Purple Dead-Nettle
                                     Carpets of soft purple
                      Flow across fields before Spring plowing
                               Like a sunrise on the ground
                   Awakening in renewal with joyous abandon.
                                     Everything but dead,
                                       Purple Dead-Nettle

April Showers

I Live

I live in fantasy

And dreaming,

With which no reality

Can compete. 

My reality a shell

Of what if and if only...

Feet buried in the sand

Head in clouds

Time to meet in the middle

Real world life.

Silence

Silence or evasion

Lies large and small 

Does a white lie 

To keep from hurting someone matter?

Why will go unanswered

In that loud emptiness

One heart not growing fonder 

As absence shows little heart at all

By it's wrenching silence

Alone

Alone on a bench in peace and calm

The twitterings of song birds

And gently moving water

A breeze blows my hair softly across my cheek

Like the gentle touch of a lover saying goodbye

It has gotten cold and time to move on.

Suffer the Night 
(In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month)

On a cloudless night, 

It rains 

Warm salty trickles

Slide down cheeks to lips

A heart filled with sorrow

The mind tries to accept 

Depression

And the inertia it brings

A struggle to sleep

A struggle to wake

With the morning, suffering inside

While smiles and laughter 

For a public face. 

I Hear God's Heartbeat

I hear God's heartbeat in the waves 
and my heart slows to match the calming rhythm.

His voice echoes in soft whispers on the wind.
His light leads me to an angel wing of sea glass.

I find peace at the shore.

My dogs stop to watch the ducks and seagulls.
They sniff at piles of seaweed full of delightful smells.

Shylow ventures closer to the water... 
until splashed by a small wave.

Back to sniffing higher on the beach for a dogie kind of peace.

The sun peaks out of passing ribbons of clouds 
and Delilah stands with eyes half closed to worship the warmth.

A seagull lands close by and disturbs Delilah's contemplation.
She wants to chase it but it flies off again.

Does she wonder about the sun and our place in the universe?

I search for the trust that will show me the way
to a meaningful life.

I walk the beach in quiet reverie and know God has 
something great planned for me.

Like finding sea glass among the many grains of sand, 
I will find the prize when the time is right. 

It would be nice to find it soon. 

-Mary E. Hennessy

February Musings

Image by Alexey Kljatov 

I.  Sleepless night.

Bullets of rain thundered on the awnings and roof  

washed away a foot of snow that fell the day before. 

Bipolar weather.

***

II. A dusting turned to heaps,

the heaps to sad ribbons along wet streets.

Is this the start of Spring

or just another teaser?

***

III. Twenty-seven to forty-nine degrees

within twenty-four hours.

Sparrow friends left my awning

for shelter warmer than cold metal.

***

IV. Awoke to a fog thick and still

like looking through a shroud of muslin

muting colors to gray scale.

Ghostly beauty.

***

V. Bands of gray slowly give way to blue

as the morning becomes afternoon.

Will there be red sky tonight

and a delightful tomorrow?

http://wallpaperswide.com/

Whistle the wind

thrum through tree branches

twang power lines 

tap a beat with icy pellets

the music of the raging blizzard.

White blows hard 

against the red brick

turning rosy pink

washes gray the sky, river, bay 

the world muffled in cold cotton.

Well people, it's been almost a month since I posted to this blog. I've been very neglectful. My ADD kicked in and I started writing another book while putting off working on my Scifi opus. I am having too much fun with this new one: "My Life in the Midst of Food."

Since resolving to get down to the business of losing weight and becoming a healthier person, I decided to write about food instead of eating. It's my autobiography and a cookbook with foods that are tied to my memories of growing up. Looking back shows me how obsessed I have been with food since I was really young. Recipes range from the simple to the elaborate, from healthy eating to not so healthy.

As I finish chapters I will be posting them here. Some recipes I need to get from family members and some are my own. It's been a fun time outlining the many moves my family made and the memories of a wonderful childhood. Looking back on where I come from I hope to more clearly focus on where I want to go.

Love, laugh and eat well my friends.

Time to go to bed as it is now the wee hours of the morning and I have a lot to accomplish after only a few hours sleep.

I decided to try a free version of the Myers-Briggs personality test today. These are my two types. Figures I would have two types!

"ENFJ, the Teacher
ENFJs are idealist organizers, driven to implement their vision of what is best for humanity. They often act as catalysts for human growth because of their ability to see potential in other people and their charisma in persuading others to their ideas. They are focused on values and vision, and are passionate about the possibilities for people.

