MY RUSSIAN ANCESTORS ON THIS HISTORICAL ANNIVERSARY

Just getting started once again...

I have been so slow getting back online after coming home from my brother's funeral. Then NPR reported today, Nov. 7, 2007, is the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik's takeover in Russia. The radio reminded me once again of how my family's futures changed so drastically when the group (who became the Soviets) took power. I remembered the memoirs I have just read, the memoirs that discussed my grandmother's exodus from Russia, and the old family pictures I was given when I visited my father recently. I want to post at least some of the Russian family pictures here (& eventually in Tribe.net & already loaded in Myspace) to aid in the search of other Wolkonskys who may still be alive & looking for family, as I am. I will start with a couple of the old Russian family photos today & continue as I complete scanning more of these old family photos. I have not decided yet how much to tell from the memoirs because they are still unfinished & unpublished.

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My Russian Babushka when she was young, Princess Tatiana (Tanya) Dmitrievna Wolkonsky Kelley. She was a gifted linguist & nurse. She was considered quite beautiful and incredibly spirited. More on my Babu later. I am supposed to be very much like her in many ways.





My Russian great Dedushka (grandfather), Prince Dmitri Wolkonsky. He was a diplomat. I only learned who he was in the last month. Oddly enough I thought that I look rather like this great grandfather. This pic is an antique. This great grandfather died almost a hundred years ago.

WHERE DID HE GO?

The Mysteries of Life & Death have never been so vivid within my consciousness at any other time in my life. Upon learning of my brother Ted's death this week, the Mysteries have firmly planted themselves in my awareness, begging for answers, probably as a part of my struggle to give Ted's death meaning my subconscious can accept. Even when my mother died I was not so taken with the total bewilderment of loosing someone so close to me. How could Ted have been here one moment, alive & breathing, & then in the next moment be so utterly gone? Where did Teddy go?

I can't tell, is my soul completely separated from him now & is Ted lost to me forever, or is my soul simply soaring in celestial places looking for where my brother went, trying to merge with his spirit once again.

Now I must say goodbye to both my mom & my 1st brother. May you two be together, resting in peace and love. Save a place for me too! It will be a while before I can join you.

I may edit this as entry as time brings more images to me that help me heal.

As always, my blogs are also entered in Myspace & Tribe.net. I originally started blogging in Myspace but because Myspace regularly drops my older Blog entries I started entering my blogs here & in Blogger.

No Words

Like they say in Memoirs of a Geisha & Wind River

There are no words for profound sadness & grief

Only the heart can experience these

My brother, Edward Kelley, died sometime between Oct. 2 night or early in the morning AM on Oct 3

They think either congestive heart failure or pneumonia was the cause

Oct. the 2nd was also the anniversary of the death of one of my best friends

I will be at Creatures of Fire this week, dancing as usual, at the same time as the anniversary of the death of one of my best friends two years ago, having my Samhain..Halloween..Day of the Dead, but just a little more intense than usual

Then in something like 8 or 9 days head to the west coast for services

RIP my brother & kiss our mother for me please

Anyone Recognize This (Bag Worm?)

Caterpillar with an apparently home made shell of leaves & natural debris

This dude has been seen walking on flat ground over the last couple of days & has just now has been seen carrying his shell up the side of a lawn chair

His head sticks out the top & is visible in this pic

He was almost stepped on him before we realized he/she is alive

Picture was taken at home in Central, Texas last night

THE LIFE SCIENTIST IN ME IS FASCINATED BY...

...A report on NPR the week of August 13-17, 2007 by a scientist whose name I can not remember, but his discovery feels profound to me.

First, it turns out the larger the animal is, the greater the tendency for a slower heart rate & metabolism. This is good for larger species, like Man, elephants & whales. They have cells that work more efficiently & the larger animals tend to enjoy longer life spans.

The 2nd thing is that even though larger animals tend to have longer life spans, all types of animals have roughly the same amount on heartbeats in 1 life, approximately 1.5 billion if I am remembering correctly.

WOW! The Heart is the seat of our power!?

Death can be predicted, given everything else is equal, based upon how long it takes to complete 1.5 billion heartbeats, for a rat, cat, dog, human, elephant, whale...

Almost a Decade of Dancing

At Home Slide Show - Central Texas