Starving

Having a bit of a time meld as it’s only January 12 th. 😂❄️🩵

Feeding Wildbirds

Owl Tales and Photos

A Note To My Previous Post: Owl Tales

‘Owl’ tell you something else.

Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut was part Nubian.

Despite all attempts to erase her name and memory, much of her constructions, relics and artifacts- like her jewellery, still exist (made by her jewellers, though claimed to be that of following rulers, a common practice of inheritance and even grave-robbing by secret royal orders- or royals claiming greatness by falsely putting their name on more ancient structures like Pharaoh Kufu-Cheops- blatantly false claims to the Pyramids.) Even today, Hatshepsut’s love poems written to and with Solomon (called The Songs of Solomon) still exist, though confusingly interpreted now as ‘Holy Scripture’. Well, ‘everything is the meaning we give it’.

This Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut, chosen by her Father and fully Initiated, ruled Upper and Lower Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, a part of the Arabian Peninsula called Saba (Sheba)…and other Tribute Lands, trading extensively throughout the surrounding areas. She travelled to ‘Punt’, the Egyptian name for ‘the Holy Land, with exotic ‘gifts’- a ‘trade mission’- bringing her ‘entourage’ of highly skilled people, including Architects. Punt, ‘the Holy Land’, had also grown wealthy due to King Solomon’s ‘Wisdom’, his ‘Connections’, through several foreign marriages- alignments to foreign ruling families, and his Business Connections with Hiram of Tyre who owned a fleet of ships profitably transporting cargo between countries.

King Solomon was not as wealthy or powerful as Pharaoh/Queen Hatshepsut but was considered by her and her advisors as a suitable partner for a royal marriage, offspring and trade connections. All of this infuriated his powerful priests, his court and many others, as with the powerful families and priests- those power structures- of her lands. Yes, all of this became ‘translated’ into the supposed Anger of God in ‘the Holy Land’ and the Anger of the ‘Gods’ in Egypt. It became a mystery for scholars to ponder for centuries, for others to create myths or tamper with evidence and dates, and for tourist guides to repeat like gossip for a pay-check.

There’s ‘nothing new under the sun’ where Competing Powers are concerned, though most of us ‘don’t give a hoot’ unless we’re personally impacted. Many were, many still are…

Truly, we are a very young Species.

November 5, 2021

Shelley Wilson

Moose Tales

This and Other Realities

Moose Tales

In the Medicine Wheel, the Moose is my Totem Animal in the East. I am a ‘white woman’ now but have lived several Indigenous lives with loved ones on this North American continent, both in male and female forms. (It’s fine if you don’t believe that.)

Mother Nature has gifted me with many sightings and encounters with Moose throughout my years when living in Northeastern Ontario. I am deeply grateful for having those experiences.

Great To Be Alive…

Some years ago, my Husband, Roger, and I journeyed to the Lady Evelyn and Smoothwater Lakes by canoe, having entered the winding access river off of the Beauty Lake Road.

I was filled with thoughts about ‘timing’ just before our little electric motor died, then later after a portage in rough waters, my paddle split down the middle of the bottom half. It happened at the mouth of Smoothwater, a crystal clear lake renowned for sudden high waves and drownings. The wind was threatening and against us so we paddled closer to shore. It suited my mood and the desire to live a solitary life once the children were out of the nest.

When we stopped to pitch tent on a beach, I went to gather sticks for our fire. Some distance away from camp, with my aching arms full, I stood quietly looking at my beautiful, wild surroundings. I was overcome with a wonderful feeling of how great it was to be alive. My concerns and worries dissolved in those few minutes of contemplation.

Just as I returned to camp, Roger and I heard a very loud, crashing sound. There, on the very spot of the shoreline where I had just stood, a Bull Moose appeared as if running for its life, went straight into the water and swam as fast as it could toward the distant shore. He was a magnificent sight to behold.

Then, just moments later, a large Grey Wolf appeared on that very same spot. It watched the Moose intently, hungry and having lost its prey. Then it turned to stare directly at us. That stare pierced my mind and heart. I, truly, felt the Call of the Wild.

What a thrill and honour to see both of these amazing creatures!!

Moose In Paradise…

Years ago, my Dad, Aunt and Uncle and I went on a day trip fishing in Dad’s 12 foot aluminum boat. It was another of several of my journeys into the Lady Evelyn, Dufferin and Smoothwater Lakes where I often saw Moose, Bears and many species of wildlife. My Uncle remarked that it looked as if I’d just entered into Paradise.

On that particular day, my Aunt and I encountered a towering Bull Moose with a heavy rack just a few short yards from our path. We all stopped suddenly. My Aunt, Helen, pulled out her belted knife and I said softly, “Please put that away and don’t move.”

The Moose stood staunchly appraising us for several minutes, then turned back, trustingly, into the bush. We sighed with relief. Then I chuckled with great respect for my wonderful Totem Animal of the East.

