Sunday, June 21, 2009
According to one website, the Summer Solstice arrived at 10:45 p.m. last night for those of us living in the Pacific Daylight Time zone. But most folks will say it is today, and who's counting anyway? According to Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, "One of the biggest destinations for the summer solstice is Stonehenge in England; today it is the place for New Agers such as neo-druids, neo-pagans, and Wiccans to gather, along with college-age revelers, wholesome families, romantic couples, and shoestring backpackers. And it's the only day of the year the park service offers free parking, free admission, and the opportunity to stay at the monument overnight."
I hope to visit Stonehenge some day, preferably on the summer solstice, for the free admission, free parking, and overnight stay with all those neo-whozits. It sounds like a great spiritual party. Today, I'm celebrating with a bunch of lesbians at, what else, a potluck.
Monday, June 22, 2009
At 10 a.m. yesterday, as I was writing that post, I got a call from my new friend Fai from the Over 40s Lesbians group to remind me that I had promised to help make a banner and signs for the Dyke March next Saturday in honor of Gay Pride; the big march is Sunday. The potluck was to be at Fai's house, too, so I spent a lovely day with new friends, being creative and getting to know Fai better. At 5 p.m. about 25 more wonderful women showed up with fabulous food. True to form, there was very little meat, just some bits of chicken mixed into a green salad and some shredded salmon tossed with another green salad. We grilled some tofu kabobs and gorged ourselves on a wide variety of vegetable dishes, including a classic potato salad just like Mom used to make. Why are so many lesbians vegetarians? I must research this phenomenon sometime. I'm sure it has something to do with patriarchy. Doesn't everything?
I probably had thought I would write a solstice poem yesterday but today I am uninspired by all that. It's laundry day and something a bit more mundane seems appropriate.
Laundry Day
My brother is moving to a house
Where he won't have to schlep his dirty duds
To a communal laundry room.
For years I lived in a tiny house
Sans hooksup even
Took my two weeks worth
Of underwear and such
To a nearby
Laundromat
Washateria
Launderette
Loaded the washer and practiced my Spanish
Eavesdropping on families of
Short
Brown-skinned immigrants
(In my head)
"Hola. Su nina es muy bonita."
Loaded the dryer and went for coffee
And a Cranberry Walnut muffin
Quarters for the machines
Twenty
Coffee and muffin
Fourteen
Hearing beautiful dark-eyed children
Speaking a foreign language
Just like they knew what they were saying
Priceless.
June 22, 2009
Seattle
(While searching for more synonyms for laundromat I stumbled across this very cool link. Check it out if you would like to know how to spell laundromat in American Sign Language, British Finger Spelling--with animation--Morse code, and semaphores, you know those signal flags.)
And here's an appropriate Laundry Day photo from the Seattle Summer Solstice Parade.
1 comment:
I bought some air freshener called "Clean Linen" once, thinking of the smell of sheets dried in the sun. However, the air freshener smelled like every laundromat I'd ever been in. No happy memories there. I tossed it.
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