Willothewisp Blog

Jacopo Tintorett's Origin Of The Milky Way

Breast Milk & The Creation Of The Universe, a story in which I am naked on the couch under the softest of blankets with two males tucked up against me as I recount the creation of the Milky Way.

At three am Nina was sound asleep as I sat in the rocking chair by the French windows of our bedroom nursing Joost. I had drawn the curtains back and could feel the slightly chillier air coming off the windows despite the triple glazing. I do not know why I still do this it is not like I can see out into the dark anymore so I am guessing that I just enjoy the slight chill and the memory of looking into the dark. It did give me an excuse to draw the cashmere blanket, a beautiful and expensive Christmas gift from Nina, around mine and Joost’s nakedness wrapping us both in its soft warmth. Around us both the house and the world slept, or so I hoped.

Sissi stirred from her basket beside our bed and came to tell me someone else in the house was awake, very little escapes her notice. Rather than disturb Joost I sat and waited and sure enough within a minute Nicholas’s head peaked around the bedroom door. I signed to him to come on in and asked him why he was awake. A dream, not a bad one, had woken him up and now he was restless, standing there in his PJs he looked cold and in need of some hugs so keeping Joost firmly supported in one arm I moved us and the blanket over to the bedroom couch. Once settled I was able to open up the blanket and envelop all three of us in its softness, then just for good measure Sissi decided she want to be part of it and came up as well.

There we all sat cuddled together. Joost continuing to suckle, fall asleep, wake, suckle and fall asleep again on one side, Nicholas resting tight up against my other side watching Joost closely while glancing up to see the snow falling outside and all under a soft blanket warmed by a dog. After a few minutes I signed with one hand and asked Nicholas what he was thinking.

“The snow flakes in the moonlight look like stars in the Milky Way” He signed back. Nicholas is fascinated by astronomy at the moment and is devouring every book and internet site he can find about the subject so I asked if his new studies were going well.

“Yes Moeder, but………….why is it called the MILKY way, it does not look like milk” as he said this his finger scooped up a dribble of milk that had escaped Joost’s mouth and run out over my breast and held the milk drop up to me. I could not have designed the moment if I had been trying, by happy chance it was a perfect lead into telling him a little story, so signing with my free hand I told him………………………………………..

“ Many, many years ago during the times of the Romans and Greeks there was a tale of one of their gods, Hercules. In fact he was a demigod, being the son of the god  Zeus, and the mortal Alcmena. Alcmena was the daughter of Electryon, king of Mycenae. Her mother was queen Anaxo. It was said that their daughter Alcmene was the most beautiful woman in the world with a wisdom surpassed by no person born of mortal parents. Her face and dark eyes were as charming as Aphrodite’s, and that she honoured her husband like no woman had before her. One day her brothers were ambushed and killed by worriers from two tribes, the Taphians and Teleboans. She loved her brothers dearly and swore their deaths would be avenged one day. She asked her future husband Amphitryon to be the one to avenge their deaths for her and he agreed so they married. Some time before her husband had accidently killed Alcemena’s father Electron so she first asked her husband to go to Thebes to be purified by Creon because he had accidentally killed her father Electryon. Alcmene said that she would marry Amphitryon once he had avenged the death of her brothers.

Amphitryon decided to mount an expedition against the Taphians and Teleboans to avenge the deaths of her brothers thus fulfilling his promise to his wife. While he was away fighting that the god  Zeus visited Alcmene disguised as Amphitryon. Zeus had heard about her great beauty and wanted to see Alcmene for himself. As soon as he saw her he was entranced by this mortal woman’s great beauty and decided that he wanted to be with her, so he took his evil deception further and bedded her. Such was his delight with her he stayed several nights and so Alcmene became pregnant with Hercules all the time believing that she had been with her husband.

When the real Amphitryon finally returned to Thebes, Alcmene told him that he had come the night before and slept with her but of course he had no idea of this and so eventually they learnt what Zeus had done. Knowing his dear wife was an honorable woman and would never knowingly have betrayed him with Zeus Amphitryon forgave her though it was not necessary.

