SECURITY BLANKET

"I used to get high for a living" by John Butler

Excerpt:

"I used to get high for a living

Believing everything that i saw on my tv

I used to get high for a living

Eating all the bullshit food that they sold me

I used to get high for a living

Thinking that my destiny was out of my control

I used to get high for a living

There's lots of different reasons and I'll tell you so

Got links of the cheney

Getting crazy, getting lazy with their foreign relations

Starting wars, closing doors

Trying to bring about one quicker, man, revelations

Economic rational calling fouls with the workers

Just trying to make it pay

Cost cutting, head butting

Big business do what they like and you do what they say

What's wrong get along, just prolong all the thoughts

You got going on, on the inside

Appease, stand at ease, just try to please

All the apathy that you're trying to hide

How now brown cow

Did we get from this standing place......

And now we're kneeling

'Til then my friend you must contend with the monster that you're feeding."

I feel scared, that there's a war coming. One with nuclear bombs. I said to a friend, I might just get into bed and pull the covers over my head. 

What security "blanket" do you have for coping with fear?

 

Security blanket Yellow duck, sold at Ravelry site. 

 I know my hubby likes to read too many books. Library, thrift shop (op shop), fétes, anywhere he can get them, are called upon to satisfy his insatiable appetite for any ripping yarn that will take him out of the here and now. Meanwhile I'm saying, how about mowing the lawn?

Some people have alcohol, some drugs, gambling, I remember reading a magazine article about the fans that go to every performance of a chosen musical, wherever they can get to it. Of course they know every word. Tickets to see musicals are not cheap. So there must be a payoff, in " happiness", they can't be thinking about the real world while they are feeding their addiction. 

Ancient Rome used to put on gladiator sports in great stadiums, to distract the populace. It was thought "bread and circuses" would stop the people from rioting. Australians don't go for rioting much. Maybe because we have a stadium sport too, called football. The Aussie rules version is an infectious disease:

 

Many people find religion to be helpful. Mine has helped me all my life. The communists described religion as "the opium of the people". 

 

Then there are the shopaholics. Of course, if they buy too much, they then have to worry about where to put it all, and how to pay the bills?

I thought about security blankets we all have variations of, when I saw the link at the bottom of this post. It's about an orphaned disabled goat, and what the carers put on it to soothe it's extreme anxiety. A must read, on the cuteness scale, it's a 12 out of 10. 

But first:

Here's the must see article, please come back afterward and leave your comments below.

anxious goat link

Matthew 6:25-34 From the Bible:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ..."

MARRIAGES OF CONVENIENCE

"Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger
(When I'm in need)
But she ain't messin' wit no broke, broke
(She give me money)
Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger
(When I'm in need)
But she ain't messin' with no broke, broke"

Songwriters

West, Kanye Omari / Richard, Renalds / Charles, Ray

 

There are many reasons besides love, why people get married. Security, for self or children, free s@x, immigration papers, the woman's body clock ticking overtime, the "honour" or prosperity of the families of the couple, saving face amongst one's friends, following the crowd. 

From Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen:

"I see what you are feeling," replied Charlotte. "You must be surprised, very much surprised—so lately as Mr. Collins was wishing to marry you. But when you have had time to think it over, I hope you will be satisfied with what I have done. I am not romantic, you know; I never was. I ask only a comfortable home; and considering Mr. Collins' character, connection, and situation in life, I am convinced that my chance of happiness with him is as fair as most people can boast on entering the marriage state." 

 

That is as old as the world. All of the arts have been used to describe it. In many cases both parties get what they want out of it, albeit temporarily. In some cases, they don't. 

In Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, a musical movie made in 1954, the main male character comes to town from the backwoods, to get equipment, supplies, and take home a wife, also. I like this movie, mainly for the dancing.

Superficially, the appearance of marriages of convenience, seems to have changed in the 21 st century in the western world. I don't think it has much, though working women have put a different slant on it. 

 

 

In traditional countries where arranged marriages are practised, there is an added element. Certainly, in many cases, the persons arranging the marriage would appear to do their research on the bride or groom well. Sometimes the essential character of the person escapes even their eagle eyes. 

 

 

 

When I married my second husband, I had money, and he did not. I had a disabled son, that he assisted me to raise. I was also in love with him and still am. He said he loved me. So there was reciprocity. Nevertheless, my mother was opposed before the wedding. He proposed only ten days after our first date. I said yes, as he wasn't a stranger, and I was very attracted, but I worried about if I was doing the right thing for the engagement period, mostly for my son's sake. Mum was nice to him at the wedding, however, later she died. 

