To be continued..

WHAT ARE INDIGO AND CRYSTAL CHILDREN AND ADULTS?

5230ca — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:38:36 GMT

http://www.starchild.co.za/what.html
How do you know if you, or someone you know, is an Indigo or Crystal Child or Adult?

We will describe the main features and characteristics of these people. But we want to stress that the Indigo/Crystal phenomenon is the next step in our evolution as a human species. We are all, in some way, becoming more like the Indigo and Crystal people. They are here to show us the way, and so the information can be applied more generally to all of us as we make the transition to the next stage of our growth and evolution.

The Indigo Children have been incarnating on the Earth for the last 100 years. The early Indigos were pioneers and wayshowers. After World War II, a significant number were born, and these are the Indigo adults of today. However, in the 1970s a major wave of Indigos was born, and so we have a whole generation of Indigos who are now in their late twenties and early thirties who are about to take their place as leaders in the world. Indigos continued to born up to about 2000, with increasing abilities and degrees of technological and creative sophistication.

The Crystal Children began to appear on the planet from about 2000, although some date them slightly earlier. These are extremely powerful children, whose main purpose is to take us to the next level in our evolution, and reveal to us our inner power and divinity. They function as a group consciousness rather than as individuals, and they live by the" Law of One" or Unity Consciousness. They are a powerful force for love and peace on the planet.

The Indigo and Crystal Adults are composed of two groups. Firstly, there are those who were born as Indigos and are now making the transition to Crystal. This means they undergo a spiritual and physical transformation that awakens their "Christ" or "Crystal" consciousness and links them with the Crystal children as part of the evolutionary wave of change. The second group is those who were born without these qualities, but have aquired or are in the process of aquiring them through their own hard work and the diligent following of a spiritual path. Yes, this means that all of us have the potential to be part of the emerging group of "human angels".

The following extract describes the difference between Indigo and Crystal Children. It is from Doreen Virtue's article Indigo and Crystal Children:

The first thing most people notice about Crystal Children is their eyes, large, penetrating, and wise beyond their years. Their eyes lock on and hypnotize you, while you realize your soul is being laid bare for the child to see. Perhaps you've noticed this special new "breed" of children rapidly populating our planet. They are happy, delightful and forgiving. This generation of new lightworkers, roughly ages 0 through 7, are like no previous generation. Ideal in many ways, they are the pointers for where humanity is headed ... and its a good direction!

The older children (approximately age 7 through 25), called "indigo Children", share some characteristics with the Crystal Children. Both generations are highly sensitive and psychic, and have important life purposes. The main difference is their temperament. Indigos have a warrior spirit, because their collective purpose is to mash down old systems that no longer serve us. They are here to quash government, educational, and legal systems that lack integrity. To accomplish this end, they need tempers and fiery determination.

Those adults who resist change and who value conformity may misunderstand the Indigos. They are often mislabeled with psychiatric diagnoses of Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Sadly, when they are medicated, the Indigos often lose their beautiful sensitivity, spiritual gifts and warrior energy..........In contrast, the Crystal Children are blissful and even-tempered. Sure, they may have tantrums occasionally, but these children are largely forgiving and easy-going. The Crystals are the generation who benefit from the Indigos trailblazing. First, the Indigo Children lead with a machete, cutting down anything that lacks integrity. Then the Crystal Children follow the cleared path, into a safer and more secure world.

The terms "Indigo" and "Crystal" were given to these two generations because they most accurately describe their aura colours and energy patterns. Indigo children have a lot of indigo blue in their auras. This is the colour of the "third eye chakra", which is the energy center inside the head located between the two eyebrows. This chakra regulates clairvoyance, or the ability to see energy, visions, and spirits. Many of the Indigo children are clairvoyant

The Crystal Children have opalescent auras, with beautiful multi-colours in pastel hues. This generation also shows a fascination for crystals and rocks......

Indigo Children can sense dishonesty, like a dog can sense fear. Indigos know when they're being lied to, patronized, or manipulated. And since their collective purpose is to usher us into a new world of integrity, the Indigos inner lie-detectors are integral. As mentioned before, this warrior spirit is threatening to some adults. And the Indigos are unable to conform to dysfunctional situations at home, work, or school. They don't have the ability to dissociate from their feelings and pretend like everything's okay ...unless they are medicated or sedated.

Crystal Children's innate spiritual gifts are also misunderstood. Specifically, their telepathic abilities which lead them to talk later in life.

In the new world which the Indigos are ushering in, we will all be much more aware of our intuitive thoughts and feelings. We won't rely so much upon the spoken or written word. Communication will be faster, more direct, and more honest, because it will be mind to mind. Already, increasing numbers of us are getting in touch with our psychic abilities. Our interest in the paranormal is at an all-time high, accompanied by books, television shows, and movies on the topic.

