Hi from the Oregon Coast

Daily Stuff 5-31-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 06:53 PM GMT Tarih: 31 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Green, dim and drippy this morning, and a touch colder than it’s been. I never did get the rain gauge dumped and it’s overflowed. We’ve gotten to the time of year when we have 16 ½ hours of daylight. I wake in daylight and often go to sleep when there’s still at least a glimmer in the sky.

…oof… I got completely sidetracked and it’s almost lunch time before I’m getting back to this. It’s still dim and green, but the “drippies” have quit and the sun tried to come out every so often. The feeder has been inhabited by a lot of sparrows and towhees this morning.

I spent yesterday at home since we didn’t have anyone for wands class. Nexes and I had a long talk, then I rested and read for most of the rest of the day. I did a little online research (I’m looking into some of the early (50’s) teachings in Wicca) and did put up some links that showed up on Facebook again.

Sam was pretty busy at the shop. He’s still working on sorting tools into the right places.

Star and Rick were painting next door again, then this morning we talked about them transitioning from Hillsboro to here.

I’m hoping to get into the garden for a while and do some baking and then get the newsletter stuff set up through Litha, but I’m still trying to rest and get over this darned cold. I’ll be glad when it finally lets up!

The shop is closed today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-30-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:51 PM GMT Tarih: 30 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s very cloudy, still, but bright.

We got through the rest of Lesson 5 during the morning, although everyone was really scattered. I’m not sure how much of it stuck or will stick. Well, at least we’re through! Nexes made the most awesome homemade noodles for his chicken alfredo. Wow, that was good! Trisha wasn’t feeling so hot, so she asked to do her Astrology Basics class next. Nexes did another class on Crystals and crystal lore. After that we did the wands class, then folks started on their wands. Sam took me home, so I could collapse for a while then everyone got together for the 104 class. Last night’s topic was Ritual Tools, so we went through the list of various tools, learning more of the mythology

Today’s topic is wands, again. I’m not sure how many people will be in.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

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Space Weather News for May 30, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
DOUBLE FLYBY ALERT: Space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the International Space Station on Sunday evening, May 29th, at 11:55 pm EDT. This sets the stage for a series of beautiful double flybys: The shuttle and station will soar through the night sky side-by-side in advance of Endeavour's final landing on June 1st. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker to see if you are favored with an apparition: http://spaceweather.com/flybys
BONUS: You can also turn your cell phone into a shuttle tracker. Our "Simple Flybys" app works on both iPhone and Android devices. Details at http://simpleflybys.com

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Daily Stuff 5-29-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:15 PM GMT Tarih: 29 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

I was up for a little while at dawn, the sky was just starting to brighten, but clouds were coming and going across the eastern sky. Now, it’s doing the same, but it’s light enough to see and actually too bright when the sun comes out.

For a day that was supposed to have a lot of rain, yesterday was *gorgeous*. We actually didn’t have very many people shopping. They were all down on the beach! During the early part of the day, I got the tops glued onto the stone chip bottles and then we made quite a mess in the classroom, de-barking wand sticks. Fawkes spent quite a while working with his new pens in his book of shadows. Sam got another set of things cleaned and moved in back, mostly the holiday storage area, but late in the day the workbench finally came down to the shop, so the next step in the “compounding station” is set up. There were a number of folks there during the sewing workshop, but only two of us actually working on projects. Star and Rick worked on setting up for painting the house next door, and then well into the evening they worked on Kyle’s room. Nexes helped with part of that. They’re doing a tree and sky on the walls and ceiling.

Today the regular 10am Wicca 101 will be first and some folks will be working on illuminations during class, then we’ll be doing a seminar with several experienced wand-makers on the panel at 1pm. Trisha’s Astrology Basics (the next in the Divination series) will start at 3pm. If I understand correctly, Nexes is doing some kind of cooking workshop at the house that’s supposed to end up with a chicken alfredo for lunch and then we’ll have a snack before the folks go back to the Center. On Monday, it’s back to wands, although we don’t have set times for working on those.

I *still* forgot about getting those pictures from the other day done and posted, but there’s pic of Arthur as a baby with my Mom. She had her violin out and was showing how it worked.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

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Space Weather News for May 28, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on May 27-28, sparking a moderate geomagnetic storm and auroras in both hemispheres. At the time this alert is being composed (1500 UT on May 28), naked-eye Southern Lights are dancing in the skies over Tasmania and New Zealand. If forecasts are correct, geomagnetic activity should remain at elevated levels for the next 24 to 48 hours. Visit http://spaceweather.com for updates and images of the ongoing storm.
SOLAR ACTIVITY INTENSIFIES: The recently-quiet sun is waking up. New sunspots are emerging across the solar disk, and at least one of them is crackling with C-class solar flares. Even stronger eruptions appear to be in the offing. If you would like alerts notifying you of solar flares and magnetic storms the instant they happen, please consider signing up for Space Weather Phone: http://spaceweatherphone.com .

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Daily Stuff 5-28-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:12 PM GMT Tarih: 28 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

The eastern sky was bright when I first got up. It’s not now. It’s been pouring rain. Large drops shake individual leaves as they hit the alder. Big drops splatter in the drip line below the porch roof. A couple of house finches are quietly nibbling at seed in the feeder and it’s very dim out there…and very green. …and very wet. When Trinity and I were working in the garden there was an ½ inch in the rain gauge. Yesterday morning there was 1 ½. Now there’s going on 4 inches… I gotta dump it this morning.

We’re going to start a unit on wands this weekend. We have a lot of sticks and plenty of tools, so from 10am to 3pm there should be people working on those. Then there’s a sewing workshop at 3pm, a BYOP (bring your own project) workshop, although there are fabrics and projects and materials if there’s something you want to make or learn how to make. Nexes, Sasha and I will be doing readings all day. On Sunday, the regular 10am Wicca 101 will be first, then we’ll be doing a seminar with several experienced wand-makers on the panel at 1pm. Trisha’s Astrology Basics (the next in the Divination series) will start at 3pm. If I understand correctly, Nexes is doing some kind of cooking workshop at the house on Sunday that’s supposed to end up with a chicken alfredo for supper before the folks go back to the Center. On Monday, it’s back to wands, although we don’t have set times for working on those.

Yesterday was busy with sewing and sorting. I managed to get a couple of boxes of “just dumped” sorted out far enough that what’s left is in a couple of plates. Do you know how long to takes to get hooks and cuphooks and push pins sorted out from screws and rubber bands and wood bits mixed with a vaccum cleaner belt and assorted pegboard hook pieces? There’s the odd eyebolt mixed in with the screw now, but most of the rest is where it belongs.

Late in the day Marius brought his wire-wrapping stuff in and did a pendant and a necklace. He has a new wire-twister that is really cool and a “3rd hand” tool for holding things in place. While he was working on that we were talking and I was getting small bits of semi-precious stones into little bottles. We’ll have those for sale in the not-too-distant, although I have to get them finished.

I *still* forgot about getting those pictures from the other day done and posted….

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-27-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:44 PM GMT Tarih: 27 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

That’s pretty! Bright, bright sunshine beside the eastern sky that is dark with ominous-looking clouds, shining on the newly-washed new green of the alder. There are little sparkles of water droplets among the leaves, glitter-sparkles in the waving branches.

There is a pair of house finches on the newly re-filled birdfeeder. …now some sparrows. …now a chirpy, twitchy, tiny chickadee. …now a batch of ‘em … now sparrows…

We’re going to start a unit on wands this weekend…there’s a sewing workshop at 3pm on Saturday, and readings all day. Sunday’s a little more regimented, but keep an eye on the calendar below and here tomorrow morning for details! (running out of time to get this out, eep!)

I spent yesterday at the shop first working on finishing up checking in orders, then cleaning the sewing area and then sewing. I got some new orders placed, did some counseling, both in the shop and over the phone and down toward the end of the day, spent some time catching up with folks we haven’t heard from in a while.

Wow! The feeder and the whole porch just turned yellow with a bunch of the evening grosbeaks!

Mitch wanted me to tell folks that he got 80% in his Fundamentals of English that he’s taking at Brown Mackie College. Way to go, Mitch!

…and Jesse’s doing well. He’s thinking about coming out for a visit this summer…still job-hunting, but so many are….

…and it sounds like Hatch is in Portland again.

Trinity got to Idaho yesterday, and is settling in.

So that’s the news from Lake Woebegone...

Star got in late morning with Fawkes’ lawn mower that Sam’s going to work on. Yes, Sam is doing small engine and outdoor power equipment repair. You can drop off equipment, although he’s not quite ready to give “finish dates” yet, since some of his equipment isn’t completely set up.

Star and I sat and talked a while, then she took a nap, then she and Rick then went to work on the other house…drawing flowers on the bathroom walls, it sounds like… I know they did more than that, but that’s what she talked about!

The divider curtain (that cuts off the occasionally messy back of the shop from the front) finally has good tiebacks (we scavenged some shower curtain rings for it) and a lot more bolts of fabric are into the bolt holder. I found some in-process projects and got those hung up on the one of the garment racks that I grabbed for the back. It’s the rust-footed one that was hanging outside, so I know we’re not going to use that out front again. I made a multi-colored moons and stars on black drape, and a short caftan of the flocked spiderweb fabric and started another drape with stars on net. Those are selling fast! I have some to cut out today of the slinkier spiderweb (and purple/green) fabrics. I finished the other pillowcase and found some fabrics that I was going to make little car pillows out of and got them all together. I also found the missing pieces of the little 2T summer outfits that I was working on about 4 years ago, so I’ll be able to work on those in the near future. I hope I have scraps because I sold most of the little hats that went with them!

We’re almost at the point of being able to take down the other folding table that’s causing so much of the jam in the back at the moment. I have a pile of mending on it and some things that need to be shelved, but I may get that done today. That would be a relief!

