...but, whatever.

So- of course, we haven't heard from her in over a year...and she calls because she wants something. Something that I have- and she thinks she can get it through T.

I was so angry today I could have split in 2.

So furious that I needed a good deal of time to myself to calm down.

She is awful. Mean. Cut-throat. Evil. A User. Wicked. Manipulative. And related by marriage.

Ahhhh- Christmas brings out the goodness in us, right???

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In the end I made a deal with T...she could have copies of the things she wanted, but not originals. It was the most that I could do...and better than being angry and loathing this woman with all my might.

T, who knows what this woman has done- all the ways she has inflicted pain- said,
"Cora, you are a good person...I hope you know that."

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I don't feel like a very good person. I feel like old wounds have been re-opened, raw flesh has been trampled on, and yet again- this pitiful excuse for a woman is fooling around in my life once more...but what can I do?

Be gracious.
Honor my husband.
Let go of my hate...
Feel the Force...

Can I be a Jedi now???

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Merry Christmas- and love to all of you.
If you want to know who the "thorn in my side is"- you'll have to email me :)

People Behaving Poorly has been the Rule, NOT the Exception

Public reactions to the slimy news about men being sexually inappropriate surprise me.   In my lifetime we, as a society, have moved from the mentality of “Boys will be boys”, to “He looked at me in a creepy way and then I felt ashamed and violated”.

Women, primarily, are coming out of the woodwork to accuse men in power of basically chasing them on the playground and pulling their pigtails in elementary school.   I clearly remember being chased (it was a game we played… Boys Chase the Girls, and Girls Chase the Boys!), caught, held down, and kissed by the boy I had a crush on in kindergarten.   Then I walked around wiping my face and saying, “Ewwwww!   He is disgusting!”   All the while feeling quite smug I had at least been kissed and not had a frog slipped down my dress.   It was the WAY we played as kids, and as we aged we continued to play in a similar way.   We wrote messages on paper passed in class, a risqué song dedicated to someone via the radio- and all of us were listening to the same station back then, an anonymous butt grab at a ball game, or a quick kiss in the parking lot.  Go this weekend, to any high school ball game- look for yourself.   Little has changed.     

Most of us were taught the moral boundaries of what was acceptable touching and what was not.   Some did not get the memo.

However there is NO such thing as MORALITY in Hollywood, nor in politics.   I dare say the Catholic church itself has paved the way for some of this depravity.    

Currently we have ladies complaining of being touched, or an unwanted kiss, lewd suggestions on elevators, and texting/flirting in a sexual manner as if this was an absolute violation of their personhood.   The missing ingredient in most of these accusations is violence or malice.

If anything we are grossly diluting the actual definition of Sexual Assault, or sexual violation. 

This is where we enter the slippery slope of intention.   Men do stupid things.  Women do stupid things.   There are evil men in the world, and there are evil women in the world, however-  mostly people are dumb.   Sexual assault is a crime.  Being violently abused or mistreated is wrong and punishable.   Men can be irritating, tacky, immature, and thoughtless, but that isn’t a crime.   Men in power don’t suddenly become angels or Saints, and the women they work with shouldn’t become weak or have less backbone in their presence.  A simple, but firm, NO would have put an end to many of the less startling accusations of sexual advances. However, the ladies I’ve been reading about lately would rather pout, play victim, and point to the brute.   Who, in fact 20 years ago might have been a brute, but has matured, made himself a better man, and hasn’t the slightest idea who their accusers are today.

Women, and men, who have been truly victimized, are getting lost in the shuffle of oh-so-many flimsy accusations.  Ladies being invited to a hotel room, for any reason, should be clued in there are other ideas afoot.   Men who are applauded behind closed doors, or at a roast in their honor (Lauer), but bashed in the public spotlight for butt pinching and creating a sexually charged workplace does not balance out.   A double standard seems to exist, and a lot of angry and repressed women (in vagina hats) are riding this wagon as far as it will go, whether they were truly violated or not.   I also find it curious that everyone accused is famous or well known.   We are now in a climate where an accusation equals guilt and that is a violation in and of itself, and it helps no one.

The real victims of sexual assault, by all means, should come forward, but not go straight to the media, which I believe weakens their case.   Go to the police, call an attorney, and go to a domestic violence support group.   The ultimate goal of a victim is to be a survivor and not become a different sort of perpetrator, like the kind who ruins the life of another with mere words.

Ladies and Gents wake up.  No one should be abused or violated, although it happens every day.  Since the dawn of time people behaving poorly has often been the rule and not the exception.

-Cora Blue

12.13.17