Intro to Numerology

Numerology by Katherine Ari July 30, 2009

[Quotes/information from NUMEROLOGY by Juno Jordan]

Over the years I have studied both Astrology and Numerology and I have come to like Numerology more. For one thing I do like math. but it is also because I find it easier and much more accurate to understanding personalities and determining answers to the life questions. Astrology gets much more attention from the media. I think it is maybe because it is less definite and means the interpretations can be more individual – and harder for the customer to find out for themselves. And I think it is because of the fear of math. It really isn’t hard math – just addition.

In numerology there are several numbers attached to you. They are determined by assigning numbers to the letters of our alphabet and then taking your full name at birth and those letters’ number and adding them together. The vowels are added to determine one thing and the consonants determine another. The numbers are reduced to a single number. These are the most dominant numbers along with your Birth number that is determined by your birthday. They include Destiny/field of opportunity, Birth from your birthday, Heart, Personality, and Reality numbers.

Then there are some more number combinations that are a explanation of your daily personality and challenges. If there is a missing number anywhere, that is your personality challenges or karma number meaning the things you need to overcome in your personality. A person with several missing numbers has more challenges, perhaps a more intense personality where as NO missing numbers in the personality may indicate an easier time with issues. You can take these numbers further and determine your influences yearly and even monthly but that is not part of this explanation.

I am going to share some very general information about me, about my husband Doug, about my three birth children. Most of my readers know one or more of us. This is information for anyone with these numbers for these areas and you can think about how you know us - and see just how accurate (or not) the analysis can be.

Katherine Ari

Destiny/Field of Opportunity – 7 “Educator of the World”

Birth Number – 3 - Creative with good imagination, power of inspiration and deep feelings. Depends on “vision” and “creative imagination”.

Heart Desire Number – Is Selective and discriminating and desires the best Life has to offer – perfection.

Personality 9 – Should never wear black (haven’t I told everyone that?) Gains through use of color in business and to express personality (Do you see why KALEIDOSCOPIC AHA FITS ME?) – A “good fellow”.

This number is the part that shows to the general public.

Reality Number – 1 – Talents, abilities, interests and individuality is supported later in life. Independent, clever, originality of thought with opportunities for leadership.

This number tells you about what you will be like in your adult later years.

Katherine Ari is missing 6’s – This is a common missing number and so, many people do not have strong senses of duty. Luck may support endeavors or they get help from others. May indicate a life with interesting situations and happenings.

Doug Dannels – my husband and father of my children

Destiny/Field of Opportunity – 2 – “Peacemaker”- Life’s Trouble Shooter”

Birth Number – 5 – Independent, happy with many projects. Sometimes restless and impatient

Heart Desire – 4 – Practical, Appreciates Law and Order, Systematic. Want things to be “Correct” and likes concentration and good management.

Personality – 7 – Gains when well-dressed and groomed; Likable, friendly, good talker but sometimes aloof. Correct personality means much.

Reality – 7 – In adult life later wants right to retire and follow mental interest, specialized knowledge, wisdom, and understanding and to write or invent or do unusual endeavors.

Missing number personality challenges – #8 – Not much self-control. Dependence on others for help and luck.

-Missing # 9 – Lack of broadness, tolerance, and compassion. Gives and is kind but lacks universal forgiveness. May have limited accomplishments but should study religions for help.

Miko Dannels –

Destiny – 3 –Creative Destiny, optimist, cheerfulness, Inspiration to arouse imagination and spirit and faith in others, Popular

Birth number – 3 - Creative with good imagination, power of inspiration, and deep feelings. Depends on “vision” and “creative imagination”.

Miko has a Destiny and a Birth Number 3 which means that the characteristics of a 3 are doubled and intense – REALLY strong. He also has the same Birth number and Heart Desire number as Mom, Katherine Ari which shows how they are similar. A psychologist might say that their similar personalities are because of environment but the same numbers say why he has certain of his mom’s characteristics and not others.

Heart Desire – 7 – Selective, Discriminating and desire best life has to offer – perfection

Personality – 5 – Is up to date at all times. Versatile but can go to extremes to be daring and in the limelight. Personality (how he acts) should fit the occasion.

Reality Later in Life – 6 – Endeavors for humanitarian services for love and protection for others to receive the best in life.

Miko has no missing numbers.

Kyler Dannels –

Destiny – 8 – Dynamic for position, authority, money, and recognition. Success comes through “knowledge of life” and its spiritual relationships and balance.

Birth – 4 – Practical type. Need to be sure. Serious and fixed in your ways. Naturally honest, sincere, and conscientious, strong likes and dislikes but naturally friendly, dignified, and confident.

Heart Desire – 6 – Loyalty and desire to do good, sympathetic, sense needs of humanity, Idealist. Faithful to loved ones. Like family traditions and may sacrifice your self. Firm in what is right and wrong. Blunt but inspirational because of your passion.

Personality – 2 – Needs to be neat and clean. May be fussy about details. Pleasing personality and gentle manner. Should not be plain or colorless.

Reality – 3 – Later life – True self-expression comes. Growth and development come. Don’t scatter your talents.

Kyler has no missing numbers.

Azure Dannels –

Destiny – Azure has many similar numbers to members of her family

2 – “Peacemaker” or Life’s “trouble shooter” (like her dad)

Birth – 4 – Practical type. Needs to be sure, serious and fixed in ways. Naturally honest, sincere, and conscientious, strong likes and dislikes but naturally friendly, dignified, and confident. (like Kyler)

Heart Desire – 3 – Dreamer at heart to be happy, have joy, and romance, inspiration, and imagination. Use these intelligently for best from life. Have urge to be kind and help others. A romantic but artistic and inspirational.

Personality – 8 – Be well dressed and appear successful. Friendly, persuasive, and positive.

Reality for later in life – 6 – Endeavors for humanitarian services for love and protection for others to receive the best in life. (like Miko)

Missing 7 – Missing some caution and analysis. May have more inner happiness. Is not inclined to look under the surface for motives or reasons things happen. Is open minded.

So what do you, readers and those familiar with each of us think? Are these findings accurate?

Mini-Spiritual Mind Treatment - #10

Abundance p.265 Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes

God creates everything to be healthy and thrive. God is happiness.

God in me creates a productive healthy person.

I am desirable and attract people and situations that honor and reward me for my value and talents, compensating me with more than enough money for all my needs and wants.

I deny ideas that I am unworthy.

I am worthy. I benefit others and am well compensated.

Life is good. Thank you. Thank you.

My Truth is Abundance and I claim it as mine. So it is! #10

Abundance - Mini SOM Treatment

Today's Mini-Affirmative Prayer - I seek to manifest some money abundance myself, how about you?

Abundance p.263 Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes

by Katherine Ari

God is present everywhere all the time.

God surrounds me and is in me and through my God self, I manifest all I need.

There is more than enough money to make my life happy and peaceful.

I do not allow anyone to sway me to thoughts of “not enough” or lack.

Money moves to me and I express life fully.

I thank God for money. I am grateful for the continuous supply.

God wants me to prosper and gives me ways to make it so.

