I've seen the illustrations here and there growing up in Ontario. I didn't pay attention to who created them. Just enjoyed the detail and the colours, the types of flowers: trilliums, lady's slipper, jack-in-the-pulpit, wildflowers I would look for in woodlands, gardens, anywhere they might turn up. Today I looked up the name and discovered she was the daughter of Susanna Moodie, a well known author here in Ontario.

Canadian born, Agnes Dunbar Fitzgibbon Chamberlin (née Moodie; 1833–1913) was an Ontario artist.

She was born Agnes Dunbar Moodie. Her parents were John and Susanna Moodie. Agnes learned how to paint flowers from her mother.

Susana (Strickland) Moodie, sister of Catharine Parr Traill, wrote about life as a New Canadian, 'Roughing it in the Bush' about her experience farming in Ontario during the 1830's. Her sister, Catharine, wrote from a different perspective, about history in Ontario.

In 1868, Canadian Wild Flowers was published, viewed as one of the first serious botanical works published in Canada, which included text by Catharine Parr Traill. The book, very expensive for its time, was sold by subscription, largely through its author's own efforts; as an enterprising widow, she also worked as an illustrator to support her children and herself.

Agnes had 2 husbands (remarried after the first died in 1865) and 9 children.

In 1863, she began her paintings of Canadian flora to illustrate a book by her aunt, Catharine Parr Traill. After the death of her husband, she began work on a book of Canadian wild flowers, with her water-coloured illustrations and Traill's text. The book attracted 500 subscriptions, a significant number at the time.

Her paintings have been presented at exhibitions in Canada, USA, and England since 1886. She died in Toronto in 1913. Her heirs presented her paintings and copies of Canadian Wild Flowers and Studies of Plant Life in Canada to the University of Toronto in 1934–5.

• Summarized and quoted from Wikipedia.

I think we still have a copy of one of the reprints of the wildflower book. My Mother enjoyed Canadian and Ontario history along with gardening, antique furniture and other hobbies that became popular in the 1970's. That must be where I first saw these illustrations.

Female Sexual Arousal Disorder – is it real or is it just a bunch of horny men?

I used to write an adult sort of column for a website. It was sometimes fun, interesting, and sometimes aggravating. The issue about women and sex is huge and complicated.

I have wondered what our culture would really be like if it were balanced for men and women. Or, really, what would our day to day lives be like if we lived in an Amazon culture where women are the leaders? Have always been the leaders. Those in charge, making the rules, setting the standards. I don't believe we can even imagine it. Our own culture is so far the other way its not something we can understand.

Movies and stories are created about imagined Amazon cultures. They are always based on our current standards. Of course, it matters who the writer is. Their own ideas, notions, and experiences. I don't think it is at all possible for anyone to get an unbiased look at how a women-led world would be. How it would have evolved.

We are biased, even the most radical feminist, is biased by the world as it is, the culture we have grown up in. So, the idea that women have a sexual arousal disorder is ludicrous/ ridiculous. Who is so qualified and unbiased to decide what sexual arousal should be for anyone? What's normal and who can make that decision for someone else.

So, yes, it seems to me this idea of female sexual arousal disorder is based on the expectations of men. Just because men, in general seem to want more sex, how does that mean a woman is out of order if she does not have that same interest?

For me that's just the start of it. Men and women tend to live different lives, with different expectations about who they are, who they should be, and what they should do. The old double standard, the idea that she is a lady in the streets and a whore in the sheets, she is someone's sainted mother and someone else's wife, less saintly. Then... can we even agree about what is a women, a female any more?

There is the tip of a pretty interesting and slippery iceberg. Lets leave it that I do not believe in female sexual arousal disorder.

I'm not sure why but I get a lot of ideas for fiction stories which I seldom write. They just come as bursts of ideas without enough steam for a long form. I try to build onto them and find a beginning, grow the middle and then give them an ending. But, by then the steam has evaporated and the story is mostly gone, or no longer seems important or worth writing.

Today, the old song "Take All of Me" came into my head and later, as I was washing dishes, this story shaped itself. This time I wrote it down, in short form. I'd guess its a horror story, but I'm not sure.

Taking All of Her

So then I chopped off her other foot. Then, when she could no longer stand, clinging to me, leaning on me and unable to leave me now for sure, I no longer wanted her. So I went back to the huge furnace in the industrial plant, and I asked it, "What can I do with her now, when she is no longer beautiful, when I no longer enjoy watching her even?" The furnace said to bring her there and throw her in. Her bones would melt and become part of skyscrapers being built, trucks used to build them and no one would ever blame me.

Written by Laura Brown February, 19, 2025

I joined the Dull Women's Club, on Facebook.

