September 19th, 2015

I made a salad last night.

I hope it tastes okay, but it came out looking pretty good, so I've got my fingers crossed. I'm meeting the group at the Gaia House at 3:00, and then we're driving over to the park for the ritual. Really looking forward to it!

September 17th, 2015

I got ingredients for the ritual potluck today! Neither my roommate nor I have a car, but my roommate's friend was willing to give us a lift to Walmart this afternoon, so I picked up food, some hair ties, and a birthday gift for my little brother.

I meant to take a picture of the ingredients before I put everything away, but I forgot, so here's a not-especially-flattering look into my mini fridge. I'm going to make a salad with fruit, so I bought romaine lettuce, a package of strawberries, a package of assorted fresh fruit, and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Hopefully people like it!  

September 16th, 2015

I'm very excited - I'm hoping to go to a group Mabon ritual this weekend with some community members and other students on campus!

The ritual is this Saturday at a nearby state park, and we'll also be enjoying a potluck dinner and maybe camping, although that will depend on site availability. I volunteered to help distribute food for the Cakes and Ale ceremony, and we also were asked to bring a piece of produce to put on the altar besides our potluck dish.

I'm planning to bring this red bell pepper; originally, I had just been going to get an apple or something, but the campus' sustainable garden was selling these today for $0.25 each! 

As for dinner, water signs (I'm a Pisces) are supposed to bring a vegetable/side dish, so I'm going to go to Walmart tomorrow to get some things for a salad. I'll keep you all posted!

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. :)