Turkey is experiencing real estate market boom unparalleled in its history. Unlike other countries, Turkey has managed to avoid a crippling economy and continues to offer competitive property prices to buyers. According to sales figures, foreign investors are flocking to the country to acquire real estate assets that are worth millions.
A few months ago, a new bill was implemented, which allowed non-citizens to purchase property in Turkey. This was one of the major factors that contributed to the sales boom in the country. Most of the acquisition has taken place in one of Turkey's most populous cities, Istanbul.
Today, the city is a thriving metropolis which is the perfect amalgamation of the modern and the ancient. For this reason alone, foreign buyers consider the area an ideal place for investment. The economy in Turkey is more stable than some of the other countries such as Spain.
In an unprecedented occurrence, Turkey recorded a whopping $1 billion in real estate sales in a month. Compared to last year, the figures have quadrupled. The extraordinary fact is that in early 2012, the sales figures were standing at $114 million. The foreign investment has been touted as the largest since the Republic of Turkey was established.
Property sales are expected to shoot up in the coming months as an increasing number of foreign investors flock to the country. According to a report by the Central Bank, the key acquisitions were made by firms in Austria. In Turkey, the largest sales figure in the real estate arena was $337 million in 2008.
As the new law came into practice, there was no longer an obstacle that stopped foreign buyers from acquiring land in Turkey. Soon, investors became keen of purchasing property in the country. According to local real estate agents, two large European firm owners have been seriously looking into Turkish property.
While foreign investment is always welcomed, local realtors are wary of such investors as they fear they will re-sell it to other individuals. This strategy of marketing prime property abroad has not gone down well with the local real estate agents in the country as they like to avoid speculation and sell directly to the buyer.
Locals are thrilled with the sudden interest in their country's real estate. However, several fear that the rise of investment will subsequently lead to high prices. This will eventually create a ripple effect across the entire real estate market in Turkey causing more harm than good to its citizens.
According to top realtors in Istanbul, only 20% of real estate sales in Turkey are accounted for by luxury properties. The majority of sales - 80% - is local and involves non-prime real estate. The new bill, which is responsible for this boom, has come under some heat by several members of the opposition party as they feel that several provisions in it are unfavourable.


The Network of European LGBT Family Associations (NELFA) will host the first "Men Having Babies - Europe" Surrogacy Seminar and Gay Parenting Expo on April 29, 2012. It will take place in Lloret de Mar, near Barcelona, Spain, as part of a 4-day conference and family gathering expected to attract hundreds of LGBT parents and parents-to-be. More than a dozen leading USA and European clinics and surrogacy agencies already signed up as sponsors and exhibitors, recognizing the growing interest in surrogacy in Europe.
The full day elaborate seminar and exhibit will offer a comprehensive "how-to" program for gay men who want to become parents. Among the speakers will be experts in the medical, psychological, legal and practical aspects of the surrogacy process, along with a surrogate mother and gay surrogacy parents. Prospective parents and LGBT family activists will also have opportunities to learn about service providers at the Gay Parenting Services Exhibit before and after the seminar. In addition, eight leading agencies and clinics from the United States and Europe will offer hour-long presentations on Sunday and Monday afternoon. Among the topics are ethical surrogacy practices, international surrogacy laws, know vs. anonymous egg donations, and speaking to surrogacy kids about their origin. While prospective parents are encouraged to join the hundreds of families attending the gathering for its full length, a one-day attendance including meals is offered for a small fee (€25).
We highly recommend you join us for the full 4 days!
If you are either prospective parents or already have children, European, Canadian or American: the Barcelona LGBT Families gathering can be a terrific opportunity to meet hundreds of parents and parents-to-be from more than a dozen countries! About 800 of us will take over this resort and enjoy a combination of social, educational and fun activities, including sightseeing excursions in Barcelona and elsewhere. Thanks to the generous support of government and private sponsors this all-inclusive program is also very affordable: a typical family of four will only spend about €300 including all meals and excursions.
The parenting seminar and expo is offered based on a similar program that has been running in NY for the last seven years. In recent years we have witnessed a growing interest in surrogacy among European gay men, and we were happy to assist our European friends to assemble a program that is in fact more comprehensive as the one we offer in NY. Around the continent there are dramatic social changes with advances in LGBT rights, visibility and social acceptance, and a growing desire to become parents. Leading and benefiting from these trends are the LGBT family associations around the continent, many of whom established in the last few years. The umbrella organization, NELFA, grew from 7 members in 2009 to 20 today. In the first European wide conference in Paris over 500 people participated, and the event enjoyed unprecedented attention from public figures and the media.
The Network of European LGBT Families Associations (NELFA) was created in 2009 to bring together the associations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and their children from European nations under one organization. While strong organizations in places like the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain have been around for a decade or more, and already represent tens of thousands families, many new "Rainbow Families" organizations have been created in recent years in countries such as the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal and Hungary. Since its formation NELFA grew from 7 members to 20 associations from 17 different countries.
The Second European Conference on LGBT Families will combine presentations, workshops, shared life experiences and leisure time. We are expecting between 700 and 800 people from different European countries and beyond. Our main objective is to empower social change, make our families visible, and have an impact on the media in our respective countries. We work together with other organizations and governments to address inequality suffered by LGBT families and their children and spread the achievements of LGBT rights across the continent.
CT Fertility - a Connecticut IVF, egg donation and surrogacy clinic.
IVF NJ - a New Jersey IVF and egg donation clinic.
Growing Generations - a California surrogacy and egg donation agency.
Center For Surrogate Parenting - a California surrogacy agency.
Circle Surrogacy - a Massachusetts surrogacy and egg donation agency.
International Assisted Reproduction Center - a Minnesota surrogacy and egg donation agency.
New England Fertility - a Connecticut IVF and egg donation clinic.
Forever Families Through Adoption - a NY adoption agency specializing in helping parents worldwide adopt American children.


