Best answer:

Answer by swissnick
Yes, there is a solution to get rid of the cause. A fairly new Swiss one-time treatment named “Atlasprofilax” would do it. The manual treatment costs approx. 220 Dollars and is available in California and in Europe.

60000 persons have been treated already, also against other symptoms (whiplash, migraine, muscle trouble asf.) - and I myself have sent 30 people to a treatment personally. Until now 100% positive feedback.

Add your own answer in the comments!

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Billy Bob


Image by Gattou au repos - on rest
Billy Bob nous a donné un peu de souci ces derniers jours. Il avait peine à marcher et avait mal à cette patte arrière. Le vétérinaire n’a rien décelé de particulier, il est sous médication et heureusement va beaucoup mieux….
Bonne journée à vous, les amis !

We were worry for Billy Bob, these last days. He walked with difficulty and had pain in this back leg. Exams didn’t revealed anything, he is under medication and fortunately is much better!
Nice day to you, Friends !!

lOOk up tO the sky ….


Image by .niCky.
Instead of waiting and looking back on your life and realizing how great it was, realize how great it is while you’re living it. These are the good old days.
This is the time to treasure right now. Don’t put off your appreciation for today until some time when all you have of it is a faded memory and a photograph.

You are swimming in a thick sea of overwhelming richness that is this moment. Wake up to how truly blessed you are to be right where you happen to be.

Sure there are frustrations and annoyances, challenges, pains and disappointments. And you have the good fortune of being in a position to transcend every one of them.

Stop wondering what life is all about and start choosing what you are going to make it become. Stop waiting for someone else to make it all better and start taking your own steps to make it uniquely great.

This can be the best day you have ever known. All it takes is for you to decide to make it so.

– Ralph Marston

*****************************************************************************
PLEASE DO NOT used my work without permission.
All my work is PROTECTED by copyright.
If you interesting to use my photo for publication.
Please contact me via Flickr Mail.
~niCky~
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Good Health and Happiness at Christmas

London, UK (PRWEB) December 25, 2011

New Thermobalancing Therapy tackles the cause of the coronary heart disease, back pain and the formation of kidney stones. Dr. Simon Allen in his discovery Origin of Diseases has explained that the physical factor leads to the origin of diseases.

It means that to improve the health condition if a disease has started, people need to eliminate this physical factor. However, the role of nutrition in developing of the disease is significant. It is well known that an imbalanced nutrition could lead to or worsen such conditions as arteriosclerosis, coronary heart disease, kidney disorders, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. It causes more health problems than smoking, which primarily affects the lungs; however, there are comparatively few publications on this matter. That is why people opt to take tablets for quick “recovery”. The main reason for this is that they are not informed about the benefits of long-term treatment with nutrition and the Thermobalancing Therapy.

Treatment with nutrition is one of the most natural approaches, but empirical evidence shows that it takes the body an average of 30–40 days to respond to the positive influence of wholesome foods. However, this course of treatment provides a long lasting improvement to patients’ metabolism, and even if they return to their usual eating habits, this positive effect can last for a year.

“The Thermobalancing Therapy stops a disease developing and accurate nutritional plan helps to enhance the achievement of this therapy,” says Dr Allen. “Of course, the integration of these 2 major natural treatments will be beneficial for the treatment of internal chronic diseases.”

The Thermobalancing Therapy is an essential treatment for coronary heart disease, prostate enlargement or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), kidney stones, Sciatica and problems in intervertebral discs. This unique therapy is available worldwide from Fine Treatment only.

About Dr. Simon Allen and Fine Treatment:

Dr. Simon Allen is a highly experienced medical professional who qualified as a medical doctor 40 years ago. He obtained a PhD in Medicine in 1978. He treated patients with prostate and kidneys diseases, joints and heart problems. Fine Treatment distributes therapeutic devices to dissolve kidney stones, back pain and BPH treatment and recovery after a heart attack.

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Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

Technorati Tags: Announced, back, Fine, heart, Kidneys, Nutrition, pain, Plan, Precise, supports, therapy, Thermobalancing, This, treatment, Treats

Day 13 - Sand, Surf, and Sun(burn)


Image by Kevin H.
Tuesday January 26, 2010
Zanzibar (Nungwi)

Because there was no snorkeling trip, I decided to spend the morning swimming in the resort’s pool and lying in the sun. After a couple of hours doing that (more on that brilliant decision later), I went for a walk along the beach up to the lighthouse at the nearby cove. It wasn’t a very long trip but I lollygagged my way along taking photos, watching crabs and birds, and picking up seashells.

There were a lot of little blue-tailed jellyfish about the size of cherries left high and dry on the rocks along the shore. As I was walking along I kept hearing something that sounded like bubblewrap popping and eventually realized that it was me stepping on the little jellyfish that were still inflated with air. After that I took pains to avoid squishing them under my feet, but every so often I’d still hear a telltale ‘pop.’

It wasn’t until I’d gotten back to my room after my walk that I realized I gotten a sunburn. A bad sunburn, in fact. With the strong breeze blowing off the sea, it hadn’t felt that hot and I’d laid out in the sun longer than I should have. Although I did put on sunscreen, I didn’t reapply it after swimming or wearing my shoes. Consequently, nearly every part of me that wasn’t covered by my swimming trunks (including the tops of my feet) was now bright red and hot to the touch. What an idiot.

It was nice finishing up our trip with a relaxing stay at a beach resort. I couldn’t think of a better way to end our vacation. At this point I had pretty much lost all track of time. I also had no idea what was going on in the world any farther away than I could see. I hadn’t watched tv since I was in my room at the Slipway in Dar and I hadn’t seen a newspaper since we were killing time in the waiting room at Tazara train station. Most importantly, I had no idea how the NFL playoffs were going and who was going to be in the Super Bowl, although I would at least be back home in time to catch the game.

Because sundown cruises were out due to the strong winds, the hotel manager Eugene drove Roger, Ruth, the Alaskan couple and I to a beach bar on the cove I’d walked down to earlier. Shelley and Donna would have come along but Donna was still getting her massage at the resort’s spa hut. They and Ruth had opted for massages but Roger and I, being manly men, were having none of the spa. We sat drinking our beers, wine, and sodas at the bar on the beach and watched the sun go down over the water. It was the same problem we’d had in Stone Town in that once the sun got within an inch of the horizon it disappeared behind a band of clouds, but it was still very lovely to see.

(Richard King) Laoch


Image by Fergal of Claddagh
Click here for the first part of the story of DEIRDRE OF THE SORROWS www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/5122512441/in/photostream/

BUT all this while the cunning, cruel heart of Conor was planning his revenge. For though he was an old man with grown-up sons of middle age, he had begun to feel affection for the child who had been sheltered by his care, and who looked to him as her protector and her friend. And after all the years that he had waited for the girl, to have her plucked away beneath his eyes just when she was of age to be his wife, aroused his bitter wrath and jealousy. Deep in his heart he plotted dark revenge, but it was hard to carry out his plan, for well he knew that of his chiefs not one would lift his hand against the sons of Usna. Of all the Red Branch Champions those three were loved the best; and difficult it was to know which of the three was bravest, or most noble to see. When in the autumn games they raced or leaped or drove the chariots round the racing-course, some said that Arden had the more majestic step and stately air; others, that Ainle was more graceful and more lithe in swing, but most agreed that Naoise was the most princely of the three, so dignified his gait, so swift his step in running, and so strong and firm his hand. But when they wrestled, ran or fought in combats side by side, men praised them all, and called them the "Three Lights of Valour of the Gael."

When his plans were ripe, Conor made a festival in Armagh, and all his chiefs were gathered to the feast. The aged Fergus sat at his right hand and Caffa next to him; close by sat Conall Cernach, a mighty warrior, still in his full prime, and by his side, as in old times, Cú Chulain sat. He seemed still young, but of an awesome aspect, as one who had a tragedy before him, and great deeds behind; and, for all that he was the pride of Ulster’s hosts, men stood in dread before him, as though he were a god. Around the board sat many a mighty man and good prime warrior seasoned by long wars. But in the hall three seats were empty, and it was known to be Conor’s command that in his presence none should dare to speak the names of Usna’s banished sons.

