Celebrations!

Dearest Friends!! Whatever you observe on this day, or even if you observe naught, please enjoy the Season and may you and your loved ones celebrate peace, love, good health and abiding joy!

A Game of Groans

Happy Monday!!

I must have been out of my mind yesterday, Sunday. I ventured into the grocery store, me and 20 million others. Took much longer with the crowd, but honestly everyone was polite and friendly.
Got the Christmas ham, chestnuts, clementines, and of course, some sweets.

I have denuded our tree of all ornaments, since it has become a game. I put the ornaments on, the cats take the ornaments off. Some of the ornaments get carried away to other parts of the house. The final straw was coming home to find the tree on the floor, dirt from the pot scattered everywhere and ornaments laying all around. The Norfolk Island pine now just has one string of lights.  Not sure if it will survive into the New Year. Groan!!!

Ah, Yule! So nice to have that benchmark met! Love the turning of the Wheel of the Year. We even have a partly sunny day.

Light and Peace!! Robin

Blessed Yule!

Ring out Solstice Bells!!!

Today we celebrate the Winter Solstice, Yule!

Light candles! Burn a Yule log! Greet the returning Light and say hurray for the rebirth of the Sun.

We stop losing daylight. And more importantly, inch by inch, the Light begins its slow journey to the Spring Equinox (Ostara)!

It is a day and night of celebration. Think about things you want to change or get rid of. Write your wishes on a piece a paper, then throw them in the fireplace, burn them in a cauldron or other safe burnable place. Your wishes will rise up with the smoke and reach out to the Universe. The Universe offers infinite solutions. Trust the process!

Happy Blessed Yule to all!   Love and Light, Robin!!

Do's and Don'ts

What I Should Be Doing:

 1. Baking cookies

2.  Buying and Wrapping gifts

3.  Writing and Mailing Christmas cards

4.  Finish decorating the house

5.  Supervising the stringing of outside decorative lights

What I Am Actually Doing:

1.  Reading a lot of library books

2.  Playing Candy Crush and the newer game Soda Crush

3.  Forgetting to do laundry

4.  Checking out all the Outlander videos on line

5.  Reading more books from the library

Perhaps I need an intervention or have my library card seized and my cell phone confiscated.

Tuesday

Time is flying too fast for me. So much to do. But at least the snow is melting. Tired of chasing persnickety kitty from the Yule Tree. I am very tempted to undecorate and forget about it.

Interesting story out of Buckingham Palace. They've got Magic Mushrooms growing in the gardens. Those red-capped ones with the white dots. Hallucinogens. Picturing the Queen and her Prince Regent tripping out. Groovy, man.

Time to put on some upbeat Christmas music and do some baking. That's the spirit!

Have a simply fabulous Tuesday!

Blood Oranges Part 2

Well. I did not burn the house down. My son thought I was burning the orange slices in the oven. The blood oranges looked black. I think they would be great Halloween/Samhain decorations. Not, in my opinion, for Yule. Also, drying the oranges took almost 4 hours, and frankly, the smell of them drying filled the house with a not-pleasant odor. My brother asked if I was cleaning the oven.

The regular naval orange slices turned out okay. Not as nice as in the photos I have seen, but isn't that always the way. Still I will use them, hanging them onto a swag of greenery.

If you try drying (or eating) blood oranges, please let me know how it all turned out.

My next experiment: A Christmas cake with brandy. Another first time for me, cooking with brandy. I am not sure why I have become fixated on trying new things all of a sudden. I suppose it is because I wanted to incorporate something new into my Yule ritual.

Have a wonderful weekend!   Robin.

Blood Oranges--not for the weak of heart

Long week with lots of snow.

Cats are having too much fun with our little Yule Tree.

Given up on the wassail idea. Blech.

There are orange slices drying in the oven as I write this post. I procured two types of oranges, naval and blood oranges. Now here is a confession. I have never bought blood oranges, ever. So when I sliced into the first blood orange for the first time, my reaction was less than pleased. It looked kind of gross, actually. And did not smell as nice and sweet as the naval oranges. And because of the way they looked, I did not taste it either. Is that weird of me? So why did I even get the dumb things? They were next to the navals and I thought, Why Not?  Indeed.

