A beautiful shot from Stonehenge Dronescapes.
Today marks the coming of astronomical summer -- also astrological summer, as the sun enters Cancer at 10:42 PM EST. I remember Thomas was curious about that terminology the last time around.
I saw several pictures of Arthur Uther Pendragon of the Loyal Arthurian Warband, the biker turned druid and wielder of the movie sword Excalibur, as well as a couple of quick interviews as well. I'm always glad to see he's still doing his thing. We used to run into members of the Loyal Arthurian Warband at Scottish Highland Games around the South sometimes.
Today is also my son's birthday. The guy hosting his birthday party was excited to meet me. He made Beowulf remind him of his last name so he could call me "Mister," respectfully, and then came down and offered me his hand.
I used to accidentally surprise people with my handshake, as some readers may recall, so I've learned to be more gentle (while still of course being firm). But once I took his hand he started to squeeze as hard as he could. He was definitely a weightlifter.
Once I realized that he wanted to play I gave it to him, and when he finally relented he told me he'd been wanting to try that since my son showed him a video of me lifting in my home gym. He said he wanted to have one like it some day. I wish him well in his quest.
Summer is a season of questing in the Arthurian tradition; in the South it was often a little hot. The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games are upcoming shortly in the very high mountains of North Carolina, where even mid-July is temperate (although MUCH wetter than I imagine Merry England to have been). The massive heat wave predicted for next week is expected to top out at 87 here, which would be if true three degrees hotter than I've ever seen it locally. You only have to go down to the valley to get into the 90s, though. Go just a bit south into Georgia, and you can find the low hundreds this time of year.
3 comments:
I’ve probably mentioned being in Innsbruck, Austria on Solstice Eve (Sommerwende) in 1993. The festivities on the old Inn River bridge and nearby hills owed precious little to the feast of St. John, and probably went back to the very early Middle Ages at least, perhaps to the Bronze Age. Once the great Catherine Wheel of flame on the bridge went off, bonfires appeared on the ridges and mountain peaks around the valley. I could feel the little hairs on my neck coming to attention as I watched the scene.
When Lord of the Rings came out, and the bonfires scene started, it reminded me very much of that night in Austria.
LittleRed1
That's a wonderful story, which I don't believe you have related before.
A good greeting buys a man a fair degree of goodwill. Lord knows my daughter's boyfriend has gained much currency with me by simply greeting me as "Sir" and with a firm handshake every time he sees me. I suspect that the fact he's in a Frat has something to do with it- they're still inculcating the young men with at least some semblance of proper behavior.
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