Whirlwind over!

One of the great things about living in a beautiful part of the world is that friends and family are happy to come and stay. So far we have had 3 sets of visitors (10 people in total) staying with us in the last 4 weeks. It has been wonderful, but to say it has been a bit of a whirlwind would be an understatement. Our most recent visitors - my brother and his family - left this morning (the photos are from our trip to Saundersfoot yesterday).

I love people coming to stay. I love the anticipation beforehand, the excited re-unions, the shared meals, the laughter and conversations, the days out showing them around the area, and as a Cancerian, I must admit that I just plain love looking after people.

So it has been lovely.

Now that we are back to normal it is a different kind of lovely. It is quiet and peaceful without my 4-year-old nephew chattering happily away nonstop. I am at leisure to do what I want - or more accurately, I have the time to catch up with all the jobs I have been neglecting whilst having fun! I no longer have to plan menus well ahead of time, but can revert to my more usual whip-something-up-at-the-last-moment-when-I'm-hungry style of meal preparation.

Being your own self in your own skin in your own home at your own pace is a whole different kind of pleasure to entertaining friends and family. I am lucky to be able to enjoy both. Like most contrasting experiences, they enhance each other.

So for now I will appreciate the peace and quiet, the daily chores, and the slapdash meals. And the next time my loved ones descend to bring novelty, chaos, fun and fine dining back to the Moonroot household, I will appreciate that too.

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.

Respect Your Elders!

The elder trees are just starting to come into bloom. Which means it will soon be time to make some elderflower cordial - yum! This fragrant cordial tastes to me like the very essence of wild, faery-magickal midsummer. Every year I make a batch and then vacillate between wanting to give some to everyone who visits so they can taste how gorgeous it is and jealously guarding my stash because I know it will be a whole year before I can make more.

To increase my supply I've been trying to cultivate some more elders in the garden but it's not been easy. Elders are regarded as weed trees by most folk. As such you'd think they grow like, well, weeds. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I've tried sowing elder seeds but they didn't germinate. I've hunted for self-sown elder seedlings but so far drawn a blank. My cuttings didn't root. In desperation I actually transplanted an elder seedling from a flower bed in my parent's garden in Essex and brought it back here to Wales. It made a good start - and was promptly strimmed to a stump by my husband, T. Optimistically, I put some protection around it and it sent up a few shoots, so I removed the protection - and T strimmed it again. This time I replaced the protection and left it, and the poor thing is once again sprouting, although I suspect I may have to wait a few years before it is up to any kind of flower production! In the meantime I have hunted in plant nurseries for additional elders, but as 'weeds', they just aren't available to buy (unless you want a highly expensive foreign species, sambuca nigra, which is admittedly very pretty, but just not what I want).

It makes me ponder just what it is that makes us designate one species desirable and another not? What is it that makes people struggle to grow, say, palm trees in the UK? Or roses in the desert? Why battle almost impossible odds to grow something somewhere it isn't suited to and doesn't want to be? (hmm, the irony of this juxtaposed against the previous paragraph has just struck me. But I'll carry on and hope no one else notices... ahem....) Sadly, I suspect it may be something to do with the perceived kudos of getting one over on Mother Nature. Perhaps in say, Antarctica or sub-Saharan Africa, elders are the last thing in chic gardening circles. (And while we're on the subject of gardening insanity, what is this obsession with grass? I have known people literally crawl around their garden trimming the lawn with nail scissors, just to get that 'velvet bowling green' look - but never actually set foot on it in order to preserve the perfection. I thought the whole point of growing a lawn was that grass is hard wearing and therefore the perfect thing to walk on. But then, I like my lawn natural looking, complete with a good sprinkling of daisies, clover and dandelions. Perhaps it's just me.)

But back to the noble elder, which 'weed' or not, has much to recommend it. Elders are pretty, don't take up too much space, their flowers and fruits benefit wildlife as well as having many culinary uses, the twigs can be used to make whistles, the leaves deter biting insects, and the berries are one of the few effective natural anti-viral medicines we have. And that's just for starters! OK, the leaves do smell a bit unpleasant, but you can't have everything.

Elders also have a rich folklore - from the Hilder-moer (Elder Mother) spirit who lives in and protects the tree to it's association with the fairies. There is a great article about the folklore and uses of the Elder by Glennie Kindred here: http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/elder.htm

So by now I bet you're all desperate for a fragrant, refreshing glass of chilled elderflower cordial! If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with plenty of elderflowers, here's the recipe - give it a go. Just remember to leave enough blossoms for the insects and birds to enjoy.

