Category Archives: Weather +Climate

Cinema and Television, Poetry, Weather +Climate

The Howdydoody Season: Winterspringsummerfall

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Beltane                                                                          Early Growth Moon

In a long ago time I took a group of youngsters from Brooklyn Center United Methodist Church on an outing.  Wherever it was we ended up, there was a beanbag toss game that featured Howdydoody characters.  The kids, as kids always do, said, “What’s that?”  And I, as unsuspecting aging adults always do, said, “Why, that’s Howdydoody.”  The blank stares gave me my first frisson of growing old though I was only 27 at the time.

On this now very outdated program there was a character whose name describes for me the season we’ve been passing through since, oh, March or so:  Winterspringsummerfall.

 

This is not a new phenomenon, though, as James Russell Lowell’s poem shows:

Under the Willows [May is a pious fraud of the almanac]

by James Russell Lowell

May is a pious fraud of the almanac,
A ghastly parody of real Spring
Shaped out of snow and breathed with eastern wind;
Or if, o'er-confident, she trust the date,
And, with her handful of anemones,
Herself as shivery, steal into the sun,
The season need but turn his hourglass round,
And Winter suddenly, like crazy Lear,
Reels back, and brings the dead May in his arms,
Her budding breasts and wan dislustred front
With frosty streaks and drifts of his white beard
All overblown. Then, warmly walled with books,
While my wood-fire supplies the sun's defect,
Whispering old forest-sagas in its dreams,
I take my May down from the happy shelf
Where perch the world's rare song-birds in a row,
Waiting my choice to open with full breast,
And beg an alms of springtime, ne'er denied
Indoors by vernal Chaucer, whose fresh woods
Throb thick with merle and mavis all the year.

– See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/22956?utm_source=PAD%3A+Spring+Song+by+Sherwood+Anderson&utm_campaign=poemaday_051813&utm_medium=email#sthash.6TuB0x7D.dpuf

Commentary on Religion, Garden, Great Wheel, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Weather +Climate

Growing Up

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Beltane                                                                   New (Early Growth) Moon

Cold, wet and occasionally sunny the short Minnesota growing season has finally begun.  Our cold weather planting is done, sometime in the next week we’ll put in our tomatoes and peppers.  Then, we wait for the sun to warm the soil, the rain to nourish the roots, carrying nutrients from the soil into the plants, elevatoring it up to the leaves where that true, abundant and necessary miracle photosynthesis will transubstantiate solar energy into the real body and blood.  Each leaf a priest, each plant a diocese.  A garden the whole catholic universe.

It is in here, somewhere, that reimagining faith will finally come home, right down here at that literally elemental level where the chemicals and elements of earth, soldered by sunlight make the essentials for life.  No photosynthesis, no life, at least on the surface of the planet where we live.  I understand there are different processes in the deep sea vents, strange creatures with arsenic in their veins, but up here, in the green world, we depend on–what a weak word–we live or die by this vegetative marvel.

It’s not as if there might not be gods, there may be.  There may be.  But I can think of no god that does more to sustain my life than the least of the leaves.  Here’s the nexus where sin and redemption must occur.  Sin makes our planet less hospitable for these; redemption conserves the planet’s soil, assures the availability of sun light.

(Gods Pantheon.  Ratteau)

Think of the crucifixion each year as soils leach out their nutrients, become so friable that they can blow away in the wind.  Think of the top soil, made fertile over hundreds of years, wasted in a season or two.  Think of the aquifers, draining themselves for our sake with no hope of replenishment in a hundred hundred human lifetimes.

How will we roll away the stone on this deep crime?  Who will stand at the tomb, that fine rising’ up mornin’, when the world cares for its soils and its forests and its lakes and its streams as if life of very life could not do without them?  Someday.  I hope.  Someday.

Weather +Climate, Woolly Mammoths

A Beltane Snow

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Beltane                                                                               Planting Moon

So.  If the goddess goes out to meet the horned god for a little whoopy in Minnesota tonight, the pair will freeze.  And possibly end up under a snow drift.  Since their ritual seals the beginning of the growing season, it may not look good for the crops.

Although in our instance the cold weather crops will enjoy this continued blast of chilly air and I imagine the air and the soil will warm up around the usual time for the warm weather crops like tomatoes and green peppers.

Tomorrow we’ll wade into the snow and take off for the North Shore where if the weather maps are right, we might run into a lot of snow near our destination, the Cascade Beach Road area north of Lutsen.  The Woolly’s will gather again, diminished in numbers a bit by the absence of gentlemen Jim Johnson who is in Hawai’i, Charlie Haislet who is enroute to the Twin Cities as I write this from Shanghai, I believe and Mark Odegard, who will come up later like Charlie.

