Monday, December 21, 2009

Happy Yule! Turning The Wheel...

There is much energy of change floating around out there at present. I have been feeling it for some time, K noted it last night as well. And others -- even those who are not aware or sure of what they are feeling -- are responding to it as well. I see it in their words and actions.

Yule is -- by it's nature -- a "tide" and not a time, not a moment, an instant, a day.... but rather a period of time where the changes ebb and flow, washing over us all and over the world as it spins through space. It's a good time to let go of things whose time is over. It is a good time to tidy up, both in material and non-material spaces, and prepare to begin moving forward again as the light grows.

As the energies of the first night and day of the tide begin to wane, with Mother Night behind us and the rest of the days ahead, take time especially to remember the Mothers. For me the first of these is AllMother, Frigga, the Lady of the Hearth. It is for her I light my candle on the hearth and keep it burning. And there are my ancestresses..... Dorothea, Katherina and on back... Hail the Mothers, who keep the hearth fires burning. Hail to the Mothers who light the lamps and soothe the tears. Hail to the Mothers who take up arms in righteous causes, in the homeland and in the defense of same. Hail to the Mothers who struggle uphill against the odds; may they prevail in all their righteous desires. Hail!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Crunchy snow!

I went out today into snow that crunched under my feet! Admittedly it was only the fact that the previous fall had melted, slightly, in the mist that fell yesterday, but it was enough to finally make me FEEL the beginning of the Yuletide season. 'Bout time, eh? LOL

We have outdoor trees up, but not lit yet and the indoor tree finally in place, but not decorated yet either. On account of Coffee (aka The Pup That Ate Corinth) I had to look to something much smaller than usual and placed on a table. I cut the tree at a friend's place where I tipped for wreaths a while back. These "free range" trees, not being kept in captivity and force fed, are much leaner and lankier than the typical "Christmas tree" and I often have issues with their trunks and my stand... and this year presented a unique challenge.

The very scrawny trunk on the tree (the top part of a taller one) was only a little over an inch in diameter, way too small for even the replacement bolts that I refitted to the stand to securely hold. In the end I cut a piece of pvc pipe, which the bolts did hold, and K whittled the trunk diameter to fit inside the pipe. The tree can still drink and it is held securely enough. Hopefully it will be decorated tomorrow.

Yesterday, "town day" ended up taking much longer than expected but in this case it was a good thing. We had forgotten to calendar a rescheduled doc appt. for K until the reminder phone call Monday afternoon. So that got added to the list, and while we were in that building we decided to stop by another office to see about the reschedule of a different appointment that we had canceled during the previous week's storm. The person he had been supposed to see just happened to be at their front desk, reporting a "no-snow" for that exact moment, so she pulled K into the slot. A good thing... all appts are back on track ... but set the day's errands later and the outside home work that I was going to do when we got back (other than bringing in the tree) sifted to today.

And is done... in advance of the coming "deep freeze" and despite a brisk, rather cool breeze. The main chores included:
...an attempt to repair a rip in the foundation's plastic "windbreaker" with duct tape (which doesn't like to stick in frigid temps, but was persuaded -- I think -- by judicious applications of heat from the heat gun. Helped me to work sans gloves as well... tearing duct tape with fuzzy gloves is not optimal. ;)

...topping off the coolant in the Subaru

...taking out trash and unusable cardboard

...bring in cardboard for packaging the last hex shipment of 2009, tomorrow

...crawling under the trailer to plug in the pipes heat tape.

Now I have a couple of hours until I have to leave for work, so I'll fuss a little more on that hex, hopefully get it sprayed with overcoat and wash dishes. Hopefully I'll feel like working on monkeys when I get home tonight!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Mistletoe, anyone??

Last call for a sprig of Mistletoe or protective talismans for your doors!! I am shipping them tomorrow. Get your request in today, with address!!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Mistletoe, anyone??

Having moved to an area where it does not grow natively -- and being unable to find good, fresh sprigs in any of the local stores -- I have once again ordered a box of mistletoe sprigs.

It is still time to make decorations or amulets as per your tradition, in time for the Holidays. I would be glad to ship sprigs of mistletoe, tied with a red ribbon, to anyone who wants some of the "good stuff" for $5 plus an additional $5 for shipping US Priority Mail.

I would also make a protective charm such as I put over each door at Solstice, consisting of a solar cross made of birch twigs and a sprig of mistletoe, tied with red jute cord. I would like 7.50 for the charms and the shipping is the same, $5 for up to 5 of them. One should put one over each door to the outside...

If you would like to order, email me at starwalkr(at)gmail.com and I will invoice you through PayPal.

Readers...