Yesterday started great at work and fast went downhill. So to-day is recoup day. And it is beautiful.

I must admit however there are times I do miss home. I just called my friend and they are having a shower for her daughter. I would love to be there. Sigh!!!

So, I have two friends that are great about blogging and are making me feel guilty about not posting. It's time to step it up.

I've been filling in on nights recently. Only 8 hours but I have enjoyed it. If you knew how much I hate nights you would gasp with surprise. But it's actually not too bad. I've not been stuck in the back every other shift (thank you SL's and whoever else is responsible, :)) and am getting to see how the other half of the department lives.

I do miss my day shift folks. I will be back especially when hockey season starts. (Helsinki here we come!)

Ok. I'm really getting ticked off. I changed my background and everything got knocked off and now I can't remember how to add them. Shoot!

Pollen Season

It's April in Carolina. Everything has a green sheen to it. And my sneezing would definately wake the neighbours.

My friends Gail and Karen will be here next Thursday night. I have to work until 1900 but Naomi said she and Joe will pick them up at the airport. I cannot wait to see them. A touch of home. I need to spend some time on the 'net looking up things that are happening around here and plan a mountain trip. With a little luck and a win Sunday and next Tuesday we may get to go to a Playoff game. (Please, please, please, please let it happen!!!)

Just a short note this morning. Work is calling my name. Ah, to win the lottery.

2009 and Counting

It is almost the end of January! That is so hard to believe!

I had made a promise to myself that I would do better about writing on this blog. Not doing so well so far. :) So, catch up time.

The year didn't start out so great. New Years Day was quiet. Very quiet as I can't remember doing anything outstanding. I saved the fireworks for January 4th.

I was working Minor Treatment that day with Ashleigh. It was pretty steady but we were having fun. About 1630 I came around the corner from the med room slipped off my shoe, fell to the floor like a beached whale and broke my foot. Thankfully it wasn't super painful, (Ibuprofen worked fine), but I ended up going home early. Next morning I woke up absoulutely miserable. Head congested, sore throat, aches, etc., etc., etc. The good news was I wasn't due for clinical until Thursday but I missed Length of Stay on Tuesday and Quality Improvement Council on Wednesday. Oh well. Didn't make it to work on Thursday and Friday that week either.

By Monday the I had had enough of my own company. Off I go to work, and ironically enough, back in Minor Treatment. Worked all day and about 1730 one of the new managers comes in and informs me I shouldn't have been working. (She could have come at 1230 instead of near the end of the shift.) I was not to be at work until cleared by Employee Health. Joy in the garden!

I had to go see Raleigh Orthopaedics, in Garner no less, passing by two other of their offices to get there. No weightbearing longer than five minutes and no ambulating greater than 50 feet.

Thursday I had the pleasure (NOT) of seeing Dr. Hammer. He's a rude little man who is the Employee Health physician. He informed me he used to run the ED. (Couldn't do it now bud). He also informed me that the 3-D boot was no good and he had been telling the people in the ED that for years. It was kind of fun telling him it helped me. Made my foot feel better. HeeHeeHee.

Anyway I am relegated to triage until cleared by Dr. Boone next week. I told folks I would need a psych consult by the time this was done. Someone suggested Liz Bruce. I decided I would be fine.

So that's my first couple of weeks of this New Year. The Year of the Ox in China. More to come.

Samhain - The Irish New Year by Bridget Haggerty

Following the revels of Hallowe’en, the ancient Irish celebrated the festival of the dead - Samhain, which is pronounced sow-en, and is usually translated as “summer’s end.” In Celtic lore, the year is divided into two halves associated with the dark and the light. The dark half begins at sunset on November 1st with Samhain and the cycle ends when the light half begins at sunset on May 1st, which is the festival of Bealtaine. Both festivals are closely linked, but in general, Samhain is considered to be the most important. In the old days, extensive preparations were made for the sharing of a communal feast that included the dearly departed as guests of honor. To enable them to come and go freely, all doors and windows were left unlatched; a special cake was made exclusively for their consumption, and a certain amount of other food was set aside just for them. This had to be left untouched by any mortal hand for the duration of the ritual period. Eating the food of the dead was considered to be a major sacrilege and it condemned the perpetrator to becoming a hungry spirit after death, forever banned from sharing in the Samhain feast.

