~sunny, sun, sunshine~

ahhhh the sun has been shining here for three days now, the nights have been clear and chilly but the days have been glorious.

so glorious i have spent most of the daylight hours sitting in my nook looking out over my wild garden.

 

Beltane dawned grey and damp but i wandered the garden among birdsong and feeling blessed to be there

 

 

 

my little maypole~a hazel branch with ribbons set in the west of my sacred garden area. i have decided to keep it there and change the ribbons at each festival~but also thought of adding permanent adornment, a hag stone, feathers etc. 

 



 

this me dears is a concoction of spinach, carrot, apple and ginger. swampy and i are having similar concoctions every day for our lunch in an effort to shed some weight. we have also started swimming twice weekly again after a long break. i just need to now get into daily yoga practice.

 

the case is my ukulele...a concert size which is one up from the tiny soprano

 



i couldn't resist a couple of pictures of mismi and inca~we found some packing beans so for a few days mismi enjoyed leaping around in them until i caught him eating the end of one and i confiscated the beans and replaced them with play balls (which really are not to exciting!)

 



 

inca on the bed exploring the cushions from the camper

 



 

 

i have had a hard few weeks as i am going through a big fibro flare up. i have also been diagnosed with sciatica. its been going on for a long time...years in fact. i would get funny twinges that would stop me in my tracks then go. i ignored them as months and months would pass between the 'twinges'.

this last year i have been getting more and i just passed it off as another fibro related pain~now i am at the point where it is weekly and it lasts for longer. as i was going to see my gp anyway i asked about it. sciatica, another ailment to add to the list. 

 



~off again~

 

well i have enjoyed a fairly peaceful week and today we are off to the huge show that is busfest at the foot of the Malvern hills. we have been going to this event for about 13 years now...not as regular festival goers but as crew and it just seems to get bigger and bigger every year.

i no longer have any 'doings' as crew anymore because of my m.e and fibro but swampy organises all the site signage and since last year organises the charity auction, which involves him working for a short time alongside the famous auctioneer james lewis.

 

so yesterday we spent getting pretty pagan tidy and packing up all the essential and today we shall be driving up to the three counties showground at the foot of the malvern hills for ten days and i decanted a small bottle of my own raspberry vodka for the odd tipple...

 

...see the music case in the background? its my new instrument...a concert ukulele :)

 

 

hopefully i will be camped up at a little area that is a little grove of trees and standing stones and if so i shall be camped up so when sitting with my book or crochet to hand...i have my pink wool against weapons section to complete, i will be facing the hills.

 

i have packed up my bag with books, journal and crochet, put some more music on my ipod and i plan on a nice relaxing week. i am even taking Evangeline so that during the week, before the festival is open to the public on Friday, i can spend some time having a nice cycle around the huge showground.

when the show is open i shall be taking my pennies and see what i can find~last year there was a lady selling lovely clothes in the style of magnolia pearl style clothes so i really hope she will be there again!

 

i wont be able to blog but if you go to instagram you will hopefully be able to find picture 'posts' from me over the week

 

***

 

the turn of the great wheel has once again made a very distinct move towards the darker days.

this morning when i woke i felt decidedly chilly under my duvet and when out in the garden at 6.30 it was the most chill the morning has been for a long time.

 

i am so embracing this change, as i always do, but this year i seem to be embracing it more...i have spent a lot of hot days sheltering from the heat and it seems to me i have not been out in my sacred garden as much as i would like...my nook is presently home to small branches i foraged from the forest, my log pile and a huge drift of falling rambling rose and climbing jasmine leaves and petals.

so that will be my first job when we are back home and pretty pagan is unpacked.

 

since may and the moongazy camp we have had 'something' on each month that took either time, energy or money and especially with the run up to the fairy festival i have been busy and as is the norm my spiritual path took a step back away from it all.

 

so now its time to get back onto my path and see where it leads me over the dark months...

 

 

 

 



~its here, i can smell it...~

 

its here

 

its really at my doorstep

 

i can smell it, sense it, feel it as a buzzing going through me

 

those of you here in the northern hemisphere will know what i am talking about if you are tuned into our land and its cycles

 

 

stepping out into the garden in the early morning or evening you can feel the turn of the great wheel taking us into the darker days.

 

there is a slight chill in the air and a feeling of everything slowly giving up the best of itself and drawing back into darkness to regenerate its powers ready for spring.

 

i find myself having to rush into the garden to make the most of these feelings~i love the chill air and the smell. it is a very particular smell and the energy in the land is buzzing and i feel it reverberating within me.

 

it makes me feel supremely happy.

 

its the darker days that i enjoy having a fire in my garden, wrapped up against the chill and burning incense, staring up at the darkening sky...so perfect.

 

 

 

my rowan tree is full of fruit that i had thought of making jelly with but i thought it better to leave them for the birds~maybe if i plant another one we can share them?

 

 

 

 

i have not been here with my thoughts for weeks now and i have been constantly fretting over this~wondering what you have all been up to.

i have been so busy in my incarnation as the wylde apothecary getting ready for the new forest fairy festival i had little or no time for much else.

 it is now over (a post here on the festival to come!)

and so things are going back to pre-festival 'normality' here in this ancient forest i call home.

 

i am finding myself wondering what to do with myself over the coming months

of course the wylde apothecary will be gently rolling on

i recently started to learn the ukulele which s proving to be great fun-it is an eddy finn concert uke (a smidge larger than the teeny soprano ones) and i bought a hard case so i can safely take it away with us camping and not worry about damage.

i have a huge pile of books that need reading-although i am reading about 4 books at the moment i can never resist buying more to add to my pile

i need to spend time coming up with some new incense blends~'sister moon' proved to be very popular at the fairy festival and at one point i had to sit in pretty pagan to make up some new packets.

i have a hankering to learn clog dancing but have found no teachers down this end of the country.

i find my mind returning to the idea of delving deeper into druidry via the obod or bdo online courses~but i am torn, part of me wants to delve deeper while another part of me thinks i do not need it...i think its just that i miss my ou work i am looking to replace it.

i am still considering birthing my own shamanic drum

 

...so many things i want to do!

 

but or now i need to tidy my work room!