ENFJs are typically energetic and driven, and often have a lot on their plates. They are tuned into the needs of others and acutely aware of human suffering; however, they also tend to be optimistic and forward-thinking, intuitively seeing opportunity for improvement. The ENFJ is ambitious, but their ambition is not self-serving: rather, they feel personally responsible for making the world a better place."

"ENFP, the Champion
ENFPs are people-centered creators with a focus on possibilities and a contagious enthusiasm for new ideas, people and activities. Energetic, warm, and passionate, ENFPs love to help other people explore their creative potential.

ENFPs are typically agile and expressive communicators, using their wit, humor, and mastery of language to create engaging stories. Imaginative and original, ENFPs often have a strong artistic side. They are drawn to art because of its ability to express inventive ideas and create a deeper understanding of human experience."

To see what yours is:  http://www.truity.com/test/type-finder-research-edition

I did this test because I saw a link on Facebook that professes to tell you, if you are single, why you aren't in a relationship. 

"ENFJ You’re single because: You smothered the crap out of your last partner, who genuinely did not have anything left to “Open up” about. You’ll get into a relationship when: You go on the Bachelor and win." 

So, when hell freezes over! I hate that show! Plus I would never get on it even if I wanted to. I am way too old and not attractive enough for their screwed up standards. LOL!!!

"ENFP You’re single because: You have the attention span of a goldfish and cannot decide what you want. You’ll get into a relationship when: You find someone just unattainable enough to intrigue you for a significant period of time."

How do you have a relationship with someone unattainable?! Besides, been there and tried that and it does not work. Well actually, it's too much work. 

If you want to see what they think your relationship options are:  http://thoughtcatalog.com/heidi-priebe/2015/03/heres-why-youre-still-single-based-on-your-myers-briggs-personality-type/

Beginnings of my Scifi Doomsday book

Continued work on my "End of Civilization by Coronal Mass Ejection" book today. 

 Outlining and research in narrative form of cast of major characters and events. 

Still working on a title, but the above will suffice for now.

(Note: Copyright laws apply, all rights to materials on this blog are retained 

by Mary E. Hennessy unless attributed to other sources.)

Nicole White and Collin Callahan met through mutual friends at a barbecue in 2015. They immediately were drawn to each other by common interests in music and science. Both were imbued with a strong work ethic, so more often than not, courtship involved texting and phone calls. None the less, the relationship grew and they were married within two years.  

Nicole's mother died when she was 16 in a car accident followed by her father's death just months after the wedding from pneumonia. Her parents and grandparents had no siblings. This left Nicole with no blood relatives except for some distant cousins through her great-grandparents, none of whom she had ever met or communicated. 

Collin Callahan was born as the youngest of 2 brothers and in between 2 sisters. Collin's father became convinced after the 9/11 terrorist attacks that he needed to protect his family from catastrophes and became a doomsday prepper. The family moved to the Blue Ridge in Virginia and started building a survivalist compound. 

As each sibling finished school they began building two other compounds in mountainous areas, one outside of Asheville, North Carolina and one in the Rockies. They figured with each of them in different areas there was a bigger chance of some of them surviving what they were sure would come to pass, if not in their lifetimes, then in their children’s. Collin’s sister, Daimhin (pronounced Dahveen), went to medical school and started a practice in Asheville, so that she and Collin could build the compound together. Oldest brother, Adair, and youngest sister, Brigit, settled in Colorado. Adair was a dentist at the Air Force Academy and Brigit a surgical nurse at Children’s Hospital in Colorado Springs. They began building on a large property just west of Manitou Springs, Colorado. 

After learning of the Solar Superstorm that only missed Earth by a week in July 2012, the Callahans stepped up their dedication to ensuring disasters, both natural and human-caused, were survivable for themselves and select friends. Collin was a building contractor and spent all his free time working on their compound. Married in 2017, Nicole Callahan, took the job as administrative assistant for Daimhin’s medical practice. She also spent time looking for people to bring into their circle that would be assets in a crisis. Thinking long term and operating on the premise that civilization would be knocked back centuries, she looked for those skilled in husbandry and farming, hunting and fishing, weaving and sewing, metalsmithing and mining, whatever skills and occupations they were sure to need to survive. 

