Summerisle has moved to Lithuania

After all that fun in Kaunas, I decided to visit somewhere new -Birstonas (also known as Summerisle from The Wicker Man - they were eerily similar).

Birstonas is a health spa like the old days more of a sanitorium than what you imagine.

A lot of people are here to convalesce, but I signed up for the weekend package. Sadly, the ONLY person there who spoke English was the Psychologist. She was very nice and helpful, but always busy with group therapy and patients. At the time I was suffering from trigger finger - a terrible inslult to my pacifistic nature. For less than $50/day I had 4 different therapeutic treatments (an EKG costs $4), private room

with balcony over the river,

board (I had to specifically ask for the Lithuanian menu - they tried to give me Euro menu),

Ravens attacking church

and ample time to search the bucolic grounds and streets. All my treatments were over by 2 pm, so I took up afternooon walks before dinner.

My first discovery was the libarary with FREE internet if you signed up for a card and paid $2. The card is a lovely green, and the O in Birstonas is a Full Moon!

Walking along the river, there is another sanitorium, and they were having a concert that night - I went after dinner. I think he's the Lithuania version of Tony Bennett, and he did a fair cover of "Those Were the Days, My Friend."

Another day, I took the FREE ferry across the river and wandered the woods over there.

I was staying at the Tulpe (tulip)Spa, and must have had too much fresh air, because I decided to start painting "two lips" while waiting for the ferry to return.

From that side I could see a huge statue which I sought out on my return. At the bottom of the hill, I discovered a maze.

The building across from the park had the name and stylized figure of the Water Goddess.

Many are there to drink the sulphur water (which didn't smell as badly as the "pluto" water in French Lick, Indiana). There is a charming little orange octagonal building with a faucet and drinking fountain.

The bus station looks brand new for 1895.

The streets are empty,

Stagliskes

but there is a flower stall next door, so I buy Inija some purple flowers I've never seen (she had no idea what they were either, and she's really good with flower identification).

Inija Trinkunas with Flowers

The bus back to Vilnius stops at Trakai,

so I have a pre-view of the castle where Inija will be taking me to buy amber. On the way we went through Stagliskes where the trees had a bad time.

2010 Catchup - no mayo!

When I last left you with tantalizing morsels from Lithuania,

I was on my way to Kaunas! Once again I'm in my favorite big city.

The art deco buildings are fabulous, and when interspersed with 500 year old cobblestone streets in Old Town, the effect is both enchanting and almost overwhelming.
When I was here last Sept. I visited the MK Ciurlionis museum with my 'ciurlionis,' and much to my disappointment, it was not, in the curators' professional opinions, an original sketctch by him, but it was a very fine copy by whomever did it, especially considering the painting hasn't been on display for at least 50 years. I was however, delighted to be allowed to see the original which is kept in a temp-controlled room full of his work that's not on display.

The hardest part of the trip was finding a place to stay.

Men in kilts playing football and drinking lined the streets and screamed from bars on my stroll along Freedom Lane. There was not a hotel room to be had at any of my favorite haunts. Finally, Daiva at Lintenterp, whom I highly recommend, found me a room at the Kaunas Catholic Guesthouse across from city hall in the exact center of Old Town for only 50 lt/night ($20!). It was one of two converted monk's cells with a shared bath, and view of the gardens behind the Kaunas castle on the Neris river. I hung a postcard of Birute (guardian of Jurate, the amber godess's, shrine) over the cross and was very content in my austere but comfortable surroundings.

The only catch was one wasn't allowed to have alcohol nor opposite-sex guests in the room (which was the only reason it was available with the footbal shenangians in town). It was nice to be at the other end of town during that madness. Nothing but toursts and pilgrims on my end
Other fun in Kaunas last year included stopping by to see Elvira, the curator of the Devil Museum,

attending a flea market next to the church on Sunday,

visitng kauno pilis (the old castle in my backyard),

a chocolate restaraunt in town square where every item on the menu came with chocolate in some form including chocolate steak sauce, and not buying a painting of the baba yaga house. (Baba Yaga is a "russian" fairy-tale witch who lives in a house on top of a big chicken foot, so she can move whenever she wants to do so. I guess she doesn't like Russia anymore since I visited her house years ago in the Merkine district in southern LT.

