Sacred Fires of Summer

As a last family occurrence for this summer, Amy, Arron, Jim and I took down the MayPole. It always represents winding up the harvest time and we took in the last of the pole beans and packed the car with the last of their belongings before driving them back to NYC.

Here are some random photos of our summer and many of the fires that we shared.

The Fam!

Jim near the Tobyhanna.

Arron & Amy near the Tobyhanna.

Amy & Arron at Seven Mt.s Winery.

Terri & Jim at Seven Mts. Winery.

Heat Shield Garden!

Belleville Famrers Market.

Mercutio in Tokyo.

Amy outstanding in her field.

Dad & Mom @ Alan Seeger.

Alan Seeger picnic with the Trapps.

Visiting Grace.

Live Pro Wrestling Gables... LIVE!

Camping near Little Poe Mt.

Arron on the roof.

Picnic at Alan Seeger.

Hiking down Little Poe Mountain.

Hiking out Little Poe Trail toward Boiling Spring.

Arron's Nutty Chocolate Chippers.

Eating Crunchies.

Across the field, single file.

Another evening in our backyard.

Amy's first solo fire building.

Daredevil!

Catching a breeze.

Sad until their return.

One to Grow On

This year is coming across as a year to build on. I think I have finally accepted my rejection from the ING NYC Marathon and look at it as a stepping stone to eventual guaranteed acceptance. If I am rejected for the next two years of lottery applications, I will have automatic acceptance into the 2014 NYC Marathon.

Maypole is up, Beltain celebrated and we decided to add in a row of asparagus to the garden this year. To plant the dozen crowns required Jim to dig a trench about 6 - 8" deep and about 12' long. I got some Triple Super Phosphate to sprinkle in the bottom of the trench and added in the lightly soaked crowns about a foot apart from each other. I covered them with an inch of soil and now I wait.

I wait for them to sprout up a bit and cover them withe the rest of the 6" of soil. I wait for them to fully grow and when they are withered and brown this Autumn I will cut them back. I wait for next year and harvest next to none of them, only the largest and cut them back again in the fall.

I am thinking that the asparagus of 2014 will end up bearing a good crop so it will fuel me up for the ING NYC Marathon later that year. Thank goodness not everything takes 3 years to come to fruition. I look forward to watching these over the next few weeks!

The Rest of my Week

We had a nice trip to NYC and back with a wonderful Thai feast, a run in central park and hike to a waterfall in the mix.

We came home in time to go to the public radio volunteer appreciation party. After a couple of hours in which I left my electronic communication devises in the car, I saw I had a text message on the phone. Amy had passed her NY bar exams!! BEST new of the week!

The next day was filled with too much anticipation for the ING NYC Marathon lottery. It took hours to finally determine that I had NOT been chosen this year and made for a crashing depression for the next couple of days.

Today we have put up the Maypole and now have a whole growing season to look forward to.

Blessed Beltane

Happy May Day folks! This is a busy time of year, everything is growing and reproducing. Spring fever and cleaning has struck us with a vengeance. My back is sore from hefting some carpets to the attic and hoeing the garden. The cats decided to help me out a bit.

Just like Spring, it looks like rain now as I type and listen to the song of the first Oriole of the year. I was able to see it high in our walnut tree but could not get a photograph of it. I am always so pleased when the first of the year Oriole comes on May Day. It make me feel like everything is in synch.

As an added bonus and Indigo Bunting blessed our feeder this morning. This was the first I had seen in years. Construction of Interstate 99 has disturbed the patterns of many of the animals that used to be regulars in my yard. I was glad to have him stop by even if just for the day.

We are preparing the downstairs apartment as best as we can for new tenants. We hope the tiny place will be a friendly home to a couple of elementary school teachers from out of the area.

Miles and Birbanto danced the May pole this morning and Miles even helped me dig some!

Happy Beltain

Sorry our annual picnic is a no go this year (first time in 20 years). I want to say I am thinking of you all dancing around our May Pole, getting the wishes you make as they are woven together with mine. Enjoy the images from last year's bash here. If you drop me a note, I'll make your wish on my May Pole for you. Sorry Raveboy, I probably cannot produce Jet Li again this year. ;)

Wonderful Week

My family just had a very nice week of visiting. We had a picnic, put up our May Pole, and went on a rail trail bike ride.



We picked up Ravenboy last Tuesday and got to hear bits about his tour to Kansas City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It's amazing some of the things that they had to deal with. The week he was in Chicago, there were few food options left open nearby when they were done for the day. They had the choice of either room service ($68.00 for breakfast for 2) or a local 711. Ravenboy and his friend are trying to save money and opted for the 711. They don't have too many vegetarian choices so the poor guys ended up eating egg salad sandwiches for 5 - 6 nights in a row. His friend started to get a stomach ache because of it.

He also told us of cool things he saw in LA. He reunited with a very good friend on the west coast and she took him around the city sight seeing a few times. He got to see Hollywood and spent an afternoon at the beach. Ravenboy's skin never gets to see sunlight so this meant instant burn and a quick search for aloe.

While he was home, we had our annual picnic for friends at Spring Creek Park. It was chilly but we had fun playing games and eating.

We also did a stretch of Lower Trail on our bikes. There are sections that are closed due to the damage Hurricane Ivan did but we found a nice section to pedal and chat and goof around on. We passed snacks from person to person without stopping, took photos of a mysterious outdoor cafe, and discouraged Ravenboy from doing his Jet Li moves on a speeding bike.

We took Ravenboy back to NYC yesterday. We were going to go to an Indian restaurant for a meal but found we needed reservations. We decided to go to our favorite place, Zen Palate. We jumped into a cab and got to Union Square in just a few minutes. As we were going into the restaurant, we saw that a group was on a stage and we decided to check it out. They were speaking and giving some type of award and Morgan Freeman was standing up there smiling. Ravenboy's radar kicked in because Morgan Freeman's last movie was "Unleashed" with Jet Li (set to be released here in the states in about a week.) Sure enough, there on the stage was the man. Ravenboy was able to snap a couple of photos of Jet Li before he got into a car an zoomed uptown. We were lucky to have a approached the stage from the back, just at that moment.