So, it's not surprising that the generation following the Indigos are incredibly telepathic. Many of the Crystal Children have delayed speech patterns, and its not uncommon for them to wait until they're 3 or 4 years old to begin speaking. But parents tell me they have no trouble communicating with their silent children. Far from it! The parents engage in mind-to-mind communication with their Crystal Children. And the Crystals use a combination of telepathy, self-fashioned sign language, and sounds (including song) to get their point across.

The trouble comes about when the Crystals are judged by medical and educational personnel as having "abnormal" speaking patterns. It's no coincidence that as the number of Crystals are born, that the number of diagnoses for autism is at a record high.

It's true that the Crystal Children are different from other generations. But why do we need to pathologize these differences? If the children are successfully communicating at home, and the parents are'nt reporting any problems... then why try to make a problem? The diagnostic criteria for autism is quite clear. It states that the autistic person lives in his or her own world, and is disconnected from other people. The autistic person doesn't talk because of an indifference to communicating with others.

Crystal Children are quite the opposite. They are among the most connected, communicative, caring and cuddly of any generation. They are also quite philosophical and spiritually gifted. And they display an unprecedented level of kindness and sensitivity to this world. Crystal Children spontaneously hug and care for people in need. An autistic person wouldn't do that!

In my book "The Care and Feeding of Indigo Children", I wrote that ADHD should stand for Attention Dialed into a Higher Dimension. This would more accurately describe that generation. In the same vein, Crystal Children don't warrant a label of autiem. They aren't autistic! They're AWE-tistic!

These children are worthy of awe, not labels of dysfunction. If anyone is dysfunctional, it's the systems that aren't accommodating the continuing evolution of the human species. If we shame the children with labels, or medicate them into submission, we will have undermined a heaven-sent gift. We will crush a civilization before its had time to take roots. Fortunately, there are many positive solutions and alternatives. And the same heaven that sent us the Crystal Children can assist those of us who are advocates for the children.........

The following is an extract from Celia's forthcoming book,"The Indigo-Crystal Adventure". which explains more about the metaphysical aspects of the Indigo-Crystal experience.

CHAPTER FIVE

GOLDEN AURAS, HUMAN ANGELS AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The Indigo and Crystal children that come to the planet are known as "starchildren". Often this is because their souls are more at home in the stars, and they have not incarnated on Earth before. They come at this time as a "special assignment" team to assist Earth and her inhabitants with their transition and rebirth as a higher dimensional "New Earth".

But while these beings appear like ordinary human beings, they do in fact have access to a greater range of human potential. They are more open to who they are, closer to a recognition of their divine origins and essence.

Indigo children are born onto the Indigo Soul Ray of Incarnation and Evolution. This means they have access to the gifts of clairvoyance and healing. They are also able to access what may be termed the Fourth and Fifth Dimensions of Consciousness, while most humans have access only to the Third and Fourth. This Higher Dimensional access, together with the Indigo Ray soul gifts, means that Indigos are naturally more intelligent, more sensitive and more clairvoyant. They are also creative, and often able to access the left and right brains with ease, making them artistically gifted, but also technologically competent and adventurous.

The Crystal children, on the other hand, are mostly born into the Gold Ray of Incarnation and Evolution. They are born on the Sixth Dimension of Consciousness, with the potential to open up rapidly to the Ninth Dimensional level of Full Christ Consciousness, and then from there to the Thirteenth Dimension which represents Universal Consciousness.

With these gifts and abilities, Crystal beings are immensely powerful and creative. Many of them carry the Gold and Magenta Rays, which makes them masters of creation, especially with light and sound. This manifests as artistic and musical creativity on the Earth plane. Those who carry the Indigo-Silver Ray, are also gifted as the "mothers" and "goddesses" of the planet, and carry the feminine vibration of healing and nurturing. Those on the Red-Gold Ray, on the other hand, carry the masculine vibration of manifestation and are often the leaders in the more active sense.

The Future Crystal child will be known as a "Rainbow Crystal" being. This is the fully developed Thirteen Dimensional Universal Human Being, able to carry and transmit all the Rays of Incarnation and Evolution within their vibrational field. There are Rainbow Crystal beings already on planet Earth, but they are yet to open into their full potential.

The exciting thing about these evolutionary developments, for ordinary people, is that the Indigo and Crystal beings bring these vibrations to the planet in order to share them with others. By their very presence, they assist others to move into these new vibrations and open up to their full potential as well. The Indigo-crystal gift to the planet is the gift of Evolution and access to our full potential, for every human being on the planet today, if they so choose.

At this point, many people who are allowing this shift or transition within their own auric fields, have moved from their original Third Dimensional state of awareness into the Indigo and then the Crystal states, with the assistance of the children who hold the vibration. These adults are now able to hold the Gold Ray of Evolution in their Eighth chakras, and are helping to create a matrix for the creation of the New Earth. This pulsating Gold light can be clearly seen in their auras by those with clairvoyance and the ability to perceive auric colours.

