Nativity of St. John the Baptist

Thursday, June 24, was the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. It is set near the summer solstice much as Christmas is set near the winter solstice. I've heard it described as the days becoming shorter because St. John as the final prophet said, "He must increase, I must decrease." Elizabeth was six months along when the angel of the lord declared unto Mary.

We told Ruth Anne it was Jesus's cousin's birthday. Birthday celebrations, real, or pretend with cakes made of sand are the favorite activity among the nannies and children at the playground. "How are we going to go see him?" she asked "Are we going to walk or take the car?" I explained that he was in heaven and we wouldn't be seeing him, though he could see us. I wanted a carob cake for St. John, who famously subsisted on locusts and wild honey, because the carob tree is related to the honey locust and sounds so much tastier than grasshopper relatives. I didn't pull it together for Thursday but yesterday at the market we got honey and zucchini for carob zucchini cake. Ruth Anne was delighted.