Lughnasa Full Artemis Moon
This morning I took a group of 15 Jesuits-to-be through the Matteo Ricci map exhibit. They were a bright and curious group, joining the same order that deployed Ricci to China 330+ years ago. The Jesuits were only a generation old at that point. They were the most attentive group I took through, because, I imagine, they felt some personal stake, no matter how tenuous. The Chinese Heritage Foundation displayed equal interest, but soon began exploring the map for themselves, reading the calligraphy. This was an interesting exhibit and improved my knowledge of the Ming dynasty and the Jesuit order.
When I rolled those plastic trash bins out to the roadside tonight, the full Artemis moon had risen. Full moons hang over the far eastern end of our street and it was beautiful, golden. The air was cool, the sky a deep blue and this gold charm floated just above the trees.
Three boxes full of honey extracting equipment came just before I left for the city this morning. Kate and I plan to open tomorrow morning, see what’s in them. Two more boxes are on their way from another Dadant plant. This means we’ll get the equipment set up before our date for extraction–August 30th. Good thing. All this equipment and it’s only used once a year for a brief time, but in that brief time it captures the results of a year’s worth of collaborative labor between beekeeper and bees. Worth it.
