tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67394777123562840452024-03-13T12:44:05.594-07:00SWAMP WALKING WOMANTrish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-54232618525624395242011-04-29T15:04:00.000-07:002011-12-02T12:43:32.439-08:00Introducing Gideon's RiverHello to my friends far and wide. While Swamp Walking Woman is a tall tale or myth, Gideon's River is a realistic literary novel set in a made up town that resembles the towns along the upper Susquehanna River. This short clip introduces the novel.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4HYeyUXUs48" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />This book is for fun, for families, and for anyone who has ever worried about what is wrong with them. More at <a href="http://www.patricialapidus.com/gideonsriver">www.patricilapidus.com/gideonsriver</a><br /><br />You can get <a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns">Gideon's River</a> from amazon.comTrish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-64276237189165093612011-01-09T15:00:00.000-08:002011-01-09T15:00:49.195-08:00Swamp Walking Woman, a Fairy Tale<iframe width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dk2vAW5KzyA?fs=1" frameborder="0"></iframe>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-31771853497198523702011-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:002011-02-01T12:47:29.306-08:00The Innocent in Ancient Fairy Tales<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sQt_FM1fdS8?fs=1" width="425" frameborder="0" height="344"></iframe>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-12033597482204568172011-01-07T12:42:00.000-08:002011-01-07T12:48:09.528-08:00The Innocent in Ancient Fairy TalesWe, the people, must find our strength if we are to keep our green earth and keep it green.<br /><br />How can ancient fairy tales help us understand ourselves and move into our strength?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns">Swamp Walking Woman</a> </span>is a modern fairy tale about the environment and the people.<br /><br />In this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQt_FM1fdS8">You Tube video</a> I speak about the stage of innocence.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-57781629786533944452010-12-15T16:30:00.000-08:002010-12-15T16:50:21.223-08:00How to Stop 10,000 Years of BulliesBullies can be stopped. All it takes is for the rest of us to be steady, united, and compassionate.<br /><br />I sometimes think about how the bullying started. If those who write about the ancient goddess cultures are right, there were few bullies in those matriarchal villages and any who attempted to bully others were quickly wrapped in a love that stopped them. In extremes, a bully could be sent into the forest to fend for himself, but that would not be done until all other efforts had failed.<br /><br />If my history lessons are accurate, domination cultures started about 10,000 years ago in Eurasia and washed from the dry steppes down into the more fertile river valleys. In any case, there came into the peaceful lands, tribes eager to harass and fight and enslave or kill those they found. These same peoples also fought among themselves and established a hierarchy of power based on size and strength and willingness to cause physical hurt or emotional harm.<br /><br />What is the matter with the bully? He lacks confidence in himself and covers his self-doubt with force and taunts. What is the matter with the rest of us? We've been wimping out and folding up, letting bullies harm us. That's because we, just like the bullies, lack confidence--and we need guidance.<br /><br />The theme of "the bully and the wimp" is played out in my novel <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.tinyurl.com/">Gideon's River</a> and in <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns">Swamp Walking Woman</a>, </span>a novella size fairy tale in which alligators represent the bullies in the story of our threatened environment. While in the fairy tale, people must literally fight the alligators and take back their world, in the novel a mother and son find their way out of the destructive drama by communicating. It has been said that communication is the great solvent.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-57608913629655514632010-11-19T08:15:00.001-08:002010-11-19T08:22:59.727-08:00Swamp Walking Woman, the beginning<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark/> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp/> 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st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <div class="WordSection1"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="font-size:14pt;">Responses to<a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns"> <i style="">Swamp Walking Woman</i></a></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;"> </span></p><br /><br /><span style="font-size:14pt;">[<i style="">Swamp Walking Woman </i>is] a depiction of how humans create their very own swampland on this planet, allowing the ‘gators’ amongst us to usurp our power and to control our lives through fear tactics.<span style=""> </span>I like [the author’s] solution: recreate your own reality and reject the fearmongers’ agenda.<span style=""> </span>Dismantle their power base one positive thought at a time.<span style=""> </span>EB</span><br /><br /><p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";" >SWAMP WALKING WOMAN</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";" >A Tall Woman Tale</span></b></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:";" >Patricia Mitchell Lapidus</span></b></span></div> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 200%; font-style: normal;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Cold water numbed the woman’s legs.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Sun burned her face.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Leaves and burrs hung in her thick, unraveling braids.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">The pack was hot on her back.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Her arms ached from carrying the child.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">One more time she asked herself how life could have taken such a difficult turn.</span></p></div> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>She had been out late one evening helping a neighbor with a sick grandparent, had started home down the familiar wood path.<span style=""> </span>All at once her village vanished.