Visit A Place By The Fire ADF

So back from Wellspring where even the ride home gave us a chance
to watch the amazing sky/lightshow on the drive back Tuesday night.
Very exciting! (Unpacking a van in the rain is >>not<< exciting
however.)

The fest was a lot of fun and a lot of energy flowing around. We (once
again) got to see a lot of old friends and got to meet some new ones.
The Sassies are all doing well and still have some nicer tents - dang
them! Jamie from Silver Falls PG was there with some of his PG-mates
and there was a small contingent from Canada. And that was just in our
immediate area! A great time was had by all!

We missed the opening ritual (actually, we drove thru it when we
arrived) and I didn't attend the American Memorial ritual (but
Caroline might be able to relate her experiences with that.) There was
a healing rite which I also didn't attend (I was doing a lot of
shopping with Diana from Sasafrass - boy can those druids drink!!) but
I heard was very successful. The Big rite was a combo Unity Ritual and
Initiate Program Kickoff/Bootstrap. The ritual consisted of investing
the 4 ArchDruids as Initiates and empowering them to further initiate
as people complete the requirements. (My understanding is there are 2
candidates already.)

The Wellspring Bardic Chair was won by Sasafrass's very own Emerald
with a wonderful story of Circe and a song she wrote. It's a new
Cosmos/Portal song she posted to Liturgists in January. I sadly (or
humorously) misheard the line "and keep Chaos away..." as "and keep
the Klingons away..." We all got a great laugh out of it ("Hey Emerald
- you haven't even finished singing and we're already filking it!")

After everyone left, only a handful of us remained on Monday to roam
around Brushwood which was very interesting and beautiful. Jeremy
noted there was a Labyrinth which we found and walked, and Caroline
lead us deep into the Fairy Wood for another adventure. (We're still
diagnosing the bumps on Jack's arm! No pain/itch, but they seem to be
receding.)

On Tuesday, after packing up, we headed off to the Nemeton and
Runestead to offer up all the excess alcohol. (Remember those beer
runs? The Gods were going to be happy!) What started out as only an
offering rite turned into a full blown ritual. I made special
offerings to the Earth Mother, Who was very conspicuous all weekend
(She was one of three offered to in the Main Ritual and Isaac was
chatting Her up at Chenille and other places) along with Liber, Roman
God of Wine. I also offered from all of our Grove not present but who
are always on our minds. (My memory fades here but hopefully the
others can chip in if I get things muddled.) Jeremy offered to
Dionysus (before my Liber offering) and Ray offered the sake (!) to
the Kami (sp? Japanese spirits of place?) Caroline offered to the
spirits of the land who were here before we arrived to thank them for
sharing the spot with us.

Then, I think Jack offered up to Athena for wisdom. What was odd/
amazing about this, was right after the offering, Caroline found a
small owl statuette on the ground (we were standing near the Nature
Spirits post/altar in the Nemeton) and we all decided it was >>not<< a
pizza. I could have sworn I had looked at the very spot and hadn't
seen it. Looks like we have another Deity (and culture!) to focus some
attention on!

I totally have spaced on the omen, but Ray declared the sacrifice(s)
to be accepted. We had run out of things to share for the Return Flow,
so I tried an energy working/receiving which seemed to work ok. (Right
guys? Be gentle!) We of course asked for blessings on all our Tribe,
Family and Friends.

I asked for another omen for all this Earth Mother poking, and Ray Saw
that this was not an internal/external thing (the basis of my
question) but rather something that touched on both. Tyr's rune was
one of the 3 (Sunrise and ... were the others) so I clearly have some
thinking to do on that one. I was thinking of doing something like an
Order dedicated to the Earth Mother ("Companions of the Earth Mother")
but again, more thinking needed.

After closing down the rite, we moved to the Runestead for further
offerings to Odin and others. Caroline had started studying the runes,
so she made some offerings and did her first reading. It was pretty
auspicious (IMO) but I'll let her relate what she wants of it. She
also got a Gift. ;) Jack offered up a prayer to Heimdal and we were
all getting that tired but satisfied feel and knew it was time to
shake a leg. (The rain started up after we were done...)

We then packed up for home for an amazing drive back to Chicago. We
were filled with ideas (as we often are after Wellspring) and look
forward to an exciting talk with everyone about our experiences.

So how was your weekend? :)

Current Mood: chipper

Obama: Snowy Washington Needs 'Chicago Toughness' - washingtonpost.com

Introducing Edupunk ~ Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes

Oh my - have I got a tiger by the tale? Moodle http://moodle.org/ is up next...

In my continuing search for something to help breathe life into the ADF Scholar's Guild (and hopefully even ADF generally) I've come across a number of "Social Networking" or "Online Collaboration" sites.

Just came across Sakai and am going to take a look at it. Might just fill the bill:


Sakai Project : Home : Home

p.s. using LJ's new link bookmarklet. Keeno!

http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/2008/12/linux-stop-holding-our-kids-back.html

Email (and response) from a teacher who is worried about the "evils" of Linux corrupting our children.

