Pray to the Moon: food

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Thoughts While Waiting (Impatiently). A Bout of Gratitude & Observation (turned prayer).

This week my husband suggested that we "might have to give up on the idea of mushrooms this season..." to which I squirmed & balked & grumbled & subsequently chose to ignore.

But there is a dearth of fungi here this season. It is true.

In a way, maybe this is a good thing. Sort of. I guess.
It is in the sense that we have had to turn our attention to other things. Things overlooked, but things that also fill our hearts & imaginations. They are not fungi, but still, as I reflect, I am grateful.

When we turn our eyes from the duff, what more is there to discover?

The World. (In no particular Order.)

Just allow me open spaces to roam, please.

And Mysteries to solve...
A stone left at Hubby's workplace. Turns out this is
Norwegian translated to runic, it says, roughly,
"There is no cake served in hell."

And flowers to Learn, Know & Nurture...
Wild ones, like the Twinflowers (Linnaea borealis)

And Buttercup (Ranuculus, spp.)

Or Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L. var. borealis),
white & pink varieties.

And Strawberry Blite (Blitum capitatum) -- coated with
insect reproductive activity of some sort, I suspect.

A Foxglove (Digitalis spp.) at the front doorstep

A Fuchsia, "Blackie" (Fuchsia, spp., one of many) in back.

And Poppies (Papaver, spp.)
everywhere in between.

Show me other folks' homes to discover, admire, emulate...

Show me other folks' creations to
discover, admire, emulate...

And allow me to indulge in their
creative Secrets, Free Play & Art...

Always remembering that everything, everything
from eating to breathing to sleeping is an Art...
(especially if there is a basil sorbet involved...)

(...or a local rhubarb-infused vodka, paired with
friendship & sacred choreography planning)

And may I always be an open witness...
Witches' Altar. Lammas 2015.

Labyrinth, Anchorage, July 2015.

Laybrinth, Kasilof, August 2015.

Especially to Play.

And more Play.

Let me look to the Earth & the Sea & the Sky...

And everything in between.

And moreover...

Please let me recognize & embrace
the aesthetic of every human moment...

Let me respect my own mortality, (wounds packed with Yarrow & bound with Plantain)

Let me respect my own mortality,
(Also let me know my allies: wounds packed
with Yarrow & bound with Plantain)

And that of others...
Shrew (Sorex, spp.)

Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) remains.

And please, let me laugh,
(Thank you Llewellyn.)

experience Joy,

and Love.

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Mycophilia: The Wild Hunt 2014

Last year's Wild Hunt chronicles came to a screeching halt with the sudden & most disturbing coma-like sleep of the laptop. Let it not happen again this year.

Wee Ones snacking on an Emetic Russula (Russula emetica).
Obviously less troubling to their systems.

Last year I wrote in the never completed, never published entry:

"When we hunt, we hunt for food,
& non-food supplies,
but even more fervently, we hunt for Beauty. It is so easy to find.
It's the experience of being present that drives us, the excitement of discovery, sharing, learning, knowing. The familiarity & the unknown. The piecing together of connections, relationships..."

And this is all still true, but I discovered something else this year.

Sometimes, when I am out there in the forest, either alone or accompanied by my people, I get high. That is to say, the hunting (or something) gives me a high & unsophisiticated as it sounds, there is no more straightforward was of describing it.

The Hunt makes me high.

Or something.

And when this happens, my head swims & everything smells in technicolour & I can 'hear' (intuit?) whisperings (or is it that I sense presences, like radar?) & I get a little frenetic & breathe fast & perhaps I get a bit sloppy because this is when I stumble over logs & nearly step on moose & ptarmigans & anyone else who isn't a fungi...

And just to be completely clear (a laughable aim, I admit) it isn't the acquisition that feels good -- it is the discovery, the sensing & the knowing.

With that, some fungi porn from our wanderings during this Wild Hunt 2014.

❋❋❋❋❋

This year seems to have an abundance of brown. For the humans who like nomenclature, everything below we will just call an "LBM" unless otherwise indicated, partly because I don't know everything & partly because I really would rather be back outside than labeling photographs.