Hagstone

When the seasons change, I like to change the blog to suit. This year, after musing over a few different backgrounds, I went with the one that most matches what the weather is doing now: the late summer/early autumn sun through the trees. It might seem a bit wrong by the time Winternights rolls around, but that is something to be dealt with when it happens. I am happy for now.

There's a few changes to my links over on the right, with separate blog-roll and recommended websites lists. There are a few new ones added as well, which I may expand on as I come across new blogs via the PBP. In the meantime, check those ones out. I know the authors of some of them and they're great people. 

February 4 is my usual date for Lammas, but I missed it this year due to going out and getting drunk for a friend's birthday. I will hold it tonight instead. It's unusual, for me, to change the blog background before doing the ritual, but I was in the mood to fuss about. Autumnal cleaning, perhaps. I intend to postpone my Heathen celebrations for a couple of weeks, until I have some time to lay things out before me and do a bit of spiritual work. I could postpone my other celebrations as well, but I like to keep those as close to the astronomical date as possible. I'd also like to bake some bread around that time, and if I do I'll take some photos and post them up here. 

Speaking of the Pagan Blog Project: for all my occasional sniping regarding comments in the newsletter to which I take exception, I am rather enjoying it. Hagstone gets extra traffic, which is exciting; there are new people coming through the blog and commenting, which I love (by the way - most people have their blogs linked in their names, so click on them and check out those blogs as well); and I am flexing my mind and exploring ideas. I do much of my best thinking when I'm writing, and exploring things through words, and this is why I love prompts and blogging in general. I often come to some realisation or greater understanding when exploring a topic this way. I learn more about myself. I'm still unsure whether I want to go back (as many people have) and complete the three weeks I missed. I may do one day if I am particularly bored. Otherwise - eh.

It has been a mild summer. Few days have been the bright, hot, muggy unpleasantness that summer usually signifies. There have been days of heavy rain and days of fierce winds. Summer has been short, as winter seemed last year. All the same, February is often the hottest month, so I am not silly enough to think we have escaped the worst of it this year.