![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Blar! I wrote a lot of this entry already, then somehow managed to confuse myself while I was attempting to multi-task, and closed the window. Fuck.
Anyway, so what did we do yesterday you ask? Because the weather had been so nice, I wanted to take a day trip somewhere. We batted ideas around, and hub suggested Longhorn Caverns. I looked them up, and they were close to a river cruise, but it started at 11am so would have had to leave right away to get there on time. There was a brief flurry of activity, but then I called to see if I should make a reservation, and they said they had canceled the cruise for the day. Boo! Then hub said we should save the cavern trip for a day when it's so unbearably hot it will be extra-nice to go into a cool cave. There will be plenty of those in Texas, so we tabled that idea for now.
Other options mentioned were Hamilton Pool, McKinney Falls, and Hersh's place. Hersh is one of our local Trad elders, and he is an expert on all things incense, soap, and oil. He has a thriving business, and I hadn't seen him in awhile so I though it's be nice to drop by, get some incense, and catch up. Then maybe hit McKinney Falls after which wasn't too far off.
So off we went. Hersh lives in Buecsher State Park. It was over 50 miles from our doorstep to his. The weather was nice but already getting warm- as I drove past some car dealerships on the way out of town I looked at the obligatory huge flags they always seem to have, and noticed a strong wind from the south. No more cold front. Waah. Anyway, so we drive through most of Austin, then out east, through Bastrop, and almost to Smithville. We turned off and went to the park road, then I looked for his place. I hadn't been in awhile, and he changed the entrance a bit so I missed it the first time. But then I found it and we pulled our bikes as far off the road as we could. His driveway wasn't paved and I didn't trust being able to maneuver the massive Goldwing on a dirt road well enough. We hiked down to his house. He was busy working on a batch of pine tar soap, which requires you to work fast because it sets in 28 seconds. This was one of about a zillion facts and stories that he told us. Since he was busy, we walked down to his circle site. It looks like it hasn't been used in months- my group holds outdoor rituals at River's place which is a lot closer, and my mother group disbanded. His daughter is a solitary, but she's out of town at various ren-faires selling the soap and incense. As to why he doesn't use it- I dunno. I get the impression that he's one of those types that lives and breathes magick, and is sort of in a constant altered state so it would be almost redundant, but who knows. I walked right into a 4-foot spider web on the way down, which scared the crap out of me initially. I nearly ran into, but managed to avoid another 2 webs. The second had the spider sitting right in the middle of it, snacking on something. It's body was about the size of a quarter.
We sat on the bench right outside of the circle and just chilled and listened to all the nature. Many birds, many bugs, the wind flowing through the tree tops. Smithville and Buescher are in an area called the 'lost pines'- similar to the piney woods in the eastern part of the state, but it's just a small isolated strand hundreds of miles away. Odie the dog and Sid (short for Obsidian) the cat accompanied us wherever we went. Sid was caught in a fire awhile back, and his ears were badly scarred. He still had ears, fortunately, but the top third was burned off so they looked a little stubby- I thought it was sort of cute, almost. He was very friendly and kept bonking us with his head and purring.
We hiked back up, and the pine tar soap was done. He showed us all around the land, pointing out plants, talking about the weather, and the spiders and speculating about what kind they were. He introduced us to 5 horses. I never went through a horse phase when I was a kid (I was more into carnivores, go figure) but it was fun to meet them, and see how they expressed their distinct personalities. I worried a bit that they'd step on me but they were careful. I didn't know how they liked to be touched around the head, so I just ran my hands down their sides, as if I were brushing them, which they seemed to enjoy. One even bonked me with his head like a cat when I stopped, and almost knocked me over because I had turned away and wasn't expecting it. That was neat.
I picked up some incense and he weighed it out- .350 kilo for $17.50, the family price. I got the following (in stick form):
tangerine and watermelon, both for happiness
musk for woodsy erotic energy
copal for Sun energy
blue roses, a combination of rose and rosemary, which is a good study incense for me
carnation, for love and energy
vanilla, because it smells like cookies
And he gave me two samplers (one of each kind of incense he makes) because they had fallen on the ground and gotten stained. Yay!
