Elen Sentier's Journal

Just a note to anyone who looks for me here ...

: elen_sentier; June 21st, 2009

I'm really not here! I'm not giving up the page as I've friends who use it and want to keep up with them but don't look for me here. If you want me, look on Facebook :-).

For F***k's sake !!! - a frustrated rant

: elen_sentier; February 19th, 2009

Just been reading a friend's complaint that another friend's mother has just had a heart attack after her daughter died (prob of same) and so is unlikely to be able to attend her daughter's funeral. My friend finishes with "Really am not impressed with the universe right now."

Oh sigh !!! I am really NOT impressed with such daft attitudes from professing witches! What the f**k does she think is going on? Does she really, really expect the universe to conform to the little fears and prejudices of her current incarnation ??? Ye gods! Does she not know spirit? Does she not know death? Does she not know reincarnation? Well maybe "yes" to all of that, in which case I must readjust my seeing of her as I'm obviously getting her out of perspective.

I find it shatteringly sad and rather scary that folk who profess witchery, druidry et al are soooooo interminably stuck in their personal selves they can't see out at all. And that they expect the universe, other people's souls, the rest of creation to conform to their stuck ways.

No, as you might just have guessed, I don't come from that place. I have no trouble with death. It's the one certainty in life and an integral part of life too. Cancer happens because cells forget how to die ... what does that say about our idiot civilisation where the worst thing that can happen to you is death? Ha! We can all be sure that the worst thing is gonna happen then, can't we?

I feel sorrow when I lose someone I love, sometimes very great sorrow when it's been someone intensly dear to me. But I know it's not the last time I'll ever see them (I also profess shamanism, et al). That sort of concept of death has been fundamental to all magical traditions since they first began billenia ago ... so what's all ths crap where so many modern witches seem to go all PC and unbelieving and tryng to be "normal" and "human"? And the latter without knowing what that word means or where it comes from, ie "hu" from a word meaning god, and "man" from the sanscrit "manas" meaning "thinker", so a human is a god-thinker. No, dear PC feminist lovies, "man" doesn't mean person with dangly bits at the bottom !!!

I don't mind people not knowing reincarnation - except in how it despertely such stubborn blindness holds up so much human evolution. But it really does seem stupid when I hear witches and druids (or those who call themselves such anyway) balling on about how rotten the universe is when it doesn't do what they want. Sounds like a 5yr old brat wanting a Mars bar in the supermarket ... and, as such, due for a clip round the ear from me

.

The universe is NOT here for our convenience ... we are here for its. It is NOT against us, that's the stupid, childish attitude of the non-thinker ( definitely not a "man"!). Druidry says (not sure if it follows through though from my experience) that it's about "working with nature" ... and still there are druids, top-level druids too, with attitudes that universe is, or should be, run for their benefit ??? Sigh. Again.

So ... for s***k's sake, get a grip! Get a life! Get it together! And start smelling the coffee, seeing, loving and working with universe instead of this eternal whinging about death! Once you do, you'll find it's really extrememly good fun and that you are NOT alone, there is always help. Mostly, however, I suspect the various guides etc are propping up the bar in the Shapeshifter's Arms and moaning to each other about the twats they got saddled with to guide, who are never there, never listennig and always bloody moaning.

I really do feel for those guides ... it's OK guys, the next round is on me *grin*.

Cats & Rats

: elen_sentier; February 13th, 2009

mevennen - Sid thinks he has problems ??? what about this then ... LOL
www.yourcat.co.uk/index.php

Dogs

: elen_sentier; February 8th, 2009

After Bear - and her return - I've now been hearing about a Staffie and Jack Russell mauling a baby to death whilst said baby was with its grandmother. WTF ???!!! What are these people doing with having dogs if they don't look after and care for them properly? I've always said there are no bad dogs just bloody awful owners. Similarly with children and shit-awful parenting.

The dogs have been killed. the enighbours say theywere always sweet and never viscious. so what happened? And how muc reall love and affection and bonding did the dogs have? what happend if the child pulled a tail and the dog snapped because it was hurt? Was the dog then told off, hit even? I've seen that happen. I've also seen the opposite - the child got a clip round the ear so that it suffered similar pain to that it had inflicted on the dog. Or cat. Or whatever.

If the dogs had mixed messages like that, that thye weren't allowed to express pain when they had been hurt, then it's quite likely they would express it even more so.

But there - the dogs are only animals. They don't matter as much as the little farting god of a child. Do they ???

BEAR

: elen_sentier; February 7th, 2009

Just heard ... Bear has been found and delivered to a friend of L&T about 1/2 hr ago . this is marvellous.