I know how and I release this into manifestation. And so it is.
#9

There will be one on abundance every day this coming week. Tomorrow's is particularly good for those of us in business for ourselves.
K. Ari

Why Do People Want to get Rich?

Why do people want to get rich?

I think the main reason is:
1. People want to do what they want to do when they want to do it, buying what they want when they want to. And they want to pay someone else to do what they don't want to do.

The altruistic answer is:
2. They want to help others - but ultimately they still want #1

The self serving answer is:
3. They want "things" and "To Travel" - but #1 still comes first.

I'll be honest. I want to make money. I want to see 4 to 6 clients a day and get paid for my writing. I enjoy what I do. I love life and I am on a Spiritual path. But Spiritual people have to pay the same for food and utilities and gasoline and insurance, etc., pay rent or a mortgage, as everyone else. It's hogwash when someone says Spiritual people shouldn't get money if they are Spiritual.

Are you honest about money?
Can you say, "Yes, I want to make money."
It's okay, you know. We can enjoy life as much as we can envision and that can include money.
Think about it.
Why do you make money? Why do you want to make money?
It's on everyone's mind these days, so let's take a honest, straight forward approach about it and work together to move forward.
It is an avenue of exchange. I can't grow my own food, make my own clothes and electricity and do what I do best.

Why do YOU want to make a lot of money?

What is a Spiritualist?

Spiritualist
by Katherine Ari July 24, 2009

As readers navigate around my blog, there is a section to the upper right about me. A storyteller is pretty obvious, but some ask what is a spiritualist? A Native American elder told me many years ago that being Native American meant being in harmony with Nature and being connected to God or the Great Spirit in everything you do. In the Bible of the New Testament, Jesus taught two great rules – to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, The Golden Rule, and to love the Lord thy God with all your heart in everything you do. Being connected to God in everything I do and to love God with all my heart is the same thing to me.

For most of my adult life, I have been studying religions and spirituality. The most important thing I have found is that in all religions or belief systems there are common truths. These truths are interpreted differently by different people, and different dogmas or religions evolve. The problem arises when one group decides their understanding is the one and only way to understand God. We have separatism and wars and hatred and judgment – all things completely in opposition to the basic teaching to love God in every thing we say, think, or do.

For that reason alone, when I say I am spiritualist, it does not mean dogma. It does not mean that I subscribe to a particular set of rules or requirements. I am not going to preach at anyone or judge or condemn. I believe if you have a chosen religion or church that makes you happy, then that is good. If you have a church but don’t always agree with what they say or find yourself going but coming home angry or feeling guilty, then perhaps you should find another spiritual home.

Yes, I use this blog to talk about my own ideas and interpretations. I have a traditional upbringing and know a lot about scripture from the Bible though. And as you can find any scripture in the Bible to back up your beliefs, you can also take anything I say in my way and go to the Bible and find it says what I say. I do NOT believe in literal Bible. I believe in the metaphorical meanings of scripture as well as teaching or writings from other religions. Again, Truth is Truth.

Everything I do and everything I think and everything I say is Spirit led. Even when I write animal stories or essays, the decision to write that story or post that story is because of an inner prompting that I consider my inner God voice. For some reason I am compelled to share that on that day.

What is God? God is Love. God is the Creative Force in the Universe that is the beginning and end of everything. It is everywhere in everything. In the Science of Mind, those three sentences in some form are the first step of a Spiritual Mind Treatment or Affirmative Prayer. They are also Truth and rarely would any positive religion disagree with those words. The argument starts when the next thing another group says is that God is angry, vindictive, biased, spiteful, conditional, and condemning. For me, God is Love and anything fear induced is NOT God. You cannot feel God if you feel fear.

I do believe, I know, that we are all here on a spiritual journey. We are here to learn and to grow. We are here to feel Love and to give Love. I suppose the atheist would disagree, but then I really don’t know. I must admit that because I have always had some kind of belief in a power that created the universe – something had to get things started somehow – that it is really hard to understand atheism. The ones that make it on the news are usually very angry, argumentative, and stressed out because the reasons that ARE on the news is because they are fighting for their rights. I am open to discussion about the subject because I would like to know what that means to the atheist.

My “About Katherine Ari” column also includes Life Coach. My approach to coaching or guiding is first and predominantly Spiritual. I love to work with young adults and older as well helping them find their path and making decisions that will help them fulfill their reason for living. That is always a spiritual journey to me, and most of the time, when I am working with someone, they feel that way too. Sometimes I get intuitive impressions. Sometimes I use Oracles, Tarot, Spirit Guides, Hypnosis, Past Life Regression, Celtic or Shapeshifting, or Numerology to add to my directions or suggestions. Ultimately, the answers are within each individual. I am NOT a guru or Know-All teacher. My goal is to help others find what is inside. I don’t have all the answers and I am still learning myself.

I ask, “What are you looking for? What do you want to learn? How can I help you on your life journey?” I am a Wise Woman Spiritual Guide and I draw from several different techniques or modalities – whatever works for the moment and time. When there is a next time, the client’s dreams may be the focus and the next, a profound contact with an animal or bird. And maybe I just need to let you talk and process.

I remember one time over 30 years ago going to my own therapist and spending the whole time talking, over two hours. I ended saying I didn’t feel like I did much work that day, just rambled on and on. She said, “No, you were processing a lot and I am impressed with what you are learning on your own. You are doing great.” I left and drove home thinking about what I had been talking about and realized she was right. I was beginning to see the “light at the end of the tunnel” and it really felt good having someone to listen and let me do what I needed to do for my own healing and growth.

I have been very fortunate to work with other spiritual helpers and teachers. But then since everything I do IS spiritual, then everyone I meet brings me a spiritual lesson – even when I don’t think that is the case at first. There is always a spiritual lesson.

Everything I do is Spirit Led.
I do not subscribe to any dogmas or set of do’s and don’ts.
I take a spiritual approach with my clients and my writing but do not try to convert anyone to my beliefs. I share them and listen to their beliefs.
There is One Great Universal Power in the Universe and everything is connected to that. This Power is everywhere all the time in everything and it is so magnificent that it can “speak” to me in my ways and I am open to receive the message of the One Power, but I do not believe it is a man out there in the sky.

I am a Spiritualist.

Abundance - Mini SOM Treatment

Abundance p.263 in Science of Mind by Ernest Holmes
by Katherine Ari

God is All there is.

God is in me and all I do is a success and manifests abundance.

God leads me to success and God-led constructive projects. I work from the God in me, whether the ideas are great or small.

God knows no hard, no easy. It’s All God.

I move forward with God awareness and know what I do is worthwhile.

I thank God for helping me create Good and for the realization of the Presence of Spirit.

I know, really know it is True.
And so it is.

#8

What's not in Parenting Books

Parenting – What’s not in the Parenting Manuals July 21, 2009

The subject today is parenting and the subjects missing from the parenting books. I have long expressed the plan to write a parenting book with the prospective of metaphysical or new thought philosophies. Most parenting books are either written by psychologist or behavior specialist (frequently who have not been parents) or are written by someone whose agenda is their own religious dogma filled with morality and rules based on Judeo-Christian beliefs.

