O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal O.C.F. Caretaker's Journal Sunday 29 August In the days before movies and television, one can certainly understand the allure of the Bible as strictly good old fashioned entertainment. There is every bit as much sex, violence, and gore as there is in more modern myths, which often likewise have their beginnings in historical fact. Take the oft told story of John the Baptist, perhaps the single most popular saint and martyr. John was in his thirty second year when he withdrew into the desert, eating locusts and wearing a garment of made of camel's hair. He came back filthy and unkept, preaching and baptizing around the villages of Judaea. His eyes burned with zeal, his message was one of repentance from the decadence of his day, and his voice carried it with deep conviction. His unmatched fervor has been the true inspiration for evangelists ever since. In a brief year he drew huge crowds, converted several of the Apostles, and performed the baptism of Christ. This was all during the reign of the Roman emperor Tiberias Caesar. Herod Antipas was the governor of a subdivision of Palestine. John denounced, in no uncertain terms, the immorality of Herod's court and even boldly chastised Herod to his face for having married Herodias, the wife of his half-brother, who was also his niece. This earned our friend one very quick one way trip into the dungeon. Herodias though, still felt extremely slighted and began ceaselessly plotting against John who, due to his following, was never fully silenced by the prison walls. On August 29th of 30 AD, at Herod's birthday feast, Salome, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Herodias, performed the Dance of the Seven Veils as part of a sacred drama---depicting the death of the king, his descent into the underworld, and then his retrieval by the goddess, who sheds her seven garments at each of the seven underworld gates! Now---old Herod was naturally quite overwhelmed by such a spectacle, so much so that he foolishly promised her anything she could possibly ask for. After consulting her wicked mother, Salome then replied that she would really love it ever so much if she could just have the head of John the Baptist on a nice pretty platter, oh please thank you thank you sir. Such a horrible request must have shocked Herod but, being a man of his word, he promptly dispatched a soldier to behead the prisoner and return with it immediately. This was quickly done, and Salome in turn did not hesitate to accept the dish and offer it up to her mother, depicted in this painting by Caravaggio. Pandering to the age old fascination with blood and guts, multitudes of churches now claim to possess many more times the amount of relics from Saint John the Baptist than he possibly could have had the body parts to provide. He is the patron saint of lambs.
Saturday 28 August Not very many people here for such a beautiful Saturday, although Monty was here to take down the yurts in Main Camp, and which we store in the one of the giant reefers. I welded the hitch back on the mower sulky and discovered that the reason it broke was because the attachment on the new John Deere mower is somewhat different than the old. Presented with the option of further modifications to the new one or fixing the old one, I chose the latter, which turned out to only only be needing a sparkplug---which we convinently had on hand. The Best Pot trucks were out today to do the final pumpout of the sixpacks. I spent a glorious afternoon listening to the wind rustling through the trees, sidestepping the unpumpables that had managed to get pumped, lifting out the remaining toilets and replacing them with them gawdawful heavy concrete plugs, finally securing the doors so that they will not be used. Last year certain people didn't realize that the doors being screwed shut, the toilets hanging overhead, and the aformentioned gawdawful heavy concrete plugs in place might just mean that the sixpacks were not in use. This year I screwed boards across the doors to try and gently convey that message. Well I've got to get packing, as tomorrow the Burning Man adventure begins. I'll be back late on the sixth of September to continue battening down the hatches around here. I posted a bonus entry for tomorrow which of course you've already read but that is it from here. So Long, Farewell, Aufwiedersehen, Goodbye . . . . . . Hasta la vista, Baby!