This night Conor was merry and in pleasant humour, as it seemed. He plied his guests with mead and ale out of his golden horns, and led the tale and passed the jest, and laughed, and all his chiefs laughed with him, till the hall was filled with cheerful sounds of song and merriment. And when the cheer was bravest and the feast was at its height, he rose and said: ‘ Right welcome all assembled here this night, High Chiefs of Ulster, Champions of the Branch. Of all royal households in the world, tell me, O you who travel much and see strange distant lands and courts of kings, have ye in Scotland or in Ireland’s realms, or in the countries of the great wide world, ever seen a court more princely than our own, or an assembly comely as the Red Branch Knights? “

“We know not," they all cried, "of any such. Your court, O Conor, is of all courts on earth the bravest and the best."

"If this be so," said wily Conor, “I suppose no sense of want lies on you; no lack of anything is in your minds? “

“We know not any want at all," they said aloud; but in their minds they thought, “save the Three Lights of Valour of the Gael."

“But I, O warriors, know one want that lies on us," Conor replied, “the want of the three sons of Usna fills my mind. Naoise and Ainle and Arden, good warriors were they all; but Naoise is a match for any mighty monarch in the world. By his own strength alone he carved for him and his own a princely realm in Scotland, and there he rules. Alas! That for the sake of any woman in the world, we lose his presence here."

“Had we but dared to utter that, O Great Warrior, long since we should have called them home again. These three alone would safely guard the province against any host. Three sons of a border-lord and used to fight are they; three heroes of warfare, three lions of fearless might."

“I knew not," said Conor craftily, "you wished them back. I thought you all were jealous of their might, or long ere this we should have sent for them. Let messengers now go, and heralds of Conor to bring them home, for welcome to us all will be the sight of The sons of Usna."

“Who is the herald who shall bear that peaceful message?” they all cried. “I have been told," said Conor, “that out of Ulster’s chiefs there were but three whose word of honour and protection they would trust, and at whose invitation Naoise would come again in peace. With Conall Cernach he will come, or with Cú Chulain, or with great Fergus of the mighty arms. These are the friends in whom he will confide; under the safe-guard of each one of these he knows all will be well."

“Bid Fergus go, or Conall or Cú Chulain," the warriors cried; "let not a single night pass by until the message goes to bring the sons of Usna to our board again. Most sorely do we need them; deeply do we mourn their loss. Bring back the Lights of Valour of the Gael."

" Now will I test," thought Conor to himself, “which of these three prime warriors loves me best." So supper being ended, Conor took Conall to his ante-room apart and set himself to question cunningly: “Suppose, loyal soldier of the world, you were to go and fetch the sons of Usna back from Scotland to their own land under your safeguard and your word of honour that they should not be harmed; but if, in spite of this, some ill should fall on them not by my hand, of course and they were slain, what then would happen, what would you do?"

“I swear, Great Conor," said Conall, "by my hand, that if the sons of Usna were brought here under my protection to their death, not he alone whose hand was stained by that foul deed, but every man of Ulster who had wrought them harm should feel my righteous vengeance and my wrath."

‘I thought as much," said Conor, “not great the love and service you dost give your lord. Dearer to you than are The sons of Usna."

Then sent he for Cú Chulain and to him he made the same demand. But bolder yet Cú Chulain made reply: “I pledge my word, Great Conor, if evil were to fall upon the sons of Usna, brought back to Ireland and their homes in confidence in my protection and my plighted word, not all the riches of the eastern world would bribe or hinder me from severing your own head from you in lieu of the dear heads of The sons of Usna, most foully slain when tempted home by their sure trust in me."

“I see it now, Cú Chulain," said Conor, “you profess a love for me you do not truly feel."

Then Fergus came, and to him also he proposed the same request. Now Fergus was perplexed what answer he should give. Sore did it trouble him to think that evil might befall brave The sons of Usna when under his protection. Yet it was but a little while since he and Conor had made friends, and he come back to Ulster, and set high in place and power by Conor, and well he knew that Conor doubted him; and such a deed as this, to bring the sons of Usna home again, would prove fidelity and win Conor’s affection. Moreover, Conor spoke so guardedly that Fergus was not sure whether Conor had ill intent or no towards the sons of Usna. For all he said was: "Supposing any harm or ill befall the sons of Usna by the hand of any here, what wouldst you do? “

So after long debate within himself, Fergus replied: "If any Ulsterman should harm the noble youths, undoubtedly I should avenge the deed; but you, Great Conor, and your own flesh and blood, I would not harm; for well I know, that if they came under protection of your sovereign word, they would be safe with you. Therefore, against you and your house, I would not raise my hand, whatever the conditions, but faithfully and with my life will serve you."

"It is well," the wily Conor replied, “I see, O loyal warrior, that you love me well, and I will prove your faithfulness and truth. The sons of Usna without doubt will come with you. Tomorrow set you forward; bear Conor’s message to brave The sons of Usna, say that he eagerly awaits their coming, that Ulster longs to welcome them. Urge them to hasten; bid them not to linger on the way, but with the utmost speed to press straight forward here to Armagh."

Then Fergus went out from Conor and told the nobles he had pledged his word to Conor to bring back the sons of Usna to their native land. And on the morrow’s morn Fergus set forth in his own boat, and with him his two sons, Ulan the Fair and Buinne the Ruthless Red, and together they sailed to Loch Etive in Scotland.

But hardly had they started than Conor set to work with cunning craft to lure the sons of Usna to their doom. He sent for Borrach, son of Annte, who had built a mighty fortress by the sea, and said to him, “Did I not hear, O Borrach, that you had prepared a feast for me? ‘ c It is even so, Great Conor, and I await your coming to partake of the banquet I have prepared." And Conor said, ‘; I may not come at this time to your feast; the duties of Land keep me here at Armagh. But I would not decline your hospitality. Fergus, the son of Roy, stands close to me in place and power; a feast bestowed on him I hold as though it were bestowed on me. In less than a week’s time comes Fergus back from Scotland, bringing the sons of Usna to their home. Bid Fergus to your feast, and I will hold the honour paid to him as paid to me."

For wily Conor knew that if his royal command was laid on Fergus to accept the banquet in his stead, Fergus dare not refuse; and by this means he sought to separate the sons of Usna from their friend, and get them fast into his own power at Armagh, while Fergus waited yet at Borrach’s house, partaking of his hospitality.
"Thus,” thought Conor, "I have the sons of Usna in my grasp, and dire the vengeance I will wreak on them, the men who stole my wife."

AT the head of fair Loch Etive the sons of Usna had built for themselves three spacious hunting seats among the pine-trees at the foot of the cliffs that ran landward to deep Glen Etive. The wild deer could be shot from the window, and the salmon taken out of the stream from the door of their dwelling. There they passed the spring and summer months, The sons of Usna of the white steeds and the brown deer hounds, whose breasts were broader than the wooden leaves of the door. Above the hunting-lodge, on the grassy slope that is at the foot of the cascade, they built a sunny summer home for Deirdre, and they called it the Grianán, or sunny bower of Deirdre. It was thatched on the outside with the long-stalked fern of the dells and the red clay of the pools, and lined within with the pine of the mountains and the downy feathers of the wild birds; and round it was the apple-garden of Clan Usna, with the apple-tree of Deirdre in its midst and the apple-trees of Naoise and Ainle and Arden encircling it.

And Deirdre loved her life, for she was free as the brown partridge flying over the mountains or as the vessels with ruddy sails swinging upon the loch. But in the winter they moved down to the broad sheltered pasture-lands that lay on the western side of the loch near the island that was in olden days called Oileán Chlann Uisne or the Island of the Children of Usna, but is called Oileán nan Ron or the Isle of the Seals to-day; and there they built a mighty fortress for Deirdre and the sons of Usna which men still call the Caisteal Nighean Righ Eirinn or the Castle of the Daughter of Conor of Ireland, and thence they made wars and conquered a great part of Western Scotland and became powerful princes.

