94! or was it 49… You know use dyslexics, it must of rubbed of on Ginanne when she put the candles on. On the bright side, next year he’ll be 5! Honestly though, it must be some kind of joke from the universe for a CPA to have his birthday in the middle of tax season… My father-in-law’s birthday was actually Saturday but we rolled it in with the monthly family potluck yesterday.

Tax time or not, it is always easy to make time for the cuteness grandchildren in existence, no bias of course! Chocolate cake is always a good incentive too.

I thought that recaping our trip to the Harvest Festival this weekend would be a nice post for today, the Autumn Equinox. If you would like to read more about what this day means to me and how we celebrate it as a family I posted extensively about it last year.

This past Sunday we went out to Beck’s Harvest House in Greenbluff, as is our tradition, to pick apples as well as buy fresh pressed cider and some wine. This year we threw a pumpkin into the mix, for Damian’s benefit. (It is in his blog here.)

Last year Damian was only 3 1/2 months old and slept threw most of the trip. This year he is 15 1/2 months old and is walking, running, pointing and babbling. (They grow up fast don’t they?) He did not sleep a wink for the entire trip, though he rode around in his wagon for most of the time eating apples. Of course he had to pick some too, which proved a little tricker then he initially thought. Yanking them off the tree was no hard, but keeping his balance after the yank was! He face planted into the ground right after this photo was taken:


He might have managed to stay upright if he hadn’t of tried to grab the apple beside it also. Not that tipping over bothered him. He scrabbled back up quite triumphantly holding both apples! We picked galas, valstars, liberties and a few other varieties who’s names I never remember. We filled a bushel for ourselves (30lbs of apples!) and some for Shannon and Rachel too. Peter and Andrea came but they just helped us pick and frolic through the orchard of course. Actually Andrea had my camera for about half the time we were out there so I am not sure who took what photo anymore!

Just because you hide behind the camera my dear doesn’t mean that the camera’s owner (me!) does nab it back a few times to get a photo of you though. You’re beautiful. (Andrea is planning my blessingway for this pregnancy for the record, making her even more dear to my heart!)

This is my favorite photo of the day. Granted, I might be bias but I think these are most handsome guys in the world.

Other then picking apples and Damian’s pumpkin we also had lunch while we were there. A dozen pumpkin donuts, a caramel apple and a cinnamon bun count as lunch right? We thought so. We also browsed the country store and picked up 4 gallons of fresh cider (three of which are in the freezer) and a bottle of wine. Maybe we will still have the wine by Winter Solstice. Assuming Ivy has arrived by then, I’ll even be able to have some! (She better have, her due date is December 2nd!) I think she will be born on November 27th, but that is just me.

This past year has gone so fast, even the festival this year seemed to fly by. Thanks to all our friends who came out with us (and we missed all you who couldn’t make it this year.) This time next year Damian will be over 2 years old and Ivy over 6 months. Whew, that makes me appreciate the three seasons and seven sabbats that will come between now and then!

Anyhow now to go start peeling and slicing a bushel of apples and start on dinner. Blessed Autumn Equinox everyone! (More photos from the day can be found on our flickr page.)

We always know when summer is coming to an end in our area. The warm weather goes to battle with the increasing cold fronts and one day can be 90°F and the next barely pass 60°F. Last night dropped to 42°F and some of the outlaying areas even had freezing fog. On Friday I ordered row cover fabric to cover my Winter bed and protect my tomatoes from the cooler evenings. The variety I purchased is called GardenQuilt and should protect down to 24°F, a killing frost that hopefully is still a couple months away. Yesterday I also took some time to prune my tomatoes to encourage their heavy sets of fruit to start ripening. One can only eat so many green tomato dishes.

Even though the gardener in me is sad to see the first frost nearing (though I am looking forward to the Winter garden of root vegetables and hardy greens) I very much love Autumn. Bright orange pumpkins, the apple festival in Greenbluff, the fair, falling leaves, puddles to show Damian how to jump in and, of course, rainbows. We had a beautiful double rainbow bless our skies between rain showers on Saturday afternoon. The rainbows made that nights windy carnage a little less painful. The high winds of the next front blowing in did a little number on one of my Titan sunflowers.

Another Autumn perk is being able to make hot food in my kitchen without roasting in my home. This Sunday we had some of our friends over for dinner. With that day’s high of 63°F I went all out and made two baguettes, pound cake and my potato soup (which always seems to be a hit.) Andrea and Peter brought over some beautiful yellow and red corn from their garden and tiny little watermelons. I think Damian has a new fruit love.