<span style=""> </span>She knew she had gone the right way, but instead of finding her home nestled among other homes in Oak Valley, she found only scrub oak forest petering into a boggy marsh.<span style=""> </span>In the distance she could hear voices, but when she called out, only her echo answered.<span style=""> </span>And when she turned to retrace her steps, even the scrubby oak forest was gone.<span style=""> </span>All around were ponds dotted with small, wet islands, some of which were but hummocks of tufted swamp grass and a tree or two. <span style=""> </span>She proceeded west by following the moon and, the next day, the path of the sun.<span style=""> </span>Her village should have been in this direction.<span style=""> </span>She pushed hopefully through the mud and water, subsisting on berries and sleeping that first night on a tiny island.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>On the afternoon of the second day she walked across one such small island and almost stepped upon a little girl asleep on a grassy hummock. <span style=""> </span>She stepped back and looked around for the child’s parents.<span style=""> </span>She called out, but, as before, only her own voice came back in muffled echoes from the misty wasteland.<span style=""> </span>The child yawned and moved. <span style=""> </span>In the mud the woman found a single footprint with large spreading toes.<span style=""> </span>A wildcat?<span style=""> </span>She wished she possessed her grandfather’s knowledge of the signs of animals and the uses of plants—but no one in her </span><span style="font-size:180%;">modern</span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" > world had thought that old stuff of value.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>Waking, the child regarded the woman soberly.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>The woman squatted beside the little girl.<span style=""> </span>“Hello.<span style=""> </span>What is your name?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Where are my grownups?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“I don’t know, honey.<span style=""> </span>Who left you here in the grass?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“The cat.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“The cat?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>But the little girl didn’t explain.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Come.<span style=""> </span>Let’s find your grownups.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>The girl did not protest being lifted onto the woman’s hip.<span style=""> </span>She was dressed in professionally faded Gap jeans and a purple Gap shirt.<span style=""> </span>In her hair was a purple bow.<span style=""> </span>A child of good fortune, thought the woman.<span style=""> </span>May her good fortune return.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“What is your name?” she asked again.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>But the child did not answer.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“I’ll call you Futura.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>Two more days of travel brought no change in the territory.<span style=""> </span>There was no firm ground anywhere.<span style=""> </span>All of Earth seemed a misty, murky place where one struggled to find a solid step.<span style=""> </span>A horsefly buzzed around, whispering in the woman’s ear, “Swamp life is too hard.<span style=""> </span>Why not give up?<span style=""> </span>You could sink into the water and sleep.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“I can’t give up,” the woman said.<span style=""> </span>“I have the child.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Saving the child,” he buzzed.<span style=""> </span>“How noble of you to save her for swamp life.<span style=""> </span>I am touched.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>The horsefly droned around her eyes and hair.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>She brushed at the fly.<span style=""> </span>“Dammit!”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Dammit,” said Futura, the first word she had spoken since “the cat,” and she puckered up to cry, the first emotion she had shown.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>The woman, who had been known as Song in her village, smiled at the child and straightened her back.<span style=""> </span>“I am Swamp Walking Woman,</span><span style="font-size:180%;">” </span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" >she said.<span style=""> </span>“I will persevere.<span style=""> </span>And I should not be teaching you to curse.”<span style=""> </span>Then she shouted with all her force, “Darn it!!”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>A pretty blue dragonfly lit on some rushes.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Oooh!!!” said Futura softly.<span style=""> </span>With the backs of her fists she rubbed the tears from her eyes.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>Before the woman could blink, a flock of dragonflies—also called Darning Needles—thickened the air.<span style=""> </span>Flying and lighting and flying and lighting, they wove the rushes together into a long mat.<span style=""> </span>Back and forth they flew, up and down, in and out, carrying the tip ends of long blades of swamp grass, weaving in and out until a tight rush path stretched before the woman and the child toward an island they had not seen before.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Put me down!” said Futura.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Swamp Walking Woman set Futura’s feet on the rush path and followed her.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">When the two reached the beach they ran forward and back and around each other in all directions.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">The woman laughed and the child shrieked with an exuberance as high as her apathy had been deep.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">At the edge of a sunny patch of gravel they found morning glory vines climbing tall grasses, blue blossoms sparkling with dew.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">A sea of flowers carpeted the area between the beach and the trees.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">There were big bull thistles with bulging purple buds, a bank of wild roses, and fuzzy broad-leafed plantain with spikes taller than Futura.