He got a business phone call then, and got into a long conversation. We stood around for awhile but I got anxious and mosquitoes decided to start attacking me all of a sudden, so we made our goodbyes and took off. By then it was past 2pm, and hotter than hell, and we were both tired so we decided to go home. We stopped at the McDonald's in Bastrop. It was pretty empty until a van load of mental patients pulled up. We finished up quickly and headed home, exhausted.
Once again I forgot I was caucasian and discovered that the Sun burns my skin. My forearms and about an inch up my elbow, plus the backs of my hands are a painful bright red. I look like a farmer. Hub wears his armored motorcycle jacket religiously so he escaped the effects, but he has a skin tone that tans more than burns anyway. I've been popping aspirin and slathering on aloe since we got home, but I still feel foolish.
That evening we ate at La Morada, a little place nearby that is in a strip mall so we've sort of avoided it. It's really pretty tasty though, so we'll probably go again. We took a little tax refund money and headed over to Fry's, where hub got some skateboarding video game and I picked out a couple of dvds to watch. Then a frustrated friend called and wanted help installing a new printer, which was easy and made the friend very happy! Home again, watched one dvd, and crashed.
Today is undignified medical procedures (mmammmmogram, and pelvic ultrasound). I can't use deodorant, and I have to drink half a gallon of water before I go in. I have a very small bladder, so this will probably be very unpleasant. I at least got the OK from anaesthesiologist stepmom to take a valium before I go in- I think it will make things more pleasant for everyone involved. Then, off to see the new Star Wars movie! I'll tell ya if it's any good.
Anyway, so what did we do yesterday you ask? Because the weather had been so nice, I wanted to take a day trip somewhere. We batted ideas around, and hub suggested Longhorn Caverns. I looked them up, and they were close to a river cruise, but it started at 11am so would have had to leave right away to get there on time. There was a brief flurry of activity, but then I called to see if I should make a reservation, and they said they had canceled the cruise for the day. Boo! Then hub said we should save the cavern trip for a day when it's so unbearably hot it will be extra-nice to go into a cool cave. There will be plenty of those in Texas, so we tabled that idea for now.
Other options mentioned were Hamilton Pool, McKinney Falls, and Hersh's place. Hersh is one of our local Trad elders, and he is an expert on all things incense, soap, and oil. He has a thriving business, and I hadn't seen him in awhile so I though it's be nice to drop by, get some incense, and catch up. Then maybe hit McKinney Falls after which wasn't too far off.
So off we went. Hersh lives in Buecsher State Park. It was over 50 miles from our doorstep to his. The weather was nice but already getting warm- as I drove past some car dealerships on the way out of town I looked at the obligatory huge flags they always seem to have, and noticed a strong wind from the south. No more cold front. Waah. Anyway, so we drive through most of Austin, then out east, through Bastrop, and almost to Smithville. We turned off and went to the park road, then I looked for his place. I hadn't been in awhile, and he changed the entrance a bit so I missed it the first time. But then I found it and we pulled our bikes as far off the road as we could. His driveway wasn't paved and I didn't trust being able to maneuver the massive Goldwing on a dirt road well enough. We hiked down to his house. He was busy working on a batch of pine tar soap, which requires you to work fast because it sets in 28 seconds. This was one of about a zillion facts and stories that he told us. Since he was busy, we walked down to his circle site. It looks like it hasn't been used in months- my group holds outdoor rituals at River's place which is a lot closer, and my mother group disbanded. His daughter is a solitary, but she's out of town at various ren-faires selling the soap and incense. As to why he doesn't use it- I dunno. I get the impression that he's one of those types that lives and breathes magick, and is sort of in a constant altered state so it would be almost redundant, but who knows. I walked right into a 4-foot spider web on the way down, which scared the crap out of me initially. I nearly ran into, but managed to avoid another 2 webs. The second had the spider sitting right in the middle of it, snacking on something. It's body was about the size of a quarter.
