Signs of Spring

I should have posted this a couple weeks ago...but now will do. There's a fab full Storm Moon out...and I've decanted the herbal tinctures I started on the New Moon, which happened to be Mardi Gras! (more about that later..).

Anyhow, as a very occasional phenologist, I've noticed the obvious seasonal changes: chattering morning birds, the spring bulbs slow emergence and flowering, the longer days (although this was now screwed up by Spring Ahead Daylight Savings this past Sunday), and cloudy rainy days. Strangely, it snowed just a couple days ago (Monday the 9th) and earlier the year started out dry, COLD and sunny (see beautiful sunrise pic from early February)
February 09
In fact, it has been very cold this whole winter, and we've all had bad bouts with colds as a result.

Speaking of the Spring flowers, they are very late this year, usually by this time I have masses of Daffodils for a huge bouquet I make for the St. Patrick's Day celebration that I host for the older members of our family. We barely have any, just two pink hyacinths and one small early-blooming variety of Daffodil have fully blossomed, the rest are just buds...

Imbolc-First Post

Brigit pours out her Blessings

I really like this time of year, when the sun starts coming back, the spring flowers start poking their heads above ground and the frenzy of the mid-winter holidays are behind us. I especially love snowdrops, often the very first blooms of the season. I sometimes use old Catholic name for this holiday, Candlemas
. I like to celebrate it by making a Brigid's Cross, to hang over our threshold during the year (you can see examples in the background in the picture above); put away or burn any remaining mid-winter decorations and renew New Years resolutions.


There are several holidays that fall around this time as well:

1. Valentine's Day - Apersonal favorite as this is when my husband & I celebrate our "anniversary" - even though we were married in August.

2. Imbolc/Oimelc, a Wiccan/Pagan Sabbat (Holy Day); Often a day when new initiates are accepted into covens or begin individual studies with an elder. It also celebrates the end of Winter and the first day of Spring (despite Ground Hog Day stating "4 more weeks of Winter" usually!)

4. Mardi Gras! - Link takes you to the official New Orleans website...Party time!

Six Random Meme....

Six Random Things About Me
Swinebread didn't really tag me, but it seemed interesting, so here goes

The Rules

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about me-

1) I have visited Palenque in Mexico-awesome. Wished I'd had a camera....

2) I was an evil older sister...but I got better!

3) I love Alan Moore...and his work! Can't wait for the next League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to come out (Top Shelf!)

4) I do several kinds of embroidery: Punchneedle, Hardanger, Brazilian, Cross-stitch, Neeelepoint, and the plain old kind...

5) I've never mowed a lawn, and by Goddess I never will!

6) I have the best husband in the world...forever and 2 years at least...

No Tags for anyone, if you feel you'd like to do this, great!

An Epiphany

The first weekend in January is the time when the French eat a special cake called "La Gallette", a pastry-wrapped disc enclosing a delicious almond paste interior...and a little ceramic item called a "feve" (there is no English equivalent). Here is a great authentic recipe, along with picture of the cake with a paper crown. Whomever finds the "feve" in their piece becomes King or Queen for the day.

The picture above is from a book I've read to my daughter's classes for many years...it's basically a Gingerbread man-type story "Run, Run, you can't catch me!" but of course he's caught by the sly fox in the end!

This time of year is also a nice wind down from the hectic holiday season; I had an "Epiphany" of sorts also...I've decided to make some simple daily practices...like a 5-minute morning meditation on the (Majors only) Gaian Tarot Deck I received as a Yule gift. My two other commitments are to redo my resume in order to get a REAL job in the next 3 months, and to either do yoga, or take a walk every single day.

Three things, three Kings - hmmm kind of fits, doesn't it?

Can't wait to work up some inspiring endeavors for Imbolc/St. Brigid's Day!

San Francisco!

I went down to "The City" the weekend before last, by myself to visit an old college friend who was going to be in the Bay Area. SO MUCH FUN...Bought tons of books and magazines at the Borders near Union Square...where they were putting up a huge Xmas tree and had a little skating rink!
"MEN AT WORK!





















My hotel was just 1/2 a block from the Chinatown gate, and one of my fave restaurants,Cafe de la Presse. The hotel I liked alot - all the guests were very friendly and always struck up a conversation in the ONE very old slow elevator. The only caveat I have is that it did not have air conditioning...which was needed for the unseasonable warm weather they had. In the picture below, I'm looking out on the backside of the Chinatown gate at one of the pretty window displays..the restaurant is on the other side of the street in the background. I bought something for my new nephew at one of the quirky tchotchke-crowded stores...

Tourists!



Hmmm, the Cafe had some great tomato soup, blissful chocolate & strawberry gelato, and a great steak! Plus there are lots of magazines and books (in many languages too..so you can brush up on your French or German) to read while waiting for your meal. Mostly my friend and I walked around downtown, went window shopping and talked - alot! We also had a Dim Sum lunch down near the waterfront with another friend...very good! It's always great to catch up with someone who you're not able to see often enough...speaking of window displays - here's another one that caught my eye. Don't you just LOVE the colors on this lamp!



I want this one in my dream house!



We also saw a live version of the Rocky Horror Show, which was tons of rolicking fun! We met a cute French guy who was taking two girlfriends to the show....even though it was technically "sold out", they managed to get tickets-Yay!. The play is a little different than the film, but I liked seeing what the Victoria Theatre did with it...and OMG the shoes! They were the highest stilletto fetish heels I've ever seen (mostly red instead of black this time around); I was contantly afraid some actor was going to get a terribly sprained ankle or land flat on his/her ass!...(it nearly happened once..the entire audience audibly went "aaaaggghhh"!).


We also visited a newer shopping mall (mostly for the temperature factor), The Westfield Centre, right on Market st....it's got a beautiful dome, 5 floors of shopping, a movie theatre (saw Quantam of Solace..). It's a bit on the chic spendy side...did find an interesting Japanese tea shop Lupicia, (link takes you to a short review)...bought some Pommier for a gift too!


Finally I'll leave you with an early morning pic out of my hotel window of "The City" on the day I had to leave (sob!).

Coit Tower & Chinatown

PS. I can't say enough about BART and MUNI...the FANTASTIC public transportation is one of the main reasons San Francisco is such a joy to visit.