Friday 27 August Yet more and more preparations for the great expedition to the Black Rock Desert, as well as tying up some loose ends here. Gathered all the flower boxes up at Main Stage and got some water to them, as well as picking up some more from the picnic and two recent weddings. Got the tire changed back on the tractor finally, as it has been sitting over at Max's for over a week. Steve and I went out to Maple gate and did some measuring and staking around there. The upshot of that is that ODOT wants a deceleration lane off Highway 126, which means moving the gate five hundred yards to the west. They will pay for and do the work on their side of the fence, which is the expensive part, but we will still have to relocate the gate and build a new internal road, which may cost the Fair up to ten thousand dollars. The end result will be much safer and more efficient. Clif was out with his friend from Katmandu to borrow my headset, and we will meet them down at Burning Man. Steve and I had our traditional Friday dinner at Our Daily Bread.
Thursday 26 August Spent the morning house cleaning in anticipation of Sunday's Exodus to the Desert. Arrow will be staying here part of the time. At two o'clock I met Palmer at the Keystone for a Personnel Committee liaison. Used the tractor to help Mickey of Mickey's Gumbo slip on his slip on camper. Happy as heck to see it go away---as it has been sitting out in Craft's Overflow Lot since the Fair. Studied my pilot lessons, did a walk around the Fair, some irrigating, did a little networking, got a call from Palmer (who just decided to go to Burning Man, oh yeah!), and where did this day go? Here is the one photo I took last weekend---one of my predecessors, whom I'm sure most of you will still recognize.
Wednesday 25 August The last few days have gone by rather quickly, a lot of it spent on Burning Man preparations. Yesterday and today I was taking flying lessons and am finally getting proficient enough at landing that I can start anticipating my first solo. Yesterday I attended a training session to become a volunteer water quality tester for the Long Tom Watershed Council. The equipment actually belongs to the Department of Environmental Quality and they will compile information from across the state. Using four different tests and sets of equipment I will be measuring dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and conductivity once a month on the Fair Site. Other volunteers will record from approximately twenty-five other sites on the watershed, all on the same day each month. We will have to develop a system to pass the three sets of equipment rapidly along. The creation of baseline data about the quality of the water in our basin will enable studies such as the identification of sources of pollution and the health of native species like the western pond turtle. I am glad that the OCF will be able to make a contribution to this important research.
Tuesday 24 August Just over the back fence from the Yurt, no more than two hundred yards away, is a place I have never visited and almost certainly never will---a factory chicken farm. Nearly ten billion chickens are raised in similar places across the United States every year. These birds are typically crammed into these windowless sheds, with less than half a square foot of space per individual. The chickens have been genetically altered to grow twice as fast and twice as large as their ancestors and in fact grow so rapidly that their hearts, lungs, and legs are not developed well enough to support the remainder of the body. "Broilers" live in filthy, insect infested conditions and succumb to heat prostration, infectious disease, and cancer---even before they can be slaughtered at two months of age. The birds are debeaked as chicks, that is they have the fronts of their beaks cut off with a guillotine like device without the use of anesthetics, for the purpose of curbing pecking deaths due to the extremely crowded conditions. Egg-laying battery hens can actually live in even worse circumstances. Every couple of weeks or so I can hear the trucks come in the middle of the night to take the poor chickens away to the slaughterhouse. Once there, the terrified birds are most likely hung by their feet on a conveyer. The first station is the stunning tank, where the heads are submerged in electrified water. Commonly the electrical current is set lower because too much electricity will damage the carcasses and diminish the value. The result is that birds can emerge immobilized but still fully conscious. Next the birds' throats are slashed by a mechanical blade to drain the blood, but which will inevitably miss some. Finally they are submerged in a boiling hot scalding tank. The unlucky chickens that have survived up to this point are boiled alive. This occurs so commonly that the industry has a term for these birds. They are called redskins. WARNING. . . . graphic link.
