On Being a Virgin

The other great news for the week was the Royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine which was a breath of fresh air. Katie looked so Virginal; even if she wasn't.
When the Commoner, Kate married Prince William, the Church said it would not be fitting for her to wear white on her wedding day because it was known that she had co-habitated with university students in a house which included Prince William.
Why should the Church, headed by men, be allowed to tell Kate that she should not wear a "white" ( a virgin color) wedding dress, just because they presume she is not a virgin.  What color should Prince William not be allowed to wear?
Being a virgin is really overrated; just ask Mary. She's probably tired of being referred too, as "the Virgin"; especially after having more kids.
It reminds me of Anne and King Henry VIII. She enticed him with her virginity, intact; until he married her; only to have her head cut off after she gave herself to him.
What does that tell you? As long as you remain a virgin, your head is safe?
Must be true: a young Libyan woman was taken by Gaddafi's Muslim soldiers and repeatedly raped for several days. The same Muslims who would have stoned her to death if she had willingly given up her virginity before marriage.
And when she cried out in a public forum for being defiled; Gaddafi's secret service escorted her out of sight. Where is she now?
So if the act of a man upon a woman makes her of less value; what does that make a man during the same act?
Being valued as a virgin is a man-made idea for the sole purpose of control. Once her virginity is gone; she is of less worth because his curiosity is quenched.
It's also a form of competition and control between the men. Who will be the "first" to have her.
After Prince William decided to stop dating Kate back in 2007 when she brought up the "M" word, this after going together for about 5 years; I had wondered if he had slept with her and now he was done with her.
Good advice from her Mum who told her to get on with her life.
One way to get a man interested is to make him jealous by dating other men. I think it's just in a man's DNA to want something another man has; until he has it; only to lose interest once he has her, too.
It's, as if, a woman has to be playing games all her life, making men compete with each other. I know there are men out there somewhere who can be satisfied with a good woman without having to draw swords or fight a duel for her.
The men who are too old  to lift a sword.
I say this in jest, of course.
Maybe
After 3 months of drowning in his beer, Prince William decided Kate is a good caught when he saw her out and about on the town with other men.
If she had stayed home, waiting, being faithful to him; he probably would not have been as interested in her.  
She would have been too easy  a caught.
 
Maybe, that's why men like fly fishing?

News closer to home

Closer to home, this week, Kristine finished her needlepoints for friends. She also baked up a few chocolate desserts in school that we give to neigbhors. She is calling different bakeries in New York and California, trying to find an Internship this Fall. 

She is getting positive feedback by reaching out beyond her front doorstep. 

Kristine's Asian needlepoint for her therapist 

Opera Cake with Rum, coffee buttercream she gave to a few neighbors 

Kristine's topsy turvy 5 layer Dobos Torte  cake going to my husband's work.

My husband finally finished his brick walkway for his lemon and lime trees in between bad weather, business and Montana trips. 

It's the engineer and farmer in his blood that must make this kind of work so enticing. 

He said I could help, but I have learned over the years that he could be the death of me.

Too many times he has placed tools or handled equipment that could have seriously injured or killed me. 

You know that rake that's lying on the ground, face up; that happens often; and that's only a minor accident.

My husband's brickwork with sand mortar. A lemon and lime tree.

While running around the house without clothes, the dog starts barking and the door bell rings. I look out the front window to see an unmarked white van with flashing emergency lights. I can't see who's at the front door. I run upstairs and look out the window for a better view...only to see a shadow of leaves reflecting on the front door.  Flowers?
It's our anniversary. My husband sent them while he was in Washington D.C. The note was from my boyfriend: Thanking me for all I have done for him and our daughters. My husband would never write that.

Not stopping there, I also received E-mails, this week, from strangers all over the world: Thailand, Switzerland, Canada.... to congratulate me on my rose pictures that were featured on Webshots.com's 

"Member's Choice in the Rose Gardens section of Home & Garden." 