I also started sorting the “holiday corner”, the storage area where a lot of out-of-season stuff is going to land and the wedges, as well. I asked Sam to get back in there this afternoon to get stuff into the shelf units now that they’re up and painted and to do something with the scrap wood pile. Once those wedges are out of the way we can scoot the class table closer to the library shelves and have more room around the table and the beverage counter. We’re getting places!

I *still* forgot about getting those pictures from the other day done and posted….

Sam’s heading to Lincoln City to pick up Fawkes this morning and is going to do some shopping on the way home.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

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Space Weather News for May 27, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
SOLAR SAIL FLASHES: NASA's Nanosail-D, the first solar sail to orbit Earth, is flashing as it glides through the night sky. Observers in Europe report luminous peaks as bright as a 1st magnitude star. The irregular period of the flashes suggests that the sail might be tumbling, although no one is certain at this moment what is causing the phenomenon. Sky watchers are encouraged to check the Simple Satellite Tracker for local flyby times and watch this unique spacecraft strobe overhead: http://spaceweather.com/flybys
DON'T FORGET THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Meanwhile, space shuttle Endeavour and the ISS are putting on a show of their own. The docked spacecraft are making a series of brilliant dawn flybys over North America and Europe, providing early risers with a chance to see Endeavour one last time before it returns to Earth for retirement. Tracking them is easy; just use your cell phone: http://simpleflybys.com.

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Daily Stuff 5-26-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:34 PM GMT Tarih: 26 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s thoroughly overcast, though bright and quite breezy. That last doesn’t show on the computer mostly because the weather station is tucked into a corner where it doesn’t really represent what it’s like up here. I miss having the station at the foot of Range Drive. The breeze has been banging doors and causing little cold drafts to creep across the floor to grab my ankles.

I haven’t seen a single bird on the feeder this morning. I don’t know why. It’s been raining off and on, but that doesn’t usually stop them.

I worked on newsletter files and catching up on mail yesterday, and trying to see what all I need to get in the next order for the shop. Sam dropped me at the shop around 1pm since I was to meet with a ad person from one of the Newport radio stations. I didn’t end up getting to talk to her. Apparently she was running way ahead of schedule and then something happened and her cell phone was off…. So I checked in the order that came in the other day and then sat down to sew. I also wandered around picked up random things (banana peel on the windowsill?) in strange places and doing a little cleaning.

We have a *lot* of new pendulums! We have some of the “plain jane” ones, but also a number of the ones with the chakra bead chains and a couple more random crystals. We also got in the Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic.

I finally finished the curtains from the back of the display case and they’re up and I worked on the mending stack, plus one pillowcase that I made as a gift. I have one more of those to do up, then another stack of mending, a couple of tie-backs, then back to the drapes. I’m also hoping that Sam and I will be able to “bolt” a couple more fabrics that I ran across in the mending pile.

Last night I got really distracted. Several books came in, several special orders, a crystal book for the shop library and a copy of Mercedes Lackey’s “The Sleeping Beauty”. Ok, hand Anja a book and she vanishes…. At least until it’s done….So I took a bath (and uncharacteristically the book didn’t) and read, then got clean pj’s, crawled into bed and read, then got my clean clothes put away, crawled back into bed, pulled up the covers and read, finished the book and went to sleep. My idea of a perfect evening!

It was too wet for Herbs Outdoors yesterday and I forgot about the rest of the pictures that I got, so that’s on today’s agenda.

Wow! The sun’s coming out…or trying, anyway….

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-25-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:17 PM GMT Tarih: 25 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s dim green and drippy outside. Very quiet…..very, *very* quiet! I’m amazed that I can just hear the raindrops dripping from the porch roof to the ground and darned near nothing else….oh, a bird call….

White-crowned sparrow on the feeder, which is almost ½ empty... We’ve gotta get on that today. The birds aren’t clearing it out the way they were, but it’s almost at the level where the smaller birds start quarreling over the upper perches.

I got out into the garden with Trinity for a couple of hours. I was completely covered up because we were out mid-day. I scorched, but didn’t burn. My lower legs got a bit and even in a cover-up my arms scorched. I had on a hood and hat and still my nose and chin are pink and my hands are a bit tender. I had red/auburn hair when I was a kid and it still shows and having first the move and then being so sick, twice, means I’m not even protected a little from getting burned.

We made quite a dent in the mess out there and discovered a few plants that I wasn’t sure were still ok. I took a pic from the back because you can’t see the difference from where I usually take the pictures. (last pic in this album http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101501724 54199148.360606.714224147&l=a4b7243cff ) I still haven’t sorted the rest of the pix, but here are a few more albums.
Veg & Fruit http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101501777 63299148.363658.714224147&l=1231348bfa
Herbs http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101501932 52334148.371023.714224147&l=5d11058521
Look for the slug! http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.441460549 147.229993.714224147&l=3287501ad2

We even found that the seeded borage wasn’t in the edge of the garden, but actually out in the pebbled path!

I’ve been out taking pictures already, so look for more today!

I spent the rest of the day setting up newsletter files, but I also managed a really tasty Yorkshire pudding with added cheese and bacon for a late lunch, plus some egg rolls for a late supper, and the usual cleaning chores, although most of my contribution to that was getting clean clothes put away and sorting papers.

Sam worked on getting the workbench out of the other garage. That’s the one for the “compounding station” that we’ve planned for the back of the shop. It’s sitting out in the rain right now, but it’s to be scrubbed down with soap and rinsed so that it will be fresh and clean once it dries back out.

Trinity’s grandfolks showed up late in the day. She was all packed, so they didn’t have to stay long. She’ll be back from Idaho, eventually. We’re going to miss her.

Sam also spent quite a while finding things as he was getting the workbench out. He found a sculpture that I was gifted with by a student who was into metal-work. (pic coming) and a lot of things that have been missing. He also managed to spend time in his shop setting up to do blade sharpenings.

Sam’s heading into Newport today for errands, and I have to get back to work on the Alchemy line. We also had a new order arrive that I’ll have to check in at the shop in the morning. When Sam goes into Newport I might go down to the shop and sew, although I haven’t decided. We’ll see how tired I am once Sam’s ready.

The shop is closed today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

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Space Weather News for May 24, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
COMET FIREBALL: Bright fireballs appear somewhere on Earth every day. Most are caused by rocky asteroids. On Friday, May 20th, however, a less common object struck. Sky watchers in the southeastern USA watched a big but fragile piece of comet break apart in Earth's atmosphere. The resulting fireball was the brightest meteor observed in nearly 3 years by NASA's all-sky network of meteor cameras. Videos and more information are featured on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com
HOLD A METEORITE IN YOUR HAND: Certified authentic meteorites are now available in the Space Weather Store. Details at http://www.shopspaceweather.com/meteorite-sets.asp x

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Daily Stuff 5-24-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 06:06 PM GMT Tarih: 24 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s bright sunshine again, really lovely on the fluttering leaves of the alder. I just twigged to what’s bothering me about the wind. During the winter, even winds of 20mph or more won’t move the alder, but now with leaves on even 5mph will do it! Ok, *that’s* what’s it is! I know, duh, but it just didn’t get bubbled up to the top until this morning…..

I’ve only seen sparrows on the feeder this morning and a couple of chickadees. There was a large crow zooming past in a hurry at one point and in the distance you can see swallows swooping around each other, playing.

There are buds on the rosebush by the back steps, bright-colored buds. I thought they were hips, left-overs. I’m going out to weed today, even if I sunburn. I want to bake this dratted cold out of my chest. The few minutes I spent outside yesterday helped.

Yesterday I worked furiously at the Alchemy pages…when I could stay awake. I kept falling asleep. I got up late, napped from 1:30 or so to 5, dozed off and on in my chair until around 7pm, then went to bed at midnight and slept until almost 10am. Sheesh!

Sam worked on shelves at the shop. He’s got most of the hardware transferred over to the new shelf in the back. He also worked on sorting out the folding stuff, chairs & tables that are getting stored in that area.

It doesn’t sound like much after the frantic days trying to get moved, does it?

I’ve put up a lot of garden pictures over the last several days, but I haven’t finished sorting them out yet. I’m hoping to get that completed soon, maybe today, and then I’ll post links.

We have the usual baking/laundry/cleaning stuff to do today. We’re supposed to be experimenting with freezing bread dough in various stages, so that all we have to do is bake. The worst part of it is getting the timing right. It’s been several years since I was doing bread in this kind of quantity, but we need to for feeding folks over the weekends. I need to set up the weekend casseroles, too, now that I’m not contagious, and Sam has to make a run into Newport for some errands.

The shop is closed today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 2-23-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 08:24 PM GMT Tarih: 23 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s bright and beautiful sunshine this morning…well, afternoon, but I’ve only been awake for an hour so it’s morning…. When I was up just before sunrise for a while it was grey and dim and water droplets all over everything and very, very quiet. Not now! The birds are going berserk! There’s wind noise from a good breeze, enough to make the bamboo chime clonk, traffic noise, and someone is running a lawnmower. I thought I heard a big vacuum cleaner earlier, and there’s some truck/construction noise, as well.

I’m running way late because I finally managed to sleep well. I’m going to get this out and go back to bed. My cough has dropped to the point that it only woke me once during the night (that before-dawn thing, above?) and I got up, had a cup of slippery elm tea and went back to bed. I’m hoping I’ll get out into the sunshine and bake the rest of this out of me later, but after I catch up on what I missed for several days.

There were 10 or so Job Corps folks in for classes yesterday. Laura did one on Illuminations. Nexes did Food Additive and Kitchen Magick. Trisha did Divination. I haven’t heard much more about it than that, but it sounds like they all went well…and the students didn’t want to go back to Job Corps. 

I've caught up for the next several months on essentials. Now I'm working on the stuff that actually takes a mind to work with, since that wandered back into my vicinity yesterday. ...and I have almost enough energy to get some creative stuff going: fabric designs and printed products.