When Alcmene was about to give birth to Hercules, Zeus announced to all the gods that on that day a child, descended from himself, would be born who would rule all those around him. Hera, Zeus’s wife, asked her husband Zeus swear an oath to that effect which he happily did. Then Hera, angry at her husband for bedding Alcmene descended from Mount Olympus, home of the gods, to Argos and made the wife of Sthenelus, a son of Perseus, tgive birth to Eurytheus, the baby she was expecting, two months early, while at the same time prevent she prevented Alcmene from birthing Heracles. This cruel trick resulted in the fulfillment of Zeus’s oath by Eurystheus rather than his own son Heracles.

When Alcmene was in labour she was having difficulty giving birth to such a large child. After seven days and nights in agony, Alcmene stretched out her arms and called upon Lucina, the goddess of childbirth to help. However, while Lucina did go to Alcmene, she was instructed by Juno to stop the delivery. With her hands clasped and legs crossed, Lucina muttered charms and spells, thereby preventing Alcmene from giving birth. Alcmene struggled in pain, she cursed the heavens, and became close to death. Galanthis, a devoted maid and doula to her mistress Alcmene observed Lucina’s actions and quickly deduced Juno’s plans. She decided to stop their devious plot and so announced that Alcmene had in fact safely delivered her child. This surprised Lucina so much that she immediately jumped up and unclenched her hands. As soon as Lucina leapt up, Alcmene was released from her spell and gave birth to Heracles. As punishment for deceiving Lucina, Galanthis was transformed into a weasel but ever faithful she continued to live with Alcmene for the rest of her life.

Alcmene was so exhausted after her long labour with Hercules that afterwards she slept deeply, during her sleep Zeus returned and took Hercules and put him to his own wife Juno’s breast while she also slept. He did this because he knew that if his son suckled from his wife who was a goddess then he would become instilled with the power of the gods. As Zeus suckled from Juno she woke and she took her breast from the baby Hercule’s mouth and her milk sprayed out across the heavens and in doing so the vast spray of goddess’s milk created the stars of what became the “Milky Way”. Some milk splashed to the earth and where the drops fell a new flower, white Lilies grew. This is how the stars above came to be called the Milky Way”

I had been hoping that the story would lull Nicholas off to sleep but when I looked to his face it was to see that he was now more awake than before, in fact his visage was one of the utterly fascinated and entranced !

“Wow !” he exclaimed “Of course mother it could not really happen but it’s a great story” He paused a few moments before adding “I don’t think you or Mama spray the heavens…….. just the other side of the room sometimes !”Naturally I did not mention that on occasion I certainly felt that I could spray the heavens, instead I just smiled.

van der Roos household, bedroom couch & blanket

There then followed a lot more questions about Alcmene, Zeus, Lucina and the rest until eventually his hands slowed down, and his body settled more against me and he was asleep. It was nearly five am and in an hour my day would start again, so under our blanket with my two sons pressed tightly to my skin and the soft beautiful smells of them both filling my head and my feet warmed by Sissi I dozed while snow continued to fall outside. Despite really needing to sleep I did not because that would mean missing that wonderful moment in my life. Too often we live our lives surrounded by so much noise and chaos that we miss the most precious of moments, but there and then I had time enough to see for what it was, a perfect moment in time and perfect moments are so rare.

So there I sat as on my feet Sissi rolled onto her back with her paws in the air as she enjoyed the warmth afforded by so much company on the couch. On my chest Joost had fallen asleep his cheek pressed deeply into the flesh of my bosom, his tiny little hands moving about in his sleep as though waving to us even as he was deeply away in his world of slumber.

