Just a Couple Pictures

It is difficult to encapsulate an eleven day marathon trip across the country to the beautiful state of Colorado but I will try with a few pictures on the Cyrsti's Condo blog. I will also try not to bore you all.

The first picture I found was from Dodge City, Kansas on a very hot day. Before any of you television historians ask...no I didn't see Marshall Dillon or other characters of the old "Gunsmoke"  show. This picture of Liz and I was taken by our tour guide.

This steam engine (as you can probably tell) was way past it's active life. There was a Burger King on the opposite corner which probably is owned by "Miss Kitty's" relation. She was the saloon operator and liberated woman on the television show.

We did get to ride a couple active steam engines on the trip. One of which was on the "Georgetown Loop" between Silver Plume and Georgetown, Colorado.  For you purists, this is actually a narrow gauge oil fired engine.

She's Baack!

Three thousand five hundred miles (round trip) later, we (Liz and I) are back safe and sound from our trip to Colorado.

Very early in the trip, I began to think of myself as a "navigator." Of course my thoughts had nothing to do with the route we traveled itself but instead with navigating the people around me. To be expected the majority of the bus was filled with people my age or older. I'm nearly seventy. Plus, many were from the rural areas of Indiana. Not quite the hot bed of liberal thought.

Fortunately, I had Liz running interference for me.  Quite early in the eleven day trip, the wife of the host of the trip referred to me as "he." Liz set her straight and from then on, at the least, I was referred to by my name. Not mis-pronouned. I only heard the dreaded he word once to my face.

More important though, was how I interacted with everybody. I tried to smile and be as interactive as possible and it worked.

The moment of truth on these trips always comes when all the riders have to use the rest room. I think there were only five or six men on the trip out of a total of 38 people. So spots in the women's restrooms were at a premium. Most of the places we were able to stop at were at the big truck stops along the interstates we traveled. I am happy to say, I experienced no problems.

The only problem I did experience, was with the thin air as we climbed to Denver (and above), We were able to find a place along the way which sold cans of oxygen to help some of us out. We actually crossed the continental divide twice.

The trade out was the lack of humidity we are cursed with here in Cincinnati. Even though we did experience a little rain in Colorado, overall, we escaped some pretty good sized storms. One of the interstates in Denver was closed by a mud slide, fortunately not in the direction we were going.

I did fairly well in the packing department. Although we did have to was some clothes about halfway through the trip.

What I did come away with was, most of the people adjusted quickly and well to a transgender person being along for the ride. Now they can say they have met a real live trans woman.  Also, since it has been since the mid 1970's I have been out west that far, I had forgotten the sheer size of our country. Plus, I know I have only scratched the surface.

Even though I was welded to a bus seat for that long, the trip will produce many fond memories and I will have a few pictures coming up!

Vacay Post Five

As I read this post, it was interesting to me, it happened all the way back in 2014. The last time I was really "gender slurred":

"Perhaps you remember the experience I passed along from the huge lesbian dance my partner Liz and I went to recently.  The evening provided me with one of the rare moments when someone sought went out of her way  to gender slur me.  Liz learned about the dance from a semi regional lesbian group around Cincinnati who has many events.  One of which is being part of a woman's interest writer's group.  The group is meeting next weekend and Liz wanted to know if I wanted to go.

I went to the site and before I could even check the event out further, I couldn't until I was accepted as a member of this lesbian group.  At that moment, I figured that wasn't happening...especially I believed gender slur bitch was one of the "lead dogs."  As I normally do, I thought what the hell and applied anyway. My answer came back quickly REJECTED!  I went through the usual emotions of being hurt - then mad-then calmed down and noticed how I could contact them-and I did.

I simply said, my application was based upon my lesbian partner's preference and my only real "need" was to be with her.  I couldn't care less what the rest of the group thought about me but it was wrong for whomever it was to seek me out and trash me. I wasn't "crashing the party" I paid my 15$ and was there with my lesbian partner who wanted me there. My final question was, I guess I would not be "allowed" or welcome to accompany her to future events.

Another answer came almost immediately from a person who threw the "group leader" under the bus and said it wasn't up to her to reject me (the lead dog did) but most certainly I would be welcome in the future.

Finally, Liz was going to pull her membership immediately, which I said don't do it. I will explain- and this morning, mysteriously , I began to get the groups emails.