Nowadays I am a "struggling" writer and live off his wage, but together with our own child in a house I own. We are well past the 15 year mark now. We still embarrass our daughter by displays of affection, and make her laugh with our funny bickering. Every now and again in big fights, I accuse him of marrying me for money (dirty fighting , I know). Certainly that's what my friends, family and lawyer thought, but I was in love, and he said he was. Then there were the love notes from him that I saved, that couldn't be bought in any store. He was a good father to his stepchild, on balance.

 

 

 

 

The problem with judging other people's marriages, is that we don't see what goes on behind closed doors, or in hearts. 

"When it comes to relationships, maybe we're all in glass houses, and shouldn't throw stones. Because you can never really know. Some people are settling down, some are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than Butterflies..."

Carrie Bradshaw in "S@x and the City"

A marriage of convenience can become a love match, or not. Then many love matches from the start, become a disaster:  as real love takes work, or because people change, or they may have misrepresented themselves before the wedding. The danger is mistaking infatuation for love. 

GREEN CARD

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This movie , Green Card, from 1990, deals with a marriage of convenience. The woman desperately wants to live in an apartment that has a beautiful greenhouse filled with plants. However, the body corporate will only allow a married couple. 

Meanwhile, the (French) man wants to accept a job in America, and wants to marry to get a green card. I enjoyed this movie when I saw it at release. 

Written this week, following a US crackdown on immigration:

"I am Yemeni immigrant
My wife's American citizen
I am in Djibouti since 2 years i am waiting MY visa interview appointment on MARCH
I don't care about any fucking religion i just want live in BETTER LIFE, SAFE , PROSPERITY
I have nothing to eat in Djibouti and i am in miserable life
Why Trump blocked us
What did i do
I want know what is my fault
I miss my wife too much
I swear accounting the seconds and minutes to see her
America is the country of immigrants
And i can't go back to Yemen and i am financial support broke and I want live in SAFE
America is the country if the human rights and the freedom and justice
I love you all guys
GOD BLESS YOU AND AMERICA"

Fahd Mohammed Magrebi

 

Very good link , worth opening, makes me think:

secret reasons people marry -link

Clean lyrics of Gold Digger, originally by Kanye West

"Gold digger" lyrics -link

LEAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON.

DOOMSDAY CLOCK

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"Hey now, all you sinners
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you lovers
Put your lights on, put your lights on

Hey now, all you killers
Put your lights on, put your lights on
Hey now, all you children
Leave your lights on, you better leave your lights on"

by Eric Schrody.

This video reminds me of a serious health scare I had a year ago. I just realised I "made it" for a year. Hubby said "I hope there will be many more" which was sweet. 

At the beginning of the video song clip, in this post, the singer says it was inspired by his heart surgery. He had to reevaluate himself. 

Captain Jean Picard of "Star Trek" has serious heart surgery in the future which he has put off too long and tried to ignore. As a result he nearly dies:

 

Last week, scientists advanced the Doomsday clock closer to midnight than it ever has been before. We could all face our annihilation if there is a major war, especially nuclear. We all need to "put the lights on" and get ready for that possibility. Today my family walked into a church in Traralgon, and prayed for world peace. Peace so the refugees could go home. Peaceful dialogue and compromises between world powers. Loving our neighbours as ourselves. Because love beats hate. 

 

"This is from an interview he (Everlast)  had with 'E Online'.

"Put Your Lights On was probably one of the most personal songs I wrote. It was written right after I had a major heart surgery, came really close to dying and was just coming out of that whole state of mind of realizing that I was gonna live. That's where the whole 'Put Your Lights on' thing comes in. It's just kind of about hope, but coming from a really dark place. and really questioning a lot of your beliefs. It came straight from the soul. It's really deep to me."
-Everlast

1Seamus1on June 30, 2009   "

Matthew 25New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

By Jesus.

THE NEW WHITEHOUSE ETIQUETTE

CRAWLING AT THE WHITEHOUSE.

Trump grandson crawls this week for the first time, emulating his forebear.

 

An order may be signed for everyone to crawl. 

 

Spot in the picture:

Ivanka and son

Iggi  the lizard.

Zorro the grey goldendoodle.

Fizzfan's black cat.

Toat's black cat Dammit.

Goldendoodle.

Pence.

Tea party.

Carpet munchers.

Kathy's white dog.

Margo's White cat.

Reporter.

Flunkeys.

 

AUSTRALIAN CRAWL-  "Throw down your guns. Don't be so reckless"

ACERULES- "Put the safety on first."

 

DISCLAIMER :NO FLUNKEYS WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS POST.

MILK IT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH.

DAIRY COUNTRY

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Copyright Acerules

 

 

 

 

Another big industry in our greater area is dairy. There is some beef production too.  Everywhere around are cow paddocks. The milking sheds are modern and packed with stainless steel. Stainless steel tankers come to collect the milk.  The industry is a needed employer here. Sometimes when things are quiet I can hear the cows lowing in the paddocks on the edge of town. I follow a blog from a dairy farmer in our region. It's very good. They seem to love their cows. Today's post did not disappoint:

milk maid link

THE DRIVER'S SEAT.