These gatherings have moved from heavily structured to loosely structured to almost no structure, the years and the bonds taking care of the programmatic aspects of our time together.  Mostly we go to catch up, take each other in in those small ways, off to the side, in casual moments that don’t happen during our twice a month meetings during the rest of the year.

This particular retreat finds two of us fairly new to the third phase and retirement, two of us still on the cusp.  It means in some fashion the Woollies will change.  How is not clear.  Perhaps something will become obvious during the retreat, perhaps not.  Part of this third phase journey is the slower pace, the more deliberate decision making, the luxury of time to consider matters with care.

Not sure whether there is wi-fi at the house on Lake Superior, so I don’t know if I’ll be posting over the next few days or not.  If not.  Till Sunday evening.

Health, Weather +Climate

75!

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Spring                                                                              Planting Moon

 

75.  The temperature outside is 75.  Flick back to Monday and Tuesday.  Snow, blowing snow and hazardous driving conditions.  Minnesota has these occasions, these, oh let’s change seasons for good today moments.  Not my favorite part of Minnesota’s climate, but not a bad one either.

Seasonal whiplash.

The back has gotten better, ouching not quite so much, the trajectory seeming to have tilted in a favorable direction at last.  I miss exercising.

Still feeling a bit submerged since last Sunday when Kona had to go to the emergency vet, as if I’ve not swum quite all the way back to the top.   I can the green filtered light, shafts of yellow reaching me on my way up.

Soon now.  Soon.

 

Weather +Climate

A Return to Regular Programming

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Spring                                                                           Planting Moon

According to my weather station, we stand at 49 degrees.  And this time there seem to be no winter storms with plowable and shovelable snow wrecking their way through Nebraska on their way here.

Nope.  Now it’s tornadic super-cells, derechos and life altering hail.  Like I always say, I’m glad I don’t live on the coast or near an earthquake fault or volcano.  Those people must be nuts.

Kate’s home, taking a nap.  I took mine in the chair well before lunch.  We will now return to our normal programming.

Dogs, Health, Weather +Climate

Woozy

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Spring (so they say)                                                      Planting Moon

Kona’s at the vets getting her tumor removed.  Gertie’s down here in the study, lying down close to the desk.  Rigel has begun to worry about her mama, looking through the gate in the morning toward the bedroom.  Where could she be?

Kona will come home today, probably late in the afternoon.  She’s been to the vet three days in a row and is not a particularly happy dog at this time.

The meds I’ve been taking for this damned back make me a bit woozy, between that and the pain, my capacity to get things done has diminished quite a bit.  I’ll be glad when the back decides to calm down and I can resume exercising.  It’s also effecting my sleep.  Considerably off.

We did not get 8 inches of snow here.  More like 2 or 3.  Now the forecast has 76 for Sunday.  76.  Maybe some 80’s next week.  No spring this year.  Winter into summer.

Aging, Dogs, Faith and Spirituality, Great Work, Reimagine. Reconstruct. Reenchant., Third Phase, Weather +Climate

Cancer in the morning, the numinous in the afternoon

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Spring                                                                                 Planting Moon

Got up with the sun this morning, needing to pick up Kona between 7:00 and 7:30 am in Blaine.  Having the sun out and being up early both put my mood into high in spite of the significant cash outlay for Kona’s needed care.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at the weather report.  6-8 inches of new snow.  Tonight!  Then, maybe 70 by the weekend.  OMG!

Had Kona over at the vets by 9:40 am where I got the good news that her heart murmur has disappeared and the bad news that her tumor was cancerous.  Kate was in the room from Denver, Colorado via Verizon wireless and my Droid phone.  We discussed the options with Roger and decided to go ahead, as I wrote below, to have it removed.

Back home.  Nap.  A long nap since my back, unconvinced by the meds and the rests I’d taken, continued to ouch.  A lot.  Couldn’t take the best meds because I had to drive out to Stillwater, then into St. Paul and home after that.

Stillwater was the bee pickup.  My two pound package of Italian hygienics are now buzzing on top of the dryer in the basement.  I sprayed them with sugar water, will do so again before bed, once more in the morning, then again just before I hive them around 6 pm tomorrow.  That way they have full tummies when hived and are less likely to go adventuring. Which would serve no good purpose right now anyhow.  I had planned to hive them tonight, but the snow.  Comes down hard and wet right now.

