The Magic of August Skies

 

DUKES FANS    

“You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad.” – Sandra Cisneros  

“The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson  

THE AUGUST NIGHT SKY  

One of the many joys of the mid-late August camping trips my wife and I used to take was tent camping under the stars and the moon. We were able to view the night sky away from city lights and really see and feel them. There is an amazing deepness about being surrounded by and immersed in immensity of the sky. August night skies especially can be particularly wondrous, and we were always glad that we made August our time for our two weeklong camping trips. It was a totally refreshing and renewing way to end the summer vacations, and being aware of and close to the sky was an important part of that.   

This August has some wonderful opportunities for sky viewing. Last week we had a super moon, and I had the pleasure of coming back from gigs for two of the nights it was fully visible. It was stunning-orangish and majestic looking down on the world. I knew what Sandra Cisneros meant; I was drunk on that moon.   

I love the names we humans devise for things that happen in the sky. We see something spectacular, and we as a species just have to name it.  “New moons,” for example, are so called because they are closer to the earth than normal, and they look especially big and bright. It is as if the moon has been reborn. Humans from pre-historic times until now have always noticed and made a big deal about them, and they are often linked to occurrences on the earth. Last week’s was called by some, “the sturgeon moon” because its appearance coincides with the return of sturgeon to the Great Lakes. August 30 will be another new moon, and it will be called a"blue moon.” Having two new moons in the same month is rare, so it happens “once in a blue moon.” The last time this happened was in 2018, and the next time it will happen will be 2025. So it is uncommon, and we humans notice it and we must name it.  

August also means the return of the The Perseid meteor shower. Meteor showers fascinate me, and the Perseid were the first ones I ever intentionally watched. Camping meant we were able to watch them almost totally away from lights, and being able to do that was a stunning experience.   

The shower should be at its peak late night on August 12 and 13, and the sky is forecast to be moonlessly dark on those days. In early evening the meteors will be few, but those that do appear will be long, lovely Earth-grazers skimming far across the top of the atmosphere. As the nights progress, the meteors will become shorter and more numerous, and they will be most visible from midnight to dawn. If you wish to see them, I suggest you bring a reclining lawn chair to a dark, open spot where no local lights get in your eyes. You will probably see a meteor every minute or so and then more as night gets later. The best direction to look is wherever your sky is darkest. Here is a link to a site that as some suggested places from which to view the showers in each state:   

Exactly When To See The Perseid Meteor Shower Peak From Every U.S. State.   

  I hope you find plenty of opportunities to look up over the rest of the month. In the morning, mid-day, dusk, evenings, nights; just take a few minutes and look up. There is magic up there, and we are fortunate to be able to experience it by simply looking up.  

Neighbors

 DUKES FANS:

"The secret of a good life? Notice, appreciate, and be grateful for the small things; most of life is ‘small things.”

                  Cab Driver during ride from Art Museum 

“With nature it is always the bottom of the ninth; nature always has the last at bat”  Kevin M..

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.” Fred Rogers 

The last two days have found me spending part of my time outside and alongside my house, trimming back some rose bushes, fennel, and other plants and vines that I cannot begin to name. I have a bad back and using the cutters, pulling things out of the mess, and piling things into garden bags hurts. So I worked a bit and then took stretching breaks every 15 minutes or so. And it was wonderful. I am not a gardener; my contribution to gardening when my wife was alive was to mulch something, cut something back, dig a hole, here, mow there, etc. And all of this was under her direction. But this time I had to do it myself, and it was very pleasant doing this over the last couple of days. I realized that this was because the break in the weather we had for the last two days meant that I could do something that I had not done much of for the last few weeks: I could be outside seeing and conversing with a lot of my neighbors.   

One of the things I love about my neighborhood is that neighbors see and interact with each other very regularly. In the 30 plus years I have lived in West Mt Airy I have had countless conversations and great times with many of my neighbors. We join together for great fun at block parties. We work together in community groups to solve problems. We meet at the coffeehouse in the train station, celebrate each other’s accomplishments, help one another in difficult times, share recommendations about repair people, and much, much more. I cannot walk from one block to another most days or early evenings without having several conversations with friends and neighbors along the way. Asking about kids, talking about music, commenting on the yards, discussing politics and issues in the area, and more. It is one reason I love this area so much. But with the last few weeks of heavy humidity and suffocating heat, I have not interacted with many folks at all beyond a quick,” Hi” and some inane comment about the weather. None of ous wanted to psend time in that hat and that humidity. But being outside Sunday and Monday afforded me the opportunity to spend time actually talking with folks-having real, extended conversations. I learned about strangleweed and what it was doing to the fennel beside the house; how to properly trim the rose bushes; what kids that I had watched grow up were doing now that they were high school students and, (GASP!) high school graduates. What travel plans people had, what illnesses and recoveries had happened..... we just enjoyed being outside together and talking. And I realized how much I had taken those easy neighborly connections for granted. The heat and humidity had deprived me of them, and I had not really noticed until the actions of the last two days. 

