New Moon, Farewell August

We're off to Brushwood Folklore Center this weekend, and with the clear skies in the forecast and the new moon fast approaching, it should be a perfect weekend for star gazing! The moon is in Leo, the sunniest sign of the zodiac, so it seems fitting that summer's last gasp is a loud lion's roar, giving way to Virgo, often represented as Demeter or Ceres, the goddess of grain, or Pomona, goddess of fruit and orchards. (The Pomona mask image is by artist Lauren Raine, a frequent visitor to Brushwood.)

We missed the Perseid Meteor Showers this year because it was so cloudy here. So a sky full of stars, all the brighter for no moonlight, will be a delightful way to say farewell to August. I love late summer; and unlike a lot of people I don't think summer "ends" when September arrives. Some of the nicest, warmest, sunniest weather of the summer occurs in September.

September is summer tinged with cold, and gold. It's summer packing its woolens for autumn, still clothed in its holiday linens. September is fragrant with the perfumes of harvest, awash in the lush Arcadian colors of meadows and forests, sun-dappled, dreaming of the bloom of frost on its lawns and leaves. September wants a jug of golden wine and a hearty loaf to sate its parched august heart.

(Images from www.rainewalker.com, Cafe Tarot, and www.Israelity.com. Apple photo from malverntrail.co.uk.)

Well! It's About Time! (European Witch Pardoned)

200 years after the last so-called "witch" was executed in Europe (Switzerland, to be exact), she has been pardoned. Read all about it here.

I wonder if this woman really did try to practice the magic she is accused of having perpetrated? Or was she just another victim of hysteria, prejudice, mean-spirited pettiness? What went through her head before she was killed? Did she believe she was dying a martyr's death?

May she rest in peace, along with everyone else that has ever been executed for crimes they did not commit.

wedding pics!

Here we are with Burchard, the wonderful guy who delivers our firewood; he showed up just before the ceremony started.

Here we are during the ceremony:
Here we are in the grove after the ceremony. (If it had not rained all night we would have had the ceremony here; but it was a bit too muddy for folks in wheelchairs, etc.)

Here we are cutting our yummy cake!

MMMMM.....cake....and cupcakes!

Here we are at the reception with my new brother and sister-in-law.

More photos in this album on Photobucket. I am new to this so they are not all edited and resized or in any special order.

I will be uploading another set of them taken by our friend Roy soon.

help a friend with kidney disease

My pal Brent has put out an appeal to raise money for kidney research, hoping to benefit himself and thousands of others with kidney disease. Won't you pledge a measly $10 (the cost of two pints of Guinness or three cappuccinos) to help?

(message from Brent)

As some of you know.. I have Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) and have
just been put on the transplant list. This starts a 5-7 year wait for
a new kidney. Until then, I can just take care of myself and try to
put off dialysis for as long as possible.

Currently, there is no cure for PKD. There is only treatment in the
form of dialysis and transplant. I don't believe this needs to be the
case. That is why I've signed up for the North East Ohio PKD walk pn
9/21. I want to raise $1,000 for research. I need your help.

So- what can you do? Well.. its easy...
The easiest thing you can do is go to

WALK.PKDCURE.ORG/GOTO/THESMITHS
or
http://walk.pkdcure.org/site/TR?team_id=34930&fr_id=1842&pg=team

and donate. I think it would be really cool to get 100 people to
donate $10 each. Yeah.. that's my goal. 100 people @ $10.


What? You don't think that's enough.. ok.. then how about this...
let 10 other people know about this little project. You see... I
don't know 100 people's email addresses. So, I can't send this to 100
people myself. So, forward this. Cajole and embarrass people until
they donate. You know the drill.. pretend you like me and want me to
stay around a little bit.
(tell ya what, if ya raise the 1000 yourself, I'll never bother you
again, deal?)

Seriously.. any help you can give (financial or networking) is
greatly appreciated.


Thanks.

Brent

A poem for summer's dying fall

This stunning poem appears in the summer issue of Goblin Fruit. It's possessed of a lusty pagan worldview, dying vegetation god-style, and it makes me want to dive into the change of the seasons head first.

The Seasons' Dying

by Samantha Henderson


Summer dies warm in the brown arms of Fall
who lays her down easy
by his cool streams, takes the name Indian
Summer and runs.
Calloused barefoot, beloved of apples and witches,
his eyes are tawny and green trees turn glorious
musk at his touch. He does not flinch
when Winter slays him. Winter, warrior,
banners streaming white and blue,
dons the medieval robes of the last small Ice Age
and metes out justice. 'Til Spring
grows from the foot of his throne, twines about his limbs,
and tickles him to death.
Born of melted ice and mud,
weakest-seeming of the seasons,
she makes the aching buds burst.
She kisses her favorite frogs awake
who cannot save her from Queen Summer who,
imperious,
passes her hand before her face,
closes her eyes with bright copper pennies,
and covers her with cloth of gold.
Summer strides,
eating peaches, until weary,
she faces handsome Autumn, walks into his embrace,
and lays her head down.

Neil Gaiman giveaways

Cool contest on this blog with books, Lush products and other groovy prizes.

Barack rocks!

This is very funny and strangely moving:

Nice bit of YouTube.

Nature's Foodie Wisdom

The Planet on a Plate blog published an intriguing post on the connection of the shapes, colors and benefits of various foods to the organs of the body. I've reprinted a bit of it here. Those familiar with the Doctrine of Signatures will recognize this theory. My favorite example comprises the Venusian fruits that benefit the skin, hair, and reproductive organs, like berries, apples, peaches, and mangoes. The goddess of love, sex and beauty takes care of her children with foods that draw us in with their seductive colors, shapes, scents and tastes.

From "Planet on a Plate":
A friend recently sent me an email that I thought was wonderful. I'm not sure who wrote this originally, so I'm unable to credit the original author:

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm cells to overcome male sterility.

CHeck out the blog link above to read the entire post. Fascinating!