One Sweet Blog Award

And my final blog catch-up...

Thank you so much to Lee at Solstice Dreamer for nominating me for this award. I'm late picking up on it but hugely grateful!

I have to list seven things in a number of different categories.

7 things to do before I die

1. Watch a tennis match at Wimbledon
2. See the Rubinoos live
3. Learn to crochet
4. Get Herbert to let me stroke him (he now comes in the house to visit but is still too wary to let me get close enough to touch)
5. Visit the amazing Goddess temples in Malta
6. Write and publish a book
7. Plant more trees

7 things I do now

1. Sing along with the radio
2. Luxuriate in the bath
3. Make jam
4. Blow a kiss to the New Moon when I first see Her
5. Make my own compost
6. Make soup
7. Enjoy Sudoku

7 things I can't do

1. Play a musical instrument
2. Tango
3. Make a souffle
4. Abide Jeremy Clarkson
5. Ice skate
6. Sneeze quietly
7. Understand cricket

7 things I find attractive in the opposite sex

1. Kindness
2. Nice eyes
3. A sense of humour
4. Intelligence
5. A social conscience
6. A nice smile
7. Honesty

7 things I say most often

1. "S***!"
2. "C'mon girls!" (to the cats)
3. "Take care!" (when parting from someone or finishing up a telephone call)
4. A vast selection of expletives other than "s***!" - I am someone who does believe in swearing
5. "D'you know what I mean?"
6. "Brilliant!!!!"
7. "Hiya!"

7 celebs I most admire

1. Joss Whedon
2. Bruce Springsteen
3. Maya Angelou
4. Stephen Fry
5. Susan Sarandon
6. Errr....

7 favourite foods

1. Prawns
2. Spaghetti & home made tomato sauce
3. Cashew Nuts
4. Moules Mariniere with crusty bread
5. Chocolate
6. Hot Bakewell Tart & Cream at the Owl & the Pussycat Tearooms in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire
7. Lemon tart or my Mum's Lemon Flummery (like a tangy lemon mousse - to die for!)

As I've already done a lot of nominating in the last couple of posts, for this one I'm going to just say I nominate everyone on my 'Family, Friends and Favourites' blog roll, and if you read this and would like to join in - well, consider yourself nominated too!

Tree of Happiness Award

Continuing to play catch up on the blog, I find I have been tagged by the lovely aromatic at Winds of Change, who has awarded me the Tree of Happiness. Thank you!

The rules of the award are:

• Link to the person who gave the award to you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• List six things that make you happy.
• Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
• Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
• Let the person who awarded you know when your entry is up.

It's always a good exercise to focus on the positives in life, so with no further ado, my six happy-making things are:

1. Spending time with my loved ones - blood family, chosen family and friends. I am especially looking forward to spending Christmas with my loved ones this year.
2. Going to Witchcamp! Next year's will be Avalon Spring in late May, a beautiful time of year. We will be working with the Charge of the Goddess back at our old familiar venue, the lovely Earthspirit, near Glastonbury. Can't wait!
3. Watching my chickens. They are so interesting and so entertaining as they eat and drink and scratch and socialise and explore. And it has been wonderful watching the ex-battery hens blossom and thrive.
4. Tai Chi. I have mentioned before the positive effect it has on my mood. I've noticed that even if I'm feeling really depressed and sad, my weekly lesson never fails to pick me up. It's strange as I'm really not an exercise lover - I loathed PE at school and spent a great deal of time evading it whenever possible. Later, I went dutifully to aerobics classes but never enjoyed them and always left feeling exhausted - I thought I was immune to the 'exercise high' that others seem to get. But after a Tai Chi class I feel stretched (literally and metaphorically), energetic and positive.
5. Craft activities. I love getting totally immersed in the creative process, and I especially love recycling something old/broken/tatty/useless into something new and beautiful.
6. Harvesting food I have grown and making it into a tasty meal for my loved ones. I often say I don't like cooking - by which I really mean cooking and eating alone is not something I find pleasurable, it feels like a chore. And frankly, I get sick of my own cooking. Yet harvesting food I've grown feels like a real achievement, and preparing food for others is a different matter, a pleasure indeed. And when the garden suddenly throws up something unexpected - say a glut of broad beans or courgettes - then by necessity my cooking becomes inventive and suddenly it's fun again!

