November blahs

News item this morning: 17 cm (6.8") of rain has fallen on Vancouver this month. The average is 17.9 cm, but we should exceed it with a 3-day wall of unbroken rain arriving early tomorrow morning and still 5 more days beyond that with expected intermittent rain. The record, incredibly, is 35 cm (14") set 3 years ago.

I should be excited about my impending trip to Oregon for American Thanksgiving, but I still have the blahs. The lack of light is the worst of it. I get out whenever I can, but I usually slump right back into my fug as soon as I get home.

This morning I went to the weekly Faerie Coffee gathering at Cafe a Go-Go, which happens every Sunday a block from my place. It is usually a small group of us who chat for an hour or two. This morning there were only five of us: Aunty Tinkerbell, Rainbow Strongheart, Butterfly Menace, Holly and myself. It wasn't raining, which was a treat, but the skies are darkening again as I write this.

Though it wasn't much of a group this week, I should have my fill of Faeries by this time next week. I work the first two days of the week and then I head down to the Chicken Ranch in Portland with Danzante Caldera Wednesday morning, windshield wipers slapping time all the way.

No further news about the Thanksgiving gathering except that our friend and host Wallowa seems set on a Frank Lloyd Wright-type design for the window he wants me to make for him. More about that when I return.

I realize that the Faerie names I refer to must sound strange to my non-Faerie friends. It's second nature to me now to refer to my friends by their Faerie names. As strange and amusing as they are, they are respected and taken seriously by those who have them and we really do use them.

Faerie names are chosen by their owners, even if they are suggested by someone else. Some, like myself, bring a nickname used in their regular life, or "Muggle" life as some Faeries call it (in reference to Harry Potter), while others spend years with the Faes using only their birth name.

Some name themselves after something from nature they prefer, as Faerie philosophy embraces a reverence for Nature. Examples are flowers or trees, such as Tulip, Cedar, Holly, Manzanita, Chaparral or Tangerine. Others use minerals, such as Onyx or Garnet. Others use combinations, such as Jasmine Amethyst, or add embellishments, such as Juniper Fabulous Forest or Pansy Wyldefyre. Some use animals or spirit names, or refer to spiritual processes or incarnations, such as Full Moon Dancer or Danzante Caldera (dancer in the volcano).

My favourite names are often ones that Canadians choose. Perhaps because we are such a serious nation, the names we choose are often playful or clever, such Ariel Kombat, Butterfly Menace, Morgain Lessloss, Darlene the Ambassador's Wife, Thirsty McBunny, Crystal Shanda-Lear or Celeste E.L.Fyre.

I chose my own name, Luke Warmwater, when I wanted an unlisted telephone number but didn't want to pay extra on top of saving Telus the printing costs. They were fine with listing me under a false name as long as I paid the bill under my legal name. I stuck with it when I became a Faerie because it reminded me not to take myself too seriously. When I was younger I was either too timid or angry (too cold or too hot) to manage life with élan. The name still fits as my goal now is to be comfortable and even-keeled, both for myself and for others, a place of safety and serenity, rather like Goldilocks' proverbial porridge.

I'm sure I'll have more Faerie stories to share when I get home a week from today.