Certainly, I don't have a huge ego stake in this deal but I do have a stake with a trans woman being rejected and gender slurred in a group.  It's their little club and who ever they want to keep out is their business but just don't hide behind some cheap gender slurs or passive aggressive BS. So I told Liz, any event she sees and wants to go to, contact the group and see if I am "allowed" to come.  Sooner more than later, one of us will get a dialogue.

In reality, this whole deal reflects on Liz more than me. Why is she (Liz) being discriminated against because of her transgender partner and how hypocritical is that?

As I said, none of this was totally unexpected to me. I figured I was venturing into a tough part of the girls's sandbox. The whole deal begs the question-which group gay men or lesbian women are capable of hurting us the most?"

Now, I could care less. Let the bitches have their little club.

Vacay Post Four

This is also from the summer of 2015:

I believe about a week ago I posted here in Cyrsti's Condo about a fender bender wreck I had at a gas station. As I suspected immediately, he did not have car insurance as about a third of the people around there don't have.

At any rate Liz's 17 yr old son and I deducted my "Rolls Royce" wasn't heavily damaged and I was prepared to let scratched fenders be  scratched fenders and move on- after I took pictures of his drivers license, car tags etc. During that time he was busily calling me "mam" and we exchanged phone numbers.

Old picture from 2015...that's me on the left.

A couple days ago I sent him the bill from my mechanic's fully expecting not to hear back-but I was wrong.  He called today.  The problem is/was I have a terrible voice presentation on the phone and I was expecting a call from my insurance company.  So I was doomed to be Cyrsti's brother (which I hate) on the phone before I even got started. Later on though, we found the car was slightly damaged and suffered a broken strut.

After I answered, he said, he hit a female last week and wanted to meet up with her so he can pay the bill. I said I would have Cyrsti call him and set up a place. Then I had to beg Liz to call for me. Of course she will go with me for safety to get paid, but I get to collect.

What a tangled gender world we weave!

Vacay Post Three

This is a Cyrsti's Condo post from 2015. It is a very weak attempt to explain a few of my early changes when I restarted hormone replacement therapy:

"More great news yesterday! My estrogen was found not to be the basis of my liver problems this summer...and I am allowed to resume my dosage ASAP. 

Estrogen is like a snowflake, for the most part  the hormone effects each trans person different. 

Yes there is the breast development-which is tied in with your feminine family genetics and normally never up to the expectations of the person on HRT. (Many cis women aren't satisfied with their breasts, so we are in good company.)

Yes there is the emotional aspect-which I think is the biggest part. You do get "weepy"and experience "hot flashes" -which are different animals unto themselves. As close as I can come explaining one is during my first one, I thought I was internally combusting!

The part of Estrogen effects (so far) I have never been able to explain to anyone (man or woman) is how my world softened internally. Somehow I was more perceptive to the world around me. Cis men don't experience it and cis women are born with it-so they don't understand. That's OK!

Finally, I look forward to a couple exterior changes. My hair will thicken again and my skin will soften-bringing out curves.

Poor Liz (my partner) she gets to live through another MtF gender puberty of sorts. She wasn't around for my first. She was with me as I started HRT the first time and a form of transgender menopause when I stopped. 

And now, here we go again!!! YAY!!!"

Four years later and it's way past time to write an update to this post. I will when I start to go "live" again with my posts next week.

Vacay Post Two

This my my attempt at a humorous look at my early days of DIY hair coloring from 2015:

 "Finally, a couple nights ago, I broke down and colored by hair-basically by myself. I will explain.

"Basically" means I only made a mess with the color base in a couple spots, like the bathroom door and sink. If you have ever worked with hair color, it will stain almost anything and get you (me) hollered at. No pressure? Plus I sort of figured if I screwed up bad enough, Liz would help. I didn't and neither did she.

Lets back track a bit to where I got to this place. Looking back years ago to when I put my wigs aside and began attempting to style my own hair. Very simply, I called this the first time in my life I had to see the back of my head and brush out my hair. A "Pink Floyd" song? "The Dark Side of the Head?" Seriously, being able to experience the thrill of having/wearing my own hair has been worth the hassle. Having said that, if you are a transgender woman of means- you can afford the monthly trip to your hairdresser and is flat out wonderful.