One sultry evening in the late autumn, Deirdre and Naoise were resting before the door of her sunny bower after a day spent by the brothers in the chase. Below, their followers were cutting up the deer, and as they brought in the bags of heavy game, and faggots for the hearth, the voice of Ainle singing an evening melody resounded through the wood. Like the sound of the wave the voice of Ainle, and the rich bass of Arden answered him, as together the two brothers came out from the shadow of the trees, gathering to the trysting-place of the evening meal.

Between Naoise and Deirdre a draught-board was set, but Deirdre was winning, for a mood of oppression lay upon Naoise and his thoughts were not in the game. For of late, at evening, his exile weighed upon him, and little good to him seemed his prosperity and his successes, since he did not see his own home in Ireland and his friends at the time of his rising in the morning or at the time of his lying down at night. For great as were his possessions in Scotland, stronger in him than the love of his kindred in Scotland was the love of his native land in Ireland. He thought it strange, moreover, that of those three who in the old time loved him most, Fergus and Conall Cernach and Cú Chulain, not one of them had all this time come to bring him to his own land again under his safeguard and protection.

So, as they played, Deirdre could see that the mind of Naoise was wandering from the game, and her heart smote her, as often it had smitten her before when she had seen him thus oppressed, that for her sake so much had gone from him of friends and home, and his allegiance to Conor, and honourable days among his clan. Wistfully she smiled across the board at Naoise, but mournful was the answering smile he sent her back.

“Play, play," she said, “I win the game from you."
“One game the more or less can matter little when all else is lost," he answered bitterly.
But hardly had the unkind words passed from him, the first unkindness Deirdre ever heard from Naoise’s lips, when far below, across the silent waters of the lake, he caught a distant call, his own name uttered in a ringing voice that seemed familiar, a voice that brought old days to memory.

“I hear the voice of a man from Ireland call below," he cried, and started up.
Now Deirdre too had heard the cry and well she knew that it was Fergus’ voice they heard, but deep foreboding passed across her mind that all their hours of happiness were past, and grief and rending of the heart in store. So quickly she replied: “How could that be? It is some man of Scotland coming from the chase, belated in returning. No voice was that from Ireland; it was a Scotchman’s cry. Let us play on."

Three times the voice of Fergus came sounding up the glen, and at the last, Naoise sprang up. “You are mistaken, damsel; of a certainty I know this is the voice of Fergus."
“I knew it all the time, whose voice it was," said Deirdre, when she saw he would not be put off.
"Why then did you not tell us?" Naoise asked. ‘
“A vision that I saw last night hath hindered me," replied the girl. "I saw three birds come to us out of Armagh from Conor, carrying three sips of honey in their bills; the sips of honey they left here with us, but took three sips of our red blood away with them."

“What is your read of this vision, O Damsel? “Naoise asked.
"Thus do I understand it," Deirdre said; "Fergus hath come from our own native land with peace, and sweet as honey will his message be; but the three sips of blood that he will take away with him, those three are ye, for ye will go with him, and be betrayed to death."
"Speak not such words, O Deirdre," cried they all; “never would Fergus thus betray his friends. Alas! That words like this should pass your lips. We stay too long; Fergus awaits us at the port. Go, Ainle, and go, Arden, down to meet him, and to give him loving welcome here."
So Arden went, and Ainle, and three loving kisses fervently they gave to Fergus and his sons. Gladly they welcomed the wayfarers to Naoise’s home, and led them up; and Naoise and Deirdre arose and stretched their hands in welcome; and they gave them blessing and three kisses lovingly, for old times’ sake, and eagerly they asked for tidings of Ireland, and of Ulster especially.
“I have no other tidings half so good as these," said Fergus, “that Conor waits for you to give you welcome back to Armagh, and to the Red Branch House. I am your surety and your safeguard, and full well ye know that under Fergus’ safeguard ye are sure of peace."
“Heed not that message, Naoise," Deirdre said; “greater and wider is your lordship here, than Conor’s rule in Ireland."
“Better than any lordship is one’s native land," said Naoise; “dearer to me than great possessions here, is one more sight of Ireland’s well-loved soil."
“My word and pledge are firm on your behalf," said Fergus; "with me no harm or hurt can come to you."
"Verily and indeed, your word is firm, and we will go with you."

But to their going Deirdre consented not, and every way she sought to hinder them, and wept and prayed them not to go to death.
"Now all my joy is past," she said; "I saw last night the three black ravens bearing three sad leaves of the yew-tree of death; and O Beloved, those three withered leaves I saw were the three sons of Usna, blown off their stem by the rough wind of Conor’s wrath and the damp dew of Fergus’ treachery."
And they were sorry that she had said that.
"These are but foolish women’s fears," said they; “the dropping of leaves in your dream, and the howling of dogs, the sight of birds with blood-drops in their bills, are but the restlessness of sleep, O Deirdre; and verily we put our trust in Fergus 5 word. Tonight we go with him to Ireland."

Gladsome and joyful were the three brothers then; they put all fears away from them, and set to prepare them for their journey back to Ireland’s shores. And early the next morning, about the parting of night from day, at the delay of the morning dawn, they passed down to their galley that rocked upon the loch, and hoisted sail, and calmly and peacefully they sailed out into the ocean. But Deirdre sat in the stern of the boat, and her face was not set forward looking towards Ireland, but it was set backward looking on the coasts of Scotland. And she cried aloud, “O Land of the East, My love to you, with your wondrous beauty! Woe is me that I leave your lochs and your bays, your flowering delightful plains, and your bright green-smooth hills! Dear to me the fort that Naoise built, dear the sunny bower up the glen; very dear to my heart the wooded slope holding the sunbeams where I have sat with Naoise." And as they sailed out of Glen Etive she sang this song, sadly and sorrowfully:
"Farewell, dear Scotland of the free,
Beloved land beside the sea,
No power could drag me from my home,
Did I not come, Naoise, with you.

Farewell, dear bowers within the Glen,
Farewell, strong fort hung over them,
Dear to the heart each shining isle,
That seems to smile beneath our ken.

Glen da Roe!
Where the white cherry and garlic blow,
On your blue wave we rocked to sleep,
As on the deep, by Glen da Roe.

Glen Etive!
Whose sunny slopes these waters lave,
The rising sun we seemed to hold,
As in a fold, in Glen Etive.

Glen Masaun
Love to all those who here were born!
Across your peak, at twilight’s fall,
The cuckoos call, in Glen Masaun.

Farewell, dear Land,
From Scotland’s strand I ne’er had roved
Save at the call of my beloved,
Farewell, dear Land!

The next day they reached the shores of Ireland not fur from the fort of Borrach. And as they landed there, messengers from Borrach met Fergus, saying, "Borrach hath prepared a feast for Conor, and it is Conor’s command that the honour of this feast be given to you. Come therefore and spend this night with me; but Conor desires to hasten the sons of Usna that he may welcome them, and he bids them press onward to Armagh this very night."

When Fergus heard that, sudden fear and gloom over shadowed him, lest in very truth Conor had evil designs towards the sons of Usna.
“It was not well done, O Borrach, to offer me a feast in Conor’s stead this night, for I was pledged to bring the sons of Usna straight to Armagh without delay."
“It is Conor’s command, said Borrach; “needs must a true vassal obey Conor.”
Still was Fergus not keen to stay and he asked Naoise what he ought to do about this.
“Do what they desire of you, O Fergus," said Deirdre, “if to partake of a banquet seems better to you than to protect the sons of Usna. However to me it seems that the lives of your three friends is a good price to pay for a feast."
“I will not forsake them," said Fergus; “for my two sons, Illan the Fair and Buinne the Ruthless Red will be with them to protect them, and my word of honour, moreover, with them; if all the warriors of Ireland were assembled in one place, and all of one mind, they would not be able to break the pledge of Fergus."
"Much thanks we give you for that," said Naoise, for he saw that Fergus feared to fall foul of Conor more than he cared for their safety; “never have we depended on any protection but that of our own right hands alone; we will then go forward to Armagh, and see there if the word of Fergus will be sufficient to protect us."

