There is a Summer Solstice posting now in the Great Wheel.
Leaving Texarkana this morning for the Ozarks, then Kanasas City or so. See you in a few hours with trip news.
Category Archives: General
The Journey Flows North
88 bar falls 4mph NNE dew-point 75 (!) Summer Solstice
Waning Gibbous Flower Moon
Texarkana, Arkansas
Ate lunch today in Monroe, Louisiana at the Piccadilly Cafeteria. This is the cafeteria you may remember from earlier times. It has a sturdy 3-part metal rail and about 50 feet of food set out in neat little rows. The watermelon and the cucumber salad I retrieved first could have come from anywhere, but the shrimp etouffee? Pure Louisiana. Cornbread and greens filled out my tray (Formica with little flecks). This cost $11.84. Pay at the register on the way out.
Dana brought me some hot sauce and a second large glass of water. The atmosphere managed to be both down-home and quietly elegant. I ate until I should have stopped, then went right on past that point. Mmmm. Good.
Earlier a Park Ranger at the Vicksburg Military Park got me to participate in a mock firing of a confederate cannon. I was the gunner. The whole business is a dance that a good crew could repeat three times in a minute. First, a long pole with a cotton damper is thrust into the cannon to put out sparks from the last firing that might prematurely set off the charge. A second person pushes a charge into the cannon. The first person tamps the charge home with a wooden tamper on the other end of the swab.
A third person stabs the charge with a sharp metal rod, opening the powder. Then, the gunner steps up (this is me) and sights along a bronze rule. When satisfied with the placement, the gunner throws up his hands. This signals the person with the metal rod to step up and place a leather covered thumb over the striking hole to create a vacuum. Yet another person puts a firing pin in the next hole. Filled with chemicals, it lights when he yanks a six foot long lanyard. Boom.
On a drive through the park on the tour route I thought about why we commemorate these events. Battles. Clashes of men and arms. There are many monuments. They honor states, divisions, armies, batteries, generals, colonels, the fallen and the wounded. They are made of marble, bronze, and other stones, some small, while others, like the Illinois and Wisconsin state monuments, are huge. This is sacred architecture called into service when some path changing event occurs in the sweep of human history.
It does its job. The whole drive feels solemn, reverent. Somewhere, back behind the trees, the dead still swab the cannons and lift their muskets.
Stopped in Texarkana for the night. I plan to make at least Kansas City by tomorrow night, then on home. After the Vicksburg visit, my inner compass turned toward home. Now, headed north,the journey flows toward my pole star.
Worry?
A few I had that I didn’t want to pitch:
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
– Bertrand Russell
“If you devote your life to seeking revenge, first dig two graves.” – Confucius
The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.
– Robert Frost
Gabe
63 bar steady 29.86 1mph SSW dewpoint 32 Beltane
New Moon (Hare Moon, English medieval)
Outside this morning planting Chiroggia, Golden and some other kind of beets–this morning they were plants, already started indoors. Nantes Carrots, too. Same thing. All four are heirloom seeds, species of long ago, kept alive and healthy by the folks at Seed Savers Exchange. This also means we can collect seed from any plant we let go to see and expect them to reproduce their parent plant, an expectation only realized among hybrids by cloning or vegetative reproduction.
Kate made a call, after we consulted about where to plant the beets and carrots. “This bed,” she said, “was not too stressed. It hasn’t had tomatoes for a couple of years.”
The call was to Jon, checking up on little Gabe, still in the hospital. As she talked, I only heard one end of the conversation. “You’re kidding.” She looked toward the ground, eyes hooded, “You’re kidding.” You’re kidding is Kate talk for OH MY GD. Gabe is a factor 8 hemophiliac. This is the same kind as the Czar’s family, a particularly intractable kind. Treatable, but tough to deal with over a lifetime. A chronic disease.
Gabe has the right Dad. Jon is a model diabetic, controlling his insulin levels and remaining lean, athletic. He’s suffered from diabetes, fought his own demons with it. Once he had it fairly well controlled, he developed Addison’s, another immune mediated disease. He had already added a poorly functioning thyroid gland. In each instance he has learned about the disease, managed it and gone on with his life, allowing himself no secondary gain or restrictions other than those absolutely necessary for handling his conditions. Then, on top of that, he began to have aches. Rheumatoid arthritis.
Jon understands both poles of handling a chronic disease: the physical and the psychological. They are equal in importance since a stubborn resistance to manage a chronic condition only makes it worse. On the other hand, good management creates a sense of psychological well-being impossible otherwise. Good psychological health makes handling the various regimes more doable.
I’ve never been sure of the old, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but in this case I can say that if any one can handle Gabe’s life in a psychologically and physically optimal way, it’s Jon.
