I was inspired looking at old pictures
Santa Rosa Women’s March 2019
Provenance of a Family Heirloom
How our Norwegian cousin solved the mystery
As I pulled down the box of Solstice ornaments from a high shelf in the garage, I wondered about the provenance of a pair of candlesticks. They were grungy from years of use, the brass darkened with candle wax. I thought Mom said they were from our Norwegian grandfather, who left Norway as a teenager and never went back. Did he bring them with him when he immigrated to the U.S.?
Looking carefully at the base I could see the maker’s mark stamped there. The letters SB, then a crown, then No 5. I went online and looked through databases of metalworks. That got me nowhere, so I asked my brother Don if he had any information. He didn’t remember the candlesticks but did remember that he’d discovered a Norwegian cousin on Ancestry who still lives near our grandfather’s place of birth. Their correspondence follows.
8. des. 2024 Don Orr Martin
To: Rune Aalberg
A question from your cousin in Canada (Don now lives in Vancouver B.C.)
Hello Rune–
We emailed each other a couple of years ago about shared genealogy. I am one of the Wick relatives (along with Shelly Harris). My grandfather from Klokkervik was Ben Wick (Bernt Evensen).
My sister Molly recently remembered two candle holders that she was told by our mother belonged to Ben. She got them out of storage and plans to clean them up and use them. We suspect they were brought to the US from Norway in the 1890s, but have no documentation. I am attaching 3 photos Molly sent me. She has been trying to identify the foundry markings without any luck. We wondered if you might have access to internet search information in Norway about these markings on the bottoms of the candlesticks. Probably brass. We are curious about their origin.
Your cousin,
Don
8. des. 2024 Rune Aalberg
Hi, Don!
The time runs fast, and I have seen your box in my e-mail App, but I have been busy with collecting names to the database on my father’s side. Never ending work /research.
I have announced on Facebook that someone in Canada wants to know about the candle lights. The mark SB should be easy to find for the right person. If not I go to a jeweler and ask there.
I hope the winter time is kind to you. Here we still see the green areas, but have also had a couple of white days.
Until next time
Enjoy the Christmas time
Sun, Dec 8, 2024 Rune Aalberg
Hi!
I have sent an e-mail to Swedish Skultuna. Yours are very look alike. Long link:
https://www.careofcarl.no/no/skultuna-the-office-candlestick-brass?channable=0091cc696400313232393838313051&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=S%20/%202%20/%20Index,%20Near-index,%20Potential&gad_source=1
Exiting. 😎
9. des. 2024 Don Orr Martin
Thanks Rune. I really appreciate your help in tracking down the origin of these heirlooms. The link does indeed look a lot like the ones Molly has. It is very possible they are from Sweden where our grandmother lived until she was 17.
Our early winter has been pretty mild so far. No snow yet except in the nearby mountains. Lots of salmon returning to the rivers here. John and I love to hike the many trails in parks along the ocean and the local rivers. We are looking forward to our annual trip to Baja, Mexico. We’ll spend 2 months from late January to late March. It’s about a 3,000K drive one way, but a very interesting trip once you get past the US.
Hope you have a pleasant holiday,
Don
From: Rune Aalberg
Date: Tue, Dec 10, 2024
Hi!
I have not got an answer from the company, but a response on FB says it is this company:
https://skultuna.com/en-no
Buy more 😉
SB = Skultuna Bruk (bruk can mean a farm, to use or meant for using, and they made products for daily usage).
The crown mark is the swedish one.
Take care of the candle lights and yourself, of course 🤗
Time to sleep for Rune 🥱
Our Norwegian cousin was right. The candlesticks are Swedish, made by a foundry that still exists and still sells the exact same product. We imagine that our grandmother, Gerda Wick (Persson), brought them with her when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. Candlesticks would have been a necessity before the advent of electric light.
From the Skultuna website:
Four centuries in the same place
The year was 1607, and King Karl IX could at last implement his long held plans for a Swedish brass industry. Refining copper into brass would reduce imports of brass and increase income from exports. The King had a man sent off on the Crown’s business to find a suitable location for a brass foundry, the choice fell on Skultuna, where the Svartån brook provided sufficient water power. Today, over four centuries later, the company still resides in the very same place in Skultuna. The first master braziers were called here from the brass foundries in Germany and the Netherlands, they also brought the technique on how to make large brass objects like chandeliers. The oldest known chandelier is in the Church of Our Lady in Enköping and is dated 1619. The journey throughout history has been rough at times, once the whole factory floated away with the spring flood and it has burnt down completely on at least three occasions.
