NOTE: If you missed the ritual for the end of Lughnasadh and beginning of Samhain, you can find it in last Wednesday’s reflection. This link will take you there. The feast that begins Samhain (pronounced SOW-en) is All Hallows Eve (or Halloween) on the night before All Saints Day. It is one of the four …
There are still a few tomatoes ripening (oh, so slowly) on the two surviving tomato plants on my porch. Growing anything is a miracle; growing things at the season edges seems even more miraculous and I am grateful for the wonder of possibility. Every night the tarp goes on to conserve the daytime heat through …
There is no canning going on in my kitchen because I don’t have enough produce to make putting up for the winter a viable option, really, which leaves me feeling a little bereft at this time of year. Childhood memories are rooted very deep in the psyche, so I grieve for the Mason jars of …
Many years ago, when my husband and I were preparing to take our first long trip together (which happened to be our honeymoon), I (re)discovered that not everyone prepares for travel the same way. At the time, he operated on the theory that there was no need to start packing until a half-hour before we …
I finally had an entry in the Lughnasadh Give-Away! Maybe it is appropriate that my daughter won since her second anniversary is tomorrow. I will be doing another give-away mid-Samhain for a chance to win six Solstice or Christmas cards. Here in Colorado most of the deciduous trees have shed their color as the predominant …
Backstory, Part 1: On Sunday, the minister invited us to think of the difference between ‘God-shaped’ as an adjective and ‘God-shaped’ as a verb. This is a differentiation well worth pursuing. Backstory, Part 2: I was absolutely enchanted the first time I saw a word cloud and discovered how they work; they can unfold the …
I am collecting the last of the tomatoes from the plants on my porch. I missed a temperature drop and lost my chocolate mint, but (oh!) it was delicious while it lasted. The flowers I planted to refresh the pots in early September have gotten to the tired stage, and my amaryllis bulbs have been …
Reminder: This is the last week to get an entry in the Lughnasadh Give-Away. This has been the easiest give-away ever since I don’t have a single entry for the drawing! Send the blog information to a friend. If he or she clicks through to read the whole blog, you could win a set of …
Today is the Feast of St Francis, that delightfully eccentric saint whose scandalous conversion is the stuff of legend. From a distance, it is easy to love and admire him…although he drove many of those who knew him in person to total distraction. This is true of a lot of loose cannons; in fact, it …
Reminder: The clock is ticking on the Lughnasadh Give-Away and, so far, I don’t have a single entry for the drawing! Send the blog link to a friend. If he or she signs up and then clicks through to read the whole blog, you could win a set of six hand-made cards. The harvest of …