Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
The pleasures of the rich are acquired by the tears of the poor. Wealth is concentrated by human labor; usually one people produce labor, and others concentrate it. This is called the 'division of labor' by contemporary wise people. — Tolstoy in his Calendar of Wisdom for 19 March Those who own land in amounts… Continue reading The Daily: 25 March 2023
Participatory Democracy Today is Town Meeting day in Vermont. For the uninitiated, this is the day when Vermonters pack themselves into school gyms and various meeting halls to vote on town governance for the upcoming year. Officials are elected. Laws are debated and passed. Budgets are assigned. If there are complaints or disturbances, these are… Continue reading The Daily: 7 March 2023
A Benediction for Lupercalia Today is Lupercalia. This is one of the oldest festivals in EuroWestern culture and, in fact, likely predates the Euro-bits. As with most ancient things, this holy time is a dense web of themes that don’t all mesh together well, but somehow make a lovely tapestry when viewed from a certain… Continue reading The Daily: 15 February 2023
Parentalia As February marked the last month in the ancient Roman calendar, the Romans spent this time of year setting themselves in accord with the world. The 9-day festival of Parentalia began on 13 February and culminated with the day of Feralia, which began at sundown on the 21st. Parentalia was a sacred time to… Continue reading The Daily: 13 February 2023
I've had a few productive mornings during this miserable cold. Maybe I don't sleep as soundly and the boundaries are thinner between wakefulness and dreaming. Whatever the reason, I wake with words already formed into poetry. Thought I might share a few. under the fig tree Image from Garden.eco(and coincidentally exactly how i remember the… Continue reading The Daily: 7 February 2023
5 February is St Agatha's Day. Born in about 231 in Catania, Sicily, she is one of many virgin martyrs of early Christianity. Her story exemplifies why there are so many women among the ranks of martyrs for the faith. She was said to be a beautiful child born to wealthy nobility, but she turned… Continue reading The Daily: 5 February 2023
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
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
It is Epiphany, 6 January, the close of the Christmas season. This is the date the Catholic Church assigned to the arrival of the Magi and also the date that Jesus met up with John the Baptist and was blessed by God in the river. Epiphany comes from a Greek word meaning "appearance" or "manifestation".… Continue reading The Daily: 6 January 2023
Since Twitter is all but useless now, I've migrated over to Project Mushroom. But some things just don't feel right there. I'm not sure those folks are interested in poetry word prompts, for one thing. So that happens exclusively on my AllPoetry contests. I post four words a month and let folks write on any… Continue reading The Daily: 4 January 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 