Today you can follow them on Instagram, facebook and tiktok.
God jul to all
The Women’s March 2017
I was inspired looking through old photos
Santa was a Psychedelic Shaman
My Regular Pagan holiday post: Mysteries of Santaland
Even as a little kid, I was skeptical. The story is preposterous: a jolly rotund man in a red suit operates a workshop at the North Pole where elves make toys for children. On Christmas Eve, he loads them into a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and delivers gifts to every child in the world by descending through their chimneys.
Did adults really expect us to believe that! How could that fat guy even get down a chimney? And what if you don’t have a chimney? And visiting every child in the world on one night! Give me a break. And how can wingless reindeer fly anyway? Wouldn’t it make more sense to harness a herd of Pegasuses,* or even a flock of owls? My parents were unable to satisfactorily answer these questions.
But it all starts to make sense when you look at the traditions of Arctic indigenous peoples. Turns out, Santa’s origins might involve a bit more…tripping.
Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering fungi by drinking the urine of reindeer.
A Ten Thousand Year High
Santa’s story bears striking similarities to the winter solstice practices of Arctic shamans—specifically those of the reindeer herding Koryaks of Siberia and the Sámi of Sápmi (formerly called Lapland) who used hallucinogenic mushrooms in their winter solstice ceremonies. These shamans consumed the mind-altering Amanita muscaria mushroom—the iconic red-and-white fungus often depicted in Christmas decorations—to commune with the spirit world.
Shamanic rituals involving A. muscaria date back over 10,000 years. During Siberian midwinter ceremonies of Annual Renewal, shamans, dressed in red-and-white fur-trimmed coats and tall black boots, gathered the mushrooms from beneath sacred pine trees. These mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of fungi whose mycelial networks interlace with tree roots underground. The association of red mushrooms with green pine trees might explain the colors of Christmas.
Gifts of Vision and Insight
In winter, heavy snow often blocked the doorways of Arctic yurts, forcing shamans to enter through the roof. They slid down the central birch pole, carrying a bag of dried A. muscaria—a probable origin of Santa’s descent through chimneys with a sack of gifts.
Amanita muscaria, found growing under pine trees in Northern California. Photos by author.
After consuming the mushrooms or drinking the urine of reindeer that had eaten them, shamans would enter altered states of consciousness. Amongst the Siberian shamans, the reindeer was an animal spirit to journey with in their vision quests. The gifts shamans brought to their communities included the visions and insights from their psychedelic experiences, as well as portions of the mushrooms themselves.
Flying Reindeer Explained
Reindeer play a crucial role in this story. These animals can eat A. muscaria without suffering its toxic effects, metabolizing the mushroom’s compounds in a way that makes their urine safe—and still hallucinogenic—for humans to consume. Drinking reindeer urine allowed people to experience the mushroom’s psychoactive effects while avoiding its more unpleasant toxins.
The hallucinations induced by A. muscaria often include sensations of flying, contributing to the myth of Santa’s airborne sleigh and reindeer. After ingesting the mushrooms, the shamans were said to experience heightened senses, bursts of energy, the desire to sing, feelings of joy, and increased muscle tone, so any physical effort was easier to perform.
Stockings Hung by the Fire
Indigenous peoples dried their mushrooms on tree branches or by hanging them in socks near fires, practices reminiscent of today’s Christmas stockings. As with many pagan traditions, Christians appropriated these shamanic elements, attributing them to Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Turkish bishop known for his generosity to children and the needy.
Incidentally, the plural of shaman is shamans, not shamen. There were female shamans among the indigenous peoples, just as there are in many cultures today.
Koryak shaman woman, photo from Jesup North Pacific Expedition 1900. (PD-US)
The Arctic shamans might have been jolly, but probably were not fat. That image was exploited in ad campaigns by Coca cola, starting in 1930 (although folks are mad that the company’s latest AI video ad focuses on trucks instead of Santa).
Mushrooms and Me
My own relationship with mushrooms is one of wonder and deliciousness. Wonder-ful because mushrooms are witchy and mysterious. Scientists estimate that as many as 95% of fungal species on Earth are still unknown! Many mushrooms are associated with particular species of trees, so in learning about ‘shrooms, we learn about the forest and its ecosystem too.
