Yet another “unseasonably” warm Autumn, with temperatures averaging in the high 50s-low 70s. I’m not complaining, but it does make the seasonal markers for Memoria somewhat less overt.
Balmy weather notwithstanding, the grasshoppers have been making their collective presence felt along the river path, the black-crested night herons have departed, the ground is crunchy with fallen leaves and the river flows orange, red and gold; Memoria is nigh.
Our traditional celebrations, usefully coinciding with our anniversary, began as usual with a week-long stay at Sky Meadow, our soulful home-away-from-home in the Northeast Kingdom mountains of Vermont. At the point there were only a few russet forecasts of the changing season, but the retreat bore much creative fruit including several projects that will, hopefully, begin actualizing next Spring.
Anniversary celebrations included our annual visit to the local Six Flags park, where I took the opportunity to practice Drop Tower Shugendo ; visits to the new and very impressive Obama Center, the Intuit outsider art gallery, and both brunch and dinner dining in the lovely courtyards of two local restaurants.
Soon it will be time to break out my Duende puppet in anticipation of handing out Halloween candy, and we’re looking forward to our traditional visit to the Dia de Muertos exhibition at the National Museum of Mexican Art, followed by burrito dinner at one of the local restaurants.
I think that there is a good deal to be said for such small, creative/DIY and low-budget folkways, as an alternative to the slick, consumerist concept of “celebration” that has emerged in the cultural mainstream.
