Summer reflections...

Summer’s almost gone and I’m a little sad….as much as I like fall, it also signals another year older for my daughter. She started 8^th grade this year and I think it was kind of a bummer of a summer for her a little bit.  We weren’t able to do much that would be considered exciting this year…my husband having been laid off for 8 months and things being tight. 

At the beginning of the summer, just when school finished, we took a trip to Salem, MA, for a weekend and in true pre-teen fashion, she bitched the entire time we were there and we were all miserable, and then lamented because she complained the whole time and didn’t appreciate it like she should have.  Sigh…but I’ve had numerous reports from other parents that this seems to happen a lot, with all of them.

It was also rough for her the rest of the time a little too….she spends her days with my mother, who has reached that point in her early 60s where she is just losing it and can make everyone around her bonkers and frustrated on a regular basis…combine that with a know it all pre-teen and it’s a recipe for disaster. The ride home each night was very draining, having to listen to all the things that went wrong in her day. Of course, she also learned to shoot pool, drive a gator tractor and was able to spend her days lounging by the pool…but she’s not of the age where these things count just yet.

Most of our summer nights were spent watching the reruns of Little House on the Prairie…not exciting by any means but I had hoped that some of the little life lessons they taught would rub off on her, and they might have…at least she enjoyed watching it and we were able to spend time together as a family. I also think it was hard for her to hear about all the other fun things her friends were doing…one friend seemed to go away every other weekend.

And to top it off, we never made it to the beach….this I’m sad about.  But I’m hoping to rectify it this week, before summer “officially” ends.  If she will let me…sometimes her anxiety doesn’t let me do things I’d like to do, because the thought of anything out of the ordinary sends her into a spiral that is easier to just void than try to push through. I’m going to try to take a ride down to the ocean the last night of summer.  My husband is working the evening shift, and we’ll be able to say good bye to the season.  I’m hoping she’ll understand the symbolism of my last ditch effort to get her to the beach…even if it’s not  exactly how she wanted it to be.

On a more positive note, we created ourselves a witch bottle this weekend and will be burying it (hopefully) this weekend…something strange did happen to it though and I have to see how that’s going to pan out. It was sitting on the counter, and when I looked at it the next day, the metal top (Ball canning jar) was dented up…when I took off the cover…it was bubbling LOL and I have no idea why….so it now sits on my porch in a cup, and I’m patiently waiting for it to stop bubbling…I assume it will eventually.  I am glad I hadn’t gotten around to sealing it up with wax just yet.  I guess this is just another example of how hearth and home witchery really can be exciting…you never know what you’re going to make explode in the kitchen! 

This week I need to get off my butt and plan out my Mabon ritual, decide what I’m making for dinner that night and pick up a bottle of celebratory mead. We had a mini-celebratory meal last night…I baked the good bread, cooked a chicken with the fixings and had some Octoberfest beer. I figured better to do it now while we’re all together, since I didn’t know just yet if my husband would be home Friday night. It’s a season of many feasts, I think anyway…so we might as well start early and make them most of it!

I’m taking part in the Practical  Magic Blog Party this weekend as well….I haven’t a clue if what I did is what’s expected, but I think it will be ok….I get to play the clueless novice blogger card if it’s not that great LOL Unfortunately, I can’t make midnight margaritas…heartburn and I’ve started to realize these days that tequila shortens my temper to such a short string that it’s just safer for everyone if I just avoid it all together.

Wednesday week review.....

So many goofy things to talk about...where oh where to begin LOL…Since the husband has started working again, I get to have more time with daughter alone.  Friday night we got to have a “date” and went to the Dollar Tree to get some things for fall decorating…loose leaves, pumpkins, gourds, fall flowers, a leaf garland, a scare crow that I realized this morning is among the missing and the best tea light holders ever! They’re reddish brown glass and shaped like oak leaves!  These went on my kitchen window altar and I changed the tarot card to Justice, added a gnome and a piece of amethyst. 

We ended up going to the Chinese restaurant for dinner and also hit up Michael’s crafts, where I bought the cutest witch stamp for a buck, as well as a little cow for the kitchen altar as well.  This is for Isis, and it stands next to my wee small pig for Hestia. Don’t know why, but the farm animal aspect seemed right for me LOL

Daughter redecorated the seasonal altar on the sun porch as well…we put out the new altar cloth, added a small basket of leaves and gourds, added another gnome and amethyst, put out a glass vase with grapes on it to hold the mini sunflowers, changed the tarot cards that go on there…and she decided to hang my antlers on the wall instead of leaving them resting on the top of the chest…and I have to say, it works…I added a maroon sash to them, wrapped around the points and the effect is quite striking. I really do love how she gets into the seasonal decorating with me…she might not choose being a pagan as her religion but it’s nice to know that she at least gets it a little. 

