Celebrating Lugh Solitary Style

Although lately I have been celebrating the sabbats with either other solitaries or with my dear friend, Lady Sabrina Rhiannon and her group, "The Coven of the Silver Moon Circle," I still consider myself a solitary witch at heart. Since I first began practicing my Pagan faith so many years ago, I had always chosen to honor our holy days in a more private way in which only the solitary path can provide.

As time went by, I began to meet other Wiccans/Pagans with whom I could share my beliefs and celebrate with from time to time. And, once in a while, I will join Lady Sabrina Rhiannon's coven in their sabbat and esbat rituals. I feel very comfortable with them and they are a wondferful group of gals who have generously accepted me into their group at any time, and for that, I have been indeed blessed! Afterall,  sometimes it is just really nice to be with your peers ~ solitary or not.

Still, I must admit that is has been quite a little while since I have performed a sabbat ritual as an actual "solitary" per se.  Today, I decided to celebrate Lughnasadh in the quiet solitude of my Altar Room. It had been so long, I had almost forgotten how completely exhilarating it is. The feeling of "oneness" with our Goddess and God which one experiences in that type of setting and the feeling of total peace I still get both during and after ritual.

That being said; however, this is not to say that I will choose to forgo any opportunity to gather in a group celebration in the good company of my close friends and Wiccan family whom I love so very dearly. It simply means that I now realize how much I really do enjoy celebrating as a Solitary from time to time and doing so reminds me of why I enjoyed being one in the first place. I suppose you might say that being a Solitary Practitioner is who I am and have truly always been deep down.

Wishing a very Blessed Lughnasadh to all!!

Books Are Fun Day!

Today, we had a "Books Are Fun"day at work. Twice a year, they come to our office with discounted books, CD's, stationary, speciality boxes of cards such as "Leanin' Tree," children's toys, soy candles, cool purses, and a huge assortment of books for cooking, home repair and improvement, children's coloring books, educational books, science, etc.

I even do some of my shopping for Yule and birthday gifts. For example, my mother's birthday is next week so I bought her a couple of cute books ...

And I also bought a few other cool items like a couple of books on the paranormal.

A cool book bag and a new purse with which I can put my pics on the front of...

and two boxes of Leanin' Tree specialty cards for all occasions.Oh yes, I couldn't forget to pick up a little something for my hubby and so I bought him a book that I knew he would appreciate (and he did!) ...

As for me, I can't wait to start reading my new books. Happy reading all!

Homemade Catnip Toys

Lately, my cats are really going crazy over what my mother affectionately calls, "kitty pot." So tonight I made a few more handmade catnip mouse toys for them.

Since I only know how to crochet and have never learned how to knit, I used an old Knit-Magic machine which I had gotten as a kid for Christmas for the body then crocheted the nose, ears, tail and whiskers on to it ...

Haley & Midnight

Kiki likey!

 

Watching Jeepster

While we anxiously await the days and nights to get cooler, poor ole Jeepster is minding the heat a bit. She is doing well considering the fact that she is, after all, 19 1/2 years old and that the temperature has been in the 100's the past few days (and horrible).

Since she has been mainly hanging out in the bedroom, I have opened up the windows in order for her to hopefully get some air coming into the house. So far, she is eating and drinking (I am so happy for that!) and using her litterbox. She is taking her thyroid pills like a little trooper and I give her a couple of "goody-treats" (cat treats) afterwards which she really seems to enjoy.

My Turn

Well folks, looks like it's my turn now to cat sit. My sister Robin and her husband are leaving for their vacation today and will be gone until the end of next week. While they are taking it easy in Maine, I will be watching, Jeepster, their cat.

Jeepster is now a "senior" kitty whom Robin has had since she was a kitten while married to my late brother-in-law. As is so very typical of a cat, she was supposed to be Robin's kitty, but has always been a "man's" cat. She had always preferred my brother-in-laws' company and now that Robin is re-married, she has decided that she absolutely loves hanging around her husband Jim.

Jeepster as a kitten

Miss Jeepster as an adult

Jeepster, like many senior cats, must take medication for her overactive thyroid. She must be given two half tablets per day. Luckily, there is this little invention called, "Greenies Pill Pockets" which makes it very easy to administer pills to both cats and dogs.

And, due to her age, she has a bit of trouble hearing and seeing as well as she used to, but other than that she gets around pretty good for an old gal of 19 1/2 years!

Goodbye HOT Summer, Hello Lugh!

Here in the State of Pennsylvania, the God has been working overtime. For the past two weeks, we have had weather in the high 90's with extremely high humidity. In fact, yesterday, the temperature was up to 102 degrees in our area! UGH!!

