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?

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

At first the melody is mysterious as the faint musical whispers reach out to me from a distant far off place. I strain my ears to listen, thinking to myself that I must be imagining things. Just then, the volume rises a little and I am certain that the night music is calling me.

Have you ever stayed up all night in a quiet room just writing and pondering?

It's quite the experience, I have to say. On nights like these, both time and sense of reality becomes altered from the normal sense. Time moves slower, sound volume increases or else my hearing ability intensifies. I have not figured out which is true. Most of all, my ability to receive inspirational thoughts and to write creatively magnifies to a profound level.

These are some of the reasons that I like to stay up late at night, especially when I want to write creatively.

Portrait of Joseph Cornell by Duane Michal

It fascinates me how the mind seems to switch gears late at night. Some magical door opens to a realm of the mind that is deeper than daytime consciousness. I have never fully realized how this happens, or why. I just know that it does. Much of my deep pondering and great inspirations, reflections, aspirations and understandings come to me after midnight. I am so influenced by this phenomena that I used this word frequently in my blog posts, "after midnight".

Let's explore the machinations of the mysterious thirteenth hour and share our Midnight Revelry.

Personally, I have many thoughts and many things to say about the thought process of the human mind late at night. In my experience, I seem to gain a greater understanding of concepts. My spiritual self awakens and allows me to reach deep into the cosmos to separate dimensional partitions and multiple levels of reality beckon to me. I see my mind waving for me to follow. Without a second thought, I wander deep inside the portal where I discover remarkable things.

Maybe it is because I am depriving my body and my mind of sleep at a time when most people sleep. I don't know. It is a fascinating concept.

Tonight, as I pondered how time affects my ability to perceive and conceptualize, I thought it would be fascinating to research this theory and share my findings. I conducted a search online using google to find listings of websites that cover this topic. I used the keywords "How my mind works late at night". The first site that I found is a website with that title.
The Midnight Writer

What is peace?

Profound question. A multitude of answers exist. Is there one answer to this question? One true answer????

I believe the answer to that question is yes.

A man lived about 2000 years ago who taught a "Way of Peace". His name is called in many different ways...Jesus the Christ, Yeshua ben Joseph, Yahoshua Mashiach ...among others. He lived the Way of Peace and showed the world how to walk that "Way".

Peace is a way of life. It is not a mere word that can be defined in one language. Peace is the essence of unconditional love expressed. Jesus is that expression of love. The Heavenly Father, Creator of all living, sent His Son to show us how to find peace within our selves in the flesh, so that we could both give and receive love.

While visiting Newport beach in Oregon along the coastal Highway 101, a sanctuary for people lost at sea touched my heart so much, I want to write about the experience of visiting the sanctuary. Gazing at the photos and stories of those lost at sea placed there by their families, along with beautiful stands of flowers and watching the people stopping at this sanctuary to pay respects and read the stories, I was so moved in my heart.

Cephas and I took photos of the pictures of the lost along with clips in the newspaper or cards from loved ones. Those photos will be loaded at a later date with this article. The realization came that it would be good to share those stories with the world.

From that visit to Newport beach, I made a decision to research those stories of folks lost at sea all over the world and create a theme blog just about that topic. Even more than a blog, it is my intention to arrange interviews with friends and families to write the stories of their loved ones lost at sea. These articles will be published in magazines and online.

If you would like to share a similar story please contact me at the_midnight_writer@mountainspiritproductions.org to arrange an interview. If you have a story that you want to share as a guest writer, contact me at the same email above.

I look forward to many heart filled memorials of lives given back to the sea. May their stories inspire us and continually remind us of the power within the human heart that binds us all together.

Watch for the new blog "Lost At Sea".

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copyright by The Midnight Writer.

No portion of this blog or the stories therein may be reproduced without the authors specific written permission. This idea is unique and the property of the author.

The moon is risen and the sun asleep
While stars dance across the heavens
Creatures on earth walk in dreams
About the universe so vast
As the sun is awaiting the dawn
It is then that imagination soars
And the mysterious veil unfolds
Opening the door to an unknown world
Except in the deep of dreams.
I stay awake in a twilight state
Avoiding the hush of the dreams
To peek inside this other world
Where spirit and mystery unite
And in my midnight revelry
I seek, I see, I journey and I write
The mysterious things that I see
While my soul like the sun
Remains in a dormant state
Aware in more realms than one
Until the horizon breaks to greet me
When daylight awakens my journey ends
Until the next midnight revelry.