Wednesday: I left home at about 8:30 a.m. (after the usual breakfast with my wife) and started driving south, going slightly out of my way to visit S. I planned to arrive late in the morning, have lunch with her and talk until about 2 p.m. Then it's time to hit the road.
S was baby-sitting a seven-week-old baby that day. The baby cooperated by sleeping for most of the time. We sat around the kitchen table, talking about this and that. Her daughter arrived, and we talked some more. Then she left. Along the way, we had a friendly hug or two or three. It was nice to be with each other again.
Time passed. By now it was well past 2, and S suggested that I stay at their house for the night. When her husband got home from work, he agreed that would be a good thing.
It had been stormy in southwestern Wisconsin that day--I had been checking the radar map on the Weather Channel. In case it was raining near my destination, I planned to take a motel room for the night and finish the drive the next morning. Staying with them would cost me time ... but save me money. Not a hard decision. Their teenage son had just moved out, and they said I could use his room upstairs. It was a bit of a wreck--he and his friends used it as their hangout--but the bed was firm.
In exchange for saving me motel costs, I took S and her husband out for supper. After that, we went to a park in town, where Pioneer Days (I think that was the name) was just setting up. We walked around there for a while, and I got a few pictures. Then we went north of town to a little place on the shore of Lake Winnebago, an area where he had been raised. There was a park there, and a little lighthouse. We walked around as the sun set.
We went back to their place, and I can't remember what we did between then and bedtime. But we all were getting tired, and before long I was upstairs.
Thursday: The next morning, S wasn't feeling so good. She has been battling pain off and on since her fall off a porch last fall (pulled off the porch by her dogs). All that walking around the night before had aggravated a sciatic condition in her left leg. She also has an undiagnosed pain in the lower abdomen that so far has not been identified--all tests so far have been negative. She got word about her cervical exam while I talked with her the day before--nothing wrong there, thank goodness.
But she clearly was walking with pain the next morning, and when I hugged her good-bye, I was real careful, as I told her to "Get better." I drove away, feeling sad.
It took three hours or so to the gathering. I had to make a few stops along the way, getting some goodies, some "natural" snack foods to pass around, lunch (at Subway) and a tarp. I arrived, registered, set up the tent (with some help--it's not a one-man operation) and moved my stuff in. It seemed like a lot of stuff. Then I started meeting people and renewing acquaintances.
A wide-ranging discussion on "The Future of Religion" took place in the afternoon, and a New Moon ritual followed in the evening at the main circle. A fire was started, but it was cool, and people soon started drifting away. As did I. I was tired and went to bed fairly early, about 11:30 p.m.
Friday: On the second morning (the Fourth of July) nothing much happened. I got to meet more of the people there. There was a presentation on "Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damned Lies, and Public Relations" at around noon.
In the afternoon, I got my tattoo. The occasion was a henna workshop, conducted by one of the women. Flashback: When my wife and I arrived there in 2006, we arrived right at this time, with people giving each other henna tattoos. And since it was nice and warm in the shelter, many of the people were nude, either semi or fully. It wasn't quite as warm this time, but it was warm enough for many people to dress down for the occasion. Arms, chests, shoulders, backs, tummies--all were bared and getting decorated with henna.
First of all, I had to show off my artistic skills (ahem!) because a woman I had been talking to earlier asked me to put a star on her belly--like the Sneetches in the Dr. Seuss story. Several factors made it a challenging task: (A) my artistic struggles; (B) the little bottle of henna ink had to be squeezed as you drew, and the flow wasn't consistent--hesitancy plus irregular flow made for a line that sort of came and went; (C) my canvas was completely naked, aside from her glasses and sandals, and lying on her back.
A little distracting. But look: I've been around naked people before, and it really is no big deal. The human body, created by the same Creator that created everything else in the universe, is beautiful. So, sitting at her side, I reached over her hips with my left hand to brace myself while drawing with my right hand. Once the henna was applied, she had to lie there for about 15 minutes for it to dry.
And then--fair is fair, after all--it was my turn. In 2005, I had opted for a tattoo on my ankle--a branch with leaves on it. This time, I chose something different: a yin-yang symbol, on my hip. That meant, of course, I had to take off my clothes. But, again, I don't have a problem with being seen naked. "If you can do it," I told her with a shrug, "I can do it." She laughed.
For a while, she reported, the tattoo was looking like the Safeway logo, but it came out pretty good. I had to lie about 15 minutes while it dried, and by then it was about time for "A Neo-Pagan Discussion of the Golden Rule, or Why I Am Not a Christian." That went nearly two hours--a wide-ranging, rambling discussion.
That was followed by a feast and "symposium" at the circle, with food and drink. Several kinds of wine and mead were passed around, along with some snacks. The annual reading of "The Sneetches" took place, and I was one of the readers. And then, after it got dark, we went back uphill to the picnic shelter to watch the 15-year-old son of one of the couples hold a fireworks show. We all cheered each rocket and display, and a number of people donated funds so we can have a bigger show next year.
Then many of us went back to the circle, with a fire going and some discussions. But now that it was dark, temperatures were dropping quickly. Everybody was dressed now. I went for a light sweatshirt over my T-shirt, blue jeans instead of shorts and athletic shoes instead of sandals.
I wanted to have a good time that night. I really did. But as I watched the flames, I remembered back to S and the pain she was feeling when I left her, and I started feeling bad. There was no drumming, nobody was dancing, and I opted to try another project. I had brought my tripod along, because I wanted to take pictures of the night sky, in a place with almost no atmospheric light pollution--the field where we entered the gathering. The stars were big and bright overhead, and I set up the tripod and aimed at the Big Dipper.
But it didn't go very well. While I got some great star pictures last February (during the lunar eclipse, when it was -10F outside), I couldn't get anything this time. I thought I was doing things right, but no results. I took two pictures, then gave up, took everything apart, put the tripod back in the car's trunk and took the camera bag back to the tent, feeling very frustrated. My night was over.
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So is this entry. It's getting late, and I'm tired. One more full day to report on, and I'll do that next time--in a day or so.
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