January 30th, 2018

It's been a good day. I was nervous about leaving my bag with Hal all day. Not that I don't trust him, just that I don't often do that. So I spent most of the day and even my time here at Candace's anxious to get it back. My mind was throwing every possible bad situation it could think of for my bag to disappear. I hope I didn't offend Hal with my relief, I tried to hide it by hugging him as though he was who I was waiting for.

I almost got on the wrong bus after I left work. Lost in my thoughts about the bag, I almost got on my bus home on autopilot. But I remembered at the last second, and focused on what I was doing till I got here.

Candace was working on setting the place up for a full shindig when I arrived. I didn't realize this was such a big deal for her. And she was surprised that it wasn't that big a deal for us. She called it "The Festival of Lights," which was odd considering it was for a total lunar eclipse. Either way, I helped decorate while we waited for the others to show up. It was fun, and we were putting candles everywhere. I won't lie, I'm a little worried that we've got a fire hazard on our hands. But the candles won't be lit until during the total eclipse. Sam had delivered a brazer earlier in the day and set it up in back with a fire resistant tarp just for safety.

Part of our preparations was to put together a log to throw on the fire. We ground up some anise seed and almonds, used that to grind up some cabbage and cucumber, and then added olive oil. It looked like a great wet rub when we were done, and smelled pretty strongly. But rather than rubbing it on meat, we rubbed it all over the log. Then we used twine to tie some watercress, five lily's, and a bunch of sandalwood sticks around the log. It's been sitting on the coffee table ever since, "drying."

What's been explained to me is that when the penumbral eclipse begins, we'll start a fire in the brazer. Once the total eclipse begins, we'll throw our prepared log on to burn. Then we'll use the fire to light candles and use our candles to light the candles all around the house. According to Candace, during the total eclipse Selene can visit, and we're lighting the candles to let her know she's welcome.

Max showed up while we were working on that, and she's all sorts of excited to take part. The log we prepared is pretty big and we couldn't lift it alone. It was propped up on the kitchen table so it wouldn't roll away, and we worked around it to get it all done. When Sam got there he seemed pleased and moved it into the living room so we could use the table for dinner.

We knew Hal would be coming directly after his lab, and that he'd want to get to sleep as soon as he could so he could get enough rest. So we all pitched in and helped make dinner. I worked with Candace while Max helped Sam. We made herb and garlic bread, while Sam and Max put together a stew with mushrooms and lamb, parsnips, turnips, carrots, and onions. While that was all cooking then we made ginger bread men while Sam and Max made a fruit salad using a lot of berries. By the time Hal got there the place smelled wonderful, the food was ready to eat and the ginger bread men went into the oven.

We had a fun dinner, even Sam seemed to cheer up and was telling jokes! It couldn't last though because both Hal and Max needed to get to bed. So while they each took a room and settled in for the night, we three cleaned up the kitchen. So now we're just passing the time, which is why I'm writing this. But I am getting tired, I think I'm going to try and curl up with Hal while I can.