There are” shoulds” and “should nots” and theories based on statistics and averages in books. The personal core ideas of the writers are injected into the book as if those ideas are the gospel, set in stone, or hard clinical facts. I think that is BS. But then my own beliefs are going to show through in any parenting books I write. So what I want to present are some new ideas or different ways to look at things, or think about differently.

It isn’t that I haven’t been writing this book. It is in progress and my research continues. I noticed the other day there are some subject that are not in any traditional parenting books. The books don’t tell a superstar celebrity parent how to give their children normal childhoods (whatever that is) or why they need to. They don’t explain to the rest of the world how hard it is to be in the spotlight 24/7 and then have “down” time. And if the star is the kind that gives 1000 plus into their work, what they will be like as they crash. It doesn’t mean they are bad parents, just don’t know how to be a star parent.

The books don’t have any answer for a superstar that wants kids who has the money to get them in whatever way he wants (surrogate mothers or foreign adoptions) and then the superstar dies leaving the children without a parent. Or they are a couple and adopt and then the adopted orphan has their world upset and destroyed once again when the two parents divorce.

Yes, Michael Jackson has biological family but the tabloids continue to bring it up. Are they really his biological children? The damage these papers are doing to his three children in order to sell papers is hard to determine. And there is no standard to measure any of this by, nor any way to shut them the _____ up. Johnny Depp has his own island and keeps his children totally away from the media. But he is an incredibly talented actor and children tend to inherit some of the parents’ talents. Are they going to be sheltered away from acting when it is possible that they have similar talents? The books don’t tell any parent how to keep their child actors stable and able to cope with the fame. How many child actors grow up and have drug problems and have to go into some sort of rehab? The psychologist can’t claim they know what is “normal” for celebrities unless they are celebrities themselves – but that still doesn’t mean they know what is best in each situation.

And how does Cher deal with birthing a daughter that wants to be a man now? If you are a parent, how would you deal with that kind of change? I am not passing judgment on Chastity’s life path decision. I am just thinking about my children (four of them) and how it would be to be standing in the same room looking at them as the opposite sex from what they were when I birthed them. It does something to your mind. It’s very hard to grasp. And I am a very non-judgmental tolerant and loving mother.

Here is another subject missing from the parenting books, TV and the movies. The mother-in-law story has been shown a million different ways – all negative. She is possessive and won’t let her child leave and get married. She interferes and tries to run their lives. She goes to her child and new spouse’s house and rearranges things and injects her ideas of what is right on her children. And the new daughter or son-in-law resent it. There is never a really good relationship portrayed. What about the mother who is tolerant, not controlling, loving, and accepting?

I can’t say honestly that every boy or girl that has dated one of my children have been easy for me to befriend. I hope I did not come across as stuck up though if they were not right for my kids, I knew it. In my mind, I just kept my distance and knowing that they weren’t going to be responsive to me did not try to talk to them.

The really hard situation as a parent is when your child’s friends or romantic interest are really likable and you enjoy their presence in YOUR life. Then they break up and this person in your heart, is no longer there. The son divorces his wife. The former wife is still friendly to the mother-in-law who is in turn friendly to the former daughter-in-law and mother of her grandchildren – EXCEPT when the son comes around with a new girlfriend. This grandmother doesn’t know how to act around the former daughter-in-law. If she is friendly, will it make her son mad and the new woman jealous? If the split was unfriendly and he is bitter toward the old wife, does his mom have to take sides? If she doesn’t, that could make the son mad at her and feel she doesn’t love him. It becomes an uncomfortable situation and there aren’t any guidelines or in the media.

But the mother-in-law loves that woman who birthed her grandchildren. She isn’t mad at the former wife of her son. Yes, there are some women who can separate their feelings even if the wife DID do something like have an affair. There are those of us that don’t judge or maybe understand why the daughter-in-law might stray – just don’t project our own interpretations of what happened. It’s is not any of our business.

I have found myself in this position several times now. I opened my arms, my home, and my love to these children temporarily around. And when they broke up, it really hurt. It isn’t just about their romantic interest either. When one of my children has left home, I don’t get to see their friends anymore. I miss them. But it’s the break ups of the long-term relationships that hurt the most. I loved them and not just because they loved my sons or daughter. I feel their pain or hurt when my children move on and I don’t know how to be a friend to them. It becomes AWKWARD! And what happens? We end up having to sever our connection. Or we can only talk when the former romantic partner isn’t around. It’s a dumb social norm!

Parents – is it easier to find fault and get mad at the former lover of your child? Is it easier to keep your distance just in case they break up later on? If you always got along with the in-law, what did YOU do when they broke up? And if you carry on your relationship or friendship with your son’s former girlfriend, will he think you are trying to get him back together with her or just not want to be around her and he avoids you? Will she be hoping for a reconciliation if she stays friends with you? Or will the son think that is the case? Think about these things. They are real questions and how to deal with your feelings of loss are real. They are actually grief and it isn’t just because your child may be hurting because of the break up. YOU are hurting too if you had a good relationship with the girlfriend or boyfriend. And I don’t have the answers YET. This is a work in progress.

Animal Totems and Messages - how do you know?

Animal Totems and Messages

by Katherine Ari                                                                                    July 16, 2009 

I was in two of the big bookstores this week, Barnes and Noble and Borders.  I also surf the books online at Amazon.com and other book sites. I have several different Animal Card decks and books on animal symbolism and the messages they bring us.  As I look at what is out there, I see whole books on how to find your totem.  I want to sell my stories like the next person and would love to have them published and on the lists and shelves, but when that happens, I hope I have enough really informative and entertaining information that I don’t have to take five hundred pages to say what can be said in one page. 

By knowing the secret messages of animal behavior, they can help us in our lives.  A single animal or a group of animals may come to us to give us certain messages.  When you are paying attention, it may happen more often. 

I love animals and love nature.  I have many pets and I have a beautiful garden in my yard where I recognize the wild life inhabitants that live in harmony with me and my family.  I have other encounters hiking, traveling, and even unexpected ones at the grocery store or the mall.  I believe that the animals I dream about are real encounters just like the ones I have when I walk out the door. 

There are lots of ideas and theories and beliefs about what constitutes a totem or special message.  I know what is significant to me, and that is the key to answer the question of how to find your animal totems.  What does the animal mean to you? 

Let’s take dreams.  If you dream about a snake and you are petrified of them, the dream animal means one thing.  I’m not upset by snakes and so if I dream of one, I pay attention to the kind and the circumstances around the dream.  I use books by Ted Andrews and Jamie Sams as well, and several others.  Sometimes, certain animals, especially particular birds, are not in the spirituality books like those by Andrews or Sams.  So I take the general information about birds or mammals and then go to a National Geographic book or internet site to find out more.  I take all of the information and write it down, study it and then combine the meanings with what is going on in my life. There are certain questions to ask yourself.  You must always be discerning when applying meanings to your own life.

