My girlfriend Lee was away for most of April (in Bali, which she says is beautiful, and I'm so envious). Also the weather was cold and wet for pretty much all of April (I like to follow the moon's phases, and in April I didn't see the moon once). So the whole month of April was pretty unpleasant, and I was sick a lot (once a week). For some of these bouts of illness (vague cold and flu symptoms) there was an obvious infection event, but in general I'm sure it's just stress. I cannot wait to get this thesis over with.
I have had some diversions lately, some movies (Galaxy Quest, Princess Mononoke, Dogma) and some parties (Bunnie's party with my old Bose Cannon, Matt & Lu's magic drum circles, B5 marathon in Wrentham, Jeremy's party at House of Love) and a couple of music shows (Kila, Whirligig, both at Johnny D's) but pretty much everything else has been a blur of thesis and not much else.
But I bottled a batch of mead that is truly fantastic. Wildflower honey flavored with orange zest and juice. I love orange flavor in almost anything, and this mead comes out tasting very much like an orange mimosa. When I first tasted it, I started jumping up and down, it was so good. Then I gave it to some of my friends, and they started jumping up and down too! I will either publish the recipe myself or get it included in Joyce Hersh's mead recipe page, called The Bee's Lees.
When we hunkered down so as not to appear threatening, he relaxed enough to lounge with his head down, periodically stretching his flukes to show the webbed ribs (very much like a fish's tail in shape), and then clenching them down again (seals have knuckles!) The flippers (forepaws) have little claws which he can use to crawl on the rocks. They're surprisingly flexible.
He didn't appear to be injured, but the fact that he didn't flee or freak out made us think that maybe he was sick or something. Next morning we went out to the same place, and he was still there. We worried he was getting dehydrated and hungry. So we called the New England Aquarium, which said that harp seals migrate down to this area from Canada, and arrive cold and exhausted, so they hang out on warm rocks above high tide to recuperate. The fluke stretching is to catch sunlight on the webbing, to warm the blood. So now we know.
I've been told that I'm a selkie. Selkies are seal-faeries of the Scottish islands (called Roane in Ireland). A female selkie can cast off her seal skin to walk ashore in human shape. If you find the seal skin and keep it, you can keep the selkie as your wife. Children descended from such a union are marked by dark skin and dark curly hair. (Everyone else in my family has fairly light hair, sky blue eyes, and pale skin that freckles more than tanning. My mother's father is the only other family member with black curly hair and dark skin.) They are also supposed to be nice but wistful, as they long for the sea where they can never return. (Sound like me?) At any rate, my mother says that I could swim before I could walk, and there's no question I've always had an affinity for the sea. Interestingly, my encounters with spirit guides and totem animals have never brought me to Seal. Dolphin, yes, but not Seal. Dunno what that means.
The Maypole dance was fun. The men scattered into the woods to search for the Maypole, and I was in one of the squads that didn't find it, it was way over on the other side. Meanwhile the women were in the central field, yelling at us to hurry up and bring them a big long hard one. This doesn't help performance, does it guys??
But we did find it, and the women had prepared a nice hole in the middle of the field, so we stuck it in and everybody cheered. The Maypole dance was more chaotic than I'd learned to expect. I mean, I'm used to people being a bit clueless about the over-and-under weaving of the ribbons, but this was the first Maypole dance in which I was _passed_ by the person behind me. Really passed and cut off, just like Boston traffic. That bit was no fun. Sheesh. What are these people thinking.
However, the rest of the day was nice. This was the first sunny warm day after a solid month of cold sogginess, and lots of us threw off our clothes to enjoy it. I'll admit I was comparing butts. I have no complaints! I met some new people, like Kitty and Stu, and reconnected with some folks I'd known before, like Moose and his wife. I played didjeridu for some folks, and taught the basics to several of them, and cut wood and built up the fire. Had a good talk with Rodger about his relationship with Carla (which is now over, poop) and drummed around the fire late into the night. Ended up giving Rodger sleep space in my van.
Then Sunday I drove back to Boston and met Chris Watson (old friend from Rainbow and EDC) and his girl Christine. We were planning on seeing the new OmniMax film "Dolphins" but it was sold out, so we walked along the Charles River to Cambridge Brewing Company and enjoyed some of their special brown ale (yum!).
Happy Beltane, everyone. Be fertile, if that's your wish, and if it isn't, do use birth control.
Wil