Isn’t the corn beautiful?

This coming weekend we are having our what is becoming an annual invade-the-closed-campground trip to Skookum Lake. There are few things more beautiful then watching the mist rising off the lake at dawn while sipping mimosas (made with sparkling cider for me this year) with your closest friends. Or at least with your closest friends who don’t mind hiking it to a closed campground so that you have it all to yourself and the potential for slightly chilly nights (and maybe another, dare I say it? Chupacabra sighting.)

Sun or rain, wind or calm, life is truly beautiful when shared with those you love.

I keep meaning to blog lately but really nothing much has been going on. We are in the midst of a heat wave, our temperatures have been about 10 degrees above average for almost two weeks now. The clouds that linger at sunrise make for a beautiful morning sky but burn away quickly. We had a little Lughnasadh gathering this past Sunday but several people ended up not being able to come (they were probably hiding out from the heat too) so it turned into more of a simple cook out. I didn’t mind though, I always find the warm weather sabbats to be more relaxed.

I have been feeling the baby a lot more lately. She pokes Damian sometimes when he is nursing, it rarely notices but I find it rather amusing. The heat with baby belly has been a little oppressive at times but I am pretty adaptable, except during the hottest parts of the day. I have been catching up on all the projects that don’t require much physical activity, I switched my walk to early morning and Damian tends to get his bath around 15:00, when I find it to be the hottest. I let him play in the water while I cool my feet in the tub. Jim, someone Michael knows through work, gave us an old AC window unit which was very kind of him. The bedroom is nice and cool for sleeping now.

They say the heatwave will break later this week, which I am hoping for, I want to get out into the garden to start double digging for the new raised beds. The weeds are nice and fried under the plastic we laid down. We’ve been looking up lumber prices so that we can budget for the raised beds, I think we will be using 2×12 pine. I am hoping we have a couple short ends left from that projects so that I can make a couple mason bee houses for next year. They are a fantastic native pollinator. I have seen a few of them around and I want to encourage their population new Spring when they reemerge. Contrary to popular belief they are not a destructive insect. They are a solitary bee so only the females make nests and they make use of existing holes to do so, they do not drill holes in wood. They are called mason bees because they seal off each cell in their nests with mud. They are also quite docile and tend to only sting if you accidentally step on one or close one in your fist.

Beyond the heat and gardening, I have a new addiction. Grilled pizza. It is so good! I made it again for Lughnasadh and fully intend on doing it again this weekend and pretty much until the weather prevents me from lighting the grill. It takes more prep work then just doing burgers or corn, but it is completely worth it! I love grilled zucchini and peppers on mine.

This weekend we had the monthly Stewart potluck at our home. It was very exciting because my two-year-old cousin Emily came. She had the prettiest dress, I really wanted the red cherries off of it but every time I tried to grab them she ran away. We got along pretty well though!

What’s in your hand?

I want your nose! (However she did not want to give it up…)

I had a lot of fun, I can’t wait till the next potluck!

In one of my Aunt Ruth’s recent blog posts she asked: “Do you enjoy summer picnics, with your family or community? Or am I right in thinking they are becoming a thing of the past?” Which kind of inspired me to write this entry, though I do not get to answering her question until later.

This weekend was very busy for us. After Michael came home from work on Friday, we turned around and left to take Damian to his one year check up. He is doing fantastically well. Dr. Kincaid was amazed by his height, how well he is walking and all those teeth.

I’d like to say I was totally present at the checkup but I was a bit out of it since I had a migraine. I would just like to say that there is a difference between a headache and a migraine. When I say I have a migraine it means that bright light and noise causes pain so intense that I vomit continuously. I have gotten then for as long as I can remember but I know most of my triggers so I can prevent or at least reduce the intensity of most of them. However I cannot avoid them at three times, when I menstruate, when I ovulate and, apparently, when I am in my first trimester of pregnancy. I had them with Damian and now I have them again. I have been getting them one to three times a week (or rather once a week for three days in a row…) I cannot take any medication that would take the edge off since I am pregnant. However, I have discovered relief. Obey the Cravings. If I obey my cravings 80% of the time they go away.