But Deirdre said: "Go not forward to-night; but let us turn aside, and for t his on e night take shelter with Cú Chulain at Dundalk; then will Fergus have partaken of his feast, and he will be ready to go with you. So will his word be fulfilled and let your lives wil1 be prolonged."
“We think not well of that advice," said Buinne the Ruthless Red; “you have with you the might of your own good hands, and our might, and the plighted word of Fergus to protect you, it is impossible that ye should be betrayed."
“Ah! that plighted word of Fergus’; the man who forsook all for a feast! “ said Deirdre.
“Well may we rely on Fergus ‘ plighted word."
And she fell into grief and dejection, Alas! Alas!’ she cried. “Why left we Scotland of the red deer to come a gain to Ireland? Why put we trust in the light word of Fergus? Woe is come upon us since we listened to the promises of that man! The valiant sons of Usna are destroyed by him, the Lights of Valour of the Gael. Great is my heaviness of heart tonight. Great is the loss that is fallen upon us."

In spite of that the sons of Usna and their two friends went onward towards tne White Cairn of Watching on Sliabh Fuad; but Deirdre was very weary and she lingered behind in the glen and sat down to rest and fell asleep. They did not notice at first that she was not with them, but Naoise found it out and he turned back to seek Deirdre. He found her sitting in the wood on the trunk of a fallen tree, just waking from her sleep. When she saw Naoise she arose and clung to him.
“What happened to you, O fair one? “ said Naoise, “and where fore is your face so wild and fearful, and tears within your eyes? ‘
"I fell into a sleep, for I was weary," she replied; (t and O Naoise, I fear because of the vision and the dream I saw."
"You are too apt to dream, beloved," said Naoise tenderly, “what was your dream? ‘”
“Terrible was my dream," said Deirdre; “I saw you, Naoise, and Ainle and Arden, each of my three beloved ones, without a head, your headless bodies lying side by side near Armagh’s fort; and Ulan lay there too drenched all with blood, and headless like ye three. But on the other side among our enemies, fighting against us was the treacherous Buinne the Ruthless Red, who now is our protector and our guide; for he had saved his head by treachery to you."
“Sad were your dream indeed," said Naoise, “were it true; but fear it not, it was an empty vision grown out of weariness and pain."
But Deirdre clung yet to him, and she cried, “O Naoise, see, above your head, and o’er the heads of Ainle and of Arden, that sombre cloud of blood! Do you not mark it hanging in the air? All over Armagh lies the heavy pall; but on your head and theirs red blood-drops fall, big, dusky, drenching drops. Let us not go to Armagh." But Naoise thought that from her weariness the mind of Deirdre had become distraught, and all the more he pressed them onward, that she might have rest and shelter for the night.

As they drew near to Armagh, Deirdre said, “One test I give you whether Conor means you good or harm. If into his own house he welcomes you, all will be well, for in his own home would no monarch dare to harm a guest; but if he send you to some other house, while he himself stays on in Armagh’s court, then treachery and guile is meant towards you."

Now as they reached the Court of Armagh, messengers came out to meet them from Conor.
“Conor bids you welcome," said the men; “right glad is he that you are come again to Ireland, to your fatherland. But for this one night only is he not prepared to call you as his guests to his own court. To-morrow he will give you audience and bid you to his house. For this one night, then, he bids you turn aside into the Red Branch House, where all is ready for your entertainment."
“It is as I thought," said Deirdre, “Conor means no good to you, I fear."
But Naoise replied, “Where could the Red Branch champions so fitly rest as in the Red Branch House? Most gladly do we seek our hall, to rest and find refreshment for the morrow. We all are travel-stained, but we will bathe and take repose, and on the morrow we will meet Conor."

But when they came to the House of the Red Branch, so weary were they all, that though all kinds of viands were supplied, they ate but little, but lay down to rest. And Naoise said, “Do you remember, Deirdre, how in that last game of draughts we played together, you did win, because we were in Scotland, and my heart was here at home? Now are we back at last, and let us play again; this time I promise I will win from you."

So with the lightsome spirit of a boy, Naoise sat down to play; for now that once again he was at home among his people and in his native land, all thought or dread of evil passed from him. But with Deirdre it was not so, for heavy dread and terror of the morrow lay on her heart, and in her mind she felt that this was their last day of peace and love together.

But in his royal court, Conor grew impatient as he thought that Deirdre was so near at hand, and he not seeing her. “Go now, O foster-mother, to the Red Branch Hall and see if on the child that you did rear reached her early bloom and beauty, and if she still is lovely as when she went from me. If she is still the same, then, in spite of Naoise, I’ll have her for my own; but if her bloom is past, then let her be, Naoise may keep her for himself."

Right glad was Leabharcham to get leave to go to Deirdre and to The sons of Usna. Down to the Red Branch House straightway she went, and there were Naoise and her foster-child playing together with the board between them. Now, save Deirdre herself, Naoise was dearer to Leabharcham than any other in the world, and well she knew that her own face and form were upon Deirdre still, only grown riper and more womanly. For, without Conor’s knowledge, she oft had gone to seek them when they stayed in Scotland.

Lovingly she kissed them and strong showers of tears sprang from her eyes.
“No good will come to you, ye children of my love," she said with weeping, “that ye are come again with Deirdre here. To-night they practise treachery and ill intent against you all in Armagh. Conor would know if Deirdre is lovely still, and though I tell a lie to shelter her, he will find out, and wreak his vengeance on you for the loss of her. Great evils wait for Armagh and for you, O darling friends. Shut close the doors and guard them well; let no one pass within. Defend yourselves and this sweet damsel here, my foster-child. Trust no man; but repel the attack that surely comes, and victory and blessing be with you."

Then she returned to Armagh; but all along the way she wept quick-gushing showers of tears, and heaved great sighs, for well she knew that from this night the sons of Usna would be alive no more.

What are the tidings that you have for me?” Conor asked. “Good tidings have I, and tidings that are not good."
“Tell me them," said Conor.
“The good tidings that I have are these; that the sons of Usna, the three whose form and figure are best, the three bravest in fight and all deeds of prowess, are come again to Ireland; and, with the Lights of Valour at your side, your enemies will flee before you, as a flock of frightened birds is driven before the gale. The ill-tidings that I have are that through suffering and sorrow the love of my heart and treasure of my soul is changed since she went away, and little of her own bloom and beauty remain upon Deirdre."
“That will do for awhile," said Conor; and he felt his anger abating. But when they had drunk a round or two, he began to doubt the word of Leabharcham.
“O Trendorn," said he to one who sat beside him, “dost you recollect who it was who slew your father? “
"I know well; it was Naoise, son of Usna," he replied. 4 Go you therefore where Naoise is, and see if her own face and form remain upon Deirdre."

So Trendorn went down to the House of the Red Branch, but they had made fast the doors and he could find no way of entrance, for all the gates and windows were stoutly barred. He began to be afraid lest the sons of Usna might be ready to leap out upon him from within, but at last he found a small window which they had forgotten to close, and he put his eye to the window, and saw Naoise and Deirdre still playing at their game peace fully together. Deirdre saw the man looking in at the window, and Naoise, following her eye, caught sight of him also. And he picked up one of the pieces that was lying beside the board, and threw it at Trendorn, so that it struck his eye and tore it out, and in pain and misery the man returned to Armagh.
“You seem not so happy as when you set out, O Trendorn," said Conor; “what has happened to you, and have you seen Deirdre?”
“I have seen her, indeed; I have seen Deirdre, and but that Naoise drove out mine eye I should have been looking at her still, for of all the women of the world, Deirdre is the fairest and the best."
When Conor heard that, he rose up and called his followers together and without a moment’s delay they set forward for the house of the Red Branch. For he was filled with jealousy and envy, and he thought the time long until he should get back Deirdre for himself.
“ The pursuit is coming," said Deirdre; “I hear sounds without."
“I will go out and meet them," said Naoise.
“Nay," said Buinne the Ruthless Red, “it was in my hands that my father Fergus placed the sons of Usna to guard them, and it is I who will go forth and fight for them."
“It seems to me," said Deirdre, “that your father hath betrayed the sons of Usna, and it is likely that you would do as your father hath done, O Buinne."
“If my father has been treacherous to you," said Buinne, “it is not I who will do as he has done."
Then he went out and met the warriors of Conor, and put a host of them to the sword.
“Who is this man who is destroying my hosts?“ said Conor.
“Buinne the Ruthless Red, the son of Fergus," say they.
“We bought his father to our side and we must buy the son," said Conor.
He called Buinne and said to him, “I gave a free gift of land to your father Fergus, and I will give a free gift of land to you; come over to my side tonight."
“I will do that," said Buinne, and he went over to the side of Conor.
“Buinne hath deserted you, O sons of Usna, and the son is like the father," Deirdre said.
“He has gone," said Naoise, “but he performed warrior-like deeds before he went."

