Sassistas! Our dish on the social soup.

Cargo Comforters

Flannista here, with more holiday gift sassgestions from her favorite place to shop for gifts -- the coupon inserts in the Sunday paper.  Today, let's talk comfort, as in Casual Joe Cargo Comforters!

According to Joe's insert ad (pictured above), there are "6 ways Cargo Comforters are better than ordinary 'sweats'"(interesting, the website only cites 5):

POCKETS: You get 6 of 'em — 4 secured with MagicCling™! FLEECE: Much Higher Quality — Hefty, Warm, Durable, and Soft as a kitten, too! S-T-R-E-T-C-H: BIG 360° Elastic Waistband with an adjustable Drawstring! ZIP FLY: No more droppin' drawers just to do numero uno! PRICE: Search the malls, outlets, even the web — skimpier "Sweats" cost at least Double our Low Price! EASY CARE: Cotton and polyester is easiest machine wash and wear. 

Sistas and mistas -- did you really take in the comfort?:

1. SIX POCKETS and FOUR SECURED WITH SOMETHING THAT IS ACTUALLY TRADEMARKED!
2. HEFTY, YET SOFT AS A KITTEN!
3. ADJUSTABLE DRAWSTRING!
4. NO MORE DROPPIN' DRAWERS JUST TO DO NUMBERO UNO!

And they come in four BRIGHT colors: Royal, Charcoal, Black and Navy -- only $15.99 when you buy two!

But wait . . . there's more . . . Quick-Zip Fleece Shirts in colors that "contrast to pants": Wine, Teal, Blue and Granite -- only $13.99 each!

Flann is SO EXCITED because Cargo Comforters with contrasting shirt appear to perfectly complement her New Balance 801's!

A couple pair of Cargo Comforters with contrasting Quick-Zip Fleece Shirts and my migration to Miami Beach will be complete! No more droppin' drawers! Say it's so, Joe!

 

I Loved Her

While hiking Wye Island on the first Sunday of Advent, treesta pointed out to the Sassistas! the above beech tree. On May 24, 1991, a couple first carved their initials and the date. They did this for more than a decade. Below is another side of the tree which reveals how this story ends.

What was their story?

Advent

Yesterday marked the First Sunday in Advent, the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas (and including the four preceding Sundays). To mark the day, the Sassistas! took treesta up on her offer to hike what is a sacred place for her: Wye Island. When we learned that Sukey had died, our visit became even more sacred, thanks to treesta, who decided to build a spirit house for Sukey (pictured above).  Here is treesta's description:

About six years ago, I participated in a Vision Quest, seeking guidance and direction in my life. Before beginning the Vision Quest, we also participated in a sweat lodge ceremony. Rocks were heated for several hours at the base of a fire just outside the sweatlodge, and the red-hot rocks were then placed in the center of the sweat lodge. After the Vision Quest, I brought home some of the rocks used in the ceremony and created a little altar around which I built a garden.

When I awoke Sunday morning, it was clear to me that we were to use the sweat lodge rocks to make a spirit house for Sukey. We chose a grandmother of a White Oak tree under and made her spirit house there. May her Spirit be guided on her journey.

This is the grandmother White Oak tree chosen by treesta:

It is a morning like no other morning.

There is a signifying in the silver dawn.

Stars hesitate, streets listen,

Snow melts in tenderness, trees wait.

-- from the poem, "First Light" by Myrna Reid Grant from 

A Widening Light: Poems of the Incarnation

 

 

Sukey

On Thanksgiving Day, our dear sista and friend, Justista, lost her dear sister and best friend, Sukey, to cancer. Following is the email Flann received from Justista late yesterday afternoon:

The Walking Sisters always stopped at this place on the trail to Salmon Lake. We congratulated ourselves here for making it this far on the hike, particularly in the last few years. Sometimes we took our picture with the camera with a timer. On November 24th, as I got up to continue the hike, Sukey put her hand out to tell me to sit back down on the rock. She handed me her day pack (she always brought some nuts, some bug repellant and 2 apples) and she walked on ahead of me. The trail curved. I couldn't see her anymore.

Good bye. My sister. My friend.
_______________

Flannista: it was a brutal dance to the end. I am empty.

Love, Justista

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, dear Sukey.  Deep peace and condolence to our dear Justista.

The Supple Deer

 

The quiet opening

between fence strands

perhaps eighteen inches.

 

Antlers to hind hooves,

four feet off the ground,

the deer poured through.

 

No tuft of the course white belly hair left behind.

 

I don't know how a stag turns

into a stream, an arc of water.

I have never felt such accurate envy.

 

Not of the deer:

 

To be that porous, to have such largeness pass through me.

 

-- "The Supple Deer," Jane Hirshfield, Come, Thief:Poems

 

It is Enough

 

Every year since 1979, Charlistta has given Flannista a diary. When Flann turned the page to make this week's entries, she discovered this handwritten quote from Charlissta: "If all we ever pray is to say 'thank you', it is enough." -- Meister Eckhart.

The Sassistas! think this is the perfect Thanksgiving sentiment.  Please say as many "thank you" as you like today here in the sassosphere.  They will be enough, and we will be grateful.

Flann's Thanksgiving Table Centerpiece!

Green Bean Casserole

The Sassistas! have heard that

what is pictured above is actually edible.

But we think we can find other uses for this stuff.

Please sassgest some.  Thank you.

 

Merry Butterworth

This past weekend at the grocery store, the Sassistas! noticed this appalling item -- limited edition Holiday Mrs. Butterworth's:  a Mrs. Claus Butterworth (note the monogram on the front), a Mrs. Christmas carol singer Butterworth, and (not pictured) a Mrs. Snow Woman Butterworth. 

The Sassistas! have always wanted to create our own unique Nativity.  We figure that the limited edition Holiday Mrs. Butterworths could serve as angels.  However, what grocery store items would you recommend for the Holy Family?  The shepherds?  The Three Wise Men?  Sheep?  Camels?  Little Drummer Boy?  Waldo?  

Please let us know so the Sassistas! can create an unforgettable Nativity scene for Flann's front yard!

 

Any Advice?

 

 

 

Happy Pez Day!

TODAY IS CAROLYN'S BIRTHDAY!

The Sassistas! couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than by sharing images of

the Pez collection at the American Visionary Art Museum!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, C!