So little daylight.
 Nighttime darkness overwhelms.
 A new star shines bright.

 Descending chords sounded the death knell of summer. 
 The piper calls the chieftains, kings and warriors
 from the far fields of wasted war and destruction
 to gather together around bright solstice fires 
 together with lost forgotten lovers and friends.
 

 So beat your pagan drums to the bright religion
 of the earth, of the universe, of all the gods
 and goddesses that are our daily companions
 while we walk this mortal coil seeking the awakening
 we have sought since leaving our mother’s wombs.

The latest post from ‘The awakening . . . ‘. You get a double shot this week. Happy Holidays and stay tuned.

She got up, knocking over her chair, threw the rest of her wine in the fire, threw the glass on the ground, and went to her tent.

I followed her, “Hanna, I’m sorry. That was wrong of me. Very wrong and I’m sorry.”

“No! Get the fuck away from me, god-dammit!”

“Hanna, I’m really sorry I upset you. I really am. Please don’t be angry with me. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m sorry.”

“You’re just a big lying bigot. I have friends who are lesbian. I have African-American friends. I have Hispanic friends. You just think they don’t deserve to be here. I can’t live with that, Russell! Go away! Please just go fucking away!”

“Hanna, please, can we talk? I had too much to drink. That all just came out. This was the way I was brought up. It’s what my parents, my church, my community all lead me to believe.”

 Winter sun shines cold.
 Mountains sleep quiet alone.
 Our souls warmed by love.

 Here is the next excerpt. Stay tuned for more next week.

I realized how out of shape I was and how out of breath I was. I asked to stop for a minute to quit panting so hard. 

“Wow, I am so out of shape,” said.

Hanna replied, “You’re at higher altitude that in Iowa and there’s less oxygen. You’ll be fine, just need to acclimate to altitude is all; it’ll take a few days.”

Getting my breath, which I had to do several more time, we got to the summit. The view was so amazing. You could look east out onto the plains and to the west, seemingly endless mountains fading into the distance. We sat, had some snacks, water, and enjoyed this amazing place. There was a fire lookout tower right next to where we were, but it was locked. Finally, we needed to head back down. Right around a tall rock, we spied a mountain goat grazing on some tufts of grass. He saw us, considered us for a moment and nonchalantly continued his grazing. We each took some pictures and continued back to the van. There was so much to see, I knew I wouldn’t ever be able to capture everything I was seeing and silently convinced myself to cut back on picture taking.