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

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

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

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday indeed!! In spite of feeling like death for the last few months, I had the best Birthday ever! My Lovely Dad gave me a bottle of The Macallan, lush! Will be kept for hot toddy's on cold winters nights. Not even opened it to have a sniff! My Mam gave me a funky wrap/shawl/poncho type thing. lol. Not sure what to call it, but I love it! Perfect for autumn days. My darling eldest son used his wage from working at market to buy me some beautiful flowers, and a huge box of Thorntons choccies! Thoughtful boy. He knows I love fresh flowers. Little D helped with eating the chocolates. :-) As did everyone else but He had the majority.


And from my wonderful Fiance, and the boys.... I got a KINDLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dream come true or what?! I'm in love! I've read 9 books since my Birthday which was on Saturday. Mega addiction! Darling Man also downloaded quite a few books he knows I've wanted for a while. As well as some classics he knew I'd like to re-read that he got for free on the kindle site. And a funky cover in my fav colour. Purple!
I have plans to make a padded cover for her too. I have some nice fabric, and as soon as i have the energy and peace and quiet that's my next project. Along with taking up 3 pairs of jeans, patching a pair, and whatever else is on the sewing list i can't find. :-)

One of my little sisters thought she saw a cat the double of my missing boy recently, on her way to work, further away than we'd anticipated, but still well within the realms of possibility. So she has taken flyer's to drop into the farms and houses around where she saw the cat It's on a back country road. So I am keeping my fingers crossed for a phone call any day now. Never give up hope!

Sal. X

Odd times and Ranty McRant.

So, over the last month or so, things have been odd here. Great times mixed in with sad news, crappy health, stress and frustration. Typical family life I guess. From the great times, I have been to two music festivals!! I went to a small local folk festival, stayed with my sister, didn't hear much music to be honest, different organisers and bad weather meant less impromptu jams, but I got a bit of drumming in, quite a bit of drinking, and fun times chatting with my Sis. The second festival was Speyfest!! And the biggest highlight of that had to be seeing Eddi Reader live!! She was fabulous! Her voice is just incredible! The tickets were an early Birthday gift from friends. Best prezzie ever!
I am currently being kept busy with these two old gentlemen. My friends dogs, her Mum is poorly so she has travelled down to England with her family to see her. So I have two lodgers for the week and also have to feed her cats. They're lovely dogs, but they're used to a completely different routine than we have. They smell, a lot!! lol. Gas issues! What can I say, they're male and old. lol.

I'm having issues with the humans in my house at the moment. Apparently I am the only person capable of housework just now, and they have all forgotten how to lift the toilet seat, OH has got my hallway full of computers that need dismantling, with no idea when he's going to get around to taking them apart, which is frustrating me no end, as he did pretty much nothing all weekend but sit on his PC, as he does every night when he gets home from "work". So I'm pretty much feeling sorry for myself and feeling a bit ignored and neglected.

I admit I'm not doing as much housework as i could/should be doing, permanent headache is taking it's toll at times. And with the added dog hair this week it's taking half an hour just to hoover the living room!! A little help would be great, and I'm pretty sure it's not too much to ask. Been waiting for OH to borrow a strimmer so we can get the garden sorted out, but it's just not happening. So I'll have to add that to my list of jobs.

The sad news is that my friend's Dad is dying. He has been fighting a rare form of cancer for some time, and it has looked positive, he's done so well! But now, he's fading fast. And so she is taking him home today. To Russia. To die. We call him the Legend, and he truly is! Sad times. I wish I could be there for her in person, but it's just not possible.

So I guess I'll just try to distract myself with the hundreds of jobs I have to do, keeping the kids occupied, walking 4 crazy dogs instead of 2, taking pointless calls about cats that aren't mine, and don't even match his description let alone his photo!!

Sorry for the crappy post. Just needed a wee rant. Off to scrounge round the neighbours and see if anyone has a strimmer i can borrow, after i poop scoop. These labs cant half poop!!

Sal. X

Busy times.

Things have been pretty busy here lately. Still looking for this handsome fellow. I actually thought I'd found him, a cat had been showing up at a farm, 150 miles away!! I spoke to the man who had dealt with him, the description he gave sounded exactly like my baby boy! But when the coordinator of the cats protection in that area emailed me with a photo, it looked nothing like him. So I have to admit I had a mini breakdown. But I'm still staying positive. I've been dreaming about him a lot. I think that's a sign he's still alive. I have had flyer's printed, and I'm extending the area. I also saw a psychic last Friday, and she is going to try and locate him for me. She has had success with this before. The cat she found had passed away, but she was able to tell the owners where he was, which gave them peace. So I live in hope!!

Kids break up for school holidays here this Friday. SO I'll have 3 boys to keep occupied! Before Friday I need to post just under 500 flyer's through doors in the village, and go to the nearest villages/towns and get posters put in more shop windows. So I have plenty to be getting on with.

I spent Saturday night with one of my Sisters. I was babysitting my wee Nephew on the Sunday as his Big Sister had a gymnastics competition. And even though the organisers screwed up (again) and put her in a higher age grouping, she still won a medal!!! So proud of her! I had a ball looking after her wee Brother, and on the Saturday evening we picked berries in the garden which my Sis has now turned into jam. Looking forward to eating it with my toast and remembering spending fun times with my Sis, Niece and Nephew. :-)

Mine and Little D's strawberry plants are thriving, despite some of them being really battered with the wild rain.

I've been pretty tired recently, blaming it on anaemia as usual, but I've been busier than usual. I've been volunteering at a sports club for disabled people. I've really enjoyed it! Last night was the last one until after the summer holidays as it's run in a school and of course the school will be closed. But we have a fun mystery bus trip coming up too. So that will be both fun and challenging! I still have my wee Saturday job as well so I'm kept busy.

Well, I better make a move. Have lots of flyer's to post and a garden to tidy, and housework to be getting on with. All with a 4yr old in an awkward mood! Today will be a long day I think!

Sal. X

To cut or not to cut??

I'm sure some of you will have heard about the flak Russel Crowe was getting last week due to his views on circumcision. I have always disagreed with circumcising babies or children. I know it can sometimes be necessary, a close member of my family was forced to have it done as an adult as his foreskin had become to tight. That's perfectly acceptable. But at the risk of offending anyone, I think anyone who would put their child through that for anything other than medical reasons has some wires loose! Although I have never liked the thought of it, I have never really sat and thought about the technicalities of it, so when i watched this video through twitter, i was incredibly shocked, and I would go so far as to say traumatised just by seeing it. I had a panic attack and cried my eyes out! That poor baby! I have three sons, and never would i entertain the thought of putting them through such pain! Never! I will include a link to the video, but I wont embed it, I couldn't cope with seeing it again, and i don't want anyone seeing it without first preparing themselves. So if you want to see it, the option is there, but it's not forced upon you. Circumcision. I Have nothing against specific groups of people or people of faith to whom this practice is commonplace, I just find the act itself disturbing, cruel, and barbaric!

If ever you hear female circumcision mentioned, people are up in arms! It's sick, evil! etc etc, why do we not have the same reactions to male circumcision? All children should be cherished, and anything that would cause them unnecessary pain avoided at all costs!

That's my rant over. Sorry if anyone feels i am forcing my opinion onto them, or that I'm disrespecting any religion or group. That is not my intention. I am just truly shocked by this.

What's your view?

Sal. X