Daimhin kept her eye out for likely medical people including researchers. Collin looked for likely people in all facets of construction and engineering. People with multiple skills were of particular interest to the family. Those with military or police service or trained in survival skills including combat were towards the top of the list. Unrelated people with children were also towards the top. By the time Collin married Nicole the compound was ready to support 50 people. 

Within 5 years they were able to shelter up to 400.  In 2023 each of the 4 compounds had staffed and was housing ethnically and educationally diverse populations in the hundreds. Hundreds more were on the outside working hard to help support the survivalist mission. The groups were in communication with other survivalist groups around the world with many working in areas for prevention of some of the effects of power grid failure, such as nuclear reactor meltdown at power plants. Most of the US East Coast was in the danger zones of fallout from nuclear radiation if meltdown were to occur. 

By 2022 money, lobbying and research following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan had retrofitted plants with passive cooling systems or shutdown most of the world’s nuclear reactors. As the world began to embrace safer, renewable sources of energy the chances of radiation from reactor meltdown was nearly eradicated. The survivalist community was greatly relieved. Never-the-less those with survivalist goals were placed as employees in the at-risk plants to ensure safe shut down of reactors in the event a disaster would occur.

 January 5, 2024, at 14:18 military time NASA and NOAA issue a warning that a solar storm from a huge coronal mass ejection on our sun would reach Earth in as little as 12 hours. People were warned to get as far underground as possible and to stay in place for up to 36 hours. Estimates were that the event would be at peak for anywhere between 24 and 36 hours. In the U.S., the people associated with the Callahan compounds and many other survivalist groups were in protected shelter within 6 hours. The U.S. government had evacuated top level employees and their families to facilities in Colorado, Nevada and West Virginia. It was speculated that no more than 5000 were completely safe from the the solar storm. Those unprepared faced a survival rate the government estimated to be only 5 to 10 percent of the population in the first year following the solar storm. No one knew what the effects would actually be on the human body but there were more knowns than unknowns.

The Government experts were wrong. Ninety-five percent were dead in the first month. People in cities died more quickly with no electricity to run heating systems and provide sources of water and food. Many people froze to death in the first days following the destruction of the power grid. Within a week many more were dead from mob violence and looters. Fires burned unchecked and food became scarce. Two weeks after the event, people who had kept safe to that point were starting to die of starvation and had begun to resort to cannibalism. Those with medical needs died from lack of proper care or necessary medications. Cities became wastelands of the dead and decaying. 

The fall of civilization did not discriminate between the rich or the poor, the young or the old. City-dwelling doomsday preppers survived longer than those who had not prepared at all. It was just a matter of time for those who stayed in the city with no other place to go. The ability to travel was limited to walking and in the cold of winter through snow, kept most people in place to survive as best they could. Those in warmer climates lasted longer, but not by much, as violence and starvation brought much death. Rotting corpses brought disease. It also became apparent that many people’s minds had been damaged by the extraordinarily high electro-magnetic pulse that hit Earth. Behavior of the unlucky affected was very like that of Alzheimer’s patients. Many people lost their memories and became incapable of caring for themselves while some became violent. Those with damaged minds did not last long.

Small towns and rural areas fared better where people were more self-reliant to begin with. If they survived the winter and into the next growing season they were likely to make it through the chaos of the first months and years. People who heated with wood and had a sufficient supply source did not freeze to death. Those with canned goods, stocked root cellars and farm animals, particularly chickens and dairy cows for eggs and milk did not starve. Wells deep enough not to freeze and with manual pumps to back up electric pumps ensured those people did not suffer from lack of water. 

Unfortunately, with the lack of power, dams and locks began to fail and cause flooding with resultant loss of life near lakes and rivers. Of the 340 million in the U.S. alive on January 12, 2024, as winter turned faded to April only 1 million 700 thousand had survived those first 4 months. With 12 billion world-wide in the days before what became known at The Event, the best estimates were that only 84 million survived those first few months. Projections were that it would take 10 to 20 years to re-build power grids with the condition that those left could solidify into cooperative societies. 

To be continued and expanded as the mood to write hits me.........

Please let me know if you think I have flaws in my science!

It is easy to be stuck on the miserable. I choose to think of my life as always leading me somewhere interesting. The trick is dealing with and changing the things you hate in a positive way and coping with the things you can't change. I find inspiration in the strength of friends. 

