Karen and I will be very busy with many activities for the next four weeks.
Each day we pack up boxes of our belongings for storage in an 8 'x 40' metal storage unit at a nearby storage facility. We are making some progress in emptying and cleaning up our home in preparation for a sale of our home.
We have some travel plans and a train trip planned.
We will spend some time with family and friends over the holiday season.
As of today, there have been 886,446 page views of this blog. Last month, there were 25,695 page views of this blog. Hopefully, readers will find something in this blog in 2017 that they find interesting, useful, or uplifting.
Something borrowed? Saturnalia? Christmas? New Year? Winter Solstice?
Yuletide Celebrations
Pagan Christmas: The Plants, Spirits, and Rituals at the Origins of Yuletide. By Christian Rätsch and Claudia Müller-Ebeling. Translated from the German by Katja Lueders and Rafael Lorenzo. Rochester, Vermont, Inner Traditions, 2006. Index, bibliography, 213 pages. ISBN: 1594770921. VSCL.
My very best wishes to all my readers.
May good health, prosperity, peace, and contentment be yours.
Enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.
Happy New Year!
I've been struggling a bit with a cold the past few days. The usual: fatigue, coughing, chest congestion, feeling down ... familiar problems to millions.
I bundle up, stay warm, rest, drink plenty of warm fluids, take mild medicines, and slowly recuperate. Karen is a wonderful helpmate- understanding, providing remedies, and encouragement.
While resting quietly, I have been reading books on the history of science, evolutionary biology, and a biography of Charles Darwin (1809-1882). These books will keep me fascinated and busy for a few months.
"The History of Science" by Stephen F. Mason. Collier, 1956.
"The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of the Species." By Charles Darwin. Annotated by James T. Costa. Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 2009. Indices, references, biographies, appendices, 537 pages. ISBN: 9780674032811.
"The Greatest Show on Earth" by Richard Dawkins.
"Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist" by Adrian Desmond and James Moore. Norton, 1994, 868 pages. The Darwin biography was detailed, comprehensive, historically fascinating, and very interesting to me. Life in London, and Down House, from 1840-1880, is well documented in this book.
Karen retired in June of 2014. I retired in June of 2016.
Karen and I have decided to sell our home in Red Bluff and move to Vancouver, Washington.
This is well maintained 1909 square foot house, with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a large office area, and large screened back porch. There are extensive gardens, beautiful landscaping, an orchard, and 5 acres of land. There are two 125' wells and 2 ponds on the property.
Here is a detailed webpage on this house and property.Here is the current Zillow listing.
Last night, Karen and I listened to some Christmas music, enjoyed a cocktail with our delicious beef stew dinner, and chatted about the good old times we had during many a winter holiday season. Wonderful memories of fun times with family and friends!
This year is somewhat different. We both are now fully retired and unemployed. Since we are selling our home, we are very busy with packing, storing, and home improvements.
We are now into the cold and wet season here in Red Bluff, and all the wild grasses are now green in California. Enjoying the autumn colors. We have plans for a train trip to Vancouver, Washington.
Winter Solstice and Yule Celebrations
One Old Druid's Final Journey
"Reclaim Santa Claus as a Pagan Godform. Today's Santa is a folk figure with multicultural roots. He embodies characteristics of Saturn (Roman agricultural god), Cronos (Greek god, also known as Father Time), the Holly King (Celtic god of the dying year), Father Ice/Grandfather Frost (Russian winter god), Thor (Norse sky god who rides the sky in a chariot drawn by goats), Odin/Wotan (Scandinavian/Teutonic All-Father who rides the sky on an eight-legged horse), Frey (Norse fertility god), and the Tomte (a Norse Land Spirit known for giving gifts to children at this time of year). Santa's reindeer can be viewed as forms of Herne, the Celtic Horned God. Decorate your home with Santa images that reflect His Pagan heritage. Honor the Goddess as Great Mother. Place Pagan Mother Goddess images around your home. You may also want to include one with a Sun child, such as Isis with Horus. Pagan Goddess forms traditionally linked with this time of year include Tonantzin (Native Mexican corn mother), Holda (Teutonic earth goddess of good fortune), Bona Dea (Roman women's goddess of abundance and prophecy), Ops (Roman goddess of plenty), Au Set/Isis (Egyptian/multicultural All Goddess whose worship continued in Christian times under the name Mary), Lucina/St. Lucy (Roman/Swedish goddess/saint of light), and Befana (Italian Witch who gives gifts to children at this season)."
- Selena Fox, Celebrating the Winter Solstice
"Creative people are
curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of
adventure and a love of play."- Henri Matisse
Play: It is an an activity which
proceeds within certain limits of time and space, in a visible order, according
to rules freely accepted, and outside the sphere of necessity or material
utility. The play-mood is one of rapture and enthusiasm, and is sacred or
festive in accordance with the occasion. A feeling of exaltation and
tension accompanies the action."
- Johan Huizinga, Homo Ludens
"In rare moments of deep play, we can lay
aside our sense of self, shed time's continuum, ignore pain, and sit quietly in
the absolute present, watching the world's ordinary miracles. No mind or heart
hobbles. No analyzing or explaining. No questing for logic. No promises. No
goals. No relationships. No worry. One is completely open to whatever drama may
unfold."
- Diane Ackerman in Deep Play
Deep Play
By Diane Ackerman. New York, Random House, 1999. Index, 235 pages.
ISBN: 0679448799.
"We may play with and pass on a garden,
possessing one is an illusion.
Gardeners must dance with feedback, play with results, turn as they learn.
Some gardeners don't grow old and stop playing; they stop playing and grow old.
Nature's playfulness is a gardener's delight.
A garden is a sporting field, an area for play."
- Michael P. Garofalo,
Pulling Onions
"To play is to listen to the imperative
inner force that wants to take form and be acted out without reason. It is the
joyful, spontaneous expression of one's self. The inner force materializes the
feeling and perception without planning or effort. That is what play is."
- Michelle Cassou and Stewart Cubley in Life, Paint and Passion
"Play exists for its own sake. Play
is for the moment; it is not hurried, even when the pace is fast and timing
seems important. When we play, we also celebrate holy uselessness. Like
the calf frolicking in the meadow, we need no pretense or excuses. Work is
productive; play, in its disinterestedness and self-forgetting, can be
fruitful."
- Margaret Guenther in Toward Holy Ground
Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture
By Johan Huizinga. Beacon Press, 1971. 240 pages. ISBN:
978-0807046814. VSCL.
Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul
By Stuart Brown, M.D.. Avery Trade, 2010. 240 pages. ISBN:
978-1583333785.
Move Into Life by Anat Baniel
Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality
"1. Moving with Attention, Wake Up to Life, Mindful Movements
2. The Learning Switch, Bring in the New, Lifelong learning, Retraining
3. Subtlety, Experience the Power of Gentleness
4. Variation, Enjoy Abundant Possibilities
5. Taking Your Time, Slowing Down, Not Rushing, Luxuriate in the Richness of Feeling
6. Enthusiasm, Turn the Small into the Great
7. Flexible Goals, Make the Impossible Possible
8. Imagination and Dreams, Create Your Life
9. Awareness, Cultivating Mindfulness, Thrive with True Knowledge"
Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality
By Anat Baniel. New York, Harmony Books, 2009. Index, bibliography, 306 pages. ISBN: 9780307395290. VSCL.
Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons
The Good Life
