Wordless Wednesday

Sunday odds and ends

Well, more nasty, crappy weather on the way is predicted for today (it has already begun to snow and coming down really hard as I write this post) and two more rather bad snow storms to come throughout this coming week. GOD, how I just can't wait for this winter from HELL to be over!! We had only one entire day of warmer-ish weather last week after the first bad storm, but not enough to melt even a quarter of what we were slammed with. This weather really sucks ...

Moving on, I had a bit of time yesterday to set up my mermaid treasures. The merman statue I ordered arrived this past week  and I could not wait to display him along side my mermaid tealight holder ...  

A little ceramic mermaid bell that I found a few years ago at a flea market ...

I am still in the process of looking for a large starfish that a good friend of mine gave to me as a gift a long time ago, but I have not been able to find it as of yet.

Speaking of gifts, a very thoughtful co-worker surprised me with a beautiful crystal amethyst pendant on Friday night at work. Many THANKS to Rosa - I love it!

I have also been trying to work on my other blog, "Mermaid Tails and Dragon Treasures" lately as I had been neglecting it for a while due to lack of free time. The couple of snow days we had last week, if nothing else, atleast to allowed me some time to publish a few new posts. Since I was stuck in the house anyhow I tried to make good use of my time.

A Saturday song ... here's hoping ... soon!

Mermen in Mythology

Through the history of human mythology and religion, mermaids received much attention, but their male counterparts were much less showcased. While mermaids represented beauty and romance that the predominately male ship crews longed-for on the long journeys, mermen remained left behind in the folklore, usually shown only as children made in a union of a man and mermaid.

In their appearance, mermen do not differ much from mermaids. They are mythical creatures who have a form of an upper human torso, and a lower half of a fish tail. Originally celebrated as the deities, mermen slowly slipped back into the legends as the ordinary mythological creatures of the sea, who very rarely show up on the surface. The reason for that was sometimes because of their shyness and sometimes because their ugliness.

The best-known deities that had the form of mermen were Babylonian Oannes, Ea (also known as Enki in Sumerian mythology) and Dagon (sea god of fertility). However, the most famous mermen God was celebrated in Greece. Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, was regularly depicted on stone walls and pottery as strikingly handsome mermen with a fish tail. He often carried a trident and a twisted conch shell (which he used to control the sea and calm or raise storms) and was believed to have the power to multiply himself into a host of smaller sea spirit demons called Triones. Indian Hindu religion also celebrates mermen, as they are thought to be the first incarnation of their supreme deity Vishnu (the only difference to the modern mermen is the presence of two sets of arms, each holding one artifact - conch shell, wheel, Lotus, and Mace).

Around the world, many cultures have their myths and folklore tales about mermen. Here are some of the most notable ones:

• The region of Amazon River is a home of a myth of boto -fresh water mermen who is responsible for seducing and impregnating many women while being transformed into full human form.
• Finnish mythology is portraying mermen as powerful and handsome creatures that wield magic and have the ability to cure illnesses, lift curses and brew potions. They are most often depicted with a beard made from seaweeds, and are sometimes capable of causing much destruction if they come to close to human civilization.
• Glaucus was a man from Greek mythology who one day found a grass with magical properties. After he ate it, he quickly transformed into mermen, who was latter elevated by the gods into one of the Greeks many sea spirits.

With the rise of the modern view of mermaids that started with the appearance of the Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale "The Little Mermaid", mermen revived an increased attention in the minds of the public. During the last few decades, mermen became part of many fantasy settings as one of the most common dwellers of the sea, and with each passing year, their appeal grows more and more. Some of the most famous examples of mermen in modern culture can be found in the Disney's "The Little Mermaid" franchise of cartoons, DC Comics mythology, and one of the main villains from the popular "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoon in the 1980s.

(Source: http://www.realmermaids.net/mermaid-facts/mermen/)

My treasured Poseidon brooch, which was an anniversary gift from my husband a few years ago, was the Olympian Greek god of seas, storms, earthquakes, and horses. 

(image source: www.ebay.com)

The very first pic above is of my gorgeous merman (part of a set along with a mermaid) statue made of plaster. I found them in a store called, "The Gothic Shop" many  years back which has since closed.

No real surprise here, Phil!

Happy Imbolg and Groundhog Day, friends! Well, it snowed ALL DAY yesterday and through the night ...

My husband spent hours last night shoveling out a path in our driveway and digging out both of our cars ...

What do you think of the snow sculpture of my husband's car? The artist? Mother Nature, of course. 

We also lost power THREE times, but fortunately it came back up again. My employer closed yesterday but not today so I had to use up one of my few PTO days as we were snowed in and plowed in by the Borough trucks who had nowhere else to go with all the messy snow. Anyway, I plan on returning to work tomorrow as the roads should be a bit better by then hopefully.

Hope everyone is doing fine and staying safe and warm!

Lazy snow day

Yes, friends, we most definitely GOT IT today and it is not supposed to actually stop until early tomorrow. In the meantime, both my husband and I got lucky as my work was cancelled and Brett was told to stay home and online job train for the day. Tomorrow is supposed to be even worse than today to drive in, so we shall see IF I am going in tomorrow or not.

So, I ended up spending a little quality time with the kitties. Ginger is fascinated by the snow and watching the moving white stuff fall down from the sky - she is so funny because she tries to catch the snowflakes ...

Lady Tabitha prefers to watch it from her favorite window in the cats room ...

The view from Merlin's back catio window ...

Ginger still watching from her window, wait for it, wait for it ...

Mwwwah, mommy's sweet little girl ...

Fingers crossed for what is in store for us here tomorrow!

Oh yeah, and Happy first day of February!!

Sunday This and That

Greetings everyone! As I mentioned in my previous post, we are expecting some rather nasty weather with a bad snow storm beginning this afternoon and continuing into late Tuesday morning! We are supposed to get anywhere from 15 to 20 inches of this white mess - YUK! COME ON SPRING, PLEASE - so tired of the freezing temperatures and having to worry about making it back and forth to work safely - even worse, my husband as well because his job is nothing BUT driving!!

Anyhow, today I finally took down my Mermaid Tree in my altar room. Speaking of mermaids, I am always on the look out for lovely mermaid statues and sculptures. This past week I found a beautiful merman statue in my price range. It is supposed to arrive this Tuesday. Can't wait! It is so hard to find a gorgeous merman to add to my collection and this one is so stunning ...

Moving on, I have had such a terrible time sleeping for the past few weeks so yesterday after my sister and I held our early Imbolg ritual, we decided to stop off at Ulta Beauty and I found this pillow mist I thought that I would try ...

Also, my sister Aurora Skye gave me a couple of other health and beauty products for Yule to try - a Vanilla and Lavender Body Butter and a Sweet Dreams roll-on oil both made by Norse Naturals ...

And, last weekend while my mom and I were shopping at one of our local Dollar Tree stores, I picked up another roll-on made with four different essential oils to aide with my bad neck and shoulder muscle pain. I must admit that it does help ...

After shopping at Ulta Beauty, we checked out our Barnes & Noble Bookstore and I found a new book on magickal herbs ...

And last, but not least, a brotherly pic of Butterscotch and Sir Leo awaiting the snow storm while hanging out together in front of the living room window.

Until next time, friends - take care and be safe!