my new poetry/writings blog

I finally decided to set up a separate place to keep all my poetry and writings......the addy for that is:

http://sippingthevastspring.blogspot.com

hope you consider popping over for a visit sometime...and let me know what you think!

pipe tobacco

I love to smell it......in the pipe.....someone smoking it.......or just smelling it through the bags you buy it in. I was at Krogers tonight and I ended up in the pipe/cigar aisle and I almost bought me a bag of the cherry blend pipe tobacco just to bring home and take a sniff every so often. It smells SO good!

my question is......does it taste as good as it smells??

more on union soldiers memorial

union soldiers.......times past

I was looking through some pictures tonight and forgot I had these. It is a special memorial to the Union soldiers who died during the Civil War and a memorial for any other U.S. soldier involved in any of our wars.

What stands out most in my mind is this information:

Of the 2.5 million men who served in the Union Army during the Civil War, about 390,000 died in combat, or from injuries sustained in combat, disease, or other causes, and 280,000 were wounded. More than 1 out of every 4 Union soldiers was killed or wounded during the war; casualties in the Confederate Army were even worse—1 in 3 Southern soldiers were killed or wounded. This is by far the highest casualty ratio of any war in which America has been involved. By comparison, 1 out of every 16 American soldiers was killed or wounded in World War II, and 1 out of every 22 during the Vietnam War.

In total, 680,000 men died during the Civil War. There were 34 million Americans at that time, so 4% of the American male population died in the war. In today's terms, this would be the equivalent of 5.9 million American men being killed in a war.


These memorials and graves bring the loss into reality. I wonder if anyone ever thinks of them today?

ceaseless

if

if you really wanted to be with me.....you would already be here
can't you hear me screaming?
this pain is unbearable, it affects everything I say or do
it affects me so I do nothing
i am growing numb
you would not really want me anyway
i do not even want myself
i could care less
i am fooling myself
i feel nothing
i am fooling myself
it is all shit
i am keep telling myself
it is all
it is
was


Copyright ©2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

oh well fuck it all

anywhere - by evanescence

http://media.putfile.com/anywhere---evanescence

Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me

And dear my love, haven't you longed to be free

I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you

And at sweet night, you are my own

Take my hand



We're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone

They'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light

We'll be half way to anywhere

Where love is more than just your name



I have dreamt of a place for you and I

No one knows who we are there

All I want is to give my life only to you

I've dreamt so long I cannot dream anymore

Let's run away, I'll take you there



We're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone

They'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light

We'll be half way to anywhere

Where no one needs a reason



Forget this life

Come with me

Don't look back you're safe now

Unlock your heart

Drop your guard

No one's left to stop you



Forget this life

Come with me

Don't look back you're safe now

Unlock your heart

Drop your guard

No one's left to stop you now



We're leaving here tonight

There's no need to tell anyone

They'd only hold us down

So by the morning's light

We'll be half way to anywhere

Where love is more than just your name

Chains of Your Love

Bound by the chains of your love
I have no desire to be free
I am at your beg and call
I ask no mercy for me

To be consumed by the touch of your hands
Your voice, your eyes and your thoughts
The flames of desire licking my lips
Adding fuel to my needs and my wants

I choose to remain not because I am forced
But because of my love that is true
All I am and ever will be in this life
I give all of this freely to you

Copyright ©2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

I know I have "beg and call" but I did so on purpose....

it's all shit really

yearning

My thoughts are consumed with you
And with every breath I take
Your essence fills me up in waves
And causes me to shake

I tremble with just the thought of your touch
As you work your way down my side
Leaving me breathless once again
Allowing none of my ache to subside

This yearning, this sweet desire
I have never known before
My heart races to beat as one with yours
I am so quick to accept your lure

With every breath I think of you
I can see you in my mind
I feel your presence within my reach
Then I ask love to be kind

To fill me up with all you have
To kiss this lonely heart
To mend the wounds of long ago
And never let us part

Copyright ©2002-2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

border crap

I just have to vent a bit about this. Since the new "PASSPORT required" to fly to Canada crap has started......the chatter regarding it has gotten pretty amazing to me.

What bugs me the most about this....is the fact that SOME Canadians....immediately assume or tell us that WE PERSONALLY (each and every one of us I guess)...were the ones who WANTED this to happen. Like I was even initially out there personally building up that original fence.......placing the guard houses.......hand picking the patrol..... I had no say in this. I was not asked to vote on this. I don't want it any more than anyone else I have talked to wants it. On either side of the fence.

