At Home
with
Shemah & Christina
The last couple of years I've been involved in taking seminars and so forth, working through life issues and improving myself, via Landmark Education. NO, it is not a cult. Good grief. Come on folks, do I *look* like someone who'd be in a cult??? No way Jose. I'm way too... um... individual (<---nice way of saying eccentric, stubborn, opinionated, hmmm). I'm definitely not one to follow a crowd, and even though I have no desire to be a leader, I am far from being a sheep. I tend to carve my own path, and if I'm alone on that path, well, sometimes that's not a bad thing. To paraphrase slightly: "I am the Cat who walks by herself, and all places are alike to me" (Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories, The Cat Who Walked By Himself). You can sometimes catch a glance of my current path on my LiveJournal which is my favorite blogging place :) I used to live in the San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles), but I managed to escape, moving to the SouthWest, living awhile in a small town in a lovely green valley in Wyoming and then a log cabin in Montana, and then to Albuquerque, along with my daughter Christina, and a couple of Maine Coon cats. Albuquerque is a great place, full of ceramics shops, bookstores, malls, and great Mexican food... who could ask for anything more? :) The problem is, we really liked a bit more wilderness than that and we returned to live in the embrace of the Rockies, near the rivers and mountains. But then the desert called to me, and it was back to Arizona. Then family affairs brought me to the East Coast. I do move around a lot, just because it seems that the grass is always greener, and there's always so much to do and see in the next stop down the road. Maybe some day I'll settle down in one place... or maybe that whiff of Romanian holds more than a little Gypsy! who knows? |
Hello! Are we having fun yet?
My name is Shemah, which is Arabic although I don't know what it means (I'm not
Arabic, just my name! My family is of Irish/Scottish extraction, with a dollop
of English and and a whiff of Romanian tossed into the mix). I'm 52 years old (when did that
happen? how can that be?!), a writer, an artist, a BBW and a Sagittarius.
I'm a member of MENSA and the Romance Writers of America. I am also a lifestyle
Domina... if you don't know what that is, that's fine, 'cause you probably don't
really want to know anyway <grin> I also suffer from lifelong ADD
and have issues relating to service-connected PTSD from my time in the military
(I'm a 'Nam Era Vet, US Army). Also some OCD-type features, or something or
other that empowers a perfectionist kind of streak that can drive me right up
the wall (of course, it makes me an *excellent* transcriptionist!) ;) Yes, I have "issues." errrr... doesn't
everyone???| I'm originally from St. Louis, Missouri, and retain my fondness for thunderstorms, fireflies, and the Muni Opera :) We have regular family reunions from (so far) two branches of our family, the McCormack-Hill's, and the Mosby-Hatfield's. As soon as I get really good at this HTML stuff I'll be setting up my mother's homepage for the family reunions and genealogy info (and as soon as she gets all the stuff together, of course), and I'll even have a link here to send you there, so come back later if you want to find out more -- unless, of course, you're a McCoy! (just kidding) |
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 Here's Christina's fourth
grade school photo. She was soooo cute! She just had to go get all grown
up; she's 22 now, and just graduated from college with a BA in Art and has been
accepted into Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute... to the right is the winter formal her
senior year in high school, and lower left is her senior photo. She's taller than me (so
disrespectful!) now. Click
here to see her webpage (which, btw, hasn't been updated for awhile... bear
with us). She likes to read and paint ceramics (just like her mom!), and
when she was 10 she took 3 blue ribbons at the ceramics show at the Anaheim Convention Center! We both love
Disneyland, and anything Disney :) We like board games (Parcheesi
especially) and card games, camping, and going to pagan/Wiccan events and to Renaissance
Faire. In the winter we like to do the movie/fire/cocoa/popcorn thing :) We are especially
fond of old musicals and movies such as Gigi, Father Goose, Lili, the Desert Song, etc.,
and all the Christmas movies, with special preference for A Christmas Carol
in all its infinite varieties, including the very special Mr. Magoo version.
We really like Christmas, a LOT.... we start watching Christmas
movies and listening to carols somewhere around, oh, say, August, and usually
have our tree up by the end of the first week in December :) Oh, and Christina
does a killer imitation of Bernadette Peters!
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Now,
for my best news! Last year, after 4 years of
searching, I finally found an agent! He has 3 full manuscripts.... the
first 2 novels in my "Sons of the Desert" series and the first novel of my
"Wishes and Dreams" paranormal Jinn (genie) series. My first book,
TRUCK STOP, a contemporary romance, is available as an eBook as well as in print as
well by a small press publisher.
