Been a while...

So, I am making the shift to working out of the house more instead of the salon 40 miles away I have been spending most of my time in since last May and I saw that my last post was April 2010.  Wow.  I have been missing blogging, and the blogoshere as a whole, but I had no idea I was creeping up on a year being gone.  I guess my first couple of posts will be catching you all up on why I have been too busy this past year to be here, and what you have all been doing while I was gone.  Big things in the works, and can't wait to share it all with you!  Love and hugs and whatnot!

H.W.

Wordless Wednesday

I know it's Wordless Wednesday, but this needs a little explanation...

The Hubs and I have joined a group called Belegarth which does Medieval fighting with foam weapons.  A good friend of ours came down for practice last night, and I posted some pictures of them 'fighting'. A friend of that friend almost immediately Photo shopped them and made the swords Light Sabers.  Without a doubt, this made the Hubs night, and he is still smiling about it this morning! Now, here are a few more pics, sans Light Sabers, although there was a band of Hobbits who attacked.

Happy Wednesday!

H.W.

Little Altars Everywhere

Last week Jiji and I made her a paper altar quilt so she could start building a personal altar in her room.  It made me realize that my house is riddled with altars and shrines.  This, in my opinion, is a very good thing.  We have the public, family altar which is just inside the front door and kept plain.  We decorate it and choose tools for each particular ritual, festival, or spell.

On the other side of the door is the Ganesha shrine.

And across the living room is the hutch, which holds a few different shrines, as well as most of our magickal tools which live on the bottom shelf.

My Reiki grid on the middle shelf.

with my focus candle in front

and my Faery shrine at the top. My Faery guide, Miss P, says hello!

and on top the Lady, Lord, and the Green Faery watch over us.

In the kitchen I have a small household shrine, you will notice the chickens are represented.  They are not just pampered, they are blessed.

and in my room, a Triple Goddess shrine that is actually three smaller shrines to each the Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

And the outdoor altar with a little offering stone under it.

and, of course, now we have Jiji's personal altar.

That is about 10 separate little sacred spaces in and around our house.  Not to mention the ring of salt, stones, and wards that enclose our little property.  I like this, and tend to be a 'shrine builder' because I like to look around and be reminded of my blessings.  I like to think of my house and my life as blessed, and my house reflects that.  This is what a Magickal life means to me.  My faith, my Path is not reserved for Sabbats or festivals or full moons.  I walk in Magick and blessings, with my family beside me, every minute of the day.  I stir Reiki symbols into my cooking, bathe myself and my children.in positive energy with each shower and bath.  We pray, we sing, we talk about the Lady and Lord, and to them.  We bless the Quarters, and invite their Guardians in to play.  We look for blessings to be grateful for and lose count.  We have had our share of storms, our share of bad, but we walk through it, and we walk away from it.  I look around my home and see the Divine, in both my altars and shrines and in their work in my life and family.  My house could be empty and still I would feel this way, but I would rather stuff it full of treasures that make it look to others how it feels to me.

H.W.

Wordless Wednesday

Last April, 8 months Pregnant.

Punk Rock Diapers

Mojo has grown out of her diapers, and my sewing machine, ancient and battered before I ever got it from Freecycle to begin with, is in too bad of shape to use.  Luckily for me, my awesome neighbor Sarah is a seamstress and starting her own sewing and alterations business.  I took all the parts and pieces of the diapers over to her and the first one was sent over, hot off her sewing machine, via Jiji just moments ago.  Here it is, in all it's Punk Rock glory!

Is that the cutest thing EVAR or what?  So, I wanted to share the cuteness, and the awesomeness of Sarah for making them for me on short notice.  Just in case you need some sewing awesomeness for yourself, check out Sarah Jane's Studio on Facebook and her brand new Esty site.  She makes Hemp jewelry, clothes for kids and adults (I especially LOVE her refashioned kids clothes, pics on her FB page) bags, bunny slippers, and just random cool stuff. I know Mojo will have this at her upcoming 1st birthday party.

So stop by if you have a minute and take a look.  She does great work and is a way cool WAHM!

Best. Weekend. Ever!

It's done, our long journey to building our chicken coop is finished, and this weekend we moved the birds in.  They LOVE it, and have all been waiting at the pop out door to be let out into the run each morning.  We still have to round them up at night and put them in the coop, but I have read that in about a week they will learn to go in at night where it's warm.  It is still getting a little chilly at night, so we have the heat light hung in there, but they all just snuggle up in the nest boxes anyway!  I made a little flower bed and planted some marigolds, since it has gone from 'tractor' to 'coop' and will be stationary.  I think it makes it look super-cute!  The ducks are still being kinda jerky, mostly the Rouen, Guinness.  The Khaki Campbell, Coco, is pretty chill with the chicks, until Guinness starts some trouble.  I think Guinness will be dinner soon.

  It seems official that we have 3 hens, 3 roos, so about the 2nd week in July our flock will lose the fellas.  I go back and forth on whether to get more chicks then or wait till next year.  It will probably depend on where we get more chicks from.  The farm where our current chicks came from has a 10 chick minimum order, and so we will only do that if we split with the neighbors again.  If not, be may try to get some Golden Comets, but we will have to drive a ways to get them.  We will see how it goes, I guess.

I really like the Barred Rocks, though, because they are dual purpose, and we so intend to butcher every year or every other year and replace with new chicks so we have optimum, young layers.  It might be best to just leave it to 3 hens and a duck this first year while we are adjusting, but we are really hooked on having chickens now and want more.  Square foot wise, we have room for 6-7 birds.

We had the greatest time working, playing, eating and just hanging out in the yard with the neighbors this weekend.  There was even a game of 'slips' (nighttime hide-and-seek) that the Hubs and one of the neighbor Dads joined in on Saturday night.  Sunday I was going to make bird feeders (thanks Pooka Pages!) with the girls, and since we had a few extra kids we grabbed a few extra coffee cans and they made some too!

In other garden news, here are a few progress pics of the garden boxes and yard.  Like I said, we got a lot done, and I just want to stand out there and look at the yard!

  

The Hubs is very proud that he got both the fountains cleaned out and running for the season, and I missed the sounds of the water over the winter.  We have one in front, one in back so we can listen to the relaxing water from most of the yard.

Back fountain

Front fountain

We also broke in the new 'beehive' fireplace by cooking dinner Saturday night on it.  Sausage and potatoes...YUM!

I know the cat that has adopted us was glad we ate every meal this weekend outside on the patio, the kids  and the Hubs 'dropped' a lot for her.

I am tired, sunburned, and sore...but I am sad the weekend is over.

H.W.

Monday Message

Good Morning!

The Faun

Iris of the Rainbows

The Singers of Healing, inverted

Natural Magick is swirling up in our lives.  Enjoy it, allow it to work and flow.  Dance it, sing it, trust it.  Light is breaking, and although there will be more storms, we survived this one, and found brightness and beauty in it's wake.  The dance of the lightning through a storm dark sky, the music of the rain on the roof and the wind in the trees.  The Sun paints a rainbow on the dissipating clouds.  A storm can be a blessing.  Those storms, hard as they are, blow the dead wood away it we let them, but we have to let them.  Let the cleansing wind clear out a space for seeds of the future, and let the storm water those seeds.  The things we cling to out of habit or fear are the things that weigh us down.  If your arms are filled with burdens and baggage, how can you embrace the Song of Healing?  Open up to healing, and open up to the gift of the storm, and sing.

H.W.