Havamal, Part 1

Blessings Darlings!

So, how does the Havamal start?  Like this:

Young and alone on a long road,
once I lost my way: 
Rich I felt when I found another;
Man rejoices in man,


A kind word need not cost much, 
The price of praise can be cheap:
With half a loaf and an empty cup
I found myself a friend,


Two wooden stakes stood on the plain,
On them I hung my clothes;
Draped in linen, they looked well born,
But, naked, I was a nobody.


Too early to many homes I came,
Too late, it seemed, to some:
The ale was finished or else un-brewed,
The unpopular cannon please,

Some would invite me to visit their homes,
But none thought I needed a meal,
As though I had eaten a whole joint,
Just before with a friend who had two.


We start the poem on the road.  Which  makes sense, since Odhinn would be talking to His people, not to Thor's people or Heartha's people, etc. (Thor's men, being working men, are more tied to the lands/fields of home.)  Being on the road means you have given up the comforts of home in search of something more.  It's not like doing this make you the equivalent of the 'superior man' in the I Ching, but it DOES speak of a certain amount of ambition or drive to better oneself and ones position in life.

Or, as we say in Ar nDraiocht Fein (ADF) - why not excellence?

And yet ....

There's clearly a difference between leaving one's comfort zone and being lost and alone.  Guides, companions ... humans were then, and still are now, tribal.  We may define tribe differently now, it can be family/kith/kin, neighbors/garth, religion based, politically based, economically based, whatever.  But no one does it totally alone.  Your tribe IS part of your riches.

Which leads, of course, to the issue of hospitality and how one treats strangers and travelers.  Not only could you be the stranger/traveler soon, but the stranger at your door could be Odhinn (or Zeus, or Hermes, or Macha, or Finn, or.... well, you Pagans get it).  True, being on the road now isn't a much a life-threatening challenge it was back in the day.

 Simple politeness is clearly the essence of hospitality.  Giving kind words, sharing half a loaf.

Then the 'don't mistake fine clothes for a fine person'.  Just as true now with fashion ad pricy clothes as it was then with linen vs. rough working folks clothes!

And don't mistake having fine clothes with being well-fed, either on the road or at home, actually.  Assume that others need care and feeding - offer food, drink, again, common courtesy.

Actually, this sort of brings up eating with your guests/business meetings/etc.  "Gosh we've run out of food' for you, or "we don't eat good food here, so have none to share" are old tricks.  Egyptians not eating with others is mentioned in the Bible, and now kashrut laws for Jews and Halal vs Haram food issues for Moslems, not to mention trying to offer hospitality to vegans or trying to account for food allergies, can really cause problems in offering hospitality.  Where do the responsibility of good host vs good guest get drawn?  Back then, it was just 'share what you have'.  Now - we smoke a damn fine pulled pork here, but it's sure not something I can offer my kosher relatives (some of which won't eat in my house at all).

Thus ends part 1 of our look at the Havamal.  More to come! This WILL take a while, and may or may not be a daily thing - depends on how life goes. After all, I still have recipes to share, and opinions on what's happening in the world to spout, too.

Frondly, Fern

Winter Nights

Blessings Darlings!

Back in the day - and I mean REALLY back in Europe, from the iron age until industrialization - winter was the time for learning history, poetry, culture, wisdom.  After all, in summer the herds would be out in the fields being watched by the original cow boys from dawn till dusk.  And dawn was really early, and dusk really late.

But in winter, the thinned herds were kept in the village so you could easily feed and water them.  Dawn was late, dusk early, so you didn't crash as soon as the sun went down.  And, in Ireland, even the Fianna bunked in towns during the winter.  So after dinner you could head over to the neighbor's place and the elders would tell the stories, share the poetry and tales. 

So I think I'll go there in this blog for a while.  I'll start with the words of the Havamal and some of my own commentary on it, how it applies to MY life.  I'm not going to pretend to be overly knowledgeable about the time it comes from, after all!

The Havamal is part of the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old  Norse poetry.  It is, fundamentally, common sense served up by Odhinn.  Common sense being, well, awfully uncommon lately, it seems like a great place to start.

I'll be using the Auden & Taylor translation, which is all over the interwebs and appears to be public domain.

If any of y'all are knowledgeable about the times this comes from, or have other insights to add, PLEASE add comments as we go along!  I'm no expert historian, nor am I Asatruar or anyone who has really studied this in context.

Frondly, Fern

Kotatsu Heating

Blessings Darlings!

Winter has finally arrived here on the east coast of the US. It's 31 degrees F as I type, and not due to get much warmed today.  A second round of freezing rain is due tonight/early tomorrow morning.  Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Being broke, cheap, and green, I keep the heat here turned low.  The house is set for 60 F right now.  Spawn has a tiny space heater he occasionally runs in his bedroom, Chubby Hubby has a larger space heater in his lab. My areas - the kitchen and my office - have no space heaters.  I feel the cold less than they do, for one thing.  Second, when I'm in the kitchen I'm cooking and otherwise moving.

