Cutest Donkey Ever! :D

Moving 'Stead

{royalty free photo}

The home that we are currently renting is being sold, so we have been busy looking for a new place to put our roots til we're ready to finally buy our dream stead. We have found a little house where there will be enough outdoor space to take all my perennials to and to have a respectable veggie patch as well.

So, things will probably be extra slow around here while we make the transition.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Wendy Babcock's Memorial & After Party Today

{cover of the Spring 2010 issue of McClung's}

Today there will be a memorial service and after party for Wendy Babcock. Both events will be in Toronto: the memorial will be held in Allen Gardens Park {@ Carlton & Sherbourne} from 6 to 8 pm and the after party will be held a Buddies in Bad Times Theater {12 Alexander Street} from 9 pm to 2 am.

Dinner will be serves at the memorial, and there is also parental/guardian supervised child care and play area available at the memorial.

The after party is for folks 19 and over, where there will be performers, DJs, and music.

Both events are free, but folks are encouraged to pay what they can at the after party as a donation contributing to a plaque and park bench to be placed in Allen Gardens in Wendy's honour.

There is also another way that you can contribute financially to a cause in Wendy's honour...

Taking a plunge for Wendy

Those close to Wendy Babcock say she would never have jumped out of an airplane. But on Sept 12 Babcock's friend Lia Grimanis says Babcock was by her side as Grimanis glided to the ground after a skydive north of Toronto.

Taped to her arm was a picture of the two women, taken during a recent dirt biking trip. “Here’s to Wendy!” Grimanis shouted after she landed her "honour jump" at the Parachute School.

Babcock, who was found dead Aug 9, was a passionate local advocate for sex workers and a prominent voice for trans rights across Canada. She was well known on Toronto’s frontlines, ensuring that the city’s most marginalized street people don’t fall through the cracks.

“I wish she was here to see me today,” Grimanis said, choking back tears in a video of the jump. “Wendy would never have gone skydiving with me. She was absolutely terrified of some of the things I do. I was her scariest, most badass friend.”

Like Babcock, Grimanis was once homeless after she fled an abusive home at a young age. She is now a successful Toronto businesswoman and daredevil adventurer. Grimanis runs Up With Women, a non-profit organization she started to help homeless women and children rebuild their lives.

Her skydive kicks off a campaign to raise $10,000 for the new Wendy Babcock education fund for homeless youth.

She says any donations made through Up With Women between Sept 12-30 will be matched up to $5,000. All funds raised will be donated to Eva’s Initiatives, the group administering the fund.

The rest of the article can be read over at xtra! You can make a donation to the Wendy Babcock education fund over here.

Sláinte!

Laurel

In Praise of Summer

I had meant to share this video in my last post because it pretty much sums up the feelings that the end of Summer conjures up in me.

IN PRAISE OF SUMMER
Mawl i'r Haf

Summer in paternal pride
Begets the trees' pleasing shade:
Forest-master, wood-watcher,
High tower, hill-thatcher,
Regal ruler, virile member
Blows the world from an ember.
Summer, source of wondering words,
Dwelling of each spreading wort,
Balm for growing, in a welter,
Ointment, bewitchment of the woods.

By god! Blessed is the hand
That gives growth to branches hard!
Earth's four quarters are impelled
To generate, on sweet impulse
Out of the earth, verdant crops,
Birds that burst to flying flocks,
Hay meadows, blown by breeze,
Hives, humming swarms of bees.
Foster-father, loving help
Of earth's loaded garden heap
And webs of leaves, a leafy graft.
A source of never ending grief:
How soon August comes, the brawler
Who tears down my lovely bower.
To know that all this green and gold
Must depart in mist and cold!

Tell me, Summer, to what place
Do you creep to hide your face --
When you leave, sowing woe
To what country do you go?

Summer answers: "Poet, cease,
Lest your praise should turn to curse.
Fate invites me, fate repels;
Spring surrenders, autumn rebels.
I must grow in but three months
Crops enough to fill your mouths,
And when the rooftree and the leaves
Are bundled close, like harvest sheaves,
I must escape the winter wind,
And enter Annwn , leave the world."

Blessings, tuned by every poet
Fall on you, as you depart:
Farewell, king of idylls;
Farewell, lord of the idle;
Farewell, cuckoos fledged;
Farewell, June's fields;
Farewell, sun climbing
And the plump, white-bellied cloud.

Bright captain sun, you shall not reign
So highly; drifting snow will ruin
Your handiwork. But meagre hopes
Will plant a garden on summer's slopes.

- Dafydd ap Gwilym, paraphrased by Giles Watson.

Giles Watson's YouTube channel is a treasure trove of beautiful poetry, rich with Pagan imagery, folklore & mythology, agriculture and nature. Pretty much all of my favourite things! ;)

I Sing the Smith is probably the one that I love best...

Giles Watson also has amazing photography and poetry over at his Flickr account, and some of you may also recognize him from when his A Witch's Natural History was published in The Cauldron.

When you get a moment, go check him out. :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Galloping Towards Summer's End

{probably the last monarch butterfly I will see this year}

The robins are starting to leave and the last few nights and early mornings I have been greeted with a chill in the air, cold enough to see my breath. We are bound to get some more warmth, but Summer is definitely coming to a close 'round these parts.

I did my first big wild tobacco harvest a few days agp and I am quite happy with how I did given it's my first time growing it. The plants we had in the ground got a lot bigger than the ones in containers though, so that is a lesson learned for next year.


We are still enjoying a steady harvest of most of the pretties we are growing.


I have been coming across the occasional oddity {below being this week's favourite...}

{a triad of entwined hobo turnips}

The pumpkins are getting ready to turn orange...


And the sunflowers are really going to town!


Frost and falling leaves are just around the corner!

Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Forest Floor Fungi by ilya_ktsn

photo by ilya_ktsn

This photo was taken in the beautiful Algonquin Provincial Park. Here are a couple more by ilya_ktsn:

Amanita muscaria

"wild mushroom"

And you can see the rest of the beautiful set here.

Sláinte!

Laurel