Here's a description: Teri is on the run, on a bus ride to nowhere, when an unscheduled stop on the wind-blown pains of Wyoming leaves her at M&J's Truck Stop... and in the arms of Mike, the young trucker who appoints himself her protector, who understands her as no one else could. But will her new life and here new-found love be enough her life takes an unexpected turn? And can even Mike keep her safe from the past that threatens to reclaim her?You can get TRUCK STOP from amazon.com, or if you'd like an autographed copy at Authors Den, as those come directly from me and I can personally autograph it for you :) You can read more about Truck Stop and my other novels in progress at AllieMcCormack.com |
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 I am a pagan. To whit, I am a second
degree McFarland Dianic priestess currently practicing as a solitary
eclectic witch. Gotta love the
jargon. What this means in day-to-day terms is that I worship the
Lady and the Lord, who are always in my life. I am also the High
Priestess of the Coven of the Old Path, an eclectic teaching
coven (currently on hiatus).
To try to describe my beliefs would take up pages and pages, but are nicely summed up in the song from Disney's Pocahantas, Colors of the Wind. My personal Goddess is Pele, as you see here in Susan Seddon-Boulet's artwork. What with all the cats in the house, the presence of Bast in our lives is pretty much a given, and we call on Anpu (Anubis) for protection. Gotta love being eclectic :) For any Christians reading this, being pagan does not make me satanic. In fact, I don't even believe in Satan, or hell (or heaven either, for that matter), much less worship someone I don't believe in, LOL. Satanism is actually a Christian denomination/schism (think about it)... although I believe that the idea of Satan or an evil deity against goodness came originally from the ancient Zoroastrian religion. However that may be, in order to be a Satanist, you have to believe in "Satan," which means you pretty much have to be of the Judeo-Christian-Islam religions. My favorite holiday is Christmas, which is the ancient pagan religion of Yule or winter solstice. Most of the so-called Christmas traditions are actually pagan in origin. In fact, Jesus was probably born in March or early April... you know, when the shepherds actually WERE "abiding in the fields" watching over the birthing of the lambs. Which would not have been in mid-December. Check out my Intro to Wicca webpage, which explains pagan/Wiccan beliefs in a bit more detail. 
According to the BILL OF RIGHTS
of the United States of America, Article the Third (Amendment I):
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." We, as U.S.
citizens, are guaranteed freedom of religion. ANY religion.... not
just Christian. That means it ALSO includes the right to be
Jewish. Or to be Muslim. And not just restricted to
religions believing in/worshiping the one supreme, monotheistic, (male)
god of Judeo-Christian-Islam belief. Not restricted to one god at
all, or even from believing in in a goddess! Or many gods, and
many goddesses. Now, maybe that's not what our founding fathers
meant. Probably not, in fact <grin> although they were for
the most part Deists rather than Christians. Be that as it may,
freedom of religion means just that... freedom of religion... and that
is MY FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT -- my CONSTITUTIONAL right --- and the right
of ANY CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY to worship and believe as their heart and
mind dictate. I support people of all religions.
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 I raise Maine Coon cats but have only one of the original cats left, QGC St. Clouds Gloria Mundi. This is my beautiful brown boy, St. Clouds Brandywine, shown at left, who was the "nuur ayuuni" (light of my eyes). The song playing on this page, "I'll Always Love You," is for Brandy, who died at only 3 years of age of cardiomyopathy. I think of him every time I hear it, and cry... as you can guess, I don't actually spend a lot of time on this page. But I 1eave this song on here anyway, because it's for him. Maine Coons are beautiful, intelligent, altogether wonderful cats, and I can never be grateful enough to Anne McCaffrey, who featured a Maine Coon named Eurydice in her novel, "Ring of Fear" which inspired me a desire to look up Maine Coons in the first place! |
 I
now have
another Coon kitten, a brown mackerel tabby named Armand, who is a real love :)
Here he is on the right, being his usual cut-up self... what a ham, huh? He's three years old
now (Coon males take up to four years to reach their full growth) ...just full of
energy and loves to beeeeeeg for attention by sprawling out on his back and
looking at you upside down. If you want to pet that cute tummy however, you're
going to get your hand ventilated! <laugh> He has sharp claws and is
faster 'n a rattlesnake! It's his favorite game, trying to lure the unwary
into thinking they are getting an invitation to pet his tummy :) Here he
is at bottom right as a six week old kitten.... what a big yawn you have, gramma! They
had him in the Humane Society listed as a Domestic Short Hair... I looked at
those big ears and eyes, the tufted paws and long tail, and thought to myself,
"I don't THINK so!
 If that's not a Maine Coon I'll eat Gloria's
pedigree!" For a great pic of a shelf full of Maine Coons, check out Cancoon
Maine Coons. Also, Coquille
Maine Coons has a great website and on their Selected Photos page there are
some really hilarious shots! I personally like the one with the roll of
paper towels.... <laughing> For more info on Maine Coons, see the Maine
Coon Breeders and Fanciers (MCBFA) site. My lovely Rascal, a silver
classic tabby (yes, also a Coon, about 5 years old now), has her own webpage, How
To Worship a Goddess.
