The January Man

I heard this song for the first time at our folk club recently. As we head out of January with the promise of some early signs of Spring dandled in front of us in February I thought others might enjoy it. This version is by Steeleye Span.

 Hope everyone has a good weekend and Imbolc blessings to those who celebrate the Old Ways.

Arilx

Weekend Shenanigans

Trotting in to say hello. I do hope everyone has been safe in all these storms we've been having of late and that you were able to enjoy a slice of that Saturday sunshine which was crammed in between the not so pleasant weather.

 I couldn't believe my luck as I was at yet another wassail [that's my main form of entertainment in January these days😂, but this one was a Tudor one held at Michelham Priory over in East Sussex. As ever I took very few Morris photos as I really don't want to bore everyone to death, but this candid one did make me chuckle. Everyone patiently waiting to be sprayed with fire retardant before our fire dance that evening🔥[I drummed for that one....my anxiety levels skyrocketed at the prospect of it].  As our foreman wryly commented 'They were all very trusting. I could have been de-licing them for all they knew!'

We needed to be there an hour before the gates opened to the afternoon session for the children so I took a little wander around the beautiful grounds to settle my nerves [it was a new event for us so I didn't know what to expect]. That first glimpse of snowdrops is always a special moment for me and a reminder that the early beginnings of Spring are on the way.

Choosing to spend a goodly chunk of my spare time as I do means that I see all sorts. The lady accompanying the Mari Lwyd in its very fine fruit festooned cloak was sporting a very impressive and might I say beautifully embroidered codpiece under that cloak. I only know that now as I've seen somebody else's photos of it, but she was definitely keeping it under wraps when the children were about😁

As you might expect from this historical period there were plenty of people wafting about in Tudor costumes. The group below were dancers and I think were meant to depict Henry VIII and all of his six wives together at once. That's a happier outcome that the truth.

At the end when all of the audience had gone onto the orchard for the wassailing I volunteered to look after all our kit so that the others could go and join in. To be honest I was perfectly happy to just sit quietly in the courtyard having a bit of downtime whilst drinking a coffee and watching the world go by. With a stunning sunset like this to enjoy I definitely wasn't suffering from any FOMO😊 As darkness fell the evening visitors arrived and we commenced our second performance. 

It was great fun, but took a lot of my energy so I was more than happy to spend yesterday pottering about at home. We amused ourself by following the WWII Ministry of Food's recipe for mock turkey. I don't think we would have fooled anyone, but, if like us, you are a big fan of stuffing then it's very tasty. There's still plenty left for us to another day and we'd definitely do it again. Would we bother with the faff of shaping it though? No 

Speak soon.

Arilx

'A bit of graffiti'

I wasn't quite sure what TYM might have in store for me when he said he had 'a bit of graffiti' to show me in Guildford. All sorts was running through my mind I can tell you...certainly something written, witty and probably a bit cheeky was my best guess. I couldn't have been more wrong 🧸

The style of this delightful piece of artwork rang a vague bell with me, but I couldn't place it at the time. It appeared overnight and is the work of one anonymous artist called Hendog whose work I've already seen over in Winchester https://gnatbottomedtowers.blogspot.com/search?q=hendog. I knew it looked familiar. 

Have a great weekend.

Arilx

Propitating

 Ah-ha 'propitating' is my newest word and it means to win or regain the favour of the Gods/Spirits/People by doing something which pleases them and fancy as it sounds, it was that very thing we have now done. In this country's folklore it's the Apple Tree Man who looks after the health of our orchards and ensures that the crop is good. Now I don't personally know whether he's partial to a few pieces of cider soaked toast, but that's what he gets in the wassailing custom at this time of year.  For one night only we scare away all those pesky nasty little spirits who have snuck back in since last year's apple howling and if left unattended. get up to no good and then once our job is done, we pass the responsibility back to the fellow and leave it in his very capable hands.

Last night was our own annual apple howling which we've been running ourselves on behalf of a local community orchard for a few years now. When we first started we probably had about 60 people come and we were a bit rough and ready. However, our squire put together a proper ceremony for us soon after and these days we know what we're doing. It's a free event, but there's a bucket collection to help the orchard continue its fabulous work. Last year we hit 200 attendees and this year we had an even bigger turnout. The big circle in the orchard was six deep in places. It's quite a feeling to share music, dance and song with so many and there's definitely a hunger in this modern tech age of ours for this type of experience. Just the right combination of controlled [sort of] mayhem and magic🌟🍎🍏🍻 We can't wait to do it all again next year!