I can't afford the luxury though so I had to enter the DIY hair color biz. From the school of hard hair mistakes-here are a few of mine:

1. Read the instructions...don't be a guy...read the instructions.
2. When those mean old instructions tell you to "PUT ON THE GLOVES"-do it.
3. Save back a couple of old towels you don't care if you color too for your removal process.
4. BE CAREFUL and don't get the color on walls, tile, cat, carpet etc. Get it on your noggin. 
5. Make sure you color your roots completely. Or you will be like me and your gray hair will come back fast and look like a huge bald spot.
6. Don't worry about the color which gets on to your skin around your temples, DO worry about not coloring your temples. (hair)
7. The rest is up to you and the color product you purchased. Mine calls for rinse, two shampoos, and a conditioner. 

So, there you go, but to me totally worth it and I felt positively terrible until I colored my hair. We all learn early as cross dressers or transgender women what hair means to us. Plus with Thanksgiving here, I didn't want to go to the family with the way my hair looked.

I took my abuse for making a mess and feel quite satisfied with the job I did looks. The question is now how long more will I stick with my "Vibrant Violet" hair color."

Fortunately now, I can have a professional help me.

Vacation Post One

I am going to attempt to pull a few relevant posts from the Cyrsti's Condo archives to use while I am on vacation later on this week for approximately ten days.

As I look back through the old posts, I realize how much I have changed in certain areas. This happened several years ago:

"Saturday, I went with Liz and her son to her karate tournament. If I knew what I was going to get into, I would have tried to dress up a bit.

Halfway through, I left to take the son back home and went back. By the time I got back, the middle school gymnasium was nearly full. I needed to walk past a couple full sections of seats (probably 25 rows) to get to where I was setting before.

I felt as if every set of eyes were on me and I had to walk at least two miles to get to my seat, which of course was occupied by the time I got back. More than likely most eyes were not on me and worrying wouldn't have done much about it anyway. So, I hitched up my big girl panties and went for it.

I ended up wedging myself into a row of people that wasn't quite full and tried to make myself as small and inconspicuous as possible.

Looking back on the day, leggings and boots though, probably would have been a better choice than the old baggy jeans I was wearing.

Live and learn the hard LGBT transgender way...as always.

I am sure also, there were several Northern Kentucky folks who got their first glimpse of a real live trans woman and knew it!"

These days, I have so much more confidence in myself. I wouldn't care what they thought!

Action Day

It's finally here, the day before we depart on vacation.  Now, the fun starts. I am doing a final load of clothes, so I will have what I hope is a good selection of clothes to take. Of course, now, outfits are just the beginning of my packing needs.

I have a separate small bag I will take for my make up. Fortunately, thanks in a great part to changes in my skin and face from HRT, my make up needs are a lot less. Plus, I want to attempt to blend in the best I can with the rest of the women on the tour, who usually are even older than me. So, the emphasis will be on simplicity with touches of emphasis on contour, eyes and lips. Nothing dramatic.  So the make up and toiletry part of packing is just about ready.

Unfortunately, most of my packing will have to wait till the last moment when I pack my CPAP breathing machine. I plan on taking (depending upon room) four tops and three sets of different bottoms, including one set of leggings. We are only allowed one suitcase, so that is going to have to make it.

Of course in the middle of a day when we have to go the ATM for a little bit of cash and to the store for a few forgotten necessities, we have a social to go to tonight. It's the one which was moved from a small local restaurant/bar to a big corporate one. I can understand the reason...the small venue always wanted to close about an hour after we all got there. On the other hand though, it provided a low key non threatening place for novice cross dressers or transgender women to come to. The bigger place just doesn't offer any of that. We will see what happens with attendance.

While I am gone, I have tried to file an archive post to go live approximately every two days. Hopefully, a dual purpose will be served, some sort of continuity when I am gone. Plus a much needed blog vacation for me.

I hope you enjoy them!

CAA has signed actor, model, writer and social activist Indya Moore. The transgender, non-binary, Haitian-Dominician and Puerto Rican actor is part of the groundbreaking, critically acclaimed FX series Pose co-created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals, which is currently in its second season.