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 Now meet the newest member of
our family, Kiki! I found her on the landing of my upstairs neighbor, cold
and scared. She all but ran into my arms and crawled up to my chest and
clung there, and of course, I melted like butter (awwww!). Anyway, I
checked all the appropriate places, and posted ads and flyers, but no one's
claimed her, and I just love her to bits! What a doll, and so FUNNY!
I'd never met a ferret in person before, so I called a friend of mine in NY who
has ferrets and works with ferret rescue, and she sent me a Ferret FAQ.
Kiki's favorite nesting place is in my lingerie drawer... she crawls under my
dresser, then climbs up the inside to the top drawer, then over the back
of the drawer, and nestles down underneath my nightgowns... so cute! :) hehehe.
Good thing I'm not one of those up-tight persons, huh? I actually did move my
lingerie and put ferret sleep sacks in that lower drawer ;)
Here she is to the right with Armand. For more pics, see the New
Family Member Kiki page. |
Here's a picture of me
with our new kitten, Maneke Neko, visiting Christina in the hospital
her freshman year of college when she had her tonsils out. Poor baby,
that was a rough year. She also got stomped on (literally!) and wound up
the ER again, half an hour into her first (and only) rugby game. I
thought to myself, "Rugby?" But like a dutiful Mom, I sat patiently on
the sidelines, cheering for our team and holding up my home-made
computer generated signs such as "Go, Chrissy!" and "Stomp 'Em!"
Unfortunately it seems the other team read the latter sign, and took me
rather literally.......
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I paint ceramics as a hobby -- well, okay, I admit it, it's an addiction! Above is my
Autumn Fairy, and to the right is the Unicorn Chalice. Click here to see more of
my
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The Middle East Egypt
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 I have lived for a year in
Egypt
(click to see lots of photos!) as a student on the Education Abroad Program (Jr.
year exchange) through the University of California, and attended the American
University in Cairo in 1983-4. Here I am on a camel by the Solar
Boat Museum. I speak fluent (more or less) Arabic, and can also read and write,
but not so well, and after all this time I unfortunately have forgotten a lot of
my vocabulary. I met and married an Egyptian man, although we have
subsequently divorced. I still love Egypt, and my in-laws who are
wonderful people. I miss them (the in-laws, not the ex), and Egypt, very
much. And of course, I really was the one who came out on top, because I
have my wonderful daughter--who also got a great deal: She got her dad's
great looks and her mom's great personality <grin> At any rate, you'll
agree you can certainly see the Egyptian in her! |
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Saudi Arabia
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 In the spring of 1990 I took a contract to work as a medical transcriptionist at the King Fahad National Guard
Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. You all know, of course, what happened in August of that
year... we got a new (unwelcome) next door neighbor overnight! Well, I was there during all
of that, and Christina too; here she is in her gas mask, age 4 :) After we left, we went
and stayed in Egypt for the summer and returned for Christina to start kindergarten in the
fall. Then we moved to Los Angeles in the summer of 1993, just in time for The Big
One, the Northridge Quake... we lived just about one mile from the epicenter, and
it was NOT fun, I assure you!
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To
the right is a little humor, a momento I brought home with me from Saudia.
You can't really see it here, but the writing across her dress says
"Kuwait." People now tend to forget, by the way, that at the time it was never a matter of
IF Saddam would use chemical warfare, it was only a matter of WHEN... and
the biggest worry we had when we heard the explosions
(SCUD entering the atmosphere, then the Patriot getting the SCUD in the sky
above us) and the ensuing air raid sirens, was, is this the one? i.e. carrying gas.
Current newscasts notwithstanding, Saudi Arabia is a wonderful, wonderful place, and if I could choose any place in the world to live, it would be Riyadh! I was so busy shopping and experiencing the culture (and pretty much in that order, too!) that I didn't take many pictures, which is my one real regret. I do tend to get angry and impatient with the (ignorant) Western perception of Saudi Arabia as a horribly restrictive society, when they don't know what the h*ll they are talking about... including Americans who have lived there! Westerners get so caught up, so obsessed, with what they CANNOT do, that they don't bother to look around and see the many, many things that they CAN do, and they miss a lot of Saudi Arabia because their eyes cannot see the forest for the trees. It's very sad IMHO. Okay, coming off my soapbox now *grin* |
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 To
the right is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. It's one
of the Ministry buildings in Riyadh, and was only partially constructed when I
was there in 1991. I was sent this picture by the Royal Saudi Embassy....