So sad to see such misinformation - and you just know she's likely trying her best. The nerdrage will be ginormous.

you can spend a very long time reading things like this: http://www.virtue.to/fabric/08_Knit.html and you're not even >>into<< garb.

(And yes, I know I haven't been in the SCA very long at all, but it's the principle of the thing doncha know.)

After a discussion with da Jacksta this morning about Xmas gifts, I reaquainted myself with the Society (aka SCA aka the Society for Creative Anachronism http://sca.org .) Reupped although technically it's a new membership as they apparently "lost" my 1996 membership. Hahaha.

We have some of the prezzies figured out, but more will be needed. (thinking cap on)

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/37701prs20081105.html

Looks like those persnickity 18,000 married couples in CA aren't going to get a free divorce because of the "passage" of Prop 8.

I wonder how many Mormons are going to take them to court?

As Andrew Sullivan points out ( http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/those-married-i.html - where I'm getting a lot of this - he's been an unflinching supporter of Gay marriage long before it was popular - and a woofie too!!) this is exactly how the miscegenation laws were struck down.

If you didn't know, it used to be illegal for blacks and whites to marry... had those stayed on the books we wouldn't be living in a historic moment right now with our new President-elect. I'd really love it if he pointed out the obvious - to me at least - fact about this country's earlier bout with "we'll tell you who you can marry" and how that turned out.

For that matter, one has to wonder if the reason the Mormons are so torqued about this whole thing is that >>their<< attempt at extending the bounds of what constitutes "marriage" in this country got them drummed out of state after state and they had to settle with Utah. Sore losers, eh?

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/relationships/37706prs20081105.html

Apparently the CA initiative process only allows small changes to the CA Constitution, not rights removals, without legislative review. Prop 8 didn't have that and now that it's passed, ACLU et al are asking for it to be invalidated because the Prop did not receive that review.

Now granted, it's still important to remember that 52% of CA voters voted against our desire to have a marriage, but taking away rights previously granted is a very different thing in this country. Even conservatives get their panties in a twist over a "taking."

Even if this forces a repeal of Prop 8 (even given that the absentee ballots apparently aren't yet counted) they'll be back. (In the words of the Guvinator...)

Zach had a sobering post ( http://zacwolfdotcom.livejournal.com/76844.html ) that I responded to.

Exciting to be in America, but we still have work to do. Prop 8 (the gay marriage rights takeaway) passed by a larger percentage than Obama won. So it's not unreasonable to assume a large swath of Obama supporters voted against us.

Sobering, but there is some hope buried in the exit polls.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/11/the-view-fro-44.html#more

Voted at the crack of dawn (well, ok, it was like 6:30 when we got there) and we ended up waiting about 1/2 hour. No biggie and faster when the officials pointed out that of the two precincts there ours had no line so go on in. Weee!

Check out the Beeb's coverage:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7708587.stm - Chicago in her glory

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7705795.stm - what they do with graphics is just short of amazing

And even though my mother was a statistician, this is too much even for me - http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ (although one of the guys is kinda woofy with his goatee and all.)

Happy Burfday to me!

Mah hunneybear bought me an iPod nano - now we have to get the linux server up as that's where a lot of our music is. It's fun to be able to carry around listening stuff, but we'll have to see how that goes.

One of our grovemates has a cat with a fatal condition, and she's not taking it very well. The grove has pretty much all posted to our list love and support, so hopefully it'll be less traumatic for her. Looks like we'll be holding a ritual to help her thru that sometime next week.

Just getting home from Another Summerland. J & R were nice enough to help unpack the van and follow us to ORD to drop off the car.

I'm so lucky to be in a Kick *ss grove!

p.s. S*land was fabu and we spent way too much time running our own fest. (We didn't move much from our Cabin.) Karen gave us the Evil Eye every now and again for not joining the main crowd outside the dining hall, but we were having way too much fun chit chatting at our place (and teasing CM everytime she walked by.) Next year we'll put up a sign: "Coffee and Regret."

p.p.s. C & RM got all consecrated and we're all happy for um. Gratz!

to get ready for a 6:30am pickup to go with a friend for his colonoscopy at 8:30am. Geesh, the things I do.

OTOH, it's something I need to get scheduled for meself as it's one of the "now you're 50 and you have a whole >>new<< set of health issues to be concerned about" things. Bother. Guess I will need to find a doctor. And that means having My Bump taken care of as well which should make both my father and mother-in-law happy.

OTOOH, looks like tomorrow morning may be when we leave for Summerland as R. may be able to get all his experiments in and we can be off. Not that I wasn't looking forward to a day at the Hyde Park Coop Bookstore, but we has our priorities.

We do?

p.s. J.'s in town and calling relentlessly. I was hoping to fit in a lunch with her, but it was a zoo at work and I was welded to my keyboard. Not to mention prep for a meeting with the CIO at 3pm.

Which isn't quite over yet - J & R will be here shortly to go out to dinner. We haven't seen them since the move, but the Type-A's feel a F2F will help with the planning for the Summerland Bear Express.

Ya right.

Anywho, it'll be good to see them before we leave Thursday afternoon.

