Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
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
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
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
Green Man in the cold morning light Today, Sunday, 21 December (at 10:03am in my part of the world), the sun appears to stand still at its most southern point in its apparent journey along the horizon. We call this period of slow change, where day length changes incrementally and then not at all, the… Continue reading The Daily: 21 December 2025
The Winter Sleep Moon went dark yesterday. Today begins the Midwinter Moon. This lunation always feels like the shortest of the year, even though the nights are long. There is so much packed into this time of year, that a month can slip through your fingers before you even get a good grasp of the… Continue reading The Daily: 20 December 2025
So, when is winter over... I have about two feet of snow around the house. Even under the cedars, it's over a foot deep. I shoveled the walk last night and woke up to another 2-3 inches. I did not shovel today. It got up to 20°F today, and there was a bit of sun… Continue reading The Daily: 15 December 2025
Halcyon Days Now, here is an idea that seems to have forgotten its roots entirely. In our times, “halcyon days” refers to a golden past, a time when everything was wonderful. Sometimes it just means “youth” with overtones of innocence and insouciance. But this name has nothing to do with nostalgia. In fact, it’s an… Continue reading The Daily: 14 December 2025
Lucy Light Shortest day, longest night —traditional English proverb Before Pope Gregory tweaked the Julian calendar and caused a great deal of confusion, 13 December was celebrated as the winter solstice in Scandinavia. The poem by the late 16th century English writer, John Donne, “A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day” shows… Continue reading The Daily: 13 December 2025
The Winter Sleep Moon, also known as the Beaver Moon (Old Farmer's Almanac) and sometimes the Cold Moon, is full today at 6:14pm, a few hours after moonrise in my part of the world. This is the third full supermoon of 2025, being large and silvery at moonrise; but our satellite is not quite as… Continue reading The Daily: 4 December 2025
Well, here we are in the last month of 2025. Does anyone else find it strange that we're a quarter century into the 21st century? There are adults who were not alive in the 20th century. The oldest millennials are in their 40s. Few people alive today have adult memories of the prosperity of the… Continue reading The Daily: 1 December 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 