So after the doctor, Michael took me to Panda Express (Chinese fast food place) since I was craving white rice and steamed veggies. You would think I would have eaten rice and veggies on Wednesday when the migraine began to manifest but I guess the cure just seems so ridiculous to me that I always think it won’t work (last time the “cure” was Dick’s hamburger and fries. Mmmm healthy…) Anyhow the migraine was gone before I finished eating, leaving me with just a blissful (and I mean that) headache.

So then we came home, and since I was feeling all renewed, we tossed some stuff in the van, turn around and drove out to Willow Bay for a second dinner of steak and potato salad with Michael’s of the family. (I am going to blog about that separately so I can profess my deep love for getting out of town and pretty bird houses.) But I wanted to answer my Aunt Ruth’s question. I throughly enjoy summer picnics with family, we actually do a potluck on the third Sunday of every month with Michael’s side so that we don’t fall out of touch. I do think those type of events seem to be falling out of favor with my generation though, maybe in favor of the thing we did on Sunday, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

On Saturday we shopped, and then shopped some more and then shopped… We are going to a big three day campout next weekend so we had to pick up everything we needed for that and did our monthly Costco trip. We also stopped at Michael’s work and bought a 14 count case of organic broccoli, a 10lbs box of local organic snap peas and a 25lbs box of rainbow rotini (pasta salad season!)

On Sunday we ended up running out for a few more things and I processed the aforementioned case of broccoli for freezing. (My feet hurt.) And then went to see more “family” since Andrea and Peter invited several of our friends over for dinner. Homemade gnocchis, strawberry rhubarb pie, fruit salad… Yummy! I brought broccoli (surprise!) and carrot salad. Did I mention that there was pie?

So now I want to add on to my answer to my aunt’s question. I think staying connected to family is important, but I also think, as far as my generation is concerned, the term family has grown beyond biological (enough so that there is the newer term out there combining friends and family, “framily”.) I know that I do the things with my “framily” that I would do with family. We go on picnics, meet up several times a month, go on camping trips, have potlucks, share some holidays together… Our closest friends are Aunts and Uncles to Damian rather then just our friends.

I enjoy family and framily gatherings, but I do think the generational family gatherings are falling out of favor these days in favor of “framily” gatherings. I can see why some people have drifted with family gatherings, you can chose your friends but you cannot chose your family. In a lot of ways it is often easier to be who you are and find acceptance among like-minded friends rather then family that might have preconceived notions of you formed during your youth. However, I think we forget that even though families have their own squabbles, that there is a unique kind of love that can only come from those you were surrounded by growing up. There is a whole set of learning experiences stems from interacting with family. We have to understand where we came from to know where we are going. At the end of the day there is room in my life for family and framily and I deeply love and enjoy both.

The last harvest was brought in and winter is past. The Sun god having spent his energies providing the light and warmth needed for crops to flourish hung low over the southern sky. The God was spent and soon died. Mother Earth also labored hard under the sun and needed rest as can be told by the withered grasses and fallen leaves. Gaia curls up in slumber and awaits the day her consort will again return to her while protecting the seeds of life deep within her self. At Yule the new Sun God was born young and strong he was yet too distant to warm the Earth but watches Gaia slumber from afar. The Sun grew and became strong learning of the beauty of the Earth and those lovely creatures upon her. Though tempted by other’s beauty he yearns to be close to Gaia, to reunite with her. Growing ever stronger he circles closer gently warming her till she begins to awaken. Beneath the growing warmth of the Sun Gaia gently pushes the first new plants through the melting snows. Having grown to maturity the Sun encircles Gaia, warming the Earth and fully awakening her. They dance about one another while his passion burns…

This is part of the narration during the Beltane ritual that we attended this past Saturday at Sal and Rusty’s home in Medical Lake. Sal and Rusty reenacted the Sun enticing the Earth to bloom into summer. It was a beautiful rite full of love and a healthy dose of humor at some points! I was very honored to attend and be a part of it (I called water and set up the associated quarter altar.)

Beltane is an ancient Celtic festival celebrated around May 1st that marks the beginning of the pastoral summer season. For our modern day celebration of the rebirth of the warmer weather about 40 or 50 people showed up, which is a fantastic turn out for our area. Beyond the ritual (which included a labyrinth walk and spiral dance) we erected and wove a maypole, built a belfire and of course a huge groaning board feast, drumming, music, divination and as well as the usual camaraderie. Later people jumped the belfire too, in the rain, which was fun to watch.