This is all for show......it is how politics work. Let's make it LOOK good on the outside......make people feel like they have more security.......after all, the politicians have to generate actual projects and work in order for them to retain their jobs and get paid.

While our country is far from perfect.....I try and stand by it......but it continually bugs me when I have what I thought were "friends" in other countries who personally attack "me" or others I know here in the States......making it sound like all the horribly bad choices being made currently are choices we have each "personally" made!

Wow I wish I wielded some of that power they apparently think I am blessed with.

I don't know.....maybe I woke up with a bad attitude......maybe I read something into something I shouldn't have. BUT this has happened lately every time something idiotic gets done by our country. It is like the outside world looking in honestly believes we ALL voted to make these things happen. Like every single person in this country has 100% agreement on all things.

Our government is based on parties. That is like picking sides in a dodgeball game. It is a crapshoot. You never know till you are IN the midst of the game if you picked a good team or not no matter what is said up front. Sometimes you find out you have not.....so hopefully you learn from your bad choices and don't make them again. Sometimes you are fooled into believing anything because you are fed what you want to hear. Sometimes you just want OUT of the game altogether but there is no place for you to run. Sometimes you spend all your time screaming which makes you too tired to actually do anything about anything. A lot of the time people just don't really give a damn.......one way or another. They will just go through the motions.....especially when something does not affect them personally. Unless someone is going to have to be crossing the border into Canada.....it is unlikely it will personally affect them much to where they give a damn. Sad.......but true.

For us others who want to or plan to in the future......would like to......we will now have more of a pain in the butt process to go through just to accomplish the same thing years ago we could so easily do. But please don't think that just because this was put into motion I had anything personally to do with it......or that I wanted it to be this way......or that I even believe for one freakin minute that this will somehow make me or my son SAFER. It is what it is.......and I think I smell bullshit.

there you are.......here I am.....

There you were.....here I am....is how it started out
Two lonely hearts searching to be held
Two voices crying to speak out
Yearning to be heard above all others
You saw me I saw you
Two souls from different worlds reunited
Each with a point of view
Closer we drew till our hearts merged as one
Walking carefree into the fire
Not realizing by remaining apart
Our spirits would begin to tire
Next came the longing, the aching, the crying
The insatiable needs beginning to bloom
All reaching a deafening crescendo
With your spoken words to me "soon."
How much longer need I wait?
Do my cries fall on deaf ears?
If I scream louder will you come running?
Can you no longer see my tears?
I grow restless, I am weary
I ache to be by your side
Still there you are ... and here I am
Just going along for the ride

Copyright ©2002-2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

table of love

I spread my wares out for you to peruse, to touch and to taste
You come to me with an empty plate in hand
Standing still, mouth agape, eyeing all you see with relish
Trying to decide which delicacy you will delight in without haste
My sweet aroma fills your mind to an intoxicating level
Making you heady with emotion for my sweetest entree
You dive in ever so gently, nibbling here, tasting there
Lingering among the sweet morsels laid out on my table
One by one you consume them all, pressing them between your lips
They burst and leave behind only a trail of ecstasy and bliss
Only the moans of pleasure loud enough for anyone to hear
Delighted in dining on your table of love



Copyright ©2002-2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

old time radio shows online for free

http://www.radiolovers.com/

the GOD part of the brain....

“Excellent” Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize Winner; Author of Sociobiology and Consilience "Alper uses a Socratic technique to brilliantly and flawlessly argue that our concepts of spirit and God are derived from the mechanics of our brain...enormously important...full of scientific and philosophical truths." Mark Waldman, senior editor, Transpersonal Review "Hauntingly Logical..Fascinating" Art Bell, "Coast to Coast am”

I have found this topic to be extremely interesting. I tend to be a seeker. I am eclectic in that way....I never tire of learning as much as I can about as many different things as I can. I seek truth above all things.....I am a stickler for that. In my dealings with the religious world I have unfortunately been shaken awake to find out I have been lied to many times over.......we all have......and that bothers me. SO I continue to seek out information......hopefully uncover more truth than fiction.

I have heard this topic about the "God spot" talked about on radio talk shows......and read many interesting articles about it...it has been discussed in the quantum physics articles I have read which fascinates me too......