St. Paul was to see John Desteian, my longtime Jungian analyst, I started to see him in 1986 or ’87 and saw him for a long time after my divorce from Raeone.  I’ve seen him off and on over the years, last in 2006.

I want to see what I’m trying to tell myself through my dreams of loss and being lost.  As I imagined, we headed in the general direction of faith, though not retrieving a lost faith so much as redefining faith, Reimagining Faith, in light of the pagan, existentialist, flat-earth metaphysics of my current world view.

As always, John asked the good questions.  Pointed me, this time, toward an essay by Heidegger called “The Last God” and understanding the essence of the numinous.  I’ll have a month to ponder that since my next appointment is on May 23rd.  He’s been a useful, valued guide and Jung my chief spiritual adviser.  Sounds like that run will continue.

Back home to an oxycodone, spraying the bees with the sugar water, crating the dogs and relaxing.  Quite the day.  Cancer in the morning, the numinous in the afternoon.  A lesson there.

Oh.  Had a vicarious feeling of pride when I learned John now runs an international training institute for Jungian analysts based in Zurich, the Mecca and Jerusalem of Jungian thought.  Here’s the link.

 

 

 

Friends, Latin, Translating Metamorphoses, Weather +Climate, Writing

Cartography and Snow

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Spring                                                                                       Planting Moon

Spent the morning redrawing a map of the Winter Realm and Summer Realm on Tailte.  Tomorrow I’ll work on detailed maps of both separately, the islands and the Dark Range.  This was a constant among the beta readers and I agreed.  Doing them now will help the rewrite.

This afternoon I hit a wall on the next four verses of Book I, the Metamorphoses.  My mind seized up and would go no further.  So, I went upstairs and took videos of the dogs play in the already 5-6 inches of new snow.  And, it’s still snowing.  Supposed to get heavier over night.

Worked out, aerobic only because my back still complains from my lifting the hive box with honey on Tuesday.  I could have done without this, but I caused it so what can you do?

Sheepshead canceled.  With the snow coming down heavy now and predicted to be heavier still we decided to put it off.  It was a wise decision, but I will miss the conversation and camaraderie.   Wanted to hear what the Jesuits thought about the new pope.

 

Bees, Weather +Climate

The Sun. The Sun.

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Spring                                                             Planting Moon

The Sun.  The Sun.  I can hear Tattoo calling from the end of Phaethon’s runway.  Yes, it’s another episode of Fantasy April in Minnesota.

Gonna have a little tea, then go clean out the bee hives, readying them for the new package arriving on Saturday.  My enthusiasm for beekeeping has waned over the last couple of years.  Little success in keeping colonies alive over the winter months combined with a stupid decision at the end of the season two year ago, a decision that I didn’t need my veil just this once.

Powerful aversive conditioning.  Nature’s way of saying stay away from bee hives. Unfortunately, it has made the pleasures of beekeeping balance against the severe results of bee defenses.  When the bees die over the winter, the pleasure decreases.

I finished my read through of Missing this morning.  Gonna check notes, review my plans and continue the revision process tomorrow.  I’ve got several clear ideas.  Thicker description.  More character development.  Stronger climax.  Expanded denouement.  Strip out certain narrative lines for use in book II and replace them with the expanded material above.  The critical piece is this last one because it will allow the story to achieve full coherence and set up the next novels.

Cinema and Television, Family, Latin, Letters, Poetry, Translating Metamorphoses, Weather +Climate

Rainy, Gray, Blah

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Spring                                                                      Planting Moon

Moved books and sorted files.  Finishing up that long study and file reorganization, clean out begun some weeks ago.  Went out for dog food and got a hamburger at Culver’s.  They make a good burger.

Read some more Robert Jordan, now in the second volume of the Wheel of Time.  Watched three Supernaturals and one Danish show, The Eagle.  A lazy Sunday.

Did get started on Book I of Metamorphoses.  Not far.  Verbs pulled out and conjugated.  I checked the Perseus (classics website) text with the most scholarly text available right now and there was one small difference in the first four verses.  Started a word list which will feed into the commentary.

Needed a psychic bump today and Kate provided it.  What would I do without her?  I know it’s a canard; but, with buddy William Schmidt losing his wife Regina last year, it’s no longer something that has happened to others.

This gray, cold weather has many Minnesotans in a bit of a grumpy place, all of us waiting for daffodils and sun.  As Garrison Keillor said today, “The snow will melt.”  You betcha.