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Daisy heads danced in a pleasant breeze and buttercups shone like gold.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">Futura bent to examine the tiny purple flowers of a Bittersweet Nightshade, deep purple petals curling back from each long yellow center.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">“Don’t touch,” the woman said gently, knowing the plant was poisonous.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>Near a little stream that ran from under the alders, Futura made sand pies and sprinkled them with seeds.<span style=""> </span>Digging into the bank of the stream, she discovered colors—a layer of purple sand, under that, a layer of red sand, then yellow, then green. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">“Why is the sand colored?” she asked.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">“Each layer was laid down at a different time.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">This reddish layer has iron in it.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">The green has copper.</span><span style="font-size:180%;"> </span><span style="font-size:180%;">The others have different minerals.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>“Oh.”</span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" ><span style=""> </span>One sand pie, she said, was a strawberry apple pie, two were pumpkin pies, and one was a blackberry pie. <span style=""> </span>She </span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:180%;" >sprinkled more red and yellow sand on her cakes and left them to dry in the sun.<span style=""> </span>Together the woman and the child ran into the woods looking for adventures.<span style=""> </span>In a glade were fat skunk cabbages whose thick garlicky smell filled the air.<span style=""> </span>Here and there a Jack-in-the-Pulpit stood, ever ready to give a swamp sermon. </span></p>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-28606822231311783672010-11-05T16:09:00.000-07:002010-11-05T16:25:54.820-07:00The Innocent in the Ancient Fairy TalesWhere to find <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman</span><br /><br />http:www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns<br /><br /><br />I have posted a video about The Innocent as seen in ancient fairy tales.<br /><br /> <p class="MsoNormal">I say "ancient" because in more recent times the old stories were changed to reflect a different and usually lesser wisdom. For example, the Brothers Grimm altered older tales to make them scarier and more graphic with blood and dismemberment. Because they were writing in the context of a patriarchal, domination culture, the tales begin and end in slavery, which is to say that they make us afraid and give us no guidance. Disney, on the other hand, takes the fear completely out of the tales. Disney's fairy tales, rewritten for children, begin and end in innocence.<br /><br />We could say that every life begins in innocence, however brief. Some of you can look back to the very day you realized your parents didn't have life figured out and were only hoping you would grow up and tell <i>them</i> what was going on. I know of one child who came to such a realization at the age of six, much too young. Even babies, sadly, can lose their innocence if poorly cared for. If you are lucky, you may keep that simply belief that life will work out as you plan right up until college or the first time you get fired from a job.<br /><br />People can remain innocent well into adulthood, no matter what they may hear of the troubles of the world and of children starving in Biafra, as long as nothing too disappointing happens to them. They lead a charmed life. They feel chosen--and perhaps a bit puzzled why, but willing to have the good life while others do not. I remember feeling that way.<br /><br />In the old tales, The Innocent was one who did not yet suspect the trials that lay ahead. Her only task is to fall, to lose that state of protection we call grace, and to suddenly be vulnerable to a world that is not as benevolent as she thought. In <i>Swamp Walking Woman</i>, the main character walks down a familiar path and sees her world change into a swamp. A polluted swamp--which is a metaphor for our world today, abused and misused and quite a mess, a hard place to live.<br /><br />In my next blog I'll speak about the next stage of growth, The Orphan.</p> <br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dziX52-pFKCWPtgNvosWL5QClApnEbTSaN3_ay6hpmyhKM5qRtmCSQJvt8peh7U-idYutbXd68OsIuJHq9rYA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-3456240246613632262010-10-19T15:35:00.001-07:002010-10-19T15:35:44.592-07:00The International Women's Writing Guild in Connecticut: Swamp Walking Woman video clip<a href="http://ctiwwg.blogspot.com/2010/10/reading-to-heal-child.html">The International Women's Writing Guild in Connecticut: Swamp Walking Woman 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mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk2vAW5KzyA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk2vAW5KzyA</a></p>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-9764227849507555172010-10-19T15:35:00.000-07:002010-10-19T15:35:09.931-07:00The International Women's Writing Guild in Connecticut: Swamp Walking Woman video clip<a href="http://ctiwwg.blogspot.com/2010/10/reading-to-heal-child.html">The International Women's Writing Guild in Connecticut: Swamp Walking Woman video clip</a>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-7942268131944345982010-10-19T07:58:00.000-07:002010-10-19T08:01:36.042-07:00While my book <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman</span> is getting a great response from readers, we are getting ready to launch a novel,<a href="http://fictionforfamilies.wordpress.com"> </a><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://fictionforfamilies.wordpress.com">Gideon's River,</a> </span>in time for the holidays.<br /><br />This is a story about a family that heals itself from a centuries long drama we could call "the bully and the wimp."<br /><br />Have you ever watched a child grow up without confidence? You will recognize that child in Gideon, a boy who does not sit and brood as some children might but pushes for a place in life, pushes in all the wrong ways, though with spirit.<br /><br />Have you seen two family members arguing, perhaps shouting at each other, hurting each other more and more? You just want them to stop it--but they don't know how.