IMBOLC ART

  In my mind there´s a picture, an ideal vision, of each sabbat´s soul. I want to get them out of there, to make them visible for everyone. It´s nothing I could photograph, it´s more like a dreamy state of being.
  I decided to paint them. Here´s the first one, Imbolc:

Dreamy light blue with hints of pale pink in the top left corner, and minty green in the bottom right (the hints aren´t as visible here as in reality). Painted with watercolors.

Flat paintings are boring. I want my paintings to have more depth, and I don´t mean only with the colors. I mean actual 3D depth. I glued these paper snowflakes on my painting  to really make them pop.

On the bottom of the piece, I glued a little light turquoise glitter on top of the mint color, to accentuate the icy effect I was going after.

I added these tiny Swarowski glue-on crystals to make resemble both stars in the sky, which are still a very remarkable part of this darker side of the year, and little ice crystals.

To give even more depth, I chose to use these bigger Swarowskis as well. Now that´s 3D!

This type of frame doesn´t draw attention to itself, and showcases the piece separating it from it´s surrounding. This baby ended up in our entrance hall. It´s the best place because you see it when you come home, setting you right into the mood of current sabbat, and is the last thing you see when exiting.

  I´m pleased with how this piece turned out. It wasn´t said that would happend, since I haven´t done painting in two decades.
  Not only am I happy now, but also encouraged to paint more sabbats!

WHITE WONDERLAND

  Imbolc´s other face, beside the sunny light blue one, is the white world. On a cloudy day, when nature is covered with fresh white snow, the world looks washed out of all color. It´s black and white. That´s a magical sight (note that the pictures are not manipulated).

It´s amazing how even spruces look black and white, although I know they are really green...

At the end of our home street there´s a humongous hill, perfect for sledding!

I can still (barely) squeeze into a kids´ sled for a bit of fun!

This humble young birch looks like a feather.

Our apple tree dressed in winter.

  Once again, all this beauty is right here on my daily path, with no need to go far and beyond to experience it. Embracing the little things in life is beneficial to both me and the planet!

HEART OF IMBOLC

  After discovering the wheel-of-the-yeart over fifteen years ago, I have built a whole new lifestyle for myself based on the eight sabbats. The eight in turn are based on the ancient way of telling time, marking solstices and equinoxes, and the points in between marking the turn of the season (spring, summer, fall, winter).
  Nowadays I incorporate each sabbat into my calendar by celebrating them approximately six weeks in a row. This year it took until now to tune into Imbolc full speed.

  Imbolc, February 1st, is for me the actual beginning of the new year. It is the point in time between winter solstice and spring equinox, thus marking the beginning of spring. A funny thing is that once, after learning about the whee-of-the-year, I was talking with my grandpa and found out that he perceived time this exact same manner by solstices and equinoxes! Needless to say, he´d never googled about paganism... =)
  By now the days have grown lighter, and it is inevitable to feel the change and look forward. Nature has turned white and powdery by snow, and the sky is glowing again with pastel colors on sunny days. As if the year is in it´s baby state.

  This is the heart, the foundation, of my Imbolc spirit. An abundant source of inspiration. And the best part is that it´s all free of charge, right here, surrounding me in my daily life! No need to go far to experience something miraculous. The fairy tale is happening right here and now, and I´m part of it!

NETI YOUR NOSE

  Neti is a sort of a bottle or a pot designed for rinsing your nose, on the inside that is. Now that the pollen season has started, it is an excellent time to pick up this refreshing method of cleaning your body more thoroughly. It clears out the nose internally from small particles we inhale daily, like dust, mold, tiny flakes of skin, pollen and other type of allergens floating in the air.

All you need is a pot and a measuring spoon for salt (which are sold together).

Unraffinated seasalt is recommended, and lukewarm tap water. Mix them up, and off you go!