The Human Angel

One of the gifts of this transitional process, is that Humans are becoming aware of who they truly are: that they are Spirits in Human bodies, and that they are, in other words, Angels in human form.

We have been aware of our connections to the higher realms for many thousands of years, but have always felt that out "human" and material state somehow "shut" us off from our angelic inheritance. We would speak about our "Higher Self", knowing that we had access to this aspect of ourselves, but somehow it was not quite a part of who we were, and could only be accessed in meditation.

Part of the reason for this was that our physical forms were locked into the Third Dimension, but our Higher or Angelic self was of a much finer and higher vibration and was more at home in the Higher Dimensions. So there was always a "gap" between the material manifestation of the human body and consciousness and the spiritual reality.

Now, however, with the vibrational shift that the planet is experiencing, which is aptly called "Ascension", the Earth and her inhabitants have the opportunity to "ascend" from the Third Dimension of consciousness upwards into the Higher Dimensions. As the consciousness ascends higher, the spiritual world comes closer, until there is no longer a "gap" but a continuum that is termed "Multi-Dimensional Consciousness".

In this state, the human being is able to access both the material and spiritual realms with ease. There is no longer any need for intense meditation, since the access to the spirit realm is immediate and evident. People in the Multi-Dimensional state have accessed their Angelic presence or state, and recognise themselves as Spirit beings or Angels who also have a human body and are able to function in the material plane as material beings.

At this point, the Higher Self and the Lower self can be said to have blended, and the Human being is now a Human Angel.

The Human Angel is constantly aware of themselves as Angelic and as Powerful and Creative. They have no time or need for things such as fear and victim dramas. Their time is better spent in creating the kind of reality in which they would be happy and content.

Many Indigo and crystal children are already almost at this point of awareness, if not fully within it. As are many of the Indigo-Crystal adults who have made the transition to this state. It is these new beings, able to claim both their human and angelic inheritances, who will create the New Earth.

It is important to state, at this point, that it is imperative that those who make the transition into awareness of their angelic selves, be also aware of how important it is to be human and to be well grounded in the material dimensions or planes. The whole point of the Transition is to bring "Heaven" to "Earth", and not to drift away into some ungrounded paradise state.

For Human Angels there is work to do. Creating a New Earth that will bring Heaven to Earth. And since "heaven" is not so much a place as a state of consciousness, these Human Angels must work to bring the higher dimensional states of consciousness to the Earth plane. Once this is achieved, then a planetary culture will be birthed that will respect all beings as manifestations of the Divine Essence. And this culture will reflect that respect in its peace, harmony and creativity.

The Nature of Multi-Dimensionality

Until fairly recently, all humans born on Earth were born as Third Dimensional beings. This means that they were fully in the material plane or realm, and their consciousness was "locked" into the Third Dimension. They functioned on the first three chakras, the material, the emotional and the mental. Where there was spirituality, it was usually seen as something outside or other than normal every day functioning.

The Third Dimensional being is aware of him or herself as a separate and unique individual. There is no real sense of the unity or oneness of consciousness that is a factor of higher dimensional consciousness. Because of this sense of separation, humans have built a society that has very little awareness of the interconnectedness of beings and actions. And because of this lack of awareness, humans have created a planet of sorrow and suffering, where individuals see no need to be responsible for their thoughts, feelings and actions. Fear of not surviving on the individual level, because of lack of resources, has led to greed and imbalances that need to be addressed in order to create a stable planetary home for all humans.

The Indigo children arrived with the key to multi-dimensionality. They were born into Third Dimensional bodies, but their consciousness was effectively in the Fourth Dimension and capable of moving into the Fifth. When this "wave" of Indigo consciousness arrived on the planet in the early 1970s, the way was opened for all humans and the planet itself to shift into the Fourth Dimension.

At the Fourth Dimensional level of Consciousness, humans become aware of the Universal Law of One, otherwise known as "Unity Consciousness". This Law states that we are all One, we are all connected and that whatever affects one of us affects all of us. Indigo children carry this awareness in their consciousness, and it leads them to be warriors for many causes that will heal the Earth and stop humans from destroying and polluting their environment and harming other humans.

The Law of One also fosters the understanding in Indigo beings that we are all equal, and that no one is greater than any other. This group consciousness and group awareness is the path to the future for humans. We will learn to function co-operatively and for the good of all if we are to create the New Earth that we desire.

Indigos respect the talents and abilities of each individual, but these talents do not make any one greater than anyone else. The play of ego and self-importance has no real place in the life of an Indigo.

When an Indigo awareness opens into the Fifth Dimension, it becomes aware of itself as a Creator. Fifth Dimensional awareness loves to create. All the religious belief systems and the economic systems on Earth today are Fifth Dimensional Though Form creations that we hold in place by our continued support of these thought forms. They form a Fifth Dimensional grid around the Earth. Most lower- dimensional beings are completely unaware that their thoughts and behaviour patterns are being controlled from this level.