Then Conor sent fresh warriors down to attack the house.
“The pursuit is coming," said Deirdre.
“I will go out and meet them," said Naoise.
"It is not you who must go, it is I," said Ulan the Fair, son of Fergus, “for to me my father left the charge of you."
“I think the son will be like the father," said Deirdre.
“I am not like to forsake the sons of Usna so long as this hard sword is in my hand," said Ulan the Fair. And the fresh, noble, young hero went out in his battle-array, and valiantly he attacked the host of Conor and made a red rout of them round the house.
“Who is that young warrior who is smiting down my hosts?” said Conor.
“Ulan the Fair, son of Fergus," they reply.
“We will buy him to our side, as his brother was bought," said wily Conor.
So he called Ulan and said, “We gave a possession of land to your father, and another to your brother, and we will give an equal share to you; come over to our side."
But the princely young hero answered: “Your offer, O Conor, will I not accept; for better to me is it to return to my father and tell him that I have kept the charge he laid upon me, than to accept any offer from you, Great Conor."
Then Conor was enraged, and he commanded his own son to attack Ulan, and furiously the two fought together, until Ulan was sore wounded, and he flung his arms into the house, and called on Naoise to do valiantly, for he himself was slain by a son of Conor.
“Ulan has fallen, and you are left alone, said Deirdre, “O sons of Usna."
“He is fallen indeed, said Naoise, “but gallant were the deeds that he per formed before he died."

Then the warriors and mercenaries of Conor drew closer round the house, and they took lighted torches and flung them into the house, and set it on fire. And Naoise lifted Deirdre on his shoulders and raised her on high, and with his brothers on either side, their swords drawn in their hands, they issued forth to fight their way through the press of their enemies. And so terrible were the deeds wrought by those heroes, that Conor feared they would destroy his host. He called his Druids, and said to them, “Work enchantment upon the sons of Usna and turn them back, for no longer do I intend evil against them, but I would bring them home in peace. Noble are the deeds that they have wrought, and I would have them as my servants forever."
The Druids believed the wily Conor and they set to work to weave spells to turn the sons of Usna back to Armagh.

They made a great thick wood before them, through which they thought no man could pass. But without ever stopping to consider their way, the sons of Usna went straight through the wood turning neither to the right hand or the left.
“Good is your enchantment, but it will not avail," said Conor; “the sons of Usna are passing through without the turning of a step, or the bending of a foot. Try some other spell."

Then the Druids made a grey stormy sea before the sons of Usna on the green plain. The three heroes tied their clothing behind their heads, and Naoise set Deirdre again upon his shoulder and went straight on without flinching, without turning back, through the grey shaggy sea, lifting Deirdre on high lest she should wet her feet.
“Your spell is good," said Conor, “yet it does not succeed. The sons of Usna escape my hands. Try another spell."

Then the Druids froze the grey uneven sea into jagged hard lumps of rugged ice, like the sharpness of swords on one side of them and like the stinging of serpents on the other side. Then Arden cried out that he was becoming exhausted and must fain give up.
“Come you, Arden, and rest against my shoulder," said Naoise, “and I will support you."
Arden did so, but it was not long before he died; but though he was dead, Naoise held him up still.
Then Ainle cried out that he could go no longer, for his strength had left him. When Naoise heard that, he heaved a heavy sigh as of one dying of fatigue, but he told Ainle to hold on to him, and he would bring him soon to land. But not long after, the weakness of death came upon Ainle, and his hold relaxed. Naoise looked on either hand and when he saw that his two brothers were dead, he cared not whether he himself should live or die. He heaved a sigh, sore as the sigh of the dying, and his heart broke and he fell dead.
"The sons of Usna are dead now," said the Druids; “but they turned not back."
"Lift up your enchantment," said Conor, “that I now may see the sons of Usna."

Then the Druids lifted the enchantment, and there were the three sons of Usna lying dead, and Deirdre fluttering hither and thither from one to another, weeping bitter heartrending tears. And Conor would have taken her away, but she would not be parted from the sons of Usna, and when their tomb was being dug, Deirdre sat on the edge of the grave, calling on the diggers to dig the pit very broad and smooth. They had dug the pit for three only, and they lowered the bodies of the three heroes into the grave, side by side.

But when Deirdre saw that, she called aloud to the sons of Usna, to make space for her between them, for she was following them. Then the body of Ainle, that was at Naoise’s right hand, moved a little apart, and a space was made for Deirdre close at Naoise’s side, where she was wont to be, and Deirdre leapt into the tomb, and placed her arm round the neck of Naoise, her own love, and she kissed him, and her heart broke within her and she died; and together in the one tomb the three sons of Usna and Deirdre were buried. And all the men of Ulster who stood by wept aloud.

But Conor was angry, and he ordered the bodies to be uncovered again and the body of Deirdre to be removed, so that even in death she might not be with Naoise. And he caused Deirdre to be buried on one side of the loch, and Naoise on the other side of the loch, and the graves were closed. Then a young pine-tree grew from the grave of Deirdre, and a young pine from the grave of Naoise, and their branches grew towards each other, until they entwined one with the other across the loch. And Conor would have cut them down, but the men of Ulster would not allow this, and they set a watch and protected the trees until Conor died.

Matt Kenseth


Image by i heart him
I still remember the time
When this all felt like a dream
So completely out of reach
Frustrating
We kept our nose to the grind
To make the days turn into weeks
Hoping time will heal the pain of waiting
Now it seems so long ago

Just look back on
How far we’ve come
We made it somehow
Look where we are now
All we’ve done
Our battles won
We made it somehow
Look where we are now

-Look Where We Are - Hoobastank

*Congrats to MK on winning the 500! …that was only like two days ago, why does it feel like it’s been a week since Sunday?? lol*

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Steps to an ecology of Mind - Gregory Bateson [cover]


Image by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³
A wholehearted contribution to the MAD IN AMERICA group. In special dedication to Cyrus_

This book was and still is my cherished treasure, my inspiration, my brainbreaker and at the same time my trouble solver, my pain killer (as I am myself concerned about mental health and madness and the lack of knowledge and understanding is actually a true pain inside which Bateson helped me kill). I have been fortunate for having known about him at the age of 18, after getting to know about NLP, neurolinguistic programming, which I consider after Bateson another foundation in my intellectual life.

Gregory Bateson epitomizes what I consider a role model of both scientist and individual for a merry future of Mankind. He represents to me not a quest about if he is right or not, not an intention to find ‘the’ truth ion his thoughts, but to learn from his flexible approach to life which focus in trying to understand whatever at hand, but from a multiplicity of aspects interconnected at the same time. Our world needs people like him.

A man with a mind AND a heart, a person who could show the importance of bringing together disciplines, levels, spheres, points of view and individuals, rather than dividing them under the rule of thumb of orthodox Analysis. Bateson (as some other people I have been blessed to meet so far) is the personification of what I consider the main difference between Intelligence and Wisdom. The wise understands the whole, the wise seeks communion, the wise has an ecological view of the object of his thoughts.

Bateson is my personal model, being my modest seek to ever come to understand him completely and spread the word of his vast work. To say it in short: When I grow up I want to be like Mr Bateson. =)

Gregory Bateson´s bio and Steps to an ecology of Mind in Wikipedia.

Meanwhile, a poor translation from the my book´s back:

"Gregory Bateson is an uncommon intellectual phenomena of our time. Nowadays the explosion of knowledge and ultra especialization have taken us to an extreme fragmentation of the cognitive act, which has injured the communication among scientists and have led to an increasing loss of contact between the scientific activity and ordinary people´s individual and social lives. This chaotic technification can only make people -as individuals- feel disoriented and helpless.