We sat on the bench right outside of the circle and just chilled and listened to all the nature. Many birds, many bugs, the wind flowing through the tree tops. Smithville and Buescher are in an area called the 'lost pines'- similar to the piney woods in the eastern part of the state, but it's just a small isolated strand hundreds of miles away. Odie the dog and Sid (short for Obsidian) the cat accompanied us wherever we went. Sid was caught in a fire awhile back, and his ears were badly scarred. He still had ears, fortunately, but the top third was burned off so they looked a little stubby- I thought it was sort of cute, almost. He was very friendly and kept bonking us with his head and purring.
We hiked back up, and the pine tar soap was done. He showed us all around the land, pointing out plants, talking about the weather, and the spiders and speculating about what kind they were. He introduced us to 5 horses. I never went through a horse phase when I was a kid (I was more into carnivores, go figure) but it was fun to meet them, and see how they expressed their distinct personalities. I worried a bit that they'd step on me but they were careful. I didn't know how they liked to be touched around the head, so I just ran my hands down their sides, as if I were brushing them, which they seemed to enjoy. One even bonked me with his head like a cat when I stopped, and almost knocked me over because I had turned away and wasn't expecting it. That was neat.
I picked up some incense and he weighed it out- .350 kilo for $17.50, the family price. I got the following (in stick form):
tangerine and watermelon, both for happiness
musk for woodsy erotic energy
copal for Sun energy
blue roses, a combination of rose and rosemary, which is a good study incense for me
carnation, for love and energy
vanilla, because it smells like cookies
And he gave me two samplers (one of each kind of incense he makes) because they had fallen on the ground and gotten stained. Yay!
He got a business phone call then, and got into a long conversation. We stood around for awhile but I got anxious and mosquitoes decided to start attacking me all of a sudden, so we made our goodbyes and took off. By then it was past 2pm, and hotter than hell, and we were both tired so we decided to go home. We stopped at the McDonald's in Bastrop. It was pretty empty until a van load of mental patients pulled up. We finished up quickly and headed home, exhausted.
Once again I forgot I was caucasian and discovered that the Sun burns my skin. My forearms and about an inch up my elbow, plus the backs of my hands are a painful bright red. I look like a farmer. Hub wears his armored motorcycle jacket religiously so he escaped the effects, but he has a skin tone that tans more than burns anyway. I've been popping aspirin and slathering on aloe since we got home, but I still feel foolish.
That evening we ate at La Morada, a little place nearby that is in a strip mall so we've sort of avoided it. It's really pretty tasty though, so we'll probably go again. We took a little tax refund money and headed over to Fry's, where hub got some skateboarding video game and I picked out a couple of dvds to watch. Then a frustrated friend called and wanted help installing a new printer, which was easy and made the friend very happy! Home again, watched one dvd, and crashed.
Today is undignified medical procedures (mmammmmogram, and pelvic ultrasound). I can't use deodorant, and I have to drink half a gallon of water before I go in. I have a very small bladder, so this will probably be very unpleasant. I at least got the OK from anaesthesiologist stepmom to take a valium before I go in- I think it will make things more pleasant for everyone involved. Then, off to see the new Star Wars movie! I'll tell ya if it's any good.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
:::hug:::
Date: May. 16th, 2002 02:13 pm (UTC)From:Is your elder's daughter in CA right now, by any chance? we have some pretty good places at my Faire, but I'll buy some stuff from her if she's working my faire :::grin:::
Re: :::hug:::
Date: May. 17th, 2002 09:51 am (UTC)From:It seems that one or another of them is at some faire all year long, but I think they mostly stick to Texas faires (we have tons of 'em); anyway it's called Devonshire, and her name is Keridwyn. She has long red hair and a gap between her 2 front teeth.