Results of my latest experiment will be posted. Fingers crossed that I did not burn the house down.

Disentangling, Dishwasher & Damon

Damon?? Why are they naming snowy weather. We get, on average 180 inches of snow a season. Will they name every single snow storm? The weather people love to make us crazy. We are getting snow, probably up to 10 inches. Good thing I can stay home and not have to drive in it. It's very pretty (from inside).

I spent over 30 minutes trying to disentangle three beaded garlands, one jingle bell light set and a door knob hanger with strands of ribbon in it. I am not a patient person, avoiding any kind of tediously meticulous effort. It was terribly frustrating, but I kept at it, with assistance from the Kittens who were having a grand time batting at all the things hanging down. After I finally got everything detangled, I had to sit down with a cup of tea and some cookies. (My version of a bracing shot of whisky!)

Hallelujia!! The new dishwasher was delivered this morning and I am in hog heaven! I almost kissed the delivery guys and the dishwasher itself. Almost...if the guys looked like Johnny Depp, I would have. But they were more like ugly Mutt and Jeff (no offense intended to them, they were very efficient). Once my son and hubby get it installed tonight, I might just pull up a chair while it goes through its wash cycle. Too much??

Back to decorating. And I am planning on trying another new thing....drying orange slices for a wreath. What can possibly go wrong?

Must fly. Robin

Anticipation

Tuesday has begun with a gray-white sky and misty rain that freezes as it dashes to the ground. The temperature is brisk, but there is no breeze; the day waits, quiet and still, in anticipation of the gathering storm.

There are many tasks to be done inside. I will put on favorite music and work and watch the sky for signs of snowy weather. Baking smells will rise from the kitchen and sleepy kitties will keep me company. An old dog will nudge me and ask for a lift up to the couch.

A quiet day, and yet so very satisfying. Yule is coming and I sing with happiness and Light.

Bright Blessings.  Robin

Ugh, Ick and Yuck

In my last post, I mentioned I was trying a wassail recipe. Ugh, ick and yuck is all I have to say about it. The recipe was poorly written, amounts were off, directions were incomplete...etc. Terrible concoction! Will not be sharing that recipe.

Apparently the Weather People have decided to hype us up into a frenzy with a Snow Event starting tomorrow and going through Thursday night. So naturally, my first thought is that I have to get to the library and stock up on some good reads. So I did. Pronto. And then I did the dutiful thing to stop by the grocery store for milk and dog food and more kitty treats. (can NOT run out of kitty treats!)

Came downstairs this morning, and there were various Yule ornaments scattered around the living room. Looks like a couple of felines had fun during the night. This is why I decorated only with non-breakable things. Gotta love those grinchy kittens.

Enjoy the December days as best you can if you are in wintry weather areas.

Must fly.  Robin.

Sunday Sampler--Yule Tree, Wassail and Turkey Soup

Greetings on this December Sunday. Sunny for a change, but rather cold. Winter is coming (as they say in Game of Thrones!).

So just ignore that post with the no-show photos. Obviously something is wrong and I will need some intense help, but it might be a little while before that will happen. So let's not talk about it anymore, okie doke?!

Today we decorated our sweet Norfolk Island Pine. It is really lush and green, and sits on a table in the living room. We thought it would be safer than getting a regular 5-6 foot tree because, you know, we have rambunctious kittens. At 16 pounds, Pyewacket can knock stuff over. There is no way he can climb up this little Yule tree. It has one string of colorful lights, one string of gold bead garland and then as many tiny, light weight ornaments that would fit. It looks festive and cheerful. One of these days, after we build our house at AutumnWood, we will have a room just for things like trees and other "no cats allowed" stuff.

A holiday experiment is going on right now as I type. Got the crockpot going with the ingredients for Wassail. That punch from the carol, "here we go a-wassailing". Always wanted to try it, and I saw this recipe on-line that might be tasty. Experimenting today, so we can make another batch on Yule with brandy added. Hope this recipe turns out well. If it does I will share the recipe.

Oh, and I did make a very delicious turkey soup the other day, using the remains of the turkey, bones and carcass. Smelled so good while simmering, and tasted wonderful (yes, I do say so myself). Served with parmesan-cheddar biscuits and cranberry sauce. With a stunning apple cake for dessert. Stunning, I say!! (lol).

