Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The Perseid meteor shower begins its peak about now. This floating pile of space gunk is left over from Comet Swift-Tuttle and is quite thick still, making for hundreds of collisions with our atmosphere as we pass through it. You can expect fifty or so meteor sightings an hour, about one a minute, from the… Continue reading The Daily: 11 August 2025
The Blueberry Moon is full early this morning at 3:54am. Last night's moonrise was closest, but tonight's will still be almost full. If you have breathable air, go enjoy the radiance for all of us who are living in perpetual eclipse. Meanwhile, here is a story for the Blueberry Moon... I started writing a story… Continue reading The Daily: 9 August 2025
Tonight's moonrise (at 8:06pm my time) is closest to full which happens early tomorrow morning at 3:54am. It will not be a good night to watch moonrise here in central Vermont. The smoke is dangerous. Just a few minutes and your eyes are burning. I might look out a window though, because the moon looks… Continue reading The Daily: 8 August 2025
Another fun week in paradise… The smoke has been officially “unhealthy” several times in the last thirteen days and has spent most of that time merely at “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. Temperatures hit 90°F several of those days, with lows only in the 70s, so… not cool enough to cool down the house overnight without… Continue reading The Daily: 4 August 2025
Lammas It's the probably not-terribly-ancient festival of bread, Lammas, Hlaf-mas, Loaf Mass. This holiday is possibly an English variant on the Irish first fruits and fair festival of Lughnasadh, but compacted into one day and generally lacking any ritual or narrative. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, churches in East Anglia constructed elaborate… Continue reading The Daily: 2 August 2025
Lughnasadh It is Lughnasadh. This is my favorite time of year. Some may love midwinter twinkle; others may love the summer sun. But I live for the autumn blaze. The cooling weather, the increasing darkness, the slowing pace and renewed time for reading and introspection. The color and pageantry of fall. The scents of leaf… Continue reading The Daily: 1 August 2025
I was thinking about the symbols of Lughnasadh and how to short-hand the description of time and seasonal energy. The idea set that best works is that of the elements, but I’m reluctant to use that language because it carries such woo-woo magickal baggage that it puts up walls in the mind of any practical… Continue reading The Daily: 31 July 2025
The goldenrods began blooming last week, the garlic is ready to dig, and the calendula are getting unruly. This is when central Vermont starts to see these sorts of signs of the approaching autumn. The very tops of the maples start to glow in yellows and reds. Many mornings begin in fog, and many evenings… Continue reading The Daily: 29 July 2025
The lingering thick smoke is scary. The inflammation in my spine is scary. The hospital bills are very scary... I am feeling in need of comfort food. I think we all get this way... More often than not, these days. We want something nourishing and simple, something quick, something that doesn't add heat to the… Continue reading The Daily: 28 July 2025
The Romans had concerns about drought at this time of year. Three very old festivals were grouped together at the end of July to honor deities who presided over watery things. The first was the Lucaria, the clearing of the groves. This was an ancient observance even in Varro's time (116-27 BCE), and little is… Continue reading The Daily: 25 July 25
By My Solitary Hearth 