it was so lovely, I could never forget it, and wrote to ask them for a picture
of it. You can't see it here, but the glass inside the tall arches is
blue, and SO gorgeous! :)
I've put up a page with just some basic information, Introduction to Islam, to inform and to counter some of the most common inaccuracies that people believe about Islam and Muslims. I love talking about my experiences in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, so if you are interested, Email me and we'll chat! Also, see the bottom of my page for some fascinating links for Saudi Arabia and Egypt! I tell Christina, only half-jokingly, that on the day she goes off to college, I'll take her to the airport and see her off on her plane to wherever.... and then I'm going straight over to the International Terminal and board a plane for Saudi Arabia!! Actually, I've scrapped that plan.... currently I plan to leave that day for a seven-day Caribbean CRUISE to Jamaica! THEN I will go to Saudi Arabia *grin*
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 Speaking of
cruises... for two Decembers in a row,
back in 1994 and 1995, Christina and my mom and I have gone on our own annual gals-weekend- out Christmas
cruise... here we are boarding the ship! It's the Royal Caribbean Viking Serenade, a
beautiful ship, going for three days/nights down to Ensenada, Mexico. We had a great time!
I got to try Cherries Jubilee for the first time, and Christina sampled (and loved!)
escargot -- we waited a few days to tell her just what it was *grin* ...but
on the second cruise, she ordered her own plate of escargot! We had a great cabin steward,
Ron Wilson from Jamaica. Whenever we needed anything he was right there to help us; every
time we left the cabin we came back to find it immaculate; when we came back late at night,
the bunks had been pulled down, the sheets neatly turned back, the pillows freshly
fluffed, and a wrapped chocolate mint left on each pillow -- we felt incredibly pampered
and spoiled! I can't recommend Royal Caribbean too highly! Anyone interested in going on
a cruise should Email me
for our travel agent's number... or just to chat about cruises!
Also, check out this wonderful, interactive Royal Caribbean
website that I found... take an online tour of the ships and find
their schedules!
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 After ceramics, my next
biggest hobby is reading (although sometimes it's vice-versa). My favorite authors are
Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Kipling, Dick Francis, Louis L'Amour, Ann Rice, Georgette
Heyer, Elsie Lee, Christine Feehan, Mary Janice Davidson. With the notable exception of Dick
Francis, I don't touch murder mysteries, suspense anything, horror,
thrillers, etc.... I get nightmares :( I do like scifi/fantasy, but more fantasy;
I'm not into the real heavy scifi stuff. Overall I am very picky about what I read, and I
look for books constantly by my favorite authors. Most of my favorite books I have read,
and re-read, and re-re-read again! I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I have read
the Lord of the Rings... I lost track somewhere my second year in high school! Above is
the cover from one of my absolute favorites, Dragonsong;
it's also one of my absolute favorite covers :) Best
news of all, Anne McCaffrey now has her own website,
The Worlds of Anne McCaffrey! Full of pictures,
and updates on what she's been doing recently, including a trip to view the set of the
production for TV of The Dragonriders of Pern, and the upcoming CD of Harper Teaching
Ballads and Songs! waaaay cool! :)
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 One
of the things we did when we were in Montana was spend a few weekends at the cabin in West
Yellowstone with Buffalo Nation, a volunteer effort to try to protect the buffalo from
slaughter by the Montana Dept. of Livestock as they leave the safety of Yellowstone
National Park in the deep winter in search of forage/grazing grounds. This is the
last
wild herd of buffalo in existence, and its numbers are around only 2,000 now, the
carnage of the winter before last having taken some 1,200 lives. Last winter, due to
the vigilance of Buffalo Nation, the DOL only got 9. One day soon I will post the
story of Corey, the brave 17 year old who rode his snowmobile between the buffalo and the
DOL goons as the DOL were firing at the buffalo! In the
meantime, read our account of Our
Visits to Buffalo Nation.
We also went on the Walk to Save
the Buffalo a 705-mile walk in deepest winter, February 1999, from Rapid
City, S. Dakota, to the Yellowstone Gateway at Gardner, Montana, as part of
Tatanka Oyate Mani... They Walk for the Buffalo People.
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I work at home on the computer as a medical transcriptionist for 2 large cancer
and cardiology centers. I have been doing this for the better part of 22 years now, and I must say
that I have never had a job that suited me so well! Besides being able to work at home
(which does have its drawbacks but is mostly a blessing, especially to a single
mom), the work itself is very interesting and I like it. The only job I think
I would be willing to trade for, if the pay were the same, would be.... Tour Guide at
Disneyland!!!! And yes, I do really speak in emphatics all the time *grin*
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Well, it's been fun talking to you! I'd love to hear from you, so Email me with any comments or suggestions, or even just to say Hi!
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