Everything-mas
Lots to catch up on. I'm at dionysusdevotee's family's house in Santa Clara having a quiet moment in the middle of lots of hubbub. I feel like I've spent most of the last few weeks away from home, between visits to the city for birthdays, blessingways, solstice, christmas, and it's not over yet.
We took Avia to visit Cora on Friday. I think Cora liked meeting her. I don't get the impression she sees a lot of children, other than her own grandchildren, because well... Feri people don't seem to be big breeders. Funny that. Anyway it was good and I'm glad she got to meet her. dionysusdevotee exhibited his usual reflexive work twitch and fixed her screen door.
Solstice in San Francisco was somehow both very familiar and very strange. There were lots of people I was happy to see. But I also spent some periods feeling like a stranger in my own community too. I can't really explain that. It just was so. But I had some really valuable meditation time, and good people time too, and the sunrise on Solstice morning was brilliant and lovely. The kind of sunrise you always hope you'll see. There were a lot of ravens about on the hill, which is kind of unusual there. Normally you might see a few, but this was noticeably a lot of them. I always take notice of the appearance and behavior of the birds at Solstice dawn, as an omen of the coming year. Last year it was a hawk sweeping down for a kill, followed by an interesting interaction with a falcon. This year it was ravens. I ponder.
Then we came home for a night or two and the moon was full and white in the cold blue winter night. I showed Avia how to make full-moon water for healing. We sat around the fire and made Christmas presents and cocoa messes in the kitchen. She tells us that she feels good when she comes to our house, because she "doesn't feel imprisoned" out there. She likes the space and freedom from the crush of people and buildings. Being in the middle of nowhere is cosy, she says. Her father's child! I cooked stuffed pasties for dinner, with a filling of hot potatoes and vegetables stewed in shallots, garlic and beer. :)
Christmas down here is crowded and warm. There's a little boy here who's staying with dionysusdevotee's parents because, to make a long story short, he kind of doesn't have proper ones of his own. Somebody gave him a "Wizardology" book for Christmas, with some kind of little divination card deck in it. He pulled it out and when nobody wanted to let him read their future, he read his own future. And we heard him reading to himself, "In your future is a lot of solitude." I ponder that, too. Fatherless boys are a heartache.
Later tonight I will see more good friends, some of whom I haven't seen in a year, and drink a toast to Mithras.
We took Avia to visit Cora on Friday. I think Cora liked meeting her. I don't get the impression she sees a lot of children, other than her own grandchildren, because well... Feri people don't seem to be big breeders. Funny that. Anyway it was good and I'm glad she got to meet her. dionysusdevotee exhibited his usual reflexive work twitch and fixed her screen door.
Solstice in San Francisco was somehow both very familiar and very strange. There were lots of people I was happy to see. But I also spent some periods feeling like a stranger in my own community too. I can't really explain that. It just was so. But I had some really valuable meditation time, and good people time too, and the sunrise on Solstice morning was brilliant and lovely. The kind of sunrise you always hope you'll see. There were a lot of ravens about on the hill, which is kind of unusual there. Normally you might see a few, but this was noticeably a lot of them. I always take notice of the appearance and behavior of the birds at Solstice dawn, as an omen of the coming year. Last year it was a hawk sweeping down for a kill, followed by an interesting interaction with a falcon. This year it was ravens. I ponder.
Then we came home for a night or two and the moon was full and white in the cold blue winter night. I showed Avia how to make full-moon water for healing. We sat around the fire and made Christmas presents and cocoa messes in the kitchen. She tells us that she feels good when she comes to our house, because she "doesn't feel imprisoned" out there. She likes the space and freedom from the crush of people and buildings. Being in the middle of nowhere is cosy, she says. Her father's child! I cooked stuffed pasties for dinner, with a filling of hot potatoes and vegetables stewed in shallots, garlic and beer. :)
Christmas down here is crowded and warm. There's a little boy here who's staying with dionysusdevotee's parents because, to make a long story short, he kind of doesn't have proper ones of his own. Somebody gave him a "Wizardology" book for Christmas, with some kind of little divination card deck in it. He pulled it out and when nobody wanted to let him read their future, he read his own future. And we heard him reading to himself, "In your future is a lot of solitude." I ponder that, too. Fatherless boys are a heartache.
Later tonight I will see more good friends, some of whom I haven't seen in a year, and drink a toast to Mithras.