Christmas Eve

 Well I made it to Christmas Eve 2021 and despite several set backs this year I am feeling pretty good. 

I decided to pass on putting up a Yule tree this year, I had it pulled out of the box, spread out the branches and left it for a day or two, when I opened the box of ornaments I realized I just didn't feel like decorating a tree this year.  So I boxed up the tree, put away the ornaments and decided this arrangement would work perfectly for me this year.

My arrangement of silk flowers, pinecones, berries and greenery was all I needed this year, oh and my vintage Yule log which has been packed in a box since 2011, I was planning to remove the plastic decorations and remake it but decided to leave it.  I think it fits in with the vintage table cloth.

This is my $5.00 bargain I picked up at Walmart the other day while I was browsing the garden center.

It's just an assortment of evergreens and a few faux berries all stuck into florist foam, it smells divine and marked down from $39.95 to $5.00 I grabbed one.  It's turning a bit brown so I have to trim it each morning. It sits on my table in the kitchen and all those boxes around the table are now gone.

Later today between chores and stitching I'm going to sit down and read through the latest issue of Beachcombing magazine before the new issue arrives.  The subscription was a thoughtful gift from a dear friend I lost this year.  

She knew how much I love the beach and sea glass and one day an issue arrived in the mail for my birthday.  I knew who sent it right away right before I became ill in 2020 we had been walking the beach and I was lamenting how finding sea glass on the beaches in Florida is rare, well for me anyway and that I was planning to visit a few of the beaches where finding it wasn't as difficult but not without a challenge.  A few weeks later the magazine arrived, I didn't even know such a magazine existed.  Perhaps this year I will make it to a few of those beach glass beaches.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, Blessed Yule and the happiest New Year yet!

 

Midway through December and a completed Baba Yaga

 Time is just flying by, can you believe we are in the middle of December, where does the time go? This is going to be a short post.

Having online retail shops and working from home this time of the year can be a challenge, this year I don't think I have slowed down since mid October, it's great on one hand business is doing well and this year I am able to get through all of the days without help, it's exhausting by the end of the day but nothing like last year when I was so ill I needed both my son and daughter in-law to help with the pulling and packing orders and dropping off at the post office.  

This year I have managed to do it all once again, which feels great.  I mentioned being exhausted at the end of the day which has been a problem since having the heart surgery in July, I don't feel as energetic as I think I should be. So in the new year I am going to see a new cardiologist for a second opinion.

During my down time I have been stitching my goddess of the month hand embroidery pieces, I had posted the Elen of the Ways and Baba Yaga while she was being stitched, here she is completely stitched.

I love the expression on her face, she turned out exactly like I had hoped she would.  I am currently stitching the final goddess for the year, Airmid for December.  Recently I posted a photo of the Baba Yaga in one of the Facebook groups I am in and someone pointed out she isn't a goddess but a witch.  I know she is a witch but I follow a goddess spirituality path and consider her a goddess as well.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Getting Stitched in November

Thanksgiving is on the horizon and then straight on decking the halls for the Winter Solstice and the Yuletide season. 

November is moving through the days so quick my head is spinning though probably the effects of the blood thinner medication I take. Really I don't need to add dizziness to my list of ailments I'm too busy;

 The online shops are crazy busy this time of year, usually things get hectic in the last week of October straight on to the New Year, this year however with delays in unloading cargo ships things have picked up at the end of September and has kept at a steady pace.  

As busy as I have been I've had time to get in some stitching, the hand embroidery for my October goddess Elen of the Ways is complete:

I am currently working on the November goddess, Baba Yaga:

If you aren't familiar with Baba Yaga here are some interesting bits on Baba Yaga the ‘old woman’ of autumn was called Baba by the Slavic inhabitants of eastern Europe, Boba by the Lithuanians. This seasonal divinity lived in the last sheaf of grain harvested in a year, and the woman who bound it would bear a child that year. Baba passed into Russian folk legend as the awesome Baba Yaga, a witchlike woman who rowed through the air in a mortar, using a pestle for Her oar, sweeping the traces of Her flight from the air with a broom.

Back in June of 2016 I took part in a Goddess a Week challenge and created this Baba Yaga for week 2, She was hand embroidered and crayon tinted on white on white print cotton fabric.

When I'm not stitching a goddess or other project I am planning ahead for 2022 and a new monthly embroidery project, I have a few ideas floating around in my head as well as ideas sent to me by friends here are a few of the ideas: a mermaid a month, a god a month, a witch or a witch hat a month.  I leaning towards a tree or leaf a month, possibly the Celtic tree calendar in wedges to make a wheel, my ideas are endless. 

This week in between packing and shipping orders and stitching Baba Yaga I'll be reading Gateway to the Modern Crone by Jude Downes. Maybe I will stitch a crone a month. 

Well that's about it for this post, it's getting late so I better go make something for dinner before I forget again.  I'll leave you with a bit of humor.

Early November Days

 The first week of November has been a mixed bag of weather with heavy rain falling Thursday and continuing through much of the weekend. It has brought much cooler temps with the low last night at 48 degrees, due to the rain and overcast skies it's quite chilly here in north central Florida, but it feels great.

When the weather is filled with the scent of wood smoke, and there is a frigid breeze blowing I long for snow flurries, warm gloves and hot cocoa after my morning walk.  While I don't have the snow flurries, I do have gloves and hot cocoa in my cup and memories of long gone days of brightly colored leaves and November snow storms.  We would be lost without our memories.

While I won't be walking among leaves of gold, red and orange, my heart remembers those days when I would take long walks hearing the leaves crunch beneath my feet, the aroma of damp wet leaves filling my nostrils, inhaling the crisp air deep into my soul.  

If everything comes together with my health I am planning to head north this month to catch the last of the autumn leaves, I say if because my health has been a rollercoaster ride for nearly 2 years and I don't want to jeopardize my progress. So it will be a spontaneous trip if all goes well, and if not I have photos and memories to rely on for another autumn and hope for next year.

I have been doing a daily card draw this month using the Wisdom of the Crone oracle deck.  Today my card is Empowerment.

I bought this card deck over 10 years ago used it a few times then put it on the shelf, it was early days of being a Crone and the cards weren't really speaking to me yet, now they are, the words sometimes hit right to the center of me.

The stitching on the goddess a month project is going along nicely for October I chose Elen of the Ways

I didn't take any progress photos and have just washed the stitch and wash away product off I have the finished piece drying then I will post the finished piece.  November goddess will be started later today I trying to decide between Baba Yaga or Freya.