I also revisted the ancient  instrument museum;

and its ancient toilet,

and went to the apothecary museum in a 15th century guild hall.

I gave them the $2 bill for their old NCR drawer!

All about amber & me

Will be visiting Toronto 11/2-3 and my hostess Kim has been kind enough to offer up her home for an Amber Party and show for her beading guild friends and neighbors. The links at the bottom of the invitation were unknown to me, and then my friend in Geneva posted "Freedom & Joy" from Escalade in 2009. I'm lucky to post to my blog let alone keep up with youtube, but watch for more posts soon.


 

Et voici une vidéo de vous ma chčre ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngjHyzzxKCM

---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: Kim Currie
Please contact Kim at address above if you'd like to attend 11/2 around 7-9 pm. This is at her home in Etobicoke, Ontario, about 10 minutes from Pearson Airport.

Hi Caroline,

Writing as I imgine you remember Prudence Priest from her visit here last year & her amazing amber and Jet knowledge.

She remembered the fun with you & Lee and your hard work with the beading guild. She is returning to her home in San Fran USA from Geneva and Lithuania and will be here for a day or so on the way in and out.

She offered to do a presentation regarding Amber and Jet for the guild, if you guys would like to hear her. As you know she's a well reconginzed expert/speaker/author on the subject, as well as use of these jewellery/beading items & impact in ethnic religeons. She's also tons of fun and just a blast to hang with. No matter what, there will be silly jokes and lots of humour.

Let us know what you think

Kim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx4DU3_Pp8o

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/tag/prudence-priest

http://mprc-crpm.ca/2011/05/nordic-shamanism-with-prudence-priest/

http://www.widdershins.org/vol3iss6/y9702.htm

I'll be here 7/27-8/1

Austin Lawrence posted in Kaleidoscope Gathering.

Austin Lawrence 6:12pm Jun 23 Random Program Teaser #6: Everyone's favourite Californian Heathen who has petitioned the Icelandic parliament, will be at KG this year. Yes, Prudence Priest, the witch, Elder in Covenant of the Goddess and The Troth, a member of the Rune Gild, editrix of Yggdrasil, and leader of Freya’s Folk. That one. She will be presenting her world famous "Dirty Ditties for Pagan Kiddies." It is a raunchy, Pagan lounge-lizard shtick ... part concert, part sing along, part sex education and scatological instruction ... and as irreverent as it gets.

9/2 in Vilnius

Inija dropped me off downtown on her way somewhere, and I decided to visit the 
Lithuania National Gallery. I spent half the day there looking at a stunning display of 
Victorian outfits

Exhibit Entrance

 

 and a horde exhibit of 8th-11th century jewelry.

 What a combination! As 
I was heading back downstairs, I heard a harp playing and walked into another gallery to 
witness a lady playing several instruments to a crowd of high school students. I just sat 
down behind them and listened for a while. The rain was quite steady outside and I worked 
my way back to the center of town by stopping at the gift shops of two more museums. The 
LNG is the only museum I've been to that had more visitors than workers. Oftentimes, it 
seems like I'm the only person in a gallery, and I am!
Slightly famished, I crossed the street to avoid the Catholic church where they had 
a"flash mob" last month wearing T-Shirts proclaiming that "Christianity is 
Occupation!" Seems like the holy fathers won't let the Heathens visit the remnants 
of Gediminas' personal temple to Perkunas (Thor) in the basement any more. (Harry 
MacBride and I were fortunate enough to view them in 1998. It was one of the few churches 
I actually entered.)
Slightly famished, I tried the new (to me) Zoe's Bar & Grill for a BLT & a Cosmopolitan. 
Both were excellent. Mostly replete and semi-dry, I ventured out again working my way 
back via a student art gallery, and then stumbled upon an internet cafe cum bookshop cum 
teahouse. Had a restorative pot of black tea and free pc while watching it pour in 
buckets before I ventured out towards the street vendors on Pilies (Castle) Street. 
I passed an Italian !!! bakery - I guess they moved here, too. The bread smelled amazing, 
and I bought a baguette and an olive roll for the house for later. The amber dealers were 
mostly rained out, packing up, and gone by the time I arrived, but one of my favorite 
little stores which sells goods made by the handicapped was still open. I like to support 
them, and bought many souvenirs including a hand-crocheted orange chenille phone case to 
add to my "Only in Lithuania" list. I also found a small, very lightweight, 
thin pine table for my house in Dvarciskes for $12 that I lugged back, too. All this 
shopping had made me thirsty, so I stopped at Cili's for a pear shake and a small plate 
of fruit crepes (they invent their own deserts)drizzled with sauce and topped with ice 
cream. The pear shake is actually called a pear cocktail, but it's basically fresh fruit 
in watery milk. It sounds terrible, but I'm afraid it's indescribably delicious! Caught a 
bus home and called it a day. We leave for Kaunas in the morning.

