Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lammas Love ~ St Valentines Day with a difference


the plan was to have a picnic with friends Joe & I had planned to take a picnic to Leura, a walk to Olympian Rock - a favourite bush walk of ours and sit eating our magickal picnic overlooking some of the most stunning scenery in the world..[I had visions of setting a lovely table complete with vintage tablecloth, candles and flowers - real plates and glasses.. a simple dinner of marinated chicken, salad from my garden and for a treat, one of my little homemade bliss balls].. but of course, Mother Nature had other plans.. she decided to rain on our parade.... which leads us to plan B.

buy takeaway Thai,

run to a shelter at Echo Point and sit eating our picnic in the rain..

sharing our meal with little sparrows..[that is what harvest is all about, is it not?

& sometimes being lucky enough to glimpse a view as the mists parted.. that was ok.. fine by me.. being in the presence of the ancestors in the mist.. lovely.

oh and yesterday, I made a corn dollie. my very first ever. I had bought some organic corn cobs and had one for lunch... keeping the husks for my planned dolly.. - creating the dolly took me back to my childhood.. growing up in a farming district where corn was often in abundance.. sitting with my dad, eating freshly picked corn dripping with butter and lashings, lashings of salt.

She is on my altar.. I am still yet to learn just exactly what I am supposed to do with this little corn dolly..not quite sure what the ancestors did with theirs either.. but it was fun creating her!



I have been feasting on strawberries too.. lots of them from the farmers market.

17 comments:

Fire Byrd said...

Oh that den looks such a grand place for a picnic I'm envious.
xx

mxtodis123 said...

Happy Valentine's Day. Sounds like you had a special day....good food, beautiful countryside. And what a great place to set up your table. I love the photo of the mists.
Mary

Debra She Who Seeks said...

Beautiful corn dolly! I think I read that the ancestors infused the dolly with their thanks for a good harvest and their prayers for more abundance next year (i.e. did magickal things to it) and then buried the corn dolly in the fields.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

P.S. Happy Valentine's Day to you both!

Anonymous said...

How atmospherical! (Is that a word? if not it should be!)
It looks like a soft English day, good for the complection.
Your Valentine's Day looks very romantic.
Big hugs
xx

Everydaythings said...

what a romantic spot hiding there under that carved out shelter! sigh we could do with some of your weather over here, were still baking in the heat!

rebecca said...

dear one,
you have a heart for celebrating the joy of nature, the company of loved ones, the gifts of the harvest.
your generosity of spirit nourishes me across an entire sea.

love to you

laoi gaul~williams said...

what a lovely place to celebrate and i am so glad you had occaisional glimpses of the view-we are having what seems to be never ending rain here.

your corn dolly is wonderful :)

C said...

oh what an amazing place for a picnic beautiful even with the rain.... Love your corn dolly too hope your valentines day was great xx x

Pearl said...

The English are ever an odd lot. Growing up in England when we referred to cornfields we were actually talking about wheat fields. If you were following the English tradition the last bundle of wheat which contains the life force would be used to make a corn dolly which would be hung in the barn as a form of protection. At sowing time he wheat from the dolly would be mixed with the seed corn. This is of course connected with Lugh, the Sun God, being cut down to rest in the arms of the Goddess during winter.
This is not to say that using corn husks is not appropriate as I'm all for making use with what grows in our own locality as that really is celebrating the seasonal harvest.
Pearl

Ruth said...

Found you - gremlin is sorted - I hope. I love the corn dolly - she looks really powerful.

Imogen said...

Although not at all what you'd planned that does sound fun and relaxed. It's good to be able to go with the flow; out into the mist and back... I love the picture at the top of your two pairs of eyes, so well matched together.

amelia said...

What a beautiful place for a picnic. The shelter is wonderful and as long as you're warm enough it looks like a lovely place to sit and read!

Janet said...

I think the shelter looks quite romantic! You were all cozy inside with the rain coming down all around - just you and your love surrounded by peace and quiet.

gma said...

Perfect romantic setting for your picnic.I see love in both of your eyes....<3.
Your corn doll honors the blessings and life giving spirit of corn in such a simple and heartfelt way.

foxysue said...

How lovely of you to share your hearts with us. I'm not sure about the corn dolly, but every year a folk festival takes place in the fields behind my cottage where a large corn dolly is built, at the end of the festival they set light to it in a peace ceremony, it is very beautiful.

PS When you asked the stars "why am I here"? The answer must have been to twinkle very brightly and shine your light on all of us :-)

~Big tree hugging going on over here, oh and BTW my love's name is Joe and we ride a bike too, weather permitting. Sue xxx

Anonymous said...

Oh my god... that's soooo awesome. I wanna have a picnic in that type of shelter!!! (I did get other things from your post btw... but I just had to gush over the picnic site)!

"She seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if she had surprised a butterfly in the Winter woods"
(edith wharton)