text:
Gone with the Wind Аннотация
Download 3.76 Mb.
Page 15/61
Size 3.76 Mb.
Navigate this page:
Chapter XVI
The army, driven back into Virginia, went into winter quarters on the Rapidan—a tired, depleted army since the defeat at Gettysburg—and as the Christmas season approached, Ashley came home on furlough. Scarlett, seeing him for the first time in more than two years, was frightened by the violence of her feelings. When she had stood in the parlor at Twelve Oaks and seen him married to Melanie, she had thought she could never love him with a more heartbreaking intensity than she did at that moment. But now she knew her feelings of that long-past night were those of a spoiled child thwarted of a toy. Now, her emotions were sharpened by her long dreams of him, heightened by the repression she had been forced to put on her tongue.
This Ashley Wilkes in his faded, patched uniform, his blond hair bleached tow by summer suns, was a different man from the easygoing, drowsy-eyed boy she had loved to desperation before the war. And he was a thousand times more thrilling. He was bronzed and lean now, where he had once been fair and slender, and the long golden mustache drooping about his mouth, cavalry style, was the last touch needed to make him the perfect picture of a soldier.
He stood with military straightness in his old uniform, his pistol in its worn holster, his battered scabbard smartly slapping his high boots, his tarnished spurs dully gleaming—Major Ashley Wilkes, C. S. A. The habit of command sat upon him now, a quiet air of self-reliance and authority, and grim lines were beginning to emerge about his mouth. There was something new and strange about the square set of his shoulders and the cool bright gleam of his eyes. Where he had once been lounging and indolent, he was now as alert as a prowling cat, with the tense alertness of one whose nerves are perpetually drawn as tight as the strings of a violin. In his eyes, there was a fagged, haunted look, and the sunburned skin was tight across the fine bones of his face—her same handsome Ashley, yet so very different.
Scarlett had made her plans to spend Christmas at Tara, but after Ashley's telegram came no power on earth, not even a direct command from the disappointed Ellen, could drag her away from Atlanta. Had Ashley intended going to Twelve Oaks, she would have hastened to Tara to be near him; but he had written his family to join him in Atlanta, and Mr. Wilkes and Honey and India were already in town. Go home to Tara and miss seeing him, after two long years? Miss the heart-quickening sound of his voice, miss reading in his eyes that he had not forgotten her? Never! Not for all the mothers in the world.
Ashley came home four days before Christmas, with a group of the County boys also on furlough, a sadly diminished group since Gettysburg. Cade Calvert was among them, a thin, gaunt Cade, who coughed continually, two of the Munroe boys, bubbling with the excitement of their first leave since 1861, and Alex and Tony Fontaine, splendidly drunk, boisterous and quarrelsome. The group had two hours to wait between trains and, as it was taxing the diplomacy of the sober members of the party to keep the Fontaines from fighting each other and perfect strangers in the depot, Ashley brought them all home to Aunt Pittypat's.
"You'd think they'd had enough fighting in Virginia," said Cade bitterly, as he watched the two bristle like game-cocks over who should be the first to kiss the fluttering and flattered Aunt Pitty. "But no. They've been drunk and picking fights ever since we got to Richmond. The provost guard took them up there and if it hadn't been for Ashley's slick tongue, they'd have spent Christmas in jail."
But Scarlett hardly heard a word he said, so enraptured was she at being in the same room with Ashley again. How could she have thought during these two years that other men were nice or handsome or exciting? How could she have even endured hearing them make love to her when Ashley was in the world? He was home again, separated from her only by the width of the parlor rug, and it took all her strength not to dissolve in happy tears every time she looked at him sitting there on the sofa with Melly on one side and India on the other and Honey hanging over his shoulder. If only she had the right to sit there beside him, her arm through his! If only she could pat his sleeve every few minutes to make sure he was really there, hold his hand and use his handkerchief to wipe away her tears of joy. For Melanie was doing all these things, unashamedly. Too happy to be shy and reserved, she hung on her husband's arm and adored him openly with her eyes, with her smiles, her tears. And Scarlett was too happy to resent this, too glad to be jealous. Ashley was home at last!
Now and then she put her hand up to her cheek where he had kissed her and felt again the thrill of his lips and smiled at him. He had not kissed her first, of course. Melly had hurled herself into his arms crying incoherently, holding him as though she would never let him go. And then, India and Honey had hugged him, fairly tearing him from Melanie's arms. Then he had kissed his father, with a dignified affectionate embrace that showed the strong quiet feeling that lay between them. And then Aunt Pitty, who was jumping up and down on her inadequate little feet with excitement. Finally he turned to her, surrounded by all the boys who were claiming their kisses, and said: "Oh, Scarlett! You pretty, pretty thing!" and kissed her on the cheek.
With that kiss, everything she had intended to say in welcome took wings. Not until hours later did she recall that he had not kissed her on the lips. Then she wondered feverishly if he would have done it had she met him alone, bending his tall body over hers, pulling her up on tiptoe, holding her for a long, long time. And because it made her happy to think so, she believed that he would. But there would be time for all things, a whole week! Surely she could maneuver to get him alone and say: "Do you remember those rides we used to take down our secret bridle paths?" "Do you remember how the moon looked that night when we sat on the steps at Tara and you quoted that poem?" (Good Heavens! What was the name of that poem, anyway?) "Do you remember that afternoon when I sprained my ankle and you carried me home in your arms in the twilight?"
Oh, there were so many things she would preface with "Do you remember?" So many dear memories that would bring back to him those lovely days when they roamed the County like care-free children, so many things that would call to mind the days before Melanie Hamilton entered on the scene. And while they talked she could perhaps read in his eyes some quickening of emotion, some hint that behind the barrier of husbandly affection for Melanie he still cared, cared as passionately as on that day of the barbecue when he burst forth with the truth. It did not occur to her to plan just what they would do if Ashley should declare his love for her in unmistakable words. It would be enough to know that he did care… Yes, she could wait, could let Melanie have her happy hour of squeezing his arm and crying. Her time would come. After all, what did a girl like Melanie know of love?
"Darling, you look like a ragamuffin," said Melanie when the first excitement of homecoming was over. "Who did mend your uniform and why did they use blue patches?"
"I thought I looked perfectly dashing," said Ashley, considering his appearance. "Just compare me with those rag-tags over there and you'll appreciate me more. Mose mended the uniform and I thought he did very well, considering that he'd never had a needle in his hand before the war. About the blue cloth, when it comes to a choice between having holes in your britches or patching them with pieces of a captured Yankee uniform—well, there just isn't any choice. And as for looking like a ragamuffin, you should thank your stars your husband didn't come home barefooted. Last week my old boots wore completely out, and I would have come home with sacks tied on my feet if we hadn't had the good luck to shoot two Yankee scouts. The boots of one of them fitted me perfectly."
He stretched out his long legs in their scarred high boots for them to admire.
"And the boots of the other scout didn't fit me," said Cade. "They're two sizes too small and they're killing me this minute. But I'm going home in style just the same."
"And the selfish swine won't give them to either of us," said Tony. "And they'd fit our small, aristocratic Fontaine feet perfectly. Hell's afire, I'm ashamed to face Mother in these brogans. Before the war she wouldn't have let one of our darkies wear them."
"Don't worry," said Alex, eyeing Cade's boots. "We'll take them off of him on the train going home. I don't mind facing Mother but I'm da—I mean I don't intend for Dimity Munroe to see my toes sticking out."
"Why, they're my boots. I claimed them first," said Tony, beginning to scowl at his brother; and Melanie, fluttering with fear at the possibility of one of the famous Fontaine quarrels, interposed and made peace.
"I had a full beard to show you girls," said Ashley, ruefully rubbing his face where half-healed razor nicks still showed. "It was a beautiful beard and if I do say it myself, neither Jeb Stuart nor Nathan Bedford Forrest had a handsomer one. But when we got to Richmond, those two scoundrels," indicating the Fontaines, "decided that as they were shaving their beards, mine should come off too. They got me down and shaved me, and it's a wonder my head didn't come off along with the beard. It was only by the intervention of Evan and Cade that my mustache was saved."
"Snakes, Mrs. Wilkes! You ought to thank me. You'd never have recognized him and wouldn't have let him in the door," said Alex. "We did it to show our appreciation of his talking the provost guard out of putting us in jail. If you say the word, we'll take the mustache off for you, right now."
"Oh, no, thank you!" said Melanie hastily, clutching Ashley in a frightened way, for the two swarthy little men looked capable of any violence. "I think it's perfectly lovely."
"That's love," said the Fontaines, nodding gravely at each other.
When Ashley went into the cold to see the boys off to the depot in Aunt Pitty's carriage, Melanie caught Scarlett's arm.
"Isn't his uniform dreadful? Won't my coat be a surprise? Oh, if only I had enough cloth for britches too!"
That coat for Ashley was a sore subject with Scarlett, for she wished so ardently that she and not Melanie were bestowing it as a Christmas gift. Gray wool for uniforms was now almost literally more priceless than rubies, and Ashley was wearing the familiar homespun. Even butternut was now none too plentiful, and many of the soldiers were dressed in captured Yankee uniforms which had been turned a dark-brown color with walnut-shell dye. But Melanie, by rare luck, had come into possession of enough gray broadcloth to make a coat—a rather short coat but a coat just the same. She had nursed a Charleston boy in the hospital and when he died had clipped a lock of his hair and sent it to his mother, along with the scant contents of his pockets and a comforting account of his last hours which made no mention of the torment in which he died. A correspondence had sprung up between them and, learning that Melanie had a husband at the front, the mother had sent her the length of gray cloth and brass buttons which she had bought for her dead son. It was a beautiful piece of material, thick and warm and with a dull sheen to it, undoubtedly blockade goods and undoubtedly very expensive. It was now in the hands of the tailor and Melanie was hurrying him to have it ready by Christmas morning. Scarlett would have given anything to be able to provide the rest of the uniform, but the necessary materials were simply not to be had in Atlanta.
She had a Christmas present for Ashley, but it paled in insignificance beside the glory of Melanie's gray coat. It was a small "housewife," made of flannel, containing the whole precious pack of needles Rhett had brought her from Nassau, three of her linen handkerchiefs, obtained from the same source, two spools of thread and a small pair of scissors. But she wanted to give him something more personal, something a wife could give a husband, a shirt, a pair of gauntlets, a hat. Oh, yes, a hat by all means. That little flat-topped forage cap Ashley was wearing looked ridiculous. Scarlett had always hated them. What if Stonewall Jackson had worn one in preference to a slouch felt? That didn't make them any more dignified looking. But the only hats obtainable in Atlanta were crudely made wool hats, and they were tackier than the monkey-hat forage caps.
When she thought of hats, she thought of Rhett Butler. He had so many hats, wide Panamas for summer, tall beavers for formal occasions, hunting hats, slouch hats of tan and black and blue. What need had he for so many when her darling Ashley rode in the rain with moisture dripping down his collar from the back of his cap?
"I'll make Rhett give me that new black felt of his," she decided. "And I'll put a gray ribbon around the brim and sew Ashley's wreath on it and it will look lovely."
She paused and thought it might be difficult to get the hat without some explanation. She simply could not tell Rhett she wanted it for Ashley. He would raise his brows in that nasty way he always had when she even mentioned Ashley's name and, like as not, would refuse to give her the hat. Well, she'd make up some pitiful story about a soldier in the hospital who needed it and Rhett need never know the truth.
All that afternoon, she maneuvered to be alone with Ashley, even for a few minutes, but Melanie was beside him constantly, and India and Honey, their pale lashless eyes glowing, followed him about the house. Even John Wilkes, visibly proud of his son, had no opportunity for quiet conversation with him.
It was the same at supper where they all plied him with questions about the war. The war! Who cared about the war? Scarlett didn't think Ashley cared very much for that subject either. He talked at length, laughed frequently and dominated the conversation more completely than she had ever seen him do before, but he seemed to say very little. He told them jokes and funny stories about friends, talked gaily about makeshifts, making light of hunger and long marches in the rain, and described in detail how General Lee had looked when he rode by on the retreat from Gettysburg and questioned: "Gentlemen, are you Georgia troops? Well, we can't get along without you Georgians!"
It seemed to Scarlett that he was talking fervishly to keep them from asking questions he did not want to answer. When she saw his eyes falter and drop before the long, troubled gaze of his father, a faint worry and bewilderment rose in her as to what was hidden in Ashley's heart. But it soon passed, for there was no room in her mind for anything except a radiant happiness and a driving desire to be alone with him.
That radiance lasted until everyone in the circle about the open fire began to yawn, and Mr. Wilkes and the girls took their departure for the hotel. Then as Ashley and Melanie and Pittypat and Scarlett mounted the stairs, lighted by Uncle Peter, a chill fell on her spirit. Until that moment when they stood in the upstairs hall, Ashley had been hers, only hers, even if she had not had a private word with him that whole afternoon. But now, as she said good night, she saw that Melanie's cheeks were suddenly crimson and she was trembling. Her eyes were on the carpet and, though she seemed overcome with some frightening emotion, she seemed shyly happy. Melanie did not even look up when Ashley opened the bedroom door, but sped inside. Ashley said good night abruptly, and he did not meet Scarlett's eyes either.
The door closed behind them, leaving Scarlett open mouthed and suddenly desolate. Ashley was no longer hers. He was Melanie's. And as long as Melanie lived, she could go into rooms with Ashley and close the door—and close out the rest of the world.
Now Ashley was going away, back to Virginia, back to the long marches in the sleet, to hungry bivouacs in the snow, to pain and hardship and to the risk of all the bright beauty of his golden head and proud slender body being blotted out in an instant, like an ant beneath a careless heel. The past week with its shimmering, dreamlike beauty, its crowded hours of happiness, was gone.
The week had passed swiftly, like a dream, a dream fragrant with the smell of pine boughs and Christmas trees, bright with little candles and home-made tinsel, a dream where minutes flew as rapidly as heartbeats. Such a breathless week when something within her drove Scarlett with mingled pain and pleasure to pack and cram every minute with incidents to remember after he was gone, happenings which she could examine at leisure in the long months ahead, extracting every morsel of comfort from them—dance, sing, laugh, fetch and carry for Ashley, anticipate his wants, smile when he smiles, be silent when he talks, follow him with your eyes so that each line of his erect body, each lift of his eyebrows, each quirk of his mouth, will be indelibly printed on your mind—for a week goes by so fast and the war goes on forever.
She sat on the divan in the parlor, holding her going-away gift for him in her lap, waiting while he said good-by to Melanie, praying that when he did come down the stairs he would be alone and she might be granted by Heaven a few moments alone with him. Her ears strained for sounds from upstairs, but the house was oddly still, so still that even the sound of her breathing seemed loud. Aunt Pittypat was crying into her pillows in her room, for Ashley had told her good-by half an hour before. No sounds of murmuring voices or of tears came from behind the closed door of Melanie's bedroom. It seemed to Scarlett that he had been in that room for hours, and she resented bitterly each moment that he stayed, saying good-by to his wife, for the moments were slipping by so fast and his time was so short.
She thought of all the things she had intended to say to him during this week. But there had been no opportunity to say them, and she knew now that perhaps she would never have the chance to say them.
Such foolish little things, some of them: "Ashley, you will be careful, won't you?" "Please don't get your feet wet. You take cold so easily." "Don't forget to put a newspaper across your chest under your shirt. It keeps out the wind so well." But there were other things, more important things she had wanted to say, much more important things she had wanted to hear him say, things she had wanted to read in his eyes, even if he did not speak them.
So many things to say and now there was no time! Even the few minutes that remained might be snatched away from her if Melanie followed him to the door, to the carriage block. Why hadn't she made the opportunity during this last week? But always, Melanie was at his side, her eyes caressing him adoringly, always friends and neighbors and relatives were in the house and, from morning till night, Ashley was never alone. Then, at night, the door of the bedroom closed and he was alone with Melanie. Never once during these last days had he betrayed to Scarlett by one look, one word, anything but the affection a brother might show a sister or a friend, a lifelong friend. She could not let him go away, perhaps forever, without knowing whether he still loved her. Then, even if he died, she could nurse the warm comfort of his secret love to the end of her days.
After what seemed an eternity of waiting, she heard the sound of his boots in the bedroom above and the door opening and closing. She heard him coming down the steps. Alone! Thank God for that! Melanie must be too overcome by the grief of parting to leave her room. Now she would have him for herself for a few precious minutes.
He came down the steps slowly, his spurs clinking, and she could hear the slap-slap of his saber against his high boots. When he came into the parlor, his eyes were somber. He was trying to smile but his face was as white and drawn as a man bleeding from an internal wound. She rose as he entered, thinking with proprietary pride that he was the handsomest soldier she had ever seen. His long holster and belt glistened and his silver spurs and scabbard gleamed, from the industrious polishing Uncle Peter had given them. His new coat did not fit very well, for the tailor had been hurried and some of the seams were awry. The bright new sheen of the gray coat was sadly at variance with the worn and patched butternut trousers and the scarred boots, but if he had been clothed in silver armor he could not have looked more the shining knight to her.
"Ashley," she begged abruptly, "may I go to the train with you?"
"Please don't. Father and the girls will be there. And anyway, I'd rather remember you saying good-by to me here than shivering at the depot. There's so much to memories."
Instantly she abandoned her plan. If India and Honey who disliked her so much were to be present at the leave taking, she would have no chance for a private word.
"Then I won't go," she said. "See, Ashley! I've another present for you."
A little shy, now that the time had come to give it to him, she unrolled the package. It was a long yellow sash, made of thick China silk and edged with heavy fringe. Rhett Butler had brought her a yellow shawl from Havana several months before, a shawl gaudily embroidered with birds and flowers in magenta and blue. During this last week, she had patiently picked out all the embroidery and cut up the square of silk and stitched it into a sash length.
"Scarlett, it's beautiful! Did you make it yourself? Then I'll value it all the more. Put it on me, my dear. The boys will be green with envy when they see me in the glory of my new coat and sash."
She wrapped the bright lengths about his slender waist, above his belt, and tied the ends in a lover's knot. Melanie might have given him his new coat but this sash was her gift, her own secret guerdon for him to wear into battle, something that would make him remember her every time he looked at it. She stood back and viewed him with pride, thinking that even Jeb Stuart with his flaunting sash and plume could not look so dashing as her cavalier.
"It's beautiful," he repeated, fingering the fringe. "But I know you've cut up a dress or a shawl to make it. You shouldn't have done it, Scarlett. Pretty things are too hard to get these days."
"Oh, Ashley, I'd—"
She had started to say: "I'd cut up my heart for you to wear if you wanted it," but she finished, "I'd do anything for you!"
"Would you?" he questioned and some of the somberness lifted from his face. "Then, there's something you can do for me, Scarlett, something that will make my mind easier when I'm away."
"What is it?" she asked joyfully, ready to promise prodigies.
"Scarlett, will you look after Melanie for me?"
"Look after Melly?"
Her heart sank with bitter disappointment. So this was something beautiful, something spectacular! And then anger flared. This moment was her moment with Ashley, hers alone. And yet, though Melanie was absent, her pale shadow lay between them. How could he bring up her name in their moment of farewell? How could he ask such a thing of her?
He did not notice the disappointment on her face. As of old, his eyes were looking through her and beyond her, at something else, not seeing her at all.
"Yes, keep an eye on her, take care of her. She's so frail and she doesn't realize it. She'll wear herself out nursing and sewing. And she's so gentle and timid. Except for Aunt Pittypat and Uncle Henry and you, she hasn't a close relative in the world, except the Burrs in Macon and they're third cousins. And Aunt Pitty—Scarlett, you know she's like a child. And Uncle Henry is an old man. Melanie loves you so much, not just because you were Charlie's wife, but because—well, because you're you and she loves you like a sister. Scarlett, I have nightmares when I think what might happen to her if I were killed and she had no one to turn to. Will you promise?"
She did not even hear his last request, so terrified was she by those ill-omened words, "if I were killed."
Every day she had read the casualty lists, read them with her heart in her throat, knowing that the world would end if anything should happen to him. But always, always, she had an inner feeling that even if the Confederate Army were entirely wiped out, Ashley would be spared. And now he had spoken the frightful words! Goose bumps came out all over her and fear swamped her, a superstitious fear she could not combat with reason. She was Irish enough to believe in second sight, especially where death premonitions were concerned, and in his wide gray eyes she saw some deep sadness which she could only interpret as that of a man who has felt the cold finger on his shoulder, has heard the wail of the Banshee.
"You mustn't say it! You mustn't even think it. It's bad luck to speak of death! Oh, say a prayer, quickly!"
"You say it for me and light some candles, too," he said, smiling at the frightened urgency in her voice.
But she could not answer, so stricken was she by the pictures her mind was drawing, Ashley lying dead in the snows of Virginia, so far away from her. He went on speaking and there was a quality in his voice, a sadness, a resignation, that increased her fear until every vestige of anger and disappointment was blotted out.
"I'm asking you for this reason, Scarlett. I cannot tell what will happen to me or what will happen to any of us. But when the end comes, I shall be far away from here, even if I am alive, too far away to look out for Melanie."
"The—the end?"
"The end of the war—and the end of the world."
"But Ashley, surely you can't think the Yankees will beat us? All this week you've talked about how strong General Lee—"
"All this week I've talked lies, like all men talk when they're on furlough. Why should I frighten Melanie and Aunt Pitty before there's any need for them to be frightened? Yes, Scarlett, I think the Yankees have us. Gettysburg was the beginning of the end. The people back home don't know it yet. They can't realize how things stand with us, but—Scarlett, some of my men are barefooted now and the snow is deep in Virginia. And when I see their poor frozen feet, wrapped in rags and old sacks, and I see the blood prints they leave in the snow, and know that I've got a whole pair of boots—well, I feel like I should give mine away and be barefooted too."
"Oh, Ashley, promise me you won't give them away!"
"When I see things like that and then look at the Yankees—then I see the end of everything. Why Scarlett, the Yankees are buying soldiers from Europe by the thousands! Most of the prisoners we've taken recently can't even speak English. They're Germans and Poles and wild Irishmen who talk Gaelic. But when we lose a man, he can't be replaced. When our shoes wear out, there are no more shoes. We're bottled up, Scarlett. And we can't fight the whole world."