I didn't know they had "featured" pictures; much less member's who would E-mail me. 

One in particular, from Switzerland sent me a number of E-mails, until I answered him; wanting to be my "photo" friend. 

He has at least a hundred friends already. Some people just like "collecting" friends. 
Maybe, I should stamp a number on my forehead. 

It has Been a Good Week for the Good Guys

The world is getting smaller and smaller as we communicate with people all over the world and obviously some of these connections result in good news.

The Wizard's dead....the wizard's dead..... bin Laden, that is.

At first I thought it was a joke when I heard that bin Laden was dead. After all, look how long it took us to find him; as if we had to search Mars and Pluto too; which we did, but for other reasons, we were told. 

Although, with global communication coming together, including satellite observation, enabling our governmental agencies to succeed in finding bin Laden; what's up with the 3 high level Pakistani military compounds, include an academy, located within a few miles of bin Laden's house.  

Why are we giving Pakistan billions of " our  tax dollars?" 

Right now, I am imagining all those suicide bombers beating the crap out of bin Laden because they couldn't  find those 72 virgins in Hell. 

Kudos to the Navy Seals who perfected their mission to the last bullet through his head, without hesitation. Never mind: I can't shoot a woman who is used as a shield. 

What makes the Navy Seal's action so heroic is the perfection; unlike those clumsy action packed Hollywood movies we sit through. 

If only our government can be as perfect managing the budget.

After joining AOL's Huffington Post's website, this week; where millions of participates comment on different topics of the day, I have stepped up my connection in the world.

This week alone, I have received a hundred plus comments from members, via my E-mail

(upon my request).  Some become my fans; as I become their fans. It's an inspiring dialogue of exchanged ideas and information on the most pressing topics of the day; that is, if you become a fan of someone who is civil and like-minded. You really do have to stay away from serial killers. 

Yesterday on Huffington, I followed a member who sited the following article: 

The assault force of Navy SEALs snatched a trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, yielding what a U.S. official called “the mother lode of intelligence.” The special operations forces grabbed personal computers, thumb drives and electronic equipment during the lightning raid that killed bin Laden, officials told POLITICO. “They cleaned it out,” one official said. “Can you imagine what’s on Osama bin Laden’s hard drive?”

To which Sergeant, a member responded: 

“Imagine if you were an Al Queda sleeper agent enjoying your night in wherever and you saw this on CNN. Just imagine the panic and the quick destructio­n of documents and the use of escape plans. And now today, every unit linked to bin Laden must assume they are compromise­d. They will not know when a black helicopter will arrive over their little abode and snatch them up into the night. 

Just the terror inflicted on these animals should add to the joy of eliminatin­g one more murderer from the earth.”

I feel there are some insightful people exchanging thoughts on the Internet; and joining with them will only add strength in number to the cause; whatever it is or will be. 

By putting ourselves out there in the world of communication;  the world becomes a little smaller for some of us.  While the world diminishes in size through communication; our ideas or actions expand to others, living thousands of miles away; bringing us closer together, in thought; or tearing us apart. Whichever way it will be; it will come as  

rapid fire communication.

Keeping in mind that new terrorist groups; such as, in Yemen, are just as deadly as bin Laden was at one time. 

Keeping in mind that after paying Pakistan to be our friend; we, obviously, need greater communication skills or just more fire power against countries who double deal.

No wonder the Pakistani didn't want us in their country to try to find bin Laden. No wonder bin Laden was housed in a protected Pakistani military area, most likely forbidden to American soldiers. 

The proverb:  keep your friends close, and your enemies closer if only to ensure they are not up to mischief. 
This really means that the Pakistani's were considered "close friends," not "enemies" whom we should have been  keeping a 'closer' eye on because they were our enemy, all along. 

However,  this week it brought some of us closer together in a good way; if only to find a needle ( bin Laden) in a haystack (Pakistan) and to determine who are really our friends.