Work in Progress Wednesday: Autumn Cleaning

A lot of people do their annual giant house cleaning in the Spring, but not me. For as long as I can remember, I have always preferred the task of rummaging, organizing, tossing and cleaning in Autumn. I started the massive undertaking on Monday, starting with a few random unpacked boxes and then tackling my closet and tossing anything that doesn't fit or I just know I'll never wear again into bags to be donated. Between yesterday and today I've been sorting through the boxes of stuff in the closets and decided to finally attempt to put the last several years worth of photos into some semblance of order. As you can see in the photo up top, it hasn't been a short and sweet process.

Once I'm done decluttering and gutting the closets, it will be time to scrub everything down and give the house one hell of a spiritual cleansing and blessing. While I do these several times a year, once again, Autumn is the time that I do my main one.

Who else gets these almost manic boughts of clean-fever this time of year? I know I'm not alone!

P.S. I've added everyone who has commented that they're participating in my blog party to the sidebar and the original post. October's nearly here!

Autumn Blessings

The Leaving 8x10 Watercolor

As the wheel turns and the days grow shorter, give thanks for the abundances of the bright days. The harvest, the sun's warm embrace, the fireflies and traditions of Spring and Summer. This is the time of the God's departure into the darkness, the time of the wise Crone. May we find the courage and convictions to look into our own darkness, to sit with her and learn from her wisdoms.

May the harvest bounty be plenty, your blessings be many. May you and yours have nothing but things to be thankful for, here, someplace between the dark and the light. Mabon blessings, lovelies.

A Tourist Escape

Coming off the tale end of the great summer funk (as I am now calling it because of it's unseasonal appearance and length), the dude and I decided to take a quick weekend trip across the border into Asheville, NC.

As we drove North into the mountains I could feel a weigh lifting off of me. Mountains, like the ocean, are one of the few things that will chase my depression off like a thief in the night. Getting into town and just spending a day doing touristy things, laughing, window shopping, trying a few different beers and not having a worry in the world were just the icing on the cake.

First thing we did was roll up to the visitors center and hop onto one of their shiny bright red trolleys. Not only was the tour interesting but it offered hop off/hop on service at several places around the city. We totally took advantage of that, since Joe's foot is still not completely healed and feeling great.

We saw some interesting architecture.

Visited some arts and crafts shops.

Met some interesting characters.

Found an excellent pub...

..and a drawing model of a dinosaur.

While our original intention was to go apple picking on Sunday, Joe's foot was hurting (despite his best efforts to pretend he wasn't limping) so we took a quick peek at Biltmore Village before any of the shops opened up before heading home.

I needed this wee escape more than I realized but while I feel way more relaxed and peaceful than I have in months, I'm still not looking forward to going back to work today. You can't win them all! ;-)

The 2011 Countdown to Hallowe'en

It's that time of year again lovelies. Where the leaves rustle, the chilly winds whisper. When pumpkins and hot cider are much beloved. Witches fly and goblins frolic. Halloween approaches in all of it's marvelous, sometimes mischievous, glory.

Time we got out our broomsticks and candlesticks and tell each other spooky stories around the fire. And, because so many of you played along and I had so much fun last year, I'm throwing another Countdown to Hallowe'en blog party this year! If you missed it last year, here's what you need to know to play along:

Do something Autumny or Halloweeny every day throughout the month of October, ending with the big event on the 31st. It need not be anything difficult or eleborate, just a little something to get you in the spirit. Share what you've been up to on your blogs either daily, every few days, weekly.. whenever you're able! All I ask is you have a maniacally good time!

Some ideas for activities:
Go pumpkin or apple picking
Carve Jack-o-Lanterns
Make seasonal snacks and meals
Hit up a local corn maze
Read a scary story
Watch a scary (or not so scary) movie
Get a group of friends together and tell ghost stories
Make a big leaf pile and jump on in!
Collect and identify fallen leaves
Create a witches bottle
Create your own Samhain candles or incense
Share costume ideas
Create Halloween inspired crafts
Decorate your home room by room and share your decor with us!
Make bewitching cocktails with friends
Participate in any number of Halloween blog parties going on right now... ;o)

and...
Anything else you can conjure up! Large project or small, it all counts!

Let me know if you'll be playing along and I'll add your name and blog link to this post and to my right sidebar! If that sounds like a fiendishly good time to you please feel free to grab the button off of my sidebar and add it to your blog linking back to this post.

Participants!

Olde Baggs and Stuft Shirts
The Happy Heathen
Confessions of a Country Witch
Pagan Culture
Wandering a Wise Woman Path
A College Girl's Days
The Deepest Well
Pagan By Design
Shadowed Paths
Tabby's Place
Krystyl Ravyn's Eclectic Cupboard
The Mortician's Wife
Marlene Dotterer
From the Mind of Alpha Betsy
Aux Demilunes
Vivien's Vault
Adventures of the Kitchen Witch
Having Written
Burning Moonlight
The White House
Star Cats Love
Enchanted Awakenings
Dancing Barefoot
A Witch in the Tea Closet
Lonely Paper Designs
The Kitchen Witch Wears Prada
K. Michelle Creations
Amethyst and Lily Pads
Green Witch with Sprinkles
I Hope They Have Pudding
Diggin' Around
Seasife Diaries of a Kimberline
An English Witchery
Lula Pomme!
Wiccan Writes
Cries From the Stream of Consciousness
Sandy Sandy's Weblog
Laughing Vixen Lounge
A Tiny Cottage on Grand
By The Broomstick
Pieces of Fate
The Haven
Witch Blog
69 Shots of Gasoline
'Round the Faerie Ring
The Hippie Witch
By Land, Sky and Sea
Mama's Thyme

I'll be checking in with all of you throughout the month and see what sort of mischief you've gotten yourselves into! Let the countdown begin!

