Getting to know you ...

Well it's been a couple of weeks now since Leo has been free from the confines of his holding cage and he is slowly getting acclimated to his new surroundings. Tabitha and Midnight are gradually learning to accept him, but Kiki and Haley, not so much ...

Leo just chillin' with Mr. Midnight in the living room

>^^<   >^^<   >^^<  >^^<  >^^<  >^^<

... and with Tabitha in the kitchen

In any case, we have a bit of a way to go yet until he feels completely comfortable in his newly found role as an indoor kitty. However, we are confident that he will get there with a little help from us.

Blessed Sunday to everyone!!!

TWL's Throwback Thursday

Me 'n' Rhiannon ~ Samhain 2002

Aurora Skye, me, Rhiannon and her older sister Angelina in 2012

A Midsummer pic of the gang ~ Draco, Aurora Skye's hubby Jim and Aurora Skye, Rhiannon, me and Rhiannon's son Richard (Page) in June of 2013

Waterfae, Rhiannon, me 'n' Aurora Skye on Ostara ~ 2001

A little Yule holiday shopping with the girls in 2013

A Happy Ostara!

Greetings and brightest blessings all! I hope that everyone enjoyed the Ostara/Spring Equinox! We, like many other folks around these parts of Pennsylvania and other states, woke up to a snow fall which albeit slushy amounted to around 6 inches until it was finished. It was, hopefully, this winter season's last horrah before ... well ... perhaps I should say after the first day of spring!

As you all know, I spent my Ostara this year celebrating with my sister Aurora Skye. We decided to hold our private ritual in my altar room the day after Ostara instead due to the lousy weather conditions, but it was wonderful indeed!  ...

A rather "mystical-looking "type pic my hubby took of us just before ritual with the smoke from our burning cauldron

 The cauldron was filled with sage and blessing herbs which we burned for purification and to honor the goddess Eostre

Eostre statue

 Another Eostre statue which we used on our altar

A food offering of strawberry shortcake bites, and in lieu of wine, we toasted to the Lord and Lady with grape juice.

We anointed ourselves with Ostara Oil

We used my new "Spirit of the Mermaid" CD during ritual

And, after we closed our ritual, we gave back to the Earth as always and surprised one another with a couple little sister gifts as well ...

And, of course, no day spent with your beloved sister is complete without taking the time to go do a little girl shopping and so we spent the remainder of the day together reminiscing and catching up. It was a gorgeous day here and, let's face it, who could ask the Lord and Lady for more?

HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY EVERYONE!!

Ostara Oil

Ostara Ritual Oil

8 drops frankincense oil

4 drops benzoin oil

4 drops dragon's blood oil

2 drops orange oil

2 drops rose oil

pinch of crushed rose petals

*Use olive oil as a base

 I used lavender ribbons to decorate bottles

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Something old and something new

Yesterday afternoon, I began making more holiday wreaths and so I created this one for St. Patrick's Day. I had taken a long break from crafting mainly because I hadn't really had the time. But, I have found that it always relaxes me and I truly do enjoy it so.

And, I also found an old pic from many years ago from one of my solitary groups' Ostara sabbat celebrations. Above are (L-R) Waterfae, Rhiannon, me & Aurora Skye back in 2002. I thought it would be a nice idea to scan it and then take it to my local CVS Store to add a cool little festive border to it. Ah yes, the good old days!

Just call me Cat Woman

For as far back as I can remember, I have always held a strange love for cats. Why strange? Well, for one thing I grew up around nothing but dogs. My parents never had one single solitary cat in the house. Yet, somehow I was always fascinated with them.

One year, my mom gave me a couple of dollars for spending money for an elementary school trip and I bought her a little ceramic kitty cat in a gift shop. When I was 14 years old, my dad found a stray female tabby cat outside and I begged my mom to let me bring her in the house. When my mom said no, I named her “Whiskers” and continued to take care of her in my dad’s garage. My dad even kept the seat out of an old car for her to sleep on. One time, she even crawled up on top of my dad’s back and laid there while my dad was bending down to work on a car. My dad loved cats also and was raised around all kinds of stray animals. My mother, unfortunately, was not.

