Keeping It Simple..

I cannot abide my chosen forename any longer. Jonathan means YHWH Has Given and Yahweh is a monster. As such I am making the move over to Jay.

I have no issues with people who know me as Jonathan continuing to use that however with new people, I’m going to introduce myself as Jay. It’s simple. It’s to the point. It honours my old name but it doesn’t have those negative connotations. Also as a birdwatcher, Jays are beautiful creatures.

The Abrahamic faiths are appalling. Much of the evil in the world and the topsy-turvy way things are going find their roots in these old superstitions. I wonder how the world would have turned out had The Big 3 religions been Jainism, Manichaeism and Sikhism.

Mind you, with psychopaths in charge I doubt we would have fared much better because such f*cked up human minds love to feel superior, not just to their own kind but also to other so called ‘lesser’ animals.

Anyhow, I’m Jay and I’m pleased to meet you.

Ian Moss

I was due to see Ian Moss at a gig tonight in London. I have been so looking forward to it. Unfortunately, due to rail strikes I can’t get there at all. I’m all for the strike action, I just wish it could have been last or next weekend. It doesn’t matter, in the grand scheme of things. People needing a better living wage is the most important thing.

Anyhow, here is Ian and his latest song. He’s a brilliant musician. I will be there tonight in spirit.

0

Doing a Garbo

I can totally empathise with Greta Garbo and wanting to be alone when I consider the vast majority of the people I unfortunately must share this planet with. Most well-meaning and good people it has to be said but people who seem to feel (in my experience anyway) that I must toe a certain line, or be excluded. I am only too happy to be shunned in that instance.

Tonight was a case in point. I have been badgered for some time to ‘go out and meet people.’ So I joined a group which usually meets online rather than in person. It was to be a quiz night and we were to use a Skype type of thing to converse.

I have noticed for a while now how masculinity seems to be viewed with a kind of disdain in certain quarters. I turned up at the appointed time. I usually stay quiet until I know people however because I was a new face and didn’t want others to feel awkward, I smiled and waved to everyone as I entered the room, introduced myself, and asked after everyone there.

There were slightly more women than men. The men in the group had soft trebley voices and had a sort of gender-neutral look about them. They seemed very pleasant though. I have a deep voice and a full beard. I’m a tall lanky kind of bloke however I look masculine.

Suddenly, two of the women turned off their cameras so I was looking at avatars although I could still hear them speaking. Then I couldn’t hear them speaking at all although conversations were clearly being had with the others there. F*cking uncomfortable, it has to be said.

There was an air of forced jollity about the proceedings. The woman running the group was very friendly however she was talking constantly and kept giggling. It turned out it wasn’t going to be a quiz night after all but a round of questions where you have to give the silliest answers which the others later would grade us all on. I’m surprised we weren’t given little shiny adhesive stars on a PDF wall-chart we could take away with us.

I could feel the panic and pointlessness of it all building within me. I thought back to when my heart stopped beating last year and the fact it would one day stop again but for all time and I thought “Do I really want to waste my evening here doing this?” I took a few minutes more of the absolute nonsense of it all and then just left, exited the window, unsubscribed from the group and then deleted my entire online account associated with it. The freedom felt wonderful.

Don’t get me wrong, I know some fantastic people. S is one of those and she will read this. I could never tire of you. Your mind is incredible. You are incredible. Another friend of mine, P, is a really nice bloke and I’m happy to know him. Then there are those of you here who Like and comment on my blog entries, as I do yours. It gladdens my heart to know you are out there somewhere in the world. However, if I am completely honest I could quite easily and happily go and live in a log cabin in the woods for the rest of my life never seeing or hearing from the vast majority of people ever again. I glean nothing from their company.