My six nominations are:

1. Brett at This Guy's Journey
2. Boho Mom at Words from a Bohemian Mom
3. The Awakened Heart - if she has time to do it, having just moved home
4. Sleepy Kitty at From the Windowsill also sounds very busy, but I hope she'll find time to do it too
5. Breezy at Breezy Break Blog because she liked the last meme I passed on to her, and she's been quiet of late...
6. The Kitten's Mother

Green Meme #1

I have been rather remiss in my blogging of late and have a few bits to catch up on! Here is the first - I was tagged for this Green Meme by The Awakened Heart, way back at the beginning of last month (oops).


The rules are quite simple:

1. Link to Green Meme Bloggers


2. Link to whoever tagged you


3. Include meme number


4. Include these guidelines in your post


5. Answer questions


6. Tag 3 other green bloggers.



Green Meme #1:

1. Name two motivations for being green
My first motivation is my love for the Earth - I'm not sure if loving the Earth made me a Pagan or if being a Pagan makes me love the Earth. But either way, love Her I do, and that is motivation enough to be green.
Secondly, I can't bear waste, so re-using, repairing, recycling, re-vamping etc is just part of my nature.

2. Name 2 eco-unfriendly items you refuse to give up

The cats, and books/magazines.

3. Are you at peace with, or do you feel guilty about no.2?
Guilty. But not too guilty.

4. What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?
I want to change my car to a more economical, eco-friendly model, but I know absolutely nothing about cars and I'm worried I'm going to choose wrongly and end up with a lemon!
In my wildest dreams I think about selling Halfway Up a Hill and building an eco-house, but it seems like a daunting project in terms of money, time, and lack of expertise on my part.

5. Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average?
I'm not sure what it is, but I calculated it about a year ago using one of those on-line calculators, and it was definitely below the national average.

6.What's eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?
Living out in the countryside I tend to use the car a lot more than I'd like, which is frustrating.
But living somewhere I can breathe clean air, and grow my own fruit & veg and keep chickens is wonderful.

7. Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow you own?
Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes. But not necessarily all at the same time, and not necessarily consistently. I try to buy local and/or organic food, but sometimes there is an inevitable trade-off between ethics and price. Or sometimes the organic stuff has been flown in from half-way across the world. In those instances I tend to prioritise local - or at least UK-produced - above organic.
When I signed up to the River Cottage 'Chicken Out!' campaign I promised myself that from now on I'd only eat free range chicken, and I've been pretty good at sticking to my guns. To compensate for the additional cost, I now eat chicken less often, with more vegetarian food between times.
I had been vegetarian for over ten years, up until a couple of years ago when I started craving meat and decided my body was telling me something. So I have eaten meat for the last couple of years - and now I'm not really wanting it so much any more, so I'll probably go back to being properly vegetarian in the near future.
I love foraging for wild foods - fungi, berries, wild garlic, crab apples, rose hips, sorrel etc.
And of course I grow my own veggies and fruit - although the last couple of poor summers/poor harvests have been a vivid example of how difficult life could be if I relied totally on my own efforts for food.

8. What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?
The feeling that it's an up-hill struggle to convince the rest of the world that it's most desirable, yet really not hard to change to a greener lifestyle.
And not letting despair at the size of the problems facing us take over and push me into apathy.

