Deborah J. Martin's Blog, page 25
May 27, 2011
The Sting of it All
Mother Nature must be PMSing. The tornadoes throughout the Midwest and the Southeast in the last month have been devastating. Living in the mountains, I don't normally worry about such bad weather (the hills usually break up wind rotation) but we got hit big time yesterday … with hail. I've seen hailstorms before but nothing like this. Most of it was marble-sized but there were pieces sized somewhere between a golf and tennis ball.
I love listening to rain on our metal roof...
May 19, 2011
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes …
The beginning of David Bowie's song has been running through my head these past few days …
Have you ever noticed how different astrology interpretations can be? I read several each month and try to distill them all into a cohesive outlook. (Learning astrology so I can do my own interpretation is on my bucket list.) However, my forecast here was spot on for May. One part really rings true: "This has been a time of review and of revisioning your purpose. You are in the midst of a...
May 18, 2011
Herbs: For Art, Too!
Just a quickie today:
Three years ago, one of the wonderful volunteers at the Galactic Expo had to do a piece for one of her art classes using all natural substances. Three years later she finally remembered to bring the finished project so I could see it. It's gorgeous, my photography doesn't do it justice but (with her permission) I just had to share:
The entire thing is done with herbs off my rack. I am so impressed (and jealous), Sharon Parker!
May 12, 2011
Hug/Scratch/Love Your Cat
You know how we always criticize the greeting card companies for creating holidays? It ain't just them. Purina has declared today "Hug Your Cat Day". If you can't celebrate today, someone else has declared the same thing for 24 May. I don't know about you, but hugging my cats isn't something they like me to do. Perhaps they ought to rename it "Scratch Your Cat" day. Scritches are always welcome! (Every day is 'Scratch the Cat' and 'Rub the Tum' day in this house.)
If you've...
May 5, 2011
Writing (Magical) Style
The other day, I was asked by a (very non-magical) friend why I use a fountain pen to autograph books. After all, there are many less-expensive alternatives on the market today. The answer to me was simple but it took about thirty minutes to explain it to him: the ink I use is specifically charged.
Charged ink is useful if your spell requires something written; if you're doing sigil work; or for entering something really important in your journal. It adds a little oomph to...
April 28, 2011
Random Thoughts
I'm feeling very out-of-focus this week. Maybe because:
I had to say goodbye to another cat Monday morning. Smudge had cancer that had metastasized. She was our mighty huntress, bringing in gifts she'd caught on the deck … moths, cicadas, praying mantes and the occasional bat.
(Lousy picture, I know. I lost a lot of photos when my hard drive crashed a few years ago.)
Smudge's sister, Belette, is in the hospital. We had to take her in the same night I said goodbye to Smudge. We...April 21, 2011
Earth Day – Every Day
Tomorrow, 22 April, is Earth Day. I'm sure you've heard about it. If you haven't, what rock are you living under?
The first Earth Day was celebrated 22 April 1970, before many of my friends – and my kids – were born. The organization that sponsors it claims that day to be the beginnings of the current environmental movement. I'm sure that and all the other 'help the environment' organizations have raised awareness of how fragile most all ecosystems are. I think what bothers...
April 17, 2011
New Family!
World, meet Maksim & Misha. Maks & Misha, welcome to my world!
April 14, 2011
Not-So-Delicate Dogwood
When I first moved to Atlanta 25+ years ago, one of the first things that struck me was the beauty in Spring. I had never seen so many flowering trees and shrubs! All these years later, I'm in an even more beautiful part of the state and each Spring, my breath is taken away for a week or so by what looks like baby's breath throughout our woods.
(The above photo was taken in full daylight. At dawn and dusk, the flowers almost glow against the pine & holly background. I'm just...
April 7, 2011
Herbal Skin Care
In the northern hemisphere, we're all itching to get out of our winter layers and into T-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and for some, bathing suits. Here in north Georgia, you need about three wardrobes this time of year as Ma Nature vacillates between late-winter temperatures and those we normally see in late June. One of the problems with getting out of all those layers is most people ignore their skin in the winter and then rush to get everything looking nice when it's bared...
