Lunar Datebook

Episode 103—Autumnal Equinox, 2019

As the yearly wheel spins towards Fall, Lunar Datebook looks at beginnings and endings. Host Jennifer Ellsworth shares an essay about the rite of passage that begins many love affairs, the first kiss; and a memoir about her farming days now ended. Or are they? 

My Two First Kisses, a walk in the vineyard, and a good drink in good company. 

Episode 102—Winter 2019

After sixteen years working for the Chase family, host Jennifer Ellsworth is moving on to see what else is out there. But first she offers lessons learned and experiences gained from the restaurant and farm. 

How to Host, the World's Best Bean Picker, and the Last Saturday Breakfast at Chase's Daily.

Episode 101—Autumn 2018

Moving blood. This is the clinical definition of life as we know it—a beating heart, circulating oxygen rich blood through the body. It is also the evolutionary end game. Reproduction. Moving our bloodline forward. And a metaphor for inheritance. These themes converge in this season's episode. Host Jennifer Ellsworth interviews dancer Shana Bloomstein, founder of Women's Works, about a piece she created with her daughter. And we read a short story about a gift passed down, called “Obedience.”

"...Obedience was only 12 years old, yet it had aged well, already taking on the gnarled bark of a much older specimen. A middle-aged bonsai achievement in a short span. This was why Jacob’s father won prizes. He aged his plants well..."

Essential form in bonsai and life and holding our babies again.

Episode 100—August 11, 2018

Welcome to A Lunar Datebook Production's dramatic finish of Eddie Wonders Why, a radio play based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex, where the king who loses everything becomes a mafia lord. 

Act 2 features Sean Cash, Dr. Liz Yori, Bill Yori, Marsha Coller, Eric Robotaille, Jeremiah Kemberling, and Erik Perkins. 

Moon Astrology: New Apple Moon in Leo: Bask in the sun. 

Episode 99—July 12, 2018

Welcome to A Lunar Datebook Production of Eddie Wonders Why, a radio play based on Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex, where the king who loses everything becomes a modern mafia lord. 

Act 1 cast features Sean Cash, Bill Yori, Erik Perkins, Eric Robotaille, and Liz Yori, N.D. 

Moon Astrology: New Thunder Moon in Cancer: family is everything.

Episode 98—June 13, 2018

As host Jennifer Ellsworth contemplates sending her firstborn to kindergarten, she interviews two Maine public educators: Don Schultz, one year out of teaching, and Danny Lobo, one year in. 

Moon Astrology: New Herb Moon in Gemini: twin tales. 

A big pond with different fish, a snort for emphasis, and one question you can't Google. 

Episode 97—May 15, 2018

Gorgeous spring has sprung and with it competing interests. Host Jennifer Ellsworth tells the history of the Gemini constellation, and shares the lessons the twins Castor and Pollux have about time management. She also reads an essay about the two sides of her own personality and reads a short story about a different sort of twin, an imaginary friend. It's called "Amen."

"...Amen comes every night after my prayers. He comes in through the window and walks across my floors picking up my broken pieces. When he has gathered them all up, we try to put me back together while he tells me stories. Amen tells the best stories..."

Moon Astrology: New Dandelion Moon in Taurus: From the ground up. 

Swan seduction, gluten-eating orgy, and a river of dreams. 

Episode 96—April 15, 2018

May the Force be with you.... Host Jennifer Ellsworth waxes philosophical about where Star Wars, science and religion collide. She also shares Sean Cash's two cents on "instant karma," and reads a poem about living in the moment. 

Moon Astrology: New Grass Moon in Aries: Nothing is not nothing. 

The Gospel of George Lucas, the Cult of Einstein, and Richard Pryor rules the Dark Side....

Episode 95—March 17, 2018

"High Flight" is a sonnet written by 19-year-old John Gillespie Magee Jr. before a mid-air crash took his life during World War II. In this episode host Jennifer Ellsworth uses the lines of this poem to remember her family's 19-year-old World War II pilot, her grandfather, who died last month. He was a POW, an artist, a storyteller, and one of Ellsworth's greatest influences. 

"The Surly Bonds of Earth:

            Roldan Ellsworth Jose Stumpff de Whitt lived two lives growing up. One in the Pennsylvania Dutch world of his father, and another in his mother’s Mexico...."

Moon Astrology: New Egg Moon in Pisces: flying dreams.

Goodnight, Pumpkin; ghosts; and a great man. 

Episode 94—February 15, 2018

Happy New Year! The second new moon of 2018 welcomes Chinese New Year and the Year of the Brown Earth Dog. Host Jennifer Ellsworth offers an astrological forecast calling for loyalty and diligence to be rewarded. She also shares a true story that exemplifies those traits from Carol Visser, recorded at Lunar Datebook's Disruption! event; and reads a short story about a cosmic connection between two men, called "Moon Man."

"...Three minutes. June 14, 1946 10:54 a.m. and June 14, 1946 10:57 a.m. Three minutes separated their births—Silas in Waterville, Maine; Donald J. Trump in Jamaica, Queens, New York. On a total lunar eclipse. They were Moon Men, baby! Watch out! Of course Silas didn’t believe in astrology, knew it was all crap, but, but, but—..."

Moon Astrology: New Sap Moon in Aquarius: work for the greater good.

Up, around, or through; a crowded honeymoon; and Donald Trump's birth chart.