She thought wildly: Let the whole Confederacy crumble in the dust. Let the world end, but you must not die! I couldn't live if you were dead!
"I hope you will not repeat what I have said, Scarlett. I do not want to alarm the others. And, my dear, I would not have alarmed you by saying these things, were it not that I had to explain why I ask you to look after Melanie. She's so frail and weak and you're so strong, Scarlett. It will be a comfort to me to know that you are together if anything happens to me. You will promise, won't you?"
"Oh, yes!" she cried, for at that moment, seeing death at his elbow, she would have promised anything. "Ashley, Ashley! I can't let you go away! I simply can't be brave about it!"
"You must be brave," he said, and his voice changed subtly. It was resonant, deeper, and his words fell swiftly as though hurried with some inner urgency. "You must be brave. For how else can I stand it?"
Her eyes sought his face quickly and with joy, wondering if he meant that leaving her was breaking his heart, even as it was breaking hers. His face was as drawn as when he came down from bidding Melanie good-by, but she could read nothing in his eyes. He leaned down, took her face in his hands, and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"Scarlett! Scarlett! You are so fine and strong and good. So beautiful, not just your sweet face, my dear, but all of you, your body and your mind and your soul."
"Oh, Ashley," she whispered happily, thrilling at his words and his touch on her face. "Nobody else but you ever—"
"I like to think that perhaps I know you better than most people and that I can see beautiful things buried deep in you that others are too careless and too hurried to notice."
He stopped speaking and his hands dropped from her face, but his eyes still clung to her eyes. She waited a moment, breathless for him to continue, a-tiptoe to hear him say the magic three words. But they did not come. She searched his face frantically, her lips quivering, for she saw he had finished speaking.
This second blighting of her hopes was more than heart could bear and she cried "Oh!" in a childish whisper and sat down, tears stinging her eyes. Then she heard an ominous sound in the driveway, outside the window, a sound that brought home to her even more sharply the imminence of Ashley's departure. A pagan hearing the lapping of the waters around Charon's boat could not have felt more desolate. Uncle Peter, muffled in a quilt, was bringing out the carriage to take Ashley to the train.
Ashley said "Good-by," very softly, caught up from the table the wide felt hat she had inveigled from Rhett and walked into the dark front hall. His hand on the doorknob, he turned and looked at her, a long, desperate look, as if he wanted to carry away with him every detail of her face and figure. Through a blinding mist of tears she saw his face and with a strangling pain in her throat she knew that he was going away, away from her care, away from the safe haven of this house, and out of her life, perhaps forever, without having spoken the words she so yearned to hear. Time was going by like a mill race, and now it was too late. She ran stumbling across the parlor and into the hall and clutched the ends of his sash.
"Kiss me," she whispered. "Kiss me good-by."
His arms went around her gently, and he bent his head to her face. At the first touch of his lips on hers, her arms were about his neck in a strangling grip. For a fleeting immeasurable instant, he pressed her body close to his. Then she felt a sudden tensing of all his muscles. Swiftly, he dropped the hat to the floor and, reaching up, detached her arms from his neck.
"No, Scarlett, no," he said in a low voice, holding her crossed wrists in a grip that hurt.
"I love you," she said choking. "I've always loved you. I've never loved anybody else. I just married Charlie to—to try to hurt you. Oh, Ashley, I love you so much I'd walk every step of the way to Virginia just to be near you! And I'd cook for you and polish your boots and groom your horse—Ashley, say you love me! I'll live on it for the rest of my life!"
He bent suddenly to retrieve his hat and she had one glimpse of his face. It was the unhappiest face she was ever to see, a face from which all aloofness had fled. Written on it were his love for and joy that she loved him, but battling them both were shame and despair.
"Good-by," he said hoarsely.
The door clicked open and a gust of cold wind swept the house, fluttering the curtains. Scarlett shivered as she watched him run down the walk to the carriage, his saber glinting in the feeble winter sunlight, the fringe of his sash dancing jauntily.
January and February of 1864 passed, full of cold rains and wild winds, clouded by pervasive gloom and depression. In addition to the defeats at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the center of the Southern line had caved. After hard fighting, nearly all of Tennessee was now held by the Union troops. But even with this loss on the top of the others, the South's spirit was not broken. True, grim determination had taken the place of high-hearted hopes, but people could still find a silver lining in the cloud. For one thing, the Yankees had been stoutly repulsed in September when they had tried to follow up their victories in Tennessee by an advance into Georgia.
Here in the northwesternmost corner of the state, at Chickamauga, serious fighting had occurred on Georgia soil for the first time since the war began. The Yankees had taken Chattanooga and then had marched through the mountain passes into Georgia, but they had been driven back with heavy losses.
Atlanta and its railroads had played a big part in making Chickamauga a great victory for the South. Over the railroads that led down from Virginia to Atlanta and then northward to Tennessee, General Longstreet's corps had been rushed to the scene of the battle. Along the entire route of several hundred miles, the tracks had been cleared and all the available rolling stock in the Southeast had been assembled for the movement.
Atlanta had watched while train after train rolled through the town, hour after hour, passenger coaches, box cars, flat cars, filled with shouting men. They had come without food or sleep, without their horses, ambulances or supply trains and, without waiting for the rest, they had leaped from the trains and into the battle. And the Yankees had been driven out of Georgia, back into Tennessee.
It was the greatest feat of the war, and Atlanta took pride and personal satisfaction in the thought that its railroads had made the victory possible.
But the South had needed the cheering news from Chickamauga to strengthen its morale through the winter. No one denied now that the Yankees were good fighters and, at last, they had good generals. Grant was a butcher who did not care how many men he slaughtered for a victory, but victory he would have. Sheridan was a name to bring dread to Southern hearts. And, then, there was a man named Sherman who was being mentioned more and more often. He had risen to prominence in the campaigns in Tennessee and the West, and his reputation as a determined and ruthless fighter was growing.
None of them, of course, compared with General Lee. Faith in the General and the army was still strong. Confidence in ultimate victory never wavered. But the war was dragging out so long. There were so many dead, so many wounded and maimed for life, so many widowed, so many orphaned. And there was still a long struggle ahead, which meant more dead, more wounded, more widows and orphans.
To make matters worse, a vague distrust of those in high places had begun to creep over the civilian population. Many newspapers were outspoken in their denunciation of President Davis himself and the manner in which he prosecuted the war. There were dissensions within the Confederate cabinet, disagreements between President Davis and his generals. The currency was falling rapidly. Shoes and clothing for the army were scarce, ordnance supplies and drugs were scarcer. The railroads needed new cars to take the place of old ones and new iron rails to replace those torn up by the Yankees. The generals in the field were crying out for fresh troops, and there were fewer and fewer fresh troops to be had. Worst of all, some of the state governors, Governor Brown of Georgia among them, were refusing to send state militia troops and arms out of their borders. There were thousands of able-bodied men in the state troops for whom the army was frantic, but the government pleaded for them in vain.
With the new fall of currency, prices soared again. Beef, pork and butter cost thirty-five dollars a pound, flour fourteen hundred dollars a barrel, soda one hundred dollars a pound, tea five hundred dollars a pound. Warm clothing, when it was obtainable at all, had risen to such prohibitive prices that Atlanta ladies were lining their old dresses with rags and reinforcing them with newspapers to keep out the wind. Shoes cost from two hundred to eight hundred dollars a pair, depending on whether they were made of "cardboard" or real leather. Ladies now wore gaiters made of their old wool shawls and cut-up carpets. The soles were made of wood.
The truth was that the North was holding the South in a virtual state of siege, though many did not realize it. The Yankee gunboats had tightened the mesh at the ports and very few ships were now able to slip past the blockade.
The South had always lived by selling cotton and buying the things it did not produce, but now it could neither sell nor buy. Gerald O'Hara had three years' crops of cotton stored under the shed near the gin house at Tara, but little good it did him. In Liverpool it would bring one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, but there was no hope of getting it to Liverpool. Gerald had changed from a wealthy man to a man who was wondering how he would feed his family and his negroes through the winter.
Throughout the South, most of the cotton planters were in the same fix. With the blockade closing tighter and tighter, there was no way to get the South's money crop to its market in England, no way to bring in the necessaries which cotton money had brought in years gone by. And the agricultural South, waging war with the industrial North, was needing so many things now, things it had never thought of buying in times of peace.
It was a situation made to order for speculators and profiteers, and men were not lacking to take advantage of it. As food and clothing grew scarcer and prices rose higher and higher, the public outcry against the speculators grew louder and more venomous. In those early days of 1864, no newspaper could be opened that did not carry scathing editorials denouncing the speculators as vultures and bloodsucking leeches and calling upon the government to put them down with a hard hand. The government did its best, but the efforts came to nothing, for the government was harried by many things.
Against no one was feeling more bitter than against Rhett Butler. He had sold his boats when blockading grew too hazardous, and he was now openly engaged in food speculation. The stories about him that came back to Atlanta from Richmond and Wilmington made those who had received him in other days writhe with shame.
In spite of all these trials and tribulations, Atlanta's ten thousand population had grown to double that number during the war. Even the blockade had added to Atlanta's prestige. From time immemorial, the coast cities had dominated the South, commercially and otherwise. But now with the ports closed and many of the port cities captured or besieged, the South's salvation depended upon itself. The interior section was what counted, if the South was going to win the war, and Atlanta was now the center of things. The people of the town were suffering hardship, privation, sickness and death as severely as the rest of the Confederacy; but Atlanta, the city, had gained rather than lost as a result of the war. Atlanta, the heart of the Confederacy, was still beating full and strong, the railroads that were its arteries throbbing with the never-ending flow of men, munitions and supplies.
In other days, Scarlett would have been bitter about her shabby dresses and patched shoes but now she did not care, for the one person who mattered was not there to see her. She was happy those two months, happier than she had been in years. Had she not felt the start of Ashley's heart when her arms went round his neck? seen that despairing look on his face which was more open an avowal than any words could be? He loved her. She was sure of that now, and this conviction was so pleasant she could even be kinder to Melanie. She could be sorry for Melanie now, sorry with a faint contempt for her blindness, her stupidity.
"When the war is over!" she thought. "When it's over—then…"
Sometimes she thought with a small dart of fear: "What then?" But she put the thought from her mind. When the war was over, everything would be settled, somehow. If Ashley loved her, he simply couldn't go on living with Melanie.
But then, a divorce was unthinkable; and Ellen and Gerald, staunch Catholics that they were, would never permit her to marry a divorced man. It would mean leaving the Church! Scarlett thought it over and decided that, in a choice between the Church and Ashley, she would choose Ashley. But, oh, it would make such a scandal! Divorced people were under the ban not only of the Church but of society. No divorced person was received. However, she would dare even that for Ashley. She would sacrifice anything for Ashley.
Somehow it would come out all right when the war was over. If Ashley loved her so much, he'd find a way. She'd make him find a way. And with every day that passed, she became more sure in her own mind of his devotion, more certain he would arrange matters satisfactorily when the Yankees were finally beaten. Of course, he had said the Yankees "had" them. Scarlett thought that was just foolishness. He had been tired and upset when he said it. But she hardly cared whether the Yankees won or not. The thing that mattered was for the war to finish quickly and for Ashley to come home.
Then, when the sleets of March were keeping everyone indoors, the hideous blow fell. Melanie, her eyes shining with joy, her head ducked with embarrassed pride, told her she was going to have a baby.
"Dr. Meade says it will be here in late August or September," she said. "I've thought—but I wasn't sure till today. Oh, Scarlett, isn't it wonderful? I've so envied you Wade and so wanted a baby. And I was so afraid that maybe I wasn't ever going to have one and, darling, I want a dozen!"
Scarlett had been combing her hair, preparing for bed, when Melanie spoke and she stopped, the comb in mid-air.
"Dear God!" she said and, for a moment, realization did not come. Then there suddenly leaped to her mind the closed door of Melanie's bedroom and a knifelike pain went through her, a pain as fierce as though Ashley had been her own husband and had been unfaithful to her. A baby. Ashley's baby. Oh, how could he, when he loved her and not Melanie?
"I know you're surprised," Melanie rattled on, breathlessly. "And isn't it too wonderful? Oh, Scarlett, I don't know how I shall ever write Ashley! It wouldn't be so embarrassing if I could tell him or—or—well, not say anything and just let him notice gradually, you know—"
"Dear God!" said Scarlett, almost sobbing, as she dropped the comb and caught at the marble top of the dresser for support.
"Darling, don't look like that! You know having a baby isn't so bad. You said so yourself. And you mustn't worry about me, though you are sweet to be so upset. Of course, Dr. Meade said I was—was," Melanie blushed, "quite narrow but that perhaps I shouldn't have any trouble and—Scarlett, did you write Charlie and tell him when you found out about Wade, or did your mother do it or maybe Mr. O'Hara? Oh, dear, if I only had a mother to do it! I just don't see how—"
"Hush!" said Scarlett, violently. "Hush!"
"Oh, Scarlett, I'm so stupid! I'm sorry. I guess all happy people are selfish. I forgot about Charlie, just for the moment—"
"Hush!" said Scarlett again, fighting to control her face and make her emotions quiet. Never, never must Melanie see or suspect how she felt.
Melanie, the most tactful of women, had tears in her eyes at her own cruelty. How could she have brought back to Scarlett the terrible memories of Wade being born months after poor Charlie was dead? How could she have been so thoughtless?
"Let me help you undress, dearest," she said humbly. "And I'll rub your head for you."
"You leave me alone," said Scarlett, her face like stone. And Melanie, bursting into tears of self-condemnation, fled the room, leaving Scarlett to a tearless bed, with wounded pride, disillusionment and jealousy for bedfellows.
She thought that she could not live any longer in the same house with the woman who was carrying Ashley's child, thought that she would go home to Tara, home, where she belonged. She did not see how she could ever look at Melanie again and not have her secret read in her face. And she arose the next morning with the fixed intention of packing her trunk immediately after breakfast. But, as they sat at the table, Scarlett silent and gloomy, Pitty bewildered and Melanie miserable, a telegram came.
It was to Melanie from Ashley's body servant, Mose.
"I have looked everywhere and I can't find him. Must I come home?"
No one knew what it meant but the eyes of the three women went to one another, wide with terror, and Scarlett forgot all thoughts of going home. Without finishing their breakfasts they drove down to telegraph Ashley's colonel, but even as they entered the office, there was a telegram from him.
"Regret to inform you Major Wilkes missing since scouting expedition three days ago. Will keep you informed."
It was a ghastly trip home, with Aunt Pitty crying into her handkerchief, Melanie sitting erect and white and Scarlett slumped, stunned in the corner of the carriage. Once in the house, Scarlett stumbled up the stairs to her bedroom and, clutching her Rosary from the table, dropped to her knees and tried to pray. But the prayers would not come. There only fell on her an abysmal fear, a certain knowledge that God had turned His face from her for her sin. She had loved a married man and tried to take him from his wife, and God had punished her by killing him. She wanted to pray but she could not raise her eyes to Heaven. She wanted to cry but the tears would not come. They seemed to flood her chest, and they were hot tears that burned under her bosom, but they would not flow.
Her door opened and Melanie entered. Her face was like a heart cut from white paper, framed against black hair, and her eyes were wide, like those of a frightened child lost in the dark.
"Scarlett," she said, putting out her hands. "You must forgive me for what I said yesterday, for you're—all I've got now. Oh, Scarlett, I know my darling is dead!"
Somehow, she was in Scarlett's arms, her small breasts heaving with sobs, and somehow they were lying on the bed, holding each other close, and Scarlett was crying too, crying with her face pressed close against Melanie's, the tears of one wetting the cheeks of the other. It hurt so terribly to cry, but not so much as not being able to cry. Ashley is dead—dead, she thought, and I have killed him by loving him! Fresh sobs broke from her, and Melanie somehow feeling comfort in her tears tightened her arms about her neck.
"At least," she whispered, "at least—I've got his baby."
"And I," thought Scarlett, too stricken now for anything so petty as jealousy, "I've got nothing—nothing—nothing except the look on his face when he told me good-by."
The first reports were "Missing—believed killed" and so they appeared on the casualty list. Melanie telegraphed Colonel Sloan a dozen times and finally a letter arrived, full of sympathy, explaining that Ashley and a squad had ridden out on a scouting expedition and had not returned. There had been reports of a slight skirmish within the Yankee lines and Mose, frantic with grief, had risked his own life to search for Ashley's body but had found nothing. Melanie, strangely calm now, telegraphed him money and instructions to come home.
When "Missing—believed captured" appeared on the casualty lists, joy and hope reanimated the sad household. Melanie could hardly be dragged away from the telegraph office and she met every train hoping for letters. She was sick now, her pregnancy making itself felt in many unpleasant ways, but she refused to obey Dr. Meade's commands and stay in bed. A feverish energy possessed her and would not let her be still; and at night, long after Scarlett had gone to bed, she could hear her walking the floor in the next room.
One afternoon, she came home from town, driven by the frightened Uncle Peter and supported by Rhett Butler. She had fainted at the telegraph office and Rhett, passing by and observing the excitement, had escorted her home. He carried her up the stairs to her bedroom and while the alarmed household fled hither and yon for hot bricks, blankets and whisky, he propped her on the pillows of her bed.
"Mrs. Wilkes," he questioned abruptly, "you are going to have a baby, are you not?"
Had Melanie not been so faint, so sick, so heartsore, she would have collapsed at his question. Even with women friends she was embarrassed by any mention of her condition, while visits to Dr. Meade were agonizing experiences. And for a man, especially Rhett Butler, to ask such a question was unthinkable. But lying weak and forlorn in the bed, she could only nod. After she had nodded, it did not seem so dreadful, for he looked so kind and so concerned.
"Then you must take better care of yourself. All this running about and worry won't help you and may harm the baby. If you will permit me, Mrs. Wilkes, I will use what influence I have in Washington to learn about Mr. Wilkes' fate. If he is a prisoner, he will be on the Federal lists, and if he isn't—well, there's nothing worse than uncertainty. But I must have your promise. Take care of yourself or, before God, I won't turn a hand."
"Oh, you are so kind," cried Melanie. "How can people say such dreadful things about you?" Then overcome with the knowledge of her tactlessness and also with horror at having discussed her condition with a man, she began to cry weakly. And Scarlett, flying up the stairs with a hot brick wrapped in flannel, found Rhett patting her hand.
He was as good as his word. They never knew what wires he pulled. They feared to ask, knowing it might involve an admission of his too close affiliations with the Yankees. It was a month before he had news, news that raised them to the heights when they first heard it, but later created a gnawing anxiety in their hearts.
Ashley was not dead! He had been wounded and taken prisoner, and the records showed that he was at Rock Island, a prison camp in Illinois. In their first joy, they could think of nothing except that he was alive. But, when calmness began to return, they looked at one another and said "Rock Island!" in the same voice they would have said "In Hell!" For even as Andersonville was a name that stank in the North, so was Rock Island one to bring terror to the heart of any Southerner who had relatives imprisoned there.
When Lincoln refused to exchange prisoners, believing it would hasten the end of the war to burden the Confederacy with the feeding and guarding of Union prisoners, there were thousands of bluecoats at Andersonville, Georgia. The Confederates were on scant rations and practically without drugs or bandages for their own sick and wounded. They had little to share with the prisoners. They fed their prisoners on what the soldiers in the field were eating, fat pork and dried peas, and on this diet the Yankees died like flies, sometimes a hundred a day. Inflamed by the reports, the North resorted to harsher treatment of Confederate prisoners and at no place were conditions worse than at Rock Island. Food was scanty, one blanket for three men, and the ravages of smallpox, pneumonia and typhoid gave the place the name of a pest-house. Three-fourths of all the men sent there never came out alive.
And Ashley was in that horrible place! Ashley was alive but he was wounded and at Rock Island, and the snow must have been deep in Illinois when he was taken there. Had he died of his wound, since Rhett had learned his news? Had he fallen victim to smallpox? Was he delirious with pneumonia and no blanket to cover him?
"Oh, Captain Butler, isn't there some way—Can't you use your influence and have him exchanged?" cried Melanie.
"Mr. Lincoln, the merciful and just, who cries large tears over Mrs. Bixby's five boys, hasn't any tears to shed about the thousands of Yankees dying at Andersonville," said Rhett, his mouth twisting. "He doesn't care if they all die. The order is out. No exchanges. I—I hadn't told you before, Mrs. Wilkes, but your husband had a chance to get out and refused it."
"Oh, no!" cried Melanie in disbelief.
"Yes, indeed. The Yankees are recruiting men for frontier service to fight the Indians, recruiting them from among Confederate prisoners. Any prisoner who will take the oath of allegiance and enlist for Indian service for two years will be released and sent West. Mr. Wilkes refused."
"Oh, how could he?" cried Scarlett. "Why didn't he take the oath and then desert and come home as soon as he got out of jail?"
Melanie turned on her like a small fury.
"How can you even suggest that he would do such a thing? Betray his own Confederacy by taking that vile oath and then betray his word to the Yankees! I would rather know he was dead at Rock Island than hear he had taken that oath. I'd be proud of him if he died in prison. But if he did that, I would never look on his face again. Never! Of course, he refused."
When Scarlett was seeing Rhett to the door, she asked indignantly: "If it were you, wouldn't you enlist with the Yankees to keep from dying in that place and then desert?"
"Of course," said Rhett, his teeth showing beneath his mustache.
"Then why didn't Ashley do it?"
"He's a gentleman," said Rhett, and Scarlett wondered how it was possible to convey such cynicism and contempt in that one honorable word.
Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2014
2014 -> Raíces y Sueños: the Artistry of Cuba Call for Art – Exhibit Application
2014 -> Session 1 occ 202 Wednesday • 10: 15-11: 45 am
2014 -> African-american vernacular english: selected references
2014 -> Woman suffrage in ridgefield
2014 -> Why did the usa fail in Vietnam?
2014 -> Worksheet #5 Who's to Blame? In this section, Causes of the Cold War, we have covered why it started the underlying factors after the Second World War, ideological differences, Soviet expansion after the war
2014 -> Colonial America Created By: Jodi Stocker, Jenna Doney, Casey Knaust, Jen Schmidt, Ryan Molitor Unit Goals
2014 -> How to Find Library Resources Tech and Society
fact that he
other boys
first moments
best shot
barter system
field hands

