scratch paper haiku, written with the shaft of a feather,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Summer Solstice 2008, all photos © 2008
by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
ONE 1 frog + 1 toad =
2 reams of good luck
Saw two frogs last weekend. One was this size (a toad). And one looked like this (a frog). The tree frog hopped out of the pond at Summer Solstice and spent some time with us on dry land. I now know the difference between a frog and a toad.
TWO 2 insurance adjusters + 1 friendly couple + 1 smiling contractor =
1 new roof
The toad appeared right as our contractor and two insurance adjusters (a husband and wife team from Kansas) arrived on the scene to inspect the roof. I saw that as a good omen. The toad’s skin looked like the bark of a tree. I thought it was a moth and brushed it off the deck table. It jumped. That’s when I knew it wasn’t a moth. I slid the slick, 4-color binder with the roof estimate under her belly and moved her down under the garden day lilies. She had bright orange skin where the leg meets the body, the same color as the day lilies.
THREE 12 hours + 1 summer storm + 1 green tree frog =
13 moons + 100 rocks + 1 gargantuan chorus
The second frog was a single green tree frog. She strolled proudly by the Solstice fire ring near a tumbled pile of birch, calling back and forth to her friends in the pond. One frog sang out. A few thousand returned the favor. This continued long into the night.
FOUR 1 summer solstice here =
1 winter solstice there
Self-explanatory. We are one world.
FIVE 1 fireside story from 2 shaman lips =
4 Tibetan nagas
Nagas are snake spirits, cobras. They live in or near water — deities of the primal ocean and of mountain springs; also spirits of earth and the realm beneath it — dragons of lakes, ponds, and oceans. They protect the Buddha and like to come up through the feet. Buddha took his sword and cut a valley into 4 parts = 4 Great Nagas. Nagas eat frogs.
SIX 1 drumbeat in the rain =
10 drums in dry heat
It poured in the middle of Solstice. We stood under a cluster of cedars, watched sheets of rain crest over the pond, and kept drumming. The skin of a hand-stretched drum changes tone with the humidity. When the air is saturated with water, one beat can resonate deeply and hang in the air. Close to the fire again, the skin pulls hard at the wood frame. The mallet bounces off hide in short bursts of sound.
SEVEN shedding 1 old skin =
much harder than you think
EIGHT 4 marshmallows + a 2-pronged stick =
3 marshmallows splat on the ground + 1 mean S’more
Hershey’s S’mores (Indoors or Outdoors)
4 graham crackers, broken into halves
2 Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars (1.55 oz), broken into halves
4 marshmallows
Outdoors: Place chocolate bar half on graham cracker half. Toast marshmallow over grill or campfire (supervise kids if they’re doing this); place over chocolate. Top with second graham cracker half. Gently press together. (Recipe from the cardboard on the inside of a Hershey bar)
Indoors: Place graham cracker half on paper towel; top with chocolate bar half and marshmallow. Microwave at Medium (50%) in 10 second intervals until marshmallow puffs. Immediately top with remaining graham cracker half. Gently press together. Repeat, serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
NINE 1 alligator + 1 panther =
get along just fine 😉
TEN 25,000 humans + stones aged at 3000 years B.C. + 1 Salisbury Plain =
Summer Solstice at Stonehenge
Some people’s Solstices are way wilder than mine! Stonehenge, on the Salisbury Plain about 90 miles southwest of London, was built over three phases between 3,000 B.C. and 1,600 B.C. Cremated remains and burials continued for at least 500 years. It is estimated that at least 240 people were buried at Stonehenge. More than 750,000 people visit every year.
BONUS: Incubate magic
train whistle marshes
summer solstice grabs the light
and turns it to dark
-posted on red Ravine, Friday, June 27th, 2008
10 things + 1 frickin’ creative writer = big inspiration.
I feel like I’ve been around the world and back and nourished along the way with S’mores and haiku. Thank you!