But in my office I'm sitting at my desk all day. And my office is in the basement. With the heat vent closed. What I do to keep warm on days like today is, well, first line of defense is dressing warmly, but what I'm typing about today is a modification on the Japanese Kotatsu heating system.

Kotatsu heating is having a small heating element under the table you are working at.  Houses in Japan aren't the Tyvak'd air-tight things we aim for here in the US - they allow air in, so here weren't problems with carbon monoxide poisoning!  So you'd have the tiny smoldering fire under the table, a light table cloths, and you'd be kept warm in a cold room.

Now they use electric heaters.

Me, I've got another system going. I have one light tea light candle, in a glass jar.  My desk has a partition (so my legs don't show if you were sitting across from me) so that side holds in the heat, and it has sides on the left and right.  My legs go into the cubby hole ... and I have attached a curtain (using Velcro) to that opening.  This keeps the heat in.

It really makes a HUGE difference in my comfort level on cold days.  I'm not saying my upper back is very warm, it's not (I might put on a sweater on colder days), but my legs are VERY happy and my hands are very happy (I can put them under the curtain for warmth, but they don't seem to need that with my legs warm.).

And tea candles are cheap!  Craft stores have them for about a dime each on sale, and I get the for way less at garage sales. 

One candle. An unused piece of material. Hours of warmth for a nickle.

I'm a happy Fern.

Frondly, Fern

Winter and Honor

Blessings Darlings!

I'm writing this on Friday morning, tho' I think it'll be posted on Tuesday next week. (I'm trying to post almost daily thru' Monday thru' Friday right now).  And tonight we're due to get some Seasonally Appropriate Weather, for the first time this winter.  A few inches of snow overnight, followed by sleet then rain tomorrow.

Which means the Spawn has to go to his job obnoxiously early tomorrow morning on snow-covered roads (they don't plow here unless there is more snow).

Being our son, he will be there and be there on time.  Normal weather is not a reason to not go to work.  Even tho' I'll be the one driving - because our car won't run if it sits out in the rain all day in the parking lot at work.

His job. His honor.  My getting up and being out of here before dawn.

Oh well.  That's life.

Frondly, Fern

Soup Stock Making

Blessings Darlings!

So, you already know I'm cheap/frugal/broke-ass. And Green.  So I made stock yesterday, from bones and veggie scraps.  Having an open can of tomato paste from a previous day I added some of that, which of course made the stock that much nummier. 

Husband and I discussed that nummier-ness.  I mentioned that Emeril puts tomato paste on veggies and roasts them before using them for stock.  But I use the peeling of carrots, ends/leaves of celery, etc in my stock (being cheap, ya know), etc so don't roast them.  OTOH, I NEVER have enough onion scraps, so I can put the tomato paste on sliced onions and roast THEM before making stock next time, along with roasting the bones.  (BTW, I tried putting tomato paste on the bones before roasting them, but the tomato paste burned before the bones were well browned, wetter veggies are the way to go if roasting tomato paste.)

So that's the plan for next time.  Which could be soon, because I sure go thru' a lot of stock in winter!

Frondly, Fern

It's Elemental

Blessings Darlings!

Last fall, my life turned into a series of leaks.  The car. The toilets. The refrigerator. The refrigerator at my MOTHERS when I went THERE.  One damn water issue after another.

By the time of the leak at my Mothers, it was clear that elemental Water was trying to get my attention.  I started daily water meditation (crystal bowl of water, sun or at least daylight reflecting in it), doing some stuff my High Priestess suggested, doing an Invoking Water pentagram with every cup of liquid I drank, etc.

I can't say that I got any specific deep messages from Elemental Water, but we have rather more of a relationship that we had 6 weeks ago.  And the leaks have all been fixed and not returned.

A working relationship. 

That type of relationship is what seems most important to me in magic.  Being intimate enough to know you and the  Elemental can can do communicate.  Or the herb, or Spirit, or whatever. 

Build those relationship, my fronds.  Network.  That network is often what tirns into your safety net later.

Frondly, Fern

Spaghetti Sauce Search

Blessings Darlings!

Once upon a time, I used to make my own spaghetti sauce from scratch.  That was 30 years ago.  I've long since lost the recipe.

But our finances being as they are, I've got to go back to making that from scratch instead of buying even sale priced jarred sauce.  So we're trying on recipes.

This morning I made Alton Brown's Pantry Tomato Sauce.  Thick, layered flavors, zesty - too spicy for us to use on pasta for every-day use.  OTOH, we think it will rock in lasagna where we've found that most pasta sauces don't bring enough to the party.

This afternoon I made America's Test Kitchen's Quick Pasta sauce, from the Big Red "Family Cookbook".  That's a fine and simple recipe with a bright fresh flavor, but not as much layered flavor as I'd like.  I'd probably like wine added at the very least, and probably more basil and some oregano.  I think it will make a banging 'pink sauce', with the addition of some heavy cream.  If I could afford heavy cream.  And I wasn't on a diet.

I might mix the two sauces for our spaghetti dinner tonight as well as do the official comparison test.

Do y'all make your own spaghetti sauce? If so, is the recipe online?  Or do you buy jars?

Frondly, Fern