[Here is my annual Halloween-themed short story, to kick off the season. Enjoy!]
Maeve vigorously brushed the besom side to side, its hawthorn twigs making scratching sounds against the hearthstone, causing the old grey cat to flash its yellow slit-eyes in her direction; sensing no threat, it quickly resumed its vigil by the mousehole. Satisfied the last of the ashes were gone, Maeve bowed her head and murmured, “So goes the old year.”
[Cover photo: the garden gate decked out in autumn splendor]
Mabon is the pagan term for the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of Fall. Also known as “the Witches’ Thanksgiving”, Mabon coincides with the peak of the harvest season. Libra’s Full Moon is termed “the harvest moon”, so-named because before the advent of electricity farmers would work late into the evening, lighted by its yellow-white luminescence, to gather their crops as quickly as possible, before the weather turned sour or they spoiled.
On Saturday, 26 September 2020, Donald J. Trump announced his third pick for the US Supreme Court, to replace recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Judge Amy Coney Barrett. I have been expecting this pick for years, after researching possible candidates at the last vacancy; her astrological bona fides for the job are unquestioned, though her judicial philosophy leaves much to be desired, from a progressive standpoint. A vocal opponent of reproductive rights, who has more than once opined that Roe v Wade was wrongly decided and should be overturned, Barrett’s appointment and likely confirmation cements a conservative 6-3 bloc on the High Court that could conceivably roll back freedoms on a wide variety of issues.
The first of three debates in the 2020 presidential election is slated to commence at 9 PM EDT in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, 20 September, moderated by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace. In the hot seats will be incumbent President Donald J. Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. With upwards of 90% of the electorate confirming that their minds are made up as to who to vote for, the debate may be an exercise in pointlessness, but will doubtless garner high ratings, as Americans tune in to watch these septuagenarian political pugilists try to bloody each other and craft a narrative which disqualifies their opponent.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
–Ruth Bader Ginsburg
On September 18th, 2020, the US political world was shaken to its foundations by the death of the Notorious R.B.G., Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an associate Justice of the US Supreme Court and liberal icon for almost thirty years. Ginsburg succumbed to complications arising from metastasized pancreatic cancer, after struggling with the disease in one form or another for over twenty years. Ginsburg’s death, coming so close to a US presidential election, completely upends the calculus, energizing both sides, as conservatives scramble to replace her before they may lose control of the White House and Senate, and progressives cry “Foul!” in the face of clear double standards regarding the rules for filling such vacancies.
[Cover photo: A late summer bouquet of zinnia, Maximillian sunflower, marigold, Shasta daisy and sedum brightens the dining table, already set for fall]
It’s been a long, hot summer, but at last the autumn breezes have arrived! Prime time to look back and review the progress the garden has shown this first season on the property.
Over all, I’m very pleased with how things have gone. I actually lost only a single perennial, one of those new ill-fated heliopsis cultivars in orange; everything else either thrived, or held its own. And considering all the plants I plunked into this bit of soil, that’s pretty amazing. Now, the big question is – what liked it enough to return next year? But that’s an answer for next spring – for now, let’s just take an amble down memory lane, horticulture style.
