Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
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 2024
The intrusion of AI into weather prognostication is a fairly accurate measure of just how stupid our supposed created intelligence is. I know you've seen the results. I hear complaints constantly, often qualified with a "well, they never do get it right" as though to reassure ourselves that weather forecasting has always been inadequate and… Continue reading The Daily: 9 December 2024
The Winter Sleep Moon went dark at 1:21am yesterday, so the Midwinter Moon is new today. This is the moon of winter revelry. The season of Midwinter also has begun. The Midwinter holidays began on St Andrew's Day (or Thanksgiving Day, depending on your whim). We are now in the holidays, days replete with festivity.… Continue reading The Daily: 2 December 2024
St Andrew's Day St Andrew by Artus Wolffurt (1581-1641) Today is St Andrew's Day. Andrew, whose name means simply "a man" (though it can also be glossed as "virile" or "manly"), was the brother of St Peter. Both were fishermen and, as such, were part of the backbone of the local economy. He is imagined… Continue reading The Daily: 30 November 2024
I have never been particularly attached to Thanksgiving. It feels all wrong. It is supposedly a harvest festival, but it falls well after the harvest. It is lavished in the colors of autumn — which faded away weeks ago in the real world. It is based on a story that is neither factual nor especially… Continue reading The Daily: 24 November 2024
It's supposed to snow this week. We have had a few days of flurries, which is sort like flirting with winter; but we've not had Snow yet. That is what is coming. This is one of those forecasts that keeps oscillating between rain and snow, just on the border of freezing. There is no question… Continue reading The Daily: 20 November 2024
Here in central Vermont, the Winter Sleep Moon, also known as the Beaver Moon (Old Farmer's Almanac), is full today at 4:29pm. The moon rises at 3:55pm, and the sun sets at 4:22pm. This full moon is about as close to moonrise as I have ever seen. Moreover, the moon was just at perigee yesterday… Continue reading The Daily: 15 November 2024
Winter Sleep Moon and Early Winter A Brown Time... The Hunter's Moon went dark on All Hallow's Day, which also ushered in the new lunisolar year and the new season of Early Winter. The Winter Sleep Moon was new on the Day of the Dead. It will go dark on December 1st which is the… Continue reading The Daily: 4 November 2024
It is the first Friday and the first day of the eleventh calendar month, named for the ninth. Today the Hunter's Moon goes dark at 8:47 am. In my calendar, the old year ended last night, and the season of early winter is ushered in tomorrow. So here is another reminder of what all this… Continue reading The Daily: 1 November 2024
We had our first frost on October 18th, which is the beginning of St Luke's Little Summer, the traditional name for a warm string of days that usually fall around the Feast of St Luke (October 18th). This always has me asking: Do we get a St Luke's Little Summer if we haven't had winter… Continue reading The Daily: 21 October 2024
By My Solitary Hearth 