On whose shoulders we stand

A Modern Fairy Tale

Fairy Tale 

What image comes to mind when you hear the word ‘fairy‘? Be honest. I always think of a tiny, fragile, winged creature sitting on a toadstool, legs crossed, head on one side like, butter wouldn’t melt and I have never believed in them. Didn’t when was a child and still don’t.

Fairy tales in my childhood never had any of these wishy-washy, mamby-pamby creatures in them. No, they were full of characters like giants and ogres who wanted to eat children or poison them. Fairy tales as I remember were action packed with trials and tribulations filling one with fear and excitement. There was a winning hero or heroine albeit that success for a girl was getting her prince.

I am a witch and I live in a castle. No it’s true. Well a chateau actually because it is Normandy. I don’t broadcast the fact of course. My great, great grandmother was burnt at the stake and I know that sort of thing doesn’t happen anymore but you can’t be too careful and besides I haven’t practiced for some years.

Unfortunately as I recall witches mostly had a bad press. I know we were fed the line that there are good witches and bad witches but being one myself I knew that not to be true. Of course I’ve met those who didn’t know a frog from a toad which led to catastrophic results but none who were wicked.

I stopped practising when so-called superheroes were given all the credit for battling against evil. I mean what were they thinking when they created Spiderman? And Batman (not forgetting Robin). P-l-e-a-s-e. All, macho superheroes getting changed in phone boxes and the like while the females simpered around with waspy waists, big breasts and long blond hair. They were no more use than the fairies at the bottom of the garden. So I gave up. It seemed to be pointless. Besides I was getting on a bit and life does get harder as one gets older especially in a society which overlooks the old and worships youth. There was a further reason too. I had always kept myself healthy by collecting wild herbs and using them to cure any ailments that occurred and to keep my immune system up to the mark. Then I read in the local paper that the chemicals that farmers were using on their crops were affecting wild plants.

One day I was in the library and I happened to notice a young woman using a computer. She seemed to be typing and not playing one of those shoot and kill games all the boys play. I walked behind her very slowly trying to see what she was writing and as she moved the cursor (I learned that word later) she clicked on something called a spell check. SPELL CHECK. You can imagine what went through my mind. I asked the librarian if I could use one of the machines and would she show me how to do it. In no time at all I was clicking and searching with the rest and then the librarian said, ‘Sorry time’s up, you are only allowed an hour.’

I rushed home to search the yellow pages and next thing I was in Computer World. Amazing place. Did you know that you can have a computer on your kitchen table without wires and contact people all over the world? Now that to me is magical. It took a while to realise that the message ‘wireless not connected’ didn’t mean the radio wasn‘t working. Well it’s an easy mistake you can receive radio and TV for that matter via computers. Anyway it wasn’t long before I was sitting at my dining room table having a lesson from a nice young man.

When he left the first thing I did was to click on spell check and by golly it worked. Now I had to ask myself did I really want to go back to trying to change a war torn world which was reputed to be on the way to self destruction? What I need to do, I told myself, is to see if I can find other like minded women i.e. other witches. The first thing I tried was blogging which proved unfruitful. Then I set up a couple of websites. Oh I know what you’re thinking, how come an old woman learned to use the latest technology so quickly. That’s because of the deep rooted ageism in our society. I’m growing older not less intelligent. I may learn more slowly than you young things but don’t confuse lack of speed with lack of intelligence. So I set up a couple of protected sites www.worldofwitches.com or wow as I liked to call it and www.wisewomenareus.co.uk . I was totally amazed at the results. It went from single numbers of hits (I quickly learned the jargon) the first week, to tens of thousands by the end of the first month and now after a year the figures are in the millions.

I soon realized that practicing my art this way was much easier and a hundred times more efficacious than before. I don’t need my old broomstick for a start. I was never a good driver anyway. I had no sense of balance you see and kept falling off. It was rather embarrassing. But now I can contact women all over the world instantly without leaving my kitchen.

The first aim of the website was to initiate women apropos spell check. Obviously most people take it literally but after a visit to my website it immediately becomes a very useful tool. Of course not everyone can access these sites and even if they do and have the wrong motives then I’m afraid that spell check will remain just that. You see one can only use spells for good, i.e. for the good of the population or for the good of the environment. By the way no self respecting witch ever turned a frog into a prince. Although I’ve watched a few men change into frogs without any help from a spell.

The second aim was to combine on a mutual project. The old adage ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ still holds good. So I asked the two questions on both websites.

1)What do you think is the biggest problem in the world today?

2)In your opinion what do you think we can do about it?

I never cease to be amazed at the creativity of women in a group. What I can’t understand is, why I remain amazed after all these years. The results were mind blowing. First of all there were the obvious ones like war, the ozone layer and global warming. Then these were made more specific and put into categories like ‘the war in Iraq’ ; the trouble in the Congo; the use of fossil fuels; over use of oil products etc,. But what we were searching for was a connection between all these subjects so that we could tackle the root cause. And guess what? We found it. What connects all these problems?