Work in Progress Wednesday: Wee Pumpkins

These little buggers were extremely hard to photograph, even with my macro lens. The largest one is less than 1/4 on an inch. What am I doing with the babies? Why, making pendants, of course! Who doesn't want a wee pumpkin patch they can bring everywhere with them?

P.S. We've started a gaming group with a few of our friends. We meet every Wednesday and play Dungeons and Dragons, which I have never played before despite desperately wanting to! The boys I grew up with who played had a strict 'no girls allowed!' policy and as such, with my being a girl and all, I was never invited to play. We're into our third week and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of all the dice rolling and stats and stuff, so I can put a little more thought into actually playing my character. So far, I'm really enjoying it! The boys should all be over soon enough, so I should probably work on getting my tail offline. ;)

P.P.S. Thank you all for the comments and visits during the gypsy party! I'm still working my way around the circle of lovely wagons and tents, so if I haven't gotten to you yet don't fret I'll visit soon!

Gypsy Dreams

Come hither to my gypsy home,
where banners fly,
and faeries do roam.



Here time does slow,
and stress does flee,
allowing your dreams to flow fast and free.



We sing our songs by candle's light,
Old tales and new mix,
as our hearts take flight.



Slow your rhythm as best you are able,
the faeries are calling,
come join me now at my gypsy's table.



With a jingle and a ring,
and a bit of a shuffle,
the cards lay ready to sing.



A special message just for you,
They tell of your fortune,
They bring your future in view.



A journey lie ahead,
filled with blessings and bliss,
to see other gypsies,
whose parties you won't want to miss!



The Queen says you must be leaving,
For more fun lie ahead,
But don't let your heart go grieving,
Help yourself to a rose instead!

Thank you so much for visiting my contribution to the Gypsy Dreams blog party hosted by Celia. To visit all our gypsy sisters and friends, click here.

Jingles, jangles and tons of bangles! Sweet (gypsy) dreams, my lovelies!

P.S. I'm not even going to lie. I decorated my dining room to take these photos and taking all the stuff back down so we'd have a place to eat and a gorgeous view of the yard again did make me a bit sad. I'm adding 'Build me a gypsy wagon!' to the hubby's to-do list. ;-)

Hail, Autumn!

The calendar may say that Autumn isn't here and the heat index may well agree with that, but she's here. The shift in seasons is happening, I can feel it all around. The cicadas are beginning to quiet down, there have been a lot more foraging birds and squirrels in the yard, the natural world is beginning to slow down.

We had our first rain of the season, five to ten minutes spits of rain from the clouds that increased the humidity but the plants didn't mind and perked right back up from their semi-wilted states. All of the cloud cover really seems to have cooled things down though and for the first time since April, the temperature in my home fell below 80* without the help of air conditioning (which I never use anyway
).

The funk continues to linger, being fed by dissatisfaction with the company I work for and an ever-changing odd ball schedule. I feel as if there are incredibly few hours in the day with my current schedule; if I work the 'late' shift I have maybe two hours in the morning to exercise, eat and run any errands if I don't want to wake up at 6am (and as I am the classic definition of a night owl, this time would be spent yawning, drinking coffee and looking at my bed rather than being productive.) and if I work a full shift I go in at 8am and don't make it home until 6pm or later. I could manage my time with these shifts better if I had a set schedule, but with finicky co-workers who can't wrap their heads around the concept of an advanced schedule, it's never going to happen. As a result I've been creating less which will always, without fail, make me a mopey girl. I owe a few emails, postcards and coffee dates (lookin' at you Jenn) to people, I haven't forgotten and I'm not mad at anyone, just trying to shake this malaise.

That being said, as Autumn sweeps over the land my energy level is improving slightly. It's difficult for me to not get at least a wee bit excited when the best time of year comes to call! With any luck, the buzzing I feel in the air will penetrate this gloom and I'll be right as rain soon, this season has a way of healing and soothing me that is unmatched by anything aside from the sea. The first bits of my annual Autumn cleaning spree have begun, I've even taken down all 200+ books from my over-encumbered shelves to dust and reorganize them. I was sad to see the beginnings of foxing on my beloved words, so have plans to build museum quality shelves to hold them.

I've dusted the mantle and am debating where to put the springy things that are up there now to make room for pumpkins galore. Since I've been unimpressed with all of this year's pumpkin offerings at the craft stores, I think I'm going to have to make a bunch of my own or browse Etsy. Getting a new pumpkin to add to my collection is a yearly tradition around here!

I think I've rambled enough about what I've been up to, how have you all been? Getting into trouble, I hope. ;-)