Sam’s at the shop today. Trinity is working on the house next door. I’m going back to bed.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-22-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 07:15 PM GMT Tarih: 22 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

I’m finally awake… yes, I’m getting better at long last. I was starting to think yesterday evening that I might be, but it’s definite. I actually got most of a night’s sleep. I’m still not at the shop today. For one thing, it’s hard to teach or to talk to a customer when each time I cough the roof flaps twice before it settles down.

It’s beautiful outside. The sunshine is really bright and there’s a nice breeze and it’s warm, 64F, already! There are birds all over the feeders, including some of the grosbeaks. Speaking of which…. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101500989 15019148.317578.714224147&l=05e8d3e276 I finally got pictures up! The whole album is bird pictures, newest at the beginning. I should have some links up tomorrow about the rest of the garden.

Being sick has had one really good effect. When I couldn’t think, I could still edit and organize photos, so a lot of the pictures that I haven’t had time to put up during the whole chaos of moving are finally going to get where they’re supposed to be. I didn’t dare *move* them while my brain was on hold, but I got them edited and started setting up where they’re supposed to go.

They did ok at the shop yesterday. Sam ended up staying late fixing the new bookshelves. Well, old bookshelves to us, but new to the shop. They’re the ones that my Dad had in his classroom where I grew up, and they were in the rental house, but got damaged somehow. They’re going to be the new used book shelves for the shop. I don’t know if he’s started transferring books or not.

There was a whole crowd here in the evening, although I hid in the study. I was still feeling very sorry for myself and bitchy as all-get-out, safer to hide, but they had a great time.

There’s a good-sized crowd at the shop right now. It looks like the schedule got thoroughly upset, so Illumination is what’s been going on. I’m guessing…although I don’t know, call the shop if you’ve questions…. that they’re going on into Food Additives and Kitchen Magick, ending with Trisha’s Divination class. All these are free classes, by the way!

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-21-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 06:55 PM GMT Tarih: 21 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Today is Gem’s wake. I can’t go because I’m too sick with this stupid cold. She was 30. Cancer. She left behind the sisters that she had raised because their mother was unable to do much more than keep them together. She left behind a little boy, just turned two. She was my daughter-should-have-been…. The quote below applies…..

“I have learned from speaking to many cancer survivor groups that the watch on your hand no longer says, "tick, tick, tick." It now says "precious, precious, precious." When you understand that, every chapter in your life that you write becomes fascinating.” - Steve Sobel, Speaker

She’s the first of my “children” that I know to have died. I’ve come close to it with others, but the first one that Crosses that borderline is difficult. Of course I still see her and talk to her…probably more than when she was just living at a distance…but it’s different.

I remember her now as she was before the cancer and I’m glad. Cancer does nasties, but she was beautiful even then and I told her so. But before… Vital, funny, so very loving… “Mama, come with us! We’re going to….” …whatever it was, now I wish I had gone every time…. Yes, she called me Mama. I see her eyes sparkling with mischief, her strong and beautiful hands holding a wrench or a hammer or lifting a glass of wine. “Sam makes *good* stuff!” I think that was the last bottle of yellow plum. Every time she was out here she ended up under the hood of some vehicle, and mine always ran better for it. Every task we did together was enlivened by her being there. We weeded the garden one afternoon and harvested a crop of carrots and radishes that she turned into a salad for the whole bunch of us. We giggled our way through a lot of dull chores and spent a whole afternoon blowing bubbles just to watch them fly up and away into the trees or into the blue sky. She drove Kelsey all the way out here just to deliver a birthday cake for me that Kelsey had made and she was *so* proud of her little sister. Midnight phone calls when things were going sideways… or afternoon ones just so we could catch up on each other’s lives: we always ended with, “I love you Mama.” “I love you Gem!”

When I got to see her just before she started to fade out of this world we made a deal. I will go to the Rogue Brewery and re-create one of our favorite mutual memories. We were there with a huge group of people and now I don’t remember why, but the two of us grabbed our glasses of a good red wine and sat on the floor at the Lego table and built things and talked. We made a giggle out of “stealing” each other’s blocks. This time she gets to steal the blue ones!  It won’t be today, but as soon as I can go out again, I will.

…and no, Gem wasn’t her real name. It was a “just us” name that I used for her. I had gone to run errands in Newport after having griped for half the morning to myself that I had to get the house cleaned back up after a bunch of folks spent the weekend, and I griped the whole way through the errands about how much I had to get done. I walked in to a gleaming house and was set down at the table with a delicious lunch, while she put the stuff away. I hugged her and told her she was a precious Gem…. And that’s what I always think of her.

It’s rather dim this morning…or I am… I’m not at the shop. Sam is and Nexes. Fawkes stayed here. I guess I’m sick enough that they figured I need to be watched. I’m sufficiently wiped out that I’m going to call it good for today and hope to do better tomorrow….

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-20-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 05:44 PM GMT Tarih: 20 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

The sunshine is so gorgeous this morning! They’re talking about 65F today and the air smells so good! …well, in between bouts of sniffling.


I hadn’t talked about the birds recently. Remember that I said something about a bright yellow flash of feathers beyond the feeder several days ago? There are two possibilities on that for birds that I’ve seen on the feeder. One was that it was a goldfinch. I see those pretty regularly, but a new visitor to the feeder, at least as far as I’ve seen, is the evening grosbeak. The flash was too large for the first, but just right for the 2nd….and there’s a whole batch of them out there this morning. Not only do they have the big beak and white wing patches, they’ve got a visor across the eyes that’s a brilliant crayon yellow! …I haven’t seen two birds doing that before… it looks like he’s taking the seeds out of her beak. Odd. …chomping back and forth… There’ve been a dozen varieties of sparrows both house finches (pink) and American finches (yellow) out there, one set of sparrows, a Stellar Jay, and a large raven. The latter made the acquaintance of Sam’s raccoon discourager and jumped off it quickly…. There was a black bird with a brown head that seems to be called a cowbird, yesterday.

It feels like I spent all day yesterday working on the Alchemy lines. I’ve got a bit of a handle on what kind of things I *don’t* want to put up on the website, but more of an issue with the ones that I do. I still have about 400 things…. And we’re only putting up 50 this time. Oof.

…and I spent the rest of yesterday either sitting, limp in my chair because I feel *awful*, or coughing….

…Well, except for spending the afternoon at the shop, where that’s all I accomplished there, either. …Well, that’s not *completely* accurate. I checked in my jewelry supplies, made 5 pairs of earrings and gave Trinity a bit of how-to on how those go.

…and Sam’s going to be at the shop today. I’m just feeling too awful. He’s going to get the printer up and running so that I can start printing things again. He’s also going to re-set the clothing since the paint is dry, water the plants and start on the soaps display, finally! …and hopefully, clean off his desk.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

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NASA Science News for May 19, 2011 - A storm of rare power has formed in Saturn's northern hemisphere. Wreaking havoc for months, it now stretches around the entire planet and can be seen through backyard telescopes. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na sa/2011/19may_saturnstorm/

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Daily Stuff 5-19-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 05:14 PM GMT Tarih: 19 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

I got a little done in the garden, but most of my morning went to a phone call with Paul. We get on the phone and talk for hours! After that and some lunch I dove back into the Alchemy stuff. I think I’m about 1/3 of the way through getting the pricelist edited, but I still haven’t made any decisions about what to put up on the web. Off and on during the day I worked on chores, but I ended up not doing any baking because I seem to be coming down with a cold again. That doesn’t make sense…. But this isn’t the itchy eye/throat tickle/ runny nose that I get with allergies. This is associated with fever and chills.

I did finally figure out how to make the pricelist/description list work, but this is the first time I’ve got price lists that overlap and then descriptions, some of which don’t have prices or code numbers. I don’t know if the lists are scrambling when I get them into my computer or if something else isn’t working.

I have a whole box of papers for recycling and a lot that went into the file cabinet. More jewelry designs showed up in some of the papers, so I pulled those to take to the shop. I need to put together a binder with those for when I run out of oomph on my own designs.

Sam worked in the kitchen and in his workshop, trying to get things sorted around to the point where he can actually start getting projects done. I found another one for him, a design for a copper incense burner….

…and my home printer dropped dead again. We can’t figure out what’s wrong with it, but every so often it decides that “the USB device attached to this computer has malfunctioned”. We haven’t been able to correlate anything about when it goes down or what’s happening when it does. Bizarre.

…and I found that out because I was trying to print the recipes for Gnome.

The good part is that the part for the shop printer arrived yesterday. That printer has been mostly trouble-free, except that it kills print-heads every so often. …and that’s what was missing, a print head.

…and Sam’s going to be at the shop today. I ran out of time to try to get all the way together. We’ve been playing with emoticons…. I didn’t know you could do *penguins*! …at least on Facebook. Doesn’t work in the word processor.

I’ve also been playing on You Tube, pulling up Faun’s songs. The more of their music I hear, the better I like them! They have a new album coming out just after Faerieworlds. There’re several screens of their stuff on You Tube. I love the unusual instruments and the vibrancy.

The shop opens at 10am today. Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

***

NASA Science News for May 16, 2011 - Astronomers have discovered a new class of planets floating alone in the dark of space. These lone worlds are probably outcasts from developing planetary systems and, moreover, they could be twice as numerous as the stars themselves. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na sa/2011/18may_orphanplanets/

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Daily Stuff 5-18-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:18 PM GMT Tarih: 18 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

When the sun comes through the clouds the light sparkles from water droplets on the alder. I can’t get enough of that incredible green, the bright spring green of the fully leafed alder and the rosebushes below.

I spent most of the morning doing counseling until my voice gave out. There were a lot of phone calls. Sam got the stuff cleaned up/washed that we brought home yesterday, then went down to the shop to get the painting done on the clothes wall and then brought the mail back up, so I have some new jewelry supplies. Marius stopped by late in the afternoon and we talked for a while.