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
SPR Group
Developer Company
+91 **********
www.sprindia.com
sales@sprindia.com
135, Sapna Trade Centre, Poonamalee High Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600084, Tamil Nadu, India
SPR Group is a leading real estate developer dedicated to the acquisition and development of residential and commercial projects in Tamil Nadu. The Group was founded in 1972 by Prithviraj S Kawad to explore a plethora of opportunities across a full range of development capacities in the real estate realm. SPR has consistently lived up to the commitment of delivering more than what is promised.
Innovation is our key to competitive differentiation and value proposition. We strive to surpass expected standards and set new ones through excellence in terms of scalability, flexibility and operational efficiency. Our efforts to differentiate ourselves by providing exceptional value has been recognized and acknowledged by the industry and our customers.
We ventured into real estate with excellence in living through innovation as the key to a better future. Through our unique and exceptional projects, we have now become a trusted source of innovation, expertise and passionate architecture. Today, under the leadership of Mr. Hitesh P Kawad, SPR Group is being taken to greater heights as we cross significant milestones in our journey of discovering endless possibilities of the growth ahead.
Operational Cities
Zricks Member Since
SPR Group Updates
Shops starting from Rs 50 Lac at SPR City, Chennai
Bespoke heritage bungalows Rs 3.5 Cr at SPR Origine, Chennai
Share SPR Group – Zricks.com
Select Problem Type Incorrect Information Incorrect Price Incorrect Photos Incorrect Size/Area Wrong Location Info Others
What is the issue
+91 ********** sales@sprindia.com http://www.sprindia.com https://www.facebook.com/SPRIndia/?fref=ts https://plus.google.com/u/0/115967562277429436868> https://twitter.com/sprosian https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/10446753/?pathWildcard=10446753