The past year and a half have been extremely tough for one friend in particular. He oldest son died in an awful car crash. The strength she has had to keep putting one foot in front of the other and carrying on is an awesome thing to behold. She has worked through despair and immeasurable pain to endure and thrive. I have been blessed to be her friend and share her journey. 

My homage to this morning:

I. 

Awoke to puppy kiss

paws to chest, nose to wet nose

now she snores again

II.

Fog kisses the grass

dripping from wires and branches

warm and dry inside

III. 

Nature's elixir 

morning coffee calls my name

wake up with steamy goodness

My Heart Belongs to Eagle

Kristi Kay's post on The Swoon Society blog had me waxing nostalgic this morning. I am an Eagle Island person and was first introduced to the experience arriving in the fog. My family is lucky enough to have a cabin, Eaglecliff, on this magical island. My siblings, cousins and I all ran wild all over the island as kids. We played at the Schoolhouse on rainy days and ate Helene’s chocolate chip cookie’s while playing endless board and card games. On good days we hiked, fished, sailed and actually swam in the frigid water. First contact was in 1965. It is where I go to regain my serenity and decompress from life away. I wonder if Aaron was subjecting Kristi to the Island Relationship Test? My family jokes about it, but if a person doesn’t turn out to be an Island Person then that relationship is doomed. Friend doesn’t get it, forget it. Eagle is a place that can become part of your soul if you let it. Eagle is the most beautiful place I have ever been. The background of this blog is pictures of Eagle.

 http://theswoonsociety.com/2015/10/15/if-once-you-have-slept-on-an-island/comment-page-1/#comment-359

If once you have slept on an island
You’ll never be quite the same;
You may look as you looked the day before
And go by the same old name,
You may bustle about in street and shop
You may sit at home and sew,
But you’ll see blue water and wheeling gulls
Wherever your feet may go.
You may chat with the neighbors of this and that
And close to your fire keep,
But you’ll hear ship whistle and lighthouse bell
And tides beat through your sleep.
Oh! you won’t know why and you can’t say how
Such a change upon you came,
But once you have slept on an island,
You’ll never be quite the same.
— Rachel Lyman Field

Photo Gallery

The struggle continues....
Sometimes I feel like a Conehead, you know them, the characters from Saturday Night Live, eating and drinking "mass quantities". Yes, I am a binge eater. Portion control is my downfall. Happily, I have discovered Nutirsystem D; billed as "Helping You Manage Diabetes." Yes, it helps with portion control. I am learning to embrace the hunger or eat lots of non-starchy vegetables. I am also learning that sometimes a glass of water is what I need more than something to eat.

I am walking every day with my dogs, Shylow and Delilah. Sometimes we go for a little drive to get to a different route to walk. They like riding in the car almost as much as the walk. It seems like I am getting more exercise walking with them than alone. Amazing how less than twenty pounds of fur and eight legs can drag me along at a pretty good clip.

Fleas, a problem for all pet owners.....
Who else has been really struggling with this lately? A scheduled trip to the Vet (Banfield at PetSmart) a few weeks ago pointed at something that helps more than the topical application of liquid poison. Nitenpyram tablets start killing the fleas within half an hour of getting the tablets down their throats. Ah, the joys of giving pills to a pet! No hiding the pills in food to get them down. With my girls it's shove the pill as far as possible in their mouths followed by holding their mouths shut until they swallow. Fun times! Look for Dog & Cat MD Quick Tabs in the doses right for your dog's or cat's weight. (Cheaper than the other brand and the same stuff.) The beauty of it is that it can be given to them every day if that's what it takes to break the egg to flea cycle.

Two things working against me in my search for the perfect job: age discrimination and fat discrimination. I can't change that I am pushing 60 even though I am told I don't look or act 60 (what does that even mean?). My ability to lose weight has been a constant struggle, but it is the thing I can change. I know I need to eat fewer calories and the better choices along with increasing my physical activity in order to lose weight. It seems like such simple things to do. The added complications of chronic metabolic disorders do not help. Other people have done it. I don't want to hit my 60th birthday in March still classified as morbidly obese. I want to be off all my diabetic medications, blood pressure and cholesterol medication. I won't give up my migraine prevention meds or my antidepressant even though I know they work against my weight loss goals.

