On the Menu: blogs, books, tarot...and food

It may look like a forgotten old grain elevator in a Saskatchewan farmer's field. But come closer. See the door there, just around the corner? That's it. Step inside, where you'll find Katie May serving up a few of her favourite things.

ask the tarot

Got a question for the cards? Madam Katrinka will divine the tarot for you.

Delivered via email and for a donation, private card readings can be arranged. But for free you may SEND ONE QUESTION to stubblejumperscafe @gmail.com (remove the space before @). Madam K will do the reading at her earliest opportunity, even though it may not appear immediately on the webpage. Please note that questions left in the comments section will not be answered (although Lorraine and Carol, I have added yours to the queue since I didn't make this clear before now).

By sending your question, you are agreeing to allow it, the reading and your feedback, without identifying details, to be posted here at Stubblejumpers.

To find out how Madam K approaches the cards, click here.

It all started back in 1984.

To learn more about the tarot, pass your mouse over the cards in the far-right column and discover webpages illuminating various aspects of tarot, written by other card readers. I am presently using the Morgan Greer deck; to see all the cards in this deck, follow the link provided at far right.

blogs of merit

When I discovered online journals, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. People published their ongoing diaries for all to read... why, it was like receiving a friendly letter every day of my life. What could be better than that?

People reach out to us with art, with photographs, beauty, humour. Theirs are the blogs on the Stubblejumpers buffet. Please dish up heartily.

*** To peruse the cook's diary, click here.

booklovers

Wouldn't it be perfect if restaurants had reclining chairs and after you'd stuffed yourself you could lie back for an hour? If only I ran the world.

As it happens, I do run the Stubblejumpers world. So grab a book off the shelf and stretch out under a cosy quilt. Stay as long as you like. And if you come across a real page-turner, let me know by writing stubblejumperscafe at gmail dot com.

In the Kitchen:

Cheese Soup

2 tb butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
2 cups homemade vegetable broth (see below)
2 cups light cream or milk
dash of Tabasco sauce
¼ tsp black pepper
2 c grated cheddar cheese
2 green onions, chopped

Melt butter in heavy pot and sauté onion and carrot till tender but not browned. Add broth, bring to boil, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add cream, Tabasco and pepper, and bring to boil. Remove from heat and stir in cheese till melted. Top with green onions and serve.


Vegetable Broth

½ c vegetable oil
4 carrots, diced
4 celery stalks, diced
3 large onions, chopped
6 medium-sized potatoes, diced
3 turnips, diced
3 cups parings from scrubbed carrots, potatoes, turnips, parsnips if available
3 quarts water
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tb salt
½ tsp pepper
small bunch parsley

Heat oil in large heavy pot and sauté vegetables for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Add remaining ingredients, bring to boil, covered partially, and simmer for 2 hours.
When cooled, put through fine sieve or run through blender. Cool, chill and freeze in pints or quarts. Makes about 5 quarts.

* from The Natural Foods Cookbook

class 3 drivers'?

 Hi! I have a question for the Tarot. I am thinking about getting my class 3 drivers licence...I am looking at a career change & the prospect of 'going wherever the road takes you' each day seems wonderful. Will it be so? Thanks in advance.
- Lorraine

 VI Wands, IX Pentacles, King Cups

Yep, it’ll be pretty wonderful. It will give you lots of time to think, which you will like, and you will be doing something that gives you a feeling of power and a sense of working at something that fits in with your values. It wouldn’t be without any dissatisfaction, though. There is no such thing as perfection in any job, really, so it’s to be expected that in time you will want to make changes, and that’s all right. Overall the cards tell us that you are going in the right direction and for the right reasons, and that you’ll be successful with it.

walmsley writes

Tom Walmsley’s webpage showcases some of his unpublished writing.
Most recent is Eilidh, a story written from the perspective of a molesting father who believes he’s done nothing wrong, and that of his daughter who has grown up feeling otherwise yet having no idea what normal is.  
Also posted, regularly and in small groupings for short, powerful sippings, some of Walmsley’s view of life is distilled into potent haiku.

