Samhain

so Samhain/Halloween is upon us....seems the year has flown by once again. where does it go?

and while it's mostly about the costumes and candy for the kids, for me it's time to reflect...on the year past and the year ahead; on things to hold onto and things to let go.  lots of thoughts on this....but they are for another place. so we'll do the trick-or-treat thing and then we'll read the story of Grandfather Deer and leave an apple at the bedside, in the hopes that He'll visit us in our dreams....

our seasonal display -- mostly random treasures (plus my acorn fetish)

quite a few changes around our little patch this last year....B losing his job, us deciding to throw our lot in with dreams and a life lived less for The Man and more for the things we believe in.  (a wonderful post over here about that).

but it's a life off the beaten path....and it can be lonely. like unschooling for grown-ups.

always a cool new leaf to be added

so this turn of the Wheel sees me letting go of old hurts and worn-out arguments....it's an ongoing process because forgetting doesn't come easily for me....

reflections in the early light

and as the ghosts of the old year pass through the thinning veil, into our lives i will invite - self-compassion and creativity; generosity of spirit and Presence of mind...

that the coming year shall fill our lives and those of our family and friends with love and laughter, warmth and sustenance; joy and light....and if some good books and new paints should be on offer, we'd happily invite those as well. ;)

wishing you and yours a blessed Samhain....

Winter Solstice, Charlie Brown's tree and magnetic poetry...*

*note: attempting to document our Countdown has been entirely abandoned.  Suffice it to say, we only missed a few things.....I'm voting for the shitey chocolate calendar next year.

The above picture is the peanut butter and birdseed English muffins that we made for our fur and feathered friends....placed reverently out at the base of the maple tree and around the yard.  I won't mention what became of our Solstice lanterns although there are two soup tins full of ice languishing in our freezer....

Anyway...'twas a lovely observance....gifts by candlelight and a lovely roast chicken feast....prezzies unwrapped beneath our fabulous tree...

As a matter of perspective....B is a former jockey (read: short man)...and those are cardboard spacers I improvised to hold the slender trunk in place as the screw thingies were at their maximum.  It may not have been a tall tree, but, as was repeatedly commented, it was a very full tree.

Savannah once again took charge of decorating it.....due to the elfin nature of the tree, there were lots of decorations left in their boxes this year.

One of the coolest gifts ever (if I do say so myself) was the box of Magnetic Poetry for Kids....we are having a grand old time spontaneously composing verse every time we walk through the kitchen. I'm pretty sure this is how Shel Silverstein got famous.  Keep your eye out for the Kitchen Whiteboard Collection....coming soon to a fine bookseller near you......;)

Catching up - October 31

Savannah sporting her Halloween costume....she added the ghost to her hat herself. The Trick or Treat haul was unbelievable....I've personally never seen so much candy in one place before.  As per usual, Sebastian tagged along, uncostumed, for a short spell before retiring back to his lair.

Earlier in the day....we took our Samhain stroll in a local cemetery, leaving an apple behind as an offering for any spirits that were wandering through.

Bounty of Lughnasadh...

(a Lilliputian pepper..fear not, it's early days yet!)

Well....it may have been time for the first harvest for the Celts but we're a ways away from that here! Thanks to our less-than-typical weather this summer, the growing season is all in a twist. But, from our wee garden at Nanna's we've already had some delicious zucchini....the tomatoes are on the vine - green still, but there - the taties are flowering (after a very late start) and there are a multitude of flowers on the cucumber and pepper plants....

Pudge's lily in bloom....



The fabulous tendrils of our giant pumpkin...

The first cucumber! Looks a bit more like a gherkin at the moment but we're not in any rush....

I'm fascinated by the tendrils of the pumpkin and the gourd.....these ones look just like a tightly-coiled telephone cord....they've completely ensnared the sunflowers. We should probably post a warning so that people don't stand still too long beside the plant...lest they become entangled..

Our lovely gourd! We couldn't remember which plant was the gourd and which was the giant pumpkin so we just had to wait....pretty sure this is a gourd....

Not bad for our trial garden.....next year's gonna be BIG! I'll be lobbying for a nice big herb bed...