Eliza Daley ~ Wordcraft & Musing on Home & Hope
Well, we've made it through another Midwinter holiday season. Tonight is Twelfth Night, the last night of Christmas and the long night before Epiphany, the festival of the Wise Men. This is the night when all the drummers show up, along with a veritable cacophony of birds; a party of lords, ladies and colorful others;… Continue reading The Daily: 5 January 2026
New Year's Day is misplaced. This date has no real significance. It is tied to nothing in the solar year nor in the cultural year. It is historically wrong. When the Romans created these two new months in their calendar, January and February, and set their state calendars to begin on 1 January, that date… Continue reading The Daily: 1 January 2026
Lucy Light Shortest day, longest night —traditional English proverb Before Pope Gregory tweaked the Julian calendar and caused a great deal of confusion, 13 December was celebrated as the winter solstice in Scandinavia. The poem by the late 16th century English writer, John Donne, “A Nocturnal upon St Lucy’s Day, Being the Shortest Day” shows… Continue reading The Daily: 13 December 2025
It’s raining and 45°F, and I have to walk half a block between my house and my garage. I’ve been awake since 3am and I’m gritty eyed with exhaustion. My arthritis and heart problems are both exacerbated by the short sleep and the cold damp so that everything aches. I have a pile of laundry… Continue reading The Daily: 24 October 2025
Herself is somewhat recovering from bug-derived chaos in the central nervous system... might even get dressed today. At least stop listening to Nils Frahm's Empty on repeat... Came a little too close to The End there, but we are now backing away slowly, hands up in surrender, no sudden movements... Late Modernity sucks... Here's an… Continue reading The Daily: 18 July 2025
Herself is still hiding from the world. Here is a repost of a sadly even more cogent Fourth of July themed screed. Here's hoping for a day when all this is irrelevant... A day when it might feel natural and right to celebrate the country we inhabit and daily create... Though the Fourth is probably… Continue reading The Daily: 4 July 2025
June 15th, the Ides of June, was the last day of Vestalia. With great ceremony, the sanctuary of Vesta was cleansed and closed to the public for another year, the sustaining Vestal hearth-flame hidden behind walls that no man was allowed to pass. This is a slack time, a time when heat is intolerable and… Continue reading The Daily: 15 June 2025
I have been dealing with ramped up rheumatoid arthritis and allergies for a couple weeks now. Mostly related to weather — perpetual drizzle and highs in the low 50s(°F) — coupled with maple bloom season. You would think the rain would wash the pollen out of the air, but maybe there isn't enough falling moisture,… Continue reading The Daily: 5 May 2025
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 The Daily: 1 May 2025
Walpurgis Night The last day of April has been a fraught time for millennia. This is a night when pranks are pulled, when spells are cast and wishes are granted, when the Good Folk pass through the veils to walk the woodlands, and when witches dance. The Beltaine fires were lit at midnight on May… Continue reading The Daily: 30 April 2025
By My Solitary Hearth 