Kent & Raka's Wedding

Kent & Raka were married June 28, 2008 in a very personal and loving Hindu ceremony. This video - while disjointed - features some yportions of the ceremo. It was a blessed and joyous day.

Both light and shadow
are the dance of Love.
Love has no cause;
it is the astrolabe of God’s secrets.
Lover and Loving are inseparable
and timeless.
Although I may try to describe Love
when I experience it I am speechless.
Although I may try to write about Love
I am rendered helpless;
my pen breaks and the paper slips away
at the ineffable place
where Lover, Loving and Loved are one.
Every moment is made glorious
by the light of Love.

Rumi, The Meaning of Love

In Full Bloom

We have been having extremely hot, humid weather lately and it has pushed many of the flowers to bloom early and fast. The bearded, blue flag and Siberian iris went through their panorama of colors 2 weeks ago. The peonies have been and gone, and as always, their fragrance was delicious.
The Stella d'oro day lilies are in full bloom, lemony sumptuous yellows that glow. And I have masses of orange day lilies lighting up the side of my house. All of the roses have already had their first blooms as well. Last week I cleaned up and freshened their soil, fed them and cleaned the leaves and am delighted with all the new buds they have. While working near them yesterday the scent of the opening flowers was so sweet and heady!
I have already harvested the lavender. It bloomed early this year and I have scads of beautiful fragrant lavender buds in shades of blue and purple to keep me and my friends well stocked for the year.

The daisy's are blooming along with all the different varieties of coreopsis that my daughter Megan gave me 2 years ago. They are feathery and fragile in appearance but quite hardy in actual fact. And who knew that yellow came in so many shades! I just love them.
The spider worts are in bloom - huge wavy stalks with delicate flowers of deep purple and magenta. They stand watch over my "dessert" garden; the succulents. Last year many of these died off but they seem to be returning and growing in well this summer. And the hens are being fruitful with chicks!
The blue salvias have already had their first bloom as well. I trimmed them back last week and refreshed their soil. They will continue all summer, lining the front path to the door.

The hummingbirds have moved in to the honeysuckle! At least it seems that way. The honeysuckle is wildly growing and in full bloom on the back deck. It has been glowing sunset shades of orange and yellow for over a month now and it is truly gorgeous. And another treat for the hummingbirds is all monarda! The buds have burst out into redder-than-red tall brilliance creating a tall thick buffet for butterflies and hummingbirds.

And there are more flowers to come! It is such a treat to go out every day and see what has opened up. The fragrances are wonderful and the yard looks like a rainbow! I was reading in one of my gardening books yesterday and there was a Chinese proverb given that gave me a chuckle:

Eat and be happy for a day
Marry and be happy for a year
Garden and be happy for life

The Fabulous Root Girls

I just spent the weekend in Syracuse with the fabulous, talented, brilliant, kind & loving Root Girls, aka the baby girls. Cecelia Lobelia, the successor to Pavlova, was hanging up her ballet slippers so I went to experience her final dance concert. It was a poignant and sad occasion to see such grace and talent and know that it would not come again. And Livy Lou Who, World Cup Soccer champion and fashionista had a soccer game so I had the opportunity to see her performance on the field and YES, she is just awesome!

Here is a video of the Root Girls which includes some of their scooter and bicycle daredevil stunts. I was fortunate as well to get an exclusive interview with them right before their game with the Bad Omens! So check out Thorn and Dusk, the Wiccan Scooter Girls.

PARTICULATE MATTER NONATTAINMENT AREA

This past week has wreaked hell on my lungs. We had heat indexes of 100 degrees or higher. The air quality rating was RED! Either of these mean I stay in the house and just try not to breathe! OK - at least I can breathe.
My sarcoidosis has not remitted this past year. I am thinking it is now chronic?! It just goes back and forth from about 58% to 70% on my blood oxygen levels. I am still and forever on steroids, and I live in one of the worst areas of the country for anyone who has lungs and breathes the air!
According to the Maryland Department of the Environment:

A function that our bodies perform continuously and automatically is breathing. Healthy adult lungs take in about one pint of air 12 to 15 times each minute. Breathing supplies our bodies with oxygen and removes carbon dioxide. Clean air is essential for human health and the environment. Air pollution has both acute and chronic effects on human health, damages vegetation, degrades water quality and impairs visibility.

Wait - there's more!

The Baltimore metropolitan region and Cecil County are designated as severe ground level ozone "nonattainment areas" by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).

AND:

Air pollution can impact our health over short periods of time or accumulate in our systems to pose chronic health concerns. When people have a short-term exposure to air pollutants above certain levels, they may experience temporary health concerns, such as eye irritation, throat irritation, and difficulty breathing. Exposure to air pollution may also trigger attacks of pre-existing lung conditions such as asthma. Long-term exposure to air pollution can cause or aggravate chronic health concerns, such as cancer and damage to the body's immune, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems.

Need I say more?