Litha (Summer Solstice): '...summer solstice, or midsummer, is a time to spread warmth and enjoy the sun's energy. The sun is at its highest point in the sky. Everywhere you look nature shows her bounty; praise
the opulence and abundance available to you for the asking. This is a day to celebrate your gifts of healing, whether they are intuitive or use plants. Make peace with the impermanence of life and changing
relationships, knowing that you are always guided and watched over. Bloom where you are planted. Respect male energy, honor your light, hug yourself. You are one with the infinite sun...
Looking around my garden yesterday, I could see that things were definitely starting to grow, but whether it's because of the cooler temperatures lately, or the fact it has rained almost every single day for the past
month or so, I did notice that my baby plants (especially the annuals) are all struggling to survive. I planted a veggie garden with neat rows of little peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, chives, various herbs,
etc. and thanks to the hail and the rain, and the lack of sunlight, the plants seemed to almost shrink, some even disappeared, and weeds are starting to take their place. Hmmm. I'm thinking I'll have to turn that
corner into a nice shaded bed next year as it doesn't seem to be a good place to grow sun-loving plants (my elm tree hangs over it which is a problem).
At least I did have enough sense to keep three tomato plants and a large planter full of herbs up on my deck where they have received more sunlight and are starting to grow quite nicely now. I just finished a
book called 'The Birth House' by Ami MacKay (here's her website: www.thebirthhouse.com. Throughout the book, various herbal remedies (centered around childbirth of course) were mentioned, and in the back,
just for fun, they included what was in her 'willow book' - a list of various herbs, remedies, and 'spells' that midwives would use. It was a neat book, not quite as indepth as I thought it would be, but still a nice
read... Anyway, it got me thinking that I still would like to continue my study of herbs and their uses. There is a book that I'd love to have, called: The Herbal History of Plants by John Gerard - originally published
in 1597 and then revised in 1633, it's full of original herbal remedies, medieval folk-lore, and interesting facts about hundreds upon hundreds of plants. It's on my wishlist, but it's $100 so I'll have to save my
pennies. ;)
Anyhow, on to other things - last night, I took what was probably my final walk through my grandparents' house. They bought the farmland back in the early 70's (I believe) and built their house there. Throughout
my life, as my sister pointed out, that was one of few constant places that we always came back to. It's sad to think that the one home that we hadn't yet lost is now going to be owned by someone else, and
they've already applied to sever the area around the house from the rest of the farmland below, and then to divide the 'cow field' and the orchard, where two more homes might be built. I have to admit, I regret being so quick to say 'no thanks' to my aunt when she asked if we were interested in the farm. Of course, the reason why I said no still makes sense - it sold for over $500,000. There is no
way (especially since we already own two properties) that we were ever going to afford that!! But walking through the house yesterday, with its old (but perfect) wall-paper, original curtains, gigantic brick fireplace,
and that old familiar smell that was always 'the farm' (somewhere between a cool, damp basement and clean fresh powder). I was fine until I walked into what was once my mother's bedroom, and then became
the room that I often slept in when we visited. There was the same heavy orange curtains (circa 1960-something). I gently pulled one back from the window that used to scare me, and I felt a sense of cool
sadness come over me. I always swore that room was haunted (and later in life learned that my great grandmother had passed away there). Call me wacky but every time I walked into that room, the same sense
of sadness was hanging in the air. At the risk of sounding kooky, it felt as though she was there.
What probably hurt the most though, was looking at the fields and trees and barns that we loved so much. Each was 'so old' to us, filled with 'treasures'. We'd build forts out of the wood in the woodshed, tease
the chickens in the chicken coup, play for hours in the old horse stalls (that still had hay and straw from when Mom was a teenager), and creep through the barn, to the back where grandpa had built his airplane.
Looking at those buildings, I got a supreme sense of sadness, and while part of me wished I could take one last walk through, another part of me was thankful that the car was moving and we were moving on.
I would have loved to own that house, to fix it up, but carefully preserve some sense of my grandparents within it. I had a thought that, perhaps once the lots were sold, if that house ever went up for sale, I'd buy
it, but then I wonder if the new owners would have gutted it, removing every last shred of what was once sacred to my family.
Sigh...
Anyway, my mother had said to me yesterday that I should see the house empty to 'bring a sense of closure'. At the time, I told her I'd actually prefer that I remembered it full, and that still rings true. So I will try to
forget leaving it, empty and sad, and try to remember all the times we left it, with grandma and grandpa standing on the front steps, waving, dogs barking, cousins running around. Much better. :)

