Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
A Note on Time and Maples In my part of the world, today is almost exactly an hour shorter than the summer solstice. It took 44 days to drop this hour off the day, much of which time the days hardly changed. But now the changes are becoming more pronounced. It will only take another… Continue reading The Daily: 3 August 2024
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 2024
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 2024
Things to look forward to... clean laundry You might think me odd — well, additionally odd — but I like doing laundry. I love clean laundry, of course. Who doesn't? But I like the process as well, with one caveat: I don't much like the dryer. I've made my peace with owning the machine, but… Continue reading The Daily: 31 July 2024
The last two weeks have been an object lesson in the embarrassing subconscious bigotry of white men. First, I encountered an essayist that said he didn't read much written by women, even as he admitted that women write more than half of the printed words. He excused himself by claiming that most of the writing… Continue reading The Daily: 30 July 2024
The goldenrods began blooming this week, the potatoes are starting to yellow around the edges, and the cucurbits are getting unruly. If that isn't enough evidence of a sea change, the weather here in central Vermont has been heavenly. We've been treated to a growing strand of kind blue days that open in cool fog… Continue reading The Daily: 29 July 2024
Crom Dubh Sunday In many northern communities, July is a hungry month. The spring flush of greens and quick-growing roots like radishes and beets may still be trickling out of the garden, but most have bolted and run to seed. However, those that remain are long on fiber and short on calories, and little of… Continue reading The Daily: 28 July 2024
The point is that in almost every instance of our lives, our social lives, we are, if we pay attention, in the midst of an almost constant, if subtle, caretaking. ... This caretaking is our default mode and it's always a lie that convinces us to act or believe otherwise. Always.— Ross Gay, The Book… Continue reading The Daily: 26 July 2024
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 2024
Things to look forward to... someone to vote for Okay, this one was not in the book. Actually, this week was skinny dipping, which on further analysis is probably not something I can get behind. Not that I don't like the idea, it's just that how do you even do stuff like that anymore? At… Continue reading The Daily: 24 July 24
By My Solitary Hearth 