My most recent A1C result (measurement of blood sugar control over time) was 7.1. This is much better than a year ago when I had hit over 14, which is seriously bad. My doctor wants me to get into the 6's. I need to find a way to work around my tendency to binge eat when I am stressed or depressed. Recently, I saw a program about people like me. Binge eating is now considered a medical condition along with bulimia and anorexia. It is like being a bulimic without the purging after the binge. It feels like something snaps inside me and I become an eating machine. I eat the worst things for my metabolism and diabetes. What I eat doesn't even have to taste all that great, it just has to be carbs.

I have been researching what to do to change and manage my issues. Atkin's doesn't work as I do need some carbs and it is too restrictive for a diabetic. It can cause kidney problems even in relatively healthy people. The kidneys and liver are vulnerable to damage from the diabetes and poor food choices.

The other issue I have is hypothyroidism. I had thyroid cancer several years ago and had the right lobe of my thyroid removed. The other half was supposed to take up the slack and didn't. I will be on Levothyroxin, a synthetic thyroid hormone, for the rest of my life. It has been difficult to find the right dosage. Sleep apnea contributes to a slower metabolism. I use a CPAP machine when I sleep and that does help. The incidences of apnea are down to 3 or 4 a night instead of the 300 that was measured with a sleep study.

The biggest key to change will be planning and following the plan. I am using the plan from "The Diabetes Breakthrough" by Osama Hamdi. The publisher's blurb states he is "A senior Harvard Medical School diabetologist and top exercise physiologist share a proven and effective 12-week plan to reverse diabetes, lose weight and ditch the medication for good." Obviously, it will take me a lot more time than 12 weeks to loose 140 pounds.

My goals in the 12 weeks left to 2015: the book says I should be able to healthily lose 60 to 70 pounds if I follow the plan to the letter. Realistically, considering what I know of myself, I am hoping for 2 to 3 pounds a week for a total of 30 pounds. If I work out as much as I need to and build muscle mass, 3 pounds a week is very do-able.  I have 24 weeks until my birthday. My plan is to be halfway to goal on my birthday and at goal a year from now. One of my problems in the past has been giving myself unrealistic goals. It is time to work smarter, not harder and avoid the failure mentality. Wish me luck and pray for strength and success!

GEEKING OUT

For the past week I have been trying to work on my writing, just not here. The novel I am writing is slow going, mostly because I am researching my science facts. Science Fiction is a genre I love to read, except when the science is flawed or inaccurate. Recently, I read a series of books about people who were chosen to start a colony on another planet as Earth was succumbing to ecological meltdown. The author described

the new planet as being 100,000 miles from Earth with a sun not our own. Our moon is 238,900 miles from us, which places the new planet less than halfway to the Moon! Aggravating that this author couldn't even be bothered to do the simple research to have a more plausible distance. I could understand if this were written by a kid to whom 100,000 miles seems like a huge distance, however this was written by an adult.

Fact check people! If you are publishing on-line then you obviously have internet access, so Google the heck out of the thing!

I am researching solar flares and mass coronal ejections, specifically the affects and effects of resulting EMP's on technology and biological creatures. I found it fascinating that there is a proven link between high solar flare activity and an increase of suicide in women. It is also know that electromagnetic fields can cause mutation with long enough exposure at high enough concentrations. Oddly enough, I haven't been very successful in finding further research on how EMP activity can alter biologic systems. This aspect of my book will be pushing the envelope of current information. At least I will have a foundation in actual science.


.....Speaking of the Moon, did anyone have an unclouded view of Sunday's lunar eclipse? I only caught a few brief glimpses through the cloud cover. So disappointing since this particular confluence of circumstances won't be
seen again for 18 years. I hope I live that long and the next time the weather cooperates!!




Liquid water on Mars! Awesome! Someday, maybe my theory that the human race started on Mars will have a chance to be verified. Mars as Atlantis or even the Garden of Eden anyone? Maybe after I finish "Pulse" I will task myself with a Mars mystery.

Have a great day and keep reaching for the stars. Maybe you will be living on Mars some day!

My painting muscles are out of shape! I spent two days painting to decide on a project to teach to my Red Hat ladies and my shoulder aches! It was so much fun, so it was very worth the ache. Got my creative juices flowing. Crafting this weekend!! I've got to go in the shed and dig out all my crafting supplies. Doing that tomorrow afternoon.

Appointments in Fredericksburg tomorrow: dogs to the vet, blood tests for me, and an interview. I wish I didn't have to drop the dogs off as early as they want them!! If only they had build a PetSmart instead of PetCo in King George!!