Drum Up Your Assets with Our Customized Mobile App Development Services!!
Provide Creative Wings to your Business, you Decide where to Fly!
Bestowed with high professionalism and unique concepts, we are competent of providing incredible web design, mobile application development, digital marketing solutions to our valued clients across the globe with complete contentment.
We work on your objectives to deliver performance-oriented results. We are all about Ideas, Actions, Performance & Results.
We create captivating and appealing websites that are extremely user-friendly.
We act as your Digital partners – a dedicated team of creative designers, techs and marketers who specialize in their fields. We provide our clients the best range of specialized digital strategy, web hosting, web design, web development, mobile app development, and other digital services.
We create captivating and appealing websites that are extremely friendly.
Connecting your Business to The World In the era of advanced marketing techniques, it's important to harness the potential of the web for branding and for the benefit of your business success. With the majority of target audiences flocked to the social networking sites, you must focus on promoting your business, products or brands by using social sites or the networking channels like Google+, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, and Pinterest.
The Dextrous Group, a digital marketing service provider in Noida (India), has the answer: The Dextrous Content Management System - Dextrous CMS. Our CMS is a market leading tool for business website owners just like you! Avoid wasting time trying to do it yourself when you can easily manage your web content with our easy-to-use CMS. Your time is precious, and we understand that; it's the very reason we offer this amazing product!
The ability to churn out an abundance of high quality IOS apps on a day to day basis is a proof of our expertise over it. As a leading IOS application development company, we come up with a perfect blend of knowledge and skills to deliver world class IOS apps. Because we know, this is what it takes to be the best IOS app development company.
UX & UI Designs to Delight Experience a new level of UI/UX Designing Creating a user interface that is both aesthetically appealing and exceedingly intuitive, requires a lot more than just plain design and development services. We adopt highly accurate and structured process right from blueprints, wireframes, prototypes and design page mock ups to impart life to our designs.
We have innovative Mobile App Developers for Iphone and Android to accomplish your business requirements.
We are the preferred offshore website design and programming partners for companies around the globe.
Our Ingenuity and Integrity top their list of reasons for choosing Venom Infotech, while our futuristic approach helps us earn the respect we proudly cherish today.
We provide innovative and Interactive Learning Management Systems.
we design impregnable, user-friendly and authentic Customized Software Solutions.
Our Fully responsive Directory Portals come along with highly customizable search features.
Venom have been excellent to work with in the build and design of my website so much so that I refer all of my clients their way. Their flexibility and professionalism is superb.
We have used Dextrous Infosolutions twice now and would use them a 3rd time, their work is very professional and of a high standard.
Vipin and his team at Dextrous have worked hard to produce an excellent website for our business. We are very pleased.
Success With Our New Online Store Is Due To The Great Team At Dextrous Infosolutions Who Fully Understanding Our Requirements And Working With Us Every Step Of The Way To Create A Truly Amazing Website.
Dextrous created a beautiful, interactive and engaging website. We get compliments daily on how wonderful the website is.
Dextrous Infosolutions were wonderful to deal with. They made creating a website to suit our business needs very easy. Being a non IT person, I really appreciated their patience and how they explained everything so that I could understand it all.
We are so happy with our new website, the team at Dextrous did a fantastic job turning our vision for the website into reality! A lot of care was taken to ensure every functionality of the website was exactly what we were after and the finished product definitely reflects this. We couldn't be happier with the huge improvement with our online presence.
Thanks for your enquiry and we will contact you soon....!!!