We got the class schedule worked out for the weekend. I don’t know what will happen on Saturday. That’s going be organic, working on whatever whoever is there wants. The Sunday schedule begins at 10am with a slightly shortened Wicca 101 with Trinity and Sam, then Illumination with Laura, Food Additives with Nexes and finally Divination with Trisha. The young folks will head back to the Center a little early, it looks like, so they can get dinner at the Center.

As I was working on checking a bunch of new stock into the inventory last evening I looked up and out the window, then jumped out of my chair yelling, “Sam! Can we run down to the park?” He and Trinity and I jumped into the car and headed down the hill. Patterson Park has a perfect view of the western horizon and it’s my favorite place for watching the sunset. Trinity went down on the beach and played in the edge of the water while Sam and I sat in the car… I hadn’t grabbed a coat and the wind was growing teeth. We watched the curdled clouds to the southwest form what looked like a snow-covered landscape. I’ve always called those “Lemuria clouds”, because you’d think there’s a continent right over the horizon. We saw a flock of ducks busily flapping their way up to Alsea Bay for the night and then watched as solitary gulls sculled either northward or southward. Grandma used to call those “commuters”. The clouds began to reflect the light of the sun from underneath as the angles changed. A sundog appeared in a convenient bit of cirrus and then faded away as the cloud moved to the south. The light reddened and reddened and the light from the primrose-reflecting sand was blinding if you were stupid enough to look that way. Finally the red ball balanced on the waving horizon and began to slip below. The clouds changed to gold, then red and then to purple. The ball changed to a hemisphere, then began to warp from the horizon distortion, and then as it turned to a shape like a chair tipped over to the north, it flashed green and then disappeared. We smiled at each other. Sam hadn’t seen it flash before, not that he was sure of, anyway. We stayed a while longer admiring the gold to red to purple fade of the clouds, then Trinity picked up her shoes and came up and we rolled back home.

I still have the usual laundry, picking up and baking to do, but I got all the plants watered. I still need to print the recipes for Gnome and work in the garden.

The shop is closed today & open tomorrow! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-17-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 09:18 AM GMT Tarih: 17 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

The moon is full and bright. I’ve been out a dozen times to look at it!

We picked up the classroom, then got orders out and a number of other mailings/e-mails done early in the day, but I spent most of my time sorting out stuff to put away into the ritual stuff cabinet and looking for pieces that had vanished. Sam got the spot sorted out and the cabinet shifted into place almost first thing when we got to the shop. We brought home a whole basket of things that need to be washed/dewaxed/run through the dryer, etc. I had forgotten that the quarter altar cloths were being stored on the same hanger with the element capes and got all frazzled about “where’d they vanish to?” Sometimes I wonder if my memory glitches like that just to amuse those around me!

After the cabinet and sorting out some papers, Sam started on the process of moving the stereo to a final placement. We’ve known right from the start that the music was too loud in back when you were able to actually finally hear it up front. So, we had decided that one of the things on the “honey-do” list was moving that to the storage wall pointing out into the main shop. Sam’s also planning to add some speakers to make it more “all ‘round”. He also got most of the stuff in the area that he’s going to paint cleaned up, so that all he has to do is to move the clothes rack. We have two more speakers to bring from the house, but have to get some parts to attach them.

Later in the day he was moving boxes and finding more things. He tracked down the embroidery frame that’s been missing along with the embroidery that’s on it! I had started doing a band of embroidery, possibly to use it for a dress inset, possibly just as another band sampler, in a pattern from the Jane Bostocke sampler, the oldest dated sampler in existence. Ok, before I gallop off on a hobby horse, I should probably say that I’ve been obsessed with Holbein embroideries for a couple of decades now, and at the drop of a pin, I don’t get quiet! I have a bunch of samplers up at the shop if you’d like to see what I’m talking about, not to mention a bunch of pattern cards and kits and made goods…. Maybe I ought to get some pictures up.

I’m starting to put together a schedule of classes for this coming weekend. Fawkes and I are going to be gone on Saturday for Gem’s wake (which is in Hillsboro) and will probably stay over until Sunday morning, which gets us back to Waldport in the mid-afternoon.

I know that Nexes, Trisha and Laura are going to be teaching, but I need to check in with a couple of others so things are covered.

…

Oh, I am one grumpy Anja, right now! My asthma finally calmed down to the point that I was thinking that I might put my book down and go to sleep, when my hand twitched and the mug of tea that I was holding slipped down my hip and flipped toward me. An half mug of tea under my tukas…. Sogged not just my pants, but sheet, nightshirt, pillows and all! So, I’m up again, waiting for things to dry out some after mopping up what I could and changing my clothes, but I am one grumpy girl…..

…

I was sufficiently upset that I ended up shaking my fist and saying, “Ok, Universe, not bad enough that I’ve got asthma, but I have to have a wet tukas, too?!?!?” …and then I heard what I was saying and started to giggle. I gotta stop giggling or I’ll trigger off the asthma again, but that was pretty darned silly! …and yes, once I start laughing, I’m ok.

…

Still up for a bit… Bed hasn’t quite dried out…. So, I’m going to finish this and get it online so I can sleep in come daytime…..

Today’s work entails the usual laundry, picking up and baking. I found a recipe for dulce de leche and one for flan…. Dunno if I’ll get there, but that sounds *so* good! I’m hoping to get into the garden, but I have to work on the Alchemy files. If you have favorites in any of their lines let me know and I’ll get those up first! Karin and I have been talking and we’re going to start with about 50 products and then work up from there… Oh, and I promised Gnome at SeaDog Bakery my recipes for kolache, so I need to get those found and printed….

I’m also starting to think about Memorial Day weekend and the next psychic fair on June 4&5. We’ve had an offer from Debbie (we’re going to set this up on Thursday) to do a pair of talks, one about vision quests and another about the Sun Dance. I also talked to a luthier who has been involved in some magick projects. Still waiting to see how that pans out….

The shop is closed today & tomorrow! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Space Weather News for May 16, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
Endeavour has left the planet. The space shuttle lifted off this morning at 8:56 am EDT on a two week mission to the International Space Station. There it will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer--a $1.5 billion cosmic ray detector that could reveal the nature of dark matter and find whole galaxies made of antimatter. Links to more information are available at http://spaceweather.com.
This is Endeavour's final flight as the shuttle program winds down. During the mission, Endeavour will make numerous passes over North America, Australia, and other places. Would you like to see it one last time? You can turn your cell phone into a field tested shuttle tracker by downloading our Simple Flybys app. Details at http://simpleflybys.com

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NASA Science News for May 16, 2011 - NASA has released a unique satellite image tracing the damage of a monster EF-4 tornado that tore through Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on April 27th. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na sa/2011/16may_groundtracks/

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Daily Stuff 5-16-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:38 PM GMT Tarih: 16 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Sunlight was an assault this morning! I walked into the bathroom and darned nearly turned around and crawled back into bed. Our room is nice and dim until well into the morning, but our east-facing white bathroom…. It just was too much of a shock this morning. The sky clouded over again after so the view from the study is green, green and more green, but pretty bright despite the clouds.

Sam and I got to the shop just as the Job Corps group got dropped off. I got tangled up somehow on time, but we made it. I just need to make a good note when they *do* arrive! We tackled a few projects (some bolting of fabrics and moving some things so that a new cabinet can fit in the back, at which point the stuff with vanish *into* the cabinet…) and let everyone wander and chat and wake up. (I think 3 pots of coffee vanished…) Once we got into class we just sailed on through. It’s nice having a little longer to work with everyone and we can take a longer mid-class break. The only problem was that I was running without my class notebook and had a brain fart and did lesson 6 instead of lesson 5! Well, I’ll get the right one next week. I have to laugh at myself over that one.

Lunch break entailed a trek with one of the teachers over to Subway and included most of the students. Trisha had arrived with “Divination box” in tow and started with dowsing rods with a couple of the interested youngsters. As they got back and the chatting groups realized that she was doing something fun, then all wandered back into the classroom. She started them this week on I Ching and dowsing. Nexes did Fire Magics after that, and finished up with a short class on one of the topics that we were discussing in 101. Everyone went up to the house for supper and then the students back to Job Corps.

Little sparrows all over the feeder, pecking busily away: the breeze that’s come up is making them nervous enough to look around after every bite.

Nexes and I had a good long chat after everyone was settled, then Sam and I finished up a few things, leaving “pick-up” for today, and came on home. We had supper and then I talked with Trinity until past 11, I think.

I’ve been having so much fun with this and with the associated sites on the Harvard website (flying trash cans!) that I have to share. http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/16/13634 2435/cinderellas-ball-this-time-with-pendulums?sc= fb&cc=fp Follow the links in the article to the trash cans and a lot more!

Today, we’re going to try to get orders out, the cabinet in and filled, a few more fabrics onto bolts and then I’ll head home to catch up on the tasks that I’ve been neglecting since last Wednesday. Sam’s going to stay at the shop today, since he has more to work on than I do, there.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-15-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:47 PM GMT Tarih: 15 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Dim and green this morning. The clouds yesterday evening were absolutely beautiful. Rowan and I stood in the window at the shop watching them us they went from a pink and green over slate grey to red, then faded into the dark.

We had two students yesterday, but only ran one formal class since there was a lot of other stuff going on. I got just enough time at the sewing machine to finish 3 of the 4 panels for the back of the one display case and left one at the not-quite stage. Most of the rest of the day was spent talking with folks and hunting for some of my sewing supplies that are still missing, mostly for my bias tape. Not a lot accomplished compared to the weeks for work leading up to opening! That actually feels pretty good. We had a houseful last night, sitting and talking and sharing some Double Dead Guy from the Rogue Brewery.

There was a flash of bright yellow from the other side of the feeder as a bird flared his wings… He didn’t land so I dunno *what* that was!

We have Wicca 101 this morning, then a class on Fire Magicks at 2pm. My embroidery frame is up again, so I’ll likely be working on that during the tail end of the day.