After all that, we moved on to the last but not least decorating inside…I have a wreath I hang in the kitchen and we switch out the flowers and other things appropriately….the summer flowers and little frogs have been packed away and the leaves, mums and grapes now adorn it, quite festive!  For the table, I made the best score….in my own house.  A reminder to those who hoard and stash away things…check your closets frequently, you never know what’s in there!  I found a pitcher with fall leaves on it, and a faux wood serving dish with leaves and grapes on it…courtesy of things nana had and I saved, and forgot about it.  Whew! That officially ends the fall decorating until the Halloween season starts!  Saw some great signs at Michael’s I want…but I’ll save those details for later on. 

Posted on the Something Oddly blog last week was an entry regarding pennies.  I showed my daughter and she decided that we should make ankle bracelets with them as well….so I ended up with 3 pennies from 1977 and she has 5 of them dated 1968, 1978, 1988, 1998 and 2008.  Husband drilled, she strung them up and I made up an enchantment for them and now we have our lucky pennies around our ankles…they are actually really cute.

Daughter started school yesterday and I sent her off with a little mojo bag in her pocketbook….9 rose scented geranium leaves, a tigers eye and an apache tear. She also wears a rose quartz and clear quartz pendants on chain…with all that I think, metaphysically speaking, she’s ready to take on anything LOL

Tonight is my 9^th wedding anniversary and I’ll be home alone…sigh….poor me! LOL  But after being out of work for 8 months, and getting a chance for extra hours at the new job, I told the husband he should take the chance do work and we’d do something another night.  Of course, I’m kicking myself now for that decision, but it is what it is.  Was thinking I’d pull some cards tonight with the daughter just for fun and see what we end up with…I don’t usually do this very often, but for some reason I really want to tonight.  When the universe speaks, we need to listen….and listen, and pull cards I shall.

After the storm...

Well Irene did a number on us, but thankfully we got away pretty good compared to lots of places. So many other states got hit so very hard, and I feel just awful about them. We’re on day 4 with no power…and don’t tell my family , but I’m kind of having fun living in the dark….considering my work has power, as well as my father and step mother, we’re much better off than a lot of people.  We’ve been able to shower and get fed by them for the last few days, and I can charge all the electronic devices while at work.  We run on propane at the house, so we still can cook, but no showers or flushing…unless we dump buckets of water in the toilet tank and get “things” to slide down via gravity LOL Given that we didn’t have the money at the time to stock up on food, we managed to not lose anything in the freezer besides some waffles that my daughter said tasted funny anyway.  Whew! But that’s another thing I’ll be keeping in mind as any more storms get closer.

My poor city boy, Warcraft addicted husband is having problems coping with this…he’s also out of work….we came home the other day to find him doing puzzles at the kitchen table. Daughter has been coming to work with me, and is getting very bored sitting behind me in the world’s smallest office all day. My mother and her husband decided to hole up at the local casino, having enough wampum points for 2 free nights…unfortunately they are on the list as not getting power back until the 4^th of September.

I also think the bit of tea-light magic I did throughout the storm really helped out.  We had very few downed branches in the yard, just one tree lost its top but it stayed hanging, waiting to be pulled down by us and be hauled off, and one branch that fell on the fence, but we were able to roll it off to the woods and straighten the fence before the dog even noticed he could have escaped.  When it was all over with, I also made sure I lit a candle of thanks also…considering the amount of trees that surround us, the Goddess was definitely listening to me this weekend.

One of the things that is making me angry is the outpouring of hatred towards the electric company in this neck of the woods…why can’t they get it on faster, etc etc….I do think it’s an east coast thing, we’re miserable and cynical (some of us anyway) and we always want something done yesterday and tend to whine and moan and blame the government when we’re effected by anything.  Good grief, I can’t imagine if these people had to go through something of a Katrina like crisis…strange though, they are managing to get themselves on the news paper website to complain about their lack of power.  These men and women of the electric company, as well as the tree trimmers, etc…really are out there working hard, handling large trees that could crush them, or wires that could electrocute them, and they’re doing it to help us out.  Sending them positive energy and good vibes for a safe time with things.  Next times, those complainers should be more prepared.