Answer: ‘Men’

Simply that. Sorry guys. You may say that women have played a part but who has been in control of the world for centuries? Men. So it must be their fault. We realised that women had be part of the problem too since we hadn’t stopped them. They do say solving any problem is a---

No, no the answer is not to eliminate men. We are unanimous on that. We love men. The problem is that they never grow up and they think that the solution to all conflict and problems is violence. After centuries of violence the results are obvious, are they not ? Violence makes things worse. Big sticks just lead to bigger sticks. Marilyn French said, ‘Power gained through violence always has to retained by violence.’

So we have, ahead of us, one of the most difficult battles known to women. We have to change attitudes. Women of the World unite. Together we can do it with the help of ‘spell check’. Log on to one of our sites and discover how we can pull together to bring about world peace and save the planet surreptitiously, gently and most of all non-violently.

Remember log on to www.worldofwitches.com or www.wisewomenareus.co.uk and be amazed.

　

Poem about Childhood

I love this poem because it exactly describes my childhood. What a wonderful time it was. No responsibilities or worries. Life was one long playtime until we started school. Then there was no TV or telephone  and we didn't have a car.

Play Time in an English Meadow

 

Girl and boy
Gathering buttercups
Running hither and thither
‘Look, look at these
Stop, standstill.’
Boy holds large buttercup under girl’s chin
Catches shimmering sunlight in iridescent cup
It reflects on her throat,
‘Yes, yes you like butter.
‘Let’s find a four-leafed clover’.
Running, bending, plucking,
‘I’ve found one. I’ve found one.’

                          ‘Oh no. Oh no.’
                            Over and over.

‘One o’clock, two o’clock.’
Scattering seeds float up, up and away.
‘Three o’clock, four o’clock’.
They drift high into the sky
‘Five o’clock, six o’clock’.
‘Look, oh look at mine’.
‘Over there, white clovers.
You can get milk from white clovers’.
They place them gingerly in their mouths
Then wrinkle freckled noses
‘Ugh, ugh’.
They fall rolling in the grass
Laughing with utter delight.

They lie listening
Melodious, meadow music surrounds them
Unseen insects sing soprano
Contralto and alto from birds and small mammals
Bees provide the drone
Basso profundo from the big beast beyond the hawthorn
Moo-oo-oo- Moo-oo-oo

 

 

 An unwanted voice interrupts
‘It’s bedtime’.
They didn’t want bedtime
They had found eternity.

Story ONE Who Needs a Prince?

Hilary dropped the shopping on the kitchen table with a thud. Stooping to unbuckle Ben from his pushchair she noticed a pile of washing on the floor that she had meant to put into the machine. She called to Jeremy her four year old, who was running into the lounge ‘Be careful or you’ll trip over the …’
‘Aaahh, wah,’ cried Jeremy.
‘Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.’’
‘Quack, quack,’ said Ben who thought she’d said duck because he was still wearing his balaclava.
‘Hello, hello, hello. What’s going on here then?’ said Gwen, entering via the back door and heaving her sixteen stones onto a kitchen stool. ‘Sounds like some magical chant to me. I would be careful if I were you those things can get you into trouble.’
Hilary laughed, ‘The bad fairy must have been at my christening and cast a magic spell. My life is crap.’
Gwen picked up Jeremy who was still whining. She kissed, cuddled and made cooing sounds in his ear. He continued to cry. She slid him a chocolate biscuit.
Bending down to feed the washer Hilary thought that everything in her life, even inanimate objects, required her to satisfy their hunger.
‘So where is my handsome prince? He’s leaving his entrance a bit late.
Do I have to do something to break the spell, like perform a daring task?’
Gwen slide her sixteen stones off the stool and carried it across to put the kettle on. She lived next door and often came to help Hilary.
‘Daring task? Wasn’t getting pregnant and giving birth enough?
‘Very funny. Like, oh I don’t know. Like they did in fables of yore.’
Who Needs a Prince?
‘No you’ve got that wrong. The heroes went on missions. The heroines were more sort of done to,’ She mounted the stool again.
‘Well don’t I have to kiss or rub something?’
‘I’ve kissed and rubbed ‘til I had chapped lips and an aching wrist but it’s done nothing for me. I’m still sleeping with a frog.. He used to call me his little princess would you believe?’
The following silence was broken by the whistling kettle and the children asking for drinks.
Hilary made the boys warm blackcurrant juice while Gwen dismounted and made coffee.
‘Looks like we both need a bit of magic. I need to lose some weight and you want a partner.’
‘If we hang around waiting to be done to, I don’t see how we can achieve anything.’
‘I’m all for changing the rules. What do you say to making up our own ?’
‘Like what?’
‘We’ll go on a quest. What we need first is an old woman collecting firewood. She’ll give us our first leg up so to speak.’
‘You’ve been reading too much Terry Pratchet. OK what have we got to lose.’
Gwen couldn’t think where they would find such a person being ten miles from a park of significant size never mind a wood.’
‘I know it sounds silly,’ said Hilary, ‘but what if we hang around a hard ware shop; they sell bundles of sticks. We could wait until an old lady comes along to buy some then offer to help her.’ ‘Sounds crazy to me but I’m game. No time like the present and if it doesn’t work Who Needs a Prince?
I’ll treat us all to lunch in Cheapway’s.
They parked the car then walked up and down in front of the hardware shop keeping an eye open for any female who looked over fifty.
‘It’s a good job it’s not a jewellers or they would think that we were casing the joint,’ said Hilary.
‘That might be a better idea, the jewellers I mean. We could go in and ask to see a tray of rings.’
‘What then?
‘Rub them of course.’
‘Look! There she is, the one with the purple rinse.’
‘I thought she was supposed to wear a shawl. I’d wear anything to cover hair that colour.’
‘She’ll do for me. Excuse me. Those sticks look heavy. Would you like me to carry them for you?’ ‘How kind. What a change to be offered help instead of almost being knocked over by thoughtless teenagers. There are more in the shop that I’ve paid for if you wouldn’t mind. My car’s just here.’
Gwen reeled backwards when she saw the amount of sticks that she had offered to carry. ‘Oh well in for a penny in for a hundredweight.’
Hilary was too occupied to help as she was trying to reign in the boys who wanted to join in the stick moving.
‘Careful, you’ll get splinters,’ she said but thought what a mad idea it had been to go on a mission.
‘Now then, one good turn deserves another,’ said the old woman when all the sticks Who Needs A Prince?
were safely stowed in the back of her estate car. ‘What do you say to a spot of lunch on me?’
Jeremy and Ben who had been quiet until now started whining. Jeremy was hungry and Ben wanted a pee.
‘How kind of you to offer,’ said Hilary let’s get into Safeway’s before these two drive me potty.’
When they’d all been to the toilet and were comfortably settled at a table with their lunches Gwen said, ‘Leave that seat for the ------. Where’d she go.?
‘That’s her going through the exit doors,’ said Hilary. ‘She left this poster. Shall I run after her?’
‘What’s this,’ said Gwen taking it from Hilary. ‘What does it say?’
She read aloud,