On the other side Nicholas slept with his thumb in his mouth, his face a picture of utter contentment. My mind drifted to the time six or seven years ago when he came to us. Then he was a terribly traumatized and neglected child, he could not be left for a moment without becoming terrorized that I might not return. When I held him to me he would be rigid, his hands gripping me so tightly in constant fear of the moment I might put him down and not return that he left deep nail marks in my skin. He had been born into a world of silence an so he needed to be touched constantly, to be able to see a face and see your lips moving even though he could not hear the words. I spent long hours caressing his face and hands while talking to him, but still terror remained. So deeply embedded was his terror of being alone that after three months I often despaired in the cold dark hours of dawn that he would ever be normal but then one day my mother, after watching carefully the daily struggle with him told me what he needed.

A couple of weeks later, with my mother’s knowledgeable assistance, some herbs and some deft stimulation I was able to nurse Nicholas. Instantly, really, truly instantly he was calm regardless of how much milk he drew from me. Within days he learnt that even if I was out of his sight that I would be back and any panic he has would be washed away. After a few weeks as my milk supply came fully in he was starting to gain weight, then his skin problems improved along with his digestive problems. He no longer screamed or beat himself against the cot sides, he no longer scratched himself just to feel some sort of stimulation and he no longer removed flesh when in my arms. As I poured something of myself into him I watched his body and his spirit heal. Over the next two months he sweetened into the placid and gentle child he is today.

He still loves to have his hands and feet rubbed, and when he needs comfort his face also. Looking now at the child he was and the child he has become, I now do the same with Joost I wonder how he will look in six years time. I watch their sleeping faces happy to see them growing up while also wishing they wouldn’t, trying in my mind to freeze that moment in time again.

Foot Note

A few random thoughts……………

I feel I have an embarrassment of riches, but it is an embarrassment that I am happy to have.

I am still so overwhelmed by what Nina did for me, without her kindness I would not have been able to write about that lovely night above.

I think we have finally settled things and have Joost’s final name, just have to check with a dear friend first before announcing it.

Author: Judith

Carnival Breasts

Nina and I had been out to collect Hilke from her physical therapy appointment. Hilke has spina bifida and every few weeks we have a physical therapist work with her to help her develop her walking and attend to any movement problems she has. It is a pretty tough couple of hours for her but productive so afterwards we told her she would not have to go back to school but instead we would do what she wanted to do for the afternoon. Her wish was to go shopping for Carnival things.

This is the Catholic area of our country and so here in Limberg each year we have four wonderful days where reality takes a back seat and we dive into Carnival. The show starts for real on Carnival Sunday, when brass bands march through the city streets. Later, stages are set up for live music and DJs. Meanwhile, fancy dress parties take place in neighborhoods throughout the city, each with music and entertainment laid on. Maastricht’s many bars stay open all night through carnival, and the crowds enjoy singing and dancing in the streets, most of them wearing their ‘pekskes’ (carnival costumes). The festival begins with hoisting the celebratory flag atop the flagpole and the sounds of cannon fire, along with the “greengrocerwoman.” The greengrocer woman is a symbol of luck and good fortune. The cannon is fired in the centre of town on the Vrijthof Square. This is the start of three glorious days of non-stop partying. An impressive parade marches jubilantly through town with participants stopping to chat, or eat, or shop, and then rejoining the festive throng. People are everywhere, in the streets and in the pubs, enjoying life! It is an amazing site to see the crowds watching the parade, as well as those participating in the march.

Maastricht Carnival Page here.

Each year I make up some costumes on my sewing machine and we let the children accessorize their outfits with carnival tat that they find on sale around the town this time of year. It has become one of their favorite times of year and about the only occasion I allow a loosening up the reins of sensible spending of their pocket money, we even top up their modest allowances with some extra gifts. With carnival just eighteen days away Hilke knew just what she wanted to do and for the next few hours she dragged Nina, Mariaske, Joost and I around looking at the Carnival costumes and accessories for sale in the various stores. The added wrinkle is that as far as she is concerned, herself and her guide dog Jos are one and therefore BOTH require suitable attire for Carnival !