When the Indigo awareness opens to this level, there is often a rejection of all belief systems and a consciousness of the freedom to create new and alternative ways of thinking and being. The Indigo person takes on the planetary mission of creating and bringing in new ways of thinking and being for Planet Earth. But, at this level the consciousness is still concerned with dualities of "good" and "bad", that determine what kind of system is best for Earth. The next step in consciousness is to move beyond duality and into a realm where all is seen as part of the greater good and for the good of the greater whole.

This advanced state is known as Sixth Dimensional Consciousness, and is the realm of the Christed Child or Magical Child. All Crystal children are born into this level of awareness. They have immediate access to the magical and spiritual aspects of who they are, and are able to blend imagination and creation in fantastic and joyous ways. If they were left to their own devices, they would immediately create a magical planet. But, they still have to deal with a largely Third Dimensional consciousness, and they struggle with the patterns and behaviours that they find here.

When an adult Indigo consciousness makes the shift into the Crystal state or awareness, they enter into Sixth Dimensional awareness and the Christ Consciousness seed. They are rebirthed, in consciousness, as a Christed or Magical child. With this comes an awareness of the playfulness of life, and the play of Spirit through human beings on this planet. Then all life is seen as magical and blessed, and all life is directed and advanced through the work of spirit. At this point, the being understands the principle of surrender to the flow of the greater evolutionary wave, while still exercising the right to be a creator on the individual level.

The Crystal consciousness, when it has matured enough at this level, can then move into the Seventh Dimensional level, where awareness opens onto the nature of the spiritual mission of the being. A Crystal or Christed adult at this level is ready to take on a planetary mission as a carrier of higher dimensional consciousness to others. The work may involve teaching and healing on a grand scale, or it may simply be to carry the energy in the auric field so that others may access the higher vibrations in their own upwards ascension path.

The Crystal child and adult now carry the potential to open fully to the Ninth level or Full Christ Consciousness. This incorporates the Eighth level, or Archetypal level, where the being has full control over the "story" of their life on earth, and the Ninth level, where the being assumes full responsibility for stewardship of the Planet.

The potential then exists for the being to continue on the journey to the Tenth level, where the being accesses his or her Solar System responsibilities; the Eleventh level, where the Galactic level of consciousness is accessed and finally the Twelfth level, where the Gold Ray of Universal Consciousness inaugurates the being as a Full Universal Being. The Thirteenth level represents the Master, who enters into the Divine Mystery as a fully conscious spark of the Divine Creative Essence.

An Evolutionary Leap

As can be seen from the above discussion, the Indigo-Crystal adventure represents a huge evolutionary leap for the human species. This is initially a huge leap in consciousness, reflected in the auric colours and the access to multi-dimensional layers of awareness in an individual.

But, what is manifest in the subtle or spiritual bodies must eventually make itself manifest in the physical or Earth plane body of each individual. And eventually, in the physical body of the Planet itself. Indigo and Crystal children and adults are an integral and dynamic part of the evolutionary leap into a new and Golden future.

Higher levels of consciousness, awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and a desire for an empowered and creative life will soon become the characteristics of all humans on Planet Earth.

How do you know if you, or someone you know, is an Indigo or Crystal Child or Adult?

The following extract describes the difference between Indigo and Crystal Children. It is from Doreen Virtue's article Indigo and Crystal Children:

The Crystal Children have opalescent auras, with beautiful multi-colours in pastel hues. This generation also shows a fascination for crystals and rocks......

Crystal Children's innate spiritual gifts are also misunderstood. Specifically, their telepathic abilities which lead them to talk later in life.

The following is an extract from Celia's forthcoming book,"The Indigo-Crystal Adventure". which explains more about the metaphysical aspects of the Indigo-Crystal experience.

CHAPTER FIVE

GOLDEN AURAS, HUMAN ANGELS AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

The Human Angel

One of the gifts of this transitional process, is that Humans are becoming aware of who they truly are: that they are Spirits in Human bodies, and that they are, in other words, Angels in human form.

At this point, the Higher Self and the Lower self can be said to have blended, and the Human being is now a Human Angel.

The Nature of Multi-Dimensionality

An Evolutionary Leap

Higher levels of consciousness, awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and a desire for an empowered and creative life will soon become the characteristics of all humans on Planet Earth.

The Second Monday in January 2012

5230ca — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:21:09 GMT

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5230ca — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:40:26 GMT

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5230ca — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:07:48 GMT

Oolala Moolala

5230ca — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:43:37 GMT

This is a story I wrote for a contest a couple years ago. It fits nicely into the season and I wanted to share it with you. I write fiction. If you have a story you want told, contact me! I can be reached at annette@primarypapers.com.

