Monday 31 October 2011

Blessed Samhain!!

Happy Halloween, to all, and Blessed Samhain! This is my absolute favourite time of year. I love the Autumn weather, the excitement of Halloween for the kids, the significance of Samhain for me. Even more so this year.

After having been to see a psychic medium earlier this year, I have had my eyes opened. I have always believed in spirits, having had quite a few experiences myself, and the feeling of almost never being quite alone.
But when I went to see June, it was in a large group environment, and to be quite honest, I had never been to see anyone like her before, I didn't know quite what to expect, but really, if I'm honest, I thought she'd be all vague generalities that could apply to anyone, but boy did she blow my mind!!
She told me specifics, that not many people know. She knew things she couldn't possibly have known, she homed in on me. I was away at the back out of the way too. And she told me that I was surrounded by spirits who were looking out for me, she'd never seen so many surrounding one person. She said I had more people caring for me from the afterlife than in the living.
Needless to say, I was pretty surprised. Not shocked, just pleasantly surprised.
When My Nana came through, to say specifically that she wasn't looking out for me, I had to laugh. She was a twisted old bird, and we didn't get on to say the least. lol. But others the psychic described were so dear to my heart. My great Grandfather. A phenomenal pipe player, craftsman, Traveller, I have missed him so much. But I know for sure now, he's with me.
My grandfather, I get my hair, temper and obsession with boxes from him. lol. I met him, many years after he had passed, along with his dog. While out walking my Nana's dog. A peaceful experience. Reassuring.
My cousin, who committed suicide. That was an emotional revelation. But still reassuring.

So, this Samhain, I made a special effort through all the general malaise and apathy I have been feeling of late, and made a special ancestors altar to honour them all. It's the least I can do if they're looking out for me. My offerings were cheese scones, and malt whisky. Since our family, are especially keen on the old malt. Flowers, and special candles. I hope they like it. I found beautiful old hand made bowls at the market, as I know many of them like handmade things, and used to make the most beautiful things, including horse carts and baskets.

This is my lovely Fiance's "awesome face" pumpkin. Isn't it funky?! He's such a geek.
And for Little D, a creeper pumpkin! They're creepy monsters from a game called Minecraft that he's obsessed with. He was thrilled to come down in the morning and see what daddy had made.

The general apathy and ill health is really bugging me now. I have so much to enjoy, and so much to do, I need to get it sorted out. So trips to the doctor will be upcoming, I hate to have to do it, but I must.

Right, off to try and motivate myself to do some more cleaning and reorganising. Have a ton of washing to catch up on as usual. lol.

Hope you all have a fabulous Halloween/Samhain!
Blessed Be!

Sal. X

Saturday 8 October 2011

Wintry Weather

What a day! It's been pretty cold here. Snow on the high ground. So a day spent in a large cowshed was bound to be cold! Not a lot happening at market today, I made a few purchases, and got bargains too. I had to go on the hunt for a scarf as i was freezing! And found two, a lush purple toned patchworkish type dressy scarf, and a longer knitted stripy purple toned one, my favourite colour! And only £1 each!!! Excellent! I'm off tomorrow to visit my friend and her little girls in a nearby town. Haven't been to her new house yet, SO difficult to arrange things around kids with different nursery times etc. But her eldest Daughter has a thing about crocodiles, thanks to The Wiggles! So I found a cute TY croc for her. And her younger Daughter loves dogs, and the closest thing I could find was this cute wolf! Hopefully they'll like them. :-)
My friend loves owls, so when I spotted this Wade Whimsy Owl, I had to get it for her! I also picked up a couple of other wee owl figures. Sure she'll love them.
Found a new stall today, which is unfortunately not here too often, but is due back in November. Lots of lush pagan wiccan type things! I saw an amazing hand tooled leather book of shadows! I knew I'd not be able to afford it after buying my winter boots this week, but I did get a lovely bunch of white sage and lemongrass foe smudging. Only £2! So I'm thrilled.

Have had a lovely bath, made and eaten dinner, usually I don't cook at weekends, lovely OH does it, but he's out working. Programming tills for a friend, so it was down to me. Chicken pasta bake Cajun style. Lovely! Still feeling cold, but off to snuggle up on the sofa and read now, wait for my love to get home.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!

Bright Blessings!
Sal.X

Monday 3 October 2011

Autumnal Adventures.

Yes, yet again, I have been a bad blogger. I have struggled to find the time and or energy to blog recently. But I'm back now! Autumn agrees with me. Even if I feel like rubbish it seems to refresh me. It's my favourite time of year. There have been lots of happening here. Big D had to have his 2 big toenails removed. (icky!) Everyone has had multiple colds, stomach bugs etc. I was thrown back in the deep end with the craft after quite a number of months without really practicing, and had to do protection rituals and spells for some of my family. But it's the kick up the bum I needed to get myself out of the slump I've been in. So that's a good thing. Toes are healing well, and bugs seem to be gone for now. Thankfully! All snotty noses are drying up, life is good! I guess first of all, I should introduce the new addition to the family. As it's now over 6 months since Wade went missing, and I really struggle (emotionally) without a cat, we made the decision to get a kitten. I cried for days after saying out loud that I wanted to. I felt like I was giving up on Wade. But although all the evidence points to him not coming back, there's always a chance and i won't give up hope. But since a cat is like my therapy, the only time i can really switch off and relax is when snuggled up stroking a cat, it seemed the best thing was to get one.
Her name is Sorcha, and she's part Persian apparently. Not happy about the people i got her from, she came here full of fleas and ear mites and of course i had to treat the dogs straight away too as Tara is very allergic to fleas. So she's been a very expensive furbaby already. She rules the house, wants to eat the chinchillas, even though they're bigger than her. lol. She has no fear! And she bosses the dogs. But she's settled in well, even if she is in a huge sulk with me as she hates the ear drops for the mites.
We went on a walk yesterday, as a family. Or an adventure as Little D likes to call them. We walked up into the woods, and although it rained off and on, we really enjoyed it. As you can see we spotted some funky fungi. Poor Little D fell in dog dirt not long into the walk, but we got him all cleaned up and he was more than happy to continue. I'm still pretty mad about it. People leaving their dogs mess for kids to fall in drives me mad!! If you're gonna have a dog then take responsibility for it!! Grrr!
The way the sun played through the trees when the rain stopped was beautiful!
This beautiful little chestnut girl has a huge jealous streak!! I brought apples for the horses we walk past on our walks, and as i was feeding one of the other horses, she lunged at me and quite badly bit my hand! It's still swollen and sore. But I forgave her pretty quickly and dished out the rest of the apples. Unlike the dog poo issue. I'm still mad about that now! lol.
Love this! It's a part of a gorse bush that's died down after growing up through a tree and some ivy. I think maybe the ivy strangled it at the root. But i love the way it's grown into a heart shape!
All the photo's were taken on my Love's phone as dippy me forgot my camera! But we still got lovely memories of our walk. That's the main thing. I also forgot my phone. All I was thinking of was getting out into the fresh air and spending some time with nature. So when we got home, we'd missed a visit from my Dad. We knew this because there was a big bag of sweets, and a bag of freshly caught haddock and cod hanging on the door when we got home! Because my hand was sore, Darling other half gutted and cleaned them for me. What a man!
I'd already made a chunky lentil and ham soup in the slow cooker for supper, so the fish is in the freezer, and shall be made into a tasty fish pie later in the week. Looking forward to that.

So, I'd better be off, Little D is demanding an apple now. And I'm in need of a cup of tea. :-)
Bright Blessings!
Sal. X