I’m really liking having the “reading spot” near the books. When there are readers in or friends that’s where we tend to congregate. It’s sunny, or bright when there’s no sun, with comfortable seating. I keep thinking about the peacock chair and wanting to wear my Holy Clothing black dress and do the Morticia Adams bit with my hair! Good profile picture for Facebook? Fat Morticia…. Oughta be pretty funny!

They’ve put up some kind of a tower…looks like a cell tower…right in the middle of the notch that’s always been my Ostara/Mabon marker. Guess I have a new mark? Sam and I have been discussing when it went up. It’s pretty recent, I think, and we’ve been discussing it in the last few weeks.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja
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Daily Stuff 5-14-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:20 PM GMT Tarih: 14 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Dim and green this morning. The clouds yesterday evening were absolutely beautiful. Rowan and I stood in the window at the shop watching them us they went from a pink and green over slate grey to red, then faded into the dark.

One thing I didn’t mention yesterday that came in was a beautiful star tealight holder. I’m not quite sure what to call it. It’s not stained or leaded glass, but a lamp built of glass and shaped into a star. You’d have to see it.

We have a new order coming in that I finally got placed yesterday that includes a lot of new pendulums and re-stock on a few other things. There is also some stuff coming like more earring cards and miscellaneous jewelry supplies.

House finch on the feeder. He’s a really bright red….

I spent all day trying to sew…and getting caught up in other things! I did, finally, get the orders done, just in time to miss getting them to the P.O.! But I got the new door curtain done and up, so the display curtains can get put where it’ll be obvious that they’re for sale. Most of the rest of the day was spent hunting for the tie-back rings that I bought… and cussing because they have vanished again… hunting for a couple pieces of stock that I *know* are there … and cussing because they’re hiding … hanging up the varieties of hangers that we have so’s to get them up off the floor and make some space…and cussing when the hanging pole tipped from the weight and bopped me upside the head … and so on!

I did manage to get the last of the 3rd package from yesterday stocked. That means we have quartz and amethyst pyramids, too! …some more amulets… Oh, I should tell you, too, that I’m putting amulets up still in their packages and hang cards at the back of the herb wall where the necklaces are. I’ll keep putting one or two up front with the fancier necklaces but we’ll have to direct folks toward the rest.

Sam made bread yesterday before we got going then ran around paying bills, finding cleaning supplies for Trinity (who was going to start cleaning in the rental house) and finally managed to get the shopping done. He dropped stuff at the house, then ran back down to the shop so that he could mind the front and I could sew. He spent a while putting more things up, like the pentacle windchimes, then started in to make the back of the storage room a little more useable. After that he worked on the tool area, trying to sort things back out and put them into places that make sense. I’ve got to remember to hand him the labeller…. He also re-loaded the pricing gun that I ran out doing the order check-in over the last few days.

Uh-oh! I’m really running out of time. Star just headed out to pick up the Job Corps bunch... Gotta rush…..

I thought I was going to get as far as the pictures of the circum-zenithal arc, but didn’t. I’m going to try to remember to load those into the computer first thing this morning so I won’t forget, this time.

Today’s classes fall under the heading “miscellaneous”. I have no idea what we’ll be doing, although we have all the usual things to work on.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-13-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:28 PM GMT Tarih: 13 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Sleepy morning… I was supposed to go to the shop at 9am, and there’s only 10 minutes to get to that point….. I dunno what it was, because I was asleep by around 11:30 and woke late the first time. I went back to bed only 10 minutes later. Anyway I’m running late.

The sun is shining, although it’s a cloudy day.

A whale hit a sailboat? http://fwix.com/eugene/share/e9911fcc7c/whale_hits _sailboat_off_oregon_coast I notice they didn’t comment on the whale’s condition…..

I spent all day checking in the orders! First, I had to set up orders and do a lot of e-mailing, but the next thing was to tear into the Paradise Music box… I meant to bring a title list home with me and forgot. But I know we have more copies of several of the Faerie albums, some Govannon, a Reiki album, and copies of the Healing Drum. They sent us demos, and Star loaded those into the CD player, so we were listening all day yesterday.

Then I started on the next box, and just after I got it open, Sam called from the house and a *3rd* box was there, already! So… pentacle windchimes, some more amulets, a copy of Flower and Tree Magick, more of the cool pentacle curtains… then Sam got there with the next box…. About 20 new gemstone chip necklaces and all kinds of gemstone wands and massagers! …golden quartz, onyx (gorgeous) moonstone, labradorite, jasper, quartz, and more… I haven’t managed to finish unpacking those, even yet. I think I had 10 to go. …and pyramids in several sizes, some of them amethyst…also not unpacked. Wow!

So we closed late and came home and started in on the last class of 101. Congratulations to Star for finishing the course! …and sticking with it since *January* despite all the interruptions.

Sam spent the whole day on this and that…and bread….

So next week we’re starting 102. Trinity is going to start from the beginning again, and Sam’s going to attend as a brush-up, so there will be 3 in that class.

People in 104! Don’t forget that we have class on Sunday evening! …so do your homework?

…and as we were coming in from the shop last night there was a halo around the sun with a sundog to the north…. And then colors started above it…. A really nice circumzenithal arc formed…looking like a rainbow grin above the halo. I got a couple of pictures… haven’t developed ‘em, but I’ll get ‘em posted later.

Rowan and Marius are picking up Fawkes this morning. Star and Trinity are talking about working in the garden with Ben. Sam’s been making bread. He and I are heading for the shop in a few. I feel like I’ve been awfully lazy… but I’ll get this out and get on with the day. I have some more sewing to do, two orders to mail, some fabric to order, e-mails to sort through, one of which is how to order the print head for my printer that blew almost two weeks ago! …and so on. Gotta get started! Watch for pix, later! I’ll post on Facebook and then add a link here in the morning.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-12-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:41 PM GMT Tarih: 12 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Sunshine felt like an insult this morning, but it went away awfully fast. Got its feelings hurt?

I’ve been seeing twitchy tails and flutterings around the feeder this morning. The chickadees are having trouble reaching the top of the seed. That needs to be refilled.

Funny one yesterday… Just after I got the newsletter done, Sam was heading out to mow the grass. He got the mower gassed up and ready and pulled the cord (I heard the “rrrrrrrrr”) and it started to rain…. Right then…. Hard …. He’s stubborn, but he gave up after about 20 minutes and came in cussing. I feel bad for him… but it was funny.

Alchemy of England, Alchemy Steampunk and Alchemy Gothic…. There are several *thousand* pictures on the disc they sent, a pricelist that won’t read because it’s in Excel and no descriptions. So, nothing’s up. I fought that for a while, then sent e-mails to them and to my webmaster. Obviously we’re not putting up the whole line. …and there weren’t any details as to how to link. So, I got the rest of the playday pictures up, got the newsletter stuff done and worked on shop files.

Herbs Outdoors got some weeding done at a point where the rain had pretty much let up. We harvested a bunch of sorrel and a little more chickweed and started clearing the individual plants. I’m going to put some more peas in as a cover crop (the ones that were there bought it in that last set of frosts) and maybe put up a net for beans, since I still have a big bag of those from last year.

Star and Trinity got in late, so we’re going to finish that tonight.

Paradise Music and Azure Green orders are in, so those will start going on the shelves first thing this morning. I’m setting up orders and e-mailing payment buttons, next. After that I need to sew. Sam’s got some miscellaneous stuff to work on, but he’s supposed to be home today, then classes tonight. I may alternate sewing with pictures since I have a few from the garden, now.

Ah, Sam’s bringing in the feeder for re-filling.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-11-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 06:22 PM GMT Tarih: 11 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

There’s a good stiff breeze blowing the tree branches around and the bamboo chime gives out a startling clonk every so often. I keep getting mesmerized by the movement. There hasn’t been anyone at the birdfeeder but one lone chickadee.

Sam and I got the stuff together for the planter, starting just after I got the newsletter out. We dug a large fern from what used to be the shade garden (and is now an unweeded mess!) and some roses that we rooted at the shop from cuttings last year (Herbs Outdoors class), then started collecting large rocks, mostly from the pile that’s been sitting in the lawn, broken concrete block chunks, gravel from a spilled container, the large red weeding tub with the contents of last year’s tomato buckets and the tools that we would need. I also pulled a lot of sorrel and started weeding around the hydrangea and then planted some bulbs and succulents in the spot that I weeded. Sam dropped me at the shop and I got started sewing. During the afternoon I completed two of the “drapes”, then started taking pictures that I will start posting as soon as this is done.

When he got back from the garden center he started filling the planter. Now, this thing is a 2 foot cube…. So it took a little more than just “potting soil”. He started at the bottom with large rocks and pieces of busted up concrete block. After that 3 5-gallon buckets of ¾ minus gravel, then most of the contents of last year’s tomato buckets (which was a slop of old compost and gravel) then potting soil. This recreates standard soil structure. I asked him to call me when it got within about 6 inches of the top.

After he got that far, he came in and we had a cup of tea then went out to get things planted. I got a whole box of flowers for Mother’s Day (thank you, Star!) and we started with the fern in the darkest spot, the roses on the edges (they’re a species rose, very hardy) violas in the middle and a couple of hanging basket plants at the edges. I want a creeping rosemary for the inside edge, but Sam forgot it when he went for the gravel.

While I was finishing that I asked Sam to grab the tool stool for me to sit on and I got the rest of the plants into the planter boxes: some alyssums, stock, pansies and a calendula that volunteered somewhere where it couldn’t stay. In the process of planting, I also re-planted things that weren’t done right. Several clumps of bulbs didn’t get below the surface. There was dirt missing behind some of the irises. You get the idea!

Ooh! Sam made chocolate chip pancakes! Ok, taking a break….. good coffee, chocolate chip pancakes with blackberry jam and a hard-boiled egg. Tummy is happy…..

I went in and washed up while Sam put the tools back into the car and watered everything. After he was done we got pictures taken. ( http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.135100427 0868.38270.1704231146&l=f5fa8abfcc ) …and the new shop pic is up on Facebook! I got back to sewing for a while after that while he did some of the miscellaneous bits that needed to be finished….like hanging dream catchers. I haven’t put up the new “drape” pix, because I’m not satisfied with them. I need a more neutral background than what I had…. If someone asks, though, I’ll e-mail them to you.

