Monday, April 30, 2012

A Blessed Bealtaine!

Awakening Spring by Luc-Oliver Merson
Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves, are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.

~Song on May Morning by John Milton

We wish you all a joyous Bealtaine & May Day for our readers in the North and a wonderful Samhain to those of you in the South! :)

We leave you with some music to enjoy:

Tiocfaidh An Samhradh/Summer Will Come {lyrics here}


Thugamar Féin an Samhradh Linn/We Have Brought Summer With Us {lyrics here}:


*********


Sláinte!

Aymi & Laurel

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Gifts for Birds

{cross posted at the Unfettered Wood blog}

A couple of days ago I erected a birdie altar for some of my allies and set aside a part of it to represent the other feathered folk who visit us in our yard. Food and a clean source of water are always available to them, but I do get a little more ceremonious about it every once and a while.
American Robins eat berries, which of course can be difficult for them to find this time of year. I save most choke and pin cherries in our freezer after harvesting them {as you can see they are still frosty in the photo}. I have heard of people putting out grapes and other soft fruit for Robins too. Leaving out a big bird bath and keeping your yard a good environment for the creepy crawlies they eat are also good ways to make a welcoming environment for them. You can go to this website to see a list to get more ideas: Journey North: American Robins
Both Crows and Ravens are omnivores, so they will eat just about anything. They seem to really enjoy peanuts still in the shell so that is what I will often leave out for them. You can go to Crows.net & The Raven's Aviary to find out more about how you can make your outdoor space inviting to them.
If you are lucky like us and get all sorts of birds visiting you yard, then leaving out multiple feeders and piles of different seeds is a good idea. Some birds like to eat from the ground while other seem to prefer the feeders. Over the last little while I have gathered scraps of thread to leave out for the birds for their nests. Theresa Loe blogged a great idea on how to place the thread outdoors.

Sláinte!

Laurel


Monday, April 23, 2012

some news of note & a small update

Howdy folks! I hope that everyone had a chance to get out and about to enjoy Earth Day! :) It was rather blustery and cold here, but a nice day nonetheless. I might have some photos to share of yesterday's adventure if they turned out alright. In the meantime, this is just a post of news and updates that might be of interest to you folks.

Of course the Harper government {the Canadian Federal Government} has been celebrating the great wealth and beauty of our planet, by implementing policies so there is less "red tape" and review in plundering that wealth and beauty. The government's logic? Apparently we need to speed up the whole pipeline process by removing those dastardly eco radicals before some other country gives away all their natural resources before we can.

And more great news about the darling of Frankenfood, it seems that Monsanto has made another recent purchase. Apparently back in September 2011, Monsanto bought Beelogics, one of the largest organizations involved in researching the bee colony collapse. Pretty fucking convenient since Monsanto may be partially responsible for that very issue. Perhaps further proof that if you have enough money and power you can just purchase evil deeds and proof out of existence.

On a more positive note...

For people in Ontario, there is a consultation on Ontario Food and Nutrition Strategy: A Plan for Healthy Food and Farming starting today until May 31st. To get involved, sign up for a free membership over at Sustain Ontario or for more information send an email to strategy@sustainontario.ca.

Horse Feathers released their fourth album last week. From what I have heard of Cynic's New Year so far, they have not lost any of their awesomeness. Here is a video of one of the songs from the album Where I'll Be:


And a beautiful live performance of Last Waltz {in Paris, 2011}:


Oh! I have finally bit the bullet and created a Facebook page for Unfettered Wood.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Friday, April 20, 2012

heisting {& hate}

I have been naughty and haven't posted anything for the Pagan Blog Project in a while. While I have had all these ideas on topics I wanted to write about, I haven't really been motivated to be honest. So here is a just-winging-it post {letter H}.

Heisting. The online Pagan community seems to be rife with it when it comes to lifting the works of others. Two situations in particular that stick out in my mind are this one and this one.

These two situations were balls-out theft. Their articles and artworks were posted on other sites being masqueraded as the work of the people who stole them. More often what I notice are people who don't properly cite sources and/or creators of articles and creative works that they are sharing.

So please people. Don't steal. Properly cite. It's called good manners and it only takes a little bit of extra time.

