Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
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
It is Martinmas this weekend, an old day of remembrance for the victims of warring, created anew at the end of World War I. It is called Remembrance Day in much of the world. It is Veteran's Day in the US, reflecting perhaps our blinkered perception of who suffers and dies when men use violence… Continue reading The Daily: 8 November 2023
It has been nearly three years since the ideas for this blog coalesced, and one year to the day since I began posting "The Daily". I originally thought this oh-so-clever. The daily Daley and all that. I did not consider how the name might make it feel obligatory to post something every day. I've always… Continue reading The Daily: 7 November 2023
Sunday the clocks all changed. No, I'll not use passive voice. Except for the Apple things in this house, the clocks do not change themselves. To spring forward and fall back, I have to wander around the house setting some dozen clocks, ranging from the phone system to the enormous wall clock in the dining… Continue reading The Daily: 6 November 2023
A Moon Intervention Long an irksome pull at the Math Lady lodged in my left brain, I decided I’d had enough with moon dis-logic. It is time for an intervention. Moon 101 for writers of all shades. Here is the imagery that pushed Math Lady over the edge: Facing south in the evening, she “looked… Continue reading The Daily: 4 November 2023
It is the first Friday and the third day of the eleventh calendar month, named for the ninth. It is two days before the last quarter of the last moon cycle in my wheel of the year, the Hunter's Moon. The growing season has ended here in Vermont with the hard finality of snow and… Continue reading The Daily: 3 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
Today is All Hallows' Eve, Hallowe'en, the first night in the ancient new year's festival that Celtic language speaking people called Samhaine. We hardly remember that it was once a sacred festival, celebrating endings and beginnings, nor that it was "converted" by the Catholic Church into a day for honoring the dead. It's possible that… Continue reading The Daily: 31 October 2023
So the question of whether or not this house would be open for trick-or-treat business was answered for me. I spent Saturday doing most of the cleaning. I got all the rodent mess cleaned off the front porch in anticipation of making a spooky welcome out there. Nothing spooky about pumpkin rind gnawed up and… Continue reading The Daily: 30 October 2023
By My Solitary Hearth 