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Salem, Shopping, and Summer Solstice
Jun. 23rd, 2003 07:44 amWhew! Where to begin? Okay...here goes. Yesterday we met our friends Marty and Jess at North Station in Boston and took the commuter rail to Salem for a daytrip/getaway/supply run. We met them through Don's work as Marty is every bit the sweet geek with a dark, twisted sense of humor that Don is, :-). As we journeyed toward the Witchy City we enjoyed lively conversation with one hot topic being the imminent decision here in Massachusetts as to the legality of continuing to deny equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians. More on that topic in another post. Arriving in Salem, we disembarked and made our way across the rain-drenched town to our fisrt stop of the day: The Front Street Cafe. This place was perfect for our purposes as they provide great food and drink quite inexpensively and in an ambience of musical and artistic expression which tend to be crowd pleasers. Regularly featured are the painted works of local artists with many if not most being for sale there in the cafe. Marty and Jess soaked up the experience with particular pleasure on Jess's part as she is an artist herself. From there we proceeded to the main event of the day: a visit to the newly opened wing of the Peabody Essex Museum. With it being the grand opening, admission was free and so everyone and their mother, best friend, lawyer, next-door-neighbor, grandma, and dog was there. We really wanted to get in to see the Chinese house which had been taken apart in China and rebuilt at the Museum but the wait was entirely too long so we satisfied ourselves with many of the other wondrous exhibits available for viewing. Above all, the new wing with its overarching and elegant architecture is just too grand for words. Suffice it to say we were in awe. Finally, after reaching our crowd saturation point, we ventured onward to our usual shopping hot spots for the various things which we are so essential to a couple of gay Witchy boys like us, :-). Speaking of gay and Witchy, one great item we bought was a signed copy of Christopher Penczak's "Gay Witchcraft: Empowering The Tribe." We have wanted it for some time and to find it, signed by the author, was simply too much to resist. For anyone interested, the book can be reviewed here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1578632811/qid=1056368595/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-4216939-8879369?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Also, courtesy of the store where we bought the book, Don and I now have matching pentacle rings...something which never even crossed our minds until first he and then I found and bought them. *big contented sigh* Aren't the simple pleasures in life just grand? One stop we made turned out to be far more fruitful than we had counted on. A shop called Gourmet Fare, where we were introduced originally by our Salem friends, Mike and Stephanie, was right across from Artemisia, our favorite herb and tea shop. So we braved the downpour and the next thing we knew, one of the owners was busily bringing out every food offereing she could think of for us to sample while filling our ears with ideas for our wedding reception catering and location. We listened as a rapt audience as she offered these delicious tibits of food and information and left with frozen gourmet dinners for the evening ahead and our minds abuzz with fresh new thoughts around the wedding and reception. Talk about psyched! Finally, we made one last stop at the Front Street Cafe...reveling in our new purchases before catching the train home. Upon parting from Marty and Jess, we hurried home and prepared ourselves and everything else for the Mid Summer celebration. Ritual was incredible and we enjoyed it fully as we bid the waxing year farewell and looked forward to the waning year ahead. We are so happy to be able to fully participate together this Path in which we continue to discover new ways of celebration and growth! All in all, we had such a great day in spite of the drenching rain. Even that could not dampen the Fire of celebration burning brightly in our hearts!
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1578632811/qid=1056368595/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/102-4216939-8879369?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
Also, courtesy of the store where we bought the book, Don and I now have matching pentacle rings...something which never even crossed our minds until first he and then I found and bought them. *big contented sigh* Aren't the simple pleasures in life just grand? One stop we made turned out to be far more fruitful than we had counted on. A shop called Gourmet Fare, where we were introduced originally by our Salem friends, Mike and Stephanie, was right across from Artemisia, our favorite herb and tea shop. So we braved the downpour and the next thing we knew, one of the owners was busily bringing out every food offereing she could think of for us to sample while filling our ears with ideas for our wedding reception catering and location. We listened as a rapt audience as she offered these delicious tibits of food and information and left with frozen gourmet dinners for the evening ahead and our minds abuzz with fresh new thoughts around the wedding and reception. Talk about psyched! Finally, we made one last stop at the Front Street Cafe...reveling in our new purchases before catching the train home. Upon parting from Marty and Jess, we hurried home and prepared ourselves and everything else for the Mid Summer celebration. Ritual was incredible and we enjoyed it fully as we bid the waxing year farewell and looked forward to the waning year ahead. We are so happy to be able to fully participate together this Path in which we continue to discover new ways of celebration and growth! All in all, we had such a great day in spite of the drenching rain. Even that could not dampen the Fire of celebration burning brightly in our hearts!
