Cremation and Kay's Kitchen

We had decided to go to the Cape out of the blue one weekend in the snow of winter.A huge storm hit and the night of the storm we all gathered into Kay's kitchen to tell tales and drink tea.
Well we hadn't gotten to far into it when Allan came in all fussin and stopping off the snow.
Up went one of the older girls and soon settled him in with a hot mug of tea, and he was off a tellin too.
One story spoke os a light in the window on the night of a birth or the night before the birth, not sure.
Allan was at his best with the telling and the hospitality second to none in Kay's kitchen,where she had told many tales of the like in bygone nights before.Allan asked "Finn do you know that old road over the marsh road that goes up into the mountain?" "Been on it many times Allan but not for a few years now pretty washed out in places, no one haulin out of there anymore(logs)"
Allan sat quiet sipped a bit more tea all was quiet, "well I was up there last year with my aunts car on a Saturday and got stuck?' Oh we all had a great laugh at this imaginative scene. Allan had always seemed a bit funny in the head and he was mostly always drunk!!!!So it seemed quit the natural way for him,as sweet a soul as he is.But no one was prepared for what came out of the man's mouth next.For there had always been a high regard for the church and other holy things in Kay's kitchen.
"Yes !!!", he said,"I worked on that damn wheel in ice for two hours,then I looked on the back window,so I used the ashes that were in the back seat.". This at first seemed a puzzle that strange looks in his direction  soon set straight!!!
"Me cousin you se,e had been buried two weeks afore,the ashes in the Urn were on the back window,so I used a few and got the wheel out!!!
Holy Mother of GOD!!!! was the look on every woman's face in the room!!!!!then we roared with sweet laughter!!!!! There was nothing to be made of it now!!!!!!

Witt

These tales are of no connection to real people and are only my own hearsay.They are blessed moments from me,friends and those we love.


Locki and Kay had just walked into the farmhouse after a car trip to town."How'd it go?" asked their son Finn.
"Och! I don't like ridin with that one," replied Kay, "He backed out of the Co-op and hit a poust!!" Finn smiled.
Locki was in the porch knockin off snow from his boots,then he came lightly around the corner into the kitchen,cocked his head to one side and said"Woman have yas no pity at all"?Then with a slight twist of his shoulder follows it up with,"she didn't say a word about the 6 I didn't hit!!

Framing Lessons

I heard recently one can pay for  farming lessons,and I smiled to myself,my dad was one of three sons born to a farmer and I was raised in farming ways in Southern New Brunswick.
As a young girl I had no older siblings so me and my dad did a lot of stuff together,cars,fishing,gardening,and storytelling.He loved to make people laugh.
I loved my dad's brother david just the same as my dad they were always hangin out together and around old cars.Motor-jobs and tranny's were there specialities.They were happy to combine the new and the old worlds.Dad was going into town one day, and so was I, until we stopped at Uncle David's, and saw that he was killing some chickens, it was spring thaw and he had a surplus in the hen house. So I stayed to help Uncle David and dad came back for me later on.
We did a few then went in for lunch David weighed in at 380 lbs and loved to eat.Aunt Myrtle had made a good feed of Mackeral and potatoes with cream and cucumber.My favorite to this day.
Dad arrived back in a few hours sporting a brand new laminated polyester jacket. We all went out to the hen house to start a new batch of chickens.We didn't have very many left when dad looks over and says "Here Caithleen let me help you, your not doing that right", and he proceeded to grab a chicken by the wing and legg on the right and them same on the left."See ya take a wing and a leg in each hand then you shove the head unto the block"! As he shoved the head Uncle came down with a great BLOW!!! and all the SHIT of CHICKEN sprays back on the new bought jacket, like a spring lawn sprayer!!!!
I'm laughing so hard i got pain in my sides and Uncle just looks up and says "ok Caithleen the last ones yours" with a big grin from ear to ear. dad headed to the house to get cleaned off.
Im still smiling cause I never did get on on dad very often!!!!!This is one of my favorite memories of hangin out with Dad and Uncle David.I was age 12 at the time yet carry the lesson with me to this very day.Keep your chickens legs together. 

Gabriel Byrne slams The Gathering

Gabriel Byrne slams The Gathering

Good Intentions ??