<br /><br />The story is about more than one family's struggles. It shows an entire community trying to find itself in the 1990s, which were a time of both darkness and incredible light.<br /><br />For an excerpt, go to http://fictionforfamilies.wordpress.comTrish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-56077901182612902972010-10-01T13:33:00.000-07:002010-10-01T13:37:32.789-07:00from Swamp Walking Woman<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> 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10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns"><b style=""><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" >Swamp Walking Woman</span></b></a></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" > </span></a></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns"><span style=""> </span></a>Cold water numbed the woman’s legs.<span style=""> </span>Sun burned her face.<span style=""> </span>Leaves and burrs hung in her thick, unraveling braids.<span style=""> </span>The pack was hot on her back.<span style=""> </span>Her arms ached from carrying the child.<span style=""> </span>One more time she asked herself how life could have taken such a difficult turn.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>She had been out late one evening helping a neighbor with a sick grandparent, had started home down the familiar wood path.<span style=""> </span>All at once her village vanished.<span style=""> </span>She knew she had gone the right way, but instead of finding her home nestled among other homes in Oak Valley, she found only scrub oak forest petering into a boggy marsh.<span style=""> </span>In the distance she could hear voices, but when she called out, only her echo answered.<span style=""> </span>And when she turned to retrace her steps, even the scrubby oak forest was gone.<span style=""> </span>All around were ponds dotted with small, wet islands, some of which were but hummocks of tufted swamp grass and a tree or two.<span style=""> </span>She proceeded west by following the moon and, the next day, the path of the sun.<span style=""> </span>Her village should have been in this direction.<span style=""> </span>She pushed hopefully through the mud and water, subsisting on berries and sleeping that first night on a tiny island.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>On the afternoon of the second day she walked across one such small island and almost stepped upon a little girl asleep on a grassy hummock.<span style=""> </span>She stepped back and looked around for the child’s parents.<span style=""> </span>She called out, but, as before, only her own voice came back in muffled echoes from the misty wasteland.<span style=""> </span>The child yawned and moved.<span style=""> </span>In the mud the woman found a single footprint with large spreading toes.<span style=""> </span>A wildcat?<span style=""> </span>She wished she possessed her grandfather’s knowledge of the signs of animals and the uses of plants—but no one in her </span><span style="font-size:14pt;">modern</span><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" > world had thought that old stuff of value.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>Waking, the child regarded the woman soberly.</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>The woman squatted beside the little girl.<span style=""> </span>“Hello.<span style=""> </span>What is your name?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>“Where are my grownups?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>“I don’t know, honey.<span style=""> </span>Who left you here in the grass?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>“The cat.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>“The cat?”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>But the little girl didn’t explain.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>“Come.<span style=""> </span>Let’s find your grownups.”</span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;font-size:14pt;" ><span style=""> </span>The girl did not protest being lifted onto the woman’s hip.<span style=""> </span>She was dressed in professionally faded Gap jeans and a purple Gap shirt.<span style=""> </span>In her hair was a purple bow.<span style=""> </span>A child of good fortune, thought the woman.<span style=""> </span>May her good fortune return.</span></p>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-34168024328692477142010-07-23T07:08:00.000-07:002010-07-23T07:32:52.502-07:00The Darning Needles<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TEmjFSqlBbI/AAAAAAAAAMM/5104zoXmrXM/s1600/Darning+Needles+003.JPG"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TEmjFSqlBbI/AAAAAAAAAMM/5104zoXmrXM/s320/Darning+Needles+003.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497104131487499698" border="0" /></a><br />Some years ago I embroidered a Darning Needle resting on the stem of a cattail. I have liked Darning Needles since childhood summers spent watching them hover over Mud Pond, the pond on my grandparents' land. There was a not too muddy gravel approach into the water and the pond was large enough to be mostly clear.<br /><br />The Darning needles stayed with me. Also called Damsel Flies and Dragon Flies, they have been much the same since prehistoric times. In the fairy tale, when Swamp Walking Woman is weary with walking through water and mud, a whole tribe of Darning Needles show up to weave for her a swamp grass path onto an island that appears as if by magic. Such "helpers" are common characters in fairy tales.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.tinyurl.com/pj33ns">Swamp Walking Woman</a> </span>is now available on amazon.com.<br /><br />This book is also available for distribution to libraries. Just ask your public library to get it.<br /><br />The story can be read for fun and it can be read for deeper meaning about the misguided guys who are suppressing the people of earth and how we women and men can find the strength to keep our green earth green.<br /><br />I'll write more soon about fairy tales, myths, and fables. Also, tall tales.<br /><br />Happy summer days to all. TrishTrish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-75738846416511931252010-07-09T13:57:00.000-07:002010-07-09T14:13:40.725-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TDeNtrtFyaI/AAAAAAAAAME/ufy0Lk2GEr0/s1600/Bailey+Island,+Gravel+Pits,+Camp+037.JPG"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TDeNtrtFyaI/AAAAAAAAAME/ufy0Lk2GEr0/s320/Bailey+Island,+Gravel+Pits,+Camp+037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492014086567086498" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This is the right weather for a trip to the ocean. Seems it is always cooler at the shore. My brother and I recently traveled to Land's End on Bailey Island. We took many great pictures. This is one of the best.