Monday 23 August Did the crash of JFK Jr's plane really happen like we are lead to believe? Is it merely a coincidence that the accident happened on 16 July, exactly three years after the Flight 800 disaster, where a missile was at first suspected, later dismissed? Certain facts and inconsistencies are emerging that are likely to fuel conspiracy theories for some time to come. Credible witnesses on the beach on Martha's Vineyard claim they heard an explosion. It is rumored that Kennedy, (who was untainted by some of the scandals that rocked other members of his family), was on the verge of announcing his candidacy for the Presidency. With George W. Bush's Republican nomination already virtually assured, it again brings begs the question about a possible Texas connection, as it did during the in the investigations of the assassinations of his father and uncle. In 1975 Ari Onassis declined an invitation from his son Alexander to go up for a ride in his airplane. The plane crashed, killing Alexander, the controls allegedly having been tampered with. Another coincidence perhaps? Caroline Bessette Kennedy was entering her third trimester and carrying a son, possible heir to the Kennedy legacy. JFK Jr had made contact with the tower at Martha's Vineyard and was flying straight in. By all accounts he was a careful pilot with over 300 hours of flight time and had completed his instrument training except for the test. The clouds might not have been as thick as reported and the weather data for that period of time is inexplicably missing. The Piper Saratoga was nearly new, a very reliable model of airplane, with the very latest high-tech navigational equipment. It seems less likely to me than it did at first that Kennedy somehow entered a "graveyard spiral". Learn more in this informative four part report entitled What Happened to America's Golden Boy by Sherman H. Skolnick or check out other articles here.
Saturday 21 August With Steve away for the weekend I spent the day being the Site Host. A major amount of activity setting up for the day's festivities while I worked on getting Randy's trailer ready for the trip down to Burning Man, and occasionally dealing out with minor emergencies like welding a electric piano leg back together. Bill Verner was stung on the top of the foot by a yellow jacket and it swelled up like a balloon---despite antihistamines and soaking in ice water. The wasps are extremely bad this year and one nest under the sound stage has been totally resistant to eradication. Scott and Carol's wedding took place around half past five in the afternoon at Shady Grove Stage. It was a Pagan ritual complete with a visit from the Fairy Godmother. Brothers will be brothers and when it came time for Ryan to produce the ring he fumbled around for a bit and then, much to everyone's amusement, produced the ring from out of a box of Cracker Jacks. This evening the Meadow has been transformed with many large candle lanterns, music, and a gathering of about three hundred people.
Friday 20 August Lots of people about the site today for Scott and Carol's wedding tomorrow, plus a women's retreat at the Sauna. When people who know what they are about are here to use the Site responsibly, it feels naturally good. These types of gathering and ceremony is what is this Land is intended for. Bill Verner is down from Washington on his Harley, Jar with the rest his Ashbury Park band, Arrow and Mike from down in Traffic, all jawing around Entertainment Camp fire until way late.
Thursday 19 August Last night was the second night of the Phil Lesh and Friends at the Cuthbert Amphitheater, and I was in attendance along with other forty-two hundred odd people, including a sizable Country Fair contingent. Let me say that I am a Deadhead by association only so I can't really offer up much of a critique here, and perhaps it is sacrilegious to try---but here goes. All covers tunes, including some Grateful Dead ones---if those can be considered such. Phil isn't the best vocalist in the world perhaps but he sure is game. The trademark bubbly Dead sound was semi-intact and the stoned, tie-dyed, hula hooping, and dancing crowd seemingly loved every minute of it. In fact it was exactly like a Dead show, only smaller. Today I did some work around here including hauling up the Scow Wagon, which is what we call a personal trailer that will be no longer with us by the next Fair, of that I feel quite certain. Then I was off to fill in for Leslie at the Watershed Council Booth at the Lane County Fair. Hilary met me after my shift and was literally chomping at the bit to go on the scariest ride available, which we decided had to be "The Zipper". After that experience, both of us were a little queasier that we would likely admit, and were then content to just look at all the stuff. My favorites are always the quilts, a true American art form. If it seems like I am suddenly trying to have a little too much fun at the expense of working, then you are most correct. Summer is rapidly waning my friends, and I suggest you do the same before it is over!
