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
Like many people, I find the American version of Valentine’s Day and the saccharine and monochromatic view of love it promotes to be repulsive. In my younger days I assumed the whole farce was invented by the greeting card and gifting industry, along with the rise of all manner of fake holidays intended to get… Continue reading The Daily: 14 February 2023
If Candlemas be bright and clear there'll be two winters in the year. — traditional adage from Scotland Of Candles and Divinatory Beasts There are many weather marking days throughout the year. Candlemas, falling on 2 February, was the day that our ancestors began to get nervous about the spring. A fine Candlemas portends a… Continue reading The Daily: 2 February 2023
Paul Bunyan statue in Bangor, Maine. (Wikipedia) It’s that special day in June again. No, not that solstice thing. No, forget graduation. No, not the wedding thing. It’s Paul Bunyan Day! A day to celebrate an absolute idiot who blundered through the north woods, wearing plaid flannel, leading a cow named Babe, and wielding an… Continue reading Paul Bunyan Day
I closed the shop early. No point to staying open in this storm. If anyone were foolhardy enough to venture out, I’d not want to sell books that would likely only get ruined on the walk back home. But there were no people, nobody dashing from one shop to the next, nobody walking the dog… Continue reading The Man in the Moon
The seventh moon of the year is the Flower Moon, or the Faerie Moon. It is new between 23 April and 21 May. It is full between 7 May and 4 June. This is the burgeoning time. Bulbs are flowering. Forsythia is a wash of gold. Lilacs are sending scent out on the breeze. Bees… Continue reading Flower Moon in Eclipse
the thorn queen she waxes full in fertile grace queen of quick and fay, she reigns in mantle green and seemly face quelling fear and mortal pains eternal mother, ever maid undying wisdom in her glance deathless weird is on her laid to spin th' unceasing wheel of chance again, she comes in crown of… Continue reading Bealtaine
Bernat Martorell, Saint George and the Dragon (1434-1435) Sir George, he went a’questing, as gallant lads will do, to prove his mettle and his fine fettle — a knight both brave and true. He came upon a kingdom wherein misfortune reigned. The dragon blight, a dire plight, a land become blood-stained. The dragon charged the… Continue reading Saint George and the Dragon
It is time for regeneration. Nests of new life in satiny shells — white, blue, green, pink, yellow, speckled, mottled, striped and solid. No doubt our urge to paint chicken eggs for the late spring holidays is inspired by the wondrous works of art in every nest. And it’s also not surprising that humans have… Continue reading Spring Eggs
March 25th is Lady Day. This is another Marian holiday which coopted older pagan traditions — in this case the New Year celebrations which fell on 25 March before Julius Caesar shifted the Roman observance to the beginning of January. Lady Day is nine months before December 25th, so you can probably figure out what… Continue reading Lady Day
By My Solitary Hearth 