Pushing through January Walking the Wheel of the Year

 I'm pushing through the month of January along with the gray skies and more rainy days than sunshine then I can remember, this is supposed to be our dry season but you wouldn't know this month.  We have had more rain than dry days so far.

On an up note the last few days have been sunny for the most part which makes walking my wheel of the year more pleasant when I can just walk out my door to walk and not wait for the rains to pass.  

The sun was out early morning so while filling the bird feeders I snapped a photo of my shadow, a rare appearance this month. Some of my observances this month was the moon fighting the clouds, on the morning after heavy rain the birds we flocking to the yard, trees and feeders, I snapped a photo of a bird one of about 2 dozen pecking about the ground for the seeds I just spread about.  The white egrets were pecking about on the median in my way back from my walk and the last photo is from Friday morning when the moon was visible on one side of the sky while the sun was shinning on the other side.

I posted in an early post that my word of the year is MEND and I had planned to add the word to a stitched piece I was working on.  Here is the piece with my word stitched in place.

I love how it turned out and want to add a few other words to some of my pieces for this stitch along I am taking park it that runs through 2024.  The stitch along is https://www.youtube.com/@k3n.clothtales

if you are interested in taking part.  Kathryn has some other wonderful creative videos as well.

I'm also planning to add more stitchery in my Walking the Wheel of the Year journey. in fact I am viewing 2024 as My Stitching Year.

I am currently reading Black Candle Women.

This is for the Library Love reading challenge.

My Word of the Year for 2024

Do you choose a personal word for the year as a focus? In the last decade it seems to be the offspring of making New Year’s resolutions, which never resonated with me. I always felt making resolutions at the start of the year when we are winding down from the holiday season and in the throes of winter where everything seems to be in a state of rest and recovery, why put oneself through promises that most of the time are broken before February ends. But a word or even two words is something I can get behind.

My word for 2024 is: MEND.

During last few years with all the physical challenges and changes it brought, mending feels like exactly what I need to do. When thinking about the difference between mending and healing; healing always feels like something that just happens (if you’re lucky), but mending is something that you do.

You take something into your hands and you make it better. It's an act of will rather than patience.

I want to mend, so this year my word of the year is Mend. I'm interested to see just where this word takes me.

Just A Thought On the New Year

For decades I stopped making resolutions in the New Year, instead I made goals for the coming year, realistic goals which I often met.  Over the last few years  I began making intentions for the year ahead in the spring when everything new was blooming, it just made sense.

As we take another whirl around the sun, what does it mean to come out of stasis? Do you find yourself still standing in place, not quite ready to begin the long strides needed to enter the year.

I think the expectations we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year do us little service, other than to set us up for dissatisfaction or disappointment when we don't live up to what we've been told we should.⁠

We are still in a period of rest, it doesn't feel the right time to set intentions yet, why not wait until Spring.  

At the end of the year I decided on a few activities to take part in as the year begins to unfold, things I can do as I myself begin to unwind from the busyness of the year now behind us.  

I have a few Slow stitching stitch a longs I am taking part in. I love the no rush, slow steady rhythm of pushing a needle and thread through fabric. 

The little stitchery is of Airmid from Kelli Lincoln of Dancing Goddess, I would like to finish her soon. 

I'm also doing a few reading challenges, again an activity that takes little energy yet yields wonderful rewards.

I'm just about finished with the book The Comfort of Crows, for the Library Love reading challenge, I have 2 books waiting to be picked up by the 16th.

Where Does The Time Go?

 We are a week into January, a week into 2024 and I still ask the question, where does the time go?

I know for me this week it has gone into preparing some stitching projects for 2024, the first being the Kathy Schmitz Woven Wreaths SAL.

The first photo is of the stitch along panel which is 1 fat quarter available at Spoonflower, I chose the blue, it's also available in red and green. The other photos show my stitching progress over Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.

My wonderful daughter in law brought me back some lovely herbal tea from their trip to Helen, GA. Moon Magick Tea is a lovely brew with a slight spicy floral flavor and aroma.  I have started having a cup in the evenings.

I Googled the Newagegirl88.com and found there is a website and an Etsy shop with a nice variety of tea and other lovely items.

After drinking my tea I decided to stick the tea ball into a jar with a teabag from earlier in the day, I added some hot water and 3 small squares of fabric to tea dye them. 

I started this a 9:30 pm checking on the tea which darkened in the last photo. This  morning I removed the fabric pieces, each fabric square is a slightly different texture and weight.

Once they dry I will compare the tea dyed pieces to the undyed pieces to see if there was much of a change. 

I plan to  use the tea dyed pieces in an upcoming stitching project, more on that in a future post.

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year on and All!

The morning started off with clear blue skies and the moon visible above, I love seeing the moon in the daylight hours. This is my first moon photo for 2024

Today I started my Walking the Wheel of the Year journey with a walk at Silver Springs State Park. The first mile I walked is for  Day 1 of the Walk 31 miles in January sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

A few of the views I saw along my walk my feet with my cane 

A woodpecker beating a tune while pecking for insects, a found sweater, blooming flowers, standing stones. bright red camellias and a mermaid waiting for a face.

After my walk I started reading The Comfort of Crows for the 2024 Library Love Challenge, so far I am loving it.

Here is the link if you are interested taking part in the challenge:

 https://booksofmyheart.net/2023/12/02/2024-library-love-challenge-sign-up-giveaway/