Wednesday 18 August Here is an interesting email I received from Beverly Effinger, an old time fairy who now lives in Germany. I thought I'd share it with some more of the Fair Family.---The eclipse was interesting: I didn't travel to Munich for it because of the overcast covering most of Germany since yesterday (Bayreuth and Creussen were in a zone close to 95%, and I figured that would be enough for me). I went out to the park surrounding the Eremitage (Markgraefin Wilhemina's palace in St. Johns), and sat in the greenery to draw. A decent number of people were there on the palace grounds, but not anything remotely resembling a crowd. Patience was rewarded. Although a heavy rain swept in from the distance just as the sun was covering (ah, St. Johns. From the hillside I could guage the progress of the storm while it was yet ten minutes distant), I just continued to draw under a large, ancient beech tree and lap-propped umbrella. And eerily, just as my watch indicated a few minutes before totality. . .a clear window opened in the clouds and the black sun shined down on the earth. Distant howls (ah,teenagers in the bushes!) went up around the park. And what I'd remembered of the eclipse in New Orleans might have been different from this one, but every bit as dramatic. The shadow on the land profoundly changes every color in the environment. The effect of darkness in midday sun is something felt in the emotions, and in the subconscious, rather than just seen. It is an entirely different kind of light. So, I'd had my wish. An opportunity, once more, to see such a profound change in light. And a (borderline) chance to observe an eclipse as a social phenomenon. Daytime wolves, howling at a black moon. Worth it. Aufwiedersehen, Beverly
Tuesday 17 August Late last night Steve and I were out exterminating yellow jackets ground nests around Main Stage, something I cannot feel especially good about doing, and when I returned home, for no other readily apparent earthly reason other that perhaps some sort of cosmic equity, I heard an unmistakable arc of electricity followed by a snap of a breaker. Upon investigating I realized that my hot water heater had self destructed. This morning I called Jim Sahr, the Fair's electrician and Board member, who quickly responded and discovered that a leak in the tank had caused a short and even a brief fire inside the control panel. This water heater was only installed about two years ago by John Doscher and was still under warranty---although a receipt could not be found. After draining it and loading it up on the Site Truck, I made stops at the Mission to donate the rest of the chicken from the picnic, and to the town office to collect the keys to the new property. Once at Jerry's Home Improvement, I played up the fire angle thing for all it was worth, which was actually plenty as they rapidly agreed to give me another unit---which I now have installed and am waiting for it to heat up so I can finally have a shower. It seems like we have been hit with one minor disaster after another out here; frozen pipes, the well pump, the hot tub pump, phone outages, multiple reefer truck breakdowns (which Paul Fuller was out fixing again today), et cetera. Perhaps it has something to do with living 365 days a year in a temporary village originally designed for three, but it certainly keeps life interesting and I am not complaining about it in the least.
Monday 16 August This evening I finally got in to see THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT ***1/2. As a rule I don't go to horror films but made an exception for this one because of all the critical acclaim this film has received. The basic plot involves three film students who set out to make a documentary on the legendary Blair Witch. The premise is that they were never seen again and that a year later a bag full of film cans, DAT tapes, and video tapes were found and later cut together to make this movie. Three actors (using their real names incidentally) actually spent eight days in the woods doing the filming themselves. The script and supplies were cached each day so that the the result in fact looks very spontaneous. An entire mythology has ben created to augment the film.The film cost about eighty thousand dollars to make and has already grossed over one hundred and sixty million. That fact alone, not to mention its unique style, should greatly inspire a lot of starving filmmakers.
