Vernal Equinox: Day 6

Another day of celebrating the start of spring. It's the big day tomorrow, but we had a very enjoyable day today continuing my plan to make the week as daffodil-tastic as possible.

Grasmere

And where better to see daffodils (or rather 'Daffodils') than at the Wordsworth Museum and Dove Cottage! The museum has a special exhibition on to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Dorothy Wordsworth's birth, as well as the opportunity to see 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud' in Wordsworth's own hand, as the manuscript is currently on loan from the British Library. We had a lovely day at the museum and Dove Cottage in Grasmere today. It was perfect weather for a nice stroll around the gardens and woods at Dove Cottage too.

Thirlmere

We ended our little trip to the Lakes with a little walk around Thirlmere. We didn't spot any red squirrels, but the scenery was spectacular.

Dorothy Wordsworth Book and Bookmark

A lovely gift from Rob from the Wordsworth Museum... a book about Jane Austen and Dorothy Wordsworth by Marian Veevers, and a woven bookmark covered in daffodils!

Vernal Equinox: Day 5

Another busy day with work, so another slightly short blog post. There wasn't a lot of time for celebrating today! However, I did do one big thing that was a lot of fun...

Creative Writing Session

I do a weekly volunteering session at Castlerea House care home, where I run creative writing and reading sessions for the residents. This week's writing session celebrated the Vernal Equinox, and it was (of course) daffodil-themed! And somehow, I ended up with daffodils in my hair (which I guess was only a matter of time given how this week's going!)...

Vernal Equinox: Day 4

Busy day at work today for both of us, so we didn't do very much celebrating. We still managed a couple of small nods to the season though.

Daffodils!

If we're going to have a truly daffodil-tastic week, I thought we should probably have some in the house. Bought a 'Bumper Daffs' bunch from Tesco and it filled 2 vases!

Ferrero Rocher Mini Eggs

My brother came round after work tonight. We have a little in-joke about Ferrero Rocher, and it's the Vernal Equinox, so that meant only one thing... Ferrero Rocher mini eggs!

Vernal Equinox: Day 3

It's our third day of celebrating the upcoming Vernal Equinox! And it's continuing to be a daffodil-tastic week, although today had a bit of a bunny theme as well.

More Daffodils!

More daffodil-spotting today... I went to Crumpsall Park with a friend, and we were absolutely spoilt for daffs!

Lunch with a Friend

After all that daffodil-spotting, we felt like we deserved a nice lunch at The Secret Sandwich in Crumpsall. And lots of cups of tea!

Seasonal Chocolate

Couldn't resist this Hot Cross Bun Dairy Milk from Cadbury's... perfect for the season!

Ostara Earrings

Two different pairs of seasonal earrings for me today. For the day, I had some funky chickens. And then I switched them for rabbits in the evening to accessorize with our film night...

Night of the Lepus

Film night with Rob and a friend tonight... I couldn't find any daffodil-themed horror, but this one seemed perfect for the season. We watched the amazing 1972 eco-horror, Night of the Lepus. It's got giant killer rabbits!

Vernal Equinox: Day 2

It was the second day of our Vernal Equinox celebrations today (building up to the big day on Sunday). Today was also our wedding anniversary, so we had a bit of a double celebration this evening.

Daffodils

I went daffodil-spotting again today. This time, I was in Herristone Park on the way home from work.

Ostara Earrings

Today's seasonal earrings were little baby chicks.

Ostara Candle

We lit our Ostara candle (from Chalice Creations) for the first time tonight. Scents of lime, bergamot, coconut and grapefruit to last through the week.

Equinox

For some seasonal entertainment tonight, we started watching Danish supernatural thriller Equinox. I reckon there's enough episodes to see us through till the actual Vernal Equinox on Sunday!

Anniversary Cocktails

As it was our eighth (salt) wedding anniversary tonight, we had a bit of a salt-themed tonight as well. I made cocktails to celebrate - it was a Gimlet, but made with Mermaid Salt Vodka from the Isle of Wight Distillery.

Vernal Equinox: Day 1

It's time for the second event in our Year of Celebrating the Seasons this week. The Vernal (Spring) Equinox (aka Ostara) is coming up on Sunday, so we're going to be celebrating all week, enjoying the beginnings of spring. We already started some new traditions at Imbolc, but who knows? we might start some more this week as well.

A Walk in the Woods

I started off my Vernal Equinox celebrations with a walk in the woods with my dad. We met in Blackley Forest and spent a nice hour or so just enjoying nature.

Daffodils

It's daffodil season! And that's a sure sign that spring is here. I'm determined to make this week as daffodil-tastic as I can, so I started off by spotting some in the woods.

Blackthorn

Daffodils aren't the only spring flowers though. The blackthorn is also in blossom in the woods this month.

Daffodil: Biography of a Flower

Since I'm going for a daffodil-tastic week, my holiday reading is Daffodil: Biography of a Flower by Helen O'Neill.

Ostara Earrings

I've got a good collection of seasonal earrings lined up for this holiday. Today's were daffodils and bunny rabbits.

A Year of Celebrating the Seasons

This post is about our New Year's Resolution for 2022. After last year's 31 Days of Halloween and a very festive countdown to Christmas, Rob and I have decided we've nailed those two celebrations. The problem is, it's a long time to wait between Christmas and Halloween so New Year can often seem a bit flat after all the festive fun. Additionally - and I'm not sure if this is a result of the pandemic or if it had been creeping in before then - we've both been feeling weird about the way time is passing. Sometimes it feels like it's whizzing by, but then a single day can feel like it lasts for years (and not always in a good way). So, in an effort both to keep the festive feeling all year round and to feel a bit more comfortable and in control of the passage of time, we've decided to celebrate seasonally this year. Since we already celebrate a quarter day (Christmas/Yule) and a cross-quarter day (Halloween/Samhain), we thought we might as well celebrate the other six seasonal markers.

Neither of us are religious, and our Christmas and Halloween celebrations are always a mish-mash of traditions, including a few we've invented ourselves. Our plan is to celebrate the other seasons in the same way. We've planned a week for each, except Halloween and Christmas (which both get a month, because they're the best ones). Mostly, our celebrations are likely to be seasonal earrings, going for walks and watching films, but we're hoping to come up with some other new traditions along the way! (Any interesting suggestions would gratefully received!)

Since a lot of the seasonal celebrations are muddled together versions of Christian festivals, astronomical phenomena, neo-paganism and other traditions, the first thing we had to do was decide what to call our festivities. We've basically decided just to go with the names we're most familiar with, even though that's a bit of a pick-and-mix: Imbolc, Vernal Equinox, Beltane, Midsummer, Lammas, Autumnal Equinox, Halloween and Christmas.