Summer Solstice

This is a special day! Most of you know I am a very solar person, and although I may not precisely worship the sun, it is a very significant aspect of my life. So this day when it is the closest to straight over head and at its greatest strength, I em energized and excited! I'm also a avid student of the Old Ways, especially those of my ancient Celtic ancestors, so I do tend to mark the key quarter dates and those in between them that were celebrated in days of yore.

I was up before the sun today to watch it slip over the mountains to my east, the same range that showed up in my cloud photos of a few weeks back and some others I have posted here. It is interesting to see the first beams touch the mountains to the west, visible across the valley some 40-50 miles away and then march slowly across the spaces in between until it reaches my home!

Of course Ginger and I took our normal walk and then I did some yard work in my flower beds and thus honored the earth and the sun's role in making my beloved plants grow. One of my three new rose bushes, though still very small and newly growing, opened a pale yellow bud into flower this morning which I thought was a perfect omen! Now I am inside enjoying the cool air from the evaporative cooler; it is a bit more humid than usual but not enough to render the cooling power ineffective--yet. That won't happen until the full 'monsoon' pattern is in place--and who knows when that may occur!

To add even more celestial magic, the full moon is coming up on Sunday and it will be another of those 'super moons' when it is as close as it gets to our earth and thus very bright and perhaps unusually powerful. Watch for high tides and enjoy the bright night beauty this weekend while still basking in the post Solstice sunshine through the day.

While I am on the subject of the old ways, I'd like to recommend a very favorite album that I've enjoyed for many years. While quite a lot of their music is a bit on the 'heavy metal' side for my taste, Jethro Tull is a very versatile, talented and creative group! The album I refer to is Songs From The Wood. In it the leader and flautist Ian Anderson draws on the folklore and prehistoric roots of his Scots ancestors--and maybe a few Vikings too since Anderson has a distinctly Scandinavian flare! The songs all celebrate the old holidays (holy days!) in one way or another and are full of sly and sometimes bawdy humor. Those ancestors were not stuffy nor over-nice goody two shoes type folks! They were lusty and vital, full of life, fun and with their respect and honor handled in earthy and mostly realistic ways. I love it! I try to take some of that spirit into the more racy and explicit tales that Deirdre O'Dare writes! Anyway if you can find a copy of Songs From the Wood, you just might enjoy it also! My second favorite Jethro Tull album is called Heavy Horses and the title song moves me to tears every time I hear it.

To close I will share two pictures I took on my recent trip. One is at Red Rock Rest Stop, just inside the Arizona border on I-40 and the other is a view off the SR-6 cutoff that connects I-40 to I-25 and misses the madness that is Albuquerque. It's not as neat as my Steins Pass shot from January but a pretty good train picture! And of course trains are another of my passions--there are quite a few, no? Keeps life interesting!

And, to brag just a wee bit--I got daring and entered my two desert scene wall hangings in a local quilt and fabric art exposition that is happening here this weekend! I doubt if I will get as much as an honorable mention but I had to try!

I think I posted those pix before my trip? If not I will do so shortly--especially if I do win any accolades!