The snow falls quietly on a winter sleepy Bay as my cat is curled up here beside me and the keys, in his deep place of dreams where he visits all to often it seems.
My mind today wonders how a boy who is now a man is living.His name is Bobby.He and his thirty year old mom Gloria were my first clients at an outreach program for kids that never did quit get off the ground.To many chiefs in the fire I think.I spent over 20 years in social work and this is the saddest tale of my experiences, and the most unnecessary in all so many ways,Yet only in hindsight do we learn some things in life; seems to be the most important ones.Also Social work does not seem to want to allow much room for ones intuition.This case is one of the reasons I'm not working in the system today mostly because I get blindsided by the formalities and ritualism around me.Anyway lets get on with the tale.
Bobby was sad when we met and very confused ,he loved his mom very much and did not understand the disease of addiction nor schizophrenia, from which his mother suffered.So we began very slowly,to unwind the horrible fears and misunderstandings of this little man's 12 years old mind.
I reported to a case worker who reported to a case supervisor who reported to their case worker in children's services who reported to the director of children's said services who reported at times to a Judge and the Legal system.Deep.
Bobby and I went to the beach,opened a bank account,visited with friends,took long walks in the parks, and talked about is problems and how to find solutions,slowly he began to learn that he did not case it and could not cure his mom.He was angry that all his stuff had been sold to support her cocaine habit another side of things he did not want to have to understand.I decided he did not have to and so we didn't go there.I got some of his stuff like a stereo and some blankets returned to him, a nice bed and a few other things.He showed up one day with a nice camera, I think he lifted it but I had bigger fish to fry.To me it was just another symptom of the disease he was being handed.We moved over it for the most part I spoke to the thoughts I was having he just smiled.He was a nice cute kid.Grade six and for the first time was missing classes.
Why could not the system slow down for him!!!Was there an alternative for him.He told me he felt outside of everyone there he did not fit in.He was right.Was there someplace he did fit tin that was not behind bars.
He was coming along very well even at times happy and trusting the little boy was not shut off.He said to me one day "you know what Kate I've done more stuff with you in six months then I did with my mom in 13 years.sad yet in some deep way I felt rewarded for my efforts and we drove on to the library.
About eight months in to the case I got a call Bobby and one of this buddies had dared each other and stole some change for a car.Something that as my friend from Dublin put it later on a Grandmother could have made right."Now you take that back and apologize," kind of thing.Oh No!!!this asshole pressed charges and I am left to believe that the case guy I was working with did not do to much to stop him from calling the police into court action.So we go to court and Bobby gets 20 hours of community services!!!!We have a talk and he is pissed off but he calms down after a few days.He is confused about the way it was handled as was I .
My case supervisor was a very up standing member of a local religion,a teacher in Martial arts,and had worked in social services for many years.He did not however know the ways of the poor or remember the shoes he had walked in.I asked my case worker that Bobby be able to remain in his own community to do his community hours.It would look good onto the community around him and just maybe he could meet some better kids in the HOOD and believe me they are there. Oh NO!!! Asshole has a jock friend who he buys all his expensive camping stuff from and want to impress him!!! So Bobby preforms to the hilt in a week he took the job of cleaning up in a space that sells 2000.00 bikes,500.00 tents,35.00 water bottles and guess what?????God knows how much stuff he took,and it looked good on them!!!BUT he got caught and then ended up in detention, where he will learn to hide the pain like his mom.WHY???So unnecessary!!!!!
Thank god today many years  later  I was one of the people who started social workers from poor communities working to make change within those communities.There is a big picture and remember the road to hell is paved with good intentions.Just cause you got money don't make you wise don't make you smart especially about how others live  life.I really don't need your permission to live with what I have nor to do what I want with it.You are not here because you owe anything to the Universe.There is enough on Mother earth for all of us except some are greedy.I have seen all to often the trouble I have to go through to keep it.We all pay it forward.We share our strengths and our hope for a lighter more loving sensitive world.God Bless and may you walk in Beauty all the days of your life.

Aristia, a new age spiritual on-line UK store. Crystals Singing Bowls, Pythagorean Tuning Forks, Books, Video, DVD, CD, Music, Rainbow Crystals, Tarot Cards, Essential Oil, Aura Soma - Crystal Oversoul Attunements

Aristia, a new age spiritual on-line UK store. Crystals Singing Bowls, Pythagorean Tuning Forks, Books, Video, DVD, CD, Music, Rainbow Crystals, Tarot Cards, Essential Oil, Aura Soma - Crystal Oversoul Attunements

Caithleen Carter Steeves

Caithleen Carter Steeves