Know Any Vegetarians? Tell Them About Catskill Animal Sanctuary

My apologies for being out of touch these past few months, but I’m still in the throes of funerals, cleanouts, and Christmas. I’m writing today because of a plea I received from Catskill Animal Sanctuary, an organization I told you about in October. (Remember Rambo?)

Founder Kathy Stevens, who now blogs for the Huffington Post as well as for CAS, was challenged to raise 1.5 million $mackeroo$ for her farm rescues. If she does so by the end of today, that money will be matched by some generous individual.

She’s close, but about $100,000 short.

Now I realize that most Lull readers have little cash in reserve, but maybe you know someone in better financial health who can spare some green for neglected and abused farm animals. Or for the programs Stevens has developed to educate people about agribusiness.

Please spread the word. Let’s help her get that match.

[Pictured are Goosezilla and Babe from CAS.]

Another Christmas Eve, Another Year Older

Yup. Today was my birthday and my mother asked if I felt a year older.

“A YEAR older? I feel TEN years older!” I cried. And right then I knew I had to turn back the clock. I had to have a good day in spite of how I felt.

So I did. I took my husband to Paris for a few hours. Kentucky, that is.

Horses dotted every snow-blanketed hill on the way and stone fences paralleled our route. Not much was open in the small downtown, but it was a pleasure just to stroll the sidewalks.

Tonight, as Christmas Eve becomes Christmas, it’s snowing—apparently only about the 13th white Christmas the area has known since 1872.

Now I feel young again. Feel like I should put some cookies out for St. Nick…

[Art courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.]

He’s Headed This Way…

Are you ready?

Going Forward

“It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.”
—From The Reptile Room: Or, Murder! by Lemony Snicket [Daniel Handler]

[Pic from Pigtown Design of Stenton in Philadelphia.]

Stranger in a Strange Land – No. 7

A Link Between Kissing and Hunting

I’ve always fancied the look of mistletoe—its small pearlescent berries, its delicate rounded leaves. But I never thought much about where it grew, only that I could usually locate it at a local florist come Christmastime. I guess I presumed it to be a cousin of the holly bush.

But I was so wrong.

Am I the only one who didn’t know that mistletoe is a parasite? Grows high in the branches of majestic trees? Is hunted here in the South? Yes, hunted.

Folks actually seek out trees where the mistletoe has rooted and shoot at the evergreen to bring it down. Shooting mistletoe and taking it to market can be a lucrative pastime; it can also be a frustrating endeavor.

I noticed that the discovery of a new type of mistletoe in Mozambique made the news this week. And when looking for a photo I could post on Lull, I learned a bit of mistletoe history (it’s the floral emblem of Oklahoma and was used on gravesites when other flowers weren’t affordable or available).

Well, ain’t that somethin’? Now when you sneak a kiss under the mistletoe ball, you’ll know the lore and travails behind the Christmas tradition.

This is part of an ongoing series regarding my transition from the Land of Lincoln to the Bluegrass State. For a list of previous articles in the series, type Stranger in a Strange Land into Lull’s search function on the right.

It’s Here!

First Day of Winter…

[Pic from Simply Marvelous: The Wonderful World of Horses.]

Robert S. Jackson

31 August 1928 ¬ 15 December 2010

“Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second.
Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity!”
–Paul Gauguin

Testing, Testing

This is a test. This is only a test. Really. Different computer, different hardware, different software, different fonts, same blogger. Just experimenting with the graphics quality, which so far has failed to impress me. But I’ll have to get used to it or explore some workarounds.

Happy December 1, by the way. Appropriately, it snowed here today.

[Pic from CaveRun.org.]