Paradise Music and Azure Green orders are in, so those will start going on the shelves first thing tomorrow morning. Stacy, I’ll mail your order (which was in one of the boxes!) some time tomorrow, but we need to arrange payment, I think….

Sam’s already headed out to mow what he can before the rain starts. I’m going to be sorting files for the newsletter today, then working on pictures, then working on getting the Alchemy line set up on the website. I’ll be posting pictures later today on Facebook, I think, representative stuff that I like. They have a lot of Steampunk and Goth stuff, but also some *really* nice ritual pieces. The metal chalice that the Circle uses came from them.

Herbs Outdoors is on for today, but if the rain materializes we’ll cut it short or maybe take a walk down into the park with a couple of umbrellas.

Later in the day Star has her last class in Wicca 101 and we may even start 102 with her and Trinity.

The shop is closed today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-10-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 07:21 PM GMT Tarih: 10 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Sam just commented that I’m not just a Coastie … because I put out a daily blog I’m a Coast Postie! …and then he started singing, “I’m a Coastie and I’m ok, I live inside ‘coz it rains all day!”

Sam and I sat and watched another episode of Enterprise last night. Several birthdays back, I bought him sets of the first and second seasons and, while we watched them at one point, he didn’t pay a lot of attention and I’ve forgotten a lot of the plot lines. So…we’ve been spending a little time sitting each evening. Last night really cleared up for a good while after sunset and just after full dark, I happened to look out the window behind my head to see the fat crescent of the going-on-first-quarter moon. It wasn’t the little fingernail paring that we see in the colored twilight over the ocean, not even the classic ½ circle that will be there tonight, nor the gorgeous pearl of the rising full moon. It hung so marvelously in the velvety black sky, so beautiful that for a moment I got all teary.

This morning it’s been breezy. I got lazy, getting up originally at about 6:40 and then deciding to crawl back in for a while and only waking after 10! Well, I’ve got to get a little better caught up on rest. I know that. It’s not even summer yet, so I have a chance of managing it. During the first several years after I opened the shop I pretty much did everything on my own. When Mom was still on this side of the Veil I always scheduled her appointments for Tuesday/Wednesday and did all the shopping on those days, too. That’s when I learned that I *can’t* on my own manage to keep going year ‘round without making sure that I have a couple of days to do the “other stuff”. The closer to the heavy part of the tourist season we get, the more important it is.

Since 2008 I’ve had help off and on, but as I got ill I ended up delegating more and more. While learning to delegate is a good thing, a lot of stuff got neglected just because I wasn’t there to do it. Now that I’m a lot better I’ve been getting more and more into the “old swing” and things are starting to get done. I did not realize how much just wasn’t happening, from moving product through rather than letting it sit, to keeping the inventory accurate, to not allowing paper to accumulate. I had no idea how much product had wandered into boxes of things that have been stuffed far enough back under the tables to not get it, but it’s been an eye-opener.

I *was* aware, on a regular basis, that I was having to buy things that I couldn’t prove had been used up, but as we’re gradually going through the “grumple pile” in the back and sorting things out I’ve been very aware of the derivation of that word. One of our kids started calling the “to be sorted” stuff “grumple” because, “It’s all rumpled up and it makes you grumpy, Mama!” So, I’m grumpy because I have a lot of stuff that I might not ever get around to using!

Anyway, this a long wander around from where I started…. which is to say that Sam and will be in the shop later for a while, since we need to get the new sign planter filled. Sam got it set up yesterday, but we still need to get gravel for drainage and take the plants that are going into it and take it all up there and *do* it. I have a couple of miscellaneous small chores for him to do, stuff to hang up mostly, and I need to finish stuff for a couple of orders. Not going to be much of a rest day…. So I got up late.

Four paragraphs worth of “I got up late”!

…and once the planter is ready, I’ll get a new shop picture!

Yesterday was mostly spent cleaning up from the weekend and then catching up on everything from mail to “where’d you put that?” to new product that needs to be set out. Late in the day, Trinity and Star and her family stopped by for a visit and we took a little time to chat. It was good to see Dan and Kyle again, and I never got to meet Brett until yesterday, although he’s apparently been reading this newsletters assiduously. Have to wait and see if he comments about being mentioned!

Late in the day I got quite a number of “drapes” cut out. I used to make these when we first opened, but it’s been so darned hard to find room to sew for the last several years that most of you haven’t seen them, I’d guess. They’re something like the Karuna Arts caftans, but made of knit fabrics, net fabrics and “slinky” fabrics with things like stars, moons, spiderwebs and other witchy things on them. They’re really fun to put on over solid color clothing to dress it up or to give yourself something a little different for rituals. I made the originals of these for my kids for pretend-play, but started making them for adult sizes on request for a prom dress-up a couple of decades ago. Once I have a few done, I’ll put up pictures. I have orders for two, so I’m going to get those done today, I hope, and mailed.

Oh! The other important thing Sam did yesterday was to catch up on getting mail out. That means that the last of the prizes that were being mailed and several orders went out. Depending on how far away you are you should start looking for those on Thursday and if you don’t see them by the 19th, please contact me! Iow, packages to Oregon will start arriving on Thursday and the one for Florida should be there by the following Monday….

I put up ½ of the “play day” pictures yesterday. I’m hoping the rest will get done by this evening.

Oh! The Paradise Music order came in, a nice big box! Those will start getting priced and set out for sale on Thursday, so come in and have a listen?

The shop is closed today, but while we’re there the doors will be open! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

***

NASA Science News for May 9, 2011 - No coffee? No problem. To wake up any morning this week, all you need to do is look out the window for a beautiful dawn conjunction of planets. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na sa/2011/09may_morningplanets/

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Daily Stuff 5-9-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:27 PM GMT Tarih: 09 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

The sun is out! I’m so glad to see it, I didn’t even complain at the glare off the next-door house roof. It must be fairly cloudy, since the skylight shows mostly white, but when the sun comes through it’s amazing. There are water droplets shimmering in the alder.

Oof. Long weekend… I’m still tired from the push to get the shop up and running again, and I’ve been having asthma problems at night that keep messing with my ability to get enough sleep. By mid-day yesterday I was ready to drop and I managed to bonk my face on the same spot on my computer stand, twice, dozing off…. I did keep going through the end of the day, thanks to Rowan and Nexes. Rowan stepped in for the last third of the 101 class and Nexes rode herd on everyone and taught the Chakra energies class during the afternoon. Nexes and Sam got the young folks fed and back to the Center and then came back for me. After some more talk, we closed up the shop and all of us headed home.

Sam got the new hooks up for the green screen. We found that it’s going to have to be pulled down before rolling it up to mend some popped spots along the hem.

The classroom is fully functional. It even has the storage space for the chairs! It’s great having the library right in the classroom space and I love having the table that my Daddy made for *his* classes in the space.

A bunch of the things that needed to be shifted got taken care of during the morning, thanks to Sam. I still have to “bolt” fabrics, but with the back of the shop to myself today, I’ll do a little clean-up in the morning, cut out some of the “drapes” that we haven’t had time to make for several years. I have orders for two and there are 6 fabrics buried in the pile that are all great for this purpose.

Pictures…still not…

Classes…well, the youngsters didn’t voice much in the way of preference, so I’m going to start polling everyone else. I have to make some decisions by tomorrow.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-9-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:25 PM GMT Tarih: 09 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

The sun is out! I’m so glad to see it, I didn’t even complain at the glare off the next-door house roof. It must be fairly cloudy, since the skylight shows mostly white, but when the sun comes through it’s amazing. There are water droplets shimmering in the alder.

Oof. Long weekend… I’m still tired from the push to get the shop up and running again, and I’ve been having asthma problems at night that keep messing with my ability to get enough sleep. By mid-day yesterday I was ready to drop and I managed to bonk my face on the same spot on my computer stand, twice, dozing off…. I did keep going through the end of the day, thanks to Rowan and Nexes. Rowan stepped in for the last third of the 101 class and Nexes rode herd on everyone and taught the Chakra energies class during the afternoon. Nexes and Sam got the young folks fed and back to the Center and then came back for me. After some more talk, we closed up the shop and all of us headed home.

Sam got the new hooks up for the green screen. We found that it’s going to have to be pulled down before rolling it up to mend some popped spots along the hem.

The classroom is fully functional. It even has the storage space for the chairs! It’s great having the library right in the classroom space and I love having the table that my Daddy made for *his* classes in the space.

A bunch of the things that needed to be shifted got taken care of during the morning, thanks to Sam. I still have to “bolt” fabrics, but with the back of the shop to myself today, I’ll do a little clean-up in the morning, cut out some of the “drapes” that we haven’t had time to make for several years. I have orders for two and there are 6 fabrics buried in the pile that are all great for this purpose.

Pictures…still not…

Classes…well, the youngsters didn’t voice much in the way of preference, so I’m going to start polling everyone else. I have to make some decisions by tomorrow.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-8-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:46 PM GMT Tarih: 08 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Happy Mothers’ Day! Hug your Mom! Hug your kids, or do I like have to and miss my Mom and my Mom-in-Law. I’ll send ‘em Zen hugs, where-ever they are!

It’s brighter this morning than it’s been. The house is noisy, since Nexes and Star stayed here last night. Fawkes is heading home today. Star’s going to drop him off on her way home. Nexes is coming to the shop with me and Rowan will be in today.

Yesterday was a good day. We had a lot of customers in and got a lot done. I managed to get my embroidery frame set up again, so that robe that I was working on…how long ago was that? probably at least two years? …is back in progress. I do need to figure out which colors I was using and pick up some more floss…. It’s nice to have that much room!

