Ravenwood 2011

Good News - Bad News!


Once again I won the Mt. Tam lottery and booked Alice Eastwood Group Camp B (the smaller site). I tried for the larger site first, but it was already booked! Indeed, every weekend was booked by 8:11 am thanks to the age of computers. At least I didn't have to play redial on the phone for hours like I used to. Ravenwood 22 will be June 30th (Thorsday) to July 4th (Moonday) and will be limited to 25 people. Flyer and prices to follow in January.

Kaunas - the old capital

I so enjoy my time here (so did Maria Gimbutas). Kaunas is an ancient city, but most of the new buildings are lovely art deco examples. The Trinkunas' dropped me off on the outskirts on their way to the coast for a wedding and other Heathen events, and I caught a bus to the city center. I was all hyped up to stay at Hotel Metropolis which is a stunning art nouveau complex right in the midst of everything (and cheap, too at 25 euros/night), but they were sold out. Perplexed, I kept walking down "Freedom Lane" and asked at an apt. rental place, and they were booked too! The streets were full of drunken Scotsmen in kilts, and the people at Litenterp said they had nothing either because of the soccer match. One of the ladies suggested the Best Western, but another one said she'd call the monastery!

Intermission

Here I am in Canada driving Kim's Aston Martin to the Mall

 the day before we're off to Harvest Fest. 

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

 We're having a blast, and I'm scheduled for nine events 

this weekend including a Friday Night Concert, and Winter

 Nights ritual on Saturday. The Bad Girls are also working on

 a lewd, crude, and rude event. 

This one involves balls and chocolate mousse.

It's the First & I Haven't Even Thought about My Building till Now

       
Great day to do nothing and catch up on everything. Rimgaile, Arturas, and baby Skomantas (who will be one year old 10/24) were due in tonight from Kaunas (about 90km away) for a banquet Arturas would cook!

From the left: Inija, Czech lady, Vetra behind Jonas, Arturas, Rimgaile

Moved to the Living Room so they could have the bedroom, and went out around 4 pm for coffee and a walk. Dinner was typically Lithuanian - lots of good food, and we tried an Italian wine Inija had brought back as well as one of the 4 bottles of California wine (Charles Shaw)I had brought as a gift. Jonas likes CA best.

Now you can see Vetra

(we have better pizza, too!) Maybe all the good cooks left Italy. At the South Park Convention last May, Uncle Jimbo made us a wonderful Italian pasta dinner, and there are fantastic Italian restaurants all over the Bay area; I just wasn't able to find one in Italy.

Annoucement from the Congress

The Old Baltic Gods

The following is the official statement (which I helped edit) from our recent Congress in Bologna, Italy, August 25-29, 2010.
The WCER delegates who gathered in Bologna, Italy (2010.08. 26-29) at our yearly conference came to the decision that hence forward our name should be changed to the European Congress of Ethnic Religions. The word "World" shall be "European" instead. Why did we decide to focus only on Europe? Thirteen years have passed since the creation of the Congress in 1998 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Every year, conferences were organized in various European countries, and it turned out that that the Congress actually unites only people of European indigenous traditions, even though the congress is open to all other traditions.
This year Bologna saw a gathering of representatives from Italian, Danish, Norwegian, German, French, Greek, Lithuanian, Latvian, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian ethnic religions. It was decided that the main concern for us all is Europe's ancient spiritual traditions. There is a lot of unity among us, and we feel the need to come together. The main point in all our discussions has been that Europe suffers the most because of its traditions' weakness, especially in the spiritual sense. As oriental cults thrive, European traditions are seen as obsolete, which can exist only in a museum. However, we have now begun to understand and cherish the importance and value of our own indigenous traditions. We also decided to strengthen our ties with the Parliament of World Religions, and to work together with India's cultural and religious organizations.

Off to the Baltics at Last

   Taxi was early and so was I. Girl at hostel had said it would be 20 euros. It was 25 - whatever! I was at the gate by 6:15 for a 7:40 flight, and was too tired for coffee, but I was on my way.
   There were lovely cotton ball clouds over Austria with gray blanket clouds covering them and well-ordered earth below. I was astounded by the number of swimming pools I could see. It was cloudy, cool, and rainy in Vienna, and the plane was delayed a half hour, but we all climbed on a bus to the middle of a field and climbed on board. I was actually chilly.
   It's been two years since I was in my beloved Lietuva (which literally means "land of rain.") Globalization is everywhere, and they even have a KFC! The quaint cafe they used to have in the grand hall with the chandelier at the airport has been replaced with a pizza joint. The beautiful fixtures and building are still there, though. Inija had given me the keys to the house since they were going to Venice for the day and coming back Tuesday, and told me which stop to get off the bus. Every bus stop has a name. Isn't that a great idea? (However, my favorite guide magazine, In Your Pocket, states that proper bus etiquette when getting off or on a bus is to push anyone in your way into the gutter.)
   For a dollar I rode a spotless, comfortable bus which stopped 1-2 blocks from where I was going. I was so happy to be back, and my Lithuanian is much improved. Hauled everything upstairs, said "hi" to Vetra (who helped with the bags - she's the youngest daughter, and the same age as my youngest niece - the class of 2014) and took a nice 3 hour nap.

That's a lovely Rowan tree to the left of the entrace to their flat.

Woke up starving at 8 pm and headed out the door and about 5 blocks down the street to a huge grocery with a restaurant upstairs with great sunset views. As I walked in, they told me they were closing early at 9 pm. I said I'd eat quickly, and a "large capucino, please!" The coffee and view were great. The lasagna was okay by LT standards, but a B+ by Italian standards. Only 6 euros for all, and it was the first hot meat I'd had since leaving America.
   I took the escalator downstairs (they're really cool, and are flat, and will hold your shopping cart) to stock up on all my favorite Lithuanian things as there was no telling what was at the house since the Trinkunas' had been gone for a week as well. The biggest news in Lithuania is how well they're doing in the World Basketball Tournament - it is their national sport. When Russia beat the US in the olympics, it wasn't the Russians, the team was 80% Lithuanian! So it'll be a close match if they play the US.

Photo Update

Here I am having gelato in Rome

 

 

Worked for about an hour uploading and messing with photos, but I have them on Jonas' desktop, and will start the label and sort process. Apparently I can only upload one photo at a time, and there are only 400 photos, so this may take a while.