Clear skies & Rabbit Stew

: elen_sentier; February 6th, 2009

Clear Skies & Rabbit Stew

The sky is clear tonigh, woderful silvery gold drops of brightness hanging on the luminous blue silk background. And the moon ear full. Very gorgeous, but there'll likely be a frost on top of the well-thawed slush so tomorrow may be very slippy. fortunately I don't htink we have to be anywhere but we've got the gumption to drive carefully - I hope - if we do .

I put a pic up on FaceBook of the garden from our bedroom window at dawn this morning, all blue-in-blue. we got a reasonable caoting last night but still lots of bare patches and green bits.

I do like having a "proper winter", even if only for a few days.

The rabbit stew is hot-potting instead, in the oven and smelling good. Tummy is there grumbling and rumbling away saying hurry up and why didn't I do it earlier. Ha! the scent of the swede when I cut it up was quite intoxicating and deliciously peppery. Added some of our own sage which is still OK despite some frosts, and a handful of prunes, they really go well with the rabbit and make a nice gravy-juice too.

Word 2007

: elen_sentier; February 6th, 2009

Word 2007

Wow! And again wow! Uncle Bill certainly did some good work on that. I'd arrived at the stage where I couldn't get hold of people's docs who were more up to date than me and so I went looking and discovered I can have a 60-day free trial. this lasts til 30 April by which time I hope to have enough dosh to buy the real thing - I'll never be able to go back! It is sooooo intuitive, I was using it immediately and that just doesn't happen. I always have a day of swearing and table-banging when I have to get used to a new version of software I'm always using. Not this one!

I am really pleased with it - dare say many of you are going yawn-yawn , silly woman, really out of date. Yea, you're right! but oooooo! is it nice now I've got it

Snow ... the plus side :-)

: elen_sentier; February 5th, 2009

Snow ... on the plus side :-)
After my rant and whinge about current wuss attitudes, we didn't have much snow last night, supposed to get more tonight ... maybe.
A lot of what we had is melting and the birds are able to get through to the ground again but we're still keeping the feeders topped up. The black birds, thrushes and fieldfares are at last going for the Guelder Rose, always the last thing to go, and what we usually use instead of the already-eaten holly at Yule. The bush is right outside the living room window so we get a good view of the birds working their way through it. The ivy was very late coming to fruit this year, some of it is still green, not yet black. Still the ground is very hard with the worms well down in the soil and not coming back up for a bit either, so there's a need to supplement the natural food.
The robins carol us daily morning and evening with a good few songs during the day too. The garden is large enought to support 2 males, 2 pairs. They sit on opposite sides of it and sing beautifully and defiantly at each other. I love thier song best of all songbirds although I know they are probalby describing eah other's grandmothers and what and how they did with it .
The woodpeckers are about, green, greater and lesser spotted. They spend some of their time on the posts of the arbour extracting bugs, as well as in the ttrees, and they come to the nut feeder too.
It feels so good to be a part of the lives of the creatures who live here alongside us. We help them, they help us. They also give us a great deal of joy - birds with their song, flight, antics, babies; butterflies, dragon and damsel flies with their shimmering beauty, dances and flight; the bees, they are real magic as well as giving us honey. The Old Ones used to say the bee was a symbol of the soul.

Now, I would like some more snow tonight, please. They say it will be clear so we can go out to watch the stars which hasn't been possible the last few nights. But a beuatiful shimmering white blanket tomorrow morning would be very good, please, if you you can manage it ... tipping her forelock to Mother Nature

Wuss-Land !!!

: elen_sentier; February 5th, 2009

Wuss-Land !!!

We are a load of wusses over here! It has snowed, on and off, for 4 days now and you'd think the umpteenth Ice Age had descended. Most of the schools are shut - probably because the teachers are terrified that if Little Jane/Johnny slips on the ice/sluch and bangs his/her knee the parents will sue, so they can get the money together for their summer holiday. They probably would too!

Nobody has the foggiest idea how to drive in snow and are terrified to go out if the roads havne' been gritted. The councils all thought that global warming meant there wouldn't be cold winters any more so there's no more salt/grit after tomorrow night! Ye gods! And this despite being warned by the salt industry that they needed to keep their supplies up. The salt-man was very nice and talked about us having a "proper winter" ... as we are, for a few days at least.

The news showed lovely film of a man getting himself to work by being pulled along on his skates by his kite ... the wussy news-woman said "Oh dear, but you had to think of what could happen if he was blown off" ... sheesh!