Sunday 15 August The leftovers of the picnic is nothing like the aftermath of the Fair, but it still took the day to get things washed up and put away, and drive Wally and all his stuff back to his house. Recycling Crew was out and they helped a lot and cleaned up their whole area and there is one thing for sure, I don't have to pick up after those guys. There is a wedding anniversary today at Main Stage, and the cleanup from the picnic and their setup were overlapping quite a bit. They had a horse and carriage and for that reason wanted the chain at Pooh Corner left down, which in theory is fine but then I was fighting the tendency of people to drive into the Meadow for the rest of the day. Sometimes it is difficult to balance the needs of the site wth human desires and today I was feeling a little distraught watching cars crush the grass that we had worked so hard to get growing again. In the end other people feel that they have certain rights to use the Site without undue harrasement from the Caretaker, and I have to admit that there is certain validity to that---so I have to try really hard sometimes not be too overprotective. Here is a photo of the little gift someone left us out on Aero Road last Friday.
Saturday 14 August Today was the day that the Teddy bears had their picnic. Teddy Bears had their beginnings on 15 November 1902, while President Theodore Roosevelt was on a hunting trip in Mississippi. Apparently game was very scarce that day. Finally, a small bedraggled black bear was run down by the dogs. It had managed to kill one of the dogs before being roped and tied to a tree.The president was then summoned, but he indignantly refused to shoot the poor exhausted animal under such unsportmanlike conditions. The following day the Washington Post published a political cartoon on its front page. Roosevelt was depicted holding his gun with the butt on the ground, his back to the animal, refusing to take the shot. Written across the bottom were the words "Drawing the Line in Mississippi"---which coupled the hunting incident to a political dispute. The cartoon drew immediate reaction. In Brooklyn, a Russian Jewish shopkeeper named Morris Michtom displayed two toy bears, which had been made by his wive Rose, in the window of his stationary and novelty store. The bears had been made plush stuffed excelsior and finished with black button eyes. Allegedly, Michtom wrote to the president asking permission to use his name. Roosevelt is said to have replied: "I don't think my name will mean much to the bear business, but you're welcome to use it." Thus the little stuffed bears were called "Teddy's Bears" and became a huge success. As demand for the bears increased, and Michtom was able to form the Ideal Novelty and Toy Corporation. The rest, as they say, is history. Here are the words to the de facto Oregon Country Fair anthem, The Teddy Bear's Picnic.
Friday the 13th While innocently transporting flowers down to the Main Stage for tomorrow's picnic I hear the hiss of air escaping from the tractor tire as it rapidly when flat. Later some trickster deposited the hulking remains of a pickup truck outside Aero Gate. Naturally thought I, as today is Friday the 13tth, and by some other quirky twist of fate, Alfred Hitchcock's 100th birthday. Every time a Friday the 13th rolls around, the word triskaidekaphobia is trotted out, but it actually means a fear of the number 13. While there is no rational reason for this fear, there is a long history of it being considered unlucky. Apparently it has its origins in Norse mythology. Twelve gods were at a banquet at Valhalla, the home of Odin, when suddenly Loki, the spectre of evil, appeared uninvited, making their number thirteen. In the ensuing effort to eject him, the popular god Balder was killed with a spear of mistletoe. In biblical traditions there were thirteen diners at the Last Supper. There is now an organization in France that exists solely to provide a last minute party guest, lest there be thirteen people at the dinner table. There is a notion that fear of the number 13 is the reason why we recognize only twelve constellations in the Zodiac, since the thirteenth, Ophiuchus the Serpent Holder, could be naturally included because of its location. Industrialist Henry Ford was the kind of triskaidekaphob who wouldn't do business on Friday the 13th. Many hotels omit the 13th floor and room 13 because guests refuse to stay in them. Many airlines omit row 13 for the same reason. The ill-fated Apollo 13 space mission was launched at 13:13 hours, from pad 39 (3 times13) and suffered serious malfunction on April 13, 1970. It has been mathematically proven that the 13th of a month is more likely to fall on a Friday than on any other day and that every year will have at least one Friday the 13th but no more than three. In each 400 year cycle of the Gregorian calendar, 170 years have one Friday the 13th, 171 have two, and 59 have three. The Gregorian calendar, by the way, was ordered in 1582 by Pope Gregory the Thirteenth.
