Hodge Podge day again

 

This is the first photograph of the original Ft. McHenry Flag that was damaged during the 1814 Battle for Baltimore. This Flag was Francis Scott Key's inspiration to write the Star Spangled Banner. Photo George Preble 1874

I finally packeed some mugs to go to the Tailgate sales.

Able Seacat 'Gulpers', Chief Mouser of HMS Barfleur, a WW2 British destroyer, taking a rest from mouse-catching duties. Sadly no animals have been allowed on Royal Navy ships since 1975.

Today's quote:

Clutter is not just the stuff on your floor, it's anything that stands between you & the life you want to be living.

                    ... Peter Walsh

Signs2 This Wednesday

 

Former blogger John Bauman (former potter also!) posted this on Facebook the other day.

A friend who opened her own pottery business 2 years ago in Black Mountain....Sarah Vekasi.

Autumnal decorations at the welcome sign.

The hub of our mail in Black Mountain.

Sharing with Signs2

Today's quote:

Awakening is to realize the infinite value of each moment of your own life as well as other beings, then continue to act accordingly.

KAZUAKI TANAHASHI 10 more days till winter solstice Celebrating the return of the light with santa lucia - at UUCSV in 2010!

Illustration by Louis Wain 

17 more days till Christmas

Seventh Night of Hanukkah

It's cats of Halloween Time and a recent ritual

 The Earth is preparing for hibernation and so must we. The days of Samhain are the final stages of autumn, and we are moving into the darkest and coldest phase of the year. Lifeforce and sap is returning to the root and into our physical form. Around us we see the barren landscape. All the leaves have fallen, and the weather is cold.

The festival of Samhain falls on the wheel of the year halfway between Mabon and Yule, the Winter Solstice. The calendared date for the festival falls at the end of October and beginning of November. Many associate Samhain with calendared Halloween but the two are in fact different festivals. At this festival there is a recognition of – and the visible connectivity with – death, but it is framed within the trust and faith that through giving death to the old we transform and regenerate and give birth to something new. Samhain is a time for exploration of the MYSTIC and WITCH, internal self-discovery, facing our shadow and challenging body sensations and emotions, which we may have resisted or even feared looking directly at, whilst honouring and trusting our gut instinct.

It is in the dark that we connect to the cauldron of alchemy and metamorphosis. There is a need to descend deep into the underworld, our unconscious mind, and the belly of the earth to retrieve exiled parts and to integrate shadow aspects of self. During Samhain, the veils between the physical and spiritual are very thin. We can access the wisdom of our ancestors and genetic memory. In allowing the renewal of our cells and the releasing of stagnated emotions and energy, the liberation of our ancestral lines can take place. Surrendering into the cyclical nature of life-death-life, trusting and following it whilst allowing the darkness, supports the potency of shamanic journeying, meditation, lucid dreaming, astral travelling, and intuitive knowing.

We explore the landscape of our unconscious and cut the cords with the patriarchal narrative that darkness is evil or terrifying – liberating it and our powerful feelings, where we can discover such wisdom. The rational and logical are not part of this festival. This is the heroine’s journey of descent and at the end of it, at Spring Equinox, following the ascent, balance is restored.

At Samhain we receive Awen and discern. We listen and scry, engage in divination work, and connect to the inspired dreams and visions to be birthed during the light half of the following year. At this festival we release and compost, receive and incubate. It is also a great time of year to assess, review and fill the gaps – to learn, find teachers who inspire you. You are PREPARING.”

- Kay Louise Aldred, ‘Mentorship with Goddess: Growing Sacred Womanhood’ - Girl God Books

Painting by Jackie Morris

Inanna's Daughters (at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley) met outside on a nice warm Sunday afternoon yesterday.

We came together in circle to honor our ancestors and others who've died recently, to hold in our keening sorrows all those suffering and dying on our earth today, and to recognize that death is not final, but a transition as autumn is to our earth's seasons.

And then there have been all these posts of Halloween Cats!

Ropes Mansion, Salem MA built 1720

Today's quote:

The day I acquired the habit of consciously pronouncing the words “thank you”, I felt I had gained possession of a magic wand capable of transforming everything.

OMRAAM MIKHAËL AÏVANHOV

Andrew Wyeth

Some of the cats in my life.

 My cats.

I shared earlier on  "Pets I Remember" a lot of photos which included at least one dog. HERE.

And here's an older post about "Last Day of the Month Animals" with my grandson's cats. He has another one, Alice, in addition to the two in that link.

 OH HERE"S ALICE GRANDCAT!

And here's the 2017 series of Yoga Cats. I chose two to keep for my own collection. 

Looking at both sides of this warrior pose. Having a tail sure helps!

Downward cat and modified tree pose.

Don't know if this pose had a name...but you'll recognize the headstand...again having a tail helps. J

Here are more photos of my felines in fur or clay!.

The cat mugs one. 

And yes I made clay cats of different forms. Here you can find mugs with kittens.

And various little critter cats

When I moved to Black Mountain from Tampa FL, I brought black Keptain and (Queen Calico) Muffin.

Keptain didn't live much longer, since he was already about 12 when we moved.

Muffin did have complete control of the house for her 18 years.

She had been born on my birthday in St. Augustine FL...and moved with me 5 times. Yes I am a bit of a wanderer.

Don't know how these guys got in here!

This is another grandcat, Bandit, who chose my new daughter-in-law and her sister to be his servants.

May I introduce Panther, my last cat. You never know that's going to happen.

Panther liked to watch the show "Nature." So I captured her on this post.

This series shows her love not so much of the fish, but of the fish food. One morning I found the open food container on the floor, and all that had spilled out had been licked up by Ms. Panther. I think she would have liked a fish too, but she turned up her nose at leftover salmon I gave her.

In all ways, Muffin remained the Queen. Panther wasn't ever very confrontive (that I saw) but also didn't get in her space either. Panther outlived Muffin by a few years. I treated Panther's thyroid problems for the last several months of her life...a draining experience that reminds me of how caregivers must be so dedicated to their patients, feline or human (or canine.)

The earlier cats in my life (a la sepia) were included in my first post that's linked above.

Sharing with Saturday's Critters

Check out Sepia Saturday for more!

Today's quote:

​Blind faith in your leaders, or in anything, will get you killed. 

-Bruce Springsteen, musician (b. 1949)