Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
We're deep in winter's grip now... in so many ways... I am trying to remain hopeful. For me, that means remaining grounded and present in my small corner of the world. But the large world insists on intruding. I'm not sure that there is anything I can do except hold up my protest sign against… Continue reading The Daily: 21 January 2026
Today is National Cheese Lovers Day. I don't know if that means much to most of you. I love cheese, so I feel it's a day to celebrate this amazing invention. But that's not what I want to talk about today... We've entered a new lunation. The Cold Moon went dark on Sunday (2:52pm, my… Continue reading The Daily: 20 January 2026
I am off work today to honor Martin Luther King Jr. I wonder how many people actually know that this January federal holiday is remembering Martin's birthday. I also wonder how long it will remain a federal holiday. I have heard moans about Juneteenth and a disturbing resurgence of saying Columbus Day over Indigenous Peoples'… Continue reading The Daily: 19 January 2026
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.— Martin Luther King Jr Today is the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr who was born on 15 January 1929 (we're just three years shy of the 100th anniversary of his birth...). The country observes his birthday on the Monday… Continue reading The Daily: 15 January 2026
Plough Monday Plough Monday is an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition. Plough Monday may trace its descent back to the Roman Compitalia, celebrated by slaves when plowing was over. But by the mid-15th century it became the traditional end to the Christmas season, the end of the season of… Continue reading The Daily: 12 January 2026
Plough Monday, an ancient rustic holiday that became attached to the Christmas holiday tradition, is on the first Monday following Epiphany (January 6). It is the traditional beginning of the agricultural year.
Today is Distaff Day, the day of resumption of women’s work. Those who remember this date at all — pretty much just me and sometimes the Old Farmer’s Almanac folks — have a choice of observing it on January 7th, the day after Epiphany, or on the first Tuesday after Epiphany. My grandmother was in the latter… Continue reading The Daily: 7 January 2026
It is Epiphany, 6 January, the close of the Christmas season and the beginning of mundane time, a shift to Imbolg and the hope of spring — after we, hopefully, survive the worst of the winter weather. This is the date the Catholic Church assigned to the arrival of the Magi and also, later, the… Continue reading The Daily: 6 January 2026
Well, we've made it through another Midwinter holiday season. Tonight is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas and the long night before Epiphany, the festival of the Wise Men. This is the night when all the drummers show up, along with a veritable cacophony of birds; a party of lords, ladies and colorful others;… Continue reading The Daily: 5 January 2026
New Year's Day is misplaced. This date has no real significance. It is tied to nothing in the solar year nor in the cultural year. It is historically wrong. When the Romans created these two new months in their calendar, January and February, and set their state calendars to begin on 1 January, that date… Continue reading The Daily: 1 January 2026
By My Solitary Hearth 