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What a lovely Solstice celebration, QM. 🙂
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thanks Robin & Sharonimo. It was lovely. And now here we are a week later, well into summer. Hot week in the 80’s with lots of humidity. Today, a thunderstorm whooshed through. You two have a good weekend! 8)
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great post ending in a perfect haiku
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Thank you, Scot. Feels like summer here. Solstice always marks a turning point. The tea roses we transplanted late last year are blooming (only lost 2 of them to winter). We’ve got some yellow day lilies to plant along the driveway (a friend gave them to us because they are 4 foot tall and blocking her view of her own tea roses!). And the yard has to be mowed about once a week. Everything is growing!
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A friend in Flickr asked me what the properties of the animal cards are in #9 above (click on the image in #9 and you will see the cards). The cards are called Animal Spirits and are based on the research and work of Susan Seddon Boulet. I have always loved her work and especially the way she captures the Spirits of the animal world.
Here are the properties of the Panther and the Alligator, according to the Boulet cards:
Panther is about ferocity and courage, a mystical symbol that represents dark energies and rebirth. Egyptian rituals involved wearing a panther tail about the waist or neck, bringing strength to the wearer. In Borneo, the Kayans feared the soul of the Panther as much as the physical animal. And a Kayan hunter that killed a panther would recite, “Panther, thy soul under my soul” 8 times while stepping over the dead panther. Powerful.
The Alligator or Crocodile (though different, they are used in the same card for they have similar properties) is about fertility and the feminine principle of life and birth. They are associated with dragons, guardians of treasures and keepers of wisdom. Stories that revolve around encounters with these reptiles often involve new opportunities, but with significant risks. You must have the courage to overcome your own fear, take a risk, to get to center, what is important to you.
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Yes, another great post, love grabs the light and turns it into dark. Where do you find the time to put together such creative, indepth posts?
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QM, what a wonderful post! You do such good research…I always learn something new or am reminded of something old. The photo of the toad reminded me of why my sister, when a child living near a desert-like “wash,” named evey one of the horned toads she adopted, “Corny.”
S’mores…when I was a young Girl Scout, we made our S’mores with slices of apple; not Graham crackers. (Cut cross-wise, each slice divided in half, removing the seeds.) Hope you try them this way, much more refreshing than dry crackers!
Everything I know about animal spirits and totems, I’ve learned from your posts.
Thanks for all you give!
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jo, thank you. I realized on that longest day, that it was only going to get darker from here until the Winter Solstice. It seemed to sprout into the haiku. 8)
good question about time. It’s one of those things I am constantly working to balance. As part of my creative project check-in to a writing group, I’ve started tracking my time on each of my writing/art projects and it’s eye-opening! The other thing is that, after a while, you get (at least a little) better at this, more efficient.
A while ago I started keeping a list of posts I want to do. And I think ybonesy keeps a list, too. If we get an idea for a post, no matter how small, we write it down. Sometimes our posts are completely spontaneous. But other times, when we go to post, we grab a subject from our lists that fits our time and mood. We are finding this works out pretty well!
oliverowl, Corny for every toad? How did she tell them apart? 8)
So, oliverowl, about the s’mores, you mean you cut an apple in half, put the chocolate down, then the melted marshmallows, and completely left out the graham crackers? (Do I have it right?) And that was a Girl Scout thing that you did? I’ve never heard of it. We will have to try it!
Glad you like the animal posts. ybonesy’s totem animal post really started something. I had no idea when we started red Ravine that we’d be writing about animals so much. They seem to be a theme through ybonesy’s life and mine, in many different aspects. Animals are so grounding.
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You expand me
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Hi QM, back from Taos and just finished looking at all the links of this wonderfully creative post. I had forgotten about Liz’s green frog and how amazed I was to see it when you first published it. I thought those kinds of frogs only were found in the tropics and rainforests.
The post also made me realize how much toads, frogs, and snakes have appeared in our lives, and how much green there has been in red Ravine. And that one Gargantuan green tree — reading the comments I saw that it reminded me of Georgia’s Tree at the DH Lawrence Ranch, and you just recently published a photo of that tree.