CONTROL

I have a friend

who says I'm bad.

She says I "control", 

or I get "mad." 

I accuse her of

the self same thing.

She's got no right, 

there ain't a ring. 

What is control

and what is care? 

How much to say

before they scare?

I walk too much

where angels won't.

It is their life

and  they must own't.

I must admit

with my Mum gone, 

I like advice, 

feel less alone. 

I take the bits

that work, enhanced.

They cannot know

my circumstance.

 Control away

I have no pride.

Because it's you

I couldn't mind.

Copyright Self raising flowers.

I heard this cool song remake and thought she might relate to it. My Dad is also fiercely independent. 

you don't own me remake lyrics link

Comments on this topic are welcome.

I AM A PROUD AUSTRALIAN

AUSTRALIA DAY 2017

HOWYAGOINMATEORRIGHT?

Well I was born here, in the Latrobe Valley. I have been to all states except Western Australia. It's a long way away, but I hope to go there too. I don't know when all my ancestors migrated here, but I know one lot of my father's came out to a local port here in the 1840s from Scotland. I know my (first) in laws came out from England in either the first or second fleet, I can't remember which, in the late 1700s. 

I never forget, born here or not, I'm still a "blow in" (newby) , compared to the traditional owners of this land, the indigenous Australian aboriginals. 

When you drive the highways of Australia, you find out how really big it is. Getting away from the cities the sky is huge. 

Australians who grow up here are tough, easy going, laid back (same thing), mostly tolerant, inventive, down to earth, egalitarian, funny, insulting , patient, hospitable, fighters. These qualities are part of our psyche. They are ingested with our Vegemite as weaning babies. If you come here, be prepared to be called terrible names as terms of endearment. Be prepared to work hard or be called a bludger. Be prepared to take hardship without much complaint, to learn to understate bad weather, or disaster. These qualities make our military some of the best fighters in the world. But in my experience, they havnt got much on the working class mothers, their hair in ponytails, that everyone is too scared to cross. The battlers of Australia are its true heroes, including the townsfolk, sailors, farmers, miners, health workers, or Australian indigenous aboriginals. All they ask for is a "fair go", and they will be there for their fellow Australian, or someone across the World. Because "I am, you are, we are Australian", and that means something exceptional. 

MY COUNTRY BY DOROTHEA  MACKELLAR:

"The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze ...

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly. "

** 

Taken tonight:

 

Copyright Acerules

 

Copyright Acerules

To my fellow Aussies, a word about language. Let's not go losing our culture through neglect. It's not inevitable, work on keeping our words. It's not a cookie, it's not a drug store, as I saw in the city the other day, orright? Let's keep our language in circulation. We might be multicultural now, but what we have is uniquely ours. Plus, can we please stop selling off our icons? At least Vegemite is coming home to Aussie hands at last. 

A shout out to my international mates. Come to visit our country and don't leave it too long. You will wonder why you put it off. In addition, if a dinky di (real ) Aussie calls you Mate, or Cobber and means it, that is a thing to treasure, because the respect and love of an Aussie is hard won and worth having, and he or she will have your back, whether you are "in a stoush" or "down on your luck. "

INVASION DAY

"This land was never given up
This land was never bought and sold
The planting of the union jack
Never changed our law at all."

Yothu Yindi- "Treaty"

For many years there was a ceremony on 26 th January, overlooking Sydney Harbour, where the traditional owners of the land there mourned the landing of Captain Cook in Sydney, and planting of the British flag, calling Australia Terra Nullis or vacant land for the taking. This day has been celebrated as Australia Day, and now there are louder and persistent calls for it to be resumed as a day of mourning only, and Australia Day moved to another date. This year there were petitions, editorials, and marches all around Australia about this issue. They think that 50,000 turned out in Melbourne alone . 

The crowd marches for Invasion Day

 

This next clip is in memory of my first husband, who loved "The Oils" , you are never forgotten.

The song was written about outback aboriginals. All were affected the day the Brits landed on the day we currently call Australian Day. The aboriginals were here over 40,000 years before we , that came later. They had strong relationships with their lands, their own nations, laws and customs. Here's what the song is about, in the link :

beds are burning link

Please feel free to comment below.

THE WHITE BALL

AN EVENING OUT

ENJOYING PRE-DINNER SOFT DRINKS AND A POOL GAME OR TWO:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON THE WAY HOME:

 

AVALANCHE

"Most avalanches would be rhetorical. Because how do you answer an avalanche, (unless you're another avalanche?" )

by Acerules.

IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO WENT TO SLEEP AND NEVER WOKE UP UNDER THE ITALIAN AVALANCHE LAST WEEK. 

 

Copyright Acerules.