You can read more about Tom Walmsley at The Canadian Encyclopedia and find his blog here.

a three dog life

Imagine. Your husband goes out to walk the dog, as he does every day. But he doesn’t come back at the usual time. Instead, just as you’ve begun to worry, news arrives that he’s been hit by a car and, though he’s alive, he’s never the same again, and neither are you. This is what happened to Abigail Thomas.
 Her memoir A Three Dog Life articulates the fear, guilt, loss and stress brought on by this huge and unexpected event. Rich is brain-damaged and must stay in a nursing home. Abigail must now live alone, except for her devoted dogs. But her husband still loves and needs her, and she loves and needs him. His memory is damaged, sometimes non-existent. He is often angry, frustrated, sad. And he has a surprisingly intuitive awareness of things he has no obvious way of knowing.
We can never be sure what’s coming or when, but whatever happens, we learn to cope. Maybe we can be happy again, and maybe we can’t. A Three Dog Life is an inside account of one person’s journey toward acceptance and contentment after tragedy.

what do i need to know?

    To Madam Kay:
    My question to you is - I have come through a challenging period with many changes inside and out. My father passed away in November at which time I had to re-visit my emotions concerning my mother's passing 10 years earlier which I'd somewhat buried. I moved to a new apartment, a dear friend passed and an important friendship relationship has become distant. Through all of this I have let my study of tarot suffer and am working hard to focus and get back on track. What can I expect or need to know relating spiritually, mentally and physically over the next months.
    Thank you
    Carol


Hi Carol
To answer your question, I pulled three cards.
What do I need to know spiritually? I- The Magician
Mentally? V Rods
Physically? II Swords

The most exciting advancements will be in the area of spirituality, where you have all the tools you need to go where you want to go, learn what you want to learn, and to take your knowledge and put it into practice. While mentally you may feel frustrated because you can't answer all your seekings and questions with logic and you can't always figure out the next steps you need to take, and physically you may also feel your energy level isn't what you'd like it to be, the cards suggest that you focus on your spiritual education and practice for now, and that in time the mental and physical aspects of your life will follow your progress there. In other words, as you become more comfortable, more sure of yourself, more firmly based in your philosophy of life, and more easily able to focus upon and manifest your beliefs, you'll see them expressed and demonstrated in your ways of thinking and feeling as well as in your physical body. For now, your spiritual life is where the most growth and satisfaction will be gained, and where your power is, and once you're paying attention to this aspect of your life, problems or dissatisfactions in other areas will decrease.

how to learn swedish in 1000 difficult lessons

Francis Strand, a magazine editor, married a Swedish man and began to learn the language. According to his blog’s title, it’s been a laborious process. But I don’t believe a word of it. It seems to me Francis has the Swedish language pretty well figured out. And while he’s sharing his linguistic discoveries with his readers, we’re getting a glimpse into the life of an American in Stockholm. Read it here.

the zookeeper's wife

Antonina and Jan Zabinski were operating a zoo in 1930s Warsaw when Germany invaded Poland. During the Second World War they used the bombed-out, limping enterprise to daringly shelter fugitives right under the noses of the murderous Nazis infecting their city. The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman is the story of their determination to do the right thing as a part of the underground resistance against the brutal Nazi occupation.

A couple excerpts:

“Every bomb creates a different scent, depending on where it hits, what it boils into aerosol and the nose detects slipping apart, as molecules mix with air and float free. Then the nose can pick up ten thousand distinctive scents, from cucumber to violin resin. When a bakery was hit, the rising dirt cloud smelled of yeast sours, eggs, molasses and rye. The mingled odours of cloves, vinegar, and burning flesh spelled the butcher’s. Charred flesh and pine meant an incendiary bomb that blasted houses with a hot, fast fire, and that the people inside had died quickly.”

And

“The Nazis were ardent animal lovers and environmentalists who promoted calisthenics and healthy living, regular trips to the countryside, and far-reaching animal rights policies as they rose to power… Although Mengele’s subjects (Slaves, Gypsies, Catholics, Jews) could be operated on without any painkillers at all, a remarkable example of Nazi zoophilia is that a leading biologist was once punished for not giving worms enough anesthesia during an experiment.”

And

“Gibbons couples yodel formal songs complete with overtures, codas, interludes, duets, and solos.”