Several readings happened during the day and all the herbs finally got hung up! If I understand right, we now have the room to get my sewing stuff pulled out to work on tomorrow, but I’m going to have to go in at least a little early today to clean up the classroom. I still need to “bolt” some of the fabrics that are all over the folding table and shift a few things like the saw horses to spaces that are out of the way. Sam still needs to get the green screen hooks set in properly so we can roll that up, too. With all the youngsters there today for their classes I don’t know how far that will get unless we get started early!

The sun has come out…well, it’s out and in. Lots of chickadees have been flying around the feeders and several of them have tucked themselves into the clematis vines under the porch roof. I have never had one nest there, probably too much human activity going on for that, but they seem to perch there to preen and court.

I dumped the rain gauge yesterday. It had 5 inches in it again, but I’ve lost track of how long it’s been since I dumped it last!

I still haven’t finished editing the pictures from our trip. I got a few more done yesterday, but got chivvied out of there when I finally thought of it, to head home for supper. Iow, I didn’t start on them until nearly closing… I just plain forgot!

Yes, we’re going to really change the class schedule! I’m going to talk to folks today about which classes will be happening when and I’ll get into that more tomorrow. If you have preferences, or you’re interested in a longer-running class, please let me know your thoughts of this today.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-7-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 04:19 PM GMT Tarih: 07 Mayıs 2011 +0
It’s very green again, quiet except for bird calls and no breeze. The only times leave or branches tremble is if a bird lands and takes off. Even they sound sleepy. I know *I* still am very sleepy, so are they reflecting my mindset? Or is it just that kind of morning?

Sam headed down to the shop at the usual time and Star and I settled in for her class. She has one more class to go. This was *supposed* to be an 8-12 week class. Well, it’s more like 5 months at this point, but we’re getting there….

During the afternoon we worked on getting the orders and prizes packed and ready-to-go, but didn’t finish before the Post Office closed, so those will be heading out Monday morning.

Esbat was good. We got a lot of work done.

We have one person from Job Corps today. They just called. Star’s going to head down to pick up and then we’ll all head up to the shop. We’ve got herbs to hang and a little more to work through getting ready for the Great Garage Sale. We don’t know whether the weather will be cooperating, so we’re figuring on setting things up inside, rather than out.

Oh man…one of my boys posted a link for “Chicken Techno”… omg…and it’s *funny*! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8410qUT4QtA I gotta play this for Sam when he gets out of the shower.

No, I haven’t

Well, I gotta get moving. The wind has picked up and it’s raining again. Hmm…. I’m hoping to get to the shop a few minutes early to finish adding some things to the list and count all of the blasted plastic rings….

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-6-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:58 PM GMT Tarih: 06 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Esbat tonight!

It’s grey and dim….maybe I should say it’s green and dim outside because that’s really all I can see…green. It feels warm, but that’s maybe because everyone else has already been up for a while.

I spent a long, long while yesterday getting very frustrated over trying to get things into the inventory from the “Saturday boxes”. They did eventually get there, but I had to find them in the file (and they were scattered all through) and then make sure they were priced and then put them into another box. I have some things that need to be cleaned, and one box that needs to be added to the embroidery section, but I got most of the way done, at least. Many of the things in those boxes belong out as part of the regular stock, too, so that’s yet to finish.

Sash was there for part of the day, but he ended up hurting himself trying to help sort things out so that he could hang up the herbs, which still are only partly done.

Then the power went out… no idea why. I still haven’t heard anything about it. Minutes after it went out Fawkes called from the house, since it was out there, too. Star got there just a few minutes before it went down and then Sam showed up a couple of minutes after it went. He chased us back to the house with the frozen stuff that needed to be put away, power or not. It was out for an hour and 10 minutes, which I figured out from looking at the difference between the battery and power clocks!

Today was supposed to be a “home day” for me, while Sam finished the sign planter, but I have prizes to send out, plus a couple of orders and a couple more to sew. I need to do those with Sam there so he can help me put a lot of the stuff away that’s in the back. Well, it’ll get done….and Sam is going to take things to the Post Office.

Star’s last or next-to-last class was supposed to be last night, but Fawkes’ birthday celebration took over and “ate” the time for her class, so that happens today as well.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-5-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:56 PM GMT Tarih: 05 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

It’s cloudy and still this morning. There doesn’t seem to be even a breath of breeze.

Sam’s making bread since we were down to a few slices. I need to go to the store this morning for some ingredients for Fawkes’ birthday dinner. …and I’m tired enough that I’m not really thinking. I’m finding myself staring at the computer screen and not doing anything.

Yesterday, as pretty as it was, turned out to be a sleepy day. Big plans didn’t materialize. About the only thing that happened yesterday was the chicken potpie…. which didn’t taste right. Fawkes and Sam liked it and I ate my share, but it was sweet. Sweet? There wasn’t anything sweet in the ingredients? Maybe I overdid it on the onions, maybe it was the carrots that were pretty old, but sweet? The recipe didn’t have nearly enough spice in it when I tasted the sauce, so I added more…and then couldn’t taste it in the finished pie. I don’t get it.

Today I’ll be working on the stuff for the Great Garage Sale. I have to get things out of boxes, make sure of the prices and make sure they’re on the list. Some stuff needs to go onto hangers, yet. Rowan’s bringing some stuff, too. Anyone else?

I’m also hoping to do some jewelry, probably earrings, and there are boxes of things that went to the house during the move.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

***

NASA Science News for May 4, 2011 - Today, NASA announced the results of an epic physics experiment which confirms the reality of a space-time vortex around our planet. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-na sa/2011/04may_epic/

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Daily Stuff 5-3-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 02:03 PM GMT Tarih: 03 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

New Moon in Taurus!

I woke up early again and didn’t go back to sleep. I’m not sure why. I’m still pretty tired. When I got up the view outside was very twilight blue. Now, it’s simply dim and green. Supposedly the sun got up about 10 minutes ago. …The clouds are breaking up. No sky is visible, but a lot of the clouds have turned to a pale gold. …No, there’s at least one small clear spot….

Yesterday felt like a long day. It wasn’t, but you wouldn’t have known it from the way I felt. Sam and Fawkes went to the shop to open and pick up a little. Fawkes came back for me a while later, after I had gotten the newsletter out. We spent quite a while putting things away and cleaning up, then Sam came back home to get the planter cut out. He finally came back around 6 and they got it started, but they’ll finish it on Thursday, I guess.

I got the new orders checked in first, then spent a lot of the day going through the inventory and finding the things that needed to be checked on. Some have sold, some need to be ordered (and I did one of those, too), some just need to be tracked down and put into the right place. I had a few that needed prices either added to the inventory file or to have tags put on, since the originals vanished. I also spent a while setting up bags….that’s a *pain*, but getting business cards and ads and coupons into the bags before I’m talking to a customer and bagging an order works *much* better than the other way around.

We had a lot of people in today, some who had come quite a distance and then had to find us. Apparently the re-direct sign is no longer on the window at the old shop! Without the signs up at the new shop yet, that’s an issue. Well, the planter/sign box should help with that.

We’re getting a lot of people who comment that they’re glad we’re in Waldport.

When we finally got home we scraped together a casserole and settled down to watch Witches of Eastwick, something that we had promised ourselves a while back.

Oh, good! I got the door prize info!
Candles (red bowl candles) - KC Anton
Divination (pendulum) - Kitty
Sparklies (stained glass star) - Ashley Gembala
Children’s Magick (coloring pot) – Austin Corlies
Flags and Banners (puffed green and silver ornament) - Carol Givens
Prints & Cards (Francene Hart card, Pele) - Trinity
Crystals - Tim Pullman
Pottery (small cup with bee) - Howard
Necklaces (wrapped quartz crystal) - Faith Woodruff
Clothing/Sewn (Tote with pagan patch) - Mary Cedarwolf
Incense (Shoyeido Gourmet Frankincense) - Ariel Gembala
Books (signed copy Silhouette of a Loon) - Margaret Weld
Amulets (patch) - Jenn Ramirez
Dee Dolls Stuffed Elephant - Kitty W
Main prize, $50 Gift Certificate – Veda Watters

Virtual World Drawing
Incense (Shoyeido Atmospheres) - Eric Hamburg
Tote (Green Man) - Melanie Schmidt
$25 Gift Certificate - Debbie Jederberg

Congratulations to all! I’ll be packing these up on Thursday. Local folks can pick theirs up at any time we’re open and the rest will be mailed on Thursday or Friday.

Some of the Circle is taking a trip to Terwilliger Hot Springs today and hopefully to the stone circle at Mt. Pisgah. We promised ourselves a play day after the hoo-rah of the Re-Opening was done!

The shop is closed on Tuesday/Wednesday! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

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Daily Stuff 5-2-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 05:08 PM GMT Tarih: 02 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

I dropped into bed last night, and now I’m up early. It’s still very, very dark. Dark of the Moon, right after Beltane… today is likely to be one of those days when the less-friendly of the Fae will be about. Pay attention! …and please be aware that those not-so-friendly Fae have a darned good reason to not like or trust us humans! This is the time when small offerings of sweets and milk can be left in places where these gather to help redress the balance. No caffeine, please, it is toxic (and horribly addictive) to the smallest Fae, but they dearly love the pastries that we make, and jelly beans have a tendency to simply vanish. 

In the traditions of the Slavs, today is Dien Vskhodov, the Day of New Shoots. It’s the 3rd day of Rodonitsa, which is the fire festival that occurs as the herd animals get taken to summer pastures. Today is the day when Matya Sirya Zemlya (Moist Mother Earth) joins with Jarilo (the God in the Springtime) to bring life to the fields.

Dark of the Moon tonight, Moon in Taurus… what do you want to get rid of before the rest of the times of planting and harvest? Today’s a good day for that. Bury it in the earth, or melt it away in the rain that we’ll have at times today….

For me that is going to be the exhaustion of intensive planning and work. Sam and I have neglected *everything* else to get the shop back up and running again. There are tasks to finish, more pieces to build, displays to re-think, but now we can take our time to get things right. …and you folks won’t have to listen to so much about that shop that we can’t talk about the magic in our lives!