And on top of that, our central air needed to be re-charged as it was blowing luke-warm air out of all the vents. I had to take a half of a vacation day in order for the service repairman to come over to the house and fix it. Thank Goddess we now have our air conditioning back! (Not a lot of fun ~ especially during peri-men, I can assure you!). LOL!

At any rate, I am so very looking forward to the beginning signs of the Autumn Equinox since fall has always been my favorite time of the year. I love the beautiful colors as the leaves on the trees begin to change from green to red, yellow and orange and I much prefer the cooler climate. I have already begun to decorate my home with some autumn decorations for our up-coming sabbat of lughnasadh (Lammas, to some) as I very anxiously await saying "goodbye" to the Summer Solstice and "welcome" to the First Harvest!

Songbird ~ by Christine McVie

This song which is sung by Christine McVie is by far one of my favorite Fleetwood Mac songs and definately one of the most beautiful. It is also one of the many songs I used to sing live years ago. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. (to turn off my Playlist music, please click on the center bars)

http://youtu.be/SmlhDePSP1A

For you, there'll be no more crying,
For you, the sun will be shining,
And I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right

To you, I'll give the world
to you, I'll never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you,
It's alright, I know it's right.

And the songbirds are singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before.

And I wish you all the love in the world,
But most of all, I wish it from myself.

And the songbirds keep singing,
Like they know the score,
And I love you, I love you, I love you,
Like never before, like never before. 

Gifts from Canada

It was so nice to come home yesterday afternoon and know that both kitties and house were looked after in such a thoughtful way ~ cats had been taken care of by "Auntie Judy" who stopped over every single day to give them full bowls of food and water, our mail was neatly placed on our kitchen table, our trash was taken out on a daily basis and our cats were given their "loving" attention by a fellow cat-lover (and a very good friend!).

Naturally, I picked up a few souvenirs' while in Canada  (after all, a vacation without shopping is like wine without  the cheese)along with a couple of "thank you" gifts for my wonderfully dear friends, Judy and sister Robin, to whom I can not thank enough for giving us the piece of mind we needed while we were away.

For Judy, I bought a pretty pair of  genuine Lapis Lazulli earrings and amethyst necklace.

For Robin, I found a pair of Jody Coyete earrings becuase I know she really likes the brand and she loves earrings the way most of us love shoes!

For us, a couple of cool T-shirts and some unique soaps and such.

A cat t-shirt that turns colored when it is exposed to the Sun ...

(Of course, you saw this one coming...)

Speaking of flags, while having a nice dinner one night at a pub called, "The Cove," we saw a really cool flag hung on the ceiling at their bar ...

And, we frequented a shop in Westport called, "Northern Exposure" where I almost bought one of these little Green Man items ...

Wishing everyone a wonerful week as I return back to work on Wednesday. ;)

Canada, eh?

We just returned home from our trip to Kingston, Ontario. We drove to Johnson City, New York and stayed at a hotel then took the Wolfe Island Ferry (car included) to the border near Kingston the next morning. (Funny, I guess I expected to see a Mountie in uniform standing on the other side of the border wating to check our passports ~  I suppose I watch way too much television eh?).

What a BEAUTIFUL place! The skies are breath-taking and, while at home in PA the weather was 99 degrees and humid as Hades, we had gorgeous weather. We stayed in a nice cabin near Chaffey's Locks (right outside of Kingston), a very rural area with just about every critter one could possibly imagine they'd see. The first day there we saw a groundhog (up close and personal!) and over the next few days we also had a chance to see a very odd colored skunk (who walked right up to our cabin looking for some grub), a beautiful doe in the neighbors back yard, a porkupine, loons (black ducks who sing and can stay under the water for an unbelievably long time) and some "black" squirrels. Obviously some things we don't get to see here in the States.

(a pic of a female Loon and her ducklings riding on top of her back)

We took motor boat rides and of course went shopping in a few of the village stores in the town of Westport. You know, Canadians really DO say, "Eh" a lot! So much so that I just couldn't resist buying a T-shirt that says, "Canada, Eh!"

One of the stores we stopped in was Latimer Soap Works Artisan Bath & Body Care which made specialty soaps, etc. They really were like nothing I have ever seen before. Some of them looked like cheesecake, cupcakes, petit fours, etc.

We had a really great time. Of course after we got back my cat Mr. Midnight was a little upset with the fact that mom went away for so long, but he soon forgave me and all is well! All in all, it was definately worth the long ride there, eh!