Deliciousness because I’ve foraged, eaten and enjoyed many mushrooms. But A. muscaria is not one of them. The poison is not a deadly one like some of the other Amanitas, but it does make you sick. And while I am curious about hallucinations, I’m not so curious about regurgitations.
Still, A. muscaria fascinates me, not just for its beauty but also for its potential. Recent research explores its psychoactive compounds, muscimol and ibotenic acid, for therapeutic uses. These compounds show promise in treating conditions such as stress, anxiety, insomnia, addiction, and even neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
Solstice Spirits
As the winter solstice approaches on December 21, I’m reminded of the deep connections between ancient rituals and modern traditions. So, whether you celebrate with a cup of cocoa or an appreciation for fungi, happy solstice to all—and to all a good long night.
*The proper plural of Pegasus is Pegasi but I like Pegasuses better
P.S. A friend told me she needs sources in order to share this. Here’s a video I liked: https://youtu.be/MrLb2-wETAQ?si=VRQ28QsBitb5ndCF
My Mother and Audie Murphy
She took the only pictures as he was honored
Chapter One
“When are we going to get some more donuts?” asked Audie Murphy of the photographer after he received the highest of all military honors, the Congressional Medal of Honor, in the field in Salzburg, Germany.
It was 1945 and the photographer was my mother, Florence Wick. She had been serving as a Red Cross “donut girl” with the Third Infantry Division in the Europe. She had met Murphy and served him donuts somewhere in France.
That photograph was the only one taken of Murphy at the awards ceremony and it was published worldwide and used to recreate the scene for the movie of his life story, “To Hell and Back.”
1955 Flo and Audie reconnected on the movie set of To Hell and Back. Photo by Rollie Lane. The photo at top is the one taken by Flo at the awards ceremony in Salzburg in 1945.
The most decorated soldier of WWII, Audie would cross paths with Flo again ten years later when he came to our hometown of Yakima, Washington to film the movie. There at the Yakima Firing Center the two of them looked through the scrapbook Flo had compiled of her adventures and heartbreaks in the European theater.
Now I have that scrapbook. It’s gigantic and weighs 25 pounds. I have wanted to use its contents to tell my mother’s story, but the project is overwhelming. Maybe I can start with Audie.
Audie Murphy was known worldwide after the war. He had a huge fan club and maybe still does (he died in 1971). One of his fans recently got in touch with me and asked if I could supply more stories and pictures. Yes! Flo stayed in touch with Audie. She corresponded with his biographer, his associates and those putting together a memorial in Texas. She saved mementos and newspaper clippings.
As for her photo that became famous, she gave it freely and others took credit. A post-war letter she saved warns that others are charging for the use of her photo. She never received credit.
Chapter 2: https://mollymartin.blog/2024/12/31/a-photo-album-tells-the-story/
Making the Hill Red
Bernal Heights Was Always a Center of Activism
by Molly Martin, Gail Sansbury, Elaine Elison, and the Bernal History Project
Dow Wilson of Painters Local 4, who was famously assassinated in 1966, standing in front of a picture of the writer and socialist Jack London.
Bernal Heights in San Francisco has always been called Red Hill, perhaps because it’s made of red rock—Franciscan formation chert—that once lay under the ocean.
More likely that moniker has to do with the large number of Reds who lived on the hill over the decades: Communists, Socialists, labor activists, and New Leftists.
Ever since it was colonized by Europeans, Bernal Heights, on San Francisco’s south end, has been a working class neighborhood. Slaughterhouses and tanneries proliferated along the creeks on the south and north sides of the hill before the turn of the 20th century. Breweries like the North Star on Army St. operated until the Volstead Prohibition act put them out of business in 1920.
This photo of Mission Street at Kingston was taken in 1906 during one of many carmens’ strikes of that era.
Bernal Hill never was home to much industry, but its two streetcar barns at the foot of the hill were the site of pitched battles during the carmens’ strike of 1907. In San Francisco’s deadliest strike, 26 people were killed and hundreds injured during the nine months the carmen were out. That year saw strikes in several unions, of women as well as men workers, and a general strike was nearly called. The city seemed on the verge of class war, with Market Street being the dividing line. It’s not hard to guess which side Bernal’s residents were on.
In the 2000s, neighbors came together to form the Bernal History Project and to research the history of our hill. We published a book, San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, and gave slideshow presentations around the city. In 2008 as part of the annual SF Labor Fest we gave a presentation called Reds on the Hill at the local bookstore, then Red Hill Books.
