Happy Summer Solstice!

Happy Summer Solstice everyone!

I went out and bought some new flowers to celebrate (I will post pictures of the dahlia when it opens :)

Thought I'd share my painting of the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu. I'm smitten by her story and the relationship between her and the goddess Uzume, This story of laughter and joy bringing Amaterasu out of the darkness after all the other gods had failed is so inspiring. Laughter is the best medicine it seems, even for the the gods :)

from pantheon.org

When the sun goddess Amaterasu had hidden herself in a cave, thus covering the earth in darkness and infertility, it was Uzume (Shinto goddess of joy) who brought her back. With her provoking and curlew dances she managed to make the gods laugh so hard, that Amaterasu left the cave intrigued. Her emerging brought light and life back to earth. Her brother Ninigi married Uzume to the deity who guards the Floating Bridge to Heaven.

ghost tour

The ghost tour of St. Augustine was great fun, we visited the Military Hospital, Oldest Drugstore, and the Jail. Our ghostly tour guides were wonderfully macabre and delivered the tour with great relish. I did get a bit spooked locked in the old jail house in the dark!
Many of the ghost tales were more gross than ghost and served to make us all very glad to be around in this century!
I still can't believe my youngest wanted to go and didn't get a bit scared!
We got back home last night, and I missed my little dog and of course my studio. Strangely I missed the green of my backyard. Its become quite lush and bit overgrown, we now have turtles wandering about :) I can be such a homebody!

*shiver*

Reporting from the shores of St. Augustine where we will be leaving for a ghost tour in about one hour. On the Ghosts and Gravestones Trolley Can you believe this was my 12 year old daughters idea? I'm a little nervous, I hope they don't have people jumping out at us! I'm a big chicken about that sort of spooky! However I do hope to visit the graveyard, and I'm more than a bit nervous about visiting the military hospital!

Wish us luck!