In the Flow and Memorial Day Weekend - Time to Plant the Garden posted to my other blog... with pix... I get tired of writing the same thing twice, so if possible and you are interested, follow me there.

I will continue to cross post links here and to Facebook

Just posted an entry on my blog, From the Northlands - Spiritual and Practical Ramblings of a Hexeri about the revised chicken pen, and hex stuff...

Finally, a day off when I do not have to GO ANYWHERE!  Of course, being the drunken holiday eve that is traditionally is in this country, I would typically not go far anyway. Never was one for "going out" to celebrate or for any reason. But after all the day off running for meds, projects, doctors, tests, etc. I am glad to have a day when I CAN stay put. Cabbage bought yesterday will take a place of honor on my altar this evening; the kero can was topped off, there is plenty of good stuff to eat on the pantry shelves and in the freezer (and, dietary restrictions finally gone, I can indulge in the fruitcake, cheese ball - its nutty covering took it off the list for the past week - and a bit of mead. Local Maine winery made a wonderful cranberry mead that I found when I filled the propane tank last month.

And for the start of the new calendar (I do not consider the year to begin at this time) I have a regularly scheduled shift at the store. I have always held that the way you begin the calendar should reflect your desires in the coming year, hence going to a decent paying job that I pretty much like, feeling more energetic and upbeat than in the recent past, is a good thing.

Today I shall work on projects wearing my various other hats and hopefully we will hang the TV on the wall... making progress on the domestic project front as well.

Likely I rank with the fictional Pollyana in the optimist department. Also been nicknamed "Molly Brown" (from the Unsinkable heroine of the same name) for my drive to MAKE it be so.

I have been much less so much of this past year. Suffering from dropping energy level, increased fatigue, weakness, and of late shortness of breath. However hopefully (here I go again! LOL) things are on the mend. The Power That Be sent me to the ER last month with "terminal" leg cramps (they would not succumb to my typical hot water shower head treatment) at bedtime. In the course of examination and treatment, the doc discovered chronic anemia... which would easily account for the symptoms which I did not realize were related to anything beyond aging and my doc did not realize the severity of....

After some time and fumbling around I have been prescribed an iron supplement and vit B12 and D, in addition to calcium (recommended by ER doc for cramps) and the magnesium I was already taking, had a colonoscopy yesterday and await the results. Had a unit of blood a week or so ago that did wonders for both my energy level (though the WANNA still exceed the CAN DO) and mental state. Amazing to me how much my energy level affects my feeling of depression.

Things will be brought back to MY normal in 2012.

1. a garden
    When push came to shove, houseplants and patio/balcony plants have sufficed.  However, I am old enough to decide to declare this one to be non-negotiable. Dirt under my fingernails; aches from hours spent planting, hoeing, harvesting; piles of produce stored in the cold room in back, in jars on the shelves and in the freezer all keep me sane and feed both soul and body.

2. high speed internet
    For the work that I do, and for entertainment and communication. Not only high speed, but without "fair use" stipulations.

3. a warm place to live.
   I can deal with reasonable summer heat (as in northern state summers where the temps do not rise into the 90+ degrees and stay there for weeks and months on end) but cold belongs outdoors. Wish I had a functional and installed wood stove (either range or heater) but lacking that, fire in pretty much any form (propane, kero, oil, natural gas) works. Electricity is optional. I like kero light; have lived without typical refrigeration.

No, but it should be. What is with this: prospect of non-white Yule in MAINE, for Gods sake!

Sorry, folks, but I do not have one. Holidays and video entertainment do not connect in my personal universe. Holidays are for celebrations that involve DOING stuff (well... all of my life is much more about doing, making, etc than more passive entertainment) ... baking and cooking traditional stuff to eat and to share, designing and making gifts, spending time looking and listening to the natural world around me and taking time to give thanks and "tweak" the course for the next little bit.

Well, it looks like a post a month... better than nothing, I guess.

November is a month that I really like, because it turns the corner into the dark side of the year. Well, the release from the damnable so called daylight savings time doesn't hurt that... but even without that abrupt jar to the system, it would become obvious that the sun was rising and setting for shorter days. And even as I hurry to get outside chores done (whether one calls on the Wild Hunt or the coming of snow that stays as motivation) my body is winding down from the fever pitch of activity that the spring/summer planting, tilling and harvesting seasons bring. And boy, is it needed.

Even though I get up literally before the chickens most days, and head to work near first light, the evenings come early and even though I don't always get supper done at a reasonable time, the project load that gets worked on is shrinking. Not that the length of the list is necessarily shrinking, mind you -- though I am working on that -- I really want to eat and veg...and do quiet things that require little active thought and prompt much meditation.

I will be working longer hours for the next month or so -- and thoroughly scrambled ones, on account of having to set up and stock for the insane shopping mess. This will honestly be my first experience in this mileau; for many, many years I have made the habit of consciously avoiding stores -- save to buy essential groceries, feed, medicine if necessary and fuel -- from Thanksgiving day until a week or so into the new year. Groceries will be acquired in a grocery store, too... not WalMart, even though I do sometimes trade there... until after the silliness is done.

I honestly do not understand any of it. As a kid, I made a "wish list" but it was just that... wishes... not requisitions that I felt must be filled. And I guess because of the era I was raised in, it contained items such as "a baby doll" or "a doll house" and only once can I recall putting anything on with a brand name (that was Patty Play Pal, a 3 foot tall doll that was sized to wear real kid clothes and yes, she did end up under the tree). I do not understand the need to buy "stuff" just because it is a good deal, or bigger, or faster or newer than the one you have that still works just fine, thank you. But into the middle of it all, I go. There are literally stacks of boxes of cds and movies in my area in the back room of the store. Some of the stacks are taller than I am (yeah, I know, that is not saying much...) and they all need to go into the store this week, most of them Wed night through Saturday morning. So I will be busy there.

I have hex signs to paint too... and the garage to finish putting to order (after two years of neglect... a long story....) all that will get done eventually.

K is in the process of building a "hay barn" to keep the poultry warm this winter. I will post pix and talk more about that as it nears completion and the fowl move in. We are beginning to get eggs from this year's new hens.

...and that's life in the snow lane (I was going to write "slow lane" but will leave the typo.)