We chose to focus on six Bernal residents who had been active in labor struggles from the 1930s through the 1980s: Eugene Paton, Miriam Dinkin Johnson, Phiz Mezey, Dow Wilson, Bill Sorro and Giuliana “Huli” Milanese. These are the stories of working class people deeply committed to changing the world. They are six of many.
Thanks to the SF Labor Archives and Research Center, a rich source of information about union movements and working class life in the Bay Area, and the families of our subjects, especially Patty Paton Cavagnaro and Petrina Caruso Paton for their family albums.
Miriam Dinkin Johnson (1918-2001)
Eugene “Pat” Paton (1913-1951)
Giuliana “Huli” Milanese (1944-)
This story was first published in FoundSF.org, the San Francisco digital history archive.
Samhain 2024: The Cailleach
My Regular Pagan Holiday post
She is a towering figure, casting mountains by flinging stones from her wicker basket. She is the crone goddess, ancient and wise, with flowing white hair and—some legends say—one eye in the center of her forehead. The Cailleach (pronounced kallyak), the Celtic goddess of winter, seizes control of the earth on November 1, at the pagan festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in), and reigns until the thaw of spring. She governs the weather, especially storms, and with each step, she shapes the land.
The hag’s face is pale blue, cold like a corpse, her long white hair streaked with frost. Cloaked in a gray plaid, she appears worn by time, yet her power is immense. She is both creator and destroyer, molding the hills and valleys with her hammer, a deity tied to cycles of death and rebirth. Some say she has roots as ancient as the Indian goddess Kali.
As the harbinger of winter, the Cailleach has been feared and revered for centuries. On Imbolc, February 1, she is said to gather firewood for the remainder of winter. If the weather is clear and bright, it’s a sign she intends for the cold to stretch on, collecting plenty of wood to sustain her. But if the day is foul, people sigh in relief—the Cailleach sleeps, and winter’s end is near. Today, we mark this custom with Groundhog Day.
“Winter is coming”—a phrase popularized by Game of Thrones—is not just a warning of seasonal change, but a metaphor for scarcity, hardship, and the potential for conflict. The ominous truth is that winter is always coming, unless we are already in the thick of it. Perhaps, politically, we are.
The looming threat of a Trump presidency feels like the onset of a long, harsh winter. It keeps me awake at night. For decades, Republicons have skewed the game, and I’ve lived long enough to witness it firsthand. From voter suppression to outright vote theft, it’s been an ongoing battle. I was blown away by Greg Palast’s latest documentary, Vigilantes Inc.: America’s New Vote Suppression Hitmen, produced by Martin Sheen, George DiCaprio, and Maria Florio (Oscar, Best Documentary). He exposes the political history of racist Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and his slave owning family. Stream it for free.
For those unfamiliar with Greg Palast, he’s a freelance journalist with a history of working for the BBC and The Guardian. His investigations predict that MAGA extremists may riot on December 11, the constitutional deadline for states to submit their final lists of electors. You can read more on his site: https://www.gregpalast.com/maga-militants-to-riot-on-december-11/
I’m sending this message before Samhain, hoping these warnings help to thwart the political winter ahead. We may already be in the storm’s grip, but awareness can help us weather it.
For those of you in Sonoma County, I hope you’ll join me at a Democracy Fair, sponsored by the Deep Democracy group of the North Bay Organizing Project. Get voter information about local and state propositions and races. Plus games and prizes! It’s happening this Friday October 18 from 4 to 7pm at the SRJC student center. Registering ahead will help us plan. Here’s the RSVP link: tinyurl.com/deepdemfair. (Apologies to those I’ve already sent this to.)
One more thing. I was saddened to learn of the death of my friend, the artist and writer Mary Wings in San Francisco. We were both born in 1949 (it was a very good year for Boomers) and shared a neighborhood in Bernal Heights. Mary was kind of famous; she rated an obit in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/08/arts/mary-wings-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SU4.GC0y.GZ_rimClOb6P&smid=url-share
She was always working on art projects and her friends were often the lucky recipients of her creations. One of her gifts to me was this painting of Bernal Hill viewed from Precita Park where she lived. I lived on the opposite side of the hill. The painting had originally been framed in something she’d found at Scrap, but it fell apart over time. Recently, I rediscovered it in the garage and had it reframed. Now it’s hanging on the kitchen wall, and it’s a beautiful way to remember both Mary and our beloved San Francisco neighborhood.
