Rosemary for Remembrance

Into tonight's fire, in the backyard, rosemary. It is dried and fragrant, harvested from last year's garden.  As the rosemary burns, we will remember and honor those who have gone before. The ones who gave their lives in all the wars, those wars that have come and gone and still rage today. Home of the free, because of the brave.  Memorial Day.

There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love,
remember........

-William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5)

Friday and a 3-day Weekend

Off to the grocery store early this morning; it is going to be hot hot hot and who wants to be shopping on a hot afternoon? well, not me. The store is filled to the brim with all the accoutrement for Memorial Day weekend. Bar-b-Que stuff galore, watermelons, colorful paper goods, citronella candles and the ubiquitous red, white and blue floral arrangements. The so-called unofficial start to summer.

Daughter Raethan and her hubby will be arriving tonight for the weekend. I hear the sounds of board games, clinking glasses and riotous chatter already.  Maybe some help in the garden.

Have a very safe weekend, especially if you are on the road traveling.

Here's a question that I saw somewhere?  Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?  Something to discuss on the drive to the big backyard barbeque!

A Sparrow Tale

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, but that is a different tale.(*) Actually it was feeding time. (be sure to click on photos for a good look)

Here is little Junior, head protruding from the right side of this two-family home. Mouth wide open and squeakily chirping up a storm.  "FEED ME!"  Sitting on a perch in the lower right of this photo is Mama. She is studiously ignoring the plaintive mewling of her offspring.

Observing from a safe distance are two older ladies. They are not-too-discretely discussing their shock at the behavior of Mama. "I would never let my baby holler like that!" says the lady on the left. The lady on the right agrees. "Well, I never!! A terrible mother! She should be ashamed."

Ah! Who do we have here? It's Papa. Resting for just a moment, as Mama (extreme left) carries on a non-stop critique of her husband's poor work ethic. "That child has been squawking for at least 5 minutes. Where have you been? Off with Fred and Charlie? Staring at those young chicks that fledged last week? You should be ashamed of yourself. Get back to work and feed our baby!"

"Yes, dear," Papa says meekly. "Okay, Junior, open wide." Papa sighs, as his wife flies off to meet the girls for bunco.

"Chow down, kid," Papa says. "NomNomNomNom," Junior chirps. The ladies on the fence ruffle their feathers and shake their heads in unison.  "The poor man," one says.

And so ends this tale.


(*) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

Monday Medley--Merry May Monday

Happy Victoria Day to all those Canadian friends and relatives "up there". Hope you are enjoying the three-day weekend, and getting the cobwebs out of all your caravans!

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Hurray for us! First fire of the season in our backyard fire pit. It was serene and beautiful and even better, no mosquitos! We burned sage and sweetgrass, honored Hecate and star-gazed. My husband had grilled burgers for dinner and then prepared the fire. Thanks, honey!

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Sad news over the weekend. Two icons of the music world gone. Donna Summer and now, Robin Gibb. Did you dance to their music back in the day?

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Summer seems to be well on its way. What a weekend of warm temps, sunny skies and panting dogs! Keep those water bowls full.  (you notice how dogs smell funny after being outside sometimes? and by funny I mean stinky.)

On that note, bye for now!!!

A Lupine Tale

The lupines in my garden are very special to me. In 2005, I gathered seeds from these lupines from my mother's property in Quebec, where she had a little house (called "Chalet Bosquet", or house in the woods). My mom was born and grew up in Quebec, and her family still has property in a little French-Canadian town north of Quebec City. Almost 40 years ago, my mom threw a handful of lupine seeds around the side of her house, and left them alone. All these years later, the lupines have profusely and joyfully taken over a large part of the land around her place. It is a wonderful sight in late spring when the many-colored lupines stand tall, blooming and beaming at everyone. It looks like a fairy village.

So, I gathered some seeds in the autumn when my husband and I were up there, placed them in an envelope and stuck them in the glove compartment of our van. We made the trip back home. Life went on. Four years later, my son now owned the van. He was away at college, and one day he was looking through the glove compartment and found the envelope with the lupine seeds.