9. Do you have a green confession?
When we first moved to Wales, T built me a 'green washing machine' - basically an old hot water cylinder with the top cut off. A heating element heated the water, but all the swooshing and washing and rinsing of clothes was done by hand, and I also had a mangle to squeeze the water out of the clothes instead of a spin-drier. I did all our laundry like that for over three years, but in the end I caved in and we bought a conventional washing machine.
The problem with the Moonroot-powered version was that doing the laundry took so darned long. Doing the laundry just for the two of us took one full day a week. If we had kids to wash for too, I'm sure I'd have been begging for a conventional washing machine within weeks!

10. Do you have the support of family and/or friends?
Yes, by and large. Many of them clearly think I'm a bit of a crank, but I try not to be preachy and they are supportive in turn - albeit sometimes in a bemused way. And occasionally I get asked for advice or someone proudly tells me they've started composting their kitchen waste or changed over to low-energy light bulbs and I feel like I might just be having a positive influence!

I now tag Lee at Solstice Dreamer, Leanne at Somerset Seasons, and Willow at Contemplating Change.

Playing Tag...

I have been tagged for a meme by Jane at The Winds of Change. It's the 'Six Random Things' meme, which I did a little while ago. At that time I mentioned that I love memes, so... I'm going to do it again!!

The rules are:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Hmmm, six random things - here goes...

1. My first car was a little red Mini called Eric (I hope I'm not the only one here who names her cars!).
2. T and I lived in Australia for 18 months when he was working over there. We were based in Melbourne.
3. Moonroot is my magical name, which I received when I was initiated.
4. I just love browsing round second-hand shops, charity shops, car boot sales, Ebay. I like the idea of giving things a new lease of life, re-using, repairing, mending, making over into something new. Almost all my clothes are second-hand (what do you mean, you could tell?!).
5. I don't have a favourite colour - it varies from day to day, according to what mood I'm in.
6. I had porridge with golden syrup for breakfast this morning.

Well that's another six!

In turn, I tag:

Livia Indica at Magic in These Hills,

Breezy at Breezy Break Blog,

Bret at This Guy's Journey,

Sleepy Kitty at From the Windowsill (if she can fit it in before commencing this year's novel),

Willow at Contemplating Change,

and Reya at The Gold Puppy.

Thanks Jane!

Six Random Things

I have been tagged for a meme by Fiona at The Cottage Smallholder. I must list 6 random things about myself. I love memes (I suppose that could have been one of the six things, except it's probably not random enough)!

Here are the Tag Rules:
Link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on the blog. Write six random things about yourself. Tag six people at the end of your post. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. Because I have a large head and thick hair, it's really hard to find hats that fit me.


2. I love trees, and would much rather spend time in the woods than at the beach. In fact, I love the idea of a house in the trees - that or a hobbit hole!


3. I'm scared of rats.


4. I had my nose pierced at one time. It stayed that way for nearly 10 years, but after a series of nasal infections and nose studs mysteriously getting lost I decided my nose was trying to tell me something. I stopped wearing a nose stud and now the piercing's more or less healed over.


5. I fell in love for the first time at age 20, and got my heart broken. Big time. Might tell you about it some time...


6. I have a secret and shameful weakness for Mr Kipling's French Fancies (that's a kind of cake for any non-Brits who may be wondering!). They're sickly but I find them irresistible for some reason. So I try not to buy them too often!

And now, I tag:

Bohemian Single Mom, Breezy, Sleepy Kitty, Giles London (in hopes we'll get to read more of his novel, hint hint), Dragonfly, and Solstice Dreamer.

Book Meme

I have been tagged for a meme by Anne at Blog o'Gnosis. It's a book meme and the rules I have been given state:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).

2. Open the book to page 123.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people.

Sadly, after my last post I'm going to end up looking like the Reclaiming-obsessed saddo I undoubtedly am. Because the nearest book was Starhawk's 'Twelve Wild Swans' which has just been returned after being borrowed by a friend. The upside is that the next nearest book would have been a cookery book which couldn't possibly have competed with the following extract for sheer out-of-context weirdness:

"The monster, which was blobby and changed form rapidly, sat on me to smother me. I began to call for my mother, as I had the first time I saw the monster. But when Mother appeared, I realized it was foolish to ask her for help, since she seemed just as harmful to me as the monster; in fact, she seemed to be part of the monster."