After two hours Joost let us know it was time for his feed so we went for refreshments in the Bijenkorf restaurant. The Bijenkorf has a big café on the top floor with a nice lounge sitting area and good baby facilities. They offer a good range of fresh fruits and vegetables and snacks prepared and cooked from raw ingredients right in front of you so I like it there. Being lunch time it was busy but we got a place at one end of the big long communal tables. Sitting opposite us were some young women of the over made up, over coiffure type. Nails were long and perfect, dyed haired precise, make re-applied repeatedly, reading material was the glossy female magazine type full of stories of “Celebes”. One had a very low cut blouse and was clearly showing off her assets. They may have been worth showing off if they were so clearly not her breasts but those found in a silicon factory. She had a bad boob job with the lines of the implants clearly visible under her skin, the silly girl had gone for implants that were cheap and too big and the result was just plain silly, though she appeared unable to see it.

When I started to discreetly nurse Joost it did seem to attract a lot of attention from the young lady and after a few minutes she was leaning more on the table, almost pushing herself up and out – so to speak. It was a strange reaction and made me think that this woman was not entirely sure about the choices she had made about her body.

Hilke also noticed how the girl was watching. Hilke is a very bright little girl for a nine year old. She reads at the age of a sixteen year old and is very, very good observer of humanity. I suspect that growing up in a deaf household she has just got very adept at reading body language and mannerisms. She is also highly articulate and quick with her tongue, so when I saw her considering this woman so carefully I started to get uneasy…………………………………………………

Sitting next to me at the table Hilke went through some of her Carnival purchases with Nina while all the time keeping an eye on the busty young woman as she watched me nurse. Hilke was listing each one of her purchases and what she wanted to do with them when she suddenly paused. I knew instantly the moment had come, being a student of Hilke’s body language myself ! Speaking in what I was told later was a very strident voice she said;

“And look Mama” (“Mama” is Nina, I am “Moeder”) pointing to me breastfeeding “ REAL breasts here but over there………” pointing to the extensive bosom on display on the opposite side of the table “ CARNIVIAL BREASTS !” and then laughing very loudly at her own joke !

The whole restaurant stopped, everyone looked. The poor young woman was clearly horrified to have her pride and joy breasts mocked by a mere nine year old disabled girl and so she quickly moved to stuff her two puppies back down into her top and wrap her coat around her as she rather hurriedly departed.

We both looked to Hilke about to reprimand her for her somewhat brutal treatment of what must have been a rather unfortunately shallow young woman. She shrugged her shoulders and held up her hand palm open and said;

“Well they WERE like carnival breasts, No WAYYYYYYYY were they real !”.

Author: Judith.

TSA

Want to hear a funny story of “Law Enforcement” falling foul of the very hysteria they created – then read on.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created as part of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Chimpanzee Bush on November 19, 2001. The agency is responsible for security in all modes of transportation and given the idiocy of it’s employees the travelling American public should be scared witless.

At the Bakersfield airport in California USA, TSA authorities recently shut down the entire airport after finding what they thought was a container of liquid explosives. Luggage screeners discovered five Gatorade bottles full of an “amber” liquid. TSA agents then opened the bottles and complained they smelled “a strong chemical odor.” They then complained of nausea and were rushed by paramedics to the local hospital for treatment. Then the whole “security” apparatus swung into action as County Sheriffs deputies, fire crews, FBI agents and members of a joint terrorism task force responded to the scene and spent the day questioning a farmer, Mr Ramirez before further tests showed that the liquid was natural, unprocessed HONEY,

Let us be clear here, Mr Ramirez was interrogated by the FBI for hours while being presumed to be a terrorist – not a case of innocent until proven guilty, those days have gone.

An important question is just how did TSA agents smell chemicals in an all natural substance when clearly there were none, So convinced were they that this was an “explosive amber liquid”, cued no doubt by their agencies own rhetoric, that they were overcome by fumes from possible chemical explosives. Clearly they were also budding actors because they started acting like they’re experiencing nausea to be rushed off to the hospital. Either that or they were just bucking for the day off !

I have visions of those overfed macho men hold a limp wrist to their forehead and exclaiming in a feminine southern belle accent “ Why I do declare I feel an attack of the vapors a comin over meeee!” before swooning gracefully to the floor.