On the series, Moore plays Angel Evangelista and is part of the largest trans cast in the history of television which includes Mj Rodriguez, Dominque Jackson, Angelica Ross, Hailie Sahar alongside Billy Porter, Angel Bismark Curiel, Evan Peters, Kate Mara, James Van Der Beek, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Charlayne Woodard and Dyllón Burnside.

Indya Moore

Dominique Jackson

Moore has also appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein and has been featured in W, Vogue, Another, OUT, New York Magazine, and i-D. Earlier this year, they appeared on TIME Magazine’s “Most Influential People” list and they continued to blaze trails by becoming the first transgender person to grace the cover of ELLE Magazine and the first transgender person to keynote the 2019 Essence Festival.

In addition to their work on TV, Moore has appeared in campaigns for Louis Vuitton and Calvin Klein and has been featured in W, Vogue, Another, OUT, New York Magazine, and i-D. Earlier this year, they appeared on TIME Magazine’s “Most Influential People” list and they continued to blaze trails by becoming the first transgender person to grace the cover of ELLE Magazine and the first transgender person to keynote the 2019 Essence Festival.

Noggin Day

Once again it is time to make the journey to see my long time therapist. Normally (no pun intended) there is not much exciting to write about. Seemingly we always take the same pre-mandated tests and she always asks the same questions. All of it is good I guess because no news is good news, since I am Bi-Polar also.

My point is, even though I haven't needed my therapist's help for literally years now since I changed over my gender markers and needed her assistance in starting hormone replacement therapy.

Plus, since Ohio is switching over to the new national driver's license identification cards. I was thinking I might need some sort of letter to help it along. Or, I may need to get a pass port and need some sort of a letter for that. I have over a year to iron out the final details, so I have plenty of time.

I am a firm believer in "never say never", so I never know when I will have to ask for her help again. Perhaps when and if Ohio approves gender changes on birth certificates..

Being a transgender person, I know it is the "gift" which keeps on giving.

Almost Panic Time

Vacation time is rapidly approaching. In fact, we board a big tour bus early this Friday morning bound for Colorado.

Each of us are allowed one suitcase for the trip which lasts ten days. I have to figure out what to pack in that suitcase to get me by. Plus, we have to guess at possible cooler temperatures at higher elevations. It's times like this I wish for my pre transgender guy days. A few shirts, pants and underwear and I was ready to go.

Example of the tour bus (and company) we are taking.

It's mind boggling for me since the suitcase also has to hold my CPAP breathing machine, so I can sleep at night.

This is actually Liz and I's fourth bus tour so we are familiar with how unforgiving the seats can become on a long trip. To fight back fatigue, Liz bought us a couple of back support cushions to take along.

I guess I am becoming the typical senior citizen traveler, if I like it or not.

Dining Out

Last night we went again to the usual upscale Italian restaurant we normally go to...perhaps for the last time. No, nothing out of the ordinary happened. The obnoxious cross dresser was there along with Liz, myself and a recovering older person who needed assistance So we  were able to stop and give her a ride. She is recovering from a fairly serious foot operation.

It was interesting in that we had a chance to really talk to her by herself. She was talking about how long it took to establish a feminine life and how she didn't really want to be seen with anyone closer to home who could tie her back in with her old masculine life. She has established herself as a new member greeter in her church. Plus, she is a board member of the "Rosie Reds" a women's auxiliary of the professional baseball Cincinnati Reds. At the age of eighty, she has established herself as everyone's grandma.

As we talked, I had a chance to insert how bored I was with going to the same place all the time, not to mention how tired I am with the same old bullshit from the obnoxious cross dresser.

Due to our upcoming vacation, plus a ghost tour we are going on, I won't have to worry about seeing him for at least a month.

Unfortunately, that isn't quite true because this Thursday we are going to another social the night before we leave for Colorado (from Ohio).  The cross dresser nearly always comes but there are plenty of other transgender peeps to interact with.  It should be interesting this week because the venue is being moved from a local small independent restaurant who didn't want to stay open past nine for us, to a large corporate restaurant/bar.  As a former restaurant manager myself, I am sorry to see us move. On the other hand I understand.

I am sure I will have plenty of other chances to write about it later.