1st Place Winner $150-Annette La Selle

by sysiphus

Oolala, Moolala

The family was cheerfully gathered around a blazing fire in the fireplace, surrounded by mounds of festively decorated packages ready to be ripped open on that rainy Christmas morning.

“Oh, wow! I hope all my presents are just like this one!”

The lady, who was exercising her turn to open a gift, exclaimed as she unearthed two crisp fifty dollar bills in an envelope that had been expertly disguised, buried in layers of tissue paper inside an immense box. The tissue paper was now strewn about the floor and the box tossed aside as the lady concentrated solely on her very welcome discovery.

“I couldn’t determine what store’s gift certificate would most appeal to you, so I figured I would give you the cash and let you decide,” the lady’s husband explained with a grin.

“I can’t remember the last time I got a gift of cash, but I remember now that getting it makes you feel decadently rich.” The lady smiled lovingly at her husband as she pressed the money in its envelope to her heart.

***************

Amanda, slightly bent over, with matted hair and a dirt streaked face, shuffled along on the sidewalk pushing her shopping cart which was spilling over with the rudiments of a bum’s life. Head down, lost in thought, she made her way to the soup kitchen’s noon feeding asking herself the same question she asked herself every morning. How did I end up a bag lady, just like the filthy dirty wretches in tattered clothes talking to themselves we used to stare at and point at and laugh at when I was a youngster. Amanda didn’t think of herself as a homeless person. She was nowhere near that good. Homeless people had poignant stories to tell about why they were on the streets. Homeless people were featured in articles in the newspaper as pitiable victims of someone else’s dastardly deeds. Amanda was only a victim of her own craven doing. No one could feel sorry for her. She was just worthless. A worthless bum with a torturous toothache.

Leaving her shopping cart in the care of one of the aides de camp, Amanda entered the mission and made a beeline for the “sir” in charge to beg him to help her get relief for her throbbing tooth. A uniformed man was always in charge although not always the same man. Amanda was sure that they were supposed to call the in-charge man something specific but if she had ever known what that was she had forgotten and preferred to just refer to the man in charge as “sir”. That was easy to remember and deferential enough.

After she got her disappointing answers from “sir”, she cleaned up in the communal bathroom and tried to eat the hot meal that was served family style at noon six days a week. Amanda barely acknowledged the dozens of others gathered to be fed and watered. The”brothers and sisters”, as the mission staff referred to them, were generally a solitary lot except when they needed to band together for protection. They might not know each other’s names but they knew what position each person played in their army. Most importantly they knew who carried knives. Those women were highly revered. Everyone had a role in the army and its importance was recognized by rank. Knifers were the generals. Dumpster divers were privates first class.

Taking turns, some guarded carts while the others were inside. When those who were eating finished, they picked up their brown paper sack suppers and went outside to take over the perimeter patrol of the carts, while the former guards went into the mission to perform the same washing and eating ritual. It was down to a science. The same women had been doing the same thing every day for so long that they did it sleepwalking. Occasionally they mentioned to each other that it was such a blessing that no one had either left or joined the group in some time. Leaving the group meant that your body would be found frozen or murdered some days after the group noticed you were missing. Joiners meant that some other misbegotten soul had found herself in the land of nowhere and that always made the regulars sad. They weren’t looking for new members. This was not a club that anyone really wanted to belong to.

Amanda returned to the shopping carts with her paper sack supper looking more woebegone than she normally did. Saying nothing she nodded at the current guard to let her know she was ready to dutifully replace her.

“Amanda, your cheek is all swoll up. How come?” The question came from the woman Amanda was replacing. Amanda didn’t know that woman’s name because she had never cared enough to ask.

“Toothache.”

“Oh my God, girl, I had me one of them! That hurt like the dickens. What are they gonna’ do for ya’?” The woman nodded towards the mission to be sure that Amanda knew whose help she meant.

Amanda reached inside her jacket pocket, pulled out a packet of Advil and held it up.

“That it? Oh my God, girl! That ain’t gonna’ be enough! Don’t they have no dentists?”

Amanda shook her head, no.

“Well, land sake,” the woman exclaimed shaking her head sadly as she made her way into the mission to perform her own ablutions and eat her dinner.

While on cart duty, Amanda tried to take her mind off her throbbing tooth by thinking about what she called her happy stories. She had a collection of memories that she called on whenever she was feeling particularly down. Today she thought about her week at Girl Scout camp when she was twelve. She had gone all by herself since none of her friends had wanted to go. Even though she was scared to be in a cabin for six girls with five girls she had never met before, she was proud of herself for making the decision to go anyway.

That might have been the best week of her life although she couldn’t say that for sure because some of her other happy stories were very close to being the best time of her life too. She swam and sang camp songs and went horseback riding and made lanyards and roasted marshmallows for s’mores and to top if off, she became best friends with all five of the new girls. She was a tumbler and she taught them how to do handstands and cartwheels. That made her the most popular girl in the cabin, maybe in the whole camp. Yes, indeed, what a week that had been.

