When Absence Is Necessary

                                                             

We don’t live in calm times and are relentlessly bombarded 24/7 with advertisements telling us to buy stuff we don’t need, with news reports of the latest buffoonery offered by our political circus and reports of the latest barbaric savagery committed in the name of GOD. Top that with the uncertainty of our jobs and health and you can understand a person wanting to hide in a cave.

                                                            

 

A few days ago, a good friend Jessica A. Walsh posted a blog titled “What Happened When My Power Went Away” Jessica is not only part of the best writers’ group ever, The South Jersey Writers’ Group, but this year, she became our Vice President. Jessica is a beautiful and sensitive person, but in this world, it can be rather overwhelming when something unsettling happens to you especially if you are a gentle soul. In her blog post, Jessica explains how an event affected her on three different planes: mentally, financially and physically.

I’m much older than Jessica and I’ve been in her exact dilemma many times, but age has a way of allowing you to let go of the guilt when you are forced to become absent from the world.  

Absence

Definition from the Oxford Dictionary: The state of being away from a place or person; an occasion or period of being away from a place or person; absence of mind Failure to concentrate on or remember what one is doing; avoidance; hiatus; truancy.

                                                

Jessica was apologizing for her disappearance. There was no need for an apology because what Jessica’s mind and body had demanded from her was a good old fashion retreat. Time out is important for survival, especially, in this world of ours where it’s fashionable to hate and to incite.

Retreat

Definition from the Cambridge Dictionary: To go away from a place or person in order to escape from fighting or danger; to go to a quiet place in order to avoid a difficult situation.

Benefits of Absence or Retreats

When I was a young girl at St. Maria Goretti High School in South Philadelphia, the nuns would take us on a Spiritual Retreat for the entire day at one of their Mother Houses in the countryside. We were teenagers who felt that a day spent in quiet contemplation sounded more like a prison sentence than a learning experience, but we were wrong. The time spent in silence gave us renewed strength.

                                                             

Later in life, I learned the benefits to a time out. I haven’t been on a spiritual retreat since high school, but I have set up a room inside my house as my little cave; a place to hide. Retreats and meditation reduce stress, allow your mind to breathe, renew energy and give you a chance to heal both mentally and physically. Like Jessica, I may hide in my little cave for days when I’m really feeling crushed by the weight of the world. I light incense, I play Hindu music, I don’t write, text, tweet or talk to anyone. My husband understands that because of my compromised immune system it is beneficial and better than any antibiotic to just let me go into cocoon mode whenever I need it.

Conclusion

I wanted Jessica to know that it’s okay to disappear. Even GOD disappeared in the desert for forty days and, he didn’t have to put up with Trump and Cruz, but HE knew what was coming down the road and he had to prepare for the journey to Calvary.

                                                              

In this age of instantaneous non-stop news, we need to take time to become absent from the world for small periods of time. Many of us can’t afford to miss work, because we have bills to pay, but we can designate a specific place in our home that is off limits to phones, television, computers and stress and just an hour in this room will start the mending. Disconnect form your cell phones and television for one night and feel the difference.

                                                             

My message to Jessica is this: don't feel guilty when you go into cocoon mode, instead, enjoy the benefits and emerge a better you. I’ll be in the cocoon next to you.

 

Steampunk Granny's "Springtime in Paris" Bohemian Bazaar

Granny is so excited to start sharing the information on our Springtime in Paris Bazaar. Each week, I will post more information on the venders. They will have crafty items to please every purse. This might turn into a Merchant Street Event!!!!

 

Shelley Shayner will be reading Tarot Cards. She'll also be displaying some of her art

 

                                                            

Marti and Marcia from On Angel's Wings will be selling their metaphysical and spiritual items.

 

 

 

Beth O'Brien is a Reiki Master & Angel Card Reader

 

 

Nikki Steward is a medium and does past lives readings

 

 

Stacey Wright is a crafter extraordinaire

 

 

Emmy Fleming does jewelry based on the Marvel Universe. Very talented young lady who will be featured in an upcoming article in Geekadelphia

 

 

 

 

Lee Hoffman is the proprietor of Steampunk Works offering the best in Steampunk Fashions

 

 

Mieke Zamora Mackay will be featuring her hand knitted items

 

 

I will be featuring more vendors each week. Stay tuned

 

Fun at the Psychic & Healing Expo in Blackwood, N.J.

                                                           

 

I love meeting new people and, this past Sunday while I was at the Psychic & Healing Expo, I met some new friends. There were many vendors in the section that I was in.

                                                            

 

The place was packed and all the visitors looked like they were having fun. Stacy Zemon is the person responsible for pulling this event together every year and she did a wonderful job as always.