Beyond the great feast, the dead would also need to be entertained. Customs vary from one Celtic nation to another, but in general, while the young people played games associated with the rituals of Samhain, the elders reviewed all of the events of the past year for the benefit of those who had passed on. This was believed to encourage the dead to continue to take an interest in the affairs of the living.

As at all turning points in the Celtic year, ancient lore tells us that the Gods draw near to earth at Samhain. In ancient Ireland, people extinguished their hearth fires and then gathered at the ritual center of their tribe to honor the gods with gifts and sacrifices. There, they waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year. Then, personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants were cast into the blaze. At the end of the ceremonies, each member of the tribe took back to his or her home hearth a brand ignited from the new fire.
Samhain fires have continued to light up the countryside down the centuries. In some areas, ashes from these bonfires were sprinkled on surrounding fields as a form of protection. The added bonus, of course, was that the ashes improved the soil.

So how did Samhain become All Saints Day? As with many of the old festivals, Christianity stepped in to do whatever it could to eliminate pagan rituals. In this case, it was Pope Boniface who took the festival of the dead and made it the festival of all saints and martyrs. Originally it took place on May 13th, but a century later, Pope Gregory III shifted it to November. In Ireland, All Saints Day was instituted in 998 AD by Abbot Odilo of Cluny and by the 13th century, although many of the old Samhain rituals persisted as folk customs, November 1st had become firmly established as a Christian festival

Mumming is an ancient pagan custom, and the people of Medieval Britain often used it as an excuse to have a party at Christmas. They would dress up in old articles of clothing to disguise themselves, and wearing masks, visit the homes of friends and neighbours during the Christmas season. It was later banned in the UK, because it often became an excuse for begging and committing crimes. Although the early settlers brought it to the new world, where it came to be known as mummering, it was also quickly banned in most places. Newfoundland however, where most communities were small and isolated was the exception. Here it became a Christmas tradition that continues to this day.
When mummers visit everyone in the house start playing a guessing game. The idea is to guess the identity of the mummers, and as each one is identified they uncover their faces, if no one guesses a mummers name he/she does not have to unmask. Sometimes a man will dress as a woman or a women as a man. Often there is accordion music and the mummers will dance with each others or members of the household. Sometimes a small lunch may be served, Christmas cake and with a glass of syrup or maybe whisky or rum. When I was growing up, it was common for children above the age of twelve to go mummering, but with others of their age or a year or two older, never with adults.
Although it is a Christmas custom, it is almost unknown for anyone to go mummering on Christmas night or on a Sunday. Starting on Boxing day, (which we always knew as St Stephen's day when I was a boy) and continuing to Old Christmas day, Jan. 6 th at anytime after darkness, you may expect a knock on your door with the traditional greeting, ”any mummers allowed in”? As Children we would visit nearby houses during the early hours of the night, and although I feel certain that everyone knew who we were, they would make much of trying to guess our identity. We knew nothing of Halloween and today's “trick or treat”, so this was our chance to dress up and have some fun, maybe even get a treat.
For a time, especially in the late 1960's and the 1970's, the old tradition seemed to fade in many parts of the province, but thanks to the locally popular musical duo, Simini, it has been revived. Simini wrote and recorded “The Mummer's Song” in 1982 and once again, at sometime during the Christmas season, it's common, at least in the smaller towns, to see mummers going from door to door. They sing the old Christmas songs and ask the well worn question as only Newfoundlanders can, ”any mummers "lowed in”?
The Mummer"s Song may be viewed on You Tube.