See, you always knew us Pagans were a strange lot.

I'm now supposed to tag five more people, but as most of those I think would like to take part seem to have done so already, I'll just say: if you'd like to do this one, consider yourself tagged.

Tag - I'm It!

I've been tagged for an archive meme by Willow at Contemplating Change. There are five categories under which I have to link back to a previous post. Below are the rules and categories:
Archive Meme Instructions: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. … but there is a catch:

Link 1 must be about family.

Link 2 must be about friends.

Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.

Link 4 must be about something you love.

Link 5 can be anything you choose.

I think this is a great way to circulate some of the great older posts everyone had written, return to a few great places in our memories and also learn a little something about ourselves and each other that we may not know. Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be *newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better….and don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

So... here goes!

1. Family. I choose 'Laughing, Loving and Loved', which I wrote last year about my brother's amazing 40th birthday party. It really was a fantastic evening, such a success in fact that he's repeating it this year (although of course it's his 41st this time - sorry to remind you, Michael!). And can I cheat? Yeah, why not - I also choose 'Full'. It's only tiddly, but like 'Laughing, Loving and Loved', it brings back happy memories of good times with my family.

2. Friends. Has to be 'Confessions of a Fairy Goddessmother'. This post celebrates just one of the many ways Kevin and Ann have been the most wonderful friends to us. We are very lucky to have such people in our lives.

3. Myself, who I am… what I'm all about. Well, this presents more of a problem! I'm not sure I've written that much about who I really am. As a fairly typical Cancerian, I tend to keep the true, inner me pretty well guarded behind my protective shell. And on this blog I've retained a degree of anonimity as I prefer to keep my Pagan self in the broomcloset due to my evangelical Christian neighbours. Well darn, I guess that means I've just told you two big things about who I am and what I'm all about! This blogging lark is clearly a slippery slope for secretive types like myself! Having started the process I may as well go the whole hog and remind you that in 'Interview', Tori managed to get me to reveal a lot more than just my name, rank and serial number.

4. Something I Love. Oh, this is much easier - except perhaps I have too much to choose from! Dang, I'll have to choose two again - 'Gratitude and Joy' and 'Beltane'. These are about two things I'm so looking forward to again this year - the beginning of summer and Witchcamp!

5. Anything I choose. Ooh, hard to choose again. But I think it'll be 'Magic in the Mist'. This was a post I was really proud of. I hope you like it too.

So, that's my five (oops, sorry, seven...) posts.

And now I must pass the baton on to five more people. I choose the following lovely bloggers:

Tori at 'When I Finally Decided to Get It',

Fiona at 'The Cottage Smallholder',

Kitchen Witch at er, 'Kitchen Witch'

Breezy at 'Breezy Break Blog'

and Boho Mom at 'Words of a Bohemian Mom'

Tag, you're it!

8 Things

I have been tagged for a meme (wow - six months ago I wouldn't have had a clue what that even meant!) by one of my favourite bloggers, Tori. I must reveal eight random things about myself. Here are the rules:

~We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

~Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

~People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.

~At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and they should read your blog.

Well, here goes!

1. I love eating lemons - have done ever since I was a child. When I was a teenager my mum used to bring me one back every week with the weekly shopping, and I'd sit in my room savouring every segment, trying to make it last. I still love them.

2. I hate wearing lipstick - I dislike the feeling of it on my mouth. I am, however, a lip balm/lip salve addict.

3. When I was 21 I travelled around the world on my own (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, USA)

4. I have a scar on the third finger of my right hand from an accident when I was 2 years old.

5. My favourite comfort food is spaghetti with home-made tomato sauce.

6. When I peg socks on the line, I have to peg them in matching pairs. It really bugs me when there's an odd one left over!