The heat and humidity will be back; it is a world-wide climate crisis, and it will take coordinated, bold, and short and long-term efforts to address it. And that will not happen soon. But in the midst of all this it is important that I not let those simple things that matter to me slip away. Neighbors, conversation, walking and looking around. I need to remember that these are the small things that make so much of my life worth living. I need to be aware of them, not take them for granted, and remember to hold on to them. 

.  
 

Through The Years With The Dukes

 

 

 

DUKES FANS   

“Life is a series of transitions.” 

                            Anonymous 

   The Dukes of Destiny got together a long time ago; many of you know the story of a bunch of players getting together in a house in Mt Airy jamming, choosing their name from a takeoff of an ad on a matchbook cover, getting a regular monthly gig at Taker’s Café in Germantown, and taking off from there. There have, of course, been numerous changes in the past 38 years. We have been a 8 piece band, a 7-piece band, a 6-piece band, and we are currently a five-piece band. We have had sax players, lead singers who did not play an instrument, a lead singer who plays an instrument, always a keyboard player and always a kick-ass rhythm section able to lock in together and keep the whole thing moving. And we have always featured strong, unique, interactive and dynamic guitar playing. 

   I mention that because guitarist AC Steel has decided to leave the Dukes He was an original Duke-in fact, his composition, Window Shopping in The House of Forbidden Love, was the title song of our second recording. His singing and guitar playing can both be heard on three of our four recordings.AC has had several stints with The Dukes, most recently when he came back over a year ago to play in the wake of the post-COVID re-shuffling of the band. I have always loved his strong and inventive rhythm work, his stinging leads, his slide guitar work and his ability to play off of and with the other members of the band. You can see all of the demonstrated in some of our YouTube videos. Thanks, AC. It has been a pleasure knowing you and working with you. And you know you are free to come sit in anytime you want. 

  But do not worry, Dukes fans. Joining us on guitar for the remainder of the years’ gigs is another old original Duke, Richard Ray Adler. Ray is an exciting and original guitarist who loves arranging and ”Dukifying” tunes-he is largely responsible for our arrangements of Nadine and I’ll Go Crazy. So the Dukes will continue to be a hard driving, danceable band with original and exciting guitar work. Come on out and see.

The Lily and The Lotus

 

DUKES FANS

"ADD is not a Dis-ability; it is a Different ability."

    One of the things I love about being ADD is that my mind makes connections and finds new links and also recalls old links to plenty of things that can bring me pleasure, wonder, and joy. I don't question it and am not afraid of it; in fact the vast majority of the time I rather enjoy it.  And I never know when and how it will show up or play out.

      I spent most of yesterday at Penn's Morris Arboretum with a friend; it is a place I love but haven't visited in about a decade. Doing so yesterday brought back wonderful memories of previous visits. I could also notice some incredible changes that has happened to the place since I had last been there. So it was wonderfully familiar and new at the same time. I love when that happens; it is as if I can be in the past and the present simultaneously.

   One of the many wonderful things my friend and I saw on our ramble were several groves of different types of lilies. I have always been loved lilies, and seeing them again reminded of that love and of how long and in what different ways both lilies and lotuses have been a part of my life. My friend and I talked about that and marveled at how long they had been a quietly important part of my life. We also talked about Kenilworth Gardens in Washington, DC and their week long Water Lilly Festival in July. Again, it is a place I had not been in a while, and I had sort of forgotten about. Thanks to yesterday, I realized how wonderful it was and how  much I missed it. I want to re-visit it this year, and I will try to do it in July. Another powerful connection being made.

 I also remembered that I had written about lilies and lotuses several years ago. I found that newsletter and re-read it. I thought I would edit some of of it send it out again; I hope you don't mind.

John

“The lotus is an amazing creation of God, because for all of its beauty, it is the sum total of work performed in a mess”    Robin Caldwell

“Every struggle is like a big spot of mud -and there are always some lotus seeds waiting to sprout.” Amit Ray

“Whenever you should doubt your self-worth,remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.”  Suzy Kassem

THE MAGIC AND BEAUTY OF THE LOTUS

   For over 20 years my late wife, Penny, and I would end our summer vacations with an annual trip to the Limestone City Blues Festival in Kingston, Ontario area and camping at Ivylea Provincial Park about 35 miles outside of the city. We looked forward to this trip each year-it was a ritual in the best sense of the word. We loved the town of Kingston-a small vibrant city of mixed cultures, great gardens, bookstores, restaurants, museums, and farmer’s markets that sits at the meeting of the Rideau Canal and Lake Ontario at one end of the breathtaking 1,000 Island Parkway in southern Ontario. The festival is also wonderful; we got to hear some well-known American blues performers such as Curtis Salgado, Shameika Copeland, James Cotton, Guy Davis, and Harmonica Phil Wiggins. But the added bonus was that we also got introduced to some Canadian blues artists we had not heard of before such as writer,singer and harp player Paul Reddick, the sultry and amazing singer Dawn TylerWatson, and the cleverly named duo The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer. We loved going to Kingston.

