Maebius Musing

Ok, so it’s not quite Thursday, and is actually Friday afternoon.  Close enough, as these thoughts happened yesterday. 

One of my recent birthday presents from my wife was a page of 200 tiny glow-in-the-dark star stickers (with a few comets and ringed planetoids).    The family had lots of fun all evening sticking them all across the ceiling and walls of our bedroom.   Of course, the kid couldn’t quite reach above him, so most of his adventure was perched atop my shoulders and carried around following his directions.   Left,  Stop, Backwards, Ok, UP!

After we were finished with this, we turned out the lights.

There is no other way to describe the reaction than a totally awe-inspired “Coooool!”

Since each individual sticker was about the size of a paper-punch hole, the effect was striking.  Perspective seemed skewed, and the 8ft ceilings felt at once closer, and much more distant, resulting in an amazing effect.

Due to some issues at work, I had to stay late and only got home after 8pm, so my planned sit outside Solstice ritual was cancelled in place of kid-star-fun.  but things worked out in the end after all, must more impressively.

I lay there in the bed, feeling 12 years old again for a moment.   I remembered camping with my uncle, and running outside in my grandfather’s yard on crisp autumn nights.   It was simple, powerful, and totally unexpected, being transported into a completely enveloping nostalgia.  I forgot my kid, I forgot my wife, and for a moment, time stopped.

On this evening, the solstice turns the Wheel into winter seasons, and ushers in a time of introspection.   It’s pure magic that now, regardless of the weather outside,  we can lay under the stars, snuggle under the blankets, and set ourselves in the larger universe.

Magic indeed!

P.S. - I’d have a photo of the room, but it’s too dark and faint to capture properly, even under ISO configuration for the camera.  However, all visitors will be required to lay down at night in this room and spend 5 minutes enjoying themselves.

P.P.S. -  This weekend we’ve already planned to get a tiny pot of flourescent paint, an old toothbrush, and create a spatter-misty Milky Way, a few nebulae, and minor touches to really bring the sky to life.

Can we fix it?

Yes We Can!

(Thanks to Nettle for inspiration of esoteric wording of my battle cry today:   Gunda! Yupyup!)

Warning,  this may be a large post with many pictures so I’m splitting it with a page-break to prevent browser damage.

We carved pumpkins and went Trick-or-Treating this weekend.  Unfortunately, the sprogling has been feeling a bit ill an keeps waking up in the middle of the night with either being sick, or bad dreams, or otherwise “uncomfortable” since last wednesday.  You’ll see some serious dark circles under his eyes in one of the movies.  Poor guy!

Also, this weekend, since the weather was sunny and relatively warm, the kid was determined to have “Boat races at 10:00 in the morning”.  No bad weather, or sleeplessness, or parental diversions were going to prevent boat races.  They HAD to happen, COME ON MOM?!!  So the latter pictures will be slightly unseasonal, but still fun.

Click after the break for full details. Continue Reading »

This year things seem particularly jumbled and confused.   Maybe it’s the recent mercury retrograde shifting back to ‘normal’ this week?  Maybe it’s the fact that one of the more viscerally important Presidential elections is happening next week, combined with the economic downturn, the peak oil stress, and all those other factors mushing together to form one energetic MESS!

Even the weather can’t make up it’s mind, having our first good snowfall, heavy winds causing some areas to still be without power after a day, and then today turning sunny with a temperature of 60F.  the snow’s still clinging to shadows, but it’s a losing battle, so mud is expected everywhere for tonight’s candy-fest.

Whatever the cause, my mind is reeling this past week.  I feel in such a fog, and can’t quite seem to concentrate on anything spiritual, house-workal, or employmental.   It’s wierd.  There is no single stress-point that I could pick out and say “I’ll handle this thing” and cause a return to normalcy, so it’s hard to even focus on a solution right now except to work on my work stuff,  wash dishes at home, and play World of Warcraft at night intil my brain slows down enough to sleep.

I feel over-caffeinated, with only drinking ice water, and water is craved in flooding proportions.   I just can’t feel hydrated the past few days either.   Soda, Coffee, or tea this week brings on a huge headache.
I digress though….. it is a festival holiday after all.

Last night the sprogling and I went ot the neighbors house for a “Haunted Garage”, which consisted of a wonderfully un-spooky and kindergarden-friendly garage turned into a small maze of black plastic-tarp hung from the ceiling.  The ‘hallways’ were twisty-turny, lit with string lights and flashing pumpkins and silly ghosts.  All the kids from school showed up and the place was packed.

Outside, they had cider, candy-apples, and a gazillion  types of cookies pot-lucked from the elementary-parents.   Of course, after running through it with me, the kid decided that the swing-set out back was just as fun, and spent most of the night swinging and sliding in the dark with one of his friends.

Back home, we carved the traditional jack-o-lanterns.  I’ll have images up tomorrow, since the last two are being finished up later tonight, prior to an epic Trick-or-Treat near the school.

As far as Spiritual musings, I feel so disconnected that I’m looking quite forward to allowing myself to helplessly get swept up in the commercial candy-frenzy for now.

Later this weekend, and closer to astrological Solstice (Nov 6th this year), I plan on trying to ground enough to contemplate the Veil, and offer my proper remembrances to those who crossed over.  Right now, the thought of such things makes me either tear up, or feel unhealthily giddy and irreverent.

As the moon rises over the frosty autumn backyard, I stand shivering in my PJ’s watching our puppy do her business. The time is approximately 1:15 am. Early Monday morning. Too early to be up. This was the image of the tree, looming against the night sky, silhouetted by reflected stardust and moonbeams from the icy clouds above. (This is the tree that sustained a bit of damage along the right-most branches from the recent fire, and is visible in full daylit glory on that posting.)
I was really quite taken with the view, and smacked into a Awe-struck reverie as this background to this witnessing suddenly included a long drawn out coyote howl-yip from the woods nearby.

So, for today’s musing, a simple little thought.

Take a moment this evening after the sun sets, even with the cold and frosty weather as the autumnal chill envelops you, and look outside.   Find a tree, (even in the city, you should see some branches along your street, or the next block over) and pause for just a moment to look at it.  Really look.  See the branches, possibly bereft of leaves, possibly still wreathed in fading foliage, and consider that it’s still alive, ready to bloom in a few months.

Perhaps you could then expand that musing into the rst of your life.  Times are tough right now, don’t doubt that.  Winter may come faster or slower, depending on the whims of Climate change, but it is coming.   Depending where you live, it may be mild or harsh, but it’s still winter.   Afterwards, though, if we are smart and send our roots deep into our foundations of community, culture, and spirituality, Spring will bring out our blossoms again.

I love my backyard tree.
http://images.allmoviephoto.com/2006_The_Fountain/2006_the_fountain_030.jpg

(Unfortunately, the colours got a bit over-saturated in our camera due to the low light conditions.   I tried to get a slow shutter speed configured, but it made the neon worse for some reason, and monochrome exposures just turned a low-contrast grey.  WTB better camera.)