Today is Summer Solstice. Sunrise this morning was at 0521, where it has been for the last 10 days. Sunset will be at 2103, the latest of the year. That makes the day 15 hours and 42 minutes from sunrise to sunset here in Portland, Oregon. Soon the days will begin to shorten by a few minutes a day, Autumn is just around the corner. Though we, in this part of the world, tend to call today the first day of summer, many cultures called today midsummer, the middle point of summer, with May Day being thought of as the start of summer. This thinking was of course popular in the days of Shakespeare, thus his entertaining play, “A Midsummers Night Dream.”

Last Sunday was Father’s Day. It started with good wishes from my oldest son at 6.43am, we are both early risers. Later that day we met up with Alexis and Joe at the Portland Book & Paper Fair, held at the Lloyd’s Center Doubletree. It was a delightful gathering of used and rare book sellers which attracted us book nerds. I came away with two gifts.

Many of us have stories attached to the names we carry. Me? I was named after a popular comic strip character that ran from 1934 to 1973 – “Terry and The Pirates,” the adventures of a young lad who grew up to be Terry Lee, a member of a flight crew in WW2. Tricia checked the comic book stalls at the book fair, no luck, then they found a stall selling these old children’s books, and sure enough, there was Terry Lee. Alexis and Joe got it for me for Father’s Day, thank you so much.

The big treasure from the day was what Tricia found for me at Desert Wind rare books, a seller from Reno Nevada. It is the Exodus 26 page from a 1597 edition of the Geneva Bible – this is truly a new prized possession.

The Geneva Bible was one of the first popular English translations, produced by Protestants who had fled Queen Mary Tudor and settled in Geneva. This was the Bible quoted by Shakespeare, and carried with the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower. The King James Version of 1611 would draw heavily from the Geneva translation. I will treasure this bit of the past.

This was not a busy week for art though. I did do a small oil painting that I posted in my Tuesday post, and a couple of others done with procreate.

Neville has made it to Lac des Corbeaux (Lake of the Crows) – this fantasy world I seem to be developing. Is his eye on the crow or the mysterious lady in la manteau rouge?

A new art endeavor for me is fantasy mapmaking, which I am truly enjoying. Here is a project in progress, I will post more as it develops. Lac des Corbeaux is a lake in Les Eaux des Traîtres (The Waters of the Traiters).

My mapmaking started when Tricia asked for maps to use in her blogs, thank you so much. This week she is blogging on The Columbia River Gorge, one of the most amazing places in all the world.

In these days of crazy and fear in the world, I find comfort in weeks like this one. What a journey, from a 1597 Bible, to a WW2 comic hero, to a fantasy world in my mind, who says we can’t travel without leaving home? Throw in some time with friends and family, and a bit of good food and it truly is notre grande aventure. I hope you are finding ways to travel wherever you may be.

Thanks as always for following, it means so much.