We seem to get these rants after a full moon. I'm sure we'll return to our normal, logical, orderly ways soon. Karen

Too bad. I rather enjoy these rants. Kathy --- KJEMEM@aol.com wrote: > We seem to get these rants after a full moon. I'm > sure we'll return to our > normal, logical, orderly ways soon. > > Karen > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send > an e-mail with the word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to > orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Whew! "Our" normal, logical and orderly ways? Hmmm. Well, Karen, we don't live in a "normal, logical and orderly" world any more, do we? The point you raise is a good one though. Orkney is somehow far and away form the stresses and strains of life as we know it in North America's populated areas, and the world's twisted definitions of your three descriptive adjectives. As for the issue of the full moon and ranting, (good issue) while the moon is full tonight, turn on the tube and watch the duel of America's finest. Here we have the Bush -Kerry debate, the highpoint of a campaign rife with deception of every colour. Bush (Bin Laden's business partner) appears to be ahead in the poles, the choice of the American heart mind conscience and soul. Doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling? Go figure! There is something to rant about. The man blew up Iraqui women and kids while Bin laden hid safely elsewhere, and oil was never mentioned. Now they are debating to see who is the best choice to lead their failure retreat from this dryland Vietnam left sadly with no more bombing opportunities. Maybe this time they will figure out how to count the ballots, and people of colour won't be disenfranchised of their democratic right. Normal America....logical orderly election.....hmmmmm. In a country that won't allow a photo of an honourable dedicated dead soldier's casket.( Probably not logical and people would rant.) Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Normal world, Tony, the paper albeit articulate tiger, Blair, has decided to tell the truth about those non-existent weapons in Iraq that caused him to get sucked into the latest American oil war. It took yesterday, a pleading sobbing innocent Brit hostage, begging for his life on British TV while imprisoned in Iraq awaiting his slaughter, to get the paper tiger out of his ethics jackpot. Normal, logical and orderly world. O.K., if you say so. I'll vote for Georgie then, and buy into order logic and normality. Where do I send my tax-deductible donation? Seriously though, Orkney for me and many others , has a sense of being aside from all this worldly "normality" you brought up. I am looking forward to my trip there this fall, in the absence of tourists from the normal logical world most live in. I hope that through time, those special islands from whence we came, will remain just as they are. I think of an uneasy grey rolling sea on a chilly fall day, waterfowl beading over a rocky shore propelled by brisk winds above the heads of snoozy timeless grey seals happy as clams and putting in another normal orderly Orkney day. I think of how Orkney in it's glorious history, back in the days of the Saga and up to world war two, experienced it's times in history of pain, the horrors of war and bloodshed. For the Sagas read: "ILL FORTUNE FOLLOWED WHEN THE EARLS FOUGHT, MANY A HARD LESSON LEARNED, MANY A LIFE LOST; WHERE THE SPEAR SHOWER FELL, THERE FOUGHT OUR FRIENDS; MANY A DEAR ONE THAT DAY LAY DEAD AT ROBERRY." Maybe Orkney learned their hard lesson, about yesteryear and current day " logic, order and normality." And I hope that the sense of peace and tranquility she emits, is permanent and everlasting, and history has taught the lesson well. I hope my new friends I have met there never have to lock a door. Can a north american imagine living in an island community with no policeman and no crime? I am not a fan of "normal, logical and orderly" as perceived by today's elected leaders. Money and power eats up their morals. But I am a huge fan of Orkney. And on this site we have discussed stovies, trees, vikings, weather, bere, single malt, the "Ba", orthographic peculiarities,seals, cattle, sheep and lots of neat stuff related to Orkney, the people and the history. Folks from Australia to Africa, from Taiwan to Toronto, all somehow mystified by the place and attracted to this wonderful site. But to try to mute the views of all or dampen the enthusiasm for freedom in a non-exclusive little society. For to do so, if normal logical and orderly, somehow would become a bore. And as I read the Sagas and the accounts of HBC explorers, boring isn't part of the Orcadian makeup. Neither is vulnerability to suppression or intimidation. If you anticipate munching stovies, to me, following through with a ramsbottom or a sheep dip, is normal logical but nor so sure about orderly. I have to get rest now, for tonight I will watch the debate of America's great on the tube, and thereafter howl at the wonderful unchanged full moon! After all, the hockey season has been cancelled due to labour problems. Go George!! Pass the Stennes Stovies and another Sheep dip! Yours Aye: Stephen (Canorky)

I think of how Orkney in it's glorious history, back in the days of the Saga and up to world war two, experienced it's times in history of pain, the horrors of war and bloodshed. For the Sagas read: "ILL FORTUNE FOLLOWED WHEN THE EARLS FOUGHT, MANY A HARD LESSON LEARNED, MANY A LIFE LOST; WHERE THE SPEAR SHOWER FELL, THERE FOUGHT OUR FRIENDS; MANY A DEAR ONE THAT DAY LAY DEAD AT ROBERRY." Maybe Orkney learned their hard lesson, about yesteryear and current day " logic, order and normality." *********************************** Now Stephen, that's a thought. Lessons learned in the great global consciousness. I am reminded of Sweden, (and a fine bunch of warriors they were along with the Danes and Norwegians.) who have remained stubbornly neutral on wars now for a very long time. Stella, south and west of Canada