So, all this connection, pattern, cycles — seems most appropriate for a post celebrating the Summer Solstice.
We had a cool weekend after the Solstice in North-Central Rio Grande Valley. Rainy and cool in Taos, very nice, and a big storm just blew through Albuquerque, dumping hail and lightning just south of here. My kind of summer 8) .
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Franny, 8) 8) 8)
ybonesy, so glad you are back. Yes, Liz’s green frog, a beautiful sight. There was another one around that time that was clinging to the house one night. They seem to follow her around.
Lots of toad, frogs, and GREEN at red Ravine. Lots of trees. I’m so appreciative of all the trees that surround our home. Sounds like you had every kind of weather on your trip to Taos and back. We had sunny weather in the first half of Pride yesterday. Then in the afternoon, a fine mist of rain. Quite the blustery weekend!
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QM, I wasn’t very clear on the S’mores… you cut the slices quite thin, and use two, top & bottom, in place of the crackers, then the chocolate, with the marshmallow in the middle. YUM!
As for the toads’ name; sister only had one at a time.
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oliverowl, sounds delicious. YUM is right. We’ll have to try those s’mores with apples.
Ah, one toad at a time makes sense. For some reason, I’ve never thought of naming the frogs and toads around here. Only the rabbits. We saw about 1/2 a dozen rabbits out the living room window today. And come to think of it, we named them all Tawny! 8)
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One thing I forgot to mention about Summer Solstice this year — we saw TONS of FIREFLIES over the pond behind our friends’ house. Liz was the first to see them in the cattails at dusk. Beautiful!
It’s strange because it’s the first time I’ve really noticed them in Minneapolis in such huge numbers. And it makes me wonder if they like the dampness or water or high grasses. I was delighted to see my old Firefly friends (we used to call them Lightning Bugs). They have always inspired me, like little stars.
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QM, I know I’ve told you this before, but I’ve never seen a firefly. They sound so cool. What makes them light up, do you know?
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YB, they light up when they mate. there are hundreds of different ones and their mates recognize the way they light. I guess it’s kinda like morse code. If they are squashed it is like an irridesence material,or what ever it’s called.
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QM, I had been wanting to comment on this post, but haven’t had the time. Your Summer Soltcice sounded like a great time (despite the rain) . But, I think I will try oo’s S’ mores! They sound so good! I think I will try peanut butter instead of the chocolate. (I no longer eat Hershey products). Thanks for explaining the panther & alligator cards. That was going to be one of my questions also!
Mom’s comment on the fireflies, I had no idea that was when they were mating. They are every where here now & I love seeing them! So glad you got the chance! D
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ybonesy, I still can’t believe you’ve never seen a Firefly! They were magical to me as a kid (and still are). I suppose there is a lot of science behind their little lights, but they have never been fully explained. One of nature’s gifts.
MOM, that’s amazing. That out of all the fireflies, they can each find one another by their lights. That IS kind of like Morse code. Cool!
diddy, thanks. I bet you are getting ready to head to your family’s house. Have a safe trip. I do remember you mentioning not eating Hershey products anymore. I have boycotted certain products in the past, too, for causes I believed in. For me, the Hershey bar is a connection to childhood, and a good tasting one for me. I have to pick my battles!
The peanut butter sounds good, too. So would you lay the apple down, then the peanut butter, then the melted marshmallow over that? YES, oliverowl’s apples. I thought of them last night when I looked in the fridge and saw we had a couple of apples (and also the makings for s’mores). Maybe this weekend!
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oh diddy, it only rained briefly on Solstice, a wonderful summer shower in the middle of a beautiful night. I think we must have drummed it up! The fire held up. And the rain felt very cleansing and refreshing. I noticed yesterday how dry our lawn is even with all the rain we got this Spring. I like rainy summer days. 8)
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Thanks, MOM and QM. I’d hate to squash a firefly. The way the mates find them reminds me of penguins who are able to recognize their mates.
diddy, your mention of not eating Hershey’s intrigued me. I imagine that has to do with treatment of local workers and/or shutdowns/layoffs?
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