Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The Feast of the Assumption It is the Feast of the Assumption. In the Church calendar, this is the day Mother Mary was taken bodily up to heaven without the inconvenience of dying first. But in the older calendar of Europe, this was the time when it was recognized that the heat of summer was… Continue reading The Daily: 15 August 2025
The Perseid meteor shower begins its peak about now. This floating pile of space gunk is left over from Comet Swift-Tuttle and is quite thick still, making for hundreds of collisions with our atmosphere as we pass through it. You can expect fifty or so meteor sightings an hour, about one a minute, from the… Continue reading The Daily: 11 August 2025
Tonight's moonrise (at 8:06pm my time) is closest to full which happens early tomorrow morning at 3:54am. It will not be a good night to watch moonrise here in central Vermont. The smoke is dangerous. Just a few minutes and your eyes are burning. I might look out a window though, because the moon looks… Continue reading The Daily: 8 August 2025
Another fun week in paradise… The smoke has been officially “unhealthy” several times in the last thirteen days and has spent most of that time merely at “unhealthy for sensitive groups”. Temperatures hit 90°F several of those days, with lows only in the 70s, so… not cool enough to cool down the house overnight without… Continue reading The Daily: 4 August 2025
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 25
My potatoes decided to flower... but they are nowhere near digging time! In my calendar, the season of Lughnasadh begins today. This is my favorite time of year. Fairs and food and the soon-to-be dwindling of summer heat — and dwindling of summer activity. (Hopefully, dwindling of summer bugs!!!) This season is marked by the… Continue reading The Daily: 21 July 2025
The Dog Days begin today. This is when Sol and Sirius shine together all day long, creating blast-furnace heat. Or maybe that's just carbon... Canada is on fire. Europe is boiling. The Mediterranean is as warm as spit. The Pacific Ocean might be ENSO-neutral; but June 2025 was as hot as in any El Niño… Continue reading The Daily: 3 July 2025
Last week was a rude awakening... Okay, so I knew it was going to be different. I suspected it might be uncomfortable. I did not know it was going to be hell. I will remind you that my neighbors cut down the ancient maple in front of their house. There were reasons. The tree was… Continue reading The Daily: 30 June 2025
Today is St Dunstan's Day. Dunstan was a beloved bishop of Glastonbury in the early 10th century. He used his skills at casting bells and crafting music to bring beauty into his church. He believed music both glorified god and brought more people into the fold. Today, he is the patron of bell ringers, and… Continue reading The Daily: 19 May 2025
I got brave and removed the row covers on the garden beds this week. I have not put them away. They are draped over the waste bins in the garage to dry off a bit before I fold them up, so if frost is threatening, I can cover everything up again. We’ve had May snow… Continue reading The Daily: 13 May 2025