Speaking of prepared…anyone else hear that Tropical Storm Katia is on the way next? LOL!  This weekend I’ll be making a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some fall decorations for my altar and house…I’ll also need some more tea lights!  I’m definitely going to get the D batteries ahead of time (that particular lantern only crapped out last night) and another case of water before we need it…just in case. 

At least Mabon season is approaching…I could always use another power outage to start seasonal crafting LOL

Come on Irene!

I'm a weather nut..I love it, I obsess over it...it keeps me amused.  I come by it naturally, my mother has the same problem and so did her father...he practically floated away during the big one of 1938 up here.  So we'll be spending the next few days hunkering down and locking up everything that isn't nailed down in the yard..just in case. 

There will be a garden gnome rescue mission..they shall be evacuated to reside on the sun porch to ride things out.  Candles are ever present in my house and I'm taking the opportunity to work a little tea lite magic and made up a weather protection spell in the hope of any damage that we might get stays minimal. 

Should things go really bad, there are bottles filled with water so we can flush and I still have the old fashioned hurricane oil lanterns that my grandmother had, complete with bottles of oil and extra wicks...the best thing about moving into a grandmother's house is that there is always something you don't know you're going to need, sitting on a shelf somewhere waiting for you to need it LOL

I'm also starting to gear up for Mabon.  I'll be putting out my new fall altar cloth soon. I trimmed up the edges with crimping shears (left by Nana of course) and am starting to make lists of what I want and need for decorating.  Amethyst stones and gnomes are two of the things that will go out on the big and little altars and eventually I'll hit the dollar store for mini gourds and pumpkins, leaves and flowers for my seasonal wreath. I still have to decide which tarot card "speaks" to me for this holiday...I'm sure it will come eventually.  I love fall and I'm really psyched that the season is almost upon us!

Oh..just a bunch of stuff....

I’m having one of those times where I’m getting really tired of the people I know…they’re become a handful and I’m about ready to climb back in the hermitage to avoid all contact with the outside world.  Anyone else feel that way?  My husband calls himself antisocial and from time to time I give him crap about it, but I’m really starting to think he’s got a point.  The outside world is just full of crazy people who seem to think they can do no wrong. How does this happen? Were these people raised by wolves, or just by assholes that didn’t bother to teach them how to function like normal people?  I’m trying to be a good person and have been doing a lot of thinking and talking to the Goddess about this and I’m still not sure what to do.  I’m sure the answer will come eventually, or should I be forced to confront things before I’m ready, I think I can handle it the right way. For now, I’ve bombed my house with sage and did a lot of cleansing, mental, physical, spiritual and my sanctuary is back to normal, thank the Gods…as for the rest, time will tell I guess. 

In other, better news, daughter and I went to our first Pagan Pride Day this weekend…it was very neat.  There were so many things, and people, to look at. We were kind of on sensory over load, so we didn’t stay for any of the lectures and unfortunately didn’t get to hear any music either…I think we just hit it at the wrong time. But the people were awesome and I bought the coolest wall plaque, a large concrete pentacle with a goddess symbol in the center…its now hung over my seasonal altar on the porch and looks like it was made specifically for that spot.

The plaque was made by a guy named Gargoyle Pete of Cornerstone Creations of Sturbridge MA…check here for more info on his Ebay store etc etc.  http://www.psdirectory.com/stores/sculptures/corner-stone-creations.com  Everything he made was reasonably priced and absolutely awesome…I also picked up some silver and gold candles for God and Goddess representation on the altar, which was convenient because the last ones I had were almost burned down.

This weekend my daughter also turned 13...feeling a little old now, but knowing I’m not. I guess it’s hard for everyone to see their babies get older. There are no longer any toys to buy and the birthdays are more low key now instead of bunches of screaming kids running around tossing cake and ripping open goody bags.  It’s weird and nice at the same time….she’s been self limiting birthday activities for a few years now, but this was by far the most relaxed type of day. It was nice for everyone…hopefully this is a sign of a turning point, where the everlasting terrible 2’s have finally ended (LOL no really, I was starting to worry) and the very cool little person I always knew was in there will finally come out to play.

Yesterday we went for a long hike through the woods with the fat dog…3 miles and I’m pretty sure at one point he swore at me, but it was nice to be out in nature...we somehow had avoided this most of the summer, and I haven’t a clue why.  Too hot maybe…or too lazy…or too much Little House on the Prairie LOL Regardless, we picked up pine cones, looked for lady slippers, found a covered bridge we didn’t know was there and checked out fallen trees…a great day that ended with a feast and a good night sleep. Now, if only all days could be that good!  J 

Titleless Tuesday....