I woke up this morning with both cats laying beside me. I had fallen asleep to a live YouTube video feed of a storm-chaser driving towards a tornado over the pond, in the good old U. S. of A. Today, I have drunk coffee and listened to Genesis, Sting, Mr. Mister, Chris Whitley and Bob Dylan. I have cleaned out the snail’s enclosure, fed and watered them and put new soil in as well as changed their surroundings by moving sticks and stones around. I put new food in for the crickets. Aside from my mother, I have not set eyes on another human being all day. Just felines, insects and molluscs and that’s been just fine with me.

My mum will ask after tonight’s ‘quiz night’ and sigh heavily when I tell her that it wasn’t for me, just as she has sighed at me having no inclination to ‘climb the ladder’ in terms of career, learn to drive, be in a relationship or want to reproduce. I am kind of ‘in the world but not of it.’ As a child, nothing made me happier than sitting by myself reading books, listening to music and hanging out with a dog or cat. Invariably a cat. I didn’t know I was a ‘loner’ then or ‘weird.’ I just knew that during those times I felt most at peace with myself and the world around me.

40 years later and I’m just the same. This is me. I am doing a Garbo. Largely, “I want to be alone.”

0

Bastet

Bastet is a Goddess of cats, the sun, the East, fire, love, intoxication, music and dancing, joy, celebration, fertility, secrets, magic, and sex. However, she is also a Goddess of war and known for her wrathful vengeance. She has the head of a cat and a slender female body.

She protects homes from evil spirits and disease, especially ailments associated with women and children. She also plays a role in the afterlife as a guide and helper to the dead.

Due to Bastet meaning “She of the Ointment Jar” she has become known also as a Goddess of perfume, and is called the “Perfumed Protector.” She is associated with the Persea tree, which symbolizes protection and the afterlife.

Large annual festivals to honour Bast were held in Bubastis. Cats were sacred to Bast and due to her being a protector of felines, cats were treasured pets in many Egyptian households.

My own statue of Bastet


Bastet is the daughter of Ra, sister of Sekhmet, the wife of Ptah, and the mother of Mihos. Since the Second Dynasty, Bastet has been worshipped as a deity, most commonly in Lower Egypt.

It is believed that each day She rides through the sky with Her father, the sun god Ra. As his boat pulls The Sun through the sky She watches over and protects Him. At night, She turns into a cat to protect Ra from His greatest enemy, the serpent Apep.

Due to Her protective duties, she is nicknamed The Lady of the East, Goddess of the Rising Sun, and the Sacred and All Seeing Eye. She is also known as the Goddess of the Moon and is thought to be the Eye of the Moon and the Eye of Ra.

Bastet is still worshipped today and Her protection is believed to be cast over modern felines, particularly black cats.

Glorious Sunny Day

It was a glorious sunny day yesterday and I made my way out into the garden where I was joined by The Radiant Queen and The Handsome Prince.

Here’s The Queen eyeing up 2 Starlings who had dared to venture onto her patch of lawn.

In the far distance is The Handsome Prince who is guarding the entrance to The Secret Garden.


Here was the garden, washing blowing in the breeze. I love the trees at the bottom of the garden. I say trees because most presume it’s one large tree however it’s two separate ones. On the right (as you look at the image) is a Flowering Cherry and on the left, a Sycamore which must have started life as a seed dropped by the birds as we didn’t plant it. I love the fact it has grown in a way which compliments the shape of the tree next to it.


If you look at the post at the end of the hedge just to the left of the washing on the line and go up vertically from there, that’s pretty much where the Sycamore begins and it grows to the left as you look at the image. The Flowering Cherry is from the post and then goes to the right as you look at the image. Nature is amazing.

0

Introducing…

Vieux Farka Toure.

Boureima “Vieux” Farka Touré (born 1981) is a Malian singer and guitarist. He is the son of Malian musician Ali Farka Touré.

0

Tina Turner (1939 – 2023)

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was an American-born and naturalized Swiss singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and author. (Source – Wikipedia).

Thank you for the music x

Create a website or blog at WordPress.com

Up ↑