May 25th, 2012

What an exciting couple of days it has been! Yesterday, my chemistry class tie-dyed our clothing articles (most people had shirts, but some used pants, and one boy did his socks). I had a tank-top, which I colored in a green and blue spiral pattern. It's in the wash as I type this, and it looks like it came out great! Also, because the weather was so fantastic yesterday, I went and sat out in the yard. We have a trellis with wisteria growing over it, and the plant has gotten so huge it casts a wealth of shade around said trellis. Therefore, I sat in the shade, enjoying the wind (which was strong), when I happened to look up. And there, lo and behold, in the crook of a lily and a leg of the trellis, was a little skull. Yes, a skull. It was just over a centimeter long, fully intact, although without the lower jaw, and clearly that of some rodent - it had large buckteeth. I called Nick, the resident animal expert, over, and he was able to confirm my suspicion, telling me that the skull was definitely that of a rodent, and that judging by the large eye sockets, the creature was nocturnal. His best guess, therefore, was that it belonged to a rather unfortunate rat. On some level, I wanted to keep the skull, and yet, as fascinating as it was, I decided that not only was keeping it a bit unhygienic, but the skull also belonged outside, where I found it. I put it back, and left it to guard the property. Today, I went back out to try and get some pictures, but the skull had disappeared! (I suspect Nick may have had a hand in this) However, I still went and poked around a bit, and, to my surprise, I found not the skull, but half of the missing jaw, and another piece of anatomy I couldn't identify. There was also some fur buried under the wood chips which may have belonged to the creature. Most mysterious...

May 21st, 2012

What with all that planting yesterday, the first sunburn of the summer is setting in... My shoulders have been a little too warm for comfort all day. Ah well. In any event, some interesting developments today. I woke up and looked through the window to see a great big opossum trundling thorough the back yard. Now, not everyone likes opossums, but personally I think they're alright, and seeing one always seems to have positive connotations. Indeed, other than the sunburn, today was actually the best weekday I've had in a while. The opossum is also said to represent emotional and mental stability, which I will take as a good omen. Recently, I've been a little too stressed for comfort, and if the opossum represents a reprieve from that, I'll certainly take what I can get! Plus, my video that I had to make for English actually played on the old school computers, which was an untold relief (those things are seriously ancient).

With all said and done, I'm looking forward to a nice, quiet evening with the family tonight. Mom says we're having chef salad for dinner: various greens, cheese, peppers, ham or turkey, tomatoes, carrots, and croutons. A salad makes a great meal or side dish this time of year - so many veggies are just coming into season! Buy locally if you can, and make sure to rinse everything before you eat it to get rid of any pesticides or dirt. Try eating greens with dark leaves, like spinach (which, by the way, goes very well with some feta cheese and strawberries). Vegetables not your thing? Fruit salads taste equally awesome. Any combination of tropical fruits (bananas, mango, pineapple, papaya, star fruit, etc.) and more temperate fruits (grapes, apples, strawberries, blueberries, etc.), plus a sweet, unifying dressing contains valuable nutrients as well as citric acid and a great summer flavor. One could even make a refreshing snack, if one were to blend together some ice, orange juice, bananas, and mangoes. Are fruit smoothies awesome? I think so. The moral of the story? Enjoy the turn of the Wheel to the summer months by enjoying the fresh produce of the season!

May 20th, 2012

You remember how I thought that after finishing with the musical I'd have a little more free time to write posts and whatnot? HA! I had no idea at the time that I would be getting a 740 point English project and a 400 point marketing project, along with the AP World History test and finals all in the last three weeks of school. Oh, plus the math project I'll be getting after the final. So suffice it to say, this is literally the first bit of free time I have had since my previous post.

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In spite of all the craziness, I've been up to some interesting things this month. The first weekend of May (the 5th, I believe), I went to Hazelnut's house. It was her year and a day, so after spending some time outside, going to an awesome drum circle, and making s'mores around a bonfire, we did her dedication ceremony. Congratulations to Hazelnut, an official member of the Craft! 

- While we were outside, Hazelnut spotted a curious little butterfly who was more than happy to crawl onto our fingers. Here it is with me:

And with Hazelnut:

 

Certainly not a camera-shy butterfly:

The bonfire grate. I love how pretty it is with the bright green foliage around it.

A wee wild violet growing in Hazelnut's yard:

For Mother's Day, my family went to the Morton Arboretum. Here was one of the trees: 

In the children's garden, there were fairy statues hidden in some of the trees. Well, you know how I am with fairies!

I believe these were some kind of a Japanese Cyprus, but I could be misremembering. 

The trunk on this one is wicked:

Cute little pansies:

There was a huge mess of peonies. And they were so fragrant:

The whole family spent today and yesterday expanding and planting the vegetable garden. We have chives, tomatoes, various salads, corn, watermelon, carrots, cucumber, and onions. I made the fence myself. :)

May 13th, 2012

Today is the first day of the Celtic Hawthorn Tree Month! Huzzah! Ironically, we picked today to go to the local Arboretum, since it was also Mother's Day. Now, the Hawthorn, also called the Thornapple, or Huath, to the Celts, is a part of the rose family, Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of North America, Europe, and Asia. Hawthorns grow as shrubs and small trees, averaging five to fifteen meters in height, and they bear a kind of pome fruit, with typically thorny branches. The fruit, sometimes known as a "haw" contains a small pit, and the flowers that precede them are important to many nectar-eating insects.
In mythology, the Hawthorn is a symbol of hope; the Greeks used it in wedding procession, and those branches that are in bloom by May 1st may be used in Beltane rituals. Even in Christian lore it is rumored that Jesus' "crown of thorns" came from the Hawthorn tree. In Croatian lore, it is the wood of the Hawthorn, sharpened into a stake, that can kill the vampire, and the tree has an exceptionally strong tie to the Fey. Don't hurt the tree, or they will find you!
In magick, the tree has many uses. The Celts used Hawthorn wood for rune inscriptions, and a piece of cloth tied to the tree branch as an offering will bring healing. Also, since the tree is in flower at Beltane, it is tied to the raw masculine side of fertility, and the element fire. One hoping to conceive will find the Hawthorn month profitable, and using the wood in a fertility rite will help usher forth results. Since the tree has such a strong connection to the Fey, using it with other woods sharing that energy, Apple and Oak in particular, can call the faeries into circle.
The fruits of the Hawthorn are indeed edible, and are made into a host of spreads: jaws, jellies, etc. They can also be made into wine; however, the berries are rarely eaten raw. The flower petals are likewise edible, and early in the year, the leaves are tender enough to make a salad.

May 4th, 2012

We've had a drastic change in weather over the last few days! It went from being down in the 40s up to 70 or 80 degrees just over the weekend! It was less muggy today, but yesterday was ridiculously humid. As such, we had a thunderstorm building all day, which broke in the evening. We got very little rain here, but I guess surrounding areas were hit with tennis ball-sized hail! However, the clouds did put on a fantastic light display, with lighting going off every few seconds. Since it wasn't raining, I videoed a good seven minutes of the storm while waiting to pick my dad up from work. Since the camera on my phone is pretty terrible, I won't subject you to the entire video, but here are some screen-shots of particularly intense lightning flashes:

In other news, I'll be sleeping over at Hazelnut's house tomorrow. We're going to do a dedication ceremony for her (it's been a year and a day!), and we also plan to have a bonfire and go hiking.