Saved By A Moose…

During my late teens, I had another memorable experience with a formidable Bull Moose. To this day, I believe that creature of Mother Nature was Heaven-sent to save me from a potential rape when I prayed for help.

A young man who was dating my cousin in Southern Ontario made a surprise visit to my family home one summer day. He wanted me to take him for a day of fishing. Dad suggested I take him to Lone Wolf Lake, north, towards the Arctic Watershed sign.

I recall the strange thought, ‘I’ll give him a memory he won’t soon forget,’ then wondered why I’d thought that thought.

Off we went on our adventure.

It was a hot, sunny day with swarms of mosquitoes and blackflies all around us as we threw our baited lines into the water. Within minutes, I discovered that I was the bait. Our visitor gave me a ravenous, unwelcomed kiss. I said to the mosquitoes and blackflies, “Oh, oh! What next!” When I looked deep into his eyes, I saw he was being tempted to rape me. I must have made a desperate mental call, a prayer to God, to Mother Nature, to the Angels, because just then a gigantic Bull Moose came charging out of the bush and stood very close to where we were. I had the sudden instinct to drop my fishing rod and run towards the Moose. He turned swiftly and headed back into the bush running, with me chasing after him, unarmed, like a crazy, wild woman. I had a distinctly wolfish, predatory feeling all through this strange experience. The southern visitor began chasing after me too but was slow to catch up. Then the strange feeling passed and I finally stopped, leaving that blessed Moose to its solitary run deeper into the wilderness.

My visitor caught up. He had a frightened, sheepish look in his eyes now. I said, “It’s time to leave.” We didn’t talk on the way back to Kirkland Lake and I heard he headed back south immediately.

I didn’t speak of this experience for many years but chuckled to myself whenever it came to mind. In a family of Moose Hunters, I was saved by a Moose…

(True stories of Northeastern Ontario retold November 2, 2021)

Thank you Mother Nature!

Shelley Wilson

A Fox Tale

This and Other Realities:

A Fox Tale

“You are being cunningly deceived” said the sly fox with the cunning smile. I silently laid the Russian Gypsy divining cards down and wondered…

Mother Nature had gifted me with many surprises of beautiful foxes appearing in my life. I always welcomed them with love and gratitude whenever they appeared. There was the curious, friendly fox at Round Lake, the patient red fox that waited at the edge of the road by Kenogami Lake as Roger and I approached in our car, the very large and different (Arctic?) fox who sat quietly as I picked blueberries near the Esker Park lakes, and other foxes too… I felt thrilled and honoured to see them.

I wondered what the cards of the fox were trying to tell me as I put the deck of cards away. I kept this all to myself.

The following evening, my young teenage son, Aaron, returned home, wide-eyed and breathless. He said, “Mom, you won’t believe this, but a fox just followed ma as I was walking home… all the way from downtown to here!”

I looked at him with a motherly, sly smile and asked, “Do you have something to tell me, son?” He hesitated but a few minutes later reluctantly revealed that he’d been smoking cigarettes with his friends. I almost laughed, remembering the peer pressure to smoke that I also experienced at about his age. My friend’s Grandmother caught us smoking in her shed. She’d seen clouds of smoke coming out of the shed and thought it was on fire. Then my Mother found a smelly cigarette butt in my coat pocket.I think my sickly green face gave me away, despite the fact that I’d grown up with clouds of cigarette smoke in our family home every day. A few years later when sitting with another friend in a restaurant, both smoking to pretend that it made us look ‘glamorous’, my friend said, “You look ridiculous! You don’t even know how to hold that cigarette!” I looked at her, thought a few seconds, then said, “You know, you’re right!” I crushed my cigarette out and that was the end of it for me. She continued to pay for the addiction for years and I often thought of her words with gratitude.

So, Aaron stood before me, clearly expecting to be ‘grounded’ and, worse still, not be allowed to play basketball at the school in the evenings for a while. I didn’t add a strict punishment to those feelings I understood and read so clearly on his face. Back then, our home was a ‘smoke free’ zone. My husband, Roger, smoked outside in all weather. Doing that was a rarity in those days. Our daughter, Alissa, had asthma. Anywhere near any cigarette smoke in the air, since she was a toddler especially, her physical reaction would mean going immediately to the Emergency Room of a nearby Hospital. Smoking was then a ‘life and death’ situation.

There was no parental reprimand to Aaron that night. I just spoke softly. “Please don’t smoke around here, son”, and left him to learn from his choices. There’s a fine line between parental guidance and parental tyranny.

Then I silently thanked Mother Nature and her Fox who had cunningly revealed a secret to me.

(A true story from Englehart, Ontario and retold in Victoria, BC- November 2, 2021)

Thanks again Mother Nature!

Shelley Wilson