Friday September 30th

Colin is working from home today, because Michaelmas begins at 4:00!
Michaelmas Elisabeth Pressel

The festival of the Archangel Michael, he who vanquishes the dragon and conquers him falls in late September. There are many different legends of Michael from cultures all over the world. He played an important part in the ancient Hebrew culture and legends about him exist in the Persian and Indian cultures. He has played an important part in Christianity from its earliest times.

Michael, with his sword hammered from the light of the stars, fills us with new- found courage to meet the difficult times. At times it seems that these difficulties will overwhelm us, and all around us we see a world in pain and struggle. In some ways it has always been this way, but now we are more conscious of it than ever before. Every distant war and catastrophe enters the intimacy of our home through newspaper, radios or television screens. We are united with the events of the world in a way that never before existed. We see it all. We are aware of it all and a deep-set fear can enter our being, a fear that we will not have the strength to overcome these manifestations of darkness, that we will not have the capacity to restore the balance of light. It is here that Michael plays such an important role in our modern times. He symbolizes courage, and encourages us in our struggle to overcome our fears and do good upon the earth.

Harper is the first to wake. She has figured out how to use the Roku remote, and watches Shaun the Sheep. Colin starts to work, Ava is reading in her room, and I sleep in. We get a late start on breakfast. I offer to make gluten-free pancakes and breakfast sausages. My family loves pork. Harper has had to wait too long to eat and she has a melt-down. We work it out, and Ava helps by making paper chains with Harper. They say the paper chains will be decorations for Harper's birthday party. Ava writes on one of the chains, "Harper- Kind, Funney, Nice". FYI, Bob's Red Mills gluten-free pancake mix is the best one we've found.
We listen to the Stevie Wonder station on Pandora, which plays other artists like The Jackson 5, Lionel Ritchie, Marvin Gaye... The Jackson 5, "I Want You Back" comes on, and Harper screams. Michael Jackson still brings so much joy with his music.
Checking in on facebook, we see Aaron and Jessica's new puppy, Marley. Oh my, what a cutie. Our old Carrboro neighbor Rebecca, who now lives in Asheville with husband James, and sons London and Micah- is in labor with twins. We're sending her and hers, well wishes.
More weeding and planting lillies. The lily cutting garden has been an on-going project. But, October is a better time to transplant.
Ava separated the red, green tomatoes and peppers from the last of the summer harvest. Looks like we can make one last batch of sauce. We're taking our green peppers and others carrots for the Michaelmas soup tonight.
The toliet upstairs won't stop running. The water dispenser on the fridge has a hole in it. We have three broken weed eaters. Oh, home ownership. I'll take it.
Michaelmas was a huge success. I exhausted my battery before we found the dragon. I'll post a photo of the dragon soon. The top photo is of Harper with the felted mouse and apple she made. There is a great song to go along with the puppets. The temperature started to drop, as we headed home. Autumn is in the air. It was so nice to sleep with the window open last night.