Throwback Thursday: I found a treasure

I found a treasure ...

The other day while cleaning up hubby's Game Room, I found this little book called, "Popular Home Remedies and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans." It is more like a thin pamphlet with all kinds of odd PA Dutch (German) folklore in it. You know the kind of things I am talking about ~ folk medicine, how to have good luck and avoid bad, weather forecasting, special days and seasons, moon lore, dream interpretations, how to find your future husband, marriage and sex lore,  and even superstitions about cats!

I got quite a kick out of it because, after all, we have lived here for over 10 years now and I had absolutely no idea this book was even in the house until I accidently came across it!

So, I began reading it as my curiousity had of course gotten the best of me. I thought I would share a few of the more interesting parts regarding animals with you.

In addition to the belief that the groundhog can indeed predict the weather (yes, Groundhog Day), this book also mentions other animals believed to be able to forecast weather including the beaver, bear, bull, cattle, chipmunk, deer, dog, donkey, squirrel, hog, horse, mouse, muskcrat, rabbit, sheep, wolf, and cat. In fact, it was believed that a cat lying on its' side and turning its' face upward foretold stormy weather. Other folklore regarding cats include:

1) If you touch kittens before their eyes are open, the mother will let them starve.

2) A girl should feed a cat from her shoe if she once gets anxious to marry.

3) To meet a priest, hare, cat, dog, lizard or serpent on going to church to be married are considered unlucky.
4) Place a cat in an empty cradle of a newlywed couple and the cat will grant their wish for children.

This book, although I found it to be historicaly interesting, was just plain silly and the parts which talk about the superstitions surrounding witches and witchcraft were (to say the least) pretty crazy!!! So crazy, in fact, that I shall not even presume to write about it.

It was written and researched by its' two authors, A. Monroe Aurand, Jr. and Logan Clendening, M.D and it was copyrighted in 1941.  As well as this book, Dr. Clendening also wrote "The Pow Wow Book," (as in Pennsylvania Dutch Pow Wow) "Healing by Prayer," and "Laying on of Hands."

I guess one never knows just what one will find gathering up cobwebs in their home. LOL!

Wordless Wednesday: My fur baby memories!

Sabrina and Sir Barney

Sir Barney and Miss Maggie

Miss Maggie helping my brother cheat at UNO! 

MMMMWAHHHH! - Miss Maggie and Chloe

What's new?

Greetings everyone! Hope you all are enjoying your weekend. Friday I picked up a couple of things at the Green Dragon Farmer's Market while out with a friend ...  

Large scented soy candle

Hempz body lotions

Herbal soap bars

Scented decorative soaps for the bathroom

Yogurt covered pretzels (Strawberry and blueberry)

Yesterday after a family cookout, I picked up an 8 week old kitten from a friend of mine. He is an orange tabby cat and sweet as can be! I named him Merlin ...

On Monday, I will immediately call my vet to make an appointment to get him in for a check up and his FeLeuk test, etc. If we get the okay (and I PRAY that we do!), we will get his shots and whatever else he may need as well. As usual, we must keep him completely separated from the other cats so we have him set up temporarily in the downstairs laundry room in a large dog cage complete with food, water, litter box, lots of kitten-safe toys and a comfy blanket.

Friday This and That ...

Happy Friday everyone! It has been another busy week. Yesterday, Leo had his veterinary check-up with Dr. Dave. Leo was diagnosed with F.U.S. a few months ago and has to be on a special diet for the rest of his life.  He is doing well and Dr. Dave said Leo is healthy and told us that he is going good ...

After a "tiring" morning at the vet, Leo decided he need a cat nap.

Today, I am planning on spending the day with my friend Deb at one of our local flea markets named, "Green Dragon Farmers Market." It has been many years since I was last there and the weather is supposed to be sunny, warm, and in the 80's.

And last but not least, a quick progress update on my diet in order to lose weight and be healthier, If you remember in an earlier post, I explained how I was borderline diabetic and my doctor ordered me to have a blood test monthly. This is how I looked then ...