Sending Samhain greetings to all.
Love, Molly (and Holly)
The top photo is by David Mirlea on Unsplash (having trouble with captions)
A Civil Talk with a Trumper
In which I learn that propaganda works
After I made it clear in a blog post that I support Kamala Harris for president, my neighbor texted me saying we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum and did I want to talk about it? She is part of an organization called Braver Angels whose mission is to bring Americans together to “bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic.”
Well, yeah. I’d love to understand why anyone is planning to vote for a criminal misogynist racist incompetent ignorant vindictive idiot. I truly do want to understand.
We met at a local café where I asked her to lay out her thoughts.
We have much in common. We are about the same age (75). She has campaigned for social justice, and protested the Vietnam war. She was a student at SF State during the 1968 student and faculty strike. She voted against Hillary in 2016 because she was pro-war and Trump said he would end wars. Then she voted again for Trump in 2020.
She tells me she is a Quaker
Me: Do you go to quaker meetings? Are there Quakers who consider themselves Christian nationalists?
Yes, she has gone to meetings in many places. There are Quakers who want to walk a more middle line.
Where do you get your news?
Mostly from citizen journalists. People who report from the street. She mentions Tucker Carlson and other right-wing commentators.
She likes Vivek Ramaswamy. She says he went to Springfield Ohio to bring people together.
Why do you think he went there? What is he running for–a cabinet position?
He wanted to find out what is really going on.
He’s supporting Trump. How can he pretend to be nonpartisan?
He says they brought in too many immigrants.
The Haitians are legal immigrants.
No. they have “temporary protected status.” That’s different. They don’t all have jobs. Some of them hang out on the street.
Do you agree with trump’s plan to deport all immigrants?
There needs to be more oversight. We need to stop the rapists and felons. Send them back.
Trump is a convicted rapist. Should we send him back?
Social security. Trump wants to stop taxing it.
Yeah that’s what he says but the republicans have been saying for years they want to abolish it.
What about Kamala’s economic plans? (A republican talking point.)
You are treating trump like a regular candidate instead of a crazy guy who can’t string a sentence together and who promotes violence.
What do I think about RFK?
I liked him when he was an environmental lawyer. Now I think he’s lost his mind.
He only wanted people to have a choice about vaccination.
What about the republicans who would take away women’s vote? Who want to return to slavery?
She hasn’t heard much about them but knows about Mark Robinson in NC.
What about project 2025?
Trump is not involved with that.
You know that JD Vance, his VP candidate, wrote the introduction and the others involved were almost all on Trump’s staff?
She didn’t know that. It’s the Heritage Foundation she says.
We talked respectfully about many other issues. After an hour I have to go. I’m getting a little sick. We agree that we hate war. I shake her hand. She hugs me. She says see we do have something in common.
She tells me I should listen to Vivek. I tell her she should read and listen to different media. I send her a youtube clip from Trae Crowder the Liberal Redneck. Love that guy.
I still feel profoundly disturbed. We did not bridge the partisan divide nor strengthen the republic. For years the rest of us have been asking why any sane person could still support a con man like trump. My theory is that it’s the fault of the right wing media’s lies. And one thing this meeting has done is confirm my theory. Now I understand.
Propaganda works!
Californians Work to Turn Red Districts Blue
Gay Man Will Rollins Running Against Anti-Gay Incumbent
Californians will be sidelined again in the upcoming presidential election. With nearly 40 million residents, the state won’t play a decisive role in choosing the next president until the electoral college system is changed. Instead, the focus remains on swing states, leaving many Californians feeling left out, and me outraged again.
But we are not twiddling our collective thumbs. We’re shifting our attention to key down ballot races. A strong coalition, Mobilize—comprising Indivisible, California Grassroots Alliance, and others—is targeting six red districts in an effort to flip the House blue.
One candidate I’m particularly excited about is Will Rollins, who is openly gay and has a great shot at winning. When the districts were reorganized, he gained the queer-friendly city of Palm Springs in California’s 41st District. Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, is running again after nearly defeating Republican Ken Calvert, an incumbent with a long anti-LGBTQ voting record, in the last election. Polls show Rollins with a six point lead. https://willrollinsforcongress.com
I can’t vote for Will. I’m in a safe blue Congressional district. But, like hundreds of other Californians, I’m writing postcards to voters, getting out the vote, posting yard signs, and wearing my Kamala swag. Let’s paint Congress blue!
