Memorial Fund for Gabriel

It is with a heavy heart that I write this today because I miss a little boy named Gabriel. Watching his brother Raven and his father Woodstock, a/k/a Loren David O'Connor, suffer through the pain of their loss while trying to make arrangements for his burial, memorial and wake is really hard. Gabriel Jaden Coates was with us for a short 3 years, 2 months and 2 days, yet he has made a profound impression on the hearts of people that will last forever. He left this earth to enter the spirit world on Sunday, May 24, 2009 at about 11 am. Gabriel fell into the water of the Antelope Creek, which was fast moving and deep. His body was recovered by very compassionate rescue workers about two hours later.

Woodstock, Raven, his friends and family are sort of moving in a state of unreal shock. Things need to get done. So we are helping in whatever way we can. Funds are urgently needed to buy the casket and to buy a plot where he will be laid to rest. Please spread the word and help in whatever way you can.

Please visit the dedication site for Gabriel at http://www.angelsforgabriel.org. News and information about his memorial, burial and wake will be posted on this blog. Lots of pictures will be loaded soon that I took of the gathering site where little Gabriel drowned. We took photos of the creek and the campsite where he laughed, played and enjoyed. There is a very spiritual picture on the site now that shows what we believe is Gabriel's spirit that appeared while Woodstock and I were standing by the stream talking about Gabriel, about what happened, about his life, about what to do now. It is then that we both felt his presence and a butterfly landed on Woodstock after that moment. I took a photo in the direction of where they found Gabriel's body in the water and that is where the column of light appeared. It was an intense, sad, happy, etherical time.

We will be assisting Woodstock with transferring of funds to the Funeral home when it is placed on the paypal in the amount we need. The general manager Chris Girdner at the Girdner Funeral Chapel is giving us until Tuesday at closing time to come up with the total for the casket. This is urgent. Other arrangements are being made and other funds are needed very much. Please email angelsforgabriel@gmail.com if you have questions or if you want to help in some way.

The Forest Service, the fire department, the Siskiyou county Sheriff's department, the Fish and Game dept. personnel, and the townspeople volunteers from Tennant were very gentle, kind, compassionate during the entire ordeal. We are all grateful to them for the way they handled this situation.

I have many things to write and memorial signs and brochures to make, and a website to update, so please help us facilitate this link being spread far and wide to get the funds together. Gabriel deserves a decent casket, memorial, burial and wake. Help us give him that much, please. Woodstock should not have to concern himself with money at a time like this. Right now we are all camping in our rigs while this is all taking place, so family please plug into this compassionate service.

Much love and blessings.
Summer Breeze on behalf of Woodstock, Raven, Gabriel & Raven and
Jazzy all his friends and family.

The Mystery of the Lone Tree

Have you ever encountered a lone tree standing in the midst of an open prairie or field? I have been mystified by this phenomena ever since I can remember.

I find a solitary tree standing amidst a pasture filled with grass and rocky mounds and ruts from cattle trampling through it to be just fascinating. When I first noticed the lone tree phenomenon I don’t rightly recall. I can tell you that it has been a noticeable mystery for many years to me.

Every time we set out on a journey and are driving along, I look for a lone tree that will captivate me once again with its’ stark loneliness calling out to for company. There are times when I say to my husband, hey, let’s go over and sit under that tree for a little while. Maybe the realization of grand mysteries to the universe might come to us if we just sit in its energy field for a little bit.

Have you ever seen movies that feature trees as symbols of wisdom or as places of eternal secrets and rejuvenation? What comes to mind first of all is the Tree of Life.

Lone trees remind of earthly objects that possess a rare kind of strength. Do they strike you with that impression?

I’m going to make an intention to find awesome representations of this lone tree phenomenon to share right here. I want to write some poetry and tell some stories about lone trees that I have encountered in my journeys or in literature.

The first feature in this “lone tree” feature will be about a giant redwood in the forests of Mount Shasta that stood about 215 feet high and had a diameter of 10 feet. We camped under it for some time and it had a mysterious energy that she shared with us. By this tree, we witnessed eagles fly and other mysteries that i’ll share in the feature post.

Will you share your photos and your stories about lone trees with us here on Midnight Revelry?

The Midnight Writer

The Fine Art of Posing to be Photographed

There was a time when dressing well was an art form that did not adhere to fitting into the latest fads and fashions. Rather, proper etiquette was part of society and young ladies were trained in proper social behavior and dress in prep schools. Manners were crucial to families of the upper middle and upper class of the social fabric of their time.

The proper term for "prep schools" was "finishing school" and they were very popular in the Victorian era. Fashion, proper way to walk or "carry oneself", dining etiquette, speech, writing, prose and poetry, cooking and the needle arts were all part of the finishing school curriculum. You can see how different times were in the 1200's or 1500's compared to today!