This book includes all his essays, within the first compilation of his already wellknown Metalogues: a captivating drama of ideas in written format where enlightment, paradox and humor get together in a delicious way. [...]"

the scene at Huwarra #1


Image by Michael.Loadenthal
blog entry about our day at Huwarra checkpoint, dealing with the injured journalist and the detained men:
occupiedlove.blogspot.com/2006/10/spending-time-in-olive-…
———————————————————————
Just Another Day at Huwarra Checkpoint: Journalist Beaten, 10 Men Detained
October 2nd, 2006
www.palsolidarity.org/main/2006/10/02/huwarra-01-10/

by ISM Nablus, October 1st

Huwarra checkpoint, just South of Nablus, is notorious for its volatile atmosphere and violent soldiers. Today was an example in point. Hundreds of women and men were forced into a large holding pen, with small children being crushed against the turnstiles separating the soldiers from the Palestinians waiting in line. Young and old suffered from the heat, perspiring and holding onto one another as not to faint or fall. Young infants and fragile groceries were carried on shoulders and heads so as to escape injury as the soldiers shouted and waved their weapons in the faces of people at the back of the line to make them step forward.

Ramadan is an exertion in itself, yet one which the pious believe that Allah will repay in plenty in the afterlife. What should be a humbling and beautiful display of piety and steadfastness is transformed and sullied by aggressive soldiers intent on, in the words of one commander, “torturing the people as much as possible until they break the fast.” To this soldier’s contentment and flying in the face of the spirit of this the ‘prohibitive month,’ Palestinians waiting in line were reduced to elbowing their way forward in line and arguing heatedly about who was to go first.

At one point, a well-known journalist, Jafar, from the nearby village of Salim, approached one of the higher-ranking soldiers in order to inquire whether he could take pictures of the chaos unfurling in front of him. Yet before he even had time to open his mouth, the soldier punched him in the face and beat his chest with his rifle. As the journalist backed away, the soldier followed and continued kicking his shins and thighs with his heavy boots. Bleeding from his mouth and limping badly due to pain in his right leg, the journalist demanded to file a report on the incident while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

The attack was witnessed by a human rights worker and reported to a senior officer who arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. After threatening to arrest the journalist, the officer finally ceded to his demands and documented all injuries incurred, promising to let the journalist know what consequences this completely unprovoked attack would have for the soldier in question.

Just as the line of people started moving more smoothly through the checkpoint, four young men requested that human rights workers go with them through the olive groves around Huwarra checkpoint. They wanted to make sure that three of their friends, who had been intercepted by Israeli military while trying to make their way home around the checkpoint, and thus avoid the several hours long wait, were not being beaten or otherwise maltreated. While walking across a field between Rujeeb and Awarta, two soldiers spotted the group and ordered them to approach. They were extremely aggressive, pushing two Palestinians and holding their guns to the head of one of the men. While assaulting the men physically in front of the human rights observers, the soldiers cursed at the Palestinians, and repeatedly addressed them as “dog.” The group was taken to Awarta checkpoint, where three others were already being made to wait since two hours back.

After half an hour there were in total 10 Palestinian men and 3 international human rights observers detained at Awarta checkpoint. At four o’clock they were told that they would not be allowed to leave until nine o’clock in the evening as “punishment for breaking the law.” When human rights workers inquired as to what punishment the law proscribed for the offense, the soldier responded, “I have the gun, I make the law, and I say they have to be punished for 5 hours.” When asked exactly what law the group was breaching, the soldiers answered that there was a law stipulating that everyone must go through the checkpoint. Upon being asked what they would do if they had to wait six to ten hours every day after having been at university just to go home and eat with their families, they offered nonsensical answers such as that they think that the young men should pass through the checkpoint only in the morning or bring food with them and break the fast on their own in Nablus.

At one point, a plainclothes settler from Britain approached the people being detained pretending to be a police officer and then a soldier, threatening them with arrest. The soldiers gave the settler a welcoming hug and then stood chatting, smoking and snacking on pomegranate seed right in front of the fasting Palestinians without any regard to their feelings. The settler stood menacingly over the seated detainees and joined the soldier in his questioning and taunting. In effect, the settler was allowed to ‘play soldier,’ with the lives of the Palestinians in detention.

After an hour, the group was allowed to return to Huwarra where their IDs were given back to them and they were allowed to go home. Before leaving, one of the men, a university student from Beita, told the human rights workers that their presence had prevented “physical punishment today” but emphasized that this is a daily occurrence and that he will continue to walk around the checkpoint. “Why not take the chance? I have to wait at the checkpoint anyway so I might as well wait outside in the fresh air,” he said and winked.

Tricolore


Image by leonwpp
That one was a pain. Never steal crayons from little children and try to keep them from grabbing them back. Took me 30 minutes…

Technorati Tags: back, Nice, pain, photos

Question by honeybear: What does cramping and back pain in between your periods mean?
I had on period that was 3 weeks late. Then my next two were a couple days early. In between my last period and this one (around the middle of my cycle) I had two different days, about a week apart from each other that I had bad cramping and back pain. No bleeding. Then my period came 3 days late. I have never been regular, but this pain in between is not normal for me. What could be causing this? I’m not pregnant.

Best answer:

Answer by m8g8
Periods can be affected by so many things!

The most common causes are stress, changes in diet, sleeping patterns, excercisse etc…

One time at college I had barely any sleep because of the traveling and work load. My period stopped for almost a year and then started again after I left.

Also going on the pill changes it allot. There are supplements which are suppose to help with the symptoms, such as evening primrose and vitamin B5. Also try lavender oil.

I tried vitamin B5 once and literally all my symptoms of being ‘due’ stopped. My step mother gets really bad symptoms and takes evening primrose and puts lavender oil in her bath near the time and she says it helps allot.

What do you think? Answer below!

Technorati Tags: back, between, cramping, mean, pain, periods

Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.


Image by US Embassy New Zealand
Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.

newzealand.usembassy.gov

Related:

Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia

11:25 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please be seated.

Thank you, Secretary Gates, and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. I think that Bob Gates will go down as one of our finest Secretaries of Defense in our history, and it’s been an honor to serve with him. (Applause.)

I also want to say a word about Admiral Mullen. On a day when we are announcing his successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as he looks forward to a well-deserved retirement later this year, Admiral Mullen, on behalf of all Americans, we want to say thank you for your four decades of service to this great country. (Applause.) We want to thank Deborah Mullen as well for her extraordinary service. To Major General Karl Horst, the commanding general of our Military District of Washington; Mrs. Nancy Horst; Mr. Patrick Hallinan, the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his lovely wife Doreen. And to Chaplain Steve Berry, thank you for your extraordinary service. (Applause.)

It is a great privilege to return here to our national sanctuary, this most hallowed ground, to commemorate Memorial Day with all of you. With Americans who’ve come to pay their respects. With members of our military and their families. With veterans whose service we will never forget and always honor. And with Gold Star families whose loved ones rest all around us in eternal peace.

To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart breaks goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can’t imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know.

This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved. And it’s a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It’s one of my highest honors, it is my most solemn responsibility as President, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. (Applause.) And it’s a responsibility that carries a special weight on this day; that carries a special weight each time I meet with our Gold Star families and I see the pride in their eyes, but also the tears of pain that will never fully go away; each time I sit down at my desk and sign a condolence letter to the family of the fallen.

Sometimes a family will write me back and tell me about their daughter or son that they’ve lost, or a friend will write me a letter about what their battle buddy meant to them. I received one such letter from an Army veteran named Paul Tarbox after I visited Arlington a couple of years ago. Paul saw a photograph of me walking through Section 60, where the heroes who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan lay, by a headstone marking the final resting place of Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf.

Joe, he told me, was a friend of his, one of the best men he’d ever known, the kind of guy who could have the entire barracks in laughter, who was always there to lend a hand, from being a volunteer coach to helping build a playground. It was a moving letter, and Paul closed it with a few words about the hallowed cemetery where we are gathered here today.