And then, on the other side, a couple of regular-sounding wusses went for a mountain walk in the lake district - seemingly ill equipped and/or not knowing how to use their equipment, no experience, and on their own. The body of one was found early this morning by the rescue teams who have been out 24/7 since the snow started looking for yet more wusses who haven't a clue and are happy to put other folk's lives at risk.

Then there was the girl on the news who said, "I'm going to look for a taxi! I'm not going out in this!" ... ah, so she's quite happy to put someone else's life at risk for her comfort is she?

what are we doing, thinking of? We are so isolated, insulated, unaware and selfish we haven't a clue how to go on if the weather isn't just to what we like.

And the weather men can't say "Now, it's going to be a proper winter for a few days, lots of cold and ice and snow. This will help kill off the germs. It will help kill off the rats. It will help kill off the slugs. It is actually what the planet needs." No, they have to tell us how awful it's going to be ... dhhhhhhhh !

NB, I did say "what the planet needs" not what we dumb humans might want and whinge about.

Arrrrrgggghhh roll on the cull !!!

Thoughts on snow ...

: elen_sentier; February 4th, 2009

I posted this over on Xanga, and on Facebook, read more

Hotel Rawanda - film

: elen_sentier; February 3rd, 2009

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Hotel Rawanda
Excellent film. I'd not seen it before although it's pretty old now. I remember the acual event, of course. The film seems to be a pretty accurate account from the persepctive of the hotel manager. It was after this, and the problems in Croatia, that the UN changed its rules so it could actually fight back and do something to help. Read more

Affluenza

: elen_sentier; February 1st, 2009

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Affluenza read more
A book about the disease of affluence and the virus of desire for affluencs in the world today and what it has done to the planet and ourselves. Excellent. His premise about how and why we suffer from this "virus" are very solid, make sense ... (click on link toread more)

Cross Posting Xanga to LJ

: elen_sentier; January 30th, 2009

Well, that seemed to work fine, all the links worked. Maybe I can just post links from now on ??? we'll see :-).

Transition Towns

: elen_sentier; January 30th, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Currently
Beethoven: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6 "Pastoral"
see related
COPIED FROM MY XANGA SITE ... AS IT SEEMS HARD TO LINK STRAIGHT ACROSS !!!
Transition Towns
On Wednesday night I went to a meeting of Transition Hereford, specifically "The Food on Your Plate" It was very good, over 100 people, I'd say, all sorts and sizes but there was certainly a common feel of wanting to live in a different and more caring way.
The subject of the evening was food - hwere it comes from, whether it's processed, how local it is (without being silly about no bananas and such!), using local shops instead of spermarkets, organic and (from me) biodynamic, cooking clubs, difficulties with shopping, food-miles, box schemes. All sorts. It was very much an initial meeting, collecting people together, talk, offering things. There's a need for community composting groups it seems and a group looking into waste management and saying what we, the people (I sound like Obama again!) want rather than humbly listening to what El Governmente tell us we're going have. I'm hoping P will get involved with that as it's one of his specialities.
I've offered up to do biodynamic thngs! I must be mad but everything is pushng me in that direction and things, other parts of life, seem to pick up when I follow up on the environmental stuff. I've set up a series of workshops on basic biodynamics so do come if you're interested, they're always fun . there are more dates than just the one on the link. I'll try and get a proper list up somewhere when I've worked out how to on the blog/facebook.
I really enjoyed it and am glad I've got involved. and I'm glad it's on faceBook. they sort of said they wanted some help with that so I may end up getting involved there too .
It's interesting - all this change which I've felt coming for over 10 yrs now, and so much potential opportunity if we like to pick it up. we don't have to go back to the way it was - after all, it was that that got us into this mess in the first place! Maybe we can find new and far more fun ways of living together - with everything, all creatures, the whole planet. Ahhhh! don't I sound aspirational

Obama Again ...

: elen_sentier; January 26th, 2009

Current Mood:: impressed

I'm sort of impressed and, as I loath politicians as a breed *g*, this is very good going for me.

I heard Obama's speech today, we got it on the news over here and I was most impressed. He's saying to do all the things I've been saying for years - definite "feel-good" factor there, LOL. But seriously, he is. And he sounded quite cross which was delightful. All the things about turning the car industry towards eco-friendly transport, ditto housing, ditto all the stuff on climate change ... and enabling good, useful, creative work and jobs to grow out of that. And energy independence - and the fact that the US and most other folks are not being and underlying lever for terrorists. I loved the bit about Nixon wanting to cut US dependence on outside energy, Obama said that at that time the US got 1/4 of its oil from overseas. At the end of the Bush admin the US got 1/2 its oil from overseas. P and I had a good chuckle at that moment ... but what can you expect of a man whose family fortunes were enabled by Bin Laden ??? BTW, on the British humour front we tend to call him "Bin Liner" over here *g*.

