Welcome Sasha!

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It’s a new year, and we decided to celebrate by taking in a puppy. Everyone, meet Sasha.

She's always in motion

As you can see, she’s always in motion. Except when the puppy energy runs out and she falls asleep.

sleeping Sasha

Sasha is a pure-bred (but not registered) black Lab (Labrador Retriever). Born on September 9, she is just under 8 weeks old, and a Virgo. To give you an idea of her size, the ‘Kong’ chewtoy in this next picture is about 3 inches long.

She was very quiet the first night, and seems content to sleep in her crate (which is big enough for the dog she will eventually become) and chew on her toys. She seems to be teething and so we’re really having to stay on top of the ‘don’t bite’ lessons. Her grasp of potty training is . . . variable. Ah well — we humans don’t do as well when we’re her age either.

It’s very exciting, and overwhelmingly cute.

Persephone Reborn Won!!!

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About a month ago I submitted a story Dan Myers and I wrote several years ago — Persephone Reborn — to the Spirit One Writers Contest. Yesterday, I received this:

First of all congratulations and thank you for your submissions.  Go here to read the entire Spirit One WebZine V 100

http://www.paganshopping.com/spiritone/

FIRST PRIZE

Persephone Reborn by Lisa Mc Sherry and Daniel Myers
“Kore, my child so tender and mild,dance while flowers sing praises to you . . .” And dance Kore did. Spinning to the beat of springtime. The springtime of the year and of her life.
http://www.earthspirits.org/xoops/modules/zmagazine/article.php?articleid=18

*happy dancing*

Go read the story — feedback and comments are welcomed!

’tis the Season

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Two years ago, and just about a week more, my father’s wife died. Her passing was gentle, but her decline was not.

On Saturday, October 20th, my mother’s father died. He died peacefully and with only a gentle exhalation of breath to mark his passing. His oldest daughter was reading to him at the time. His decline into death was marked by increasingly ‘crazy’ behavior on his part and his admittance into the hospital was at the request of my grandmother, to keep him (and her) safe from his dementia.

With my grandfather’s passing, I will have attended three funerals in the last five years (my father’s father was the first , in March 2003) and there are no more males in that generation of my family. The women, as they do, go on.

I find myself reflecting on the lessons I am being given with these deaths. At being able to watch the process of grief play out across the family and related community. At participating in the grief myself, to varying degrees of visibility. For one thing: funerals, of  some type or another, are vital for those of us still living. Even my father, the atheist, was comforted by the funeral mass held for his wife (no body, just a glorious picture of her in a black frame with flowers in a vase nearby). He didn’t expect it, and was doing a mass only because something was needed and it was the most familiar framework for those attending.  But it helped him.

My grandfathers had the more traditional viewing (which some call a wake, but unless there is booze and singing, it ain’t a wake in my book) of the body, followed by a funeral the next day, and the burial. My father’s father had a military funeral — no mass, just readings and music and the casket draped with the flag. My mother’s father will have a catholic mass (another opportunity for those of us who no longer practice to be conspicuous as we do not stand to take communion) followed by a military funeral. (No 21 gun salute — mom nixed that — but Taps will be played).

My grandfather, the one being buried later today, was not embalmed. I am now in agreement with not doing so, in as many cases as possible. If only for the environment, and to allow the natural process of decay to work faster. But also because the embalmed and painted bodies I’ve seen don’t look a whole lot other than what they are: dead. I find it incredibly creepy when someone exclaims “He looks so good!” I know they mean well, but only tact prevents me from answering sarcastically.

I am, literally, dumbfounded

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China tells living Buddhas to obtain permission before they reincarnate

Tibet’s living Buddhas have been banned from reincarnation without permission from China’s atheist leaders. The ban is included in new rules intended to assert Beijing’s authority over Tibet’s restive and deeply Buddhist people.

“The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and invalid,” according to the order, which comes into effect on September 1.

from: www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece

China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA) says it will approve all reincarnations to determine if they are illegal or invalid.

“It is an important move to institutionalize management on reincarnation living Buddhas,” says SARA.

from: www.panasianbiz.com/2007/08/reincarnation_of_living_buddha.html

Ratcheting up its control over Tibetan Buddhism, China on Friday asserted the sole right to recognize living Buddhas, reincarnations of famous lamas that form the backbone of the religion’s clergy.

All future incarnations of living Buddhas related to Tibetan Buddhism “must get government approval,” the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the State Administration for Religious Affairs.

from: http://goldsea.com/Asiagate/708/03buddhas.html

Yes folks, thats right. The Communist Chinese regime has banned reincarnation by Buddhas and bodhisattvas without permission from the government.

No further comment on my part.

Drak.net Goes Green!