<br /><br /> Swamp Walking Woman longed for land as solid at that granite and for water as clear as that expanse of blue. Swamp Walking Woman didn't set out to be a heroine. She was just helping a neighbor when she got lost in the swamp--and found a bunch of lost families. Her story is an allegory of modern times told in the style of ancient stories such as myths and fairy tales. The book is a tall tale like the tales of Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill. Or it can be seen as a modern fable in the tradition of George Orwell and James Thurber.<br /><br />The book is about women's strength. Stay tuned for launch date and find out how Swamp Walking Woman inspires a community to resist oppression and protect their children.<br /><br />More soon. Trish<br /><br />Bailey Island Ledges, photograph taken from Land's End.<br /><br /></div>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-3184723267117058162010-06-18T12:14:00.000-07:002010-06-23T06:31:28.321-07:00This Is Exciting!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBvGsqI2tnI/AAAAAAAAAL8/3wy_gWFwGa8/s1600/Great+grandkids+in+Gray+048.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBvGsqI2tnI/AAAAAAAAAL8/3wy_gWFwGa8/s320/Great+grandkids+in+Gray+048.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484195441781683826" border="0" /></a><br />Many of you have been asking when <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman </span>will be released. We are getting all our frogs lined up--uh, maybe we should have used ducks!<br /><br />One of the things I liked best about writing this book was remembering all the woodland flowers I loved in my childhood roaming near our farm in Maine. Here's a lovely trillium my grandson discovered near his great-grandparents' house. Children have an enormous capacity for wonder. They grace the world with joy. Find out how grace comes into the story of Swamp Walking Woman and the little lost girl she befriends.<br /><br />Keep watch here for launch date.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-38118989209958708202010-06-15T08:45:00.000-07:002010-06-15T08:48:50.481-07:00City Gardens<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBegOTGmJdI/AAAAAAAAALg/s64iNkZHlgU/s1600/June+garden+017.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBegOTGmJdI/AAAAAAAAALg/s64iNkZHlgU/s320/June+garden+017.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483027238853420498" border="0" /></a>Spring and Summer<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBedyBcLc9I/AAAAAAAAALQ/7rnEtHVGU6c/s1600/Blossoming+Trees+124.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/TBedyBcLc9I/AAAAAAAAALQ/7rnEtHVGU6c/s320/Blossoming+Trees+124.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483024554052514770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />The raised bed on the left is now brimming with peas, above.<br /><br />There are more than 50 community gardens in New Haven, plots here and there where caring neighbors grow food for community kitchens. The generosity of spirit shown by these gardeners should be celebrated. They are a group dedicated to green living, to feeding folks, and to creating on our planet a hope and a determination that we will survive and prosper. There is no better answer to oppression and foolishness in high places than simply to flourish and live good lives such as we dream possible when we are children. This blog is dedicated to the Seventh Generation.<br /><br />My book <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman</span> shows a community who must confront bossy "gators" and rally to take back the land on which to garden and prosper. Watch here for launch date.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-28131495669173416132010-06-11T16:32:00.000-07:002010-06-11T16:44:11.026-07:00In Times Like TheseThe oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico makes me feel I need to be stronger, to have more answers, especially about how to stop greed and money from making wrong decisions about our planet. There are people in positions of power who are crazy enough to harm this planet beyond repair.<br /><br />My book <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman</span> is about a woman who faces those monsters and inspires a world of troubled people to take a stand.<br /><br />We used to sing a song in Sunday School that went like this, "In times like these you need an anchor." Of course, the anchor was meant to be faith, and we know faith can do miracles such as bring better health. Self confidence is a kind of faith, faith in oneself and one's own ability to do hard things.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman </span>launch date to be announced soon. Keep an eye on this blog.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-76217578637657058432010-05-11T14:34:00.000-07:002010-05-11T15:07:47.016-07:00Book Launch<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/S-nUm11-QsI/AAAAAAAAALI/Rs6aZ6mqz3A/s1600/Books+007.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/S-nUm11-QsI/AAAAAAAAALI/Rs6aZ6mqz3A/s320/Books+007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5470136986171753154" /></a><br />Dear Fans,<br /><br />For those of you who have been waiting for news of <i>Swamp Walking Woman, </i>this fun fairy tale is ready to go! <div><br /></div><div>I want to make a game of it. I want to be Best Selling Author on Amazon for one hour. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a few days I will set a launch date and hour. I'll let you know so you can get your copies then or as close to the hour as possible. I'll be emailing, making videos, and sending out news releases. Stay tuned! Trish</div><div><span style="font-style:italic;"></span></div>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-31535567131432739002010-04-05T16:55:00.001-07:002010-04-05T16:56:12.310-07:00A Grandmother's Quick TripWhen my daughter-in-law signed up for Skype she urged me to join, too. We looked forward to an on-line visit. Life went on for a time, all of us busy people. But tonight while I was working at the computer she called me on Skype. I answered. Soon we were on exchange video, she and my grandson looking at me while I could see them clearly. He was eating cheese, he told me. Later, I offered him an imaginary cookie and he accepted. Yum!