I have a friend who was extremely religious and believed in God prior to suffering a head injury. He fell 30 feet and landed basically head-first and has not been quite the same since as far as his feelings regarding GOD or even A god. It was almost as if his belief in God....his knowledge of any feelings spiritually, etc......had been snuffed out after that portion of his brain had been damaged. This is not to say that portion cannot be healed or rejuvenated.... but what I found interesting was how what his injury did to his belief corresponded to what this book and others have said about their being a specific portion of the brain set aside for this.

I have found some extremely interesting articles over time pertaining to this. If I copy and paste them all here now there would be nothing but pages of it to sift through. Not everyone is interested in it.....and my blog is not solely about it.....so......Here is a link that lists many of the articles.

http://atheistempire.com/reference/brain/main.html


I also found today this which was of huge interest to me:

ALTRUISM, one of the most difficult human behaviours to define, can be detected in brain scans, US researchers claim.

They found that activity in a specific area of the brain could predict altruistic behaviour — and people's own reports of how selfish or giving they are.

Although understanding the function of this brain region may not necessarily identify what drives people like Mother Teresa, it may give clues to the origins of important social behaviours like altruism," said Scott Huettel, a neuroscientist at Duke University, North Carolina, who led the study.

The researchers set up an experiment in which they put 45 students into a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which takes images of brain activity.

They gave the students various games to play, and told them that winning earned cash for either themselves or a charity. The students had chosen the charities beforehand from a list, the researchers report in Nature Neuroscience.

The students reacted differently depending on whether they won for themselves or for charity, with the ones who described themselves as altruistic responding more strongly.

The task was simple, and the students did not give up payments to themselves to give to the charities. But it took enough effort that Dr Huettel believes it did represent altruistic intent.

The researchers were surprised by their findings. Some other studies had predicted that giving would activate the reward systems in the brain. In fact, another centre was activated when the students won money for charity or watched the computer win money for charity.

"This area we saw was the posterior superior temporal cortex," Dr Huettel said. "It's part of the parietal lobe. What this brain area seems to be involved in is extracting meaning from things you see."

Dr Huettel's team asked the students how altruistic they were, and found the test strongly correlated with their own reports of unselfish activity.


hum......wonder what they will be able to tell next from scanning our brains? One would think they would be able then to tell us how often one thinks of other specific things like sex, eating, etc.....or if it reveals more just from "intent".....wow.....this is all amazing....but also a bit worrisome......as I would be slightly apprehensive that in the future someone might try to use this knowledge to decide how someone's brain should be or not be......and they might begin to feel they have the right to decide what is correct and acceptable and anything not acceptable well....they just eliminate..change......or destroy altogether.

guess my paranoia is acting up again

can't get enough

Though I still taste your kiss upon my lips
Breathe the essence of love in the air
All you need do is move your hips
And soon you’ll be taking me there

I swoon to the magic in your touch
Your hands tracing the paths of desire
Baby you know I want you so much
Cause you certainly set me on fire

Your tongue can drop me to my knees
You’ve mastered your talent so well
As you seemingly seek only to please
My passion begins to swell

Throbbing this ache yearns for release
How soothing you are to my core
Before we are finished and I am appeased
I find myself wanting some more


Copyright ©2002-2007 Melinda A. Napoletano

the daffodil principle

By Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.

"I will come next Tuesday," I promised a little reluctantly on her third call. Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren. "Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!" My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother."
"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her. "But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this." "Carolyn," I said sternly, "Please turn around."

"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience." After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with
an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.... It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in
majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers. "Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory.

We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster: "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking" was the headline.

The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read.

The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one brain."

The third answer was, "Began in 1958." For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.

Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created some thing of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration.

The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration. That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time...and learning to love the doing...learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things.

We can change the world... "It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!" My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way... "Start tomorrow," she said. She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?" Use the Daffodil Principle.

Stop waiting..... Until your car or home is paid off . Until you get a new car or home. Until your kids leave the house. Until you go back to school. Until you finish school. Until you clean the house. Until you organize the garage. Until you clean off your desk. Until you lose 10 lbs. Until you gain 10 lbs. Until you get married. Until you get a divorce. Until you have kids. Until the kids go to school. Until you retire. Until summer. Until spring. Until winter. Until fall. Until you die...

There is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is the journey, not the destination. So work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt and... truly dance like nobody is watching. "Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin." ~Anonymous

snow

nothing much new happening here.......we woke up to snow and ice. It was beautiful...I am thankful I can stay home and not have to get out in it unless I want to.