full moonday and much more

Our family's version of Day of the Dead, Dia de Muertos...we lit candles, we remembered and talked, we laughed and ate and crafted...y mucho mas. (More on the way we do it is here.)

Eleven of us made little wooden shrines decorated with paper, paint, moss, sequins, butterfly wings, skeletons & skulls, stickers & flowers and much more. I finished glueing sequins on mine yesterday and then made a nice dandelion latte using instant dandelion bags and coconut milk. It was good.

To symbolize going into the dark at this time of year I'm stitching on the pathways moon cloth with black thread. I absolutely adore the color black on natural linen. The cloth is starting to fill up, this is the tenth of what will be 13 stitched pathways for each of 13 moons.

The full moon tonight symbolizes fulfillment and fullness, something I most certainly am feeling right now. I am wishing you a full cup, a full heart...and much more.

sometimes you feel like a nut

The Colorado sun is intense, flowers and leaves need good, strong color to hold up under its power. Lower-elevation aspen never achieves the golden color that mountain aspen does so it is worth the short drive to see it every fall. And it might be my imagination but the sky seems bluer up there too. Some nice bear visited the same trailhead that we were at, you can see her claw marks.

I went nuts. I roasted 1) sage pecans/almonds/walnuts, 2) spiced pecans, 3) tamari basil almonds, and 4) they are all good. The sage mixed nuts are an Alice Waters My Pantry recipe, the spiced pecans are in Susan Branch's Autumn and the tamari basil almonds are from Judith Benn Hurley's Savoring the Day. (I couldn't find a link for the tamari basil almonds so I will just say that you dry roast a cup of raw almonds for 4 minutes, add some tamari to coat them, dump them in a jar and throw in a small handful of basil. Then you cover the jar and shake it good to bruise the basil.) 

There is more tomato sauce-and-salsa-making in my future. Those Supersweet 100 cherry tomatoes ripen so evenly, a whole sprig can be cut from the vine with nearly every little tomato ripened perfectly. Even though Supersweet 100 is a hybrid and not an heirloom, I'm going to stick with it from now on, I think. 

Weeks 28 and 29 for Journal52 -- combining two prompts, mail art and positive change, by collaging junk mail bits & pieces, layered painting, doodling, and finishing off with a quote I always identify well with. This is looking like a 104-week project rather than 52 weeks, but that's okay.

Today is a waxing moonday in Capricorn. Serious Capricorn is work-oriented and disciplined, helping us focus on both long-term and short-term projects. Like the Colorado sun, its calls us to do our very best and show our true colors. 

xo

stack of stitchery

I've surrendered to Nature. The garden and grass are all hers from now on even though we are still having summery days. No more pulling weeds, mowing (well, one last go-round maybe), or deadheading....hopefully not much more watering. It is time. Every day I transfer one potted plant from the patio back into the house after a quick shower and grooming. And each day, I sort of decide who's next so they know what's coming. It's working out pretty well, I haven't had any complaints so far -- the string of pearls, Senecio rowleyanus, actually started blooming since coming back inside.

Canning was not something I wanted to do this year but I am making tomato sauce to freeze. The recipe is here and it's a dandy. Every single batch I've ever made ever has been good. The secret is to use a generous amount of cherry tomatoes for sweetness. The batch in the photo up there made six cups which is a lot.

The indigo-dyed napkins are the first three of a set of 10 or 12 -- or however many stained white napkins we have. On these three the stains are mostly covered even after being machine-washed one time. I hope the color holds up but if not, back into the vat.

My super blood moon pathway turned out to be an easy red zig zag trail with moon knots in the zigs (thank you for the suggestions). Embroidering pathways is my 2015 moon stitch ritual -- one for each of 13 moons.

Books, magazines, papers, stitchery -- stacks everywhere. Here a stack, there a stack. Happy weekending.