This is VERY important.  No meaning is set in stone, and no animal encounter necessarily means the same for you as it does for me.  The following are some questions to ask yourself.  Are there animals, birds, insects, sea life, etc that you are particularly fond of and always have been drawn to?  My favorite pets as a child were cats and I always loved black panthers, played with frogs, dogs, and encountered snakes.  I am definitely a black panther person.  Today, I have regular contact with spiders, dragonflies, cardinals and robins, crows, frogs, cats, dogs, deer, butterflies and hummingbirds, and hawks and buzzards. I love parying mantises.  When I encounter an animal or bird that is not a usual encounter or just plain unexpected like in dreams, I look them up because they usually appear to tell me something about what is going on at the time.  And that is one page with an answer about animal totems and messengers. The way I can help you is if you write me about your animals or wildlife contact I can help you find the meaning that is for YOU. (Okay, that was an advertisement and invitation or request for you to write me; I admit it!)

Katherine Ari’s Wildlife Encounters July 15 - 17, 2009

by Katherine Ari

 

            It is a regular thing for me to have encounters with crows.  They do all sorts of things to get my attention.  We do not have ravens in Georgia, which are bigger crows, so if the crow is a really big crow, I get out my books and study ravens as well.  The other morning, I was awakened by a bunch of average sized crows in my trees over my bedroom raising a ruckus.  Sometimes such a commotion means there is a hawk, or owl, invading the neighborhood, or that that greedy Great Blue Heron is about to land in my yard to eat my pet fish.  They know I do not welcome that intruder and they do their best to chase him away or at least tell me his has landed on the roof of the house or garage.

I got out of the bed, slipped on some sandals and went ahead and let the dog out.  She would chase the heron away if it was in the yard.  I saw no hawk or heron but they were hopping around from tree to tree until they were sure I saw them.  Ted Andrews says in Animal Spirit Pocket Guide to expect unexpected magical help with obstacles or problems at hand.  My own magic is calling and I will answer the call AND with several crows, I interpret that to mean in several ways or a big way – lots of motion.  I do have some obstacles in my life right now that need some magic or unexpected help.

I was out in the yard yesterday walking the dog and two of my cats when I had this beautiful magical encounter with a black and yellow swallowtail butterfly.  It wasn’t just that there was a butterfly in my garden.  He flittered around everywhere I walked.  “New love and joy are coming.” (Andrews) I should get ready to dance the Dance of Joy as I easily go through a new transformation.

The last dream I had last night included three animals, though one was not exactly identifiable.  There was a dog or really a fat puppy that was also a baby that was dependent and needy but growing healthily very fast in the dream.  I was caring for it and it grew strong and wanted to get out of the box to play.  It could talk as dream animals often do, and it was more like a growing baby.  Babies for someone my age usually mean new ideas or projects that will flourish if I nurture and care for them correctly. 

A dog is about being faithful and protecting the new ventures.  I can have success by choosing the right companions or relationships for these ideas.

So then I was carrying the puppy to another space and found us riding on an elephant.  It was going around some body of water and we had to walk over some water that had a fish that was about 12 feet long surrounded by various sizes of smaller fish of the same variety. And of course water is about emotions and the life force itself.

The encounter with the fish was very brief but still significant. I cannot identify the exact kind of fish but I remember the shape and sizes.  In Andrews’ book, Animal-Wise he has a drawing of a Barracuda.  The mouth of my dream fish was not the same and I can interpret that to mean it was not as threatening as a Barracuda would be.  Its body shape was a lot like a Florida tarpon fish – but tarpons are not in that book.

The main meaning of the barracuda is to go my own way and not follow the group. The younger ones may school as they grow and then they break away when they are ready to hunt alone.  Then they put themselves in the position to take advantage of whatever presents itself – in my case, opportunities expected or unexpected.

I was looking at books at Barnes and Noble about starting businesses.  The book I was looking at was about blogging and the author had somewhat of an authoritative and judgmental attitude.  It was written two years ago.  I suppose that the whole blogging experience has many avenues and ideas.  What works for one kind of business or blog does not necessarily apply to another entry.  Across the board blanket instructions and proclamations apply to the writer’s own experience with his/her field of interests. I think the barracuda that was too big to be in the school of younger fish and needing to break away was a good image for me as I start these new ventures.  I just need to do what I think I need to do and follow my own way.  We could even say I need to break out of the box or the race consciousness of the “crowd”.

Then there was the elephant.  An elephant is not native to this continent nor is it something that most of us see on a regular basis.  When I was a child, I lived next door to two or three winter quarters for some circuses.  Two of them had elephants.  I DID hear and see them daily.  I remember always being impressed by their strength and gentle power. 

They may not live all over the world these days, but they have myth and stories about them in many societies.  In India, there are several of the Hindu gods that are connected to elephants.  They originate in India and Africa today.  My dream animal, as well as the ones at my neighboring circuses as a child, was an African elephant, large with ears different from those from India.

They have great sexual power.  They have a great sense of smell that tells us, “Do things smell right?”  My sense of smell can help me open other energies and otherwise inaccessible worlds. They use their ivory tusks to dig that symbolically means knowledge of plants and roots.  Part of our business is working with plants and rooting new cuttings but I also work with others to find the “root” of the challenges.

Elephants have lots of fantasy tales about them like they never forget.  Well, that isn’t true, but if someone harms them, they might not forget the offender and even seek revenge.  But one thing is true is that the elephant societies are usually females unless it is the mating season.  They travel with three ages of females, young, adult and wise old ones that are their leaders.  They take care of each other and do grieve when one dies. 

The final message for me is to own the Wise Woman status of my maturity and to be strong in my own unique self.  I can draw ancient wisdoms, strength, and power by reclaiming my primordial royalty (Andrews).

I am beginning this new venture blogging and striking out in new directions.  I have my faithful protectors riding with me (the dog).  I am ready to go my own way without staying with the younger “school” of fish (the big fish).  I remember thinking the big fish was 12 feet long which could mean             12 days, 12 weeks or 12 months.  It could also mean 12 something else.  I need to go my way and use my Wise woman knowledge.  I can expect transmuting joy (the butterfly) and magical energies from unexpected ways to help with the obstacles (my loyal crow friends).  I need to trust “what smells right” or doesn’t.  I am strong in my own self, my wisdom, my power and my primordial royalty, past life experiences and respecting traditions and others and doing what is best for everyone involved.  I put life coach on my new business cards, but I think Wise Woman Guide fits me better.  No, it is not a familiar in the world of advertising, but then, neither am I.  I am quite comfortable with who I am.  I DO feel a lot of joy being me.

AFTER THOUGHT - Do I need these messages to be successful or to know what to do next on my Life's journey?  No.  Do they tell me something I don't know?  No.  They reassure me and the confirm what I do know.  They encourage me to continue on in the direction I am going.  They tell me I am doing what is right for ME.  And I am aware that they are working with me on these experiences and challenges.  Sometimes, when I get so caught up in the process, I miss things.  They will usually tell me to remember the whole picture and maybe even show me some new or better ideas.  I am grateful for their signs and messages and glad to know "they have my back" because they do, they really do.

July 14, 2009 Announcement

Today, I have added two different kinds of writings. One is a light hearted pet or animal story and the other is a Spiritual lesson from the writings of Ernest Holmes.

My blogs are not diaries of my everyday life, but are stories, some just entertainment and some are meaningful and spiritual, that I share to give something to your life.