You can read an interview with Diane Ackerman on this page of the Washington Post.

memorial speaker?

 I keep getting feedback, over and over again, on the funeral service I did for my nephew. I enjoyed doing it. It was very meaningful to me. Am I meant to do more of this kind of thing? People keep asking if I would. -Annette

Question: What are the conditions around Annette doing more funeral services?

Answer: Page Swords
Why that is: XXI The World
Outcome: II Swords

You are not meant to do more of this kind of thing, at least not professionally, though you are capable of doing it well and may do it from time to time. It is not your heart’s desire and shouldn’t be a large part of your vocation. You have many talents but need to focus on the one(s) where it is most important to you to make achievements, and this avenue does not appear to be one that would be most satisfying over the long term.

runaway granny

All on the same page are entries on the following topics: poor judging, professional blogs, a dream, missing mum, and an afternoon in Glasgow. But my favourite, entitled “Coupling,” ends with this wishful thinking:

“Now, I’d rather write about sex than actually take part in all that heaving, sweaty exercise – been there, done that loads-a-times, nothing-new-to-be-had. How could I ever be bothered again? I can’t imagine. Maybe I’ll pick up a nice old gent when I’m eighty and he can perambulate me in my wheelchair, lift and lay me in my single bed, bring me my Earl Grey and chocolate biscuits. It won’t matter what he looks like as long as he’s kind and has lost his sex-drive. I don’t want to give up any of my power or precious time to someone else’s pursuits, so that man would have to give his life over to me completely and be my slave, and leave whenever I wanted to be alone. So really, all I'll need is a male live-in carer who also wants to be alone to write his novel or paint his art – what a perfect couple we would make!”

Rather the reverse of the common wishful thinking among women, is it not? Since Runaway Granny is only 55 years old, I get a kick out of this.

sex with the queen

Until reading this book, I was never so glad to be a nobody. A nobody, that is, who can choose her lovers without interference and marry whom she pleases.

Author Eleanor Herman recounts the not-so-romantic lives of nine centuries of royal women, among them Catherine the Great, Marie Antoinette and Anne Boleyn. Some wielded political power but many were used (and abused) by it. They may have worn fine, jewelled garments and had plenty to eat, but they were traded like cattle and, in many cases, treated less humanely. It’s no wonder that some, stuck in cold and loveless marriages, chose adultery, even though its discovery could mean charges of treason, imprisonment or death for themselves, and torture and brutal execution for their lovers. Love was a risky business.

“Having examined the emptiness of palace life and the sorrows of the marriage bed, well can we understand why a queen would have been unfaithful. Looking at the earliest stories of adulterous queens, we are unsure whether to condemn their weakness or applaud their courage.”

mother and daughter?

How do I better my relationship with my 16-year-old daughter? –Laura

I asked, What are the conditions around the relationship?
Answer: IX Cups
Why that is: Knight of Swords
Next Step: II Swords
Outcome: IX Wands

Your relationship with your daughter has a strong and loving foundation but where you get worked up is that you both have your own agendas and strong motivations and your daughter has a mind of her own. The II of Swords suggests that you need to face a certain reality or truth about your daughter, that you have been unwilling to see. More: you need to accept and approve of her as she is for now. Remember, nothing stays the same forever.
 Not only will this do your relationship with her a world of good. It will reduce your personal anxiety level considerably. -Kate

I have received the reading and it was very helpful and definitely fits for us. I will take the advice and hopefully be able to get close to her again. -Laura

a thousand words

From Vancouver, British Columbia comes the journal of a photographer who has captured the images of many well-known artists and performers during his long career. Alex Waterhouse-Hayward’s portraits are accompanied by his memories of a childhood in Argentina and in Mexico, and a married life in western Canada. Now he watches old films with his young granddaughters and takes them to concerts, art shows and galleries. He tends a lush flower garden with his wife Rosemary and, while his life revolves around his family, there are always the photographs from both present and past and the stories that go with them.

Visit A Thousand Words.

mrs hudson and the malabar rose

Anthropology students are told “Cherchez la femme,” because when you want to know what is really going on in a culture or a community, you talk to the women. This is a reality of human life, and it’s a reality in Martin Davies’ fictional novel about two women in the domestic employ of Sherlock Holmes and his sleuthing partner Mr Watson.

