ii march planning guide

 Sweet, sweet March! said no one, ever

Its that time of year friends; actually its 5 days into that time of year as I write this. My apologies for being late, and I hope I haven't messed up your ability to effectively plan your month's activities without the ii March Planning Guide at your fingertips. As today is the 5th, its Wolf, or the Wolf of March, in the generally accepted nomenclature of pretty much nobody but me. But maybe that's changing! 

New and Improved for this year!

This is exciting folks. Not only have we added the days of the week, but we've also highlighted the weekends. That's five full weekends this year in March, so now the ii March Planning Guide is even more useful than it ever was! no way to go but up, amiright

So what are you planning for Saturday, the Horse of March this year? Should be a pretty good one. Sunday the Pig, maybe not as much.

And finally, where else folks are you going to learn that the Snake of March this year--in the Year of the Snake--is on a Saturday! There's your party theme, right there! Sunset is at 6:51 PM in the Boston area that night. Its also the Ides of March, as it is every year, just not as stabby. Now that's a planning guide, brah.

UPDATE: There is a lunar eclipse late tonight, the Bat of March, into Monkey. The penumbral eclipse begins just 3 minutes before midnight, here in the east, or just before 9:00 PM on the west coast. Partially eclipse starts at 1:09 AM on Monkey here, and at 10:09 in Cali. Totality starts at 2:26 AM, here, and 11:26 tonight in the west. Totality goes for about an hour. If you're up late, take a peek! This is what color the moon will be!

MARCH 2025

March 1, Saturday - Lion: Its a good thing it was on a weekend. 4 inches of snow three weeks ago, and its still here!
March 2, Sunday - Tiger: About 11-feet long, they can leap over 30-feet in length.
March 3, Monday - Bear: Its a Monday, of course.
March 4, Tuesday - Shark: Dwarf lantern sharks are the smallest at about 8-inches. That's like... here to here
March 5, Wednesday - Wolf: They don't want to be friends.
March 6, Thursday - Bull: Ole! Looks like rain.
March 7, Friday - Moose: Up to 6 1/2 feet at the shoulder
March 8, Saturday - Eagle: America! Turn your clock ahead tonight
March 9, Sunday - Scorpion: Sunny but cool. Like a bug with sunglasses?
March 10, Monday - Dingo: Dogs that returned to their origins
March 11, Tuesday - Hawk: We have about 7 hawk types in Massachusetts. Skinny Accipiters & chubby Buteos
March 12, Wednesday - Lynx: Not the same as a bobcat, but similar.
March 13, Thursday - Bat: Hang a bat house!
March 14, Friday - Monkey: New world monkeys have prehensile tails. African & Asian monkeys don't. HBD Coleen!
March 15, Saturday - Snake: The Snake of March, on the Ides of March, in the Year of the Snake!? Dude! PARTY!
March 16, Sunday - Ox: Yep, just a trained cow.
March 17, Monday - Elephant: Green elephants for St. Patricks Day?
March 18, Tuesday - Raven: They still keep ravens in the Tower of London
March 19, Wednesday - Stag: Symbolic of many things from nobility to Christ trampling the devil.
March 20, Thursday - Crab: Sidewids walkin' sea bug. First day of spring! Equinox at 5:01 AM in the Boston area
March 2, Friday1 - Goat: Symbol for practical wisdom and diplomacy. And, you know, satan.
March 22, Saturday - Horse: Spanish horses were introduced to the American Continent in the 1500s.
March 23, Sunday - Pig: Thars mud in yer sty, varmint!
March 24, Monday - Dog: You have a dog? OMG, I have a dog too!
March 25, Tuesday - Dolphin: Dolphins have a snout. Porpoises are like small whales.
March 26, Wednesday - Rooster: One rooster for every ten hens is the rule. Harem say what?
March 27, Thursday - Turtle: All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises. Tortoise = just on land.
March 28, Friday - Toad: Frogs got thin, slippery skin. Toads have thick, lumpy skin to hold in moisture.
March 29, Saturday - Robin: "In flew a sea robin (la!)". Yeah, that's not it.
March 30, Sunday - Rabbit: We have New England Cottontail rabbits here AND snowshoe hares. Similar. HBD Kelton!
March 31, Monday - Lamb: Useful for socks, hats, and BBQ.

 

 

 

mists of avalon

I just finished The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I think it took me a month; this book is a monster. 876 pages in this Del Rey paperback fantasy from the 80s. This story definitely has some legs--it was made into a television movie with Anjelica Houston and Julianna Margulies in 2001--as it re-imagines the Arthur story from the point of view of the women in the story.

Bradley pulls the Lady of the Lake out of the water, and sets her on the ground, albeit, near the lake, and tells her story, as well as the stories of Gwenwyfar (Guinevere), Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), their sisters, mothers, daughters, and ladies in waiting. Arthur, Lancelot, Sir Gawaine, and the other knights of the round table are more like arm candy in this story, driven by not only their will to do what they feel is best for their newly emerging kingdom in England, but what they are driven to do by their love for, or obligations to, these strong willed and proud women.

Bradley takes many of her clues from historical facts, such as Druidism, and other early religions in the British isles, and popular theories of matriarchal societies in early Celtic traditions, to anchor the story more to reality, resulting in a book that reads more like historical fiction than the archetype mythical story of male-dominated chivalry. Throughout the narrative runs the thread of the struggle between the Roman Catholic Church (in the form of Bishop Patricus) and the Druidism and paganism of the time, which was being driven out, and with it: man's ability to access the Isle of Avalon. An island which exists and is as real as any other, but only to those who believe that it can. Avalon, like the religion it is home to, and the very goddess they worship, slowly fades into the mist as believers lose their faith in its reality. And isn't that what happens to all religions that lose its followers?

This one was fun, well thought out and done with a fresh viewpoint that I think anyone who is tired of the male-centric stories of this era would enjoy.

4h and saint patrick

Hey, its Saint Patrick's Day! O'Brien...right? The patron Saint and all that. The 4-H bookmark was the closest thing I had, but nice nonetheless. I got this marker out in western Mass at a library. It was put out by UMass Amherst Extension, and the web address they give is for the Massachusetts 4-H, which is based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

According to the web site: "Massachusetts 4-H is a youth development program open to all young people ages 5 through 18 throughout the Commonwealth. It is part of a nationwide system connected to each land-grant institution of higher education and as such, has access to a wealth of resources and curriculum." Kids learn by doing, in non-formal educational settings. Sounds good.

As far as the holiday, the stories about Patrick are a little murky, but I guess that's to be expected for something that happened around 400 CE. His story also seems to have been wound up with a bishop sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine I around 430, called Palladius. This may be due to the similarity of their names, but I'm guessing. In Latin--which was a popular language for writing around then--Saint Patrick is Sanctus Patricius. Sounds close, but maybe I'm crazy.

I think Patrick, who was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave at 16, and then returned to help spread the word of Christianity to the Irish after he was ordained--he escaped and went back to his family in England--did do a lot for the cause in Ireland, but I don't think it was him that drove the snakes out. I think the sea kept the snakes from moving in.

But what the hell. Éirinn go brách! and have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Hats off and three cheers for The O'Brien, Conor Myles John O'Brien, Chief of the Name, 18th Baron Inchiquin and Prince of Thomond, and to his family.