“Amanda!” A woman, of indeterminate age wearing gypsy style clothing, coming out of the mission called out.

Amanda looked at her in acknowledgement.

“We got someone in our camp who can prolly fix your tooth up. She’s pretty good at doctorin’.”

“Aren’t you way out by the landfill?” Amanda asked.

“Yep. Right next to it. We got some great stuff from there.”

“But how long does it take you to walk here for dinner? It must be a long walk.”

“We gotta’ van.” The woman grinned from ear-to-ear. “We gotta’ old hippie Volkswagen van.”

“You do?” Amanda’s eyes were huge with surprise. “How come?”

“Never mind how come. We just do. So, do you wanna’ see the doctorin’ woman? If you do, you need to come with us now. We’re headin’ back to camp.”

Amanda thought about it while the woman answered the couple questions Amanda had. When Amanda realized that she could keep her cart full of goodies because they would just load that onto the van and take it along, she was sold. She had to admit she was very close to being willing to do anything to get the excruciating pain to end.

Amanda enjoyed the ride in the van immensely. She realized that it had been a long, long time since she rode in anything but the police paddy wagon when they occasionally took her to the drunk tank. Riding in the van made her feel like she was somebody. She sat up straighter and folded her hands in her lap as she imagined real ladies did when they went riding in their vehicles. She was having such a good time that she didn’t immediately realize they were slowing down and turning off the highway onto a side road that had a big sign announcing that the public landfill was straight ahead one mile.

Soon thereafter, Amanda met the doctorin’ woman who was sweet and gentle and Amanda was sure she was a thousand years’ old. The doctorin’ woman looked in Amanda’s mouth and declared that there was nothing to do but to pull that tooth. She soothingly told Amanda not to worry – since the tooth was a molar pretty far back in her mouth no one would notice she was missing a tooth and, she said reassuringly, Amanda would still have plenty of grinding teeth left.

The most surprising thing to Amanda was not that she had just agreed to have a tooth pulled by some ancient woman she knew nothing about, but to find that she was touched when the old woman mentioned her appearance. Down deep, Amanda still cared how she looked and she was pleased to know that she wouldn’t look like a hillbilly with missing teeth. She smiled when she realized the incongruity of that. She smelled to high heaven and she couldn’t remember the last time she combed her hair.

While they were administering anesthetic to Amanda in the form of hard liquor, of which Amanda needed almost three times what they expected, having built up quite the tolerance over her years of alcoholism, Amanda took herself to another of her happy stories. The one about when she won a beauty pageant. She was 18 then and a freshman in college. She had always known she was pretty but she was always surprised at other people’s reactions to her. Evidently she was really pretty, pretty enough that men and women alike looked twice when they saw her. She had loved competing in that pageant and had done the best job she could with her talent offering which was a song from Auntie Mame that she spoke more than sang because she really couldn’t sing. She had secretly hoped that she would win while she publicly pooh poohed the idea. When they announced her as the winner she whooped and twirled and clapped until the host had to stop her.

She couldn’t say that she felt nothing when the tooth was pulled but she woke up the morning after feeling so much better than the day before. Although her gum was tender and her mouth was very sore from being forced wide-open for so long while they yanked on the tooth until it gave way, the severity of the pain was gone. Amanda was so relieved and so thankful.

She spent her recuperative morning sitting in the middle of the camp on a rickety Adirondack chair that had been rescued from the dump. It took her no time at all to get a bead on the camp. The van became clear almost instantly as she saw the comings and goings of the women and the solitary man in the camp. The man had a nice cabin set back from the tent camp, well nice for a cabin in a dump. It took no brains at all to figure out that he ran the place and that the women belonged to him, more or less. The van definitely was his as it was parked in front of the cabin and over the course of the morning he left camp on two different occasions before returning and turning the vehicle over to the woman in gypsy clothes who had brought Amanda here the day before.

That woman and more than a half dozen others got into the van to head to the mission for the noon meal. Amanda was asked if she wanted to go but her answer was a quick no. As good as she felt the thought of eating made her cringe. They told her that they would try and get a bag supper for her if they could and she thanked them for that. For the relative affluence of the camp there was no reason that Amanda could see why they traveled into town to the mission for their meals other than they ate for free there. Amanda decided not to think about that any longer because that made her mad. It made her think of them as thieves and she didn’t want to think of herself as being in the company of thieves.

As time wore on Amanda got bored sitting in the chair and ventured to the dump itself to see how she would go about finding some kind of treasure for the old doctorin’ woman as a thank you gift. Secretively, Amanda stayed in the shadows as she circled the dump studying all of its components. There was a man operating a back hoe and some senior gleaners sitting on metal folding chairs just outside the entrance. They had piles of junk sitting next to their chairs that they apparently knew had enough value for them to haul out and sell.