The Inland Northwest felt as though we had to enjoy all her wonderful aspects throughout the day so we started of with bright warm wonderful sun, then some wild wind, then rain and more rain and finally a bit of clearing before the day was done, followed by more rain.

I don’t think the weather dampened anyone’s spirits though. If anything the success of this ritual makes me look even more forward to the Pagan Campout on summer solstice, though I don’t think I will play such an active role in it. It takes two to take care of a toddling Damian and I know I left Michael hanging a few times. Sometimes it is nice to just sit back and enjoy.

(The grounding labyrinth, walked before the ritual. If you would like to read more about Beltane, I blogged about it a couple years ago. I also have more photos from the day up here.)

I hope everyone had a blessed Beltane full of love, wonder, joy and peace.

Mommy wanted a smile for her birthday, so she gets smiles! Lots and lots of smiles, and a healthy dose of drool for good measure too. We are going over to Shannon’s tonight. I heard Daddy tell Mommy that Shannon might have found some wooden toys for me to play with when I am over there. Very exciting!

On Saturday we will be having our annual winter solstice gathering. So far it is looking like we will be fitting a record 15 (maybe 17!) people into our townhouse. I am use to at least a few people not being able to make it but I don’t think it is going to happen this year. I don’t mind really, just a little daunted.

I have so much left to do. I stayed up till 22:30 last night making snowflake pretzels and I still have one or two more batches to make. I have three kinds of cookies to finish for the gift plates and one kind of fudge. We will be feasting on pot roast, yams, a vegetarian/gluten-free dish, a pumpkin roll (or two,) egg nog, mulled cider and hard cider from Greenbluff. Most people are bringing a side dish to contribute too.

I don’t know if I have enough chairs… Or mugs…

I also need to finish my solstice cards (just need to glue them together,) ship some stuff to my mom, finish laundry (any ideas for getting red wine out of ivory jeans?) learn a ritual and finish a podcast. Well Michael has to just give it his magic touch, I already recorded it. I suppose I should find a moment to shower between now and Saturday too… Michael will help me clean Saturday morning (gathering starts at 16:00.) I suppose I also have to make dinners for us during this week too. And of course time for Damian, he makes me stop and take a breather.

I am making this all sound a bit stressful aren’t I? It is not that bad really, I kind of wish I had a hand but with some good music to motivate me I know I can get it done. I really enjoy having people over to entertain. Poor Damian though, he is watching mommy fly around doing a million things and I keep missing his potty cues for EC. Monday we had a tough day, I don’t think he was feeling very well and he cried so much and for so long that for the first time Daddy had to come home for a bit and rescue Mommy’s sanity.

Damian has been a bubbly happy little man since though and is cruising! That means he gets up against something (like the futon) and walks all along it using it for a bit of support. He grins huge when I look at him and gives lots of hugs when I need them. I sit him in his high chair with some toys so he can see what I am doing on the counter. We have started solids, he has had apples, carrots and yams and potatoes so far.

Kim (my mother-in-law) and her parents stopped by yesterday to pick up Lydia’s gift (Michael’s youngest sister) and drop off a few early gifts. Grandma Stott made us a really pretty appliquéd angel decoration, Kim made us caramel and gave me a little book, she also made Damian a stocking. I’ll get pictures of all those things later, probably on the Sunday. I’ll be making another big meal on Sunday for the Solstice and we will open our gifts. Sunday will be more relaxed though, since it will just be Michael, Damian and me.

The local news is calling for 4 to 7 inches of new snow by tomorrow. One benefit to renting is that we don’t have to shovel our walkway! Anyhow I am going to grab some breakfast and start on some chocolate chip cookies…

We went to Beck’s Harvest House in Greenbluff yesterday, this is our third year going out there to pick apples and it is always really fun. Our friends Andrea, Peter, Shannon and Rachelle came along (the photos in this post were taken by Andrea.)

Damian stayed in the wrap most of the time, snoozing, but he was awake for a bit and all happiness (except when he wet himself in his carseat… I would be cranky about that too.) We didn’t bring his potty and he was very unwilling to go in his diaper. We are going to have to start bringing it when we take longer outings. Damian loved the red apples, he loves anything red. I am sorting them today for peeling and he keeps grabbing at the reddest ones.

I love that creepy scarecrow picture. I also love the hat of that kid in the pumpkin patch. Orange for the win! Normally we drive up to Mt Spokane after the festival but the road is closed right now. It washed with the spring flooding and they are rebuilding it. That’s okay though, I was pretty tuckered out between carrying Damian and picking apples.