Happy Ending

I had another chat with the support group moderator (Transgender-Cross dresser) concerning her infatuation with supporting the anti LGBTQ Chick -fil -a. In fact, I tagged her on Facebook  with yet another story of how the chicken joint's head guy called their stand against us a "higher calling."

She fired back at me how she considered herself a "proud transgender woman" and was breaking down barriers when she ate there. I told her again how backwards that was and the only barrier she was breaking down was the company's lower profit margin.

Surprisingly, she agreed with me and said she wouldn't eat there anymore! Good for her. If she is true to her word, at least I did my part to impact the bottom line of another anti LGBTQ company. Liz used to go to Hobby Lobby for some of her craft needs until we learned of their right wing evangelical leanings. Every little bit helps!

I may have to consider another coffee place after this rant from Connie:

"Not much risk involved by giving your money to someone who only likes your money. If she thinks she's being an activist, I would call her a "Chicken Activist." :-) I won't even patronize Seattle's own Starbucks because Schultz sold our Super Sonics to Oklahoma - plus, I don't really like burnt coffee at high prices. Schultz likes to burn coffee and basketball fans, I guess. He will allow trans people to use the restrooms, but you might have to wait until the heroin addict is through shooting up in there. But, hey, nobody's perfect, whether they be a CEO, a moderator, a trans person, or a drug addict. ;-)"

The problem I have is there aren't very many "neighborhood" coffee shops near me to patronize. I need to find out where "Mad Llama Coffee" is to see if it is close enough to go to. I had their coffee and a couple pastries a week or so ago at a farmer's market and loved it.

As far as the sports go, as many of you know, we have our own problems here in Cincinnati. 

Sarah McBride

From Washington (CNN)"Transgender activist Sarah McBride announced Tuesday that she's running for a Senate seat in her home state of Delaware.

Sarah McBride

McBride, 28, would become the first transgender person elected to a state senate if chosen to represent Delaware's 1st District. McBride made waves at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 as the first transgender person to speak at a major party convention.

McBride said that her campaign won't center on her identity, but instead hinge on expanding affordable health care and reforming the state's criminal justice system.

"A lot of people know me because of my advocacy in the LGBTQ community, but I want to be clear that that has not been my most formative experience," McBride told CNN on Tuesday.

McBride said the experience of caring for her late husband through a battle with cancer shaped her focus on health care, particularly her charge to increase access to paid family medical leave.

"I don't want anyone to go through that experience, but I also know that thousands of people are going through it every day," McBride said."

Good luck Sarah!

Are You Kidding Me?

At Monday night's transgender - cross dresser support group meeting, I walked in innocently enough expecting the moderator to go overboard once again expounding on her favorite topic...herself.

Instead she was somewhere missing in action but a Chick-fil-a cup was sitting in front of her seat. I almost just got up and left. Instead, I stayed and let her know my displeasure.

I said I thought the group was not political in nature and why should she bring politics into it. Of course she gave us all the same old song and dance about how she was helping the transgender cause by eating there. In reality, all she is doing is helping a company which hates the LGBTQ community.

Of course nothing was solved and maybe I got my point across with some of the other attendee's.

Only time will tell.

Say it Ain't So!

After twelve and a half years writing a blog, Stana at Femulate is calling it quits.

Stana

Very simply, most of you know, I have referred to her blog as the "gold standard" of transgender related blogs. You could always count on it to be well written, informative and full of wonderful pictures.

I will miss it totally. Stopping by Femulate was my first move every morning when I set out to figure out what I was going to write here in Cyrsti's Condo.  Many days it was like walking through sand to figure out what (if anything) I could possibly add to create yet another post. On many of those days, Stana was my push to get up and get moving.

Truthfully, after some 5600 published posts, I wonder if I should go away too. I think what I am going to do though instead of shutting down the blog, is instead taking a couple courses on creating a more professional site.

At this point in time, I am thinking of taking some of my vacation (coming up soon) to think about it.

In the meantime, I will always admire and respect Stana for her efforts.

She will be missed!

More Transgender Flowers

Due to the state of my life lately, this comment is actually several days old and includes another comment/picture from Connie. Much of it revolves around the concept of "passing" in a feminine world:

"Because of the work I do, I interact with dozens of people every day. It is usually they who start the conversation, as I'm basically there to water beautiful flower baskets, and people want to tell me how lovely those flowers are. I just reply with a feminine-sounding "thank you," but oftentimes I'm asked how I keep them so nice and lush. If I've passed up until this point, that's OK, but attempting to keep my feminine voice during a conversation, and keeping my feminine appearance during a longer face-to-face encounter lower my chances of passing with each tick of the clock (Is that what they mean by "clocked?")