If you get something from them, give something back - a comment or an email. I'll even discuss selling a print or a painting or take donations. I also am a LIFE COACH and will work with individuals. I love writing and sharing with my friends. I want to keep this going and to hear from you.

Katherine Ari

George and Nutmeg

George Arrives and Meets Nutmeg

by Katherine Ari                                                                                  July 14, 2009

Several years ago, we had two dogs, an alpha dog that was a six pound Maltese and a small Sheltie.  We had two cats.  One was a black, white and gray semi-long hair, the same color as our Sheltie, and the other was an orange and white Tabby marking striped male.  Both cats were neutered but Nutmeg, the orange one, was a little over 1 year old when we had took him to the vet.  He was old enough to have developed a tomcat attitude.

 

Nutmeg was outdoors during the day and he wandered around the neighborhood within a half block.  If another cat, like a tomcat, entered his “territory”, he would act like a typical tomcat asserting his dominance.  He frequently came home with scratches and bruises and swellings of unknown origin.  But it never slowed him down.  He was right back out there on the prowl the next day.

 

One day a neighbor boy came over to see one of our sons and a red-orange mixed breed dog was with him.  He was part Chow Chow, part Retriever and part ? and weighed about 39 pounds.  We guessed he was around 8 or 9 months old and he was full of personality.  The boy said he just showed up and was hanging around the neighborhood.

 

He was a very friendly and loving dog.  He just loved everyone.  But he was a Chow.  Chows around this neighborhood have a reputation of killing cats.  Chows are hunting dogs and can be overly aggressive and most of them around here are mean.  I wasn’t sure of what he would do around Nutmeg or our other more timid cat.

 

He was inside the yard with the boys.  Nutmeg had been out on his rounds but I guess sensed that there was activity going on at his house.  He sauntered back into the yard.  He wasn’t expecting a NEW dog on the premises.  Nutmeg adored the Maltese and the Sheltie loved all cats.  The visiting dog spied the cat, and he was on the chase.  Nutmeg was startled and ran for the nearest tree.  He got up out of the reach of the barking dog and stopped on a limb. “Where the H - - - did THAT come from?” was the look on his bright eyes looking down on the red dog.

 

We pulled the dog away from the tree and removed him from inside the fenced yard.  After a short while, Nutmeg came down from the tree.

 

The next day, the boy and the stray dog were again at our house. Nutmeg had been out prowling around and came back with his right eye swollen shut.  He looked kind of tough and rough.  He wasn’t in a very amiable mood to say the least.  When the dog came towards him, he just sat there, looking pirate like.  He didn’t budge, raised his right paw with his claws out, closed eye, and looked at him.  “I’m ready for you this time.  Come on Sucker!”

 

The dog was just about to him and when he realized that he wasn’t going to run this time, he kind of skidded to a stop. “I’m not sure about chasing THIS cat.  He isn’t running,” the dog’s face said.  Nutmeg took that as his opportunity to go towards the dog.  He went for his nose and slapped the dog’s face.  The next thing I saw was nine pound Nutmeg chasing 39 pound George, (he eventually was named George) across the yard slapping at his behind and tail with both paws, hissing and spitting, and scaring the dickens out of the dog.  But the dog was smiling all the time. 

 

Nutmeg ruled.  George was not a threat to the cats. He joined our family, and they got along fine.

God is The Eternal Presence of Perfection

This week, I have had contact with several friends including myself that are dealing with some serious health issues.  I love to turn Ernest Holmes in the Science of Mind to help me get a better idea.  The following comes from what he says about Tumors and Cancer on pages 234-236 but it applies to any ailment or disease.  Where there are quotations, I am quoting text by Holmes.

 

God is the Eternal Presence of Perfection

 

There is One Universal Mind we call God.  God is not a man out there in the sky.  It is a Presence that exists everywhere all the time.

“There is but One Mind and we are in it.”  Out thoughts are in it too and whatever we think goes into it and it then acts on our thoughts.  In the Native American cultures, the elders and leaders taught that every thought is a prayer.  It is not a concept that is exclusive to any religion or spiritual practice.

If we have destructive emotions, desires or ideas that are allowed to become default habits, they may grow into a bodily condition or disease.  “Disease without thought could not manifest, no matter what the disease may be.”

It doesn’t mean that the health issue arises because I am thinking about a particular ailment.  I may be constantly fearful or angry or self-critical and it manifest in my body as acne or a tumor.  Sometimes worrying about a disease like “there’s cancer in my family” can create the effect depending on how much “thought” you give the “fear”.

“Erase the thoughts of a false growth or false condition,”  Holmes says, “and the effect or manifestation will be healed.”  Declare, “Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.”  The “Heavenly Father” in us is the Eternal Presence and Perfection.  A false growth can be a tumor, cyst, kidney or gallstone, or even warts or acne, or it can be a chronic disease. 

I know there is nothing for these false conditions to feed upon.  Today I do not believe in anything but whole perfect and complete health.  My body has healing power!

Declare – “Divine Love within me removes from my consciousness every thought unlike God (or Good).”  God is perfection and God sustains and nourishes my body.  Everything in my body comes from this One Creative Mind.  I work with this Presence in me to create only health.  My thoughts are about great health because that is what I want.  If I think about disease or pain or false growths, I am feeding them.  I nourish and feed Perfect Health.

I eliminate any depression, misunderstandings, maladjustments, or frustrations in my life.

God is all there is and God creates the divine order.  God expresses perfection in my body and that is the only thought I allow in my mind.  God is a part of me and it “forever cleanses, heals, and renews every organ and every atom in my body after the pattern of perfection.”

I freshen my thoughts.  I have faith and trust the perfection of God in my life.  Perfect Principle produces perfect accretion in my body.

Everything is made from God’s creation.  Let it only allow that creation to work in perfect health and manifestation through my/our body.  Divine Spirit implants perfect, whole and pure health.  That is what I think about – anything else is eliminated.

Spirit in me is perfectly and completely manifest.  Every shadow of erroneous conclusions is wiped out. I focus on the Truth which sustains vitality.

I know that when there is pain or other symptoms because of these things going on it is hard to keep our thoughts on this perfect health.   I met a lady one time who got rid of her migraines by saying, “God doesn’t get migraines.”  I say over and over, “God doesn’t experience pain.  This pain is NOT God.”  My faith is strong.  I know this is true.  If I dwell on pain or discomfort, I feed it.  I feed “God doesn’t have any pain.”  The pain goes away. 

These thoughts end with my gratitude and thankfulness for my health and vitality.  I then release these Truths and know they are the thoughts working through my body.  And so it is.

Believe in Yourself and Believe in Others

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND BELIEVE IN OTHERS
by Katherine Ari July 12, 2009

My children are ages 21 to 27. I work with teenagers at my spiritual center. Because of this I have many teens and young adults in and out of my home and my life all the time. I love it. I love seeing them as they unfold their talents and futures as the next adults running the world. They have so much knowledge, talents, and new perceptions.

It is sad when other adults discount the youth. They see them doing things that are “weird” or wearing strange clothes and bucking the established system. But it has always been a natural thing for the next generation to do things differently. They get to the age they desire autonomy from their parents. They strike out and seek to find a way to be different from their parents. Some parents have forgotten and try to exert more control. “You have to be in control,” another parent told me one time.