We picked a huge box of Valstars, Jonafrees and… something else (I don’t remember the name but it accounts for about 90% of my apples… They are crunchy and tart, my favorite type for pies and eating.) I also picked up a case of pluots, they are a plum/apricot cross. (They look a lot like something I called dinosaur eggs as a kid.) I am going to dry or freeze most of what we bought and also make some butter (some of which will be turned into fruit leather.) Oh we also got fresh pressed cider (one gallon of which I froze for mulled cider at Samhain) and two bottles of local wine (one cranberry infused one for Winter Solstice.)

Now to go make some apple pie! (Lots more photos from the festival here! I took some video too but I don’t have it on the computer yet.)

I just realized we are only a couple weeks away from our yearly trip out to the Harvest Festival at Beck’s Harvest House in Greenbluff to pick apples and celebrate Autumn Equinox. It is a big, though very informal thing for me, most of our friends go and we have always had such a blast. Where has the past year gone? It was around this time last year I became pregnant with Damian, now if that isn’t a harvest gift I don’t know what is!

Damian loves being outside so I am sure he will enjoy the Harvest Festival too. It is a love I definitely want to nurture in him and hopefully over time it will instill reverence for Old Wild Mama Earth.

If you want to come apple picking with us, let me know, the more the merrier! If you are worried about not having the storage space, I have a dehydrator and a canner, we can set up a date a few days after to preserve some of the bounty.

(I’ll get around to posting about this past weekend’s camping trip tomorrow probably, it is all typed, but I need to finishing editing some video first.)

We are camping up at Skookum this weekend, see you on Monday! If I don’t post by Tuesday, Bigfoot got us…

In August, we hired Andrea to do the Stewart family photos (she also did the ones of Michael, Damian and I back in July.) Of course we somehow managed to pick the hottest day of the year to take them (I think it was 105F?) but we brought a water cooler full of Gatorade so it all worked out. We did the photos at Whitman College.

I love the shots Andrea took. I love this one with my father-in-law Greg and Damian. He was so happy to be outside and surrounded by people who love him. Damian is a total people person at the moment.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day (my favorite is the one with us all laying on the ground in a circle):

If you are in the Spokane area and looking for a photographer, I strongly recommend Andrea. She is very professional and has a lot of fun, creative ideas for poses. She can even get smiles out of my sisters-in-law! She is still working on her website at the moment, but if you want to get in touch with her let me know!

Today was the first morning it truly felt like Autumn. The air had that beautiful cold crisp quality and when I went outside to get the paper I noticed the edges of the leaves of the maple were just starting to turn. The morning sky has that surreal blue hue that only seem to happen this time of year.

We usually have one more warm spell before we get our first freeze but it will not be this week. Last night’s low was 40°F (about 4°C.) I am glad my sleeping bag is rated down to 30°F for this weekend’s camping trip. With highs expected in the mid-seventies it is going to be perfect. Our group size has also increased, Sal and Rusty are coming with us! I have everything ready except the cinnamon rolls and cornbread, which I will be making today. I may make the cornbread while we are camping as I cook it in cast iron. I have never tried that before though.

In a few weeks the Apple Festival will be here, time for our little framily will head out to Harvest House in Greenbluff to celebrate the Autumn Equinox. We do it every year and it is always fun. Thinking about the harvest, we reminded our California friend the other day that it is time for her to cut back her tomatoes so that what she has will ripen. I have three huge zucchini from her garden waiting on the counter, the fresh green beans, peppers and corn are long gone.

Autumn is certainly on our doorsteps, while I love the sunny vitality of summer, the cool down always is a welcome guest.

I feel like I have been either cleaning or in the kitchen all day, and you know what? It feels really good (I think I need a foot rub though…) I feel like I haven’t had time to keep my house in order for weeks. I got a chance to try out the baking soda and vinegar cleaners some of you recommended to me awhile back and wow, they work really well.

Tomorrow Michael and I are going to a Beltane gathering in Medical Lake. It is a potluck so I made my potato salad and a whole wheat applesauce cake. The cake started life as a slightly more elaborate recipe which I have been simplifying over time, today I made the final jump from changing the brown sugar to honey. Now it only contains whole wheat flour, applesauce, honey, baking soda and cinnamon. Except for the cinnamon and probably the baking soda, it is a completely local cake. I canned the applesauce last Autumn (this was my last jar too!). I grind the wheat myself and it comes from this area. The honey I used is from a local apiary (I picked it up in Yokes though.)

