The turning of the calendar page to a new month also brings the
turning of the Wheel of the Year to the 1st Harvest, Lughnasadh or
Lammas. In brief, Summer has passed its zenith and although
temperatures are still quite warm (in the Northern Hemisphere), the sun
sets a bit earlier each day. Some crops are ready to harvest and
preserve for the coming months. Lughnasadh, named for the Irish Sun God
Lugh, is celebrated on the first or second day of August. It is the
first of three harvest festivals. This festival celebrates the grain
harvest as well as fruits and vegetables that ripen in late Summer.
I love this Lugnasadh art work by Bonny Hut, it is full of seasonal images and has me longing for autumn.
Besides giving thanks for the abundance of the first harvest, this is a
good time to reflect on the goals and projects you began earlier in the
year. Have they come to fruition as you planned? Or do they still need
more work to develop into what you envisioned? There is still time to
edit and revise before the next harvest!
I am currently taking part in a SAL (stitch along) we are using the
pattern Moon Crystals by Lolli and Grace. The SAL began on July 27th and
will continue into August. My progress so far is right on schedule
though I snapped the photo earlier before the last lazy daisies were
completed. The next portion of the SAL is announced on Wednesday, August
3rd I am curious which part of the pattern will be next and what stitch
will be used which makes it quite interesting. The first two stitches
are the split back stitch and the lazy daisy. At first I didn’t like
the split back stitch but after a while I got the hang of it and I
actually like the look. My lazy daisy stitches are a bit wonky as you
can see, it’s one of the stitches I have yet to master. I really should
go back to the basics and make a few stitch samplers to get the feel for
the stitches again. Most of my work is done in the back stitch so I am
once again dipping my feet into uncharted waters. So far I like the
results.
Demeter, Lady of Fruit and Grains,
of ripening suns and harvest rains.
I call to you, Mother, hear my plea,
Bestow your Blessing here on me.
Last Tuesday morning the Tree Service arrived and began working without so
much as a knock on the door. I heard all this noise looked out and
pieces of a tree were being fed into a wood chipper. Well midway
through the job a piece of machinery broke down so they went onto
another job while waiting for the mechanic to fix the truck. They
returned about 90 minutes later to resume the job. They had to move one
of the limestone boulders to get the heavy equipment in and assured me
they would move it back after the job was done.
A few hours later it was real quiet so I looked out the door and there
wasn't a soul in sight. They left, forgetting to move the boulder back
(which would be okay), they left a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid
and the payment. My son and I looked around the yard to see how well
the work was done and what may need to be done next. The company called
and asked if the men were still there and I told him they were gone,
but needed to come back to get the hydraulic fluid and if possible to
put the boulder back and get paid.
Everything looked good, of
course there is a few clean up jobs needing to be done, where the heavy
equipment was. I did notice all of the branches of my pear tree were
cut off which I'm sure was do to the heavy branches coming down.
The removal of the dead cedar tree was crucial because it was so tall
and I worried it would either fall on my house or my neighbors. The
tree service cut down the stump that was next to it and all I have left
are two little pieces which I will make into spirit dolls one of these
days.