    But one of the greatest things about these trips was our campsite at Ivylea Provincial Park-a beautiful and peaceful spot along an inlet of the St Lawrence River that features herons, red squirrels, various ducks,osprey kingfishers, hawks, and more. It is a beautiful park with wonderful water views, some forested areas, hilly trails, and amazing night skies. One of the absolute best parts of the park has been the campsites we had. They each have had little pools of water lilies and that opened up to greet us when we awoke each morning and closed up to help put us to bed each night. Their presence was a quiet horticultural wonder and comfort that added so much of the specialness of that trip and that campground.

    I first encountered water lilies and lotuses when I was a boy and our church would take trips to Longwood Gardens in Chester County. That place both overwhelmed and astounded me with its hundreds of thousands of beautiful plants and flowers, its acres of careful and wondrous landscaping. It always had a sense of being in  some other place;some place not of this world. One of the things that really stuck me were the incredible wide pools of water lilies and lotuses that were next to the conservatory building. The quiet beauty of the plants held me breathless. The written information near the gardens said that the plants’ roots were underwater and that many of the flowers open with the sun and close at night. That fascinated me. Looking at the beauty of the leaves and the amazing variety of petals-so delicate looking yet so sturdy-I was transfixed. They definitely made a lasting impression.

   The next time I encountered lotuses and water lilies was years later when I was a high school teacher. I taught the ancient Sumerian epic, Gilgamesh, and the lotus was a central and symbolic part of the story. I loved the whole story of King Gilgamesh and the way it established so many of the motifs and patterns of the modern hero tale. But I particularly loved the symbolism that was woven all though the epic, especially the symbols played by the lotus. As I learned more about the plant I could see how and why the lotus became a symbol for so many important ideas, thoughts and concepts central to human existence. Found on many continents, it readily found a home in many mythological traditions and was given an amazing number of meanings-being firmly planted in and standing on something; rising above one’s beginnings; rising out of a ‘mess” and becoming beautiful; using elemental things such as dirt and mud as a source for transformation; being born in water; emerging transformed; all of these important ideas and more became bound-up with this plant. Ancient Egyptians saw it as a symbol of fertility, life, sexuality,youth and eternity. The early Hebrews and Christians saw it in those ways and also as a sign of faith, purity, and both God’s promise and ability to deliver good out of bad. It meant enlightenment, purity and beauty to Buddhists. It is one of the most universal of all plant symbols.

   But the true power and beauty of the lily and the lotus really hit me when we first visited Kenilworth National Park in Washington DC. We were looking for a place to go hiking when we were planning a trip to DC, and we read about this park. A drive along a crowded highway, a turn through a typical urban neighborhood, and there in the midst of the city of DC sat a wonderful 50+ acres of tidal wetlands, the Anacostia River, and hundreds of amazing water lilies and lotuses. The first time we visited we were blown away by the trails that took us through different habitats and the bridges that took us over different vantage points of the wetlands. There were literally hundreds of different types of wildlife here: herons egrets, and kingfishers; turtles, frogs and butterflies, and especially an endless sea of all types of lilies and lotuses. There were white ones, blue ones, red and pink ones, small ones, massive ones, tall ones, round ones, and so much more. We had planned to spend maybe an hour there, and we ended up spending more than three hours on various trails, in the gardens, in the visitor center and sitting on bridges and marveling at the color and the wetlands. Moreover, we learned that there was an annual Water Lily Festival in July when all of the plants were in bloom and all the gardens were open. We had the pleasure of going this year, and it was almost overwhelming to see all of different types and colors of plants, the caterpillars,all the different birds, the many butterflies and more. It was simply stunning, and I was grateful that we had stumbled onto the joys of Kenilworth much as we had stumbled upon the campsites at Ivylea. And the festival really heightened my appreciation of and gratitude for the little pools of water lilies and lotuses at Ivylea.

   So this has been a “Year of the Lilly and The Lotus” for the Colgan-Davis crew. We have been fortunate to have both quiet, small-scale time with them in Canada as well as some wonderfully big and over-the top time in DC. They have provided beauty, calm, and wonderment. And we are so glad to be in their presence and blessed by their comfort. They are another example of the incredible and quiet magic that is available to all of us in this thing we call the world. And it is there for all of us to notice, to enjoy, and to be moved and quietly energized by. It is wonderful.

(Here are some Canadian Blues artists on YouTube that we first heard in Kingston)

The Harpooinst and the Axe Murderer        

The Harpoonist & the Axe Murderer - Roll With The Punches [Official Music Video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tv_Ctu-fxg)

Paul Reddick

PAUL REDDICK BAND LIVE at BLUES ON THE RIDEAU at THE COVE INN, Westport Ontario Canada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wvX9Eq845I

DawnTyler Watson:

 Purple Haze

Dawn Tyler Watson & Ben Racine Band LIVE feat. John 'the Stickman' (21/05/16)  

                                  

Some Photos from the Kenilworth Water Lily Festival    

John Colgan-Davis: HERE ARE KENILWORTH PHOTOS  9 View photos

You received this mail because John Colgan-Davis shared these photos with you. If you no longer wish to receive email notifications of shared photos, unsubscribe here.

Get the Google Photos app