The Stylish And Elegant Saree In Printed,Lace Work Colour Looks Stunning And Gorgeous With Trendy And Fashionable Printed,Lace Work . The Silk Party Wear Saree Looks Extremely Attractive And Can Add Charm To Any Occasion. It Comes With Matching Blouse Fabric Of 0.80 Meters & Can Be Stitched Upto 42 Inches.
Tussar Silk Woven Saree In Royal Blue Colo..


text:
Posted inEditorials, Opinion
Maine needs action on expanding treatment access, not another opioid report
by Contributed December 19, 2017
Leslie Perry (left) and Christi Woodruff, both of Corinna, brought a picture of Michael Ranke, who died of an overdose of heroin cut with the painkiller fentanyl, to a candlelight vigil in Lincoln. Aug. 31, 2016. Credit: Nick Sambides Jr.
Another year has gone by. Another year in which Maine is likely to again set a record for overdose deaths. And another task force has called for an urgent response to the crisis.
This year's report, like previous ones in Maine and nationally, recommends more effective prevention programs, better access to treatment, and more drug courts and jail diversion programs. We've known for decades that these steps are needed to combat substance-use disorders, but adequate funding for this work remains out of reach and lawmakers continue to divide limited resources among a diverse array of potential solutions, rather than focusing on what has been proven to work.
For example, reams of research shows that medication-assisted treatment is the most effective way to ease substance abuse. It also saves money, primarily by reducing incarceration. But the biggest hurdles to increasing this treatment remain unaddressed.
[The girl left in heroin's wake]
While Maine's Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, covers all three Food and Drug Administration-approved medications to treat opioid addictions, it limits access to the two most common medications — methadone and Suboxone — by initially limiting Medicaid patients to two years on the medication. It is one of only 10 states with a time limits on Suboxone treatment. Such time limits apply to no other medications, and there's no scientific evidence showing that addiction patients should be time-limited.
Gov. Paul LePage signed this hurdle into law, and his administration has opposed eliminating it.
Maine has one of the lowest reimbursement rates in the nation for addiction treatment providers who treat patients who use Medicaid for health insurance. Maine's $60-per-week reimbursement for methadone clinics has affected the quality of care at some clinics by limiting the amount of behavioral counseling available. Coupled with the misguided two-year limit on medication-assisted treatment, this low rate puts the ability of many clinics to provide effective care for their patients in doubt. Last year, legislation to raise the reimbursement rate passed both chambers of the Legislature, only to die for lack of funding.
The voter-approved expansion of Medicaid could also help increase access to treatment. The expansion will extend health insurance to about 70,000 Mainers, most of whom are working but don't currently qualify for Medicaid or subsidies to purchase health insurance through the individual market. Many of these people are currently dealing with substance abuse disorder but are unable to afford treatment.
[Garrett: Inside the life and fall of a young Maine man addicted to heroin]
Lawmakers had previously approved an expansion of Medicaid to cover more low-income Mainers but LePage vetoed it five times. Voters in November approved the expansion, with 59 percent of votes in support. Since then, LePage has been making excuses for not implementing the expansion, which will bring in more than $500 million in federal funds each year when fully implemented.
When Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck appeared before the task force, he was asked what single thing the group could do to best address the increase in overdoses. Expand Medicaid, he responded without hesitation.
Maine doesn't need more task forces and reports. It does need urgent action — to remove barriers to treatment. Expanding Medicaid, raising reimbursement rates and eliminating time limits on treatment are solutions that can be implemented now, if lawmakers have the will to do so.
Follow BDN Editorial & Opinion on Facebook for the latest opinions on the issues of the day in Maine.
Tagged: addiction, Opioid Epidemic, opioids


text:
Delo Hill is one of the two hills that the town of Kalimpong stands between. Kalimpong is situated on a ridge connecting the two hills, Durpin and Delo. The hill is 1,704 metres (5,590 feet) above msl. The hill is located north east of the town. Three water reservoirs, two of which serve as the primary drinking water source to the town are present atop this hill. The town of Kalimpong, the surrounding villages of Relli valley, Teesta River and its valleys all can be viewed from this point.

On a clear day, the snow-clad mountains of West Sikkim are also visible from this hill. At the summit of this hill, there is a park built for recreation purposes which feature exotic flowers. The park is a popular picnic spot for tourists as well as locals. Near the park a Hindu temple is also a visited spot. Overall Deolo provides a panoramic 360 degree view of Kalimpong town and its neighbouring hills.