Nick brought them home to me and I was so thrilled. Having forgotten about these seeds (and feeling a little badly about forgetting) I immediately made plans to pot them up and see if they would sprout. After spending four years in the van through hot weather and freezing weather, it was anybody's guess if these seeds were still viable.

About ten days after potting them, little sprouts starting popping up. Soon there were taller plantlings. When they were stronger, my brother and I planted these amazing little wonders into our garden. I saved two pots of lupine plants to take down to Virginia to my mom who was living with my oldest brother. He planted them in the garden by his front entrance. When I presented these pots to my mom and brother, I told the story of where they came from. My mother was so happy and touched, and amazed that the lupine seeds had survived. They thrived there, and my mom so enjoyed seeing them whenever she left the house.

Now that my mom is gone, the blooming of these lupines is even more special. There were lots of different colors of lupines; red, pink, yellow, purply-blue and white. The purply-blue ones were my mom's favorite. The only lupines blooming now are the purply-blue ones. You know what? I don't think that is a coincidence.

I took these two photos yesterday. They are beautiful and flourishing. (click on the photos for a closer look)

Scott Cunningham, book and video

The foundation of my Wiccan path was laid by reading many books. The most profound of these books, for me, are written by Scott Cunningham. I believe I have most of the books he wrote, some of which I have read so many times that they are dog-eared and worn. The words are as fresh today as when I began reading them years ago. Scott Cunningham wrote in a simple but passionate style, bringing alive the world of herbal magick, as well as other aspects of Wicca.

My son Nicarus gifted me with Cunningham's Book of Shadows recently. This is a recently published book. The book was not completed before the author's death in 1993. The publisher has done a wonderful job of bringing this book to us. As I read through the first few pages, I found myself becoming rather emotional, eyes welling up. Hard to explain. Cunningham's words move me.

Yesterday my son and I sat down together to watch a video. Another purchase by my son. It was produced in 1986 and as far as I know the only video Scott Cunningham made. A rather low-budget, low-tech production filmed in San Diego. The quality is not the best and Scott seems at times uncomfortable, a little out of his element. But he soldiers on. What I found exceptional about this video was watching Scott talk about magickal herbalism, seeing him harvest herbs, crush herbs and make blends for  incense, charms and oils. It was truly a pleasure, informative and amazing. We chuckled a few times as Scott stumbled over a few words here and there, made attempts at humor and looked at the camera through very large glasses. I think the intention of this video was to try to show how simple but sacred gathering herbs, learning about their properties and using herbs in magick can be. Scott's knowledge was well-rounded and researched meticulously. He wanted to show that magick is not a complicated undertaking. With intention and energy, using common tools, magick happens naturally.

The bottom line: practice magick. If you can, grow your own herbs, work with them, feel their energies; Scott shows you how do that in this video. The more you do it, the more confident you will become, the more you will learn and the stronger your passion for this Path will become.

Watching this video was a little surreal. Seeing Scott Cunningham talking about magick was so wonderfully amazing. Having only read his words, to see him speaking about all these magickal things was an interesting, moving experience for me.  A little funny due to its age and low-key production, but still a joy and privilege to view. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in herbal magick, and definitely for those who have read and love Scott Cunningham.

Bright Blessings. Robin.

Cunningham's Book of Shadows; The Path of an American Traditionalist by Scott Cunningham. copyright 2009 by Scott Cunningham. published by Llewellyn Publications, 2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, Minnesota 55125-2989 (www.llewellyn.com)

Scott Cunningham's Herb Magic (video), copyright 1989, 2010, Llewellyn Worldwide.

Ackk! Off-On-Off

Quickly I type. My laptop is having trouble. Dropping off line for five minutes or 20 minutes or all night. The two other laptops in the house stay stubbornly on-line, so it is not our internet connection. My poor laptop, is this the beginning of the end? How dreadful to be cutoff right in the middle of an interesting blog post or reading an email, or worst of all, in the middle of a fab game!!

The lupines in my garden are blooming, the irises are getting ready to bloom. I purchsed a lot of seed packets at the garden store. Ready to roll.  Hopefully I will have photos soon, if I can get back online. Fingers crossed.

My brother's surgery went well yesterday. Hopefully we will know more in a week or so.

Hmm, I have been on here for a few minutes.....uh-oh, I feel like I am about to fall off-li