When asked what I thought dull meant, I wrote: Simple, plain, normal, sane. Able to appreciate the smaller things in life, if not the better things.

This is what I wrote as my self introduction:

I'm excessively dull. Sometimes the highlight of my day is finding my backscratcher to get rid of an itch on my back. I live in Ontario, the small city of Barrie. At the end of this year I will be 60. I live with my Mother, who is now 80. I collect books, more than I can actually read. I make ASCII art. I have been a writer and editor online for years. I used to crochet and sew. I'm divorced with no children. I drink coffee. I couldn't find a photo of myself though I have easily a thousand photos I've taken of old farm houses around Ontario. I'm a volunteer with Ontario Barn Preservation, writing the newsletter, etc.

A later comment about growing foot size as we get older:

I think everything you don't want to grow, grows as you get older. Things you wish would grow, like getting just a bit taller, don't grow. I started wearing men's shoes because I could get the same size (more or less) by number but they were wider and longer than women's shoes. Once upon a time I was a size 6, now I'm a 10. Not a 10 in the way I'd like to be a 10, just the dull way of having bigger feet.

Behind every successful woman is a suit of men's clothing? There seems to be a trend for women to dress as men in order to feel successful, confident, professional - the ideal stereotypical man. It's sad for women and unfair to men. Its letting stereotypes continue to thrive when we should be changing them, not ourselves.

People get angry if you post anything less than agreeable about gender transitioning, fluidity, and all the other words and phrases which just keep on showing up. They all mean the same thing really. People have dived so deep into gender stereotypes they can't see their way any more. We don't need gender stereotypes. We don't need more divisions, more definitions of gender.

We live with a flood of gender issues. Created by people, man made - using an old fashioned, non-gender neutral phrase.

We call everyone "guys" while demanding militant attention to gender identity otherwise. It's very weird. I've posted about the "guys" thing before. Today I'm posting about women dressing as men, behaving and acting as they believe men do, stereotypical men. Why are these women changing how they look to suit old stereotypes so they can feel better about themselves? Why do they need a change of clothes to make them feel masculine in order to feel better about themselves? Why do they need to be masculine to be better women?

It really worries me that women can't seem to feel good about being women any more. Too many women seem to feel it is easier to become a masculine stereotype than to live as a woman and feel good about who you are, what you can accomplish, and how the world sees you.

Women call themselves queer, non-binary, gender fluid...  wear traditional/ stereotypical male clothes then believe they are/feel stronger, more professional, business-like, confident. The clothes make the man, they say. But, that's a very old expression. Why isn't it outdated? Why do so many women, people, still believe it, literally?

Gender should not define who you are. You should. Who you are should be about you, not your gender. This is what a stereotype is. Defining someone based on perceptions of race, religion, politics, age, gender, etc. We should be trying to understand this. But we seem to be sinking deeper and deeper into it. Giving the stereotypes new life and much more importance.

A man likes fixing cars and that's ok. A woman likes sewing and crochet, that's ok too. No one expects them to change genders to suit their hobbies, interests, or professions. If a person enjoys ballet we decide they must be feminine. A boy who wants a ballet costume, isn't just a boy interested in ballet and wearing a costume. If a female is interested in fixing cars she must be masculine. A girl who likes science, technology, auto mechanics, carpentry, plumbing, maybe even construction work... she shouldn't also like wearing a pretty pink dress. You can't be feminine and like those "boy things". Does this mean a woman in a dress, or wearing pretty colours, should feel less confident, less capable, less self-reliant? Those are really old stereotypes. Why do we still promote them and worse, believe in them?

More than believing in stereotypes we now enforce them. Women who begin dressing as men (typical and traditional men's clothing styles) say they feel different about themselves. They feel powerful, stronger, all traditional things associated with men. Men dress as women (typical and traditional female clothing, cosmetics, jewelry styles) and say they feel softer, gentler, etc. But, changing your clothes, hairstyle, getting cosmetic surgery, none of that changes your brain. Playing a video game you take on a character, an avatar, but its still you playing the game. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing - the wolf is just wearing a new skin, under that is still a wolf. It's just a skin, a covering, a costume.

If you want to live differently change your personality. You don't need a different pronoun, a new wardrobe or surgery. Just be yourself, the person you want to be. Make the change to who you are, rather than making cosmetic changes to suit a stereotype.

Be yourself. You are not your gender, your gender is just part of the whole. This post may upset some people who don't really read it. Just skim for keywords to go of on a flaming rant. But, it should upset people. People need to think about why we have so many gender issues, why do we still pigeon hole people into what makes a man and what makes a woman, based on preconceived notions from long ago?  Why is that accepted and encouraged and protesting it (pointing it out at all) aggressively discouraged?