He wrote, “The venerable warriors that slumber there knew full well the risks that are associated with military service, and felt pride in defending our democracy. The true lesson of Arlington,” he continued, “is that each headstone is that of a patriot. Each headstone shares a story. Thank you for letting me share with you [the story] about my friend Joe.”

Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf was a patriot, like all the venerable warriors who lay here, and across this country, and around the globe. Each of them adds honor to what it means to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman. Each is a link in an unbroken chain that stretches back to the earliest days of our Republic — and on this day, we memorialize them all.

We memorialize our first patriots — blacksmiths and farmers, slaves and freedmen — who never knew the independence they won with their lives. We memorialize the armies of men, and women disguised as men, black and white, who fell in apple orchards and cornfields in a war that saved our union. We memorialize those who gave their lives on the battlefields of our times — from Normandy to Manila, Inchon to Khe Sanh, Baghdad to Helmand, and in jungles, deserts, and city streets around the world.

What bonds this chain together across the generations, this chain of honor and sacrifice, is not only a common cause — our country’s cause — but also a spirit captured in a Book of Isaiah, a familiar verse, mailed to me by the Gold Star parents of 2nd Lieutenant Mike McGahan. “When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!”

That’s what we memorialize today. That spirit that says, send me, no matter the mission. Send me, no matter the risk. Send me, no matter how great the sacrifice I am called to make. The patriots we memorialize today sacrificed not only all they had but all they would ever know. They gave of themselves until they had nothing more to give. It’s natural, when we lose someone we care about, to ask why it had to be them. Why my son, why my sister, why my friend, why not me?

These are questions that cannot be answered by us. But on this day we remember that it is on our behalf that they gave our lives — they gave their lives. We remember that it is their courage, their unselfishness, their devotion to duty that has sustained this country through all its trials and will sustain us through all the trials to come. We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy.

Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must. We must honor it in our own lives by holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set. And we must honor it as a nation by keeping our sacred trust with all who wear America’s uniform, and the families who love them; by never giving up the search for those who’ve gone missing under our country’s flag or are held as prisoners of war; by serving our patriots as well as they serve us — from the moment they enter the military, to the moment they leave it, to the moment they are laid to rest.

That is how we can honor the sacrifice of those we’ve lost. That is our obligation to America’s guardians — guardians like Travis Manion. The son of a Marine, Travis aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and was accepted by the USS [sic] Naval Academy. His roommate at the Academy was Brendan Looney, a star athlete and born leader from a military family, just like Travis. The two quickly became best friends — like brothers, Brendan said.

After graduation, they deployed — Travis to Iraq, and Brendan to Korea. On April 29, 2007, while fighting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger, Travis was killed by a sniper. Brendan did what he had to do — he kept going. He poured himself into his SEAL training, and dedicated it to the friend that he missed. He married the woman he loved. And, his tour in Korea behind him, he deployed to Afghanistan. On September 21st of last year, Brendan gave his own life, along with eight others, in a helicopter crash.

Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons’ friendship — they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington. “Warriors for freedom,” reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, “brothers forever.”

The friendship between 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion and Lieutenant Brendan Looney reflects the meaning of Memorial Day. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we’ve lost, and the country for which they died. (Applause.)

END 11:37 A.M. EDT

Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.


Image by US Embassy New Zealand
Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.

newzealand.usembassy.gov

Related:

Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia

11:25 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please be seated.

Thank you, Secretary Gates, and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. I think that Bob Gates will go down as one of our finest Secretaries of Defense in our history, and it’s been an honor to serve with him. (Applause.)

I also want to say a word about Admiral Mullen. On a day when we are announcing his successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as he looks forward to a well-deserved retirement later this year, Admiral Mullen, on behalf of all Americans, we want to say thank you for your four decades of service to this great country. (Applause.) We want to thank Deborah Mullen as well for her extraordinary service. To Major General Karl Horst, the commanding general of our Military District of Washington; Mrs. Nancy Horst; Mr. Patrick Hallinan, the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his lovely wife Doreen. And to Chaplain Steve Berry, thank you for your extraordinary service. (Applause.)

It is a great privilege to return here to our national sanctuary, this most hallowed ground, to commemorate Memorial Day with all of you. With Americans who’ve come to pay their respects. With members of our military and their families. With veterans whose service we will never forget and always honor. And with Gold Star families whose loved ones rest all around us in eternal peace.

To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart breaks goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can’t imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know.

This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved. And it’s a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It’s one of my highest honors, it is my most solemn responsibility as President, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. (Applause.) And it’s a responsibility that carries a special weight on this day; that carries a special weight each time I meet with our Gold Star families and I see the pride in their eyes, but also the tears of pain that will never fully go away; each time I sit down at my desk and sign a condolence letter to the family of the fallen.

Sometimes a family will write me back and tell me about their daughter or son that they’ve lost, or a friend will write me a letter about what their battle buddy meant to them. I received one such letter from an Army veteran named Paul Tarbox after I visited Arlington a couple of years ago. Paul saw a photograph of me walking through Section 60, where the heroes who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan lay, by a headstone marking the final resting place of Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf.

Joe, he told me, was a friend of his, one of the best men he’d ever known, the kind of guy who could have the entire barracks in laughter, who was always there to lend a hand, from being a volunteer coach to helping build a playground. It was a moving letter, and Paul closed it with a few words about the hallowed cemetery where we are gathered here today.

He wrote, “The venerable warriors that slumber there knew full well the risks that are associated with military service, and felt pride in defending our democracy. The true lesson of Arlington,” he continued, “is that each headstone is that of a patriot. Each headstone shares a story. Thank you for letting me share with you [the story] about my friend Joe.”

Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf was a patriot, like all the venerable warriors who lay here, and across this country, and around the globe. Each of them adds honor to what it means to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman. Each is a link in an unbroken chain that stretches back to the earliest days of our Republic — and on this day, we memorialize them all.

We memorialize our first patriots — blacksmiths and farmers, slaves and freedmen — who never knew the independence they won with their lives. We memorialize the armies of men, and women disguised as men, black and white, who fell in apple orchards and cornfields in a war that saved our union. We memorialize those who gave their lives on the battlefields of our times — from Normandy to Manila, Inchon to Khe Sanh, Baghdad to Helmand, and in jungles, deserts, and city streets around the world.

What bonds this chain together across the generations, this chain of honor and sacrifice, is not only a common cause — our country’s cause — but also a spirit captured in a Book of Isaiah, a familiar verse, mailed to me by the Gold Star parents of 2nd Lieutenant Mike McGahan. “When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!”

That’s what we memorialize today. That spirit that says, send me, no matter the mission. Send me, no matter the risk. Send me, no matter how great the sacrifice I am called to make. The patriots we memorialize today sacrificed not only all they had but all they would ever know. They gave of themselves until they had nothing more to give. It’s natural, when we lose someone we care about, to ask why it had to be them. Why my son, why my sister, why my friend, why not me?

These are questions that cannot be answered by us. But on this day we remember that it is on our behalf that they gave our lives — they gave their lives. We remember that it is their courage, their unselfishness, their devotion to duty that has sustained this country through all its trials and will sustain us through all the trials to come. We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy.

Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must. We must honor it in our own lives by holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set. And we must honor it as a nation by keeping our sacred trust with all who wear America’s uniform, and the families who love them; by never giving up the search for those who’ve gone missing under our country’s flag or are held as prisoners of war; by serving our patriots as well as they serve us — from the moment they enter the military, to the moment they leave it, to the moment they are laid to rest.

That is how we can honor the sacrifice of those we’ve lost. That is our obligation to America’s guardians — guardians like Travis Manion. The son of a Marine, Travis aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and was accepted by the USS [sic] Naval Academy. His roommate at the Academy was Brendan Looney, a star athlete and born leader from a military family, just like Travis. The two quickly became best friends — like brothers, Brendan said.

After graduation, they deployed — Travis to Iraq, and Brendan to Korea. On April 29, 2007, while fighting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger, Travis was killed by a sniper. Brendan did what he had to do — he kept going. He poured himself into his SEAL training, and dedicated it to the friend that he missed. He married the woman he loved. And, his tour in Korea behind him, he deployed to Afghanistan. On September 21st of last year, Brendan gave his own life, along with eight others, in a helicopter crash.

Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons’ friendship — they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington. “Warriors for freedom,” reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, “brothers forever.”

The friendship between 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion and Lieutenant Brendan Looney reflects the meaning of Memorial Day. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we’ve lost, and the country for which they died. (Applause.)

END 11:37 A.M. EDT

Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.


Image by US Embassy New Zealand
Memorial Day Service at Old St Paul’s, Wellington - May 30, 2011.

newzealand.usembassy.gov

Related:

Remarks by the President at a Memorial Day Service

Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, Virginia

11:25 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you so much. Please be seated.

Thank you, Secretary Gates, and thank you for your extraordinary service to our nation. I think that Bob Gates will go down as one of our finest Secretaries of Defense in our history, and it’s been an honor to serve with him. (Applause.)

I also want to say a word about Admiral Mullen. On a day when we are announcing his successor as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as he looks forward to a well-deserved retirement later this year, Admiral Mullen, on behalf of all Americans, we want to say thank you for your four decades of service to this great country. (Applause.) We want to thank Deborah Mullen as well for her extraordinary service. To Major General Karl Horst, the commanding general of our Military District of Washington; Mrs. Nancy Horst; Mr. Patrick Hallinan, the superintendent of Arlington National Cemetery, as well as his lovely wife Doreen. And to Chaplain Steve Berry, thank you for your extraordinary service. (Applause.)

It is a great privilege to return here to our national sanctuary, this most hallowed ground, to commemorate Memorial Day with all of you. With Americans who’ve come to pay their respects. With members of our military and their families. With veterans whose service we will never forget and always honor. And with Gold Star families whose loved ones rest all around us in eternal peace.

To those of you who mourn the loss of a loved one today, my heart breaks goes out to you. I love my daughters more than anything in the world, and I cannot imagine losing them. I can’t imagine losing a sister or brother or parent at war. The grief so many of you carry in your hearts is a grief I cannot fully know.

This day is about you, and the fallen heroes that you loved. And it’s a day that has meaning for all Americans, including me. It’s one of my highest honors, it is my most solemn responsibility as President, to serve as Commander-in-Chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. (Applause.) And it’s a responsibility that carries a special weight on this day; that carries a special weight each time I meet with our Gold Star families and I see the pride in their eyes, but also the tears of pain that will never fully go away; each time I sit down at my desk and sign a condolence letter to the family of the fallen.

Sometimes a family will write me back and tell me about their daughter or son that they’ve lost, or a friend will write me a letter about what their battle buddy meant to them. I received one such letter from an Army veteran named Paul Tarbox after I visited Arlington a couple of years ago. Paul saw a photograph of me walking through Section 60, where the heroes who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan lay, by a headstone marking the final resting place of Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf.

Joe, he told me, was a friend of his, one of the best men he’d ever known, the kind of guy who could have the entire barracks in laughter, who was always there to lend a hand, from being a volunteer coach to helping build a playground. It was a moving letter, and Paul closed it with a few words about the hallowed cemetery where we are gathered here today.

He wrote, “The venerable warriors that slumber there knew full well the risks that are associated with military service, and felt pride in defending our democracy. The true lesson of Arlington,” he continued, “is that each headstone is that of a patriot. Each headstone shares a story. Thank you for letting me share with you [the story] about my friend Joe.”

Staff Sergeant Joe Phaneuf was a patriot, like all the venerable warriors who lay here, and across this country, and around the globe. Each of them adds honor to what it means to be a soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman. Each is a link in an unbroken chain that stretches back to the earliest days of our Republic — and on this day, we memorialize them all.

We memorialize our first patriots — blacksmiths and farmers, slaves and freedmen — who never knew the independence they won with their lives. We memorialize the armies of men, and women disguised as men, black and white, who fell in apple orchards and cornfields in a war that saved our union. We memorialize those who gave their lives on the battlefields of our times — from Normandy to Manila, Inchon to Khe Sanh, Baghdad to Helmand, and in jungles, deserts, and city streets around the world.

What bonds this chain together across the generations, this chain of honor and sacrifice, is not only a common cause — our country’s cause — but also a spirit captured in a Book of Isaiah, a familiar verse, mailed to me by the Gold Star parents of 2nd Lieutenant Mike McGahan. “When I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am. Send me!”

That’s what we memorialize today. That spirit that says, send me, no matter the mission. Send me, no matter the risk. Send me, no matter how great the sacrifice I am called to make. The patriots we memorialize today sacrificed not only all they had but all they would ever know. They gave of themselves until they had nothing more to give. It’s natural, when we lose someone we care about, to ask why it had to be them. Why my son, why my sister, why my friend, why not me?

These are questions that cannot be answered by us. But on this day we remember that it is on our behalf that they gave our lives — they gave their lives. We remember that it is their courage, their unselfishness, their devotion to duty that has sustained this country through all its trials and will sustain us through all the trials to come. We remember that the blessings we enjoy as Americans came at a dear cost; that our very presence here today, as free people in a free society, bears testimony to their enduring legacy.

Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay. But we can honor their sacrifice, and we must. We must honor it in our own lives by holding their memories close to our hearts, and heeding the example they set. And we must honor it as a nation by keeping our sacred trust with all who wear America’s uniform, and the families who love them; by never giving up the search for those who’ve gone missing under our country’s flag or are held as prisoners of war; by serving our patriots as well as they serve us — from the moment they enter the military, to the moment they leave it, to the moment they are laid to rest.

That is how we can honor the sacrifice of those we’ve lost. That is our obligation to America’s guardians — guardians like Travis Manion. The son of a Marine, Travis aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and was accepted by the USS [sic] Naval Academy. His roommate at the Academy was Brendan Looney, a star athlete and born leader from a military family, just like Travis. The two quickly became best friends — like brothers, Brendan said.

After graduation, they deployed — Travis to Iraq, and Brendan to Korea. On April 29, 2007, while fighting to rescue his fellow Marines from danger, Travis was killed by a sniper. Brendan did what he had to do — he kept going. He poured himself into his SEAL training, and dedicated it to the friend that he missed. He married the woman he loved. And, his tour in Korea behind him, he deployed to Afghanistan. On September 21st of last year, Brendan gave his own life, along with eight others, in a helicopter crash.

Heartbroken, yet filled with pride, the Manions and the Looneys knew only one way to honor their sons’ friendship — they moved Travis from his cemetery in Pennsylvania and buried them side by side here at Arlington. “Warriors for freedom,” reads the epitaph written by Travis’s father, “brothers forever.”

The friendship between 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion and Lieutenant Brendan Looney reflects the meaning of Memorial Day. Brotherhood. Sacrifice. Love of country. And it is my fervent prayer that we may honor the memory of the fallen by living out those ideals every day of our lives, in the military and beyond. May God bless the souls of the venerable warriors we’ve lost, and the country for which they died. (Applause.)

END 11:37 A.M. EDT

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RSPCA cat & mouse


Image by Jo and Paul’s pics
This picture was taken back in 2007. As the cat now lives with my inlaws I don’t have direct access to use her anymore. I loved this shot when I took it all them years ago and I think it’s absolutely perfick for this Charity Day.

Whilst the cat was in our garden, she found this mouse, who really intrigued her. Everytime the mouse moved the cat followed. If the mouse stopped for too long, the cat nudged him with her paw.

The mouse got his freedom and ran happily off into the fields near our house!

The RSPCA do amazing things - they save animals every day from a meaningless life, from a painful life.

One of their key campaigns is the Five Freedoms.

Freedom from hunger and thirst
# by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour.

Freedom from discomfort
# by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.

Freedom from pain, injury or disease
# by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Freedom to express normal behaviour
# by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.

Freedom from fear and distress
# by ensuring conditions and care which avoid mental suffering.

So, for the pets who were given as Christmas gifts and are not wanted a month on; for the garden birds who’ve suffered in the cold weather; for the battery hens and mutilated seals; for intensively farmed puppies and kittens beaten and left for dead; for the 150-200 animals still used in circuses; for all of these we raise awareness of the vital work carried out by the RSPCA.
The main RSPCA homepage is www.rspca.org.uk/

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