Winter’s Coming and We Like It
My Regular Pagan Holiday Post: Autumn Equinox
You can shake your fist at heaven, you can file your appeal
You can try to rise above it, you can crawl and you can kneel
No matter what life gives you, no matter what you steal
You cannot stop the turning of the wheel
Chorus from Jennifer Berezan’s song Turning of the Wheel
Naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna), a ubiquitous and favorite fall flower
Sitting out in our yard on a lovely evening at the ides of August, Holly and I luxuriated in the garden’s summer radiance. The day was cooling as the sun retreated. Colorful zinneas and cone flowers bloomed and the fragrance of the rockrose bush enveloped us. Hummingbirds zipped back and forth. Finches and oak titmice populated the feeder. Towhees scratched the ground as mourning doves bobbed and cooed. It was a perfect summer evening.
But as we sat in our twin rockers, we both said, almost in unison, “I’m looking forward to the turning of the seasons.”
Summer, with its long, warm days and bountiful harvests, has been beautiful, but we’re ready for the change. Holly says that humans evolved with the rhythm of change, and that’s why we appreciate the wheel of the year turning.
Now, with the autumn equinox upon us, the new season begins. Pagans call this time Mabon, after the Welsh God who is the son of the Earth Mother Goddess.
Recently, I learned about the lunistice, the moment when the moon seems to pause, similar to the way the sun appears to stop at solstices before shifting direction. It’s a fascinating event, though hard to observe unless you track the moon regularly.
The major lunar standstill is marked by observing the extreme points where the moon rises and sets on the horizon, akin to watching the sun at solstices. Just as the sun’s position reaches its furthest northern and southern points at solstice, the moon does something similar every 18.6 years during a maximum lunistice—an event that occurs near equinoxes and eclipses, and it’s happening now!
This 18.6-year cycle is due to the moon’s orbital tilt and the gravitational pull of the sun, causing the moon’s orbit to swivel and vary its angle relative to Earth.
Excited, I reached out to the folks at Ferguson Observatory at Sugarloaf State Park to learn more. I was intrigued by the idea of “maximum lunistice,” thinking it sounded particularly special. But I learned something surprising: the minimum lunistices are actually more significant, especially in relation to tides.
The Observatory explained that during maximum lunistices, the moon is furthest from the celestial equator, resulting in less dramatic tides. However, minimum lunistices bring larger tides because the moon is closer to the equator’s gravitational bulge. But since “maximum” sounds more impressive, it tends to get more attention. The next minimum lunistice won’t be until 2034.
At an Old Lesbians retreat in the Mayacamas mountains as a group of us stargazed, I attempted to explain this lunar phenomenon but stumbled over the details. Honestly, I don’t fully grasp it myself. Yet, here’s what’s clear: ancient peoples understood this cycle.
Bronze Age societies, like those who constructed the megalithic monuments in Britain and Ireland, placed great significance on lunar standstills. Modern Neopagan religions find meaning in them too. Ancient cultures beyond the British Isles also recognized these events—sites like Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Chimney Rock in Colorado, and the Hopewell sites in Ohio all feature alignments to the moon during lunar standstills.
As I write this, the full supermoon is rising with a partial lunar eclipse. The turning of the celestial wheel continues to fascinate us, just as it did our ancestors.
I’d like to call back summertime and have her stay for just another month or so
But she’s got the urge for going so I guess she’ll have to go.
From Joni Mitchell’s song Urge for Going
One of my favorite Joni Mitchell songs, Urge for Going, laments “summertime falling down.” Joni was thinking about snow and cold and pulling the blankets up to her chin. She sang, “All that stays is dying and all that lives is getting out.” But she was singing about winter coming in Canada. In California when I think about winter coming I think rain, which makes plants start to grow in the outdoors. It brings mushrooms, grass, new leaves and flowers. The cold coastal summer fog falls away and dust is dampend.
David Douglas, the Scottish botanist who traveled in North America in the 1830s (after whom the Douglas fir and other plants were named) remarked on how dead the Sonoma area was in summer. He collected plants in the winter and spring when they were growing and flowering.
These are some of the reasons we here in summer-dry California exclaim with anticipation “Winter’s coming!”
The autumn equinox takes place Sunday September 22. Wishing you all a fabulous fall season.
Lewisia, a native in our garden, named for Meriwether Lewis who encountered the species in 1806
tradeswomn musings 