The Spring Collection

This year, Brianna is old enough to know what's going on.  She pays attention to her surroundings, and of course wants to touch and eat everything she sees.  It makes going for walks much more difficult, but much more fun, as well.  It's also a great opportunity to begin showing her little bits of nature, and teaching her to see the beauty and divine within.  I know she won't be able to grasp much yet, but foundations are built little by little. 

She seems to really love pine cones.  There is one sitting on my desk right now, from the last time my Dad came over and we all went for a walk.  It's got a couple tine pieces missing out of it; I'm hoping it was like that when we picked it up instead of Brianna having tasted it. 

Have you ever looked at a pine cone?  Really looked?  Each piece perfectly interlocks, and the colors!  From beige to roan to brown, all on one little "shingle".  You can feel the energy of it.  I don't know that Brianna can feel that energy yet, but appreciation and interest are the first steps.

Trying to eat it is showing interest, right?

On a walk last year.

We also make a point of picking something up pretty much every walk we go on.  We have a feather, a few rocks and a bunch of flowers from last year, when she was still too little to eat them.  We're pressing the flowers, so she can have a little box for all of her treasures we get on walks someday.  Every little piece of nature she can grow up with and appreciate, the easier it will be later on to teach her to see the divine in nature.  I want to have a box for each season, so eventually we can show her the different elements in each season as well.

What do you do or will do with your kids to show them nature?  What did you do when you were young?

Goddess Bless,

Stacy

Beltane Fertility

As we come upon the season of Spring and the Sabbat of Beltane, I'm sure that most of us are slowly starting to notice the budding trees and the grass beginning to renew itself.  I'm sure that any day now the last of our snow will melt, we've still got a pretty good little bank in the back yard.  Those of us who celebrate it are probably starting to plan our Beltane festivities, and no matter how we end up celebrating we all will be celebrating the same thing.  Not many of us have room for a Maypole, let alone are able to have a bonfire.

Canola Fields in Alberta.  Forgive the shadow of my car!

This year, we will be celebrating Beltane by starting our first herb garden!  I have an inexplicably purple thumb.  I'm a kitchen witch and a hearth witch, not a green witch!  We are going to be buying these little bundles at our local hardware store that you let grow almost hydroponically for the first couple weeks, then you transplant into the ground or pots.  Perfect for someone like me, and perfect for Beltane.

Fertility of the crops was of utmost importance in times past, and while most of us don't grow our own crops any longer fertility is still important to us.  We can still celebrate fertility at Beltane, just a different kind.  We need fertility in our lives to nurture our dreams, and without finding that fertile ground within ourselves we can never make our goals come to fruition.  We need that fertile ground in our lives to raise our children in, and to nurture our relationships with spouse, friend and family. 

How will you be celebrating Beltane?  How do you include Beltane's fertility in your life?

Bob and Doug, and our Weekend.

Once upon a time, Brianna had a dinosaur named Ducky.

Ducky.

While Brianna went (with Ducky) to my parent's house for the night on Saturday, Sean and I got to do grown up things!  Like watch a horror movie and go out for lunch.  We slept in...and we went shopping and bought more toys for Brianna.

Two new dinosaurs, which after much discussion of prairie oysters and the big bopper, we finally gave proper names to.

Meet Bob and Doug.

Bob and Doug

Ducky, Bob, and Doug all seemed to get along great.  So they went to visit Scaredy Squirrel.

Scaredy Squirrel.

They though Scaredy was so awesome.

They decided to eat him.

Om nom nom.

 Poor Scaredy.  But Bob and Doug were hungry, eh?

Take off, Eh, Bob?

 Most Canadians (and some Americans) reading this will know who Bob and Doug are.  For the rest of you, here's a clip:

I have a post for Beltane coming tomorrow, anything anyone wants to see covered?

Goddess Bless,

Stacy