One month �till Valentines Day!

The thermometer read a cool (more like a frigid) -30�C upon my arrival at the kitchen window this morning. With the dreaded wind-chill factor, we are talking temperatures of -50�, and many school boards in the province have cancelled classes because the school buses are simply not heated well enough. Unfortunately for my son, the Eastern Townships School Board has not cancelled, and he had to bundle up and head out to the corner at 8:15. At least this time he got his hat and mitts on and his jacket done up before he left the house. Daughter, who�s got five 8:30 classes in a row this semester, scored a lift from her father, or she would surely have turned into an icicle on her way to school. I get to stay home for a few more hours, gather up the garbage and recycling and place it on the curb (what curb? There are only mile-high mountains of snow out there!) for the weekly pickup. Now that�s a drag, having a job which necessitates being out in this weather. Then I head out for my goddess class.

Speaking of which, I have been doing some research into Medusa, and I found an essay on-line wherein the essayist has done all my work for me! Well, actually, I�m going to try to look up her sources and see if I can�t retrace her research. What I found fascinating was how Medusa changed from being an earth/fertility/empowered-woman goddess to a vanquished monster when the religion changed from matriarchal to patriarchal. In the Perseus myth, he travels to Libya to harvest Medusa�s head. In the much older mythology, she is a goddess to the Libyans, representing the earth and female mysteries. So you see the active disenfranchisement of the goddess religion by a male hero. Interesting. I was a little surprised at my own reaction to the essay. I actually got a little hot under the collar and indignant, until I remembered that I don�t practise any religion myself and don�t believe in it anyway. Then I could resume my cool, scholarly demeanor once again.

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