Ladies today compete in active contact sports dressed like men and they fight along side the men in the military. But is this really so different from the women in the same era of a different class? There were warrior women as far back as history is told and beyond the time that it is written.

When was the earliest that social training for ladies was practiced?

Now back to the photo and the title of this blog post, the art of posing to be photographed. Exactly how did posing come into practice and when did it begin? I guess a better question would be how long photography has been in existence? When was the first photo taken?

Let's find out

The first actual photographs were taken in the 1820's. Before then, attempts were made to capture images using various techniques such as obscura boxes.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia /"First known photograph, taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 by the heliograph process. The image is of a 17th Century Flemish engraving showing a man leading a horse."


The Midnight Writer

Mystery Hides Behind the Veil of Shadows

Her form is beauty, hidden yet remotely revealed
As the shadows seek to cover her beautiful form
In silhouette she taunts me, luring me closer
I turn my head slowly wanting to catch a glimpse.
The shadows beckon, then halt my footsteps as I near
Tis only beauty formed by the mystery of night
A mirage playing tricks in the darkness on my eyes.
I canter a bit, and wave as if the shadow sees me
Retreating beyond the reach of unseen eyes.

Copyright The Midnight Writer

Gone Fishing so you Won't Find the Cat Under the Bed

Does this evoke memories about times when you felt like the cat who has been caught in the fishbowl?

Life is not always simple and things are not always as they seem. People don't always do what you expect them to do. I'm guilty of surprising people by jumping out of character a few times in my life.

I think about these kinds of things late at night as I lay in bed, just pondering. This past couple of years, I've pondered life and my life in particular, a lot. My mind travels in retrospect to the years past with all the people who I've interacted with on one level or another. I found out I have some regrets so I'm trying to figure how to live all my todays so I won't have more regrets in my tomorrows.

Take this cat fishing in the family fishbowl, for instance. He'll probably snag a fish without getting caught. If the cat is hungry, he'll definitely enjoy it and no one will see him eat the goldfish. But tomorrow or next week or next year, the cat might think about that goldfish when his master gives him a treat. Do you suppose the cat has a conscience about what he did?

Two women boxing

Two women boxing, originally uploaded by Powerhouse Museum Collection.

If you thought that boxing was strictly a man's sport until modern times, this photo negates that theory.

Do you know what fascinates me most about this photo?

The fancy dresses and hats these ladies are wearing to knock and sock each other around. I cannot figure why they would engage in such an unlady like sport and dress up like they're going to church.

And who said these times are a changing?

Remembering the Days of my Grandmother's Youth

There she stood in her perfect way posing for the camera that was considered fairly modern for those days. Now my grandmother on my Father's side of the family spent most of her life working hard on the farm. Her name is Lillie Lucretia Shuey. God rest her soul as she left this mortal plane in 1973, right after the death of my infant son, Little Earl.

Times were rare that she dressed up in her Sunday best to pose for a camera. In her younger days though, she was a spectacle of beauty to behold. Indeed, Lillie was a gorgeous woman. I have looked at pictures taken of her in her late twenties and early thirties. At this age, she possessed a beauty rarely seen today

Lillie's skin was free of wrinkles. Maybe it's because she did not wear make up. Her cheeks glowed from an inner health and beauty. It must have been attributed to all that home grown food and fresh air. You know, Grandma Lillie brought sixteen souls into this world, my Dad being one of them. Her last baby was born at her young age of 59. Imagine giving birth to your sixteenth child at 59! I cannot scarcely believe it.

My Grandmother lived a long vibrant fulfilled life mothering and nurturing all those sixteen children, my Grandfather and hundreds of grand children and great grandchildren. Lillie watched this earth turn for 93 glorious years. Lord knows how much I love my Grandmother. Why I miss her to this day.

Now I'm wandering back to the day she posed for that camera. The photograph in my hand is yellowed with age and a little withered. Yet Lillie's smile is still captivating, her eyes are clear and bright, her skin is soft and glowing and her hair is perfectly in place the way she liked to pull her long brown hair up on her head. Lillie's dress was plain yet elegant. I suspect she sewed it with her own two gifted hands.

The photographer must have admired her beauty as he sized her up in that perfect pose, waiting for just the right smile and for the light to be just so. I imagine the man behind the antique camera remembered beautiful women like Lillie Shuey. He may have stalled a little longer than usual making adjustments in order to drink in just a few more moments of her loveliness. I'm sure of it.

I am filled with a pleasant nostalgia tonight remembering. Lillie Lucretia Shuey. You're walking on heavenly ground, of this I'm sure. I'll see you again, probably before the next flash of that camera.

The Midnight Writer