I managed a paltry number of photos [was kind of rather busy] and my 10 year old steam powered phone took its time deciding whether it felt like taking them or not, but it didn't do too badly all things considered. Despite the big boots and the scary masks the lady with the red cloak and fairy lights undoubtedly outshone us all 💛

It is one of my favourite evenings of the year....relaxing and oodles of fun all topped off with singing and a music session in the local pub afterwards as we come off duty and wind down together.

Arilx

The train of thought

Below you can see TYM chuckling at me because I was so excited to see the delightful metal train and carriages running across the height barrier of this Guildford carpark. He thinks his dear Mama is quite dotty and he would be right. What he should be more worried about is that he shares my DNA😈

Not everyone's so thrilled about the trains though. Near us they've rejigged one of the level crossing controls. In practice this now means you have to wait for longer for three trains to come through before the lights go back to green. Someone has gone to the trouble of making their feelings quite clear on the matter😀 

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Arilx 

A family day out

 We see TYM on a fairly regular basis these days, but it tends to be of the sharing a meal and then us all doing our own thing at the weekends. It's a couple of years since he moved out yet we've only been over to his on a couple of occasions. He quite rightly pointed out that a family day was long overdue, so we pencilled in a date a few weeks ago and waited to see what the weather had in store for us before firming up our plans. As luck would have it, conditions were thankfully dry yesterday even if the temperatures were still very low. We're all walkers though, so wrapped up in the right clothes I was able to pay my first visit to the Newlands Nature Reserve in Surrey. He had, quite by accident, found out that they have several yew trees there when he hiked through there on a jaunt with his grandad last year and with my well known love of this oft called 'tree of the dead' [due to the number you find in churchyards] his suggestion was perfect.

This place is a substantial area of open chalkland up on the Surrey Hills with some beautiful views out across the surrounding countryside. We didn't get the bright sunshine yesterday, but the golden hue catching the tops of the hills in the distance was a sight to behold.

It has a substantial free carpark and is open all the time so I imagine it must be a popular spot with locals with their families and dogs wanting to get out and stretch their legs. It's mainly woodland and there are various length trails marked out for people. We only covered a couple of miles as we knew that our time would be short, but it was lovely to greet a new group of magical yews. It's unusual to see that many in one place. They are now part of the The Yew Tree Project which has been undertaken to educate people about these aboreal wonders and protect them from the damage done by the compacted earth from all of us trampling around them. There's now a boardwalk. I came away with having learnt a few new snippets with my favourites being that these mighty fellows are dioecious meaning that the male and female flowers [they look different] grow on separate trees. Several of the ones we saw were male apparently. That pot bellied one rather stole my heart and there was much eyerolling from my two chaps when I stopped to give it a quick hug. Well it had to be done didn't it😆 They should be grateful that I didn't stop to inhale the pollen vapour to help me connect with the ancestors in the spirit world. Had it been the spring maybe I would have done!!

Having spent an afternoon hanging out in my favourite type of grove we wound up our fam gathering with a delicious Greek meal in one of the independent restaurants in nearby Guildford. There is much more for me to see and explore in this area so we think we'll repeat the exercise in a few months time when it's not quite as chilly.🥶

Arilx

Woolly Thinking

As a Druid I like to keep a little personal altar to mark the wheel of the year. In practice this means that every six weeks or so I change what I put on it to mark the upcoming festival. Next on the list is Imbolc which is all about the returning light and the movement between late winter and the early signs of spring. Some may be familiar with the Christian equivalent of Candlemas. Quite often I've given this one a miss as I've struggled with inspiration. However, this year I decided to get a grip and sort it out. A while spent of Pinterest [usually I avoid because it's such a rabbit hole] gave me some ideas. What I didn't want to do was just buy stuff so instead I was looking for a simple craft that would use stuff that I've already got here. This is a type of Brigid cross and is also known as a God's eye cross. You give it a red centre for protection, but the colours I chose are representing fire, light and the different shades of Spring green. Granted it's the sort of thing that most small children could manage, but I found it very meditative and soothing. There are no plans to go into production though. The light levels were so low that the quality of the image won't win any prizes, but I'm pleased with it and even the sticks are from a dried buddleia cutting from the garden. It's now sitting with the other bits and bobs and adds in the spot of colour which was previously missing. It looks right at home.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Arilx