Amanda was pleased to spot the sign next to the dump’s entrance declaring, “Dump hours: 7:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. No one admitted before 7:00 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m.” Bingo! Amanda would be back for her scavenger hunt after closing tonight.

Sure enough promptly after 5:00 p.m., the place became a ghost town. Amanda waited a while just to be sure the coast was clear and then she went to a remote spot where she knew she couldn’t possibly be spotted by anyone who erroneously came up the dump road.

Although barbed wire guarded the dump Amanda found a weak spot just as she knew she would. For some reason, it is universally true that man puts up barbed wire knowing it is a definite deterrent and then never bothers to check it again to see if it is still working. Of course, over time, things like limbs of trees fall on it, ground erodes under it, it rusts – there are a number of ways that barbed wire becomes derelict in its duty. Amanda, with her bag lady’s education, knew about barbed wire and she was soon inside the dump taking stock.

Her eye was caught by a green garbage bag, still stuffed to the gills and securely tied. It was the bag itself that appealed to Amanda. She was continuously surprised at the uses one could find for garbage bags and finding one this sturdy and over-sized was a particular coup.

Amanda removed her gloves from their customary home in her jacket pocket, put them on and began to carefully untie the garbage bag. When she got it undone and pulled the sack open, she broke into a grin. The bag was stuffed with the remnants of Christmas wrapping paper, ribbon and discarded gift tags. Amanda gleefully set about emptying the bag, reading the tags, imagining the presents and separating and saving the beautifully designed ribbon. The very best of that lot of ribbon was going to go to the doctorin’ old lady along with the garbage bag itself, Amanda decided. The rest of the ribbon would become part of her belongings and she would use it to beautify her meager camp site.

Every once-in-a-while, Amanda would pause and take another swig from her flask. She always carried three flasks and she was well into her second one. Normally she would be at refill point for all three but she had gotten a late start today having slept in after her “surgery” and then spending a little time getting oriented at the camp. She was a whisky gal and that made her going a little harder than the winos. Even the rot gut whisky cost more than the rot gut wine. She had tried many times to switch to wine but it just didn’t quench her thirst. Somehow she managed each and every day to put together enough money to fulfill her whisky requirements. She considered that a blessing from God.

Amanda pulled an envelope from the depths of the bag and read aloud the word on the outside of the envelope, “Oolala”. Opening the envelope she read, “Moolala” before she was stopped cold. Behind the moolala flap was $100.00 in cash. From a trash bag in the dump Amanda amazingly had found the pot of gold.

Amanda gave the prettiest lengths of ribbon and the garbage bag to the old doctorin’ woman who was tickled to get them. She decorated her tent with the ribbon and carefully folded the garbage bag and put it away awaiting the perfect use.

Without a word, Amanda left the camp by the dump in the middle of the night pushing her overflowing cart. She headed home to her lean-to on the riverbank and decided not to think about how long it would take her to get there. She would just put one foot in front of the other until she got there. And that is just what she did. Arriving at her home-sweet-home, she wasn’t surprised to see that everything was just as she left it. Her neighbor on the riverbank was one of the most proficient knife handlers for miles around and her reputation wasn’t a secret.

Amanda celebrated her recent lucky streak by opening the extra large bottle of Gentleman Jack she had purchased at the liquor store next to the Dollar Store. At the Dollar Store, she had bought a tube of red lipstick, a hand mirror, some shampoo and a hairbrush.

Amanda got roaring drunk and passed out as she always did, but this night, although it looked the same as all the other nights, wasn’t the same. Amanda no longer felt worthless. God had given her Christmas presents and he wouldn’t have done that if she was worthless. No, she was worth something. Amanda, whose very name means Worthy of Love, was going to remember that indeed, she was just that.

***************

A husband and wife were curled together on the couch staring at the fire in the fireplace on this Christmas Eve. Mostly they stayed silent, content to bask in the moment. Once in a while one or the other would comment about something Christmas related.

“You know, I still think about it. It still bothers me.” The wife said to the husband.

“Well, you shouldn’t. What’s done is done.” The husband replied as he smiled at his wife.

“I know. But last Christmas I was so excited about those two fifty dollar bills in my Oolala Moolala envelope. I was just heartsick when it mysteriously disappeared. It probably went to the dump with the Christmas tree and the bags of trash.”

“We’ll never know.” Her husband responded.

Clark Gable’s Secret Daughter Dies

5230ca — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:01:27 GMT

Since I posted the article about Judy here on the blog a long time ago, there has been huge interest in it. It only seemed fitting to follow it up today. TIP, Judy.

Judy Lewis, the secret daughter of screen starsClark Gable and Loretta Young, has died at 76. But her fascinating story lives on.

