A Place for Sun and Fun

Stonehenge, photo curtesy of National Geographic

Rett's Wheel of the Year 

When one first considers “Sun and Fun”, the mind’s eye probably paints an image of a hammock on a tropical beach against a backdrop of a golden sunset, not a three-acre plot surrounded by emerging rows of soybeans. And yet, this past weekend, there was an abundance of fun in the sun as we celebrated Summer Solstice 2019 at Merry Mount.  Let me share a bit of the fun as I recall it.

The guest list included old friends from Ohio and beyond: Victoria from Ohio; Sandra and James from Indiana; Lee and Robert (new immigrants from Missouri); and Brad from Georgia.  It didn’t take long before this old farmhouse was rocking and rolling with laughter and good cheer.

In order to engage with the universe, we placed our senses on high alert.  The abundance of sun and starlight allowed us to observe the beauty that surrounded us.

Our taste buds were on over drive as we experienced the manna that emerged from Rett’s kitchen.  The evening began with

Appetizers:

            Hungarian Peppers stuffed with Feta and Cream Cheese

            Pimento Cheese Sesame Crackers

            Bacon Butter dipped Radishes

            Buffalo Cauliflower and Celery with Blue Cheese Dip

            Spicy Pickled Cucumber Spears

            Huntsman Cheese,

And continued with a dinner of

Salad:

            Grilled Shrimp Louie Salad with Avocado and Boiled Eggs

Main Entrée:

            Linguini with fresh herbs and Parmesan cheese

Dessert:

            Lime Mousse Pie

            Blueberry Crisp Pie (Thanks Vivi).

           

After dinner al fresco, just as the fireflies began to light up the twilight, Victoria presented each of us with two poems to read. Verse from Bode to Whitman captured the essence of a Midsummer Night’s Dream.  For me, Vivi chose Miracles by Walt Whitman.  The poem perfectly reflected upon early moments from a spectacular summer solstice.

As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,

Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,

Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,

Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the
water,

Or stand under trees in the woods,

Or talk by day with any [of the] one[s] I love,

or sleep in the bed at night

with [the] one I love,

Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,

Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,

Or animals feeding in the fields,

Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,

Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet
and bright,

Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;

These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,

The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

As the cool evening breeze descended upon us, a fire was ignited in the chimenea, and the Goddess of Merry Mount presented a Wheel of the Year of light and invoked the Universe to bless those present and beyond.  The brightness of the stars, particularly Jupiter, signaled to us that the Universe was indeed listening!

"So Mote It Be"

Slowly, one by one, we entered into the realms of sleep.

Come, Sleep, and with thy sweet deceiving
Lock me in delight awhile;
Let some pleasing dreams beguile
All my fancies; that from thence
I may feel an influence,	5
All my powers of care bereaving!
Though but a shadow, but a sliding
Let me know some little joy!
We that suffer long annoy
Are contented with a thought	10
Through an idle fancy wrought:
O let my joys have some abiding!

            -John Fletcher (1579-1625)

We were awakened the next morning by bright sunshine and our senses were once again prepared for a brilliant morning.

Invocation

Come, O Sun!

Awake and take the sky!

Helios, banish poor night,

Hyperion, exile the moon!

I call you to come out, come out!

Break to me your dawning.

Burn me with your music!

Enflame me with your song!

Who dares to stand in the wind and call your name?

Only one who has heard the voice of the dove

Rise from the valley floor,

Gently singing the dawn,

Softly cooing the morn.

Remember, O Eden

The brightness of the first day!

Invoke with me again

Fair Adam and golden Queen:

Awake, O Sun!

And take the sky!

-Robert Bode

After coffee, Rett whipped up a country breakfast of fresh eggs, sausage, grits, and her famous biscuits, and we once again ate al fresco under a blue sky.  

But the great laugh of the weekend came, when (after having too many biscuits) my chair fell apart and I crashed to the patio.  Unscathed, we reveled in hilarity.

"Too many biscuits"

I leave you with a poem entitled Summertime by 16 year old Ra’heim Robinson.

Longer days and shorter nights, 
Darker shades and brighter lights. 
Louder music and wilder friends, 
No need for pencils, no need for pens! 

The parties are turned up, 
The grills are burnt up. 
The drinks are getting drunk up,
Everybody is pumped up! 

Make these days the time of your life, 
And make the nights just as right. 
This time only comes once a year, 
So live it up, don't have any fears. 

Everybody's happy, and the girls are fine, 
You already know it's summertime!

Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/summer-time-2

CPW

A Place to Fly or Sing

One of the great joys of summer at Merry Mount is watching the swallows glide across the pasture as we mow on the zero-turn, or as we sit observing at “happy hour”.  Yet another joy is listening to our canaries, Yammie and Jussi, as they sing their duet from their cage on the sun porch.

Swallows and canaries are Aves, but are differentiated by Family.

Barn Swallow: Class: Aves, Family: Hirundinidae, Genus: Hirundo

Swallows gracefully execute their aerial acrobatics at amazing speeds, while the canaries artfully perform their trills and melodies while caged.

It is our perception that both are conducting their tasks for our enjoyment, but perhaps the swallows would like to take a rest in the cage, or perhaps the canaries would enjoy being freed to fly the open fields in search of food in order to survive.  We will never know, some things are outside our realm of understanding.

But, what do we know?  Are our perceptions grounded in truth or are we slaves to our own implicit biases?

http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias/

It seems that our brains are genetically programmed to instantaneously provide us with information based upon genetically coded experience along with recently experiential data, but, if engaged, the reasoning area of the brain can override implicit bias.  Thus, it behooves us to hesitate, engage our reasoning abilities, listen carefully, evaluate, and then decide whether to offer an opinion.

This task is one that I need to develop.

So as we sit in our place of peace, enjoying the Aves near us, may we be wise enough to gain understanding about who we are and how our actions affect the creatures around us.

I leave you with Maya Angelou's great poem, Caged Bird:

A free bird leaps

on the back of the wind   

and floats downstream   

till the current ends

and dips his wing

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and   

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   

with a fearful trill   

of things unknown   

but longed for still   

and his tune is heard   

on the distant hill   

for the caged bird   

sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

and he names the sky his own

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams   

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream   

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied   

so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings   

with a fearful trill   

of things unknown   

but longed for still   

and his tune is heard   

on the distant hill   

for the caged bird   

sings of freedom.

CPW