                                                              

 

Wendy Hutchinson was there selling her Tastefully Simple goodies, but she is also offering a special venue called Downtown Vendors for corporations to treat their employees to a workplace shopping experience with vendors and crafters. You can reach Wendy at downtownvendorsNJ@gmail.com

                                                         

 

Amanda Frick was there with her Awakened Mind LLC. Amanda is a psychic who brings healing to awaken the mind and bring you out of the illusion of separation from your spirit. Her website is www.awakeningminds.com. You can also reach her at awakenedmindllc@gmail.com

                                                              

 

Dawn Strouse was there to offer you a cup of tea and then do intuitive tea leaf readings for you. Tea leaf readings are an ancient method of divination originating with Buddhist Monks. You can reach Dawn at dawn.igh@gmail.com

                                                                 

 

Judy Kay, Psychic Medium was also there and Judy does past, present and future readings, while helping you connect with loved ones. You can reach Judy Kay at judykaypsychicmedium@aol.com

                                                                 

 

Jean Lee Brown Ramalho was offering her Healing Pet Crystals which gives Reiki protection to your pets. Jean can be reached at happypetcrystals@gmail.com

                                                         

 

Annmarie and Ackbar of the Sacred Green Earth in 511 White Horse Pike, Oaklyn New Jersey were there with their many spiritual items. Check out their site http://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Sacred-Green-Earth-Spring-Medicine-Wheel.html?soid=1102417252465&aid=-3L1MvomVIg  and here https://www.facebook.com/Sacred-Green-Earth-129579457113670/?fref=ts

                                                          

 

Nikki Steward was there from 30 Something Psychic. Nikki is a medium who does past life readings and much more. You can check out her site, here. https://www.facebook.com/30SomethingPsychic/?fref=ts

                                                                  

 

Check out these fabulous vendors and don’t forget to check out the first two books of my Roof Oasis Apocalyptic Series on Amazon.com Book Three comes out in August.

Colony on USA: A Kick-Ass Science Fiction Drama

                                                             

 

The USA Network is showing two of my favorite series, Mr. Robot and Colony. I already did a post on the series, Mr. Robot, but today I’m talking about Colony the series created by Carlton Cuse and Ryan J. Condal and starring Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies...yes my little walker snacks...Lori Grimes is alive and doing well in LA...but this time it’s aliens and not walkers that she’s fighting.

Plot

Colony takes place in the not so distant future where Los Angeles is under the control of an invasive species. It is a military occupation with the aliens controlling the earthlings with a well-organized army called the Colony Transitional Authority. The aliens known as Hosts or Raps have never been seen by the locals. What we do know is that the uniforms of their human army bear the logo of a Bird of Prey.

                                                              

An ingenious move on the part of the producers and writers was to keep the story focused more on the humans who are split on their choices to either work with the powerful but unseen aliens, or to fight them. I love the fact that the aliens are spoken of, but never seen as it adds to the terror the people in the story feel. 

While life seems to go on in a somewhat normal post war scenario, there are shocking symbols to remind you that nothing is normal starting with the enormous thick wall that the aliens have constructed around the central part of Los Angeles. Trump would be in his glory to have a wall like this...most tyrants would. Los Angeles is not an isolated case as these walls exist around the world.

                                                             

Total domination is the game play of the aliens who use an occupying military force made up of complying humans known as the “Red Hats.” The name comes from their cool black and red uniforms. This military force is under the watchful eyes of Homeland Security, while the people who want their world back in human hands are called the Insurgents.

People are broken up by class, where the elite (people in power and people working for the aliens) get special privileges and the poor and average Joe get screwed over like always no matter who is the ruling power.

                                                              

 

The Bowman Family

Former FBI agent, Will Bowman (Josh Holloway) and his wife Katie (Sarah Wayne Callies) live with their children in the occupied section of Los Angeles. One of their young sons had been separated from them during the invasion and may be surviving on the other side of the wall. Will, with the promise of being reunited with his son, joins forces with Proxy Snyder (Peter Jacobson) and becomes part of the police force under Homeland Security. Katie, without Will’s knowledge, is part of the resistance.

Conclusion

The aliens have a factory on the moon. We don’t know why, but if you piss off the aliens, you are sent to that factory to work until you drop. The aliens have imposed curfews and checkpoints... plus they use drones to spy on the people and kill if necessary.

                                                              

Medical conditions such as diabetes have been considered a one way ticket enabling the aliens to cull the weak from the strong. Since the series starts after the invasion, we are left to decide from the information given on each weekly episode and, from the Colony online site, if the aliens are the good or bad guys.

                                                                

No one is safe and the season ended with a cliffhanger. We see that Charlie (Jacob Buster) is alive in a part of the city that resembles the poorest section on India. Proxy Snyder has been demoted. Will knows that Katie is a rebel and has been using information he’s given to her in confidence to help the resistance. OUCH!

                                                              

Katie needs to choose between Broussard (Tory Kittlels) and her hubby. Bram Bowman (Alex Neustaedter) has been captured by the Red Hats and Madeline (Amanda Righetti) has taken Grace and her son to live with Nolan Burgess (Adrian Pasdar). We did get a peek at the aliens, but I want more!!!!! Watch the show. It is well written and the cast is outstanding.