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Drak.net is my webhost, has been for year. The recently sent me this notice, and I’m darned proud to be passing it along.:

We wanted to send out this special announcement that as of today, DrakNet is now 100% Carbon Neutral, and you can now brag that your website is truly green.

DrakNet now purchases Green Tags monthly for the amount of energy that is used to run the servers, lights, etc. Green Certificates (also known as Green Tags) are a simple way to offset the use of carbon-based energy sources and effectively power a business (or your home) on 100% renewable energy resources, without changing electricity providers.

We have chosen to purchase Green Tags for 110% of our carbon footprint, for 100% solar power. What this means is that for any energy DrakNet uses in our operations, that same amount of energy (+10% in case our calculations are incorrect) will be pumped back into the grid from solar power generation, essentially “cleaning” the energy, neutralizing our negative effect on the earth, and allowing us to claim to be “solar powered” and “green”.

DrakNet struggled for several years between our energy consumption, and service – there are solar hosts in a few solar data centers. The pricing, however, both for shared and dedicated servers is no where near economical and would effectively negate the pricing structure our clients have come to rely on, and their reliability is not yet up to the par of a world class data center.

By purchasing certified green certificates (or green tags), we have been able to negate our power hungry servers and make sure that our impact on the earth is neutralized.

We look forward to the day when solar energy data centers offer as much value as power hungry data centers – and when they do, we will be there.

As always, thanks for choosing DrakNet!
Always blue, but now completely green!
http://www.drak.net

Booklist

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Technocowboy and I were talking about books we like/love/recommend. He posted his list (here). Here’s mine:

CS Friedman:

Everything. Start with In Conquest Born and then move right along. Her take on the vampire mythos (The Madness Season) is unique. This Alien Shore will get you thinking about technology and our interaction with it in a new way. Oh, and when she took on fantasy (in her Cold Fire trilogy) she created one of the meanest and most honorable anti-heros I have ever found.

Julian May:

Not everything, sad to say. (I really didn’t like her Rampart Worlds trilogy). But Intervention/Metaconcert and the Galactic Milieu trilogy are amazing. Oh, and she bridges them into her Pliocene quadrilogy (600 millions years earlier) in a way that feels clunky, but works perfectly.

Spider & Jeanne Robinson:

Star Dance, Star Mind, and Star Seed

zero gravity dance.

think about it.

Now go get them

Spider Robinson’s Callahan books:

Fair warning: he delights in word games and puns. But not at the expense of the reader.

A bunch of barflys save the earth. Three times.

Jaqueline Carey

(A recent discovery.) I picked up Kushiel’s Dart, seduced by its cover and the first line: “Lest anyone should suppose that I am a cuckoo’s child, got on the wrong side of the blanket by lusty peasant stock and sold into indenture in a shortfallen season, I may say that I am House-born and reared in the Night Court proper, for all the good it did me”

This is a sexy book, exploring the intersection of pain and pleasure with delicacy for those of us who do not understand (except intellectually) that there *is* an intersection.

I’m in the middle of the follow up: Kushiel’s Chosen (savoring it slowly, as it should be), and am looking forward to the rest of the books. (She’s at five, now, I believe.)

Juliet Marillier

At its core, the first book of the Sevenwaters Trilogy (Daughter of the Forest) is a retelling of a fairy tale (the tale of the seven brothers turned into swans until their sister rescues them). But it also tells a tale of early Celtic Paganism and history in a way reminiscent of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s “Avalon” books.

This list is by no means complete. Or finished. But it’s what I have now.

Another sad parting

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Author Madeleine L’Engle, whose novel “A Wrinkle in Time” has been enjoyed by generations of schoolchildren and adults since the 1960s, has died, her publicist said Friday. She was 88.L’Engle died Thursday at a nursing home in Litchfield of natural causes, according to Jennifer Doerr, publicity manager for publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux.The Newbery Medal winner wrote more than 60 books, including fantasies, poetry and memoirs, often highlighting spiritual themes and her Christian faith.

All I know is that I recently re-read the Winkle in Time trilogy, and it holds up — for adults — very, very, well.

So sad.

More positive publicity

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Jason Pitzl-Waters just posted a nice review of my book on his Wild Hunt blog (see a link to the blog itself in my blogroll:

“Lisa McSherry’s book “Magickal Connections: Creating a Lasting and Healthy Spiritual Group” tackles the thorny issue of Pagan group dynamics and offers some solid advice in building and maintaining spiritual groups. McSherry draws from a variety of sources both religious and secular (including the excellent “Antagonists in the Church”) to help overcome common problems found within the small worship and ritual groups that typify our communities. This is a wonderfully functional and useful book that deserves wider attention.” http://www.wildhunt.org/2007/08/wild-hunt-book-roundup.html

Happy me.