"'We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike' - Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933."

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.