Kitchen Home News

In my previous post I spoke of the little witcheries that have, over the years, crept into my everyday life.  How it becomes habitual to speak to the garden, chant over the bowl I'm stirring, and draw symbols on doors or mow them into my lawn.  I thought I'd jot a few down here, just for fun, and perhaps you'll find some inspiration or an idea you'd like to try in your own home. Some habits started out as superstitions or little eccentricities that I've picked up from my family. Throwing spilled salt over your left shoulder, tea and chicken noodle soup as cure-alls, foretelling weather by the color of the sky, and certain seasonal 'tells' that let us know it's time to plant or bring in the last of the harvest before the frost.  Always have a sugar pot out - even if no one uses sugar - just to keep the home sweet.  Always take your shoes off at the door.  Plant red geraniums at the front of the house.  A cut potato pulls out slivers and bee stingers.  Don

Today, while pondering when I might get some time to do some magical work, I whispered blessings and thanks to the garden as I harvested vegetables, I chanted while I made cookies for my nieces, I napped and dreamed strange dreams, and I mowed a rune into my lawn as I was cutting the grass. I speak often about daily practice because it is important to me.  I've not spent much time meditating this summer. My yoga routine has completely fallen by the wayside. I haven't sunk deeply into ritual in quite a while. It pleases me that it is almost habitual to imbue my daly activities with enchantment - it does lend to a very magical-feeling life. But those little fascinations don't actually replace the practices that have always anchored me. And today I felt a bit...adrift.  As the season slowly begins to shift, the gardens wind down, and the nieces return to school, it will also be time for me to re-commit to my own praxis. It is time to return to those daily observances that of

This weeks' theme, at the House of Rue, seems to be "How To Survive Teenage Girls."  (Hint: it involves rum.)  For those who are newish to the blog, you should know that I spend a large amount of time with my neices.  Their mother is unwell, and their father (my brother) works long hours as a winemaker at a local vineyard/winery, and so I have had the pleasure of helping to raise them. Something happened at about age thirteen though.  Suddenly, Auntie wasn't funny or cool anymore. Getting them outside and away from the television, cell phone or video games became impossible. And everything became The End Of The World . In all fairness, I remember being a teen.  Mostly because I wasn't very good at it.  I preferred the company of my grandmother and her garden and land, and her teapot, to the company of most of the people at school.  Every moment seemed rife with drama and the hormones rushing through my body were no help at all.  Add to that a persistent feeling th

The gardens are overgrown and the lawn is monstrous.  Although I've been keeping up as best as I can, the weeds are winning.  I'm covered from head to toe in freckles, even though I use a SPF 70 sunscreen and wear a floppy hat when I'm out in the yard.  I've not dipped my toes in the lake once. And still, summer does its best to keep the heat on, rolling out scorching weather each day.  And I do my best to keep the house full of groceries and clean towels for the necies living with me until school begins again.  I am exhausted.  And I am happy.   I grin at the blue jays who fly by with peanuts in their beaks - gifts from the neighbours.  I watch as the squash and sunflowers seem to double in size daily.  I glance at the zucchini sitting on the counter, waiting to be shredded and transformed into muffins or cake, and I say..."perhaps tomorrow."    I could fill up every spare moment and still not strike off the entire "to-do list" but I still take frie

July was a whirlwind and it startled me, a week ago now, to realize that August had arrived without me even realizing that it was sneaking up so quickly.  The next few posts will catch you up on what I've been up to. My nieces and I, along with some of our best friends, headed down to Oregon on the last weekend of July for our 2nd annual Faerieworlds trip.  We've enjoyed the event so much that I think we'll be doing this for years to come.  The travelling was...trying.  A wildfire closed our route, and the detours we took added hours to the already long 11-hour journey.  Still, we arrived in good spirits (once a glorious frozen lemonade was in hand,) and had an amazing weekend. Here are just a few pics from the weekend.  I've yet to upgrade my vintage iPhone, so the pictures are simply fair, not excellent, but it will give you a tiny taste of the magic of that weekend. The torches are lit as the sun fades into the west: Some sort of tree-beast: Mermaid: Balance: Dancers