References

Kalimpong
Durpin Hill
Tourist attractions in Kalimpong district

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Australia Weather
Menu showing mobile menu
More sort down
#ABCmyphoto
ABC Open closes
Since ABC Open was launched in 2010 we have seen enormous improvements in technology. As a result, ABC Open has not been able to keep up with the demands of many who use the site, particularly in regards to integration with social media.
You may already be aware of our new ABC My Photo site, which has begun running under our ABC NEWS banner. The ABC My Photo site provides a much easier and more integrated social media experience for users and it is for this reason that we have decided to close ABC Open and locate our new audience-generated photography on this new site in the future.
What this means to you
If you have been uploading your content to the ABC Open site, you have until 30 June 2019 to make a copy of your content.
What happens after 30 June 2019?
We will no longer be supporting ABC Open and you will no longer be able to access the site. We will be archiving all material that exists on the site as of 30 June 2019.
What do I have to do to contribute to ABC My Photo?
Go to https://www.abc.net.au/abcmyphoto/ and follow the instructions. If you use Instagram it is as simple as adding the #abcmyphoto hashtag, but if you wish to upload your photos directly you can do it via the the form on the page. You will need an ABC Profile and this is also available from the page.
What are the benefits of ABC My Photo?
ABC My Photo is built on a robust platform which will allow users to contribute not just to the Pic of the Week on ABC News, but to a range of other projects developed by the ABC. Photo producers will also curate images into galleries around specific themes.
Why didn't you just upgrade and keep ABC Open?
The ABC Open platform is built on technology which is no longer supported while the new facility uses industry standard technology which we hope will enable us to add further features in the future.
What if I miss the 30 June 2019 deadline?
The content from the old ABC Open site will not be deleted but will be moved to an internal archive. If you still need to find this content you can do so by contacting us here. Please fill out the short form entering "ABC Online" in the dropdown box under "ABC service/network". We will answer all inquiries but please note there may be a delay in responding.
If you have questions, comments or feedback on this change you can contact us through our ABC Contact form.


Dennis has more than 25 years' experience in the software industry as an entrepreneur, executive and advisor. He has held senior management positions at numerous emerging tech companies including NetSeer, Alignent and Cardiff Software.
As co-founder and CEO of Cardiff Software, Dennis saw the company's annual turnover grow to nearly $30 million. Most recently he created DaggerBoard Advisors, a firm made up of former software CEOs helping companies and investors maximise organisational performance.


Elon Musk has revealed that he's changing the name of SpaceX's Big Falcon Rocket to the grander Starship. It's getting a redesign and may even be one day used to visit other star systems trillions of miles away. The post SpaceX's Big Falcon Rocket goes bolder, changes its name to Starship appeared first on Digital Trends.
SpaceX, Elon Musk's space transportation company, on Monday named its first private passenger on a voyage around the moon as Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, the founder and chief executive of online fashion retailer Zozo. A former drummer in a punk band, Maezawa is tentatively planning to make his moon flight in 2023 aboard SpaceX's forthcoming Big Falcon Rocket spaceship, taking the race to commercialize space travel to new heights.


** This hotel was chosen as the Tripadvisor Traveller's Choice Family Award Winner in 2014 ** Club Anastasia is a stylish Hollywood-style hotel set in the centre of Marmaris. This unique hotel features a great range of events and features to ensure that families can enjoy a great trip abroad. For the young ones there is a large playground, a fun show that they can take part in and a kid's club as well as a swimming pool whilst adults are treated to special Club Anastasia nights which combine Ottoman Palace style with Turkish music and cuisine. There are also other shows for guests to enjoy including karaoke, bingo and cabaret. The two on-site restaurants provide varied and interesting cuisine for guests to enjoy. Rooms are stylishly and comfortable designed and come with a good range of facilities as standard including air-conditioning and satellite television. This hotel is situated 800 metres from the beach and is easily reachable by Dolmus or Taxi as well as on foot for those who enjoy walking. The resort centre revolves around the beach and the marina as focal points and offers a variety of activities for guests to enjoy including shopping in the Grand Bazaar, bathing in the sea or exploring the winding streets of the Old Town. At night, guests can experience the delights of Bar Street where many of Turkey's best clubs can be found. Club Anastasia is great for a fully-featured, family-orientated stay in Marmaris. ** 4 Stars ** Please Note: The traditional stamp-on-arrival visas are soon to be replaced by the new e-visa application process. All visitors entering Turkey from 10th April 2014 onwards will need to purchase their entry visa via the Turkish Government website www.evisa.gov.tr prior to travel.
Two restaurants and bar serving convenient cuisine and refreshments.
Outdoor pool with sun terrace and pool bar. Children's pool and playground for young ones.
Rooms are comfortably decorated in a simple style and come with a range of facilities including: Satellite television, air-conditioning, kitchen with fridge, kettle, toaster, and hobs, payable safety deposit box, hairdryer, telephone, balcony/ terrace and an en-suite bathroom as standard. Please note that certain amenities may be payable locally.
This lively hotel resort is great for families and small groups seeking a lively and fun stay in the town of Marmaris.
Club Anastasia enjoys a location set back from the busy beach front of Marmaris and away from the central Old Town area and is therefore quieter and more relaxed. These main sights are still within easy walking distance however, meaning that in just a short while guests can be sunbathing on the famous beach, exploring the Grand Bazaar or flying over the waves on a Jet Ski. The weekly market is not to be missed, offering a huge range of local goods and products, ranging from Turkish delight to Apple Tea and everything in between. The town really comes alive at night thanks to the famed Bar Street which features many of Turkey's best nightclubs.


Now you're just having fun with us. You know we're fragile, right?
What does not an in-game event even mean?
Please be good, whatever you are event.
I think it might have something to do with a certain amount of twitter users who retweet or like a particular post on the official Friday the 13th the game twitter page get free kill packs and other stuff.
That's definitely possible, I was thinking the challenges on the official web site might come online.
Yeah, I was referring to all those who still held a sliver of hope for new content. Some clarification is needed. Luckily Shifty recently posted the surprise event isn't going to be ingame.
Community challenges are rolling out?
That's my guess, not sure if I'm right but it makes the most sense.
Well I'm almost certain it has nothing to do with Muffin.
A boost in chance to acquire legendary parks perhaps?
Muffin dead bro, you just have to accept it!
It's called 13 "business" days of voorhees starts today ends on the 31st. Jason needs his weekends too.
sweet! I'd like to win some stuff, but im just about as unlucky as it gets when it comes to sweepstakes.. ?
Where is everyone getting this information? Is this sweepstakes a secret or only for backers or something?
It's on Twitter. Only secondhand news here.
Edit: I stand corrected. There's a tiny grayed out link added to the bottom of the OP ?
Made a profile and provided my email so I guess I'm in now hehe...thanks for the info.
Actually, Muffin survived the massacre at Packanack Lodge. The half eaten animal was not muffin. The end of Part 2 was not a dream sequence... my proof... The news broadcast at the beginning of part 3... in which Steve Miner (the director's cameo as the news anchor on TV) stated there were 8 victims. The eight victims are easy to list off when you have seen it as many times as I have... Crazy Ralph, the Sheriff, Scott, Terri, Mark, Jeff & Sandra... and finally... Vickie (in that order).
If you remember correctly, the Sheriff's body and Terri's body (at the very least, I will get to the rotted corpse in the shack in a moment) were in Jason's shack... Ginny Field was in no shape to guide the police to the shack, but Paul was... which also explains where Paul was at the end of Part 2.... They could not have come to a count of eight people dead without finding Jason's shack... and to find it that quickly they would have needed someone to take them there. I doubt Ginny could have given them accurate directions in her condition, let alone the fact that she was running blindly through the forest in the dark when she stumbled upon it... Paul merely followed the screams to find it. The cops would have taken more than one day to find it without someone who knew where it was... and the news broadcast I spoke of above happened the night after the massacre at Packanack, so time is a factor... Ginny was taken away in an ambulance (was that a young Roy driving?) the morning after... and the police statement to the media would have happened that day, after the preliminary investigation and they had some toes tagged... and the news broadcast that night.
Alice's body in the shack (if that really was her body) may not have been counted in this body count as she had obviously been dead for a long time. The police never give all of the details in these matters as only the guilty party would know certain details.
@Fair Play It would be nice... but its a contest this week... Maybe we will get a boost in chances for legendary perks next week? You never know.
@ShiftySamurai The contest is a great idea, but the link in your post only lists prizes... it does not tell us what someone needs to do to win or even qualify to win. It does say that this promotion is not available in my region... but I don't mind. I was just curious about what it would take to qualify for one of these prizes in the first place.
It would be nice... but its a contest this week... Maybe we will get a boost in chances for legendary perks next week? You never know.
Gotta be honest, this is the lamest thing I've read in a long time. It's like finding out the secret message is "Drink more Ovaltine".


text:
Eye Cue are the fourth act confirmed for the Eurovision Cruise!
EurostarsEurovision 2018FinlandNews
By Ervin Juhász On Jun 11, 2018
The annual Eurovision Cruise will be held again this year on the 8th and 9th of September, where several Eurovision artists will perform. After The Hungry Hearts (Melodi Grand Prix 2016), Kati Wolf (Hungary 2011 and A Dal 2015), and Linda Martin (Ireland 1984 and 1992), the organizers have now confirmed that the band that represented Macedonia at this year's Contest – Eye Cue, are the fourth confirmed act.
Eye Cue have been nominated and won many categories at the MARS Festival, including "The best song performed by a band in 2017" "The best song performed by a band 2015", "The best cover of a song in 2014" as well as "The best rock song in 2012". They have taken part a several festivals in their country and won many prices with their music.
Earlier this year, Macedonia's national broadcaster MRT have chosen the band internally to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately, their "Lost And Found" failed to find its way to the Grand Final earlier this year in Lisbon, finishing 18th in a semi of 19 with 24 points.
More information about the participants and full details on the cruise itself can be found on the Eurovision Cruise Facebook page. ESCBubble will keep you updated on more artists being added to the line-up!
eurovisioneurovision 2018Eurovision CruiseEye CueLost and foundMacedonia
Haifa to join the race for hosting Eurovision!
The Israeli Government will not intervene in choosing the host city of Eurovision 2019!