<br /><br />And there I was right in their home looking at my grandson--and he could see me! I took from the wall a ceramic print of his Papa's hand, made in kindergarten, and held it up to the screen. He placed his hand over it.<br /><br />My daughter-in-law and I showed each other around our new homes, having both moved lately. What a treat to have her walk me through her house, the good spaces in and out. What fun to show her my apartment. I feel like I just got home from there! Quick trip.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-44874697112366953462010-02-21T13:28:00.000-08:002010-02-21T14:23:16.199-08:00Measures of a Life Well-Lived<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CHAPPYP%7E1%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-520092929 1073786111 9 0 415 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--><span style="font-size: 13pt; font-family: Calibri;">I invite you to celebrate an amazing life. My dad (age 96) is in the hospital ICU and on the mend. He had some gallstones melted down and is beginning to drink broth (asking for a hot dog!). A couple of days ago he was cold. The nurses wrapped him in a blanket and took care to tuck his feet in. He said, "You better get a rope and tie 'em so they won't get away!" The nurses compete to take care of him, he's such a pleasure. My brother <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"></st1:place></st1:city>goes up every day to sit with him and my sister took Mom up yesterday. I am grateful for such a brother and sister. I am grateful for such wonderful parents. I thought after the Red Sox won a couple of World Series Dad would decide to shove off, but he keeps finding reasons to stay around!
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<br />Those who know Dad have seen him re-invent himself several times in this life. When he was a young man he raised his first flock of roosters to sell on the market and paid off the farm's back taxes, to my ailing grandfather's huge delight. When the poultry business got tough, Dad installed automatic feeders and a grain mill, bought all the ingredients from the mid-west, and hired a trucker to bring soy, wheat, etc. from the train station in <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Lisbon</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Falls</st1:placetype></st1:place> to the dumping pit on the farm. At that point he was one of only four independent poultry farmers in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Maine</st1:place></st1:state>, and he stayed in business even in the bad years. He served on and sometimes chaired the state Poultryman's Association.
<br />
<br />While he was farming he sometimes worked at the gypsum mill to supplement the family income.<span style=""> </span>He also substituted as a rural mail carrier.<span style=""> </span>He was elected to the Board of Selectmen and later served as Chair.<span style=""> W</span>hen he tired of calculating carloads of ingredients for chicken mash, he went to school and became a tax assessor/building inspector for the town of <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Gray</st1:place></st1:city> where he worked until the age of 70. As we know, taxes can be touchy. People would come in hot about their assessments. Dad would say, "Come into my office. I'll show you how I got those figures." People knew he was fair and they knew he would never get riled.<span style=""> </span>He was beloved at the town offices.
<br />
<br /><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">My brother</st1:city></st1:place>, meanwhile, planted and tended a large garden with Dad’s help and lots of canning and freezing from Mom.<span style=""> </span>When Dad retired he devoted himself to tending his pine trees and raising vegetables and berries. I think a lot of the longevity of my parents can be explained by the homegrown vegetables they ate summer and winter all their lives. I have to work very hard finding "real food" and I pay a lot to eat as well as they eat. Further, it's really true that behind this successful man is a strong and loving wife. Dad has always said that my mother's companionship meant a lot to him. Please celebrate with me this amazing life. </span>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-21438432459342106542010-01-22T12:49:00.000-08:002010-01-22T13:06:23.668-08:00Strength for Girls and WomenI owe much to my writing teachers. Pat Carr is a teacher who encourages girls and women to write, to write honestly, and to find their strength through writing. Susan Baugh guides women writers to use the healing wisdom in the patterns honored by ancient fairy tales. Both teachers help women to face today's problems with strength and perseverance.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman </span>is a serious story and a playful story written to give strength and insight to any who feel "swamped" or overwhelmed with today's environmental and relationship issues. And the sorry state of the environment <span style="font-style: italic;">is </span>about relationships. One of my sons, coming home from a band practice in which the musicians had argued about the songs and about who had the say, commented, "You think it's about a band, but it's always, always about relationships."<br /><br /> Life today is about finding method and strength to handle the bullies who harm our green planet, our only home.<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Swamp Walking Woman </span>will be published before the end of February. Watch for a date.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-84000436891316755902010-01-03T12:23:00.000-08:002010-01-16T16:04:41.647-08:00The Darning Needles<span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">What did Swamp Walking Woman feed the Darning Needles?</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">She whistled sharply and called out, “Darn it!”</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Instantly there appeared a cloud of the Darning Needles who had befriended her many months before.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In a fever of activity they set to work sewing the sides of the water against the shores.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">While they worked the woman stood with one foot planted on the shore of each island, holding each part in its place.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Soon the tapestry was finished.