“Why?” Why should I think as a parent that I should control their bodies and minds and force them to see things through my eyes. When I say this, it doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that their brains are still growing and forming. They still need guidance and limits. Sometimes it as simple as telling them their brains are still growing, but I must recognize they have their own way of thinking.

It’s kind of like coaching a soccer team that I did many years ago. When we were at practice that was the time to teach them how to play the game. When we played the games that was the time to rely on what they learned at practice – but as children, there was always more to learn. We adults have to know when to teach and when to shut up. Being a parent is not controlling – it is teaching and loving.

One of the things I heard was children not believing in themselves. “Oh, I can’t score. They would get mad at me.” “I’m afraid.” The thing that many coaches and parents alike don’t realize is that when you don’t believe in the abilities of the child, they know it. When you have little chats about this child or that child, they know it. They feel it. I heard another teen counselor making “poor ugly child” comments about a boy that was actually in her family at camp. She was in her mid-thirties and did not have children herself. Inside I was screaming, “Don’t you know that if you feel that way about him that he feels it!” It was an overheard conversation and not the time or place to try to tell her.

It is just that they know without knowing why they know. It is important as adults that we never, never say or think anything negative about a child, because they feel it if we do and it becomes their self-worth, self-esteem, and their core belief – all false ideas. If you don’t believe in yourself, ask yourself where does that idea come from? It is usually someone else’s idea and NOT the TRUTH.

Mini-Spiritual Mind Treatment - #7

Abundance p. 164 (Science of Mind -Ernest Holmes)
by Katherine Ari

The Creative Force of the Universe produces perfect health, abundance, happiness, peace.

The Creative Energy is in me and works through me as much as I believe in it.

I believe and recognize these things are mine and always have been, always will.

Anything unhealthy, lack, sorrowful or unpeaceful is not the essence of the Truth of what God is.

I consciously recognize health and abundance are always mine. I turn my thoughts to ideas of abundance.

I have so much and I am grateful for God, for Life.

This is True. I am Clear. And so it is. #7

New Business Card

I have my new card - BUT I don't have the phone yet. If you would like to call me, call me at 770-920-0550 for now. My daughter has the phone and has to mail it to me.

Katherine Ari

Chris

Chris

(mascara alert)

by Katherine Ari July 10, 2009

I had this really special lady in my life named Chris. She didn’t confide in me, but I knew something was going on with her breast for some time before she told everyone. She had breast cancer, but she had been trying alternative solutions. I really don’t know what she had been doing or for how long but in May, 2007 she had a diagnosis. The condition was in advanced stages and there was nothing the doctors could do.

People at the spiritual center were in little groups whispering and crying. Another friend of Chris and mine was talking to me. He said he was so upset about Chris. “What’s going on with Chris?” I said.

“She has (such and such number) phase breast cancer. She only has about a month or so to live.” He went on to say that he was really angry because she could have prevented it. He was angry at her and angry he was losing a good friend. She was going to die.

I could tell that the little huddled groups were her close friends and they were crying and talking about her condition too. Chris was going to die. Well, I know how sensitive and intuitive Chris was. Having all those people she was close to thinking and saying, “Chris is going to die” did NOT help her live, help her affirm a healthy life.

In July, we had a big celebration of her life while she was still living. It was wonderful but people still cried. The heaviness was there. As “enlightened” as we pretend to be, our own grief and sadness and projections were weighing us down.

I started going through my own stuff. When I get close to people I feel things. I am somewhat of an empath. I felt very in tuned to Chris. When she would have a bad day or night, I would feel her symptoms and discomfort. There would be heaviness in my chest and it was hard to breathe. When I would see her I would say, “Were you having a bad day on Monday?” She would always say yes.

I wanted to be near her. After all, everyone was talking about how sick she was and time was getting shorter. The more I was around her the more I “soaked” up. I don’t think I was helping her and it was making it hard for me to function. I pulled away. I avoided the groups discussing her. I mentally and physically withdrew from the energy around her.

But I still cared – deeply. I loved her very much. And I wanted to help her. I sent her a story I wrote. It was actually an account of a story journey I had with my spirit guides. The journey was about ascending up to the top of the Tree of Life to the land of Keter. I also was told by one of my spirit grandmothers that she would be with Chris instead of me until she was no longer needed. She did not say until she died – just until she was no longer needed.

I saw Chris one Wednesday night before I sent her the copy of the story. I told her about my grandmother guide being with her until, I paused, “you know, when it is time.” Chris was okay with what I said and how I said it, but a woman standing near-by had this horrific look on her face as if what I said was terrible.

I did a painting of T-cells lined up like soldiers going after the diseased cancer cells. My inner guides told me to leave it up on a table easel until they told me to take it down. “You will know when it is time to take it down,” they whispered to me. I would look at it especially when I felt her symptoms. It’s like I felt when she was weakest I needed to do the imaging for her. I would look at the painting and see T-cell soldiers fighting the battle. And her energy would come back up.

One day, I was feeling angry at my own body issues. I was fuming and feeling sorry for myself. I got really worked up. I suddenly realized that was what Chris was feeling. She was angry her body had not been able to be healthy, stay healthy, and get healthy. She felt it betrayed her. She had done everything she could do but she was losing the battle. We were both screaming, “It isn’t fair!”

I took out my watercolors and paper. I painted the angry sick body I – we – were angry at. It was a mess and the anger and disgust showed. I put it on the canvas and then sat a while. Anger is a normal feeling but it is important to not hold on to it, to move through it. The first painting dried enough that I could remove it from the block to do another.

I began a painting of a woman’s body surrounded with healing purple fires. I wanted to use the image of the purple flame to make our bodies whole and well. There are many healers who talk about the purple flame and call it to a situation to heal what needs healing. It’s no coincidence T-cells are mostly purple. Violet fire is a healing energy!

I had released the feelings when I painted them. I then painted a third. It was art therapy. I was going through a transition in my thinking and using art as a way to process it. The third painting I call the Goddess of Health. After the healing process, I saw the woman – me – as a mature healthy woman. (See Painting.)

I took pictures of the raw paintings and exported them to jpegs. I emailed them to Chris with a brief explanation because she didn’t always understand my abstracts. She said she got it, felt that way, and she thanked me.

In December her family moved her into hospice. I could not go see her. I wanted to. One time I went into my meditation state in my bed at home and took her hand to go up to the place of my meditation story. My spirit grandmother and other faint spirits appeared as I imagined the ascension. Yes, Chris could go to that “place” but I was not supposed to be there. I started choking and abruptly was no longer in the meditative state. She went up and was there a while, but she didn’t stay – not that time.

Around Christmas I got a simple command. “It’s time to take the T-cell painting down now.” Nothing else was said but I knew the battle was mostly over. I lay in bed close to midnight on January 1, almost January 2. I hadn’t talked to anyone for a few days about her. They said she was very weak and the morphine had been increased. As I lay in bed, I felt a heaviness and difficulty breathing. I had experienced that same feeling when my mother made her transition. She was in a small town hospital in Oklahoma. I was in a hotel in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Mother passed. I felt no breath, no movement. “Goodbye Mother,” I whispered and wept myself to sleep.