My philosophy on passing is based on passing muster. This may, or may not, include blending in. I pretty much draw attention to myself while working, but it's in a positive way. I realize that there are many people who may size me up before saying anything at all to me, and I'm confident that, for most people, I am passing muster. What I think is the best test of this is that I seem to be approachable. It's a lot different than interacting with sales people or servers, whose jobs are to be nice to the customer - whatever they may think about a trans woman. 

At one of the locations where I work, on the pier amidst cruise ships and smaller harbor tour boats, there are more tourists from all over the world than there are Seattle-ites, so I'm often asked for directions or recommendations on the best places to see or go to eat. I'm sometimes taken aback when a good ole boy from the deep south approaches me with such questions. I mean, he easily could have gone to the visitor center right there, but he chose to come to me. I think I have the longest conversations with these guys, because I want them to know that a trans woman can be just as approachable and engaging as anyone else. Maybe some of them don't even figure out that I am trans, but it doesn't matter. 

Every once in a while, someone will compliment more than just my flowers. I have sometimes been told that I am pretty, too. Women are more likely to be sincere in saying that, but I've heard, "the flowers are almost as pretty as you are" from men more often than I would like (men think they're so clever with their come-on lines). 

Even if nobody spoke directly to me, I could take solace in the mere fact that I hear, all day long, parents say to their toddlers in tow, "See, the lady is watering the flowers!" At least they're calling me a lady, and I'm sure their kids will grow up accepting that I am, as are all trans women."

Thanks for the comment!

Busy Day

Yesterday turned out to be a much busier day than I expected. In fact, it turned out to one of those "Army" style days when you hurry up and wait.

The morning started with an always exciting trip to the DMV to get new tags for our new car. Well, it's new to us! I didn't think I would be needed, so I grabbed a seat to wait for Liz to wind her way through an insanely long line to get to a clerk. It turned out since my name was on the title too, I had to step up and be part of the process. All went well until the clerk asked how we described our relationship for the record. I said "Partner." She glared at me and said "How long?" I glared back and said eight years and she seemed satisfied and went on to the next question. After an eternity, the whole fun filled process was over.

Next was Liz's eye appointment. The only thing I can say, the place was air conditioned and had comfortable chairs. Soon we left and headed to one of the close neighborhood specialty food stores to look for produce. After squeezing the mango's it was past time to head to the pharmacy because they close every day for a lunch break between 1:30 and two. Liz was offered some sort of a discount card for her prescription. That was the good news, the bad news was she had to call a number to get it. Of course by that time, the lunch break was upon us and we ended waiting the extra half hour to try to get the prescription filled. It all turned out to be for naught because the phone lines were closed till Monday.

All of the fooling around made us late for our next appointment.  We were supposed to pick up a friend and be at a restored Cincinnati church which has been made into a craft brewery and event center. We were checking it out for perhaps holding a future Witches Ball there. Also we were supposed to meet the disc jockey we were thinking of using this year. By the time we got there, we were a half hour late. Personally, I loved the place. It brought back fond memories of escaping a hot humid day in a cold bar drinking cold beer and relaxing. Although the meeting itself made it hard to relax, I was treated like any other person in the place.

The disc jockey was a trip. We as a group got some push back for using him because supposedly he was a neo nazi in his past. So, we wanted to meet him naturally, to hear his side of the story. Interestingly, Liz said if he avoids me, maybe he is a Nazi. Because they would be more apt to steer clear of a transgender person.

To make a long story short, I don't think he is or was a Nazi and someone is just out to get to us through him. It's sad because all the money raised goes to charity (homeless shelter) and we don't make anything for what essentially is huge pain in the rear. I keep thinking this will be the last year.

After taking our friend home, we finally were able to stop at an Aldi Food Store and do some light shopping for a late dinner.

After all of that, we ran out of time and the day came to an end. Thank goodness.

Lesson learned? If and when you get a chance to live a full life as a transgender woman...never look back!