‘Assertiveness Training for Women Only,
Tuesday 17th May at 3.00pm
in
The Village Hall
Crèche Available
Come along and find out what you really want.
Learn how to ask for it.
Find out how to be independent and
feel comfortable in your own body
in a safe and supportive atmosphere.’

‘Could be better than a Charming Prince. What d’you say? Shall we give it a go?’

Writing or not?

 



A garden view to brighten up this blog

As it's late September and Winter looms I decided to get back some balance between gardening and writing and activities elsewhere e.g. dancing so here I am getting back into this writing blog.
A couple of years ago I read that short stories that had been on the internet in whatever form e.g. blogs were not eligible for competition entries. I then deleted all my short stories from this blog.
Now I do not enter competitions I shall up load all my short stories to this blog. I may then at some future date self publish a book of short stories.

Two More Women on Whose Shoulders We Stand

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

               

 

 

Sarah Moore Grimké (1792–1873) and Angelina Emily Grimké (1805–1879), known as the Grimké sisters, were 19th-century Southern American Quakers, educators and writers who were early advocates of abolitionism and women's rights.
They were born in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Sarah Moore Grimke was born on November 26, 1792 and Angelina Emily Grimke was born on February 20, 1805. Throughout their lives, they travelled throughout the North, lecturing about their first hand experiences with slavery on their family's plantation. Among the American first women to act publicly in social reform movements, they received abuse and ridicule for their abolitionist activity. They both realized that women would have to create a safe space in the public arena to be effective reformers. They became early activists in the women's rights movement

We must appreciate these women who laid the early foundations for the lives we live now. Remember they lived over TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. It has been and still is a long hard battle.

Women We Should Remember

I decided to write about women writers and campaigners on whose shoulders we stand.
The first one  is Olive Schreiner.
Olive Schreiner (24 March 1855 – 11 December 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is best remembered today for her ...novel The Story of an African Farm which has been highly acclaimed ever since its first publication in 1883 for the bold manner in which it dealt with some of the burning issues of the day, including agnosticism, existential independence, individualism and the professional aspirations of women; as well as its portrayal of the elemental nature of life on the colonial frontier. In more recent studies she has also been foregrounded as an apologist for those side-lined by the forces of British Imperialism, such as the Afrikaners, and later other South African groups like Blacks, Jews and Indians - to name but a few. Although she showed interest in socialism, pacifism, vegetarianism and feminism amongst other things, her true views escape restrictive categorisations. Her published works and other surviving writings promote implicit values like moderation, friendship and understanding amongst all peoples, avoiding the pitfalls of political radicalism which she consciously eschewed. Although she may be called a lifelong freethinker in terms of her Victorian background - as opposed to mainstream Christianity - she always remained true to the spirit of the Christian Bible and developed a secular version of the worldview of her missionary parents, with mystical elements.

Biography - Books by Olive Schreiner - Books about Olive Schreiner - See also