Lewis was conceived while Young was unwed and Gable was married to his second wife, Maria Langham. The two were filming "The Call of the Wild." Their affair resulted in a super secret pregnancy and a hush-hush birth. The actress left her love child at an orphanage for 19 months, returning only then to adopt her. Clearly, this was long before the Internet, DNA testing, or baby daddies.

To add to the mystery, Young kept her daughter in the dark v about her family history. Born on November 6, 1935, Judy was eventually raised by her mother and Young's husband, Tom Lewis, whose last name she took. Lewis never did have a relationship with her biological father, although when she was 15, Gable visited her without telling her why. It took 31 years for her to learn the truth, which her mother told her privately but would not admit to publicly.

As Lewis told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1994, when she finally wrote a memoir of her parents' romance and subsequent cover-up: "It was very difficult for me as a little girl not to be accepted ... by my mother, who to this day will not publicly acknowledge that I am her biological child."

Loretta Young and Judy Lewis (photo by Everett Collection)

Young eventually did admitthat Lewis was her daughter with Gable in her authorized biography, "Forever Young," which was published after her death in 2000.

In fact, Lewis resembled her dad, and according to the New York Times, she was teased in school because her ears "stuck out like Dumbo's. Or, as Hollywood rumors had it, they stuck out like Clark Gable's." Her mother hid them under hats, and had her daughter undergo plastic surgery at age 7 to make them less Gable-like.

The daughter of Hollywood royalty first followed an acting career, with roles in "General Hospital," but left the theatrical world to become a therapist. By the time she was a young woman, it was an open "secret" that her father was Clark Gable. Even her husband, Joe Tinney, told her before he married her that it was "common knowledge" that Gable was her dad, but she didn't believe him.

In her 1994 memoir, "Uncommon Knowledge," Lewis notes that her mother's career would have ended if she had admitted to the out-of-wedlock birth. In her book, Young, who was Catholic, tells her, "Wouldn't you [be unhappy] if you were a movie star and the father of your child was a movie star and you couldn't have an abortion because it was a mortal sin?"

Lewis is survived by her daughter, two grandsons, and two half-brothers -- and a solid place in Hollywood lore.

Chicken Crescent Roll Casserole

5230ca — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 19:49:43 GMT

NOTE: Sub turkey - it works just as well! Total time: 55minutes Calories: 532

About This Recipe

"This will also work great with turkey, if you do not have chicken breasts then use any leftover cooked chicken --- If desired you can fill the crescents just with the filling mixture and omit the soup, just brush with butter before baking, they are wonderful just stuffed with the filling! A few members have experienced a soggy bottom, so you might want to consider just drizzling half (or even a little less) of the soup mixture on top and a little around the sides of the crescents, then save the rest of the soup mixture for another time, this will help prevent a soggy bottom --- you may use the jumbo crescent rolls and stuff with more chicken mixture "

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) cans Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
1 (10 3/4 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup, undiluted
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (or any cheese of choice) or 3/4 cup swiss cheese ( or any cheese of choice)
1/2 cup 18% table cream ( or use whipping cream)

FILLING

4 ounces cream cheese ( very soft)
4 tablespoons butter ( very soft but not melted)
1/2-1 teaspoon garlic powder (optional)
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped ( can use green onions)
2 large cooked chicken breasts, finely chopped ( or use about 2 cups, can use cooked turkey)
1/2-3/4 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt ( or use 1/2 teaspoon white salt or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper ( or to taste)
2 -4 tablespoons mayonnaise or 2 -4 tablespoons whipping cream
1 -2 cup grated cheddar cheese ( for topping)

Directions

Set oven to 350°F.
Butter a casserole dish (any size to hold crescent rolls).
In a saucepan, mix half and half cream, 3/4 cup grated cheese (can use more cheese if desired) and undiluted chicken soup (can season with black pepper if desired).
Heat just until the cheese melts (do not boil).
For the filling --- (make certain that the cream cheese and butter are very soft) in a bowl, mix the soft cream cheese with butter until very smooth, then add in garlic powder (if using).
Add in the chopped chicken, onion and cheddar cheese; mix well until combined.
Add in 2 tablespoons whipping cream or mayonnaise; mix to combine (add in a little more if the mixture seems too dry).
Season with seasoned salt or white and black pepper to taste.
Unroll the crescent rolls.
Place 1 heaping tablespoon chicken mixture (or a little more) on top of each crescent triangle, then roll up starting at the thicker end.
Drizzle a small amount of soup mixture on the bottom of the dish.
Then place the crescent rolls seam-side down on top of the creamed mixture in the casserole.
Drizzle the remaining sauce on top (you don't have to use the full amount of cream sauce, just use as much as desired) and sprinkle with 1 cup (or more) grated cheese, or amount desired.
Bake for about 30 minutes.

Thankful for the Diveristy of Life!

5230ca — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:10:05 GMT