Happy New Year! Happy Hogmanay!

Talk about your white Christmas. Holy canolli! I think this one will be measured in feet rather than inches. We are completely snowed in. Ra may be spending the night again. Not so much because she wants to, but more because we're not exactly sure which snowdrift her car is under. And the "big" storm is still heading this way. Yikes! Guess I'll put the wassail on.

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas :) I am doing great and i hope you are all doing great to. Don't really know what to say for now so i am going to go.... Love you all lot's and lot's and lot's. *hugs and kisses*

Hey, are the corona's doing the new year thing this year?

I has no planz!!!

Just thought I'd let everyone know, Daelan's new Christmas portraits have been posted on my myspace page if anyone wants to see them.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=260882202

Love everyone!!
Amber

HAPPY SOLSTICE!

An elemental blessing from Patti Wiggington:

As the earth grows colder,
the winds blow faster,
the fire dwindles smaller,
and the rains fall harder,
let the light of the sun
find its way home.

Talk about your winter wonderland. Holy canolli! I'm not sure how much snow we've actually had come down so far, but it's been a pretty steady blizzard for the last 4 hours and doesn't show any sign of letting up. It's a good day/night to hunker down with some hot tea and cuddle in front of the fire ... assuming my cuddle partner makes it home from work okay.

Saw the foot doc today (I sure like him ... I wonder if we can be friends when he's done being my doctor?). I'm scheduled for another surgery on this toe January 21. Hopefully this will be the one to get me back in real (cute) shoes.

Latest project, a snowflake wreath. You all know how I can't ever just do things the normal way.





Also, here's a picture of Daelan at the train show......needless to say...he loved it.

If anyone wants more pictures of the train show let me know and I'll be more than happy to email them to you. Also, I have a new picture for my account, lemmie know what you think

Love everyone,
Amber

Just posted a bluegrass tune on mysongotheday ... if'n you're interested.

The Reason for the Season

I come to this blog post with only a small semblance of what I am going to write. I am only armed with a dream I had last night and an overwhelming love for God/dess. Yes, I do write it like that, with the slash. It doesn't look all too holy, but it makes sense to me. The God and Goddess are separate, but one.

I am often blessed with vivid dreams. I can't describe the joy that dreams bring me, even the scary ones. To have a sanctuary of night where reality falls away is one of my most prized gifts. I think I always knew my dreams made me something of a Witch. I never had dreams about heaven or any of it's angelic inhabitants, I never had dreams about jesus, but I have always had dreams about open meadows, bonfires, horned men, and strong women with swollen bellies. Always, in this dark month, I rely on my dreams to get me through this tough time.

My dreams seem to parallel the turning of the wheel.

For instance, in December and as we get closer to Yule, I often have dreams of pregnancy and babies. These are my favorite dreams. and let me tell you in dreamland, anyway, I make some damn cute babies. And that is what the season is about, birth and renewal. i don't care what religion or tradition you follow, they are all centered around this one idea. We light candles and sing songs to cast light and joy into the dark winter, we remind ourselves that the night is darkest just before the dawn. Sometimes it seems backwards for me to celebrate the longest night of the year, as I have a turbulent relationship with darkness. But this is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. Soon the sun king will be born again and grow in strength. It wont last much longer. Even now, as the nights only grow longer and colder, The Goddess is preparing for her delivery of her Sun.

Yule teaches me that winter should not be feared. Even though it seems like the landscape is dead and lifeless, it is not. Now is the time when life retreats into itself to hibernate and incubate and reflect on the year past. It is the quiet time, the time where your life is reflected in ice for you to study.

All we have to do is wait.

Happy Birthday Amber-Bamber. Tora!! Tora!! Tora!!! ;)

I'm at home resting and healing, I hope with the assistance of the world's greatest nurse (mom). Went to the E.R. Saturday with extreme lower back pain. Bulging disk (pinched nerve) that eventually affected my right thigh (couldn't make my leg respond at all). kept me in the hospital through Tuesday while they Hmmm'ed ad Haww'ed about surgery but decided on steroids and P.T. for now instead. Got lots of problems in the spine but with care and losing some weight, should do alright. Can't lift the little ones anymore. Will be on P.T. for some time to regain full use of my leg. Right now I have to use a walker (like old people). Trying to manage pain with tylenol but might have to chicken out and ask for some real stuff.
Dad (aka - coffee bean).

If'n you like Scottish folk songs, I just posted a really fun one on my other blog - www.mysongotheday.blogspot.com

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how
things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to
make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and
struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water
and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the
first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the
last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil;
without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the
carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and
placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it
in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She
did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the
daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell,
she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The
daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then
asked, 'What does it mean , mother?'

Her mother explained that! each of these objects had faced the same
adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot
went in strong, hard, and unrelenting.. However, after being
subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg
had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid
interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside
became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however.
After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter.
'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but
with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the
heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a
financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and
stiff ? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter
and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot
water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water
gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the
bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the
situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are
their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you
handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

I just had an amazing realization.

It's December now, and on a 'cold' day, I am perfectly comfortable outside in a t-shirt and a light jacket.

Uh.....wtf?



On another note, my next project is a story set in Chesky Krumlov. I saw a travel show about it. Prettiest town in Europe, if you ask me. I still don't know what's going to happen in Chesky Krumlov, but probably something having to do with a countess. I like the idea of countesses.

I have no desire to work on re-writing Pushing Lilies, not yet anyway. I'll do it though, i swear.