“It is good to be a woman today.
In every land our sisters are stirring, feeling the pricklings of their growing wings,
lifting their hands to the sun.
As a sex, women are alive in the world as never before. They are learning the great
lesson of cooperation, which has enabled men to win continents. They are learning
sex-loyalty.” -Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale (1914)
In one of our southern California local newspapers, Helen Dennis (helendenn@aol.com), columnist and leader on aging, wrote a column about the positives to getting older. She wrote about a national effort to address and redirect the concept of the perception of aging. In 2014 an initiative was launched called the “Reframing Aging Initiative” sponsored by the Frameworks Institute (frameworkinstitute.com.) in partnership with eight national age-focused organizations to create a better public understanding of elder adults’ needs and contributions to society. There is a major emphasis on aging because we are becoming one of the largest demographic changes in our country.
I’m fairly sure you noticed the date when this quote was written. Yes, 1914. I see much of what Robertson Hale is saying to be happening today, 104 years later. It is good to be a woman. We may take our time in advancing, slowly but surely we get there. We see more women running for a political office, more women becoming successful in their careers, and one NBA team hired a woman (Becky Harmon) as an assistant coach. Wow. Also, remember the ERA, Equal Rights Amendment. Only one more state is needed to pass the amendment, but that may be mute due to expiration of the time limit to ratification. As Robertson Hale says, “Women are alive in the world as never before.” I agree. I am grateful for all of women’s accomplishments and for living at this time.
See you in Bellingham.
Janet Morrissey, President
Bellingham Sightseeing Tour & Waterfront Dinner
A sightseeing bus tour of Bellingham that includes Bellingham’s points of interest with a tradition of native Americans, fishing and logging and culminates with dinner at Giuseppe’s Ristorante located in Squalicum Marina at Bellingham Bay is scheduled for Friday, September 28th, 3:00-6:30 pm. Choice of dinner options is included for a cost of $70. Get more information or purchase now.
Early Sign-Up for Crone Follies 2018
Please sign up for the Follies via the website here. A separate evening for sharing our own creations of poetry and short stories is planned, so, for the Follies, your act should be one of the following: singing, dancing, comedy, or music. Complete the Follies application form.
Talking to Dogs, Cats, Plants and Other Living Things
By Maggie Fenton
“What did you say?” Mike asks. “Nothing to you… I was talking to the dog.” This happens frequently at our house. Sometimes, it isn’t the dog; it’s a cat or a bird or a plant. I don’t remember when I started this behavior but I think I’ve been doing it all my life. The other animals seem to respond even though they may not always get my meaning but now, after reading Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire and The Hidden Life of Trees: What they Feel, How they Communicate by Peter Wohlleben, perhaps other living things perceive more than I ever imagined.
During our first winter of pruning at the berry farm, Mike and I ‘talked’ to each and every bush. We did it as a joke, naming each bush and asking things like, “Well, John, do you need your sideburns trimmed?” or “Mary, things are getting a bit muddled in your middle .. would you like a liposuction?” It made us laugh and passed the time as we struggled with our ignorance, afraid we were completely destroying the bushes. Low and behold, the next summer brought a bumper crop of berries .. large ones too .. some as big as a quarter. Customers who had been to the farm before we bought it told us they never remembered the berries so big and abundant. We assumed it was because the field hadn’t been pruned in years and the bushes were making up for lost time.
Since then, pruning has become less personal. I’ve abdicated my roll as pruner because of achy hands and Mike just wants to finish the job as quickly as possible. No more naming the bushes; no more talking to them individually (although I still tell them they are beautiful and thank them for thriving.) You know what? We’ve never had berries as big as that first year.
My conclusions? Life and Nature are much more mysterious than we will ever know. As Wendell Berry suggests, I “bow to mystery” and I’ll keep talking to other animals and plants too.
The Crones Counsel Archives Committee has gone through all sorts of items and discovered they need to have included two of the Crones Counsel calendars, XV 2007 Asilomar for 2008 and XVII 2009 Atlanta for 2010.
The Committee has also discovered they are missing three issues of Crone Times – v.2#2, 2002; v.6#2, 2007 and v.8#2, 2009.
If you still have one or both of these calendars and are willing to donate them to the Archives Committee, they would be most grateful.
Please send your calendar(s) or Crone Times to:
Janet Osborne
384 E 1075 N
Logan, UT 84341
CRONES COUNSEL 27
2019 Annual Gathering in Tucson!
September 4-8, 2019
Welcome to the Southwest!
“CHANGING WOMAN”
Our theme originates with a powerful deity of the Navajo and Apache peoples. She embodies the spiral of life/death/life. She constantly changes but never grows old, for as she completes the cycle of the Medicine Wheel and approaches the East again, she is young again.
We will be gathering at the Marriott Tucson University Park hotel in the heart of Tucson adjacent to the beautiful University of Arizona campus. You will enjoy 33 restaurants and a variety of shops within a two-mile walk! In addition, you will become acquainted with the cultural heritage of the Great Southwest!
Registration information will be available in Bellingham and in our upcoming newsletter as well as on the CC website by mid-October at www.cronescounsel.org Note: early registration will take place after our Gathering in Bellingham until the end of October through the CC website or with the Registrar by phone or email.
Win Fiandaca – 480-225-7020 – winfiandaca@gmail.com, Flagstaff and Phoenix
Andrea Hartwig – 480-201-2793 – hartwigconsulting14@gmail.com, Tucson
Enid’s Envelopes
Please bring any decorated envelopes that you may have received from Enid Williams for a memorial at the empty chair.