69 bar rises 29.85 0mph NE dew-point 68 Summer night with a full moon, steamy beautiful
Full Thunder Moon
Five of us sit down every 4 to 5 weeks or so and play sheepshead. This is a game, as I’ve said before, peculiar to eastern Wisconsin and there among the German community where it is also known as schotskopf. Sheepshead is the thin glue that gives us an excuse to sit together, laugh and be amused at the spectacle of ourselves.
As I grow older, it is these close gatherings of friends that provide the social cohesion I need. My needs may be less than most, but they are not non-existent. These men, all save me variously Catholic, from not anymore to still engaged in the work, have wry, knowing attitudes toward life, attentive to the ridiculous and the tender. I am more when I return than when I left.
And something to be said for the moon. A perfect circle, silvered white and suspended in the sky with stars and planets gathered round. On the nights of the full moon the dark opens its arms to secret pacts, whispered love and the breath of Diana, huntress and defender of the forest.
Take a moment and step outside, stand under the Full Thunder Moon and let it shine on you. Imagine your soul traveling on a lambent beam to the moon and back, gazing down toward the spinning blue globe as you come home. This dance of the planets and their satellites around the greater gravity of Sol creates and destroys. Shiva Nataraja.
Amen.
