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Okay, we won't be going to Border Raids. Corey has to cover at work because one of the other techs is in the army and they called him up.

The weird thing is that I'm not so terribly disappointed.

Of course I am sad that I won't be there to welcome lepidopteragirl into the Herava fold, but other than that I'm slightly relieved. I looked at the weather and it looks to be damp at best, thundershowers at worst. Either of these leaves me in terrible pain lately, so no loss there. For some reason, I'm just not in the mood to pack and travel, when usually I'm all excited about it.

Exercise Post.

30 minutes upper body focus, Yourself fitness.

I got quite a bit of muscle fatigue this time, but I made it. After all the normal shoulder and chest presses, bicep curls and upright rows, she had me do two sets of 50 curls a piece, while alternately standing on one leg! Weird, but it works, lemme tell you. Now I remember why I did so well before with this program. It throws challenges at you all the time, and you get a real sense of accomplishment when you complete them. I am quickly bored with regular exercise DVDs, but this has replay value.

I also did my bellydance drills, here they are again for those keeping score:

32 hip ups (16 each side)
32 hip downs (16 each side)
16 pelvic locks (8 in each direction)
16 chest lifts
16 chest drops
16 chest slides (back and forth)
16 chest circles (8 in each direction)
16 body rolls down
16 body rolls up
16 belly rolls (up and down)
16 umi (8 in each direction)
16 Maya
16 Taxim

about fifteen minutes, so forty-five total. I am beginning to see improvement already in the tightness of my belly, and also the tightness of my moves. I just have to remember that when I try to slack off and not stay on the routine.

Shrine diary.

6/21/06

Today is the summer solstice, the day with the most sunlight and the shortest night. It is a good time to start the process of consecrating the space, but the weather is quite hot, so I waited until late afternoon to start. I washed and said the prayer of ablution (May this water cleanse me, as rain cleanses the air), and then made a sacrifice of incense, milk, olive oil, honey and salt at my lararium, and said the following prayer:

Di Deaeque veneror, qui haec locum colunt, precor quod rem meam
propter quem veni vobis propitie respecta sit.

(You Gods and Goddesses, who cherish this place, reverently I pray
that the purpose for which I have come to this place may be looked
upon favorably by you.)

Then stated my intention:

It is my intention to erect, sanctify, consecrate, and dedicate a
shrine and altars here to Iuppiter Summanus, Neptunus, and Diana.

Then I took all my things outside. It was quite hot, and I had to walk around to the outside of the roped off area, because I decided not to cut the gate until I had favorable signs. I used a compass and marked the directional cross at the middle of the space with baby powder (it works well!), and began to set up my altar to the Penates. I found a rock closest to round that I could, arranged a circle of firewood on it, and used a turtle shell that I had found last year on the land as an offering bowl.



( More behind the cut, with pics. )