we here at weyland-yutani corporation would like to wish a happy pride month to all of our lgbtq+ colonists on lv-426

Via JWZ and ourselves just seeing the Y in the corporate logo for the first time, we are rather enjoying this show of corporate solidarity from villainous, fictitious companies including Umbrella Corporation, Tyrell and Cyberdyne Systems, makers of Skynet.  No official statements yet from their real world counterparts regarding Pride Month and often fleeting and hollow-ringing shows of support irrespective of however a person might identify themselves or whatever association is foisted on them.  

overnighter: fränkische weinorte

H and I took a drive in familiar territory through the vineyards of Franconia in the Main River valley between Kitzigen and Schweinfurt, taking a couple of ferries that crossed the winding Main as it coursed through the hills and came to the storied vineyard there where we had previously been treated to a wine-tasting tour, after a visit of the town of Volkach with an ensemble of medieval buildings in its walked centre. 

Next we marvelled at the Mainschleife—a closed bend technically but a way to describe a river form with sinuous curves, otherwise a Mäander, Meander, from the vantage point of the Vogelsberg, a small retreat and gastronomy at the top of a promontory. 

 

 

Fording the river with another ferry, we stopped next in the village of Escherndorf—another spot full of character and vintners plus a wedding chapel with a grotto on a hill overlooking the settlement below dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes, built after a Franciscan nun from Volkach made a pilgrimage there and returned with a keepsake, with the support of the original community on the Franco-Spanish border in the Pyrenees. Instead of the usual Stations of the Cross, the path up to the chapel was lined with decorated wine barrels and there was a giant cast that could be loaned out as a tiny party room, complete with coolers for the wine. 

Next we left for our last stop on the Weininseln, the Wine Islands with the village Sommerach, not only known for the viticulture and area monopoly for the Cloister Schwarzach (previously, which we didn’t visit this time around due to a dramatic shift in the weather) but also for the unique character of the estuaries and their protected status as nature reserves. 

Staying at a pitch just outside of one of the more famous wine-producers, regionally known for its Silvaner, I needed to self-administer my first COVID Schnelltests, letting it rest on the floorboard until we were sure it was negative—something unexpected but that I was happy to do to keep us all happy campers. We explored Sommerach some more, which was in the process of reopening itself and everyone was wonderfully day-drunk—last time we visited, it was ill-timed in the middle of their wine fest, a very serious and well-attended undertaking. 

The central part of the Old Town, flanked with cafes and wine-sellers was the church of Saint Eucharius and the monumental fountain featuring the archangel Michael—not Saint George—slaying a dragon. Returning to the campgrounds, we explored the shoreline and encountered a gaggle of strange ducks.

While I had noticed the odd tall—or long duck before, seeing them act as a group, not waddling but marching double-quick time headlong, H and I were amused and a little confused—learning later that this particular breed of mostly flightless, mostly quackless ducks are called Laufente, Indian Runner Ducks (possibly from Jakarta—see also—but no one really knows their origin, bred to be walked to market), which while prolific egg-layers don’t possess the instinct to nest or rear their young and so have to be watched over by their caretakers.

centaurea nervosa

Though no peonies or poppies (though our late-bloomers might be inspired by these) in the garden just yet, we’ve got quite a nice spread of these thistle-like plants that sprout at the edge of the deck in late spring. Called less charitably knapweed, Flockenblumen or bluets are commonly known as centaury in deference to the centaur Chiron who taught medicinal use of plants to human though Achilles, Aeneas, Asclepius and other Greek heroes. Ranging widely in colour from yellow to purple, the ornamental plant native to the Alps is the source of the colour cornflower blue and is useful alongside agricultural crops as a more appetising food source for insects. The bumblebees and other pollinators absolutely adore them and we are pretty partial to them as well. 

 

your daily demon: zepar

Ruling from today through 10 June, this sixteenth spirit is an infernal grand duke with sway over twenty-six legion of subordinates, Zepar presents as a soldier in a red uniform. His office is to engender romance between individuals but can also frustrate with infertility and impotance. Zepar is opposed by the corresponding Shem HaMephorash angel Hakamiah, under the leadership of archangel Jophiel, non-canonical though this “spy-of-God” is said to be the one that cast out Adam and Eve and guards Paradise.

funky elbows

We really had fun reading this long, informative and enthusiastic article from the Gannet wire service about how success on the dancefloor is not about learning steps or certain moves but about attitude and the way one carries oneself with a series of ten choreographed motions and gestures including the shoulder twist and shoulder sniff and the dolphin roll. This is empowering advice and we appreciated the viewing recommendation from the Charlie Brown Players’ School of Dance as well. More disco lessons from Weird Universe at the link above.

toponymy

Via Web Curios (a lot more to see here), we are presented with this sophisticated name generator, which draws from a randomised list of English place-names—suburban area, villages, hamlets (see previously)—to suggest an ideal company name for one’s venture or concern. Barcheston Moneystone, LLP. Play with the toggle buttons and let us know the name of your next partnership.

vitae bonifatius

Feted on this day on the occasion of his martyrdom (*675) on this day in 754 near Dokkum in Friesland, Boniface, from the Devon village of Crediton, was a leading figure of the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Frankish Empire and whose influence, reforms and alliances-including the union of the papacy with the Carolingian dynasty and the successor transnational organisations, like the Holy and Roman Empire of the Germans and the EU, and is celebrated as a missionary and uniter and peace-maker, the Apostle to the Germans acclaimed almost immediately after his death as patron of the country and Fulda, his major shrine. The basilica minor is not far away from the modern day town of Fritzlar where Boniface reportedly, dramatically chopped down the Donar Oak (considered sacred to Jupiter through interpretatio romana) to illustrate that no punishment would be meted out for this perceived desecration and went on to build a chapel dedicated to Saint Peter from the lumber. Winning converts, Boniface encouraged widespread destruction of pagan sites, especially sacred groves. Though probably only an inventive story, the saint is sometimes credited with the invention of the Christmas tree as a way to coopt and supplant native customs. Boniface and his retinue were killed by highway robbers en route to Frisia, hoping to find more followers in the north, their attackers sorely disappointed to find only books and manuscripts instead of treasure.

the morbidity and mortality weekly report

In a bulletin published on this day in 1981 by the US health authority, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, five individuals in Los Angeles are reported to be suffering from a rare form of opportunistic pneumonia that only occurs in people with a compromised immune system. Though first appearing in an article in the homosexual publication the New York Native a couple of weeks prior describing the other comorbidity of Kaposi's sarcoma with warnings directed towards the CDC of a “gay cancer” the five were considered to be the first clinically diagnosed with what became known as AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Before settling on the above, accepted naming-convention, the disease was usually referred to its associated pathologies or by the acronym GRID—gay-related immune deficiency, or the even worse “4-H disease” with affected communities seemingly confined to heroin-users, homosexuals, haemophiliacs and Haitians—both dropped once it was shown that the disease was not isolated to any one group, though the stigma and discrimination endures. Approaching forty million live with AIDS and at least thirty-five million have died from it since the discovery.