golden apple, originally uploaded by Lizzie~Belle.

I got back today from Sirius Rising festival, after a week in the woods with a few hundred of my closest friends. We had a good festival. It was very good to be there, and to get away; it's also good to be home, where I can sleep in my own bed and not on an air mattress in a tent. I must find a better option by next year. My back will thank me for it.

It was hot, but not as hot as it was here in Massachusetts, so I hear. Also, there's no air conditioning when you're camping. Well, unless you have a camper with it, but I don't. The only real relief was the pool, but that was short-lived. Still, it was good to have a pool there. I didn't even mind all the people playing volleyball with big inflatable balls.

I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to, because it was just too darned hot to walk around much. I did manage to get a few nice shots, even some of people.

The highlight of the week was a visit from Margot Adler. If you're Pagan and/or a fan of NPR, you probably know who she is. She was there to give a workshop (on Vampires in literature!) and participate in a panel discussion on Paganism, and she stopped by our camp for a drink one afternoon. Here she is getting her pinky nail painted green by our resident goddess, Anomie:



Margot is really nice and down-to-earth, not at all a diva (unlike some other Big Name Pagans I could mention). We had a nice discussion about a variety of topics, and it sounds as if she likes Brushwood enough to come again another time. It is rather a magickal place. I was really happy to be able to tell her in person how much her book meant to me. Drawing Down the Moon is what set me on this path, oh so many years ago.

This was my 20th trip there! Hard to believe all that time has passed. No wonder it feels like home. I've spent 20 weeks there - that's nearly five months!

My plants seem to have survived my absence (although my garden is overrun with weeds). We enjoyed the fruits of my labor the other night, eating my first tomato!



Several of the jelly bean tomatoes were ripe when I got home, so I had them with supper. Yummy!

Early bedtime tonight, I think. And back to work tomorrow. Which is my one-year anniversary at my job!