New dishwasher being delivered this coming Wednesday thank the Universe!!! I have been soldiering on with (gasp!) handwashing dishes. I am dealing with my hardship as best I can!!!!

Must fly. Take care!   Robin.

Technical Difficulties of course

None of my photos I posted yesterday appear on the blog. Will consult with my Blog Tech. Too bad she lives 5 hours away.

In the meantime, have a great good Friday.

PHOTOS!!!!

So......after a cell phone conversation with daughter raethan: Photos!! She was a voice of calm, carefully explaining things, confidently talking me through the process (which is obviously simple for most human beings). It will most likely take me a few dozen times before it becomes cinchy but I am further along than I was. Thank you so much darling raethan; you have earned the title of Wiccan Writes Blog Tech!!! (hi Joyce!).

I have a gazillion photos to go through from several months of photo ops, so there will be no rhyme nor reason as to chronological subject matter. Who cares, right?? tee hee

This is a photo I took a couple of weeks ago of our Japanese Maple tree in its full glorious Autumn color, with the setting sun making it glow. You can see my stone alter in the foreground, our Arctic Blue Willow shrub to the left and hydrangeas on the right.

Oh, look! Here's a photo of our camper we got this summer for AutumnWood. Ain't she a beauty!! 38 feet long with a kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping for 7 or 8 people. In excellent condition considering she is close to thirty years old.

These guys are laying our water and septic lines. What a joy to have plumbing facilities!!

Hah! Here I am taking a pic of the bathroom.

And here is our little kitchen. Perfect for making breakfast and small meals. I wouldn't want to fix a Thanksgiving meal here, though we do have a ton of wild turkeys on the property. (Sheesh, no I would never hunt turkeys, or other wildlife except with a camera!)

And lastly for today is a pic of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes. We drove up the road about 7 or 8 miles from AutumnWood. That's how close our property is to this view.

This has been a momentous post for me. I shall to do it again tomorrow. (I am just going to leave all my tabs up so I can find them again, LOL!!)

Must fly!  Robin.

Forgetfulness, Stealthiness and Scrubless

I am so unused to blogging that I forgot to check if I had any comments!! LOL! that is bad. So I just went through them and read all your great words, and am so thankful for such good friends. 23 comments have gone unpublished! So now they are there. Thanks again, Wiccan Wreaders!

As I sit here at my dining table, I am being distracted by the intrepid Pyewacket, witchy cat familiar extraordinaire, as he conducts stealth operations against the dreaded cardboard insert of a new totebag I just got. He is quite wily, able to sneak up on it as it lies on the floor in a threatening manner. You know how insiduous those cardboard enemies can be. The sudden pounce, a perfect strike and the quick insertion inside the opening. Success! The mighty Pye defeats his nemesis once more. And yet, it seems further strikes are warranted, because you never, NEVER assume your enemy is dead!!

Ugh, I am sick of handwashing dishes. Despite his best efforts, my husband has been unable to repair the piece of $%### dishwasher. Er, um anyway....so he has given me the okay to go get a new one, and I cannot wait to get that thing. It's a shame how spoiled am I; can't handle a sinkful of dirty dishes.  If that is my worst problem right now, I am doing pretty good.

Must fly. Blessed Be.  Robin.

Welcome to December

All the Thanksgiving decorations are put away and the house looks a little bare, but not for long. Slowly I will transform our little house into an homage to Winter and Yule and a bit of Christmas thrown in. Probably won't do a big ole Christmas Tree since we have two rascally kittens who would love to wreck havoc with something like that. A table top tree will be fine.

The snow has melted away, but the north wind doth blow. It's fun to spot all the bird and squirrel nests in the tall trees, not to mention seeing the various hawks who are no longer hidden, as they scan for prey.

Still not adjusted to the early sunsets; what about you? Although a winter sunset has a certain beauty with muted colors reflecting the cold winds and temperatures.

I think of the very tall evergreens that stand around the neighborhood as sentinels. Watching and guarding, offering protection for the wildlife, as the soft whooshing sound of the wind through their piney branches reminds me of a winter song.

Enjoying and appreciating Nature during this Season can be a little difficult. You just have to know what to look for. Nature is always ready to greet you.

Must fly. Blessed Be!