As to whether Obama can get through the morass of politics well, watch this space. And be assured I shall actually watch for the time being too. I hope he goes on as he's started and doesn't get off at the knees by jealous, nasty-minded ill-wishers as happened to Clinton. We shall see ...

Happy birthday, Steepholm

: elen_sentier; January 25th, 2009

Happy birthday,

steepholm :-). I hope the day was good.

Daftness !!!

: elen_sentier; January 24th, 2009

You Are Assertive

You assert yourself whenever it's necessary, but you're always polite and appropriate about it.

You're not a bully, a manipulator, or a nag. You just state what you need quickly and honestly.

You've been assertive for so long that it just comes naturally to you. You're definitely not shy.

People wonder why you get what you want in life. Well, it's because you ask for it!

How Assertive Are You?

Just for fun ...

: elen_sentier; January 24th, 2009

Current Mood:: ditzy

001. Real name → You don’t need to know that J
002. Nickname(s)→ Grym
003. Zodiac sign → Leo
004. Male or female → Female
005. Elementary → dhhh! Several …
006. Middle School → didn’t exist when I went
007. High School → a convent school – believe it !!!
008. Hair color → red
009. Long or short → long
010. Loud or Quiet → my hair only makes a noise when it’s got static!
011. Sweats or Jeans → Jeans
012. Phone or Camera → Camera
013. Health freak → Nope
014. Drink or Smoke? → Neither
015. Do you have a crush on someone? → My cats
016. Eat or Drink → good stuff, love it!
017. Piercings → 3, in ears
018. Tattoos → None

HAVE YOU EVER?
019. Been in an airplane→ Yes
020. Been in a relationship → Yes
021. Been in a car accident → Yes
022. Been in a fist fight → No

FIRSTS:
023. First piercing → 27yrs old – celebrsate 1^st Saturn
024. First best friend → Paul, my husband
025. First award → dance – classical ballet then, age 7
026. First crush → dhhh!
028. First big vacation → USA, aged 18

LASTS:
029. Last person you talked to → Paul
030. Last person you texted → BBC
031. Last person you watched a movie with → Paul
032. Last food you ate → bagels and beef
033. Last movie you watched → Wyatt Earp (Kosner) surprisingly good
034. Last song you listened to → Mediaeval Spanish folk song, today
035. Last thing you bought → some petrol, for a drive round the moors
036. Last person you hugged → Isolde-the-cat, before that Paul

FAVES:
037. Food → Anything really tasty and well made
038. Drinks → Riggwelter beer, Dunkerton’s cider
039. Clothing → Jeans
040. Books → mystery, fantasy, crime
041. Music → classical, mediaeval, jazz, heavy rock, folk
042. Flower → roses
043. Colors → Red, Black, Silver, Green, Blue
044. Movies→ The Third Man
045. Positions → dhh! Horizontal, mostly …
046. Subjects → Celtic shamanism, Celtic mythos, transpersonal psychology

IN 2008..... I
X=yes
047. [x ] kissed in the snow
048. [x]celebrated Halloween
049.] had your heart broken
050. [ ] went over the minutes on your cell phone
051. [] someone questioned your sexual orientation
052. [ ] came out of the closet
053. [ ] gotten pregnant
054. [ ] had an abortion
055. [x] done something you've regretted
056. [x] broke a promise
057. [x] hid a secret
058. [x] pretended to be happy
059. [ ] met someone who changed your life
060. [] pretended to be sick
061. [ ] left the country
062. [ ] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
063. [x] cried over the silliest thing
064. [ ] ran a mile
065. [ ] went to the beach with your best friend(s)
066. [] stay single the whole year

CURRENTLY:
067. Eating → Nothing
068. Drinking → Nothing
069. I'm about to → catch up everything !!!
070. Listening to → birdsong and the wind in the trees
071. Plans for today → Play Catch-Up
072. Waiting for → Everything J

YOUR FUTURE:
073. Want kids? → No
074. Want to get married? → already am, 35 yrs and still going well J
075. Careers in mind → I’m doing what I want to

WHICH IS BETTER WITH GIRL/BOY?
076. Lips or eyes → Eyes
077. Shorter or taller? → Taller
078. Romantic or spontaneous → Both
079. Nice stomach or nice arms → Both
080. Sensitive or loud → Sensitive
081. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship
082. Trouble-maker or hesitant → Trouble-maker