DC Discoveries

Sadly, I could only attend the Colombia, MD blot in spirit this weekend while visiting DC with kin for the cherry blossom fest this weekend. Gary the Viking invited me for their blot, but previous commitments prevented a happy reunion. Maybe we'll see you at Della & Stephen's Handfasting at Ravenwood in July?



Retrograde times provided interesting challenges, delayed luggage, too much traffic/blocked-off streets, too much to see, three different pc's with no yahoo/facebook access for four days, missed Metro stops. Even the weather was out of sorts. First day was cool - never reached 50 with endless showers and gray skies, but nothing could daunt spring bursting out all over with tulips and daffodils and myriad other flowering things. Sadly, the harsh weather had blown away at least half the blooms on the cherry trees, but there were many lovely views to be had.


With the government shutdown looming, prudence dictated that we go to our priorities first on Friday afternoon: Library of Congress, National Botanical Gardens, Museum of the American Indian were all we could manage before closing time and back to Arlington for Red, Hot & Blue BBQ.


Saturday we drove through Georgetown and out to the National Cathedral to see the stained glass and the gargoyles and flying buttresses. (Found free Sat. parking right out front!) The 360 view from the 7th floor observatory was impressive even though visibility was still poor, but not as thick as yesterday - it was also 5-10 degrees warmer. Returned to the hotel and made dinner in our 1BR apartment and had friends in. President Obama made a surprise visit to the Lincoln Memorial to assure us tourists that the government would not be shutting down and we should enjoy our vacations - so we better get busy supporting the economy
Sunday, after first trying to drive 3 miles in maddening traffic to go around the tidal basin, we had no trouble at all heading back to the hotel in less than 10 minutes while calling a cab (who also got lost/obstructed twice and made 2 amazing u-turns) to take us to the Yacht Marina for a special cherry blossom "traditional" high tea and 90-minute cruise on a 1947 yacht on the Potomac around the cherry blossom islands. We had ideal weather and good visibility. That was sooo fabulous all of our previous tribulations melted away - we even met two fellow Ohioans aboard!
Sunday night we went out for dinner at Ray's the Steaks for an incredibly delicious meal with family-style sides of perfectly skinless, perfectly mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Ray's other restaurant is even more famous since President Obama has been there twice and is charmingly named Ray's Hell Burgers. He even stopped by our table and asked how we enjoyed our dinner.

Upcoming Events & Prudence’s Appearances

March 15-19 - Bouquets to Art at the DeYoung (open till 8:45 on Friday). Jade and I both have memberships and we can each take one guest every day.






19th (Full Moon) & 26th – Shield painting party at Patt’s with dawn ship offering on Sunday 3/27.






April 1st - Rites of Spring 8-10pm at Herbst Theatre – FREE!


8-11 – Prudence in DC visiting friends.






May 7th Pagan Pride in Berkeley – marching with the Besom Brigade and then will be vending amber, etc. at Daughters of the Goddess’ Beltane in Alameda.


9th-13th – Debbie & Linda visit me in Walnut Creek – South Park mini-con.


18th – 23rd – Gaia Gathering in Montreal with Alex.


24th – 26th – New York City area to visit Della in CT and see “Book of Mormon” on Broadway.


27th – 31st – Rites of Spring Fest near Boston, MA






June 18th – Pirates’ Ball at Benicia Clocktower with Tempest.


20-21 – Solstice and Birthday Party campout on Mt. Diablo.


30- July 4th – 22nd Ravenwood on Mt. Tam.