text:
Sowder's squad is making some big strides this…
Sowder's squad is making some big strides this season
LONG BEACH – Coach Kim Sowder's Long Beach State softball team, which has climbed to No. 20 in the national rankings, is at Cal State Fullerton this week to play five games in the Judy Garman Classic.
The 49ers, who are 20-8 after winning five games during the San Diego State Tournament last weekend, begin play at CSF today at 4:30 when they take on New Mexico (13-7).
Also on tap for the 49ers are games against three nationally ranked opponents: No.18 Washington on Friday at 8 p.m., and No.14 Fresno State on Saturday at 11 a.m.
The 49ers, who have won 11 of their past 12 games (losing to No. 2 UCLA), knocked off No.7 Texas A&M Sunday in San Diego for their 20th win.
Last season, Sowder's first as her alma mater's head coach, Long Beach didn't pick up win No. 20 until April 15.
"So far, so good," Sowder said Tuesday afternoon. "We've won seven of the 12 games we've played against ranked teams. If you win once or twice, you're not sure if you just had a 'great day' or if you're really a 'good team'. But when you win seven times, you know you can compete with any of the teams in the Top 25.
"We're playing good softball right now. And even when we haven't played that well at times, we've been able to find a way to come away with a victory."
Almost without fail the 49ers have gotten exceptional pitching from freshman Brooke Turner (13-3, 0.44 ERA) and sophomore Bridgette Pagano (7-5, 2.40) each time pitching coach Stephanie Swenson hands either the ball.
But the two hurlers have benefited from a solid defense and the savvy of four-year starting catcher Brooke LeSage, who also leads the club with a .351 batting average.
"She is so solid behind the plate," Sowder said of LeSage. "She makes our pitchers so comfortable on the mound."
frank.burlison@presstelegram.com


text:
Browse Our List of Certified Mediums
Before proceeding, please note that people listed on this site were successful in completing a series of mediumistic experiments to a satisfactory standard, however results in any given reading cannot be guaranteed. For more information, please read the Notice. All mediumship, by its nature, is experimental and even the very best mediums cannot guarantee contact with any specific deceased person.
Christine Salter
Christine Salter is a Psychic Medium, Spiritual Teacher, and Energy Healer who works in loving partnership with the Divine. Christine developed her natural intuitive gifts as an adult after being immersed in a holistic healing school in 2001.
Christine's Bio Contact Christine
Isabella Johannson
Isabella is an Evidential Medium who is able to connect with and channel those in Spirit. Her ability to bring forward specific information and evidence brings comfort to the bereaved. Isabella is also a Medical Intuitive, Remote Viewer, Bereavement Companion, and offers classes on Psychic and Mediumship Development
Isabella's Bio Contact Isabella
Michelle Clare
Michelle is an Evidential Medium, Angel Intuitive, Spiritual Mentor, Healer, and Intuitive Life Coach. She receives messages from loved ones who have crossed over, Angels, and Life Guides. She also shares profound insights into present life situations and divinely guided suggestions for how to proceed in difficulties
Michelle's Bio Contact Michelle
Danielle Wolfe
Phoenix - East Valley, AZ
Danielle is a certified Psychic Medium, Medical Intuitive, Registered Nurse, and Author. When young, Danielle shut off her connection to spirit, but after her brothers tragic passing, and a life-altering health diagnosis, her connection to spirit was restored. Danielle offers readings in person, by Zoom/Skype or phone
Danielle's Bio Contact Danielle
Pam McKeown
Pamela is a Certified Psychic Medium who loves what she does. She has been tested in several studies to ensure the accuracy of her messages. She was born knowing things and thought everyone else did as well.
Pam's Bio Contact Pam
Alyson Gannon
Alyson is an accomplished medium, animal communicator, psychic investigator and teacher. She has a degree in business and a law degree from Duke University. Her evidential mediumship has been rigorously and scientifically tested. Alyson conducts workshops and retreats throughout the Pacific Northwest and California.
Alyson's Bio Contact Alyson
Ann Van Orsdel
As a young girl, Ann had a "knowing" about people and animals. At 15, she had a profound Spiritual encounter that led her to seek answers about death. As the years went by, Spirit was finding every way possible to get Ann's attention and she knew it was time to follow the calling.
Ann's Bio Contact Ann
Shelly Wilson
Shelly Wilson, author, intuitive medium and conscious creator, is passionate about helping people wake up to their greatness. She supports others as they navigate their own journey into consciousness to experience aliveness. She offers private mediumship readings, intuitive readings, intuitive coaching & Reiki healing
Shelly's Bio Contact Shelly
Tash S.
Psychic-Medium
Tash's Bio Contact Tash
Elizabeth Stanfield
Elizabeth Stanfield is a certified medium and ordained minister who lives in the Austin, Texas area. She began to share her gift of mediumship professionally in 2005 after being introduced to the grieving parents of a three year old who had drowned.
Elizabeth's Bio Contact Elizabeth
Jennifer Brazier
Jennifer is an Evidential Medium who shares messages of happiness, healing and hope for those grieving or suppressing the loss of a loved one. These messages provide confidence to work through times of transition, confusion and loneliness.
Jennifer's Bio Contact Jennifer
Terri Strauss
Arlington, WA
Terri Strauss, a born Intuitive, was in her 30's when she became fully aware of her gifts. She began to realize that she could feel people's emotions as well as experience their ailments. As Terri began to hone her talents she was able not only to reach the other side but to communicate with confidence and clarity.
Terri's Bio Contact Terri
Jodi Lynn
Jodi-Lynn acknowledges the fact that she was blessed at a young age with many abilities in order to help people heal, whether due to grief, guilt or life's struggles in general.
Jodi's Bio
Kathi Jo DeBaker
Northeast, WI
Medium Kathi Jo DeBaker is a natural born spirit communicator and healer. She develops and challenges her abilities through psychic detective work and conducts workshops in the Northeast Wisconsin area to teach others their innate gifts and to understand spirit communication.
Kathi Jo's Bio Contact Kathi Jo
Daisy Mae Moore
While I'm based in England, I do readings world-wide. I have been working with spirit for 10 years and this ability came to me naturally. I have never learned through books or other training, I've just allowed this ability to develop in a natural way and through the readings I've done over the years it got stronger and stronger. I am also a Mother of a Son who is in spirit and have been on this journey for 36 years. With the help of spirit, I would like to help you connect with your children in spirit and help lift the heavy weight off your shoulders that I carried for so-so long myself.
Daisy Mae's Bio Contact Daisy Mae
Kathleen Baillie
Trained by leading UK Mediums and Healers, Kat is a certified International Psychic-Medium. Formerly an executive in the fashion industry, Kat turned her back on commercial life to fully focus on mediumship after reading for a father who lost 3 children. This deeply touching encounter led Kat to reassess her priorities
Kathleen's Bio Contact Kathleen
Siobhan Smith
Siobhan has communicated with spirit since childhood, growing up in an old Victorian haunted house in the U.K. Siobhan, her Mum, and her sister (who had child to adult leukemia in the early eighties) all communicated with spirit, as well as their grandmother.
Siobhan's Bio Contact Siobhan
Lauren Startt
As a medium, I connect others with their mothers, fathers, children, grandparents, close friends, family and pets who have crossed over. This is something I don't take lightly and I am truly grateful for. I conduct readings online (via Skype/Zoom/Facetime) and in-person, in Severna Park, MD and Massapequa Park, NY.
Lauren's Bio Contact Lauren
Shelby May
Massapequa (Long Island), NY
Shelby May is a Psychic-Medium and Reiki Master. She channels your loved ones in spirit and connects psychically to address personal issues. Healing messages are intended to open your heart, bring comfort and peace, and help you understand that your loved ones are with you. In-person or (Skype/Zoom) readings available.
Shelby's Bio Contact Shelby
Daniel John
My name is Daniel John. I am an evidential/spiritual medium and Reiki Master. I use my gift from God to help others along their path through life. I have been blessed with this gift and I am here to help others as much as I can!
Daniel's Bio Contact Daniel
Freya Dunne
Kerry, Ireland
Freya works as a Psychic Medium, Energy worker & Spiritual Life Coach. Freya is passionate about communicating evidence and validation from Spirit world to the bereaved with love, joy & gratitude. Freya has worked for the last 12years with parents who have Angels in Spirit.
Freya's Bio Contact Freya
Amy Utsman
A certified psychic medium and teacher, Amy is an outspoken advocate for raising the level of quality, ethics and professionalism in mediumship. She offers free, public educational webinars. Her readings are evidential, accurate and compassionate, typically connecting you with several loved ones. By phone and/or video
Amy's Bio Contact Amy
Apply for Mediumship Certification
If you meet the following qualifications, you are invited to apply for testing and certification:
You are an experienced psychic-medium who does readings for people now
You consistently receive positive feedback on the accuracy of your readings
Your clients return for additional readings
To apply, send a message to Mark Ireland There is no charge to be tested.
Apply to be a Test Sitter
At the present time, far more sitter requests have been received than medium certification requests. Because of this imbalance there is no need for additional sitters as this time, but if you wish to be added to the sitter wait list, please send a message to Mark Ireland. There is no charge to be a test sitter.
© 2019, Certified Mediums
Read more about Mark Ireland at www.markirelandauthor.com.


text:
Medievil Libya
The naming of the country was done by Greeks to symbolize the coastal area of North Africa that lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Nile River. The naming of the country was also done to designate the desolate tract behind the country. In ancient times, the whole area was sectione
Ancient Libya
Ancient Libya is an existing witness of various civilizations from Neolithic ethnicity to Egyptian society, Carthaginian culture, Greeks, Romans and Muslims. The people of Ancient Libya were the intimates of the modern Berber people. Berber people were acknowledged as "Libyans
Modern Libya
Libyans have been subjected to overseas regulations for a long period of time. The invaders were Italian, Arabian, Turkish, Romans and many more whose remnants can be found in different sections of Libya. The most overwhelming time period in Libyan history was the colonization of Ital
Short description of past history
Short description of past history Present day Libya was previously known as Italian Libya and was established in 1934. It was actually an incorporated colony of North Africa. Basically, Libya is the amalgamation of two major colonies Tripolitania and Cyrenaica which were undertaken by
Start planning today