I’m getting tired of all the rain this week…..allllll day yesterday, its coming back this afternoon and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday….argh! I’m sure the plants are loving it and maybe even my grass will grow some more, but its daughter’s birthday this weekend and I’d really like to do something outside with her.  I guess we’ll see what we see when it happens.  As of right now, I’ve just planning on indoor things…Harry Potter 7 at the Imax, a ghost tour at one of the Newport mansions…aaaand, well after that I got nothing LOL  If I’m feeling really feisty, we could go into Boston to the science museum….who knows! 

Saturday is Pagan Pride Day at the war memorial park….I’d love to check that out…but not in the pouring rain and lightening.  Apparently its rained on them for the past few years, which also coincides with my daughter saying most of her birthdays have been rained out the past few years as well….poor  kid….poor Pagans too!

In other news, I’m really trying to motivate myself to sewing up the altar clothes that I bought last weekend.  I seem to be having a huge bout of laziness and can’t get my mental act together…we’ll chalk it up to mercury in retrograde and maybe I’ll just sit on things until that passes. 

I have managed to get myself together and light a candle for Isis on Friday, spent some time at my Hecate altar on Saturday and then spent the full moon feasting and dancing with rowdy relatives at my uncle’s wedding where I came home with a bruised foot from jitterbugging with my adorable oaf of a favorite cousin and a cherished memory of him to file away. Sometimes the Goddess she works in mysterious and amusing ways LOL

I’ve also been working on a daily prayer to say during the whole DC40 debacle that’s coming up. I’m a little weirded out by the whole thing as are many people, so this is my own way of doing something about it….a solitary, quiet something but a something none the less.  I’m awfully tempted to head over to the state house on my lunch break on the day they’re going to be here just to see what, if anything is going on there, but a part of me just wants to stay under a rock LOL So I’ll just put my energy to good use and hope it helps deflect and diffuse whatever it is they will be putting out. I just hope everyone behaves and nothing bad comes out of this. 

I asked a “real” catholic what their take on it is, and they know nothing about it…which I actually think is fantastic. Her son, a former political aid, is at seminary school in Rome, so she’s my connection to information of all things (normal) christian and political…and has reassured me (for now anyway) that these shenanigans won’t fly and the political realm will more than likely not be jumping on this bandwagon.  Whew!

Well its wednesday....

Wednesday...hump day....and the week is almost over....I love long weekends because the next week goes by so fast.  We have a wedding this weekend, so that makes things exciting.  But what I'm really looking forward to is the darn sourdough starting finally maturing. I started it last Thursday and it's kinda like a pet...you have to "feed" the sucker every 12 hours, which was fun at first and now I'm just tired of it.  But I believe its worked properly and I should be able to store it in the fridge very soon...then its just a feeding when you use it and or every few weeks when you're not using it.  I'm hoping to use is this Sunday...I think the recipe i have makes two loafs, so I'll start freezing the extras I make. I'm hoping to get a winter stock pile going of both bread and meat.  I decided to get a membership to the local wholesale club and go bananas on bulk meat products.  I'm hoping this will temporarily appease my strange need to be ready in case the government collapses and the world falls to shit for a while LOL

The other night I also started my garlic and apple cider vinegar health tincture...my little squeeze top bottles are on their way in the mail.  With all the different properties that both things have...blood pressure, cholesterol, antibacterial and antibiotic as well as a host of other things, I'm hoping to keep myself a little extra healthy during this cold and flu season.  My cousin the health nut has agreed to try it with me. I added in a little magical enchantment to it as well, emphasizing the protective qualities too...every little bit helps!

The calendulas are coming along quite nicely, every other day it seems I get about 5 blossoms to clip.  Right now I have almost half a pint jar filled with the petals.  I'm getting really anxious to do something with them! Last week I placed an order with Mountain Rose Herbs, getting tins, jars and oils...I think I'll be infusing sunflower oil with the calendula petals. Its supposed to be "deeply nourishing and conditioning for the skin" and also easily absorbed, and I'm a big fan of anything easily absorbable LOL Hopefully I'll be patient and survive the wait for all the flowers to finish blooming!

Tonight I need to go out and trim the mints...I had been hoping to get enough of them to infuse another oil, but I'm not sure that's going to happen...I'm just winging it for now and I'll see what happens. I swear I'm the only person who can kill mint! It may just end up going in some potpourri for the winter..I really love mixing lavender and mint together, it smells good and really gives the house a happy vibe.  During those long winter months, we need all the happy vibes we can get!