Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Last weekend, it was cold and wet outside, with blowing snow and ice. The porch wind chimes were never silent. So despite having a bit more garden work to do before winter really settles in, I did the only sensible thing and began the holiday cooking. The cranberry sauce is done. I baked my usual… Continue reading The Daily: 21 November 2023
I made the mistake of writing about the fragility of cities again. If there is way to rile everybody up, it’s saying that our settlement patterns don’t work very well now and won’t work at all in a lower energy system, one that can’t transport bulky materials long distances, and maybe can’t do refrigerated transport… Continue reading The Daily: 17 November 2023
Martinmas On November 11th at 11 in the morning, we practice a moment of silence for two minutes to remember the day we reached an accord and agreed to lay down arms after the brutality of World War 1. A century ago we stopped fighting. Soldiers came home. It was a time very like this.… Continue reading The Daily: 11 November 2023
In my part of the world this is the first day with less than 10 hours of sunlight. In my garden, shaded as it is by mountains, trees and buildings, this translates into the last day with at least nine hours of sun shining on the plants that grow there. This is effectively the end… Continue reading The Daily: 10 November 2023
The Day of the Dead In Tolstoy’s Calendar of Wisdom, he says that a “man” does not fear death. “Fear of death is our animal nature,” he claims. I don’t know that any part of that is accurate. To be sure, we have a very unhealthy relationship to death. We tell ourselves stories of our… Continue reading The Daily: 2 November 2023
All Hallows: An Entanglement It is All Saints Day, All Hallows, the ancient new year festival called Samhaine, which is usually translated as “end of summer”. Last night was the All Hallow's Eve, Hallowe'en, a new year's eve in former days with all the sweet treats, riotous good fun, and debauchery that entails. This is… Continue reading The Daily: 1 November 2023
I recently read a long and complicated essay on place-based adaptation to biophysical collapse. It discussed policy, transport, economics — all local, but all also rather superfluous to the human being. In talking of the inadequacy of urban housing, the author claimed that "nothing is more vital for human existence than shelter.” Except maybe food?… Continue reading The Daily: 27 October 2023
This is just a short, mostly small news brief for the week. But first the headline... Hurricane Otis made landfall over Acapulco, Mexico, yesterday morning. A hurricane in the eastern Pacific, where the coldest ocean waters are constantly upwelling, is singular enough. This is the strongest storm to hit the coast of western Mexico on… Continue reading The Daily: 26 October 2023
Magic as Wisdom I am an odd witch. Most would not consider me one at all. This is just fine with me, because most witches in history have not named themselves in that manner either, and not merely because it was rather bad for one’s health to claim the title. Most simply had no use… Continue reading The Daily: 24 October 2023
Where are all the people? My mail is sporadic. Before the flood, there were days now and then in which the box was inexplicably bare — there should be something every day because my newspaper is delivered through US Post. Which is questionable in and of itself. How much are the publishers paying for that… Continue reading The Daily: 20 October 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 