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">She bowed.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">With her own needle and thread she sewed in a stretch of swamp flowers and grasses that were home to the insects Darning Needles like best.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> --from </span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Swamp Walking Woman, </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">publication date January 2010.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Darning is an activity of the past. Not that my socks last very well these days, but I don't darn thread back and forth over the holes in the heels as I used to when I was a child. I remember the wooden "egg" on a stick, how it was placed inside the sock and used to hold the form of the toe or heel. If the hole was very large, you had to catch the darning thread in the good cloth and weave back and forth, up and down across the hole, creating a patch of new cloth. The whole activity of darning socks makes sense when you consider that often the socks themselves were home knit and not to be thrown out lightly.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The dragon flies my mother called Darning Needles were small with thin blue and black needle-shaped bodies. They didn't sting or pester us in any way so we came to enjoy watching them skim over the water or buzz among the cattails.</span></span></div>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-27466057937969347972009-12-31T08:18:00.000-08:002009-12-31T08:35:53.873-08:00A Word about Knee Injuries<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/SzzQUNZGz8I/AAAAAAAAALA/Z36hsCOHKhM/s1600-h/Leaf,+step,+path,+stone+Hike+2008+129.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/SzzQUNZGz8I/AAAAAAAAALA/Z36hsCOHKhM/s320/Leaf,+step,+path,+stone+Hike+2008+129.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421437097058160578" /></a>At left, see my left knee doing its work, back on the team.<br /><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><br />For those who have injured a knee or had knee surgery.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">There are many kinds of knee injuries.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">All will require therapy when the knee is sufficiently healed.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span><o:p><span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> My fall smacked the left knee hard into the pavement.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The joint hyper-extended violently, tearing the tissue to mush.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The fall cracked the knee bone, but that was the least of my troubles.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">My knee said, “Okay, if that’s how you treat me, I don’t want to be your knee anymore.”</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It refused to bear my weight.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> For a month I had to keep the knee immobile so the bone could heal.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Then the therapy began.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">At first I could only bend my knee at a 55 degree angle.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The therapist gave me a printout of about ten exercises, which I did faithfully for weeks and months.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Here is what I learned.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.75pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: -.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1)</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></b><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Keep up the exercises until you can grab your ankle and bring your heel to your butt.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Don’t stop until you have back full flexibility.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(After a while I found that my Iyengar Yoga routine included the therapy.)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.75pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: -.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><br /></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.75pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: -.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">2)</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></b><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Get your gait back.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A leg injury can make you limp, waddle or walk with short steps as if on ice.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Don’t settle for that.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Get back to the confident walk you had before your injury.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Walk a lot.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Get back to any and every activity you loved before your injury.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">For me, that August hike, six months after I fell, was the triumph that said,</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> My knee is back on the team and I’m back among the able!</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.75pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: -.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><br /></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.75pt;text-align:justify;text-indent: -.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">3)</span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></b><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Regular Chiropractic adjustments speed the healing by keeping open the nerve channels to the injured area.</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-58838373595408575032009-12-24T11:40:00.000-08:002009-12-24T11:51:58.756-08:00Swamp Walking Woman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/SzPESZ_X9ZI/AAAAAAAAAK4/vjvHY8h3GZk/s1600-h/CT+Rose+in+December+004.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/SzPESZ_X9ZI/AAAAAAAAAK4/vjvHY8h3GZk/s320/CT+Rose+in+December+004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418890597150225810" /></a><br /> Here's what the book looks like. And here's an excerpt:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AAji80IQHes/SzPEE5YgPuI/AAAAAAAAAKw/Z_DcvOC9yp0/s1600-h/CT+Rose+in+December+004.JPG"><br /></a><br /><div><p class="MsoBodyText" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify;line-height: normal"><span style="font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Reluctantly, but with renewed energy, they said goodbye to the land and walked forward into the muddy swamp.