I don’t know how many of you modify recipes but if you do, you know that moment of apprehension you have before trying a heavily modified recipe? I just experienced that before typing this entry with that cake. I was pleasantly surprised, the local honey has a really wonderful flavor. I love it, though I must admit I have an urge to cover it in cream cheese frosting. I’d post a picture for you but I seem to have misplaced my upload cable. (They should make wireless cameras for people like me…)

I love the challenge of cooking as locally as possible. I like supporting the local growers and in general I find the local crops to be much more flavorful. We have two farmers’ markets within a 20 minute bus ride of our home and I am really looking forward to them opening (one opens May 10th and the other June 5th.)

Anyhow, now to go chop the potatoes for the salad. Getting local potatoes in never a problem here as Idaho is virtually next door…

(These are some of the people who came to our gathering. Including children, we had about 25 people attend, which was a really fantastic turnout, especially with all the snow we had yesterday!)

Temple Free Spirit hosted its first every gathering last night. We celebrate the Winter Solstice! The gathering was held at Shannon and Robb’s home on Spokane’s South Hill and a total success! We held a small ritual, had a potluck and had lots of fun! As with all Temple events, we also had a food drive and received several large bags of food for Second Harvest.

(You can go to the the Temple gallery to see a few more photos.)

The Winter Solstice Gathering was a wonderful chance to get together, build community spirit and celebrate the Earth. Thank you to everyone who helped with preparations and attended.

Michael and I have Chiefs tickets for tonight, against Tri Cities! Let the mayhem begin.

“Free Spirits – Open Minds” so far as gotten great reviews. I was a little nervous about it at first but Michael did a really professional job laying it out and Temple Free Spirit members submitted wonderful articles! I am already looking forward to our Imbolc issue.

My current nervousness lies in next Saturday when we will be having the first Temple Free Spirit event, a Winter Solstice gathering. It will be in one of our member’s home. Shannon has a large empty full basement with a kitchen and bathroom which will work perfectly. Right now almost everything is planned down to the T, except some last minute work on the ritual. My friend Dee gathered lots of information on various Solstice traditions, and we met up this week to review them. Today I am working on knitting our favorite ideas together.

Community is so important, I can never seem to stress this enough. I could not having planned the gathering to this extent on my own. All the brainstorming and planning and little details have come together wonderfully thanks to all of us working together. The people in my community are all blessings.

Anyhow, I better get back to work. I can hardly call it work though since it is so enjoyable!

Within a glen, around a simple stone altar we gathered, inviting the powers that be into the sacred space through song, Winds Four Quarters. The matron of the property and circle, Linda, guided some in gathering feast food and offering it to those who have passed this year. We felt the ancestors strongly, truly the veil did part.

Leaving the glen’s east gate we gathered around a roaring bonfire and shared a spectacular feast. (I want a certain baked bean recipe now…) Some bread was accidentally set on fire, not sure how that happened, but it hardly colored the night, except with laughter. A horn toast was passed around at one point, I recognized my new friends, Michael welcomed our upcoming child, Dottie sent love to her recently departed mother, and there were many upon many other toasts, from the serious to the amusing were shared. I would not trade such life affirming experiences for anything.

It was a beautiful night, spent in the company of wonderful new friends, what more can you ask for?

This is my Autumn Equinox “altar”. Since almost everything is packed for next weeks move, this represents pretty much everything that is still left out.

Pumpkins, squash, apples, white wine, huckleberry tea, canning jars, a dehydrator, a pressure canner, a food strainer and an apple peeler corner slicer. It also shows you want I will be doing for the rest of the day, canning and drying apples.

And it shows what I did yesterday, apple picking!

We are making a tradition (currently in it’s second year) of going out as near to the equinox as possible to Beck’s Harvest House with friends and picking apples as well as enjoying the Fall Festival they have out there.

(Some pictures from in the orchard, click the thumbnails for larger pictures of course.)

