Thursday 13

Yellow Forsythia

1. Zero hour - nothing left. Time to blast off into outer space, or take a last breathe. What if we all lived as if our Zero Hour was tomorrow - would the world be chaos, or a better place?

2. Yellow is a wonderfully springy color. First it comes with the daffodils and the forsythia, and then it is followed by iris, yellow mustard in the fields (the bane of many farmers), and yellow pollen all over the cars and the patio.



3. eXcalibur is the name of King Arthur's sword in the Arthurian legends. The word has been around since about 1100 A.D., though it was originally called Caledfwlch, which is Welsh. Similar swords show up in old Irish mythology. Swords symbolize more than just maleness; this website on sword symbolism points out that it is an alchemical symbol of purification, a symbol that cuts away ignorance (boy do we need that in the U.S.A. these days), and in the Tarot, the sword represents the realm of the mind.

4. Why do people believe that they must force their beliefs upon others? And at what point does the request for lack of bigotry and more acceptance become a return force? Recent events have made me ponder this query. I've been reading both sides and haven't come up with an answer.

5. Vampires do not attract me, so I never watched True Blood. I did, however, like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that was because of Buffy, not the vampires. I love watching shows where strong women get to be strong. Right now I am really into Supergirl. I hope CBS renews this show.

6. Unearned respect seems to be the mantra of the day - especially among political candidates. I do not respect people who have lived their lives simply to make themselves rich. I respect people who have worked to make things better not only for themselves but for others, and not just family members. People who earn my respect tend to be nurses, emergency service workers, non-profit leaders who help abused people, teachers, and those in similar vocations. I do not respect ball players, sports people, or most politicians because unfortunately the latter in particular has eroded the state of office to the point where it not a place of helping, but of hurting. I have ambivalence about musicians, mostly because I play music myself.

7. Taxes have been on my mind this week because we finally finished our up for 2015. What a debacle. We have switched accountants because the accountant we used last year (new to us) fouled our 2014 taxes so badly we had to pay for a do-over. It is hard to find people who will do their job well.

8. Salaries for women remain unequal to their male counterparts. In 2014, women working full time in the United States typically were paid just 79 percent of what men were paid, a gap of 21 percent. At this rate, it will take 100 years before equality of pay is achieved. April 12 was Equal Pay Day (I didn't even know that existed.) Here is an interesting article about this concern by the AAUW. Unfortunately, education is not the answer to the problem under our current system.



Robin, not a Redbird

9. Redbirds, or cardinals, are one of my favorite birds. I don't seem them often here though I hear their cries. The female bird is more dowdy than the showy male.

10. Queens do not fair well in Westeros, the land in Game of Thrones. This fantasy series is scheduled to begin its 6th season on April 24. The author of the series, George R.R. Martin, seems to have a bit of a misogynist streak in him as women in that land generally are treated as chattel instead of people, unless by birthright or marriage one happens to achieve power. Even then, heads roll.

11. Pyrethrum is an insecticide made from daisies and/or chrysanthemums that is supposed to work on stink bugs. We have a stink bug problem in the house and are considering using this, but WebMD cautions that using this as an herbal or vitamin supplement can be disastrous for those who have ragweed allergies, so we are hesitant. I have so many environmental sensitivities that we have to take our time deciding if we want to use this or not, but it would probably be better than some commercial synthetic pesticide.

12. Oatmeal cookies, made by Little Debbie, have been one of my favorite comfort foods since I was a little girl. I call them "granddaddy cookies" because my grandfather always carried one in his lunch pail each day when he went off to work. The grandchildren were not allowed to eat these special cookies unless we had a very bad boo-boo.

13. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." How is that prayer comforting? I always found it rather scary. Especially, "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." This is a kid's prayer, right? I learned it as a child. It's rather scary, sort of like a Grimm's fairy tale version of what a nice prayer would be. Wouldn't a better prayer be something like, "Dear Lord in Heaven up above, thank you for this day of love. Tomorrow when I see the sun, I will remember you are the One." Or something.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 443rd time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.