summer is almost by

I guess I pretty much skipped summer blogging. I actually have felt the pull many times but my computer has been misbehaving & won't upload my new pictures which frustrates me and then I walk away back to tangible things. I had some great review ideas for Sackville's summer music party Sappyfest but will save them as a fall treat.

Full Moon tomorrow. I've been remembering to include ritual and reflection into my daily routine a lot more regularly. I have moved to a new apartment, new City and I'm back in school. I love going to class and researching any subject in depth. I'm feeling very grateful and privledged to spend time learning about human physiology & all its complexity. Its all very new and I entered this course fully acknowledging that my base level of understanding was quite low. So I study & study some more and don't forget to play with the kids and laugh and smile.

I continue my love of Great Coffee and have been exploring all different roasts. I love to take time cooking whole foods with patience. There is always much to discover in the food department. Today I had a delicious Pineapple, Peach & Spinach smoothie while rereading & writing out notes. Just thought I'd take a slight break and say more robust greetings to come once exams are through and my computer is friendlier.

This picture is two years old but captures the back to school vibe.

Yo! Peace to my people...in Canada. (MC Lyte)

Earth Day Hurray!

I love Earth Day! Its always been highlighted in some way by meaningful reflections. I remember as a school kid celebrating and focusing on environmentalism. This year My friends and I organized an Earth Day hike through the Amherst Bird Sanctuary. It was amazing with ten young children and many mothers and fathers. We headed off a bit late ... but made it to the beautiful mother tree and all the kids gave a big circle hug. Then we hiked for over an hour through wonderfully hilly trails and not too much mud. We saw lots of critters including chickadees, robins, blue jays and even a few deer at the end. Everyone felt loved by the Earth and our family of friends. We got bug & fairy tattoos, rice cakes, chocolate cupcakes and other snacks and lots of water. I had spent a lot of time thinking about Bees before arriving so choose a bee tattoo for myself.

Foggy Coffee at Noon

I was reading a ton of Broken Pencil magazines a month ago while I was finishing up my zine "Sista Yo Bro." There is this subgenre of zines entitled perzines in that they mostly contain the author's personal reflections. I realized that this is a seasonally themed perblog. I'm pretty autobiographically and definately try to hold back on all the details by sticking to a general theme of celebrations and holidays. An old friend of mine had suggested I blog in 2001 when I was doing an intensive study of French Feminism during my Philosophy degree. I wish I had at times but really didn't get it then. Probably still don't totally get it. I only used the internet for hotmail and "anti-globalization" activism at that time and really had no idea how to surf. I actually still find internet surfing for the most part aggravating since I often can't find the right in. That's why I have this site to bookmark cool little ramblings I find. I will just conclude with a wednesday Shout Out! I've been staying home and reading a lot since I have an awfully draining head cold. Probably dangerous to publish under these conditions but I feel like this is such an excellent unique opportunity when I've been able to just slow down and read on and off five different books intensively and sip tea and coffee in a cozy sweater without having to push myself to get too much done. Sometimes when I'm reading I often feel like I should get up and do more but today I know reading is just right for me. The pictures featured are me cherished my coffee and this extremely brain fogged fluish day & some in reverse colour appreciation of my zine.

A season change, dreams and muddy realities

Been journeying around lately. March was spectacular. Usually we have a huge family party for March's Spring Equinox. This year the event was so close to the full moon that an excellent gathering of three women came about. We had a wonderful look at the unusually large and beautiful event that the moon herself provided.

Hockey season is over and I really did enjoy spending ice time with my eldest skating superstar. My little one is proving to be an awesome drummer.

So many highlights have happened since my last post. As usual the earth spins and obstacles jump right in front of you. The funeral for a beautiful brother-in-spirit Josh was on the actual Spring Equinox. He was a spectacular person. I know my eldest son learned and played a lot with him and I'm most sad that my youngest won't get the same chance to spend more times with him. We loved you Josh. He was a an amazing rural shepherd with a dedication to family that none could match.

Everyone around is really excited to spend time socializing comfortably out of doors. I also spent a weekend attending a great conference a handmade assembly and was inspired particularly by two artists Janet Morton and Candice Tarnowski. Lots of folks in Sackville attended lectures, workshops and celebrations during this conference. I loved sharing my zine and trading for new material.

I started a new radio show in March. Condensation has really been rocking my Saturday mornings after I grab my grub at the local Farmer's Market.

From Dark to Full Moon and all the hearts in between

Imbolc, Valentine's day, Dark Moon, New Moon, Waxing Moon, almost Full Moon. The cycles of renewal this February are so pink and cozy. It seems that right after celebrating Imbolc the world gets its groove back on and the Sun emerges ...

I really enjoyed a little feast and reflection with my ladies last week. I was happy to find a banner from all my research and reflection on the holiday last year: Brigit, Mother Goddess, midwives, breast-feeding, festival of hearth, home, healers, Imbolc, poets, wisdom (hazel) & beer. Our cozy group of five spent time thinking about our maiden selves and reflecting on the qualities that we possessed at the height of our youth. Then using a bit of divination and poetry we described to each other how our current mother selves could incorporate some of the best maiden aspects from our past into our current lives. In that way we really felt like we were bringing about that renewal that the earth goes through at this time in our own spirits.

After celebrating the festival of Imbolc with my ladies, I headed out to George's Fabulous Roadhouse (made the top ten clubs cbc radio 3 list in 2009) to see a

big line-up of male rawkers! It was fun to translate the intimate celebratory atmosphere into a bigger space and feel the greater mood of my community. It was a big line-up with four bands and the crowd really loved our hometown boys The John Wayne Cover Band.

Then the beautiful Sackville, New Brunswick lovefest; The Sweetest Little Thing. My six year old was a really spectacular date. We looked at the huge amount of sweetest little art works for auction, played the cakewalk and won two beautiful cakes, got fantastic polaroids in the photo booth and laughed and danced with friends. We even won a door prize of a big fabulous bouquet from the new local florist Bloom. The next day we ate way too much cake at a little tea party..... Please do enjoy the rest of the winter and our cherished cozy times.

Rock music on the radio and welcoming in the New Year

Happy New Year. Winter is here and blowing a beautiful snowy storm my way tonight. I had a great down home family winter solstice celebration with my children and another family. Many traditions were observed and some skipped this Christmas season, no Christmas eve church service and no skating on Christmas day both extremely dear traditions but better left aside in 2010. I attended a couple great house parties to ring in the new year and wore out my old highland dancing slippers rocking all through the town. I have been struggling with a lot of sorrow and many other emotions recently so celebrating the arrival of a new year rejuvenated some little part of my soul and I'm grateful.

My favourite radio station, local campus and community 106.9fm in Sackville New Brunswick, took a break during the holidays and played a mix of independent, folk, international, bluegrass and festive tunes non-stop. I am brimming with joy to hear the return of live programming with all the insights into different community member's music and discussion preferences, as well as their different production techniques. Its such a relief to wake up to the variety of a specialty psychedelic morning show, great syndicated news sources or a lovely folk/rock/blues goddess sharing tunes I've never heard before. Oh! kitchen and cozy times at home or even in my little car are much more exciting. The radio station that I love is also hosting the eighth annual Stereophonic music festival January 19-29th. I'm going to attend a few of the events, they all look groovy in their own unique way (I haven't missed a year yet). On air constant festival promotion has led me to ponder how many permutations different programmers can produce with the same music. It actually works to hear the same bands several times in a day since each programmer mixes them differently. Enjoy the winter storms and watch out for pheasants if you're driving around.