July

Repost from July 2024:

We will  have hot weather today - over 93F (34C). This high temperature is infrequent in Vancouver, Washington. 

We did all our watering chores and gardening projects early in the morning.  Then, we rested in the shade in the afternoon and read, listened to music, and napped.

Listening to Adam Hurst on cello Obscura, and 2 albums by the chromatic harmonica virtuoso, Gianluca Littera.

Even a squirrel was lounging below the wisteria vine.

I set down pavers in the area below the back bedroom shower. It is a paved area, part of the back porch, and under total shade of the wisteria vines.

Karen worked in the vegetable garden and on potting various plants.

  

The Spirit of Gardening Website

Sunshine and Shadows - Quotations

"The eastern light our spires touch at morning,
The light that slants upon our western doors at evening,
The twilight over stagnant pools at batflight,
Moon light and star light, owl and moth light,
Glow-worm glowlight on a grassblade.
O Light Invisible, we worship Thee!"
-  T.S. Eliot

"Darkness is to space what silence is to sound, i.e., the interval."
-  Marshall McLuhan, Through the Vanishing Point

"What ideal, immutable Platonic cloud could equal the beauty and perfection of any ordinary everyday cloud floating over, say, Tuba City, Arizona, on a hot day in June?"
-  Edward Abbey 

Bundling Up in December

The December weather patterns are now upon us in Vancouver, Washington.  The mid-morning temperature today in Vancouver is 40F, with light intermittent rain.  

It was also cold and raining in December to February in Red Bluff, California.  

December     Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Lore, Gardening Chores

We tried to reduce electrical and propane bills in Red Bluff, and electrical bills in Vancouver, by keeping the indoor temperature low.  We don't heat much at night.  

We dress accordingly to stay comfortable indoors.  Layered clothing, hat, scarf, and sometimes gloves are often used indoors.    

When reading, I bundle up with blankets or afghans.  

Here I am in 2012, in my study, bundled up in December.

Divine Illumination, Sol Invictus, Good Day Sunshine

"The sun is always a powerful, invincible image, whether it is the weak illumination of the pre winter solstice, or the savage primal energy of midsummer. Long before humanity developed written language humans must have gazed in terrific awe at the reborn sun each morning, how it over came the dangerous dragon of darkness that it sank into each evening, the provider of light, warmth, sustainer of growing vegetation -life itself--this enormous solar edifice quite clearly was one of the earliest forms of worship as man began to fashion a supernatural interpretation of natural phenomenon from the daily spectacle of the dying and reborn sun. Albert Pike makes the following concise statement in his Morals and Dogma: 'To them [aboriginal peoples] he [the sun] was the innate fire of bodies, the fire of Nature. Author of Life, heat, and ignition, he was to them the efficient cause of all generation, for without him there was no movement, no existence, no form. He was to them immense, indivisible, imperishable, and everywhere present. It was their need of light, and of his creative energy, that was felt by all men; and nothing was more fearful to them than his absence. His beneficent influences caused his identification with the Principle of Good; and the Brama of the Hindus, and Mithras of the Persians, and Athom, Amum, Phtha, and Osiris, of the Egyptians, the Bel of the Chaldeans, the Asonai of the Phœnicians, the Adonis and Apollo of the Greeks, became but personifications of the Sun, the regenerating Principle, image of that fecundity which perpetuates and rejuvenates the world's existence.'"
-   Christ, Constantine, Sol Invictus: The Unconquerable Sun   By Ralph Monday

June: Quotes, Poems, Sayings

Summer Solstice Celebration

Gayatri Mantra

Oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ

tát savitúr váreṇ(i)yaṃ

bhárgo devásya dhīmahi

dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt

 

Oh God, the Protector, the basis of all life, Who is self-existent, Who is free from all pains and Whose contact frees the soul from all troubles, Who pervades the Universe and sustains all, the Creator and Energizer of the whole Universe, the Giver of happiness, Who is worthy of acceptance, the most excellent, Who is Pure and the Purifier of all, let us embrace that very God, so that He may direct our mental faculties in the right direction.

Alternative meaning
Om, that (Divine Illumination) which pervades the physical plane (Bhu Loka), astral plane (Bhuvar Loka or Antariksha Loka) and or the celestial plane (Suvar Loka or Swarga Loka),
That Savitr (Divine Illumination) which is the most adorable,
On that Divine Radiance we meditate,
May that enlighten our intellect and awaken our spiritual wisdom.