Feeling Autumnal

Sun beginning to set through
the trees 

I hope you've all had a fabulous week, it's seemed a lot calmer and quieter than the previous one, thank the Goddess! 
The sun was low in the sky when I went into Pilates last week and it was dark when I came out. With nights beginning to draw in progressively earlier and some colder nights, the dressing gown is making a timely appearance and I'm starting to feel very autumnal, I could quite easily consider an early hibernation! So much so that the following day, I had cushion envy at a local superstore and went back later with my husband to buy these  jumbo cord burnt orange and chocolate cushions to warm up the lounge,

Eddie trying out the
 New Cushions

Little Eddie seems to like them.... 

I redecorated my kitchen altar for Mabon with fruits and seeds gleaned from walks through the fields, surrounding areas and from our allotment, probably looking suspiciously like a scrumper or a mad woman grabbing conkers, acorns and berries with glee! I was instantly reminded of the church harvest festivals of my childhood, and a little research has suggested that Harvest has been celebrated all over the world since ancient

Mabon Kitchen Altar

times, one of the first festivals being Oschophoria in Ancient Greece, held around the autumn equinox to celebrate  the harvesting of grapes for wine - I like the sound of that one! 
I kept the corn dolly from my Lammas Altar as I discovered that these are traditionally made from the last head of corn or wheat from the harvest to offer thanks and to keep the spirit of the corn safe, warm and  alive during the winter months, before replanting it in the furrows in the spring to promote another years crop and harvest. All this rummaging has led me to The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, which everyone seems to have heard of but me - another book ordered! 

Garden Altar

I also finally found use for an old ivy wood stump that 
I acquired earlier in the year from a bemused client, while my lovely work colleague smiled sweetly and humoured me yet again, and made an altar outside. Again, I set about decorating it with all my gleanings, as well as a flourish of red and golden leaves after I had jumped in and kicked the drifts of them in the car park like a big kid!
I also added bunches of herbs from the allotment: lavender, lemon verbena and cat mint. As I sat and called in Ker, I offered thanks for the harvest of the land, of

the fruitfulness of imagination and creativity,of the richness of my life and all my blessings. 
As I knew this month finances would be awfully tight as Mark's knee although on the mend,is still causing him to be

Herbs from the Allotment.

off work and he will be going on to statutory sick pay, I asked Ker not for money but for inspiration, fruitfulness and abundance to make the money and food stretch. I sat and mediated for  a while, not journeying but just enjoying the stillness of the moment and feeling part of my surroundings and breathing in the sharp smells of lemon, mint and lavender.

Last of the Allotment
 Potato Harvest

I had long planned to go to Avalon this weekend, to attend a Healer Priestess Course taster day, but the car needs work doing to it that might not survive a 3 hour pelt down to the West country and back, and I couldn't find a coach, train or car share for love or a considerably extortionate amount of money, so reluctantly I had to give up my place, stop muttering rude words under my breath and accept that I wasn't going. 
Instead I resigned myself to the thought that it was meant to be, I was needed here, would have had a crash etc generally embracing, sorry clinging to the theory of the butterfly effect and darkly citing quotes from The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (amazing book - well worth a read) and embarked on a  cleaning and cupboard rearranging  frenzy and managed to compile a much shorter and reduced shopping list for the month to reflect the belt tightening required, after

The start of the Tip
of the Apple Iceberg

discovering forgotten packets, mixes and tins in the cupboards, only a month or so out of date...Shhhhh!! A near final raid on the allotment produced the last of the potatoes, onions,marrows, shallots and the start of a glut of apples, which sent me on a recipe searching quest, that my war time austerity mother line would have been proud of !
The results included a rather spectacular and delicious Spanish Stuffed Marrow with chorizto sausages and spices topped with cheese, which we sampled expecting to hate but soon woofed the lot down and went back for seconds, as well as the start of a chutney making spree - marrow and shallots which came out perfectly and promises to spice up meals in the long winter months. Why is it always Marrows my Goddess gives me? Not that I'm not grateful! 
Well I'm off to set my alarm for 3 am to get up and see the Super/Blood Harvest Moon, as you do, I'll be regretting that tomorrow night at work! I'll leave you with some Marrow pictures...they seem to be increasingly taking over my life!!

Have  a Blessed Week and Enjoy Your Lunar Watching x x