Woohoo! So life is going pretty well for me right now. :) I've been keeping to my goal of trying to incorporate more artsy, girly activities in my life (to counter-balance the boring tech job that I'm so fortunate to have - money talks!)... So I've been helping to make lanterns for the lumiere festival, and so far it's been going very well. I've been building symbols to represent quintessence (the fifth element) as this year's theme is the elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Quintessence). The fifth element represents (in the eyes of the Lumiere Festival creators) the 'magic' that holds everything together, drawing people in and making the event a wonderful success. :)The lanterns themselves are made out of bamboo (taken from dissected bamboo blinds) and tissue paper, with a mixture of water and glue which serves to tighten the paper so it's smooth, while making it flame retardant. The girl who runs it is hoping to have 2000 lanterns done in time for the festival, and so far we have about 500. I'm actually quite curious to see how we'll do this considering the fact only about 7 or 8 volunteers showed up last time, and the first day, I was the only one besides the two organizers who showed.
I guess we meet throughout July as well, and we also will have the public come in to make jar lanterns with the kids and paper lanterns themselves, but I believe they take those lanterns home and bring them back to carry through the festival.
Anyway, so that's an exciting event that I'm really looking forward to this year. In addition to the lanter part of it, people also dress up. Jenelle, if you read this, you'll know that it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures, ha ha. :) Any excuse to get into some wacky costume is welcomed in my life... :)
The other thing I've been helping with is the Maple Lawn Gardens. Basically, it's two or three hours on sunny Sunday mornings, spent surrounded by plants, flowers, and people who love plants and flowers, which I think is wonderful. It's so nice to hear people talking about the garden with so much knowledge and passion. :) Finally people who understand me! Ha ha! :)
There are other things I was hoping to 'inject' into my monthly routine, but it's been a bit of a challenge to squeeze them in. One thing was shopping for all our food at the farmer's market in Ottawa. I had hoped to start a spin-off blog with recipes and traditions for preparing our locally available food. I still might do that one of these days, but I find right now, by the time I manage to leave the garden at noon on Sundays, I'm covered in dirt and mud and am looking forward to lunch, so the idea of driving downtown to the stadium where the market is kind of goes out the window. I also want to go berry picking sometime soon (before they're all gone!) but I'm not sure when the next available weekend will be for that...
In the mean time, I'm going to try to add one special thing to my routine that has nothing to do with eating (hard to believe but it's true)... I went to see the Sex in the City movie on the weekend, and while I do find that "Kerry" needs to do something with her hair, wanders around with some of the most hideous clothing on, and uses a cell phone that is duct taped together, every so often she (or more-so her friends) had some awesome shoes and accessories and outfits on! That kind of grabbed my lesser-exercised fashion-loving side by the ear and gave it a good shake. So yesterday I headed down to the byward market, where all the trendy boutiques with local (and some more prominent) designer clothing, and found myself in heaven (just like last time I was there at xmas). I found shoes that are incredibly similar to the blue pumps that Kerry apparently spent $525 on in the movie, for $59... :) I found a sweet little grey satin dress with black lace ribbon around the waist for $59, I found an uber trendy white patent purse for - you guessed it - $59!! All this was found in my favorite little boutique 'frou frou' (I hate the name though, makes me think of little old French ladies but anyway). I also found a neat store called Karma, that makes their clothing from recycled rubber and canvas, as well as from natural like bamboo, salvaged wood, etc. There's also a designer knits store somewhere that I haven't managed to find yet, and of course there are many other little boutiques, each with its own treasures for your home, your wardrobe, or just for fun. :) So I'm hoping to start going there, one day a month, grabbing myself a yummy coffee and strolling through to see what deals I can find. SUPER fun. :)
So that's all for now I guess - keeping busy, and happy (finally!)
xoxo





S

(Some Karma clothes!)