I’m of the mind that safe holiday fun should be enjoyed by any and all that want to participate. Whether your Halloween is spent pursuing haunts or going door to door to the neighbors for guilty pleasures (those Butterfinger bars and dark chocolates are too tempting), have safe fun.
This is where I get a little preachy, and with good reason. We get a lot of teens and even adults that come by for treats. That’s just fine by me. Unless it’s raining, I’ll put out my table, dress up myself and put the Perpetual Puppy in a fun costume, and have enough treats (candy and toys) to satisfy all ages. Not all children-adults can have sweets, nuts… so I try and put some other fun things out in keeping with the holiday until the curfew sends me back inside for a nightcap.
If you choose not to participate, a little sign in the window or on the door helps the eager children, teens, and adults know to keep going to the next house. It’s a small world and though I celebrate as many holidays as I can, I get that Halloween is not everyone’s idea of fun.
Be safe either way, and watch for children crossing against lights and in between cars on the roads. If you are trick or treating stay where it is light and with a group. Don’t enter houses, no matter how tempting, and be careful of capes, long robes, and face masks when walking. Have a grown up check your candy, especially important if you have allergies.
I can’t wait to see everyone in costume. Have fun!
Dubonnet and Gin, one a little stronger than the other
As a young girl my thoughts were on knights, princesses, castles, and unicorns. With news of the Royal wedding, it seemed everyone was buzzing about Prince Charles III and Lady Diane. There have been more weddings since then and one can’t help but admire how her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II managed to handle all the excitement.
As a mother myself, I strive to be part of all my children’s celebrations but I have to admit they can be exhausting. I don’t ever recall seeing the late queen waiver. Though her duties were always many, she seldom was seen without a welcoming smile.
When I sit this evening I’ll have one her of her favorite aperitifs(a cocktail meant to stimulate the appetite), a Dubonnet and Gin, and think fond thoughts.
For ages 21 and over- Dubonnet and Gin recipe:
1 part gin
2 parts Dubonnet
Mix well and we’ve in a wine glass. Drink safely and responsibly.
Medicine health care contraception and birth control.
For my readers, I had to take a moment to say my peace. We will resume our normally gleeful book and cocktail/mocktail banter on later posts. As a woman, a rape survivor, PTSD lifer, and mother of five children that used reproductive technologies(yes, I had some help staying pregnant after pregnancy loss, my rainbow babies), and former nurse I feel it important to take a moment to pursue the matter of women’s reproductive health with you.
Roe vs. Wade has hit the media again via a leaked memo. SCOTUS may be considering a reversal of that landmark decision in 1973. What does it mean for the women you know?
First and foremost, a reversal of Roe vs. Wade would put the decision about whether to offer a safe medical abortion, up to the fetal age of viability, completely in the hands of the individual states, though some states have already been electing to limit access to those services, so some will argue that nothing will change. Phooey! Read on.
Let’s consider this all the way down the ridiculous. Various forms of contraception including ‘the pill’ and IUDs, hormone replacement, even certain chemotherapeutic agents and medications may be withheld or denied to women that are of childbearing age as they can affect fetal growth or hasten demise of fetal tissue. I’m using the word fetus, for several reason, the first being that if a woman and her unborn child are killed you’re not looking at a double homicide but homicide and feticide(if they can manage that), so let’s go with fetus for now.
The Physician’s Desk Reference lists drugs as various categories for pregnancy from basically no known risk to severe risk for the fetus, I’m simplifying it here but stay with me. I’m not going to quote them, you can verify all of this for yourself. There are conditions where a drug may be used to save the life of the mother that may carry risks to the fetus. When those medications are used, it is with the foresight of what could happen but deemed medically necessary. Similarly, let’s consider what happens when a fetus jeopardizes the health of the mother. Should we impose a medical risk on a women that may be carrying a fetus that is or isn’t viable? Where do we draw the line to make that decision?
If a state bans all medical abortions, then any medication that could potentially effect the fetus in a negative way or potentially have a negative outcome could be taken away or withheld until such time as the fetus is delivered. We are looking at everything from antifungal medications used to treat yeast infections, common in pregnancy due to hormone changes, all the way over to anti-seizure medications. and this isn’t even pushing the envelope, but simply following a bad decision to its inevitable conclusion.
By limiting access to lifesaving medications, we are essentially dooming women that have gotten pregnant whether they wanted to carry the fetus to term and send it off to college or not. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, right?
But wait, there’s more. Remember how I said I was going to push the envelope to the ridiculous… well, notwithstanding that a woman that has been raped could potentially have to carry the fetus to term, talk about PTSD, not only did she lack control over her own body at the moment she was raped but lost control of it for the next nine months while she’d be forced to carry a rapist’s progeny, but let’s think about her basic medical needs. She may have been on medication for a pre-existing medical condition that she would have to forgo because she was inseminated against her will that may put her life at risk because an injustice was done to her not only on the part of the rapists but the state courts. Not seeming so ridiculous, right?
Wait, it gets better. If she died and the fetus made it to the age of viability it could, theoretically, be saved to grow up in foster care (a ward of the state) one day finding out that it’s mother was essentially medically terminated for the greater good and its father was a rapist. Lovely family tree.