Me with my sisters Rhiannon and Aurora Skye on Midsummer 2011.

This pic was taken last night ...

I have a long way to go yet, but it is a pretty good start I think.  ;)

)o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o(    )o( 

For those who do not usually choose to include Memorial Day as part of their holiday acknowledgement but still would like to show their gratitude and respect for our honored brave military men and women who have given their lives for our freedom, I found a wonderful Pagan/Wiccan ritual I would like to share with you all from the Patheos.com.'s site. Here is the link for it if you are interested in checking it out:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2015/05/a-pagan-memorial-day/

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This holiday weekend will be busy as well. Tomorrow I have a family gathering and Sunday my sister Aurora Skye and I are planning to get together for a "girls day". Looking forward to it!

Anyone else have any special plans this weekend?

Throwback Thursday

Attending a Beltane coven ritual by Lady Sabrina Rhiannon in 2011.

With my sister Rhiannon and her son at a Mabon group ritual, 2002.

Wordless Wednesday

Monday morning musings

Happy Monday! Today it is bright and sunny out with a little breeze. It is the perfect weather to go for my daily walk and take in the fresh air! Some days, I am able to get in two separate exercise walks and some days none at all depending upon rain.

One thing I have learned in the past the hard way is to never neglect taking my vitamins and supplements, especially while on my diet and exercise regiment. After literally losing clumps of my hair daily a couple of years ago because, as my doctor described it, I 'shocked my body' by depriving it of the nutrients it needed, I have definitely learned my lesson. So, he gave me a list of vitamins and supplements to take on a daily basis. These are B Vitamins (including Biotin), Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and calcium. Of course I had to change the amount of food intake and adjust what I eat on a daily basis as well. That is why these vitamins are so very important. I have also cut back big time on my sugar and fat. I try to eat foods high in protein like grilled chicken, etc.

It has always been a constant fight between my will and adjusting to the biological rules of nature, but I am determined to do my best to take care of my health as I get older. Before I lost weight, I was borderline diabetic and I had to take pain pills to manage my arthritis in my left knee which only served to help me gain even more weight thereby putting me in more pain. 

It is a lot of hard work to keep my weight down, but it is well worth it in the end!

Friday odds & ends ...

Happy Friday everyone!!  It has been raining here for the past two days and they are calling for more rain into the weekend. Good day to stay in the house and clean. 

https://www.facebook.com/Wiccan-Life-123300665208799/

Quick heads up regarding the NetworkedBlogs followers app/widget, Dark Elf was able to create a page on FB for our blog so I will be getting rid of it sometime within the next couple of days and replacing it with a link on our sidebar to the FB page. Many THANKS, Dark Elf!!! 

Yesterday I had the chance to meet up with a very dear friend of mine of 30 years. We try to get together and catch up whenever he comes to Pennsylvania ...

Having a delicious lunch with Stew at an Italian Restaurant named, "Giovanni's."

A pic taken in his lovely motor home which he lives in when visiting PA six months out of the year. The other half of the year he travels to Georgia. 

I  also had the pleasure of meeting his neighbor's doxy, "Maddie"

Her guardian told me that Maddie was a rescue dog who they found after some very cruel former owners used to mistreat her terribly. I will spare you all the sad details. All I can say is that Maddie is a very sweet little girl and I am so happy she found the loving home she so deserves! As you can see, she loves to be petted and when she placed her tiny little legs up on my lap, I bent over to pick her up and she sat on my lap contentedly for a few minutes. Her owner looked at me and said, "OMG, I can't believe she actually let you pick her up. She usually does not let any strangers do that!" LOL!

Anyway, wishing all a wonderful weekend!!!

Problem with NetworkedBlogs! (2nd post for today)

Does anyone else out there use the NetworkedBlogs app/widget for their blog/blogs? I have been using this thing for many years (with my Facebook account) and I noticed that the last two days I went from 147 followers to 140 and they just keep on dropping!

