A Day of Tea and Reading

Blessings, Darlings!

The day started with a thunderstorm.  Then just rain.  And it's still cool, cloudy, damp, and windy.  A raw day. We've more than enough leftovers that I don't need to cook dinner tonight.  I've done some housecleaning already.

It's time to sit in a chair with a cup of tea and read.  I'm starting with re-reading parts of H. Byron Ballard's "Earth Works: Ceremonies in Tower Time" (and given our times, I suggest that all y'all read her Tower Time documents) and then try to catch up on reading and practicing the lessons I signed up for from Jason Miller (I'm doing his Strategic Sorcery course.)

I have decided that I need a tea cozy for my tea pot. Having Covid-unemployment, buying one is not in the stars right now. But I have bubble wrap left over from having moved. Using that and tape, I'm making my own. If I can find some velcro in my sewing supplies, that would be a nice touch, too, otherwise I'll need to add a ribbon tie or buttons.

And that, my friends, is our Arts and Crafts class for today.

 

Frondly, Fern

 

Visiting My Ancestors

Blessings Darlings!

I just read Byron's lovely article "Food For Thought ... and Spirits", to credit the inspiration for this post.

Byron has a great advantage over me on this one.  The bulk of my ancestors are buried almost 900 miles from me, in two Jewish cemeteries in Chicago, while she lives close to hers.  And she has a different heritage of working with them.  Jews DO visit their cemeteries, and DO work with each ancestor on the anniversary of her/his death, but decorating graves or eating/drinking at the cemetary is right out.  It was a VAST break in Jewish tradition when we planted flowers along with burying my uncle Maury - but everyone at the cemetery service knew Maury and knew that he LIVED in his garden, so knew why we chose to break tradition in this way. 

So where do I go now to honor my Ancestors? 

Celts had several options.  Tir Na Gog is 'in the West', and the Ancestors are often seen as part of the Sea/waters.  Or they are said to be in the North.  When I lived close to, but west of, the Chesapeake Bay, that West association didn't work well.  I winged it.  But now the Potomac is north of me.  I'll do my major working on that river.  Part of that will be a boat of food pushed out on the water, as part of my Samhain celebration.

But, as you know, I start the preparation work for Samhain well in advance.  As part of that, I'll be sharing food and drink much of the month with my Ancestors.  I find that efforts put in to renew the ties well before Samhain, when I will be out communing with them officially, pays off.

And, I'm assuming that all y'all already have ancestor altars you work with regularly, right?

Frondly, Fern

A Bad Influence

Blessings Darlings!

H. Byron Ballard, a delicate flower of Appalachian womanhood and the author of "Staubs and Ditchwater", is A Very Bad Influence.  She sent me a copy of her book, which I am enjoying immensely and will write a review of when I am done reading it.  But I'm reading it slowly, because I am savoring every word of it.

What, you ask, makes a woman I just raved about a Very Bad Influence?  It's because she makes me even more shameless about what I do that draws strange looks.  Let's look at today.....

I needed the car, and the Spawn needed to work AND to get to the county health department before it closed at 4:30 to renew his food handler's certification.  Of course, instead of getting off work early as he had been promised, there was a rush at the restaurant and two of the three managers were in conference and the third was interviewing a potential new hire.  So I was in the car, reading and waiting.  Nothing new about that.  And, no, it wasn't that I did a little something something to free my son to get to where he had to get to on time.

No, I tried to head out to the wilderness across the street from the restaurant to see what wild herbs/weeds I could gather.  Discovering that I hadn't paid the cell phone, so the spawn could not call me back once he got off, I gave up that idea and paid the phone and then read some more.  Okay, an attempt at some root work prep that failed.

Spawn got off work, with a full 22 minutes to get his recertification done.  Got to the health dept. with plenty of time.  I grab the plastic bags, and see what there is to collect around THERE.  Pine cones, from some spruce - Great!  Oh, LOOK - HUGE gobs of sap have fallen off the trees!  Gather that .... a few nice feathers, one from a duck most of the rest probably from pigeons, sure.  Oh, my - BLACK WALNUTS!  gather gather gather gather ....

You have no idea just how thrilled I am at the black walnuts and the pine sap.  And, knowing me, I'd have collected all that even if I was NOT reading her book.  But reading her book certainly helped me feel absolutely NO shame in doing it.

Wish I had found some fallen black walnut branches....

Frondly, Fern