But we’re not done yet. That’s just one ridiculous, seemingly farfetched scenario, or is it? We are putting the fate of every female in the country, born or unborn, into the hands of states that may agree or disagree with how fetal tissue of any kind may be treated and what restrictions are placed upon the individual in direct possession of such fetal tissue, essentially making the female uterus property of the state and subject to abide by it’s terms. Think about how this will also extend to medical technologies that use fetal stem cells, sorry, off on a tangent.
Now, let’s go back to medication for a second, because how many post menopausal females are on hormone replacement to avoid osteoporosis and other changes associated with low estrogen? Well, that number is probably higher than you’d think. From my recollection, it was over forty percent. Say goodbye to strong bones and an active lifestyle if states decide to take away estrogen because it doesn’t fit into the plan and could prevent pregnancies. Add cancer survivors that have used some chemotherapeutic agents to that number and need hormone replacement, even if they used them as children for conditions like leukemia or non hodgkin’s lymphoma.
How many transwomen are on hormone replacement? Should we venture a guess? Well, what do you think would happen to their access to hormone replacement if states are unchecked? Should we talk big-pharma and health plans, too? The entire shit show teeters down the mountain of imprisonment, depersonalization, and oppression, and we’re not just talking about uteruses here.
Shouldn’t we also bring into this women’s reproductive health and their access to doctors, midwives, medical care and more. What will happen to a doctor or midwife if a fetus dies in utero or during delivery? What will happen to the woman carrying the aforementioned fetus? How many more women are going to be jailed for having a miscarriage? ’cause it’s happened before. Given that around twenty percent of pregnancies can end in miscarriage, I think we’ll see a lot more women incarcerated and probably everyone in the hospital or birthing facility from the janitor up to the board sued at the very least for their involvement however trivial(that’s how it works).
This is just the tip of the iceberg, because we haven’t even traversed down to what lies under the water and how those changes will affect everything else. What about the right to decide you don’t want to have any children and make permanent changes to the body? Are we going to stop tubal ligations and vasectomies next? We’re not just looking at a potential return to back alley abortions, but depriving citizens of their Constitutional rights, something SCOTUS is expected to upheld.
Not trying to sound paranoid here, but in a system that vilifies women for exercising authority over their own bodies and transwomen for doing the same, how can we not act to ensure their safety when the threat of oppression and servitude is so real and so close? Can we sit idly by while women are stripped of their Constitutional right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
I’m not even taking sides about whether this is right or wrong, just stating the obvious. Having choices means you have the freedom to decide for yourself what is right and wrong and live your life accordingly. Taking away someone else’s choices, could be disastrous for everyone.
Before anything else gets leaked from SCOTUS, be ready for the next election. You have power, vote to protect those you love.
Some days Autoimmune Disease can make life unbearable. You make and change social plans and find yourself unmotivated to do anything else. Changes in weather, fluctuating hormones, stress(even excitement), and so many other factors can be a game changer before you have time to realize what happened.
Fortunately for me, a cute doggie comes and looks at me with a pair of soulful eyes. He brings me a squeaky toy or his favorite toy, knotted rope, and changes my day for the better. On the days I can’t do much more than sit on the couch, he’ll curl around my back keeping my lumbar region warmer than a heating pad.
Sometimes I think I waited too long to bring a dog home to live with me and my family, but most of the time I think I was just waiting for Butler.
For tonight, Butler will be drinking spring water and so will I. Work on the bod and the mind whenever you can.
This is the tree we have affectionally dubbed the witch’s tree becuase it seems a magical blessing to the animals that visit it
Since we moved to our cozy apartment, conveniently located only a couple blocks from an expansive park with a vast off-limits area to humans (deer, birds, foxes, and cats are fine) we’ve been watching the growth and decay of flora and fauna alike.
This particular specimen was more robust at one time, but has always been one of my favorites. Over the years the center has hollowed out. I’ve seen squirrels, rabbits, and chipmunks take refuge in the opening at the bottom and there are always chirping warblers cavorting in its branches. During the fall, mushrooms near the base made a tasty snack for deer.
In the spring there may be nests with blue robin eggs or blackbird eggs. There will be small flowers growing around and green leaves either of its own or the creeping vines that climb up the expanse. Ants will make paths back and forth passing it by on their way. Saplings and grass shoots will try to claim their space in its shadow. Sometimes what we think of as decay is simply an abundance of life. Live fully.
Trading my candy for puppy snuggles this year, and with gorgeous chocolate brown eyes like Butler’s, who could blame me?
Butler looking extra spiffy!
We have been working on writing books together. Since I’m the one with opposable thumbs, I get the bulk of the work and Butler, the Perpetual Puppy, snuggles or reminds me to take a break and move around. He’s a great motivator!
We have a new novel and some shorts out, as well as some of our older works with brand new covers, all available on Amazon.
Just got my first book released this weekend and I am working on the second novel while my hubby in his brilliance rushes in to announce:”Let’s write a fantasy Short for Charity Anthology by Wolf Paw Publications!”
Ok. with the LSFW Crate Something Magical just around the corner I must be crazy to go along with his ideas. But then a little change of scenery (from erotica to fantasy) never hurt anyone, and this little break seems quite welcome. So off to my coffee and laptop I go!
edenfreed.com 