Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The Dog Days are upon us. For me, this name evokes childhood afternoons spent with my collie, Toby, reading under the fig tree, swimming in river pot-holes, and generally doing as little as possible. I have never loved summer best. I’ve never liked heat. Nor did Toby. We invented all sorts of escapes. Mind you,… Continue reading The Daily: 3 July 2023
Paul Bunyan Day Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor, Maine. (Wikipedia) It’s that special day in June again. No, not that solstice thing. No, forget graduation. No, not the wedding thing. It’s Paul Bunyan Day! A day to celebrate an absolute idiot who blundered through the north woods, wearing plaid flannel, leading a cow named Babe,… Continue reading The Daily: 28 June 2023
June 22nd is the feast day of St Alban, one of the first British martyrs to the Christian faith, a sort of protomartyr, in fact. It is said that Alban was beheaded by Roman authorities on this date, though the year this happened may be any time between 209 and 304. Stained-glass portrait of St… Continue reading The Daily: 22 June 2023
Summer Solstice Today is the solstice; today, the sun stands still. Well, actually, if you've read much of anything I've written, you know that it's been standing still for a few days now, and it will continue to do so for a few more days. From 17 June to 25 June, day length is 15… Continue reading The Daily: 21 June 2023
Juneteenth Today is Juneteenth. Specifically, today is the second anniversary of Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday and the 158th anniversary of the reading of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger. This was the order which served as the Texas version of the Emancipation Proclamation, a full two years after President Lincoln and… Continue reading The Daily: 19 June 2023
Today is Father's Day in the US. I am ambivalent about both Sundays dedicated to our immediate forebears. I sometimes buy my mom little things for her garden or kitchen. I write my dad long emails which is his favorite mode of communication these days. I don't buy greeting cards or gifts and don't expect… Continue reading The Daily: 18 June 2023
June 15th, the Ides of June, was the last day of Vestalia. With great ceremony, the sanctuary of Vesta was cleansed and closed to the public for another year, the sustaining Vestal hearth-flame hidden behind walls that no man was allowed to pass. This is a slack time, a time when heat is intolerable and… Continue reading The Daily: 15 June 2023
In the last few years I’ve seen a wide variety of people arrive at the conclusion that what we need as a society to avert self-destruction — self and everything else, that is — is a new religion. I’ve encountered novelists and sociologists (who might be predisposed), economists (who probably are not), celebrity chefs and… Continue reading The Daily: 7 June 2023
The seventh moon of the year is the Flower Moon. It is new between 23 April and 21 May. It is full between 7 May and 4 June. This year it is full right at the tail end of its period, at 11:42pm tonight. It will rise closest to full this evening as the sun is setting, at… Continue reading The Daily: 3 June 2023
The heat promised for last week failed to materialize. It never got much above 60°F, and I've had to keep the basil covered most nights to protect it from freezing. My neighbor planted tomatoes last Sunday. They were frost-killed by mid-week. I had planned to plant carrots and cucumbers on Monday evening, but the week's… Continue reading The Daily: 29 May 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 