Hello, Welcome and Happy Equinox!

Thank you so much for joining me for a cuppa on this gorgeous day!

How the heck are you?

Can I offer you some black tea? The kettle is still hot if you’d prefer coffee instead, or maybe herbal tea is your style? Whatever you’re craving, we surly have it! Then, we can settle in on the porch and watch the sunlight flicker through the leaves on the trees while we catch up!

Living

My wife was out of town all week for a work conference in Minneapolis so we spent some time adventuring around the Renaissance Faire at El Rancho de las Golondrinas with friends last Saturday and then our own little corner of the valley during the week.

Las Golondrinas is a very cool living museum just outside Santa Fe that is one of my favorite places to visit. I’ll have to go back soon when they’re not having a Festival. It really is quite special.

We’ve also, obviously, been enjoying our new kitties immensely and working to find our new groove in the shuffle of it all.

Speaking of the shuffle of it all, I’m in the process of cleaning out and organizing our sorely neglected shed for the first time since we moved (five years ago!) in an effort to shift around some of our household furniture in our living space and our bedroom. The goal is to establish a new Kitty Nook under the stairs and, most exciting of all, a proper desk space for me in our bedroom! I hope to have it all sorted and pulled together by the next time we share a cuppa so there will surely be photos soon ;-)

What have you been up to lately?

After a grueling growing season, the blue corn came in from the field and the berries finally ripened (about six weeks late) so we’re spending any and all of our copious free time (LOL) harvesting and preserving while enlisting the occasional help of family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors to come pick a few pints for their own sweet enjoyment.

The seeds I sowed a couple of weeks ago in our raised beds are up and reaching for the sky as the temps fall just enough to keep them happy. The promise of peas and greens is such a lovely thing over the cooler months as we slide toward shorter days. It will be time to cover them up soon, but not quite yet.

Learning

My daughter and I are diving into family history this year as part of our homeschool learning. We are focusing on research and documentation, looking with a discerning eye at each Ancestry hint on her Family Tree to ensure we’re building each branch based on facts and the correct vital documents (as opposed to the alternative of assuming everyone else has it right and copying misinformation).

The first hint that popped up for us to check out was a yearbook photo of me from 1993, which we both laughed hard at, and decided was fit to add as part of our documentation.

The internet is a wild place ;-)

Also, how is 1993 : : : t h i r t y : : : years ago?! I mean, really???

Writing

• Finding Phil, in which I talk about my love for a Grandpa I never met and my search for his final resting place (there’s a bit of a mystery happening here currently that I hope to unravel in quick order).

• Integration & Healing Through Creative Journaling in which I discuss a new creative project I’m undertaking as I work to intentionally learn about each of the ancestors in my direct line and integrate my biological father’s side. Of note, my new desk space is going to come in very handy for this new creative project :-)

Reflecting

One:

The definition of Hiraeth, a deeply nuanced Welsh word that doesn’t have a direct English word translation. Instead:

Hiraeth often described as nostalgia or a deep longing for a place or time that may never have existed, or that may have existed only in one's memories or imagination. It brings together the feelings of homesickness, nostalgia and longing or an earnest desire. Hiraeth is a pull on the heart that conveys a distinct feeling of missing something irretrievably lost – a unique blend of place, time and people that can never be recreated.

Hireath is a Welsh word used to convey a longing for a Wales of the past, but the context in which it was shared was through my genealogy circles and as someone who has grown up not knowing a part of their biological family, be that because of adoption, donor conception, in the case of an NPE experience like mine, or any number of the varied reasons we might not be raised within our biological family unit.

While it is a word held closely in Wales (especially by those working to reclaim identity that was lost during the English colonization), and I’m trying to be mindful of it’s original intent, it has struck me deeply and given me lots to contemplate as I continue on my healing journey.

Two:

I’ve also recently been listening to and reflecting on a the gorgeously haunting song The Broken Stair, which came across my FYP on TikTok and has since been uploaded onto Spotify. If you’ve ever felt the needed to tiptoe around a person in your family (or life in general), this song will no doubt move you in ways you may find quite moving…maybe even a bit heart wrenching (those strings!).

The story behind how this song came about is quite fantastic as well, if you’re into such things :-)

Here are a few options for listening/watching, depending on your preferences.

• Listen on Spotify

• Watch on TikTok

• Watch on YouTube

Launching

In honor of Spooky Season and our general societal love of all things ghostie/ancestor related as we slide into Autumn, I’m launching a new t-shirt and mug design (who doesn’t love cute ghosties?!) and offering 25% off everything in the shop with the code SPOOKYSEASON25 through November!

Reading

Reading has moved a little slower over the past month but I’m still flipping pages every chance I get and finished both Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake. Both were fun and easy reads.

Next up, I have a few Spooky Season reads on my TBR and just need to decide on which to start with. Maybe you can help?! My options are:

• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski which has been on my TBR, honestly, since it was published in 2000 and though I’ve started it several times, I haven’t had the fortitude to fully dive in. I’m hoping this is the year! All I can do is try, right?

• Witches by Brenda Lozano which has been translated from Spanish and looks like a lovely read.

• Magic: A History by Chris Gosden which may prove difficult emotionally, but important nonetheless.

• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman because, believe it or not, I’ve only seen the movie.

I surely won’t have time to read all four, but it’s nice to have options, no?

That’s it!

Thanks for popping by for a cuppa! I always enjoy hearing what you’re up to and how life is treating you! If you’ve popped over from Natalie’s weekend link share, thank you so much! If I haven’t visited your blog yet, I’ll make my way back to you in the coming days and am so happy to catch up! If you’ve found this post from another direction, WooHoo!!! I’m just so glad you’re here! The comments are open so please do your best to say HELLO and I’ll do the same!

Onward,

Melis