7. Even in summer I often take a hot water bottle to bed - I just cannot sleep if I have cold feet! It drives T crazy - if I have a hot water bottle he says it makes the bed too hot, and if I don't he complains when I put my cold feet on him!

8. I would love to keep alpacas - they're just so damned cute! Luckily T is more sensible than me and refuses to shell out the £2000+ it would cost us to buy a pair.

That's my 8 - and now I'm passing on the meme baton to these lovely bloggers:

Faerose at http://users.livejournal.com/faerose_/

Leanne at http://somersetseasons.blogspot.com/

and the sleek and beautiful Ginger Darlings at http://www.wethreecats.blogspot.com/

Interview

The lovely and talented Tori at http://gettingit-tori.blogspot.com/ has sent me the following interview questions:

1.~ Where did you grow up? Tell me about your childhood home.
I grew up in Essex, which is the county east of London. It's mostly the kind of place people travel through to get to somewhere else, and generally has a poor image due to it's industrial areas and the soulless 'new towns' that sprung up there to accommodate people from the bombed-out areas of London after World War II. If you give it a chance though, Essex does have another side - picturesque villages, thatched cottages, arable fields, willow-lined rivers, country pubs, lonely saltmarshes and big skies, due to it's rather flat topography!

I was lucky enough to grow up in a small village, in a house Mum & Dad built themselves (my earliest memory is 'helping' build the fireplace - I must have been about 2 years old). It was next door to my maternal grandparents. We had a large garden, as did Nanna & Granddad - their plot also included a wild and overgrown apple orchard (Granddad built us a treehouse in an apple tree!), which was a great adventure playground. It was a place that really fired my imagination - I used to make elaborate palaces for the fairies out of moss, twigs and petals, play at being a spy or a gypsy, talk to the trees, pretend my bike was actually a pony called 'Silver'... really, if I hadn't had to go to school it would have been the most idyllic childhood ever!

2.~What is something about marriage, about being in a committed adult relationship that you wish you had a better understanding of growing up?
I wish I'd realised that you have to really work at marriage and relationships. My Mum and Dad made it look so easy! Realising the fairy-tale ending actually requires compromise, compassion, empathy, patience, dialogue and plain commonsense would have saved me a lot of mistakes!

3. ~What is your day job?
I wish I knew! I don't have a paid job and I never know how to answer when people ask me what I do. In the past I've been a librarian, barmaid, children's nanny, accounts clerk, receptionist, switchboard operator, customer services assistant, typist, secretary, aromatherapist, and voluntary worker at a city farm. I stopped paid employment when I was trying unsuccessfully to get pregnant and it was thought my stressful job may have been part of the problem. Since we moved to our current home I am kept busy with the house, the animals and the garden, plus I do voluntary work one day a week. I also make & sell crafts (mostly Pagan-themed) including my papier mache masks - although it's by no means a living wage!

4. ~What is your favorite form of artistic expression (for yourself to create)?
I love to create things, but I have a real butterfly mind when it comes to artistic expression - I flutter from one medium to another, getting bored if I stick to just one thing. In the past I've been passionate about creative writing, poetry, embroidery, cross-stitch, mixing aromatherapy blends, candlemaking and glass painting to name just a few. More recently there has been mask-making, decorative painting, jewellery making, felting and clay modelling. And right now I'm having a blast writing my blog and playing with T's digital camera. My approach may be a bit 'pick and mix' but I have found that I need to have some kind of creative project on the go to keep me happy. The thing that usually gives me the most artistic satisfaction though is to create something beautiful and/or useful out of something that would otherwise have been thrown out as rubbish. I love to recycle!

5. ~What is a goal that you hope to accomplish in the next year?
I would love to get something I've written published - and preferably get paid for it! I would also like the opportunity to student teach at an overseas Witchcamp.

What fantastic questions - thanks Tori!

Want me to interview you?

1. Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.