I started the walk up the spiritual path, the magical place with Chris. Halfway up you stop to receive a bundle that becomes your robe and then a white dress. I stopped there and Chris took the bundle. She continued alone though I could see my grandmother Oma and images of others with her. “Goodbye Chris. I love you and will miss you.” A couple of days later I learned Chris made her transition just after midnight on January 2, 2008.

Mini-Spiritual Mind Treatment - #6

New subject today, July 8, 2009 by Katherine Ari

ABUNDANCE p. 25(Science of Mind by Ernest H0lmes)

Everything in the Universe started with Infinite Intelligence we call God.

God is in all of us. Therefore abundance is part of us too.

It is all One Power and abundance is ours if we have the consciousness to claim it. We do this through our God self.

If I find myself weak and poor and afraid, I have lost sight of God’s Power of abundance.

I focus on God. I know there is abundance for everyone.

I thank God for my richness.

I feel it. I see it. I live it. And so it is. #6

Thought on Michael Jackson

I watched the memorial to Michael Jackson yesterday and was reminded of the humanness of the famous star. I have thought about his unexpected death a lot and wanted to share my final feelings about him.

Thoughts on Michael Jackson
by Katherine Ari July 8, 2009

I have spent many hours thinking about the unexpected and untimely death of pop star Michael Jackson since June 25. It was sudden and unexpected but yet not surprising that he died young. But I am saddened by it.

I personally really liked his music and his performances – though I never saw him in person. He was extremely talented, energetic, and entertaining. I saw his videos and his performances on TV. I watched some of the interviews over the years. I saw the pictures in the tabloids. And I looked in his eyes as he talked. I saw a loving and kind child – no, not a man. The rest of what was said about him including the accusations and trial was all influenced by the observer or writers. I do NOT know the truth because I never met him nor talked to him. I had my own interpretations of what I saw but they are colored by my own beliefs systems and experiences. I unknowingly talked to a couple of pedophiles over a period of a few weeks. There were similarities between them. I didn’t see that in Michael’s eyes.

There used to be this woman living in my neighborhood that was a gossip and busy body. Behind her house was a rental house. A lady was living there for a while and she had frequent late night visitors. The gossip lady decided she was dealing drugs and called the police on her. My interpretation was that the woman may have been doing something illegal but it wasn’t drugs. She moved away.

The next renters were a family with children. The children acted strange and out of control. Their mother never came out of the house. She stayed hidden. The gossip didn’t understand why she was so reclusive and so she decided to call the police again and told them she was dealing drugs. If she didn’t understand the behavior, they were dealing drugs. I had another interpretation myself. The mother was mentally ill but not in treatment. I had worked with children of mentally ill parents before and they acted the same. My point is that when the gossip woman didn’t understand something she judged it based on her own fears and judgments – not on facts. And that is what the media did about Michael Jackson. They, like the busy body, form opinions based on limited knowledge and then put it in print. No one could ever understand what being as famous as he was from a young age was like. There have been several people who did know Michael Jackson personally. But when they talk to the reporters, they have different stories too. The fans, and I was a fan, will never know and it is a loss to the world of entertainment. The jury did not completely believe that he was guilty.

I know something else. I am married to an extremely gifted artist. He is different. If I had met him sooner when he was a child and if we had known then what we know now about believing in ourselves, my husband could have become a famous artist. But if he had become known the world over and famous, I doubt if we would still be together. He couldn’t have handled attention from fans and the media. He is probably not famous because he really doesn’t want to be. I refuse to project my beliefs on what Michael was or wasn’t, but I know because I live with a highly sensitive and creative person that he couldn’t have handled fame with that kind of recognition nor could he have handled hundreds of millions of dollars. If he had created at the level that Michael Jackson created with his talent, he also would have died young or ended up in a mental hospital.

Edgar Allan Poe died young. Elvis died young. Mozart died young and he was probably considered the greatest musician and performer of his time.
As Elton John sings, “their candle burned out long before their legend ever did.” There is a writer, Linda Schierse Leonard, Ph.D., who has written several books in including The Call to Create and another Witness to the Fire. In the latter book, she has researched several famous creative people. Some of them met their inner demons, overcame drug and alcohol addictions and became better at their art or talent. And some of her subjects did not overcome them and died young.

We can get an idea of how hard it was to be Elvis or Michael Jackson but we can never understand just how extremely hard it was. Having what society and psychology books say are normal lives did not exist for them. And there was no one that could help without their own belief systems and projections and they weren’t famous. We think that kind of fame and fortune might be exciting but we really have no idea the things they had to sacrifice that we take for granted. They had to be that famous. It was what they were here for.

I admire what Michael Jackson accomplished and that he lived to the age of 50. He had a very difficult journey and he was good at his job. Whatever mistakes or errors in judgment he made are none of my business. I wasn’t there and I could not walk a mile in his moccasins. I am sad for the three children and his family. I honor his talent. There was nothing like it.

Grandma Eva - memories

Grandma Eva's birthday was July 3, 1903. She made her transitions in 2003, five months before her 100th birthday. She is on my mind this week and I included some little fond memories today.

Grandma Eva – memories of a special little German Irish lady
by Katherine Ari July 8, 2009


Grandma Eva was at her tallest 5’ tall. When she was 88, she had a heart attack. She lived with Grandpa Roy who was 90 in their home in Vermillion, Kansas, a town of 120 as posted on the road sign. Only about 50 of those actually lived in the town. So a medical helicopter airlifted her to the nearest hospital in Onega, KS. When she was put on the chopper, she had some new Nike’s with her. They transported her on to the hospital where they did quadruple bypass surgery on her heart. None of us had high expectations for the prognosis. She was after all 88 years old and had a gray color to her skin for many years because of the heart problems.

Grandma Eva made it through the surgery with flying colors. Her skin lost the gray color and she was out walking three miles a day after she returned home. But evidently someone in the helicopter also didn’t expect an 88-year-old woman to make it, because when she woke up, she didn’t have her new Nike’s. They weren’t with her personal things. The medic service was called and no one would own up to taking the shoes. Every time she had to return to the hospital, the doctor would ask her “Did you ever find your shoes, Eva?” “No,” she would answer. “I’m still looking for them.”

- Eva loved to garden and she loved to cook. Even when she was 92 or 93, she would insist that we come over to her house for dinner. We always tried to dissuade her by taking her out to eat, but we had to let her “feed” us at least once. The meal was always friend chicken, German scalloped potatoes or mashed potatoes, cold slaw, and a mid-west standard in Kansas as well as Oklahoma, some sort of Jell-O salad.

My mother was a great Fried Chicken maker, but though I am a pretty good cook, it isn’t one of my strong points. So Doug volunteered to help her in the kitchen. He got to the stove and started working with the chicken in the skillet. “Oh no, you don’t have the chicken fork. You can’t fry chicken without the right fork,” she quickly corrected him. She pulled out this very sharp table fork and handed it to Doug. The fork had been her Great-Grandmother’s fork and everyone had used it for frying chicken. Chicken just wouldn’t be right if you didn’t fry it with that 200 yr. old fork.

