Little Chestnuts

1. This past week it finally began feeling like autumn in Philadelphia. Ninety degree days replaced by 40 degree nights; damp, grey, and chilling or crystalline sunshine with crisp air. The feel of fall and my time being siphoned to moving house together account for the nature bits cropping up in recent yonis.
   
2. The internet is helpful until it's not. How's that for profound? Trying to identify the husks used in Yoni # 31 was frustrating. The same photos, with the same URLs, were returned by searches for American chestnut, horse chestnut, and buckeye. So which is it? I'm still not certain if horse chestnuts and buckeyes are the same thing or different species altogether. Anyone know? The internet says both, that horse chestnut and buckeye are the same tree by different names and that they are two unique trees. Sadly, I am certain the husks I found are not from the rare American chestnut. I was really excited for them to be. The scientific name for the American chestnut is Castanea dentata. For those of you not intimate with the inner workings of my brain, it immediately goes to vagina dentata. You know my hunt for American chestnut husks is now official.
   
3. Since I've taken us to the precipice of the slippery slope of irreverence with vagina dentata, I may as well share my pet names for the Year of Yoni project. First of all, given their smallish size and wool base, I imagine them as merit badges. Or badges of honor. I thought of each one as a vag badge - until I looked up "vag badge" on the internet. Ick. I hereby co-opt the term vag badge to mean recognition, respect, and reverence for the feminine creative power; body positivity; and a cheeky f*ck you to the repressiveness of our insidious patriarchal culture.
   
4.  My other pet name for Year of Yoni is Bony Joanie Maroni and the Sacred Yoni. I could be mistaken, but the way I remember it is my mother made up this silly name for her sister Joan. Well, the Bony Joanie Maroni part of the name. In some ways Joan was the quintessential Victorian spinster aunt. In other ways she was quite adventuresome and feisty. I've adopted the pet title for my Magic of Myth course assignment this month to create my own myth. I'm not sure what the plot will be, but the title is just too damn fun to remain in the dark.