Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
They asked a Chinese man, "What is science?" He said, "Science is knowing people." Then they asked, "And what is virtue?" He answered, "Virtue is loving people." — Tolstoy, from his Calendar of Wisdom for 27 January Yesterday was my birthday. I am not going to say which one, but that’s more because I like… Continue reading The Daily: 27 January 2023
A wise man seeks wisdom; a madman thinks that he has found it. — Persian proverb (from Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom for 24 January) The wolf month is underway. Soon it will be Imbolg, then Lupercalia, and then we're marching into March. But for now, it is winter and the Wolf Moon is waxing. The… Continue reading The Daily: 24 January 2023
Just after sunset tonight, if you have a cloudless sky and a flat western horizon, look for the thin crescent of the New Wolf Moon in a grouping with very bright Venus and a warm fuzzy Saturn. Look for Venus first. At magnitude -4, it will be easiest to see in the twilight (which is… Continue reading The Daily: 23 January 2023
In a perfect example of why counting eggs is never advisable, the very day that I talked about the possibility of escaping the worst of winter, the weather system that was dismissed by even the excitable forecasters at the Weather Channel is now dumping inches of snow on my town. It has been snowing for… Continue reading The Daily: 20 January 2023
True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice. — Martin Luther King Jr Today we remember Martin Luther King Jr. His birthday is actually the 15th, but in recent times our culture has decided to stick holidays to the closest Monday so that there is always an actual… Continue reading The Daily: 16 January 2023
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Nine ladies dancing... Have you noticed that, after what is largely food on the wing, the gifts given on the last several days of the song take a decidedly musical bent? Nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, twelve drummers drumming.… Continue reading The Daily: 2 January 2023
for 23 December 2022 The nearer the new moon to Christmas Day, the harder the winter. — folk wisdom quoted in The Hedge Witch Book of Days by Mandy Mitchell Elliott The moon was dark at 5:17am this morning. Just because it seems pertinent, I'm going to note that both the moon and the sun… Continue reading The Daily
for 21 December 2022 Green Man in the cold morning light Today, 21 December 2022, the sun appears to stand still at its most southern point at 4:48pm. We call this period of slow change, where day length changes incrementally and then not at all, the solstice, the “sun pause”. In the Northern Hemisphere, this… Continue reading The Daily
for 15 December 2022 Wasn't I just complaining about the unseasonable warmth? I take it back... It's 7°F as I type this. The heater has been running near continuously. Skies are dark and low, with the tops of the western mountains lost in cloud. There is snow on the ground, but it's grey also. However,… Continue reading The Daily
for 10 December 2022 10 December 1830 is Emily Dickinson's birth-date. In her honor, you might spend the day penning obscure poetry and witticisms. Or you could fall down the rabbit hole that is the search for the "real Emily", a person born nearly 200 years ago today. Apparently, there are questions of authenticity, not… Continue reading The Daily
By My Solitary Hearth 