Rain Spirits, Welcome!

Morning temp: 72F
Afternoon high: 85F
Tonight's projected low: 61F
Humidity: 44%
Moon: Waning 99%
Southwest wind at 7 mph

This Morning.
1. At 8:20am, the Sun is yet to come out fully, so it's cool and breezy. The forecast calls for rain later this evening and into tomorrow. Rain Spirits are welcome. With the days getting sunnier and warmer we'll take all the rain we can get whenever we can get it. I do hope, though, that the storms are calm and peaceful. So let's ask the kami for this in our local areas!

2. As it turns out, yesterday the laundry got done, the bread got baked, and my article "You've Been Wonderful Neighbors" got re-written and sent off for possible publication with Nova Religio. Yayyy, at least it's done. We'll see if they're interested. In its re-worked form, the article is only 4,200 words, about half the length NR is looking for (about 8,000 words). Basically, I've paired it down to just those sections that focus upon the House of Oak Spring and its relationship to the Glen Haven neighborhood and the Baptist church next door. Still, this study implicitly challenges a reigning assumption in the academic study of religion, namely, that the best (or perhaps only) path to tolerance is pluralism. Ironically, while I am perhaps the ultimate pluralist (it seems plausible to me that the various religions represent different, but equally valuable, spiritual paths), I understand quite well why other thinkerss reject this view. Thus, it's a relief to discover that there are other paths to tolerance and friendhship between religious communities. Imagine if we all had to become pluralists in order to get along - if we all had to believe that everyone else's faith is just as good as our own. We'd be in real trouble. My study suggests that religious minorities, even those who are often heatedly reviled such as Wiccans (i.e., Witches), may be accepted within a potentially hostile community, if they can find ways of making a significant and positive impact upon the community they're entering. The Glen Haven Wiccans (and the Potsville Hasidim for that matter) are excellent examples of how this is done. Of course, the article I've posted below, "You've Been Wonderful Neighbors," discusses all of this in far more detail. Please assist me by picturing this article eagerly accepted and quickly published! I do believe it has something to offer.

3. I've been excused from Jury Duty again today, and I've been taking advantage of the cool morning air. So far (it's 10:00am), it looks like today will be a lawn day. I've put off mowing so long all the lawn's grown back. It's a great aerobic workout, even going slowly, and even in the cool air. I'm mowing in sizable chunks, giving me and our venerable mower plenty of breaks in between. I'm using my breaks to digest more of ee cummings... "my girl's got hard long eyes"...

This Afternoon.
1. Finally, the lawn's mowed. The Garden also received a late afternoon watering, after the sun had gone in behind the thick line of clouds moving in. Apparently, if water droplets are still on the leaves when the sun is out full strength, this can actually burn them. So far, we have three beds watered by soaker hoses, and the rest we're still spray-watering. Hopefully we'll have the remaining beds switched over to soaker hoses before the end of May.

2. I've also cut enough wood to build a second, smaller portion of fence, this time only 4.5' in length (though still 4.5' in height, or so). The shorter span between posts will be stronger, and it's also easier to find fairly straight pieces of "bentwood" 4.5' than 9.0'. I hope to have this up before I come in for the evening. It's nearly 6:00pm now, so I hope to have enough daylight, and energy, remaining.