While Holmes and Watson get the big government commission to protect a priceless gem, the Malabar Rose, housekeeper Mrs Hudson and her young ward Flotsam take up the case of a vanished husband. Sherlock Holmes does not wish to bother with such a domestic triviality, which he dismisses as a man going willfully—and understandably— awol from a tasking marriage. Besides, the great detective himself has bigger fish to fry.

Mrs Hudson and Flotsam carry on undaunted, only to discover, as the clever and sharp-eyed Hudson suspected all along, that there is a connection between the two cases. That’s when Holmes and Watson are forcefully reminded that Mrs Hudson is an investigative force to be respected.

Find out more about the series of Mrs Hudson mysteries by visiting this link.

stuck at crossroads?

Hiya KatieMay,
I am stuck at the crossroads. Every path, every change I attempt to make in my life seems to lead back to the same place. So I am sitting down and not moving until I get an answer on how to break free of the cycle! LOL!  -Spiderose, in Quebec

What are the conditions around breaking free of the cycle Spiderose is in?

Answer: VI The Lovers
Why that is: X Swords
Next Step: III Wands
End Result: IX Cups

It is indecision that is holding you back; you feel there is nothing you absolutely must do, or even that you can do. The card that shows the next step is the III of Wands, which you should pay special attention to. It is telling you that before there can be movement, you need to consider some new ways of seeing things. Your already-established knowledge is solid and healthy, but it is time to open yourself to attitudes that you may not have considered before now. Once you do, you will see movement again and it will be extremely satisfying. Certainly you need to live according to your values and experiences, but here you are advised to let go of the way you have seen yourself for a long time, and allow yourself to express other aspects that you have either held back or not recognized as part of your character and personality.

Thanks so much Kate! The reading totally makes sense. I am just not quite sure what the new way of percieving myself is yet LOL!  ooooh! for just a teeny weeny hint ...but patience I guess.

Hi Rose,
Teeny weeny hint:
IX Swords- key: feeling sorry for oneself; "this person has been hurt by life but is crying about it rather than moving ahead. She must get out of her bed, stop feeling sorry for herself, and get on with her life" (from Norma Cowie's book, Tarot for Successful Living).

I was once given some advice similar to what you got in your reading. Let me use my experience to try to help you. I had to let go of my image of myself, which was as a country-lovin', granola-eating, back-to-the-earth gal, and allow myself to appreciate store-bought cookies and television. Until I did, I was denying myself things that actually made my life easier and I sometimes enjoyed, because of my idea of myself as a person who couldn't be interested in these things. I had to loosen up and understand that liking storebought cookies and watching TV didn't make me any less of who I thought I was; it just made me more of a moderate about it, and that was okay.

Hiya Kate,
Thanks for the "teeny weeny hint." It actually fits really well with my current situation. I recently suffered an unbelievable betrayal and abandonment by my family, a complicated story, but relating to my spirituality being different than theirs, among other things. Anyway, it has been very hard to move forward from this situation, and accept that I do not have a family.
 The example you gave fits too, actually, as I am someone who has always tried to do things the "natural" way, and sometimes take on more than one person can do. And, I tend to be hard on myself for such things as watching TV, being on the internet, etc. I am still trying in many ways to please people who are never going to accept me... And it is definitely time that I start accepting, embracing, and rewarding myself. So thanks— Great reading!

trilby's daze

They were still newlyweds, practically, when her husband was diagnosed with a serious illness, and though he underwent treatment it came as a surprise when he suddenly took a turn for the worse one day, at home, and died within hours.

What does a woman do when her beloved partner is gone? She grieves. It is not an easy journey and it takes a long, long time, and some of us might pick up a pen and a camera to show others what it is like.

Pamela Yates begins her blog while on a sailing trip. She takes us to the islands she visits before coming back home to the States, where her young adult children are. She sorts through her husband’s photographs and her memories of him and their life together. Throughout this poignant letter of love and longing, we get a sense that Pamela’s husband Jerry isn’t as far away as he seems.

Visit Trilby's Daze.