In other annoying move news: I now have a fully functioning PC again. We won't talk overly much about the new mobo, cpu, memory, video card and 1T HDD we had to get. Ok, the HDD wasn't a >>have<< to get, but my dear husbear wanted me to start moving off my 3 HDD's that I've held onto from Win 95 dayze... He's a sweety.

And in further amazing news, we found the CD that had been tantilizingly out of reach the last 2 weeks. ! EEEEK!!! Now the meeting tomorrow will go a little bit better.

but I find Nathan Fillion ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0277213/ ) oddly attractive - despite his lack of facial (or body!) hair. Who can fathom attraction?

And as Captain Hammer in "Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog" ( http://drhorrible.com/index.html ) with his pumped up biceps, he's even more hunky than in Firefly. He was very cute/amusing as the stoner brother in "Outing Riley" ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379265/ ) where he tries very hard to understand his brother, who he loves very much.

Neil Patrick Harris is very good as well as the lead villian. Gotta hand it to Joss Whedon - he can certainly bring the best out in his actors.

Current Mood: bouncy

Ok, so just off the phone with at&t for moving the telecomm. (We won't say why but da Jacksta handed off the phone - still on hold doncha know - while he was running off to ... somewhere important. Just sayin'...)

Unsurprisingly, their website suxxors (needing much down calming of Da Jacksta - he can be so critical at times) but the CSR I talked to was very helpful. Knocked money off the bill, kept all our services, got free WiFi (!), but had to get another phone number. :(

We don't appear to have any jacks in the apt (is that even possible?? Ok, maybe they drywalled them up...) so we'll be needing 3: kitchen, 'puter room ("middle bedroom") and the upstairs master.

Also spent time with cable - we have a line in the master but Comcast says we don't. Uh huh. Maybe we'll need to pull that out as it's likely a pirate from somewhere. Not us! Not us! Hehehehe...

Continuing backwards, last night was the key exchange (no passphrase needed) and measuring. Some of the rooms were as small as I remembered, but others, not so much. Da Jacksta (sadly) had his eyes opened when we were there again and had a couple pangs of buyer's remorse. I still maintain it's more room than what we have, just laid out waay different (9 somewhat depressing-looking smaller rooms vs. 7 bigger.) Some of our furniture may need to be purged (good bye couch!) or just put in out of the way nooks and crannies. The upstairs master is basically the full size of the 2nd floor with a bedroom (front end with door), long hall/room with a 1/2 bath jutting out. But like all attic spaces, there is a severe angle to the ceiling (ha! generous word!) that makes the space less that fully useful. I was imagining a low brow theatre space sitting on the floor on one end with the imagined screen 10' away (down the alleyway) on the outside wall of our bedroom. Ha ha!

We'll likely have a floor plan up soonly.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080717-brett-favre-chicago-bears-packers,0,5583580.column

Being from Chicago we get all kinda postings like that but ... Duh! Us bears have wanted (heck, we >>claimed<< Brett!!) long ago... glad to see the Trib finally got the message.

Current Mood: devious

Just finished Steven Brust's latest "Vlad" book "Jhegaala" (obligatory Library Thing link: http://www.librarything.com/work/book/33109072) in which our hero needs to deal with a town full of humans while on the run from the Jhereg. Nice book, and consistent with the series, although I miss the overly stilted and formal conversation styles of the elves. Perhaps Vlad will return to the Empire in the next book about him. Although I must admit I tend to like the Phoenix Guards series more as there's more elvin lore/action/history there. But any of his books are a joy to read and I'll keep buyin' them as long as he keeps writin' 'em. P.S. Brust is in Mexico now getting operated on for a hernia. Get well soon Steven!

Despite all the new stuff happening with the new apartment and the move (hopefully we get the keys tonight and can start the "measure twice, cut once" process of determining where everything is going to go) I've gotten back in touch with some people from my past. Humorously enough, when I try to tell Jack about them, I ritually begin with "Now therein lies a tale..." where I go into long discourses on times long past and relationships since left to lie fallow. Between Jay moving to Canada and getting married, Cory getting a fellowship at IBM and Mary maybe coming to Chicago for a conference, it's just too much for a story telling bear trying to look only forward. Aw well, we are all the products of our past, eh?

On the apartment front, I've set aside 5 days of PTO (3 before and 2 during/after the move) to pitch in on the packing and unpacking. Jack will be a wreck as he's not as blessed with tons of vacation (esp. since both his parents' anniversary and Summerland are coming up next month as well and he's committed to take time off then) so we'll just muddle through with me doing my best during the day with my chum's Chuck's help. We have tons of boxes from our upstair's neighbors (who have since moved out) so I don't think we'll be in any danger of running out. Plus there's always Public Storage on Western for more.

My friend Carol has a light maple butcher block rollie/island sitting in her basement that we'll be taking off her hands for $75. I submit that we're just enabling Jack's Table Fetish, but with the kitchen being as small as I remember, we'll not be able to put our current Ikea wonder in there. It'll have to go in bedroom #3 (right off the kitchen) which is being rechristened (repaganed?) the "summer kitchen", "breakfast room" or "walkin pantry" depending on our mood.

Should make for interesting times.

Current Mood: cheerful