Thursday 12 August My one and only brother, who has been out of the country in Poland and Khasakstan for the last five and a half years, is along with our parents visiting until tomorrow. There has been a lot of catching up to what he has been up to and of course I showed him all around here. Out shopping we went into the great American marketplace, but to his credit there is very little he actually wants after all that time abroad---which says something about him or else the perceived need for material goods or perhaps both. This evening we all saw a movie at the Bijou, one I knew everyone would like due to the fact that I had already seen it once. THE RED VIOLIN,**** directed by Francois Girard, is composed of five different but interrelated stories, the common thread being the violin itself. The picture becomes the cinematographic equivalent of a patchwork quilt. Each individual piece is beautifully done but it's the way they are so intricately joined that makes the finished product so interesting, and it was well worth it to me to watch for a second time to observe how this myriad of details was tightly woven together. I highly recommend this film before it leaves town.
Wednesday 11 August Today was the big day for the last eclipse of the century and our own Ken Kesey and his merry band of Pranksters were on hand in the Cornwall Peninsula to see it. Unfortunately for them and millions of other wannabe observers, the show was obscured there by heavy clouds. While the next total eclipse will transect Africa on 21 June 2001, England will have to wait until 2090 for another chance. Here in Oregon the clouds threaten to obscure another celestial event---the annual Perseids meteor shower, which will be at its height early Thursday morning. While not quite as spectacular as an eclipse of course, it is possible to see between three and ten shooting stars a minute originating from the constellation Perseus, now located in the Northeast beneath Cassiopeia. While these meteorites actually travel on parallel courses, it is an optical illusion that they appear to radiate outward, due to the fact that they are hitting the Earth's atmosphere sixty miles above us. Also because of this, it is possible for two people six hundred miles apart to observe the same meteor, although it will appear as if it is going in opposite directions. If the clouds dissipate by tomorrow night the Fair, with its large fields and distance from Eugene's bright lights, will be a great spot to watch those meteorites streaking across the sky. Check out here and here for more related information.
Tuesday 10 August Spent the early morning getting caught up and then Steve and I worked on bring up the picnic tables, benches, lifeguard chairs, and other such stuff up to be stored for Winter or over to Main Stage for use in this weekend's picnic. One set of tables accidently fell off the tractor as we were loading them and the bottom one, having seen better days, broke down completely into its component parts---it took about an hour to rebuild it and reminded me about the old adage of the axe that had had five new handles and two new heads. The Site is nice and fresh again after the 3/4 inch rain we had while I was away, fire danger much reduced and the fields showing lots of new green growth. The chicken farm directly behind us has decided to harvest a few of their huge Douglas Firs there, so that corner has opened up a bit more now unfortunately.
Monday 9 August Spent the day driving back from the Island Earth Fair. Along the way we visited Bill Verner, (Caretaker for about five years and the original Yurt inhabitant) up at his Bed and Breakfast business in Long Beach, Washington. This town's claims to fame are to have the longest beach in the world and also to be the kite flying capital of the world. The inn is named Boreas after the Greek god of the North Wind. It was straight off the road to the board meeting, which had been posponed a week and was in the basement of the WOW Hall. It was very hot down there with poor acoustics, and what with African drumming echoing through the building by the time it was over at ten thirty I was totally frazzled after the long weekend.