Flower Girls

As luck would have it, I stopped during my walk at a neighbor's house down the street to admire one of her flower beds. As I did, she came running out to talk to me. It turns out I was the first person in the neighborhood to notice and appreciate all of her hard work. With all the rain we have been having the flowers are doing quite well.

As always, I was a bit self conscious because I hadn't even bothered to put on any make up which of course I don't for my morning walks when I meet very few people. She was so engrossed with talking about her garden, she didn't even seem to notice. After all, she wasn't wearing any either and may have found it odd if I was wearing any either.

Ironically, a better example of a flower girl adding beauty to her plants just came from Connie:

Connie pointed out the picture was actually taken last September "when the flowers were on their downside." Sort of like she was. Well, we can all claim that!

Seriously, I am sure she gets a lot of compliments on  the beautiful flowers and herself.

Thanks for sharing :).

Happy Fourth!

It's the Fourth of July and time to forget the divides we suffer in Washington and remember all which is still good with our nation.

Sadly at a time when our government seems to be so out of touch with the people, so much good is happening at the grass roots level, especially within the LGBTQ community. Like no time in the past, we are preparing for the fight ahead.

In the meantime, let's remember Woody Guthrie's immortal song, This Land is Your Land:




I would like to thank the "Tony Burgess Blog" I follow for this inspiration!

Passing Privilege?

I saw a post somewhere the other day about the importance of a person's "passing privilege."

First of all, I am not a big fan of the passing comment at all and always like to refer back to Stana's Femulate comment referring to how she always passed with care, by using her horn, flashing her lights etc.

Long HRT Hair

As far as I am concerned, I go back to what a transgender woman friend told me years ago. She said, I passed out of sheer will power. So many years later, I still do. If people don't like me, it's their problem.

I was never blessed with being a "natural." It took me a long time to realize the compliment "You make a great looking woman," was missing the rest of the comment...for a man. Even though I grew up desperately wanting to be a girl, I lived in a male dominated world and had precious little time to express my "feminine side."

My real inclusion into having any passing privilege at all came after I made the decision to go on HRT. All the good things happened like hair, breasts, soft skin and a rounder face. However, I do believe sometime in the future I will get a health pay back in return for messing around with my body's hormonal basic's.

In the mean time though, I will continue to put my best feminine foot forward to the world the best I can. Out of sheer will power.

Hopefully I won't wear my horn out when I get the chance to pass.   

Pooya!

If you haven't seen or heard, Pantene is starring a 41 year old transgender woman as one of it's models:

"When Pooya Mohseni was 19 years old, she was walking around a park in her hometown of Tehran, Iran, wearing a simple black T-shirt and white jeans, when a group of policemen approached her.

The officers took issue with how Mohseni, a transgender woman who was presenting as masculine at the time, wore her hair. To them, it was too long.

Pooya Mohseni

"My hair was down to the middle of my ears," Mohseni, now 41, tells Refinery29. "Not very long at all. If I pulled it all to the front of my face, it would come down to the middle of my nose." 

According to Mohseni, the officers' real problem wasn't her hair. It was what her hair signified.  Almost two decades later, that very same head of hair is making its debut in a new Pantene campaign called "Don’t Hate Me Because I’m #BeautifuLGBTQ," which was born out of the brand's new partnership with GLAAD in honor of Pride Month. In a video for the campaign that can be seen on both YouTube and social media, Mohseni recounts her arrest and declares that "hair is the most visibly transformative part of your body."

I agree and still feel so fortunate I was able to grow my own hair. It forced me into going all out to adopt a stable feminine persona. The drawback of course is making sure I keep up with it at my stylist!

Bored

After every up moment such as this weekend, there naturally comes a period of "what now?"

I have nothing going on this week until Friday when we have our monthly transgender-cross dresser social at the Mexican Restaurant we go to quite a bit.

It's still too early to decide, but since we are still baking in our mini heat wave, I probably will wear my other maxi dress.

Other than that, I will be riding along with Liz to her doctor's appointments, which require no special preparation to speak of. Just the normal jeans and minimal make up.

All the Prides in the area are now done, so it's a let down too. Most of the euphoria of Pride can be tempered with all the tragic violence against transgender women around the country and the world. Pride is a powerful example of what is possible...if we all stick together and make it happen.