Another situation that has been going on recently surrounds Z Budapest and a song that she apparently wrote 40 years ago. I don't know if she owns the rights to the song or not. On her Facebook page she had posted:
Singing "We all come from the Goddess" should NOT BE rewritten. It is my intellectual property. it is NOT a folk song, which by the way is the fate of many composers whose songs are stolen. You steal my song from now will have consequences. You put men into the song, like God,a hex will be activated. I have found that people actually sell their wares with my song in the Title
It certainly would suck to have someone else take your song, profit from it without your permission or giving you proper credit. There is however, something in the above quote that made me do a double take. The whole cursing over men and god wording. But wait! It gets better!
but i have experienced women making up new words,attaching it to my song that NEEDS NO attachments. Have you ever heard a man writing a song about the gods, and then put females in it?? Never. So stop you generosity attacks with my songs, write an original. Men who had Mozart and Schubert amongst them,surely will come up with their own songs .

Women like to give away and include but please do it with your own intellectual property. I wrote that song for the Goddess worshipping women..
Then in a later post she states that she only wants people to sing it in the original version. I don't know how she is going to control that in private environments, save sending out a whole bunch of curses to take care of those dastardly men and class-trader women. I guess that is not an option though, since has claimed that the threat of hexing was all snark and no bite. Not the swiftest move on her part, making threats if she had no intention of carrying them through if need be.

It seems to me that she wants to protect her song more out of hate {in this case misandry, she is already known for her disgusting transphobia} than out of love for her song and religious/spiritual devotion.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Guilty Pleasures: VHS Edition

While having a turntable and vintage wax will make you cool or hip {or whatever term the young folk are using these days}, clinging onto your VCR and cassette movies probably won't. I am one of those sad, unfashionable creatures that still watches some VHS movies. Am I the only one?

Anyhow, in celebration of this ancient technology, here are a few favourite titles that our faithful VCR chugs through.

In no particular order...

The Wicker Man {the original one!}

This movie is a staple for both Bealtaine & Samhain round here. Ir would be great if someone got on with making a real Summerisle and I would move there in a heartbeat. ;)

The Black Stallion

I loved this movie as a child because I could relate with Alec. I was never in a ship wreak nor did I race a horse in front of thousands of people; it was more the finding solace and connecting with an equine friend at a time when it seemed that life threw us both under the bus. Now I watch it when I feel like having a horsey-fix. Hopefully I can trade it in one day for the real thing. :D

The Fairy Faith

A wonderful documentary about superstitions surrounding The Good Folk. The filmmaker John Walker travels to various places interviewing people on their own views about Faeries, including Scotland, Ireland and the Canadian East Coast. Some of the folks interviewed are Brian Froud and Elizabeth-Jane Baldry.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Yeah, I know. The obligatory girly movie.

The Secret of Roan Inish

Packed full of lore and some tidbits of old Gaelic customs such as smooring the fire, this sweet movie is about an Irish girl learning about her family secrets. Every family has secrets, although I am sure not too many involve Selkies.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Who doesn't love Monty Python?

Angela's Ashes

A beautiful film about Frank McCourt's childhood in pre-WWII Ireland, which is inspired from his written memoir of the same title. Fraught with hardship and tragedy, it is a wonder that Mr. McCourt made it to the ripe old age that he did.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Lipstick. Garters. Drag. What's not to like? :D

*********

Sláinte!

Laurel

Friday, April 13, 2012

Some Inspiring Garden Projects: Trellises

Over the last little while I have been browsing the web for ideas for our new garden. Since our yard is quite smaller than our previous one, I have been focusing quite a bit on trellises {all of our fencing is made from lattice, so that is a good start}. Below are a few projects that I thought were really neat. :)






Sláinte!

Laurel

Luverly of the Week: Long Live the King by Steve Mclaren



some photos of our wee green friends

Anywhere we have sunlight peeking into our home is crammed with little pots of yogurt containers, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls and starter pots. The grand total of our seed startings {both seedlings and the ones that have yet to break through soil} is 224 so far.

Many of them are really leggy, so I cannot wait until it is warm enough to put them outside during the day so they can sunbathe, and I am even looking more forward to when they can be transplanted. We definitely need to get some grow lights.

We have quite a bit of multiple seedlings in each container, which I will pull out so there is just one, once they start to get their secondary leaves.

Here are a few photos of the menagerie:

cucumbers

a mess of leggy morning glories, teasel, lavetera/swamp rose mallow, scotch thistle, datura, and sweet williams

double pink columbine

sweet and hot peppers

borage

tomatoes {sometimes it takes view a photo to notice how messy things are, such as the window and sill in this photo!}


We are still pulling up sod and I will post some photos and news from our yard soon.

Sláinte!

Laurel