The Sun. The Sun.
42 bar steep rise 29.72 12mph NW dewpoint 42 Beltane
Waning Crescent Moon of Growing
The sun. The sun. What a relief. Sunlight is a balm all on its own. No wonder we worshipped it in so many of our cultures across the globe. And why not?
More and more daffodils have opened, they give a cheery feel to the garden. Tulips will open in the next few days if we warm up as predicted. The garlic has shot up and all the iris look healthy. The hemerocallis has emerged, too, giving the whole garden a greenscape. I’ve got way more hemerocallis than I need or want, so a lot of it will get moved or given away.
Tonight we will have the first salad with lettuce from the hydrponics.
Another errand Saturday. I’m going to go check out Landice treadmills in Arden Hills, pick up some groceries and wait until it warms up a bit this afternoon, then plant beets and morning glories.
A Flurry of Activity
32 bar steady 30.06 0mpn NNW dewpoint 25 Spring
Last Quarter Moon of Growing
A three day flurry of activity has come to an end. On Friday I gave two Weber tours. On Saturday I attended a workshop on Natural Rhythms and Time. Today I preached at Groveland. Now I have three days in a row to catch up on this and that. I need it.
Kate’s been gone since Wednesday. Life is more empty without her here, but one of the beauties of our relationship is our mutual ability to function on our own. That makes both of us freer for family and for other things that come up. I talked to her twice over the last two days and both times she was with Ruthie at the playground. She comes home this Wednesday.
The Mohel Is In Israel
63 bar steady 29.99 1mph W dewpoint 29 Spring
Full Moon of Growing
Interior Gardens, where I buy hydroponic supplies, has two Australian Heelers, a dingo related herding dog. I met Lili and her buddy. They were friendly and happy to see me from their perch on bags of stacked potting soil. I bought some more pots so I can make the megafarm a bit more versatile and some trays so I can start more seeds. So far the hydroponics seems pretty straight forward, but I’m sure the future holds challenges.
The bris will be May 4th. The mohel is in Israel. Little Gabe has some respiratory distress. Jon and Jen will be glad when Kate gets there.
Today or tomorrow morning is repair the treadmill day. I have a harness to replace and it demands matching colored wires with the right sockets. It seems straightforward, but I confused three colors on the back of the TV.
Gray Hair, a Side Benefit of Aging
77! bar steady 29.79 2mph S dewpoint 50 Spring
Full Moon of Growing
This may be one of those years where we skip spring and plunge right ahead into summer. I prefer a little foreplay before it heats up, but we may not get it.
The trunk now has clean, fresh oil. While waiting on the oil change, I read and edited Stefan’s first poems. He’s got such a good ear, it will be a pleasure working with him.
My passport application has gone into the Department of State. This picture looks good, the gray hair makes me look better in photographs. A nice side benefit of aging.
Just finished drying off blanched vegetables preparatory to putting them in plastic containers for the refrigerator. Blanching gives the vegetables a bright color, sweetens them and preserves them, in the fridge, for meals. They have become like snack food to me.
Nap now. Workout. Go to Scott’s for the Woolly meeting.
The Hawthorne Giant Shakes His Shaggy Head
64 bar steady 29.81 2mph S dewpoint 50 Spring
Full Moon of Growing
It’s that time of year again. The time, that is, when I have to pull the shades of my east facing computer room windows. Otherwise, it heats up in here. Pretty fast.
If we’d get some rain to get with this warmth, we’d have plenty of blooms. I have daffodils and tulips getting close. Went out yesterday and wandered through our woods and garden. While looking at one of the large beds shifted from flowers to vegetables, a lily question came up. Namely, where did I plant all the lilies I had in that bed? I’ll be damned if I can recall. They’ll come up as a surprise.
The Hawthorne giant must have shaken his shaggy head and stomped off to the Arctic circle. Hope he finds cool weather when he gets there.
The rock wool cubes in which I planted the lettuce dried out last night, at least in the smaller of the hydroponic setups. I don’t know why. The plants themselves don’t seem affected, so I conjecture that their root system now reaches down into the nutrient solution. Learning while we go.
The truck needs an oil change and I need to read Stefan’s poems and finish the book on Mastery that Tom Crane sent. So, I’m off.
Generous Rain
50 bar falls 29.87 11mph N dewpoint 29 Spring
Waxing Gibbous Moon of Growing
Two tours today. A Weber for about sixteen people. Attentive, engaged. Ditto for the Community College World Religion’s class. All I need to feel successful is to have engaged, talkative tours. Something happens that’s good then. Whatever it is.
Generous rain in the city, but very little here at home. We could use some.
I’m tired; but, I have to workout now or I’ll skip it and I need the time on the treadmill. So, off I go.