 I bought my neti pot nearly ten years ago, and am a bit ashamed to admit I have not used it regularly, not even annually... =(  But now I dug it up, and have been using it every single evening for a week. I can tell a difference, it really cleans the nostrils, and makes them feel more open. Ever since my childhood I remember having more or less of a stuffed nose, with one side or the other always somewhat swollen/clogged. Using the neti pot has relieved those symptoms, and it feels good knowing I´m doing something good for my body.
  Here you can watch a demonstration of how it´s done.

INSIDE MY GROCERY BAG

  A friend of mine once took part in a survey, which collected data from individuals´ grocery shopping. What they purchased, when, and on how many days a week, for one year. In exchange for keeping record of her shopping, she got data of her behavior and habits compared to the mass average in the survey. Quite interesting.

  One day after returning home from grocery store I pulled out these from my shopping bags:

Cucumber (especially for my kids), cabbage, small piece of smoked white-meat fish (I eat it maybe once a month, when my body craves for it), rutabaga (trying to learn liking it...), scallions, root celery, Honey Crunch apples (not available organic here, but they are the best brand), whipped soy cream, tamari soy sauce, tofu, carrots and dried tarragon.

  This pretty well rounds up my eating habits these days. What´s not in the picture, but a major part of my diet, is whole grains. I buy most of them, especially spelt and rye and barley, in bulk from a nearby organic farmer, and use them mostly for baking bread. Other grains I favor are oat, quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat (in small quantities in baking, as I don´t like the taste, but do like to add it´s nutrients into my diet), and millet.
  If I was perfect, that would be it, but since I´m not, I often eat some milk chocolate for dessert in the evening... =) Before my son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I preferred dark chocolate. But then I studied the sugar content of foods, and discovered that dark chocolates include as much sugar as milk chocolates do, although they don´t taste as sweet. And I like it sweet! So I ditched the supposedly more healthy option for the real deal. In addition to fulfilling our energy and nutritional needs, feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction are also important in eating!

DIY NATURAL HOME CLEANSING SPRAY

  In the past I´ve tried several green/ecological store-bought brands of various cleansing potions for the home. I hate so say it, but none of them came to stay. They just aren´t as efficient as the toxic regular commercial brands.

  But now I tried something even more environmental-friendly: a diy cleansing spray for bathrooms made of all natural and common ingredients!

All it takes is white vinegar, water and essential oil.

I used it on the bathroom sink...

...the shower...

...and even on the toilet bowl, and it cleaned all of them with no trouble. This spray is merely for more frequent maintaining, rather than heavy scrubbing, but every step counts in making our homes less toxic!

  The recipe (for one spray bottle, about 2 cups):

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
10-15 drops of essential tea tree oil (or any oil you like the scent of)

+ Put all in a spray bottle, shake, and spray! Let sit for a couple of minutes and brush with your usual tool, then rinse. Voilá!

  The vinegar does not smell that bad at all, essential oil does a great job!

BEAUTIFUL IMBOLC

    Snow has taken over, and I´m enjoying the beauty of white nature. I always say I don´t like winter, and I don´t, but it is the cold I dislike, not the scenery. Bright white nature, either with or without sunshine, is magical. I always try to repeat the season´s beauty inside our home too, so we keep tuned into the natural flow.

White tulips are a must (a confession: these are artifical ones I pull out of my stash each year. Pretty as they are, I´m not convinced that fresh, genuine flowers grown far away abroad, and which last only a few days, are an ecological choice...).

A non-floral arrangement on our kitchen table (I got the glass vase from my sister in 1999. True beauty endures, I try not to buy excess and stick with my classics). As the snowflakes rotate, they cast magical specs of light around the whole room.

Can you tell that snowflakes play a major role in my Imbolc decor...?  =)

Inside and outside are in tune.

The whole view from our kitchen window.

Our compost is still alive and kicking. We have had snow every day for about three weeks now, and I can´t even remember the last time it was sunny. It feels like a joke to read health experts say one should get at least 15 min. of sunshine a day! Sometimes it´s not a choice not to...