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For a time the only sound was the swish of the woman’s skirt against the water.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Then all around began the croaking of frogs.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Glug-a-glug.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Glug-a-glug. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Glug-a-glug.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Alert, Futura looked with round eyes wherever she heard a glug.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>As they passed by, the frogs stopped croaking and jumped into the water.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>All except one, who stayed on a partially submerged lily pad and stared at them crossly.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>One of his legs was wound round with fishing line.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“He’s caught!” said Futura.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Swamp Walking Woman put Futura down.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The girl got her footing on the muddy bottom and approached the frog, who sat at the height of her chest.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The lily pad and the frog’s leg were twisted together.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Frog, don’t be afraid.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I will help you.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She gently untwisted the line.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Freed, he splashed into the water and rose to the surface.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“My name is Shout.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>If ever you are in trouble, call my name and I will come.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Good-bye, Shout,” said Futura as the frog disappeared beneath the water.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Well done,” said Swamp Walking Woman.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Now I have a friend,” said Futura.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Yes.”</p></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: bold; font-size:19px;">Responses to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Swamp Walking Woman</i></span></div><div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:19px;">I like [the] character Swamp Walking Woman and the generosity of the renewal that happens among the community. This reminds me of the "medicine tales" of <span class="yshortcuts">Clarissa Pinkola Estes</span>, as well as the <span class="yshortcuts">mountain folk tales</span> I grew up with. LB</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">[Patricia Lapidus is] truly a gifted story teller, and I’m honored to have been among the first readers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Swamp Walking Woman</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>HL<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: -webkit-xxx-large;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;">Patricia has written a story of gentleness and strength in an uncertain place full of fantasy and love.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Her characters are eager, opening to nature as a bud opens to a full flower.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>–Arlene S. Bice, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Life & Labyrinth</i><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'Tempus Sans ITC';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: -webkit-xxx-large; line-height: 96px;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:"Tempus Sans ITC";mso-bidi-font-style:normalfont-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> Publication of <i>Swamp Walking Woman </i>to be announced here in January.</o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:"Tempus Sans ITC";mso-bidi-font-style:normalfont-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:"Tempus Sans ITC";mso-bidi-font-style:normalfont-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:"Tempus Sans ITC";mso-bidi-font-style:normalfont-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoBodyText" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="line-height: 200%;font-family:"Tempus Sans ITC";mso-bidi-font-style:normalfont-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p></div>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-87322389380365807122009-11-10T14:23:00.000-08:002009-11-18T16:27:25.649-08:00What Would Swamp Walking Woman Have Done?What would Swamp Walking Woman have done with The Farm's Laundry? Since she is a larger than life figure like Paul Bunyan, she would probably have diverted a river right through the laundromat. And since Swamp Walking Woman had many helpers as in ancient fairy tales, a flock of birds would have appeared to hang the clothes in the trees for drying.<div><br /><div> <i>Swamp Walking Woman </i>is a tall tale, a modern myth, and a fairy tale. Coming out soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>For updates on <i>Sweet Potato Suppers, </i>go to <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><a href="http://hippiesincommunity.wordpress.com/">http://hippiesincommunity.wordpress.com/</a></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Meanwhile, I spent my weekend with family, including grandkids. With my son and grandson, I visited the land that was once The New York Farm. Watch for pictures.</span></div><p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left: 0in;line-height:18.0pt"><span style="Verdana","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:8.5pt;color:#2A2A2A;"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div>Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6739477712356284045.post-69379477952820296622009-09-29T06:58:00.000-07:002009-09-29T06:59:49.357-07:00Sweet Potato SuppersWatch for the re-publication of <span style="font-style: italic;">Sweet Potato Suppers </span>coming out this fall. Among many treasures you'll find a glossary of hippie speak. Stay tuned.Trish Lapidushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08933447243582652511noreply@blogger.com0