to antelope island with girlfriends who are better than a paid psychiatrist and who are an absolute joy...

these two women are the kind of women you tell everything and anything.
they'll know exactly what you are talking about.
why?
because they're honest and they love life too.

what a lovely saturday we had out at antelope island.
really wish we could have stayed until the sun went down...
but we'll have to do that another day.

mo knew we'd love the old ranch...
i don't think i've been to the island since i was too little to remember.
we're suckers for local history and everything old.

really, this place is a heart-stopper and a breath-taker.
so many golds and blues.
an amazing view of the city.

these girls are lovely, hip, wise, hilarious, and loyal.
love them.
i am also in love with liv's chevy truck
and mo's turquoise jewelry (with a history to make you swoon).

i'll have more photos of this outing for you sometime later...

photos by me, mo, and liv. antelope island, september 2009.

Someday

Someday I will visit the British Isles for many months and years. That is where my daydreaming takes me...to green hills and jagged coastlines, to places where my ancestors lived, to a place where my studies of Medieval British Literature and poetry will drench my soul. Here's a little somethin'-somethin' from James Joyce, the famous Irish poet.

The twilight turns from amethyst

to deep and deeper blue,

The lamp fills with a pale green glow

The trees of the avenue.

The old piano plays an air,

Sedate and slow and gay;

She bends upon the yellow keys,

Her head inclines this way.

Shy thoughts and grave wide eyes and hands

That wander as they list--

The twilight burns to darker blue

With lights of amethyst.

Howard Zinn Voting For Nader!

This just in: Howard Zinn has switched his support from Obama to Nader. He called his support for Obama a "mistake." Zinn is most known, I think, for his book The People's History of the United States. Here's a little more about him:

Howard Zinn is a historian, playwright, and social activist. He was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught at Spelman College and Boston University, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna. He has received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He lives in Auburndale, Massachusetts.

Sutton Hoo

I'm finding out that nothing is for certain when it comes to early Medieval England. There is so much that we don't know, it's crazy! You'd think in our day and age we would know everything about history. But we DON'T! There's so many theories and a lot of speculation when putting together the puzzle of Anglo-Saxons, pagans, Christians, Celts, Germanic peoples, etc. It is truly a mystery...perhaps that is why I find it so interesting.

This week we're discussing the burial mounds of Sutton Hoo. Many suspect the ship burial is that of a king. Others say that the whole society was flourishing at this point, and so it's difficult to say if this burial was royal or not. Whoever it was though, I find it fascinating looking at the mounds and its contents, wondering who these people were and why the mounds are there.

Medieval England it is!

This morning right before I was to go in for my new job, I had a heart-to-heart with Ceej. I decided not to take my new job and take the class I've been waiting for my whole college career, Early Medieval England.

I rushed to class, and was pleased to hear that we would be learning much of kings, queens, and legends as well as learning about the lower classes during that period. This is most certainly a miracle!

Winter Solstice!!!

This is a megalithic site in Ireland, called Newgrange. It was built about 5,000 years ago (before the pyramids!). So what does this have to do with the winter solstice you ask...
Well, this ancient mound was built so that the winter solstice sunrise would light up the shaft and chambers. Basically it works like this: every winter solstice morning a shaft of sunlight shines through the roof box over the enterance and penetrates the passage to light up the chamber. This dramatic event lasts about 17 minutes. Only 50 lucky people are allowed to witness the event (out of 30,000 lottery applicants).

Other interesting winter solstice facts:
1. There is a whole series of medieval English carols on the subject of the rivalry between the holly and the ivy. In many of them, the holly and ivy symbolized male and female, and the songs narrated their often rowdy vying for mastery in the forest or in the house.
2. You may have heard of apple wassailing, the medieval winter festival custom of blessing the apple trees with songs, dances, decorations and a drink of cider to ensure their fertility. Here's another, more obscure tradition that most certainly predates Christmas, and was probably once a solstice ritual, because it is so linked to the themes of nature's rebirth and fertility.
3. A day to celebrate the rebirth of the sun!