Instead we do at least an hour of fresh air a day. This pic is from a stroll we took the other day. I love how the birches look humble under the burden of heavy snow.

Our neighbor´s organic veggie field resting, waiting for spring.

After dark the magic continues, only different.

 

SINGLE WEEKEND

  Last weekend I got to enjoy the company of just me, myself, and I. The rest of my family went to visit granny, and I was able to stay home alone! What a luxury for a stay-at-home-mom, who´s never alone, always putting others´ needs before hers.

  Time flew by, and I was more busy than ever, still not finishing everything I was hoping to get done. But most of all I wanted to do things I usually don´t get to, in peace at least.
  I started the days with an extra long session of jumping on my mini-trampoline. I did an hour both mornings, when I usually do half an hour.

Then I enjoyed a tranquil brunch, the whole house all still and silent.

A brunch of delicious fruits with rice cakes and green tea.

   Then It was time to go shopping! Especially bras and jeans, because those are the most horrific ones to try on with kids along! I did find a nice bra, but jeans always fail me. So no jeans this time either. But a whole lot of other things, including beauty care products from Avéne (no financial interest here, I just love their products), makeup, and some fabric for my upcoming projects.

On Sunday, when I´d finished with all the shopping, I wanted to do something cultural. I found this little exhibition of hand-crafted dolls I found interesting.

The dolls were about a foot tall and looked so sympathetic! Here´s their version of Hugo Simberg´s Wounded Angel.

Fish market in the 1800´s.

This couple reminded me much of myself and my daughter. =)

This display is of the independence ball thrown by the president annually.

The best part about the party was the food!

    By now I was getting a little hungry myself, and hit a raw-food cafe. The very first I ever try, and the only one I knew was open on Sundays. What a disappointment! They had nuts and seeds in all of their cakes and desserts and their salads were quite ordinary so I didn´t want them either. What I was left with was smoothies, but it turned out they used hemp powder, chia seeds, and almonds in every one of them too. Well, I chose a cherry-chocolate smoothie without the almonds, but I can´t say much about it without complaining, so I´ll just say I could have done a much better job. That´s pretty much the way I feel about almost everything I´ve ever had eating out, so I don´t do that a lot. Good old traditional pizza is the only thing better in a restaurant than at home. I rarely bother with anything else these days, and pizza is so unhealthy that I do that very rarely over all.

In the evenings I watched movies over a tray of healthy munchies. First I saw "Thanks for Sharing", which I found was okay, and it´s cool that they make movies about sensitive issues, tabus even. But for someone like me, who watches only a handful of movies whole in a year, I would have preferred something more entertaining. So on Saturday evening I watched "Noah". An impressive but rather dark tale. But golly was it a great change to our daily Spongebob Squarepants!

  It is liberating to be alone every now and then. Being able to do what I want, when I want, without taking into consideration anyone else. Sounds selfish, and maybe I am, but darn did it feel good!!!

THE LONG EXPECTED DAY

  What a great first day of Christmas we had!

It actually begun yesterday by getting a nice spruce out of the forest. It´s a great tradition we have had since childhood, and continue now with our own kids. The natural trees are far from perfect, which only adds to the excitement! This is the one we chose.

Year by year I have cut down on decorations, and enjoy the tree itself more and more.

It snowed all day long.

And we took all the fun out of it!

My son doing a front flip into a pile of soft snow!

We also had time to play games inside together.

Heating up our old traditional log house sauna, which was built after the WW2. Sauna is an essential part of our Christmas tradition. When I was a kid I would go roll in the snow, but no more baby! =)

In the evening we had a Yule feast, and Santa came to bring gifts to us all, and we watched a bit of Hobbit 2 (a good reminder before hitting the movies to see the final part).

  By midnight we were all ready to hit the bunk. What a great day, and the party continues tomorrow!

P.S. The parkour outfit I made for my boy was a hit! He wanted to wear it immediately, and even wanted to sleep in it! That makes me so happy!