HAVE YOU EVER:
083. Lost glasses/contacts → No
084. Ran away from home → No
085. Held a gun/knife for self defence → Yes, and shooting rabbits
086. Killed somebody → No
087. Broken someone's heart → Not that I'm aware of
088. Been arrested → No
089. Cried when someone died → Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
090. Yourself → Most of the time
091. Miracles → Yes
092. Love at first sight → Yes, it happened to us J
093. Heaven → depends what you mean but I expect it’d be yes
094. Santa Claus → depends what you mean again …
095. Sex on the first date → No
096. Kiss on the first date → Possibly

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
097. Is there one person you want to be with right now? → already am
098. Are you seriously happy with where you are in life? → it’s perfect, wonderful, I adore it
099. Do you believe in God → only the one ??? Yes, but not some whiskery old goat J

Its Not Easy Being Green !!!

: elen_sentier; January 22nd, 2009

Current Mood:: irritated

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Eco Things
P just gone off to do shopping and library trip, and eco-trip. Had an "experience" last night !!!
Watched the Dick Strawbridge prog on BBC2 - called "It's Not Easy Being Green". I do approve of this sort of things ... basically ... without being idiotic, continuing to think and not getting green-washed. I was not expecting a sort of Big Brother type show with Strawbridge and some fluffy female (prob famous - but I wouldn't know ) shrieking at each other. It told everyone absolutely nothing . Then we went on to this sort of handsome young 30-something boost-your-ego type taking a single mum and her 2 kids to Malaga from London by train ... dhhhh! Now, I'm as agin unnecessary flying as anyone but the poor woman's journey took best part of 2 days; the train from Paris to madrid was late so they missed the Malaga connection; the compartment they all slept in had no loo attached so she had the choice of leaving the kids alone in the compartment or they all pee in the sink . when they got there they all needed to sleep for another day to get over it. some beginning to a holiday. And it cost them a helluva lot more money. That is daft!
Then the Strawbridge was back, standing around watching this young couple who had dug a huge hole in their back garden putting a rain-harvest tank into the hole and saying incredibly astute (Ha!) things like "You must have the hole big enough so the tank doesn't get stuck" ... excuse me ??? does he have any synapses to fire inside his skull? Does he assume we don't ??? I've seen it all done MUCH better on the garden makeover progs !!!
Oh and he was taking his pigs to the slaughterhouse. Pigs are usually easy with this - properly looked after pigs that is. I've helped a friend several times. You get a bucket with some food to rattle in it, walk towards the trailer and into is, the pigs follow you, then lie down and doze off for the journey (of their own accord, not drugged!) in the deep straw you put in the trailer first.
Of course, Strawbridge did the same sort of thing BUT he had umpteen people and cameramen and Uncle Tom Cobley and All and the pigs thought it was all a new adventure and didn't want to come. Dumb! He also went on about how they're not pets and going to be eaten ... yes ? ... does this mean you don't respect what you eat or treat it differently? Oh, he's OK with his beasts but my own friends are a lot better and make comments about understanding where your food comes from in a much better way. As doe Hugh Fernley Whittingstall ... which brings me to yet another point.
the pig carcasses came home to be butchered and we saw him doing this too. Now, butchering is an art, there are ways to cut meat so it tastes better - yes! Really! - and there are ways to bugger it up. Strawbridge is at the latter end . It was horrid to watch him hack at the meat, most of it would have to go for sausages as it was so badly cut. Remind me not to buy a joint off that man . And he didn't know what to do with all the parts of the carcass. Perhaps he and Hugh don't get along but it would have been MUCH better if he'd asked Hugh to do that bit. Hugh does know what to do, and very tastily, with every single bit off the carcass of a beast, including the tail that was mystifying Strawbrdge.
Then there was another Mr Handsome totally screwing everyone's brains on what plastic can be recycled. Now this is a complex subject and something firms, councils, authority, et al, has to get made simple. But standing by a plastic recycle bin telling folk they couldn't put this, that nor tother in is about as helpful as an ashtray on a motorbike . there was a wee gleam of hope in this soundbite though ... there's a firm in Essex that has a laser sorter so it does the sorting for you, you just chuck everything plastic into the bin - we can all handle that much! And - the extra good bit - the firm is expanding, gonna build 6 more plants around the country like that. In this terrible time of job-loss a really good sign, and in an industry which is necessary rather than building gas-guzzling cars or making cosmetics or advertising. Or the bloody stock market!
Ho hum! as you've probably gathered, I won't be watching it again. Dull, boring, stupid, badly informed, and not in the least educational. If that's how it is for him I'm not surprised at the Title ... It's Not Easy Being Green. come over here, mate, we'll give you a few lessons!
Original on my Xanga site here