Getting ready

I have been doing my best to get everyone into the spirit Halloween. Since I have started in earnest down my Craft pathway, I have been slowly combining our taught (from our parents) traditions with the "new" ones. My efforts have been received with much love and support I am happy to say.
So with that in mind, we set out to carve up our pumpkins. It seems just abit odd since the last time I carved one, I was living in the Midwest and the "frost on the pumpkins" was just not a saying! This time however, we where all in shorts and tank tops. Sitting in the shade under the oak tree, enjoying the breeze off the bay as we cut, gutted, and carved our way through the pumpkins. What fun! I went through four pumpkins "guts" and saved all the seeds so I can dry them and feed them to the birds. My daughter thought I had lost my mind. (and by the way....that is alot of pumpkins seeds!!! )
We set them up on the front deck so they can glow out over the balcony and greet the evening island walkers as they stroll by.
I am also getting ready of Samhain. The house is decorated with a combination of witchy/Halloween and fall items. We have a tub full of dried out wood that we will be using for our Samhain evening fire. I have also made some sleep protection bags (that are sitting on my alter right now) to be handed out that night too.
I have been working on what I want to change/improve for this coming year. I will also be putting some of my old "baggage" to rest too.
Even though I do not have the traditional change in seasons as I did in the Midwest, I can still feel the change all around me. The wind is caring a coolness that I have not felt in months. The water in the bay is down to 80 degrees now. (I know..if it isn't bathtub warm I don't want to swim in it!! ) Even the wild life around me has changed.
I welcome this time of year. The end of a season, the beginning of anew.
May this change see all of you blessed.

Home

I was going thru some of my pics that we have taken since moving here to our new home state in January. I found a couple that give you an idea of what our view is every day.
We live on an island that sits between two bays. The bays are the only thing that stand between us and the Gulf of Mexico. For that reason alone we stay warmer in the winter than the rest of the state. Which is a blessing for me who loves the heat and is dog tired of the cold!
I know that my blood has thinned out so to speak and I will be right with the rest of the people turning on the heater when the temps get down into the 50's at night. (kinds sounds ridiculous right now as one who has lived in the Midwest for so long)
This picture is taken from our front porch. The view is amazing and everyday I look out the window and thank the Goddess and God for this opportunity.

This pic is one of many that we have taken of the sunsets. Every night the sunset is different and just as beautiful. There wasn't a cloud to be found that day. It made for a colorful evening sky.

Up Close

This weekend seems to rip past. Here it is already Tuesday!!
The best part of this weekend was my up close and personal encounter with Mother Nature as it where.  My husband and I where finally done for the day and where sitting out in the backyard enjoying what was left of the afternoon. I had a few days prior put out a couple of bird feeders to attract the migrating birds that have started to move through our area.
The feeders where busy with lots of activity and we where enjoying the sights and sounds when all of a sudden the birds started to act jittery.
We watched as a Grackle (a medium sized black bird with bright yellow eyes) flew up into the tree that the other smaller birds had abruptly left. Suddenly the Grackle starts squawking and he launches himself from the tree and he is flying straight for me. Now mind you I am sitting under the porch next to the patio table.
From the corner of my eye I see the underneath (white with bands of brown)of another really large bird hot on his tail!  I grab my head and DUCK!! In the time it took for me to see the other bird and grab my head, I realized that the second bird was a HAWK diving in for the Grackle. When the Grackle flew past my head I felt his tail brush my head and heard him screaming through covered patio to the front yard.
When I raised my head to look around and took my hands off my head I realized that the Grackle also pooed on my head on his way by!! LOLOLOL. Talk about have the poop scared out of ya!
Man. Talk about getting up close and personal!
The hawk that was after the Grackle was a Broad Winged Hawk. They are one of the many birds that migrate through our area at this time. They are an amazing hawk to watch on the wing. Even more impressive in action.
=}

Note:  As a side note...I have been following Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom like many of you do. I have really enjoyed her blog and the 31 days of Halloween! Today she had listed a site on her blog.. I'm Not Hannah. I am mentioning here because..1) I wanted another entry to try and win what the giveaway is today at her site..lolol and 2) I wanted to thank all of those who have given of their time and energy so that those of us, like myself, can enjoy reading and seeing all of you. No matter the winning, it is just great getting to visit so many people who have so much in common!

Fall..

This will be the first Fall I have spent in the last 18 years not in the Midwest. I will not miss the ice, the snow shoveling, the delays and the endless...very cold weather!
I will however miss the turning of the seasons. The trees as their leaves turn all the beautiful colors before they drop. The big piles of them in people's yards as they try pick them up before the snow flys.
I live on the coast in the south now. Don't get me wrong. It is beautiful here!! (will have to post some pics soon) I enjoy the moist heat and "wasting" a summer day away swimming and floating in the bay is not bad either!
The weather here too has turned Fall like. The temps are now in the 80's with 60's for the evening. The humidity is around 50% now with a slight coolness in the breeze. Beautiful...just beautiful.

The house is decorated with all the Fall colors. Even have a few of our Halloween things out of boxes and placed about the house too.
This Fall I will have to listen much for closely for the all the changes that where "in my face" in the Midwest!!
But with wanting to be closer to the Goddess and God...that's not such a bad thing either!

Weekend Surfing

I have had a chance this weekend to visit and read several Witch/Pagan sites. It has been wonderful to read and "see" so many of your different personalities coming through.  I have been trying to customize my site alittle bit at a time while getting idea's as I visit yours. One of these days I will figure out just how to put up a really fun background like the rest of you!! lolol

I plan this week to get back to my "studies" as it where. I am reading everything I can get my hands on and most importantly taking time to find out what feels right for me. Being a Solitary Witch has fit just perfect into my life right now. Everything I am reading from books, websites and blogs has been a tremendous help. I am able to pick and choose what will work for me.
Reading about how others preform ritual and how they celebrate the holidays gives me idea's on how I can implement them into my way of life. Thank you so much for sharing you knowledge..especially with those of us who are new to this path..and for me, who is dedicated to spending whats left of my life's journey walking it.
Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and a blessed week to come
SW

New to this Blogging!!

I know i am abit behind the times when it comes to this blogging. I have only become interested in this as a way to share and learn more about about the spiritual path that I have embarked on.
I have always been drawn to (what I have now come to know as ) the Pagan/or earth based religion.
It just 'feels" right. I am excited to learn all I can and continue to grow with each new day.
I will be doing alot of visiting to many of your sites and would respectably ask for as much help and suggestions that you may be willing to depart to me.  =]
Blessing be to you all