Personally I think they acted just like teenage girls sometimes do, and developed a form of hysteria. Primed by years of their own “terrorism” propaganda they have ended up swallowing what started out as a lie. Add this to their “obey all orders without thinking” institutional mentality, and the famous “you must respect my authority!” US law enforcement mindset and you have set the stage for some unbelievable stupidity.

The TSA cannot catch actual terrorists, despite the vast monies thrown at them. It is really good at flagging innocent people as terrorists and wasting thousands of hours of time and millions of dollars by declaring bogus terrorists emergencies that only serve to inconvenience everyone and give them a stage on which to display the all Peacock the plumage of US law enforcement.

In the last few years they have managed to arrest innocent people when the tests they use cannot tell the difference between natural chocolate (cocoa) and cannabis resin or when their tests flag natural soaps as containing cocaine. Now their tests cannot tell Honey from explosives. Some how I think that given the right emotional cues there is not any food or liquid substance that is safe from being declared a bomb by the stupid and incompetent TSA employees.

As I have stated before the real mission of the TSA and other US law enforcement agencies has nothing to do with security. It has everything to do with brainwashing Americans to surrender to police state searches while living in a never-ending state of extreme fear of terrorism.

Americans, you are following a herd mentality on the road to a police state, you need to wake up.

American Airport Madness

• TSA agents confiscated three bags of Gummie Bears from the children of a family stating that they were “gel like” and wouldn’t be allowed because regulations stated no “gel-like substances”.
• In training exercises where fake bombs are put into luggage to test the TSA’s x-ray screening machine operators it seems that the boys of the TSA miss a staggering 75%.
• An airport manager had her Dr. School’s taken by the morons at the TSA. They had a gel in-sole to help her walk, this lady was unable to work shoeless & had to go home.
• Two days after serving two journalists with subpoenas demanding that they reveal a confidential source, a move that prompted widespread backlash among frequent fliers, the Transportation Security Administration has withdrawn the subpoenas and returned a damaged laptop to one of the blog writers. A TSA spokesman claimed Thursday that its investigation into who leaked a December 25 security directive was nearing completion and the subpoenas were no longer necessary, they should admit that they were simply caught out be very stupid and employing bully tactics.
• A Texas woman was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane. The lady called for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation. TSA officials said they are investigating whether the agency’s policies were followed. “Our security officers are well-trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect while ensuring a high level of security,” the agency said in a statement, Sorry guys but your agents are poorly trained, and for the most educationally challenged.
• Let us be clear; Shoebomber failed because he was taken by force on the plane. The liquid bomb plot failed because someone turned them. What has the TSA caught?
• The American taxpayers have paid out billions for the TSA to remove tooth paste, bottled water, and your grandmother’s sewing needle from your person. Because if there really was a bona fide terrorist arrested at the security checkpoint, we’d be seeing news bulletins about how Bush’s/ Obamas’s increased security saved Americans from a second 9/11.

Gelukkig nieuwjaar aan alle Geelse lezers  -  Happy new year to all our readers!

What a wonderful way to start a new year……..

This morning at 08.30 CET Nina gave birth to a baby boy here at her home amongst her family. Baby is fit and well at 3284 grams, 50.7cm long. His name is most likely to be Joost Karl van der Roos, though this has not been fixed yet ! His birth was faultless and he nursed within a couple of minutes of emerging. Birth mother Nina is also well, displaying few signs of having given birth only this morning, she is in all ways a professional ! Two hours after delivering baby she was playing Monopoly with Nicholas, Hilke and grandparents.

Mother Judith has spent most of the day holding baby Joost, unable to talk without crying for much of the day, overwhelmed by the truly wonderful gift of her own child that Nina has made her. She has been a picture of utter contentment, and perhaps still a little overwhelmed. This afternoon exhaustion finally overcame them and their children and we got everyone to bed for a long afternoon nap.

I doubt that I could ever properly express how immensely proud we are of Nina, and how happy we are that she has so firmly established the family she wanted, and in doing so brought such happiness to our beloved Judith, but we are.

Author: Tyjardia.