- Eva had known we were coming. Our children were her only great-grand children. On a good day, she had baked cookies – 2 different flavors and put them up in the freezer. She had oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip with black walnuts and pecans. She didn’t give them to us until we were leaving heading back home to Georgia. She said they were for the trip home. Well, let me tell you that they didn’t make it very far. She put so much love into everything she cooked. I don’t know what else she did, but those chocolate chip cookies were the best tasting chocolate chip cookies we ever tasted. They tasted like a Snicker’s bar but they were homemade cookies. It would have been nice to get the recipe, but there was something more in her batter that couldn’t be put on a card. It was a little thing. I don’t think there were more than two or three cookies for each of us, but what a dear memory – so special.

- In Kansas, the farmers are so spread out that the towns are all very small and far apart. They have a good home health care organization for elderly people to travel to the towns. The nurses and helpers take them home meals, provide nursing care, take them to the beauty shop, and take them to doctors and to the dentist. There are sometimes 3 or 4 different caretakers that come by daily. Her main caregiver was a woman about the same age as Doug and I. She told us about some of the things Eva would pull on her. One of the caregivers had come all the way out to Vermillion for an appointment for Eva. Eva left a note on the door that she had gone to the dentist. She was home. She just didn’t want to be bothered. And she pulled that on another one a day or so later. Our friend found out about it and had to get on her about it. “If you pull that stuff again, I’ll put you back in the nursing home in Centralia. Don’t you be putting notes on the door that you have gone to an appointment when you are home!”

But when Eva did have to move to the nursing home, she did the same kinds of things. “Grandma Eva, why don’t you go out in the sitting room and watch TV or visit with the other people?”
“I don’t like to be around those OLD people,” she would answer. She was 98.
“Grandma, the nurses told us you are supposed to go see the doctor today.”
“I’ve been trying to get away from him all day.” She would say as she dodged his office.

- In Kansas around that area, there are white people of German and Swedish decent. There weren’t any other nationalities around when Doug was growing up so he never heard anyone making derogatory comments. When Eva was in the nursing home, she got to watching TV soaps. Doug was quite surprised when she would start complaining about African-Americans and White mixing on the shows. She was always such a loving and sweet person; he just didn’t know she was so “opinionated” about the races mixing.

He gave me a look and then said, “You know Grandma, Kathy has Choctaw and Cherokee blood in her.”
She got this sweet little look on her face and said, “Oh, that’s nice.” And she didn’t say anything else about the races she didn’t like on TV. It was just her generation and the society she lived in.

- As I said, Grandma Eva loved to garden. She always had flowers and fruits and vegetables in her yard. They also had black walnuts trees. Grandpa Roy would sit out in the backyard picking them out for hours. He was a tall man and had a pretty hard time getting around in his 90’s. One day he had been out there shelling walnuts while sitting on a bucket. When he decided he had shelled them as long as he wanted, he tried to get up. He couldn’t get up. He called Eva to come help, but as I said earlier, Eva was a small woman. She couldn’t get him up either.

She went to the basement and got a rope and tied it around his waist and the other end to the car. She was going to pull him up by driving the car with him tied to it. Luckily, a neighbor saw what they were doing before she took off. After that Doug’s dad took the car keys and car away from both of them. – and not too soon after that, put a padlock on the door to the basement.

- Roy died when he was 96. He was in a special section of the nursing home and she was in another area. They had several times over the years gone to the home on their own, stayed a while until they felt stronger, and then checked themselves out again to return to their own home. So when Roy died, she went back home again. We were there visiting and at that time my father-in-law was living with his girlfriend in another town called Olmsberg, Kansas. It was about a 40-minute drive away.

We were there for our usual family visit and we had been invited to Dale and Betty’s house for the day. We picked Eva up and drove over. While we were there, it started raining really hard and rained that way for about 5 hours.

It is very flat in Kansas and when it rains that hard for that long, the creeks and rivers quickly overflow. Then the roads are flooded and you have to take alternate routes to get around in the spread out farm country. When it was time to go home, we couldn’t go back the way we had come that was on a small two-lane county road.

We had to go further north and take US Highway 36 from the Marysville turn back toward Seneca and then angle around to Vermillion. There is a road that they call the Axel Road that goes straight off US Hwy 36 to County Hwy 88 to Vermillion, but with the rising rivers and flooded other roads, Doug felt that the Axel road would also be flooded out. We were driving back on US Hwy 36. We would drive a little ways and Eva would say, “Now when you get to the Axel road, that is where you turn.”
Doug would answer, “I know about the Axel Rd., Grandma, but we are going on around tonight because of the flood. I expect it will be flooded out too.” She would say okay.

Three or five minutes later, she would say, “Now when you get to the Axel Road, you turn there.” Patiently Doug would answer the same way. Five minutes later, she would say it again. Doug kept his cool and patiently kept answering her the same way. She must have said it 12 times. I was in the back with the kids and we just looked at each other, rolled our eyes, and smiled. Doug just kept answering her the same way. It wasn’t an argument. She just kept saying the same thing like a broken record. He just thought it was because she was old and being forgetful or something related to her 95 years of age.

Then we got almost to the Axel road. Again she said, “The Axel Road is where you turn. They fixed the bridge a few years ago. It is high enough now that the water won’t be over the bridge.” Doug was thinking, “Yes, I know the bridge is higher but if the water is out of the banks, it may still be over the road before or after the bridge.”

But then he thought, “She just keeps insisting. Maybe she knows something I don’t know. If we go down the road and it is under water, we can just turn around. Then maybe she will listen to me.” So he said, “Okay Grandma, we’ll go on the Axel Road.”

We did. There was no problem. “Could it be that being so old and close to the other side that she had a sixth sense about those things?” We wondered. She wouldn’t stop saying it and she was right.

- Grandma was in Onega again in the hospital when she was around 98. We would drive over there every day to be with her. The drive on the country roads was 30 or 40 minutes. Grandma Eva had adult onset diabetes. Doug’s dad has diabetes. My mother and grandmother had diabetes. Doug and I woke up that morning and both of us were thinking about diabetes. We were talking about it while we were in Vermillion. When we arrived at the hospital 45 minutes later, Eva was napping as usual. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and grabbed Doug’s arm. With intensity she looked at him in the eyes and said, “That diabetes is a horrible, mean disease. You better take care of yourself and your family. You don’t want to have to deal with diabetes!” Then she relaxed and went back to sleep. “Woo – woo!” That is what we call a woo - woo; again she was close to the other side and just had a sixth sense that only a 98 year old would have.

- Eva was sweet and generous. She was patient, a good cook, and a good gardener. Every caretaker that she had ever had called her everyday at the nursing home or the hospital. She never said a cross word to anyone even when Roy was being his meanest. Yes, she made her comments about things she saw on TV or about the doctors she wanted to avoid, but at 98, she would get up daily to take care of her roommate who was 101. Doug grew up on Grandma Eva’s fried chicken and homemade pies. We all always felt her love. When she was 99, the family gave her 99 plus one to grow on long stem red roses. “We’ll give you another 100 on your 100th birthday,” a family member said.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be here for 100,” she said. She was right again.