Apple picking is so fun with a big group of people. Last year I only picked dozen apples, but this year I got two bushels of Red McIntosh and Gold Delicious (for apple sauce) and a few Jonagold (for pie.) Our friends Lily, Mikcos, Nathan, Sal, Rusty, Peter, Stacy and her wife (I can’t remember her name) all came with us and we filled our little cart with apples. The man at the orchard said that we had picked the most apples of anyone that day, hehe. As we picked we shared a big jug of fresh apple cider and good times. I have to say of all the ways to celebrate a sabbat, this is my favorite, with friends and having a great time. Puns did fly! So did a few apples…

I love the Harvest House orchard because they let you taste every apple you are thinking of buying right off the tree. I like Red McIntosh best, as far as just eating an apple off the tree, they are tart and crunchy with a little hint of sweetness. I am using half McIntosh and half Gold Delicious in my apple sauce today.

We also went on a hayride, so I got the opportunity to get good pictures of everyone (except Mikcos, who managed to dodge the camera somehow) and Stacy’s wife, who had to stay behind because they brought their dog, Grace, who wasn’t allowed on the ride.

Some time during the day we ended up in the gift shop and did some wine tasting. I bought a bottle of sweet white wine infused with herbs, as well as a box of huckleberry tea. They also sell a lot of little crafts, preserves, pastas, local honey, baked goods and, of course, fruit. Plums and pears are also in season.

When we all parted ways at the end of the day, I think everyone was in great spirits. I know had a great time. Peter had carpooled with us so he came with us as we dropped by my mother-in-law’s home to borrow her apple peeler corer slicer and food stainer (now I can have a bit of an easier job processing my apples today.) When Michael and I return Kim’s apple peeler gadget and strainer, we might have to stop by Harvest House again and pick up some local honey and more apple fresh cider.

This is my favorite time of the year, nature is tucking in and turning down the lights for the winter to come but she is showing us one last huzzah for the year decked out with all her finery and abundance. I have more photos here and one especially for Autumn Zephyr, who commented on grey skies and smoldering clouds the other day.

Blessed Autumn Equinox!

~~~

Oh and of course no adventure can pass without at least a little mishap. Maybe it was the country roads, or the pothole-ridden streets of Spokane but we managed to knock the muffler off the car. When we stopped to investigate the mysterious dragging sound I found it hanging by one rubber loop, so I pulled it off and we tossed it in the trunk. We will get it put back on when Michael gets off work this afternoon.

I know it is awhile off to think about Samhain, we have to get through Mabon first! But I have heard the theme of this year may be a Masquerade Ball. I really hope it is, any excuse to get down and crafty.

I had a dream the night before last that I was at a masquerade ball with all the witches, shamans and Pagans I have ever known (big party, very Victorian-esque…) I woke up with the feeling of poetry in my soul and wrote something for it. I would like to share but the problem is that it is meant to be a spoken poem. I do not think all the punctuation in the world could make is right – do any other poets have that problem?

When Michael gets home I am going to see if he can help me record my voice on the computer so I can post the poem. Fingers crossed!

Have you ever wanted to own a big empty warehouse to use for everything from indoor ritual to parties? I could use one of those right now…

Now off to the post office for me, got some candle orders to send off!

The Lughnasadh open circle went wonderfully today. I met a few new people and reconnected with old friends. The potluck was delicious; a couple people brought the bounties of their home gardens to share too. I have lots of fresh organic produce in my kitchen now! Spaghetti squash, zucchini, radishes, onions and beets. Yum! It is definitely going to make zucchini relish this week.

The ritual went well but it was also a learning experience for me too. This is one of the larger groups I have worked with and organized (it really is like herding cats!) Group chanting works well with smaller groups but it seems to get disorganized too quickly in larger ones, I felt they broke the ritual up too much. I think the guided meditation I did went very well though. I could have slowed it down a bit though, I rushed a little because I was a bit nervous. I feel I will be more at ease doing it next time. Fleur sang a wonderful song which brought me a lot of peace before the meditation otherwise I might have really ran through it. We blessed the food that was brought and raised some healing energy for some too.

I realized how much I deeply care about one person who I asked for some healing energy for in the circle. She has late stage ovarian cancer. Not only is she the mother of one of my best friends, but she is also my friend. I didn’t realize how much her pain affected me until I was on the verge of breaking down into tears talking about her. Cancer is so devastating and she is such a strong woman, I really admire her.

It was really nice seeing the community coming together and celebrating. I am definitely going to be organizing something for Autumn Equinox now too!

Click here for more photos. I forgot to get any of the altar, I shall have to remember that next time. I also forgot sunscreen since I rarely burn – Murphy’s Law though, my face is toasty!