Osama bin Laden… if you hadn’t heard… it’s time to let that all go. With his death, the reasons for hatred can be let go, set down. They’re no longer helpful, haven’t been for a while. Grief, fear, hatred… it’s time to put those where they no longer poison the dark-time magicks. We can return to introspection and self-work, to the Dark Mirror of the Mother, instead of only seeing the Labrys, the dreadful Axe of the Destroyer. Let it go, now. Let your tears fall and be washed away by the cool rains, by the Mother’s tears, and let those dark energies float away into the mists.

It will soon be time to plant the seeds of positive work. Get the spaces ready!

…and it’s getting light out so I’m heading back to bed. I darned near split myself yawning and had to re-type a section where I put my face in the keyboard….

…

Oh, what a weekend! The culmination of 40 days of sheer insanity! It all came together in time to have a *lot* of fun! I’ve been giggling to myself during the whole weekend about how all the careful planning gives way to a organic flow of what people need, when they need it. When we’re flexible *so* much stuff just happens!

My tilt lever went off at some point yesterday and I kinda lost the flow of what happened when. Marius and Rowan took the 101 class in the morning so that I was freed up to do shop stuff and ,except for one short period when I sat and visited with Fawkes and Hatch, I was pretty busy! I know I did two counseling session yesterday, but darned if I remember when, and I remember Nexes getting the scrying balls for his class and then trooping outside to practice cloud scrying. I know they did some grounding work because I remember the sudden thudding of feet from the classroom. I have *no* idea when, but there was a pendulum class at some point. I’m laughing at myself because I truly don’t remember! I remember seeing Sasha, Nexes and Fawkes at the reading table at various points, and at other times I saw readings going in the classroom and one got set up in the spot where the soaps display is supposed to eventually be. We did do one set of green screen pictures, and I had a good visit with those folks. If you remember the green screen photos from Faerieworlds, there was a little girl and her grandmother? Well, Grandma brought Arianna (sp?) to get another set done now that she’s walking! What a little cutie! I saw a lot of folks that I remember from the old shop and a few that I’ve never seen “with skin on” from the Facebook and Yahoo lists and a *lot* of new people. The flow of customers eventually stopped, well after closing time, and we managed to get the drawings done. I don’t have the list, so I can’t post those yet. If I did just leave it at the shop I’ll get that posted later today. …and then the five of us that were left just sortof sat… I finally suggested food after a chunk of time when no one was moving… So we went to the Newport Café and had supper. Yeah, it was that late already. Nobody else was open! We came home and went “thud”.

…and we’re even up later this morning! It’s doing the sun/rain/sun/pouring rain thing out there. Birds have been fluttering in and out and except for a squawk as someone missed the feeder tray because of an errant gust of wind. Sam’s headed down to the shop already. I forgot that it’s past May 1 and we’re on summer hours! We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do, re-setting, and putting things back, rolling up the green screen and so on. …oh, Fawkes went with him to help get started and then one of them will come back for me. I still need a bath.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***
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Daily Stuff 5-2-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 05:08 PM GMT Tarih: 02 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

I dropped into bed last night, and now I’m up early. It’s still very, very dark. Dark of the Moon, right after Beltane… today is likely to be one of those days when the less-friendly of the Fae will be about. Pay attention! …and please be aware that those not-so-friendly Fae have a darned good reason to not like or trust us humans! This is the time when small offerings of sweets and milk can be left in places where these gather to help redress the balance. No caffeine, please, it is toxic (and horribly addictive) to the smallest Fae, but they dearly love the pastries that we make, and jelly beans have a tendency to simply vanish. 

In the traditions of the Slavs, today is Dien Vskhodov, the Day of New Shoots. It’s the 3rd day of Rodonitsa, which is the fire festival that occurs as the herd animals get taken to summer pastures. Today is the day when Matya Sirya Zemlya (Moist Mother Earth) joins with Jarilo (the God in the Springtime) to bring life to the fields.

Dark of the Moon tonight, Moon in Taurus… what do you want to get rid of before the rest of the times of planting and harvest? Today’s a good day for that. Bury it in the earth, or melt it away in the rain that we’ll have at times today….

For me that is going to be the exhaustion of intensive planning and work. Sam and I have neglected *everything* else to get the shop back up and running again. There are tasks to finish, more pieces to build, displays to re-think, but now we can take our time to get things right. …and you folks won’t have to listen to so much about that shop that we can’t talk about the magic in our lives!

Osama bin Laden… if you hadn’t heard… it’s time to let that all go. With his death, the reasons for hatred can be let go, set down. They’re no longer helpful, haven’t been for a while. Grief, fear, hatred… it’s time to put those where they no longer poison the dark-time magicks. We can return to introspection and self-work, to the Dark Mirror of the Mother, instead of only seeing the Labrys, the dreadful Axe of the Destroyer. Let it go, now. Let your tears fall and be washed away by the cool rains, by the Mother’s tears, and let those dark energies float away into the mists.

It will soon be time to plant the seeds of positive work. Get the spaces ready!

…and it’s getting light out so I’m heading back to bed. I darned near split myself yawning and had to re-type a section where I put my face in the keyboard….

…

Oh, what a weekend! The culmination of 40 days of sheer insanity! It all came together in time to have a *lot* of fun! I’ve been giggling to myself during the whole weekend about how all the careful planning gives way to a organic flow of what people need, when they need it. When we’re flexible *so* much stuff just happens!

My tilt lever went off at some point yesterday and I kinda lost the flow of what happened when. Marius and Rowan took the 101 class in the morning so that I was freed up to do shop stuff and ,except for one short period when I sat and visited with Fawkes and Hatch, I was pretty busy! I know I did two counseling session yesterday, but darned if I remember when, and I remember Nexes getting the scrying balls for his class and then trooping outside to practice cloud scrying. I know they did some grounding work because I remember the sudden thudding of feet from the classroom. I have *no* idea when, but there was a pendulum class at some point. I’m laughing at myself because I truly don’t remember! I remember seeing Sasha, Nexes and Fawkes at the reading table at various points, and at other times I saw readings going in the classroom and one got set up in the spot where the soaps display is supposed to eventually be. We did do one set of green screen pictures, and I had a good visit with those folks. If you remember the green screen photos from Faerieworlds, there was a little girl and her grandmother? Well, Grandma brought Arianna (sp?) to get another set done now that she’s walking! What a little cutie! I saw a lot of folks that I remember from the old shop and a few that I’ve never seen “with skin on” from the Facebook and Yahoo lists and a *lot* of new people. The flow of customers eventually stopped, well after closing time, and we managed to get the drawings done. I don’t have the list, so I can’t post those yet. If I did just leave it at the shop I’ll get that posted later today. …and then the five of us that were left just sortof sat… I finally suggested food after a chunk of time when no one was moving… So we went to the Newport Café and had supper. Yeah, it was that late already. Nobody else was open! We came home and went “thud”.

…and we’re even up later this morning! It’s doing the sun/rain/sun/pouring rain thing out there. Birds have been fluttering in and out and except for a squawk as someone missed the feeder tray because of an errant gust of wind. Sam’s headed down to the shop already. I forgot that it’s past May 1 and we’re on summer hours! We’ve got a lot of cleaning up to do, re-setting, and putting things back, rolling up the green screen and so on. …oh, Fawkes went with him to help get started and then one of them will come back for me. I still need a bath.

The shop opens at 10am today! Summer hours – Thursday through Monday, 10am-6pm!

Love & Light,
Anja

***
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Daily Stuff 5-1-11
Posted by: CoastalAnja, Saat: 03:09 PM GMT Tarih: 01 Mayıs 2011 +0
Hi, folks!

Happy Beltane! Grand Re-Opening Celebration continues today!

Frost? It’s Beltane!

We had a *lot* of fun yesterday. Of course yesterday’s classes went all shuffle/sort.. We had a lot of people in. A lot people entered the drawing. A lot of people shopping! All of the people who are “staff” had fun talking and sharing. I saw several readings get done. Nexes spent a lot of time with the crystals and the pendulum class ended up being a crystals class as well.

Today’s classes will probably get messed with again. Here’s the schedule:
Sunday 10am
10am - Wicca 101 class – Lesson 4 – Rowan and Marius
Noon – Fire and Crystal ball scrying - Nexes
1pm – the Chakras - Nexes
2pm – Showing of “Illuminated Chakras” followed by “Inner Workout”
3pm - Cord Magick - Anja

I’ve already gotten told that the Grounding and Shielding classes are going to happen today, so I don’t quite know other that the 101 class what’s when! We ended up painting the schedule on the windows of the shop yesterday, so that’s a possibility!

We also have a houseful of people already this morning, so I have to get going. I’ll tell you more tomorrow.

Looking forward to seeing you! Come in to enter the door prize drawings and grab a piece of shortbread and a balloon, maybe get a reading or attend a class. If you can’t make it to the shop, stop at our website and enter the virtual world drawing!

The shop opens at 10 today!

Love & Light,
Anja

***

Our own site! http://www.ancientlight.info/circle/ Add things by e-mailing me here. mbartlett@harborside.com

***

Space Weather News for April 30, 2011 - http://spaceweather.com
GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field during the early hours of April 30th, sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Northern Lights descended as far south as Michigan in the United States. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras (http://spaceweatherphone.com) tonight as the solar wind continues to blow. Photos of the April 30th display are highlighted on today's edition of http://SpaceWeather.com.
TRACK THE SPACE SHUTTLE: Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, May 2nd, on a two-week mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle and station will make many visible passes over Europe and North America during the mission--the trick is knowing when to look. You can turn your cell phone into a field tested shuttle tracker by downloading our Simple Flybys app. Details at http://simpleflybys.com

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About CoastalAnja
Moved to Oregon from Balto, MD, '83, to the coast in '99. Love gardens, the outdoors and the ocean, and write about it in a daily newsletter. Shared!

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