Then, my very first fiancé and his family had a total of eight indoor/outdoor cats. After that, my love and respect for cats grew even stronger and from that time on I have never lived without one … or two or five! ;)

 

For my part, I have found cats to be loving and loyal. Yes, I said loyal. In fact, after my father had recently passed away my cats Midnight, Kiki and Haley have been following me everywhere I go in the house. Every night on the couch and in the bed they all sleep with me and vie for my attention to which I return to them my deepest love and affection ~ as they freely do for me.

My hubby is as equally crazy about cats and, like me, would do anything for them. He is truly their “daddy” and I, their forever mommy. We can’t imagine our lives without them, for without them our house would not be a home ~ merely four walls and a few pieces of furniture. They truly mean the world to us!

 "The Year of the Cat" ~ Al Stewart

Back Home Again

Tonight we picked up Leo at the vets after his surgery this afternoon. He has no stitches and they gave us plenty of pain meds for him. He had a cone around his neck so that he couldn't get to his front paws, but we took it off as soon as we got home and saw that he couldn't eat very easily with it on. 

Mr. Midnight keeping Leo good company!

Last night, we bought a big bag of "Yesterday's News" cat litter at the pet store. Of course, Kiki had to check it out ...

He must have as little physical activity as possible and he will have to lay low for the next few days or so. Once he heals, we are hoping to finally get him acclimated and settled in with the rest of the family. Please wish us all luck. With five indoor cats, we are going to need it!

New Ritual Items

This year will be a very special Ostara as I am celebrating it with my sister Robin (Aurora Skye). Last weekend she and I went shopping together and I found a few new ritual items for our altar. I picked up some scented seasonal votive candles at "Celtic Myth & Moonlight" ...

and a great book of inspirational thoughts and prayers at "Barnes & Noble" book store ...

"The Pocket Book of Blessings"

"The Pocket Book of Blessings" includes inspiring words of wisdom from Terry Pratchett, Maya Angelou, the Dalai Lama, and many others.

I also bought a wonderful CD called "Spirits of the Mermaids"by Mo Coulson and Chris Conway. The music is simply beautiful and will provide a relaxing ambiance and serenity for our ritual ceremony. I'm so excited for Ostara!!

This and That

Happy Saturday all! Just a couple of things this weekend. First off, we took Leo to the vet for his booster shot appointment and to schedule a date for his front declaw surgery which will be on Tuesday morning. After that, he is free to roam the rest of the house and get adjusted to his new siblings.

Next, just a quick reminder to set your clocks an hour ahead this Sunday for (cough!) daylight savings time in Spring. They are calling for temperatures in the 40's this week and spring is finally on it's way. Have a great weekend everyone!

Snow Day

Happy Thursday, my friends. Well, we are in the middle of yet another snow storm, although hopefully the last one of the season. It began coming down about 3 o'clock this morning and hasn't stopped yet. The roads were so bad that I, along with a lot of other people, called into work as to avoid any dangerous accidents and to allow the road crews to do their much needed job of clearing the roads and highways!

 However, having not been able to make it into work today, I decided to work on two new holiday wreaths ...

 A large Spring/Easter wreath for my mom

And a large St. Patrick's Day wreath

I am hoping to perhaps be able to find a little bit of time to work on a few more this coming weekend. I love crafting and working on my wreaths and some other things which I can make using my hands and my imagination. 

Blessed be!

Kim

Spring Wreaths

Here are some of my current handmade Spring/Ostara wreaths ...

 And, I even made a couple of Easter wreaths as well ...

I'd like to begin crafting more wreaths again ~ hopefully sometime this week.

HAPPY SUNDAY ALL!