Now, I understand that followers come and go, but this is ridiculous. Since I am far from a "tekkie" and much of today's technology escapes me, I am both upset and confused regarding this. So, I did a bit of research on google and found the following links:

https://www.babble.com/mom/quit-networkedblogs/

http://bloggingforfoodies.com/is-networkedblogs-taking-your-page-views-and-your-link-juice/

I am not even sure that the followers listed are even actually still SEEING my blog posts! I do not deal with Twitter and the like, so perhaps this is the problem? After reading the above links, I get the feeling that NetworkedBlogs is currently obsolete and useless. I have decided that if I continue to lose followers on it, I will just delete the thing altogether! 


UPDATE TO THIS POST:

After conferring with my co-author Dark Elf (who is actually a  "tekkie") and who has looked further into this matter regarding the NetworkedBlogs app/widget, he suggested we delete it from our blog page and create a new page via Facebook (since apparently Facebook is what screwed the entire thing up in the first place when they changed (as is far too usual a practice with them!) their format. Not too crazy about the idea and not too crazy about Facebook overall, but I kept my account in order to keep in touch with my relatives out of State and my former classmates as well. 

And so, we shall see how it goes ...  

Throwback Thursday: Craft Names

Craft names. How does one choose one? I can't speak for the majority, but I knew I wanted to choose a craft name which "felt right" to me. A name that fit in along with my life and who I, personally, was.

Like so many other Wiccans, I decided to "borrow" a Goddess or God name out of ancient mythology and I have always loved the Celtic deities (as their stories have always intrigued me). 

So how did I come upon the Goddess names, "Caer" and "Morganna?" Well, the name "Caer" comes from Caer Imbormeith, a Celtic swan goddess (pronounced "Ky-air"). The word Caer by itself means, "fortress" and my birth name of Kimberly translates from Old English as, "from the royal fortress."

In Celtic mythology, according to Caer's story, She lived as a swan goddess on the lake "Loch Bel Dragon." Now, I am also a student of astrology (Western and Chinese) and in Chinese astrology, I was born in the Year of the Dragon. Caer is primarily known as the Goddess of Dreams who married Aengus MacOg, the god of young love. Much of my natural  psychic abilities manifest themselves in dream form more than anything else. 

Why "Morganna?" In Western astrology, I was born under the water sign of Pisces the Fish. The root word, "mor" means "sea" and in Celtic mythology Morganna was orginally believed to be a sea goddess before she was known as King's Arthur's half-sister, faerie, or sorceress. Even as a child, mermaids have always held a certain fascination for me and so the entire concept really made sense. It was as if it all just came together.

If you should wish to have a craft name,  I think it is really important to choose a name that has a special, personal meaning to you ~ a name which exuberates your soul and embodies who "you" are personally.

Wordless Wednesday

This and That

Greetings one and all! Not a whole happening here today except I just completed and passed my PA Notary course online this morning. It is required as of October of last year by the State in order to get your notary re-appointment. SO glad it is completed!

Then I decided to take my daily hour long walk. The sun is currently shining here although they are predicting a thunderstorm and there is a tornado watch as well a bit later today. I had taken some pics of the country road I walk around our house so here goes ...

I begin with the long stretch of road a block away from my house.

This is an apartment complex along the way.

A really cool house that a farmer bought when it was a very old school house years back. In the back of the house, is a red barn with PA Dutch hex signs on it ...

Next, we have the overpass to Route 222 and Route 183 ...

I always think it is so strange to be so close to the highway traffic yet right underneath the tunnel to the left is so much beautiful countryside.

The police training obstacle course about a half a mile down the road. As you can see, there are a lot of hills and inclines which make for a great workout!

Further down the road, there is The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum where the Annual WWII Weekend is held in June ...

And heading back home again. The entire walk takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour depending upon how fast I pace myself. 

Usually I see plenty of critters such as squirrels, groundhogs, rabbits, and even a red fox once in a while, but today they all decided to not make an appearance. Perhaps next time ...

Have a blessed day everyone!