Sunday 8 August Beautiful day. Veggies out---surveying booths with straw, taking out the ropes left by campers. . . Peter back, removing filtration system from Chela Mela, unwilling to repair it. The filter removed 98% of the bacteria from the water in Long Tom. Said that is as acceptable amount for use in Nepal, plus solar sterilization can be used to remove remaining bacteria. (Anne Morris, caretaker pro tem)
Saturday 7 August Raining steadily all day. David Hoffman stopped by. Peter came by, said someone had vandelized the water filtration project in Chela Mela. Wonders if anyone saw anything or any other damage. He may come ou Sunday and repair it---not sure if it is worth it. (Anne Morris)
Wednesday 4 August Today was sort of like Monday, only different. Flying in the morning and painting sprinkler pipes in the afternoon in the apartment above the town office. Tomorrow morning I'm headed up to Washington with Hilary and Charlie for the weekend, where we will first meet Leslie at Sandpoint Hanger #2 somewhere north of Seattle for the Millennium Circus starring UMO, then all take the Ferry over to the Vashon Island Earth Fair to set up camp there for the weekend. Right now I'm not even packed---so I'd better get cracking. Anne Morris will be filling in as Caretaker while I am gone. I'll be back on Monday in time for the postponed and displaced Board Meeting---in the WOW Hall basement at 7:00 pm on 9 August, in case you're wondering! No more journal entries until then.
Tuesday 3 August There was a surprising amount of activity on the site today as John Stamp was leading an archeological dig to look for more evidence of historic Native American occupation of the site. Certain campfire deposits that have been exposed by the bank of the Long Tom have been dated to about ten thousand years ago have already been found some years ago. At any rate it must have been a slow news day because John invited the local affiliates of the four major networks and they all showed up to do the story. There were some booth, wedding, and even some metal detecting type people also wandering about. I worked some more on the Hubbard's Barn, which is actually now our barn, although it is more of an oversized tin garage, installing Simpson connector ties on the rafters.
Monday 2 August Yesterday I spent the day with Charlie Zennache tearing down an extension that Mr. Hubbard had built off his outbuilding to store his boat, then rebuild the wall. It was not up to code and the inspector wants it gone before he will sign off on it. Although it was actually Hubbard's responsibility, the interests of expediting the deal we volunteered to do it. This was actually my first look around the property. Although the developed section has a manufactured home that the Fair is going to rent out, the real jewel has to be the approximately four acres of beautiful virgin oak forest. You can bet there will be some heated discussions upcoming about who gets to camp where, but my personal vision would be to portion off a large permanent green zone first. This morning I was off on a flying lesson and then went to the town office to paint the pipes of the sprinkler system--- which was installed during the last Fair to help bring the Office into complience as a commecial structure. An acetone wipe, a coat of primer and two coats of paint were required to try and blend away the black pipes. Naturally it always takes longer than expected no matter how long you expect it to take---and so I will return Wednesday to do the ones in the tenet apartment upstairs.
Sunday 1 August Although the official beginnings of seasons are in the latter parts of December, March, June and September, many people have thought of seasonal changes coming with "cross- quarter" dates occurring mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes. The Ancient Greeks honored the first three days of August with a festival of bread and harvest. A proverb that stated"Winter begins in August, Summer in March," reflected a sense of the coming changes, even during this hottest part of the year. During Roman times this month was originally named Sextilis, but was renamed Augustus after Julius Caesar's nephew and heir. That name is derived from one their god's aspects, Juno Augusta. In ancient Britain the Celts honored Lug, god of light, in a festival named Lugnasad. It was a celebration of the beginning of the harvest season and the first cuts of grain were ritualistically sacrificed to ensure the continuity of life. Eventually this Pagan ritual was replaced by the Christian feast of Loaf Mass, or Lammas, where early grain, baked into loaves, was offered at mass. Even during our current century Scottish farmers were known to use grains of corn in rituals to the deity of harvest and to throw sickles in the air to divine by their landing who in the villages would marry, grow ill or die before the coming of the next Lammas. By now it can be readily observed that the rising and setting points of the Sun are moving steadily southward day by day and the mid-day elevation dropping rapidly. Although we cannot feel the Earth moving in its orbit, we see the changing flow of energy that is caused by the relationship between the tilt of the planet's axis to its revolution around the Sun. Each and every day is a completely unique and mysterious gift, controlled by unimaginably immense cosmic forces, which in turn affect even the tiniest details of our lives.