The Daily: 6 March 2024

Things to look forward to... evening tea I look forward to my evening tea every day. I have a small cabinet of dried herbs put by to please my every whim. Usually I pull out the chamomile and lavender. I like the flavor and the smell, and these herbs also both help moderate digestion. But… Continue reading The Daily: 6 March 2024

The Daily: 28 February 2024

Things to look forward to... drawing on eggs Sophie Blackall has very interesting hobbies... This isn't anything so banal as dyeing eggs in spring pastels. Nor is it as extravagant as a Faberge confection. Nope, Sophie literally draws on eggs. Faces. Animals. Flowers. Abstract patterns. Mostly in monochrome charcoal or soy ink. The effect is… Continue reading The Daily: 28 February 2024

The Daily: 21 February 2024

Things to look forward to... applause Once upon a time, I got up on the stage and played piano for people. I did not stand on a stage willingly. I am not a performer. I still don't like bearing the full attention of people, even after years of teaching science and speaking on books. To… Continue reading The Daily: 21 February 2024

The Daily: 14 February 2024

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 2024

The Daily: 31 January 2024

Today is St Brigid's Eve. In traditional cultures, this is when most of the ritual for Imbolg takes place. St Brigid is welcomed into the home with rush crosses and formal family ceremony and doors thrown wide. A bed is prepared by the hearth, and oats and cream are left on the doorstep. The fires… Continue reading The Daily: 31 January 2024

The Daily: 24 January 24

I like days that have symmetry. Doesn't mean a thing, but it makes my goofy brain happy... Things to look forward to... baking something for someone My birthday is this week. It's supposed to be rainy and just above freezing. Maybe just below freezing. Either way, there are winter weather warnings for the next three… Continue reading The Daily: 24 January 24

The Daily: 17 December 2023

Saturnalia Saturnalia begins today. This year Saturn presides over the beginning of his holiday season. Look to the west at about 5:30pm. Saturn will be sitting just above the crescent Moon. In the north, this is also the beginning of the shortest nights of the year. For the next ten days, day length in my… Continue reading The Daily: 17 December 2023

The Daily: 29 September 2023

The ancient world of the Mediterranean and Near East has a great number of interesting mythological beings. Some are related to old gods and tutelary spirits. Some are fairly accurate illustrations of the anxieties of humankind — or maybe mankind, since women didn't have much of a voice. Some are just ludicrous. One of my… Continue reading The Daily: 29 September 2023

The Daily: 6 September 2023

Found this while searching for something else that I'm pretty sure I never actually wrote... only planned to write... so it seemed serendipitous to throw this back out to the world. Especially since I am currently in a welter of planning. Present circumstances are just unsustainable and I need to figure that out. Meanwhile... here… Continue reading The Daily: 6 September 2023