Recipe for Elderflower Cordial:

Ingredients:

12-15 sweetly scented umbels of elderflower (thick stalks removed)

900g/2lbs sugar

1 lemon, sliced

32g/1.15oz citric acid

Method:

Pour 1 litre/1.75 pints boiling water over the ingredients in a large earthenware bowl. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Cover with a clean cloth and leave for 3 days. Stir well each morning and evening, being careful to replace cover.

Pour into small sterilised bottles and seal, or freeze in ice cube bags to use as required.

To use:

Dilute with water, add ice cubes and maybe a slice of lemon. Find a beautiful spot in the garden and toast the magical elder - cheers (or as they say in these parts, Iechyd Da!)!

Rainy Day

It's another rainy day. For over a month we basked in unseasonably warm and sunny weather, but a week and a half ago it all changed. From wearing sandals and T-shirts I am back to boots and woolly jumpers. As someone said, 'we had May in April and now we're having April in May'.

Unfortunately the change in the weather coincided with a visit from my Mum & Dad. Many of our planned outings had to be shelved, although we still managed to have fun. We visited Cilgerran and its picturesque ruined castle perched precipitously on cliffs high above the Teifi river, went to the Gower and watched the surfers whilst walking on Llangennith beach, ate out at the highest pub in the Preseli mountains (Y Tafarn Sinc), shopped in Carmarthen and Narberth, and somehow 10 days sped by. Mum & Dad left this morning, and although I wish they could have stayed longer I suppose I needed to get back to serious work! There are a million jobs awaiting me in the veggie patch alone - May always seems to be such a busy month.

But I have to confess, it's not too inviting out there. From baked dry a fortnight ago, the clay-ey soil is now wet & sticky, and the weeds have put on a quite amazing growth spurt now the rain has soaked in ('just add water!'). I have been sitting way too long playing with my blog, eating cheese on toast and drinking Earl Grey (comfort food!). Ah well, duty calls. If I don't get on with it and bite the bullet, the weeds will take over completely.

On second thoughts, perhaps just one more mug of Earl Grey...

Magic in the Mist

It was a cool, wet, misty morning. As I stepped out of the back door to start the daily chores, a movement caught my eye. Overhead a heron flapped slow, silent wingstrokes across the sky, unhurried and graceful for all its size. Isolated from sounds by the enveloping misty drizzle, it was a moment outside time. I could just as easily have been an Iron Age woman starting the day outside her roundhouse, suddenly transfixed by the ghostly appearance of the breathtaking bird.

This old, magical land often feels to me like there are many strata of time and experience overlaid into an almost tangible fabric. I often feel that if I were just a little more sensitive, a little more attentive, I could break through the veil into the thousand other lives and experiences which are woven into an exquisite yet delicate pattern, telling the story of this land through the ages. Neighbours have told me that the lane we are on was once a Roman Road; there are standing stones and ruined castles nearby; sometimes in the garden I turn up pieces of broken china, the fragile bones of a deceased vole, a child's lost toy, a cobbler's last (our house was originally owned by a cobbler). The stories this land has to tell, if I only knew how to ask, or to hear.

This part of the country is the supposed birthplace of Merlin. Truth or myth, it seemed credible on such a morning, as the silent, elegant heron flapped enigmatically away into the mist.

Bank Holiday Monday on the Beach

Beltane

Spent a fantastic weekend in Portsmouth at the British Reclaiming Spring Gathering. We did ritual together, had a couple of fantastic workshops and an interesting meeting, talked, laughed, danced the maypole, drummed, sang, ate and generally had a great time. Thank you to everyone who worked on the Gathering to make it such a success and thanks to everyone who attended for making it such fun!

Can it really be ten years since all this started at the first Avalon Witchcamp(http://www.avaloncamp.org.uk/)? Looking around at the the laughing faces dancing the maypole - beloved friends who are also talented and inspiring teachers, organisers, priest/esses - I realise how lucky I am to know such people. I realise how much has grown out of that first camp in 1998 (and the subsequent ones). I realise how lucky I was to stumble across the flier that led me to my first camp. And I realise how it has changed my life.

Yes, I know that sounds corny. But really, it has. In the last ten years I have grown hugely in confidence, branched out in directions I could never have imagined, found wonderful friends and confirmed this is the right spiritual path for me when I was initiated into Reclaiming-Feri last year. All of which is due to my experiences at Avalon.

This year's camp will be our tenth. I hope there will be many more. But even if it were to be the last, I'm confident that Avalon has had a lasting postive influence on my life. And I look forward to seeing where the next ten years will take us...

Happy Beltane!